Interesting idea. Thanks for sharing it. I'll have to keep that one in mind!

Thanks, Pramila. I have made head way, but it hasn't been easy going. After I wrote the post I heard that my doctor's office was able to get the recommended procedure for my back pre-approved, but even though I had chosen the doctor from the managed care list of providers from my insurance company (so his work would be covered by them), the facility where he preforms these procedures are not under contract with my insurance company, thus I'll have to either convince the doctor to figure out how to provide the service at a new facility (which I doubt I could do and don't want to try) or I need to cover the cost of the medical facility bill outside of my insurance.

Great to hear from you again, Isabelle. I am very excited about Prestimedia. I think it has terrific potential for many US companies. Sorry to single you out in the blog post. The thought is actually something that many companies I've talked to and worked with in the past need to think about as they aren't using their own products.
Can't wait to see more of Prestimedia and to share it with some of my clients and contacts.

I loved the social media guru post. Great image, too. Thanks for coming by my blog. Cheers

Thanks G Mathews for pointing out my typo. I do proof read my posts, but as I learned in a copy editing series of classes a number of years ago, it is impossible to proof your own writing and be accurate because you know what it is supposed to say already and your mind fills in what you expect to see.
Obviously it was just an error and I appreciate someone giving the feedback. Clearly it wasn't that difficult to understand, even with the error, as you obviously got the gist of the post.
Thanks for reading.

Mirna, thanks for replying and thanks for the link to your post on Ivan's blog. The link you pasted in didn't work, so I'll try it again here: http://networking.entrepreneur.com/2010/04/29/loo...
I often read Ivan Misner's blog but had missed this one back in April.

I think your steps are fantastic and include exactly what companies should be thinking through. Its unfortunate, but many companies are still skipping many of these steps.
The one concept I love to discuss with other professionals you cover in step 9. "Decide what you want to use social media for (i.e., prospecting, recruiting, customer service, etc.) and how you want to engage your online audience."

I consider myself a New Marketing Communications Professional to begin with and marketing as a conversation, thus all of marketing to be a way of engaging with audiences. Social media is one option within the mix. So I put your step 8: "Set clear goals and objectives." as a business marketing function in front (after you go through all your steps to understand social media as an option within the mix) and then your second step is looking at all options, including social media, for which options are best for how to engage with your audiences.
I'll be a regular reader of your blog now. thanks for keeping me thinking!

I'm glad you enjoyed this, Pervara. Having an online presence really is necessary for business professionals. Too many individuals wait until they suddenly don't have a job to update a traditional resume, or even just to update a LinkedIn profile. This really isn't enough to be competitive in the job market today. For people wanting to follow a set career path, it really isn't enough. Continued self-promotion is really important and staying connected online, participating in their career field/industry conversation and engaging with other professionals is very important.

Marc, thanks for the response. As a marketing and social media professional and constant student, you are influential to me, so thanks for your continued participation in the market conversation.

I used you as an example going under the assumption that it was a given that a company would deem you an Influencer. Certainly a company like a social media monitoring SaaS provider may actually have you on their list of Influencers because you're very knowledgeable about the social media/marketing/communications space, but the post was not about how to choose who are the influencers in your market space, but simply how influence manifests itself. In other words, how is it that people "see"/hear from individuals they deem trustworthy, short of having a direct link to them for a one-on-one conversation?

In the marketing industry's market conversation, I'm also influenced by Charlene as a thought-leader and agree with your point about the LA Times article. That article was about her as a mom worried about her child and she was written about because she's a well-known analyst and author who uses Buzz. But just because someone is an Influencer in one market space, doesn't mean they're an Influencer to every consumer for every market.

I would contend that the article uses her for impact because she is a prominent figure but no company is happy to see her name there because it will help sell their product. As in the example I used with you, Charlene might also be on the list of Influencers for companies who offer social media monitoring tools. They might want to build a relationship with her because if she is mentioned in an article that sounds favorable to social media monitoring tools in general or she specifically mentions their tools or is on a panel with their CMO--that would look very good for them because their audience/prospects/customers are people who are likely to read Charlene's blog/book/Twitter stream, etc., just as they might follow you.

Thanks so much for the comments. I look forward to the next #sm chat!

Hi Eric. Thanks for the comment. I agree, many companies think they should just use social media outlets as more places to use their same "talk at you" messages. They need exercise their human sides and start talking with people AND listening.

I agree, so often the "why" and "how" get in the way for many companies. If they delved deeper (beyond basic audience demographics) into what the audience actually wants/needs and what kind of help they need in deciding the best way to fulfill those wants/needs, marketers would discover that some of the "why" and "how" can be better met with other outreach options that reap more benefits/ROI.
Thanks for commenting.
Cheers!