An Bui

I use tweetdeck to manage my @replies, direct messages, and grouping people. I try to help as many people as I can on Twitter – if people are looking for something or wanting to know something, I jump in if I think I can help. I want good ideas to spread and to learn new things. This ongoing learning and sharing cycle is a ride I want to stay on.

Tell us where you are from and what you do for a living?

I’m from all over – I grew up in Texas but my time on the East Coast really shaped my thinking and approach to the world. As far as what I do for a living, that’s an interesting question. I’m a consultant – I work with organizations to identify ways they can communicate value, both internally and externally. An engagement may look like connecting a company to its users and potential users by teaching them how to connect using blogging, twitter, and other relevant social media tools. Another engagement may look like helping teams within an organization communicate value to other teams within that same organization. The end result are teams that understand how their work fits in the larger context of the organization, are more collaborative, and are more efficient.

Do you know others who use Social Media tools like Twitter in your area? What would you say about the knowledge of people in your area about Social Media in general?

In Seattle, social media tools (including Twitter) are pretty popular, so you end up seeing a broad range of knowledge. There are people who are aware of social media in general, due to the start up and technology culture of Seattle. Actual deep tissue knowledge may vary, so it depends on background. People from a PR background understand social media differently than those from an entrepreneurial background whose understanding differs from those with an information design background… it really depends on the context.

What gets you really motivated and excited?

I wake up in the morning to help others discover how new technologies can improve their lives, understand how collaboration can enable them to achieve greater things, discover new ideas and how to integrate them in new ways to solve problems.

Give us one crazy fact about yourself you haven’t already shared.

Define crazy ;)

I have bus friends, grocery store friends, coffee shop friends, random sidewalk friends… I tend to make friends everywhere. One of my favorite random friends I met because we sat next to each other on a flight from Los Angeles to Seattle. We had such a great time talking about our lives and the lessons we’ve learned from the experiences we’ve had, I was actually disappointed when the plane landed.

Any other tidbits you would like to offer?

One of my favorite books is Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist. I read it at a time I was going through personal and professional transitions and found its message highly relevant. Since then, I’ll re-read passages when I want to remind myself how lucky I am to pursue my dreams and fortunate I am to be passionate about the work I do and the clients I work with.

Coelho wrote: “When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it” The universe has brought me people like you, my family, great friends, (Emily, Daren, Sarah, Taki, Jared, Kirk, Chelle and Blake), amazing professional mentors (Andrew, Jim Benson and Mack Collier) who have contributed, and still contribute, greatly to my life.

I’ll leave you with this thought – “Nothing great in the world was accomplished without passion.” – Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

Shevonne Polastre at work

I use Twitter for everything, but mainly to connect with interesting Tweeters who can show me a thing or two. It’s great because I have actually found some wonderful people who have taught me about life, parenting, technology, law, fitness, and the list keeps growing. Recently, I have been networking with other business owners and companies, and have even found some freelance work. Twitter is a great tool because you can be anyone interested in anything, and you will find some kind of use for it.

Tell us where you are from and what you do for a living?

I live in Fairfax, VA, which is part of the Washington, DC area. I came here from Panama when I was seven years old with my two sisters and parents. When I was a teenager, I wanted to take a year off college and backpack through Europe. However, my parents were very strict and didn’t allow that to happen. It’s one of only regrets that I have, but I am still young, so I still have time to take that trip. The experience will be better than I imagined because this time I will take my kids with me.

For almost eights years, I have worked as a Technical/Proposal Writer. Since I was a child, I’ve been surrounded by computers. My mother was a Computer Programmer for the Department of Defense and would sometimes bring her work home with her. While my two sisters would watch television or play, I would sit with her for hours helping her debug code. When I was 17, I began working as a Help Desk Technician for Erols’ Internet (remember them? I think they became RCN). For the next seven years, I helped customers with errors, built computers, and setup networks.

After high school, I started working on my Computer Science degree. I learned different programming languages and was trying to achieve my dream of becoming a Video Game Developer. However, I got pregnant with my son and realized that I had to change my path. Programming consumed almost my entire life and with a baby, there was no way that I would be able to dedicate the same amount of time as before. I thought about what I was also passionate about. Writing. I bought a book about what I could do with an English degree and came across “Technical Writer.” As a Technical Writer, I have been able to combine my two loves: Writing and Technology. I am happy that I can honestly say that I love what I do for a living.

Do you know others who use Social Media tools like Twitter in your area? What would you say about the knowledge of people in your area about Social Media in general?

I know there have to be others in DC who are using Social Media, but I only know a few of them. DC is a very political and high tech area, so Social Media is part of their vocabulary. Why? The future of technology, mainly in the Social Media arena, has huge legal, ethical, political, and technical issues, so there are many people in the DC area who are partaking in some aspect of it. When I was in grad school, I took a graduate class that focused on Social Media and another one that discussed the legal issues concerning it. I’ve told people about taking these classes, and they say they have never heard about such classes. It shows that it’s a hot topic in DC.

What gets you really motivated and excited?

Technology. Anything new that comes out, I have to test it out, or I feel like it’s the end of the world. Everyone knows that the way to my heart is getting me the latest gadget. Technology, not diamonds, are a girl’s best friend.

Give us one crazy fact about yourself you haven’t already shared.

I have the habit of singing everywhere I go. My sister use to get embarrassed because I could be in the middle of the grocery store, and I would belt out in song. Therefore, beware if you are ever out in public with me, you might be the next victim of having people stare out you for being with a crazy girl singing off key. You have been warned.

Any other tidbits you would like to offer?

• Think before you speak
• Get familiar with readability statistics to ensure that any piece of document you are presenting to an audience (unless they are experts in the topic you are writing about) is written for someone for 6th – 7th graders, and that readability is higher than 50%.
• When writing a proposal, ensure that you mention your potential client three times more than you mention yourself. Companies have a habit of boasting how great they are instead of what they can do for the client.
• Documentation might be tedious in the short run, but will save you tons of money and time in the long run.
• Writing and Technology are wonderful, but mix the two together, and you get Art

It went very well, mixed bag of people who knew some of this and some who never heard of it. So there was some great open communication from the group after the “lecture” just as I had hoped.

Then a local, well known I might add, Real Estate Agent asked this question as it pertains to her business:

“Craig, (insert Brokerage Firm name here) has decided to completely stop using the newspaper as a source of advertising and are moving solely to the web, but I do not know nor do I really have the time to get involved in Social Media, I have an assistant who is in charge of that for me. Also most of my clientele are over 50 and not the predominate demographic for using the web to find out about things like Open Houses, and the local newspaper will not even call me back to place ads with them at this point, what do I do?”

She also brought up about how she posts houses for sale in her blog.

This was an excellent question and immediately I started to think about the following:

Right or wrong, I tried to work through these issues with her one at a time.

I suggested to her that I felt it was an error on the Brokerage firms part to just stop using other traditional forms of marketing outright without at least pulling back slowly (the reason for the change was because of the dramatic increase in paper advertising costs) and using the opportunities to educate the customers about the transition to web. However we were told that the local newspaper will not post the Real Estate company’s URLs anymore (there are competing with there own home listings website, well maybe not competing so much if others can’t post there own stuff.)

So my thought was this, use direct mail postcards to those clients for those Open Houses and be sure to educate the people that the website would have more information, use the postcard as a lead in. Use sources such as salesgenie.com (If you have a better one, please post!) to find customers in your demographic for the mailing.

Now the assistant writing articles. I explained that I felt that she needed to be the one sharing the message, and the message needed to be more about her knowledge in her industry and her own thoughts about certain topics in general. I have seen other Tri-Cities, WA Real Estate Agents who attended classes start doing this as well. I feel that she could use the assistant as an editor, by providing some bullet points and then proofing before posting so the article is essentially hers and not her employees. She had a concern about time, and I mentioned how I use Dragon Naturally Speaking to dramatically cut down the time necessary to do this. All things she hadn’t thought of.

What I wanted to get across to her, was that people can learn ABOUT what she does and about who she is and that she already knows that relationships are what builds business opportunities in any service related business. People that get to know her will learn that she has a website dedicated to selling houses, her blog can demonstrate her personal expertise in the housing industry and how she thinks about business in general. No need to blog about a HOUSE.

I don’t know that I could cover everything in 2 hours, but did my best.

What do you think? Have some thoughts about this? Please post!

A: Truth is, I don’t. I don’t think you ever get “over” the need to be accepted or reassured that you’re a good person. But what I have learned over the years is to quit trying to be everything to everyone. I’m a certain type of person, full of quirks, and I’m not everyone’s taste. It’s taken me a while to learn that that’s ok. And in business, I’ve become relentlessly focused on doing the things that I can do well and leaving the rest to others with those strengths. Doing that gives me the confidence that I can be reasonably successful in what I do, and the reassurance that I can get back up if I stumble. And on a personal level, I try very hard not to take myself too seriously. Laughing at yourself is usually the best way to keep a little perspective. I find reasons to laugh at myself almost daily. :)

Q: Our twitter guest question comes from @heatherrast, who asks “How does Amber maintain a post’s focus (no tangents)?”

A: It’s a funny thing about that. This one time, when I was backpacking, I was exploring this cave. There was this turtle, and ….oh wait. Sorry.

Seriously though, I think it’s a function of my being a bit anal retentive. Once I get an idea in my head, I feel like I need to explore it in a very comprehensive way. But I wouldn’t always say that’s a strength. I envy the ability that others have to draw parallels and associations between things that are, on the surface, unrelated. To go in interesting, non-literal directions. I struggle with that sometimes. But I typically approach posts on my business blog with a question in my head that I’m trying to explore first, and the post becomes the path to get there. Writing is often my way of organizing ideas. Sometimes I’m more successful than others. :)

Q: You have a very effective writing style, can you tell us where you learned to communicate so effectively? How long have you been communicating online?

A: Writing is something I’ve always loved, and I can thank my mom for that. Whenever I wanted to know what a word meant, she told me to go look it up. But I’ve never been a fan of “fluffy” writing. I feel like written communication serves two purposes: to inform, or to entertain. If it’s the former, dispense with the filler and use real words. If it’s the latter, you’ll find few people that appreciate eloquent writing more than I do. I read voraciously – sometimes as many as two or three books at a time – and so I imagine I pick up elements of good writing in lots of different places.

As for online, I don’t know that I can backdate that. I started my career as a professional fundraiser for non-profit organizations, and well-written communication – both online and off – is really key to success in that industry. I suppose I first started writing email newsletters and fundraising appeals over a decade ago. Because we’re not going to talk about my adventures in true geekiness and cite BBS and chat rooms of old, right?

Q: Altitude Branding is your Social Media and Marketing consulting business, can you tell us what you offer you customers? Is this part of The Brand Box or just a re-branding?

A: The BrandBox is the name of my blog itself, which used to be a separate site (note to others: dumb move. Don’t do it.). Altitude was always the name of my company, but the sites were separate until I smashed them together earlier this year. For someone who executes crystal clear branding for other people, I sure managed to make mine confusing as hell (shoemaker’s kids and all that). When I relaunched the site, I kept the BrandBox as the title of the blog portion. Clear as mud? Okay, good.

As a consultant, I’m typically engaged to help companies learn about social media by providing workshops and training, and assist them with building the framework for their social media plans. And I help with the project execution too, from doing internal education to launching blogs and building social media newsrooms (with the help of some awesome technical partners). I do some speaking too, both for conferences and private events, usually around social media topics. It’s all designed to help companies better bridge their brands from the analog world to the digital one using online and social media tools. Whatever helps businesses be more successful in online communication, that’s what I’m here to help do.

Q: Ok Amber, no foofy drinks is how you communicate your alcoholic desires in your profile. So what are your top 3 favorite beers and why?

A: Man, three? But there are so many. Ok, if I had to pick, I’d probably go with:

Ayinger Celebrator Dopplebock for it’s sheer asskicking complexity and deliciousness
Chimay Red (or Rouge if you’re a true beer snob) because you can’t go wrong with beer served in a goblet
And for a good anytime beer, I’d go with either Magic Hat #9 or New Belgium’s Fat Tire Amber Ale.

I tend to like complex, hoppy beers. Unless it’s a Cubs game. Then it’s Old Style, all the way.

Connecting the Global Community

I’ve read lists that go on to describe what people should look for in a Social Media expert. But really, is anybody an expert at Social Media? I think what it boils down to is simply this, people and their communication. Who is an expert? Anybody who chooses to take the time to contribute to this global informational community.

I think anybody who chooses to put themselves out there, share their thoughts, feelings and concerns takes part in this huge pot of information. It takes a lot of guts for people to share with others they don’t know and sometimes more with the people they do. I think it allows those who would normally be much more introverted to share some of their brilliance, and provide a much-needed outlet for the extroverts.

There are tools that encourage social media, and ideas that help mold and define it, ultimately it’s my opinion that there is no hard and fast definition. More likely is the idea that like anything you do in life, there is a learning curve. There are veterans who have been communicating online for many years and they have helped establish some basic guidelines, because they’ve been through many of the challenges that people new to the community will experience on their own.

I’ve seen these people challenged, which has its ups and downs. Those of us new to the game can learn some lessons. This does not mean you need to follow, nothing progresses without fresh input and ideas and a willingness to both invest in them and accept critique.

The most important lesson I’ve learned in social media is nothing more than what you would expect in life! If you expect to get something, you must first give. This is true whether your intentions for social media are strictly for personal enlightenment or more business-oriented. If your expectation is just to throw out information like a fisherman on a boat casting his line hoping for a bite, you may catch a goldfish but you’ll never catch the shark.

It’s really not that difficult folks, everybody wants to know they matter, even those that profess that they don’t care. Communication is the method by which you can help your self and others feel like they matter. If you treat people as if you could care less, you will get nothing more in return. So treat social media like you would treat your friend or your customer if they were standing right in front of you, not as if they were thousands of miles away. Care about the people and the people will make the rest happen.

But that’s just my 2 cents…

Q: Our twitter guest question comes from @brandmarken, who asks. “I’d like to know how @MackCollier got his start and how he became a such a guru.”

A: I started blogging in 2005 when I was invited to write for a group advertising/marketing blog that was starting called Beyond Madison Avenue. After about 6 months BMA had grown to about 2,000 visitors a day, and I decided it was time to start my own blog, The Viral Garden. And I’m happy to say it’s been growing like a weed ever since.

As for being a ‘guru’, I dunno about that. One thing I have always done is pay close attention to how other people use social media. And when I find someone that uses a tool/site really well (such as being a power Twitter user, or a power Facebooker), I try to see what is working for them, and adjust my usage accordingly. And I am constantly looking for new bloggers in particular to read, because I always learn so much from fresh voices with fresh perspectives on social media.

But of course the best way to be seen as a ‘guru’ is to have Tom mention you in one of his Ad Age articles ;)

Q: If you could only give a Small Business one method to get involved in Social Media, what would it be and why?

A: First, let me say that I don’t think there’s just ‘one’ right social media site/tool that a small business should be using, nor do I think that every business (of any size) should be using social media. It really depends on whether or not your current and/or potential customers are using these tools to communicate with each other, and if you WANT to communicate with them. If your customers are blogging, fine, you probably need to be a participant in the conversations they are having about you and your industry. If they are on Twitter, you should probably be there.

So there really isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ social media site/tool for small businesses. If I had to pick one that I think the most small businesses could benefit from using, it would probably be a blog.

Q: Most Small Business cannot afford to have a full time Social Media Consultant, how can they go about finding someone to help them and what should they expect to pay if they outsource?

That’s a great question because there aren’t many resources that list or evaluate social media consultants. I would start by doing some research on Google, for terms like ‘top bloggers’ or ‘top twitter users’, and once you have some names, then go and Google those individual names. That will give you a great idea of how actively they are using social media, and will also give you their site/blog so you can find out if they offer social media consulting services. This information should be on their blog and/or site. Or if you are already active on these sites, just ask. Ask your Twitter followers who you should be contacting, or if you are LinkedIn, submit a question to the Q&A section asking who you should be contacting.

As for fees, I think it depends on the rates the consultant charges, and the scope of the work requested. Some charge by the hour, others by the project. I would say a business should expect to pay over $100 an hour for a consultant, with $150-250 an hour being more likely.

One thing I would strongly advise businesses that approach a social media consultant is to make SURE that part of the services they provide include training your business on using these tools. If you hire a consultant to create and execute a blogging strategy for you, make SURE that they also train you on how to properly blog. I make sure that all the social media work I perform includes a training element, because I want to drive my clients toward being self-sufficient when it comes to social media. Otherwise, your business will continually have to hire consultants to help you with your efforts. Insist that the consultant offer training, and don’t hire one that won’t.

Q: You have spoken at my Conference, “Learn About Web” and by all accounts the favorite speaker of the day. What do you think draws your crowd into your message?

A: Well I’m honored to hear that, as I enjoyed speaking at Learn About Web very much. One thing I like to do is add case studies to help illustrate the main points of my presentation. I think it’s much easier for attendees to understand how to successful utilize a blog, if you can show them examples of how businesses are doing just that. Real-world examples also give your teachings more credibility.

Something else I am mindful of is not to be ‘detached’ from the audience. Especially when speaking to audiences that are new to social media, I want to make the audience feels comfortable asking questions, because if more questions are being asked, everyone learns more. For example, at a recent conference, the room I was supposed to present in had a stand and desk up at the very front of the room about 10 feet away from the audience. It was set up like a standard college classroom, which I didn’t think would encourage the type of interaction I wanted. I noticed that the projector stand was in the middle of the room, so I moved my laptop and chair to present from there, which placed me in the middle of the room.

By doing this, and encouraging attendees to ask questions when I started, the tone of the presentation changed from being my lecturing to the audience, to instead leading them in a breakout session. I think it made the session much more informative, because I think it encouraged the attendees to ask questions, and to interact with each other. From my experience, the more involved the audience is in the session, the better it is for everyone.

Q: So you run a company called Virtual Hires, can you tell me about about your companies goals?

A: Our mission is to help small and medium sized web-based businesses grow by providing quality and affordable staffing solutions.

Q: What made you decide to get in this business?

A: I had quite a bit of exposure to outsourcing at my previous job, including outsourcing IT, production, and creative. When I began working for myself, I had hired a virtual assistant and was really impressed with the results I got from her link building and content writing efforts. I found my virtual assistant to be very easy to work with. She spoke English fluently, was web-savvy, polite and was very familiar with American slang and pop culture. She spoke with just a slight accent, and was willing to work on US time which make working with her really easy. Having my virtual assistant do the day-to-day lower value tasks made it possible for me to focus my energy on growing my business. It ultimately has made me more profitable.

As I began sharing my experience with other small business owners, they asked how they too could take advantage of outsourcing. After receiving several of these requests, I decided to open up a full-time business offering web staffing services to other small business. I hired a few employees, began successfully matching clients and employees, and have never looked back.

Q: Tell me how you use or plan to use Social Media in your business pursuits?

A: This is something that we do for our clients all the time, but something we haven’t done too much for ourselves. (Most all of our business comes from word of mouth referrals.)
Here are some of the things we have done for our clients and will be incorporating more for ourselves as time goes on:

• Social Networking Sites – Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. – A great way to share news and to keep in touch with clients. Personal relationships are the crux of any business. We tend to trust people we know well, and these sites offer a degree of transparency and accessibility.
• Bookmarking, Tagging, Blog Commenting, and Participating in Forums – Keeps the conversation going.
• Online Video – Increasingly popular way to share, demonstrate, and educate.
• Blogging – An easy way to build community, and share updated information.
• Microblogging – This is great way to keep promote news and share tips.

Q: Do you attend conferences? Which ones and why?

A: Yes. I love the Affiliate Summit West. Apart from escaping the Cleveland winter for a few days, it is a great place to network and to keep abreast with industry trends. I went to the Search Engine Guide’s Small Business Unleashed Marketing Conference in Columbus for the first time this Fall. I loved this conference for the small, family feel. I made some great connections and will definitely attend again.

Q: I see you enjoy the outdoors. What is your favorite outdoor sport? Tell me a bit about what you get out of it.

A: I do enjoy the outdoors. My favorite outdoor sport? That’s a tough one. I am an avid, year-round hiker.

Hiking provides exercise, and an outlet for my tremendous amount of energy. More than anything, I find a sense of renewal by being outside. It’s hard for me to stop thinking about work. When I step outside, I am able to get outside of my own head. Being outside is an act of cleansing for me. As I take in the sights and sounds around me, and as I am surrounded by the beauty of the natural world, I leave my comfort zone. I relax. I am inspired. I appreciate. Most importantly, I find perspective. I am then able to focus on what matters most to me: relationships.

Other notes: Check out her recent plug in US News & World Report!

He is dead on, it is the 2 way communication that makes Social Media and Marketing so much different than the traditional uni-directional methods. At Learn About Web I talked about how the phonebook is becoming the dinosaur because of how little information you can learn about a business with a smiling picture and some words. Think about that, what do you actually learn from that? Only that company X either has more money or wagered more money that the phonebook could drive traffic to them.

I know, I was recently a gambler!

But a customer in the Web 2.0 world sees things differently. But what about those not familiar with it?

How do we get our customers involved in Social Media?

Now I know some of you people in larger towns may not see this as a relevant issue, but in small towns like ours.. it’s half the battle at least! I am telling Small Business they need to use Social Media, but how do you educate those customers or people in general who know little or nothing about it? The ones not interested in coming to see a Conference on their dime because they don’t understand its merit?

Challenging Question – perhaps it’s been answered, but here are some thoughts I have, and perhaps you can add something to this?

The most obvious – Word of Mouth – Tell them! Talk to them about the benefits you have gained from Social Media and the tools they can use to get involved. Point them to your blog.

Bring a friend/colleague/customer to the speaking portion of a conference, let them learn about about why they should be interested, and perhaps they will join in. Don’t try to take them to training session on their first trip out, the idea is to get them some exposure.

Write about them! Why not have a featured customer blog post and ask them to read it? They would likely share it with all of the people they know and so on!

A discount if they add themselves to one of your Social Media tools? Added value for you and your customer!

Using 2 way communication to gain the attention of people not involved in Social Media seems to be the smarter strategy, after all, we should practice what we preach right?

I’d love to hear if you have anything to add to this list or comments about the idea in general…