What does it cost to get a new customer?  How much does it cost to get 50 people to attend my webinar? How much do real ‘likes’ cost me on my Facebook page?  I want to have 1,000 people attend my seminar, what does it cost?

It’s surprising how many business owners, CEOs, marketers, and start-up founders I talk to that do not know the cost of gaining a new customer. Customer Acquisition Cost should be the genesis of every new customer oriented marketing effort you do. Just the knowledge of the existence of Customer Acquisition Cost can start shifting marketing from risk to reward. Not knowing this cost is many times the first dominio to fall in the train of marketing failure and cash burn.

So what is Customer Acquisition Cost?

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is simply what it costs to get a new customer.
Here’s how I explain it:

• Customer: An individual or company who takes advantage of your offering. This could be the purchase of a product or service, a new user in your community, someone who signs up for a free offer, a new email address in your list, etc.
• Acquisition: The execution of methodologies, mechanics, and efforts made to obtain the new customer.
• Cost: The investment of resources and expense surrounding the acquisition.

How to determine your Customer Acquisition Cost?

CAC is the total marketing expenses divided by the total number of customers acquired.  So if you spent $1,000 to acquire 100 new customers your CAC would be $10. Once you know this cost it becomes the standard of success or failure for every future new customer marketing effort.  As a marketer my primary usage of CAC is to leverage the outcomes of marketing campaigns. For small and medium sized businesses I track three types of CAC:

1. Historical CAC: The cost per customer acquired since as far back in time that accurate reporting is available of marketing expense tied to the new customer.
2. CAC by Campaign Type: The cost of new customers by type of marketing effort. i.e., Email, Google PPC, Facebook PPC, Online Content Ads, Print Ads, Direct Mail, etc.
3. CAC by Campaign: This is the specific cost of new customers per individual marketing campaign, advertisement, email drop, etc.

The Historical CAC is the golden rule that business strategy, profitability, scalability analysis, and new marketing efforts should be tied to. CAC by Campaign Type allows business decisions to be made on the effectiveness of different media types and helps in determining budget allocation to the respective mediums. The CAC by Campaign is the steering wheel and throttle on individual efforts and can be used in marketing testing matrixes. Please understand that Customer Acquisition Cost does not replace other metrics like cost per click (CPC), click-through rates (CTR), open rates, bounce rates, conversion rates, and other levers that drive the cost, velocity, and response of campaigns. Customer Acquisition Cost is the business benchmark of success for all new customer marketing efforts and is effectively used in determining growth trajectory, acceptable risk patters, and new business development concepts.

The Ugly Revealed?

Oh snap! You started analyzing a recent campaign and just realized that it cost you $50 to meet Angela and she purchased one $50 designer widget which you only make $25 of profit on. Simmer down, you may not have lost $25. There is a saving grace for out-of-balance Customer Acquisition Cost. Thank goodness for the Lifetime Value of a Customer.

Remember, you are the amazing business owner who tracks the source of each new customer, sends them referral invitation offers in your email newsletters, sends out thank you notes for new customers with coupons included, right? Let’s stalk Angela a little in this timeline to see a possible outcome:

• Angela responds to marketing offer (-$50 running total)
• Buys $50 designer widget for $25 profit (-$25 running total)
• 2 weeks later returns with her $5 coupon you sent and buys a $30 widget you net $10 profit (-$15 running total)
• 1 month later returns to get a $30 gift for her mother and you make $15 profit (BREAK EVEN)

Whew, you didn’t loose a dime.  You did gain a new customer, produced $110 of cash flow, and moved 3 inventory items. But wait… there’s more:

• Angela sends in Jennifer with a $10 referral coupon to buy a $50 designer widget for $15 profit ($15 running total)
• Angela returns with her $10 coupon she received for sending in Jennifer and buys another $50 widget for $15 profit ($30 running total)
• Angela gets a thank you note for sending in Jennifer w/ a $5 coupon. Buys a $20 widget. You make $5 ($35 running total)
• …you get the idea.

Did you also notice that Jennifer was a referred customer that you didn’t have to spend marketing dollars to acquire? Angela cost you $50 to acquire but if Jennifer and Angela were your only two customers your Customer Acquisition Cost would be $25 per customer. That is Lifetime Value of a Customer and the Power of Referrals working together to save your butt on an out of balance Customer Acquisition Cost.

I hope this post helps you on your way to predicting cost and outcomes of your new customer marketing efforts while protecting your risk. If this blog post was a complete waste of your time I have a free gift for you: Please enjoy this adorable kitten video.

Since 2008 I have been fulfilling my dream of returning to my entrepreneurial roots after spending nearly a decade behind an executive desk. One of the core desires of this dream was to have the ability to work from anywhere to enable more time with my family and increased flexibility for travel.

I am now living that dream. Through the use of some amazing tools I find myself spending less than 5% of my time meeting with clients in person. Most of my larger projects have been referred through Twitter relationships. Many times projects are delivered and invoices are paid before I even have the opportunity of meeting these “virtual” clients in person. Some I have never met but we communicate on a consistent basis, many times face-to-face.

Here are the Top 10 tools that I use
on a regular basis in my virtual endeavors.

1. Google Apps

No, this is not Gmail. It’s Gmail on steroids using your personal domain with many other perks and collaboration tools. For years I have managed Microsoft Exchange servers and maintained my own email accounts to achieve synchronized bliss between Outlook, smart-phones, and web based clients. I am now free, minus the $50 per year per user for a 25GB mailbox. I use the Premier Edition and manage email for all of my domains in one easy and reliable platform.

2. DropBox

My good friend Sweetie Berry introduced me to DropBox. It changed my digital life. I currently run two desktops, a PC laptop, a MacBook Pro and my iPhone. DropBox provides seamless file syncing across all of my computers without any effort on my end. It’s the easiest file sharing, online syncing, live backup, cross-platform transferring service that I have ever experienced. The first 2GB of storage is FREE and through inviting friends to the party you can get up to 8GB without upgrading to a paid service. It is a standard install for any client that I work with to allow easy and secure file-sharing. It’s a must-have.

3. Evernote

I believe it was Chris Brogan that first introduced me to Evernote. Evernote is like DropBox for every thought, note, screen capture, client note, blog post idea, picture, or video that you have. It seamlessly synchronizes through all my devices and has great sorting and searching capability. It is my brain dump receptacle.

4. Skype

If you are not on Skype, just do it. Sign up, start chatting, save on minutes, collaborate more effectively through video calls and screen sharing. It’s 2010… you’re not on Skype?

5. RackSpace Cloud Servers

Once you have lived in a cloud nothing else compares. I exclusively host all of my websites and my client websites on RackSpace’s Cloud Servers. I can launch a new server with a new IP address using one of my pre-built installs literally in minutes. I can even provision and launch a server from my iPhone. I work with personality driven brands and organizations that many times experience traffic spikes through TV and radio appearances. The “cloud” has taken hits for the team on many occasions and just delivers. Configuration is not for the faint at heart but the payoff is worth it.

6. GoDaddy

It is hard to beat the value and simplicity of GoDaddy’s domain management (if you can look past the endless upsells). I can always find a coupon, strike a deal, and quickly buy a domain name without hassle. Hosting on GoDaddy? Sorry… no thank you. Most of my projects involve large Drupal or WordPress installs. GoDaddy hosting + any platform with significant database traffic to MySQL = PAIN. Take another look at RackSpace for that.

7. Verizon MiFi

Simply one of the best investments I have ever made. This is my mobile WiFi hotspot. I can have up to five computers using 3G high-speed (most of the time) access almost anywhere I go. This includes iPods and iPads. This little card has saved my you-know-what many times. Comcast should be paying my MiFi bill considering how many times this gem has covered for their frequent outages.

8. TweetDeck

I use TweetDeck as my social media console managing my Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare, and Google Buzz profiles. It is free but I would pay for it if I had to. In my world it is essential.

9. Power Inverter

Electricity is the Achilles’ heel of the virtual work life. For less than $50 you can run your laptop and just about any other AC powered device in your car. I have knocked out many projects on road trips sitting in the passenger seat with my laptop charging and my Verizon MiFi providing internet access. It’s worth it!

10. iPhone

I am a Mac and a PC. I’m not a brand-snob (except for Starbucks) but my iPhone has been good to me. It works for me. It works well with everything listed above but it’s particularly fond of #9.

Did I miss it?

Is there an amazing tool, gadget, service, or utility that I skipped? Please let me know. I love what I do and the tools that enable my world but I am sure there are cooler things out there than I missed. Please help tame the Lyons Den.

Oh, one more thing. A few of the items above have affiliate links attached to them but that is not my motivation in listing them.

On Tuesday, June 8, 2010 Mashable in partnership with CNN and in celebration of Internet Week New York held Mashable Media Summit 2010. I was unable to attend in person but enjoyed a full day of amazing content through Mashable’s generous live stream of the Summit on Livestream. Watching the stream was a treat but engaging with the 1,000+ other viewers on Twitter was like a full scale dessert bar.

As a community builder I enjoy observing and participating in online communities, events, and deconstructing the residual data they create to better understand the chemistry that makes them thrive.  Mashable Media Summit 2010 provided great content from an impressive speaker line up and with the 3,038 tweets of the designated hashtag (#MashableSummit) by 1,181 Twitter users it was a data honey pot to sample. Here are some of my observations and a few data-points that I discovered.

Edit: The tweets were compiled using various external and internal services utilizing Twitter’s Search API, Streaming API, and Twitter’s RSS feed. Tweets were aggregated and de-duped. I have found tweet collection from Twitter NOT to be a perfect science. There may be holes in the data but based on the timestamps the compiled data stream appeared contiguous.

Community Building through Targeted Connections

I enjoy community building and I am passionate about connecting people of like minds. If we have run in to each other on different Twitter chats like #BlogChat or #BrandChat, you are familiar with the participant lists that I compile and provide to the community. These are simply lists of Twitter users that you can follow with a single click. Why? In short I do this to connect people and fuel the momentum of the chats or events. Here are a couple of key Twitter follow lists for you:

• Mashable Media Summit 2010 Speakers List
  The Summit speakers. If I missed any please let me know.
• TOP 250 Tweeters of the #MashableSummit HashTag
  If you are just getting started in social media and want to surround yourself with passionate people who are skilled enthusiast, start here!

Every event has their superstar Twitter tweeters that produce the most tweets and set the pace of the flow of information. Here are the TOP 10 Tweeters of #MashableSummit.

Top 10 Tweeters

• @josephcolon (48 Tweets)
• @jacobLpeck (46 Tweets)
• @MrShri (43 Tweets)
• @LoriMoreno (35 Tweets)
• @topbananas (34 Tweets)
• @ckieff (32 Tweets)
• @PubliGestion (31 Tweets)
• @rae4sunshine (28 Tweets)
• @skiergrrl (28 Tweets)
• @davekerpen (26 Tweets)
  

HashTag Rate – Valid or Novel?

Here is a unique look at the rate of tweets that were flowing during each of the agenda items of the Summit. I refer to this as the hashtag rate. This is not contextual but measured in only quantity of tweets that had the #MashableSummit hashtag. The tweets were matched using their time-stamp with the schedule of the Summit. Lower rates could indicate lack of interest of the audience but at the same time could indicate extreme interest of the audience. When measuring sentiment, interest, and response you need layers of perspectives. This is just one but I found it interesting and thought you might as well. You can find the agenda here if you want to match it up.

I hope you enjoyed this somewhat mechanical post. I have no great epiphany or take away to leave you with except to encourage you to do a little data digging for yourself. Data by itself is just data but when mined you can find a few treasures. In closing here are a few more data nuggets for you:

The top 5 tweeted links during the Summit:

• Foursquare Now Experimenting with Badge Rewards
  by Jennifer Van Grove
• CNN.com Launches New Technology Section at Mashable Media Summit
  by Adam Ostrow
• Yahoo’s Social Media Science Experiments [VIDEO]
  by Christina Warren
• YouTube: ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE (cover) for Global Fund AIDS in Africa
• YouTube: CollegeHumor Originals: Font Conference

Top 5 Hashtags mentioned with #MashableSummit

• #iwny (219)
• #socialmedia (34)
• #cnn (26)
• #marketing (19)
• #foursquare (16)

The top 12 Keywords (non-hashtag):

Unless you are living under a rock (or on top of one far away from a coastline) you are probably aware that Hurricane season begins on June 1^st. In a perfect world anyone living within a region that is threatened by hurricanes would take the week before the start of hurricane season to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. This customary week has been sanctioned “Hurricane Preparedness Week” by NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). NOAA’s goal for Hurricane Preparedness Week is to inform the public about the hurricane hazards and provide knowledge which can be used to take ACTION. NOAA instructs that you should be able to answer the following questions BEFORE a hurricane threatens:

• What are the Hurricane Hazards?
• What does it mean to you?
• What actions should you take to be prepared?

If you live in an area that is susceptible to hurricanes I encourage you to read NOAA’s Hurricane Basics website, educate yourself and have a plan.

Surrounding Memorial Day weekend in Florida it is customary to see the meteorologists of each major television network produce and air hurricane preparedness programs. I was honored to be contacted by Megan Hatton, Weather Producer and Meteorologist with Storm Team 8 (WFLA – Tampa’s NBC affiliate), to discuss tips for using social media during the hurricane season for their hour long special “Hurricane Season 2010: Get Ready” that is airing Saturday, May 29^th at 7PM EST on WFLA. Here are some of the things I shared.

During the Hawaii Tsunami people were using social media tools like Twitter, UStream, Facebook and YouTube as sources of news and two way communication tools to keep in touch with family and friends around the world. John Garcua (@JohnGarcia) and Kaeo Kepani (@kaeok) built a website in the early hours of the events as a gathering place for information called http://hitsunami.info/ which was named after the Twitter hashtag, #hitsunami. This website was an open communication stream and alternative news source for government agencies, emergency response teams, news outlets, and the world in real time.

Twitter hashtags are created to assemble related information from a variety of authors and can portray an accurate account of real time events. The hashtag #hitsumani was quickly created, spread throughout Twitter, and was one of the top Twitter Trends within hours. Every minute, hundreds of people “tweeted” from all over the world, covering every aspect of the Chile Tsunami that expected to strike the Hawaiian Islands. This is just one of many examples of the benefits of using social media during natural disasters.

John and Kaeo’s example of using social media may seem overwhelming to the average non-geek Joe whose furthest social media expedition is being tagged in an awkward childhood picture by his mom on Facebook. Here are some practical tips on how you can use social media during a hurricane regardless of your technical abilities.

Electricity: The Achilles’ heel of social media

• Keep your cell phone and laptop batteries fully charged.
• If possible buy back up batteries and keep them charged.
• Buy a car charger for each type of phone you own.
• Invest in a power inverter for your car. This will provide AC power to charge laptops and to use with small electronics. I use mine on a regular basis.
• Be efficient with battery use during a power outage. Refrain from YouTube video marathons on your iPhone during the hurricane party.  Research the best practices for optimal power consumption for each of your mobile devices. On iPhones, for example, disable push messages, disable WiFi, and disable G3 network access unless you need it. You can still make calls, text message, receive emails and surf the web on the slower but much less power hungry EDGE network on AT&T.

Platforms: A core part of your survival strategy

Laced through the heart of NOAA’s hurricane preparedness is having a plan. This includes how to stay in touch with family and friends and established gathering locations. The same holds true for social media. A significant benefit to using social media is the one-to-many principle. Basic phone calls and text messaging are one-to-one conversations. In natural disasters the ability to send a single update via the internet or SMS text messaging to a website that is hosted out of your area that the world can see is powerful.

If I personally go through a hurricane this season my family and friends can expect to receive updates on my Twitter (public) accounts, on Facebook (private to my friends), Flickr pictures, possible YouTube (public) videos, my blogs (public), and if I feel adventurous and have not lost power I may stream live video on a UStream channel. I will also be using Foursquare (semi-private) to check in to locations as I travel around. I mention the “public”, “private”, and “semi-private” tags to remind you to be aware of your audience. Unless it was an emergency I would not openly post an invite on Twitter to my private hurricane party. You never know who may show up. I’d save that for Facebook (be sure to friend me first). Let’s take a brief look at how you could use some of these platforms:

Facebook and Twitter

• Discover related Twitter hashtags being used for the hurricane and follow them using Twitter search (http://search.twitter.com) or Tweetdeck.
• Follow other Twitter users that are reporting on the storm or live within your area again using Twitter search for both location and keyword options.
• Tweet and post status updates about the resources that you are using to track the storm including websites and other user’s content.
• Tweet and post status updates about your first hand experience throughout the storm. Don’t forget to use the discovered hashtags.
• Post pictures and videos of storm related items using the hashtags. Consider using Flickr and YouTube for this as well.
• AFTER you call emergencies in to 911 and assist if possible, post alerts of emergencies or people in need.
• Post reports of damage and affects of the storm.
• Post an all clear for your family and friends to know you are ok.

Foursquare, Gowalla and Brightkite (GPS – Location based social media platforms)

• Check-in to hardware stores, grocery stores, and gas stations as you prepare for the storm and report tips on availability of supplies and fuel, warn of price gouging, recommend products.
• Determine a meeting place for family and friends to gather. As you arrive check-in and you will create a record of your location and a virtual roll-call.
• Use the GPS tools to find locations if they are not recognizable due to storm damage. Check-in to these locations and report your findings.

Plan, Educate, and Practice: There is a reason we did fire drills in school!

• Signup for your accounts TODAY! Even if you are not planning to ever be on Twitter, YouTube or (cringe) Facebook the accounts are free and you don’t have to use them until you want or need to. Get this out of the way while the skies are clear.
• Create a list of “locations” that your family and friends can receive updates on you and distribute them. This would include your Twitter account (i.e., http://Twitter.com/KevinLyons), YouTube user name, Flickr account name, invite them to be friends on Facebook, and if adventurous your UStream channel URL.
• Become familiar with the platforms by posting a couple of test updates to each of the platforms. If you need help check out YouTube. You can find tutorials on just about anything there.
• Research how to post updates to via SMS text messaging in the event that you lose internet access. SMS is a very resilient network and could be available to use even if voice cell service is out. Most social media platforms have the ability to receive and send updates via text messaging including Twitter, Facebook, and Foursquare.

I hope this helps you start to think of ways you can incorporate social media in to your hurricane or natural disaster plans. Please let me know your thoughts and anything that I may have missed. Remember, your personal safety is the number one priority during a natural disaster or storm.

Just as trees falling in the woods with no one around to hear there are millions of Foursquare check-ins that no one is listening to. In an economy where brands have to get scrappy to preserve brand loyalty and nurture the lifetime value of a customer there sure is a lot of low-hanging fruit left on the trees.

Here are three personal examples for observation:

Hilton Bonnet Creek

Business was calling from Orlando and I love getting great deals on travel through Priceline. A spin of the big bidding wheel and I came up with a great rate on a resort property that we haven’t visited before, Hilton Bonnet Creek. In normal fashion after I checked-in at the front desk I also checked-in on Foursquare. I intentionally allowed Foursquare to update my Twitter account of my check-in to see if anyone was listening.

After a productive and relaxing stay (checking in daily on Foursquare hoping to oust the transient hotel Mayor) I checked out on March 200th. To my delight on March 23rd Bonnet Creek was following me on Twitter and sent me a simple message “@KevinLyons Hope you had a good weekend @BonnetCreek!” That was pretty much the end of the conversation but it was memorable. Beyond memorable it invoked a perception of an open communication channel, or back-channel, that I will use to assist in planning my next stay. Yes, I will be back.

The Bonnet Creek Twitter account seems pretty active with the creation of memorable interactions. They may not have completely figured out this social media landscape (who has) but they are in the game, listening, and engaging.  Well done!

Smokey Bones Bar & Fire Grill

In early April while driving home from a great family photo shoot with Jheri Badenhorst I was craving a really good burger. Knowing Smokey Bones Bar & Fire Grill had great BBQ I could only assume their burgers followed suit.  I checked in on April 3rd allowing an auto-post to Twitter and I left a “tip” on the Foursquare venue page touting their great burgers. Three opportunity “baits” to see if they anyone was listening.

Yes! On April 5th @SmokeyBonesBar started following me on Twitter. Impressed that they were listening I started to get concerned when they didn’t speak. Then, on April 20th they broke up with me. I was un-followed. Was it something that I didn’t say? I took a look at their Twitter feed and they were talking to other people but it seemed like they were only doing so after they were being addressed with a compliment or question. I did notice that I had inadvertently not followed them back when they followed me. Could this be the reason for the un-follow?  I started following them on that same day. I still follow SmokeyBonesBar but that is about where the relationship stays.

There are no official rules in this land of social media but I believe businesses do need to be cognizant of the affect of their messaging and actions to the sentiment of their customers. I don’t think Smokey Bones is failing in all of their social media efforts, they are in the game, but there are always opportunities to improve. I will be back to Smokey Bones as I can’t resist their homemade donuts. Maybe someday I will be cool enough to be in their Twitter club too.

Gaylord Palms Resort

In April, Thom Scott’s Extreme Business Makeover event with Bob Burg, Zig Ziglar, Trey Pennington and others came to Orlando. I was looking forward to catching up with some of the amazing #XBM cast of characters and the dates coincided with my oldest daughter’s 13th birthday celebration. We took another spin on the Priceline wheel of bids and came up with a great price at one of our favorite Orlando properties, the Gaylord Palms Resort. Upon check-in I again checked in on Foursquare with the auto-post to Twitter. I also checked-in on Foursquare to some of the restaurants within the resort. I even held the title of Mayor for a few hours. We had a wonderful stay and their customer service was over the top.

I have followed their Twitter account (@GaylordPalms) for some time now and they also follow me back. You would almost say this was not our first date. Surely this amazing Gaylord property is monitoring and listening to social media, right? Unfortunately, they don’t appear to be. They are in the game with posting tweets on specials, welcoming large groups, and thanking people for reviews and compliments. There is a huge opportunity for them to take it to the next level.

During this trip I also checked-in on Foursquare to the Caribe Royale Hotel and Convention Center for the Extreme Business Makeover’s tweet-up. I did monitor that Caribe Royale engaged with other event attendees on their Twitter account (@The_Caribe) but I didn’t hear from them. Criminal? No, not really.

I post these as my simple observations from the perspective of a consumer, a business, and a social media evangelist.

As a consumer: I am delighted to be found and acknowledged but I am slightly confused where to go from here. I need the brands to lead me.

As a business: We have a promising outlook. Brands are testing the waters of social media but still have commitment issues. Many of these issues can be overcome through shared knowledge and experience.

As a social media evangelist: Many have not heard of the fruit that is ready for harvest. Very few have truly tasted.

Have you been the “target” of social media monitoring? What were some of your experiences?

It’s time to stop considering using the Internet to grow your business and start implementing. Businesses delay embracing ecommerce, online marketing, and social media due to lack of knowledge and overwhelming streams of information with no clear starting point. Here are 13 ways you can grow your business on the Internet starting with the basics.

The Online Basics:

1. Secure your domain name.
   Register your domain name (i.e., MyBusiness.com). This is less than a $15 investment each year and it fundamental to engaging in business online. While you are at it grab your personal name, your kid’s names, etc. There is a little “gold rush” momentum around domain names so the quicker you grab yours the better.
2. Email Branding
   Start using your own domain name as your email address (i.e., Name@MyBusiness.com). It is nice that Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail and other platforms give you free email addresses but you also are giving them free promotion.
3. Website?
   It’s 2010. The general public has a collective expectation that your business should be found online. If you do not have a website it’s time. It’s past time. If necessary, grab a template from your domain name hosting provider like GoDaddy and get a basics website online today. Please don’t stop there. Find an expert and have a professionally designed website built for your business to maximize exposure, SEO (search engine optimization), and usability on the internet.

Start Smart Marketing:

1. Begin collecting email addresses from customers:
   If you have not started this practice, START TODAY! Emails are a great way, if used responsibly; to keep your customers informed of events, specials, and other related announcements. Put a few signs up in your business telling your customers of specials that are announced only in your emails. Have an email signup form added to your website. Each time you talk with a customer on the phone ask them if they would like to receive specials and announcements via email and add them to your list. Again, use responsibly.
2. Create and send a weekly email newsletter:
   Start a weekly email newsletter as soon as possible. Even if you only have 25-50 email addresses the benefits are great. Consistent clear communication with your customers builds their expectation for more communication and interaction with you. For newsletter content try a welcome paragraph, location information, open and close times, specials, new product features, introductions to products and services, links to your website, and links to social media outposts like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Use a email service provider like MailChimp or Constant Contact for easy management and professionally designed templates. You can find links on my blog.

Get Social and Interact:

1. Connect with like minds on LinkedIn:
   Think of LinkedIn (http://LinkedIn.com) as your online Rolodex on steroids. This is a very underutilized free tool. Some perceive that LinkedIn is simply an online resume or CV repository and over look the hidden treasures here. Once you post your personal resume, accolades, and business information use the import tool to connect with your customers and vendors. Find new customers and deepen your existing relationships through participation in the discussion forums and by answering questions in your area of expertise. Use the provided widgets to link your Twitter feed and blog posts to display on your account. Don’t underestimate the value of relationships built here.
2. Sign up for a personal Facebook account:
   It’s free and will serve as an effective gateway in to social media. Use it to keep in touch with your family, friends, and meet some new friends. A personal Facebook account also makes it easy to set up a Fan Page for your business.
3. Set up a Facebook Fan Page for your Business:
   Fan pages on Facebook provide you and your business a free and easy to use platform to engage in online conversations with your customers and prospects. You will be surprised how many of your customers you will find your Fan Page on Facebook. Your customers and friends can choose to “like” your Fan Page which will then notify them of updates that you make there. This is a great place to offer discounts and coupons to show your customers love. Share photos, videos, and even random thoughts related to your business to allow customers to see the human-side of your operation. You can even announce events and manage RSVP’s there too.
4. Sign up for Twitter and start “tweeting”:
   Twitter is a free micro-blogging community where you communicate with your followers in statements limited to 140 character in length. You can follow other Twitter uses and they also follow you back. Twitter is a fast moving interactive platform that is highly effective in communicating with customers and friends along with finding new ones too. You may want to sign up for two accounts. One for your personal name and another one for your business or brand. Search YouTube.com for “Twitter in Plain English” for a primer on Twitter.
5. Find Twitter users to follow and engage with Twitter search:
   Twitter search (http://search.twitter.com) is a powerful tool in finding friends and potential customers. For a real treat click on “Advanced Search” and start mining the gold. I just did a search for people who tweeted (talked about) “sushi” within a 15 mile radius of Tampa and found 45 Tweeters (people) who have tweeted about it within the last 24 hours. If I was a sushi restaurant I would follow these people and maybe offer them a discount for stopping by.
6. Passionate about your business? Blog about it!
   A blog is simply an online journal of thoughts and information but do not underestimate the power of a well written one. Many businesses have replaced the home page of their websites with a blog. Blogs help build interactive, engaging and deep customer relationships through telling the story behind you, your business and customers.
7. Set up your business as a venue on Foursquare:
   Foursquare is a brilliant online GPS oriented game that can bring customers to your door. Head over to Foursquare.com set up a free account and search for your business. If you are not in the database you can add your business as a venue. You do not need to have a GPS enabled phone like an iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, or Palm to join… but you will miss out by not being a player. Once you are set up as a venue you can offer your customers and potential customers specials and deals when they check in on Foursquare while visiting your business in person. When someone check-in more than twice at your business they will become the “Mayor” until someone else visits more and ousts them. Cater to your “Mayor” with gifts and specials to keep them coming back.
8. Tell your story on YouTube:
   Many people do not realize that YouTube is the second largest search engine right behind Google and surpassing Yahoo. Behind the scenes videos of you and your business along with customer testimonials are extremely effective in building trust and loyalty with your customers and prospects. You can set up a YouTube “channel” for your business for free. A channel can be themed to look like an outpost to your website by adding your business’s logo and information. Don’t forget to embed those videos on your website, blog and Facebook pages.

Rome was not built in a day, nor was Amazon.com. It takes time to grow your business on the Internet but each day that you wait to get started will delay your harvest. Plant some seeds today!

Foursquare is a free location based social network and online game that uses mobile phones to allow you to “check in” to locations around the world. You can allow friends in your Foursquare social network to be notified of the locations you check in to as well as see where they have visited. As you travel across town or around the world the game aspect of Foursquare rewards you with points, badges, and some friendly competition between you and your friends. You can become the Mayor of any location you visit or oust the seated Mayor of that location.

To jump in to the game sign up at http://FourSquare.com and download the application for your iPhone, Blackberry, Android or Palm Pre. If your phone is not on the list you can use Foursquare’s mobile website or even SMS text messaging to play.

5 Steps to Bring Foursquare Customers in to Your Business.

Setting up your business as a venue on Foursquare is free. Using Foursquare as part of your online marketing strategy is brilliant… not to mention actionable, measurable, and repeatable. Here’s how to get started.

1. Visit http://foursquare.com/businesses to register your business as a venue.
2. Prepare specials for people who “check-in” to your location on Foursquare. Be generous. Initially focus on check-in specials (discount or free item when arriving), frequency-based specials (check-in a certain number of times and get a deeper discount), and Mayor specials (treat them like royalty).
3. Promote your specials in-store, on your website, in your newsletters and include them in all advertising. There are thousands of Foursquare users in Tampa Bay that are looking for Foursquare friendly businesses.
4. Monitor your venue’s stats on Foursquare’s website to discover who checks in the most often, the most recent, how many unique visitors, and more. Keep an eye out for these customers and take care of them.

Create customer loyalty by thanking people who checked-in to your location on Facebook and Twitter. You can see a list of users who checked-in at your location on you Foursquare venue page in the “Who’s been here” section. Click on each visitor and look for links to their Twitter feed and Facebook profiles. Follow and friend these users, thank them for visiting, and start a conversation. This is an opportunity to engage. Don’t blow it by trying to sell them anything. Think of this as your second date.

Here are 5 simple and effective tips for developing a rich social media experience for you and your business.

1. Post at least one comment per day to your micro-blog sites like Twitter, Facebook, your Facebook Fan Page, etc.
2. If you are blogging write out an editorial calendar of what subjects you will be blogging and schedule when they will post. Try to have a couple of articles completed ahead of time so you can post consistently if life interrupts your writing.
3. Do not let questions go unanswered. If someone engages with you in online conversation be sure to reply to them in a timely fashion. Social media is an interaction platform. Be sure to engage in conversations especially when they are directed at you.
4. Keep things real and be nice. Transparency is a key value to interacting on social media networks. Remember that you are talking to real people and someday you may meet them in person. Be yourself and follow the golden rule.
5. Extend your network and expand your knowledge. Find blogs, Twitter users, and Facebook Fan Pages that share like interest with you. Read, follow, and “like” them but don’t stop there. Participate in their conversations. Be helpful. Ask questions. Add value.

I love all aspect of events including concept development, community building, marketing, monetizing, praying for butts-in-seats, production, and sometimes it’s great just being an attendee.  Making events social media friendly adds a new depth of experience for attendees, naturally develops a community environment. Attending an event without a hashtag associated with it after experiencing this new dimension is like watching black and white TV on a tube with no remote. I’m spoiled on HD.

Why is this social media integrated event experience generally only found at the new media and technology world of events like BarCamps, PodCamps, Tweetups, PubCon, IZEAfest, Blog World, etc.?  Is it not for everyone? It may not be. Some events may not be able to withstand the scrutiny of a live audience with a participating voice. Think infomercial. There are other organizations that are not ready to pass through the veil of accountability and interact with their audience outside of their customer service department. Is this fear of exposure? Fear of accountability?  Probably both.  I will post more on this later.

So, for those event organizers who are ready to develop deeper, transparent, and authentic relationships with their attendees here are some keys that I believe are necessary.

1. Foster online conversations between attendees, prospective attendees, and sponsors before the event starts.
2. Set and announce an official #hashtag to use on Twitter for the event. Include the hashtag in the promotional materials and all event communications.
3. Provide reliable and free WiFi internet access. It’s a must have! Just by promoting that free WiFi will be available could drive additional attendance.
4. Power outlets and extension cords. Have a concierge attitude. A perfect world would include an outlet for every seat. I have been to two events this year that mastered this.
5. Tables and chairs.  Comfortable attendees are happy attendees.
6. Provide an easy-to-find and informative list of “What to Bring” to the event. Make sure this list includes “your laptop” and that free WiFi will be provided.
7. Have your MC invite the attendees to blog and tweet about the event and that they are welcome to do so during the event. Make this announcement from stage and share the Twitter hashtag.
8. When announcing each speaker announce their Twitter @profile name and display it on projection screens.
9. At the event have a projector screen dedicated to displaying a live Twitter feed of the event hashtag.

Here are a few extras:

1. Promote a few informal Tweetups surrounding the event.
2. Provide speakers’ Twitter @profile names on all promotional materials.
3. Provide a blog-roll and Twitter @profile list of all sponsors, speakers, and attendees.
4. Stream a live video feed and chat room for the event.
5. Take live questions from Twitter for Q&A sessions.
6. Twitter games (These could be interesting):
   1. Twitter Trivia: MC presents a question. First audience member that Tweets correct answer along with the event hashtag wins.
   2. Twitter Race: MC picks 5 Twitter @profiles who have been using the hashtag and Tweets them live from stage. The first one to reach the stage wins.
   3. Twitter Meet: MC picks 4 Twitter @profiles who have been using the hashtag and Tweets them live from stage. The first two that reach each other both win.

What do you think? What are some of the social media friendly events that you have attended?  What non-friendly events have you attended that missed a great opportunity?