Blue Helm

Since I co-founded Blue Helm almost eighteen months ago I’ve been preaching the importance of social networking for business professionals. In uncertain economic times like these, it’s imperative to take advantage of each effective networking tool available, even if you already have a job. Case in point:

Until a couple of months ago my father worked as Director of Compensation at a large hospital in Florida. When he discovered LinkedIn over a year ago, he recognized the potential it had to help him network with other business professionals, even though he already had a secure job. He created a LinkedIn profile and began connecting with dozens of people. He joined LinkedIn groups that brought others from his profession together. He took a few minutes each day to grow his online network, never allowing his profile to lie dormant. He made sure his resume on LinkedIn was current, professional and creative. He used language in his profile that detailed specific talents he possesses and professional victories he’s achieved, avoiding generic or clichéd terms. For example, under his “Specialties” category on LinkedIn, he wrote:

“Compensation structure and design, competitive pricing analyses, HCROI and HVCA human capital metric to strategy analysis, executive compensation and long-term incentive plan design, annual salary and bonus planning process, performance appraisal process, M&A workforce integration, compensation statistical analysis, benefit plan design, funding arrangements, contribution methodologies, cost containment strategies, 401(k), 403(b), and 457(b).”

Now I don’t know what the heck any of that means, but the executives at a large railroad holding company in Florida did, and they were impressed. A recruiter, looking for an expert in Compensation, stumbled upon my father’s LinkedIn profile and introduced him to folks at this railroad company. They offered him a higher-paying job as their new Director of Compensation, which he just accepted. It was an unexpected blessing for our family.

All thanks to social networking. The moral of the story is that it’s silly not to take advantage of tools like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter or blogging, especially to build your brand as an individual or business. But you can’t just use them, you must use them well. Create online profiles that are detailed, charismatic and that accurately portray your professional skills. Like a good resume, it should stand out and be accurate. Even if you currently have a job, you should be growing your social networks.

As our friend Whitney Young said, “It is better to be prepared for an opportunity and not have one than to have an opportunity and not be prepared.”

I’m sure by now you’ve either seen or heard of the BYU “New Spice” video. If you haven’t, here it is:

When I first saw this video it had only 350 views. 12 hours later there were over 350,000 views. Within a few days the video had been viewed over a million times and is now at about 1.9 million.  Not only have millions of people viewed the video, but it was covered on CNN, Time Magazine, in all of the local Utah media, huge blogs, and even the Huffington Post. Great PR.

The question is, why? Why did this video go viral? Why does any video go viral?

Timing – The BYU Harold B. Lee Library couldn’t have posted this video at a better time. Old Spice was right in the middle of its big YouTube campaign and millions of people were already searching for things that would pull up the BYU video.

Quality – Obviously the quality of this video was very high. If this had just been a home movie it probably would not have had the same impact. You can see the effort and professionalism put into it by watching the video’s Behind the Scenes update. The quality is what really galvanized not only BYU students, but other audiences as well. Mainstream media outlets and websites saw the video as more legitimate due to its high production value, thus increasing its viral spread.

BYU Audience – The BYU audience is pretty big. There are around 32,000 students and millions of alumni. These dedicated BYU fans pounced on the video, posting it on their Facebook Walls, Twitter feeds and blogs without hesitation.

So what can we take away from this? First, be aware of what’s happening in the social media world. If you’re on top of things you may be able to capitalize on the latest fad. Second, people appreciate quality. YouTube viewers are so used to seeing poorly executed knock-offs that when they see something of true quality they’re more likely to share it. Third, even if you’ve created an awesome piece of content, it will still need a boost. That boost can come from an existing base of people or even from using the powerful YouTube promoted videos feature. Lastly, you’ll need a little luck.

What are your thoughts on what makes a video viral?

Before announcing new privacy changes, Facebook and the Death Star were synonymous.

After weeks of intense criticism and controversy, Evil Emperor Zuckerberg over at Facebook Corp. forsook the Dark Side (for now) and announced new and improved privacy settings that should arrive at our virtual doorsteps soon. Tech blogger Harry McCracken helps us by summarizing what exactly will change:

• Rather than having to wade through gazillions of granular settings, it’ll be easy to tell Facebook you want anything you post to be visible to friends only, friends of friends, or everybody. These rules will apply to future Facebook functionality that doesn’t exist yet.
• You’ll be able to make your Friends and Pages lists completely private.
• It’ll be easier to block apps on Facebook from getting at your information.
• It’ll be easier to block external sites such as Pandora which use Facebook’s new “Instant Personalization” from getting at your information. (Currently there’s no single place to go to do this, nor any way to block all sites with one click.)
• If users find these changes satisfactory, Facebook intends to avoid major changes to privacy policies “for a long time.”

So there you have it. I wholeheartedly support the new privacy settings, and I hope The Zuckster learned a valuable lesson from all this. He created Facebook to be a simple, intimate way for friends to share information. It’s grown into a ravenous information-hungry ogre. Bring the site back to its roots! Remember when U2 made that weird Pop album in the late 90s and everyone was like, Um, what band is this? Then U2 retraced its steps and released All That You Can’t Leave Behind, returning to the music that defined them as one of the greatest bands in history.

Yet again, Bono comes through with life-changing lessons.

Have you ever heard of National History Day? It turns out there is a pretty cool organization that encourages children to take more interest in “the discovery of the historic, cultural and social experiences of the past.” Classrooms across the nation participate in a contest that encourages students to submit a presentation on a topic of historical significance. Think of it as a science fair for history.

My 12-year-old sister participated in this year’s National History Day contest. Her project won first place in her region! Unfortunately, she was sick the weekend of the state competition and wasn’t able to go. Otherwise she probably would have won at the state level (there’s no bias in that statement at all). The topic of her project is “Getting Information to the People: From Gutenberg to Twitter”, a topic that is extremely relevant and very interesting. The best part is that there is an interview at the end with a very attractive young man (that would be me for any who are confused). So without further ado, here is her final project. Enjoy:

I was a pretty quiet kid, at least in public. At home I would let loose and be my loud, outgoing, and sometimes annoying self. At school I had a close knit group of friends and I kept pretty much to myself outside of that group. Most people liked me and never gave me much grief outside of the occasional jab at my last name, which I didn’t mind. But then came the sixth grade, and I was faced with my first bully.

His name was John and he sat in front of me on the bus. He wasn’t a very big guy, but he had a very bad attitude. At some point during the year he decided to start picking on me. He would turn around and say mean things to me and make fun of me. At first I just ignored him. After all, why should I dignify his stupidity with a response? Ignoring John just made things worse as he graduated from verbal to physical annoyance. One day he decided he needed to lightly slap the side of my head a few times to get a reaction out of me. His weak slaps only hurt my pride. Unfortunately his ploy worked. As I got off the bus I walked past his seat and slapped him in the back of the head. I was safe at the time because if he chased me off the bus the driver would have stopped him. As the bus pulled away I looked up at his window and saw him staring at me full of rage.

The next day on the way to school John told me he wanted to meet at a certain location during recess. The rest of the day leading up to recess I was pretty nervous. I told my predicament to a few of my friends and my larger friend told me not to worry. I was still worried, but had a little more confidence.

The designated hour came and I met with my foe at the chosen location, my friends in tow. He didn’t have any friends with him, but that didn’t stop him. He mouthed off to me. My buddy whispered in my ear to go and push him. I was hesitant but I stepped up and pushed him pretty hard. John rushed at me, but my friend stepped in front of me just before John got to me. John looked at my formidable friend and took a step back. My friend then said “I don’t want you messing with Chad anymore.” John’s confidence was shot; I could see fear in his eyes. He backed away and I never had problems with him again.

I learned a great lesson that day about networking. When I had a problem with John I had a network of friends willing to help me. I may have been able to handle John on my own, but there was no need. My network was there to help. I learned that a strong network can save you in a pinch.

Business is no different. Your business is going to run into bullies. There will be competitors, customers or just random people that will attack you. Sometimes they will attack you for no apparent reason. Maybe they’re just jealous of your success. So what do you do with a business bully? How do you handle them? Ignoring a bully only works some of the time. Sometimes it makes things worse. What you need to do is proactively build your networks before the bullies show up.

Your business needs to be on Twitter, Facebook or wherever else you can build the strongest network. As you develop strong relationships with your customers, followers or fans, they will step up to the bully and tell them to take a hike. They will defend and build up your business because they are loyal to you.

Stepping into the social media world can be scary. You may have to face some bullies. Don’t let that fear stop you. You will make friends, and your friends are much more powerful than the weak bullies of the world.

What do you think? Have you ever faced a business bully? What happened? I’d love to hear.