What the Music Industry Could Learn From Digital Marketing

According to Nielsen SoundScan’s latest report, more than 70% of the music consumed in the first six months of 2014 in the U.S. was either downloaded or streamed — and streaming services are the only part of the recorded music business that's growing. 

Digital's influence on the music industry has driven consumption and provided immense opportunity for new business, from newer entrants, like Spotify and Pandora, to moves from veteran players, like Apple, Google and Amazon. But these competing services have paved the way for a highly fragmented landscape, and it’s become a maze for artists and labels to understand — and capitalize on — fan behavior.

Like the music industry, brands wrestle with a disjointed digital ecosystem made up of social networks, ad networks and search bars. Consumers have the potential to get lost in the mix for marketers. Fortunately, standardized tracking tools now exist that enable marketers to understand how consumers behave across platforms and devices with increasing accuracy. But, music is a breed of its own — cookie-like tracking tools simply don't exist yet. Artists don’t know their true reach and can't discover comprehensive insights into their listeners, as fans travel from one platform to the next.

Below, we take a look at the modern marketing handbook and see how it works — or doesn't — in music.

Marketing technology. Deeper insight into user behavior is crucial for an industry that bears the brunt of every new disruptive technology. Not too long ago, “Are streams cannibalizing downloads?” was an unanswered question. Traditional marketers implement sophisticated tools to support marketing initiatives at every stage of the funnel. They qualify leads, nurture prospects and maintain relationships with existing customers. There are even solutions to map offline behavior and online activity courtesy of new technology like iBeacon and anonymous data syncing. However, labels and artists struggle to map the lifecycle of a fan labels and artists struggle to map the lifecycle of a fan, determine when a listener first heard a song, who the listener even is, and how to nurture the artist relationship and create a fan for life.

Real-time reporting. Radio is a black hole. Activity on Pandora comprises a huge and growing percentage of listening in the United States, the world’s biggest music market. However, like offline radio, there’s no real-time or detailed tracking of that music consumption. Services like Pandora operate under a statutory license from the U.S. government, and they are only required to provide the number of plays of a certain track on a monthly basis 45 days after the month ends, with no demographic information about the listeners. In contrast, digital marketers are optimizing marketing initiatives, like paid media and site optimization, in real time thanks to mounds of data. Imagine the benefits for artists (and fans, by way of more personalized experiences) to understand who’s listening to what music across which platforms.

Building relationships on social. Marketing’s key theme also applies to the music industry — success is all about having a relationship with the consumer (in this case, the listener). As Taylor Swift pointed out in her recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, artists are starting to get record deals because they have fans (not the other way around). With social platforms like Instagram and Twitter, musicians can take ownership of their relationship with fans and directly learn about their likes, dislikes, favorite songs and and interests. However, artists and labels face the same problems that traditional marketers face with social marketing — what ROI does a like or a follow yield? How many unique fans do I have between my Facebook friends and Twitter followers? The rules of the game can change, and it’s increasingly a pay-to-play dynamic. Exposure and engagement come with a price — just ask the 2015 Super Bowl performers.

Now, more than ever, the missing links that’ll ultimately power the business of the music industry will fall into place with innovation. Every individual stars in their own movie complete with the soundtrack to their life. By leveraging the innovation seen in digital marketing, artists can understand in which scenes their music is featured. (Securing the sync rights for the movie is another story.) 

5 Keys of Dealing with Workplace Conflict

by Mike Myatt

Here’s the thing - leadership and conflict go hand-in-hand. Leadership is a full-contact sport, and if you cannot or will not address conflict in a healthy, productive fashion, you should not be in a leadership role. From my perspective, the issues surrounding conflict resolution can be best summed-up by adhering to the following ethos; ”Don’t fear conflict; embrace it – it’s your job.” While you can try and avoid conflict (bad idea), you cannot escape conflict. The fact of the matter is conflict in the workplace is unavoidable. It will find you whether you look for it (good idea – more later) or not. The ability to recognize conflict, understand the nature of conflict, and to be able to bring swift and just resolution to conflict will serve you well as a leader – the inability to do so may well be your downfall.

How many times over the years have you witnessed otherwise savvy professionals self-destruct because they wouldn’t engage out of a fear of conflict? Putting one’s head in the sand and hoping that conflict will pass you by is not the most effective methodology for problem solving. Conflict rarely resolves itself – in fact, conflict normally escalates if not dealt with proactively and properly. It is not at all uncommon to see what might have been a non-event manifest itself into a monumental problem if not resolved early on.

One of my favorite examples of what I described in the paragraph above is the weak leader who cannot deal with subordinates who use emotional deceit as a weapon of destruction.  Every workplace is plagued with manipulative people who use emotion to create conflict in order to cover-up for their lack of substance. 

These are the drama queens/kings that when confronted about wrongdoing and/or lack of performance are quick to point the finger in another direction. They are adept at using emotional tirades which often include crocodile tears, blameshifting, little lies, half truths and other trite manipulations to get away with total lack of substance. The only thing worse than what I’ve just described is leadership that doesn’t recognize it and/or does nothing about it. Real leaders don’t play favorites, don’t get involved in drama, and they certainly don’t tolerate manipulative, self-serving behavior.

Developing effective conflict resolution skill sets are an essential component of a building a sustainable business model. Unresolved conflict often results in loss of productivity, the stifling of creativity, and the creation of barriers to cooperation and collaboration. Perhaps most importantly for leaders, good conflict resolution ability equals good employee retention. Leaders who don’t deal with conflict will eventually watch their good talent walk out the door in search of a healthier and safer work environment.

While conflict is a normal part of any social and organizational setting, the challenge of conflict lies in how one chooses to deal with it. Concealed, avoided or otherwise ignored, conflict will likely fester only to grow into resentment, create withdrawal or cause factional infighting within an organization.

So, what creates conflict in the workplace? Opposing positions, competitive tensions, power struggles, ego, pride, jealousy, performance discrepancies, compensation issues, just someone having a bad day, etc. While the answer to the previous question would appear to lead to the conclusion that just about anything and everything creates conflict, the reality is that the root of most conflict is either born out of poor communication or the inability to control one’s emotions. Let’s examine these 2 major causes of conflict:

Communication: If you reflect back upon conflicts you have encountered over the years, you’ll quickly recognize many of them resulted from a lack of information, poor information, no information, or misinformation. Let’s assume for a moment that you were lucky enough to have received good information, but didn’t know what to do with it…That is still a communication problem, which in turn can lead to conflict. Clear, concise, accurate, and timely communication of information will help to ease both the number and severity of conflicts.

Emotions: Another common mistake made in workplace communications which leads to conflict is letting emotions drive decisions. I have witnessed otherwise savvy executives place the need for emotional superiority ahead of achieving their mission (not that they always understood this at the time). Case in point – have you ever witnessed an employee throw a fit of rage and draw the regrettable line in the sand in the heat of the moment? If you have, what you really watched was a person indulging their emotions rather than protecting their future.

The very bane of human existence, which is in fact human nature itself, will always create gaps in thinking & philosophy,  and no matter how much we all wish it wasn’t so…it is. So the question then becomes how to effectively deal with conflict when it arises. It is essential for organizational health and performance that conflict be accepted and addressed through effective conflict resolution processes. While having a conflict resolution structure is important, effective utilization of conflict resolution processes is ultimately dependant upon the ability of all parties to understand the benefits of conflict resolution, and perhaps more importantly, their desire to resolve the matter. The following tips will help to more effective handle conflicts in the workplace:

1. Define Acceptable Behavior: You know what they say about assuming…Just having a definition for what constitutes acceptable behavior is a positive step in avoiding conflict. Creating a framework for decisioning, using a published delegation of authority statement, encouraging sound business practices in collaboration, team building, leadership development, and talent management will all help avoid conflicts. Having clearly defined job descriptions so that people know what’s expected of them, and a well articulated chain of command to allow for effective communication will also help avoid conflicts. Clearly and publicly make it known what will and won’t be tolerated.

2. Hit Conflict Head-on: While you can’t always prevent conflicts, it has been my experience that the secret to conflict resolution is in fact conflict prevention where possible. By actually seeking out areas of potential conflict and proactively intervening in a just and decisive fashion you will likely prevent certain conflicts from ever arising. If a conflict does flair up, you will likely minimize its severity by dealing with it quickly. Time spent identifying and understanding natural tensions will help to avoid unnecessary conflict.

3. Understanding the WIIFM Factor: Understanding the other professionals WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) position is critical. It is absolutely essential to understand other’s motivations prior to weighing in. The way to avoid conflict is to help those around you achieve their objectives. If you approach conflict from the perspective of taking the action that will help others best achieve their goals you will find few obstacles will stand in your way with regard to resolving conflict.

4. The Importance Factor: Pick your battles and avoid conflict for the sake of conflict. However if the issue is important enough to create a conflict then it is surely important enough to resolve. If the issue, circumstance, or situation is important enough, and there is enough at stake, people will do what is necessary to open lines of communication and close positional and/or philosophical gaps.

5. View Conflict as Opportunity: Hidden within virtually every conflict is the potential for a tremendous teaching/learning opportunity. Where there is disagreement there is an inherent potential for growth and development. If you’re a CEO who doesn’t leverage conflict for team building and leadership development purposes you’re missing a great opportunity. Divergent positions addressed properly can stimulate innovation and learning in ways like minds can’t even imagine. Smart leaders look for the upside in all differing opinions.

Bottom line…I believe resolution can normally be found with conflicts where there is a sincere desire to do so. Turning the other cheek, compromise, forgiveness, compassion, empathy, finding common ground, being an active listener, service above self, and numerous other approaches will always allow one to be successful in building rapport if the underlying desire is strong enough. However, when all else fails and positional gaps cannot be closed, resolve the issue not by playing favorites, but by doing the right thing.

Mike is  a leadership advisor to Fortune 500 CEOs and Boards, author of "Hacking Leadership" (Wiley) and "Leadership Matters" (2007), the Chairman at N2Growth, a member of the board of directors at the Gordian Institute and recognized by Thinkers50 as one of the top leadership thinkers globally. I am also a syndicated columnist and contributing editor on topics of leadership, innovation and problem solving. I have been married for nearly 30 years and am a proud father and grandfather.

How to motivate and inspire your people in difficult times

Chris Witt 

These days, if you’re a leader of any type, you can’t simply order people around and expect them to do what you want. They may follow your directions, if you are watching, but once they’re left on their own they’ll go back to doing what they think is important.

Leaders today, more than ever before, have to win people’s cooperation. And there are two main ways of doing so: motivation and inspiration. Although the two words are often used interchangeably, they actually mean quite different things – depending on what you want to achieve.

Motivation is about moving people to act in a way that achieves a specific and immediate goal. When you’re motivating people to do something they may not necessarily want to do, you have to offer them something they want in return.

When coaches give their teams a pep talk during halftime, they are using motivation. They want their players to charge back onto the field or the court with renewed energy and focus, even though they may be too tired or disheartened to try. Their reward? Victory.

To motivate your people:

Tell people exactly what you want them to do. Motivation is all about getting people to take action, so don’t be vague. Avoid generalities like, “I want everyone to do their best.” Say, instead, “I need you to come in over the weekend so we can get this project done on time.”

Limit the amount of time or effort that you’re asking for. It’s easier to ask people to work late work one night or even every night for a week than to expect them to work late indefinitely. Set an end date.

Share in the sacrifice. Leaders don’t ask people to do what they themselves aren’t willing to do. Don’t tell your people to work over the weekend if you’ve got plans for a spa day. Roll up your sleeves and share the load.

Appeal to their emotions. Fear focuses people’s attention and can be an effective motivator. (“If we don’t get this done right now, we’ll all lose our jobs.”) But if you keep resorting to fear, you’ll end up de-motivating people. People are also motivated by-and prefer to be motivated by-positive emotions like excitement, pride, a sense of belonging, and the thrill of achievement.

Give people multiple reasons for doing what you want them to do. You can give your own reason or the organization’s reason for requesting the action. “If we don’t get this project completed on schedule, we’ll lose the contract.” But the best reason of all is always personal. It would be nice if you could give your people extra days off or even a bonus. Or, you may talk about something as intangible as the camaraderie that comes from having achieved something important together. But things being what they are these days, the best you may be able to offer is the hope that no one will lose a job.

Inspiration, on the other hand, involves changing the way people think and feel about themselves so that they want to take positive actions. It taps into people’s values and desires.

Commencement speakers – the best ones, at least – inspire their audiences. They talk about the challenges the graduates will face, either personally or collectively, and the possibilities of making a difference. 

Inspiration appeals to the best aspirations of people, and its underlying, often unspoken message is “You can become what you want to be.” No reward is promised, other than the reward that comes from within: the sense of personal satisfaction.

As a leader, anytime you talk about values, about identity (either the corporate identity or each person’s identity), and about long-term goals, your intent – whether you know it or not – is to inspire.

To inspire your people:

Be the change you want to inspire. Your reputation, your character, your behavior will inspire people more than anything else. The only way to call the best out of others is to expect the best from yourself.

Tell a story. Stories don’t tell people what to do. They engage people’s imaginations and emotions. They show people what they’re capable of becoming or of doing.

Appeal to people’s value system. Ask them to act in a way that is consistent with the values they themselves profess.

Trust people. When you’re inspiring people, you’re not telling them exactly what to do or giving them precise directions. You’re empowering them to be their best, trusting that they will then do the right thing. And the right thing they do may not be what you were expecting; it may be something beyond your wildest expectations.

Challenge them. People aren’t inspired by doing the ordinary or by meeting expectations. They’re inspired by the exertion, creativity, and sacrifice needed to exceed what they themselves thought possible.

Motivation and inspiration are not the sole province of professional speakers and preachers. They’re tools leaders use all the time – in one-on-one conversations, in meetings and in formal presentations – to bring out the best in their people. It’s just a matter of knowing the right time and the right situation.

When there’s an immediate, short-term and specific goal that you want your people to achieve, you need to motivate them. When you want to shape people’s identity and their long-term aspirations and commitments, you need to inspire them.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the French aviator and author of “The Little Prince”, wrote, “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.” Sometimes you need to do both. You need to enlist and organize people to do a specific task-to build a ship according to specs, on time and on budget-and sometimes you need to activate people’s desires and stand aside. Who knows, you may be surprised by what they do.

About the author:

As an executive speech coach with more than 25 years of professional experience, Chris Witt is author of the newly released book, “Real Leaders Don’t Do PowerPoint,” and founder of Witt Communications. He helps CEOs gain board approval and company-wide support for initiatives. Chris also empowers newly promoted managers and entrepreneurs to grow their businesses through the power of effective speaking and presenting. In addition, he works with technical experts to simplify their presentations to win multi-million dollar contracts. For more information, call 619-295-8411 or visit www.wittcom.com.

How to Use Social Networking Sites to Drive Business

 BY J.J. MCCORVEY Inc. Reporter@jmccorvey

Advice for small businesses on using social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn, and how to integrate these tools into the marketing and recruiting efforts of your company.
 

Social Media Toolkit

 

Consider this: It wasn't until 1997 that the Internet reached 50 million users in the United States. Facebook gained over 100 million users in the U.S. from January 2009 to January 2010, marking a 145 percent growth rate within one year, according to research by digital marketing agency iStrategy Labs. If you're a business owner that hasn't embraced social media networking as a major component of your success strategy, it's due time to hop onboard.

'When you've got 300 million people on Facebook, that's a huge business watering hole,' says Lon Safko, social media expert and co-author of The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success, of the site's global reach. 'The profile is like an index to your company.'

While Facebook has become the most popular social media site, there are plenty of others for your company to explore. LinkedIn, for example, houses 55 million professionals seeking jobs, employees, or basic business or networking opportunities. MySpace, which allows users to tinker with music, themes, and HTML code, is targeted toward youth and teens. All of these sites have one primary thing in common: the profile.

The user profile is generally what distinguishes social networking sites from other social media platforms. It helps set the stage for building relationships with people who share the same interests, activities, or personal contacts, as opposed to primarily disseminating or digesting information feeds. This also means social networks enable companies to invite audiences to get to know its brand in a way that traditional forms of marketing or advertising can't.

But what, exactly, are the methods that businesses should use to effectively leverage the burgeoning userbase of these sites as a tool to grow their companies? The following pages will detail what to do – and what not to do – in order to maintain a viable presence in the realm of social networking.

How to Use Social Networking Sites to Drive Business: Developing a Social Networking Strategy

Before opening an account and becoming active, it's important to consider what each site offers and how you can benefit from their resources. 'Take some time and really analyze what your existing social media strategy is,' says Safko. 'Figure out which tools are best for your demographic.' Without a fully developed plan for your social networking activity, you could end up meandering throughout the sites and wasting a lot of time.

Here are a few basic questions to ask yourself when forming your social networking strategy:

1.    What are the needs of my business? Hopefully, you're not putting your company name on a social networking account just to send messages back and forth to former high school classmates, so there has to be an impetus. Figure out what your needs are. Are you short-staffed? Is your advertising budget running thin?

2.    What am I using the site for? After you've established your needs, consider the primary goal of your social networking strategy. Do you want to recruit employees for a certain department? Do you want to market a new line of products? Do you want to connect to more people in your industry?

3.    Whose attention am I trying to get? Okay, so you want to market that new line of products, for example. You still need to know your target audience for that product, and with more than 300 million users on Facebook, you'll need to narrow your focus.

Got those answered? Good. Now, consider these questions:

1.    Which sites do I want to take on? If you have enough staffing power to handle multiple social networking sites, that's great. If not, it's important to focus on one or two, or you could spread yourself too thin and fall victim to the 'gaping void' perception, where you end up going days without activity. Your followers will notice.

2.    Who's going to manage my page? Would your social networking activity fall under a current employee's responsibilities, or do you need to bring on new talent? If you ever find yourself without the staffing resources to manage your page, don't stick your head in the sand, says Safko. 'Find some interns,' he advises. 'In most cases, they'll do it for free.'

3.    Who has access to my page? What type of trust level do you have established at your company? Will all of your employees have access to the social network account, or a select few? Take the time to assess the skills and character of those who can log into your page, or you may run into unsavory situations down the road – especially when dealing with former workers.

4.    Who's going to be the personality of my page? Does your company already have a public representative that usually handles speeches, press, etc.? It may be beneficial to rein in that person as the voice of your social networking site. 'People buy from other people, not from other companies,' says Safko. 'In order to solidify trust, pick someone to represent your brand.'

Dig Deeper: Why Demographics Are Crucial to Your Business

How to Use Social Networking Sites to Drive Business: Choosing Your Site

After you've answered those questions, you can choose which social networking site, or sites, would best fulfill the requirements of your strategy. Though many of the sites are similar in nature, they can all be categorized by the different purposes they serve. These are the basic types of social networking sites:

1.    'Free for all' social sites: Some sites that fall under this category are Facebook, MySpace, Ning, and Friendster. Each of these sites primarily serve as a nexus of friends and associates who want to socialize. Ning, for example, has become popular for connecting classmates and helping to set up reunions. The profiles are usually personable, inviting, and can be customized with add-ons and apps.

2.    Professional sites: Examples of these include LinkedIn, FastPitch, and Plaxo. The professional site can be utilized as an online professional contact database, or 'rolodex,' but it's also where people go to update employment information about themselves.

3.    Industry-specific sites: These sites allow you to connect to people who are in your industry. I-Meet, for example, is specifically geared toward event planners, while ResearchGATE is a community for researchers in the science or technology field. Industry sites help you to narrow your search when looking for services, or people with skills in certain fields. You may even want a particular department of your company, such as IT or advertising, to open an account on one of these sites.

How to Use Social Networking Sites to Drive Business: Setting Up Your Profile

Your profile is the online representation of your brand and company, so it's important to know what to add and what to avoid. Here are a few tips to be mindful of as you create your profile:

1.     Don't be afraid to get a little personal. Facebook profiles, for example, allow you to include things like hobbies, favorite music, etc. Including tidbits like these can make your page warmer and more personable. 'Some personal information is valuable, because it may create a bond with a customer,' says Safko.

2.     But not too personal. Don't be the 'TMI' poster boy or girl, (i.e. 'The wife and I are on our way to have dinner – kids are with the grandparents'). Create another page that's just yours, sans company activity.

3.     Share photos and videos. Adding multimedia to your page gives flair, and offers customers an exclusive look inside your company. LinkedIn even has an add-on that allows you to post presentations and slideshows.

4.     But no office party snapshots. Though the atmosphere of Facebook is still relatively laid back, you want to maintain the perception that you're serious about your product and customers. Pictures involving Santa hats and alcohol probably shouldn't be in your albums.

5.     Set privacy settings. On most of these sites, you can control what people see on your profile, such as pictures and blog posts, and you can even limit what other people post. Depending on the nature of your company, you should consider these restrictions. Are there any embarrassing pictures of you floating around that you might not want linked to your page?

6.    But don't be a blank slate. Imagine coming across the profile of one your favorite brands, and all that's there is a picture and headquarters location. A little disheartening, right? If and when you do enact some privacy settings, try to keep the page lively.

How to Use Social Networking Sites to Drive Business: Social Network Marketing

Marketing through social networks isn't as much about selling your product, as it is about engaging your followers. 'A lot of people have started Facebook fan pages with no clue to how it can benefit them,' says Jim Tobin, president of Ignite Social Media, a social media marketing agency based in Cary, North Carolina. 'You have to think above your product.' The goal of the community-based environment of social networking sites is to provide a platform for an open, honest conversation.

The companies that are most successful at converting followers into dollars are those who interact most with the users and frequently post content related to their brand. Facebook's Fan Page is probably the best example of how you should be marketing you company through social networking sites. The page acts as an upgraded user profile for brands, companies, and organizations to be as involved as the users, and has plenty of tools to help you do so. As users become 'fans' of your page, all of your activity appears in their News Feed each time they log on. There's also a useful feature called the Insights tool, which allows you to analyze page views, the demographics of your fans, and the number of people who view (or stop viewing) your News Feed posts.

Outdoor Technology, a Los Angeles-based manufacturer of clothing and gear for skiers and snowboarders, initially sold merchandise directly to retailers. But after the company began actively using their Fan Page last September, revenue from e-commerce went from zero to $25,000 in three months, says CEO Caro Krissman. The page has now amassed over 11,000 fans. 'We saw Facebook as sort of a sweet spot for where our target market is,' says Krissman. 'With the ability to target users in such a focused way, we felt like there really wasn't a better forum to go about [marketing online].'

'Fan' features your company should be using:

1.     Comment on other users' content or profile posts. By responding to what your followers post to your profile, you show them that you appreciate their interaction. If they know they have your attention, they'll keep coming back.

2.     Ask questions on your wall. Facebook users love to be heard. It can be surprising how many responses one question can elicit. 'It starts to snowball,' says Safko. 'What you'll find is that the conversation will branch off and start another one.'

3.     Posting links or threads. 'One thing fan pages lets you do that Web pages don't is encourage viral spread,' says Tobin. If you have any content that you want to circulate quickly, the fan page is the perfect tool.

4.     Posting relevant events. By posting upcoming events your company may be part of or hosting, you can help drive more attendees to the function. And for those who can't come, they get a glimpse at how active your business is within the community or industry.

Social Network Promotions

Remember, it's called a social network, not a 'business network.' Coming off as a pushy or shrewd salesperson peddling a product could scare away your Facebook friends and LinkedIn connections. Remember to be genuine and personal.

Here are the things you should do when promoting your company or product through social networking sites:

1.    Make it benefit-based. Make the customer feel that they need to participate in the promotion. Is the product or feature available for a limited time? Are you offering exclusively to your followers on a particular network? 

2.    Talk about new or uncommon features. Even if you have a relatively popular product, there may be some things consumers don't know about it. What are some new or different ways it can be used?

3.    Include some discounts and savings. Offering discounts on products is usually a shoe-in to grab customers' attention. Krissman, of Outdoor Technology, says he posts promotional codes that users can fill out on the company's website and get up to 30 percent off a product. Not only does it drive more buyers to your product, but it also brings more followers to your page.

Here are the things you shouldn't do when promoting your company or product through social networking sites:

1.    Don't continually have sales-related messages. There are other ways to promote besides selling your product. Comment or ask questions about news or topics in your industry. 'They will easily ignore you or unsubscribe you if you continue to push a sale,' says Tobin.

2.    Don't set up an expectation, then cheat on it. If you announce to your followers that your purpose is to give advice, don't turn around and start selling. 'If you violate that expectation, people are going to get upset and they're going to leave,' says Tobin. Again, make the sale subtle – how can your product help them achieve the advice you're giving?

How to Use Social Networking Sites to Drive Business: Social Network Recruiting

Social recruiting is an effective way to utilize social networks to find the best candidate for any open positions at your company. While the past few years saw the rise of job boards like Careerbuilder.com and Monster.com, the growing prominence of social networks have transformed the way businesses build their best team. Instead of relying on the 'come one, come all' approach, the detailed personal information contained in profiles, such as interests and job history, allows businesses to employ social networking sites to target the specific audience or skill set they want to pull from.

According to an annual social recruitment survey published by Jobvite, an online service that helps businesses consolidate the resources of social media sites, 80 percent of companies used or planned to use social networking to find and attract candidates in 2009, with LinkedIn being used by 95 percent of the respondents and Facebook usage growing from 36 percent in 2008 to 59 percent in 2009.

'It's like what's happened to the ad industry,' says Dan Finnigan, CEO of Jobvite and former general manager of Yahoo! HotJobs. 'It used to be that you would buy a big ad to get the consumer's attention, but more and more companies are relying on online advertising software that puts that ad right in front of them based on data, like the other ads they click on. Social recruiting is analogous to that.'

The Benefits of Social Network Recruiting

Here are some of the primary advantages that social recruiting affords small businesses:

1.     Empowers your employees to distribute job information. These days, most, if not all of your employees probably have a profile on a social networking site. By enabling them to post information about open positions, you multiply your searching reach by the thousands.

2.     Helps you put the passive job candidate in your crosshairs. Job boards are mostly used by people who are proactively looking for positions.  But what about the perfect potential employee who may not be scouring Careerbuilder.com every day?

3.    A low-cost method of finding high-quality candidates. When looking for job candidates, it takes time to sift through resumes of unqualified applicants, and many job boards charge fees to post openings. Social recruiting helps you zone in on the best candidates, for free.

Tools to Help You Socially Recruit

1.    Custom searches. Searching only by name and location doesn't cut it when looking for the perfect employee. LinkedIn has one of the most thorough searches of all the sites, allowing you to sift through profiles by company, industry, college, and even how many 'degrees' you are from the person.

3.    Updating your status message. When you or your employees update your statuses, it pops up on your friends' home page, and sits atop the profile until it's changed. 'My company is looking for … ,' is sure to snag replies.

4.    Linking to stories and external content. Both Facebook and LinkedIn enable users to post external content to their profiles. By linking to articles and blogs that contain positive news about your business, you show potential candidates that it's not just your social network connections that adore your company.

How to Use Social Networking Sites to Drive Business: Privacy and Legal Issues

Though social networking can certainly be a fun way to help you expand your company, there are plenty of issues surrounding privacy and legalities that you should always be aware of when searching for employees, and even after you've hired them. 'The laws [regarding online privacy and or hiring online] generally apply the same [as existing state laws],' says Megan Erickson, an associate at Des Moines, Iowa-based Dickinson, Mackaman, Tyler & Hagan law firm and author of Erickson's Blog on Social Networking and the Law. 'But now that there are all these different kinds of social media, they combine to make it a very unique environment.'

Here are some of the most important things to keep in mind to help you steer clear of legal trouble when dealing with potential or current employees and social networking sites:

1.    Don't use fake profiles. Using a fake profile when adding employees to monitor their activity can constitute as an invasion of privacy, Erickson says. 'That's just asking for lots of trouble,' she says.

2.    Add a social media section to your handbook. Including language about social media in your personnel policy is paramount, especially if you plan on integrating it heavily in your company's operations.

3.    Beware of existing federal and state laws. It may help to prep yourself on the many federal and state laws regarding anti-discrimination and privacy, Erickson says, so that if you do come across an employee's wayward photo or disparaging status message, you'll be knowlegeable about how to proceed with disciplinary action.

To learn more about using social networking sites:

•    The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success, by Lon Safko and David Brake, is a great guide for business owners and executives who want to use the power of social media to grow their companies. Visit the website, TheSocialMediaBible.com, to connect with other professionals looking to do the same.

•    Megan Erickson's blog, Erickson's Blog on Social Networking and the Law, posts up-to-date news on legal issues surrounding social media sites.

•    Mashable is a great resource for news, advice, and jobs concerning all things social media.

•    John Jantsch, author of Duct Tape Marketing – The World's Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide, also runs a marketing blog for small businesses called Duct Tape Marketing. Check out what he says about the 7 Truths of Social Media Marketing.

Some sites to consider joining for social networking:

•    Facebook: The most popular social networking site, it allows you keep up with friends, colleagues, and classmates and features a stream-lined, easy-to-use interface.

•    MySpace: Geared toward the younger crowd, this interactive site lets you connect with friends and tweak your profile with extras like themes and music playlists.

•    LinkedIn: This site is strictly professional, and for good reason. You can keep up with colleagues, find employees, and network with others in your field.

•    Bebo: Another primarily social site for friends that allows users to express themselves through media and interactive environments.

•    FastPitch: This professional site serves as a great platform for growing companies to market themselves, allowing you to post events, press, and submit keywords to increase your profile's SEO strength.

•    Friendster: A social networking site for friends that promotes connections between international users and also boasts "Fan Profiles" similar to Facebook's.

•    I-Meet: A professional site where you can establish valuable contacts and potentially save money on event planning.

A 3-Step Beginner's Guide to Social-Media Marketing

By MATTHEW TOREN 

Social media has become as much a daily part of our personal lives as it has our business lives. 

What once was cutting edge just a few short years ago is now just the norm. So how do you know which aspect of social-media marketing you need to have and which aspects are simply passing fads?

For entrepreneurs who are just starting their businesses, wrapping your arms around your social-media marketing plan can feel like a stretch. Do you need to be on all outlets? Which are best? How will you manage all those conversations? There’s a lot to think about when you’re getting started and some important questions you need to ask yourself.

Before you get your business up and running, here is your three-step definitive guide to social-media marketing.

1. Determine your MVPs.

When you first begin to formulate your social-media plan, you may be thinking about what outlets to get started on. However, sometimes a more important conversation to have when you’re starting out is which outlets to avoid.

There can be a general feeling that you should get your business on any and every outlet available to you. However, that can be a mistake. Not all outlets are relevant for every business and trying to force your business onto a platform that isn’t right can feel awkward and inauthentic.

Start with your social-media marketing MVP plan. The MVPs of social-media marketing means two things: your most valuable platforms and your minimum viable platforms. When it comes to social media, less can be a lot more. Why?

You are going to need to be active across every platform you're on for the duration of your business. This means not just great conversations but valuable content and hawkeyed monitoring. Would you rather have sparse contact with tons of people across lots of platforms, or would you rather have valuable, intensely personal and relevant conversations with the right handful of people? Which do you think has the most value to your business in the long run?

2. Consistency isn’t key, it’s critical.

Once you determine your MVPs you need to come up with a reliable posting schedule that can’t be broken. If you aren’t going to be able or willing to post on a specific social-media outlet religiously, you shouldn’t be playing on that platform at all. It’s that important.

Who are you going to assign the challenging and time-consuming task of vigilantly attending to your social-media outlets? Get clear about who will take ownership of this space and come up with a plan for how and what will be said to stay consistent not just with posting but with your brand voice.

Understanding this step can put into perspective the importance once again of your MVP outlets because if you can’t post to an outlet, you shouldn’t be on it.

3. Take risks.

The risks you take will be commensurate with the type of industry your startup is in -- but don’t be afraid to mix up the conversation and start taking risks in your social-media postings. These can be anything as simple as showing some of the behind-the-scenes aspects of your day-to-day business or sharing your personal struggles as an entrepreneur.

Make sure it’s honest and relevant, but sometimes taking risk and exposing more of yourself and your business can really help with making a splash. People like authenticity and transparency so let your audiences see what’s behind the curtain.

How to Delegate the Right Tasks to the Right People: Effective Management Skills for Leadership Success

Written By Brian Tracy | Leadership Success | August 6th, 2012 

Learning how to delegate effectively is the key to leveraging yourself and multiplying your value to your company. 

Assigning duties permits you to change from what you can do individually to what you can accomplish with teamwork.

Delegation is one of the utmost vital and effective supervision skills. Lacking the ability to delegate effectively, makes it difficult for one to progress into higher positions of accountability.

Knowledge of delegating makes the most of our own efficiency and worth; it is also about take full advantage of the output of our workers. Our job as leaders is to acquire the utmost profit on the business’s investment in individuals. The typical person today is functioning at 50 percent of capability. With effective management and delegation skills, we can tap into that unexploited 50-percent potential to raise our workforce’s production.

Our job as a leader is to cultivate folks. Delegation is the means that we use to bring out the finest in the individuals that we employ.

• The first step is to think through the job. Decide exactly what is a must to be done. What result do you want?
• The second step is to set performance criteria. What yard stick do we use to determine whether the job has been done properly or not?
• Third step is to determine an agenda and a goal for attainment the work to be done.

The task-relevant maturity of your staff—how long they have been on the job and how competent they are—determines your method of delegation.

Low task-relevant maturity means they are new and inexperienced in the job. In this case, use a directive delegation style. Tell people exactly what you want them to do.

Medium task-relevant maturity means staff has experience in the job; they know what they are doing. In this case, use the effective, management by objectives delegation method. Tell people the end result that you want and then get out of their way and let them do it.

High task-relevant maturity is when the staff person is completely experienced and competent. Your method of delegation in this case is simply, easy interaction.

To delegate the right tasks to the right people there are seven essentials for effective management and delegation:

1. Pick the right person. Picking the wrong person for a key task is a major reason for failure.

2. Match the requirements of the job to the abilities of the person. Be sure that the person you delegate the task to is capable of doing the job.

3. Delegate effectively to the right person. This frees you to do more things of higher value. The more of your essential tasks that you can teach and delegate to others, the greater the time you will have to do the things that only you can do.

4. Delegate smaller tasks to newer staff to build their confidence and competence.

5. Delegate the entire job. One hundred percent responsibility for a task is a major performance motivator. The more often you assign responsibilities to the right people, the more competent they become.

6. Delegate clear outcomes. Make them measurable. If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. Explain what is to be done, how you think it should be done, and the reasons for doing this job in the first place.

7. Delegate with participation and discussion. Invite questions and be open to suggestions. There is a direct relationship between how much people are invited to talk about the job and how much they understand it, accept it, and become committed to it. You need to delegate in such a way that people walk away feeling, ‘‘This is my job; I own it.’’

Delegate authority over the resources staff will need to fulfill the responsibility. Be clear about the time they have, the money they can spend, and the people they can call on to help them to do the job.

Practice management by exception when you delegate. Set clear goals, standards, and deadlines for the duty. A job lacking a time limit is simply a conversation. We only have employees report back to us only if they have a problem. If employees are on timetable and on budget, there is no need to report. You can assume that they have the job under control.

The fundamental skill needed to develop your people is knowledge of delegation and developing our own effective management talents. When we acquire how to delegate successfully to small number of staff affiliates, we will rapidly be given additional persons to manage, and more accountabilities, because our allocation and organization skills.

All managers with exceptional management talents are brilliant delegators. In the past, managers used to approximate that, ‘‘If you want the job done right, you have to do it yourself.’’

Modern thinking, on the other hand, corrects this mindset by exclaiming, ‘‘If we want the job done right, we have to study how to delegate it appropriately to others so that they can prepare it to the accurate standard.’’

About Brian Tracy – Brian Tracy is recognized as the top sales training and personal success authority in the world today. He has authored more than 60 books and has produced more than 500 audio and video learning programs on sales, management, business success and personal development, including worldwide bestseller The Psychology of Achievement. Brian’s goal is to help you achieve your personal and business goals faster and easier than you ever imagined. You can follow him on google+, facebook, and twitter.