It’s been a few weeks since I posted here and for good reason. But this really isn’t the time or place to talk about it. (If you’re my Facebook friend and you know me personally, you already know why I haven’t posted.)

I’ve written here before about the need to post frequently and maintain a  constant presence. Consistently creating high-quality content is the best way to build influence in the social media sphere and to increase the chances that  posts be featured high in search results.

What if you’re not up to creating high-quality content? Jim Rome the popular sports DJ jokes that he has to go “down in the basement and recharge the batteries” every now and then to keep the quality of his program up to  his standards. This is a human and normal thing to do – yet professionals still feel the need to tweet their vacations away. Stop it.

If you’re in a corporate environment you need a plan for your personal time. For the agency blog, we keep a couple generic articles in reserve that can be posted when people are on vacation – we advise clients to do the same. If you’re a personal blogger you can do something similar, posting before your vacation but not have the posts go live  till you’re far away from responsibility – WordPress makes this really easy. Or you can just give yourself a break. I did and I don’t feel guilty.

Note: A few weeks ago a published a review of desktop Twitter apps.

Desktop Twitter apps are great but browser based clients are pretty darn robust these days too and certainly worthy of your consideration. A colleague of mine was recently having problems with her AIR app functioning properly and switched to a browser one. She is now tweeting problem free.

Browser apps can also have a lot of functionality built into them since they’re not limited by an application on your computer. Here are my top five:

Hootsuite

HootSuite is one of the most robust platforms for updating and monitoring your social networks. You can update Twitter, Linkedin, and Facebook from with the same browser window. It also has its own link shortener ow.ly that helps you track how many people are clicking your links. And if you use their link shortener, it will integrate statistics.

One of my favorite features is that it will let you schedule tweets for later. So if you want to Tweet about the blog article you just finished at 2 AM, you can write the tweet then but automatically send it later. Try and do that with a desktop app.

Seesmic Web

Seesimc Web is similar to their desktop application but lives within a browser window. It’s a relatively new offering from them and doesn’t have as many functions as Hootsuite or even their own desktop app. But my guess it that it will get more features over time. So this is certainly an app to watch.

CoTweet

CoTweet is a browser based with a focus on corporate users. The features are built around the idea of multiple users. This means multiple users can tweet to the same account and team members can even assign tasks to each other. CoTweet’s functions add up to a great Twitter CRM system but I wouldn’t recommend it for someone who’s just tweeting for or by themselves.

Brizzley

I dig Brizzly. Unlike most of the solutions, Brizzly actually loads Twitter content right into your browser window. This makes it easy to scan Twitter photos right in the same browser window. Brizzley also has a nice Facebook integration. Brizzly doesn’t try to do everything, rather it focuses on just being easy to use.

Flock

An interesting way to use Twitter is when it’s integrated right into your browser with Flock. Flock does a lot of interesting things I’m not really sure I need my browser to do. Plus I’m kind of addicted to all my Firefox plug-ins.  But Flock is an interesting tool none-the-less. And hey, it might be something you’d like to try.

OK, that’s my list. Did I leave something important out? Let me know and I’ll add it.

I know people who are bright, energetic and engaged in person but don’t come off that way online. They have Facebook profiles that are never updated and Twitter accounts they haven’t posted to in weeks. Or worse, a blog that has gone entirely dark for months.

Sure it’s hard to keep up with but with a little planning it is completely possible to keep it real online 24/7. Here are a few things you can do to plan for it:

1. Post to your blog at least weekly. Try to Tweet everyday. If you’re using Facebook for business try and do something there daily. You don’t have to post everyday – commenting on other people’s posts goes a long way.
2. Exploit auto-posting features. Most blogging platforms, like WordPress allow you to set a later publication date. If you know you’re going have a busy week, you can set it and forget it.
3. Put time on your calender for social media activities. Most people put other important things on their calendar but don’t bother to for social media.
4. Use mobile apps. Take a few minutes on the train or waiting for a meeting to hammer out a post or send a couple tweets.
5. Write non-time-sensitive material and leave it on the back burner. Then pull the material out when things get busy.
6. If you’re maintaining a business profile don’t be shy about delegating all or a portion of the responsibility.  You may find one of your employees is more comfortable in the space than you are. It can be better when someone higher in the food chain takes responsibility for social media activities but if you can’t maintain an active presence, it’s better to go ahead and delegate.

Sure, your offline existence is more important than your online one – no doubt. But the two are increasingly intertwined – so it makes sense to be your best both off and online.

A community is a place where people come to gather, do things for each other and organize around common ideals and goals. In communities, people build trust and create relationships that hopefully last lifetimes and maybe even generations. Does this sound like your business? Maybe or maybe not. But it can and probably should.

My grandparents drove GM cars and passed that on to my parents. Well, until the 70s gas crisis but that’s another story. They also shopped at Sears for Kenmore appliances and craftsman tools. Now my whole family uses Apple products (although it took my wife awhile to warm up to Office for Mac.) We often discuss how we feel about the products we use with each other and our friends – I’m sure your family is similar.

In the old days these discussion only happened in homes, stores, barbershops and the break room. Now they extend to the internet onto corporate websites and to social networks.

This extension provides the opportunity for a national brand to create the kind of community that used to only happen in barbershops and bar rooms. This community won’t always discusses personal things but it can have  honest and open discussions about people’s lives and the products they use.

You’ll find these online communities like this on the Ford websites, Ebay and organic communities like Lugnet, a Lego users group.

But community can also be built around something as simple as a pair of scissors.

Why would you want your brand to be a community?

People will share their experience with your brand.

People will give you direct feedback on your products and services.

People will solve each others user issues (important for complex product.)

People will build interest for your brand on their own.

Creating community online or offline won’t make or break a brand or company. Besides having a community strategy, you also have to have a business strategy that can live beyond an economic crisis. Just look at all those community banks that went under. And what about Saturn? Clearly somethings are bigger than a community strategy. But community can sure help a business weather the storm. And soon, building community may be required as a cost of doing business.

Editors Note: This is another post in my series of cheat sheets. These were initially created to aid a client but I thought they would be useful for others and decided to share them here.

Would you believe Linkedin is one of the top traffic generators for our agency blog and our corporate site? Why? Because we’re a business services company that creates, among other things, business to business marketing. Linkedin is where our customers are so we actively target the site. Many people view Linkedin as a job networking site but with the addition of groups and upgrades over the past several years, its influence has risen significantly. Especially in the B2B relm where there are not always a lot of other opportunities to network.

1. Create a custom url and use it in your email signature. You can do this in “edit profile.”
2. Have all your employees create URLs too and add them to site bios and their outbound email.
3. Consistently update your profile and let colleagues know they are expected to do so too.
4. Status updates. Do them weekly. This will ensure your status shows up in Linkedin’s weekly email.
5. Consider linking your company’s or your personal Twitter account account to your profile. This can show up as your status update.
6. Update your company page on Linkedin. Do it every month or so. This way, you’ll be sure not to miss any additions or edits by someone else.
7. Some Twitter apps allow you to update your status and read those of connections. This makes it easy to update frequently and keep tabs on your network.
8. Add your company blog or your own blog to your profile.
9. Join lots of groups.
10. Participate by commenting on posted news items and participating in group discussions.
11. Start a group discussion and reply back when someone comments.
12. Add news articles in groups and offer insight in your link description.
13. Use applications to raise your profile.
14. Use in-messages to contact prospects you feel strongly you can help.
15. Answer questions in your area of expertise to demonstrate thought leadership.
16. Ask a question to learn about your prospects and maybe even draw one out.
17. Post your blog articles in groups and ask a question to encourage commentary.
18. If your product’s user base is large, consider creating a group for it. For example a search for Java yields 1,000 groups.
19. Multiply your efforts by having key team members participate as well. Why have one person working all day at something when 10 people working ten minutes a day will reach far more people. This is the essence of social networking.
20. Use searches to learn more about your market. Wonder how many engineers working in a particular field there are on Linkedin? Type it in the search box.
21. If you’re in sales, consider upgrading your account and to actively target individuals. It’s a valid compliment to information services like Hoovers.
22. Consider banner advertising on Linkedin if you favor a more passive approach.
23. Use “Events” feature to promote your company’s events. This is more social than than using something like Evite where only other invitees will learn about the event.

Note: Government workers, teachers, academics and some other fields that are not heavy users of Linkedin.

While working on this post Marketing Profs published this great article on Linkedin case studies. Well worth a read.

In previous posts, I’ve talked about relationships in social media and why I think “friends” is the wrong way to think about a brand’s relationship with their customers.

The old relationship model wasn’t broken. It’s just evolved as customer contacts have moved to new environments. And this has made some relationships a little weird. Kinda like when your preacher starts showing up at your favorite watering hole or your boss joins your tennis team. It’s not like you can yell at your boss for missing a shot – well, maybe you can, but I wouldn’t.

To stick with the boss analogy for a moment, just because your boss is on your tennis team doesn’t mean she’s a tennis buddy all of a sudden. You’re still dependent on her for your income. The power dynamic hasn’t shifted. Only the place where your relationship takes place has changed.

It’s the same with brands and their customers. You’re not peers or friends. Good marketers understand fundamentally that the customer has the power in the relationship. And with Web 2.0, including social networks, that power has been magnified.

In friendships we give and we get. We expect reciprocity. We share fun and heartache. We ask favors and we give them.

Customers and clients? We give to them and we thank them for their business. We then ask them if we could please bust our asses for them again. And maybe, pretty please, could they mention us to a friend.

Things get confusing when relationships shift to new areas – people either get used to the changed dynamic to them or they opt to end them. Traditionally, Facebook has been about social friends. (For some people, who’s jobs are in relationship sales maybe it has always been about business.) As the Web 2.0 world evolves and Facebook and others create strategies for the future, businesses will have to constantly adapt to changing relationships online. But brands will need to walk a tight rope – engaging customers in new places without forgetting who’s boss. This will require constant study of customers, relationships, and technology.

This series begins here.

I really love my Illy Coffee. Really,  I do. But I’m not a fan of it on Facebook and I don’t even know if I could follow it on Twitter – and I follow a lot of people. Heck, if I could get a coupon or something for the simple act of following Illy maybe I would.

Am I really saying this, a guy who’s job it is to advise brands on how to use social media?

Yeah, I am saying it and it’s something that needs to be said with all the Koolaide sipping going on.  Just because someone has an affinity for your brand it doesn’t mean they want to engage it during their spare time – if they actually have spare time. I haven’t had any of that since my first daughter was born.

People have priorities and it’s a good idea to think about where your brand fits into that list of priorities before expecting an entire demographic to be it’s friend. And then share this relationship with their friends and also generate content for you for free.

Sure, brands that illicit passion can have often have a core energized base of believers who want to interact and discuss the brand – like Harley owners or Mac users. And technical products often have user groups. But if you market a packaged good or a service, you probably shouldn’t expect social media to do the same job your push marketing has been doing. And maybe “friend” isn’t what you want your customers to be in the first place. (Think critic, member, or advocate.)

Not so long ago, back when Second Life was the next coming, the common belief was people didn’t want to be themselves online. They wanted to be someone better, someone a different sex, someone with a better job and more money or all of the above.

A lot has changed since then. Living online has become common place – it’s no longer just introverts living fantasy lives. Heck, my retired step mom is on Facebook everyday.

The interesting thing here is now that everyone is there, people online are starting to play by similar rules they use offline. Like when the wild west was finally settled and women moved out, people are finally starting to behave like a polite society on the Web. In fact, there’s a new study that says social network profiles are down right accurate to the offline personality.

And you know, it makes a lot of sense once you think about it. Can you imagine:

Finding a job a with a fake Linkedin Profile?

Keeping up with friends on Facebook using an avatar of the opposite sex?

Or sharing media with family online with a silly screen name?

It’s no longer a free for all online. And that makes it more exciting to me.