Munir Ahmad Blog

Below is a very interesting TED talk by Daniel Pink. In December Dan has a new book coming out called Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. In this TED talk from the summer in Oxford, Dan overviews some of the key ideas in the new book. This talk will make you (re-)think about work, management, and what motivates you — and those you work with — to excel. Watch it below.

We don’t need sweeter carrots and sharper sticks, Dan says. We need a whole new approach, an approach that puts more stock in intrinsic motivation. Dan identifies three elements that comprise a new way of thinking about management:

Autonomy: The urge to direct our own lives.
Mastery: The desire to get better at something that matters.
Purpose: The yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves.

Traditional ideas about management are great, Dan says, “if you want compliance; but for engagement, self-direction works best.” Dan focuses here only on Autonomy and gives a few good examples, and touches on the ROWE (Results Only Work Environment). People working under a ROWE system do not have fixed schedules per se and can work at any time. They can show up when they want, essentially. This would not work for all professions due to fixed schedules (teachers and airline pilots come to mind), but it works for a lot of folks in design and software and other creative fields.

Google Wave is an online tool that lets people communicate via video, instant messaging and wiki style editing, or as Google describes it “how e-mail would look if it were invented today”.

Google Wave is designed to transform the way we communicate online, and the developer behind it has described it as a ‘communication and collaboration tool’

Check out the video below to see what it is all about.

Facebook does provide a place for you to represent your business, and that is Facebook Pages.

Here’s the #1 reason to have your own Facebook Page (as well as your own Profile):

More people can find out about your business because your Page gets indexed and is searchable inside and outside of Facebook.

Other reasons include:

• Because the number of Fans you can have is unlimited (whereas the Friend limit is 5,000).
• Activity on your Page helps increase what I call “viral visibility” on Facebook.
• You can establish your brand even further.

As a Summary:

1. Pages are public. Most of Facebook is behind a login, preventing search engines from indexing.  However, some Fan pages are not behind a login and thus search engines can index the page.  Hopefully, people will stumble on the result in SERPs, visit the Facebook page, and then get to your site via the link (see reason #2).
2. Pages include links. Because the pages are public, you can get some nice facebook.com link credit.  You can’t use an anchor text, but hey, it’s free.
3. Send “updates to fans”. One of the greatest features is that you can send “updates” to fans whenever you want.  It’s a nice way of building a database of interested users.  Send messages about new products, updated website, etc.
4. You control the page. Making the page before a Fan or a competitor is critical.  You want to be able to send the messages, edit or remove sections, and control the information to an extent.
5. News feed. When a someone joins a Fan page, it’s published in their News feed for all their to read (unless they have turned this off).  It makes someone joining your Fan page somewhat viral.
6. It’s free and easy. Making a Fan page takes just a few minutes – add some information, URL, and upload the logo and you’re done.  You can make your page here.

Facebook is a popular online social networking site that adds a quarter million new users every day and currently has over 120 million active users. If you think your target audience isn’t on Facebook, you might be surprised to learn the fastest growing demographic is the 25 and older group.

If you’re not comfortable or familiar with social media, you should think of it as a new take on the networking event, except with less pressure to make small talk and no shrimp cocktail boat.

By investing some time and energy into Facebook you can build brand loyalty, establish your expertise, engage your customers on a deeper level, and drive qualified leads back to your Web site.

Step 1: Create Your Profile

Facebook is about personal relationships; the coin of the realm is “friends.” While people may want to be friends with you, chances are they aren’t looking to be friends with your company. Did you ever have a heart-to-heart with Nike, or go to the movies with General Motors?

In fact, creating a profile for your business breaks Facebook’s terms and conditions. Therefore, you need to start by creating a personal profile using your real name.

To build your profile upload a photo, enter your education, business and contact info, and join your local network (i.e., Lisbon, Portugal).

The more complete your profile, the more easily you can connect with other people. If you’re concerned about privacy, Facebook offers highly customizable privacy settings that control who can see different elements of your profile. This way you can share photos of your kids with friends and family, but not with your boss or customers.

Next you can upload your contact database to see which of your contacts are already on Facebook, and ask to “friend” any of them you wish. This gives you a good starting point on Facebook, rather than starting cold.

Step 2: Create Your Company Page

Once you have a personal profile, you can create a page for your business. Pages can be populated with company information, photos, video, upcoming events, discussion forums and links back to your Web site.

You can also add additional applications to increase the functionality of your page, such as an RSS feed from your blog or embedded videos from YouTube. Pages are made publicly available so search engines can find and index them, which is an added benefit.

People on Facebook can become “fans” of your company, which is a great way for you to stay in touch with them and share information and advice. Think of gaining Facebook “friends” or business “fans” in the same way you think of increasing your email subscriber base: they build your network.

You can promote your company page via email, your blog, and through the Facebook network to drive more traffic and build up your fan base.

If you’re wondering why you need a Facebook page since you already have a Web site (and maybe a blog,) it’s about being where your customers are…location, location, location.

Step 3: Join and Create Groups

Another way to network on Facebook is through the use of groups. Groups, unlike pages, are only visible to Facebook members. Groups can be formed around anything from sustainable business practices to political affiliations to love of a particular video game or breed of dog.

Chances are your prospects already participate in these groups; if not, create a new group and invite some friends and fans to get the ball rolling. An assisted living resident might create a “sandwich generation” group; a business coach might create a personal power group.

Once nice benefit of groups is that you can “bulk invite” people to join (who are connected to you on Facebook), and they can then “bulk invite” their friends as well. This means your group can go viral quickly, and so groups are great ways of promoting a movement.

Words of Caution (or Don’t Be “That Guy”)

You know those people who go to networking events and try to sell you long before they learn anything about your needs?  It’s easy in real life to see how obnoxious that behavior is, right?

Well, then don’t behave that way on Facebook. (Or on any social media site, for that matter.) Anyone jumping into social media as a way to make a quick sale will be sorely disappointed, and may irrevocably damage their reputation.

Social media is about building relationships; you build your network and your reputation over time by providing value to other people. The best book ever written on social media marketing could well be How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.

“You need to focus on building rapport, reaching out to connect with others, adding value, sharing information relative to your niche and marketplace.”

In Conclusion

Facebook is a powerful networking tool that connects you with your prospects and customers in new and engaging ways. There are conversations, events, and networking opportunities that are only happening there; if you’re not on Facebook, you’re missing these opportunities.

Every small business owner and entrepreneur should invest some time to determine how Facebook fits in with the rest of his or her marketing efforts.