I AM AN EARLY LINKEDIN ADOPTER

I earned my bragging rights today for being an early adopter to LinkedIn. After announcing earlier this week that it passed the 100 million user mark, professional networking site LinkedIn sent emails to its early users on Saturday, March 26, 2011 thanking them and telling them exactly when they joined.

I received my e-mail from LinkedIn Co-Founder and Chairman, Reid Hoffman on Saturday and although I was one of 1 million recipients I realized once again how dead on I was in predicting the social media phenomena. I happened to be member number 530915 in fact!* The email, signed by LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman himself says “In any technology adoption lifecycle, there are the innovators, those who help lead the way. That was you.” This email also served as a reminder of how quickly social media spreads – in just a few years you can go from 1,000,000 followers to more than 100,000,000.

Four Ways To Get Your Legal Department On Your Side When Implementing Social Media Strategies

1. It always helps to approach your legal department with a written document that outlines a social media plan that will already have accounted for any concerns they might have as to the risk of being active in the social media space.
2. Even slow industries are getting their feet wet in the social media space. Subtle remind your legal department that being slow to adopt gives your competitors the edge – but DO NOT forget that once you turn on the social media facet you can’t just turn off the tap!
3. Work with your legal department to come up with a plan for dealing with the risks that might come to pass. Don’t just avoid social media – having a plan always works.
4. Help your legal team understand that using social media can help protect your company in many ways, from the risk of your brand eroding in the public’s eyes as well as being misunderstood.

Old Spice Social Campaign Case Study

Old Spice Social Case Study from Digital Buzz on Vimeo.

How did they ever make a Facebook movie?

Here are the links to the four parts of the behind the scenes documentary:

• Part One – Commencement
• Part Two – Boston
• Part Three – Los Angeles
• Part Four – The Lot

Six Most-Viewed Ads of 2010 on You Tube

Job Openings at Sojo

Do you dream in digital? Sojo is seeking people who are imaginative, ambitious and passionate about what they do. We are looking for people who are willing to learn and to teach and are curious knowledge seekers and fluent in the technologies that define our world today and are shaping our future. If you're a communicator and creative and you understand how the Web connects us, and if you're a unique talent, a visionary, an experimenter, and you're looking for an environment that lets you shine – then you maybe meant to work with us!

We know that everything we are and everything we achieve is because of the people who work with us.

Here at Sojo we value and reward superior performance; for intelligent people who think and act creatively; and for people who want to have fun, please contact us.

Open Job Positions:

• Account and Client Engagement Director
• Assistant Creative Director
• Copy Writer
• Executive Administrative Associate
• Interns
• Project Manager
• Quality Assurance Specialist
• Social Media Account Manager
• Web Applications & Social Media Developer

Mistakes organizations make using social media networks

Even if your company is firing off tweets every hour and constantly tending to its Facebook page, how do you know if it's working? Before getting your organization to use social media you should first decide how to measure your efforts and what characterizes success. Is it the number of hits on your organization's Web site, is it the number of fans on your facebook – what are the metrics?

Here are a few mistakes organizations make:

Not Every Organizations needs Social Media

Not every organization needs a facebook and twitter. Analyze your individual needs and figure out what you are trying to achieve and the audience you would like to reach. Maybe you should be on LinkedIn instead of facebook and twitter. A government contractor may need to connect with key government allies while a night club may want to attract more clientele.

Don’t leave it up to the intern

You should NOT handover your social media responsibilities to the most inexperienced staff members. Your organizations social media strategy should be implemented by someone who posses strong communication skills, understands your organization’s message and vision and is not shy when dealing with the public. Social media is after all about being social and personal.

The conversation has to be on a two way street

Social media communication like any relationship should be conducted on a two way street. Organizations too often see using social media tools as just another way to push out information. Bombarding people with advertisements or press releases won't earn you many followers, it’s all about engaging your audience in dialogue.

You must follow up after the connection

Your organization should not bring people together then abandon them with no follow up. Use social networks like Facebook to continue the engagement on a regular basis with those who attend your organization’s big conference or event.