J A R R O D S H E E T S . C O M

A: Amen – there’s so much buzz out there around social networking that it’s hard to identify the potential opportunities that could be out there for your business.  If you have any friends or colleagues that have made forays into the world of social networking, ask them to take some time and show you what they’ve done – while their model will not exactly meet your needs, you will get an idea of what’s out there and what your business could do with it.  For a nominal fee, I am willing to discuss with you the exact needs of your business, set up a social networking model that meets your needs, and train you (or a designee) on how to use the sites on an ongoing basis.  Contact me at jarrod@jarrodsheets.com for more info.

A: A couple of tips for you – (1) If you have a day job, NEVER write about it on your blog.  I don’t care if you’re the fry cook at McDonald’s, if you are discussing work-related issues on your blog, you run the risk of being fired.  In fact, I would advise that you avoid talking about the entire industry in which you work – this could still be construed as advice from an employee of XYZ Company.  (2) Please, remember that whatever you write is readable by the entire world – this includes people that don’t like you, potential employers, your mom, and all future blind dates.  Keep it positive, keep it clean, and don’t write anything you wouldn’t submit to your hometown newspaper.

A: Hands down, Facebook is the right choice for your business (unless you’re a musician, where MySpace is still going strong).  While MySpace does offer more freedom in the graphic design of the site (I think that 99% of people go overboard on this), the networking capability of Facebook is about a million times better.  For instance, if you start a “fan site” on Facebook, you can immediately invite everyone in your address book; once they have accepted, their friends will see and become fans of your site, and their friends, and their friends…  Also, your business will be “searchable” to every user of Facebook.  According to The Guardian, “MySpace had 124 million monthly unique visitors last month, a decline of 2%...Facebook, by contrast, racked up 276 million unique visitors, an increase of 16.6%” (March 29, 2009).  So, you may not have the option of the psychedelic butterfly background, but you will have hundreds of millions more potential eyes on your business – your choice.

A: My only real advice is be very, very, very careful.  A business partnership is a lot like a marriage – fairly easy to get into, sometimes a nightmare to get out of.  Just because you’ve known the person for a long time doesn’t mean they’d make a good business partner – I’ve had friends for years that I’d never dream of going into business with, because of what I know about their work ethic or the way they handle money.  In other words, make sure the person is someone you admire professionally.  If they only seem interested in the cash you could bring to the business and not your skills and talents, run.  If the business is pre-existing, ask to see all of the books, the cash flow statements, etc. – if they’re not keeping books, run.  And finally, if they aren’t bringing anything to the table and you could operate the business on your own, why in the world would you want a partner?  Partnerships are great – you just need to make sure they make sense.

A: I’ve been asked this question a lot in the past few months, as I’ve gotten a Twitter account up and running for a nonprofit organization.  The important thing to know about Twitter is that it’s a current events/”in the now” type of site – people are on there for the very latest updates, they aren’t particularly interested in learning about the history of your company or what your cat had for breakfast.  If you feel that your business could create buzz by giving real-time updates about deals (i.e. one day only sale at X, $1 margaritas at Y) or events (i.e. people want to tweet about the last event at your winery) then I say go for it.  If you do decide to have a Twitter presence, have a plan to let your customers know you’re out there – it’s useless to Tweet if no one is following you!

A: Nothing.  Being “un-friended” by someone on Facebook (meaning someone removing you from their “Friends” list on Facebook) isn’t the same as someone walking up to you and saying, “I don’t want to be your friend anymore!”  There are many reasons that someone might do this – the most common being a person just cleaning out their contacts.  Some people only want their closest friends to be connected with them on Facebook, while others want to be friends with the whole world.  Many people post comments about their personal lives that they’d rather not have their work colleagues reading on a consistent basis.  So don’t feel bad about it – odds are it has nothing to do with you!  And, if the person truly doesn’t like you anymore, aren’t you glad they no longer have access to your personal information and pictures?