Twitter and Facebook breeds herds of Big Mouths, it can be quite funny, even sad and in some times quite scary, but they don’t know they have big mouths, no one is brave enough to tell them. I like a good debate, and I like a good old heart to heart, but no one person is ever completely right all of the time! No one person has the right to spout off and be rude, ignorant, tell the world stuff has to be done their way, but they can carry on doing it for all I care. Their behavior leaves a wide open gap for the rest of us to jump in and be successful, successful in whatever we are doing.

Here’s the thing, there are a few big mouths out there who actually believe in what they say, and sometimes on a rare occasion they are right, but there is no need to SHOUT. If what you share is good content you will be noticed, people will listen to you. Social media can be a noisy place, and fighting for a chance to get noticed can be tough, but being a big mouth means you will become extinct, no one will remember who you were and you will be a piece of history long forgotten.

Bring it on if you want to debate this one, but please, don’t shout at me, I am not deaf:)

Social simply means: a party of people assembled to promote sociability and communal activity

Media simply means: mass communication regarded collectively

If you have not yet embarked on the path of social media it’s not too late, but I would urge you to walk before you can run and not be taken in by the rush to be the most popular, the most sought after and, have the most followers.

First and foremost know the answers to these questions:

• Why – why are you thinking about becoming active on a social media site
• What – what will social media add to your life
• When – when will you have time to devote to your social media activities
• Which – which social media site(s) do you want to join

Once you have answered the above questions, and you still want to be a part of the social media revolution  then go for it, but do it your way. Don’t be taken in by the so called experts on many of the social media platforms who tell you how you should tweet, to use  Twitter as a good example.

SMB’s definitely have a lot to gain by being active on social media platforms, but first and foremost know yourself, your business and your action plan. Many people have great success by simply building  relationships online and, when possible in the geographical sense, meeting people face to face and strenghening the connection even more.

Social media, in my opinion, makes our lives easier by bringing certain people into our lives and allowing us to find out about them, which in turn offers us the chance to further our business connections and, ultimately sell our products and services. It is a great partner to all the other things we do when building our business connections.

You can decide how much time and effort you put into your social media efforts, as long as you remember you get back what you put in; if you invest a certain amount of time each day, and the time can vary and is always your choice, you will reap the rewards.

Being seen to be active on social media platforms, becoming known, popular, well liked and as someone who is there to help others is no bad thing. Challenges can happen when your time is not well spent on social media and you forget you do have other business matters to attend to. That’s when people tend to walk away and blame social media on their time wasting, which really means they did not structure their social media calendar effectively.

Ultimately, social media is a great tool to use, if you use it proficiently and enjoy the activity, you will be successful.

I was reading an article earlier today and it made me realise just how much the SBCN is doing it right, it being encouraging SMB’s to network and how to do it successfully. As one of the co-founders of the SBCN I am often seen out and about in my local community meeting SMB’s who are interested in finding out networking opportunities that will help them. It’s not about being a part of the SBCN, it’s about knowing the How, the Why, the Where, and When.

www.sbcncanada.org

The article I really enjoyed shared the same philosophy and principles the SBCN does. It is about consistency and about being seen as a leader.

Read the article and see what you think: http://business.financialpost.com/2011/12/05/how-to-network-by-design-not-by-default/

My blog has not been updated as much as it should have been and I know that for a fact and I know why, which really helps me determine how to move forward.

Excuses do not make any difference, if I let my readers down, I admit it, but having relatively good reasons and explaining those to you may give me chance to win you back;)

2011 has not been the best year, but not the worst. Many challenges have crept, jumped, silently came into my life to disrupt, upset and generally pull me down. But, for those of you who know my story, I am still here, I kept going, and now is the time to move on.

One of my sons suffered a mental breakdown earlier this year, he was diagnosed with early Bi-Polar, he is one of the lucky ones. He is getting the best treatment, help and support and will have a fantastic life and will go on to help others in similar situations.

Two of our beloved cats had to be put to sleep, a couple of months apart, Misty and Chip who were brothers and almost 18 years old. Family pets are cherished and more like family members as each year goes on.

My husbands grandmother died, followed by her daughter in law, two funerals in a short space of time, hard to imagine.

The list goes on but I wont bore, you I know you get the idea.

I am back! Thanks for your support:)

After presenting to the Small Business Community Network recently on the benefits of LinkedIn I came up with the idea to host a full day conference called The @MarketPlace Conference. You can check out the website here: www.marketplaceconference.com

My goal in life, whether it’s business or personal is to help people, and the @MarketPlace Conference will certainly help a lot of people.

Please check out the recent video interviews with our vendors in the Vendor Village at the conference: http://www.marketplaceconference.com/vendor-village.php

http://community.telustalksbusiness.com/blogs/talk_business/2011/08/09/are-you-working-for-social-media

http://www.motivationalsteps.com/stepping_stone/archives/2011/issue_95.html

http://community.telustalksbusiness.com/blogs/talk_business/2011/07/26/teach-a-man-or-woman-to-fish

http://community.telustalksbusiness.com/blogs/talk_business/2011/07/12/when-the-going-gets-tough-the-tough-get-motivated#cf