Can you believe it?  2010.  When is the last time you have reflected on the fact that 10 years or 3,650 days, have flown by since the millennium?   To me, it is awfully hard to fathom as I write my last blog of 2009.   Do you ever find yourself saying "If only we could just roll back the clock"? 

10 years ago today, I was working for a conference company where we ran many conferences and expositions on then emerging technologies such as  Y2K, the Internet, Sales Force Automation, and one that had a very short shelf life at the time, B2B.    Specifically, our Y2K conference reached new heights in popularity in '99.  We made millions of dollars by facilitating events that educated IT professionals on how they needed to prepare to ensure that computers, systems, and networks all over the globe were Y2K compliant and their companies had contingency plans in the event of a disaster.   On the eve of the millennium, I stood outside Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas at 11:59, kissed my wife, and said let's hope to god the only thing that goes off in a minute are fireworks.  And that is what happened, believe it or not, 10 years ago.  Y2K was over.

For most of us, we went into the millennium on a high.   The economy was in a great place.  Optimism was strong.  All kind of new technologies were reshaping business.  Commercial real estate was booming.   In hindsight, things were pretty darned good.

To say things have changed is an understatement.   Recently, the word optimistic is often the trailer behind the words "I am trying to remain".   Many of us could chalk this year up as one of the more challenging years in our lives.    And, there seems to be a whole new wave of technology coming through that we now need to try to figure out in a spare time such as web2.0, cloud computing, virtual desktops, and social media.   Ways of doing business that we may have embraced 10 years ago have evolved, and that means we need to find time to evolve too.   

As Alexander Graham Bell said, "Before anything else, preparation is the key to success."   There is no better time to start preparing ourselves and our companies for the next 10 years than January 1^st.  If you don't yet have one or more New Year's business resolutions, perhaps these suggestions might be helpful:

• Budget 30 minutes a day during, before, or after hours educating yourself on what market leading companies are doing well today
• Set up an RSS feed for news and content that is relevant for your industry
• Spend time learning and experimenting with social media technology and tactics
• Upgrade your cell phone to a PDA whether you want to or not- the world will be more mobile everyday and iPhones, Android, and Blackberry's are a requirement moving forward
• Throw away, or file away, all old paperwork, magazines, and stuff, you no longer use
• Clean out your inbox and organize or delete old emails
• Attend some face to face events in addition to online events. There is no replacement for the focused networking time and learning when you do not have the office distractions.

These are pretty basic suggestions, but sometimes we need to go back to basics.  Business will come back at some point.  Here's to making sure we are prepared to handle it in the most efficient and impactful way when it does.

Season's Greetings and best wishes for a successful 2010! 

This past Sunday morning, I had to get up at 5:00 AM and drive in the snow to a seminar.    It was not your everyday business seminar which I attend frequently.  It was a USA Hockey Certification and Coaching Seminar.  As you might imagine, not many of us were thrilled to be there on a Sunday or frankly any other day. 

About six hours later, when I left, I felt like I really got a lot out of it and that I could do a better job helping and guiding the kids.  In addition, I was pleasantly surprised about the business value that I got out of the session as I had the opportunity to think about the things we generally do not consider unless we have some dedicated time to focus.

There were 7 points made about coaching beginners that I believe business professionals in commercial real estate, can use to help ourselves, our employees, and our companies.  Here they are:

1)  You might be the first business person a new hire has ever worked with - remember that you have an important job to do. You just might be the leader that shapes their understanding of how business works (and they will be working way longer than they will be playing a sport).

2)  When you stop learning new things-you stop leading

3)  There are 8 principles of effective communication - always keep them in mind

• • Be Enthusiastic
  • Be Positive
  • Be demanding but considerate
  • Be consistent
  • Respect individual differences
  • Give equal time to all (without distraction)
  • Openly communicate
  • Be patient

4)  Don't focus on coaching by telling them "what not to do to correct it, instead focus on "what you would like them to do" to get the right results. If you focus on the negative, then that is what the employee will think about (not screwing up) instead of the desired end result (finishing a project on time).

5)  Avoid lengthy, complicated instructions - 3 things maximum at one time (for those of you who know me, you know this one is near and dear to me)

6)  What you see is what you coached. Look in the mirror if you don't like the results

7)  Fundamental abilities are the natural result of repetition.

There are academic viewpoints that state that to truly become an expert in something; it requires 10,000 hours which in many cases translates to 3 hrs a day for nearly 10 years.   

There are a lot of experts out there who have involved in CRE, Phase I's, and environmental due diligence that meet this criteria or come real close.  If you are in a leadership position, I would just like to pass along the reminder I just received.  Make sure that you share your knowledge and wisdom to ensure the next generation of professionals continues to move the market forward.    

I suspect you might be pleasantly surprised at what you will learn from them, how appreciative they are for your time, and what you get out of it both personally and professionally.  

One month.  That's it.  One month left before we raise glasses together and toast the New Year.  Perhaps we will wish for happiness, health, and peace.  Perhaps we will wish for business success or simply job security.  Perhaps we will wish that life may get easier this year as the past few have been a challenge for the majority of us.   Perhaps we will hope for some combination of all of the above.    

If you are like me, you are already pondering your New Year's Resolution(s).  I typically have two - a personal one and a business one.   Personally, I am going to work on my health by dropping at least 20 pounds  by getting back to working out and eating better. 

My business resolutions do not change from year to year.  I pick three new things I am going to force myself to find time to do, or learn.  For 2010. I am still working on exactly what they are as it is important for me to stay ahead or at least current with trends.  Yes, it has a lot to do with my role, but at a young age raised by older parents, I never really was all that advanced in using technology.   Friends and past coworkers are probably nodding their heads now.  Therefore, I have made it a requirement to push myself outside my comfort zone and learn.  Why you might ask?  As Rob Barber recently wrote, innovation is a requirement in business today and technology is core to innovation.

During a recent Thanksgiving conversation with my older brother, who has always turned his nose up to social networking and online communities, I was surprised to hear that he plans to really dig in and learn  LinkedIn which he has avoided until now.  He also stated that his company, a large b2b electronics firm, is encouraging its employees to learn about social media and to start using it more in the coming year.    I am not surprised - after all Twitter was declared the most popular English word of 2009.   No, I did not make that up.

If you want to understand the business value of social media and online networking in the new year, including how to use LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook,  below are a couple of simple ways to getting started:

• Visit my blog from a short time back called Work, Life, Social Media Balance.  A half hour a day, when you can on what you find valuable, and you are on your way.
• If you plan to better understand how using social networking can help your business in the New Year, I would encourage you to spend 1 hour on Thursday December 10th listening to How to Generate Business Using Social Media Web Seminar. Yes, there is a small fee to attend, but the time saved, the social media roadmap, and checklist you will get from someone I consider to be one of premier minds in "the social media for business space", Jason Falls, will be invaluable.
• This past week, I authored a post on Mashable titled How To: Make Social Media Work for Non-Consumer brands. I think many of our members would find value in reading it. It addresses the process to get started with creating a business to business social media strategy.

Social media can help you create time - not waste time.  Plan wisely and don't let the words "social media" out to be negative or time spent messing around online.  Remember, years ago we shrugged off beepers, cell phones, PDA's, email, ecommerce, and customer relationship management software.   Think about how you would conduct your business today if we didn't have them?    Online is one of the three pillars of communication.  Pretty soon, the words "social media" will be on the above list of necessities as will many other innovative new technologies (tbd) in 2010 that I fully intend to explore to ensure that each year I am doing my part both personally and professionally to remain relevant in the eyes of my employers, customers, and peers. 

It really has been fun and rewarding to watch commonground as both it, and our members, have evolved.   What do I mean?  We have noticed that more and more members have begun to include their Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook information in their profiles on commonground as well as join our LinkedIn Group and Facebook fan page.   Members rarely included information in those fields until recently.     It is great to see members "experimenting" on other social sites and reaching out to us.  The commenting on discussion threads has been fantastic.  The individual notes thanking us for creating commonground have been great.   Our recent award for winning the Forrester Groundswell Best b2b supporting community was surreal.  I could go on...

The vast majority of our members were not involved in social networking 18 months ago.  Some environmental and commercial real estate professionals still aren't, but that number is quickly decreasing.  For every member I, or a member of our team speak with who are already seeing tremendous business benefit and or the potential down the road, there is another member (or non-member) that feels like social networking is a complete waste of time - time that they don't have.   I would speculate that the above feelings are really no different than when most new technologies or changes are introduced that require any one of us as individuals to modify our behaviors and we want validation that we will see a return on time invested.

In an effort to help members who want to efficiently learn why social technologies are the hottest emerging trend in business, we are planning to run a premium web seminar on Wednesday December 10, 2009 at 2:00 PM that will address some of these key issues.  The title is "How to Generate Business Using Social Media".  It will be presented by Jason Falls, Social Media Explorer, a professional speaker and social media expert who specializes in helping businesses and professionals realize significant benefits by using social technologies.

Last week, I read a great Harvard Business Publishing Article by David Armano titled Six Social Media Trends for 2010.  I feel David's predictions around use of social technologies are right on track.  Here is a summary:

1. Social media begins to look less social enabling communications and interaction within our networks to be much more valuable (focused)
2. Corporations look to scale - across industries social technologies will become more mainstream as corporations look to form closer relationships with customers
3. Social business becomes serious play - social networking becomes localized and mobilized
4. Social media policy - your company will end up developing a social media policy (we are doing that now)
5. Mobile becomes a social media lifeline - employees are going to use social technologies whether corporate folks like it or not. And mobile devices will be used by employees at firms that are banning in office use- like it or not.
6. Sharing no longer means email. Expect news articles and other information to be shared via Facebook & Twitter - not just email. Yes, a spin on traditional email list distribution that creates tremendous benefits for both the consumers and distributors of the information.

In addition to the above, I would add one more and that is the emergence of social ecommerce.  As the priest said at my wedding, looks like there is a nice big gathering out there, maybe we should take up a collection.  It just seems logical and natural to enable transactions while we have customers engaged.

We look forward to helping members to learn more about how social technologies, web relationships, and a multi channel strategy can impact your business. 

Don't forget to mark your calendars for 2:00 ET on December 10th.  Registration will begin shortly.

Note:  Please feel free to reply to this blog, contact me via twitter, or send me a private email and let me know if you have any questions you would like us to address during the web seminar.  We have already begun to compile the list.

Question:  Why, in an environmental community, are we starting to talk more and more often about social media, search engine optimization, and social web presence?

Answer:  The social web is changing business.  And, even those who are not practicing social media like I do every day, are interested in trying to figure the whole thing out in an efficient way.

I think most professionals, including those that would fall into the "environmental professional" category know that Google is the most powerful business game changer of the decade.   Even knowing that, many companies have been slow to the table to accept that and determine ways to ensure that their web and social presence is as strong as their traditional marketing presence.  

Today, 85% of your customers, my customers, and our future customers search when they open their web browser as their first move.   And, they do it 14 billion times per month.   That is why as we approach 2010, you should revisit your web strategy.   As Jason Falls states, search looks for a couple of things (relevancy):

• 1) Is your website content recent? If it is updated frequently, with dynamic and valuable content, you will rank higher in search results.
• 2) How many other people think that content is good? If users think the content is good, it will impact your positioning dramatically in search results.

Pretty logical stuff here and Google and other search algorithms are smart.   How many companies think their products are great?  Of course you/we do.  That is why these search engines find more value in what the users of your products and services think.  That trend will only continue to increase as we as buyers and consumers get access to more information via the web.

As we collectively move into the fall and start making plans and strategies for 2010, our goal is to share some practical business advice on how to help you capitalize on the most important trend across all business right now - the social web.    If there is something you are interested in hearing about, please reply and let me know.

I had mentioned that I planned to share a couple of lessons learned from the Inbound Marketing Summit - and I will.  There is some very valuable information that I plan to share that I think will be helpful for members.  However, I felt the need to voice my opinions on the recent social media frenzy.

"Balloon Boy".

I am guessing that everyone reading this probably knows the "Balloon Boy" story that transpired in Colorado last week.   In case you were away on vacation in Antarctica, here is the cliff notes version of the story.  A family, whose name I will not mention because it will only generate more publicity for them,  had us believe that a six year old boy had floated away in a homemade looking spaceship across Colorado when in reality he was hiding in the attic of his home as part of the prank orchestrated by his parents.   Millions of people watched.  Emergency crews were deployed. Rescue plans were made.  Police were on high alert.  Significant costs were incurred....and sure enough it was a hoax.   Now, these exemplary parents face jail time for their actions. 

There have been a number of perspectives offered on whether in the end it was good or bad.  Sure, it was great for traditional media outlets!  "Balloon Boy" had all the elements of a great story - it was controversial, it kept viewers on the edge of their seats, it stirred emotions, and for many of us, it made you think about your own children and feel for the family.  Many people at offices all over the world hovered around computer monitors and TV's watching coverage on MSN, CNN, and other sources.  

And, then it happened.  We found out we were duped.  I believe that down the road, we will look back at this event as one of the events that may have changed social media forever.

Social media naysayers will not remember the many social media success stories, the Amber Alerts where social networks have influenced successful outcomes or how Obama proved how communities of peers can put aside differences and win an election they will remember "Balloon Boy" where the parents took advantage of us - using the tools that we have put in everyone's hands hoping they would act responsibly. 

As members of the collective social network, I feel we should take some responsibility for creating and contributing to the "Balloon Boy" media frenzy.  We need to send a message that individuals, groups, and companies who try to game the system will be prosecuted appropriately.   Jail time, reimbursement of expenses, stiff fines, public apologies, and a lot of community service are definitely in order.  One friend of mine suggested that they try to guess how much employee time was wasted as a result of their hoax and come up with a cost and make them pay it back.   Interesting!

My expectation is as a result of this hoax, we will see a lot more about social media crimes, laws, and cases in the news.  What do you think?

For the past two days, I attended the Inbound Marketing Summit at Gillette Stadium, the home of the New England Patriots - the best NFL team of the ERA.  Sorry Larry and other non - Boston sports fans.  I had to add that.  

The event talked about ways to help improve marketing effectiveness and ultimately sell more.    Over the course of the next week, I intend to share some nuggets that I found were very valuable during the two days.

What should come as no surprise to anyone is that many environmental professionals are trying to figure out new and innovative ways to generate marketing exposure, leads, and sales.  Our market has changed - as have most.  However, as a whole, the environmental professional - consultants, lenders, attorneys, geologists, etc. are a little slower to adopt social media than other markets, such as the retail, travel, and technology industry.  Why?  Those industries are generally early adopters - and they are seeing the fruits of their labor and commitment.  Once the b2c markets seem to find success, b2b markets seem to follow when it comes to advances in emerging technologies.

I had the pleasure of watching a presentation about Southwest Airlines. They have made a full commitment to social media.  What does that mean?   Paula Berg, a very intelligent and inspiring social media professional at Southwest shared that it is a directive that social media will be an integrated part of the customer experience at Southwest for all new initiatives.  Seems like a pretty big commitment.  Why would they do something like that?  

First, Southwest Airlines has 750,000 twitter followers and on an average day add 7,000 new followers.    Recently, they ran a short promotion and just used social media.  What happened?  Well, this promotional approach produced the biggest sales week in the 38 year history of Southwest Airlines.  

The second thing that blew my mind was the Southwest Airlines rap video.  I live on the web, but somehow I had not seen it.  I have included the video below.  A passenger on a Southwest flight ran a video of a flight attendant who decided to mix it up a bit from the same monotonous pre-flight speech we have heard hundreds of times..  Check it out for yourself.

For those of you who regularly participate on social networking sites, and those of you who have just started, you probably have noticed a number of different types of member personalities and patterns. In the social networking circles, you can search and find various explanations of the many types of participants as they really don't vary all that much across social communities and also real life. 

The three types of members of social networks that we run into regularly include

1. Active and Social Members - The definition of an active member is one that frequently, perhaps even as often as daily logs in, contributes to posts, offers suggestions to other members, perhaps posts a job from time to time. The content provided by active members is considered valuable - even if it is not always spot on right.
2. Members who Loiter- Often called lurkers in the community space, lurkers read and consume information within the community, and do not generally contribute in the form of adding new content, such as commenting on blogs or discussions, starting posts, or adding opinions.
3. Members who seem like Trouble Makers - Trouble makers are bound to show up from time to time in a thriving community. The pattern is always the same. Trouble makers generally sign up under some false member name that hides their true identity, they spend a week or so adding content that most community members feel is often disruptive and worthless, and their posts generally come off as somewhat angry, unprofessional, end sometimes insulting. And, if they do make a valid point, their reputation makes everyone doubt its validity.

The members that often can have the most positive impact are the trouble makers - believe it or not.  Why?  Well it is simple.

• They usually stir the pot which drives more participation
• Most members tend to get upset with their comments - often times driving more of the members who loiter, to actually participate out of loyalty and pride for their community.
• In the long run, the negative impacts of their actions are documented on the most powerful thing - the World Wide Web - driving traffic. And, controversy always gains attention which is often great for the community.

When I talk about these types with members, employees, and partners, the question often comes up - "then, how do we know if an answer or content is correct or credible?"    I would encourage you to take the following into consideration when you are determining if there is any question about the credibility of the member and their contributions:

1. What seems to be a "Fake" username and profile - When a member hides under a fake name and chooses not to share who they are publicly, and their comments seem to be unprofessional, insulting, or inappropriate, then you should be cautious about the believability and credibility of their content - no matter how experienced they claim to be.
2. When a member uses the company name as the profile name - Many times a person will join as their company name and provide great contributions. However, other times, these members seem to be more guilty of adding recommendations with a bit more bias, selling their company vs. personal knowledge. Does not mean the information is not solid - you should just approach this with awareness.
3. The time of the posts - It has been my experience that sometimes great comments come in during non-work hours. However, it is also my experience that some of the more inappropriate comments happen after hours. So, you might want to check out the time.
4. How have their posts been reviewed - If you see that a member's posts are generally given 1 star or 2 on a scale of 5, then others do not feel all that confident with either that persons' contributions or the accuracy of their answers.

In the end, you should always use your best judgment when deciding about the credibility of a post.   Most credible social networks provide access to information about the contributor, so it is easy to check the above recommendations, but always use your best judgment like you would with anything else.

Should any of you feel that there are folks who do not meet the standards of the community and violate the rules of engagement and terms of service, I would always encourage that you let the community administrator for the community and other community members know.

One of the reasons why I am very passionate about social networking is that in the business world, it is still considered a new and emerging trend although it really has been around for many years.  With any "new" trend, there are so many challenging questions to answer and try to figure out that it never gets boring or dull to me.

One topic in particular that is constantly scrutinized and debated is "participation". 

For any of the social networking experts and newbie's, we often struggle with participation metrics.  What is good?  What is bad?   How come only a limited number of members seem to actually participate and so many seem to lurk?  Why is it that someone will email me a question and not actually post it within the community?   It becomes this heated debate with a lot of great viewpoints and questions about the viability of a network, what the resulting hesitancy means, and ultimately whether the  the members are receiving enough value.    

Anyone who reads my blogs regularly, likely notices that often times I mention that I "recently had a conversation", or "was attending an event", or "was meeting with friends, coworkers, or relatives", and a topic of conversation intrigued me.    

When you consider your family functions, your teams, your office - any situation where there is a group of people with a common bond having a conversation - whether it is a serious one or one at a bar over beers.  Did you ever notice that only a few folks talk 90% of the time and the vast majority listen?  Some members listen for a bit and walk away.  Some stay the whole time and do not say a word.  And some can stand around as part of the group the whole time and never say a word - ever.  The two or three folks who talk tend to control the conversation and command the attention.  

What is my point? 

We are all wound a bit differently.   My personality is such where I am a very transparent person who is very social and far from "shy".   I also like to both listen and participate.  You might be like me, but you also could be the type who would prefers to remain quiet.  It is just who we are.   Therefore, my advice is to consider these very basic fundamentals when thinking about quantifying the success of your social networking success.  Don't look at situations and think that everyone should be participating - realize that some people never will, but they will get significant value regardless of whether they ever say a word or not if the content of the discussion is intriguing and deemed valuable.  Therefore, focus on generating compelling content if you truly want to improve participation and not on overanalyzing participation patterns.

Each year the same family members attend family functions, each week that team shows up for their weekly hockey game, and each day those coworkers come to work - even the ones who don't talk as much as I do.   

There is no reason why you should expect the online channel to be any different....