1. He is living proof that if you CARE enough, engage, and work your face off you can become mainstream

Watch CBS News Videos Online

2. He is down to earth, completely honest & transparent

3. He is one of the most energetic hard working hustlers I know (besides myself)

4. He knows how to balance fun, work, and of course family life

5. I had the honor & privilege to meet Gary twice (Boston Gravity Summit and a Wine Meet-up in San Diego)

In summary- Gary Vee has been a great inspiration in my continued jounrey of internet entrepreneurship, social media consulting, and most of all following my passion.  Feel free to leave a comment if Gary Vee has had an impact on your life- I would love to hear your story.  Please leave a comment below.  Cheers

Justin “Results” French

I had the privilege to attend the 1 year anniversary of Gravity Summit at UCLA this past Monday and I must say that it was well worth staying up there the night before and not having to rush to the conference in the morning. It ended up being an eventful and relax-full weekend and an all around great conference. As we know, being involved with Social Media, it is always good habits to take it off-line once in a while and get in a room filled with like minded people and if you happen to be part of the social media conference, then you know the talent they were able to pull was of the highest caliber in the industry. Not to mention re-connecting with those that I had seen at Harvard at another previous Gravity Summit. I recorded an inspirational video the night before (talking about the Three H’s- Hustle, Heart, and Helpfulness) that can be seen here if you’d like http://www.socialnetworkingsandiego.com/social-networking/twas-the-night-before-gravity-summit-heart-hustle-and-helpfulness/

Social media for business is still the hot topic but after being involved in this trend for the last year and a half can sometimes be draining. But the gravity summit expo just happen to give me that re-energizing boost I needed to re-spark the deep passion I have for this topic.

The content provided during the event was exceptional, but there was one presentation early on that really had an impact on me- an ecstatic, passionate, and over-the-top presentation from Kodak’s CMO Jeffrey Hayzlett. Now I hadn’t heard of Jeff before, but I knew how involved Kodak has been in social media and the drastic changes they had made to their workforce so I was interested in hearing some of the behind the scenes strategies. Not only did I get insight to these practices and policies, but he even had me laughing out loud!! I shared one of the better video clips below, but if you’re interested in the entire highlighted clips from the Keynote you can view them here: Gravity Summit Keynote CMO of Kodak

Please re-tweet and bookmark this post so we can share this insightful and valuable content with the rest of the business community. Hope you enjoyed-

Justin R French

“Those who keep asking what is the ROI on social media- I say what is the cost of ignoring”- Kodak CMO Jeffrey Hayzlett

I happen to be using the new Flip Video (took my Samsung back because of some issues with zoom) so in case your wondering why i am endorsing flip video- its what i will be using from now on to provide you with quality video content. (full disclosure) cheers –
Justin

here is a good deal from Amazon on one:

Gotta love that catchy headline right? Ok so yesterday when I logged into my personal Gmail account (I have about 30 Gmail accounts by the way all for a different business purpose because you know I’m all about business and occasionally having fun) and I happen to see a landing page come up introducing me to Google Buzz. I watched a quick video, got versed on it, and began exploring. After you watch the video I would advise you to play around with it a little bit. Do you think Twitter may be worried? My personal opinion is just like Linked-in, Facebook and Twitter. Google buzz will be just another means of me communicating to another online community of those I am connected with. (it just happens to be my contacts in my Gmail account and on my phone- the G1 Android). Buy one here and I’ll teach you how to set up a special proprietary workflow system I have created to streamline email and increase productivity

As the lines become more and more blurry between my professional life and personal life, I started out having two separate accounts but quickly realized how non time efficient this was. I am slowing trying to migrate to just 1 user account per social network, but we will see where that takes me. Right now I am more into twitter and Linked-In (obviously) but it depends on my goals.

What are you thoughts on the new Google Buzz? Should Twitter be afraid? I don’t think so, not for now anyway, BUT who knows what will happen in the next year. The world of social media and social networking for business changes every day. It is so hard to keep up BUT if this is your passion, you never consider it work. Its part of your life. It consumes you. You are addicted. But there are many other worse things you could be addicted to so until then, go get your Buzz on with Google and Tweet it up on Twitter. Cheers,

Justin R French

Here is a Top 8 list of our Most Popular Posts for 2009 according to our tracking statistics on Hootsuite. You the community, clicked on these posts the most, so I put together a list of the most popular ones just in case you wanted to bookmark it or share it with your contacts (always appreciated)

Please help share these with the Business Community as I’m sure they will find these extremely valuable in preparing their strategy for 2010. This is in order of oldest post to the newest.

1. Top 5 Lessons Learned about Social Media, Social Networking, Twitter, and Business”

This is the post that really kick-started our renewed passion for consulting, except instead of providing trusted IT consulting, our TEAM shifted into providing trusted Social Media Consulting because we identified the trends of businesses needing a team of consultants to help guide them on this new medium which should now be part of their marketing mix. Social media has been added to the equation of all marketing departments, or at least should be and the budgets will finally be there for 2010.

2. 10 Keys for Small Business Success Using Social Networking

This post gave actual tips small businesses can implement right away and gained much popularity among the small business community.

3. How CEO’s Can Create A Blue Ocean Strategy And Save The Company Using Social Media

As we know, good leadership starts from the top and works its way down, yet now we have seen a more bottom up approach thanks to social media. I would suggest any executives still trying to wrap their head around social media, you may want to read this popular post I did and the video explaining how to create a blue ocean strategy using social media with some examples in layman’s terms.

4. Top 5 lessons learned in the trenches of social networking for business and social media consulting

This post discussed what life has been like in the trenches of providing social media consulting and strategies for companies to leverage with even some lessons we learned early on. A good refresher like this is much needed for the New Year.

5. Top 5 Lessons in Trust relating to Social Media and Social Networking

Especially in today’s economic climate, we are extremely reliant upon the trust we have built with our network and community, and we must constantly be cultivating these relationships. The book I would recommend you read is by a fellow social media evangelist Chris Brogan. The title of his book Trust Agents speaks for itself. Here is where you can get your copy: Remember- leaders are readers!

6. San Diego Small Business Fair- Social Networking 101 Slides

This post gives the actual presentation I did at the local San Diego business fair. We received some very good feedback on the content presented so I encourage you to view this post just in case you missed the live event.

7. Top 10 Reasons Businesses Should Embrace Social Media and Twitter To Survive in 2010

Here was another Top 10 list I had put together explaining why businesses will should be embracing social media more as part of their business strategy for 2010. It received over 800 hits so there should be at least a few good points that you may find beneficial.

8. What are the ABC’s of Social Media For Business?

It is important to know the foundation of social media for business development purposes, so these ABC’s explain some of our processes we use (transparency) in working with clients to establish principles to ensure a solid foundation.

Here is to a great 2010 and we at the SNSD team wish everyone a Happy New Year!

Justin R French

P.S. As your trusted advisor, In case you were looking for a cost effective tool to stay in touch with your customers, prospects, and community, you may want to consider starting 2010 off with a tool we use at SNSD called Aweber. You can sign up here for a FREE test drive:

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First off, as 2009 comes to an end soon, I am very humbled by all the great people I have come to know on twitter over the last year throughout our journey. The team at SNSD could not have gotten here without all your support. Honestly, it’s those close to me in my network on Linked-in and especially Twitter that keep me moving forward even though some days I feel like I am in the dumps or have lost my mind….

I have heard so many different terms used for the new title in social media lately and wanted to discuss some of the following with you and get your feedback:

Social Media Strategist
Social Media Consultant
Social Media Advocate
Social Media Manager
Social Media Coordinator
Social Media Coach
Social Media Mentor
the list goes on……

People want to know where the jobs are- they are in social media. If you have a business degree, experience in consulting, understand strategy, marketing and sales, and have some technical abilities, these are the types of careers to consider. Are there any titles I am missing? If we are connected on twitter or linked-in and we share a common bond around the social media movement for business, I want to hear from you. I have some very exciting things planned for 2010 and as we have developed and grown our thought-leadership collectively on social media for business, we will finally be able to start productizing our best practices and direclty impacting the business community in a positive way. Can you say turn-key?

More to come on this in 2010 🙂 Be ready for Great things!

Justin R French
Social Media Visionary

Social media marketing is going to be HUGE in 2010 and we are finally seeing some decent budgets being formulated. We started out the first 2 quarters of 2009 helping the small business community mostly, but have realized that mid-size firms have demonstrated to us the budgets are now there and they are seeing the value more and more (which is a very good sign for the economy too). We will continue to help our small businesses of course, and are still finalizing the coaching and subscription services we have been discussing (I know well over-due) but things have been very busy in the trenches.

I wanted to share with you some frequently asked questions we ask prospects before engaging in a social media marketing engagement:

1.  Is your business involved in social media yet?

2.  What’s working / Not Working?

3.  Why do you think your company is ready to engage in social media?

4.  Do you have a social media plan for 2010?

5.  Are you measuring your results?

6.  Are you keeping an eye on your competitors online?

7.  What is your differentiation factor?

8.  Is your website web 2.0 friendly?

9.  On a scale of 1-10 how would you rate your customer service?

10.  On a scale of 1-10 how would your customers rate your customer service?

11.  Do you have staff members who can commit the time to training?

12.  Are you breaking the news first for your industry and developing yourself or your firm as a thought leader for your consulting or legal practice?

Well, this is EXACLTY what we help our clients do everyday; prepare them to listen, teach them to engage, and change their mindset into the 21^st century digital economy. But I must warn you that if you think everything is perfect when it comes to social media marketing your wrong. There is NO one tactic you will try that will get you 2 million views to your you tube channel (unless you are using Scott Stratten or better known as @UnMarketing on Twitter- make sure you follow this Jedi Marketer for some un-believable insight.)

Just like traditional marketing, you have a lot of options (tools) to consider. I know your boss is telling you to stretch your dollars as much as possible, BUT at the same time get the most effective response from your audience while not trying to sound to “spammy” right? Well then social media marketing may be the answer you’re looking for. Remember, marketing is getting the horse to the pond, and a sale is getting the horse to drink.

I know marketing is more complex than that, but you get the idea. It’s all about the marketing message you portray and the call to action that’s key. With some heavy research from our research team, we may be able to offer you the “fast track to social media for business” which many of our clients have experienced.

What topics would you be interested in hearing more about for 2010? We are preparing some turn-key products and essential social media tools as resources to our clients that are going to really help the business community so stay tuned. If you’re a marketing firm looking to offer social media marketing and consulting services to your clients, send our CEO Justin R French an email at snsdjf@gmail.com and put in the subject “affiliate program” and request more information.

Look forward to hearing more from our growing business community.

The Social Networking San Diego Team

GaryVee, Me, and Robert @ Syrah in San Diego- book signing of CrushIt (Still finishing up)

Buy it here discounted:

In case you haven’t noticed, Entrepreneurship is on the rise. Especially what I call “Social Entrepreneurship”. Why? I will give you 3 simple reasons:

1. No such thing as job security anymore
2. Average employee tenure at a firm is only 2 years and a few months
3. People are tired of doing things they are not passionate about, and are seeing new opportunities and accepting more risk to do something they love and follow their passion (especially Generation Y)

What are your thoughts about the current trend in Entrepreneurship & Entrepreneurship being taught in business school? Agree or disagree? IBM embraces entrepreneurial minded people and formulates mini entrepreneurial teams to innovate, collaborate, and demonstrate products/ projects that create change and improvement over existing technologies. If there is one model company to follow its IBM. I have studied them for years, and they truly are an industry leader and we aspire to run our start-up the same way. For more on Entrepreneurship, please visit my blog “An Entrepreneurs Journey” here: The Journey Of An Entrepreneur Any comments? Do you agree/ disagree with my opinions? Let me know,

Thanks
Justin CEO Social Networking San Diego

(Click Picture For Large View)

Today was an exciting day for me and I wanted to share my experience with my readers, colleagues, customers, partners, and friends. I started out doing some consulting for a client in the morning, then went to the Handlery Hotel in San Diego where I was speaking on behalf of the Small Business Development Center (or the SBDC) on Social Networking 101 for Business. This is a subject I have been helping the small business community on for quite some time now, and this was probably my seventh speaking engagement on social media so I am becoming less nervous each time. Once I found my groove though, It was all good.

I am extremely passionate about helping small businesses as I have for the last 10 years of my consulting career. Selling your time is not easy to do, and if you ask any consultant (myself included), they will probably say the same. But with social media and social networking this makes selling YOURSELF and your products, services, & company a little easier with what I call “relationship and educational selling” but more on that topic later…..

As promised to the many small businesses that attended today’s Social Networking 101 for Business workshop, I have attached the slides (see below)

I hope today’s session was informative and you learned something to take back and execute in the trenches. If you wouldn’t mind sharing below in the comments section, what is the #1 thing you took away from today’s presentation? If I could get your feedback on this so we can share with other small businesses it would be great. Remember, its all about engaging!

P.S. If youd like FREE Access to Our Beta “Social Media For Business Coaching Program” please send me an email at snsdjf@gmail.com with the subject line “coaching” and I will send you the exclusive invite.

I hope everyone is having a great week. This has been one of the busiest weeks for us in a few months, and we are working on some VERY exciting products and services (systems) that are going to revolutionize social networking and social media for business. As you know, Social Networking San Diego has been taking you though the social media and social networking FOR BUSINESS journey since January 2008 when we started our first Squido lens (HERE) to setting up our website/ blog on word press. Don’t forget our CEO Justin R French on twitter, who has been paying it forward since Day 1.

The reason for this blog post is to let you know what a typical day is like for a Social Media Strategist to see if you may be ready for this type of position OR even have the business background and the technical know how to provide such services to clients.

If you are a business considering using a social media strategist or a social media consultant, please watch this video FIRST that will clarify some Frequently Asked Questions about The Top 5 Questions when considering Social Networking & Social Media For Business

I am NOT saying you have to be a programmer with a computer science degree OR be an MBA graduate from Harvard (Cal State San Marcos is just as good and cheaper in my opinion but I digress)

All I AM saying is that to be a Social Media Strategist or a Social Media Consultant, you must have a certain level of education, experience, and technical understanding to be able to provide such comprehensive and holistic solutions. As our CEO Justin R French quotes “It is extremely rare these days to find a web design company who can handle ALL areas of development, content writing, training, marketing, strategy, integration, system implementation, and measuring who have a full understanding of business as well. I remember in my old It consulting firm Perfect Integration that I founded, many technicians just were not business savy. I focused on being business savy FIRST, then technical. It has paid off for me big time, and that is why our team is currently able to help many small and medium sized businesses with social media consulting through my hands on coaching and training program which I provide to our team members.”

My apologies but I will continue tomorrow with the post on the typical day of a social media strategist because I am just soooooo burnt out from the long day. My brain is fried, so thank you for your patience and please check back tomorrow for A Day In The Field As A Social Media Strategist For Small Business

Any comments for us? See below and leave a message- thanks
Social Networking San Diego

Have you heard of the new reality business show Shark Tank? If you haven’t, It is created by Mark Burnett and for those of you that don’t know he was the one who helped create The Apprentice and Survivor. It is by far one the best shows I’ve seen on TV in years. What you might not also know is that I actually applied for the very 1st season of The Apprentice and sent in my video but obviously didn’t make it onto the show, but it was a fun an exciting experience to partake in none the less. (Maybe i will put the footage on you tube soon for you)

The Shark Tank is by far the BEST reality show to come onto the mainstream since The Apprentice in my opinion. I watched the first series of the apprentice, and after starting to watch further seasons, it really lost the touch in which the first season had (which was my favorite). The reason i bring up the Shark Tank is i am tired of seeing all these reality TV series that don’t necessary appeal to me- The Entrepreneur, Business Professional, and real-world small business advocate. I could care less about the Kardasians, Tool Academy, or Making the Band. Those appeal to teens or young adults who need to get their priorities straight. What about the late 20 year old generation Y who are the future leaders of this country? That’s why we are flocking to the internet and social networking because there is so much crap on TV. I mean, my point is we need more shows like Shark Tank on the mainstream because our country is built on small businesses. So I say to all the major TV networks, start putting out more reality shows about business and I know this will add to brining us out of this recession.

Here is a clip from the new reality show Shark Tank

What are your thoughts on the show? Do you watch it? What other shows do you watch that are around business? Do we need to have a reality show called the Entrepreneur? Hey Mark Burnett- let me know if you’d like to discuss this format, I have plenty of ideas on a REAL Reality TV show called the Entrepreneur
Cheers
Justin R French
CEO Social Networking San Diego

p.s. Check out this show called “The Entrepreneur Hour” I am starting to do. This stuff is the REAL deal. What do you think? Here is a sample: The Entrepreneur Hour- First Show- How To Start A New Business