Mediaboss Marketing

JarinEisenberg, Your turn Published 1:48 a.m. ET May 27, 2020

As we all navigate this new normal, we are also looking for new ways to connect and reconnect with colleagues, friends, and family members. Our traditional means of networking has been disrupted, and the shift has left many of us feeling disconnected from the social groups we rely on to do business, to share information, to put a smile on our face after a hard day.

We are usedto thinking of networking as forming close-knit relationships, when we are in need of a resource or support, our natural inclination is to go to those closest to us, but many studies suggest that it is our weakest ties that hold the most value, and now is the time to strengthen them.

For decades, sociologists have studied the association between social groups, interpersonal relationships, and the value of social networks in regards to positive economic mobility and outcomes. The age-old saying, "It is not what you know, but who you know," speaks to the way we tug on these networks to gain access to resources, capital, and employment opportunities. It is often how we get our foot in the door.

In light of recent events, more and more researchers are stressing the importance of weak ties. Weak ties are acquaintances, they are low stakes relationships, they are not people who are in your immediate circle, but you likely have some shared history between you. Evidence suggests we are more likely to get a job through our weak ties than from those closest to us. It is often the relationships that we have invested in the leastthat have the biggest returns.

Weak ties expand our social circle. Too often the people closest to us all know each other, and the network becomes a redundant one. As we expand our social circle, we also expand our view of the world, are more likely to develop a greater sense of empathy for peoples lived experiences that are not like our own, and in doing so, we expand the reach we have. Expanding our social circles provides for more diverse ways we can gain access to a resource, an opportunity, and may itself provide us with a deeper sense of connection and community.

JarinEisenberg is chief operating officer of Groundswell Startups.(Photo: Provided)

Weak ties are not just for business relationships, but they are the casual relationships we have with baristas, bartenders, people who cut our hair, the people we know through the good work they do, but dont have an intimate relationship with. They make us feel more connected to our communities, provide a sense of place and attachment, and though we might be less comfortable asking them for something in a time of need, we shouldnt. Now is the time to reconnect and reinvest in those that feel the furthest from our networks.

During a time of rising unemployment, we have likely all seen examples of individuals in our networks posting on LinkedIn or other social platforms about losing a job. It can take a lot of guts to do so, but we shouldnt be afraid to do it. That person who is a friend of a friend who sees that post can make a valuable introduction, or provide a suggestion, or just connect you with others to see where it goes.

During my first week at Groundswell Startups, a business incubator in Melbourne,someone said something to me that really hit home. I was mentioning how I was new to the tech space and they saidstartups are all about social capital, it is all about facilitating connections to different resources, people, and funding to help companies gain access to the critical pieces they need to make the puzzle come together. I thought, yes, that I know how to do, that I understand.

We do this all the time at Groundswell Startups. We meet with companies and founders and just learn about their business, the resources they have and the resources they need, and then make many introductions. It doesnt matter if that company has a marketing person already on staff, we are still going to introduce you to the marketing expert we know that might be able to provide a little bit of guidance.

I think what makes our network so diverseis that everyone is willing to take the meeting, they are curious about what others do and how they do it, and each time they do so, they connect on LinkedIn, they grow their social network, their weak ties, and they have another rope to tug on when they are in need of something. So dont be afraid to reach out, reconnectand take that call or meeting. You never know where it may lead.

JarinEisenberg is chief operating officer of Groundswell Startups.

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COVID-19 reminds us of the importance of networking | Opinion - Florida Today

It has never been more important to build relationships online...

LinkedIn enables you to quickly build and grow relationships, strengthen your brand, and stay top of mind with key individuals in your professional network regardless of where they live.

Most people take the time to create a LinkedIn profile but they miss the mark when it comes to how they interact with their connections and actively cultivate their network. Your success on LinkedIn hinges upon your ability to be top of mind, relevant and helpful with a robust network.

LinkedIn provides a treasure trove of valuable competitive intelligence, which can help you gain an advantage over your competitors and better understand your clients needs.

Here are some quick and easy examples of actions you can take on the platform to strengthen relationships:

None of the activities that I suggested above are very time consuming but can yield great results in generating new business leads and enhancing your professional brand. LinkedIn easily enables you to keep your network warm and stay top of mind with key connections right from your desk or mobile device.

Today, networking online is just as important as making in-person connections. And LinkedIn continues to be the most important social media channel for business development. Dont forget that your LinkedIn profile is often the first or second Google search result when someone searches for you online.

While in-person interactions will always be vital to maintaining relationships, in the current environment we cant meet up in person. LinkedIn makes it easier and more efficient than ever to nurture relationships.

That being said, when you engage online, you must do two things make your professional network feel good and offer valuable content that showcases your expertise on a consistent basis.

These light touches will help to keep you top of mind with your contacts. They often lead to new business, or at the very least, can help you elevate your brand to be seen as a subject-matter expert.

Heres how to use LinkedIn to your business development and branding advantage.

1. Get the Basics Down First

You cant effectively use LinkedIns advanced features if you dont have a strong profile. Spend the time to develop a profile that highlights your professional attributes, successes and background, while letting your uniqueness shine through. This should not be a regurgitation of your web site bio or resume. In fact, LinkedIn is sneaky and has character limits, so it wont even allow you to do that. Here are some profile basics to ensure yours is optimized:

2. Use Information to Your Advantage

LinkedIn provides great excuses to reach out to those in your network through its notifications section.

Log in during down time and check out what people in your network are posting, who has switched jobs, who is celebrating a work anniversary, who is speaking at an event, or has written a blog post or article.

Then use these professional milestones to reach out to those individuals who youve been meaning to contact this is powerful information, dont let it go to waste. I have seen these notifications serve as the catalyst to reigniting a relationship and leading to a new client engagement multiple times. They can serve as the hook you need to get your foot back in the door with someone important.

3. Add Value to Your Network

Make a note to regularly follow up with important contacts by sending them value-added content with a personal note. Perhaps its an article, blog post or industry study that you saw or better yet wrote yourself.

Take this one step further and keep a content feed for me, this is a spreadsheet of articles, studies and infographics from publications and other sources that I follow. I regularly post this content to LinkedIn (and Twitter) to stay top of mind.

Sharing information of worth to your network will position you as a thought leader and can lead to business and referrals.

4. Make it Personal

Send quick messages to people who have recently connected with you. Easily build your network through LinkedIns helpful People You May Know feature (the more you use it, the better the people suggestions will be).

Also, send a personalized note with every connection request it doesnt have to be long, but something short that references how and when you met and why you wanted to connect with them works well.

Tip: it is not easy to personalize connection requests when sending them from your mobile device its more of a quick click and send from there, so send VIP connection requests from your desktop if you want to craft a personal note.

5. Sharing Is Caring

You can easily share an update from your LinkedIn home page. All you need to do is copy the link to an article and hit Share. What types of content should you share? Articles that are helpful to your practice; articles written by other attorneys in your firm; general business or economics articles that you like or that made you think. If you find it interesting, most likely your contacts will, too. But keep in mind to not overshare, especially about yourself.

I make an effort to post content about others in my network (and tag them in the posts). You can build stronger relationships by giving these LinkedIn shout outs and endorsements. It doesnt take a lot of time to share an article written by someone in your network or to congratulate a VIP contact on an honor. Make an effort and stick to it. If you have trouble remembering to do this, create a social media editorial calendar, which has greatly helped me curate posts.

Taking the time to like, comment or share on important connections posts helps to build relationships and keeps you top of mind within your network.

6. Compliment Someone

Always remember that compliments are a great way to build stronger relationships with people in your professional network. Be genuine with your praise perhaps you enjoyed their article, blog post, webinar, podcast, etc. reference something specific from that touchpoint when you reach out to them. This is also a great way to introduce yourself and connect with someone you dont know. No one dislikes a compliment ever.

7. Information is Power

Everyone Googles everyone, period. With so much information on the internet, why not use LinkedIn to help with your competitive intelligence efforts?

For example, follow the LinkedIn accounts of your top competitor firms. Link in with your competitors as well so that you can gain access to seeing not only what they are up to and how they brand themselves, but most importantly, the individuals in their professional networks. This will give you a treasure trove of valuable information on who may be their clients and referral sources.

Also, LinkedIn has some cool tools, such as People Also Viewed, which can tell you a lot about the LinkedIn profiles that the viewers of your profile also looked at. It can be interesting to see who is your competition. Note you can turn this feature off if you dont want to be included in it.

8. Channel Your Inner Bob Ross

Visual content greatly outperforms posts with just text on every social media platform. So take photos at events, use canva.com to create free custom graphics, use Picstitch and repurpose headshots.

Take a look at this article I published on 17 Low Cost (or Free!) Social Media MarTech Tools to Try For Your Law Firm Today that may help to inspire you and the best part? Theyre all either free or cheap.

9. Actively Cultivate Your Network

While quality is always better than quantity, most people could greatly increase the number of connections they have on LinkedIn. Here are some ideas on how to create a strategic connections plan to find contacts and maximize your network:

Putting it All Together

In-house counsel regularly hire outside counsel whom they know and trust, and so nurturing relationships is vital to your business development success. This is why social networks like LinkedIn are so powerful they can help you reinforce relationships and build on them.

LinkedIn is primarily a free tool (the free version will usually meet most of the average business persons needs unless you are job searching or doing a lot of prospecting), so use it smartly by sharing content that your firm produces, or better yet, content that you wrote and use it often (especially when your target audiences are using it). Connect and engage with former colleagues and classmates. Download the LinkedIn app if you havent yet.

I have never seen LinkedIn directly lead to new business more than I have in the last couple of years.

While I cant promise you that LinkedIn will bring you scores of new clients, I can promise you that spending the time and effort in building a strong profile, learning all you can about its features and regularly using it to network and share information is a wise investment in your brand and your future.

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Stefanie Marrone helps law firms effectively tell their stories and find their unique voices. Over the last 18 years, she has worked with some of the most prominent and innovative law firms in the world, developing and executing global revenue generating business development and communications strategies, including media relations, branding, and multichannel content marketing and social media campaigns. She is very passionate about using social media for lead generation and brand building. She has a diverse range of experience in both Big Law and mid-size/small-law firms. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow her latest writing on JD Supra as well as her blog The Social Media Butterfly.

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How to Use LinkedIn to Build a Stronger Professional Network - JD Supra

Social media companies like Facebook and Twitter have often found themselves at the centre of attention when it comes to issues like fact-checking, fake news and running political ads with unsubstantiated claims. While both Twitter and Facebook have their own policies on how to deal with the same, political leaders have often had run-ins with the social networking sites on whether they are being unbiased.

US President Donald Trump is the latest politician to be embroiled in a verbal spat with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. It all started when Trump, on Wednesday, sent out a tweet on how social media platforms silence conservative voices and that his administration will continue to regulate them or close them down.

Trump then sent out a tweet which announced that a big action against Twitter is likely to follow.

Not only did Dorsey ask Trump to leave his employees out of this, he also doubled down on Twitters fact-check policy.

Dorsey began the tweet by saying that if theres someone accountable for the company's actions, its him. Well continue to point out incorrect or disputed information about elections globally. And we will admit to and own any mistakes we make, the tweet read.

Trump is yet to respond to Dorseys tweets.

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Leave our employees out of this: Jack Dorsey responds to Donald Trump, says US Prez fact-check does not make Twitter arbiter of truth - Economic Times

School closures in response to the pandemic led educators to make heroic efforts to provide their students with online learning experiences and continued connections with their teachers and classmates.This has placed a spotlight on the critical need for all students to have access at home to the devices and Internet connectivity required for online learning, as advocated by FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and many others.A related critical issue also needs to be spotlighted: the lack of readiness of many educators to employ online teaching effectively.

In response to the sudden transition, many educators have moved their existing course materials online, provided live or recorded versions of their classroom lectures, and employed a social networking or discussion tool to enable interactions with and among students.While their efforts are to be commended, in many cases the effectiveness of the quickly implemented online courses has been limited.

Looking past the immediate crisis, there are differing scenarios for how the rapid increase in online learning might influence its future use.On the optimistic side, we might see an increased recognition of how online learning can extend and enhance students education, leading to the widespread implementation of high-quality online courses.Schools could then make further use of online learning to help meet social distancing requirements and provide additional learning opportunities and flexibility for their students.

On the pessimistic side, as described by Michael Horn, among others, the rush to online learning without adequate preparation could lead many to conclude that it is of minimal benefit, more frustrating than productive, and to be used only as a poor substitute when face-to-face learning is not possible.

In order to progress toward the optimistic scenario, we need to recognize that effective online learning involves more than just moving a course syllabus and lectures online, just as a successful movie involves more than just filming a live play. It involves changing the culture of the school, with new types of responsibilities for teachers, students and families, and new forms of interactions among them. It requires providing professional development, time and technology resources to enable educators to optimize students online learning experiences.It requires that educators become skilled at building the following, and more, into their online courses:

In this optimistic view, the potential of online learning will become widely recognized as a means of teaching and learning that has different advantages and disadvantages than face-to-face classes, leading to a commitment to support educators in developing the skills to effectively capitalize on this potential and prepare their students to be lifelong online learners.Only then will schools go beyond addressing equity of access to achieve equity of high-quality online learning experiences.

Editors note: This perspective was originally published by EdSource. It has been posted with the authors permission.

Glenn M. Kleiman is a professor in the College of Education at NC State University. He served as the Executive Director of the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation from 2007-2018 and led the Friday Institute team that collaborated with WestEd in developing the Sound Basic Education for All Action Plan for North Carolina.

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Perspective | Online learning after the coronavirus crisis - EdNC

The image has become nearly ubiquitous on TikTok, as tens of thousands of users have changed their avatars to show their loyalty to its subject: Melissa Ong, the 27-year-old mother hen of the platforms largest and most powerful cult, the Step Chickens.

Cults on TikTok arent the ideological ones most people are familiar with. Instead, they are open fandoms revolving around a single creator. Much like the stans of pop figures and franchises, members of TikTok cults stream songs, buy merch, create news update accounts and fervently defend their leaders in the comment sections of posts. The biggest difference is that TikToks cult leaders are not independently famous. Theyre upstart creators building a fan base on social media.

I made this video where I was speaking into my phone camera like, Hey guys I think we should start a religion, she said in a phone interview on Friday. Then, I was like, Lets start a cult.

TikTok users have been forming cults (of personality) and armies (the nonviolent kind) for months now, borrowing tactics from comment raid groups on other platforms. The Dum Dum gang, for instance, gained a following last year by taking over the comment sections of public figures like Barack Obama and Mark Zuckerberg.

The name comes from a video series Ms. Ong shared on TikTok called CornHub, in which she parodies pornographic tropes including one where a stepbrother seduces a stepsister. Ms. Ong reenacted the plot wearing a chicken suit; the video racked up 1.1 million views.

As Ms. Ong began amassing followers, she implored them to change their profile pictures to her blue selfie. Their first mission was to raid the comments of Phil Swift, the creator of the widely memed home-repair product Flex Tape. Hundreds of her fans began commenting on Mr. Swifts videos; within 48 hours, he changed his avatar to Ms. Ongs face.

Within two weeks, Ms. Ong gained more than a million new followers. The Houston Rockets, the Tampa Bay Rays, the Kansas City Chiefs and media organizations including The Washington Post and Adweek all changed their profile photos to Ms. Ongs face. So did Kelly Rizzo, a food and travel influencer who is also Bob Sagets wife. Step Chickens was added to Famous Birthdays, a milestone in any influencers career.

In the weeks since, Ms. Ong has continued to cultivate her fandom. She wrote and recorded a Step Chickens song, which is now on Spotify and Apple Music. She started a merch shop, selling T-shirts, phone cases, face masks and psychedelic yoga pants. She began negotiating brand deals and planning her monetization strategy. Now she is thinking about mobilizing her base to diversify the distribution of her content.

The next step forward is taking over YouTube as our main project and Instagram as our side project, Ms. Ong said.

Before Ms. Ong became a full-time content creator, she worked at Google and Yahoo, where she befriended Sam Mueller, a technologist. Mr. Mueller left Yahoo to start Blink Labs, a tech company that recently built a social networking app called Blink (if TikTok and Discord had a love child, he said).

Ms. Ongs cult had asked her to create a dedicated space for them to meet, such as a Step Chickens Discord server. But Mr. Mueller had another idea: What if he rebranded Blink around Step Chickens to capitalize on Ms. Ongs popularity and give her fans a place to connect? I was like, that would be hilarious if my TikTok cult had its own app, Ms. Ong said.

I envisioned Melissas profile photo on millions of devices next to the social media giants, Mr. Mueller said. We changed the Blink branding, and put her profile picture as the app icon. She announced it on TikTok and people went insane for it.

Since the app rebranded as Stepchickens, it has been downloaded more than a hundred thousand times. The companys four-person team has struggled to keep up. Weve been scrambling to keep the servers stable and accept all the users registering. It continues to grow, Mr. Mueller said.

I really believe Melissa has tapped into the zeitgeist of bored teens in quarantine and given them a purpose, he said. As strange as it sounds, thats whats going on. It keeps getting bigger and bigger because it captures the moment.

Other cults have formed with the aim of taking down the Step Chickens, or at least being recognized by them. Adrian Ortiz, a user with 1.5 million followers, created a cult called the Weenies and challenged the Step Chickens to a battle on YouTube. Other cults include the Murder Hornets, the Griswolds, the Babbages, Duck Sanctuary, the Flamingos, the Cardi Army (as in cardigan), the Beardians, Gary Vees Fam and a cult called Jeff, which recently pledged its allegiance to the Step Chickens.

At least 50 big TikTokkers have started cults by now, Ms. Ong said. They want me to officially announce them in the cult war. I did it for the first few, but I stopped because too many people were asking me.

Ms. Ongs fans said that joining Step Chickens has helped them feel less isolated in the midst of widespread stay-at-home orders. I think a lot of people want to be a part of something, said Sam Schmir, 20.

With the pandemic, social media is very political and controversial, Jiayang Li, 22, said. Its nice to have a break from everything going on. Its a break from it all and a fun way to interact with other people and have fun while everyone is quarantining.

The rise of these cults is a sharp contrast to the dance star culture that TikTok is best known for. The cults lift up unlikely influencers and allow members to feel complicit in their rise.

I think that in this social media generation most youths struggle with low self-esteem. They see these seemingly perfect creators, carbon-copy after carbon-copy, said Danny Nguyen, 16, one of Ms. Ongs followers. The Step Chickens, to me, is the antithesis of that. Our community is based on embracing our individuality and quirks that make us truly unique and stand out.

Fans find Ms. Ong relatable and say that her success feels like their own success. Melissa, as our leader, is not afraid to show people that she is not perfect, and as followers that look up to her, we do not feel like we have to be. We are us, we are ourselves, we are the Step Chickens and we are special, Danny said.

This type of bond is incredibly powerful. As the venture capitalist Josh Constine recently wrote: Influencers dont just want fans. They want a cult. They want loyalists willing to do as they command, withstanding the friction of leaving their favorite feed to take actions that benefit their glorious overlords.

You no longer need 1,000 true fans, as conventional wisdom dictated a decade ago. Today, creators can effectively make more money off fewer fans, wrote Li Jin, a former partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, in a blog post. If youre able to cultivate a cult of just 100 loyal followers, you can make a very good living in what Ms. Jin describes as the passion economy.

To date, Ms. Ong has amassed more than 1.8 million followers. She recently signed with a management company and wants to use her fan base to start making content on new platforms. Her ultimate goal is to have her own comedy show on HBO or Netflix, similar to Nathan Fielders Nathan for You, where she can build out the persona she has spent a decade cultivating.

Before TikTok I would spend all my free time looking at memes on Reddit or Instagram, Ms. Ong said. It wasnt like this came from nothing. It came from spending 10 years of my life in the deepest corners of Reddit, cultivating this personality.

Excerpt from:
Step Chickens and the Rise of TikTok Cults - The New York Times