It was the end of August.

It had been announced that Shonali’s schedule was becoming too demanding to continue on as our Editor here at Women Grow Business, and no one knew who was taking over.

She was a bit under the weather, so I volunteered to help with the chat at the last minute, petrifying as the thought was.

We brainstormed over the phone to find a way to make the chat process work, such that she could be present, but not overloaded. (I was much more concerned about this than she was- she was more concerned about not letting the community down.)

At the last minute we came up with a brilliant idea. What if I interviewed her about being the Editor and Community Leader of Women Grow Business? It would be the perfect changing of the guard, more perfect than we could have ever planned, in retrospect.

The interview was quite successful – many people who rarely dropped by came to support Shonali and see her off, so to speak. And she did not disappoint. One thing she said that struck a cord with me was when asked what it was like to become the leader of this great community:

More Highlights from the Wisdom Shonali Shared

• How Women Grow Business impacted her approach to leadership
• Why she decided to accept the reins from our Founding Editor, Jill Foster.
• The extension of the community beyond the blog
• Her biggest challenges

You can download the transcript of that day’s chat here – [pdf 1.7 mb]. (The good stuff starts on the third page).

Luckily for us, this isn’t the last we’ll see of Shonali Burke. She’ll remain a part of our community, and has been an incredible resource in helping me find my way as her successor.

The October transcript will also be available shortly. In the meantime, mark your calendar for the next chat when our own Thursday Bram will be discussing freelancing from noon to 1pm on November 14th. More details will be released as the date gets closer, so be sure and sign up for the newsletter in the upper right corner of the page, to be reminded of our monthly community chat when it gets closer.

Twitter bird image courtesy of Six Revisions

More about Shonali

Shonali Burke is the award-winning principal of Shonali Burke Consulting, where she turns your communication conundrums into community cool. Adjunct faculty for Johns Hopkins’ MA/Communication program, she publishes Waxing UnLyrical under the watchful eyes of Chuck, Suzy Q. and Lola, her three rescue dogs. Her long-suffering husband has accepted that Shonali can most often be found on Twitter.

“It’s faith in something and enthusiasm for something that makes life worth living.”

– Oliver Wendell Holmes

Starting a business from scratch is no small task. You can take classes, workshops, talk to other business owners, and read every book you can get your hands on but nothing will prepare you for opening your own company. Nothing.

I started a web company in 2001 while in college with no idea how to run a business. I found a need & filled it. I taught some of my marketing classes because I had more experience than my teachers at building websites.

I made money helping my community while finishing up my degree & heading off into the “real world.”

It seemed so easy because it was a small town and had no competition.

Restarting Sisarina was prompted by a huge downturn in the economy. My boss asked me what I would do if he couldn’t keep paying me and I responded, “I’d work for myself.”

In May 2009 Sisarina Inc became a full-fledged company again with a designer, a developer and myself heading up the frontlines. June found me hiring an assistant & by January 2010 we had a staff of 10, an office in downtown Bethesda & things were moving along at the speed of light.

I was on top of the world.

Running a business is just as much about appearances as it is about operations.

As a growing business, Sisarina ran into the same problems many other businesses run into with hiring, renting & renovating an office, clients, and cash-flow.

The only problem: we had no idea others had these same problems.

Feeling like you’re alone is one of the scariest things about working for yourself. As an employer, you can’t talk to your employees (or even your friends and family, really) about your struggles because you want to maintain a sense of control over your business.

It is at this point that you realize support systems within the surrounding business community are what can make or break your company.

Having built a strong support system, I reached out to two fellow business owners who showed me I wasn’t alone in my struggles. Being able to keep the appearance of normalcy while dealing with the drama and having an outlet for venting was a huge part of our growth.

What a relief it was to know that others had gone through, and were still sometimes going through, the same things we had.

It takes a village to raise a child and it takes a community to raise a business.

As a huge proponent of community in every aspect of my life, I knew that the best marketing plan for Sisarina was to create a community. Twitter was just becoming a buzz word and I noticed that it had everything to do with the same kind of community I was always trying to create. Information sharing, local events and connecting were all things Sisarina’s marketing plan had included, so I put together a Tweetup.

Ten of us shyly met for happy hour and in May 2009, #DCTweetup was born. The people Sisarina has brought into our community through networking, hosting events and finding resources have been the reason we’ve grown so much in such a short time.

We were getting leads from people we wouldn’t meet until months later because they loved our brand and knew we were a resource to them.

Fifteen months after Sisarina restarted, we are considered a success as 50% of businesses fail within the first year. Our portfolio is growing, our events are getting bigger and our brand is becoming well-known locally.

Without the community we started building from the beginning, this would not be possible.

Tips from a new business owner:

Love what you do.

It’s a LOT of hard work & long hours. If you don’t love what you do, it won’t be worth it.

Find advisors.

Find people you can trust & who will make sure you never feel alone.

Be a part of a community.

Create your own community/network of people – even if it’s only a few people. People work with people they like.

Be proactive.

Don’t think you’ll just hang your sign & clients will show up at your doorstep. Get out & find them.

Take a break.

As humans, we need breaks… especially business owners. Schedule time away from work to relax & get refreshed. Your clients and employees will love you for it.

More:

• The Sisarina Start a Biz series, where entrepreneurs give you their war stories & tips for starting a business
• How humor can grow your business, by regular contributor Alexandra Williams
• Deborah Ager discusses how to get new clients (including by organizing a tweetup)

Image: by Flickr user vaishalee, Creative Commons

Melanie Spring is the principal and project director at Sisarina Inc., and a regular contributor to, and avid fan of, Women Grow Business. An expert networker, Melanie and Sisarina connect individuals and companies with the tools they need to market and promote their brand successfully and efficiently. Connect with her on Twitter where she’s @sisarina.

By now, all the hype around social media – and the numerous articles and panel discussions about this topic – means you probably can talk the talk when it comes to social media.

You know the difference between Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and blogs. You have an idea about how you can and should use each one. You know the standard refrain: Social media is about talking with – not talking to – your audience.

But are you walking the walk?

What do I mean?

It’s not just about whether you’re using these different outlets. It’s about how you’re using them. More importantly, it’s about how you’re interacting on them.

Image: Lee Summers via Flickr, Creative Commons

Ask yourself these questions:

• Are you commenting on other people’s blogs? Have you commented on more than one posting on this site? Or other blogs?
• Are you engaging in conversations? For example, are you responding to other people’s tweets with your own thoughts on a particular issue? Are you RT’ing other people’s messages?
• Are you commenting on Facebook status updates? And more important, are you SHARING other people’s status updates with your community?

Because it’s not enough to be in the social media space if you’re only there to project your message.

I’ve made it a real point to share other people’s Facebook updates, and almost every time I’ve done so I’ve gotten a nice message from the person thanking me for doing so. I know that by doing so, I’m strengthening my relationship with that person or organization. And business thrives on relationships.

I’ve also made it a point to come here and comment on other contributors’ blog posts and respond to other people’s postings on LinkedIn groups.

Because social media is all about creating a community.

When you go to an event, you don’t sit there in silence, listen, and then leave. You talk with the other people who are there. You ask questions. You engage.

You have to do that in the social media sphere as well… and yes, it does take time. But it’s time well spent.

Because I think we can all agree that we’re more likely to do a favor for, forge a business partnership with or hire someone with whom we’ve had some interaction… not just someone whose voice we’ve heard echoing in the social media bandwidth.

So my challenge to all our WBG readers is to go out and become a true member of this community and other communities where you’ve been a silent lurker. Be a voice, and be one that does more than start new conversations.

Be one that carries on others’ conversations.

More from Women Grow Business:

• Ann Bevans on why giving back is good for business
• Liz Scherer aka Ms. Interwebz opines on Etiquette 3.0
• The value of online connections, by Thursday Bram

Robin Ferrier is the editor of What’s Next, Gen Y? and Communications Manager for the Johns Hopkins University Montgomery County Campus. She is also the President of the Capital Communicators Group and the co-chair of the Marketing Committee for the Tech Council of Maryland. She has inadvertently become a frequent career / professional / job hunt resource for friends and colleagues due to a career path that has included five jobs in 12 years.

Old, New, Out, In

As technology races ahead, we’re bombarded by tools claiming to be the ultimate for communicating our messages to the masses.

Ten years ago, it was the internet and websites that sold dog food, a few years ago “blog” entered the lexicon, and today everyone has a Facebook page. There’s no telling what tomorrow will bring.

Communication tools are welcome in the business world.

They help us spread our message and content to our audiences. Facebook and Twitter have quickly become the go-to applications for businesses, and with good reason. They’re easy to use, engaging on multiple levels, and they’re free.

Their drawback is their depth – it’s hard to communicate a complex idea or message on your Facebook wall or in a Tweet of 140 characters.

Don’t forget about blogging!

Sure, blogs may have come into vogue several years ago, but that doesn’t relegate them to the world of cave paintings.

Blogs have done everything from spread news to far corners of the world to sway election outcomes to telling us what to buy.

A blog entry presents a concept quickly and efficiently, and by including links, pictures and video a blogger provides support and resources easily accessed by the reader.

Blogs continue to be important.

eMarketer estimates that this year more than half of internet users will read blogs this year and by  2014, readership will rise to more than 150 million Americans, or 60% of the internet population in the US. That’s pretty significant!

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Jennifer Maiser, author of lifebeginsat30.com and eatlocalchallenge.com.

A veteran blogger, Jennifer’s blogs receive an excess of 20,000 visitors per month, a figure she credits to being online for so long. That’s a key lesson: longevity helps with your search engine optimization!

Jennifer’s start in the blogosphere began when she realized she needed an outlet to talk about food. Her early entry gave her the luxury of experimenting with what worked and what didn’t.

After nine months of trial and error, she realized one of the oldest adages about writing – “write about what you know” – was true today. Her passion for food translated into a successful, and much trafficked, blog.

“The worst thing you can do is make yourself blog because you will come across inauthentic,” she comments.

“Editorial calendars and other structures limit the amount of passion you can put into the site. Draw from life events and what is happening in the ‘here and now’ to create content.”

And what can you do when your blogging passion wanes?

“A fresh redesign of my site helped me,” she says. “You know how reenergized you feel  when you clean up a room?”

Other highlights from Jennifer:

• Advice for new bloggers: don’t make it hard – have fun!
• Advice for bloggers getting ready to throw in the towel: take a break, walk away and come back to your blog.
• It doesn’t have to be all or nothing – if you’re using Twitter or a form of micro-blogging, keep reaching out to your audience that way until you are ready to return to your blog.
• Use Twitter and Facebook to keep your community engaged. These social tools have complemented her blog by adding people to her community.
• Dealing with little or no comments – No comments are OKAY!  Sitting and waiting for comments is very old school! Look at other analytics to gauge engagement, such as blogging reactions, Google alerts and share of voice.

Finally, Jennifer highly recommends Maggie Mason’s book, No One Cares What You Had for Lunch.  “This book gave me great ideas about what to blog about,” she says.

Social media applications are truly useful because they give us another way to spread our messages.

Remember that your blog allows you to thoroughly present an idea or thought – you’re not limited by the constraints of this medium!

More from Women Grow Business:

• What I wish I’d known in my first week of blogging, by Alexandra Williams
• Twin towers of power: time and consistency, by Shannon Mouton

Image: Marcos Lima via Flickr, Creative Commons

Regular contributor Terri Holley is the owner of Creative Blog Solutions and a social media strategist, plus a certified life/business coach. A forward-thinker and relationship-centric gal, Terri supports small businesses who understand the value of using social technologies to build deeper relationships with prospects and customers.

A colleague and I recently discussed women’s self-promotion styles compared to men. Then Clay Shirky’s blog post “A Rant About Women” came up, along with his thought-provoking remarks on the subject. His comments also sharpened my own reflections that I had resisted admitting
Photo credit : Reflections I, Creative Commons by VisualAge

I wish Clay Shirky’s rant from earlier this year contradicted my own observations i.e. that women often threaten their own success by failing to promote themselves effectively or by avoiding that axiom “fake it till you make it.” Clay’s post said this “fake it till you make it” trait is one men seem to exercise with ease and that women would do well to exercise more.

I look forward to when he’ll discuss his rant (and the consequences from it) next week at the WomenWhoTech Telesummit.

Owning up to ‘authenticity 2.0′
Even though my observations of women in many cases, especially those here at Women Grow Business, differ from Shirky’s premise – some of them also resonate.

I know for sure I could be more diligent at promoting great women (and men too!), at promoting myself, at going after certain speaker submission goals (quick aside – Susan Mernit shared a great, inclusive speaking calendar that’s tech and business centric).

How are your promotion skills (for self, others)? Honestly I’d like to think my strengths are solid yet I can name plenty of instances when I suppressed self-advocacy to avoid criticism or vulnerability – recently.

A woman thing?
It can be said that avoiding vulnerability is ok and human v. just “a woman thing.” But could someone (or their magic wand) just share their magical always-a-confident-elegant-self-promoting-dynamo potion? I’m ready to consume…

This isn’t something that’s savory to admit out loud. But if my self-leadership is to further benefit the life it leads and those impacted by it, then I better own up to this “authenticity 2.0” age we live in and admit Clay Shirky’s rant still hits home.

Be more like men?
As Clay also admitted toward the end of his rant, he doesn’t know the solution.

That makes two of us.

Should we women assert self-promotion more like men? Should we teach young women those “fake it till you make it” self-promotion mentalities to better land competitive jobs? Clay Shirky thinks so and as of this writing, I give it a strong maybe.

From the vantage point of preserving authenticity, one part of me resists telling us women to model men’s behavior.

“Let our true selves ring free! Self-promote as you will (or not).” … says that inner Joan of Arc. Yet it is matched by an inner devil’s advocate that says: “Girl, you’re kiddin’ yourself. You gotta up your game and promote more like a bandit.”

Do your inner Joans of Arc and devilish advocates wrestle with each other too? It’s unclear what teachable and generational solutions are to what is a very sensitive appraisal of our gender. There are many nuances, variables, and layers to this topic (in and beyond sexism) that Clay and many others have addressed.

How often does this topic come up in your communities?
What’s your perspective? Do you believe it is an over addressed subject or one that could be discussed more openly?

A summarized approach that’s renewing my commitment to diligently self-promote (with ideally some grace too!):

• commit to being one’s best advocate;
• assert a “public speech 2.0” mentality in business and personal development. Are the great stories and strengths of your business and your expertise ready for engagement i.e. for stage delivery (a speech), a persuasive conversation (a sales dynamic or job interview), and social networks (your online community)?
• seek out strong and compelling forums (that can also be promotional environments) which engage women, like for starters, Women Grow Biz(!) and WomenWhoTech Telesummit. As mentioned Clay takes the rant to the summit on 9/15th. Full disclosure – I’m on WomenWhoTech’s advisory committee but have much respect for the incredible line-up that includes TechCrunch CEO Heather Harde and 30+ other fabulous women in tech and social media.

What’s your approach to consistent habits of promotion (for self and others)?

More from Women Grow Business:

• Regular contributor Patricia Frame says, “Tell me Not”
• Liz Scherer believes that ole glass ceiling still isn’t cracked

Cited by ForbesWoman as one of 30 women entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter, Jill Foster is principal of Live Your Talk and founding editor of Women Grow Business. She teaches creatives, community builders, and entrepreneurs to be distinct communicators online through social media and offline through public speech. A social tech enthusiast, she co-founded DC Media Makers, a peer learning community that teaches digital technology. In 2009, Jill won the Apps for Democracy Social Citizen Award for a co-produced project on how technology could help Washington, DC neighborhoods.

I’m not a soup kitchen kind of girl.

When people say, “I’m going to volunteer!” isn’t that the first thing you think of?  It is for me. And while I’m deeply moved by the enormous difficulties homeless people face, I just don’t see myself in latex gloves and a shower cap dishing out shepherd’s pie. It’s just not my thing. Noise, strangers, food. You get the idea.

And Habitat for Humanity?  Let’s just say I can’t be trusted with a nail gun.

Fortunately, there are as many ways to help others in your community as there are problems in the world, and everyone knows that problems aren’t in short supply.

Image: Walter Lim, Creative Commons

So what’s my thing?

I teach English through the Literacy Council of Montgomery County.  See, I was an English major back in the day, and to me there isn’t a greater instrument for world peace than the written word.

I have this crazy idea that if we all understand each other – not just in a shouty Sunday morning talk show kind of way – but with nuance, that we really can save the world.

Or, if you prefer, just save a couple of people in your neighborhood from the terror and isolation of not being able to read street signs or talk to the check out girl in the grocery store.

I have another thing, and that’s helping women who have breast cancer.

I’m a survivor myself, and it sucks as hard as you think it does.  I got lucky one day when I ran into the chair of the board of directors of the American Breast Cancer Foundation.

She said, “We need a marketing person on our board!”

I said, “Funny story – I had a mastectomy a week and half ago.  Where do I sign up?”

The American Breast Cancer Foundation does wonderful work providing screening, biopsies, and even assistance with chemotherapy drugs, for uninsured and underinsured women.

How have these things helped me in my business?

• I’ve made tons of new friends who have helped me expand my network
• I’ve had the opportunity to practice my skills
• I’ve been able to demonstrate my abilities (not just describe them) to people who might be in a position to hire or recommend me
• I’ve gotten to try things I might not otherwise pay attention to, like reading financial statements and interviewing executives
• I’ve become a better leader
• It feels really, really good

The last item can’t be overstated.

I’m an entrepreneur with a husband, a three year-old, and a whole team of people to manage.  Some days I think, “I should cancel English class today.  I just have too much to do.”  But when my students smile and say, “Thanks for teaching today!”  – let’s just say I get more than I give.

To get started, ask yourself: what are you really passionate about?

Maybe you love knitting.  You can make prayer shawls for cancer patients.

Love kids? Be a big brother or big sister.

Gardening? Organize a community garden, or sign up for the appropriate committee in your homeowners’ association.

There are a thousand things you can do.

What have I missed?  How has volunteering made you a better business person?

More from:

• Make the World a Better Place from WikiHow
• Patricia Frame’s three-part series on capacity building

Ann Bevans is a writer, graphic designer and web developer.  As principal of Ann Bevans Collective, she helps clients articulate messages that matter and create print and online marketing programs that communicate those messages with impact. Ann asks tough questions and doesn’t accept flimsy answers. She makes music and writes fiction. She does all her own stunts.  Connect with Ann at www.annbevans.com, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned about Women Grow Business, it’s that it’s a growing, warm and welcoming village.

In that, it “takes a village…” etc.

Image: Julie Falk, Creative Commons

This blog community, which is so wonderfully supported by Network Solutions, is amazing. Look at the women who volunteer their time to write for it. Look at the people who support and engage with us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Amplify. At our first #wgbiz Happy Hour, many of us got to meet IRL for the first time – and liked what we saw offline – and that was pulled together again, by volunteers.

And the first-ever Women Grow Business Boot Camp, sponsored by Network Solutions and Steptoe & Johnson LLP, which kicks off Saturday, could never have come to be without the support of the community.

From the speakers, to the volunteers, to the photography which is being donated by Aaron Thompson Photography (and possibly live-streaming, but I’ll tell you about that when it’s confirmed) … we’ve literally bootstrapped this sold-out boot camp (and we have a wait list to boot!) on the backs of our community.

To all of you – thank you so very, very much.

And to you, who’ve stumbled upon this blog for the first time (because I know you’re out there), why not join us?

The easiest way to get involved is to write for us on your experiences and learnings as a woman entrepreneur in a wide range of fields (check out the diverse categories we publish posts in) … and if you enjoy it, maybe you’ll join the ever-growing team of dynamic contributors to this village, er, blog. Interested? Please let me know!

After all, it really does take a village, doesn’t it?

More from Women Grow Business:

• A conversation with the “rock star boss,” Lynn Tilton
• Making the connection at and with WGB
• Regular contributor Tinu Abayomi-Paul on the limits of social networking surrogacy

Shonali Burke is editor of Women Grow Business and one of the country’s leading business communicators, who was named to PRWeek’s inaugural top “40 Under 40″ list of US-based PR professionals. She specializes in creating and implementing integrated (online and off), results-based, measurable communication programs for clients both large and small at Shonali Burke Consulting. An accredited business communicator, she is also Adjunct Faculty at Johns Hopkins University’s M.A. in Communications program and active in the local communications community as President of IABC/DC Metro. Talk to her via her blog, Waxing UnLyrical or Twitter.

Ever since this blog made its debut almost a year and a half ago, the one thing Jill, and then I, focused on, was building, and connecting to, our community.

We try to do this by giving you a range of topics to read about, but all focused on and for women entrepreneurs.

Because if we give you content that’s relevant to your life as a woman entrepreneur, we’re making a connection with you, no matter how ephemeral it might initially seem.

Making the Connection

From the connection point of view, May’s been a really interesting month for Women Grow Business. Well, every month’s a really interesting month for us, but this month has been particularly interesting, because:

• We held our second #wgbiz Twitterchat with Lori Saitz
• We had our first “IRL” happy hour (thank you, Network Solutions) where many of us met for the first time
• We announced the first-ever Women Grow Business Boot Camp (are you registered yet?)

I shouldn’t be, but continue to be amazed at how strong these connections are. Even though our Twitter chats are still very new, we get a great range of participants, not to mention learnings that you can apply in almost every field, regardless of your industry niche.

Consider these tweets from this month’s chat on customer appreciation:

Do read the entire trancript of the #wgbiz chat with Lori. There’s great stuff here that we can all apply in our businesses.

The #wgbiz happy hour was a long time coming. Don’t they say if it’s worth it, it’s worth waiting for?

That’s how I felt and hopefully others did as well. It was delightful to see some new Women Grow Business friends and supporters out for the first time (check out the photos, and that’s Faith Dow, Frank Gruber and Jen Consalvo that you see above), and I loved this note I got from someone new to us:

“I often feel very awkward at networking events, but tonight’s was fun and relaxed. I enjoyed it.”

How cool is that?! And Frank gets mad props for adding a touch of testosterone to our hen party.

As we gear up for June, I’m really looking forward to the Women Grow Business Boot Camp, sponsored by Network Solutions and Steptoe & Johnson LLP.

After connecting with each other online for so long, we’re finally going to have several #wgbiz contributors and supporters in the same room. I can’t even begin to imagine how high the energy will be.

Thank you for allowing us to connect with you. You are why we’re here.

Image © Shonali Burke, used with permission

Shonali Burke is editor of Women Grow Business and one of the country’s leading business communicators, who was named to PRWeek’s inaugural top “40 Under 40″ list of US-based PR professionals. She specializes in creating and implementing integrated (online and off), results-based, measurable communication programs for clients both large and small at Shonali Burke Consulting. An accredited business communicator, she is also Adjunct Faculty at Johns Hopkins University’s M.A. in Communications program and active in the local communications community as President of IABC/DC Metro. Talk to her via her blog, Waxing UnLyrical or Twitter.

It’s funny where life will take you.

If you’d told me, 10 years ago, that not only would I be living and working in the capital of a world superpower, I’d have giggled. If you’d told me, five years ago, how incredibly important social media would become to my life, I’d have raised my eyebrows. And if you’d told me, one year ago, that today I would be part of an incredibly vibrant community of women entrepreneurs and leaders, I’d have shaken my head in disbelief.

Amazing, isn’t it? Someone, pinch me.

As I step into Jill Foster’s editorial shoes at Women Grow Business, I’m extremely aware those are some big shoes to fill. Jill has done an incredible job building this community, populating it with women who have incredibly big spirits, overwhelming smarts and the generosity to share both, and garnering the accolades it so richly deserves.

And that’s what makes this community so exciting; not just the intelligence that buzzes through it, but the dialog it engenders.

The Power of Community

Women Grow Business is nothing without you – the women who have built it. And I know that together we’ll take it to higher and higher levels, talking and teaching and helping each other to grow and learn and succeed.

But really – it’s nothing without you.

So please do keep the great thoughts and ideas coming, so that we can build upon the foundation Jill set in place (and cheer her on as she lives her talk, something she’s taught us all to do).

Ladies, let’s crush (h/t Gary) 2010.

Image: nascarOsO, Creative Commons

Shonali Burke is editor of Women Grow Business and one of the country’s leading business communicators, who was named to PRWeek‘s inaugural top “40 Under 40″ list of US-based PR professionals. She specializes in creating and implementing integrated (online and off), results-based, measurable communication programs for clients both large and small at Shonali Burke Consulting. An accredited business communicator, she is also Adjunct Faculty at Johns Hopkins University’s M.A. in Communications program and active in the local communications community as President of IABC/Washington. She is frequently invited to speak on public relations and integrated communications-related topics, including measurement, effective integrated public relations, cause marketing, PR on a budget, and social media. Talk to her via her blog, Waxing UnLyrical, or Twitter.

Recently at Women Grow Business I wrote about how the social media space is becoming much like a cocktail party. With lots of voices out there, it’s getting harder to woo your prospects.

I also posed the question, how can businesses be the distinctive voice that knocks their prospects off their feet?

This is an interesting question that will remain relevant for years to come. And it’s a topic heavily on the mind of Sandy Carter and her 2.0 framework (she just published her new book: The New Language of Marketing 2.0).

We recently engaged in a great podcast conversation on this very subject.

Want to listen in or even listen in the background while you work?

I recently had this opportunity to speak with Sandy who is IBM Corporation’s Vice President of SOA and Websphere Marketing, Strategy and Channels. To help drive IBM’s thought leadership in web 2.0, Sandy developed a breakthrough framework called ANGELS:

• Analyze and ensure strong market understanding
• Nail the relevant strategy and story
• Go to market plan
• Energize the channel and community
• Leads and revenue
• Scream!! Breaking through the noise
• Sandy talks about IBM’s winning strategy for “screaming” or breaking through the noise.

What are your thoughts?

More from:
Terri Holley and more community building breakthroughs at Women Grow Business.

Guest contributor Terri Holley writes our series “Community Building Breakthroughs and Social Media.” She is the owner of Creative Blog Solutions and a social media strategist, plus a certified life/business coach. A forward-thinker and relationship-centric gal, Terri supports small businesses who understand the value of using social technologies to build deeper relationships with prospects and customers.