Sometimes it get's a little creepy when someone you haven't seen or heard from in months, or even years, comes up to you and seemily is up-todate with what's up in your life. Has this happened to you? It has for me, thanks to Facebook and Twitter (yes, my mom follows me on both, sigh).

What I'm pointing to is that even though you post stuff and sometimes nobody comments or reply's, you're still being seen by an audience. If you track your links on Twitter with say, bit.ly, you may know that not everyone clicks through, but remember more people are looking at your post. It's even more prevelant on Facebook. Facebook, now the 5th largest country in the world (if it were a country), has more late majority adoption than any other social technology out there, less perhaps email. The thing with Facebook is that not everyone likes to post and comment, for a variety of reasons (shy, fear, voyerism, privacy issues), but they like to watch and stay up to date.

According to the folks at Forrester Research, these "spectators" can be characterized based on demographics. Take a look at the Groundswell's, Social Technographics Profile Tool and understand the tendancies of your target audience, and I recommend picking up a copy of the book as well.

And remember there may be more people out there listening than you think.

Anna OBrien, of www.randomactsofdata.com, lays out some great points in this short presentation on How to Spot a Social Media Fake.

Personally, I'm not sure about the word fake. I think there are a lot of people out there that understand it and are genuinely trying to make a living off of it. I mean social technologies ARE designed for the masses, but as you will see in this presentation there are definitely certain qualities that you want to vet for when looking for a social media expert. Enjoy!

Ray Anderson, of Interface. His story was inspirational for many.

I'm a fan of storytelling. Stories inform you of rich settings, complex situations, and creative problem solving ideas. We all have stories that we tell ourselves to make sense of the world, and our companies are no different. In new media, as in life, these stories guide our strategies, provide valuable content for our tactics, all while reinforce our brand.

I encourage you to explore your story. Write it down, explore the language and the syntax. Stew over it. Come back to it. If you're not satisfied, try adding or editing your story.

The result of this practice can help you market your brand. On the Internet, you'll find yourself equiped with new keywords you can use for your website or for your ad campaigns. You'll be able to identify new topics or more specific topics on Twitter, Linkedin, search, etc. Lastly, update your company profiles to reflect this language, as it will help your searchability.

When was the last time you shared your company story?

Most working professionals don’t blog for a living, nor do they have time to blog, but what if blogging was as simple as sending an email? Would you find stuff to share?

Introducing Posterous, the “dead simple,” email based blogging solution for the uber busy, the first time bloggers, families and groups, social media pros, and the non-tech savvies. Simply send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and watch your blog community take off, that’s right you don’t even need to sign up for an account! It's also great as a way to bookmark things you want to come back to later.

Posterous has all the bells and whistles that most blog management systems have like RSS feeds, analytics, custom domains, photo galleries, syndication to Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, etc, and more.

Here are some tools to help you get started:

• Posterous FAQ’s
• Ten Tips to Get the Most Out of Posterous
• Twelve Tips and Tricks to Get the Most Out of Posterous

Social media ROI is one of the most confusing and sought after topics for brands and consultants to comprehend. It's not a clear equation. How do you measure the return of a positive mention? It's a good thing, but can you quantify "good?" Recently, Christina Warren over at Mashable.com reported that roughly 84% of social media programs don't measure return on investment. It's okay if you don't, but if you really want a better idea if your campaigns are working than you may want to attempt to measure it. Here is a good presentation to get you started.

Michael Leifer from Influence Exchange interview with Earthsite's founder Joey Shepp at the 2009 Bioneers Conference.