I’ve been blogging since 2005. I started at Blogger and discovered WordPress in January 2007. I’ve had two self-hosted blogs and have been programming in WordPress exclusively since then.

North San Diego Business came out of a need to show the small business community, in 2006, what a blog looked like, and what it could do. To that end, the weekly North San Diego Business At Large podcast came into being.

When Facebook and Twitter came into the small business community you saw a plethora of “social media masters” come out of the woodwork. Their fees ran the gamete, but were usually pretty hefty. One firm was asking $500 a month for their services. It seemed to me that some were cashing in on the craze. More power to them!

However, some in the small business community were left in the dust. Dazed and confused, they left business sponsored social media events without a clue how to implement social media into their business.

So when I hear of yet another Social Media Mastery series I have to ask a few questions, especially when the series costs you an arm and a leg. Here are the questions I would ask.

• How long has the “social media master” been around?
• Does the “social media master” have a blog?
• Are they blogging regularly?
• Have they been blogging long?
• Is their blog at wordpress.com or blogger.com?
  (there are some exceptions to this question)
• Do they have a Facebook profile?
• How many friends do they have?
• Do they have a Facebook page?
• Do they have any custom pages on their Facebook page?
• How many fans do they have?
• How many connections on Linkedin?
• How many followers do they have on Twitter compared to how many Tweets they’ve sent out?
• Do they share information online or just promote themselves and their services/products?
• Do their course outlines tell you what you’ll be learning?
• Have you heard of them before?

Where can you get a lot of information about social media without shelling out a lot of your hard earned money?

Social Media Examiner
Mashable
Chris Brogan
CopyBlogger
HubSpot
Inside Facebook
Search Engine Guide
Search Engine Journal
Search Engine Watch
Daily Bloggr
Duct Tape Marketing
Social Media Coaching Center
Specky Boy
Square Martini Media
Tech Crunch
Social Time
Tripwire Magazine
WebPro News

Got a social media story to share? Feel free to comment!

Twitter Tools

Twitter Counter
Twellow, A Twitter Directory
Tweetdeck
HootSuite
Twitter with PollDaddy

Managing Twitter

Manage Flitter
TwitBlock

Twitter Guides

Mashable: Tiwtter Guidebook
Chris Brogan: 50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business
Twitter 101, A Special Guide
Twitter Tips: Advice from Evangelist Guy Kawasaki
How To Search Twitter Smarter

Twitter Video

Twitter Marketing 101

Twitter Use In America

Twitter Usage in America 2010 from Tom Webster on Vimeo.

Discounting the value of social media, blogging, Facebook, and all those other “invites” you receive as being a viable tool for your message? You might want to think that over.
Gary Hayes, Personalized Media, created this cool app that tracks social media usage.

“I decided to put together this little Flash app (which is in constant development) showing how active & dynamic the Social Web, Mobile Industry and Game Business is.” ~Gary Hayes

Here are just three of the many interesting statistics he’s complied on social media:

• Facebook 25 million new members each month Feb 2010 Mashable
• 50 million Tweets per day Feb 2010 - eConsultancy
• YouTube 1Billion watched per day Dec 2009 SMH

Still think it’s a fad? Let me know by posting your comments below

Seth Godin’s Tribes is an easy read and somewhat controversial. If you look at the Amazon reviews for his book, you’ll see many think it’s thin of examples of how his version of leadership can look.”>Tribes is an easy read and somewhat controversial. If you look at the Amazon reviews for his book, you’ll see many think it’s thin of examples of how his version of leadership can look.

The video is of a speech he gave in February 2009. It shares his views of tribes and leadership within tribes.

Let me know what you think by posting a comment. Do you have a tribe? Do you agree with Seth on building and leading a tribe?

On Wednesday, April 14, 2010, from 4pm to 6pm Pacific Time, you can learn in a private, hands on environment how to set your Twitter profile for maximum online visibility.

In this online webinar, using desktop sharing tools, you’ll work with me to:

• Set Your Profile
• Customize Your Background
• Discovering Ready Made Backgrounds
• How To Get Followers
• Twitter Services and Directories
• Twitter Strategies and Tools

You’ll walk away with completion and an understanding of how to use Twitter to create online visibility, establish credibility and drive more traffic to your website or, my personal preference, your blog.

Don’t stay frustrated that you couldn’t carry over the tasks you may have learned from a local workshop. Let me work with you to finish that profile and get moving forward with this remarkable tool.

Facebook Tips

If you’ve paid particular attention to large corporations advertising, especially with television events like the Super Bowl, you may have noticed them driving you to their Facebook Fan page, versus their website.

Social media is here and it’s being embraced by some of our largest businesses. Isn’t it time you got into the picture and developed a social presence for your business?

On Wednesday, April 7, 2010 from 4pm to 6pm Pacific Time (7pm to 9pm Eastern Time) you can learn what you need to know to get started on your Facebook Fan Page. You’ll be learning how to:

• set up your fan page
• set your privacy settings
• create interesting status updates
• create and promote events
• create a photo album
• upload and share pictures
• use video
• find Fans
• use Facebook strategically

Syndicate Your Content With Facebook

Syndicating Your Content
Show Notes:  March 22, 2010

Syndicate Your Content With Facebook [ 14:27 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (67)

This week’s episode offers ways to use Facebook to syndicate your content, and leverage your business online.

If you’re blogging, you’ve an excellent opportunity to share your content over several social networking platforms, including Facebook.

If you haven’t embraced social media, maybe these 10 reasons will show you why you need to care.

Syndicating Your Content
Show Notes: March 1, 2010

Twitter Research Resources [ 14:22 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (183)

TweetBeep
Similar to google news alerts (and if you don’t know about google news alerts, look at my YouTube channel, magicinwords for a how to video) Anyway, TweetBeep will send you alerts developed from your settings. The settings include keywords, keyword phrases, people, places, attitudes and contained links. You set it up and it sends you an email when something you’re looking for comes up.

Tweetmeme

The hottest links on Twitter. Give you an opportunity to retweet the original tweet. You can search topics through the search function or the categories.

Tweet Volume

Give you an idea of how much a topic, phrase, name is being discussed on Twitter.

Twitter Grader

Nifty little tool to give you some idea of where Tweeters, including yourself stand with Twitter. I have a 98.6.

Twitalyzer

Another tool to analyze the impact you are having at Twitter. Sign in with your twitter account.

Twitscoop

Search and follow the latest trends in real time. Sign in with your Twitter account. I really like the search feature in this tool. I’m sure I’ve told you about the Wednesday night small business chat on Twitter. You follow the conversation via the hashtag.

Syndicating Your Content
Show Notes: February 15, 2010

Interview with Mindy Selinger [ 0:01 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (92)

In this episode I interviewed Mindy Selinger, author of Face-to-Face Networking Skills in a Social Media World about how networking has evolved.

Of course, I wanted to know how Mindy’s integrated face to face networking with social media.