Some shared the news unknowingly, like an IT consultant:

@sohath ReallyVirtual

 Helicopter hovering above Abottabad at 1AM (is a rare event).

Other tweeters were in the know, such as Donald Rumsfeld’s former Chief of Staff:

@keithurbahn

So I’m told by a reputable person they have killed Osama Bin Laden. Hot damn.

Intentional or not, these tweets show the power of this social media platform.

Amidst the bin Laden events, the Flint Group Writers were spending a month focused on Twitter, specifically looking to intricately understand the medium and harness its power for our clients and their goals. We found ways to share and enhance our personal and professional interests, from Macs to fringe music to games-in-progress sports action. We see Twitter as a good place to interact with other marketing communications professionals, including media outlets. We understand how Twitter can allow organizations to provide more attentive customer service. Several writers now turn to Twitter first for news, from local happenings in rural areas to major international developments that may affect our clients. Many writers now follow and interact with professionals who will boost Flint’s service to clients. A few are just looking to vent about their favorite sports teams. And all of us are on the prowl for opportunities in and around Twitter that will benefit our clients.

Do you tweet? Personally and/or professionally? What are your Twitter experiences? We always like to from you.

This was my profile picture. Can you guess the cartoon? There are at least three correct answers.

Whether you participated or not, you probably saw the backlash. “Slacktivism” said the naysayers who warned “changing your profile picture does nothing to prevent child abuse.” They probably posted a link to this Snopes.com article.

They’re right, of course. But most people who participated knew they weren’t doing anything significant. It’s simply fun to broadcast your affection for Rainbow Brite or Huckleberry Hound.

But is that really all you did?

There is this thing called the social labeling technique. Basically, it means that if a person is labeled with a certain characteristic, he or she is more likely to live up to that label. According to the textbook, Social Psychology and Human Nature, children who are told they understand “how important it is to write correctly” will practice their penmanship. If you suggest that an adult is an “above average citizen” and he or she will be more likely to vote.

What is Facebook if not a giant collection of self labeling behavior? Whether goodwill  toward the cause was intentional or not, advocates for children might try capitalizing on it.

So to those of you who participated in the Facebook cartoon meme:

Would you keep advocating for kids? Would you make a small donation to UNICEF? Could you pledge money or time at the local Rape and Abuse Crisis Center?

I’m just asking, because you look like someone who wants to fight child abuse.

Bill introducing Josh and Libby at the 2010 HatlingFlint KNOW event.

As big of a deal as it has become, social media remains a mystery to so many of us. We pretend to know what we’re doing when we post a status update, a link to a favorite blog, and press “like” once in a while on Facebook. But, navigating Facebook is just the tip of a giant iceberg.

Do you know how many characters are in a Tweet? How many friends does the average Facebook user have? What percentage of companies use LinkedIn as a recruitment tool? Every minute, how many hours of video are uploaded to YouTube?

Some of the answers are shocking, others are just no brainers. Attendees of our KNOW event on Thursday, Oct. 7 at Territory Golf Club got these questions answered and so much more. Our topic again this year focused on social media: blogging strategy and the importance of Facebook. Our presenters Libby Hall, New Media Strategist, and Josh Lysne, Digital Strategist, both with the Flint Group did an awesome job.

Two hours flew by with some pretty frantic note-takers burning a hole through their notebooks. We failed to remind them that a copy of the slides would be available. Ooops! We remembered and reminded everyone that the slides will be available for download.

Many of our attendees expressed interest in a “How to create a LinkedIn strategy” seminar. We’ll be posting information on this event as we make plans. Don’t forget to check back.

By the way, there’s 140 characters in a Tweet. The average Facebook user has 130 friends. 80% of companies use LinkedIn as a recruitment tool. And, 24 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute.

Josh speaking to those eagerly awaiting golden nuggets of information.

Libby explains how Facebook and contests can lure someone in...we got you with our contest, didn't we?!

With this increase in usage, however, HR directors are scrambling to govern social media activities by employees. This has led to companies large and small creating social media policies for their employees.

Mike Volpe from Hubspot takes a different look at social media policy development in his post Why Social Media Policy is Stupid. In his post Mike states “… the best “policy” is to hire smart people, give them the right coaching and training, set the correct culture around customer interaction, and then punish those who misbehave.” Although we have a social media policy for employees at Flint Group and have helped many clients develop social media strategies and social media policies, I kind of agree with him.

So what do you think, do businesses need a social media policy?

Convince and Convert • Social media marketing
These days you can’t throw a rock at the Internet without hitting a blog from a social media “expert.” But among the so-called experts, Jay Baer stands out from the crowd (and I’m not just saying that because Flint Group works with him). On Convince & Convert, Jay lives up to his promise of being a “hype-free” social media consultant with brilliant insight into social media strategy. Not to mention, he’s a really nice guy.

Nielsen Wire • TV and online statistics and reports
I started my advertising career in the media department, so I have a deep respect for numbers and metrics. Nielsen Wire regularly publishes useful statistics, from the top TV shows to the leading websites.

Mashable Social Media • Social media news and marketing
As the most all-encompassing social media guide online, Mashable is not where I’d send beginners to get an overview of social media. However, it’s an excellent place to search for specific information, and they have written a wealth of case studies, guides, and how-tos. Looking for a conference or social media event in your area? Check the weekly Mashable Social Media Events Guide.

Advergirl • Advertising and branding
Leigh Householder (better known as Advergirl) doesn’t post often, but when she does, it’s worth reading. She pumps her blog full of thought and insight, especially the series she has written on Getting Interactive, her Social Manifesto, and Advice for Newbies. Leigh contributes to What’s Your Digital iQ, which specializes in digital healthcare marketing. She’s also an incredibly kind person.

Lies, damned lies, and statistics • Statistics and commentary on all things digital
Dirk Singer of Rabbit keeps this blog full of the most recent social media news and statistics, along with commentary about why they matter. I especially appreciate the mobile/smartphone data he posts, and the commentary on news articles such as Time’s inclusion of Foursquare in their “worst inventions” issue.

Smart Brief on Social Media • Social media headlines in daily e-newsletter form
I guess this might be cheating, since it’s not actually a blog. SmartBriefs deliver the headlines daily to your inbox. A few seconds of headline skimming alerts me to trends and new campaigns from major players.

I also regularly read The Social Path, Social Media Explorer, Dim Bulb, the New York Times Media & Advertising, AdAge, AdFreak, and over 100 others. What are your blog must-reads? Please post in the comments.

Whatever the case, how do you know if the time and effort you’re putting into social media is working? According to leading social media expert Jay Baer, there are two schools of thought: the pet naming program and the baby naming program. It’s a round-about analogy, but worth the read.

In a nutshell, as with any marketing effort, start with a strategic plan. Among other things, the plan must include the specific objectives you want to achieve, as well as how you’re going to measure whether you’ve achieved them.

Make your goals realistic and know they won’t happen overnight. But by methodically working a well-thought-out plan, you will reach your goals.

If you want help developing a social media strategic plan, we’d love to be your partner. Or if you have any questions, shoot me a note.

This is an excerpt from “Enterprising States: Creating Jobs, Economic Development, and Prosperity in Challenging Times” authored by Praxis Strategy Group and Joel Kotkin. The entire report is available at the National Chamber Foundation website, including highlights of top performing states and profiles of each state’s economic development efforts.

States throughout American history have done everything they can to cultivate, attract, retain, and grow the businesses that comprise the most fundamental building blocks of their economy. Even in today’s volatile global economy states with severe unemployment and budget woes can point to policies, programs, and investments that foster new economic opportunities and create jobs.

Read the full report.

Read part one in this series: The Jobs Imperative: Power to the States

Many state economic development organizations were originally established with business recruitment and attraction as their primary focus. But today’s mix of state approaches to economic development has moved well beyond earlier, sometimes singularly focused attempts to lure footloose businesses with huge financial incentives and/or by offering a business climate based on cheap labor, low taxes, and lenient regulations.

States, nonetheless, still compete with each other for companies in “traded sectors” and jobs in the global economy, either directly or by virtue of unique assets and resources, and this sometimes involves financial incentives and tax abatements. But there is growing momentum among governors and state legislatures to grow their economies from within by creating a new set of competitive advantages that include building human capital through workforce development and training, harnessing the power of science and technology assets, making strategic investments in infrastructure, reaching out to global markets, developing opportunities related to energy and the environment, and spurring entrepreneurship and innovation.

Generally, state economic development efforts include an interrelated array of policies, programs and investments, falling into three major categories: (1) an entrepreneurial approach focusing on new business and technology-based development, oftentimes with a focus on bolstering productivity and innovation; (2) recruitment, expansion, and retention strategies emphasizing financial incentives or investments and other programs, including international trade and export promotion; and (3) “fertile soil” policies28 that create the conditions for growth that will benefit almost any type of business by streamlining governmental regulation, optimizing taxes, investing in infrastructure, and/or by providing a better-educated, more highly skilled work force.

While it is up to state governors and legislators to set the environment for development to flourish, ultimately economic development success is defined by execution at the local and regional level. With well designed state-implemented development tools, effective workforce development and skills training systems, and strong infrastructure, states can give local economic developers the power to assist the growing businesses, to broker the key partnerships, and to lead the key initiatives that create the jobs needed to sustain our growing population.

Most of all, states must carefully weigh policy to refrain from constructing barriers to private enterprise growth. Many of the most effective economic development initiatives start from grassroots efforts or private sector business leaders, so supporting these efforts from the state level is imperative.

Measuring the States: A List of the Top Performers
A primary goal of any state economic development program is not only to increase the number of jobs in the state, but to improve the quality of jobs and the overall prosperity of the state’s residents.

This study combines metrics for each economic development policy area to measure overall high performers in each policy topic area. States are compared in each metric and top states are determined by a composite comparison of all metrics in overall performance and in each policy area. For a full description of all metrics and results for each state as well as top performers in exports, innovation, workforce development, infrastructure, and tax and regulation, see the full report.

To establish the overall best performers we combined measures of Job growth rate since 2000 and since 2007; Gross State Product (GSP) measures: real GSP growth since 2000, GSP per job 2008, Growth in GSP per job 2000-2008; and income: per capita personal income growth 2000-2009 and median four person family income adjusted for cost of living, 2009.

Top Overall Growth Performers

Growing Jobs: How Do They Do It?

A review of which states are high performing shows a diverse group—some big, some small; some rural, some urban; some inland, some coastal—but a closer examination shows a shared pattern of policies by these high performers.

There is no such thing as single a silver bullet strategy for job creation. Among our top ten performers, all ten have seen at least 4% job growth since 2002 in mid-level jobs requiring at least long term on-the-job training but less than a four-year degree. Five of the ten states increased those jobs more than 10%. At the same time all ten increased science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) jobs by at least 4% over the same period, with 7 of 10 growing STEM jobs at least 14%.29

An assessment of top performing states, regardless of by what measure, eventually gets down to a state’s ability to execute successful initiatives. Aside from minding the basics of primary education and supportive infrastructure, success begins with an understanding of a state’s economy and demographics, including its strong points and its gaps. States that can mobilize the relevant partners to put together the strategic networks to build upon those strengths while addressing the weaknesses will be winners in the long run.

Adequately financing any initiative is paramount to its success. Top performing states have come up with winning formulas often based on combining state funding with federal programs and private sources. As regional workforce skills gaps become more acute, non-governmental agencies and private enterprises more are willing to join new collaborative development projects.

Programs such as Kentucky’s “Bucks for Brains” which requires universities to match state funds with donations from philanthropists, corporations, foundations, and other non-profit agencies, or Florida’s use of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding in combination with existing state funds to tackle major infrastructure programs illustrate unique solutions to sufficiently financing winning initiatives.

Examples of strong partnerships featuring open communication are especially evident in high performing export states. Export programs are based upon effective communication between the importing country, the exporting manufacturer or business, and the state program helping to facilitate the connection.

The TexasOne program creates promotional materials to market the state and its manufacturers to importing countries and leads trade missions to importing countries and hosts reverse trade missions to the state. Nevada works with a network of trade representatives in targeted markets throughout Asia, North America and Europe, focused on cultivating distribution channels and facilitating opportunities for foreign direct investment in Nevada enterprises.

Many high performing states offer an array of corporate, manufacturing, and land tax programs. So too, many states are shying away from direct subsidies for promised job growth in favor of highly targeted tax credit programs that require direct investment by the firm or venture investors wherein the tax benefits are only realized after new jobs are in place. Other credit programs target historically underdeveloped geographical regions.

Other states such as North Dakota, Florida, and Mississippi have turned to comprehensive tort reform as another key element enterprise-friendliness. Whether these reforms are specific to a particular industry or issue, they ultimately help businesses, large and small, remain competitive and free of excessive burdens from excessive litigation.

Private sector and academic collaboration is one of the most readily identifiable attributes of high performing states across all measures. Whether it is successful innovation and entrepreneur programs such as Montana’s TechRanch, Oregon’s Innovation Council, Rhode Island’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, or job creation and economic development initiatives such as Momentum Mississippi, these private and academic partners are providing critical input, oversight, and resources to bolster the effectiveness of state efforts.

Many states are locating business incubators adjacent to universities in partnership with the schools while others are building laboratory spaces and other specialized infrastructure to offer to growing companies on an a la carte basis. In either case, this business and scientific infrastructure can reduce start-up costs for new enterprises and provide students the chance for experiential learning while earning their degrees.

While there are obviously other policies or initiatives that high performing states share there are some commonalities: building on momentum; delivering adequate funding for initiatives; developing strong relationships and communication strategies; enterprise-friendly tax and regulation systems; and vigorous collaboration between business, government, and education institutions.

Read the full report.

Praxis Strategy Group is an economic development, analysis, and strategic planning firm and a partner with the Flint Group

Joel Kotkin is executive editor of NewGeography.com and author of The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050

This article originally appeared in NewGeography.com and joint Joel Kotkin and Praxis Strategy Group publication

It is easy to put the blinders on and tell yourself that your content is reaching your audience because your blog had some views, the link in your tweet was clicked or your group has lots of followers. Purely looking at the numbers at a high level won’t really tell you what is going on. You need to dig deeper into what the numbers mean, and who is making up those numbers.

I wrote a blog post called “Automation vs. Humanization” that was posted on our Flint-Group website. A few months later, I created an account on Social Media Today, and decided to submit that post to them. It was picked up and turned into one of the top posts of the day.

After watching the views rise quickly, I decided to compare the results. Here is what I found:

Views on the Flint-Group blog: About 200
Views on the Social Media Today blog: Over 3,200

Tweets from the Flint-Group blog: 2
Tweets from the Social Media Today blog: 82

Are you talking to yourself?

Purely looking at the high level numbers will also be deceiving in regards to “who” is reading your content. I work at an agency, and it is pretty typical for several co-workers to read my post after it has published. That’s great, but if your goal is reach and thought leadership, which will ultimately lead to new clients down the road, those internal views are essentially like talking to yourself. Removing your internal traffic from your analytics will tell the real story.

It’s not just blog posts though. The size of your Twitter following is sometimes used to measure the reach of your message. Quite often I hear people say something like “I can reach over 4,000 people through Twitter” because that is how many followers they have. Yes, you are posting it out to 4,000 people who have the opportunity to see your message, but how many of them are actually logged on to Twitter at the time of your post? Even if they are logged in, how many of your followers can keep up with every tweet that comes through? It is easy to get caught up in a dialog (Twitalog maybe?) and think that thousands of people are listening in, but the reality is, they just aren’t.

NOTE: If you are smart enough to make a tool that can tell how many of your followers actually were logged on to Twitter at the time of a tweet, or logged in after the fact and scrolled back to the tweet so it appeared on the screen, that would be helpful. Extra credit if the tool can actually guarantee that the tweet was read. GO! (and good luck)

I remember rating friends as a kid. Best friend, worst friend, friend of a friend, ex-friend, crazy friend. If you had only one ‘best’ friend, you dissed your other plain friends. In my world I’m not sure if best friends really exist. The only testament was when I had to choose the one friend that deserved to be best ‘man’ at my wedding… ouch, that hurt some feelings. But at that point, I met my new best friend (wife) so it didn’t matter. Technically, I could lose all my friends at that point. How does Facebook make your friend network become so important again?

You were there for me, Facebook, when it seemed us millions needed the measurement of friend success. But now I’ve been there. I’ve little else to share with you other than every personal moment from here forward. But for me, telling stories in person is much more fun. It is disappointing telling a story about when you were on vacation or out with your friend and we… oh wait you already saw that on Facebook. But it’s not just friends that make it hard to quit, it’s the syncing of all your other social online outlets. Your Twitter, blogs, YouTube, iPhone apps, and product groups all link together with Facebook. This is powerful stuff.

So, two months later I’m asking myself how to make it more inspiring, not tiring. And maybe not just using Facebook for what it thinks it is. I’m quite sure my friends would rather enjoy a glass of lemonade than to see something die before them. Stay tuned.

Check out SunButter at http://www.sunbutter.com

SunButter, a peanut-free spread made from sunflower seeds, is one of those products that people can’t stop talking about and are constantly praising. We love it so much we keep a supply at the office for employees to enjoy. If you haven’t tried it, try it. It’s so yummy.

The main audience for SunButter is people with peanut allergies. The number of people affected by this food allergy is astounding – more than three million in the US. SunButter appeals to health and fitness buffs and regular joes too,  just because it tastes so  good. The biggest SunButter fans are online – a lot. Social media is abuzz with conversations about the product and the comments are exceptionally positive.  They are extremely creative when it comes to uses for SunButter.  This has become a form of daily entertainment and fascination for me.
Here are some recent examples of what people are posting:

• Just tried SunButter for the first time. Holy moly, where have you been all my life??
• I used to HATE celery but lately, I’ve been enjoying celery with SunButter, which I find more delicious than peanut butter…
• We loved the SunButter samples that Janet Morse was handing out – a treat for those of us who love PB&J sandwich but have a big bad nut allergy.
• SunButter is a great substitute for peanut-butter and makes the best cookies! You can have GF and peanut-free cookies!! Wicked good!
• I just got home from the grocery store and almost started crying because they were out of SunButter.
• Oh, haha, SunButter is “dangerous” because if I have it in the house I am liable to eat more than half the jar in one sitting…
• One company makes a brilliant alternative for the peanut kids called SunButter.
• I really love SunButter.

I encourage you to check the site out, try the product, become a fan and join in the conversation. Coming soon: recipe contests, video blogs and more.