Burson-Marsteller recently released the results of a survey they conducted to determine where companies engage the most using social media tools.  The study indicates that 79 percent of the largest 100 companies in the Fortune Global 500 index are using at least one of the most popular social media platforms: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or corporate blogs.

It’s interesting to find that companies are not just posting and tweeting randomly.   Real conversations are going on.  

For an evidence-based approach to social media, the reports suggest the following 9 tips:

1.  Monitor your own, and your competitors, social media presence.

2.  Get top management “buy-in”. 

3.  Develop a social media strategy.

4.  Define and publish a social media policy.

5.  Develop internal structure.

6.  Contribute to the community.

7.  Participate in good times and in bad.

8.  Be perpared to respond in real time.

9.  Beyond monitoring, measure the impact of social media engagement.

You don’t have to be a big company to harness the power of social media engagement.  The rules are the same for any size business.  In fact, social media has leveled the playing field in such a way that a small company or individual can have the same kind of reach as a bigger company by using social media tools.   But you do have to follow the rules.  If you are the top management then you must agree with yourself that you will be committed to using the social media tools you select.  Do publish your social media policy even if you are the only one who will see it at first.  This will give you a guide to help you remember what you said you would do.  Don’t think that just because your business is local that you don’t have competitors.  You do.  Social media tools provide a great way of finding out what they are doing.

So, what is your social media tool of choice?  How is your engagement through that channel improving your business outcomes?  Have you performed a social media checkup lately?

Yesterday was another good day for me!  I had the opportunity to hear from Laura Berman Fortgang, world renowned (I’m not kidding!) personal coach at the monthly CABLE luncheon.  If there is one thing that I can say that I learned from her talk it is this:  you have got to crack yourself open to get to the goodness.   In this time of change that no one really wanted, why not open yourself up to the possibility of being who you really are?

There are so many chewy, nuggets of wisdom to share but let me give you the main points:

• Change is never easy.  Even change that is wanted can be painful at times.  If you have ever tried to lose weight then you know this pain.
• There are about three ways people react when change is happening.  You can freak out, get calm, or experience a little of both.  Balance is the goal.
• There is a new skill that people need to develop in order to tackle the changes of today.  It’s intuition.  In other words, where is your spirit leading you?
• The way that people lead others is different from decade to decade.  Remember the 80’s?  Big shoulder pads, short skirts and tennis shoes with socks over stockings.  It was a time of getting more and having it all.  These days the emerging leaders will be those who have a vision that most don’t see.  They will follow their business sense guided by their intuition.
•  It’s not about what you are.  It’s about who you are deep inside.  This is a statement that never loses it’s timeliness.
• We should all be asking ourselves questions like these to make changes that help us go forward stronger and better:  What am I built to do?  How do people use me?  What is the essence of my dreams?  Or, as Laura put it, “Don’t let your identity make you poor!”  So, you were your title till your job got sliced.  Now is the time to build yourself better and in the process enjoy your life more without starving.

Now before I let you go, I have to share one other thing that really stuck with me as I was listening to the questions from the audience members.  One person asked Laura if she thought this information was too old school.  This woman is a coach who was fearful that there is not really anything new to say about how to handle change.  She felt that her clients would just see the information that she gives them as a re-hash of what you can hear on CNN.  Wow, that’s my fear.  I want to write more and share more and encourage others to use their voice via social media and marketing to accomplish their goals.  But, I’m afraid that everything has already been said and that I’ll just look like a copycat!  Heavy!  Then Laura said, never fear, you are unique!  Many people may be saying the same thing but they won’t say it the way you do.  What?!  That’s good news.

So if you would like to know more about Laura, go to her website or fanpage.  She has written a book that can help you crack through your hard outer shell to get to the sweetness, called Now What? 90 Days to a New Life Direction.  I’m reading it now.  I’ll let you know what I turn into in 90 days!

OK, let’s discuss it:  Laura said that intuition is a skill we should employ in more situations.  How do you use your intuition to guide your business or life decisions?  People really want to know what you think.