Social Media

Finding the Email Address Of Someone You Want To Meet

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Have you ever wanted to contact someone but could not find an email address? Below are some tips from Rich Sauser, our guest blogger today.

Rich is a networking expert and is often quoted in the media. He is sought after as a presenter and I was glad to have Rich working with me when I started my company. Currently residing in Charlotte, you can contact Rich through many social networking sites. Thanks to Rich for sharing these tips with our readers.

Kait
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Here’s Rich…

Have you ever wanted to connect with someone on LinkedIn, but they were out of your network and there was no easy way to connect? You can still try to get an introduction but it may take a bit creative of work outside of LinkedIn. Recently, someone asked me how to connect with someone in the County of McHenry Department of Health in Illinois. Although I have over 1,200 first degree contacts in LinkedIn, there are not a lot of people on LinkedIn from the McHenry County Health Department.

Listed below is the approach I used to find someone who could potentially introduce me to the person I wanted to contact.

  1. Look up the company the person works at on LinkedIn and see if there is anyone else you can connect with or contact. In this case there were a few but not too many:
  2. In this case there was nothing really there, but I was able to get the website of the company:
  3. What you are now looking for is the format of the email address of people who work there (e.g. FirstName.LastName@CompanyName.com)
  4. First thing I do is go to the “Contact Us” page – sometimes when you attempt to contact them it will pull up in your email and you will get the format.
  5. By going to Public Health and clicking the “contact us” I get the following address: Health@co.mchenry.il.us – while better than nothing it is still a generic email account.
  6. So now having nothing else to go on, you need to do a Google Search to get the name format. In this case I did a search on “@co.mchenry.il.us”. A few hits down, you will see your first listing of a name followed by the “@co.mchenry.il.us“
  7. Based on the email addresses shown, I have a couple of options for the email format: first letter of first name and then last name or first letter first name, first letter of middle initial and then last name.
  8. So now I can either do a search on Google for the person I am trying to contact with both versions of their email address or I can send an email to both versions and see which one works.
career

A Picture is Worth 1K Words

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The classic saying says “a picture is worth a 1000 words”. Your online brand includes your picture, avatar or graphic representation. What does your profile picture say about you?

When you post on a blog or website, your picture helps to enforce your message. Do you want to project a professional image? Choose an avatar that complements your message in a professional manner.

You can create your own unique Gravatar image to follow you around from website to website appearing beside your name when you write a comment or post on a blog. Avatars help identify your posts on blogs and web forums, so why not on any site?

Gravatar pluggins are available for WordPress blogs and other websites. You can learn more at the Gravatar website.

You can select different avatars to appear for each email address. Just log into Gravatar and set up your free account. Add each email address you use and confirm by clicking on the email you receive in that account. Log into Gravatar to upload your pictures and images. Select the image you choose for each email account you registered.

Post a comment here and let us see your Gravatar.

Myself
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career

Portfolio Careers is the New Jobs

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CNN reports the traditional job and career path is going away. More and more employers will hire contract workers to fill new openings. Get ready for change.

What does this mean for employees? No paid health care, vacations or pensions.

What does this mean for employers? Ability to staff to meet demands, reduced cost of labor, organizational and management style changes.

You're So Vane
Creative Commons License photo credit: dcbprime

Let me introduce you to portfolio careers. I heard this term several years ago from my friend Chris King. By portfolio, I refer to a collection of paid and unpaid activities which, as a group, make up your career.

Chris’ portfolio career includes storyteller, human development specialist, artist, storyteller, trainer, consultant, web site designer and developer, TV announcer, model, mathematician, marketing manager, newspaper editor, salesperson, waitress, writer, speaker and mother of five.

My own portfolio career includes personal development coaching, adult education, marketing plan development, professional speaker, career blogging, travel blogging and author.

How is your career portfolio evolving?

Social Media

Ford Fiesta Movement Blog Campaign

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Instead of using old marketing techniques, Ford is introducing the new Fiesta to the U.S. with the Fiesta Movement Campaign. During this promotion they are giving the cars to 100 bloggers throughout the country. During the next six months, Ford hopes the bloggers will promote the car to their followers through social networking.

My brother, in the market for a car heard about the campaign. There were a couple cars in the Chicago area but he could not find a way to contact the drivers. He called me for assistance.

I went online and found one of the bloggers Derek PrettyBoy Dow @Oprettyboy1 on Twitter. A few tweets between us and we had an appointment scheduled for my brother to view and sit in the car. Less than twenty four hours elapsed between my brother’s first call to me and his email to all thanking everyone for their help.

Thanks for your help Derek. Search for hashtag #fiestamovement to learn more.

Social Media

What an IZEA We Reward

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Do you have an izea to share with the world? I have to tell you about a creative idea from IZEA!

First, are you using location based smart phone applications like Yelp or Four Square? Do your customers use these tools when they visit your location? Customers use these their smart phones to check in at locations and let others know where they are using these tools. Hey, free advertising for these lucky business owners! Customers are endorsing your business and telling their friends too.

IZEA launched last month combining location based customer reviews and rewards. Consumers discover local businesses, earn cash through mobile application WeReward, a mobile incentive platform that pays cash to consumers for actions they take in the real world. For example, a customer could earn points for taking a photo of themselves at a restaurant or visiting a store.

WeReward from Izea

For more information, check out IZEA. Tomorrow, I’ll tell you how I found out about IZEA. Disclosure: this is an affiliate link.

Social Media

Chicago Blackhawks Tweet

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According to a Daily Herald report this week, Chicago’s Blackhawks pro hockey team are tweeting to their fan base. Over 30,000 followers to the @NHLblackhawks use the site to keep up with the latest news. The Blackhawks team is owned by the Wirtz family which turned to Twitter and Facebook as a way of connecting with their younger fans. Their current Facebook fans number over 200,000 and continue to grow.

Rocky Wirtz heads up the organization, infusing new techniques his father William shied away from. The Blackhawks social networking presence connects them with new fans and increases interest in the club.

The Hawks could learn a few things from other Chicago Sports teams. Ozzie Guillen, White Sox manager uses Twitter to communicate. Recent posts include updates on his trip to Six Flags and a remembrance of a good friend who passed away. He tweets to followers in both English and Spanish.

review

Professional WordPress Blog Themes

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Are you using a WordPress blog for Your Business? Are you using a professional blog theme?

Some of you may be just getting started with blogging and find your choice of free themes limited or cumbersome. If you are ready to take your blog to the next level, check out the professional themes from StudioPress. They have a variety to choose from and each can be customized to reflect your business look and feel. Colors, fonts and graphics can be configured.

I installed the Serenity theme on another blog site recently and like the ease of installation and support that comes with all the themes. Each theme comes with text and video tutorials to get you started. If you get stuck, send an email to the forum for a quick response.

Check out the professional looking themes from StudioPress available for your blog. Disclosure: this is an affiliate link. I will help you install this theme for free if you purchase through my link.
StudioPress Premium WordPress Themes

What questions do you have about setting up or upgrading your business blog?

event

Blog 30 Day Challenge is On

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Today, June 1, 2010 is Day 1 of the Blog 30 Day Challenge. My goal is to post 30 new blog postings here over the month of June. Inspired by Connie Green, I accepted the first Blog 30 Day Challenge in April. I had fun, learned a few tips and met interesting bloggers from around the world. I decided to participate in the new challenge as a way to stretch outside my comfort zone and learn more about blogging.

Web 3.0
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Over the past two years I started two blogs. I am learning more about working with WordPress blogs and I’ll be sharing this experience with you on this site in the near future. You will see changes to the look and feel of this blog also.

What do you to stretch outside your comfort zone? Where do you look for inspiration and information?

To find other bloggers who have joined the Blog 30 day challenge, search Twitter for hash tag #blog30

event

Thank You for Your Service

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Thank you to all the men and women who served our county in the military. Your bravery ensures our freedom to live as we do. Especially for those who made the ultimate sacrifice, we keep you in our thoughts.

Meet a few Pearl Harbor Survivors I was fortunate to interview:
Herb Weatherwax
Bill Temple
Stan Reynolds
Dave Davenport
Robert Ruffato
Mal Middlesworth
Flag and balloons
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Several organizations are working to document the stories of our veterans. Learn more about these stories from our veterans.

Social Media Strategy, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Plus, Blogs

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