Now that we have entered an era where connecting ideas and people has become the foundation of our lives, we are finding that the more interdependence we create using social media- the better the results. We are now looking at the whole picture connecting the entirety of the situation; always asking who does this affect and how? The world, the earth, the people – black, white, purple or red. We are thinking about our future and where we are headed- staying two steps ahead of the game so that we never have to be faced with the question of “what now”?
I want to introduce myself as a new name and face to 3 Elements Marketing. My name is Emily Kirby, I am fresh out of college and just received a bachelor’s degree in Communication Studies from -yours truly- Colorado State University. Since graduating (literally 3 months ago), I’ve been transitioning from the college life to the “real world” and I am still flooded with the same question, “so what are you going to do now”? or constant reminder that “it’s rough out there”. Even though I dread that conversation, I am finding that it is what motivates me to stay proactive- to trust the unknown and take risks to figure out how to accept the present and anticipate the future- all while staying in control. My response to all the loaded questions regarding my future are certainly uncertain but I never want to answer the “what’s next” question with a shaky “I don’t know” answer. I may not be ready to successfully answer that question but at least I know I am on the right path to figuring it out.
The same advice I am receiving as a recent college graduate trying to figure out a successful career path, holds true to the advice I would give to any business trying to make it. Stay proactive, utilize your resources, keep up, anticipate the future and have fun (wow it all sounds so familiar). What I am trying to say to all you business owners is that social media is here to stay, so use it! Perhaps you are familiar with how to use social media as a resource for business or maybe you have just checked it out for personal reasons to see what all the fuss is about, either way it is important to understand what it means to you, me and our future generations.
Surprisingly, there are still so many companies that fail to see the significance in using social media tools as a part of their integrative marketing strategies and will soon be faced with the “now what” question when they fail to be efficient and effective with keeping up with their competitors in these ever so changing times. Rudolph Bahro hit it spot on when he wrote, “When the forms of an old culture are dying the new culture is created by people who are not afraid to be insecure”.  So go ahead, challenge your assumptions that limit you to doing business in one way- and one way only. Don’t wait for the rest of the advancing world to prove to you that social media is not just a fad- but rather a shift. My advice? Keep up and stay in control by utilizing social media tools that work for you, even in these rough times so many companies are investing so much time and energy into social media marketing, isn’t it about time you do too?
I don’t think we’ll ever stop asking the question, “what’s next”? After all, the only thing that stays the same is that everything changes. Will you be ready?
Now that we have entered an era where connecting ideas and people has become the foundation of our lives, we are finding that the more interdependence we create using social media- the better the results. We are now looking at the whole picture connecting the entirety of the situation; always asking who does this affect and how? The world, the earth, the people – black, white, purple or red. We are thinking about our future and where we are headed- staying two steps ahead of the game so that we never have to be faced with the question of “what now”?

I want to introduce myself as a new name and face to 3 Elements Marketing. My name is Emily Kirby, I am fresh out of college and just received a bachelor’s degree in Communication Studies from -yours truly- Colorado State University. Since graduating (literally 3 months ago), I’ve been transitioning from the college life to the “real world” and I am still flooded with the same question, “so what are you going to do now”? or constant reminder that “it’s rough out there”. Even though I dread that conversation, I am finding that it is what motivates me to stay proactive- to trust the unknown and take risks to figure out how to accept the present and anticipate the future- all while staying in control. My response to all the loaded questions regarding my future are certainly uncertain but I never want to answer the “what’s next” question with a shaky “I don’t know” answer. I may not be ready to successfully answer that question but at least I know I am on the right path to figuring it out.

The same advice I am receiving as a recent college graduate trying to figure out a successful career path, holds true to the advice I would give to any business trying to make it. Stay proactive, utilize your resources, keep up, anticipate the future and have fun (wow it all sounds so familiar). What I am trying to say to all you business owners is that social media is here to stay, so use it! Perhaps you are familiar with how to use social media as a resource for business or maybe you have just checked it out for personal reasons to see what all the fuss is about, either way it is important to understand what it means to you, me and our future generations.

Surprisingly, there are still so many companies that fail to see the significance in using social media tools as a part of their integrative marketing strategies and will soon be faced with the “now what” question when they fail to be efficient and effective with keeping up with their competitors in these ever so changing times. Rudolph Bahro hit it spot on when he wrote, “When the forms of an old culture are dying the new culture is created by people who are not afraid to be insecure”.  So go ahead, challenge your assumptions that limit you to doing business in one way- and one way only. Don’t wait for the rest of the advancing world to prove to you that social media is not just a fad- but rather a shift. My advice? Keep up and stay in control by utilizing social media tools that work for you, even in these rough times so many companies are investing so much time and energy into social media marketing, isn’t it about time you do too?

I don’t think we’ll ever stop asking the question, “what’s next”? After all, the only thing that stays the same is that everything changes. Will you be ready?
-Emily Kirby is a CSU Gradutate that just joined 3 Elements as our Intern of Everything. You’ll be seeing lots of posts and Twittering from her. Be sure to follower her on Twitter.

I read this article a few months ago when it was published, and just had to add it to my blog. Owning a social media company I often get “why should I work with you” or I often get scare that other business owners are working with people who don’t know the first thing about effective social media campaigns. Before you hire anyone to do your social media, read this post.

Co-written by Peter Shankman and Sarah Evans

There’s a new phenomena of people declaring themselves social media experts. We’ve actually heard from firms who pushed someone to become their resident social media expert because the person was on Facebook. There is no endorsement or accreditation to set apart legitimate industry leaders from bandwagon opportunists.
Social media is a hot topic. We get it. And we don’t want to see people getting scammed by self-touting experts ready to make a quick buck.There are very few people who could, or should in all honesty, be called social media experts. We’re sharing this list with our networks, including those not yet involved in the social media world to give them a helpful guide.

Ways to tell your Social Media “Expert” Might Not Be An “Expert” After All

1. They call themselves an evangelist, guru or expert, and no one else does.
2. They use “expert” or “evangelist” or “guru” or our personal favorite, “influencer” as any of their user names.
3. They “discovered” social media in the last six to 16 months, and there’s nothing online from them in the social media space prior to that. (Remember – Google is your friend.)
4. All of a firm or agency’s “social media strategists” come from traditional PR or Marketing agencies.
5. Everything they learned about social media they learned by reading blog posts (i.e. no application). You can learn a ton about sex from reading Kinsey’s manuals, but I’d still rather be with someone who has some practical experience.
6. They haven’t done anything of significance using social media (i.e. demonstrating they know how to apply the tools). Again, see point on Kinsey.
7. They keep shouting about “widgets.” (Or worse, they’re still talking about push marketing.)
8. Their resume doesn’t include anything that has to do with social media (i.e. no results using social media). And no, having a Twitter account doesn’t cut it.
9. Their sound bites eerily resemble what you just heard from Chris Brogan and Brian Solis. And quite frankly, following them and a few others (including Sarah) can usually answer 95% of your social media questions to begin with.
10. Their firm has added social media as an additional service (as opposed to integrating it into a comprehensive PR approach). If they say “And we’ll do Facebook and Twitter!” beware.
11. Any use of the term “MySpace” unless you’re only targeting 14-year-old males, or independent bands.
12. Their networks don’t reflect that they are connected. (You should probably research them before hiring them. If their blog hasn’t been updated since 2004 yet they tweet every time they take a slurp of Yogurt, something’s up.)
13. When you Google them, it’s difficult to find them. If they don’t show up on the first page of Google, how are they going to get you up there?
14. They never talk to you about free ways to monitor your online presence (like Google alerts and Twitter search). Perhaps they’re afraid you can do it yourself?
15. They don’t maintain an active blog (at least two posts every month).
16. Any case studies they present only involve very big companies with very big budgets
17. Their lead social media strategist is “this kid we picked up after his internship ended.”
18. When they talk strategy, there is no approach that encompasses a discussion about: communications, marketing, advertising, business development, internal communications and/or customer service.
19. They see “Social Media” as a replacement for customer service, when in fact, only good customer service propels positive social media.
20. They want to charge you to get you signed up on social media sites (yuck).
21. There’s a pay structure that includes a pay-per-post model. Run very far away, very fast.
22. The strategy they provide you primarily includes a Twitter profile and a Facebook fan page.
23. Measurement to them means building up lots of followers and fans.
24. After you work with them you’re just as confused as when you started.
25. They’ve never used Help a Reporter Out (added by Sarah, not Peter). To Sarah’s point, they’ve also not suggested any of the wonderful free services out there before they recommend paying.
This is our list. We’re not saying you have to agree or disagree, just that people acknowledge everyone who calls themselves an expert, isn’t. The list doesn’t end here, either. Share your own “red flags” to identifying social media “expert” posers.
Cross Posted on Shankman.com and PRSarahEvans.com

I don’t understand how it will help my business!
I am constantly hearing the above statement from almost anyone I meet at a networking event after they learn that 3 Elements is a social media company. After talking to me for 5 minutes, they get it; at least a little bit and wants to know more. So I decided to write a blog post about that statement to help others better understand how social media can help grow their business, and understand how you don’t have to spend tons of time online to make it successful.
{Mari Smith} explained Facebook and Twitter beautifully when she said, “They are a Relationship Management and Visibility Tool.” If you take a second to think about that, you will realize that statement didn’t include the word ‘sales’. However, when you are building and maintaining relationships and gaining exposure, what ends up happening….SALES!
Often, I think business owners create an account on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Linked In, etc., fill out their profile, connect to a few people, and then sit back and get frustrated when their traffic and sales haven’t gone up. This is because it is a tool, which has to 1. Be a part of your marketing plan, and 2. Needs to constantly be used to be effective.
Once I say, “you need to constantly be updating and using your social media accounts”, the busy business owner looks stressed and immediately says, “well there’s no way I have time for that.” But my argument is; do you have time to build relationships, gain exposure, make sales and have awesome customer service?” Of course the answer is, YES!
If the answer is no, I would suggest you stop what you are doing and close up shop because you’ll never be successful. However, if you said yes, keep reading because I’m going to give you a few tips on how to be effective on social media, but not spend tons of hours a week.
1.Learn it. (Or hire someone who knows it.) You must understand what social media is used for, how to use, and the tools to help you use it in order to be successful. If you had a manual car, but didn’t know how to drive stick, you would either stall a million times, fluid the engine (speaking from experience) or never move more than 3 feet. Why would you buy and try to drive a manual car if you didn’t know stick, and didn’t plan on learning it?
Social media, just like almost anything else, is the same way. You need to learn it to be able to make action happen online. If you don’t have the desire or time to learn it, then you need to hire someone that will learn it for you and work in house, or you need to hire a consultant or company that specializes in social media.  And this applies to pretty much any business and leads me to my next point.
2.Social media NEEDS to be a part of your Marketing Plan.  If it isn’t, you are missing a huge and targeted audience that needs and wants to learn more about your company….online. Like Bob Dylan sang; Times, they are a changin’. With technology being so advanced, fast and shiny, we are more likely to sit down and pull up digg.com or NYTimes.com to find out current news versus go pick up the paper from our driveway.
We are also shopping this way. And I don’t know about you, but I go to Facebook and Twitter to ask what I should do this weekend, which movie I should watch and were I should have lunch. If someone was suggesting your restaurant to me, or your movie theater, or your event to attend, without you doing it yourself; wouldn’t that be fabulous!? A recommendation goes so much further because it is an endorsement rather than a suggestion.
Having an online presences helps put your company at top of mind when people are searching for their answers. It also puts you before your competition. Having social media in your marketing plan adds a whole other world for you to market that could double, triple or quadruple your sales, readers, subscribers, etc. Is it worth it to you yet???
3.Measure your Online Efforts. Just like all of your marketing campaigns, you need to be tracking what you are doing to see if it is effective or not. If you are spending time marketing, networking and promoting online, you need to see if it is paying off, and which site is most effective. One thing to note…social media is 70% networking, posting articles from your industry, etc., 20% promoting other people, and 10% self promotion. Only 10%! If done correctly, it won’t take too much time until you are a leader online. But if not done correctly, when you start tracking your efforts, you are not going to see the results you want.
Each month track your traffic, top referring sites, percentage of growth, forwarded URL’s, etc., via Google Analytics. If you don’t have analytics, get them immediately at google.com/analytics. It’s free to add to your site, and vital to measuring your ROI. Also, using a URL shortener like bit.ly or su.pr will store the URL’s you shorten and display how many people clicked on the URL, where they are located, and where they clicked from (twitter, email, etc.)
At the end of every month I generate a report with all of the above info and plan my next month’s sales goals, tweak my social media strategies and learn from what info was valuable and spread virally, and what didn’t.
If you have questions, or still don’t understand how social media would help your business grow, please contact us and we will help you see the light!
I don’t understand how it will help my business!

I am constantly hearing the above statement from almost anyone I meet at a networking event after they learn that 3 Elements is a social media company. After talking to me for 5 minutes, they get it; at least a little bit and wants to know more. So I decided to write a blog post about that statement to help others better understand how social media can help grow their business, and understand how you don’t have to spend tons of time online to make it successful.

Mari Smith explained Facebook and Twitter beautifully when she said, “They are a Relationship Management and Visibility Tool.” If you take a second to think about that, you will realize that statement didn’t include the word ‘sales’. However, when you are building and maintaining relationships and gaining exposure, what ends up happening….SALES!

Often, I think business owners create an account on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Linked In, etc., fill out their profile, connect to a few people, and then sit back and get frustrated when their traffic and sales haven’t gone up. This is because it is a tool, which has to 1. Be a part of your marketing plan, and 2. Needs to constantly be used to be effective.

Once I say, “you need to constantly be updating and using your social media accounts”, the busy business owner looks stressed and immediately says, “well there’s no way I have time for that.” But my argument is; do you have time to build relationships, gain exposure, make sales and have awesome customer service?” Of course the answer is, YES!

If the answer is no, I would suggest you stop what you are doing and close up shop because you’ll never be successful. However, if you said yes, keep reading because I’m going to give you a few tips on how to be effective on social media, but not spend tons of hours a week.

1.Learn it. (Or hire someone who knows it.) You must understand what social media is used for, how to use, and the tools to help you use it in order to be successful. If you had a manual car, but didn’t know how to drive stick, you would either stall a million times, fluid the engine (speaking from experience) or never move more than 3 feet. Why would you buy and try to drive a manual car if you didn’t know stick, and didn’t plan on learning it?

Social media, just like almost anything else, is the same way. You need to learn it to be able to make action happen online. If you don’t have the desire or time to learn it, then you need to hire someone that will learn it for you and work in house, or you need to hire a consultant or company that specializes in social media.  And this applies to pretty much any business and leads me to my next point.

2.Social media NEEDS to be a part of your Marketing Plan. If it isn’t, you are missing a huge and targeted audience that needs and wants to learn more about your company….online. Like Bob Dylan sang; Times, they are a changin’. With technology being so advanced, fast and shiny, we are more likely to sit down and pull up digg.com or NYTimes.com to find out current news versus go pick up the paper from our driveway.

We are also shopping this way. And I don’t know about you, but I go to Facebook and Twitter to ask what I should do this weekend, which movie I should watch and were I should have lunch. If someone was suggesting your restaurant to me, or your movie theater, or your event to attend, without you doing it yourself; wouldn’t that be fabulous!? A recommendation goes so much further because it is an endorsement rather than a suggestion.

Having an online presences helps put your company at top of mind when people are searching for their answers. It also puts you before your competition. Having social media in your marketing plan adds a whole other world for you to market that could double, triple or quadruple your sales, readers, subscribers, etc. Is it worth it to you yet???

3. Measure your Online Efforts. Just like all of your marketing campaigns, you need to be tracking what you are doing to see if it is effective or not. If you are spending time marketing, networking and promoting online, you need to see if it is paying off, and which site is most effective. One thing to note…social media is 70% networking, posting articles from your industry, etc., 20% promoting other people, and 10% self promotion. Only 10%! If done correctly, it won’t take too much time until you are a leader online. But if not done correctly, when you start tracking your efforts, you are not going to see the results you want.

Each month track your traffic, top referring sites, percentage of growth, forwarded URL’s, etc., via Google Analytics. If you don’t have analytics, get them immediately at google.com/analytics. It’s free to add to your site, and vital to measuring your ROI. Also, using a URL shortener like bit.ly or su.pr will store the URL’s you shorten and display how many people clicked on the URL, where they are located, and where they clicked from (twitter, email, etc.)

At the end of every month I generate a report with all of the above info and plan my next month’s sales goals, tweak my social media strategies and learn from what info was valuable and spread virally, and what didn’t.

If you have questions, or still don’t understand how social media would help your business grow, please contact us and we will help you see the light!

I was recently on a social media teleseminar and some points were brought up that I didn’t realize people didn’t know about. I thought I would blog about them and hopefully help those out who are new to social media and need some tips to getting started, or help those who don’t quite understand how to use social media.

Listen – One of the beauties of social media is it allows to you listen to your customers without any barriers. You get the chance to hear what they are saying about your product, what they are saying about your competition, what they wish they had, etc. By listening to your customer you can answer their questions, help them with a problem, point them to a direction they need to go to solve their issue, and make suggestions. What is all of this called? Customer Service! So stop talking so much, and start listening.
Interact – If I told you that you could talk to every customer that came into your store, and give them a smile and a pat on the back, and it wouldn’t take any extra money, would you like that opportunity? Well social media allows you to virtually give a smile and tell them to have a great day. Again, it’s all about customer service. Also, by talking to your customers and helping them solve problems, or just building relationships with them, will immediately reinforce their brand loyalty.
Share (promote others, share news items) – Social media was not created for businesses to jump online and talk, talk, talk all about the wonderful things they have to offer, and how fabulous they are. It was created to transform people from content readers into publishers. With that being said, that means the business owner is also a publisher. A PUBLISHER, not a SELF PROMOTING MONSTER. Of course you can talk about promotions, new products, events, etc., but even more than that, you need to be sharing information.
Competition – First of all, if your competition is using social media, then you need to be too. Second, again you get to listen to what is being said about your competition and what they are saying. Social media allows you to be competitive and get ahead of businesses in your industry. Are they doing a Twitter Contest? Are people promoting them? Do they have a sale coming up? Then you need to ask yourself, how can we be better? What kind of promotion can we do? Should we do a Twitter contest and if yes, how can we make ours bigger and more exciting? Being able to monitor your competition and what consumers are saying about them is priceless.
Be Yourself – The only way to be truly successful with your social media efforts is through authenticity. The beauty of social media is it allows us to break down the boarders to our favorite celebrity, brand, political figure, etc., and have a glimpse inside of their life and their personality. If you hire someone to do all of your social media updating, then you will be unsuccessful. If you have someone manager your account(s), that’s fine, but make sure you are participating in the conversation too.

I’m so glad that the time is finally here for me to officially talk about my company, 3 Elements. I started this company out of a need I saw between businesses, social media, and the environment. I have a strong passion for social media and have seen the positive effects it has on  businesses, if used correctly.

I also have a passion for the planet and I’ve been working in the environmental industry for the past couple of years. Within that time, I have met amazing bloggers, seen incredible products, and talked with business owners who are trying to change the world.

I’ve never been so inspired by the businesses and people that are out in the world who are truly trying to make a difference. I wanted to contribute by helping those businesses market themselves both through traditional outlets like marketing strategy, campaigns, branding, etc., and emerging markets like Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, Linked In, Digg, blogs, podcasts, etc. By marketing these companies to the masses, we are educating consumers across the country, and world, about the businesses and products and resources that are out there to help you tread lightly on the planet, and make a difference in your own life.

I’m so excited to be here and can’t wait to help spread the word about the amazing companies and products that are out there.

To the future!

-Crystal Vilkaitis, CEO-