I was spending time visiting with my connections on Twitter at about 10:00pm.

I have over seven hundred followers on Twitter, mainly comprised of my target market. My target market is mothers, mom bloggers, mom entrepreneurs, and women experienced in using social networking tools. I have to say these ladies are a fantastic wealth of information and some of the most helpful people I’ve ever met, or should I say tweeted.

About five minutes later I read a creatively titled tweet about actor Jack Black that enticed me to click on the included link.

The link brought me to a news release about Jack Black starring in an upcoming episode of Yo Gabba Gabba, a popular children’s television show. My familiarity with this show, coupled with my enjoyment of Jack Black’s goofy humor made me think that other mothers might enjoy this as well. I noticed that the press release stated the episode was scheduled to air in three days. Good! I had time to blog about it.

At 10:40pm I wrote a blog post on Yo Gabba Gabba and Jack Black

At 10:40 I logged into my WordPress blog, wrote a blog post, found a great picture from Flickr, ran spell check, and linked to the video clip. I published the blog post before the 11pm deadline, so that my blog would get emailed to my subscribers yet that night.

I returned to Twitter at about 10:55, created a humorously titled Tweet that included a link to my blog article, and shared it with my followers. I logged onto my Confessions of a Mom fan page on Facebook, and posted a link to the article too.

Yo Gabba Gabba contacts me at 11pm

By 11pm an email arrived from the Yo Gabba Gabba Friends website, stating they had already seen my blog post, read it, and wondering if I knew about a special contest they were running. They provided the link that described the giveaway of a phone call from one of the show’s characters to one lucky kid. I responded to their email, thanking them for the information. I immediately went back into my blog post, added the contest information and link, and published the changes.

What did I gain from this?

1. I got great story to blog and tweet about that is interesting to my readers.
2. My site was able to provide news that my readers care about, and I look professional and “on top of things” in the process.
3. I added value to my website with the relevant contest, for those mothers who enjoy that kind of thing.
4. I gain traffic from Google for the rich content and well searched keywords, especially as people start leaving comments to the blog post.
5. I gained several new subscribers to my website and new followers on Twitter, included Yo Gabba Gabba who is now interested in following a customer evangelist. (I guess that’s me)
6. I gained two more writers interested in writing for me, and a couple customer evangelists of my own (jump on Twitter and see for yourself all the people recommending me)
7. Oh, and I got a great compliment from one person comparing me to the next great Erma Bombeck. While she was at my site, she read one of my more creative pieces and felt the need to let me know what she thought and that she’s looking forward to reading more from me. Wow, thanks!
8. Most of all, I got motivated to keep at it. Affirmation goes a long way toward working hard to build a business.

What did others have to gain?

Yo Gabba Gabba is building brand, connecting with viewers and merchandise purchasers (moms make 85% of purchasing decisions), a content-rich blog post mentioning their keywords and linking back to them, indirect access to my entire subscriber base, and the ability to read subsequent comments left on my blog about their show/product (they probably paid Jack Black plenty to appear on the show and producers may have to prove ROI.)

What can you accomplish in the next 30 minutes?

Chances are you can do more than you think. If you are waiting to really dig into blogging, and other social marketing tools, it’s time to get started making a significant difference in your business or organization. Imagine what you can accomplish in a couple hours. Oh my!

photo credit: mikebaird

Share your photos

Flickr is a wonderful place to share your photos with others.  Why would you want to do that?  Well, if you are a manufacturing company, you may want to share product photos with others so they can use them on the Internet resulting in great things such as product recognition, brand building, logo/product placement, buzz (if picture is creative enough).  If you are a photographer, it is a great place to post your photos and be found by businesses who are looking for your type of photography which may lead to eventual commissions and PR (find your picture used on a major news site and you have some great PR to jump off from).  One of the added social benefits of Flickr is the ability for others to add comments to your photos.  These comments can be invaluable in measuring reactions to your photos.

Create a passionate community of customers

Companies like GM have created communities out of their customer photos.  Everyday they receive photos from clients.  Their blog (http://fyi.gmblogs.com) contains many brilliant photos from their Flickr customers.  Each photo has a link back to the Flickr account of the person who took the photo.  Their Flickr group (http://www.flickr.com/photos/gmblogs) contains photos from across their company and from customers.  Imagine having 1000′s of photos at our disposal for using in your campaigns. Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could encourage your customers to share photos of themselves using your product?  Image what you could do with a plethora of photos at your disposal…

photo credit: heat_fan1

Find photos

Many of the photos you find on Flickr have a license that will allow you to use them on your website or marketing materials.  It can also put you in touch with photographers that take the kind of photos you want.  When you find someone you like, connect with them.  My blog posts use photos from Flickr.  If the photo came from Flickr, it is clickable back to the person who took the photo.  Flickr also has great search feature that allows you to find that perfect photo.

One of my favorite features for finding photos in Flickr is to use their map function.  This allows you to find photos that were taken at a specific geographic location.  Try it.  Go to http://www.flickr.com/map/ and search for photos taken in your city.

Creative Commons License

"Creative Commons is a non-profit that offers an alternative to full copyright."

Pay attention to the copyright on each photo.  Some photos should not be reproduced, or used according to the terms of the photographer. You should become familiar with Flickr’s copyright symbols. http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/

ONE ACTION ITEM:  Go to www.Flickr.com and setup your account.  The video in the top right corner of this page may be helpful for you to watch before setting up your account.  While you’re on Flickr, search for photos of your business, competition, photos in your zip code, or that perfect photo you are looking for your next blog post.