So you’ve done everything right. You’ve created your perfect Twitter profile, found an awesome picture to represent who you are, and are engaging with people like crazy. Now you you’re beginning to have a following, but are they seeing your tweets? Not everyone is as interactive and engaging as you, or lives on the internet.


How can you maximize the potential reach of your tweets? The answer: proper timing of tweets. You’ve heard it in the business world your whole life, “timing is everything,” and it applies to your tweets as well. While it may seem like most Twitter activity is going on all day during business hours, that’s just the activity of who you follow, not who is following you. In order to get your tweets seen, you need to tweet when your followers are on, otherwise they’ll just get lost in the massive Twitter feed on your followers page.


Here are a few tips on how to accomplish the perfectly timed Tweet:

1. Research your audience. Is your following a bunch of computer engineers writing code until 4am? If so, it’s probably not best to tweet in the morning when they’re sleeping. Or is your following a typical business person doing the nine to five grind every day? In this case, your best time to tweet may be before nine, and after five.




2. Use available social media tools. There are hundreds of tools out there to help you find out who your audience is. For timing, there’s one in particular that helps you optimize the timing of your tweets named Timely. This application grabs data from your last tweets, and from your following, to calculate the best times for you to tweet so they have the highest impact. You can sign up for the application (it’s free) or you can simply type in your twitter name on their website for a quick list of higher impact tweets. Signing up for the service gives Timely more data to calculate more effective times for you to tweet.




3. Scheduling tweets. Now that you’ve researched your audience, and have the science of Timely backing your tweets, it’s time to schedule some tweets. If a high impact time for you to be tweeting is at 3am, you’re not going to want to wake up every night at 3am to send out a tweet. You can schedule your tweets in the Timely app mentioned above, or you can use many other services such as Tweetdeck or Hootsuite to schedule your tweets. Scheduling your tweets will let you write out all your tweets at the beginning of the day, save you time, and ensure they’ll be sent with maximum impact.

Of course you should always keep engaging and contributing valuable content to the Twitterverse on a regular basis. Using these tips are just a few more marketing weapons for you to optimize your efforts of having your message seen across Twitter, which will in turn generate a larger following.


- Spencer Tucci

In 2010, the Boston Marathon had 26,790 entrants and 22,721 finishers.  In 2011, registration closed in a record 8 hours, 3 minutes.  And those were people who ran fast enough to qualify for Boston (BQ)!  For every person who crosses the finish line, there will be hundreds who don’t.  (If you’re interested in reading more about the marathon, The Boston Globe has an entire section dedicated to it: http://www.boston.com/sports/marathon/)

What do you think: does not crossing the finish line a matter of failure?  Not running a personal best?  Not hitting ‘submit’ fast enough?  Not getting that qualifying time?  Injury, weather, unforeseen circumstances:  does the reason the goal wasn’t reached matter?  How about at which step it occurred: training, registering, racing?

Everyone’s heard the speech about how failure makes us stronger.  But how many of us really, truly, actually believe it?  It’s probably people who, at one point or another, didn’t cross the finish line.  (Me! How about you?) For some reason, failure’s this month's hot topic.

When "Failure is not an option" neither is innovation.  - @BreneBrown

Here are some recent articles worth reading:

1. The Failure Issue, Harvard Business Review, April 2011 (splurge for a copy, check it out from your library, borrow it from a friend.)




2. 9 Business Icons Who Faced Utter Failure And Came Back To Kick Ass, Entrepreneur Kelly K. Spors




3. Fail often, fail well: Companies have a great deal to learn from failure—provided they manage it successfully. The Economist,  Schumpeter, Apr 14th 2011




4. Anatomy of a Business Failure, BNET.com,  Mary Goodman and Rich Russakoff, April 14, 2011

Obviously, no one sets out to fail. Hey, we’re addicted to winning!

Knowing when you’ve missed the mark is relatively easy.  The data (clock, grade, bank account, termination notice) tell you.  Processing what went wrong is the tough part.  It’s much easier to fuggedaboutit and move on.  But it’s the deconstruction and evaluation that really will make you, your company, your goals stronger.  Trust me – I’ve learned this both the hard and easy ways.  You tried and didn't succeed. Do you understand what went wrong?  What did you learn from it?  What are your next steps?  How will you move ahead?

One of the great things about the rise in social networking is how easy it can make starting the evaluation process. There are countless resources available with just a connection, tweet or post.  (SocialGrow makes it even easier to build those networks!)  The possibilities and examples are endless – and almost clichéd.  A programmer found a job on LinkedIn.  A novice athlete joined a training group to prepare for her first triathlon.  An entrepreneur found investors.   And when things didn’t go right?  They had the resources and contacts to develop a new plan of attack.  At the end of the day, it’s not whether you succeed or fail, it’s how you proceed.

I hope your training goes well, that you get that qualifying time and finish with a personal record in whatever arena it may be.  And hey – if it doesn’t go as you’d planned?  Take a minute. Understand, learn, and recover. Now, what’s next?

For many people, keeping all of your business and personal contacts organized is a drag – the process can be monotonous, time-consuming and frustrating. We, at SocialGrow, feel that maintaining an online contact management system does not have to be that way. We will show you how to make the process of building and maintaining your contact databases more efficient and less time-consuming.  Once built, you will have your contacts organized in order to be able to both leverage your network effectively and be able to systematically grow and improve it.



Getting your contacts organized starts with the goal of creating a master contact list. To do this, you will need to export the contact databases from your email programs and social networking accounts. Eventually, we will merge all of these export databases into Excel or Google Docs so you will have one spreadsheet of all your contacts. There are two good reasons to do this exercise. First, a complete contact list gives you comprehensive view of your relationships so you can begin to categorize and rank your contacts. Second, the list provides an essential backup of your contacts.



While exporting your data from a web service is typically a straightforward process, recent developments have made this exercise more difficult on some web sites. Over the past month, Google and Facebook have been debating policies regarding the export of user information. Google has always been about “open access,” while Facebook has chosen to continue to restrict the exporting of certain user data. This dispute is far from over and is one we should all pay attention to – learn more about it at these links:



• Google Warns Facebook Users of “Trap” Before Data Export
• Google to Facebook: You Can’t Import Our User Data without Reciprocity
• Give Us Our Data, Facebook


Here is the process to export your contacts from the top email programs and social networking services.



Facebook

While Facebook allows you to download your Facebook content, your Facebook export will not include your friends’ email addresses. As a workaround, Lifehacker has put together an effective trick using the Yahoo Address Book to export your contacts.



Gmail

Go to Gmail and click on Contacts. Choose More Options. Before you export, choose merge contacts first. Choose Export. Choose All Contacts and Google Export.



LinkedIn

After logging into LinkedIn, go to Contacts and then My Connections. At the bottom right side of the page, you will see Export Connections. From the next screen, you can download a CSV spreadsheet file.



Outlook

Open Outlook and go to File. Choose export, export to file. Create an Excel 98-2003 File. Choose Contacts as the export folder. Click Browse and give the file a name. Your export will download to a CSV file. If you choose Map Custom Fields, you can choose Default Map or select certain fields. To ensure you download all fields choose Clear Map and then Default Map. Name the file and click Export.



Twitter

Sign into MyTweeple using your Twitter credentials. Synchronize your account and choose Tools. Choose Export into a CSV.



Yahoo

Go to Yahoo Address Book. Click on View All Contacts and choose Tools. Choose Export and Choose Yahoo! CSV.



Unless you have another web service with your contacts, that is it – now you are ready for the next step to merge your contact databases together into one spreadsheet, which we will cover in the next post in the SocialGrow Content Series on Social Networking and Online Contact Management. In the meantime, let us know how these contact management tips worked out for you or if you have any suggestions on how to improve the contact database export processes.



Boston, MA. — February 26, 2010 — SocialGrow Inc., a Microsoft BizSpark program member, today announced that it has launched the alpha release of its patents-pending SocialGrow Application at http://socialgrow.com. The SocialGrow Application automates the search and connection processes across multiple professional and personal social networks. The SocialGrow Application also helps social networks around the world to accelerate their membership growth. At launch, the SocialGrow Application is compatible with Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and MySpace, with additional global and regional social networks being added throughout the month of March.



“By automating the process of inviting people to join users’ social networks, SocialGrow makes it easier to connect with people you don’t know and faster to connect with people you do,” said Marsh Sutherland, President of SocialGrow. “Facebook and LinkedIn users know the larger their relevant networks, the more people their professional and personal messages will reach.”



“SocialGrow simply allows Rec.fm to grow our customer base faster,” said John Appler, President of social recommendations website and 2010 SXSW Web Awards Finalist Rec.fm (http://rec.fm/video). “By quickly expanding the number of users creating and using our ‘high fidelity’ product recommendations, SocialGrow has also accelerated our revenue growth. We are very fortunate to be their first business customer.”



SocialGrow was recently named Microsoft BizSpark’s most promising “Start-Up of the Day”, and selected by MassHighTech (The Journal of New England Technology) as one of their “Five Start-Ups To Watch.” Additionally, SocialGrow’s Chief Marketing Officer Ken Herron was named one of the “Top 5 Chief Marketing Officers on Twitter” by Systemic Marketing for his use of Twitter on @SocialGrow (http://twitter.com/socialgrow).



Twitter-Friendly Quotes



Microsoft BizSpark @SocialGrow today announced the launch of the Alpha release of its software application at http://socialgrow.com.



“We make it easier to connect w/people you don’t know & faster to connect w/people you do” – @SocialGrow President @marshsutherland.



“@SocialGrow allows @recfm to grow our customer base faster” – @SocialGrow business customer and @recfm President @johnappler.



About SocialGrow



SocialGrow Inc. is a global social networking software, consulting, and professional services company. SocialGrow’s flagship software application helps individuals, small businesses, corporate enterprises, government agencies, academic organizations, and non-profit associations around the world to more quickly and easily grow their social networks. SocialGrow was founded in July 2009 by Marsh Sutherland, Ken Herron, and Charbel Elkhoury. SocialGrow’s mission is to help people realize the value of social networks. For more information, please visit the SocialGrow website at: http://socialgrow.com, and follow SocialGrow on Twitter at @SocialGrow (http://twitter.com/socialgrow).

We, SocialGrow’s three co-founders, wanted to share with you our perspectives on an exciting and productive week.



Ken’s take (Ken is SocialGrow’s CMO):


“As a new company, you of course want as many potential users of your product to know about, and get excited about it. From the marketing perspective, participating was a great way for us to share with people who use online social networks that our new software automating the process of adding new connections to their networks is under development. Our participation allowed us to tap into the exciting new features of Windows 7, while reminding people who use Macs, Linux, and older versions of Windows that SocialGrow will work for them, too, just as it will on their iPhones, BlackBerries, Android phones, and other mobile phones which can access the internet. In short, our participation in Incubation Week was not only a great opportunity for our company to make our new product even better by leveraging Windows 7’s key features, but an opportunity to further share our story with people who otherwise might not have heard about us.”



Charbel’s take (Charbel is SocialGrow’s CTO):


“The Windows 7 development training at Microsoft was an incredible learning experience. We spent time on Windows 7’s key features, including: federated search, jump lists, accelerators, multi-touch support, and taskbar management as well as developing with SilverLight. SocialGrow users running WIndows 7 will be able to send an invitation to connect with someone simply by highlighting their e-mail address. Having the opportunity to work side-by-side with the very same software architects and developers who support Microsoft’s biggest enterprise customers enabled us to achieve unthinkable results in just a few days’ (and nights’!) time.”



Marsh’s take (Marsh is SocialGrow’s President):


“My expectation going into Microsoft BizSpark Incubation Week for Windows 7 was that we would have a few hours on the first day with a Microsoft advisor to help us architect the SocialGrow software to take advantage of Windows 7’s new features, who would then check in on our progress over the remainder of the week. I had no idea that our “advisor” would be one of Microsoft’s premier enterprise software architects, Rich Crane. Not only did Rich code our product alongside Charbel until one in the morning two nights in a row, but he also brought in two additional Microsoft software architects to do the same! Add in the Proteans offshore development team who coded around the clock, and it was an amazing team effort. I want to thank Rich and the MTC’s incredibly generous architects, developers, staff, and of course Microsoft itself for giving SocialGrow such an incredible jump start with our application development effort. And yes, my inner geek loved Silverlight’s cool-front end, just wait till you see it!”



Sign up now to receive SocialGrow’s blog updates via RSS and to follow SocialGrow on Twitter. Follow our story as we develop and roll out the first release of SocialGrow’s web and mobile phone software application to help you grow your professional and personal connections — faster and easier — on your online social networks.

Wiggio President Dana Lampert stated, “SocialGrow is providing Wiggio with real-time user feedback, and suggestions for new feature/functionality to improve the application and our service overall.” Lampert went on to say, “Wiggio was originally built to support collaboration among student teams in an academic environment, yet we’ve seen major adoption among small companies and non-profits. With SocialGrow as our beta commercial client, Wiggio will be able to quickly add features which support other startups and small businesses to collaborate effectively and work productively, regardless of team members’ physical locations.”



SocialGrow’s Sutherland further said “by using Wiggio to collaborate online, and keep one set of documents in a single repository, SocialGrow gives us the benefit of automated version control for all of our business documents. We simply cc: our Wiggio e-mail address to archive e-mails for future use. It could not be easier!”
Wiggio’s Lampert concluded by saying “Wiggio makes it easy for SocialGrow’s employees to keep each other up-to-date in real-time, without having to interrupt their work flows.”




About Wiggio

Wiggio is a group application software company. With over 200,000 users, the company’s software application allows group members to share and edit files, host free video meetings and conference calls, manage a group calendar, poll group members, post links, chat online and send mass text, voice and email messages to group members. Wiggio was created in January 2008 by Dana Lampert. Wiggio’s mission is to eliminate frustration, and enable groups to work effectively. For more information please visit http://wiggio.com.



About SocialGrow

SocialGrow is a software, consulting, and professional services company. SocialGrow’s flagship software application helps individuals, small businesses, large enterprises, governments, academia, and non-profit organizations to quickly and easily grow their online social networks. SocialGrow was founded in July 2009 by Marsh Sutherland, Ken Herron, and Charbel Elkhoury. SocialGrow’s mission is to help people realize the value of social networks. For more information please visit http://socialgrow.com.




Media contacts

Wiggio: Dana Lampert, dana [at] wiggio [dot] com

SocialGrow: Ken Herron, ken.herron [at] socialgrow [dot] com

Regardless of the state of the economy in general, or your local job market in particular, “the larger your network, the faster you will find a job.”  We have all heard this truism before, but did you know that the same rule also applies to your professional online social networks?  The more people you have in your professional online social networks, the faster you will find your next job.



Whether you’re a beginner just sitting down to create your profile on http://linkedin.com for the very first time, or a seasoned veteran with a dozen profiles on different mainstream and niche sites, here are six things you should do to leverage your professional online social networks to more quickly find your next job:



1.  Ask your http://linkedin.com connections who work for each of your target companies to write a recommendation for you.  Your connections may respond to your requests more quickly, if you first write a recommendation for them.



2.  When you submit your cover letter and resume on an internet job posting, send messages to your connections within the company to help you identify the hiring manager or HR contact.  Job postings on http://simplyhired.com and http://linkedin.com have this feature built-in, but you can do this for a job ad on any website where the company is named.



3.  Write a brief note introducing yourself to the hiring manager or HR contact letting them know you submitted for the job, and ask one of your connections within the company to forward it to him/her for you.



4.  If you are not able to reach out directly to the hiring manager or HR contact through one of your connections on http://linkedin.com, check to see which groups they belong to and join that particular group.  Most group members allow other members of the group to message them directly.  Also, joining relevant professional groups on http://linkedin.com, such as http://WebExecutives.org, is one more opportunity for you to expand your professional network.  Alternately, you can send the hiring manager or HR contact a LinkedIn InMail(TM).



5.  A heads up that if a contingency recruiter or their agency has already submitted you to the company as a candidate *or* if you submitted for the job on a recruiting agency’s own website, you should NOT contact the company’s hiring manager or HR contact directly, as it creates a serious conflict of interest which could get you ejected from the candidate review process.  Don’t miss out on job opportunities, or alienate recruiters and their agencies.



6.  Finally, be sure to use the SocialGrow web and mobile phone software application when it is released, to easily grow your connections on all of your professional and personal online social networks!



The “new normal” is that most of us will have more employers in our lifetime than did our parents, which means your next employer will likely not be your last employer.  Continuing to nurture and grow your online professional social networks, even after you have found your dream job, will accelerate your career growth for years to come!



- Marsh (President)

Azure will also have the ability to increase, on demand, the processing power during peak times. This will enable the SocialGrow web and mobile phone software application to be fast, *really* fast, no matter how many members are online.



Finally, Azure will offer us the ability to dynamically increase the storage space we need to scale the application to accommodate new users.



Microsoft’s Windows Azure platform will enable us to deliver a reliable, fast, and scalable application that SocialGrow’s members around the world can depend on to grow their online social networks.



- Charbel (CTO)

Let us know which logos you love, which logos you hate, and which logos just make you scratch your head.



99designs is a disruptive startup which connects passionate designers from around the globe with savvy clients who need design projects completed in a timely fashion without the usual risk or cost associated with professional design.



Read what the media  has to say about about them.



- Ken (CMO)

In advance of the launch of our new company’s website, and, as you can see, in advance of our even having a logo, welcome to the SocialGrow™ company blog!



SocialGrow™ helps individuals and organizations around the world realize the benefits of social networks.



SocialGrow’s flagship product, the SocialGrow™ Web and Mobile Phone Software Application, enables people of all technical levels to quickly and easily grow their professional and/or personal online social networks. The SocialGrow™ Web and Mobile Phone Software Application also enables both small and large social networks around the world to rapidly grow their memberships.



SocialGrow’s Consulting division, SocialGrow™ Consulting, researches, analyzes, and makes recommendations on social networking strategies.



SocialGrow’s Professional Services division, SocialGrow™ Professional Services, manages social networks.



SocialGrow’s vision is to realize the human side of what our technology enables — new connections between people that might not have otherwise happened. Finding a new job after a year of unemployment. Finding the love of your life after a break-up that left you thinking you’d never meet anyone. Finding a huge customer when you didn’t know whether your business would survive. Each new connection truly has the potential to be life-changing. Our application enables growth, not just the number of people one has in their multiple online networks, but the value received from the richness of having a large, diverse network.



SocialGrow™ was founded in 2009 by industry veterans Marsh Sutherland, Ken Herron, and Charbel Elkhoury.