Two children, a husband and over ten years as a Business Analyst, I think I am finally worthy of adding the following credentials to my name, “The Negotiator”.

If I realized earlier in life how important negotiation skills were going to be, I would have concentrated my studies on the ‘Art of Negotiating’.  I spend my life negotiating; from the morning battle with myself to work out, the daily cries of want from my children, to the television show my husband and I agree to at the end of the day.  But the real negotiations happen all day, every day in my role as a Business Analyst.

Since project decisions are never black and white, and everything included in a project is negotiable, being an effective negotiator is crucial in the success of a project.

From defining the scope, determining the requirements, to the functional design that fulfill the requirements, a business analyst has to negotiate at every turn.    Some were lucky enough to be born great negotiators, but most of us need a lot of work.
So, if you are planning to become a spouse, parent or business analyst…..be sure to add negotiation skills to your repertoire!

I remember the first time I heard about Twitter , it was March of 2008, I was on a plane to London and there was an article about it in Inc. Magazine.  Later that week I was watching a local news program on the hotel television and they were talking about Twitter, too. At that point, I didn’t understanding what Twitter exactly was, or what kind of service it could provide. I was unsure of why anyone would want to use it.  I thought “Why not just call your friends and tell them what you are doing? This seems like a dumb idea.”

Fast forward to Summer 2010, Twitter is a household name, and everyone has heard about it, whether they use it or not.  I have to admit I use Twitter frequently; in fact, I have met a lot of people and found local businesses through it.  I even meet one of my good friends on Twitter before we connected in person.

Twitter + GPS Technology = Foursquare?

Now the newest technology trend is location-based applications, described by Inc. Magazine as “a particularly hot area for new companies”. One of the most popular location-based service today is Foursquare (although, Facebook launched a similar service today).   Foursquare allows you to check-in to places, meet up with friends and discover new places, using the GPS on your mobile device.

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Many jobs involve writing, and people who can write simply and clearly on the job are a real asset to their companies. But so many people get by using the skills they were taught in high school. Learning some structured writing techniques can bring your business writing to the next level and help you increase your value to your company.

My Experience with Structured Writing

As an experienced technical writer, I am comfortable using whatever techniques and style guides are used by the organization I’m supporting. These tools ensure that everyone in the organization produces writing that is consistent in style and format.About 10 years ago, I was introduced to the Information Mapping Method™, which is a structured writing system taught by a company called Information Mapping Inc. This method encourages careful analysis of the information to be presented and the use of seven principles to write and organize information in a way that enhances its readability and usability.

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I just turned 40.  I use Facebook, but I am not addicted.  I enjoy connecting with friends and colleagues.  I am not a voyeur into others pictures – trying to figure out if someone in my past has lost their hair or is still “hot”.  I update my status every other week or so (sometimes more).  I started a social cause for peace. 

So am I part of the Facebook generation?

I am a part of Gen X, but can you be part of another generation if it is classified by the use of something.  Even if I smoked pot every day, I would never be classified as a baby boomer.  But technology changes that.  It extends the sense of inclusion and allows any one, of any age to participate.

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Attribution: theDQT

As DefinedLogic’s Social Media and Marketing intern, I am learning to think like a true marketer.  In a recent survey I conducted, my goal was to find out what young cell phone consumers (millenials) want, need, and buy.  I also wanted to figure out what role social media will play in how we communicate with the companies with whom we do business.  The survey was completed by 16 people, the majority of who were between the ages of 18 and 24.  The results were interesting.  Some results were exactly what I expected.  Some were not.

Top providers are still AT&T and Verizon

Being the daughter of a retired AT&T employee, I have always been a loyal AT&T customer by default. (I will try to check my biases at the door in the following analysis!)

Here is what the young adults I surveyed thought about cell phone providers:

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This is the second and last part of this blog post. Read part 1 here.

Facebook is like a shark that never stops moving , and marketers can barely keep up. A few months ago, Facebook announced their plans for world domination (I might be editorializing a little), and two new technologies in support of this goal.

Facebook’s Open Graph and Social Plugins

Central to this effort is the Open Graph Protocol, a new way to index web pages that require participating web publishers to add additional descriptive metadata to their pages. Facebook, in turn, uses the pages’ metadata to better categorize their subject matter (e.g. does it represent a product, a person, an article, etc.?) as well as determine editorial ownership to the page.

With these metadata in place, Facebook may categorize external sites with the same level of detail as business pages on Facebook itself. This can come in handy when users are searching for content, products, or brands while on Facebook. (Read: Ultimately visitors won’t have to jump off to Google…). In the meantime, you can search-optimize yourself on Facebook instead.

That said, Facebook’s ambitions go far beyond indexing web pages.

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20 years ago companies were on the fence as to whether or not they needed a web site. (The laggards are still catching up.) Today the ‘social’ pressure is back on, this time it’s all about Facebook.

Should your company put up a (or yet, another) Facebook page? No! That’s so yesterday.

You don’t need a Facebook page in order to grow a Facebook following. I suggest you focus your resources on acquiring and cultivating Facebook fans on your own sites instead. Actually, Facebook encourages you to go off-deck and do just that.

Confused?

Let me explain. First of all, companies can still put up a page on Facebook, a.k.a. “Fan Page” and there are at least a couple great reasons to do so:

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We live in a fast-paced world where every second seems to count.  Who wants to spend time typing “thank you” when “ty” would suffice?  Does progress mean abbreviating everything in every circumstance?  When is it appropriate to utilize these modern words and when is it not?

As someone who doesn’t type nearly as fast as my brain works, I love being able to abbreviate.   Give me the chance to take a short cut and be a little lazy – and I’m there!  Using these words on a casual basis is fantastic.  It’s not only quicker to type, but it also makes me feel like I’m not stuck in the Stone-Age.

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I’m skeptical of any research that purports to quantify the monetary value of a Facebook Fan. While some social media service providers claim they’ve got it figured out, I find that they typically only take into account variables that they can measure with their own tools, which leaves out a host of factors that may be equally important.

Comparing apples to airplanes

I also think that vendors feel it necessary to proclaim they’ve cracked the equation because clients everywhere demand “a number” that will help them compare the ROI of various marketing channels.

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My street, my state, my email address (ugh!), how much I paid last month, what I bought, what I did not buy – these are all personal traits of mine that anyone I have done business with knows about me.  Yet very few of them ever use the information to effectively sell me something else.

Yes, I get junk mail in my mailbox – the one on the street and the one on my desk, but they don’t leverage the power of the personalized experience.  They are using a simple formula of 1-2% of a zillion mails that go out will generate business – not very personal.  Why don’t companies use my information effectively, the likely reason is companies have not invested in the appropriate infrastructure to use the personal information they have.  What do they (you) need to start to leverage the power of personalization?

Developing a customer (1) profile is the first foundational element required to successfully launch an online personalized experience.  Every business knows something about their customer – at a minimum you have gathered a street address to send your product or an invoice.  Addresses provide great geographical information and are a great starting point for a profile.  But addresses are only a starting point (remember we can send a zillion mails) – here is a short list of other elements that can be used to help expand your customer profile:

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