-->

I had a great conversation the other night with my close friend about Social Media, social networks, and the  the growth of this industry, sector, or whatever you want to call it. I have been lucky enough to have the interest and time to  immerse myself in the  nuances of this interesting and fun phenomena. There is a lot of things going in the world of social media and I am convinced that social networks and social media are changing the way we communicate. No longer are we telling people about how and what we do, today we are forced to listen as well. And if we aren’t, or if you aren’t you should be. That is the impact of social networking, media, or whatever you want to call it.

I just read Groundswell by  Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff. This is a book that I think is a must-read. You are going to see a lot of people writing a lot of books about social media, but these authors are to be believed. They are researchers at Forrester Research and they  have really hit it on the head. This book will give  businesses a step-by-step process in developing  a strategy for social media. One thing I really like is their categorizing of the type of people who are using the internet and social media. Using this categorizing, one can determine which tool to use. Here are the categories:

• Creators — online consumers who at least once a month publish a blog or article online, maintain a Web page or upload video or audio onto sites like YouTube. These people represent 18 percent of the online adult population.
• Critics — react to online content by posting reviews and comments and participating in and editing wikis. Twenty-five percent of adult Americans online are critics.
• Collectors — save URLs, tags and social bookmarking services like del.icio.us. They vote for their favorite sites and use RSS feeds. Collectors make up 12 percent of the adult population online.
• Joiners — participate or maintain profiles on a social networking site like Facebook. Twenty-five percent of adults who are online in the United States are now on Facebook. In South Korea, the participation rate is 40 percent.
• Spectators — the largest percentage of adults online in the United States. This category consumes what everyone else creates. It requires less effort and makes up 48 percent of users.
• Inactives — forty-one percent of all Americans online remain untouched by the groundswell. And, of course, those offline are merely watching TV or reading a good book.

Understand these categories and you will understand how to use the tools that are available. Read my review on our regular website for a quick review of the book, or better yet buy the book.

Fargo is a hopping town. I went out last night instead of staying stuck in a hotel room out by the mall and ended up at the HoDo Hotel and Lounge. I went, based upon the recommendation of  new Twitter friends, especially someone who  goes by the handle @FargoMoorehead and is part of the local CVB. I love how this works. I roll into town, announce I am here and all of a sudden I have good recommendations for places to go.This, by the way, is a great example of how a CVB can be extremely responsive to the the needs of a visitor. Using social media they responded immediately by giving me information I needed. Way to go Fargo-Moorhead CVB!

The Hodo was a really cool place. Warehouse, lofty feel with big windows to the outside, a lot of original art, and a hip music background, part hip-hop, part Johnny Cash. Has anyone taken a Cash track and done a hip-hop/country mashup? Hmmm, interesting. Next time I am in Fargo I am staying at the HoDo.

Downtown Fargo as a destination looked pretty good . It was a good mix of nice restaurants, sports bars, pubs and  dives. I think they like their neon signs in Fargo, for each interesting place has a good looking neon sign that borders on kitsch art.

I met Dave the attorney and Bill the Banker at the HoDo lounge after I had eaten a really yummy Asian stir fry, and consumed a couple IPAs’. By the way I was a little disappointing that Fargo, according to the bartender, didn’t have a local micro-brew. I hope Amber was  wrong and under informed ( like the hotel clerk who scrunched her face when  I mentioned downtown). Having said that,  the IPA from some micro-brew in Minneapolis was quite tasty. Dave and Bill were two guys close to or  around my age. We had a great time talking about the differences and  similarities between Bloomington-Normal and Fargo. They were obviously well-informed and understood their community very well. They had pride in their area and it wasn’t blustery or boisterous, which was good.

By the way, no one I met talked like they do in the movie. Ok, the hotel clerk came close, but truthfully, Fargo people are full of the Midwestern charm and helpfulness one would expect. One more thing: According to those I spoke to last night and the local Arts paper Fargo apparently has a thriving art and culture scene.

I head for Omaha today. Looking a the interstate, it looks pretty long, straight and boring. I hope the worlds largest ball of string is on this leg of the journey. I will need something to break up the day.  I will travel through and hit parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska. Follow me on Twitter @bnedguy, I will tweet along the way.

One of the neat things about social media or social networking is that you end meeting people that you would likely never meet unless for the deployment of said social media. I just cam back from a little social media event in Bloomington. It was a tweetup hosted by a local photographer and it was a nice little event. I got to meet some folks that I would have never met before and probably people I would never meet in any other situation. Twitter brings together for common discussion and sharing of ideas.

I also had an opportunity to talk to two very diverse businesses this week about social media and its use. One was an artist and gallery, and the other was a doctor’s practice. Both had attended our social media seminar and wanted to delve a little deeper into its use. Both have different reasons for using the media, and it was fun to explore their business issues, their goals and the best ways to exploit the medium.

Artist Gallery — So how does an artist use social media to grow it s business? First of all what is the business model. In this case the artist operates his own gallery and sells almost all of his art through his gallery. He said tha most of his art can be found within a 50 mile radius of his gallery. He and his business partner/spouse work very hard on promoting their gallery and the art scene in Bloomington Normal. My advice to them was to establish their Twitter account (they already have a Facebook page) and begin slowly to build up a following of friends and followers in Twitter. Here is some other advice I gave them and that other artists might consider:

1. Post tweets about other local artists. Send information about shows and new work by local artists in the area.
2. Re-tweet their tweets. Be kind and tell your followers about the work other artists are doing. Hopefully they will do the same in return.
3. Tweet about thoughts or inspiration you are having about new art you might create. Use twitter as a tool to inform your art.
4. Obviously tell people about events you are having in the studio.
5. Follow other artists.
6. Send pics of your own art…not to often though. Although a simple landscape with no words attached can be a powerful message.
7. Encourage others to follow by using other SM sites.

Are there other suggestions for artists? The Creative class, particularly artists are often overlooked as business people. However they add a lot to the community. They bring new money to the community yet their footprint is usually fairly small. A concentration of artists can contribute large levels of economic impact.

Visit a local artist. Buy some original art. You will be happy you did.