I got a Facebook message from a guru in the Social Media Marketing space tonight Shama Hyder. She wrote the members of her ACT Blueprint group on Facebook that there is something called RUI that always (and should) comes before ROI. What is RUI? RUI, or otherwise known as Resistance, Understanding, Integration, are the steps that most clients will go through before really adopting a Social Media Marketing plan.

You know, I always talk about ROI in social media marketing and new media marketing, and it always comes back to ROI. Well, you know, this past week I’ve spoken to some organizations and I’ve realized that they aren’t even to the point to really discuss ROI (“Return on Investment”). They were at a whole different acronym which I called RUI, and I think a lot of businesses, non-profits, and organizations fall under this category. I’d love to hear your thoughts on what you think about it.

But to me, RUI is “Resistance, Understanding, and Integration,” and I realize that this is the process most people go through every single time that anything new comes out. You know, when web sites came out, when Email came out, and now it’s social media, you’re seeing this. Before you can talk to people about ROI, you really have to talk to them about RUI and figure out where they are, because the first thing people feel is resistance. It’s a new idea. They’re not sure. They’re resisting it. And I’ve noticed this but, you know, as people who are very accustomed to doing [things the] way they’ve always done things; you see the resistance level is higher, so there is resistance.

Then there’s understanding. So they understand what social media can do for them. They understand the mindset. And then there is integration where they actually start making it part of what they’re doing, whether it’s their marketing activities, [or] their daily life, and once they understand RUI, once they’ve been through that process, then you can talk to them about ROI.

I’ve noticed this quite a few times with clients with whom I’ve broached the topic of marketing their site on Social Media. I’ve gotten a variety of reactions and responses. Some clients seem intrigued and almost excited about using this new medium, others are more cautious and still others look at me like I’m on some kind of 1970’s hallucinogen. With each of these types of business people in mind, Shama’s suggestions on how to use RUI to your benefit are right on. In the end, it’s a fact, in order to get your clients to integrate Social Media into their marketing budget and plan they need to see the ROI and to get to the ROI you need to get past the RUI.

I’d like to hear your thoughts on what Shama’s saying. Post them below in the comments.

Veronica Belmont (of Tekzilla fame) did an Ignite 5 minute presentation on how to make your business a meme and have it go vial. A great 5 minute video.

Check it out:

Social Media isn’t about broadcasting ideas and screaming out your information at the public. It’s about the conversation – about the relationship building.

This is a question that is plaguing millions of business owners who see the need to tap into the craze that is the social web. Often this is a more daunting task than it seems at first. Twitter alone loses most of potential users within the first month of sign up.

Because of the steep learning curve many businesses are look at social media as a daunting task that is rivaled only by scaling Mt. Everest. It doesn’t have to be this way. Social Media, done right and with the right instruction can not online increase a company’s revenue, but build a report with their clients that they could only have dreamed about less than a decade ago.

Now the question remains, if a company wants to get the full potential out of social media, but is largely unsuccessful at it, where do they find a social media consultant that is right for the job.

I can name two places. One place where not to look and the other place to look. Don’t look in the yellow pages… do look on social media and/or in Google.

Now once you have a list of “Social Media Experts,” you now have to vet them. Here’s some qualities you need to look for when hiring a social media consultant.

1. They need to be active in the social media space. They should have  at least a Twitter, Facebook and a Linkedin page fully setup.
2. They should not only have a profile on these sites, they must also be active users and should be able to clearly show you how their relationships on these sites have grown and flourished. (Example: Amount of followers on Twitter).
3. They should have clear defined goals set for themselves. If they don’t, how can they set goals for you.
4. They should be aware of the power of blogging and should have a self-hosted blog of their own, not hosted on a shared server (Blogger, Wordpress.com).
5. They should either know how to setup, or know someone who can setup a self-hosted site.
6. They should understand the power of blogging and how it relates to social media.
7. They should know what plugins should be used to boost your ranking in the search engines as well as increase interactivity with you readers.
8. They should push you to develop your custom brand.

These are just some things to look for when bringing on a social media consultant. I’d like to hear what you think. Post your comments below.

Seth Goldstein.Net — Thoughts on Social Media, Social Media Marketing and thought who call themselves experts from Seth Goldstein on Vimeo.

I am proud to announce a new blog project that I am involved in. Addicted To Social Media is a collaboration with a few other tech friends. Our focus is on the Social Web. Please check it out and if you’re interested in writing please get in touch.

Very interesting video from Google’s Matt Cutts:

So in January, Ms. Herrscher began thinking about ways to apply the principles of Twitter to her site. She wanted something where her readers “wouldn’t have to dig through the millions of people on Twitter to find moms, or moms in their area or moms with their common interests,” she said. “It’s a smaller, manageable community.”

via A Twitter Spinoff Launches for Moms – Digits – WSJ.

So here’s the thing, all of these Twitter spin offs, Laconi.ca installations etc., are great. Yet they are missing two things, in my opinion, the community and the interconnectivity. The majority of people are on Twitter. Yes there is a following for spin off sites like Identi.ca and the TWIT Army (both of which I belong to), but the fact that Twitter has almost everyone on it and the developmental chops via the API makes it seem so much more powerful than it’s clones.

Though Rachael Herrscher might be on to something, I just feel that we’re dealing with an overload of social media sites. On a daily basis many of us are checking at least three if not more programs to follow people and get our news.

Personally these are the services that I use on a regular basis:

• Twitter (always open in Tweetdeck)
• Facebook (always open in a tap in Firefox)
• Linkedin (I jump back and forth when I get a notice or an email about something on the service)
• FriendFeed (when I’m not already overloaded)
• Google Reader (for Twitter search term feeds and blog updates)
• GMail (for my email)
• Delicious (to share sites that I find on a daily basis with the world)

Now that’s just on a daily basis and thankfully I’m still able to get my work done. Granted my business is closely tied to social media and the Internet so I’m able to suppliment my life with these services. But when is adding services causing more harm than good or even not contributing anything.

I’m also on theses sites (and I’m missing tons):

• Identi.ca ( a twitter clone network. Find me as GoldsteinMedia)
• Army.Twit.Tv (another Laconi.ca opensource Twitter clone run by Tech guru Leo Laporte of This Week In Tech and TechTV fame)

The solution, in my opinion, is not to stop innovating or making new services. The solution is to make all these clones and networks talk to each other (easily). That way people can interact on a broader scale without major time-consuming social media burnout.

I’m interested in what you think. Post your comments below.

Conficker is just waiting out there. Calling in daily to its master… waiting for instructions on what to do next. A sleeper cell of infected computers that could cause major problems when activated. What can we do. Watch the 60 Minutes segment and find out more. Post your thoughts in the comments.