Some common themes quickly emerged which illustrated this metamorphosis. I’ll use my customers’ experiences to tell the story.

1. The Full Team Is Distributed and External

A consistent feature of small businesses is our dependence on outside specialty resources. Most small businesses are a sum of full-time internal staff combined with external part-time or contract resources. It’s how we get things done efficiently and effectively. As an example, many small businesses outsources graphics production, website development, QA, accounting, video production and some product testing to external “team members” who work an average of one to four days per month for our company.

In the pre-cloud world, coordination and collaboration were big challenges in the distributed team model. Emails with attachments coupled with phone calls typically produced a “productivity tax” that made coordination time consuming and inefficient. Online tools have made it very easy to collaborate in real time, allowing everyone to literally be “on the same page”–but only if those tools are obviously helpful and easy for participants to use. If the cloud software is hard to adopt, it doesn’t matter that it is available anywhere—people will quickly default to their old way of doing things.

Currently available online collaboration tools have found their footing and distributed teams are now successfully stitching themselves together.

2. Application Marketplaces Provide Pre-Integrated Tools

The online tools themselves are improving adoption even more by stitching themselves together. Companies are avoiding investment in expensive projects and IT resources by subscribing to pre-integrated application marketplaces. The Google Apps Marketplace is one such option.

With only five full-time employees, each year Toronto-based Timeraiser coordinates 50 corporate partners, 350 charities, 6,500 volunteers, and 250 artists at events in eight cities served by 100 vendors. Coordinating this huge network of corporate partners, artists, volunteers and philanthropists demanded a technology solution that could coordinate a broad base of constituents through projects with a lot of moving parts across any mobile device. And all of the players in the extended network had to adopt the solution, without IT’s involvement. No small task.

Google Apps and the pre-integrated applications such as Smartsheet, Box.net, Salesforce and Echosign in the Google Apps Marketplace proved to be perfect answer. The single sign-on foundation and pre-integration of these coordinated applications made the Timeraiser motto possible without IT or deployment costs: Create information once, distribute it widely and make it accessible anywhere.

Now, Timeraiser embeds Smartsheet projects, Google spreadsheets and Box documents into the Timeraiser website, their partner websites, and all marketing and coordination emails. The familiar interfaces require no extra navigation and therefore no learning curve–which helps circumvent the classic technology adoption hurdle. For example, Timeraiser uses cloud technology to manage the entire board governance program.

3. An Opportunity to Simplify and Consolidate

Every small business is looking for ways to streamline operations. The cloud enables integrated applications to mix and match features into combinations that often enable simpler solutions.

LiquidConcrete is a medium-sized, Seattle-based manufacturer of high-performance concrete coatings and flooring systems for industrial and transportation markets. Before moving to the cloud, LiquidConcrete had tried numerous CRM, ERP and manufacturing solutions with varying degrees of success. As they moved their basic systems, like email and document management, to the cloud they began to discover that it was possible to simplify many of their internal software systems.

LiquidConcrete models most of their processes into three basic tools–Google Apps, Quickbooks and Smartsheet–using Quickbooks for accounting, Google Apps for email and calendar, and Smartsheet for online project management and simple CRM.

Many small businesses start small by experimenting with broad-based cloud applications, such as Google Docs. With the expansion of cloud applications, even features like Gantt charts, typically thought of as synonomous with the desktop, are now available in a sophisticated, easy-to-use format online. Typically, over a period of time, usage of new cloud applications will continue until a tipping point occurs where everything is possible online. The improvement of online marketplaces like Google Apps, which offers pre-integrated solutions, is making it even easier for small businesses to start small and expand operations to the cloud. Pretty soon, the local PC, server or application becomes the inconvenient or undesirable approach. The good news is it’s easy to start small, risk little and still come out on the cloud.

The post Why Small Businesses Are Going “All In” On the Cloud appeared first on Small Business Trends.

The first post outlined the pros and cons of offering a tweetchat.   In the second part we gave you details on how to prepare for your tweetchat. In the third part, we gave ideas for promoting a tweetchat.

In this final part we share how to do follow-up for your tweetchat so that it will continue working for you.

Marketing campaigns often underperform because of poor follow-up, and social media is no exception.  The content and connections generated from the tweetchat event are just the beginning of the value to be mined.  Look for opportunities to engage the contacts you make during your events.  Find other ways to promote the content provided by various panelists and audience members.

The Content:

A good Tweetchat session’s content will provide plenty of flexibility for use in a variety of mediums.

• Post a summary: Twitter is fluid and many people jump in and out of tweetchats because they are only moderately interested. Take advantage of this fleeting interest by posting a summary of your chat within a few hours of the event’s end.
• Add some commentary: It is important that you link to a well-organized summary sorted by the question prefixes, not just a link to a Twitter search with your hashtag.  Organizing the summary by aligning answers with the original question makes it easier for readers to skim. The ideal summary will include a quick blog post with some thoughts on the event or insight to what went well.  Here is an example.
• Case Studies: Invariably, some data will come out that may deserve more development into a full blown case study.
• Product/Messaging Research: Within the audiences’ tweets, you are likely to find interesting perspectives, questions, confusion, focuses, etc. on the product or category you are promoting. Pay attention to this, because, no matter how it may seem to you, they are at least a part of the window into the broader audience.

The Connections:

You will invariably net a variety of people into your event.  They’ll range from casual to intensely interested as well as little to highly influential.  It is not always obvious which are which, but for those that are interested and influential, make hay.

• Respond immediately: Respond right away to people who ask questions and send in DMs (direct messages in Twitter) for more information, etc.  Showing responsiveness to others interested in the topic goes a long way. After our first tweetchat, we connected with several people on the same day. One conversation turned into an interview with a tech blogger, the other led us to two people co-authoring a book on crowdsourcing.
• Get in Touch: Use your event as a reason to get in touch with bloggers who cover your area, specifically if they are interested in the topic being covered in that weekly session.
• Ask for feedback: Your panelists and those who attend and ask questions are your best source of feedback. Ask them for a critique – what went well, what didn’t go well. What would they change? How was the preparation document? Did they feel the pace was too slow, too fast, etc? These are also great people to ask for suggestions on topics.
• Show appreciation. Don’t stress over what to send to say thank you. The important thing is that you show appreciation to the people helping you out by providing valuable content. Everyone is busy, so make sure to appreciate the time people are taking to make your events a success.
• Plan ahead. Put together a calendar for the following month and schedule speakers and topics accordingly.

Experience is the best teacher — attend tweetchats and pay attention to things that go well and things that could be improved.  Look at your overall marketing mix and decide whether a tweetchat would be a good addition based on the objective, target audience and content availability.  If everything aligns, tweetchats are a great way to experiment with a new medium, develop a strong arsenal of content and make lasting connections.

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About the Author: Maria Colacurcio is the co-founder of Smartsheet, the only collaboration tool with a built-in workforce. Prior to starting Smartsheet, Maria worked in B2B marketing for 10+ years at companies including Onyx Software, NetReality and Microsoft.  Join our weekly Tweetchat on crowdsourcing by following http://twitter.com/crowdwork or searching on Twitter for #crowdwork Thursdays at 9am Seattle time.

The post Follow-up for Your Tweetchat to Make it Continue Working for You appeared first on Small Business Trends.

The first post in this series focused on the pros and cons of sponsoring a tweetchat.  The second post dove deep into the details on how to start planning and preparing for your first tweetchat event.  Part three is all about promotion.

At this stage, you’ve got your tweetchat set up, you have a lineup of great speakers and panelists and you’re mitigating the technical difficulties as best you can.  So how do you promote the tweetchat?

Remember your objective. What was the purpose of the tweetchat?  To get leads? Improve awareness?  Develop relationships with bloggers?  Like most other media events, focusing on the proper channels is imperative.

• Leverage other sites. Add the event to your company’s page on Facebook and any use group sites. With LinkedIn, I promoted to our customer user group and the community groups where I actively participate. I decided against blasting the information out to groups of which I am not an active member.
• Re-tweet friendly. Make your Twitter promos short, catchy and within the boundaries of the character limit for others to re-tweet.
• Use different keywords/hashtags. People are following different tags like #crowdsourcing, #startup, #web20, etc. Do a little research on your topic areas and sort out which topics are followed by the audience you’re trying to reach.
• Ask your close allies to help. I’m not suggesting you send out something that says “PLEASE RT.”  Instead send the copy personally to your close friends, allies and colleagues. Ask them to re-tweet at the appropriate moment, typically the morning of the event.
• Have a non-Twitter option. Think about offering another option for participation in addition to Twitter. Another idea is to add a non-Twitter option like a conference call or video to every fourth tweetchat and tailor the content accordingly.

It’s really important to keep your target audience in mind.  Sometimes it’s hard to admit that those frequenting your corporate Web site are not the best target for a Twitter-only event.  For example, establishing Smartsheet as a leader in crowdsourcing meant reaching influencers and bloggers who are Twitter-savvy and that meant not posting a broad message on our Web site.

Be sure to check out the fourth and final part of this series:  Follow-up for Your Tweetchat to Make it Continue Working for You.

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About the Author: Maria Colacurcio is the co-founder of Smartsheet, the only collaboration tool with a built-in workforce. Prior to starting Smartsheet, Maria worked in B2B marketing for 10+ years at companies including Onyx Software, NetReality and Microsoft. Join our weekly Tweetchat on crowdsourcing by following @Crowdwork on Twitter or #crowdwork Thursdays at 9am PDT.

The post How to Get People to Attend Your Tweetchat appeared first on Small Business Trends.

The first post focused on the pros and cons of sponsoring a Tweetchat and outlined the possible reasons you may want to consider adding this to your marketing mix.

If you’re planning your first Tweetchat, it’s going to take preparation and planning.  There are very few ‘how to’ guides out there for sponsoring an ongoing chat and the best way to learn is to participate in some well-known and well-attended chats and see what you like and dislike.

Here are a few key components that you’ll want to think about upfront:

1.) Select a Hashtag: The “how to select a Twitter hashtag” search comes up with a lot of tips on how to select one for breaking news stories or to follow existing events, but nothing really useful for a new category.   Here are a few things to think about when choosing a hashtag specifically for a Tweetchat:

• Search and Spell: When I did a Bing search on “crowdwork” I found out the phrase is used by comedians to describe how they interact with the crowd. We decided this possible misconception was acceptable. After all, isn’t interacting with the power of the crowd as a comedian a form of crowdsourcing in person (vs. on the internet?).

Simply, make sure you know the other definitions of your term. Then you can decide whether they are deal breakers.

• Beware Acronyms: We recently sponsored a conference that had chosen the hashtag #SandS for ‘Small and Special’. The hashtag worked fine for monitoring, but since it also spells ‘Sands’ (Twitter doesn’t account for caps), any posts about beaches, the Sands Hotel in Vegas or other sandy related items would also appear which cluttered up the stream. Make sure to test your hashtag for possible spellings that aren’t immediately obvious.
• Transparency is Key: Will your hashtag be a play on your company or product name? If not, make sure to indicate in the profile that your company is the sponsor or the originator of the Tweetchat. Eventually, people will realize you have a vested interest and may feel duped if they didn’t know that upfront. Remember – you’re trying to build awareness, reputation and trust.
• Keep it short: This one is pretty obvious since you only have 140 characters of which your hashtag is included.

2. Decide on Frequency: Is your event One Time or Recurring? Obviously, if your event is one-time only, getting the Twitter alias/page is not necessary. We knew ahead of time we wanted to try hosting these events weekly or bi-weekly so we wanted to grab a #hashtag with a corresponding Twitter ID. That way, we could post details on the page for the recurring event as well as a recap.

• Be Ready for Commitment: As with all things social media, if you aren’t prepared to be consistent and invest the time, don’t commit to it up front. If you’re experimenting, start out with a one-time Tweetchat. Or summarize a traditional online event with a summary on Twitter. Don’t promote your Tweetchat as a ‘twice a week’ event and then bag on it in week two.

3. Executing your Event: There are a few angles to the event execution. If you’re well prepared, you can navigate even the most mind-numbing Twitter delay (remember: Twitter was not meant for this).

• Prime the pump. Eventually, the best Tweetchats consist of a savvy moderator, a great topic and a very engaged audience who answer the questions with best practices and experiences of their own. WARNING: This does not happen during your first (or even fifth) Tweetchat. Be prepared with your own army of experts, panelists and topics.
• Limit your questions. Prepare a Q&A of no more than 10 questions in advance. Ask participants to think about how they would answer in 140 characters. Sometimes it’s hard to answer questions on-the-spot within those limits.
• Twitter-friendly speakers. Choose speakers and panelists who are familiar with Twitter. Preface every question with “Q1, Q2″ and have your speakers do the same with their answers. This will allow people to follow along, even during delays.
• Think about next week. If possible, have your topics and panelists selected a week in advance. This way, you can promote next week’s chat at the end of the chat you’re in.
• Role play. Ask a colleague to follow the chat on a different machine via a couple of Twitter applications. They can instruct you on longer-than-normal delays.
• Encourage audience participation. Sometimes audience members aren’t comfortable jumping into a chat in front of everyone. Encourage your audience to send in questions to a moderator via @reply or even a DM. Offer both options since DMs can only be received from those you follow.

Jump to Part 3 of my series:  How to Get People to Attend Your Tweetchat.

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About the Author: Maria Colacurcio is the co-founder of Smartsheet, the only collaboration tool with a built-in workforce. Prior to starting Smartsheet, Maria worked in B2B marketing for 10+ years at companies including Onyx Software, NetReality and Microsoft. Join our weekly Tweetchat on crowdsourcing by following @Crowdwork on Twitter or #crowdwork Thursdays at 9am PDT.

The post The Details: Preparing for Your First Tweetchat appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Over the past year, we’ve used social media regularly as a part of our marketing mix for brand monitoring, customer service, market research and building/nurturing connections.  A few weeks ago, we added a “Live Chat Event on Twitter” to that repertoire.  This article series will profile our experience with live Twitter chat events, and summarize what we have learned so that you can benefit.

Our objective for the chats:  Build on our reputation for crowdsourcing solutions by providing valuable content through a “new” medium.  We wanted to provide a forum for anyone to showcase case studies of successfully tapping the power of workers in the crowd.  And of course, we expect our own technology to figure positively amongst many of the examples.

Tweetchats have some inherent benefits in your social media line-up.  Here are 6 things to consider as you weigh adding it to your priority list.

The Good:

• 140 characters. Twitter forces the conversation into only the most salient points. If moderators and panelists are properly prepped, there is an awesome opportunity for presenting clear, concise, data-rich information. It’s akin to offering just the highlights of an otherwise long and uninteresting game. It’s also a great way to weed out jargon and nonsensical buzz words. Tough to include that filler when you have a character limit. 
• A Built-in Audience. At all times on Twitter, you have people monitoring the stream for a variety of key words and phrases. For example, during our very first Smartsheet-sponsored #crowdwork chat, there were on average 90 people monitoring the term ‘crowdsourcing’. Many of these people had no idea who we were, but caught a bit of our chat and decided to attend based on the profile of our panelists, the topic or something else.
• It’s a Good Medium for Bloggers. Social media is an indirect channel for us; we get our best ROI from engagement with bloggers and journalists. Since building our reputation is the goal, improving blogger relations is a big part of that. Because they are fast and can be monitored while multi-tasking, tweetchats are a great way to gain an introduction to a blogger in a specific niche, especially if you have interesting topics and thought leadership. 

The Bad:

• Twitter Was Not Built for This. Twitter was not built for chat, yet millions are using it for that purpose. You should expect unpredictable delays. Twitter applications (of which there are many) all respond differently on client-side machines. It’s impossible to replicate what each audience member is experiencing and delays are commonplace. 
• Annoyed Followers. I know there are ways to ‘alert your followers’ that you are engaged in a chat and may be tweeting often for the next 25 minutes, but needless to say, some followers still get irritated. 
• It Can Be Confusing. Let’s face it, non-Twitter users have no idea what you’re talking about when you tell them to participate in a Tweetchat by following the hashtag #crowdwork at 9am. They want the registration link, the url, the dial-in, the slides, etc. etc. 

As with any marketing initiative, Tweetchats take time and investment.  The objective must be crystal clear and if your audience isn’t on Twitter, it may not be the medium to achieve your goals.  A great way to experiment is to summarize a traditional online or web event through your company’s twitter stream and gauge the feedback.

Jump to part two in the series: Preparing for your First Tweetchat.

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About the Author: Maria Colacurcio is the co-founder of Smartsheet, the only collaboration tool with a built-in workforce. Prior to starting Smartsheet, Maria worked in B2B marketing for 10+ years at companies including Onyx Software, NetReality and Microsoft. Join our weekly Tweetchat on crowdsourcing by following @Crowdwork or #crowdwork Thursdays at 9am PDT.

The post Tweetchats: How They Help Grow Your Business appeared first on Small Business Trends.