By looking through these questions you will start to see that social networking ripples through the organization out to your clients or customers and back through to your employees, both current and past. Getting your arms around the networked model of social networking is even more difficult when you realize that it does not just reside in the domain of marketing but, rather, in many areas throughout any organization.

Read through the questions and let us know if you have others you think are noteworthy or any of those below you think are particularly compelling.

Large Businesses & Enterprises

* How does an enterprise address the issues of poor performance and high costs as a result of the “silo” effect of the organizational structure?
* How do I lower costs while improving efficiency and productivity?
* How can I increase sales given current stressed economic conditions?
* Is there a way to cost-effectively increase knowledge sharing throughout my firm?
* How do we leverage the younger generation of workers’ new skills as a result of social networking and media technologies?
* Is there a way to increase the returns from all the sales contacts I’ve made over the years?
* Are there ways of increasing my sales revenues through former employees who left on good terms with my company?
* How can I retool my staff to learn new competitive competencies that help to differentiate my firm?
* How can I increase talent retention while attracting the best and brightest new employees?
* How can I increase the flexibility of my firm to capitalize on innovative opportunities?
* How do I increase innovation in my company?
* Are there new communication strategies as a result of new technologies that I should consider adopting for my firm?
* How can I improve the quality of my enterprise leadership and increase its sustainability?
* How can my company capitalize on the millions of people who now use the internet and join online social networks?

Small & Medium Sized Businesses

* How can I increase sales given current stressed economic conditions?
* How can I retool my staff to learn new competitive competencies that help to differentiate my firm?
* How can I capitalize on the millions of people who now use the internet and join online social networks?
* How can I improve the quality of leadership and increase sustainability for leadership development?
* How do I increase innovation in my company?
* Is there a way to increase the returns from all the sales contacts I’ve made over the years?
* Are there new communication strategies as a result of new technologies that I should consider adopting for my firm?

Non-Profits & Gov’t Agencies

* How can I capitalize on the millions of people who now use the internet and join online social networks?
* How can I improve the quality of leadership and increase sustainability for leadership development?
* How do I increase innovation in my organization?
* How do I increase community involvement in my programs?
* How do I increase innovation in my organization?

Leaders & Entrepreneurs

* Is there a way to increase the returns from all the sales contacts I’ve made over the years?
* How can I capitalize on the millions of people who now use the internet and join online social networks?
* How can I improve the quality of leadership and increase sustainability for leadership development?

Open the Door of Opportunity

I have been training people on LinkedIn now for more than six years and I keep hearing the same question,”Now that I am LinkedIn what do I do?” Following is a list of 10 things (this is Part I) you can be doing that are can really make a difference in your results. Currently I get about 40% of my business from LinkedIn. Maybe this will help you? Weigh in on your best strategies and if I use them I will be sure to acknowledge your idea!

1. Join a variety of LinkedIn Groups. Start by joining three to five groups. There are so many great groups on LinkedIn that it would be hard to give you a short list. There are literally thousands of groups. But the best advice I can give here is to join a local group. For instance, we have a LinkedIn Chicago group. Also consider joining alumni groups. Then join a couple of groups that are targeted to your industry. If you have a company and are a thought leader and speak, consider joining a professional speakers group. Joining diverse groups will help you grow your network faster as there won’t be as much cross over in your groups which means you will meet new people rather than experience what is called in the science of networks a “redundant network.”
2. Observe who the leaders are in each group for a couple of weeks and invite these people into your network. It won’t take you long to see you the leaders are in each group. They are actively posting great questions, getting other group members responding with great answers and complimentary comments. These are also people who have the most comments in response to their questions. Now look at these peoples’ profiles. Observe what other groups they are in. Look for patterns. You will see that these top leaders join similar groups. Either join those other groups as LinkedIn allows you to be in 50 groups (don’t worry as you can always remove yourself from a group whenever you choose) or just put the group name on a list you are growing for later when you want to join more groups.
3. Observe the type of entries that contain the most comments. As you start to observe the entries that contain the most comments by the other group members you will start seeing the types of questions that are of top current interest by that community. Of course these questions and the topics they are related to will also be great topics for you to be blogging about and researching and talking wth prospects or networking referral sources about which will help you grow your presence as a thought leader in your market.
4. Start creating a list of great questions that relate to your business. The questions that receive the most comments should have you thinking about other great questions that could be of value. For example you might ask what is the best advice you were ever given about social networking. An add-on question could be something like what is the worst advice you were ever given and why?
5. Post your questions and in your post share that you will provide additional insights you get from other replies you get. People love to get an aggregation of good ideas from a wide variety of people–the wisdom of crowds at work. Take the type to harvest your answers and then store them in a word document or somewhere like a private Google site (I love these sites and they are free!) where you can get copy and paste them later onto your blog when you have a significant number.

What other strategies have you seen working well?  What is missing that no one is currently addressing? Please share your insights or comments.

All three roles are telltale signs of an evolving focus from a product to customer-centric culture – - with the ‘north star’ being improved patient outcomes.  It’s Barron’s belief, and core to the future state of healthcare, that whether ‘customer’ is defined as consumer, doctor, nurse, healthplan, hospital, pharmacy, or otherwise – - we need to consider the ‘whole person’ in how human health is addressed.

The shift from treating sickness to enabling wellness is a fundamental principle around which Barron’s work is centered…whether that means employing (e.g.) nutrition guidance, exercise programs, electronic health records, academic medical centers, innovative solutions, or non-traditional delivery channels.  It’s a recognition that the pharmaceutical industry – - and their healthcare brethren – - must fundamentally move beyond the pill. Check out Barron on LinkedIn!

So how can you and those you know get involved?

Frst, let American Express know what you think about the new features and redesign of AT&T’s Small Business InSite. Share this site other small business owners . Your opinion matters!

The next step is to give readers some news they can use by sharing the word about the AT&T Small Biz Tech Makeover online contest, which began July 13. Expert advice and one year of free AT&T products and services will be awarded to the small business owner who can best explain his or her need for a technology makeover.

Contest prizes include Web hosting services, AT&T Secure Mail, AT&T Tech Support 360, a pair of 3G mobile smartphones and a variety of other advanced solutions that can be used to improve collaboration or drive small business productivity.

All you and your colleagues need to do to participate is complete an online form and send AT&T a short video with your story. More guidelines and contest details can be found by visiting (http://tinyurl.com/smallbizmakeover-att).