GreenSmith Consulting

Coming soon...

I've got something bubbling up inside me, and it's all Chris Brogan's fault. The man who I'm sure has a stunt double or two for all that he does, issued a challenge in a recent video, Overnight Success Part 2 - A Call to Arms.

In it, he said that it's time for us to stop just playing small, playing remedial when it comes to using social media to its full potential. Time to level up, together, as it were.

It knocked something loose in me.

I began to write all sorts of thoughts, not necessarily focused on social media, but instead on sustainability, and how I see people and businesses practicing it and shifting others towards it in a healthier and well, more sustainable, enjoyable fashion than is prevalent now. Social Media definitely plays a part.

What I've been writing has more questions then answers, and when it comes together to something I'd like to share with you, you'll be the first to see. Something big is bubbling inside me, and it's time to let it out. And I want your minds and hearts in on it too.

Stay tuned...

Note To Twitter Users: Please Stop Doing #FollowFriday Tweets

Nothing anybody tells you to do on Twitter is an absolute. Nothing. How you use it is truly up to you. That is, of course, unless you're an avid spammer, in which case you'll be dropped off Twitter. Other then that, it's your party.

But if there's one thing I'm feeling more & more strong about, it's advocating that you stop doing  #FollowFriday tweets. And #EcoMonday while you're at it too. Well, not stop, but stop using it mindlessly.

Let me back up.

For those of you unfamiliar, #FollowFriday and #EcoMonday are two examples of hashtags, words marked with a # sign to help easily gather and make searchable tweets on a certain subject. In this case, it's people that you recommend others follow, the former being anybody you know, the latter being green/enviro/sustainability oriented people.

Why would I recommend against such a friendly, helpful sounding practice?

Because in most cases, it's lost any significance and lasting value. Most people simply list a huge number of people, with a #followfriday or #ff at the end. Or even worse, they retweet what someone else has tweeted. Why bother? It shows little thought and that you're doing this as a chore, not for any real benefit for those you mention.

For some this may be just being efficient, but to me it's a sign they've not taken any time to really consider who you're recommending, or how to effectively do it.

While it can have some value in the short term - those you mention following back, returning the recommendation, other people possibly choosing to follow your reccomendations - the mass of #followfriday and #ecomonday tweets don't result in an appreciable increase in followers.

I'm not saying don't do this, but do it smarter, resulting in more benefit for those you recommend, and for yourself, showing you care more then to just drop a big scoop of names in people's timelines.

How can you do it smarter?

10 Ways to Support Charity Through Social Media

This guest post is a collaboration between Mashable's Summer of Social Good charitable fundraiser and Max Gladwell's "10 Ways" series. The post is being simultaneously published across more than 100 blogs. Social media is about connecting people and providing the tools necessary to have a conversation. That global conversation is an extremely powerful platform for spreading information and awareness about social causes and issues. That's one of the reasons charities can benefit so greatly from being active on social media channels. But you can also do a lot to help your favorite charity or causes you are passionate about through social media.

Below is a list of 10 ways you can use social media to show your support for issues that are important to you. If you can think of any other ways to help charities via social web tools, please add them in the comments. If you'd like to retweet this post or take the conversation to Twitter or FriendFeed, please use the hashtag #10Ways.

1. Write a Blog Post

Blogging is one of the easiest ways you can help a charity or cause you feel passionate about. Almost everyone has an outlet for blogging these days -- whether that means a site running WordPress, an account at LiveJournal, or a blog on MySpace or Facebook. By writing about issues you're passionate about, you're helping to spread awareness among your social circle. Because your friends or readers already trust you, what you say is influential.

Recently, a group of green bloggers banded together to raise individual $1 donations from their readers. The beneficiaries included Sustainable Harvest, Kiva, Healthy Child, Healthy World, Environmental Working Group, and Water for People. The blog-driven campaign included voting to determine how the funds would be distributed between the charities. You can read about the results here. You should also consider taking part in Blog Action Day, a once a year event in which thousands of blogs pledge to write at least one post about a specific social cause (last year it was fighting poverty). Blog Action Day will be on October 15 this year.

2. Share Stories with Friends

Another way to spread awareness among your social graph is to share links to blog posts and news articles via sites like Twitter, Facebook, Delicious, Digg, and even through email. Your network of friends is likely interested in what you have to say, so you have influence wherever you've gathered a social network. You'll be doing charities you support a great service when you share links to their campaigns, or to articles about causes you care about.

Return of the GreenSmith

It's time. Time for me to return. Return to my GreenSmith roots and to writing on this blog.

Since April it's been a wild ride, filled with new hats as Social Media Strategist at 3rdWhale Mobile, becoming a ghost writer for a major green company, getting the world knowing more about the toxic soup that is Neoprene (and what to do about it), and that energy efficiency can be funny. This, along with my existing gigs as a writer for Triple Pundit and Ecopreneurist.

Plus a side of social media rich Inbound Marketing Summit, organized chaos at Green Business Camp, and high level corporate green at Sustainable Brands.

All great and nourishing, but something was missing. This. I knew it was time to write in my own voice, for my own audience, once again. But coming back, my voice has changed. My knowledge broadened and deepened. My network enriched.

So what will I focus here on the newly revived GreenSmith blog?

10 Ways to Change the World Through Social Media

We are honored to have our friend and fellow traveler of the intersection of social media and green, Max Gladwell grace our blog with a host of innovative ways for each of us, as individuals and collectively to make an impact. Citizen journalism, open government, status updates, community building, information sharing, crowdsourcing, and the election of a President are in the mix here. 

Our children will inherit a world profoundly changed by the combination of technology and humanity that is social media. They'll take for granted that their voices can be heard and that a social movement can be launched from their laptop. They'll take for granted that they are connected and interconnected with hundreds of millions of people at any given moment. And they'll take for granted that a black man is or was President of the United States.

What's most profound is that these represent parts of a greater whole. They represent a shift in power from centralized institutions and organizations to the People they represent. It is the evolution of democracy by way of technology, and we are all better for it. For most of us, social media has changed our lives in some meaningful way. Collectively it is changing the world for good.

Given the pace of innovation and adoption, change has become a constant. Every so often we find the need to stop and reflect on its most recent and noteworthy developments, hence the following list. Please note this is not a top-10 list, nor are these listed in any particular order. It's also incomplete. So we ask that you add to this conversation in the comments. If you'd like to Retweet this post or take the conversation to Twitter or FriendFeed, please use the hashtag #10Ways.

Conserve One of the Most Precious Resources - Trust

April Fool's Day, for those that don't know, is a chance for you to play practical jokes on people. While the pranks can be quite amusing, one that I did got me thinking...

On April 1st my editor at Triple Pundit invited us to do April Fool's Day posts, the more absurd the better. I was reading the book Revolution in a Bottle by Terracycle CEO Tom Szaky at the time, to be reviewed the next week. Having soaked in all things Terracycle for the past week, I was full of facets of Terracycle to poke fun at.

So I wrote a piece, pleased at how over the top it was, how people would laugh and have a good time with it. This, along with GM becoming a bike company, American Airlines going into the zeppelin flight business, complete with bungee jumping. You get the idea.

Then something happened.

How to Optimize Twitter Communications with your Facebook Friends

I've recently been experiencing something that I imagine many of you are as well, and found an elegant solution to it.

I use both Twitter and Facebook, and began favoring Twitter more and more in the past year, for its simplicity, focus, ability to more easily connect with and learn from others. Yes, I'm seeing that Facebook has recently become more amenable and useful to businesses and I'm interested to see what possibilities that creates, but we're talking '08 to the present, at the moment.

Seeing how I blossomed on Twitter and how much people enjoyed what I shared on there, it seemed a blessing to learn that there was a Twitter/Facebook client, which allowed my tweets, or status updates, to also show up as my Facebook status updates, everything but those that began with @yourfriend'sname, which are clearly a reply to someone else on Twitter, and would be out of context to those on Facebook.

Great, thought I, now my Facebook friends will be as in the know as those on Twitter, and I don't have to waste time wading through zombie invitations and superpokes.

But it slowly began to make less and less sense to use it. 

Energy Circle Shows How to Effectively Integrate Social Media Into Your Business

I tend to consult with companies I like. As in I'd do business with them as a customer. Recommend them to friends. Respect what they represent. It's why when I recently worked with Ode Magazine, more then 50% of the blogs I contacted chose to write about them, with great enthusiasm, two even inviting me to write my own content on their sites. My genuine affinity with the businesses I choose to consult with generates better quality results.

Energy Circle, my most recent client, is a home energy efficiency focused business who knows well how to effectively use social media. They are a business I want you to get to know better. Not because they're my client, but because more than likely, they have several ways they can directly benefit you and those in your life, and in doing so, make a collective impact that is substantial. Their business model and how they execute may also be a source of inspiration for your own business.

Energy Circle is an ally to those seeking to make their home more energy efficient, and professionals helping people do it.  During a time of constrained budgets, from personal to institutional,  with a president actively in support of green collar jobs, particularly in terms of home energy efficiency, Energy Circle is a a case of right timing, with a compelling offer.

Solar and other renewables get a lot of press, but the smartest way to green your home is by starting with energy efficiency. Energy Circle is an excellent, assured, friendly resource for anybody to do it. Whereas Google's Powermeter and other technology is still in the works, they've got many "right now" solutions available, including this quick, ongoing, useful article demystifying how and who to go with for home energy audits.  In a nod to the wisdom of their audience, they encourage them to continue filling in the blanks. And it's working.

Feedly: What Makes it the Best RSS Reader In Existence Today?

Today I want to tell you about an amazing find I came across last week, helping greatly accelerate my ability to take in, make use of, and share information, while decreasing my stress about doing so.

Every day I look forward to reading my RSS feeds. Now, lest you think I'm an obsessive information freak, I was much like you: overwhelmed, mostly ignoring the thousands of unread articles, my feeds having become little more than another inbox to check. (Don't know what feeds are? Watch this quick video.)

Flock, the would be all in one social media friendly browser, remedied this to an extent, with its front page that includes a sampling of three each of the most recent articles from your feeds, good to graze on.

But I eventually became immune to it, it too becoming another speedbump to my other, "more important" tasks. But really, as a sustainable business consultant, what's more important than keeping abreast of what's going on in your field, and the many things it touches?

So I was really pleased to learn about Feedly. Why? It takes your feed content, you tell it which is your favorite most frequently read, and it lays it out beautifully (see popup pic, right), almost feeling like a highly polished blog or magazine itself, making manageable and attractive what could easily be a big info dump, as other RSS readers often treat it.

But Feedly is not just a pretty face on the same old same old.

It takes that information, and integrates several tools to do something with it, allowing you to take action directly from the article you're currently reading. For someone like me who's active on Twitter, I can quickly share an interesting find. I could email it to a colleague. I could share it with others who use Google Reader. My Facebook network or Friendfeed subscribers could quickly know about it. I could bookmark it in Delicious, having it handy for when it's useful for my clients. If I just want the link, Feedly is happy to oblige that too.

Now what if something looks interesting, but you don't have time now to read?  Click a little + button next to the article title, and it gets saved for later. Nothing special, right? This is where the genius touches happen:

Using Social Media to Reach and Build Beyond Your Traditional Customer Base

For those unfamiliar with how social media works, it can be unclear if and how it would apply to your business. Today I'll show you how it can, in an unexpected industry.

Yesterday I had an interesting realization while talking to a potential client, a winery that was built sustainable from the ground up, creates top wines, and is now readying to launch a tasting room with innovative green building techniques embedded. Before the call, they wrote the dreaded words, "I don't think we'll be able to do anything this quarter.  Our budget is way too tight and we'll have to focus energy on more traditional media."

I of course thought otherwise, but it wasn't until our call that the true motivation behind their shift in thinking arose: They did the numbers, and despite all their new school green cred and lack of history to tether them to tradition, their main customers were empty nesters in their 50s.

They said that was likewise confirmed at other wineries they spoke to. Their thinking was that people of that age didn't use the internet as actively as younger generations, and weren't avid readers of blogs or users of social media. So the logical step in their mind was to focus on traditional media outlets and PR avenues, reaching them in the ways they always had.

And then it happened:

I was listening to him, and then I looked over at Twhirl, the client I use for Twitter. On it were not 20 something hipsters, but the C level head of two venture capital companies, an author, and a 20+ year veteran of BusinessWeek, all at or near that age. It was clear to me, and I made it clear to him: Twitter, unlike other flavor of the month social media portals, is used by a broad range of people, and getting broader. People from all over the spectrum are using it to learn about, engage with, and share to others what they find out, are experiencing, and are excited about.

This got his ears.

But what really drew his attention was when I relayed how my own Twitter account has gotten a self perpetuating momentum, with 8 to 20 new followers a day - Really interesting, talented and influential people and businesses, with no effort on my part. He said, "I'd like to have 8 to 20 new people listening to us a day. We get that much in a month." He was beginning to understand.

He also felt that people younger than that bracket, the perceived heavy users of blogs, social media, and other web 2.0 services were impossible to nail down, and prone to straying from brand to shiny new brand. He used himself as an example, saying wines he'd been fanatical about 2 years ago were completely off the radar. Definitely an accurate assessment, under some circumstances. We in our 20s and 30s are much less prone to anchor ourselves to one product, one service, one way of doing things.

But I'd like to propose another scenario: Given a path to get to know who's behind the product they buy, be able to interact with them, know why they do what they do, how they're like you, and how much they are truly committed to creating both a green and quality wine, I see fertile territory for strong brand identification, and deep loyalty.

Yes you have to work harder to gain our loyalty, but once enthusiasts, our ability as brand evangelists is much greater then those that do not utilize social networks, blogging, and microblogging. Whereas their message is spread in person, one to one, at home or events,  the social media user can do that, both in person and online, and also quickly get the ear of thousands. And in the case of Twitter, each of those people likewise has their set of followers who receive, talk about, and "retweet," or pass on their broadcasts to their followers.

So do I think they should continue focusing on the current core customer group?

Absolutely. And they have the capability to build on and broaden that foundation, becoming an even more profitable and sustainable (in the economic sense) brand, with the smart use of blogs, Twitter, and things like the free, SEO enhancing, completely customizable Facebook "fan pages" which allow you to do what you cannot elsewhere on there: Have an account that's more then for an individual. The video on this article makes a compelling case for the value of these online outposts, and shows you how to start.

Are you on there yet?

There's a lesson here for companies of any kind: Don't let the historical trends of your industry dictate or shape what you do in the future. Particularly in challenging times. Just because a certain group of people have been the cash cow and another group appears to not be worth your while, does not mean that will always be the case. In some cases, most I'd wager to say, it just means they have not been reached out to where they are, in a way that is credible, and speaks to what they value and seek in what they consume.

What customers are you missing out on?

Readers: So what's your thoughts? Am I on target, or off my rocker? How do you reach older, sophisticated users of the internet? How do you see creating brand loyalty in younger generations?  Is it even possible, beyond Apple?

Alltop: One Place to Find, Promote and Get Inspiration for Your Business and Blog

How do you find information on blogs? How do you get your company's blog more known? Where do you find inspiration for what you write on that blog? There are many paths to each of these, but one covers all three areas: Alltop.

What's different about it? To start, rather then an arcane algorithm generating the search results, it's a person sifting through submitted sites, choosing the best of what comes their way.

Then, rather than just have a single place where everything jostles for attention, they break things down by category, intuitively, simply. This blog, for instance, is on the green page. There's an excellent social entrepreneurship page, where today I found a great article on web 2.0 trends for businesses to watch for in 2009. Every day I seem to see more new categories being added, the most recent I recall being on cheese. Yes, cheese.

Why Twitter?

Yesterday I gave an informal presentation to a group of solopreneurists on social media and online marketing. Twitter, of course, came up.

And I realized just how much it's became a normal part of my life, work and otherwise. And how much it is not, for many others. They kept getting stuck on the question/concern of how much time it would take a day to make use of it, like it was another something to put in a 30 minute box of time, time they didn't think they had, and it wasn't billable.

I could tell this would take much more time than I had to make clear to them the reality of, and what it feels like to use Twitter.

So why Twitter? There are many reasons for many people, but let me tell you about one that happened just last night, that pertains to the green space. A budding green entrepreneur contacted us at Ecopreneurist, one of the green business blogs I write for. They were feeling conflicted that their product, designed green from the floor up, would likely need to be manufactured in China. Would they get grief from consumers for doing that, was it even worth doing? This is definitely not a black & white issue, and the first thought that came to mind is ask on Twitter.

If you're not familiar with Twitter, you have 140 characters to say something, and people can "follow," or subscribe to what you say on there. Here's a great 2 minute primer on what it's all about. At the time of this writing, I have 682 people following me. And many of them are either in the green business realm or make green lifestyle choices.

So I asked, "If you had an otherwise all green product, but could only have them made in China, would you? Or would you be concerned abt criticism?"

Within a few minutes an active conversation had started, 4 responses kicking it off, all very different and thought provoking.

OliverRanch put it succinctly when she said : "If you can stand behind the green, you can overcome the China."

HollyFowler probed deeper, asking:  "Depends on how far the product needs to travel to customer. Is the supply chain for the product all 'green' as well?"

Covering the more business facing sector as well, tomkimmerer said: "There are good manufacturers in China, e.g. Lenovo. Third party certification would establish B2B and B2C trust."

NikkiJade put her foot down in a way that I imagine confirms to an extent that entrepreneur's fears when she said, "No-shipping alone diminishes huge from it's otherwise eco-friendly nature. & there are too many human rights issues with China"

And on it went, with me responding and the conversation taking interesting, unexpected turns. Had this been a client of mine, all of it would prove quite insightful. And this happens all the time. With a good group of followers, you have a built in brain trust, ready to help you puzzle through what you're working on, or quickly get the pulse on things.

So why do you use Twitter? How have you found it helpful? What's your take on the China/green question?

I've used Twitter enough and observed successful uses of it by individuals and companies enough to be able to help companies successfully wade into the waters of Twitter. And I'd be glad to do it for yours.

Yes, at the core of it, it's 140 characters to answer the question "What are you doing?" But it's much richer than that, and with the right tools and foundation of knowledge to start, it can be so many things: A source of publicity, a place to learn about newly developing trends, a chance to interact directly with customers, and for them to get a more 360 degree view of you/your company. All of which can only benefit your bottom line and make the path between you and customers shorter and more fruitful for all involved.

The kid in me likes to think of it as a web enabled Magic 8 Ball. The grown up in me thinks it's a great way to develop robust relationships, 140 characters at a time.

Enter The GreenSmith...

Greetings, and welcome to the first entry of the GreenSmith blog. You have Chris Brogan and Max Gladwell to blame  for this.

Well not entirely.                

I've been wearing the green business blogger hat for the past few years as a weekly contributor to Triple Pundit and Ecopreneurist, in addition to being a green/sustainable business consultant here at GreenSmith. And having a grand time at it. So why start my own? Why now? Great question, and it's one I'm going to answer for myself as I write here.

I'd have to say it's because I see things. No not ghosts and goblins (though those were quite prevalent a few days ago, to be sure!) No, I have a set of eyes and brain that sees things out there in the world, perhaps with a slightly different lens than most. I consider this an asset, as I find possibility and promise in what others may miss, a benefit to both myself and my clients.

And I want you to see it too.

But before I dive into the innovation that comes across my radar, what GreenSmith Consulting is up to, promising future scenarios that I'd like to see realized, and interesting people, I want to stop and ask:

What do you want to see me write about? What's not being covered out there these days that you'd like to see more of? What gems are underneath the muck, waiting to be discovered? Many of you reading this are probably somehow connected to me via Twitter, and you've watched what I've shared on there. What do you imagine me writing about? 

I have many ideas in the cooker ready to be written about, but I want to hear from you first. It's how I work as a consultant, listening carefully to my clients so I can best help them. Now I'm listening to you here. I can't promise I'll write about everything you suggest. But I do promise to listen to what you have to say, and to be grateful for all suggestions.

Some boundaries: I'm not interested in writing straight up environmental pieces. I'm interested in the intersection of commerce and consideration (of environment,  resources, and people). Solutions being created for supposedly intractable problems.  Exuberance over despair.

I'm not interested in polarizing people, or emphasizing what's wrong. I want to shine a light on what's being done to create a more positive, supportive, healthy, and yes profitable world for all. And I reserve the right to go completely off topic, should it have a useful insight or lesson for you and I.

So, what's it going to be? I look forward to your thoughts, below.