You bet it is. This article tells it better than I can. But I’d like to point out a few things that I found interesting:

But when it comes to making decisions, Gen Y tends to rely on their network of friends and their recommendations, not traditional ads. “Ads that push a slogan, an image, and a feeling, the younger consumer is not going to go for,” says James R. Palczynski, retail analyst for Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Instead, they respond to “humor, irony, and the unvarnished truth.” They’re also somewhat distrusting of ads, which is why grassroots efforts can also work. However, don’t get too comfortable, Gen Y doesn’t have brand loyalty - they’re quick to move the next big thing.

Take away: Cut the five-second soundbite. No canned elevator speeches. And don’t expect Gen Y to love you enough to live with you for the rest of your life (I’m not talking about marriage here).

Traditional advertisers know that young people are the most easily persuaded demographic in the world because they don’t have brand loyalty and their willing to try new things. That may change with the younger set today. No brand loyalty means never, not not yet. And did you get that part about valuation of peer opinions and attitudes? If you want to reach Generation Y, you’ve got to give them the ability to communicate directly with their friends about you and not be afraid of what they’ll say. Internet marketing is the only medium that allows you to do that comfortably, affordably, and conveniently.

Web Sites Will Need to Cater to Shorter Attention Spans: No more long boring text! Thanks to constant media input, Gen Y has shorter attention spans and their “grasshopper minds” leap quickly from topic to topic. (They also didn’t read this whole article…too long!)

Take away: Short, snappy articles with short, snappy sentences. And lots of multimedia.

Generation Y, who sees the mobile as a social device first and an information device second, is not using today’s mobile search as much as expected. But Generation Y is using mobile phones to access social networks.”

Take away: Make your website social and mobile accessible.

I got this e-mail the other day, another spammer looking for publicity:

Hello , I am Katherine Villete and I am writing to offer you my services. I have been a consistent blogger and I have learned that you have been looking for bloggers to make a review on your site. At present, I can offer my 130 blogs with different IPs, and all blogs are technorati claimed which can surely help you increase ranking in SERPs and increase your Technorati authority which is good in SEO. I will write you good and well-written reviews which will be composed of 150 to 200 words each review with 3 links with your keywords and image in each of the post. I will be creating 130 completely unique articles about your site. Also, if your interested on sitewide link then i have 10 PR6 blogs i can offer you. If your interested, please let me know. Katherine Villete ————————— reply with “remove me” and you will deleted to the mailing list.

First, Katherine, I didn’t ask you to e-mail me so you’re guilty of spam. That’s illegal. But aside from the obvious illegal aspects of this e-mail I’d like to address the offer.

I’m not sure where you learned that I was looking for bloggers. I have not been looking for people to review my site at all. I think, rather, that you just made it up. After all, you are a spammer and a lawbreaker so why should anyone believe you when you say “I have learned”? The fact is, I’m not looking for bloggers to review my site at all.

Wow, 130 blogs? You write that many? You must not have a life. It’s great, though, that they all have different IPs. That way, if I was interested in the unethical practice of paying for a positive review then it would be nice to know that these reviews didn’t sit side by side together on the same server so that Google would know that I’m not abiding by their guidelines. Oh, and you’ve claimed them all on Technorati? That’s an even better bonus. It would be nice to know that Technorati would see the links from your 130 blogs to mine and give me credit for those.

But I didn’t know that a higher Technorati authority was good for SEO. It might help, a little. But, honestly, the best SEO in the world is quality content every day and content on your blogs is not going to help my blogs a whole lot. Content on my blogs will help tremendously. As you can see, I post to my blog every day and it seems to be doing quite well on its own.

Your offer to write reviews of 150-200 words with three links and an image in each review is such a meager offer even though you don’t mention price. You see, I know that three links is no more valuable than one. Google isn’t going to give me link juice for all three links - it’s one of their spam control measures. They’ll give me credit for the first link and after that linking is beneficial only as a traffic-driving measure. How much traffic could I expect from your 130 blogs? You never tell me that.

Images won’t matter. They’re not crawlable. I’ll get no SEO benefit from the image. And what would it be anyway? A screenshot of my blog? No thanks. No benefit there.

Completely unique articles? That’s nice because you know that 130 articles that were exactly the same would be duplicate content articles and that wouldn’t help you much. I really couldn’t care less because 130 articles on your websites will only serve as content issues for you, not for me. Oh yeah, but you mentioned links, didn’t you? Only one per blog post and, yes, the fact that each article would be different from the next would help - as long as the search engines don’t discover that I paid for them.

Sitewide links? Besides the obvious grammar errors, which won’t look good for either of us if I decide to use your services (not likely), what do you mean by “sitewide links”? Are those links that point to every page on my site? And why do you offer 10 PR6 blogs? Since PageRank is almost useless as a measure of success now, it doesn’t really matter what your PR is. And if I’m supposed to be impress by your 10 PR6 sites then tell me what PR your other 130 are. If they are below PR5 then they won’t help a great deal because, as you can see, my website is a PR4. While links from PR3 sites might be OK, they are not going to be as powerful as links from a PR5 site nor will they be as powerful as links from sites that are within the same niche as mine. But you never tell me what kind of sites your 130 sites are, do you? Are they rubber manufacturing sites? Travel sites? General spam sites? If they are not Internet marketing site as mine is then they will be of very little value to me.

Katherine, I am not only NOT interested in your offer, but I would report you to Google if I knew which URLs to report. Your offer provides very little benefit to me and actually risks doing me harm if I were stupid enough to accept it. It looks like you’ll be looking for another sucker today. Good luck in finding one.

Sincerely,

Caroline Melberg
Chief Executive PITA (Pain In The A**)
Small Business Mavericks

You have plenty of options for social networking online, but setting up your very own group is perhaps one of the best ways to do this. There are plenty of places to create a business networking group. I´ve compiled a short list to get you started.

Facebook. This is a social media website that tends to lean toward high school reunions, but it can also be used very effectively for networking with other businesspeople. Set up your own group for your particular industry and network with others.

Work It, Mom! Aimed at moms who work, this site has a huge following from women who run their own businesses. You can easily create a group for any interest here.

Yahoo Groups. An oldie, but a goody, you can use Yahoo groups to create a networking group of your own and communicate with them via email.

Gather. Here you´ll find a great outlet for articles as well as a space to build a group of business owners. You can not only create a group, but search out and invite members based on their profiles.

Ning. This is a site that allows you to set up your very own social network site for free. Your network will be open to the public, so you can attract new members.

What social networking sites do you use to set up groups? Share in the comments and we can all benefit!

Caroline
Small Business Mavericks
Back to the Blog

When you hit big networking events, like trade shows or seminars, you´ll meet dozens of people who could be great contacts to have in the future. So, you hand out business cards and collect them in return. And, then, when you get home, you realize that you can´t remember which card goes with which person!

Here´s a quick and easy way to keep track of everyone you´ve been networking with . . . write notes on the back of their business card. Not in front of them, of course, but after you´ve collected a few business cards, duck into a hidden corner or stairwell and scribble down any useful information on the back of each card.

You´ll be amazed at how this networking tip helps once you get home. You can call someone up and ask how his trip back Texas went, or inquire after his sick dog and they will feel pretty important that you remembered all these details. It´s a very useful method of boosting your business. People love that you remember them!

Did you realize that online networking can be a very powerful method of boosting your business? The internet opens up a whole new world of possibilities. You can talk to anyone, anywhere in the world, for free on forums. Forums are a great place to build community, as well and this makes them even more effective for business networking.

Networking via forums isn´t just about dropping in, splashing your business announcement all around and then never coming back. That seldom works and you´ll find that most people will ignore you, though you may even have your spammy posts removed from the boards.

The best way to get noticed on the forums is to participate in the community. You´ll want to answer other people´s questions and ask your own from time to time. Many forums have a counter to let you know how many comments you´ve posted and if you start talking about your business before you have more than 10 posts, people will tend to assume you are just there for advertising purposes.

Filling in your profile and adding a photo will really help give you more credibility. So will using a decent user name. If your business is called Jungle Vet Supplies and you use it as your user name, it will look like you are there to sell. However, that doesn´t mean you can´t use a form of your business name. In this case, you could use Jungle Vet and leave off the “Supplies”. That way, you will still be associated with part of your business name, but not automatically avoided like a spammer.

Taking part in discussions and making useful contributions is vital in online networking through forums. Most participants will be quite protective of their community and you could end up booted out if you aren´t careful. Online networking can be a valuable resource, so treat it like one and participate actively in several relevant forums to gain publicity.

Instant messaging has opened up a whole new type of networking. You don´t have to be face to face, but you can talk in real time. Often, you can even choose to speak audibly to the other person or use a webcam to make the experience more personal. This can be invaluable for meeting with other people and networking, especially if you hold a conference chat with several people at once.

However, instant messaging isn´t always a good idea. Here are the good points, first.

• You can carry on a conversation, almost like you would in real life.
• Links are easily shared by simply copying and pasting.
• You can set up shared folders to send files back and forth.
• It´s free to network with people around the world.

When is instant messaging a bad idea? Here are a few of my thoughts on the subject.

• If you aren´t careful, IM can take up all your time.
• It´s easy to get chatting about Paris Hilton or something equally unproductive!
• Time differences can make this a very awkward way to meet up.
• You may not want some people to know that you are online at times.

Instant messaging for networking can be a great way to go, but only if you manage your time well. Don´t spend hours chatting about the weather. If you are an IM addict, you may find it useful to set time limits, such as only allowing yourself to chat at certain times of the day. Find a way to manage it and turn it off if you find yourself distracted. Networking should be something that helps your business, not something that takes you away from it.

Caroline
Small Business Mavericks
Back to the Blog

While I welcome both men and women on this blog, there is an event geared specifically to women coming up that I would like to cover. Adventures in Brainstorming is an event hosted by my friend, Beth Woodward, for women in business.

If you live in the Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota area, this is the perfect opportunity to meet up with other women who are running businesses and not only get some networking done, but also to brainstorm great ideas for your business. Everyone will be divided into groups of four to come up with ideas for their businesses and with so many talented women, you can be sure the ideas will be flying!

I went to Beth’s LAST event in January, and I can tell you it was extremely powerful. I walked away with many great ideas, and several that I’ve implemented have already paid me back for my investment in the program several times over, with more results to come. I highly recommend Beth’s Adventures in Brainstorming for anyone looking for breakthrough ways to grow your business!

Head over to the Adventure in Brainstorming website now, because if you book before March 25th, you can get a discount! The brainstorming will be held on April 1st.

Online networking is a big thing these days and it´s very useful. You can literally talk to anyone in the world, expanding your business horizons far beyond what would have been possible a couple of decades ago. Long distance phone calls don´t have to be a prohibitive cost to networking, not with the online resources available these days!

Online Networking Resources

Instant Messaging: While not the most professional venue, for casual contact, chatting can be a great way to network. This is particularly true of turning a casual acquaintance into a handy resource.

Email: Obviously, email allows you to contact anyone anywhere and is a very useful method of networking with those who are in different time zones. More professional than IM, email can be polished to look quite businesslike, or you can go very casual, depending on the type of contact.

Online Calls: Services like Skype allow you to make free phone calls to anyone who has the program and is usually of pretty good quality. The best part is that these services are usually free for online use, but you´ll get charged if you´re calling a landline.

Video Calls: With the advent of online call services, video has also become a valuable method of networking. It allows you to talk face to face, as it were, with someone on the other side of the world. You can see a person´s face, so you know how they are reacting . . . it´s far more effective than simply calling someone, though the video is usually slightly delayed.

Conference Calls: Most online phone services allow you to add people to the call, but there are also online services like ConferenceCall.com that are specially designed to accommodate several people at once.

Social Networks: Websites like Facebook and MySpace are designed to let you “meet” and network with other people around the world, or just in your area. While it is very easy to waste a lot of time on these sites, you can also use them quite effectively.

Online networking may be different from what you´re used to, after all, you aren´t really face to face with other people, but it allows you to network with far more contacts than would otherwise be impossible. Probably the best way to do this is to simply combine online and offline networking for the best results.

Caroline
Small Business Mavericks
Back to the Blog

There are a lot of ways to network online, but some are more effective than others. For example, networking with bloggers can have great consequences. You probably have a few blogs that you read frequently, related to business marketing or even your particular industry. Networking with these bloggers is a great way to get your business in the public eye.

Comments. Leaving a good comment can take some time, but if you actually add something to the conversation on someone´s blog, they will take notice of you. This can develop into a mutual relationship and you can end up getting links and advice from the blogger.

Emails. Just shoot the blogger a quick email to let them know that you appreciate their writing or to ask a question. Some bloggers are very busy and get hundreds of emails every day, so they simply can´t answer every single one, but if you make your email interesting, you have a good chance of establishing a relationship.

Links. If you have your own blog, linking out to other bloggers is a great way to network and build a relationship. Often you will get a link back, as well, if your blog is of high quality. Email the blogger to ask them if they will do you the favor of being featured on your blog and you´ll find that they will often say yes.

Networking between bloggers is very common and even if you don´t have your own blog, you can tap into that and end up getting more publicity for your own business. Try it. It´s fun and an easy method of making new friends.

Guest posts. Whether you invite another blogger to write for your blog or you offer to write for them, exchanging articles and ideas cna be the ideal method of networking.

Caroline
Small Business Mavericks
Back to the Blog

Online networking has become so much easier with the advent of social media. You can now check in with your online friends and associates in just a few clicks and send them all information or links without much trouble. At least, that´s the idea.

How often have you found yourself browsing profiles on Facebook or just Stumbling interesting pages on your favorite hobby? Social media can be a big waste of time if you aren´t careful! In fact, when you don´t pace yourself, you could end up spending more time on social media than you do on actually running your business, something that is never good.

So how much is too much when it comes to networking via social media? Well, you should be able to make the rounds of all your favorite sites once a day. If you are bookmarking your own content, go ahead and do that, then bookmark a site or two from four or five friends on each networking site. You should also try to bookmark several non-related sites each day as well. While the amount of time that this takes will depend on whether you are just getting started and on how many social media sites you frequent.

A good way to avoid spending too much time on social media sites is to set up a schedule. Decide if you are going to hit all sites every day or if you will just do one or two per day. Then set up a time limit for yourself (it may even help to use an egg timer) and limit your networking to no more than 15-20 min. per day. Social media is good . . . but in moderation.