Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Web Secret #86: Where The Client Is

Do you know that inner cackle you get, (at least I do), when you are about to surprise someone you care about with a wonderful gift? Well I have it right now, as I write this post and share with you a quite terrific blog/facebook/twitter called WhereTheClientIs.com.

Where The Client Is is the brain child of clinical social worker Will Baum. Will has created an extensive social media and Internet presence dedicated to helping professionals build a better private practice. The mother ship is the elegant WhereTheClientIs.com "blogzine", neatly organized into 9 nifty categories:

attend - provides a tightly edited list of upcoming events and conferences.

click - is an equally concise listing of resources, free book excerpts, and how to websites.

grow is informational, containing practice growing tips.

interviews - does a great job interviewing some of the leading experts on clinical practice promotion and related topics.

launch - is everything you need to launch your practice from business cards, to web site design, and more.

promote - need promotional ideas? Check out this area.

read - book excerpts, books, lists of books. What therapy books have had the biggest impact on the way you practice? Find out here.

misc - check out a variety of interesting and thought provoking articles.

Need a mental health break? - something to meditate by.

And if you want more there is always a Facebook, and a Twitter.

Good Will Hunting.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Web Secret #85: Top Ten Psych Tweeps

It's a mental health network, it's a blog, it's a self help community, it's a resource for professionals. Wait - I'll throw in a couple of Ginsu knives and call it... PsychCentral.com. Better yet - it already exists - since 1992.

In 2009, Psych Central blogged about the 10 most influential psychology focused tweeters on Twitter. Their list bears repeating here along with some added thoughts from yours truly.

PsychCentral used 7 criteria to narrow the field:
  1. NO marketing (including “free” e-books, how-to guides, etc.)
  2. not just “broadcasting” or re-feeding, follows others and reads their feeds
  3. interacts with followers, replies to people
  4. shares more than just factoids, quotes, or pop psych aphorisms
  5. active but not overactive
  6. not too off-topic, talks mostly about psychology, psychotherapy and/or mental health
  7. humour, taste, talent, good writing and personality
That left in reverse chronological order:

10. @mtabraham Terri Abraham is a professional counselor who shares positive thoughts and info on mindfulness therapy and spirituality. Chatty and responsive even with thousands of followers.

9. @loveisthecure5 “Borderline Personality Disorder Awareness Movement Leader.” Love is The Cure is completely peer-driven. It’s positive, directly supportive, promotes awareness while fighting stigma, and offers cool volunteer opportunities through building a network.

8. @deborahserani Dr. Deborah Serani shares cool links on a wide variety of psychology-related subjects.

7. @therapyonline “A wide lens is cast at the Online Therapy Institute ranging from email and chat to videoconferencing and Second Life.” DeeAnna Merz Nagel maintains this popular account with a focus that’s business-to-business for professionals who offer online therapy. DeeAnna, you should be number one - what can I say? I am a fan.

6. @shiftstigma “Shift believes that people with a history of mental health problems should have the same chances and opportunities as everyone else.” For anyone concerned about stigma - this awesome UK charity keeps an active Twitter account with lots of thought-provoking info and a friendly, accessible tone. They reply to followers and initiate conversations too.

5. @iopsychology Gordon B. Schmidt is an Industrial-Organizational Psychology grad student at Michigan State University. He writes about research and shares the work of other tweeps and bloggers in the field.

4. @drdavidballard “Head of Corporate Relations and Business Strategy at the American Psychological Association." Dr. Ballard is thought provoking, interactive, shares great news links and writes well. David - props to you - I was already a follower.

3. @drkathleenyoung “Licensed Clinical Psychologist Treating Trauma in Chicago.” Her practice (and Twitter & blog focus) is on PTSD, domestic violence, sexual assault, and trauma in general.

2. @kidtherapist “Children’s Therapist and Author of Kids Awareness Series Books.” Kara, where were you when my kids were younger?

1. @drkkolmes “Clinical psychologist in private practice specializing in anxiety, depression, relationships, sexuality and the intersection of technology and mental health.” Very in tune with the net culture zeitgeist. And we need more of those. She challenges paradigms and explores boundaries in questions like: Should you “friend” your therapist? Read her blog? Should a therapist Google a client?

Ten tweeps I will be following in the second decade of the 21st Century.

PS The guy pictured on the right is Hugo Münsterberg. Thank you @iopsychology for another fun fact.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Web Secret #84: Common Craft

Way back in August of 2008, I published the mission statement of the iWebU blog.

The first sentence stated quite plainly:
We promise to empower the non-technically inclined professionals of this world.
That said, sometimes pictures are worth hundreds of words. You know this if you've ever watched the UPS white board ads or any of the CBS Fast Draw videos.

Of course UPS is advertising shipping and the Fast Draw crew use pictures to explain current events.

So what if you need to understand, or for that matter explain, a complex social media topic?

You visit the clever people at CommonCraft.com. Common Craft is a small company that uses 3 minute videos to explain complex topics. The videos use paper cutouts and are fun to watch.

You might want to check out (among many others):Difficult stuff. Plain English. That's a plan.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Web Secret #83: Using Twitter to Increase Organizational Visibility


Using Twitter to promote my company is _____________.

While most big corporations in the US would say "essential", many companies
would say "out of the question", clamping down on any employee use of social media.

I even know of one company's social media policy that prohibits employees from participating in reality television. Apparently if you are selected to be on season 16 of the Amazing Race, your company's image will be ruined forever. And reality television isn't even social media (last I checked).

What would happen if your organization encouraged EVERYONE, all of your employees, to tweet. What would it look like?

It would look like Zappos. Zappos started off as a website where you could buy shoes. It was remarkable for offering a huge inventory, free shipping, and easy returns - thus breaking down many of the barriers to buying shoes online. Fast forward a couple of years, and Zappos now sells everything - bags, clothing, accessories, etc. So successful was Zappos, that this past July, it sold to Amazon.com for $1.2 billion.

Wanna know something unique about Zappos? Everyone, from the newest employee to the CEO is encouraged to use Twitter. Everyone. Aaaahhhhh... But how? and why?

First - on most Zappos website pages, you will find the words "What are Zappos employees doing right now?" which links to a dedicated page for Twitter. Employees tweet about what they are doing at work and about interesting resources (which they link to) on and off the Zappos site.

Second - Zappos provides a "Beginner's Quick Start Guide and Tutorial to Using Twitter."

Third - the leadership of Zappos leads by example - their CEO Tony Hsieh has 1,572,441 followers, and has taken the time to follow 395,289 people. Links on the Zappos site encourage people to follow the Zappos CEO on Twitter.

Fourth - there’s a page that aggregates all the public mentions of Zappos from Twitter users at large, "Zappos Public Mentions". How's that for corporate openess and transparency?

Finally - Zappos celebrates its most influential tweeters by setting up special Twitter tracking pages for some of its favorite outside fans. For example, one of my favorite social media gurus of all times, Gary Vaynerchuk, has this page of his pro Zappos tweets.

What does all of this Tweeting and Twitter related activity do?
  • It causes outsiders to link to Zappos
  • It causes Zappos employees to create links to Zappos
  • It enables a customer service forum
  • It accelerates public relations
  • It promotes branding
  • It raises the Zappos website Google page rank.
Are you inspired yet?

(Thank you Jeff Bulla for inspiring this post.)