My primary purpose, my manifesto, is to help you connect with the right people. That could be consumers, media, trendsetters, thought leaders, bloggers, texters, vendors, analysts…you name it.

To help you do that, I research and recommend a variety of tools–typically online and mobile-oriented–that help you join the conversations that are already happening. A few ways I do that:

Web Presence

• Web 2.0-enabled site design. I can build a site from the ground up, but I usually recommend building it on an existing publishing platform. I’ve developed many sites with the Drupal, Movable Type, Wordpress and blogger.com platforms.
• Integration of Web 2.0 tools in existing sites. Most businesses don’t need to totally redesign their sites to enable social media/Web 2.0 tools. I can help you add features such as blogs, commenting and feeds.
• Search engine optimization. Some basic strategies, such as meta-tags and keywords, can improve your search engine rankings.

Social Network Presence
I can create pages/profiles, track comments/posts, manage friend requests, and integrate your social media presence with your main web site on a variety of social networks such as:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• MySpace
• LinkedIn
• Bebo
• Hi5

(These are only a few of the available social networks–there are literally dozens and dozens of networks I track, including many aimed at vertical audiences, ie, last.fm for music, LibraryThing for reading, Flixster for movies, etc.)

Social Bookmarking
I’ll help you build contacts and find new conversations through popular social bookmarking sites such as:

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Reddit

Social Network Creation
Hundreds of new social networks are born every day. And while it’s a definite uphill battle to launch your own general interest social network (we don’t recommend it), creation of a social network within your company, or within your vertical market or specialized industry, can be an opportunity.

Social Newsroom
I can help you create a “Social Newsroom” as part of your website, dedicated to releasing relevant news releases and information with embedded social media content (web video, commenting features, rss feeds, etc.)

Social Video
Video should be a regular component of any social media strategy. I can help you create new video (it doesn’t have to be fancy or high-cost; in fact, it probably shouldn’t), or convert existing video for use in your social media efforts.

• YouTube
• iPhone/mobile video
• Viddler
• Veoh

Once again, there are several web video sites aimed at more vertical markets, some of which may be perfectly suited to your business.

Content Management and Creation
I can help you create and deliver blog posts, status updates, online events, and more.

Social GPS™ Report and System
I’ve developed Social GPS, a six-tiered system that can help you create a social media strategy–and stick to it. Social GPS is a framework for ongoing management of all your social media efforts.

Monitoring, Research and Reporting
Every month, I monitor the web, social networks, forums and groups for mentions of your company, your products, your competitors, and your industry. I notify you of new developments and opportunities, and help you take advantage.

Online Crisis Communication
Perhaps one of the greatest uses of social media is the ability to communicate with end users in the unfortunate event of a crisis. I’ll help you put together an online crisis communication plan that helps you respond quickly.

It All Starts with a Social GPS™ Report
I’ll create and deliver a full Social GPS Report. The report includes:

• Up-front input from you (and your key staff, if applicable). Through surveys and interviews, I’ll gather data to help guide your social media efforts, and to create/identify your social media team.
• Section 1: Current position – An overview of your company, products, services, key audiences, and demographic/geographic/psychographic data, as well as a brief review of your current marketing strategy and online efforts. (This can be culled from existing materials and/or surveys and interviews.)
• Section 2: Destination – This is a summation of the key goal(s) of your social media participation: customer communication, product research, list building, etc.
• Section 3: Route Map – An overview of your social media “neighborhood,” including which communities, forums, blogs and software/services should be targeted for participation. All recommendations are based on traffic statistics, industry/niche match, trend data, and other factors. This section also includes key topic areas, and strategies for joining the conversations in your targeted communities, as well as a strategy for using social media in crisis communication.
• Section 4: Waypoints – A complete schedule of your short-term social media efforts (1-3 months), including projects to be developed, people responsible and deadlines.
• Section 5: Road Ahead – A view of long-term projects (4+ months), coupled with general social media trends and social media trends in your specific areas of expertise.
• Section 6: Travel Journal (Monthly service clients only; see below) – All ongoing activities, recommendations and data from Social Media Scout are noted in real-time in your Travel Journal. The Travel Journal also becomes a communication center between you, your team, and Social Media Scout.

How much does it cost? That’s a difficult question to answer, because I don’t attach a specific cost to this report; I don’t want to churn out reports for dozens of people. Typically, I prefer to produce this report as a starting document for clients who hire me for monthly scouting services. So, if you’re interested in working with me to help develop and implement a social media strategy over the long-term, the scouting report is free.

That said, if you have a specific one-time project in mind, contact me and we can chat about it.

Monthly Scouting Services

What are monthly scouting services, you ask? Think of it as having a social media person on staff–someone to be your eyes and ears in the world of blogs, Facebook, forums, Twitter, and so on:

• Research and Recommendations: Each month, I’ll scout the social mediasphere for mentions of your company, your products, and your competitors, alerting you to new content and recommending steps to take. I also monitor social media trends in your specific industry, and pass along that information to you.
• Assistance with Content Development: I’ll recommend ongoing schedules for posting content (blog posts, forum topics, status updates, etc.), as well as specific topics to be covered. I’ll also help you research and edit content, but please know that I won’t simply develop everything from the ground up on your behalf. Social media is all about participation, and you need to commit to participating by offering your expertise and knowledge.
• Trend Analysis: Every month, I’ll report on data related to your social media efforts (activity within communities, traffic to your site, responses in the blogosphere, etc.), and make recommendations for fine-tuning, increasing reach, and optimizing efforts/data for additional social media (and search engine) traffic.
• Crisis Communication: I’ll work with you to develop a crisis communication plan, putting your social media tools to use when your company needs to get the word out to end consumers/customers immediately.
• Social Media News Rooms and Blogger Relations: I can help you build a social media news room, capturing the information you’d typically put in a news release, and capturing the attention of bloggers, online magazines/journals, forums and other communities. As a bonus, your social media news room will help your search engine optimization and build inbound links.
• Scheduling and Maintenance: I can provide a complete schedule of all projects, along with followup/reminders on upcoming deadlines.
• Partnerships and Opportunities: I will pursue partnerships and promotions that match your company and brand, bringing you ideas for harnessing social media to get attention that’s “outside of the box.” For instance, I might suggest blog tours, or ways to repackage/resell your current content (as web videos or webinars, for instance), or extensions into other products, or…well, who knows what opportunities we might discover? That’s the fun of it.

Best of all, I’m only accepting a handful of clients (about 10 max) for ongoing services. Why? In the spirit of social media itself, I want to build a community of clients with common beliefs and goals; I’m not interested in working with anyone and everyone.

Um…Yeah, But How Much are these Scouting Services?
Well, once again, it depends on the size and complexity of your needs. Realistically, figure on a minimum $200/month for basic reporting in the “Travel Journal” section of your Social GPS report, and ongoing communication/consultation with you and your social media team.

I’m also happy to discuss large allotments of time at a discount. Contact me for a proposal.

I’m T.L. Hines, founder of Social Media Scout, and I know there are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of individuals and companies out there billing themselves as “social media experts.”

I’m never going to call myself an “expert.” No one is in this Brave New World, because it’s simply changing and developing too quickly. Anyone who claims to be an expert, guru, or similar moniker is just trying to fool themselves.

Or you. Or both.

That said, I think the basics of social media are the basics of any successful enterprise: create a system, use it, refine it, and repeat. That’s what I’ve been doing for my own social media efforts since 2003. (Actually, since the late 1980s–I still fondly recall the “Missoula Area Conferencing System” I connected to via my Mac Classic while attending the University of Montana). And that’s what I promise to do for you.

So if you’re thinking of vaulting into the world of social media, here are five reasons to make Social Media Scout your spotter. Vaulting can be tricky, after all.

1. A systematic framework for social media.
   Social media can be something like a thousand rabbit trails, all crossing paths along the way. Suffice to say, it’s easy to wander down those rabbit trails without a sense of direction. That’s why I developed something I call Social GPS, a six-stage framework that helps you develop a social media game plan–as well as an ongoing plan for participation, followup and refinement. Most social media “experts” will tell you they can help you set up a Facebook page. Or start a Twitter account. Or create a blog. But they don’t tell you why you should do those things (and not everyone should), or how to keep them going. I’ll always present a case that answers your who, what, where, when and why questions. And month to month, I’ll continue to scour the social mediasphere for mentions of you, your products, and your competitors. Bottom line: you make connections–the absolute Golden Rule of social media.

2. A limited client base.
   By design, I’m only creating slots for about 10 ongoing social media scout clients. I won’t accept more than that. Why? First, my “day job” is writing novels–something I continue to love and do. As such, I need to leave time for writing, editing, story development…and social media efforts on my own behalf. Second, it matches the spirit of social media. I don’t want to make this venture a giant mill, churning through a larger and larger client list; I want to build a community of clients who are committed to establishing dialogues within their circles of influence.

3. A background in marketing and communication.
   Before founding Social Media Scout (and before my career as a novelist), I was an advertising agency Creative Director/Owner for several years. During that time, I worked with companies–small and large–creating plans to market brands locally, regionally, and nationally. As such, I understand the ongoing realities and challenges of marketing. I’m not the young kid sitting at his computer, cranking out code and telling you I’ll like, totally rock a Facebook page for you, dawg. Instead, I’ll bring both business owner and marketing perspectives to your social media efforts.

4. A willingness to ask “what if.”
   As I said, I’m not just going to lead you through the technical gee-gaws and call it good. I go beyond the immediate technical needs to address long-term planning, and I’ll always come to you with “what if” scenarios that expand your opportunities. What if you develop partnerships with like-minded companies? What if you create custom merchandise with your logo and sell if through your web site? What if you re-package your existing knowledge as training videos or seminars? I’ll keep asking you those kinds of questions as I explore possibilities with you. (In fact, here’s a list of services.)

5. A full-time social media person, without the full-time cost.
   The burgeoning world of social media is spawning turmoil at large companies. Indeed, many are calling for full-time executive level positions such as “Chief Community Officer” or “Social Media Manager.” I agree: social media is a full-time task. I think of it as my primary “job,” even though I write novels; social media is how I connect with existing (and hopefully new) readers. Without any readers, after all, there’s not much point in writing books. That said, I don’t think every company who needs social media services can create a full-time position. I offer an alternative that lets you get your feet wet, as the old cliché goes.

To find out more, contact me or click on the Start page.

Current research by Harris Interactive says half of American adults currently use social media of some kind–anything from large social networks such as Facebook to web video such as YouTube to photo sharing sites such as Flickr.

With a footprint that large (and growing every day), it makes sense to integrate social media as part of your overall marketing strategy.

Should it replace “traditional” marketing, PR and branding? Of course not. But it’s another tool in the box. Social media makes sense for businesses of any size because:

• It’s inexpensive. To tackle traditional mass marketing, you need to have a sizable budget to reach your audiences. That’s just a fact of life. But social media is a level playing field; it doesn’t cost anything to participate in the many conversations happening online. That’s a huge opportunity for small and emerging businesses.

• It’s growing. Once again, half of the U.S. population has ties to social media of some kind. And those numbers are only going to increase.

• Its rules are still being written. Now is the time to jump into social media and create an ongoing strategy–precisely because so many businesses haven’t totally grasped the importance of this seismic shift (and that includes large companies). If you get in ahead of the curve, you can be a disruptive force in your business category or niche; if you don’t, you can bet one of your competitors will.

No one specifically needs the services I offer; you can do anything I’ll do for you. Unfortunately, tracking and participating in social media can be more than a full-time job, especially as you learn the ropes.

Many people have even called for larger companies to create positions such as “Chief Community Officer,” “Social Media Manager” and the like–full-time positions devoted to creating and tracking a presence in social media circles.

So with that caveat out of the way, anyone who wants a systematic approach to making social media part of their overall marketing and branding strategy can benefit from working with Social Media Scout.

I’m T.L. Hines, and I launched Social Media Scout following five years of social media trial and error for my own products: books. Novels, specifically. I write what I like to call “Noir Bizarre” thrillers, books that mix mystery with oddity.

Along the way, I’ve conducted several blog tours, created unique online promotions, tracked dozens of social media communities, and tested literally hundreds of tactics for online interaction. (In fact, my social media efforts have earned coverage and interviews with outlets such as Publishers Weekly and Media Bistro.)

But that’s only part of the story. Before I began writing fiction full-time, I worked in the advertising and marketing field for 17 years–12 of those years as an ad agency owner and Creative Director. In that time, I developed marketing plans and promotions for clients ranging from local mom and pops to international membership organizations. After all that time, it’s still impossible for me to fully take off my marketing hat. That’s why I launched Social Media Scout as a service–to combine the technical aspects of social media interaction (”How do I set up a Twitter account?”) with the research-based methods of marketing (”What’s my ROI?”).

So, am I a social media “expert”? Well, the ugly truth is: no one is a social media expert. It’s too new, too volatile; the terms “social media” and “social network” didn’t even exist before 2006. All of us, including the people who call themselves experts, are constantly learning. We’re all babes in the woods, and the woods are growing faster than we are. So let me say: everything I can do for you, you can do for yourself.

Unfortunately, you’ll probably need to commit a thousand hours to study, experimentation and refinement.

Of course, because I’ve already done that, I can help you get ahead of the curve. And because I’ve developed a six-tiered system that blends marketing research and tracking with social media interaction (I call it Social GPS), I can also help you break your social media efforts into a manageable, concrete plan.

I short, I’ll be your scout in the social media wilderness.

In three years of developing social media projects, I’ve come across countless social media firms and “experts” who trumpet widgets and gadgets for setting up a Facebook page. Or developing an iPhone app. Or creating a Twitter account. All worthwhile things…but singularly focused on the technology.

At the same time, I’ve found many traditional marketing firms fail to understand the new rules of social media. They’re most comfortable when they create and control the whole message, and then deliver that message to a target audience. For them, the work is over when the message is delivered, and the exact opposite dynamic happens in social media: the real work begins when you start your first conversation.

Social Media Scout is a service that blends the best of these two worlds. The connectivity of social media, married to the research and tracking of traditional marketing.

Social Media Scout will find the conversations about you in the world of social media (blogs, microblogs, social communities, web video services, podcasts, forums) and help you join them. We’ll also give you tools to create new conversations with customers and potential customers.

In fact, Social Media Scout is an ongoing system for creating and tracking all your social media functions in one place. It’s all built around a five-point system called Social GPS.