Halfway through Week 2 of our Social Butterfly Effect challenge!  I’m happy to see all the online review activity that has been going on since we started last week; I know I saw at least a third of our chapter members had posted something while I was out there on the ‘Net doing my own reviews.  Of course, we can always improve on that number, so if you haven’t gotten involved yet, now’s the time!

Here are a couple of pointers to keep in mind during the game:

– Don’t worry about writing a 5-paragraph in-depth review about someone; just keep it short and sweet!  The KISS philosophy works best for anything done online, as people’s attention spans are even shorter when looking at a computer screen than they are when holding a piece of paper.  Two to three sentences are all you need to say “I hired this person, they were great, you should hire them, too!”

– Personal experience with a member’s work is always the best basis for a review or recommendation, but that’s not always possible, as all of us have not yet used each other’s services.  The second best (and just as valid) way to recommend someone is based on the person, and we all have the ability to do that.  Think about it:  We meet on a weekly basis, get to know and trust each other as individuals, and constantly hear from others in the meetings about each other’s work.  Do NOT write a review for services when you have not actually received any — a fake review sounds, well, fake!

– Even though we are featuring 5 member businesses during each week of the challenge, you are not limited to writing recommendations for only those 5.  We are doing that solely to “spread the love” evenly, but you are welcome to review anyone at any time.  My personal recommendation is to review the featured members, or those who have already been featured, but that’s just a guideline, not a rule. 🙂

– Keep in mind that writing a review on Google Plus/Places has a more powerful result for a member than any other review, as it will boost their website SEO as well.  The next best place would be LinkedIn, followed by Facebook’s Recommendation Box (see my previous post), and last, writing a post on your own Facebook page.  But… it’s all good!

– Specifically for those members not on social media (though it can be used for anyone else as well), I have added a new section to the Blog called “Testimonials”.  You’ve already received notification of the first such blog post — a review of Amazing Painting by Brian Wilmsmeyer.  Not only will this review stay on the blog, but it has been posted on Facebook as well.  I have upgraded every member’s blog user status to “Author”, so you all now have the ability to write your own testimonials there.  Or, as Brian did, you can forward it to me and I’ll post it for you.

That’s it for this week’s update!  As always, questions or comments are welcome.