Talented graphic designer, Tim Monson, got us there last week and we couldn’t be happier. As a surprise for being numero cien, Tim will be receiving a copy of Sell With Your Ears by our own Bill Zipp. Comes in real handy growing a small business. (And if you haven’t registered for Bill’s free marketing workshop on March 17th, that will come in real handy too.)

So if you are a business that needs the creatives, geeks, and guides that Matchbook contains, all it takes is click, click, and a boom for access to all three figures of them. That’s a load of talent. That’s our big, grownup Matchbook.

Sweet Leaf “Sweet Spot” was different. I immediately wanted to jump in for two simple reasons.

First, it didn’t ask me to do anything that I don’t normally do in social media. To enter the contest, Sweet Leaf was kind enough to accommodate my already ingrained habits. All I had to do was tweet a photo (with the product, of course) with some hashtags. Normal. I share photos all the time.  And I if could put #hashtags #on #everything #I #say, #I #would. Anyway, the contest meshed with my social media MO. Awesome.

Second, the contest isn’t won on popularity or even creativity. That would have put me at a distinct disadvantage and they’d have lost me there. Happy me, it’s won on your network. If you look at the photo gallery, it’s not one people are going to scroll through to find their favorite. Too much work. No, winning is almost entirely dependent on the contestant getting their friends and followers to vote for them through the dedicated link (my entry from my favorite big red couch) (I give you permission to take a break from reading to go vote for me) (seriously, do it now) (thanks, now read on) Sweet Leaf provides. That amounts to a lot of sharing and a lot of exposure for Sweet Leaf.

I don’t know about you, but I think this is a pretty solid strategy for getting a brand in front of more potential fans. So, well done you socially savvy tea company. You got me. And hopefully 300 or more of my friends too so I can win this thing!

Here’s a preview of what’s in store. We took our website and gave it some vintage sauce.

That was until this week when Google opened up GVoice to everyone. With it ready for wide release, I thought I’d dust off my account and see if Google could sell me on it this time.

I think it has. Last summer, I saw potential at home where my wife and I had recently dropped our landline. Making use of GVoice’s call forwarding to multiple lines, we could still offer a single phone number with family voicemail while only carrying our cell phones. While that may have it’s uses, it wasn’t enough for me to adopt the service.

But for the solopreneur, the features become more rich. I’m not a proponent of acting bigger than you are. On the other hand, I think we can agree there’s no harm in a little more professionalism. Like shaving. Daily. Or giving your business a dedicated line, as opposed your cell phone. GVoice gives you the ability to truly control your business telephone communication. It’s a (mostly) clean break. You can use the messaging to speak directly to your business audience, not them AND your friends, family, or the guy picking up the free couch you put on Craiglist.

So now your customers, prospects, vendors, and contractors have their own number. And your business voicemail sounds all professional and stuff. But it gets better. In GVoice, you can assign callers to groups. If you want all your regular clients to have their own message, or ring to a certain phone, do it. Even make it a more personal experience by addressing the specific company or individual in the recording.

The feature list rolls on. Rather read your messages? Google transcribes them (though this feature still needs some work in the accuracy department). Annoying sales calls? Mark them as Spam and never see them again. Then, try saving some money on texts and use GVoice to send them.

There’s much more to be found if you sign up. And it’s free. For the solopreneur, I think it offers great value by managing your business line as it’s own entity and giving your customers a better experience in the process.

Will you use Google Voice for your business? How?

I think there is a better place to start. First, anticipate. There will be push-back, a pull to conform, to survive, to return to normal. Gird yourself for the struggle. Then, take the time to ask yourself the harder questions. I found Seth Godin’s recent post a good place to start. He lists questions he believes every freelancer, project manager, or entrepreneur – those leaving normal in search of remarkable – need to ask themselves. They aren’t easy, but they are necessary. There was one, however, that stood out from the rest.

To me, the list hinges on #8. It’s key to the kind of business and life you are planning to create. He asks, “Which: to invent a category or to be just like Bob/Sue, but better?” In other words, chose to be game-changing, or compete as a commodity. One is uncommon and risky, the other familiar and acceptable. Which will it be for you?

That leads us to the heart of the issue. Do you need to be understood? Sure, anyone with a tinge of entrepreneur inside wants to make the unique. But if it’s truly different, even revolutionary, then it certainly won’t be familiar. If it was, someone would already be doing it. So, are you willing to put your heart and soul into producing something even those close to you (and maybe even you yourself) won’t understand in the beginning? Or maybe ever?

The deal is, if you are expecting an idea bundled with the latest user manual on how to explain it to the world, forget it. If you want remarkable, be prepared for the long slog through blank stares, disapproval, and rejection. Sure, there will be victories. Maybe a few will get it. But in the midst of testing, failing, retesting, tabling, and restarting, approval will be rare. And you need to be good with that, persevering until the thing you thought might be a good idea gets chiseled down to one that is. Then maybe, you’ll be able to talk about what you do.

What do you think? What have you encountered while working on remarkable?

Starting with forums over a decade ago, there emerged those darling little chiclets of identity called avatars. Stamp sized squares of fun (or annoying animated GIFs), they have become ubiquitous in Social Media use. With restrictive size and aspect ratio, individual and businesses can have difficulty picking the just the right crop or perspective to communicate to the world who they are.

You’ve probably given this some thought. I have too. It represents a significant shift in how you communicate your brand.  Chris Brogan’s recent post announcing his new logo tied together some of those thoughts for me. One of his objectives, according to the post, was a mark that could be used across a variety of channels. In his words, it should be “functionally-minded.” You see, there was social strategy behind it. Does that describe yours? Or does that even matter?

Absolutely.

Your logo should have the same effect in Social Media as anywhere else. At the very least, I should recognize it as it flashes by in my tweet stream. Better yet, like any good logo design, it should tell me something about you – confidently distinguished from every other identity out there. Oh, and while your at, have it evoke some really good feelings about your company. Just fit it in 100 x 100 pixels. Deal?

So am I saying you should just drop a grand or more on a new logo? Not at all. If it’s is already doing it’s job (see previous paragraph), sometimes just a well placed crop will do. But consider this: the form isn’t going away. Beyond the explosion of social media, took at the burgeoning app stores of iPhone, iPad, and Android. They are filled with icons proportionally the same to avatars. So whether or not an app is in the plans, some thought towards your brand’s digital future should be a part of any logo consideration.

Have more questions about logo design for social media? Leave a comment or contact one of the design folks found on Matchbook or Madison Ave. Collective. You can also find me on Twitter and Facebook.

Let’s take a look at the power of the @.

For the average Facebook user, there are two places that get your attention. Of course, first is the Wall. It’s where you most often land. But if you as a business aren’t there on the first page of “Most Recent” or “Top News” updates, will your fans ever see you?

This is where the second attention-getter comes in. If not the Wall, your Facebook fans are checking their notifications. And for good reason. It’s the place where all the important stuff gets aggregated, like who’s talking about them or conversations they have commented on. Bottom line: it’s the stuff that gets the clicks.

That’s what makes tagging so powerful. Frank Fan’s Wall might well be full of Farmville updates (he just can’t bring himself to block anything), but he’ll always see his notifications. Like a thoughtful gift, be there with content you shared just for him.

It only takes two simple steps to harness the power of tags:

1.  Make as many fans your Page friends in your personal account as possible (required to tag anyone).

Keep in mind – you’ll need to be comfortable with fans seeing your personal updates. However, I believe the benefits outweigh the risks.

2. Create a new post.

Did you remember to take a picture last time a fan was in the store? Upload and tag it. Did you find a blog that would you think Frank Fan would love? Post it and @  so he’s sure to read it.

That’s it. Not too complicated.  But the beauty of tagging happens not when they click on the notification – it’s when they undoubtedly comment on the post. Now it becomes an entry for all their community to see and a sure-fire conversation starter (read lots and lots of comments).

The success of this rightly hinges on a deep understanding of your fans as individuals. What do they like and dislike? What are their passions? Would you even recognize them if they walked in your door? If it’s not personal and relative, it’s spam.  And you’ll be ignored or worse disliked. But done well and your community will adore you.

So tag it up. And have fun making fans feel special. What ways will use it?

The answer is simple – give them a reason.

But the reasons can be a bit of a hangup. What are some motivators, some incentives for people to engage? Great question. Here are eight essential keys to building a thriving Facebook community:

1. Ask for feedback.

It’s a fact of humanity that people love sharing opinions. Present the opportunity to do so on your fan page and you will get responses. It could be fun (like a Coke vs Pepsi type faceoff) or fact-finding (looking for your next flavor of cupcake). You can mix up the content, but the point is the same. Get people interacting with your page by starting the conversation.

2. Respond to feedback.

Now that you have fans posting on your wall, what do you do? Respond. This accomplishes a couple important things. First, it validates for the fan the time they took to comment. They know someone is listening and cares. Second, others see that you are listening and care.  And third, you keep the conversation going.

3. Include an abundance of pictures, videos, and blog posts.

These bring the experience of your business. And experiences make for more loyal customers. So take a video in the warehouse, interview employees, customers, the office cat. Pictures of the last charity event staff participated in. And if you have a blog, integrate it by posting it as a link to your wall and putting the Facebook “Like” button on your blog.

4. Be conversational, real, fun, and interesting.

That is, be you. Or more specifically, be the part of you that is also the brand. Remember, this isn’t a direct mailer or a radio spot. No one way messages here. Instead, you are sitting around a virtual kitchen table with people. Talk to them with that in mind and you’ll win business without the sales pitch.

5. Tag, tag, tag. And you’re it.

This deserves it’s own post but suffice to say, if you can figure out a way to tag someone in a picture, a update, or a video do it. Go out of your way to find or create content that you can link to specific fans. It’s a powerful feature, and terribly underutilized by businesses.

Disclaimer: to tag someone, he/she must be a friend in your personal account.

6. Specific calls to action connecting the social to the local.

Your business has online communities as well as offline ones. To start integrating the two, create ways to connect social to local and vice-versa. And make the calls-to-action specific. For instance, “Bring in a Facebook friend for 20% your next order.” Have a “Find us on Facebook” sign in your window. Have an iPad tethered to the counter with a sign “Want to share your experience on Facebook (or Yelp or Twitter)?” The more points your customers can interact with your brand, the more it’s awareness builds.

7. Find the higher cause your customer is fanatical about.

Consumers connect with brands in social media that are serving the interests of the community. So it’s not just about your product, but about the cause or values to which your fans aspire . Like how shoes fit into a healthy, handmade, eco-conscious lifestyle. Tell that story first and make your product an irresistible character in it.

8. Reward your fans.

Everyone likes a prize. Even if it’s just being the first to know. So try sharing with your fans the inside scoop, have a giveaway, or hold a special gathering for them. Use them as a beta testers and advisors for new ideas. Go unexepected and design a T-shirt just for them. These are the remarkable customer experiences that get your brand talked about.

So are you prepared to start building community? Do you have a story using one of these keys? Or have I missed one?

Social media anxiety. Not yet a diagnosed medical condition, but it’s gripping many otherwise temperate business owners. Social media anxiety comes from the relentless drone of marketers to media-types claiming if you own any kind of business, you should be in social media. Yet, you aren’t. And the heart palpitations begin.

But does that mean you should jump in and do it? Nope.

Unless you intend on doing it right, then yes. Because just in case you’ve been told differently, participating in social media is (for now) an option. It isn’t taxes. Or payroll. Or cleaning the breakroom microwave. You can, in fact, ignore it.

However, don’t let this standing invitation fool you. Social media doesn’t tolerate a soft commitment. It cringes at cut and paste marketing and belly laughs at automated updates. If you can’t fully engage in it, neither will the people you are trying to reach.

But with many businesses still getting the basics of Social Media wrong, how can you do it right?

It’s pretty simple. Have a plan. Have a goal. But most of all, having these six fundamentals in place will set up you up for success.

1. Social Media is about relationship.

Healthy relationships require time, vulnerability, and a considerable amount of listening. In the same way, success in social media is built on cultivating real relationships with real people. Be in it for the long term and be prepared to invest in the relationship.

2. You don’t buy space, you earn it.

The real estate of social media isn’t bought. You earn a space by contributing to the community. Give away some of your knowledge. Promote the ideas of others, even your competition. Talk more about what matters to the community than what matters to you or your business.

3. Know the cost.

The greatest cost for you in social media is time. And if you think you can do it without a documented plan, the price skyrockets. So know what you want to accomplish with your activities and make appointments you can stick to.

4. You can’t be everywhere.

Until you can hire a brigade of social media foot soldiers, it’s just you. You and the best two or three platforms for your business. Focus on those, whether Facebook, Twitter, blogging, Posterous, Whrrl, or Slideshare. Or any shaken, stirred or mixed cocktail of them. Just not every one.

5. Get feedback.

Tap into people’s love of sharing opinions. Invite your customers, peers, and engagers in the social space to comment on your activity. Do they find what you are doing interesting? Inspiring? Obnoxious? Find out and refine your message.

6. It won’t be all positive.

Social media isn’t customer service, but customer service happens in social media. A bad Yelp review is a customer telling you the same thing he would over the phone, but for the whole wide world to see. What’s great about that? Lots of things, but most of all, you get to respond for the whole wide world to see. Turn it into a positive for your company.

What have I missed? How are you avoiding social media anxiety?