We’ve all heard that well-known mantra about getting a job, “It’s not about what you know but who you know.” There’s certainly some truth to that, especially in our home base of South Carolina where connections are critical.

It’s why there are so many networking groups for all industries and interests – groups for tech folks, women, marketing professionals, defense contractors, young professionals and the list goes on. It’s why people join the chamber of commerce, Rotary and their local alumni group.

We came across this article “7 Places to Hang Out and Build Your Business,” which suggests a couple of places you might not have considered. One of those is airport and hotel lounges. The article notes, “You’re likely to meet other business people who have experienced flight delays and have time on their hands.” And you can use that time to build a business relationship.

Other suggestions include entrepreneur groups, tech meetups and even your local college campus. And don’t forget social media, which is becoming a great way to build connections and to stay in touch with people after an initial meeting.

Where are some places you go to build your business? Do you belong to a more traditional networking group or have you found some unique ways to build connections?

Last week, Twitter celebrated its fifth anniversary. Wow, how social media time flies! It’s interesting to assess the impact Twitter has made on the way we communicate, interact and do business.

When Twitter started out, it asked people to answer the question “What are you doing?” in 140 characters or less. And so tweets were: “Eating a cheese sandwich” or “Stopping at Starbucks for morning coffee.”

Yawn.

But it didn’t take long for Twitter to evolve well beyond “What are you doing?” tweets. It quickly became a place where people shared information, made connections and where businesses began to engage with customers in an entirely new way. A kind of online water cooler, Twitter shapes conversations and interactions, giving people a way to comment on everything from breaking news and TV shows to the weather and sports.

Here are a couple of great stats from an article on SocialMediaToday.com that demonstrate the power of Twitter:

• It took three years, two months and one day for Twitter to hit the 1-billion tweets mark. Today, it takes just a week for Twitter to hit that same 1-billion mark.
• Twitter reports 572,000 accounts were created on March 12, 2011, and 460,000 new accounts were created each day on average in February 2011.

That’s a lot of tweets – and a lot of people. If your business isn’t on Twitter, you’re missing an opportunity to reach those potential customers. It’s also a way to engage with current customers by providing them valuable information, answering questions and giving them a vehicle to promote your product or service.

While many businesses create a Twitter account, not all of them keep it going. One of the keys is to maintain a regular presence on Twitter. That means tweeting regularly and engaging in conversations on Twitter. Don’t just spit out information or promotional tweets, be part of the Twitter community. By doing so, you’ll find current and potential customers turning to you as a reliable resource and a solid brand.

Is your business using Twitter? How does it help?

Be sure to follow Spirit Telecom on Twitter @NoStaticST.

As businesses are beginning to bounce back from not hiring for several months, it may be time to put out the help wanted sign. There’s a good chance job roles and responsibilities have shifted so it may be time to rewrite some job descriptions.

Why bother with job descriptions? According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, a job description helps attract the right candidates; describes the major areas of an employee’s position; and serves as an outline for job training and evaluation.

Keep in mind, though, job descriptions shouldn’t be written in stone. They should be flexible enough to account for changes in the company, employee growth and new opportunities. The SBA notes, “If inflexible, job descriptions will keep you and your employees from trying or learning new tasks within the job.”

Does your business take the time craft detailed job descriptions? Do you review those during an employee’s performance review?

Of course we think company blogs are a great idea. We’ve been writing this blog for more than 18 months. But not every company believes in the benefits of a blog or does a company blog the right way. So, we offer some suggestions:

• Pick a tone and a focus. It can funny, informational, high-tech, not tech, customer-service oriented – just pick one and stick with it.
• Keep it updated. Make sure your company blog is updated on a regular basis – at least once a week so you keep people coming back for more.
• Promote it. Make sure the blog is prominent on the homepage of your website and link to your posts on your Twitter and Facebook accounts as well as in any email newsletters you send.

Here’s a good article from SocialMediaToday.com that looks at the 10 best corporate blogs. Among the favorites are Caterpillar, Starbucks, Whole Foods, Marriott, Manpower and GE.  They have varying goals from customer engagement to brand awareness or simply to compliment an already strong company brand (Whole Foods, Patagonia and Southwest).

Yet one key component to a good company blog is to keep it simple. Don’t get caught up in industry jargon and don’t constantly be trying to sell your products so your blog becomes one large advertisement. Make it a resource people bookmark and return to time and again.

Do you have a company blog? What lessons have you learned from it? How has it benefited your business? 

Do you feel like a desk potato? That’s our fancy term for sitting at your desk all day. For many office workers, exercise during the day consists of walking to the coffee pot, the restroom or the conference room for a morning meeting. Aside from that, we spend most of the day hunkered over our keyboards.

Check out this article highlighting a study out of Australia measuring the movements of almost 5,000 adults. The results: “The researchers found that extended periods of inactivity correlated with larger waistlines and higher risk of cardiovascular problems.”

Research finds that taking at least short movement breaks during the day can really help. Every hour, stand up and stretch. Take a quick stroll around your floor and maybe even trot up a couple flights of stairs for quick cardio burst.

If you can, schedule a meeting for the coffee shop down the street so you’re getting a little exercise or use your lunch break for a 10-minute walk.

Of course you could always ask your boss to spring for the treadmill desk, although we’re not sure just how long it takes to master the art of walking and typing while talking on the phone.