Can Internet “social media” sites such as Facebook, Linked In, Twitter, You Tube and blogs really help build business?  Better believe it.  Millions of entrepreneurs have created sites and pages populated with content that they hope will attract “friends” and “followers” and ultimately enhance their overall marketing efforts.

Among the millions are two Chicago entrepreneurs, both of whom are using social media in different ways.  P. J. McGuire, the 28-year-old founder of Modet, Inc., a company which focuses on training professionals in the art of etiquette and business protocol, jumped in head first late last year, when her corporate business stalled due to the recession.  Instead of targeting corporations, she decided to go after job-seekers and used social media to reach prospects.

“I decided to advance my company in all areas of social media,” says McGuire, who runs her business solo, with the help of two part-time interns. She established a Facebook page with different lists to keep her personal and business contacts separate.  She’s using Twitter and has built a respectable 400  Followers.  She established a blog called “One Rude Person,” uploaded a video on You Tube, and she’s even offered a couple of webinars.

Well, it’s working.  McGuire has seen a steady increase in traffic to her company web site, www.modet.com.  Her list of contacts is growing each week, and she’s been invited by more companies to submit proposals.

She credits her success, in part, to a detailed social media plan-of-action and has spent hours learning the tips and tricks of sites such as Facebook but also creating a schedule and the content to populate each one.  “Time spent upfront is time saved in the end,” she adds, quoting a favorite college professor.

Seowa Gbala, the founder and president of IHS Training Services, is another Chicago area entrepreneur who’s embraced social media.  She’s limited her activity, however, to Linked In, a networking tool that helps businessmen and women make connections.  Gbala spends an hour a day checking out conversations on the Linked In Groups she joined and has over 2,000 contacts.

She frequently posts a question: “Does anybody know about…?” as a way to generate feedback, and she’s also responded to others’ questions with her perspective. “My intent is not to sell my services but to offer guidance with no strings attached.  Have I gotten business?  Absolutely.”

To those who want to take advantage of social media marketing, McGuire and Gbala offer the following advice.

• Learn the basics about the popular social media outlets.  It takes time, especially if you’re from a generation which didn’t grow up using the Internet, My Space and Facebook, says McGuire. Take advantage of the “Help” links on these sites, she says, or consider a course at a local junior college, hiring a technology-savvy consultant or enlisting the aid of a technology-savvy teen or college student to shorten the learning time.  McGuire also suggests asking friends and colleagues for help.  “Most people want to help each other and are willing to share what they’ve learned.”

• Develop a detailed social media marketing plan.  “It’s critical to post content on the sites or pages regularly to build a following,” says McGuire.  “A written plan should be so detailed that you don’t even have to think about what you’re going to post or when.” For example, she created a series of Etiquette Tips of the Week for the remainder of the year, and she posts one each Thursday on her blog, Facebook page, Linked In account and a 140-letter version on Twitter.  Most mornings, while applying her make-up, she posts an item on Facebook and Twitter about a business meeting or a business-oriented task scheduled for that day (yes, her laptop sits right next to the mascara on the bathroom counter).  At night, she takes 15 minutes to post something personal, “so people can get to know me as a person.”  This could be her reaction to a restaurant, a movie or a best-seller.

• Be willing to try something new.  McGuire paired up with an image consultant to videotape a seminar for the Chicago Urban League on the importance of image and manners in obtaining a job.  They obtained an electronic version of the video and uploaded it to You Tube.  Recently, a videographer pal offered to tape additional segments for You Tube in exchange for their professional services.

• Recognize that social media marketing is a process.  Using social media is a lot of trial and error, says McGuire.  In an attempt to expand the e-learning division of her company, she signed up with a webinar production company and offered a series of on-line etiquette webinars for job-seekers.  Though 20 people signed up for each webinar, it was not enough to cover costs, and she is currently evaluating whether to use another webinar hosting service or discontinue them altogether for now.  But an attempt to expand her list of Followers on Twitter was a home run.  She “friended” a high-profile client who had 24,000 followers and another who had 66,000, which led to a big bump in those following her.  Gbala has found that sending an occasional “meeting request” on Linked In has more often than not resulted in meetings which led to a contract.

Hedy Ratner is co-president of the Women’s Business Development Center.  For programs and services, visit www.wbdc.org or call 312.853.3477.

www.tcgmag.com

October 2009

When Elena Tronco’s companion suggested they split the check after a first date, she wasn’t prepared for him to hand her a Groupon saying, “This should cover my half.”  Ms. Tronco, 28, of North Center, paid about $75, compared to her date’s $30 tab.

“That made me not want to even try a second date,” she says.  “I thought it said a lot about who he was overall, like trying to keep up with the Joneses but can’t.”

Coupons may be trendy, but bargain-hunters tempted to use them for romance or business meals still must choose between their love of a bargain and fear of looking cheap.

“A lot of people are so self-conscious about it, they just don’t use it,” says P.J. McGuire, president of Chicago business etiquette firm Modet Inc.  “They’d rather find another way to pay for it than embarrass themselves.”

Coupon holders who need to keep their thriftiness private should go to the restaurant early and speak to the maitre d’ or manager, Ms. McGuire says.  At the end of the meal, they can excuse themselves and settle the bill away from the table.

Norma Rodriguez de Yagcier, a senior accreditation administrator at a Chicago-based non-profit, says the organization used a coupon in April to cater a lunch for visiting doctors.  The meal cost about $100, half their usual bill.

“We’ve all been feeling the economic turmoil,” she says.  “This is a way we can cut down on one of our bigger expenses.”

June 14, 2010

Today’s sometimes rude, crude, lowbrow culture proves to P.J. McGuire that her etiquette business is in desperate demand.

“I’m trying to change our society one person at a time,” said McGuire, 28, who attended finishing school in her native Lima, Ohio.

McGuire remembers being raised in a “prim and proper atmosphere” by parents who grew up in Mississippi steeped in Southern manners.

“I ended up going to charm school twice,” she said. “I started at age 5, but I was too young to get it. The second time, I was about 7.”

McGuire’s background opened her eyes to a business case: Rudeness costs businesses big money. That’s why McGuire’s startup company, Modet Inc. (www.modetinc.com) –shorthand for Modern Etiquette — focuses on training young professionals how to succeed by knowing proper etiquette and protocol.

McGuire, who trained at the Protocol School of Washington, started her own company when she gave dining-etiquette seminars to fraternities and sororities while she was in college at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.

McGuire majored in biological sciences but decided that a doctor’s life wasn’t for her. She worked as a salesperson for pharmaceutical and biotherapeutics firms, but she helped plan weddings and other events that required proper etiquette on the side.

After her side business started to take off, she planned her strategy and set off on her own.

“People often make etiquette faux pas because they were never taught the basics of etiquette and protocol,” McGuire said. “I want to help young people achieve their life goals and help them avoid career-limiting moves.”

McGuire has won contracts with companies that have lost major contracts because of an executive’s faux pas. One Fortune 500 company failed to seal a deal with a Saudi company because the American salesman grabbed the hand of the potential client’s wife. In Saudi society, a man outside of a woman’s family is never to touch her.

“I don’t want to hear more horror stories about employees who didn’t know any better,” McGuire said.

Fees for McGuire’s workshops, which include customized workbooks and agendas, start at $1,000. McGuire prepares an analysis of each client’s needs, and her presentations can run from one hour to eight hours.

McGuire uses software to simulate a game show to ensure that the workshops are interactive.

>”We play Jeopardy to get people thinking. One of the categories is International Dining, and a question might be, ‘In what country (South Korea) do you not lift up your rice bowl when you are eating?’ We play a final wrap-up round at the end, and I give out prizes,” she said.

McGuire is preparing a 90-minute online course that will cover a range of topics such as business etiquette, protocol rules, dining skills, working with interpreters and understanding other countries’ rules of behavior.

The e-learning course will test learners with video scenarios and for help bringing it to the virtual space, she’s turned to a software company run by a like-minded individual, Chicago-based Centrax Corp. (centrax.com), owned by African-American entrepreneur Edward Prentice III.

Prentice, 47, started Centrax 23 years ago as a radio commercial producer and evolved into producing training and marketing programs over video, CD-ROMs, the Web and now, on Second Life, a 3D virtual world where people create avatars to socialize, buy goods and create alternate realities using voice and text chat.

Centrax, with a staff of 29 and seven-figure revenues, creates custom e-learning and marketing programs for Fortune 500 companies such as Abbott Laboratories, Bank of America, BP-Amoco, Harley Davidson and Kraft Foods.

The company is developing an evacuation training program on Second Life, the online community that allows for social networking and interaction in a virtual environment, for two major Chicago hospitals so the staff can put their avatars through the paces of a virtual emergency.

“My business strategy includes partnering with people like P.J. who have compelling content that needs to be put on the Web,” said Prentice, who serves on the boards of Concerned Christian Men, the Community Renewal Society, the Golden Apple Foundation and others in order to help non-profit groups who otherwise would have no access to the expertise.

Prentice expressed a sentiment that McGuire would endorse wholeheartedly: “I have been blessed. To whom much is given, much is required.”

August 3, 2008

At Modet Inc., we understand that a company is only as good as its people.  Transform your employees into corporate rock stars who are polished & professional, have positive interactions with clients as well as colleagues and deliver consistent messages that enhance the company brand with our unique professional development system called P-to-P Success Skills™ – because success starts with Perception and ends with a connection to People.

P-to-P Success Skills™ easily aligns with your current learning, leadership and professional development initiatives by providing guidance and tailored solutions to meet your learning objectives and needs. With a variety of services from workshops, eLearning, lunch n’ learns, event shadowing and coaching, (all which start with a foundation in the relationship building essentials of business etiquette and protocol) your employees gain the soft skills necessary to navigate any situation with ease to make themselves and the company more successful.

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Select an area on the left menu bar to learn more about how our training modalities can take your employees to the next level.

Modet’s business etiquette, soft skills and international protocol eLearning courses are a great way to increase the knowledge of employees all over the globe, on their schedule at the office or at home.  eLearning can be a stand-alone training solution or a pre-requisite for in-person training.

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The Playbook for Confidence: A Play-By-Play To Winning in Business™

Whether a newly hired, climbing the corporate ladder or a seasoned executive, gaining the confidence to navigate any situation by refreshing your knowledge of business etiquette, soft skills and Continental dining skills is a game-winning strategy.

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Contact Modet TODAY to try a demo of either course or for multiple user pricing!

Do you feel you have the experience, education and talent to achieve your goals, yet you can’t seem to reach them?

There are several factors in achieving one’s goals. It is a strong possibility that you have not achieved them because the way others perceive you is not aligned with your goals, dreams and aspirations. Regardless of how you see yourself, it is how others see you that makes the difference between you achieving your goals or not.

“Perception Is Reality,” after all.”

Let’s face it, the way we interact with others in our professional and personal lives are what determine our ability to get the life we want and deserve. If the person who determines your opportunities for career advancement perceives you as introverted, you won’t be perceived as a team player, even if you think you work well with your co-workers. As a result, someone else will get the promotion. Sad but true.

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Everything you want in your career, and your life, requires confidence, polish, outstanding interpersonal skills and the socio-cultural savvy to connect with people.

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Modet’s professional development services are often paid for by employers, Contact Modet to find out if this is an option for you.