I have always liked the end of the year though.  Not only because I have a deep love of Christmas (my favorite holiday), but also because it is a time of reflection: both personally and professionally.  Well, I’m not Doctor Phil, so no deep personal reflection tips here.  What I want to talk about is social media reflection: a look back at your own personal approach.

As an experienced, and weathered, marketer – planning and analyzation is the name of the game when it comes to creating the perfect equation for future success.  So every year, around this time, I try to schedule time out from my busy schedule to look back at the various marketing activities that our company did – in order to figure out what we need to plan for and execute in the coming year.

While I full marketing audit can take a bit of time, I want to give you some tips (or rather questions to ask yourself) to help you evaluate your social media performance and to identify what your plan of action should be for the coming year.  I want to present just the question, and leave the interpretation up to you.

#1.  What Was My Growth in Social Media?  Did I Even Measure It?

#2.  What Site Showed the Most Promise?

#3.  Where Did Most of My Web-Hits Come From?

#4.  Where Did Most of My Sales Come From?

#5.  What Site Gave Me The Most Amount of Engagement?

#6.  How Many Hours Did I Spend in Total Each Day?  Per Site?

#7.  How Many Contests/Promotions Did I Run?

#8.  Did I Receive Any Feedback?

#9.  Are The Groups/Pages/People I Am Connected With….Connected to My Target Market?

#10.  How Do I Feel About the Effectiveness of My Social Media Activity

Ok….lots of questions.  But the honest answers to these questions will help you not only identify where you should spend your time, but also where you should focus your attention.  Perhaps you are spending lots of time with no real results.  Perhaps you should look for outside help or outsource the activity to an expert.  Maybe you are spending 3 hours a day on Facebook, but LinkedIn is giving you the biggest returns.  Then perhaps more time on LinkedIn would create more returns.

You get the idea.  My point here is this is the perfect time to look back and get a grasp on how you handled this year in social media.  Why?  Because it is time to get your marketing plan together for next year, and your social media activity is a must to be added.  After performing an audit….and honest audit….of your performance, you should be able to identify how you should progress moving forward, in addition to seeing how you can incorporate the entire marketing plan into your social media assault.

Sorry to say this, but get planning!

Needless to say, I think I made about 14 tons of pasta over the weekend simply to play with the different nozzles and settings.  If I could marry a machine – this would be it.  But this blog is not about my love of automatic pasta machines, it is about what I did with my first batch of homemade macaroni!

A View From Inside the Delicious Beast

For quite awhile I had been dreaming up a recipe for macaroni and cheese that would beat all recipes.  The only thing missing?  I wanted, like a total nerd, to wait until I could make the pasta from scratch myself.  I tried a few times, but failed miserably.  Now that I had the tool to make it work, this weekend I made it happen….and it happened in a big way!

My disclaimer for this one?  It’s not for those who are vegetarian, lactose intolerant or on a diet.  The recipe itself is pretty straight forward and the recipe makes quite a bit.  It is the perfect dish to bring to a pot-luck or to enjoy with your family on a busy weekday evening.

Let’s go shopping!

*1 box macaroni (will only use 2-3 cups cooked)

*1 can diced tomatoes (drained)

*1 pound sausage meat (hot)

*breadcrumbs

*16oz velveeta cheese

*8oz shredded mozarella cheese

*1 bar sweet white chocolate (I used Godiva)

*1 cup heavy cream

*1 large white onion (minced)

*1/2 head garlic (minced)

*Olive oil for sauteeing

*Salt and pepper to taste

Ok…let’s get started!  First you need to get the oven preheating to 360 degrees.  Grab a glass baking dish (4.8 quart would work) and spread a little olive oil around…just for good measure!

Now this recipe takes place in stages, but if you keep it moving assembly style – you will be sorted.  First the pasta: follow the recipe portions on the side of the box to get 3 cups cooked macaroni.  When finished, drain and dump into the baking dish.  Then just pop the tomatoes on top.

Heat a frying pan with some olive oil and toss in the minced onion and garlic and toss around.  After a minute or so, add a 1/4 cup of water and reduce.  When the onions and garlic and a little brown and translucent – drain any excess liquid (there should be none) and dump into the baking dish.

Then you need to brown the sausage meat.  Do this in the same frying pan, breaking up the meat into loose small chunks.  Then drain and pop into the baking dish.

Now that all of the primary ingredients are present, gently stir the ingredients in the baking dish to throughly incorporate them with one another.  Make sure not to break the macaroni!  When this is done, get about a half a cup of breadcrumbs and evenly coat the layer.

Now it’s time for the yummy cheese sauce.  Take 1/2 of the cheese, the Velveeta, bar of chocolate and heavy cream and toss into a pan (I used the same frying pan) and melt together over medium heat.  When they are fully melted and mixed, pour evenly over the mixture in the baking dish.

Then take a 1/4 of breadcrumbs and dust the entire top.  Then get the rest of the cheese and sprinkle all over the top.  Finish with another 1/4 cup of breadcrumbs (use more if you like).

Now pop this into the oven for 30 minutes.  I like mine browned on top, so if after the 30 minutes it still isn’t brown enough for ya, turn up the heat to 450 degrees and check on it every 5 minutes.

When it is done, I suggest letting it sit for a minute or two before cutting.  Now you are ready to eat!

If you try this recipe let me know!  I want to see how it turned out for you

Can you believe that by the time you finish reading this, over 800 new people will have joined Google+?

I know, pretty staggering but very realistic when you look at the growth rate that Google+ is experiencing.

Can you believe that in its first 88 days it gained over 50 MILLION users?

Why is this significant?  Consider this, to reach the same numbers of users it took:

• Twitter 1,096 days
• Facebook 1,325 days and
• LinkedIn 2,354 days

As you can see…the growth rate is staggering.

Now pair this with the power of Google, the #1 search engine on the web, and you have a new social marketing site with endless promise.

Why?  The first, and most important, reason is Google has the proven ability to send traffic to your website or online point-of-sale.  When you think about SEO (the best way to get traffic to your site), let’s be honest – what you are really thinking about is how to get on the first page of Google so your customers and clients are able to find you much easier through organic searches.

But what can Google+ do for me?

Aside from the 50 million+(and growing) users, this site offers you something that the sites such as Facebook and Twitter don’t easily offer: outstanding niche marketing.

Google+ offers “Circles” which are niche groups that you name and populate.  You can easily create one for each of your market segments.  For example, if you were an entrepreneur with numerous irons in the fire, you are able to create “Circles” to suite each market base such as “advertising firms”, “production companies”, and “potential investors”.  Then when you post on Google+, you are able to choose which market to hit with your message.

Possibly one of the best attributes of Google+ Circles?  You are able to market on the site and keep your personal and professional content completely separate!

Honestly, this is just scratching the surface.  There are numerous ways that Google+ can not only enhance your business, but how you hit your target market in addition to how you communicate and offer customer service.

Also, in the near future Google+ will be adding company pages.  It all makes your head spin, but it makes me very excited.  Google+ will present a new way to engage with your audience to build your business and create relationships that last.

Lots of people have expressed interest in 101-style information on Google+, so I will be holding a free webinar entitled: Google+ Power 101: Your Jump Start Action Plan. It will be held on October 11th from 8-9pm Eastern Standard Time.  If you are interested in joining in - please register here….spots are limited for this session.

But why isn’t it happening?

First and foremost, I want to let you know that just having social presence and posting updates does not equal traffic.  The number of connections you have is not a direct connection with how many hits you will get daily/weekly/monthly.

Social marketing is about building relationships on a particular site that will increase your visibility, credibility and get people to trust and buy from you.  It is not an exercise in direct response marketing in a “click here, buy now” way.

For example, there are some outrageous success stories out there about mega brands getting mega sales via social.  But what is different between your campaign and theirs?  They have a built in brand recognition, brand affinity in the millions.  If McDonald’s or Starbucks just launched a Facebook Page…it would take seconds for them to go through the roof.  But who doesn’t know these brands?  Plus, they are trusted brands – hence when they post links, their users feel safe and comfortable enough to click on them.

This type of credibility building takes time and consistency and does not happen over night.

Also, how are you communicating with your audience?  Are you simply sharing links and saying “Buy” or are you sharing information that will engage them, help them out, educate them or entertain them?  This is where traditional marketing and social split slightly, but stay in the same arena.

Think about Costco for example.  They put out a magazine that is chock full of wonderful articles, recipes, news, reviews and much more.  It also contains lots of advertisements for their products.  But, their customers can’t bring themselves to immediately toss the magazine out as it has lots of valuable information.

This is what your social strategy needs to look like in order to get better click throughs and to grow exponentially.

Give your audience things that would interest them.  If you create enough value, you can slip in an advertisement now and again.  Offer discounts, share news within your sector, share videos and pictures that are on-brand and on-message.  This is what engages your network….not just broadcasting yourself.

One thought to leave you with: Would you engage with someone who only talked about themselves and never listened to you?  You would probably not click their link either.

So when it comes to making condiments, I am your man!  This recipe is for my homemade horseradish sauce and it goes best with roast beef, pork or a heavy meat.  It works on sandwiches as well, so it is pretty universal.  Ideally this should have the horseradish flavor, but not the heat.  It should have the same consistency of sour cream, not whipped cream.  Anyways, let’s go shopping!

*3 Tablespoons of Processed Horseradish (drained)

*1-2 Teaspoons of White Vinegar

*5 ounces of Double Cream

*Salt and Pepper for tasting

Okay, first thing first.  If you can get a fresh horseradish root this recipe gets 100% better.  But many of us cannot, hence the use of the processed version.  If you can though, clean it and pop it into the food processor until it resembles the processed version.

Here’s how easy this is.  Add all of the ingredients together in your food processor and mix until you get the sour cream-like consistency I named above.  Taste to see if it is too your liking.  Want more tart?  Add more vinegar.  Want more spice?  Add more horseradish.  You get the idea.  This is a big hit and won’t last long on your table.  In a good container it will last a week in your fridge, so you can make this ahead of your meal.  Enjoy!

My recipe is pretty easy, so there is no need to go out and purchase frozen ones.  The simple ingredient and preparation make this something to add to a roast meal to add interest and intrigue.  This recipe feeds 6 people, let’s go shopping!

*4 Ounces of Flour

*2 Eggs

*10 Ounces of Whole Milk

*Vegetable Oil

*Salt and Pepper to Taste

First get a mixing bowl and add the flour.  Make a well with your fingers in the middle and crack the eggs.  With a fork, slowly work around the edge, methodically mixing them both together.  When fully mixed, grab a whisk and beat the mixture vigorously while slowly pouring in the milk.  Once all of the milk is added, add lots of freshly ground pepper and a twist or two of salt and then whisk until you can’t whisk no more.  You should add a bit of air to the mixture.  Don’t want to do this?  Add the mixture to your kitchen mixture and set to high until fully mixed.

Let the mixture sit for one hour.

Towards the end of the hour take out a muffin pan (metal) with 6 compartments.  Preheat the over to 425 degrees.  Put two tablespoons of oil into each compartment and place in the oven once it has reached temperature.  Leave it in until the oil begins to smoke and shimmer.  Then take out of the oven and add the mixture in even amounts to the 6 compartments.

One thing to keep watch on is that you leave enough room as these suckers will raise.  I usually leave about an 1/2 inch to an inch or so from the top.  Another tip is to put a cookie sheet underneath them in the oven to catch any spillage.  Nothing worse than a smokey house, right?

Bake these in the oven for about 30 minutes and check regularly.  They should be golden brown at the end and in various shapes.  Do not worry about what they look like.  No two puddings should look alike, think of them as the snowflakes of the cooking world.

Serve with roast dinner and homemade gravy.  Enjoy!