If you can imagine a one-time little gas station being converted into a coffee & tea shop in a rural town, what you have is D's Coffee & Tea Shop. This is the turf of Donna Reichman of D's Coffee & Tea Shop in Middletown, CA.

Donna attended my last workshop on Social Media in Hidden Valley Lake at the Hidden Valley Food Mart last Saturday, Jan. 16th. She really wants to learn how to use Social Media tools - like Twitter to create more "buzz" about her coffee shop in the community. She needs our help.

My Canadian friend, Teddy Towncrier, has stepped up to the plate and is following Donna on Twitter. I want to encourage other Ryzers to follow her as well. Reach out to this wonderful lady and encourage her to follow you back. Here is her Twitter URL - http://twitter.com/DonnaReichman.

But, don't stop with just following the lady on Twitter. Engage this woman in conversation. After all, the goal of all this Social Media stuff is the building of relationships. Is there a point in following someone on Twitter or elsewhere and not engaging them to some extent in a dialog? Make no mistake, Donna needs to hear from you.

Donna needs to understand how Twitter can benefit her coffee shop. Donna is not a member of Ryze. But, she might be more than willing to become one if she were to be made aware of its benefits to her coffee shop. All the more reason to make the lady's acquaintenance.

Donna recently became a member of the Lake County Social Media Group. This is a special Meetup group designed to help bring Lake County, CA into the 21st century in terms of Social Media. I encourage all Ryzers around the world to take a look at what this group is doing. If you support what the group is attempting to do, join up and add your voice of encouragement to what is being attempted.

Lamar Morgan
CDMM - Synergistic Business Marketing
"Need PR? Contact Lamar"
www.squidoo.com/LamarMorgan

Private Reply to Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901

Private Reply to John Snyder

John,

While I like your suggestion, I am no longer in a position to implement it. D's Coffee is located in Middletown, CA. I now reside in Coconut Creek, FL.

How would you suggest Ryzers who do not live in the Middletown, CA area help Donna out? And yes, I am now one of those people.

There must be a way out-of-state folks can help this woman. What do you suggest we Ryzers do? Should we -

1) Follower here on Twitter at twitter.com/Donna Reichman, ask her to do follow back and retweet our messages?

2) Should we encourage her to join Ryze?

3) Show we encourage her to join Foursquare.com and learn how to "check in"?

What do you recommend?

Lamar Morgan
CDMM - Synergistic Business Marketing
"Need PR? Contact Lamar"
www.squidoo.com/LamarMorgan

Private Reply to Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901

Private Reply to John Snyder

John,

Here's the problem. It's just Lamar that is doing the asking. One person is not enough. I asked Donna to join Twitter. The next thing you know, I am the one setting up her account. She comes to my workshop and complains she only has one follower on Twitter. What's her take on this? Answer - Twitter does not work for her business. And, she's not alone in that kind of attitude. Twitter is not like instant oatmeal. You don't simply set it up and have the magic happen. You really cannot do this "Twitter thing" or this "Ryze thing" solo.

Now, I am not a Hillary Clinton fan by any stretch of the imagination, but she did coin the phrase, "It takes a village." When it comes to success on Ryze and Twitter, I really do believe it takes more than a solo effort. It takes a community of caring people.

John, you have shown yourself over the years to be a very caring person. Why not reach out to Donna Reichman, along with me, to and request that she join Ryze. Feel free to encourage her to join this very network or another one of your choice - including mine (http://clusters-network.ryze.com). In fact, you can follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/DonnaReichman and send her a tweet.

Imagine how special Donna would feel if every Ryzer who read this message decided to invite her to join Ryze. I think she would actually become excited about becoming a Ryze member.

Lamar Morgan
CDMM - Synergistic Business Marketing
"Need PR? Contact Lamar"
www.squidoo.com/LamarMorgan

Private Reply to Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901

Private Reply to John Snyder

John,

I am in total agreement here. But, she needs someone besides me to lift her up, give her guidance and encouragement. If I am the one who does everything for her, she will never learn how to do it herself. I am no longer physically available to do what she needs. Donna needs to learn how to do this herself. But, like many folks, she needs a lot of hand-holding to get started.

Lamar Morgan
CDMM - Synergistic Business Marketing
"Need PR? Contact Lamar"
www.squidoo.com/LamarMorgan

Private Reply to Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901

Private Reply to John Snyder

John,

Some folks need more help than others. Donna did take the time to come to the workshop at the Hidden Valley Food Mart back on Jan. 16th. She was among a dozen people out of an entire county. She made a special effort that most people in the county did not. So, what do we do? Do we leave her hanging? Or, do we see what we can do to lift her up? If you, me, Teddy and others reach out to her and she rejects our help, then we know we are not wanted. But, if she reaches back to us, guess what? She will likely tell others about us and Ryze. Why? Because she experiences it working and making a positive difference in her life.

Q: Why do people use a car? A: Because they know how to drive. The car gets them where they need to go. Everyone who uses a car uses it to get somewhere. Nobody I know buys a car to simply have it sit in the driveway. It would be stupid to own a car and not know how to drive. By the same token, it would be stupid to be on Twitter, Ryze, Foursquare, etc. and not know how to use those tools.

If you are like most people, you learned how to drive a car from someone else using their car - not your own. After all, it would be very strange to own a car and not have a driver's license operate it. But, when it comes to owning a computer, you don't need to know how to drive the computer. You simply have to put the cash down on the table to walk away with a computer from the computer store. When it comes to Social Media Tools, more often than not, you don't even need cash. You just put in a username and password and you have access to those tools. But, to make those tools perform for you, takes knowledge. Knowledge comes from people.

Donna Reichman, Elaine Marie of Spirit Lake and Dr. Doug Reams of Reams Dental Clinic, all need the knowledge that Ryzers like you, me, Teddy Towncrier, Reg Charie, Elaine Brown, and other Ryzers can bestow upon them. It is a lot more impactful for a group of people to each do a little bit than for one individual to burden himself with everything one novice needs to know.

You can "reach out and touch" Elaine Marie and Dr. Doug Reams here on Ryze as both are members. However, Donna needs to be contacted via Twitter and told to become a member of Ryze. You can contact Donna via Twitter at Donna Reichman.

Business networking is about building relationship. Let's bring some new blood to Ryze and help them grow.

Lamar Morgan
CDMM - Synergistic Business Marketing
"Need PR? Contact Lamar"
www.squidoo.com/LamarMorgan

Private Reply to Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901

Private Reply to John Snyder

John,

You did the right thing. I predict that within a week, Donna will be following you. I am going to give her a little nudge in that direction. Let's see what, if anything, happens.

Lamar Morgan
CDMM - Synergistic Business Marketing
"Need PR? Contact Lamar"
www.squidoo.com/LamarMorgan

Private Reply to Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901