Mixing A Laptop and Social Media With Your Vacation Time

Aug 5th, 2010 by Joanne

Virtually Yours, Anywhere!

I just returned from a lovely 2 week vacation – well 6,000 kilometers of driving may not constitute a vacation to many people but I loved it. My husband, son and I traveled to the East Coast of Canada (Nova Scotia primarily), to experience the beauty that province has to offer. But that wasn’t the only beauty of it; my clients also enjoyed Social Media support while I was gone.

You see, with a laptop, the wonderful world of wireless internet access and some discipline, I was able to publish client blogs, answer emails and deal with any emergencies while on the road and still enjoy my family and our time together. And as a Social Media Specialist, the bulk of the work I do is online, meaning, I have an easily transportable office! It doesn’t matter if I am sitting in my home office in Newmarket, Ontario, in an Inn in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia or in Europe for that matter. I can still meet the demands of your business remotely. And, working with a Virtual Administrator means that you pay only for the time we spend working on your behalf! It’s a win-win situation. I even managed to keep up to date with my contacts on Facebook – publishing pictures and video from our trip along the way and sharing some of our experiences. Many people commented that it was like being on the holiday with us! I loved that. Social Media tools have a way of making you feel you are never far from home and help you continue to build those relationships.

Another bonus on this trip was having the opportunity to meet up with Kathy, another VA from Nova Scotia. We got to know one another at a VA forum in 2009 and through Social Media, have had the opportunity to get to know one another remotely. We spent the day sharing information and ideas and learned about each others businesses. The VA community in general is a very giving, supportive group. We give referrals to one another, share knowledge and even sub-contract to each other where appropriate. I feel blessed to be part of this world-wide industry.

Virtual Administrators (VAs) come in many flavors and from widely diversified backgrounds. You’ll find VAs with pure administrative skills and others marketing or technical skills. Many business owners hire one VA or many depending on their needs. It makes it much less complicated than trying to find one employee with all the skill sets you may require.

Overall, I love the flexibility of owning my own business and I love supporting my clients in the Social Media realm. I especially love the fact that I can do it from anywhere in the world, even when I’m on holiday!

How about you? Have you been to Nova Scotia? What was your favorite experience? Mine had to be whale watching off the coast of Pleasant Bay. You can watch this short video on our whale watching tour with Captain Mark’s. The whales came within a metre of the boat. Such an amazing experience…

I love getting feedback and here on my blog, you’ll get commentluv. That’s a plug-in that allows you to leave a link back to your own site when you leave a comment.

Until next time,
Joanne

While physically located in Newmarket, ON where Joanne lives with her family, she is virtually yours, anywhere.

Tags: Administration, Canada, Cape Breton, Captain Mark's Whale Watching, Joanne Burgess, Marketing, Marketing Administration, Nova Scotia, outsource, Peggy's Cove, Relationship Building, Social Media, Social Media marketing, Social Networking, VA, Virtual Assistant, Virtually Yours, Whale Watching Pleasant Bay Nova Scotia, working holidays

Posted in Business, Family, Marketing, Outsourcing, Social Media, Social Networking, VA, Virtual Assistant | Comments 8

Getting the Most Out of Your Facebook Business Pages

Jun 9th, 2010 by Joanne

Facebook Landing Pages – Why They’re Hot

Do you have a Facebook Business Page? Do you have a Welcome Page set up as a landing page for first time visitors? Why might this be important?

Have you noticed when you visit people’s business pages, you are bouncing back and forth between the info tab, the small bio under the person’s graphic and reading the wall to get a sense of who this person is and what their business is about? I know I do.

Do you find you get more information on some people’s pages than others? Why is that? That’s because not all business pages are created equal! By this I mean that the templates that Facebook offer you, are chosen based upon the industry that you are in (i.e., what you specify when you first set up the page. You should also know that when you choose the business name and the industry, these cannot be changed. You would have to delete the page and start over, so choose wisely).). A brick and mortar retailer for example will be given the place to enter their store hours etc., but not given any space to include who they are, what their business is, their mission or their objectives – this template is reserved for businesses that are more Consultative in nature. So in many cases, when you visit someone’s page, you will either land on their less than informative ‘info page’ or on their ‘wall’ and right into the middle of the conversation.

So how does one create a welcoming environment so that you can tell people who you are, what you are about both as a person and as a business entity? This is where the Facebook Welcome Pages (landing pages) have become so popular. Not only can you tell people in words, but you can incorporate video, audio and pictures to make the page more exciting. It’s another great touch point. In addition, you can set this up so that it is the default landing page for anyone new visiting your page. Once they ‘like’ the page, from then on, each time they return to the page, they will go directly to the wall. It’s a nice warm welcome and people will gravitate to your page. In addition, this page should be properly branded to reflect your Facebook business page and all your other online sites.

This Welcome Page needs to be created using Facebook Markup Language (FBML) and this is an application that can be added to your page. Unless you have the necessary technical skills, this isn’t something that most of you will tackle on your own, but thankfully there are people out there like me, a Social Media Specialist with training in Facebook Business Pages, who can help you set one up! Please feel free to contact me or another qualified Virtual Administrator that you may know.

I would love your feedback on Welcome Pages that you have seen and admired, or even your own! You’ll get commentluv here on my site. That’s a plug in for bloggers. Leave a comment and you can leave a link back to your own site.

Until next time,

Joanne

While physically located in Newmarket, ON where Joanne lives with her family, she is virtually yours, anywhere.

Tags: Facebook Business Pages, Facebook Landing Pages, Facebook Welcome Pages, Joanne Burgess, Marketing, outsource, Relationship Building, Social Media, Social Media Specialist, Social Networking, VA, Virtual Administrator, Virtual Assistant, Virtually Yours

Posted in Advertizing, Brand Management, Business, Marketing, Outsourcing, Social Media, Social Networking, Virtual Assistant | Leave a comment

Marketing Your Local Business Online – Understanding Keyword Searches

May 5th, 2010 by Joanne

Still Using Telephone Directories to Market Your Business?

In a recent informal survey of local small business owners, I was surprised to learn how many still rely on costly telephone directory listings as a primary means of marketing their business. Interestingly, when I asked them how they themselves find products and services that they are looking for, most said they did their looking online. There seems to be a disconnect between what they do and what they expect their prospects and clients to do. If you read one of my recent posts on 8 ways to green your office, you will know that I discontinued the delivery of local telephone directories to our home because I do all my searches online and have for some time.

In addition to the number of people who use their home computers to source product and service, there is a growing number of users of smart phones and products like the Ipod Touch. What business owners need to get a handle on is how these users actually find products and services online. Most business owners tell me they have a website. When I ask them how well optimized their sites are for keywords, most don’t know and don’t understand the implication. One cannot count on the fact that users will know to look up your business to find what they are looking for so it’s not enough just to have a website. Most of the time, users will do a Google search on a keyword or keyword phrase to find what they are looking for. The bottom line here is that if you are not easily found using those keywords, to those individuals, you do not exist. And, if the proliferation of these tools and the growing number of Social media users continues to rise, where does that leave your business in the coming years?

As a Social Media Specialist, I counsel my local business clients to at least have a Google local business listing. This local business listing must contain the keywords that your community will use to find your product or service. You need to think like a consumer when you are targeting these keywords. It is also important to do some keyword research to ensure that your listing will have the chance to be ranked high in the Search Engines. If you are not comfortable doing this on your own, you should enlist the help of someone who can help you.

If you are a business owner who does business online, then it is even more critical that you either understand keyword searches and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) or get someone to help you ensure your sites rank high enough to be found. Most users will not leave the first page of Google to find what they are looking for. Targeting to be on the first page of Google should be your goal. Targeting to be the first listing on Page 1 of Google would be ideal. According to Market Samurai, a higher percentage of users will click on the number 1 Google listing than on any other.

Social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and WordPress (blogs) naturally rank high because the Google search engines heavily index these sites so being involved in Social Media is a good choice. Knowing which sites to be involved in based on your business model is something I work on with clients to ascertain where they will have their greatest success.

Ready to get started? I’d love your feedback. Here on my blog, you’ll get commentluv. That’s a plugin for bloggers. If you leave a comment, you can provide a link back to your own blog. How great is that?But you don’t have to be a blogger to leave a comment. I want to hear from everyone!

While physically located in Newmarket, ON where Joanne lives with her family, she is virtually yours, anywhere.

Until next time,

Joanne

Tags: Google search results, Joanne Burgess, local business marketing, marketing your business, online business marketing, Social Media marketing, Social Media Specialist, understanding keyword searches, Virtually Yours, Virtually Yours Joanne Burgess

Posted in Advertizing, Business, Marketing, Outsourcing, Social Media, Social Networking, VA, Virtual Assistant | Leave a comment

3 Tips To Make Your Facebook Business Page Sing

Apr 14th, 2010 by Joanne

Facebook – A Shining Star in the Social Media World

Did you know that Facebook has over 350 million active users? Did you know that over 700,000 local businesses have active Business pages on Facebook? Did you know that it’s against Facebook terms of use to use your personal profile page to do business there?

Facebook is not only for kids! The fastest growing demographic on Facebook is ages 35-49!

With the explosion of Facebook profiles and business pages, what are you doing to make your page stand out? As a Social Media Specialist, I help my clients impress and stay top of mind in the Facebook and Social Media space. Here are 3 tips on things you can do to make your Facebook Business Page sing.

1. Enlarge the photo

Facebook allows you a 200×600 pixel space for your graphic or photo. Why not make good use of it? Make sure that your graphic or photo is high resolution so that when you re-size it, the quality doesn’t degrade. Include some extra information like your website address or your physical address if you are a storefront.

When choosing your font type, choose one like Verdana or Arial that will display well in a jpeg for e.g., when you upload it. Legibility is important.

2. Permit tagging

One of the ways to be viral in this space is to allow your fans to tag photos. (Thanks Kathy Colaiacovo for helping find where you can do this for pages…it’s buried!) By default, this option is turned off on Facebook Fan pages. To permit tagging, follow these instructions:

a) Go to Edit Page
b) Locate the photo section
c) Click edit
d) Click edit settings, and ‘Allow Fans to Tag Photos’.

Note to my clients if you are reading this…I have already enabled this for you!

This is a great way to be seen in the news feed. One word of caution. Check your privacy settings with respect to people being able to post photos to your wall. Also be judicious when posting unflattering photos of others and be sensitive to how these photos might be syndicated. This applies to your personal profile as well.

3. Welcome Page

Consider designing or getting someone to design a Welcome Page for you. This is a great landing page for those who are new to your business page. On this page you can provide an overview of your business and use graphics, audio and video to really make your page stand out. You can also set it so that anyone new visiting your page will land on this page first. Once they have ‘fanned’ your page, upon returning to your page in the future, they will then be directed to your wall. This will also be a Tab that you can situate on your navigation bar so that even your existing fans can visit it.

It’s tough to land in the middle of conversation, so these Welcome Pages are a great intro. You will need FBML to create this page. If you are not skilled in this area, a Social Media Specialist who has the training, like myself, can help you.

Above all, the most important thing on your business page is your content. You want people to return to your page again and again, so provide some real value here. Share some great industry news, provide great links and engage people in conversation on a regular basis. That’s what it’s all about.

Facebook will likely be at a half billion users by the 2011. Businesses are recognizing the power of this application and the opportunities it presents to move your business forward. Isn’t it time for you to investigate it a little further?

What do you think? Do you have a Facebook Business Page? Does it sing? I love getting feedback. Here on my blog, you’ll get commentluv. That’s a plugin that allows bloggers to leave a link back to their own blog. How great is that? But you don’t have to be a blogger to leave a comment. I’d love to hear from everyone.

While physically located in Newmarket, ON where Joanne lives with her family, she is virtually yours, anywhere.

Until next time,

Joanne

Tags: Business, Facebook, Joanne Burgess, Marketing, outsource, Social Media, Social Networking, VA, Virtual Assistant, Virtually Yours

Posted in Brand Management, Business, Outsourcing, Social Media, Virtual Assistant | Leave a comment

8 Ways to Green Your Office

Apr 7th, 2010 by Joanne

Earth Day is Coming!

I don’t know if you are like me, but until recently, my office was inundated with paper! In addition to business related activities, I look after the bill paying for my household, and therefore any mail coming into the house, comes into my office. We also have three printers in our house which can make for a lot of paper, as well as a lot of ink!

Recently, I embarked on a mission to try and green my office as much as possible. I was on Rogers Daytime (TV) a couple of weeks ago and provided these ways to green your office on the show. Since then, I have had a few people ask me to repeat these tips, so I decided to dedicate my blog to this topic this week. With Earth Day around the corner, I think this is a timely topic. I hope some of these tips will help you as well. I apologize to my American friends. The websites that I will refer to here are Canadian so you might have to do some research on your end to find out if these exist where you live too!

1. Yellow Pages Directories

We receive 3 copies of the Directory in one form or another. There is a large general one for the Metropolitan area, and two regional ones. I do all my searches online now. I can’t remember the last time I pulled one of these out to look up a number and with the proliferation of Social Media, Smart Phones and the IPod Touch, these are quickly becoming redundant. To give Yellow Pages credit, they embarked on a mission a couple of years ago to green their process, which includes the paper that they print on. What was not addressed however, is the delivery system which is required to actually get these publications to your door. In addition, when you recycle your old one, the same delivery process is needed to take it to the recycle plant. Yellow Pages has now implemented a service whereby you can visit www.ypg.com/delivery, and select which publications you want to cancel. In my case, I canceled them all. You may decide to keep one or more.

2. Unaddressed Ad Mail

Have you ever stopped to think how many flyers and brochures you get in your mail in a week? How many of you actually read all these pieces of mail? I know I don’t. Since the government clamped down on telemarketing, it appears everyone has taken to bulk mail. Just think of the paper, ink and recycling effort that goes into these initiatives. This is one reason why Social Media is becoming so important. This is a way for your to interact with your prospects and clients online, 24/7 and it’s a place where you will actually get interaction!! If you would like to stop this mail from being delivered:

a) If you have a superbox (meaning a centralized mail box on the street), you can slip a note in to the mail carrier asking them to stop giving you unaddressed ad mail.

b) If you are still lucky enough to have your mail delivered to your home, you can post a note on your mailbox asking the same.

It’s as easy as that. There will still be some mail that is required to be delivered. Most of these revolve around political/electoral items and community newsletters.

3. Addressed Ad Mail

You know these. The Credit Card companies are great for this kind of thing. If I took every offer, I would have 100 credit cards. You wonder how they get your name in the first place! One way is if you purchase a large item and sign up for lease payments or purchase on a no-money down option and pay over time. Financial Institutions then get their hands on your addressee information and many of these companies sell their lists. One should always read the fine print. If you would like to stop this mail from coming to your house, you will have to be a little more diligent. Go to www.the-cma.org. When you get to the website, click on the Consumer Information tab. Then click on CMA Do Not Contact Service. Register your name there. You will likely have to revisit this one a few times a year if you purchase a lot. As you sign new contracts, you are potentially setting yourself up to be put on another mailing list.

4. Pay Bills Online

Many of you may still feel uncomfortable with this option and that is completely your choice. I do online banking and pay bills online. It saves time, money and the environment. I know in the U.S. many companies will give incentives for you to pay online, some with cash! I also invoice my clients online. No more snail mail!

5. Printing

When you print, consider these tips:

Print on both sides of the paper
Extend your margins to allow more printing on a page
Use a font like Times Roman to get more words on a page
Change to Draft printing until you are ready for the final version

These tips are great for helping cut down on paper. Of course buying recycled paper is also a big plus. You may have to pay a little more for it, but I am a big believer in “Pay me now or Pay me later”. If you would like to ensure a sustainable planet for your children and grandchildren, then think of the big picture. A few cents more now for our children’s futures is a small price to pay.

6. Ink

Many people still throw away their printer cartridges…in fact approx. 70% still do. There are companies out there like Cartridge World, who will refill your ink cartridges for you. They also refill or remanufacture toner cartridges for photocopiers and laser printers. The result is the same as a brand new cartridge and at considerable savings. These components take hundreds of years (some components 1000 years) to break down in landfill. Look online for a Cartridge World in your area. They have franchise outlets in many countries.

7. Electricity

Using a product like the Smart Strip Power Bar is a great way to cut down on power usage. You can plug your computer into the main plug of this strip and the rest of your peripherals (printer, fax machine, etc) in the others. When you power off your computer, it automatically powers off the rest. Simple and easy. The same would apply to your TV and peripherals.

Also using the Smart Fluorescent Light Bulbs is a great savings too. Consider these for the whole house.

8. Consummables

When it comes time to buy office products, consider looking for recycled items. I recently purchased a package of Papermate pens that have components that you can put in your compost! The outside shell of the pen is made from a corn product. There are other parts that can be recycled. Only a few (like the ink tube) needs to be thrown away.

I also purchase recycled paper, envelopes, folders, binders, paper clips and even a couple of file crates that are made from post-consumer waste.

I hope these tips help! I am sure there are 2 others to round it out to 10. Let me know what you do! I love getting feedback. Here on my blog, you will get Commentluv. That’s great for you bloggers out there. By leaving a comment, you can attach a link back to your own blog. Great for SEO. But you don’t have to be a blogger to leave a comment. I love to hear from everyone!

While physically located in , Ontario where I live with my family, as a VA, I’m virtually yours anywhere….

Until next time,

Joanne

Tags: Earth Day, environment, green, Green Your Office, Joanne Burgess, Social Media, Social Networking, VA, Virtual Assistant, Virtually Yours

Posted in Social Media, VA, Virtual Assistant, environment | Comments 6

5 Reasons to Go Self-Hosted

Mar 17th, 2010 by Joanne

Plugging into the Difference – WordPress .com or .org

As a Social Media Specialist, I have clients who wonder why they should have a blog and the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. Matt Mullenweg, founding developer of WordPress gives a great interview below on the usage of WordPress and offers a great analogy on the difference between the .com and .org options. Listen in and hear what Matt has to say.

I am not only a big proponent of having a blog, I recommend using your WordPress site as your hub. As many of you probably already know, I collapsed my static website at the end of last year and folded that content into the back pages of my WordPress blog. The reason I did that, was

to cut down on having to maintain two sites, and more importantly,
my WordPress site is a great place for me to communicate with my readers, establish great relationships and build community. My readership has gone up considerably and I have many more returning visitors to my site in having done this. Google Analytics tells me so!

A blog is a great way for you to give your community fresh, valuable information on a regular basis. I did a post on Top 10 Tips on Blogging back in the Fall. If you would like to read it, you’ll find it here. The questions is, does one go with .com or .org? I like the analogy that Matt uses here of owning a home vs renting. Personally, I would much rather own my own and be in control of my own destiny. Wouldn’t you? While the low maintenance aspect of the .com site may seem attractive, what does Matt mean here when he says in the .com version, you have ‘no yard’, and you ‘can’t knock down the walls’? Here are a few key differences you should be aware of.

1. In the .com version, WordPress has proprietary ownership of all your content. Because you have your material installed on their site, there is the risk of them shutting you down if they don’t like your content. One should read the terms of service before signing up for a .com site.

2. In the .com version, you must use the templates they have to offer. You cannot modify the template layout, look and feel and you run the risk of looking like every other .com site out there.

3. You cannot install any of the vast array of plugins that are available to you in the .org version. There are literally hundreds of developers coming out with new templates and plugins all the time and I install many of them on my clients’ sites – things like the Facebook and Twitter plugins for example, that allow interconnectivity between all of your social media sites. So functionality in my opinion, is much lower here than on a .org site.

4. You cannot do affiliate marketing on your .com site.

5. A .com site screams NEWBIE!!

There is a VIP option (not free) that allows you more control. Matt discusses this in the video but as he says, they turn away many inquiries. This would be for larger organizations with a huge online blog presence.

If you are someone who just wants to publish a personal blog, then the .com site is probably fine. If you are using your blog for business purposes however, I would recommend the .org version for the reasons stated above. It is true, there is more maintenance and responsibility in maintaining your own site, but that is where I come in. Using the services of a Social Media specialist who sets up WordPress blogs will be very helpful not only in the site design, but in its functionality. I also make sure all your social media sites interconnect and talk to one another. It is so important for your community to find you no matter where they hang out online.

What have your experiences been like? I love getting feedback. And here on my site, you’ll get commentluv. For all you bloggers out there, leave a comment, and you can link back to your own blog. How great is that? But you don’t have to be a blogger to leave me a comment, I want to hear from everyone.

While physically located in , Ontario where I live with my family, as a VA, I’m virtually yours anywhere….

Until next time,

Joanne

Tags: Blog, Business, Joanne Burgess, Marketing, outsource, Relationship Building, Social Media, Social Networking, VA, Virtual Assistant, Virtually Yours, WordPress, WordPress blog, WordPress.com, WordPress.org

Posted in Brand Management, Business, Marketing, Outsourcing, Social Media, Social Networking, VA, Virtual Assistant | Leave a comment

Psst…Do You Know What They’re Saying About YOU?

Mar 12th, 2010 by Joanne

3 Ways to Reputation Management – Keeping An Ear to the Ground

Yes, it’s true! People talk about their life experiences – good or bad every day. In the past, they would tell their friends, family and co-workers, but here’s what’s changed. Now anyone can go online and spread word of that experience… with the world. With the surge in blogging, article writing and tweeting, people now have a voice and they aren’t afraid to speak up. If you are a business owner, how well are you tapped into what people are saying about your brand?

If people are saying great things about your business, wouldn’t you want to thank them? Wouldn’t you like to springboard off of that positive feedback to influence others to do business with you? Of course you would. The other side of the coin however, is this. Do you think it’s possible to keep 100% of your clients happy 100% of the time? If you do, please tell me who you are! The reality is, that sometimes clients will go away unhappy and they are going to talk about it, potentially online. So it’s very important to stay tuned in to the conversation that’s taking place out there.

How do you do that? Here are a few ways to stay connected to the conversation.

1. Google Alerts

Go ahead and set up a Google account for yourself and install Google Alerts. It’s FREE! Enter the keywords for your brand – your business name, your name, your domain names, your key personnel, etc. Go ahead and enter your competition as well. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to monitor that activity too? GA will send you an email to tell you when it gets a hit on that search criteria and you can investigate. Yahoo also has its version too. You can find it here.

2. Twitter Search

Set up Twitter Keyword searches to monitor the conversation going on in Twitter. You use the same philosophy as above. You can do that from whatever console you are using i.e., Hootsuite, Seesmic or Tweetdeck for example. Don’t forget that tweets get indexed in the search engines too. Good and bad comments can hang around the search engines for a long time, years in fact.

3. Trackur.com

Consider using an application like Trackur. It has a great Social media monitoring system and comes with a free and a premium version.

There are a myriad of other applications that you can try out as well. Some are free, others charge a premium. Depending on the size of your business, you may need something more robust. Try radian6.com

Good news spreads fast on the net, and bad news spreads even faster. So what do you do when your brand gets mentioned? If it’s a great review, as I said above, thank the person/entity that is providing the great feedback. Foster that relationship. They are acting as a great ambassador of your brand. But what to do about a bad review? Don’t ignore it. Others won’t. Take this as a great opportunity to engage them in conversation, listen carefully to what is being said and respond appropriately. By addressing it here, not only are you are showing that you care, but you may be able to change their opinion and you can turn the relationship around. It’s Public Relations.

As a Social Media Specialist, I encourage all my clients to monitor their brand and make sure they are participating in the conversation – good or bad. After all, it IS your reputation at stake.

What do you think? Have you engaged people in this environment using these tools? How did they work? I found an example of this just yesterday where someone included my content in his post and gave me credit for it with a link back to my site. What did I do? Thank him of course!

I love getting feedback. Here on my blog, you’ll get commentluv. That’s great for all you bloggers out there. Leave a comment and you can leave a link back to your own blog! But you don’t have to be a blogger to leave a comment. I’d love to hear from all of you.

Joanne

While physically located in , Ontario where I live with my family, as a VA, I’m virtually yours anywhere….

Tags: Business, Google Alerts, Hootsuite, Joanne Burgess, Marketing, Public Relations, Relationship Building, Reputation Management, Seesmic, Social Media, Social Networking, Tweetdeck, Twitter, VA, Virtual Assistant, Virtually Yours, Yahoo

Posted in Brand Management, Business, Marketing, Outsourcing, Public Relations, Reputation Management, Social Media, Social Networking, VA, Virtual Assistant | Comments 8

5 Tweets That Will Bore Readers

Mar 4th, 2010 by Joanne

‘Cardinal’ Rules of Twitter

As a Social Media Specialist VA, I have new people following me on Twitter all the time. It is always my choice as to who I will follow back. It is very important to stay focused on who your target market is and build your relationships in that community. Having said that, I always check the profiles of anyone who is newly following me.

There are many people out there who have not yet grasped the concept of just how powerful Twitter can be. The following is an example of a particular profile I reviewed recently. The entire Twitter stream was made up of the same kind of ‘conversation’. There was very little interaction. I will share 5 tweets here and give you some ideas as to how these tweets might have been done differently. This individual is in the eco-friendly industry and their profile implied that they were looking for business contacts. The following tweets are not business related. Here is how they might have showcased their expertise, and shared value-added information to their target audience. See how you can use these examples and adapt them to your own environment. Don’t be afraid to standout. Be colorful. Be a Cardinal!

Tweets:

1. Just removed the lint from the dryer, yuck

As an individual in the eco-friendly industry, while removing lint from the dryer is admittedly not a stimulating chore, it is one that needs doing. So if I were inclined to talk about this, here is a way that this could have been done differently.

Don’t throw out your dryer lint. Place it on branches of trees. Birds will use it to feather their nests. With Spring around the corner, this can be a timely tweet. Even better..consider writing a blog post on 5 ways to use your dryer lint along the reduce, reuse, recycle approach and tweet a link to the blog post. You’d be surprised how many uses there are!

2. Just had my second cup of coffee from ******* . Am finally waking up.

Take this opportunity to remind readers about not contributing to landfill.

Took my thermos for a second coffee fillup this a.m. to ****. Finally waking up. Glad I’m not adding more cups to landfill. Even better, consider investigating some organic coffee growers and write a blog post on the benefits. Share this information with your readers. Again, Tweet a link to the post.

3. Looking forward to dinner – chicken cordon bleu YUM!

It’s ok to share some personal tweets from time to time. Try to focus 80% of your tweets on business related information. However, this doesn’t mean that when you post something personal, that you can’t add value. This might have been better..

Looking forward to dinner – chicken cordon bleu. Love this dish. Here’s the recipe. Tell me what you think! Add a link to the recipe. Even better, provide a picture using a product like Flickr. You can attach the pic to your tweet.

4. Good morning from ******. It’s sunny and beautiful here today. Hope it keeps up.

Again, there is an opportunity here to share some environmental news with your readership. Try this.

Good morning from ****. Weather is beautiful here today. Check this Farmers Almanac prediction for 2010. Provide a link to farmersalmanac.com. Even better, Encourage people to start thinking about planting their own organic vegetable gardens this year.

5. Time to paint the kids’ bedrooms. **** wants her room painted pink.

You might consider educating readers that there are low VOC (volatile organic compounds) available today. VOCs are key to the ozone…so consider a tweet like this..

Time to paint the kids rooms. So glad there are paints with low VOCs now and in such great colors too! Even better, consider writing a blog post on 10 ways to decorate a room using eco-friendly products. Again, tweet about it and provide a link to your blog post or your website if you sell some of these products. Add pictures to your blog post to make it more interesting and include one in your tweet.

These alternatives share industry related information to your target market and showcase your expertise/understanding of the issues in the eco-friendly space. By adding value, your readers are more likely to return, eager for more content. In this way, you begin to develop relationships and build intimacy and trust. Twitter is a great tool to drive traffic to your blog or your website. But as I have said before, stay away from heavy marketing tactics where you are doing nothing more than selling wares. The social media space is all about adding value and creating relationships.

Take a look at your industry and see how you can begin to adapt your tweets in this way. Let me know how it’s going. I love getting feedback. As a Social Media Specialist, I am here to help you grow your business. Here on my blog, you’ll get commentluv. That’s great for all you bloggers out there. Leave a comment and you can leave a link back to your own blog! But you don’t have to be a blogger to leave a comment. I’d love to hear from all of you.

Happy Tweeting!

Joanne

While physically located in , Ontario where I live with my family, as a VA, I’m virtually yours anywhere….

Tags: Blog, Business, eco-friendly, environment, green, Joanne Burgess, Relationship Building, Social Media, Social Media Specialist, Social Networking, Twitter, VA, Virtual Assistant, Virtually Yours

Posted in Business, Marketing, Outsourcing, Social Media, Social Networking, Virtual Assistant, environment | Comments 2

3 Great Twitter Apps for Local Brick and Mortars

Feb 25th, 2010 by Joanne

Don’t Count This Bird Out!

Many businesses struggle with how to use Twitter to grow their business. In particular, brick and mortars often time struggle to find people in their geographic area to ‘tweet to’. Understandably, in smaller areas outside major city centres, the population of Twitter users is generally lower, potentially making it more difficult to drive business through your door. However, with Social Media in general becoming more mainstream, I believe in the not too distant future, this will become less of an issue.

With Twitter usage up dramatically lately, it would appear that many are beginning to realize its potential to really help drive their business forward. Check out this interview that Chris Brogan did recently with Restaurateur Joe Sorge who owns AJ Bombers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. See how Twitter has in his words, ‘built his business’. Then follow @ajbombers on Twitter to see how Joe puts Twitter to work! For that matter, follow Chris Brogan too – @chrisbrogan.

Then, to help you build your local twitter following, check out these 3 applications:

1. Twellow.com

Twellow is the Twitter Yellow Pages. As a brick and mortar, you can not only create a great profile for yourself or your business on Twellow, but if you click on the ‘Twellowhood’ tab at the top of the page, you will be able to create targeted searches within a specific geographic area. Within Twellow, you can even follow people on Twitter and start to grow your network.

Helpful tip: When creating your own profile, make sure you click on ‘expanded bio’ and include all relevant info for your business and make sure you maximize your exposure in the categories section. You are allowed 10. Make good use of them!

2. Nearbytweets.com

Nearbytweets allows you to search by location and by keyword. By keying in these two items, Nearbytweets will produce a stream of tweets from that and surrounding area that include that keyword. This is great not only for finding new prospects, but as a business owner, this is great for reputation management. You can really keep your ear to the ground and listen for any tweets that have to do with your brand and respond to them quickly.

Helpful tip: Nearbytweets will allow you to save your locations and keywords to streamline the process. You will find this under the preferences tab. Nearbytweets also allows you to click on any individual tweet to get more information or review an individual’s profile. You can then follow that person/organization from there.

3. Chirpcity.com

Chirpcity is another app that will do location searches for you. It will bring up the image, username and individual tweets. If you click on their image, you will be taken to their page, where you can then review their profile and follow them if you so wish.

Helpful tip: If there is one particular tweet you are interested in, you can press ‘view tweet’. This will take you to the individual’s profile page where that one tweet will be displayed and you can reply to or retweet that particular tweet right there. That’s a handy option. Saves you sifting through all their tweets.

There are other applications out there however, many have pitfalls. Tweepsearch for example, has a great concept in that it will bring up the person/organizations bio, and show you their followers, friends and updates, but they are sorely out of date. It says my last recorded update was 4 months ago. Actually it was more like 2 hours ago and my friend/follower information is also incorrect. So you will want to choose apps that are current and give you the most accurate information.

If you are still struggling with Social Media and wonder how you can make it work for your business, it would be best to seek out the assistance of a Social Media Specialist. As a Social Media Specialist VA, I offer coaching and consulting, assessment and strategy, profile setup – customization and optimization and some ongoing support and maintenance, particularly for my blogging clients.

How about you? What applications do you use to build your twitter base? I would love to get your feedback. Here on my blog, you’ll get commentluv. That’s great for all you bloggers out there. Leave a comment and you can leave a link back to your own blog! But you don’t have to be a blogger to leave a comment. I’d love to hear from all of you.

While physically located in , Ontario where I live with my family, as a VA, I’m virtually yours anywhere….

Joanne

Tags: AJ Bombers, Chirpcity, Chris Brogan, Joanne Burgess, Joe Sorge, Local Business, Nearby Tweets, Outsourcing, Reputation Management, Social Media, Social Networking, Twellow, Twitter, VA, Virtual Assistant

Posted in Brand Management, Business, Marketing, Outsourcing, Reputation Management, Social Media, Social Networking, VA, Virtual Assistant | Leave a comment

7 Days, 7 Ways – How Olympics Are Like Social Media

Feb 19th, 2010 by Joanne

Canada Welcomes The World…

There is nothing like the Olympic Games to bring the world together. Over 80 countries have gathered to compete, demonstrate their skills and share their culture and friendship. I am a huge fan of the Olympic Games. This year as I watched some of my favorite sports, I was struck by how many similarities there are between the Games and Social Media. Here are my top 7 ways the Olympics mirror the Social Media landscape.

1. Strategy: Whether you are a curling team vying for a gold medal or a business owner keen to grow their business, a comprehensive, well thought out strategy is key to your success. One wonders what strategy the Norwegian team was using when they chose these pants however LOL! The good news is, as a business manager, you can opt for something a little less flashy!

2. Coaching: Few athletes will reach the top of the world’s standings without the assistance of a great coach. So too for marketing your business in the social media realm. There are so many applications, so many opportunities, that using the services of a skilled Social Media Specialist, is recommended for your success.

3. Focus: Olympians have a very regimented training schedule and they have a razor sharp focus on attaining their dream – that of an Olympic gold medal. In Social Media, it is easy to get distracted in the myriad of applications out there. Staying focused on the defined objectives is half the battle.

4. Commitment: Long track speed skaters can have thighs that measure 70 cms (that’s 27.5″) in circumference. And that’s each thigh! No one gets that big without rigorous training and commitment to their sport. To say nothing of the fact that they likely need to have their pants custom made! Businesses wishing to get involved in social media should know that overnight success is doubtful. It requires a commitment to the process and a willingness to stay the course.

5. Adaptiveness: Short track speed skating takes place at a blistering pace. With competition nipping at their ‘heels’, a skater needs to stay on their ‘toes’ as change happens very quickly. So too in the Social Media space. With technology changes and new applications on our doorstep almost daily, it’s important to stay current and be able to adapt quickly to changing trends.

6. Approachability: You see many athletes being great ambassadors of their sport. Featured here is Canadian Gold and Silver Medalist Jennifer Heil, trying to explain the concept of Mogul skiing to a group of Rwandans. Wonder how that went? Approachability is so important in Social Media. Becoming known as an expert in your field and an approachable one at that is a key component to your success.

7. Community: As I said in the beginning,the Olympic Games have the unique ability to unite the world. This year as the torch passed through Canada, 12,000 torchbearers had the honor of carrying the flame through 1037 communities uniting its peoples as its magic burned bright. Social Media has also become a bright light in the marketing world, going mainstream, extremely viral and carrying with it, the ability to speak to your audience 24/7. Building relationships is what it’s all about!

I would love to get your feedback. What is your favorite Olympic sport? Mine is definitely short track skating. Here on my blog, you’ll get commentluv. That’s great for all you bloggers out there. Leave a comment and you can leave a link back to your own blog! But you don’t have to be a blogger to leave a comment. I’d love to hear from all of you.

Enjoy the rest of the Olympics! Cheer on your favorite athletes and your country. For me, yup, I’m a proud Canadian – GO CANADA!

While physically located in Newmarket Ontario where I live with my family, as a VA, I’m virtually yours anywhere….

Joanne