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How To Find Blog Content: The ONLY Source You Will Ever Need
If you write a business blog I bet you run out of article ideas sometimes.
So how would you like a steady stream of topics that you could always call on?
And, supposing you could be absolutely certain that these blog topics would be of interest to your customers, clients and prospects too?
I have a fool proof way of finding blog content finding me. It’s no secret and it’s really simple.
I bet you can see this tip nestled in every ‘where to find blog post ideas’ article that litters the web. The thing is, in those list posts it’s very easy to gloss over this source as just another idea when I think it deserves more acknowledgement than that. So, let me tell you a story that demonstrates how it works…
Some time ago, I was mentoring a client on how to use Twitter effectively. She wanted to find more customers and build the visibility of her local business. My training and mentoring service includes unlimited email support so clients can fire any question at me exactly when they face it, and I can get back to them straight away.
One Friday afternoon I received a one line email from my client asking this question:
What does #FF mean on Twitter?
I spent 5-10 minutes writing out my response explaining in detail what this weird code-like language meant. As I was doing so, I remembered back to my first days on Twitter when I wondered what #FF meant too. And all the tweets I see every Friday asking the same question. Then, I remembered how many times I see #FF shout outs done badly each Friday. Sometimes on other days of the week too (I guess every day is a Friday to someone??)
And I thought: this would make a great blog post.
So, I took the body of the original email I had sent my client, added to it along with some picture examples showing good and bad #FF shout outs and posted it on my blog. It’s since become my most popular post consistently driving thousands of visitors to my website every month.
A lot of my blog posts are answers to questions I’ve been asked by clients, prospects, Twitter or Facebook contacts, readers of my blog or subscribers to my weekly social media tips.
I bet there are certain questions you get asked by your customers and prospects regularly too. These are the ones you want to start with. I actively encourage questions because I realise that by asking my audience what they want I will be more equipped to deliver material that they are interested in. Infact, I’ve got so many ideas I haven’t got time to write them fast enough but I never have to worry about finding something to write!
Here’s the #FF article I’m talking about in this post, and here’s another popular question blog.
Do you have a social media question you want answering? Pop over to my Facebook page here and I’ll answer it!
Facebook page, group or profile – what’s better for business?
Do you know what the best option is for your business? Are you representing yourself professionally on Facebook and making the most of the amazing features available? With Facebook being so huge, having a number of features and different options it’s not surprising users get confused when it comes to marketing their business. I get asked which is the best option a lot and I see loads of businesses using the wrong one so I felt it was important to cover this subject.
Let’s look at the differences between a profile, group and page.
Personal profiles are designed for people to connect with friends and family. Most users on Facebook keep their profiles just for close friends. Some also use their personal profile to network with other business owners, and this can be a useful way to continue a business relationship having met in person. But, using a Facebook profile to directly sell goods and services is against Facebook’s T&Cs and they can shut your profile down if they catch you. Just think if that happened to you. Consider all the effort and work you put in for it all to disappear along with the contacts and community you’ve created. It’s not worth it! If this is you, I recommend moving your community as soon as possible.
It’s also against Facebook terms to have more than one personal profile. For instance, a personal profile just for friends and another profile for business contacts. If you want to use your profile for business and leisure, order your contacts in to separate lists. This means you can choose which updates are visible to your different lists and can target your business related messages to your business contacts without annoying your Facebook friends and vice versa.
To connect with a personal profile on Facebook your invitation has to be accepted by that person, and the profile displays personal information at the top of the page (depending on how much information has been provided and privacy settings), like this:
Think for a minute: do you want to be a friend with a business, know where they ‘live’ or where they’re ‘from’, then wait for your friend request to be accepted before you can interact?? What kind of first impression does that create when other business pages have interesting welcome tabs encouraging visitors to like the page, or tabs providing useful information for customers such as opening times and location maps…?
A group is ideal for small communities of people who share a similar interest. Groups can be open (anyone can join), closed (your request to join has to be accepted) or secret (the group is completely invisible to everyone other than the group members and you have to be invited to join). Groups make it easy to share documents, schedule events, and chat with members but the limited functionality means it’s not the most suitable option to promote a business. It is however, a great way to provide additional support to customers and clients particularly if you have a service based business or are a coach or trainer.
Facebook pages are created with businesses in mind so it stands to reason that this is the best option if you want to promote your business on Facebook. There are lots of reasons for this:
- They are designed specifically for businesses in mind. OK, I’ve already said that but it’s worth repeating
- They include lots of customisation features so you can create special landing pages, newsletter sign up options, discount coupons, shopping carts and run competitions directly from Facebook
- They are indexed in search engines like Google (good for being found on line, also known as SEO)
- It is classed as an additional web page (this means people don’t have to be logged in to see a Facebook page – they don’t even need an account = more reach and visibility for you)
- Anyone can ‘Like’ your page and invitation requests are not needed to be authorised (which means less admin for you and more reach and visibility again)
- Pages, because of all of the above reasons, look more professional. Take another look at the above image if you don’t believe me.
So there you have it. If you need more help with your Facebook presence and strategy, or want help switching from a personal profile or group to a business page then get in touch. Or, come introduce yourself on my Facebook page and get free and exclusive Facebook video tips to professionalise your own page!
Hey! What’s happened to Absolute PA?
If you’ve arrived at this website looking for Absolute PA you’ll see that things have changed quite a bit around here! So I feel like I owe you an explanation.
A Short History
I started Absolute PA, a virtual assistant service, in 2009 and built it from scratch in to a successful business, largely using social media and online marketing to raise my profile and find clients. You can read more about that in this press article.
At the time I launched, social media was just beginning to make waves. As a micro-business owner and having previously worked in media and PR, I recognized its benefits immediately as a low cost way to reach more customers, build my reputation and make valuable business connections. The more success I generated through social media, the more excited I became. I knew I had to make it an integral part of my business! Social media became a valuable resource and marketing tool for me, providing numerous leads, clients, opportunities and web traffic. I generated a huge 56% of web traffic and a quarter of new business wins in 2010 from Twitter alone!
Having experienced the power of social media marketing for myself, I wanted to help other business owners achieve success too. I was increasingly being asked by clients to help set up, manage and implement social media and online marketing plans for them.
As I made my way around the web and spoke to other small business owners, I saw that many were getting it wrong, and how confused and nervous some were (still are!) about using it. I really wanted to help. But, if I was really going to help them succeed I wanted to know all the tricks and techniques to provide excellent value. I didn’t want to simply rely on my own success with Absolute PA. As great as that was, I didn’t feel it was enough. So I studied and researched how best to provide social media and online marketing as a service, concentrating on strategy, planning and measuring – the important bits that many small business owners don’t think about. Anyone can set up a LinkedIn profile or Facebook page, that’s the easy part. Making it work for your business is what counts.
So in 2011, I wound down the VA side of the business, (which was now only a small part of what I was doing) to concentrate fully on providing cost effective, realistic, time saving social media and online marketing support to other small businesses. Enter AliciaCowan.com!
The Present
I love social media and digital marketing. Everyday I see how it helps small business owners increase profits and positively effect their work and life experience through gained knowledge, more customers and joint ventures. It’s what I get excited about!
I believe that most importantly, social media marketing has to be simple. I draw on my practical organisational skills to find ways that make it less time consuming and overwhelming, and how to slot it in with the way my clients work. I specialise in creating realistic and simple strategies, training and mentoring, dealing with the techy set up stuff and long term management support so they can stop wasting time and start seeing results. As small business owners, we haven’t got money to burn or time to waste!
I also run training workshops and regularly speak on the obstacles facing small businesses using social media and how best to overcome them.
Facebook Tip: Are you getting all your updates? Check here! [VIDEO]
Have you noticed on Facebook that even though you have connected with someone or liked a page you don’t see their updates in your News Feed?
The reason could be that your ‘show post from‘ is set to ‘Friends and pages you interact with most‘. It’s a dodgy Facebook default setting and could mean that important updates are being hidden from you.
Watch this 1 minute video which explains how to change your settings…
Facebook is ideal for keeping in touch with people you don’t see much, nurturing relationships with those you’ve just met and meeting new people – whether personally or professionally. That’s why you’ve connected on Facebook in the first place so quick, go check your settings! 
Social Set Up: Let’s set out your digital stall
Anyone can create a Facebook page, Twitter profile, YouTube channel, LinkedIn profile, email newsletter, blog, even a website (although I don’t advise it!). The internet is littered with them – half finished creations jostling for attention among their all singing and dancing competitors.
The question is, which choice are you making?
- Do you want your business represented in a way that isn’t in line with your values and may have a negative impact on your brand?
- Or, do you want all your internet places to be in alignment, that clearly communicate your personality in a professional way so everything matches and is distinctively yours?
That’s what I offer as part of Social Set Up.
When I work with a new Social Set Up client I like to find out about them, their business and what they want to achieve from online marketing. It’s important to create a profile that is matched to meet their objectives, makes the most of the savvy techniques available and speaks to their customers so it not only gives a great first impression but also works hard for them too.
They also have the benefit of my experience, knowledge and little black book of trusted suppliers. I’ve studied the strategies, tested what works and implemented them for my clients which means they don’t have to.
And once they’re ready to go, I provide useful how-to information so they can achieve the best results from their shiny new Twitter profile/Facebook page/Blog/LinkedIn profile/Website/Email newsletter (delete as appropriate ) and are not left thinking ‘now what?’
My aim is to give them something they can spring from so it’s important to me that they know how to use it because I want them to achieve success.
Of course, you can do it all yourself if you like. The information you need is out there on the internet (the free stuff on my Freebies page might interest you too!) and if you’ve got the time to find the right information and act on it, then go for it. Or you can speak to someone like me who can take the tricky, time intensive, techy set up stuff away and do it for you.
Alicia really helped me out when I had a short deadline on a tough project. I couldn’t have done it without her. I wholeheartedly recommend Alicia for all social media marketing delivery projects.
Tamsin Fox-Davies, Small Business Marketing Mentor
If you want to find out more, pop over to my Contact page where there are 11 ways to contact me! I look forward to hearing from you.
How It Gets Social
Towards the end of 2009 I was asked to contribute a short piece on the rise of social media networking for Creative Action Design’s annual, Ingredients.
At the time, innovative businesses were taking tentative baby steps into social media marketing – exploring, testing, figuring – some successfully, some not. Most were questionning how to measure success, and this question held the biggest debate, along with ‘how can we use this without it taking up loads of time?‘
Those questions still come up but as the success stories continue more businesses are willing to include social media into their marketing strategy. Small businesses are equally keen to adopt social media – worried that they will be left behind and enchanted by its popularity, low cost and accessibility.
Nearly two years later, social media has been accepted as an important (if not essential) marketing channel but despite things having moved on, the information in my article is still current. You can read it in full here: The Latest Trends In Social Networking
Blogging: 5 benefits of commenting on blogs
Do you comment on blogs? Here are five great reasons why adding comments is good for your social marketing and online profile.
- Creates opportunity – by regularly engaging on blogs you’re building your contacts and this can lead to more connections, guest post opportunites and new business.
- Raises your profile – adding interest to someone’s article gets you noticed by other readers and the blog author.
- Drives traffic to your own blog – it can drive more visits as other readers, commentators and the blog author will want to learn more about you. They may even leave you a reciprocal comment!
- You’ll learn something new – there’s nothing like a good debate and it will enrich your own experience.
- Sparks more blogging ideas – reading other blogs is inspiring and the debate may spark an idea to present an alternate view in your own article.
A few of extra tips:
- Research and comment on blogs that compliment your business and have the same audience as you to really see the benefits.
- Add a genuine comment. Simply saying ‘great article‘ or ‘really love your post‘ doesn’t offer any value. Say why you loved it, continue the debate by asking a question or putting another point of view across.
- Get a Gravatar (Gravatar.com) so a picture of you (instead of a grey head outline) will be shown with your comment. It pulls the photo registered to your email, and as if by magic, it will follow you everywhere. This will help build personal relationships and gets you noticed especially if it’s the same photo you use on your social networks.
- After you’ve added your comment, share on social networks. If you’ve taken the time to include a comment you probably think the blog itself is worth seeing, and what’s more your comment and link will reach even more people.
Now you’ve learned all of this, why not leave a comment in the box below and tell me which tip is your favourite or add your own!
5 Reasons Why Facebook Is The Dogs For Business
I’m bored. It seems everyone is talking about Google+. Apparently, Facebook is dead, long live Google+.
Really? I don’t think so. Why? Because practically everyone and his dog has a Facebook profile, using it to easily catch up with friends and family members around the world, storing messages, photos, videos – entire life histories are there.
Cute doggie Coco Tadd on Facebook
The owners would have to do some serious, long term damage to sink the biggest social network on the planet, and that’s not going to happen anytime soon. In fact, they’ve recently hit another record breaking milestone of 750 million active users. So, really it’s stronger than ever.
With that in mind, isn’t it time your business was there? Here are 5 reasons why your business needs a Facebook page.
Accessibility
Setting up a Facebook page is free and anyone can do it. OK, you might want to invest money in customising it, planning a strategy, learning how to use it like a marketing ninja, or have someone manage your page for you. Even considering all of this, we’re talking peanuts compared to traditional marketing costs.
Your customers are already there
Think about this a minute: when you research for new goods or information, where do you go first? The internet maybe? Guess what – chances are your customers do too!
2 billion internet users worldwide are looking for recommendations, help and inspiration online. Facebook has 750 million users logging on every month, spending more time there than any other website. Even if you catch the eye of just 20% of users (dogs included), that’s a massive audience. No other website is that big. If you’re not reaching out to your customers on Facebook, then they’re probably having fun with your competitors who are.
Beast is top dog on Facebook
Talking of customers…
We’ve established Facebook is where your customers are hanging out online. Not only is being there good for building loyalty with them, but also for getting customer feedback, influencing and raising your profile with their friends. That’s a whole new audience of people who probably have the same interests as your customers, which means they’re going to be interested in your service or products too. It’s word of mouth on steroids. Woof!
Personality
It’s the perfect place for people to get to know the personality of your business, for you to demonstrate your company values, and what makes your business unique. Use Facebook as an extension of your website so potential customers can fully understand what you do, what you offer, and get to know YOU because people like to do business with people and brands they like, know and trust.
Facebook pages are indexed by Google
Did you know visitors don’t need a Facebook profile to see your page? Anyone can see it – just like they can see your website. If you’re regularly posting updates relevant to your audience and have used the right keywords on your page it’s going to do wonders for your search engine results. Remember, Facebook is the biggest website in the world so it’s got massive klout.
Love or hate it (and I do hate it sometimes), you can’t argue that Facebook has been a game changer in the way we communicate with friends, family and increasingly in business. Ignore it at your peril or talk to me about getting your business on Facebook.
Social Media giants – why they use blue as their primary branding colour
I recently asked my friend, Karen Haller, an Applied Colour Psychology Specialist, why the ‘Big 3′ social networks: Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn use blue in their branding. I was intrigued by this. Had branding colour been a consideration way back when the social network giants were a germ of an idea, or was it pot luck? Read Karen’s answer below, and let us know in the comments section if you think it’s a coincidence or not!
Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn use blue in their branding
Have you noticed how the big three social networking sites Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn all use blue as their primary branding colour? Is this a mere coincidence or was clever use of colour branding?
Colour Psychology
Blue is the colour of the intellect, the mind, making it the colour of communication and when you think about social media, it’s all about communicating.
Blue also has the perception as being trustworthy, dependable, safe and reliable. These are the perceived positive qualities of a business who chooses blue.
Which blue?
Like any colour, there are so many blues, how do you know if you’re using the right one. Only by carrying out an analysis on each of these brands would we know if they were using the right one that correctly reflected their brands values.
World’s Favourite Colour
Research has also shown blue to be the world’s most popular colour.
Combining with White
White is also use to communicate clarity, simplicity and efficiency. These brands could further strengthen their brand message by using a white that was in the same harmonious colour family as their blue.
I think you’ll agree it’s no mistake that each of these social media giants all chose blue as their primary branding colour.
Do you know what message your business branding colours are saying?
About the author:
Karen Haller is an Applied Colour Psychology Specialist. She helps business owners to communicate their brand’s authentic business personality in colour, further strengthening their marketing message, increasing brand recognition and stand out from your competition.
Nice Things People Say About Me
Here are just some of the nice things people say about working with me…
“Alicia is personable, friendly, reliable, her work is fab, she is a great font of knowledge on many things including Facebook and Twitter, and she will certainly provide you with a top level of support that you need. I would have absolutely no hesitation in referring her time and time again…”
Mark Shaw, one of the UK’s leading Twitter experts
“As the Small Business Marketing Mentor I know a thing or two about social media, and when my clients need help with their social media presence, I recommend that they speak to Alicia. She understands what small business owners need from social media, and delivers it. That’s all I need to say.”
Tamsin Fox-Davies, Small Business Marketing Mentor
Tamsin Fox-Davies
“Alicia provided me with some bespoke training in blogging and web updating. The session was well planned and covered all the issues that I needed help with. I found Alicia to be professional, well organised and friendly. I would not hesitate in recommending her to anyone who needs some training in social media – Thanks Alicia for all your help – really useful!”
Ros Astaire, Weight Loss & Nutrition Coach
“Engaging Alicia has transformed both my business and my experience of running my business. I find it hard to know how I managed without her for so long! Alicia’s expert knowledge of social media marketing and mastery of all things technological has enabled me to kick my business up a gear.”
Kate Warren, Professional Development Coach
“When we wanted to improve our Facebook presence, we approached Alicia with what we thought our objectives would be. Alicia not only advised us on the best way forward for our business and how to connect with our customers and potential customers, but she also set up the page and implemented a strategy for us to work from. This helped us to gain a better understanding of Facebook, enabled us to connect with potential partners and our target audience, and gain more customers and business associates. We are still learning and having fun along the way and continue to liaise with Alicia to ensure we are maximising our opportunities. Thanks, Alicia! “
Sue Wybrow, Founder of Popdance and Popdance Kids
“Alicia’s input has been very effective in getting me set up with LinkedIn. Her support has been pitched at just the right level and has been really well focused to my particular areas of work and specialisms. Thanks Alicia, really appreciated.”
Sue Benson, Education Consultant
“I am so glad to have met Alicia (through our mutual love of Twitter, networking and social media marketing). She is reliable, hard working, creative, and proactive – she has been working with me recently on running my recent seminars on blogging and social media, and it was a huge help to have someone who has the experience and confidence to ensure that things go smoothly and that all attendees are kept happy. She also helped a lot with her own case studies and stories as she herself is extremely experienced in running social media campaigns for her clients. So, if you are looking for help in running your blog or online campaigns, then speak to Alicia – she knows her stuff and can help you with yours!”
Keren Lerner, Director and Designer, Top Left Design
“Having recently acquired a new WordPress blogsite, I wanted to make the most of it, but really needed some guidance. I had also decided to become more active on Linkedin, but was unsure of how to go about it. Alicia’s mentoring programmes were exactly what I needed. She is very encouraging and her technical expertise and passion for what she does are apparent. Alicia gave me a thorough understanding of how to use my new blog (e.g. posting, uploading images and maximising SEO) and discussed blogging strategy (what to blog about, how often and finding new ideas). With regards to Linkedin she put together a great profile that really reflects me and my business and explained all the different aspects of the site in detail. Working one to one meant that the sessions were tailored to me and my business. Being able to email her in-between with any queries (large or small) was really helpful and gave me a chance to try out the things we had discussed. I really enjoyed working with Alicia and feel empowered and inspired. I’m enjoying blogging so much more now and feel much more confident about engaging on Linkedin. I look forward to working with Alicia again.”
Leda Sammarco, Writer’s Coach
“I wanted to share my Tweeting success with you since meeting Alicia Cowan last week. I have been on Twitter for approx 18 months and have been stuck with around 120 followers for a year. Since last Thursday I have become a very interactive tweeter, and have to say it really works. I am averaging between 8 and 10 new followers a day. The best thing to come out of it so far was that I started following my local paper, they called me yesterday to offer me advertising space. I got talking to the lady and managed to get the ad cost down plus she has made an appointmnet to come and buy some cufflinks! I strongly recommend you get online and have a go, it is fun, informative and best of all brings you new business!!”
Nicola Baldwin-Biggs, Smallprint Buckinghamshire
Twitter Tip: What is a hashtag (#) on Twitter?
Lucy asks me a question on Twitter
My Twitter buddy @LucyBakerMakeup asked me a question about hashtags (see above) so here’s a quick #101.
Twitter Hashtag 101
A hashtag groups tweets together on a particular subject. When you add a ‘#’ directly in front of a word (or acronym) on Twitter – a link is automatically created. This is called a hashtag. When you click on the link you will see all the latest tweets containing that hashtag, making them easy to find among the millions of tweets sent each day.
Hashtags are user generated. Their popularity has grown organically to become part of Twitter culture and a valuable tool for users. Here’s why…
- You can use a hashtag to follow or search tweets on a topic of interest. That may be an organised event, TV programme, noteworthy cause, breaking or running news story, or group conversation taking place on Twitter. They’re valuable in emergency situations and relief efforts too.
Social media for social good using a Twitter hashtag
- You can add a hashtag to your message so it reaches more people – your tweet is seen by your followers and anyone following the hashtag.
- Often users will use a hashtag to add context or irony to a message, #fail and #justsayin being examples of this.
Useful tip from Francisco Rosales
- The most popular hashtag is probably #followfriday or #ff – you can read more about Follow Friday here.
- You can create a hashtag to generate interest around an organised event making it easy for attendees to meet others, or allow those who can’t attend to keep up to date with latest goings on. They are great for making real life connections, finding people with mutual interests, and creating desire and buzz around your event with the ‘Hey, I’m missing out!’ factor.
Sounds good. How to get one?
Hashtags are not an official feature of Twitter. This makes it difficult to find the origin or reason for a hashtag (particularly if it’s a weird acronym) or stop other users adopting a hashtag that’s already in use. Hashtags.org is one of the better websites to use if you want to find out the meaning behind a hashtag. Anyone can create a hashtag but before you do consider these tips:
- Make it short, memorable and appropriate. No one wants to type a long hashtag or use up valuable space imposed by the 140 character limit in a post
- When you’ve decided on your chosen hashtag – check it’s not already in use. You could have chosen something that will have negative connotations. It’s simple to check – just search for the hashtag you’ve chosen and if it’s already taken, find another
- If your hashtag includes more than one word, like ‘World Cup’, remember to close the space between the words (like this: #worldcup) otherwise your hashtag could take on another meaning (#world cup – ‘world’ will become the hashtag)
- If your tag is for an event remember to tell people before, during and after, and encourage them to use it so your message and buzz spreads virally
What else you should know…
If you’re going to use hashtags in your tweets, don’t overdo it by putting a # in front of every word. Not only is it spammy and annoying to read, your message really won’t make sense.
Also, don’t hijack a popular hashtag that has no relevance to your message just to get your tweet seen. This is spam and you may be reported by a disgruntled user, or worse.
Why I Won’t Follow You
Maybe because you asked.
Like me, Follow me, Fan me. You see these types of requests on Twitter and Facebook all the time:
“Please like my fan page”
“Follow me and I’ll follow back”
This smart infographic by Sarah Evans of PRsarahevans.com shows there are a massive 3,346,310 requests for likes and follows a month and tweeters are far more likely to than Facebook users. This begs the question; is the social ‘ask’ overused?
Whether you agree or not, there are better ways to get likes and follows than by asking:
- Listen
- Be helpful
- Post useful stuff
- Be nice
- Talk to people
- Reply and respond
- Be interesting
- Don’t automate all of your messages
Basically, give people a reason to follow. The more you get involved the more you get back!
OK, it might take more time but there are ways to simplify and organise your use so it doesn’t become a total time suck, and you will have a richer experience. If you take the 8 steps above, you won’t have to ask people to like or follow you, they will come. What’s more, the people who do will love hearing from you, happily spread your message and tell their friends how great you are.
Simple!
3 NEW Ways To Make Conversation on Twitter
You’ve probably noticed that Twitter have recently upgraded their email notification options, expanding them to include email alerts when:
- you get mentioned or reply
- your tweet marked as a favourite
- your tweet is RTd the Twitter.com way
I got pretty excited about this because it means users get new ways to track engagement and it encourages more interaction, especially for those who don’t use applications like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck to manage their Twitter accounts.
So, I asked my Twitter friends if they thought it was useful or annoying – to my surprise 99% replied saying it was annoying and they had turned the notifications off!
But hang on guys, don’t be so hasty – there are some excellent reasons to check your notification settings again even if you’re an experienced user. Here are some reasons why along with ideas on managing notification overkill.
When someone direct messages (DM) you. People can only DM you if you are following them, so you’ll only get a DM from someone you know and probably want to hear from. Getting the notification by email is useful so you can reply straight away. KEEP!
When your message is RT’d using the Twitter.com way. Original RTs are displayed in your stream, but when someone uses Twitter’s built in RT function, they don’t show up in Hootsuite or Tweetdeck etc. You can dive into the Twitter dashboard and check your stream but seriously, how often does that happen? KEEP!
When you’re followed by someone new. This should be a given even if you’re Lady Gaga with 11 million followers. If someone follows you, you’ll want to check out their profile and maybe follow them back. You may also want to say hello, thanks for the follow or have a conversation, but not an automated one. Please turn those automated response messages off! KEEP!
When your tweet is favourited. I love favourites. And I love it when someone favourites my tweets. Previously, there was no way to track this but now you can! It’s very cool – opening up a whole new way of measuring how engaged your followers are, who they are, what messages they respond to, and gives you the opportunity to strike up a conversation about your favourited tweet. How great is that?! KEEP!
When you’re sent a reply or mentioned in a tweet. This is the only notification I’ve turned off because I use Hootsuite and can see when someone is replying to or mentioning me. If you’re new to Twitter, using the Twitter.com dashboard and not using mobile twitter, you may want to keep this switched on – it will help you stay connected with your Twitter friends and possibly initiate interaction as many new users forget to check their stream for mentions.
So, of the five notification settings now available I only have one switched off and that gives me two new ways to interact on Twitter and track engagement!
If you’re worried about Twitter emails clogging your inbox and effecting your productivity, you can easily set up a rule for messages to be syphoned off into folders before they hit your inbox. Try separating them into a main Twitter folder with sub folders for DMs/Favourites/Follows/RTs and check them a couple of times a day.
And, If you do want to change your notification settings in Twitter, it’s really easy. You just jump in to Twitter.com, go to the settings area (the drop down menu to the right of your screen) and select ‘Notifications’. If you make any changes remember to save them!
LinkedIn: How To Claim Your Personal URL
There are a few little-known ways to optimise your LinkedIn profile and claiming your customised url (also known as a vanity url) is one of them.
Sounds fancy! Why do I want one?
It makes your LinkedIn profile page easier to find and remember, plus it looks more professional so you can use it for cross promotion and marketing.
This 3 minute video explains what a custom url is, why you need one and how to add one to your LinkedIn profile for some extra professional goodness!
For more LinkedIn tips, take a look at my previous post 7 Tips to maxmise your LinkedIn profile.
How to Find Your Social Media Rhythm
When it comes to the issues faced by small businesses using social media, they seem to fall into three camps:
- they don’t use social media to market their business at all. Missing massive potential to generate more sales and stronger brand awareness
- they don’t understand how to use it effectively to leverage business opportunities. Quickly, they end up feeling despondent and frustrated because it’s not the golden ticket to success the ‘experts’ profess it to be
- they get sucked in to networking sites like Facebook and Twitter when they should be using it as a business tool, and see little, if any, return on time investment (but have GREAT fun anyway!)
So how can the small business owner overcome this?
Firstly, if your customers are online you need to be there too. It’s no good sticking your head in the sand, social media is here to stay. The internet is the go-to place to research products and services, and 90% of internet users trust the recommendations of people they know online over traditional advertising. People are talking about your brand, services and products (or your client’s products and services) whether you’re there or not!
Solution: Jump online, do some research using the countless free and paid resources available (including my website )
Knowing how the tools and social networks operate is key. For example, The Big 3: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, are all online networks but each is different and attract varying levels of activity and types of behaviour. If you’re going to succeed on these platforms you’ll want to understand the nuances and unwritten rules.
Solution: Watch and listen. Don’t try to learn it all at once. Big mistake! Familiarise yourself with the platforms one at a time.
You need to be committed, always keeping the end goal in mind. You’re using social media to increase profits, right? Right! Have a strategy in place and organize your ideas. If you’re going to use DIY marketing techniques, keep to a timetable to ensure your messages are consistent, you’re never stuck for something to say and you’ve always got a plan for those times when you’re super busy. It will limit the ‘time suck’ ie wasting heaps of time ‘working’ on Facebook when you should be knuckling down (it’s ok, we’ve all done it!).
Solution: Map out your marketing objectives and understand the needs of your target audience. Have a plan, use an editorial calendar and stick to it!
The Golden Nugget – The Rhythm Is Gonna Get You!
Getting into a rhythm and regularly producing content will increase momentum (planning your content will help). Consistency is key – it increases the benefits of SEO and, being seen regularly will establish your profile in your industry, leading to more fans and customers. Trust me, the more you do the easier it gets! The tools themselves may be low cost or free, but this is marathon type marketing – it takes time, commitment and consistency to build trust with your audience – essential ingredients in the relationship process, leading to loyal fans that keep coming back, advocates that promote your service and ultimately higher conversions.
Change Your Twitter Name Without Losing Followers
I recently decided to change my Twitter username and wanted to do it in such a way that I wouldn’t lose my followers or access to my current profile. I’ve built up a great community on Twitter and want to preserve it. Besides, what if someone decided to use my current name once I’d changed it? One day I may decide to reinstate it!
This short video takes you through the simple process I used, and I’ve also explained the steps underneath the video. I retained all of my followers and other important profile settings – lists, favourites, tweets and people I follow. It’s a foolproof strategy and the smartest way to switch while retaining your profile. Watch this 5 minute video to see how I did it…
Why do it this way?
It’s very easy to change your Twitter name. You can do it through the settings area of your profile. BUT WAIT!
If you just switch your name to something new, what happens when someone makes contact with you using your old name? They may not realise you’ve changed your name. The problem is, you won’t receive the message – it will be lost because your old username account no longer exists and that person will never know. What if someone follows you using your old username? They may have received a recommendation to follow you but they won’t know you’ve moved your profile. You could lose countless opportunities to engage with others interested in your product or service!
For this to work you need 2 things in place first:
- A new available profile name. This bit can be tricky. My chosen name @AbsoluteAlicia was about 10th on my list of desired names!
- An email address that is not currently associated with any of your other Twitter profiles. Each Twitter account needs a separate email address. You can’t have 1 email address associated with 2 or more accounts so you’ll want to make sure you have an email address in place before starting this process.
OK, here’s how you do it…
Step 1
- Change your current username to your new one in the settings section of your account.
- Once you’ve added your desired name, Twitter will check to see if it’s available. If your chosen name isn’t available it will say so and you’ll have to pick another.
- Once you have your chosen name scroll down to the bottom of the page and SAVE CHANGES.
Step 2
Notify all of your followers that you’ve changed your Twitter name. Do this by sending an update message telling them your new username.
Step 3
- Next up, create a new Twitter profile using your old Twitter name. This is when you will need another email address.
- Enter all the account information required for your new account, including your previous username. It’s important to do this step straight away to prevent anyone else taking your profile!
- Once the account is created, skip all of the ‘find people to follow’ stuff and go straight in to settings to recreate your account adding your profile picture, email, web address and old Twitter name.
- In the bio, explain who you are, that your profile has moved and where people can find you. By adding your new username in the bio, it will show up as a link taking people directly to your updated profile. Remember to save changes!
- If you’ve got a custom Twitter background you can add that in too in the Design area of settings.
Step 4
The next step is to send out a message on your new account with your old username. Don’t expect to get any followers here but just in case people come looking for you using your old Twitter name, you’ll want to make doubly sure that people know where they can find you. For the time being at least, this message will remain at the top of your profile ready to point people in the right direction.
I recommend that you come to check this account periodically, especially after the first few days of switching your name because you will get messages from people who don’t realise you’ve changed usernames, or they’ll forget, or people may follow you too. You can send them a message explaining that you’ve changed your name and where they can find you.
And that is it! That’s the whole process, really simple – it takes 5 minutes and it prevent you from losing any contacts you’ve made through your old username and will ensure a smooth transition from one to the other!
Thanks to @MarkShaw and @TamsinFD for their wise advice in pulling this strategy together.
If you want to learn more about using Twitter to market your business, check out the fabulous e-book Twitter Your Business (affiliate link) by Mark Shaw, for tons of practical tips, plus I’m a featured case study!
You can read my review of Mark’s book in my previous post Book Review: Twitter Your Business.
Get More Facebook Likes with Tagging
Do you know how to use tags to increase your page visibility in Facebook?
Tagging is a powerful way to gain more ‘likes’ (subscribers) for your page. You can tag friends from your personal profile too but this post mainly focuses on using tagging to promote your business. It’s super easy to implement and a highly effective strategy for generating more visibility for your page, here’s why…
A tag is a direct link to another Facebook page that is included within a message or comment. This is good for brand awareness because not only is the message seen on your page and in the news feed of your likers, it is also posted on the wall of the page you have tagged and seen by their subscribers too, thereby increasing your reach massively!
3 Top Tagging Strategies
The Hat Tip
Tagging another page in a status update is an ideal way to share knowledge and increase influence. The post below will be seen on Mark Shaw’s and Wordtracker’s walls as well as my own page, and all of our susbcribers. It’s also a way of ‘tipping your hat’ – showing appreciation of another page and positioning yourself with influencers in your industry. 
From Your Personal Profile
Including a tag to your page in a status update when posting as your personal profile can draw attention from Facebook friends – a useful way to generate interest for a specific promotion or when you launch your page. Especially useful as you can’t comment to personal profiles as a page unless their privacy settings allow this (most don’t).
The Comment
You can tag within a comment thread on another page to draw attention from a new audience. You can do this if you’re commenting as your page or profile. It will be visible on your profile (if you’re commenting as you), your page (if you’re commenting as your page), and whichever page or profile you post your comment. Plus, those who have also made comments in the thread will receive a notification by email. That’s potentially loads of new eyeballs!
OK, So How Do You Tag?
Firstly, to create a tag you have to like the page you want to tag.
Next, refer to the page in the status or comment box by preceding the page name with the @ sign. The page options will be listed from a drop down menu within the comment box, like this:
Select your chosen page to create a direct link within your comment.
This creates a direct clickable link back to the page in question and is displayed on your wall. It is also displayed on the wall of the page you have tagged:
A Word of Warning!
This is a great feature but please, please, please be respectful of that person’s profile/page as by tagging you are effectively posting an update on their wall. Make your tagged comments relevant and always add value. Don’t use this feature simply for promotional purposes. When used well tagging can really boost your page’s presence but it’s not a feature you want to over-use. Be selective with the kind of posts you tag and don’t target the same pages all the time. If you do, you are in danger of being viewed as a spammer by the other page owner, a nuisance to them and their subscribers, and may even get you blocked by that page.
*New Feature*
Facebook have just this week updated the tagging option for profiles where you can shorten the name of the person you are tagging (no need to display the full name), and if you type the first 5 letters of your friend’s name with a capital letter it will automatically initiate the tag feature. This feature isn’t available for pages yet ONLY on profiles, but maybe Facebook will look to include this for pages in the future.
Have you Liked my Facebook Page? If not, the next step is to do just that…Here’s the link: Facebook Page
Virtual Events: 7 Reasons To Use Them
I am pleased to announce that I have successfully completed the Virtual Event Specialist Certification Program, a 4-week training course that equips online professionals with the key skills and tools necessary to offer clients important and in-demand virtual event management services.
Small businesses are increasingly choosing to hold webinars and tele-seminars to present training programmes, conferences and even week long education summits. Thanks to improved technology, social media and the real time web, they provide a real alternative to off line events. Here are seven reasons why event providers and small businesses are choosing virtual events:
- They are less expensive compared to offline events
- They offer more flexibility and convenience to presenters and attendees – everyone gets a front row seat!
- Allow people to attend from all over the world without having to step out of their door
- For the presenter, it extends their reach beyond the immediate locality potentially increasing the number of attendees
- They save time with no travelling involved for any party, which also means they’re good for the environment
- By recording the event it enables attendees to listen in at a time convenient to them
- The recording enables the presenter to re-use the material again and again increasing their passive income
In the current economic downturn it’s no surprise to learn that 67% of professionals responsible for physical events report that overall attendance has dropped, and 70% of corporate event organisers predict significant growth in virtual conferences and webinars.
I offers a range of niche services to support small business owners with their marketing and events, particularly in the online and social media arena. That is why I’m excited to be adding important virtual event specialist services and tools that will further improve my clients’ visibility and presence. These include setting up and delivering tele-events featuring one or many speakers, webinars and webcasts, online radio shows, live podcasts and live streaming TV shows.
In VAClassroom’s Virtual Event Specialist Certification Program, I learned strategies, best practices, tips and techniques for efficiently and effectively creating great events for my clients using the leading technologies including:
- GoToWebinar webinar hosting software
- Camtasia online video editing and recording software
- Ustream for presenting live events online
This certification also entitles me to ongoing training, so as technology develops I will always continue to offer quality up-to-date virtual event specialist skills for my clients!
Book Review: Twitter Your Business, Mark Shaw
Twitter Your Business, Mark Shaw
If you’re a regular here you will know I’m a big fan of Twitter as a marketing tool, and when I heard that UK Twitter expert, Mark Shaw, was writing a book on the subject I was immediately interested. It was in the very early stages of the book’s inception that he got in touch and asked if I would be a case study. I didn’t hesitate – it was an honour to be asked and a great opportunity to tell my story about my Twitter successes!
That was late 2010 and Twitter Your Business has now been successfully launched. Having given it a thorough read, I wanted to review it here on my blog.
Review
First of all, it’s not like many of the how-to social networking guides available. Twitter Your Business is an e-book (you read it from your computer) which is completely appropriate considering the topic. With social media being a fluid, ever-evolving landscape, Twitter Your Business has already got the advantage over its printed competitors. Any time Twitter make changes to the platform or brings in new functionality the guide can be updated to reflect those changes, keeping the content fresh and always up-to-the-minute. 10/10.
The content of the book is written in an uncomplicated, easy to read way. Mark explains every function of Twitter that a new user needs to know. From the step-by-step process of opening an account, understanding the different types of tweets, the all important Twitter terminology, and trends like #FollowFriday. The book doesn’t only explain the how and what of using Twitter to market your business, Mark explains the why’s too, providing valuable insight for a new user. The unwritten rules are clearly explained so you no longer need to wonder ‘Shall I, shan’t I?‘ as your mouse hovers over the tweet button.
Twitter Your Business answers those questions that most new users always ask – What shall I tweet about? How long should I spend on Twitter? How do I find people to follow and attract followers? It also provides recommendations on third party tools and mobile applications to help you manage your Twitter strategy, and how to measure your success. There are real life case studies weaved in to the content demonstrating the experiences of small businesses using the social networking platform (Absolute PA is featured on page 49 ). There’s even a quick quiz to check that your new found knowledge is sinking in!
This is a great book for the small business user thinking about adding Twitter to their marketing, or for anyone who has signed up but hasn’t achieved the success they expected, nor got the time to figure it all out. This book will save you hours of research and get you tweeting like a pro – an easy read packed with valuable content.
Publisher: Harriman House
Price: £10.00
Length: 75 pages
Buy the Book here (affiliate link)
Product Description
Making an impact, 140 characters at a time.
Twitter is not ‘a get rich quickly tool’. You will achieve very little by just having an account. It takes time, effort and commitment to stand a chance of success on Twitter. However, if you are prepared to spend some time on Twitter each day finding people and conversations where you can add value, then things may well happen for you.
The real value of Twitter is in the ability to search for real people talking about real stuff, right now and in real time. This offers individuals, businesses, brands the real opportunity to stop talking at customers and start talking with customers. A subtle but huge difference.
Table of Contents
Introduction
My story
Twitter etiquette
Signing up with Twitter
Tweeting
- the 5 different types of tweets
- How to use an @reply or @mention
- Deleting and editing a tweet
- Favourites
- Adding a URL to your message
- Adding a photo to your tweet
A quick quiz
What to tweet about
How much time to spend on Twitter
How to find people to follow
- Should I follow everyone who follows me?
- Is it rude not to follow someone back?
- Creating a list
- Blocking users on Twitter
- How to stop following someone
Attracting followers
The #hashtag and trends
The search facility: Twitter’s greatest asset
How businesses should use Twitter
Should other people tweet on your behalf
Top dos, don’ts and best practises
Twitter tools
Answers to the quiz
Measuring the results
Final word
More about the author
How I Set Up My Business: Woman & Home Magazine feature
I was recently lucky enough to be featured in Woman & Home, the national monthly women’s magazine, as part of their regular article called ‘New Directions‘. The feature includes inspirational stories of women who have changed their career direction or set up in business, and focuses on how they achieved this as a way to inspire others considering a similar path. I was asked to describe my story of setting up my virtual assistant business, Absolute PA.
Taking part was an interesting experience, and overall an enjoyable one. I’ve since received many emails from women motivated by the article to explore their own business opportunities. I’m honoured that my story has played a part in their inspiration! You can read the full article here: Woman & Home, April 2011
11 Big Social Media Mistakes to Avoid
I posted my first tweet on March 8 2009. Lots has happened since then and little did I know what effect the micro-blogging site would have on my business. Twitter is what started me off on my journey as a social media specialist. In my first year as a business owner, it accounted for 25% of my new business and over half of my website traffic.
I don’t claim to be a social media expert – I’m still learning, observing, tinkering, tweaking, testing and studying. I’ve made mistakes and occasionally I struggle along with everyone else. I expect I always will. It’s been fun though, and I’d like to share with you some of the biggest social media mistakes I’ve learned so far:
- Don’t Listen. If you want to find out what your customers want, you’ll want to listen to them. Social media is perfect for that.
- Broadcast your messages. If the extent of your social ‘networking’ activity is posting updates about you, your company and products. Guess what? No one will listen.
- Obsess about how many Facebook Likes or Twitter followers you have. Think quality over quantity and start building a community and valuable relationships instead.
- Auto everything. Some despise auto-generated content, others use it to support their presence and assist with time management. But, if you rely solely on your RSS feed it will make you dull, dull, dull. It won’t take long before others notice that you’re not dedicating time to your marketing and you are, in essence, a robot.
- Auto-following and auto-direct messaging on Twitter. See 3 and 4 above.
- Use the same strategy for all social networking platforms. Here’s a great analogy I heard once: Think of LinkedIn as a business meeting, Twitter – a party, and Facebook – an invitation to someone’s home. Some think that by feeding their Twitter posts through to Facebook and LinkedIn is the answer to managing their profiles. It’s not. Would you get drunk and dance at a business meeting? No, me neither.
- Spread yourself too thinly. If you can only manage one profile, stick to that and do it really well. Don’t try and master them all at once – concentrate your efforts one at a time and see where you get the best results. If you spread yourself over too many platforms it’s unlikely you’ll achieve anything at all.
- Think people will come to you. They won’t. You have to go and find the conversations, join in and add your point of view or value by providing great insight or useful information.
- Think people are interested in you. They’re not – they’re interested in what’s in it for them.
- Make it hard to find you. Your signature block is a really valuable piece of marketing. Whether it’s on you email, forum signature or business cards – let people know where they can find you online.
- Be uninterested. If you’re interested in your online community you can learn a ton of stuff about your customers, prospects, industry, thought leaders and competition. How valuable is that to your business?
So, now it’s over to you. What would you add to this list? Maybe you disagree with some of the points listed. I’d love to know – please leave your comment below.
Tag Tribes Social Media Week: Video SEO and Business Blogging
It’s Social Media Week! A chance for thought leaders, geeks and professional enthusiasts to discuss and learn about emerging social media trends, and develop their understanding of the role it plays in society. There are eight cities around the world taking part, including London, with events consisting of breakfast briefings, panel debates, workshops, media agency open houses, pop-up business advice shops and loads of networking. Most events are free and open to everyone.
Get involved!
My Social Media Week kicked off last night at the Tag Tribes workshop ‘Video SEO and Blogging for Business’. Skillfully organised and compered (as always) by @BernieJMitchell, the sold out event took place at the smart TalkTalk business centre in the heart of London’s Soho. An eager crowd gathered ready to learn as Tania Jackson (@RedIdea_) and @LeeSmallwood gave their whistle stop tours of business blogging and YouTube optimisation. Unfortunately, I missed most of Tania’s talk, as I arrived a little late (Oops! Thankfully Tania will be presenting at another Tag Tribe event very soon), but what I did hear were some great ideas on promoting blog content using social media channels, submission tools like Only Wire, community sites and blog aggregators.
Next up was Lee, who barely took a breath as he reeled off his expert knowledge on YouTube SEO. Lee’s aim was for each of us to leave with 1 to 3 key ideas from his talk, but he delivered countless tips on using descriptions, tags, captions, the power of ‘likes’ and the importance of building your YouTube community. The most valuable take away for me was that surprisingly, video SEO is not often used so by taking advantage of some lesser known tactics readily available on YouTube, you and your video content can be a giant step ahead of the competition. So, what are you waiting for?!
View Lee Smallwood’s YouTube presentation.
I’ll be attending more events taking place this week, so discover Social Media Week and the brilliant daily Tag Tribe events for yourself.
The One Important Feature Facebook Forgot – Updated
I’ve recently discovered a new service for Facebook pages that is so important for community management and monitoring, I’m amazed it’s not already a Facebook feature!
If you own or admin a Facebook page you will know that monitoring your page activity isn’t easy – you’re reliant on being in Facebook and checking the page manually. This can be time intensive and distracting. Worse, you could miss important conversations and time sensitive comments if the page isn’t monitored closely enough or it attracts high traffic.
17 points in Scrabble!
This new, super easy, free alert system called Hyper Alerts notifies you by email whenever there is activity on your Facebook page. Here are the key features:
- variety of notification settings: receive an email immediately, daily, weekly or monthly
- choose the activity you wish to be notified of: posts, comments or admin posts (handy if there are several admins for your page)
- receive multiple alerts for the same page. For example, receive daily notifications for immediate response plus an overall monthly activity report for archiving
- monitor as many pages as you wish – you simply click the pages you require from the list of all the pages you administrate.
- You can even select pages you don’t admin by entering the url of the Facebook page. Maybe you want to keep an eye on a competitor or keep up to date with associate or client activity
- Hyper Alerts doesn’t use Facebook Connect so it won’t need access to your personal information and you don’t even need a Facebook account to use it
Check out Hyper Alerts for yourself!
UPDATE
Facebook has now added email notifications as part of the page updates that took place recently. So, are you thinking Hyper Alerts is a redundant tool? It’s not! Facebook’s notification feature is fantastic for keeping you up to date with real time notifications but there are only two settings: on and off (at least, for now). If your page is very active with comments or you admin a number of pages, you may want to turn Facebook’s notification feature off and stick to the more manageable Hyper Alerts.
The Pain Free Way to Get Your Contracts Signed
The process of getting contracts signed is almost enough to put you off doing it. All that printing, signing, scanning, faxing, posting – feels like we’re back in the dark ages. Luckily, there is another solution that makes getting contracts and documents signed fast, simple and pain free. Not only that, clients love it. And who wouldn’t? Contract signing is notoriously tedious for everyone, often being the one thing delaying the start of a project. Ugh.
I’ve been using Echosign since I started my business. It’s one of a handful of tools that assists the smooth running of the day-to-day tasks, cutting down on admin and allowing me to concentrate on the more rewarding stuff. Here’s why I think Echosign is so great:
- Simplifies the contract signing process making it more efficient and professional
- Literally reduces the sign up process to minutes. Simply upload your contract or form, set which fields are required for completion, then hit ‘send’
- Integrates with a number of other applications including Google Apps and Salesforce
- Tracks progress so you can see where the document is held up and by whom (particularly handy if there are more than 2 signatories)
- Sends auto reminders to all parties if required so you don’t have to
- Sends everyone a copy of the signed document in PDF format and securely stores a version in your account
- Most importantly, it closes business quicker
There is even a great widget allowing you to post your contracts or documents on your website or blog – a great idea if you’re selling products or services online.
Oh, and did I mention there’s a free version?
If you’re worried about the legality of E-signatures, then don’t be. They have the same legal standing as traditional forms of contract signing being covered in the EU by the Electronic Signature Directive and E-Sign Act in the US. Did you know that the first agreement signed electronically was in 1998? Back then, we were all watching Something About Mary and engrossed by the Monica Lewinsky scandal. It’s only in recent years with advances in technology that has made e-signing a simpler solution than the alternative, and a real option for businesses.
Just look at some of the companies using Echosign on their website.
Simple Twitter Tips: What Does #FF Mean?
Simple Answer: Follow Friday
I get asked this question a lot. It’s one of a handful of abbreviations used in Twitter that bamboozles new users, and then they avoid using it. Which is a shame, because Twitter is a really great place to be as I’ve explained on many occasions.
I remember the very first time I saw #FF messages. My Twitter feed was littered with them but I couldn’t figure out what it all meant. I felt left out – what is #FF? how do I get one? what am I missing?!
A short, dirty guide to Follow Friday…
#FF is short for #FollowFriday. It’s a Twitter trend created back in 2009 by Twitter users that has since become a customary Friday activity.
An #FF is a shout out, a show of appreciation, a nice thing to do. Each Friday you recommend Twitter profiles that you appreciate and enjoy to all of your followers. The idea being that your #FF recommendation will encourage others to check out that profile, generating more followers for them. See? A nice thing to do.
The # (hashtag – read all about them here) is added to create a clickable link and group all the #FF (or #FollowFriday) messages on Twitter together making them easily searchable.
The best ways to use Follow Friday:
If you want to send an #FF, simply add #FF (or #FollowFriday) to your message, the @name of the person you are recommending along with a genuine reason for your recommendation. Like this:
Hmm, might need to follow this Mark Shaw guy…
Tip: Try to include just one recommendation per message, rather than a message full of @names which is often counter productive, like this one:
So many recommendations, which should I choose??
Lots of people do the latter. You’ll rarely get a follow from a group recommendation like this one above – there are way too many choices, and Twitter is too fast for making choices. The only decision to make is whether to click on ‘that’ message or ‘this’ one, and if you’ve suggested 5 #FFs in one message you’ll be ignored or worse, labelled a spammer. Whereas, by giving a legitimate reason to follow someone people are more likely to listen.
Looking at both of these messages above, which one are you most likely to act on?
Sending a mutual #FF simply because someone has #FF’d you is not an authentic reason to send them one too. Don’t make this your reason for doing so – others will see through it and won’t appreciate a suggestion to follow someone who tweets nonsense all day. Please, be considered and genuine in your recommendations.
Lastly, If you’re lucky enough to receive an #FF, thank the person in a reply tweet, like this one:
That’s nice
Now you know all about #FollowFriday, who will you be showing your appreciation for next time?
Social Media Marketing: 2 BIG Misconceptions
I had an interesting conversation this week on LinkedIn with a Virtual Assistant about the value of social media marketing for business. It appeared that she had ticked all the boxes: a good website; profiles on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn; regular blog posts that add value and demonstrate her expertise, but none of this was generating new business leads, and the VA was frustrated. Having heard about social media and its many benefits, she couldn’t understand why it wasn’t working for her. This conversation led me to think about two of the biggest, most frustrating misconceptions surrounding social media marketing that I’m going to share with you right now!
source: photobucket/anagrom
Firstly, social media is not a magic elixir. Many small business owners hear that they should be using social media from other users, a view backed up by an abundance of vocal internet marketeers (hmm, I wonder why!). They think that by having a Twitter profile and writing the occasional blog post is the answer to a good marketing strategy. There’s an expectation to see new leads and business opportunities flood in with little effort but unfortunately, that’s not the case. It takes time, effort and commitment. It’s not magic but simply another marketing channel and should be treated as such. To get the best results you have to be consistent, interesting, helpful, interested in others and build relationships over time because people buy from people they know and like.
Another misconception is that it’s totally free. Guess what? It’s not!! Yes, signing up to Twitter and Facebook costs nothing, setting up a blog on Blogger or WordPress.com is also free, posting articles with EZineArticles is free. But, you may choose to pay someone to develop and manage your presence for you to ensure you’re utilising it effectively, or so you can spend your time on developing other areas of your business. Alternatively, by doing it all yourself it will cost you time – and that can be a considerable amount especially in the beginning when you’re developing your profile and building your community.
But it is ALL worth it. Your effort will be repaid in new clients, joint ventures, business opportunities, and increased learning that will benefit you and your business. Like most things in life, what you put in will determine what you get out of it.
So, what about you? What social media myths and misconceptions have you come across that frustrate you? Let me know by adding your views in the comment section below.