Tag Archives: Social Media

Social Media for Local Businesses

on March 23, 2011 in Marketing, Social Media, Success Institute, Women in Business

Guest Post by Gail Z. Martin, an excerpt from her book “30 Days to Social Media Success”

Whether you own your own company or operate a local franchise of a national firm, being a good neighbor is essential to creating a successful business. In the past, businesses have demonstrated their neighborliness by being prominent in the local scene. Sponsoring the town’s intramural or kids’ sports teams, underwriting local pageants, festivals and holiday celebrations, providing hometown scholarships, and encouraging employees to take visible roles in charity events have all been ways companies have shown themselves to be good neighbors.

Being neighborly also includes creating a sense of community by hosting programs that offer a chance for local people to mingle, relax and get to know each other. Some examples might include a health workshop held by a local medical practice, live music at a neighborhood coffee shop, bar or club, author readings and signings at a book store or library, or even a community day of service cleaning up a park or painting a school.

Now think about how social media could help you maximize those opportunities. Social media becomes a powerful way to leverage the PR benefit of your involvement as a sponsor before, during and after the event by creating new ways for the community to gather, communicate, interact and remember.

Before the event, use Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to generate interest in what’s coming up  Get the conversation going before the event even happens. Encourage your core team of organizers, volunteers and beneficiaries to get online and talk about the event on your social media sites and on their own. Get them to link to each other’s sites/blogs and reTweet.

During the event, take photos and digital video (simplify the permission issue by making permission to be photographed part of the participation contract and the ticket agreement). Tweet and blog live. Have roving “reporters” with digital cameras and audio recorders gathering on-the-spot comments from participants, organizers and attendees. Ask everyone who signs up to blog, Tweet and invite their Facebook friends. Sign everyone up who attends as a Facebook friend and Twitter follower so you can stay in touch. Offer a prize to the person who submits the best video or digital photo collage/slideshow and then post it on all your event social media sites (encourage everyone to re-post for more viral coverage). If you need more volunteers, ask your Twitter followers to come and help out.

Make the most of local PR by contacting the reporters for your newspaper, radio and TV outlets and encouraging them to cover the event in their social media as well as in their regular column or show. If they attend the event, get plenty of photos and put them on your social media sites. Use your tags and keywords for great searchability, and be sure to do your Social Bookmarking. You might even seek out local dignitaries like the mayor or council members for photos, audio or video. Politicians will rarely decline free PR!

You can also leverage the local power of social media by rallying neighbors to help. Local animal shelters have used Twitter and Facebook to feature pets that are available for adoption, ask for volunteers and solicit donations of food or money when money gets tight.

Most people have no idea of the variety of things that go on in their community every day. Few Americans read a daily newspaper, and many formerly local news stations now only run nationally syndicated programming. When you become the conduit to connect busy people to their community, you gain stature as a leader and visibility for your business.

By featuring local events, local people and local businesses in your social media conversation, you will create a “voice” that can resonate within your community and that raises your profile in a positive way. Put your social media sites on your business card, and invite everyone you meet to friend or follow you.

At the same time that you’re cultivating your neighborhood audience, don’t automatically close the door to growing regional or national clientele. You’ll need to create a separate social media campaign to offer your products and services outside of your community, since local happenings won’t usually be a draw for long-distance clients. On the other hand, if you live in an area that is a tourist resort, a college town or a city or region that has seen an exodus of residents due to economic circumstances, you may find that for those who have left, there’s no place like home.

For example, a favorite sports bar in a college town could retain connections with alumni who leave the area through social media. Restaurants have found gold in shipping favorite comfort foods, sauces and dips to regular diners who moved away, and a Facebook or Twitter site can allow your expatriate audience to get a taste of home. If you operate a store, entertainment venue or business that sees repeat business from vacationing clients, use your social media to stay in touch all year long, keeping them updated on what’s new, and finding out what they’d like to see when they return to your business.

Using social media for “local” businesses pays off in many ways. It can build business and strengthen community ties, which can win loyal clients. By staying in touch with event participants and “alumni” who periodically return, you can improve the odds of repeat sales. And by extending your reach to clients beyond your area, you also buffer your cash flow from the ups and downs of the local economy.

Join Gail Z. Martin on Success Institute, 4.5.11 at 1:30pm CST for “I’m On Facebook, Now What?”

For more information about Gail Z. Martin and DreamSpinner Communications

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7 Quick & Easy Money Making Activities to Do Every Day in Your Small Business That Only Take 10 Minutes or Less to Do!

on March 1, 2011 in Coaching Corner, Marketing, Relationship Networking, Social Media, Women in Business

Guest Post by Premier Success Coach Katrina Sawa, Social Media and Online Marketing Coach

Money-Making activities are the #1 thing you should be spending time on in your day-to-day of the running of your business.

Don’t get caught up doing administrative tasks or time-sucking tasks that will never bring you customers.

Instead sprinkle in some of these quick and easy money-making activities among your big picture marketing plan and watch how more prospects come your way!

#1. Add (and send a personal message to) 25 people in Facebook or LinkedIn to your profile or fan page.

#2.  Make 5 follow up phone calls to connect with people in your database, previous clients for referrals or upsells, prospects for new business and more.

#3.  Email 3 people asking them if you can speak at one of their upcoming events, include creative ideas so they email you back.

#4.  Write a quick, ‘how to’ blog post or article for your blog, ezine or fan page.

#5.  Connect via email, facebook or phone with 2 people who you could do an article swap with you who have complimentary businesses to yours and a list.

#6.  Record a video tip about your expertise or something you teach in your coaching/business along with a call to action and get it up on YouTube, linking it out to your social sites and blog too.

#7.  Create a new freebie or free teleclass that will be of interest to your target audience and start promoting it for list building.

About the Author: Katrina Sawa is known as The JumpStart Your Biz Coach because she literally kicks her female entrepreneur clients into high gear when they work with her.  She is one of the eWomenNetwork Premier Coaches and works with women entrepreneurs worldwide on starting, growing and marketing their businesses.  You can find out more about Kat and get some Free Gifts at www.JumpstartYourMarketing.com/gifts.

Connect with Katrina Sawa at eWomenNetwork or

at JumpStart Your Marketing

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Getting Your Bio in Great Shape Offers Rewards that Show Up in The Balance Sheet

on January 17, 2011 in Women in Business

Guest Post by Nancy Juetten

A client-attracting bio is a universal tool in the marketing toolbox for business owners serious about growing and attracting the right clients. Read on for tips to help you get the mission accomplished in short order.

Not every business owner has the interest or inclination to get interviewed by the media, become a popular public speaker, or step into that dream of becoming a best-selling author. However, it is a universal need among business owners to position themselves to attract more of the right clients right now. Those who want to stand out and shine as they attract more clients need to say who they are, the mission they are on, the results they bring about, and why it matters in compelling terms that capture attention straight away. That means using your bio as a tool to attract exactly what you seek in terms that actually compel prospects into action.

For example, if you were seeking a personal fitness trainer, which of these two descriptions would compel you to lean in and engage?

A. I am a personal fitness trainer who serves 50-something rich people who reside on Mercer Island who want to get in better shape now.

B. I am a Jewish mother with a PhD who is also a fitness maven on a mission to get 50-somethings off the couch and taking the stairs with a smile because they look to the second half of life as the best half of life.

As for me, I’d choose B. because the message is steeped in authenticity, wow, and the promise of great possibilities that really resonate in a compelling, emotional way. And it all happens with one line of text.

The fact is, everyone’s business bio can be made better to showcase more authenticity, better messaging, and delicious benefits that really resonate with their target market. Best of all, a better bio can invite more of the right opportunities to reflect well in the balance sheet. Like all things — including exercise — it’s a matter of getting into action and selecting well chosen words that deliver the goods.

As you ponder those words, consider these marketplace realities:

1) There are 27 million independent business professionals trying to make a go of it beyond the scope of “cubicle nation.” Some have exited voluntarily, and some choose never to return or can’t find their way back in. These people have to make their way in the world somehow, and that means it is essential to differentiate and stand apart quickly in an online search. Blah, blah, blah and boring messages don’t get the job done.

2) There are many people who need to invite additional streams of income beyond traditional employment to make ends meet in this demanding economy in which many states are still reporting double digit unemployment. What potential clients find out about them in a quick Google search can mean the difference between getting a call to get into action or sitting indefinitely for calls that never come in. Conduct a “Google” search for your name, your company name, and the key words for which you want to be known as the expert. If the search reveals a disconnect, consider that your wake up call to take inspired action to change that for the better.

3) Speakers who want more paid speaking engagements can invite plenty more of them and the compensation that goes with them, provided they lead with a provocative, timely headline and describe their message points in ways that get meeting planners to say “YES” right away. Those who ramble in broad generalities are often disappointed by their results, whereas those who describe the value they bring in bold terms often welcome the compensation.

4) In today’s economy that the Wall Street Journal has called “the age of going solo,” decision makers recognize that they are doing business first and foremost with PEOPLE as opposed to COMPANIES. People want to know about that energy healer, financial planner, or business coach before putting their money on the line to benefit from their unique ways of serving clients. How quickly a consultant, expert, author, or media personality can get to the “like, trust, and respect” place has a direct impact over how much influence they can command and how much money they can make. A well crafted bio that makes clear the stunning results, sassy sound bites, succinct stories, and relevant social information that guides ideal clients to get there faster can bring plenty more qualified sales opportunities than leading with an old school bio that reads like yesterday’s news.

5) There are a great many people who struggle GREATLY with talking about themselves. For those who want to get seen, heard, celebrated and ultimately COMPEN$ATED, this is a huge problem. Those who are willing to articulate the value they bring for their ideal clients in terms that resonate and are sufficiently compelling to invite prospects to become paying clients can advance along their path to revenue generation a whole lot faster than those who don’t or won’t. It’s an exercise well worth the effort, as you’ll soon find out when you plug in these lessons to your expert advantage to scoop up the marketplace opportunities that await.  (Original post http://biznik.com/articles/getting-your-bio-in-great-shape-offers-rewards-that-show-up-in-the-balance-sheet)

Success InstituteJoin Nancy Juetten on Success Institute 1/18/11, 1:30pm CST to  ”Take the Rock Start Status Reality Check”

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What is #ewomen2010?

on June 9, 2010 in Annual International Conference & Business Expo, eWomenNetwork Foundation, Women in Business

Photo by jeffisageek – Flickr
Photo by jeffisageek – Flickr

On Twitter, hashtags (#) have become a favorite tool for conference and event organizers.  They provide a way to track topics and breaking news.  As more and more members register for the 10th Anniversary International Conference & Business Expo, we want to provide you with easy access to Conference updates, trends and topics.  The hashtag for the 2010 Conference is  #ewomen2010, and utilizing it in posts on Twitter, will make your communication easy to share with other conference attendees.

For those who are unable to attend the Conference, a hashtag (#) will provide them with the opportunity to follow discussions and benefit from the insights of those who are experiencing the speakers and events in real time.  #ewomen2010 is registered at Hashtags.org (http://ht.ly/1VNrU )and Tagal.us. (http://tagal.us/tag/ewomen2010). 

eWomen Network is celebrating “10 in 2010”!  This conference will provide an unparalleled   opportunity to grow and expand your business, knowledge, and network.  For more information on the Conference, events, and speakers, please go to http://www.ewomennetworkconference.com.  And, don’t forget to let your network know about #ewomen2010 !

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Sarah Palin – Brilliant Strategy or Winner of the “Iquitarod”?

on July 6, 2009 in Social Media

(Soon to be ex) Alaksa Governor, Sarah Palin

(Soon to be ex) Alaksa Governor, Sarah Palin

Among other big news stories over this past 4th of July weekend was the story about Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s decision not to seek another term as Governor, and her resignation 2-1/2 years early from her post as Governor.

While the media and folks in politics debate whether this is either a brilliant strategy or a terrible mistake on her part, my point is not to discuss her politics – but rather to bring to light the way she is choosing to get the word out about her decisions and her plans for the future utilizing the same social media tools that are available to all of us.

Her Facebook page shows that she currently has 600,428 fans (or supporters) and she is actively using Twitter (@akgovsarahpalin) to send updates and keep people posted (she’s added about 30,000 followers since making her announcement last Friday).

In the last election, President Obama famously implemented social media as a key piece of his campaign strategy (obviously, with much success).

Like Obama, (and other “celebrity figures”), Palin has had the opportunity to attract many more “fans” or “followers” than those of us mere mortals could do in a similar timeframe.  Because of this, the conversation has just exploded rapidly on both of these sites with both supporters and detractors weighing in.

It’s going to be fascinating to watch her use of these social media tools as she leaves her official office and moves on to whatever she has planned next.

Caroline

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