My Best of 2011

My 2011, and a little of the best - focusing on social media and learning:

1. The most popular Google videos this year - http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/what-were-we-watching-this-year-lets.html

2. Google's top search terms this year - http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/google-announces-top-search-terms-of-2011

3. Mashable's Awards (5th)  - winners announced (social media, entertainment, business, technology)  - http://mashable.com/2011/12/19/mashable-awards-winners/

4. Person of the year Time Magazine - The Protester - http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2101745_2102132_2102373,00.html

5.  My best book of the year - I'm Feeling Lucky  - The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59 - Douglas Edwards - although technically not a marketing or a business how to book, I'd give this to anyone wanting to learn about business -it's an incredible and insightful book about Google.

http://www.fastcompany.com/1766361/im-feeling-lucky-google-employee-number-59-tells-all

6. Amazon's Best Books of the Year (so far) - http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&plgroup=1&docId=1000698051 
- read, read, read!

7. My best social media/marketing blog - We Are Social http://wearesocial.net/ -

it's mainly info about the UK, I think their Mashups are extremely valuable!

8. Ad Age's Best Social, Media Campaigns this year (UK) - http://adage.com/article/special-report-book-of-tens-2011/ad-age-s-book-tens-social-media-campaigns/231498/

9. My best ad of the year (funny and brilliant) -  by New Zealand's Transport Agency http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIYvD9DI1ZA -  

if you love ads (or work in advertising) - Best ads (interactive, TV, print and outdoor) week by week - http://www.bestadsontv.com/
(a fantastic resource)

10. My best Facebook community page - Toby the Wonderdog -  https://www.facebook.com/drkatrinawarren - where pet owners come and share their pet stories.

12. 5 Twitter people I admire and learnt from this year (trust me I have zillions!):

Kerri Sackville - https://twitter.com/#!/KerriSackville

NZJayZee - https://twitter.com/#!/nzJayZee

Pam Moore - https://twitter.com/#!/PamMktgNut

Servant of Chaos - https://twitter.com/#!/servantofchaos

JoJoebi Designs - https://twitter.com/#!/jojoebi

13. and lucky last - my best two free eBook providers (just need to give some details and download)

BuddyMedia - whitepapers - http://buddymedia.com/resources/white-papers

Hubspot - whitepapers and eBooks - http://www.hubspot.com/internet-marketing-whitepapers/

14. Bonus! Here's a free eBook library - focusing on marketing - http://www.davidmeermanscott.com/products_ebooks.htm

15. And if any of you are looking for blogs/bloggers  - (or just to learn and connect) here's The Best Australian Blogs 2011 winners (and others) a competition run by the Sydney Writer's Centre http://www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au/bloggingcomp/enter.html

Social Status will be open over the holiday season, so if you need anything (training, tips or advice), give me a call, Tweet, email, comment on Facebook or even arrange to meet me for a coffee (gasp!)

Wishing you all a very happy holiday and for those of you finishing work this week - a wonderful new year!

5 social media resources on tools and advice

Chris Brogan said ” There are lots of people throwing “social media expert” out there. Hell, I had it as part of my “about” on my blog, but I’ve chosen to just say that I advise people. It’s more accurate, because expertise is fairly darned fleeting out there right now.”

Here are 5 resources I have come across, with advice, tools, suggestions and tips - to help you with your social media.

1. 12 Best Social Media Tools You Should Be Using  - try out some of these tools - John Paul advises that you "Find a few you like and work for you and learn to use that tool perfectly to get the best results."

2. Want to be successful on social media? - Listen to your mother - all the advice given to Michelle Shaeffer and how she  believes it applies to social media.

3. Passion and honesty in your writing will help you build a relationship with your community - so radian6 encourages you to Write passion into your social media content 

 4.  Social Rabbit believes that owning a dog and using social media have more in common than you may have realised - 6 things dogs and social media have in common 

5. Is your business ready for social media next year? - here are some templates from business.gov.au to help you plan and give your business direction.

7 ways to prevent Social Media Fails

There are many ways that a campaign, account, video, update, link, article, post, advert, small business or company can experience a social media #fail online.

Here are 7 approaches to help you and hopefully prevent your brand or business from experiencing a social media fail:

1. Social Media should be considered holistic. 

When setting up accounts/profiles, your social media should be consistent and in alignment with your business/company's policies and practices. 

Social media combines advertising, marketing, PR, writing, customer service and communications - approaching social media hoistically will be extremely rewarding.

2. Develop a 3/4 month social media marketing plan, this can be amended and adjusted accordingly. A plan throughout the year will help to set up your smm (social media marketing) strategy:

 -what is your message?

-what is your aim?

-who is your target market?

-what are your strategies?

-how much are you planning to spend on marketing and advertising (month by month)?

-which social media accounts and platforms you are going to use for your business and why?

-who is responsible for each account? 

-are you going to have an employee schedule?

-how will you monitor each account (or who)?

-what to focus on each month?

-do you have tech support?

-are you going to outsource,writers, designers, PR companies

I signed up for free and received marketing templates from VATrainingOnline, to start planning for 2012 - they are free, colourful and easy to use and share.

3. Every person, business and company should have a social media policy in place. The Department of Justice, Victoria has designed a policy and a video for their employees. 

A policy defines your code of conduct, your business practices, your responsibilities. 

You can protect your business and brand. 

Here is a free policy template that you can use to develop one of your own. 

Ideally, employees should read and sign the policy before using social media which represents their workplaces.

4. PR issues need to be discussed. 

Whether you hire a PR agency or you look at PR practices, knowing how to handle any crisis, having a crisis policy into place and knowing exactly how to act and deal with  a 'failure' will be extremely beneficial. 

Here are 10 steps to help recover from a 'fail'. 

Ogilvy has set up a slideshare on crisis management - don't overreact see a crisis as an opportunity.

5. Customer service, responding and monitoring is an essential part of social media. 

In fact, I think that customer service and social media go hand in hand.
People often use social media accounts to complain publicly and expect teams to handle them quickly and well. 

Most businesses/corporations need to align their customer service teams in the same way they handle email, telephone and written complaints and customer service training on social media should be an essential part of business practices.

Address the following:

Who will be handling enquiries and complaints?

What action will you take over weekends? 

Have you set up a feedback email or a number for complaints?

Have you set up alerts and notifications, so you can handle customer feedback in a reasonable time?

Here are 9 top brands who are embracing social customer care

Here are 26 tips to add and implement customer service as part of your social media strategy.

6. Look at and learn from #fails online.
Read up about social media fails and take the oppurtunity to learn from them to:
Listen to people online.

Set up alerts and notifications.
Monitor your accounts.
Track your brand and business online.
Respond to questions, feedback, complaints and enquiries (within reason).
Understand the terms and conditions of each social media account.

7. Consider research as an essential part of your social media.

Read blogs, forums, reviews and if you can, thank people for their positivity (via email).

Build advocates around your business and your brand. 

Take time to read about your industry and be aware of what is happening in your industry, this will benefit your content, your understanding, your expertise and ensure that you know exactly what is happening day by day online.
Set up RSS feeds, read articles and blog posts.
Track your industry and watch what is happening on Twitter.

   

Google+ just launched pages for business

Google+ has just announced that users can start creating pages for businesses, providing users with information on how to set up pages.

CNET's article will give you a basic idea of what Google+ pages entails and Google themselves  have set up a Google+ for business page -  with information on how to share, promote and measure.

Here's my page -  I cannot wait to see how it will assist businesses with building a brand, connecting with customers/clients and marketing their brands.

What is your influence?

Klout, Social Mention and all those monitoring your influence sites gives others an idea of what kind of topics you share and what you are influential about. It also acts as a referral/recommendation service and helps people to find you (or your business) online.

Measuring (and knowing) your online influence can be vital for brands. Generating, monitoring and engaging brands is ultimately what social media is all about.

'Understanding how your company interacts with its online community, and knowing which tools are effective in the ultra-specific world of the Internet, is crucial for driving your brand's overall success' Dave Smith - How to Measure Your Brand's Online Influence

Remember the more effort you put into the social media marketing, whether you are an entrepreneur, or you work from home, or run a small business,  or work for a non profit or work for a huge company - there are resources, content, blogs, guides, eBooks, marketing tips, tools and ideas to help you use social media daily and incorporate social media with traditional media, marketing and advertising.

How about a fun exercise, find out what you Facebook or Tweet about the most and then share?

Find what words you use the most, what do you like the most and what do you share the most - you'd be surprised,  I certainly was - I use the words like and love the most!

Here's mine! Social Status 

8 easy ways to invest in social media

Social Media is an investment. And it is a long term investment.

"Don’t treat it as a stand alone function, but as an asset, and you’ll be glad you invested in it."  - Sean Clark.

Most small businesses and non profit organisations are not going to see quick results. And they are probably not going to see ROI. Social Media requires time, energy, effort and often this is very hard to measure by ROI alone.

Larger corporations and companies who make use of email marketing, social media campaigns and a campaign or video going viral will probably see instantaneous results - but this can fade and it is up to a marketing team (or agency) to plan and invest in social media on a regular basis.

Over the past few years, we have experienced changes in the online world. We are learning to plant fish where people are actually logging in and looking for fish and most people are using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. Thanks to Chris Brogan's eBook, Fish Where The Fish Are, he encourages the use of social and traditional marketing which will explain to you how to use sales and marketing tools to reach your audience online.

Once Google+ enables business profiles, there will be another platform to drive traffic and marketing.

Here are 8 simple ways you have to invest in social media over the long term:

1. Post often - at least once every working day. Whether it's a video, written content, an announcement, news, a launch or photos, blogs drive traffic to and from your website and to other social media accounts. Business blogs aid businesses, drives traffic and provides a communication tool. Every company no matter how big or small should have a blog.

2. Update often  - several times a week on Facebook. Make sure you respond to queries and build a relationship with people who have liked your page.

3. Tweet often - There is a limit of 250 times a day. Depending on the nature of your business, your style and voice, you can Tweet between 7- 100 times a day to help you drive your brand and business. Twitter acts as a global newspaper and often content gets lost. Try to use Twitter for sharing knowledge and for interacting with others; without constant marketing and promotion. Have a look at companies and brands you resonate with and follow their suit on Twitter.

5. Have a marketing strategy - plan for 3 - 6 months so you can plan campaigns, content, prizes, and giveaways. Keep adjusting the strategy every few months according to changes and needs. Have monthly meetings with the social media team (customer service or marketing team) to discuss changes online and new resources/ideas. Social Media is constantly changing.

6. Listen to your clients and customers -  monitor their responses, clicks and shares. Listen to what they want, answer their questions and plan or implement strategies to satisfy your advocates. Use surveys, questions, focus groups, emails, campaigns and email marketing to reach clients and customers.

7. Invest in training - Training provides the tools to assist with social learning, interaction and finding resources which fit the business, encourage social media in workplaces. Individuals (yourself, staff or team) will learn from each other and interact with each other. Social Media and Social Learning go hand in hand, it increases productivity, aids curiosity and understanding. Individuals who work in an environment which encourages social learning; find that they are more invested in the company or business. Talk to your staff; they are dealing with clients and customers in a myriad of ways from the receptionist, to customer service teams to the marketing team themselves. Your workplace will be able to understand clients/customers wants and needs via their emails and interaction with your business.

8. Engage  - thank people, answer people who reply or like or comment. They have made the effort to be in contact with your business and whether they are in need of assistance, customer service or advice; the more you interact; the more likely they will return.

Here are some basic best practices for social media success.

I would like to emphasise that social media is long term. People are seeking information online and are building long term relationships with brands.

These 8 basic steps will enable you and your business/company to invest in social media for the long haul. Most of these steps have to be taken everyday with regular meetings, reviews on a monthly (6 weeks, or bi monthly) basis. 

Whether you work for yourself or for a giant corporation, by making a long term investment in social media; these 8 steps will give you results.

Your time is limited

Your time is limited ,so don't waste it living someone else's life - Steve Jobs

Social Media has changed the way we do business and the way we connect to the world. In the past 9/10 years there has been a revolutionary growth of sites, blogs, programs, platforms, tools, products, and means to connect online.

Today Steve Jobs who was an exceptional innovator and leader passed away. Through his work at Apple, we are able to embrace and use technology on the run and essentially it's a social online revolution.

Technology has grown so rapidly and has extended so far.

I'm Generation X, I never had a mobile, never played video games as a child, had TV which switched off at midnight, did not have telephone messages and wrote letters and postcards. We sent faxes, wrote letters and make telephone enquiries in my early years of work. The World Wide Web and emails were exciting, then online chat, then mobiles and texting, then blogs and then/now web 2.0 and all the gadgets.

We got into trouble for passing notes at schools and some people will never understand the connection between a pencil and a cassette tape.

In fact some people will never see a cassette tape, apart from all the retro phone covers!

I have been watching technology grow so much that now children are blogging at schools, building websites, learning about animations and drawings and becoming computer, iPhone and iPad savvy. They are using words like Google, Photoshop and text speak naturally in sentences which amazes me.

There are careers now that were not in existence 10 years ago. 

People are website savvy, they are blogging, making videos, selling eBooks and have job titles that I'd never heard of until recently; Brand Ambassador, Director of Analytics, Director of eMarketing, Interactive Specialist, PPC Consultant, SEM/SEO Engineer, Social Media Analyst, Web Project Manager, New Media Coordinator, Director of Integrated Media, Content Strategist, Social Media Specialist, Communications Associate ... to name a few.

All these roles combine, PR, marketing, technology, engineering, innovation, ideas, building, searching, analysing, communications, customer service, media, advertising and client services.

For young adults and children, this means that they can embrace a wide range of study skills and their careers will combine so many industries that are radically changing the future of workplaces, entrepreneurs, CEOs and work on a day to day basis.

My nieces and nephew will probably be employed in a role with a job title, which has not been developed yet!

Steve Jobs, learnt, taught, did and embraced a huge combination of skills. He inspired and encouraged people (at and beyond Apple) to think and speculate what people may need and listened to what people wanted and then set about improving technology for us, to make it easier for us to use.

With changes in computer and online technology, everything is becoming so user friendly that it has having a huge impact on how we connect and how we can improve our work and productivity.

With social learning in the workplaces and encouraging people to learn at work; my clients are making an impact on their individual roles. Training has become and is the most important tool I have at hand, I love watching people learn. Social Media has had the most positive effect for them at work.

I use my iPhone and apps, to work productively while on the move and in between training clients, I check emails, monitor accounts, answer queries and find resources, news and info and this has helped me become a better trainer.

Steve Jobs said that ," I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love."

Farewell to Steve Jobs who lived a full life.

Using videos for marketing

I've just started using Go Animate to make videos, discussing social media, training and etiquette, a fun way of trying out video and deciding how to use videos professionally.

What I enjoy the most making about making videos on this platform, is that you can export them to YouTube, share on social media and embed on websites or blogs, so  the developers and designers are welll aware that people search for video content and 1 in 4 people in the US are watching/accessing videos daily.

Videos are the fastest growing out of all social media tools, they're often easy to make and YouTube has just made it incredibly easy to edit videos making it easy for you to search for and view anything you like.

Have a look at the Online Video Rankings and consider video marketing. 

You can do guerilla ads, montages, how tos, training sessions, guides, words, launches, festivals, glimpses, sneak peaks, vlogging ... you name it.

As you can tell from the rankings above Google Sites, driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube.com, ranked as the top online video content property in May with 147.2 million unique viewers.

So if you choose to use animations or stick figures like me (to start) or a hire/use a professional team with access to excellent music, voice and sound - which ever way you to go, export to YouTube or use YouTube, make use of tags and labels and set up your channel.

Here's my latest animated videos  - http://www.youtube.com/user/ebbyeryan

Make use of videos for social media, people like to view content and share/send to friends.

Keep learning

Thanks Jo, who is doing the New Skills Festival this September for today's post regarding social media and my basic guide.

As a trainer, I have to learn something new every day. Social Media is constantly evolving, even Blogger has just changed its entire interface and set up some basic mobile messaging blog options.

The people I teach, learn the value of social learning, social skills, social etiquette and social communication - I encourage you all to keep learning, to find information and to read as much as you can about your industry, your clients, your customers in order to really communicate and engage with them.

Although I do encourage you to do general searches, I'd like you to dig deeper. 

Attend free webinars (if time and money is a problem) - webinars will give you helpful insights, guidance, an introduction to something new and how tos.

If you can take a course, from 12 weeks, to a weekend, part time or full time for a few years, workplaces generally encourage their staff to further their skills and increase their training. Speak to your employers about improving your skills - if you're an entrepreneur - there are some great evening courses, weekend options and I recently found a 12 minute marketing course which I love the sound of.

Take advantage of slideshare, people are constantly uploading informative slides. slideshare is an excellent place to put up your slides (regarding your thoughts, business practices) where you can view and share information while finding excellent content.  

Search blogs, they are often personal accounts or journals and can give you great insight into any subject. 

People who blog are experts themselves, they are sharing their day to day knowledge, thoughts and experiences with you. People are renovating, building houses, starting businesses, studying,  travelling, dreaming, having babies, recovering from illnesses and business blogs (often) keep you very informed.

Keep searching Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,YouTube for advice, questions, reviews, data, statistics, information, answers ... anything which will help you learn.

Have a look at all the conferences, or webinars, Tweetups, mashups available (the easiest way to find them are on Twitter), they are often after hours and this is a great way to meet people offline.

Social Media has changed how we interact. We are no longer working standard business hours, 5 days a week. We have to schedule Tweets/Updates/Posts, monitor accounts on weekends and be online when our clients and customers are online ... you need to work out when best suits you and how.

Never stop learning. It's one of the most important things I have learnt on my social media journey.

Thanks for the Award

Thanks TheUrbanMum who nominated me for a Versatile Blogger Award. Here is a little explanation from her.

I love TheUrBanMum she has the kind of writing which makes me nod and smile, I love her honesty and her blog posts so pay her blog a visit, she's a great blogger.

The Rules after accepting the Versatile Blogger Award are:

§ Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them in the blog post.
§Share 7 things about yourself
§ Pass this award along to 15 recently discovered blogs.

So I'd like to share 7 things with you all:

1) I love Nelson Mandela as in he is my hero, my god kind of way. I have learnt more from him than from anyone else although I have never met him.

2) I am a qualified trainer. I hold a number of diplomas and certificates and while initially I wasn't sure what I would do with my training certificate, I love the fact that this certificate has got me so far.

3) I buy at least 5 books from St Vinnies a week and read them all. My rule is that I have to buy one book a week that I wouldn't normally choose just so that I can learn something new. I have books in every room of my flat and buying books is my biggest addiction.

4) I have a terrible memory.

5) I love being called banana; it makes me smile every time.

6) I was always an outsider and I have never been more grateful for that as an adult. I love the fact that bookworms and geeks seem to be taking over the world. (Not to mention foodies, food bloggers, craft people ... you name it)

7) I want to live a life of no regrets. But I have a lot to learn and a long way to go.

15 Blogs I highly recommend: (16 actually because one doesn't really count as a blog)

http://www.thesydneygirl.com/ - The Sydney Girl
http://theyearofthecat.com/ - Year of the Cat
http://newswithnipples.com/ - News With Nipples
http://mab397.wordpress.com/ - Three Nine Seven
http://www.woogsworld.com/ - Woogs World
http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/ - Hyperbole and a Half
http://theoatmeal.com/ - okay technically not a blog but I love this site
http://thebloggess.com/ - The Blogess
http://www.tellussomethinggood.com/- Tell us something good
http://annikskelton.com/ - Annik Skelton

Age 30+ ... A Lifetime of Books - Lifetime of Books

The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks -
Grab Your Fork - Grab Your Fork
PostSecret - Post Secret
Waiter Rant - On waiters
(BLOG) RED - Blog for joinred.com

Phew! Thanks TheUrbanMum xox

New Skills Festival

Over September, check in every day to learn something new.

http://jojoebi.blogspot.com

The incredible growth of social media

Social Media is increasing dramatically in demographics and users globally.


In one year sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are gaining users and more and more marketers/advertisers are using social networks to increase brand awareness and reach potential customers as well as people who loyally use their brands.


Most brands are recognising customer loyalty and are rewarding customers with check ins, giveaways, prizes, competitions, surveys while increasing comments and shares across all sites.


Twitter is widely used, it has a massive global reach and seem that micro blogging makes it easier for users to sign in and share content publicy and widely.


In less than 6 years, social media has changed the way we interact and changed the way we do and can do business.


Have a look at this: The Growth of Social Media: An Infographic

My basic guide to Social Media

A basic guide ... social media

Here is the free eBook.

Ban social media?!

There are hundreds of articles this morning about banning social media - or monitoring certain accounts and shutting them down as a result of the riots throughout London this week.


The London riots have been a news item all week. On social media, people (or *looters) are posting photos of the goods they have stolen and being arrested for it.


And on Twitter by following the #Londonriots hashtag, it has been streaming up to date information while police men and journalists have been confirming or denying rumours and keeping locals informed. Twitter is a site where all information is shared publicly and the information can be used both positively and negatively.


While people were Tweeting about the riots and asking questions, others were embracing #Londoncleanup #OperationCupofTea and #riotcleanup to assist with the clean up and to show the world that people use social media for good  and that Twitter and Facebook were a way of reaching locals and encouraging them to clean up the streets and aid and assist people who had been affected by the riots.

Want to be a better Blogger?

Last Saturday, Nuffnang held the Nuffnang Blogopolis 2011 in Melbourne, which enabled Bloggers to meet each other and attend 7 masterclasses.
During the Blogopolis, Bree from The Blog Stylist was live Tweeting and live Blogging the day.

Bree managed to keep both attendees and non attendees well informed throughout the day and rounded up each presentation. Thanks to Bree blogging about each class and tools mentioned during the day to enabled everyone to access content and keep up to date.

This list will certainly help anyone who wants to blog, to use and interact with others, to insert content into their blogs, to provide excellent pictures and to make use of  the tools that have been used and are highly recommended:

• Google Reader - to subscribe to and follow blog RSS subscriptions
• Feedburner – Google tool to manage your blog’s RSS subscriptions
• WordPress – Powerful blogging platform and CMS (content management system)
• RSS Footer – WordPress plugin that allows you to add a line of content to the beginning or end of your post so that it appears in its feed
• Mail Chimp – A newsletter service tool
• Aweber – Another newsletter service tool
• How To Launch the #*@& Out Of Your Ebook – Recommended ebook on marketing your ebook
• Blogger – Popular blogging Platform
• Google Analytics – Google tool that provides blog stats such as visitors and page views
• W3 Total Cache – WordPress plugin to speed up how fast your blog loads
• Cloud Flare – A CDN (content delivery network)
• Smush.It - An image optimizer from Yahoo!
• Wise Stamp – Extension for Firefox, Chrome and Safari to add a signature to your email
• Windows Live Writer – Helps you prepare and publish your posts
• Click Bump SEO Plugin – A WordPress SEO plugin
• Twitter, Facebook & Google Plus – popular social-networking sites
• StumbleUpon – Social bookmarking tool
• All-In-One SEO Pack – WordPress plugin that helps you optimise your WordPress blog for search engines
• Tissue – Use as a cheap diffuser when taking photos with your iPhone!
• Instagram – Photosharing service
• Flickr – Photo management and sharing website
• Canon PowerShot G10 – Digital Canon Camera
• Nikkon D700 – Nikkon camera suggestion
• Lightroom – Adobe Photoshop product
• Photoshop – Software for editing and manipulating photos
• Google Images- Comprehensive image search engine
• DPReview – Digital Photography Review website
• Styling You – Best Australian Blog 2011
• Note book – Good old fashion way of recording your thoughts!
• WP Editorial Calendar Plugin – For planning and scheduling posts
• Google Page Rank – Web-page ranking system, part of Google search algorithm
• Google Webmaster Tools – Google website with various tools for website owners
• Amazon Web Services - Delivers a set of services that together form a reliable, scalable, and inexpensive computing platform “in the cloud
• YARPP – Yet Another Related Posts Plugin for WordPress
• Where’s My Glow – Blog to check out for its recommened media kit
• ODesk, Elance and Freelancer – Outsourcing websites for design, technical support etc
• Creative Commons – Conditions under which your content can be used by others and vice versa
• News Maker, Get2Press, PR Web and Seeking Media – News syndication and press-release services
• 31 Days To Build A Better Blog – Popular ebook by Darren Rowse. Started as a series of posts
• Digital Photography School – Blog by Darren Rowse for digital photography tips
• Ning – DIY social-networking site/forums
• Ustream – Service for live streaming videos
• Pinterest – Image bookmarking website

Read each of Bree's blog posts with information about the 7 masterclasses of the day - her involvement shows that is you are having an event or a conference - live blogging and Tweeting of the day assists the attendees yet also helps you connect with non attendees who find the information, Tweets and roundups of each session very helpful.

By Tweeting, posting information and content live, you are providing a helpful resource. People love to share, to comment, to respond to each other.

By using social media tools, it showed that actively using social media, makes the best use of social media - engaging.

Follow Bree from The Blog Stylist on The Blog Stylist  and thanks to the Nuffnang Roundup, here are people to follow so you can use social media wisely and blog, blog, blog!

1. Tools of the Trade – Key Points

Nicole Avery – @planningqueenMichael Aulia – @michaelaulia + Blogopolis blog post
Arnold Aranez – @mr_gadget

2. Blog Photography – Key Points

Danielle Melnyczenko – @danimezza
Minh Giang – @minhg

3. Improving Blog Content – Key Points

Christie Burnett – @childhood101Susan Thye – @chocolatesuzeNikki Parkinson – @stylingyou

4. Working with Brands – Key Points

Andrew Hughes – @y0z2a
Jaclyn Ely – @jaciely

5. Editorial vs. Advertorial – Key Points

Nikki Parkinson – @stylingyouPhoebe Montague – @ladymelbourneDavid Krupp – @davekruppArnold Aranez – @mr_gadget
Jeff Tan – @jeff_iprospect

6. Blog Branding & Marketing – Key Points

Darren Rowse – @problogger

7. The Australian Blogosphere – Key Points

Candice Deville – @superkawaiimama
Darren Rowse – @problogger
Eden Riley – @edenland
Helen Yee – @grabyourfork
Nicole Avery – @planningqueen

Let's Talk About Twitter

I love Social Rabbit, whose very helpful post will provide you (and beginners) with 5 essential Twitter tips, to help you get to know and use Twitter effectively.

Have a look around the Social Rabbit site, Lara Solomon is an excellent business women, who provides very valuable tips and information about social media (and training) she is very interactive on social media, follow her example and you will learn how to use social media wisely!

Twitter is an excellent business tool, it will help you find people in your industry, find you like minded people and help you market and promote your products and services.

One advantage with Twitter is the ability to know your competitors and you will find that a lot of companies are followed by or do follow companies who have similar products and services. I feel that places your business or organisations amongst peers who have different ways of getting their messages across. It helps to see what similar organisations are saying and you can ReTweet their links and get inspired to write Facebook updates and blog posts from regular updated information which you can source on Twitter.

Following competitors at the beginning of your Twitter journeys means you can get a feel of the content, links and blog posts you can add. It also gives competitors a feel of your company and as far as I know, this method of sharing, ReTweeting, being inspired by content to write your own will not be harmful to your business.

I recommend that you find and follow people who have your interests in common and such as charities/authors or anything really where you get your inspiration and motivation from. Being human on Twitter, communicating with others, responding, answering questions, going off topic ( just a little bit) will help. This means that you will be truly connecting, think of it as being at a professional networking function, sure you talk mainly about work and work issues but you end up talking about other things - on Twitter many people have benefited by the authenticity of their accounts and by being connected and receptive.

Please note a link at the bottom of Lara's Post refers to Google + please have a look, this is Google's social media platform , which will be open to the public soon. Google+ is going to be another form of social media, another way to get your message across, a site  to find and to reach your clients and certainly will be another tool which will be useful for marketing your products and services.

Let's get real with social media - how to find content - so you can update often!

We don't always have the time to find information and spend hours writing and editing our own content.

Social Media needs at least an hour a day of work.

Whether it's checking/ monitoring accounts, checking feeds, responding to comments or queries, social media is becoming a part of the other work you need to do daily.

So here is a link which helps you find ways ways to stay updated, to find and use content, to share relevant links via Twitter, the blog and the Facebook page and a way for you to find any info, to update, to link, to respond to, to share, and keep your accounts active.

While writing unique content is important on social media, so is sharing, linking to and acknowledging other relevant content as well as building a like minded community.

You can write/ schedule a unique blog post every few weeks or so ( I will be blogging about why you should blog often, some people blog daily some blog once a week- it depends on content and business practices), but find resources and have information at hand, so you can share/ update ( on Facebook or Twitter) every few days to keep your accounts active and build a community and engagement online.

Don't forget to read updates on your timeline on Twitter and Facebook and comment and respond to people as wel l- this will make you sound like an interested person and depending on what you say or answer, you may find yourself building a very interesting community of followers.

Take 15 minutes a day to find and put aside content, links, blog posts, pictures, that you can use when you have a bit of downtime- save all of it in a folder on your desktops or on a dropbox free app (download on computer, link to your smartphone) and use that saved content to share, comment upon, and use ( for an inspirational blog post perhaps or a marketing idea)

http://www.momeomagazine.com/business-101-feeding-the-content-monster-10-ways-to-stay-active-in-social-media-without-rewriting-the-yellow-pages/ - thanks to Iggy Pintado on Twitter - who shared this, this morning:

Feeding the Content Monster - 10 Ways to Stay Active in Social Media by @AndreaVahl - http://ow.ly/5Pcft RT @CarlaYoung

Social Media is an active part of marketing, it will only work and benefit by your doing, by your engagement and incentive to drive the accounts.
Set aside time each day and if you need help with planning and using techniques wisely, please just contact me.

Looking for a Guru?

I Tweet and I am on Facebook and I have a blog while assisting with and advising clients and helping them wade through social media.
I say wade through because for someone who is starting on social media, the reality is that it can and does add an hour more of work a day and that is if you are doing social media properly.

For me, properly means the same as how you use and access your emails. In the mornings (I am assuming) you check your emails to deal with anything that is needed to do for the day as well as enquiries, priorities, plans, meetings and you respond accordingly.

On average, business and companies (from CEO to any level of staff) access their emails at least every 20 - 25 minutes. I am assuming that the busier you are at work, the bigger your business is, the more products and services you provide and they way you service your clients, probably means that you email and receive emails all day long.

So soon, social media (new media) will become just as important and vital for those people who are providing their business with social media services.

As well as checking emails, I recommend checking whichever social media sites you are active on, to respond to any comments, or queries or messages or even likes on Facebook, Twitter, your blog and LinkedIn.

In a company which offers a service (such as mine) you are responsible for providing services. In my case it's tips, suggestions, helpful hints and references to apps which can help you business and my Twitter account, has proved an invaluable tool for finding, sharing and using information to benefit my clients.

There are always recommendations regarding social media and one is knowing where your audience is.

I have a Facebook business page where I link this blog and my Tweets (links, updates, shared content) but the reality is I use Facebook as a search tool to find and drive content regarding social media practices so I can ensure that I am knowledgeable and essentially helping my clients by providing a better service.

Jess Nichols who wrote a blog post about knowing your product and that if people search for you (if you are calling yourself a social media expert/guru), they need to see that you are using social media actively.

Jess responded to on Twitter when we were discussing this post " I try not to put too much pressure on my blogging; I'd rather now do quality > quantity. Once a month is ok for me" She also emphasises that she thinks "It comes back to being authentic and legitimate in the industry"

If you sell products and have daily weekly or monthly events, you will have to be active on the social media accounts where your audience, your buyers are coming from. By active I mean anything that needs to responded to (whether positive/negative) needs to be actioned within 24 hours.

Over the past few months, I have to agree with Jess's post. It is about quality and being human and authentic when you are providing a social media service. Sure some people (or people who are doing their social media) schedule their blog posts and activate their links via platforms which help them drive their links over a certain period of time. If your buyers are in the UK and USA and are reading your blogs and buying your products, while you are asleep, there certainly needs to be an awareness and implementation of best practices for your business.

I realise that people who are at work doing the work that they do, always say that they have no time for social media.

My recommendation is to hire someone who will act as a marketing person and/or community manager who deals with monitoring and analysing your social media, responds to fans and followers by providing an additional and much needed customer service role, while reading, researching, building a brand and engaging with your business and community (no matter what type of business you are in, you can build a community who will benefit you online)

I am not honestly a fan of people who call themselves social media gurus/experts. Social Media is still new media there are hundreds and thousands of people still who have not embraced Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, YouTube, LinkedIn and hundreds of other tools and platforms that can drive their message, their business online.

So Google your company/business. What comes up?

More importantly what doesn't come up? A charity event you put together and advertised everywhere on print? A new line? A list of events/courses. A recent interview? A podcast or video that you spent time and money on?

The answer is that social media will ensure that all of this, comes up - links, sharing, events lists, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, SMO, SEO, labels, tags will provide you with ways to further market and drive your business alongside traditional marketing techniques.

I recommend being active on social media and driving traffic. Yet I also recommend being part of a community, providing valuable content and getting to know your audience and what people get and want from your business. I work alongside businesses to ensure that we put practices into place which are suitable for their needs and I concentrate on one important aspect  - community.

I am not a marketing manager. I am not a guru. I need to put my recommendations into practice more and ensuring I do and represent what I teach. I discovered that I love this industry, this ability to reach people globally and I saw the benefits of this new media and how we can all put this into our practices at work.


But like Jess points out in her blog post, are they active, or lurking or aggregating? Are they embracing tools and social media sites themselves? When was their last Facebook, Twitter update and their latest blog post?

Regardless of whether you are a small business or a giant corporation who has a social media team, I recommend doing. I don't recommend feeling pressure to do and adding additional work to your already jam packed work day. I do not recommend doing at the cost of other things which are a priority at work.

If you can hire someone to manage your social media holistically by embracing and sharing and engaging, try that for a few months and then Google your business again.

And if you cannot, (don't have the time) or if you feel that you should hire someone with the knowledge to do so, check how and what they are doing first online, Google the person, read what they link to, blog about, tweet about and share - and look closely at when and how they do so.

And then by all means Google me and Google the word guru.

Picture below belongs to and is thanks to Ryan Jones's blogpost Having 1000 Twitter followers doesn't make you a social media guru. Thank you Ryan