Pinterest for resources and content

Have you tried out Pinterest  for your business or brand?

Do you struggle to find content?

First I would suggest setting up a blog for your business. A blog (try http://www.blogger.com/home) will help you drive content from your website to and from all your other social media sites. Blogging you will help drive traffic and it will help raise awareness of your business products or services.

My suggestion is to blog at least once a fortnight; but a lot of people choose to blog weekly or daily.

So now that you have set up a blog; you will need to find content which is aimed at raising knowledge and awareness of your business/brand's products and services.

So this is where Pinterest comes in handy. Search Pinterest for content ideas (by using keywords) If you don't know what keywords are applicable for your business; think of your products and services and then use keywords which will help individuals find your products and services. 

Here is some information about keywords if you have never used keywords before - http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2277087/How-to-Make-Your-Keywords-Fit-Your-Marketing-Messaging

Now most businesses should be creating their own unique content to drive their business. In other words; you want people to find YOUR business so here is a way to start creating your OWN content - http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/developing-a-strategy/

Social Media has become very visual so you can design your own content to share on your social media sites. 

Some great content tools or ideas are:

 - tips
 - infographics
 - images with quotes
 - information about your products or services
 - facts
 - tools
 - slideshares
 - images of your products or services

 and 88 other ideas for content - http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2195076/88-Content-Creation-Ideas-for-Better-Business-Blog-Posts-Images-or-Videos 

But the best social media practice is to SHARE tools, resources, tips, infographics from other trusted resources and that is why you need to make use of Pinterest for business purposes.

Set up your own board (so a board about your OWN business/brand) and then set up other boards and start pinning and sharing.

Pinterest is a great site to find content an to help you find ideas for your OWN content.

Here are some ideas of how to use Pinterest for small business - http://www.forbes.com/sites/thesba/2013/06/07/how-to-use-pinterest-for-small-business/

Make use of the search tool in Pinterest and look at the popular pins to see what content people like and why. 

Start using Pinterest for YOUR business and make sure that you pin your OWN content and SHARE content as well. The content ideas you use (or find or create) on Pinterest can be used on your Blog, Twitter, Facebook, Google + as well - just make sure that ALL the content you use (and share) links back to the original source.

Here is a Pinterest tutorial - http://www.theyummylife.com/Pinterest_tips and now start searching, sharing and Pinning!

source: http://www.theyummylife.com/Pinterest_tips

25 Ways To Increase Fans and Followers on Social Media

There are a number of options you can take to increase fans/followers.

A lot of people place emphasis on having a large amount of fans and followers on each account. While having a huge amount of followers and fans does indeed attract other fans and followers - there has been talk about how many people you actually reach and whether you are actually engaging with all your fans and followers.

Ask yourself; how are brands/businesses reaching their fans and followers? Are they good at their business? Are they making sales? Do their fans/followers like their products and services? What other marketing/advertising do they do? What are people saying about a business/brand online? Is it really just about numbers?

You have to consider reach, loyalty, ROI, customer service, sales, advertising and whether posts/links are read and how each brand/business is viewed publicly.

Facts about businesses are very hard to determine by judging the amount of fans and followers that an account has on the basis of numbers alone.

A lot of people will tell you to buy fans and followers and I would advise you not to. If you do buy fans and followers, it is highly unlikely that these bought fans/followers will share your content, comment on your content or really communicate with your brand.

Try these tips to increase your fan base on each account  organically:

1. Content is the most important tool to naturally increase your fans or followers. Consider your target market, know your brand or at least the personality of your brand. Share your own business content yet be social on social media! Read, comment on, share, respond to, like, link to and recommend other content from elsewhere (after you have carefully checked the sources) Having great, valuable content is the best way to gain fans and followers!

2.  http://www.masteringsocialbusiness.com/2012/05/07/how-to-get-more-followers-today/ - this podcast  discusses ways to naturally increase followers/fans on a number of social media platforms

3. List your business/brand in free business directories

4. List your Twitter account in Twitter directories

5. Join groups on LinkedIn

6. Participate in hangouts on Google+

7.  7 more steps/ways to gain more fans organically - http://socialmediatoday.com/lauren-parajon/473583/7-steps-gain-more-fans-and-followers-organically

8. Be more interactive on Twitter –  have conversations with others and pretend you are at a networking function. Talk about other subject matters, join in conversations, answer questions, share resources and if you like you can even host Twitter chats or pose questions to followers (if you do decide to ReTweet content or people – please check their bio/profile and the link before you share anything!)

9 . Join Twitter chats

10. On Pinterest, you can like, comment on and repin (after checking the source!) other people’s content

11. On Instagram you can like and comment on other people's images (this applies to other photo sharing sites as well)

 12. On Facebook you can share other business page content on your page; if it is appropriate and in line with your brand

13. Some advice for Twitter - http://iccmarketing.com/blog/how-to-get-more-twitter-followers-the-right-way/#.UCCtU6OpaVo

14. Decide if you want to have a competition or giveaway to organically attract more Facebook fans – you have to use a third party app for this - https://www.facebook.com/notes/social-media-nz/no-likes-allowed-facebooks-competition-rules-that-no-one-seems-to-know-about/200378816641665

15. Email marketing – perhaps consider a monthly or quarterly email; make use of social share buttons and inform readers of each account they can find you on and connect with you on.

16. If you have a business blog; you can connect with other Bloggers in your industry by commenting on and even linking to other peoples' blog post/s. Set up a link list of blogs and build a community of like minded or like industry Bloggers.

17. Bloggers have blogging communities, events, meetups, blog meetings and even seminars/conferences throughout the year. Consider connecting with other bloggers and attending events.

18. Consider Facebook adverts https://www.facebook.com/advertising to either advertise a product or your business

19. Consider Google adverts https://accounts.google.com/

20. Consider print advertising as well

21. Participate in industry events. Consider speaking at industry events. Consider holding an event of your own. If you are able to; you might even consider hosting/sponsoring an event - this will certainly drive traffic to your website and awareness of your brand

22. Attend networking events and meet people! Hand out your business card and chat about your business/brand. As you are well aware; at industry networking events you will meet with at least 1-5 other people, swap cards and talk about other things! Events are a great way to meet people - after all social media is really about PEOPLE.

23. In order to gain fans and followers; it really is about using your accounts every day, finding, sharing and providing great content, updating daily, blogging regularly and reading about/ researching your industry.

24. It takes time to build up fans and followers. Try spending at least 5-10 minutes a day on each social media platform you use, reading, liking, sharing, commenting on other people's content. This will probably increase your knowledge of happenings in your industry and will inspire your own content.

25.  Remember also to monitor all your accounts (daily!) and read everything you can to stay on top of trends, changes and happenings in your own industry. 

I believe that social media is really about 3 things:

1) content (your own as well as other content) 

2) connecting and engaging with people
3) people

source: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/23621/4-Ways-to-Use-Email-to-Increase-Followers-and-Expand-Social-Media-Reach.aspx

15 Ways to Use Pinterest for Business

As a social media trainer; I am using Pinterest to find and share valuable tips, tools and resources so I’ll probably be a bit more formal than most people.

I think the whole point of Pinterest is visual, whether it’s ideas, products, images, resources or blog posts. I use Pinterest for ideas for my own blog posts and updates so I use Pinterest to share content (repin, comment on and like) 

Pinterest can work really well for small businesses, bloggers, designers, retail outlets, cafes, shops as well as for people who want resources, images, decor ideas, food tips, health tips, inspirational quotes/content and as a platform to share anything you love whether it is for business purposes or for your own personal inspiration.

So Here are 15 Ways to Use Pinterest for Business:

1) Set up a few boards - click on the add button then Create a Board

2) Give each board a name which relates to each board and easy to find in search; so if it’s Social Media Humour or Social Media Tips or Places I Love or whatever. Then describe each board and place a relevant link in the description (remember it cannot hyperlink and you cannot view this content on mobiles but it helps to have a clear description especially if it is a board promoting your business/brand)

3) Choose a board (or however many make sense for your business/brand) where you can pop content to link back to your site, articles, portfolio, blog, Facebook,Twitter etc – using images and direct links to the content itself. This is how you can drive traffic to and from each platform. Use each pin to describe whatever the content is.
On the board itself use different pictures and keep uploading content – e.g. you can also add a Facebook image to direct people to your page by using a direct link with image like this one http://pinterest.com/pin/76631631129967721/

4)  Use other boards which are not business/brand related because Pinterest is essentially about sharing pins/repinning other users content/inspiring interest.
If it’s only/all about you it doesn’t make sense from a social media marketing point of view ( this also applies to Tweets on Twitter, Facebook updates, Instagram photos but your blog can be essentially only about you/your brand)

5)  Pin whatever you like in the boards, either by clicking on other pins and repining or finding your own pins to pin. (Use the add feature to add a pin (a link) or to upload a picture)  Ensure that each board makes sense to other people and can be easily found in the search bar. I think that’s why so many of the boards have got such basic names.

6) Check the images and links - that the content in question does in fact link to the relevant source as described; before you repin. This will help when others repin your content; by clicking on the image, users find a direct link to the picture and the original source (there are plenty of spammers online setting up fake/malware links)
Avoid repining anything until you have checked the content.

7) If I like the image and the link is wrong (or does not go to an external page with a direct image/link); I repin the image, then I find the original source, edit the link (add the correct link) to help drive users to the correct source. This means you are directing other users to the right links.

8) If you upload a picture (by clicking add), pin it and then click edit to insert the link; don’t leave the image without an external link directly to the image and content itself. People are learning to only pin/repin after checking and finding the proper links and sources. It also means that if you use links for blog posts, updates or Tweets  - it will be easier to cite the original source.

9) Comment and like on other pins as well as repin pins (after checking sources) onto your boards - this is the way to build trust and build a community of followers who will repin your pins.

10) Describe content and links you upload or pin in the description section. Keep the information short and concise (about a sentence or two)

11) I use my business logo when sharing content without relevant images; to promote my Twitter account and when I want to promote some blog posts without images – perhaps you can choose some images to do the same

12) Check how everything looks on a mobile (it helps because I think Australians are avid mobile users)

13) If a board gets too full; start other boards (and make them sub - boards as I have done with Social Media Love) and then divided boards up into sub-boards such as Facebook, Twitter etc. I didn't want to have a single board with great content/info so chose to divide up my boards to assist other users with repinning relevant content.

14) And pin whenever you like! Make it fun, interesting, inspiring, unusual, personal, educational, funny … it’s really addictive.

15) Have a look at http://pinterest.com/fatmumslim/ or George Takei http://pinterest.com/georgetakei/ to see how Pinterest can be used to create a community.

I use Pinterest for training purposes and to drive links to my Facebook, blog and Twitter accounts.

If you want to use Pinterest for business; download this free eBook from Hubspot called How to Use Pinterest for Business - http://www.hubspot.com/how-to-use-pinterest-for-business/

If you are curious about Pinterest; here are some links that will help you with using this platform for pleasure or business:

1) 8 Rules of Pinterest Etiquette - http://www.flowtown.com/blog/8-rules-of-pinterest-etiquette

2) The Copyright Question: How to Protect Yourself on Pinterest - http://mashable.com/2012/03/21/pinterest-copyright-legal-issues/

3) How to Use Pinterest for Marketing - Infographic http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33272/A-Simple-Cheat-Sheet-for-Using-Pinterest-for-Marketing-Infographic.aspx 

4) And a Pinterest 101 Tutorial from GFC LernFree.org - http://www.gcflearnfree.org/pinterest101

If you have any questions about Pinterest and how to use Pinterest for marketing purposes; please contact me ebbyeryan@gmail.com

source: http://www.j6design.com.au/ClientArea/MakePinterestworkforyourbusiness.aspx

Let's Talk about *Rules on Social Media

* Rules or Guidelines really

As you are probably aware; social media has taken over! 

In the past 10 years; most businesses have a Facebook page, a blog, a Twitter account as well as presences on Instgram, Pinterest, photo sharing sites, have listed their companies on LinkedIn, have designed tabs, have mobile Apps, are in social networks and have inserted  social share buttons on all their marketing collateral.

While I don't really like using the word Rules; I have noticed that some corporations have just jumped into social media without preparing a policy, or a content strategy or have not trained their employees on how to respond to people on social media or how to handle customer service enquiries (or fails).

I also believe that we all have to tick the box to agree to each site's terms and conditions; but some of the terms and conditions are often ignored and leave a company/business without access to their account or having to deal with issues on various social networks.

So here's a list of Guidelines I use to train my clients on how to use social media wisely:

1. Set up a social media policy - here are many examples - http://socialmediatoday.com/davefleet/151761/57-social-media-policy-examples-and-resources - use these to adjust a policy for your specific workplace

2. Discuss and set up social media guidelines for your employees - http://www.bluewiremedia.com.au/free-social-media-guidelines-template

3. Use a social media crisis plan and train your staff on how to handle a mishap - http://socialmediatoday.com/chrissyme/298509/five-social-media-must-haves-crisis

4. Decide why you are using social media in the first place - this will help with your strategy and your content - then set up a marketing/content strategy which suits your employees and workplace

5. Read each site's terms and conditions and adhere to their rules.

6. Choose your accounts - use the ones that your clients/customers/ industries are using such as Twitter, Facebook, a blog platform, Pinterest, Google+, YouTube but also look at using other sites such as photo sharing sites such as Pinterest, Flickr, Instgram  (Google for information about thousands of other sites you can use for your business)

7. Remember to start small! Each account has to be active and attended to (on a daily basis)

8. Who is going to be attending to each account? What is his/her responsibility?

9. The community manager (or person responsible) HAS to check each account at least twice a day (early mornings and evenings) to ensure that questions are answered, customer service enquiries have been attended to, inappropriate content (such as people posting pictures or spam comments) is removed AND ensure that you are engaging - i.e. thanking people for shares/ReTweets, liking a comment (on Facebook), sharing your pins, commenting or liking on Instagram or simply showing that you are present and listening to people.

10. Who makes executive decisions? If a manager/supervisor needs to confirm an action - a discussion has to take place around what to do if they are unavailable. You CANNOT leave something inappropriate on your social media account/s which could harm your brand.

11. Monitoring the account/s also has to take place over the weekends - who is responsible for weekend and after hours monitoring?

Now let's talk content:

1. Use your company site/blog to promote, share and spread user generated content directly from your brand.

2. Are you going to hire a copywriter or is there someone in-house who is prepared to write blog posts, updates, Tweets and source images, videos etc.?

3. Are you finding content from elsewhere and using it as inspiration? If yes, you HAVE to source links back to the original content.

4. Are you using images with your content (which is highly recommended)? Ensure that you link back to the original source or name the source (e.g source:CarrotCreative)

5. Prior to sharing any information online, check the link (on a laptop preferably to ensure that all the other content on the site itself is trustworthy)

6. Only share, link to and use links which are from trusted sources. Ensure that there is no inappropriate subject matter or adverts on the links you are sharing - generally when people click to open a link, they may view other content on the site - so check, check, check!

7. When ReTweeting information on Twitter - check the bio/profile, the Tweets, the name of the person whose links, quotes or information you're sharing with your followers BEFORE driving content. I cannot stress how vital it is to check, check, check! (The same goes for Pinterest AND Instagram)

8. Check that the sites/videos/images are secure and safe - I use Wot - http://www.mywot.com/ to check user ratings as well as Norton 360 and McAfee secure search for this purpose. 

9. Build trust with your followers/fans/peers when using, finding, promoting, sharing or driving content - the content you use is affiliated with your brand (So I repeat check, check, check!) The only way to build trust is by being active on social media accounts and building relationships with people.

10. Seek advice. Ask for help.
Enquire about training - this will benefit yourself, your brand and your employees. (We are all learning here, even me!)

And finally social media etiquette:

1. Google before you Tweet, post, blog or share. Check your resources and try to find the original source of any content you use - this will help you build trust with your peers.

2. Be nice - and if you can't than go for a walk, grab a cup of coffee, drink a glass of water - rather than responding inappropriately.

3. If you do not agree with something and you really want to Tweet, post or blog your viewpoint - think very carefully - is it necessary? Will it change anything? If you believe it will than disagree respectfully without launching a personal attack.

4. Be diplomatic. You don't have to agree with everything, like everything, choose to share everything - but build diplomatic relationships with others anyway.

5. Try not to constantly ask others to follow you, like you, ReTweet you, share your content - build a relationship and trust with your peers/fans/followers to build an organic sharing relationship instead (which takes time and effort)

6. Shout out, compliment, acknowledge good practices you see online and share people's pages, accounts and boards with others (if they provide value to you; they will provide value to your fans and followers as well!) - I am a huge fan of social good and this type of behaviour will make your day so much nicer!

7. Try not to constantly talk about your brand/business on your Facebook business page or Twitter account - use those sites to engage with others and exchange information. People love resources, tools, tips, case studies, guides etc. - share yours with them!

8. Use your business blog to inform, educate and talk about your business. Try to respond to comments and find other blogs in your industry to build relationship with other Bloggers. And attend a Blogging event (or any type of networking event) - they're fun and you will learn a lot!

9. Be kind. Answer queries, respond to comments, find answers and share information. When you see an opportunity to help someone else - take the chance!

10. Read everything you can; blog posts, news, updates, Tweets, case studies, surveys, white papers, eBooks, newsletters, manuals - the more you read - the more inspiration you will have to generate your own content.Here are some tips to finding content for your business - http://socialnetworkingandmarketing.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/content-content-content.html
11. Make use of visual content. Pinterest boards are a great way to access infographics, blog posts, tools and tips you can share across your social media profiles (just remember to check the links) and Instagram is also a great way to build a more personal connection with your clients (customers) - check EVERYTHING very carefully on Instagram.
12. Before you select a hashtag - check the hashtag carefully (by clicking on it and see where it leads) - make use of www.tagboard.com for hashtag search.

And lastly - Make your Own Path!

Because social media is global and embraces each unique individual; you can decide how you are going to use social media to represent yourself/your brand. You can be formal, chatty, a curator of information, a helpful sharer, a promoter of social media good, a brilliant sales person, a quiet observer, an industrious entrepreneur - there is no better set of tools to finding your own path as long as you are learning and having a bit of fun along the way.

 “Be authentic and organic. It can’t be forced or it won’t work. And most importantly, have fun.” - Richard Branson on social media

It is called social media - because it is encouraging people to embrace integrating business practices socially.

Where else really can you chat with your fans/followers, share ideas, information and resources while 'meeting' hundreds of people? (If someone knows the answer to this - feel free to tell me!)

However I am going to go back to the Rules and Guidelines - by adhering to each site/platform's rules and conditions you will build an online presence but more importantly you will build trust among your peers.

Each site should have a list of guidelines, terms and conditions or policies on a page - have a read through all of them!

source: http://thetechnologycoach.blogspot.com.au/2011/05/do-you-have-social-media-policy.html

Pinterest.com - a rapidly growing visual content site!

If you haven't joined Pinterest.com - here is a breakdown on everything you need to know about this rapidly growing site - http://www.blueglass.com/blog/everything-you-need-to-know-about-pinterest/. 

It's a great site for visual content and for all your work/interests/ to be seen, build brand advocacy, create interesting boards and share to other social media sites. 

It's also a great site to find inspiration, tips and ideas. There are quotes, clothes, home decor, locations, tutorials, infographics as well as delicious cupcakes and cakes for you to drool over. It's extremely visual and you can search for anything and everything.  

Often when you click on a pin, it leads you to a site you have never seen before - this is a huge advantage for marketing your business or blog.

It's also easy to use, people can like,comment on, repin or share your pins, so it's a great site for start ups, bloggers, people who work from home and small businesses.

For creative companies like designers, architects, bloggers, cooks, chefs, moms, illustrators, artists, musicians - this is a great site to share your work.

And if you're curious top designers and musicians are starting to use the site as well - so there is a branding advantage for businesses and individuals.

Michael Kors is an early user and his boards are divided up between his work and his interests - http://pinterest.com/michaelkors/ - it will be very interesting to see how people make use of this site!

Here's a Pinterest Guide for beginners from Mashable - http://mashable.com/2011/12/26/pinterest-beginners-guide/

And for people like me who love quotes, reading books and infographics - http://pinterest.com/ebbye/ - I am using it to pin info about social media and business - I spend a great deal of time online researching and searching for content to train my clients and this site is a source of inspiration for me!

Are you on Pinterest.com yet? I'd love to know what you think of this site?

One of my pins today http://pinterest.com/pin/76631631129250424/

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.

New Skills Festival

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

http://jojoebi.blogspot.com

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

Make time to integrate and update

http://ezinearticles.com/?Why-You-Should-Integrate-Your-Email-and-Social-Media-Marketing&id=5965150 – Integrate your email and social media marketing, keeps you on track and reaches all your clients, customers and potential clients/customers.


A way to do this is via articles or newsletters updates or news via email and then linking readers to blog posts, Facebook, Twitter etc.


Then can even be a click on option to Like Facebook, comment on blog posts and subscribe to newsletters. Another option is surveys/polls especially if you are selling a service.


If it is community based, link to an event or happening within the next few months.


Ask people what they want to hear about. Do they want updates, events, education, news? Do they want to attend workshops? Do they want prizes such as cards, books, information packs on websites or social media? Ask questions, ask what they think, follow up with a question ... encourage communication.


Another option is to send important information and updates regarding websites or events happening in your industry which you are not directly involved with but which you would recommend.


All kinds of information can be used for updates and blog posts. The more you say, the more content you give out, the more you engage and communicate with your customers and clients via email marketing, social media, education, updates, news, content, other links and recommendations, the more you will drive users to your blog and sites.

Try to update as frequently as you can. Make social media a part of your marketing strategy and use tools to your advantage. Ensure you have relevant content and link to your social media sites, your website upcoming events or sites and information you have come across.

Now is the time to communicate and engage and build your social media and make it part of your business.

What are your key words?

Go to http://www.wordle.net and find out your key words and what words you use for your business, marketing and communication with others. You can even put the words on your website or blog to remind yourself of what you are doing and can do more of and allow others to see what you do.