Scenario #2: Business owner is pumped and ready to try anything and everything to bring attention to their business and attempt to join them all! As soon as they hear of a new social site, they see it as another potential way to attract clientele and do not hesitate to join.

While both of these scenarios are on the opposite sides of the spectrum, the solutions to their problems are the same. Here are ___ simple tips to help you determine which social media platform is a good fit for your business.

Question #1: What is your primary goal or mission for your business?

Question #2: What types of products or services do you intend to promote online?

Question #3: Who is your target audience?

Question #4: Where do you think your target audience hangs out? (For example, people are more social on Facebook while Linkedin has a more professional feel and a different kind of engagement with their networks than those on Facebook)

Question #5: How comfortable are you with reaching out to/engaging potential clients using social media?

Take a minute or two to answer these questions. Once you answer the questions, it will help you to create a social media marketing strategy and action plan. With a plan in place, it will give you clarity and help you to use the best social networks that best fit what you are trying to accomplish.

If you would like to learn more or need help in putting your social media marketing plan together, contact me at nrubin@thegiftedassistant.net so we can get you in the best places possible to increase your online visibility and ultimately your business revenue.

As I attempt to keep up with all the current and upcoming Facebook changes that will affect my clients, I find myself reassuring them of three things that will never change. Great Content, Great Customer Service and Great Follow up will always be the key to your marketing success. As long as you continue to provide content that your audience is interested in, great customer service and don’t forget to follow up after you get that sign up or sale, you will always be ahead of the curve.

It seems real simple to stay on top of those three key elements, but believe me, there are many that drop the ball in either one or all of those areas. So even though you may have heard some of these tips before, it is good to refresh your memory from time to time and revisit why these areas are important.

Provide Your Audience With Great Content
“Content is King” I’m sure you have heard that before and it is true. The main reason someone may follow you on Twitter or Facebook is because you offer information that is of interest to them. It does not matter what you may be offering. If for example you are a seller of iphone 4 case covers, your content can be about the benefits of having a case cover. It can also showcase the different types of case covers and what that may say about the personality of someone buying that particular case cover. You can also talk about what is hot, unique, hard to find, etc. If the information is good, than when you go to provide a link to your website or store, people will go to it because you have provided them with information that will be useful in their purchase options.

Provide Great Customer Service
Using that same example, if a customer has an issue with their purchase, there are two ways they can make or break your business. Whether they try to contact you via phone or through your businesses social media account, you have to be ready to answer any complaints or questions that customer may have. If that customer is not satisfied with how they are handled, they can send out a negative message about you through there networks and we know how viral that can go quickly. Case and point-that FedEx video that went around over the holidays. You do not want to be that guy.

Provide Great Follow Up
If you want to have rave reviews and return customers, you must must follow up. Once someone receives a product or service from you, send a thank you. It pays to check back to see how they liked their product or service. If they have signed up for your ezine or newsletter, make sure they receive it. I really dislike when I sign up for something and I never hear from that person. Don’t sit on contacts for weeks and months. If people have given you their information, more than likely they are interested in what you have to offer. If you can’t seem to find time to send out your ezine or newsletter, contact me!

If you found this to be helpful or have any other insight to offer, let me know by leaving a comment below.

What is so significant about this new change? I’m still trying to figure it out myself. But as I uploaded my new Cover to my profile, I could not help feel a sense that I was returning back to a more fun and personal side. I keep my Facebook personal profile separate from my business page and lately, I’ve spent more time trying to build up that business page and less on “socializing” with my family and friends.

Facebook Timeline allows you to see at a quick glance the important things that are happening in your life. From status updates to recently uploaded pictures of your children, trip or get together, it is just a different way to share information.

Some cool features:

Create a Cover

(created by PreachItGyrl Management and Graphic Design)

Creating a Cover is a fun way to show visitors to your profile something you love or is unique to you. I decided to do a collage that reflects the various roles I play. I have seen Covers that showcase a favorite saying, quote, pet, etc. You can do pretty much anything. Well, not anything…you cannot use your cover to advertise or promote a business. Facebook would like you to keep all of your marketing and advertising efforts streamlined to your Facebook Business Page.

Tell Your Story

You always had the ability to post a status update and filter who could see what. But with the Timeline, you can also hide present and past post on your wall. You can also highlight something important by using the “Feature” function and that post will become larger-serving as a focus point on your timeline.

You and others can also scroll through your timeline by using the timeline bar on the right side of your page.

Cool Apps

A ton of new social apps have been added to help you further express your individuality, likes in music, movies, news, etc. Your family and friends can get a better sense of who you are and what you are interested in by just what you add to your profile.

So far I like the Facebook Timeline. It allows me to use Facebook for what it was originally intended to do before marketing our businesses came into play. Of course I am not naïve to the fact that these changes are somehow putting money into the pockets of Facebook and other third parties. But for a few minutes a day, I can smile, laugh and share inspiration with those I cherish the most in a different and personal way.

To help you put your plan together, here are 5 key areas you need to address:

Describe your Brand, Product or Service

What is it that you are trying to sell? Can you explain to someone in 1 sentence what you are offering? Write it down so that you are clear and can recite it without hesitation.

Create a Purpose Statement

What is your purpose in using social media? Do you want to drive traffic to your website? Build your subscriber list? Increase brand visibility? Raise awareness for a cause or fundraising effort?

Know Your Target Audience

Based on the description and purpose statement, who would benefit from what you are offering? This is very important to consider because this can help you zone in on which social media networks will be the most effective. For example, you may find the type of people you are trying to attract may hang out on Linkedin more than Twitter or Facebook. You do not have to be on every social outlet if it does not make sense for your target audience. Knowing this information will allow you to see where you can concentrate most of your marketing efforts.

Establish measurable goals and objectives

Once you have determined your purpose and target audience, it is time to set some goals that can be measured. For example, instead of just saying, “Our goal is to increase website traffic”, it should be “Our goal is to increase website traffic resulting in 100 new leads within the next 3 months.” See the difference? By stating something that can be measured, you are now able to track your progress based on the specific number of leads and time frame given. Numbers can always be adjusted, but at least you have a starting point.

The next step to this would be the action plan…how will you increase website traffic to capture those leads? Maybe you will put a sign up form on your Facebook page and offer a giveaway for signing up!

Track and Monitor Your Efforts

If you want to know how much traffic you have coming to your site, you can add something like Google Analytics and other web-based tools to help you track the traffic. If you are trying to increase subscribers, check your log periodically and see when and where you seem to attract the most sign ups.

Taking the time to consider, review and write down the answers to these key areas, can save you a lot of time and energy. It also allows you to get focus on what your objectives are and sets the stage for success!

Here are 7 reasons social media should be a part of your marketing plan as well:

Create a social platform to monitor your brand and customer feedback
Know what your customers and your competitors are saying about you. You can showcase the positives by highlighting what people are saying about your business on blogs, forums, tweets, etc. You can also react and respond quicker to complaints or false information about your products or services.

Drive traffic to your blog and website.
Use social networks to link back to your sites. Email marketing announcing new products or upcoming events and proportionals is also a great way to drive traffic to your site.

Generate new business leads, sales and referrals.
Having a Facebook page, Twitter account or business blog, allows you to reach a much larger audience. This is great for virtual and local businesses.

Collaborate and share new ideas and insights.

Distribute your relevant content to a target audience.
Social networks are set up so that you can strategically market to your target audience. They also offer various tools for you to track and monitor audience activity.

Promote your events and relevant company news, discounts etc…

Build visibility, credibility and positive recognition for your brand.

Seven great reasons to start using social media today!

If you would like more tips or need help getting started, contact me for a FREE 30 minute consultation.

A vision board is also a great way to surround yourself with images of who you want to become, what you want to have, where you want to live, take a vacation and any other changes you desire for your life. The idea is that if you surround yourself with these images, your life will change to match those images and those desires. I believe it stimulates a shift in mindset. I heard someone say that it does not matter if it is a new year if you still operate with the same old mindset.

So, how do you create a vision board? Here is a list of things you will need:
Poster board
Glue stick or tape
Scissors
Marker(s)
Magazines to get images, pictures, words
Pictures of yourself, family and friends
Fun decorative items like stickers, glitter or borders

I would then suggest that you find a quite space and consider this question, “What do I want for my life, my business, my family?” You will find yourself flooded with images, words, memories, etc that will set the stage for what you would like to see on your board. Once you get an idea of what direction you would like to go with your vision board, follow these steps to bringing it to life.

4 Simple Steps to Creating a Vision Board:

Step 1: Go through your magazines and tear or cut out images, pictures or words that stand out or trigger something. Make a big pile of images and phrases and words.

Step 2: Look through the images and place your favorites on the board. Eliminate any images that no longer feel right. This step is where your intuition comes in. As you lay the pictures on the board, you’ll get a sense how the board should be laid out.

Step 3: Glue everything onto the board. Make it fun by adding the stickers, glitter or title words with markers.

Step 4: Hang your vision board in a place where you will see it often.

Pretty simple…but very powerful.

I would love to hear your thoughts around your vision boards. I hope you will share!

I tried to keep my business objectives in tact while trying to accommodate my quickly changing family circumstances. But I soon found myself burnt out and just doing the minimum to stay a float.

What happened? Well, instead of really revising my business objectives and adjusting to my changing life needs, I tried to stay the course and keep a load that was virtually impossible for that moment.

2011 was a year of lessons for me. Sometimes those lessons left me discouraged but ultimately put me in a better mindset and position for what I would like to accomplish in 2012.

So as I work on another vision board, here the top 5 things I will do to make my 2012 the best year for my business:

1) Establish and create the Vision
2) Strategy is Key…how do I see myself accomplishing this Vision
3) Align myself with those that support my vision
4) Adjust strategy when necessary
5)Celebrate the little things

If I can stay focused on these 5 things, I believe I will see great results and have less regrets. What are some things you took away from 2011? What do you plan to implement in your business goals for 2012?

In fact, what he said was the reason for this post. My son said, “Dad-I am going to be Bold and Brave.”. You can imagine the shock on our faces. When he said this, I knew that it was based mostly on his love for Batman and the bold and brave series. But for some reason, it hit my husband and I as an Aha moment. We got home and decided that this would be our theme for 2012. Whatever we wanted to accomplish for our family, careers and our businesses, we would be bold and brave as we pursued it.

So, as we move into another year, I would like to encourage you to also be bold and brave. The possibilities are endless for you in 2012!

Facebook Pages, (which are now being referred to as Facebook Public Profiles), are commonly used to allow a Facebook user to connect with a vast majority of people outside of their current networks. It is mostly used by public figures, businesses, organizations, sports teams, artist and anyone else trying to build a brand or increase visibility to their products or services. It is free to set up a public profile and also offers a free or low cost way to advertise, which is great for a small business owner and entrepreneur with a tight marketing budget.

Unlike a personal Facebook profiles, the Facebook public profiles are used to attract people that are interested in what your business is offering. There is no such thing as a limit to how many people you want to “like” or “friend” your page. You can have an unlimited amount of followers on a public Facebook profile, unlike the limit of 5,000 for a personal page.

There is a lot you can do on a Facebook public profile page that you cannot do with a regular or personal Facebook profile or group page. For example, you can add many different types of applications to your public profile to enhance the page such as custom tabs, polls, surveys, ecommerce applications, etc. A Facebook public profile can oftentimes serve as a one stop shop for some businesses by using it to promote and sometimes sell products and services right from their Facebook public profile. I would not advocate for using this as your only marketing platform, but as an added bonus to what you are already doing.

Over the past few months, there have been a lot of changes to the design and how you can interact with your page followers. I will not highlight those changes in this blog because they may be different by the time I post this. J However, I will talk about a few key questions you should ask yourself before you begin putting together your Facebook public profile:

1)      Who is your target audience?

2)      What is the objective of the Facebook public page? Is it to just build an online presence? Direct traffic to your main website?  Generate awareness for a campaign? Or a combination of things?

3)      What methods will you use to attract people to want to join your page? (Custom tabs, giveaways, polls, ads, etc.)

4)      How will you measure if your efforts are successful?

5)      Is this a long term or short term investment on your part?

One other important thing to consider is how you will brand your Facebook public profile. If you are the brand, than having a professional profile picture of yourself may be appropriate. If you are branding your services, than you may decide to create a custom banner that displays your logo, service and contact information and use that as your profile picture. This is just one example of how you will shape your public page into a well put together marketing tool.

Taking the time up front to figure out how you will use and layout your profile page will save you a lot of time that you can’t afford to waste. With over 500 million active users on Facebook every week and sometimes every day, you want to spend that time engaging that audience.

There is so much to say about a Facebook public profile. If you have a specific question, post it in the comment section below and let’s discuss.

It is amazing to me how the changes in weather can also mirror where you are in various stages of your life. There are always times of adjustment or change. Due to some changes that are currently going on within my family, I find myself having to make some decisions on how to run my businesses in order to meet those new family needs. While I am very excited with the new opportunities, I find myself a little anxious in trying to figure out how this will play out in my business. Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation? You finally feel that you are in a great place or at least a comfortable place in your business and then something happens and you have to adjust-again.

But isn’t that life? Change is hard for many of us, but if you want to continue to grow, you have to learn how to accept it and roll with the punches. So there I was, staring at my business plan just 4 months into 2011, seeing what I needed to adjust in order to continue to experience growth within my business.

What did I come up with? Well, I will be rolling out some new services soon-so stay tuned for that! But here are some things I did and you can do to help see the silver lining about the changes and the future of your business.

Seek Counsel (Spouse/Business Coach/Mentor)
I am fortunate enough to have great family support and a business network. Both can give input and help you strategize. It especially helps to have a coach or mentor who may have gone through similar situations as you. Look within your industry, online and offline networks for that needed support.

Revisit Business Plan
Once you get an idea on what changes you need to make, go back to your business plan or goals and adjust it accordingly. It really helps to write out your goals/plan to allow you to see the big picture. Don’t just write it down, but post it where you can see it on a daily basis.

Look for New Opportunities
Do these new changes afford you the opportunity to try something new? Do some research to see what may be new in your industry that you would enjoy doing and could be a benefit to your current and future clientele.

Relax and Take a Day at a Time
Change brings adjustments that just will not take overnight. If you purpose to stick to the plan you have put into place and take one day at a time, you will find yourself again in a flow of growth and success.