Tag: social media

Twitter For Beginners: 5 Simple Rules

Twitter-BirdI am not going to list 80 ways to use Twitter.  At least not yet.  But I will give a few helpful hints about what you want to accomplish by using this tool.  It’s not terribly complicated, but for some it’s not only hard to figure out what to tweet, but it’s hard to figure out what the goal behind that tweet should be.  So here is a list of goals each tweet should attempt to accomplish.  It doesn’t need to be all, but it should be some.

  1. Communicate with your customers.  Check out @yogijones, @foiledcupcakes, and @designsponge to see how these two small businesses and one very big blog use Twitter to engage and communicate with their followers.

Success Stories: Six Questions with Stephanie Sack, Owner of Vive La Femme

My second Success Stories interview is with Stephanie Sack, owner of Vive La Femme, a clothing store in Chicago which offers the latest looks and trends for Chicago’s stylish women of size.  Stephanie uses a blog and Facebook to promote her store.  Read below to find out how.

1.)  Why did you first start utilizing a blog for your business?  How did your store change from before the blog to after the blog started?

The blog was born after I pared down the entire marketing concept for the shop.  I used to have a very elaborate wesbite, really jazzy and snazzy, but it was a pain to keep up. …

Success Stories: Nine Questions With Michael Farah, Owner Of Berry Chill Yogurt

Berry-Chill-LogoWelcome to the first post of a new series: Success Stories. I am interviewing businesses that are using social media as all or part of their marketing plan.  My first interview is with Michael Farah, owner of Berry Chill, an all-natural yogurt store with several Chicago locations.  Berry Chill has a constant social media presence, and exclusively uses social media to market themselves.  Just how does Farah use social media for his business?  Read below to find out.

1.)  How did you begin using social media?

I started out in the social media world through personal use and decided to start using it for my business too. …

Build An Online Presence You Can Be Proud Of

Your-Online-PresenceIn yesterday’s post I mention that one of the basics of SEO is building up an online presence.  Then I proceeded to talk about it for all of 3 sentences.  I think we can all agree that it deserves more than that.

The reason having an online presence is so important is because if you don’t have one you are missing out on a lot of potential customers.  Truthfully, Internet marketing (website, Facebook, Twitter etc.) is no longer an option, it’s a requirement.  Online marketing is a multi-billion dollar business that helps just about every revenue stream that takes advantage of it. …

Top Ten Rules for Your Social Media Policy

Top Ten Social Media Policy Rules

Being in charge of a small business means your head is in about fifteen places at once.  Instead of thinking about Twitter, you’re thinking about payroll and inventory.  Using your employees to help keep up with social media is a great way to help manage the time that goes into staying current with technology.  So making sure your employees know how to use social media is imperative.  If you have taken the plunge into blogging, Twitter, and Facebook, you need to feel comfortable when your employees are using these tools, which means taking the time to teach them so they become social media masters.…

Why Your Company Needs a Business Blog

This blog is intended to show how as a small business owner you can utilize social media tools to grow your clientele, get your word out, and thrive.  An important part of the social media equation is blogging.  You may believe everyone and their mother is out to start a blog in order to keep you posted on which cereal they ate for breakfast, if their cat got over that nasty stomach flu, and if they can balance cherries on their dog’s head.  But there is so much more to it than that.  Business blogging is a completely different beast, and is one of the most effective ways to add content to your website, build brand awareness, and turn readers of your blog into real-life customers.…

Today’s Afternoon Delight: Passion

I’m here to offer you some afternoon delight, a feature I will occasionally include in this blog.

There are many, many, many blogs out there writing on social media and how to survive it.  Sometimes they make me feel like I’m trying to navigate an earthquake or tsunami instead of a marketing niche.  Occasionally I notice a trend that is overtaking the Blogsphere which I find interesting and noteworthy.  I used to make a note of it in my head.  Now I will share with you.  Today’s trend?  PASSION.

Please take note:

FamousBloggers has a post up about passion.

As does Outspoken Media, a personal favorite of mine (the part about passion is at the end of the post).…