Tip of the Week: CONVERSATION MARKETING or “GHOST” TWITTERING

I have heard many discussions of the pros and cons of Twitter and the tweets that are posted.

There are those individuals who have no problem with someone posting “tweets” on their behalf.  On the other side, many believe that you should do all your own “conversation marketing”.

So why do people join Twitter?  In the professional business world, most would say they join to build their presence on the internet, form relationships, get acquainted with alliances in their own industry, seek joint venture connections and gain new clients.

Social Networking operates much like local networking but “virtually”.  When you join your local Chamber of Commerce, do you send someone else to represent your business?  Do they hand out your business cards, shake the hands of group members and do your sales pitch?  Do you get results when someone else represents you?

When I attend local networking events, I enter to meet new people, learn about their business, build my “brand” by establishing my expertise in what I do and what problems I can solve for my clients.  By attending on a regular basis, I get to know fellow members and their business and they become familiar with me as well.  I am building my “brand”.

When you are trying to build your “brand” by networking over the internet, many say (and I agree) that you have to be yourself, be honest and want to share and mentor with your connections.  Unless your “Ghost Twitterer” knows you very well, how can they possibly project your personality or your expertise into the “tweets” they are doing on your behalf with your connections?  I doubt that it would  be any more successful than someone representing you at a local meeting.

When you are contemplating the Social Networking scene and building your presence on the Internet, it would be prudent to think about whether you want to commit your time and efforts interacting personally or whether you are comfortable with someone else representing you.  And if you do employ someone else to represent you, are you closely monitoring the “conversations” to make sure that it is being done to your satisfaction?

Diane L. Coville

ALTERNATIVE OFFICE ASSISTANCE

www.alternativeofficeassistance.com

Tip of the Week: WHY SHOULD YOU JOIN TWITTER?

I am now progressing through my Social Media Marketing course finally and find I know about half the content already but I am learning so much more.  As well, I have attended a few seminars on the subject and there is always more to learn.  A lot of the questions are directed at the more popular Twitter.

Many people join because they have heard so much about it, but are confused about the reasoning behind Twitter.  And there are those individuals who have tried it out for a few weeks and they finally understood. 

First of all, there are 3 leading social networks – Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.  Twitter has had a huge growth in 2008 and into 2009 and it is predicted it will be THE network for 2009.

When you join, you create a profile but it must be brief – your “Twitter name”, your location, your website address if you have one and a very brief bio – not just a business bio but a little bit about yourself as well.  Because this is truly a social networking site whereby you seek out people you know, people they know, people you want to know and people you want to know more about with regard to their business and how it can relate to yours.  Once you have found someone you know, you “follow” them meaning whenever they “Twitter” or type in a very short message (140 characters max.), you will see their comments.  And when you go to their profile page, you can check out their bio as well as the people they follow.  You may want to follow their friends/acquaintances/alliances/business contacts as well, so you “follow” them.  They will receive an email alert when anyone “follows” them, and if they are like me, they check out your bio page and decide to “follow you” or not.  Predictably, if the messages you are “Tweeting” are interesting and/or informative they will add you to their list.  Each time you select another individual to follow, you are then suddenly linked to all their contacts and it doesn’t take long to connect to all sorts of interesting people and a LOT of useful information, especially if they are in your field of expertise or your “target market”.

But just following and being followed is not the whole picture.  As you would get to know people in a networking group like your local Chamber of Commerce, you can reply to the “tweets” and get to know and share with these existing and new connections in your network.   It can take some time to get to know these new people in your network and it is all about sharing, mentoring and seeking to build relationships that may at some point turn into Joint Ventures or clients.  That rarely happens overnite.

In order to see the full benefits of Twitter, give yourself at least 2 weeks to check it out.  My question is, if you joined Twitter and understood what it is all about, do you think it would be beneficial to your business and if not, why doesn’t it work for you?  I would love to hear from you.

 

Diane L. Coville

ALTERNATIVE OFFICE ASSISTANCE

www.alternativeofficeassistance.com

Tip of the Week: MENTORING AND SHARING

This week has once again proven to be a very successful one.  I am winding down to finish one project for a client and has been approved on another for them.  I have also gained another new client.  And through one of the groups I am subscribed to, I took a little time to answer a survey that one member sent out and she contacted me directly.  She has offered to post any articles or eBooks I have done to her website for her clients with a link to my site.   And I, in turn, can see a benefit to my clients – past, present and future – to be able to view her site for valuable resources in growing their businesses.  Her site provides plenty of information and support: 

http://www.beingthebest.ca

In a previous post, I mentioned that there is an article on Technology in Business featured in the Costco Connection publication for November/December where my name and business are mentioned.  I have received 6 calls so far as a result of that article – I gained 2 new clients as a direct result of that article and hope to have at least a few more in the coming weeks.  I also received 4 requests from ladies who, for various reasons, requested some of my time to mentor and share as they endeavour to enter the profession of Virtual Assistance.

My schedule has been very busy but I feel that “giving back” is very important.  I have had telephone conversations with all of them and followed up with emails with links to assist them in their research and education.  And that leads me to my tip for this week.

I went through the Self Employment Assistance Program with the Federal Government to start a business in September 2004.  In one of our classroom sessions, one of the “presenters/coaches” made a point which I disagreed with at the time.  They said “don’t give out any information or assistance unless there will be a guaranteed return on the investment of your time”.  I have addressed this in a previous posting.  You never know when you are networking who will become a client or refer you to someone they know who needs your services.  And that can be as true when you are talking to others in your own profession/industry.  I can choose 2 paths when I am approached by another VA.  I can choose what I think is the “negative” path which is looking at this person as “direct competition”.   OR, I can choose to think of this person as an “alliance”.

I choose the latter.    I chose it when I was working dilligently to learn and grow my business.  I found I always learned from others (and still do).  And now that I am seeing success, is there any reason why I should not continue to share and mentor?  I can think of many more “benefits” from sharing and mentoring than negatives.  And it feels so good to give back.

And, a few weeks ago we had our first taste of snow!  This weekend we had our first full snowstorm with more coming.  It was a “winter wonderland” outside my window this morning.  And I spent a good portion of today clearing away that “wonderland” from my deck and driveway – all 22cm of that nice white, wet, heavy stuff.  Happy Winter everybody!

Diane L. Coville

ALTERNATIVE OFFICE ASSISTANCE