More information on having a “stunt double” do your social media for you…

Find the right people to follow and befriend. To reach your goals, you probably want to connect with as many people as possible without getting labeled a spammer and losing your accounts. The key is to move slowly and consistently: connecting with ten old friends and maybe twenty new ones per week. Your social media specialist knows how to find the best prospects for you online and approach them in a way that builds relationships first.
 
Be who you are, share what you love and build those connections!  In just one fifteen-minute appointment, your social media specialist can gather enough information to keep your accounts spinning and your online presence fresh and engaging all week.

Are you ready to step up to the challenge of social media? 

For more information on having a “stunt double” contact us at jo@simmonsvirtualassistant.com

Imagine being able to be a social media star in just 15 minutes a week! You could gain all the advantages of lively online relationships—all the exposure, connections and referrals—without disrupting your all-too-busy life!

The trick is finding a “stunt double” to drip your content into the networks at the appropriate time and place. Simply add a fifteen-minute appointment to your week to provide the needed information, and your social media marketing specialist will take care of the rest

1.  You’ll start out on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.  Your online reputation starts with your “profile” on these three sites. Each one presents your basic biographical information, but with a different twist: LinkedIn is you buttoned up in your business suit; Facebook is business casual and Twitter is the cocktail party. Give your information ONCE to your social media specialist and she’ll tweak it to work in these three environments.

2.   Set out your goals for Social Media, and then put a plan into place to achieve them. Want to reconnect with previous clients and customers? Meet new, qualified leads? Build interest in your offerings and drive traffic to your web site? Let us know what you need social media to do for your business and we’ll show you the strategies and tactics to achieve them.

3.   Follow your plan consistently. Need the exposure of tweeting every day, posting to your blog three times a week, publishing an article once a week or e-mailing a newsletter every month? Your social media specialist takes care of these repetitive tasks so you can focus on building your business.

I have Virtual Assistant’s that work for me that can act as your “stunt” double for your social media.  In as little as 15 minutes a week you can have that presence on the social media sites. 

Don’t be afraid to let yourself get involved in social networking.  If interested I will give you a Free 30 minute consultation to see if we are a good fit for you and your business.

Email me at jo@simmonsvirtualassistant.com for more information.

Happy Networking!

Are you on the social media sites and sometimes really wonder what you should be “tweeting” about?  You really don’t want to share what you had for breakfast on there but people do it. 

I have made a list of questions that will get you thinking of what you should write on the social media sites to gain attention. 

1.  Do you have any speaking engagements coming up this week? 

If yes, where will it be, when and what time zone will it be, is there anyone you hope to see there? What is the topic? Are you speaking for a specific group? (Chamber, AARP, eWomen Network, etc.)?

2.  Do you have any new projects you are beginning/working on?

3.  What’s the most pressing business question the Universe could answer for you this week?

4.  What “learning” (tip, encouragement, trend or technique) do you want to share with the world this week?

Answer these questions and start posting away!  Also remember that quotes are great and people really do want to know what you have been up to.  They want to get to know the “real” you before they do business with you. 

Good luck and let me know if these help!

“The successful networkers I know, the ones receiving tons of referrals and feeling truly happy about themselves, continually put the other person’s needs ahead of their own.”  ~Bob Burg

For Social Media & networking it is all about relationship building.  90% relationship building and 10% business building.    IF you do this you will see success. 

Social Media is Hot, Hot, Hot right now and if you are not on the social media bandwagon you better jump on because this is where business is happening.

Twitter doubles in size every 90 days.  Facebook has over 450,000 new people sign up every day.  The fastest growing population on Facebook is the 50+ and older generation.  Isn’t that crazy?

The average person reads 6 Blogs per day. 

18-34 year olds spend 40% of their free time on Social Media.

Are you ensuring that your business is out there for all of these people to see?

Once I became certified in Social Media Networking my business took on a whole new caliber and niche market.  I have new clients coming in weekly.  I am currently working with a writer and we do package deals to help our clients have great success with social media. 

Here are some more examples of what getting certified with Craig Cannings and VAClassroom.com can do for your business:

One graduate of the Social Marketing Specialist Training Program at VAClassroom mentioned that she landed a great new Social Media client in the plumbing business. Plumbing? If pumbing businesses are starting to use Social Media Marketing strategies, then can you imagine the massive potential client base that is just waiting to be tapped into?

Another graduate from VAClassroom, mentioned that she is working with a Real-Estate company setting up a blog and performing other Social Media Marketing activities.

There are so many vertical markets to tap into and the opportunities for Social Media Marketing Specialists are truly endless at this point!

Since Craig at VAClassroom is so excited to hear these success stories from the graduates of the training program, he wants to make sure that as many people as possible have the opportunity to be trained in this “high demand” area right now.

So, VAClassroom is running a special for the last ten days of April.They are knocking off an additional $100 on our training program ($397) and offering it to you for $297 until midnight on April 30th.

If you are serious about growing your business in 2009, then there is no better opportunity right now then to position yourself as a Social Media Marketing Specialist.

Just click on the link below for all the course details. Also, please make note of the below coupon code that will give you the $100 discount off our training program.

Click Here: http://tinyurl.com/dykp2w
COUPON CODE: april09

Once you click one of the order buttons, you will see a “coupon” field where you can insert the above coupon code.

In these trying times for the economy and money is tight we are all looking at ways to tighten up our marketing efforts. 

Here are 5 tips for Free or low cost advertising

1.  Submit an article to your newspaper.  This article should be of interest to people and not solely based on your business.  Remember to submit it to the correct editor that handles the articles.

2.  Write a Press Release about your business.  Have you learned something new with your business or made any additions?  Announce it to the world!  Once you write a press release there are numerous places you can submit them.  Submit to the editors of your local newspapers and submit online to the online press release websites.

3.  Make a Donation to your church or another community event.  A lot of places do fund raising.  This is a great way to advertise your business through giving.

4.  Have fun with Social Media!  Join Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.  Join groups that relate to you or your business on these sites.  Become engaged in conversation with others.  Build those relationships with others. 

5.  Volunteer.  I cannot stress enough how good it feels to volunteer your time and services to others.  Businesses and especially non-profits are always looking for volunteers.  If you cannot find a place to volunteer call your local Volunteer Hot-Line and they will line you up with a place. 

We all want business right now.  Do your part to help others.  Think outside the box and have fun with this.  Getting your name and business name out there can be challenging but fun at the same time.  

By now most of us have heard about Twitter, a social networking site that is described as a mini blog.  As texting is to the cell phone, Twitter is for the computer.

If you are a entrepreneur or small business owner social networking is a must for your business.  You should be on all 3 social networking sites which are Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

If you are unfamiliar with some of these social networking sites, Twitter you get followers, LinkedIn you make connections and Facebook you are friends with others. 

Twitter now has over 7 million people as of March 2009.  It is the largest in the world and the best part – it is FREE!  The 3 social networking sites I have mentioned are all FREE. 

Sell on Twitter?  You bet!  For example Dell computers last year made 1 million off of Twitter.  How did they do it?  For people who followed them they offered promo codes for money off of computers.  The special was only for Twitter people and they had a special promo code to use
when ordering the computer. 

However before you sell you MUST build relationships first.  That is the most important.  People are not going to buy from you unless they know and trust you.  If you go out there and try selling, selling, selling on Twitter it won’t work.  Build those relationships first.  When first starting out on Twitter tweet about 3-5 times a day.  As you grow more familiar with it, tweet more often. 
Promote other people’s products.  Then in turn people will promote you.

I am on Twitter to network with others.  I love helping others connect. 

What is your goal for your business?  Make it work with Social Media

Jo Simmons is a Certified Social Media Expert and can help entrepreneurs and small business owners with their social media.  She owns a Multi-Virtual Assistant company called www.simmonsvirtualassistant.com.  You can contact Jo at 605-221-5605 or by email at jo@simmonsvirtualassistant.com

As a savvy business owner, you know the need for a company website–and you probably already have one. But the growing rush of eyeballs to social media sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter means you need to establish an online presence there ahead of your competitors.

Before you simply cut-and-paste your About Us page into your Facebook profile, take a look at how you must transform your attitude before you can create an effective social media presence.

On your website it’s okay to say, “Sign up for my free report” because the visitor is on your turf. If you make the same offer on social media turf–while commenting on a blog post or a topic in LinkedIn Answers, for example–you’ll cause a lot of eye-rolling and may find yourself publicly scolded, labeled as a clumsy newbie, or reviled as a spamming shark.

Show your leadership and PULL others to follow you. Lay out a solution to their problem, a shining path to success in content you publish in free videos, posts, updates, and tweets. Just make it easy for them to find your e-mail and website address so they CAN find out about your offerings when they’re ready.

You must interact with those you meet online. If you’ve set up the appropriate Google Alerts, you’ll know whenever anyone anywhere on the web mentions you. And they expect you to respond. In fact, the more you make your presence felt, the more positively they’ll perceive you and your brand.

The social media landscape is almost unimaginably huge, and your resources are limited. So be strategic. Go where your customers are. Use Google Blogsearch, Twellow and other tools to find them. They’ll recognize and appreciate your exclusive attention.

Step 1 is to listen. What are they talking about? What matters to them? Then prove you’ve been listening by giving back and adding value. If someone says something you like, say so! An insightful compliment goes a long way.

To demonstrate your expertise, provide assistance and authoritative information. Point people to interesting resources like blog posts and videos–occasionally your own if they’re relevant to the conversation. And that’s the trick.

No one minds if you’re a good leader and a good marketer, as long as you put the common good first. Show your leadership, your preeminence, by consistently putting the interests of others before your own. That’s how to develop trust, a solid starting point for any business relationship.

An “expert’s expert,” Susan Raab helps you connect with new leads through social media, add prospects to your e-mail list at your web site, and then market information products and services to your list members via e-mail. She writes high-conversion “sales letter” landing pages, social media and e-mail campaigns as well as website copy. An author of best-selling books on sales and marketing and an award-winning corporate publisher, she can also help you create compelling information products to increase the lifetime value of your own clients.

We all know by now that social networking is hot on the internet.  Have you joined in the game?  The top 3 hot spots right now are Twitter, Facebook and Linked In. 

Join in the fun and see how many people you can become friends with.  Follow people on Twitter, post comments on Facebook and invite friends and join groups and invite friends on Linked In.  It might seem a little overwhelming at first but take one at a time. 

Make sure you put up your profile but you might want to use separate email addresses for the different groups.  Also use a professional photo if you are using these sites for your business.  You want to look the part while networking with others.

Follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jojova

LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin/in/josimmons

Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/josimmons

I hope to see you all there!