When you operate a business online or a brick and mortar business, you connect with your customers and clients. The larger you get, the larger your business, less happens on a personal level and the more you need assistance to do that. More and more people are looking to buy from people they know, like and trust. Therefore, they are expecting people to respond to their questions, to interact with them on different social media sites.  You really can bring down barriers between business and personal with social media.

When you take a look at a local example, here in British Columbia we have only one company that provides our car insurance and it’s called ICBC. They have a Twitter account, and there is one person within ICBC who monitors, watches, answers and takes advantage of the personal to business by using Twitter. It’s very effective. They can help people very quickly, they can provide answers, it’s a very effective tool.

1) Social media is one of the best ways for you to engage with your customer and clients without having to be right there in front of them or on the telephone. You can take a look at what they’re posting on their personal profiles on the different platforms and you can interact with them. You can watch for people commenting and asking questions about your product or service.

2) You can provide great information through social media. You can let people know when there’s something special happening, give advance notice that’s something is new and different, change is going to happen, you just found this great source of information from somewhere else and you can share that with your clients and customers. It’s great to be able to share not only your information, but information, products and services you believe your customers will be able to use to enhance what you provide for them.

3) Connect with specific people and you can personalize it. When you go into someone’s Facebook page, you can tell the different kinds of things they like to do. Do they go to the movies? Do they listen to music? Are they pet owners? In my personal profile, I have a cover that I just had created and it has a picture of both of my dogs. You can find out what people are interested in and then use that information to be able to support them, to help them, to provide information that might be of  interest to them.

4) Provide access to more products and services that are recommended by friends. How many times have you purchased something or gone somewhere, gone to a restaurant because a friend recommended it? With social media, when you have your friends on Facebook connections on LinkedIn, followers on Twitter, and they recommend your products and services, they’re telling all of their friends you’re one of the good guys, you provide value.

Social media really does bring down those barriers. It’s really easy to go in and find different information about your customers and clients or finding what groups they belong to and interacting with them in those specific groups. Use social media to breakdown those barriers between business and personal because it really is about connections and helping people.

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Today, you can find many people on social media who just do a brain dump no matter what condition their brain is in, and it can make them look really bad. When I find people doing things that I don’t like, who are not practicing proper etiquette on Twitter and Facebook, etc., I either simply un-follow them or un-friend them. It’s that simple.

Here are 4 tips that are just what Mama said…

1. Think before you post. Whether you’re posting a comment on another person’s blog, creating your own blog post, making a tweet, a Facebook comment, a Facebook post, it doesn’t matter. Think before you post. If you’re having a bad day or something’s getting you down, create in draft mode and do the posting, the actual publishing later. You’ll thank yourself in the morning. A good question to ask yourself, “Would it bother me if my Grandmother read this?”

2. Be professional in your manner. The best way to be looked at as an idiot online is to just go out there and be a fool. Be professional. Be courteous to other people. The same types of professional behavior that you would use in an office and or business environment, you want to use on social media. The accepted forms, greeting people properly, not butting in on conversations, not immediately running up to someone to sell them your product. Practice your professional manner online just the same as you would as in person.

3. Follow the terms and conditions of the program or platform you’re using. I was just recently asked a question, “how do I get Facebook to unblock the number of friend requests I can send?” I found out that basically what the person was doing was spamming, and Facebook’s terms and conditions don’t allow that. They only want you to make friend connections with people that you know. You may meet someone in an event, send them a friend request, and they may not get to that friend request until later and they mark you as a spammer. They just forgot who you are. Keep track of your invitations. Follow the terms and conditions of whatever platform you’re on, whether it be LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, any of them. Make sure you follow the terms and conditions, or your account could be shut down.

4. Mind your manners. I don’t know how many times I see people where I honestly believe they don’t understand how they’re coming across, but they’re coming across as ordering people around. Mind your manners. Use please and thank you. There are a lot of abbreviations for the P’s & Q’s which makes it really easy when you don’t have a lot of characters. You still need to mind your manners.

When in doubt think back to what Mama said and you’ll probably be OK, because what mama said is true on Social Media too!

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Are You Careful With Your Online Reputation? You Need to Be

Do you know what people are saying about you online? What you do online is very important as it will be out there for everyone to see and judge. This article provides 5 tips to help you protect your reputation.

“We hope you enjoyed this video and learned something new. Please join in the conversation by posting your comments right here on the blog.”

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Is there anything more frustrating than having figured out how to do something but when you go to perform the same task or function you don’t remember all the steps?

Ya know you know how to “do it” but the specific steps just escape you right now?

Watch this video to discover a process you can follow so that this does not happen to you again!

I have my Social Media Procedures saved in many safe places so that I don’t have to remember.

Please join in the conversation by leaving your comments and questions here on the blog.

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Do you find some days that you just spend too much time on the computer?  I have a couple of very good indicators when it is time to take a break, and this is one of them.

Finn does not like to have attention all the time, he is a very independent cat, but when he does he can also be extremely persistent.

When Finn decides it’s time for him to be my social media assistant, I know that it is time to take a break.

Because…

When he walks across the keyboard he has been know to wreck havoc!

While building this business online I used to think that I had to do everything myself.  A social media assistant only came into my thoughts about 6 months ago.  I used a service called Replace Myself to find and help me train people.  It was the best thing I ever did, take that leap and hire a VA!

Yes, this is an affiliate link, however if you decide to make this smart decision and get yourself some help I’ll send you the emails I use to hire people.

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Now that you have started with social media you can see how much power there is in it, Right? Social media success is just a process, find someone who knows what they are doing and follow them. To have your own social media success you don’t have to re-invent the wheel. Check out these 5 tips and incorporate them into how you build your social media presence…

As always your comments and questions are very welcome right here on the blog.

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With Social Media Marketing you are going to have to create a lot of different accounts all over the web.

Keeping them safe can be a real task, here is a way to make it easy for you to “remember”!

Remember your comments and questions are always welcome here on the blog

Please feel free to join in the conversation!

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For a number of years as I build my business I have understood that I need to outsource.  I did find a couple of virtual assistants two years ago who didn’t work out well and it kinda left me with a feeling of “been there, done that”.

As a result I didn’t really think about it again until recently.

One day about three months ago I had a real ahh haaa moment.  I had been burning the candle at both ends and never really feeling like I was getting ahead.  There was always SOOOOOOO much to do!

Then the question just popped into my head…  “You don’t do it all at your day job, why should the business be any different?”  That really got me to thinking and a number of lights finally came on.  There was no way I was going to be able to earn enough in this business to walk away from the day job, while I still have the day job!  There just isn’t enough time in the day.

It really is awesome how things just come to you when your ready.  I was standing in a line at a hotel in San Diego, waiting to head into yet another great day at the Main Street Marketing Fusion 2.0 event.  I was talking to the person behind be about an outsourcing company I had heard of, Hans interrupted the conversation and said, “Before you hire anyone you need to check out Replace Myself

Hans went on to describe what success he had with the program and how happy he was!

His enthusiasm certainly sparked my interest, so I check it out.  Within two weeks I had hired my first VA in Manilla!  Her name is Justine and she has been Awesome.  I am so very glad I took the plunge.

With this system you can also get a training package for the people you hire because don’t kid yourself you will definitely have to train.  We all have different ways of doing things and in many cases when it comes to working on the internet things MUST be done a certain way when it comes to making sure your website is found.

Within a month I had hired a second person, Jov.

I think about my business differently these days.  I am no longer bogged down in the details and the day to day tasks, it has been very liberating!

I just came back from a mastermind meeting and am overflowing with new ideas and things to do.  For the very first time I am not feeling overwhelmed about it all because I know that I have Justine and Jov to help me.

What’s holding you back?  It’s time to take the plunge and get yourself some help.

Check out ReplaceMyself.com You will be glad you did.

Yes this is my affiliate link, but I offer the same to you as Hans did for me.  When you use my affiliate link I will give you the emails that I have been sending to find the great people that I have already found.  Remember my day job is as a Human Resources Consultant, I know what I am doing.

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You must have a goal. If you don’t, you’re going to flounder, you’re going to be chasing the latest and greatest of what ever someone else to have to offer. You need to have the goal so that you can focus on it, and actually achieve it.

The reason most people never reach their goals is that they don’t define them, or ever seriously consider them as believable or achievable. Winners can tell you where they are going, what they plan to do along the way, and who will be sharing the adventure with them. Denis Watley

If you’re going to start social media marketing just because other people are doing it, or you’ve heard, oh my gosh, you really have to get involved with social media, you’ve got to get on Twitter, you’ve got to get on Facebook. If that’s the reason that you’re going to start using social marketing, then I would suggest that you don’t.

You need to have a goal. You need to have a strategy in place, and setting up a Twitter account or a Facebook page and just making some posts is not a strategy that’s going to get you anywhere.

Here are 4 to strategies consider:

1. Is brand recognition. Are you simply out there so that people will know who you are and what you do. Brand recognition.

2. Are you wanting to use social media to get more customers walking in the door? Do you want to geographically target your Twitter, your Facebook, your YouTube? Do you want to geographically target those platforms so that you can specifically get customers walking in the door?

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One of my pet peeves is the amount of money that some companies charge per month to host branded email for you.

If you have your own self hosted website and access to cPanel you can follow along on this video and create your own branded email!!

What is your pet peeve with social media?

Please do leave your comments and questions here on the blog.

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