I spent the weekend working for @MariSmith! What did you do?

July 19, 2010

Wow! What a great weekend! I spent the weekend working for @MariSmith at a business women’s conference in Dallas, Texas. She hired me to work in her booth at the business expo. I spent the last three days greeting professionals, discussing and selling her book, Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day, and assisting with the logistics during her two presentations and the book signings afterwards.

I know you all are curious how I landed this gig, and I’m going to tell you exactly how, but first you need to read about my experience with @MariSmith this weekend.

Mari Smith is as big in real life as she is online! She had the fans coming at her from all directions. She was very patient and gracious with each one. Many came and asked her social media advice about growing their fan page, strategy, etc…. She happily provided FREE advice to anyone that asked. She was a star to me before, I admire her even more now. She is a great person and I have to say without a doubt, quite humble. As we all know, some well known social media experts have grown incredibly large egos to go along with their large following, which is not an admirable quality.

It was great to have affirmation from a top notch pro like @MariSmith that the social media advice I have been giving to my clients is right on track. Hearing her tell the attendees at her presentations to use the same tools and strategy I recommend was totally exciting!

I knew many of the women attending the event, some of them were @angiestrader, @kymglass, @divatoolbox, @adayva and @minetter. I actually got to introduce most of them to @marismith, which was really cool! (P.S. Guys, you owe me big! LOL!)

Anyway, my whole point with this blog post is to express to you:

1. Mari Smith is as awesome in real life as she is online.
2. Not all social media pros are full of themselves.
3. It’s not always who you know, but who you are that gets you  opportunities.

Enough about that – I think you get my point! Now, on to how I landed this opportunity. First, I would like to say I have been connected to @MariSmith online via Facebook and Twitter for awhile, however, until this past week our conversations has been limited.

When @MariSmith decided she was coming to Texas and going to hire a local assistant to help her out, she went to Twellow, after all it’s the Twitter Yellow Pages, and searched assistant Dallas. I was lucky enough to come up #1.

Actually, it wasn’t luck at all that I came up #1. I have worked diligently to grow my brand on Twitter and increase my followers organically. Since I had the right SEO words and the most followers in Dallas with the keyword assistant in my bio, I came up first. When I logged into my Tweetdeck and saw her Direct Message to me I almost fell out of my seat. I was so excited I had to call my mom, Ana (@CyberDivaVA) and Patty (@PattyFarmer) before I even responded. They all know quite well who she is and were excited for me. Anyway, back to the point ….

I want my experience with this great opportunity to teach all of you the importance of:

1. Registering your Twitter ID on Twellow.com.
2. Having your bio completed with the right SEO keywords for your target industry and client.
3. Working diligently to grow your brand on Twitter by providing quality information, content and establishing relationships with others.

I would like to end this blog with a big Thank You to all of you, my Twitter friends! After all, if you hadn’t followed me, and recommended me to your friends, I wouldn’t be where I am today and might not have came up #1 on Twellow.

All of you ROCK and I deeply appreciate each and every one of you! Now go register your Twitter ID on Twellow and get busy spreading the word about who you are and what you represent! Remember, it’s about quality relationships and content, not just quantity!

P.S. @MariSmith Thanks for searching Twellow for your assistant Dallas! You hold the title Queen of #socialmedia in my book! Now, off to read your book, Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day. I have to work on getting my Facebook fans up for the next big opportunity coming my way!

(Special Thanks: Robin Moss @robinatribit thanks for proofing this blog post for me. As always you save me many embarrassing typos! I really appreciate it!)

Are you tired of reading blog post after blog post about personal branding, providing value and content?

July 8, 2010

Are you tired of reading blog post after blog post about personal branding, providing value and content? I know I am sick of it. They all start to read the same after awhile. All of them, don’t get me wrong are great blog posts, and I will continue to share them on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn with you. However, I would like to see something for a change more focused on how to find your brand, provide value and where to locate all this great content that you need to be sharing on social media.

Here’s my take on it:

To find your brand you need to sit down in peace and quiet, and think about what your purpose is for using social media. Do you want to sell something? Educate? Expand your connection base, etc…. If you are an individual providing a service you need to establish your personal brand first, which is what I needed to do!

When I started using social networking sites my goal was to let everyone know who Lissa Duty was and what I was about! I needed to brand myself first and foremost, then focus on growing my business. I went out and established connections with those that are influential in the areas and industries that I focus on. i.e. Small Business Owners, Consultants and Social Media. I identified @BillHurlbut, @PattyFarmer and @LinkedInQueen.

I learned all I could about them, who they were and how I could connect with them. I joke and say “I made them my best friends”. Not literally! I made sure I got to know them on a personal level, which was who they were, what they represented and the value they provide in the social networking community. I soon learned how smart and connected they were. I didn’t ask them – “Please tell your connections about me on social media”. I instead focused on developing a relationship and rapport with them, so they would want to tell their friends about me.

How to provide value? First you need to determine what kind of information would be of interest to those following you. Keep in mind it does need to be related to your industry for the most part, after all you are using social media to sell your services/products right? Think about what you know that is essential to your industry and your clients. Share tips that would help your ideal client make important decisions. Of course, don’t share company secrets or give away the milk for FREE. (I’m sure you all have heard the phrase “Why buy the cow, when they can get the milk for FREE”.) Share enough to make them want to connect with you in a more personal way. Perhaps they’ll message you a follow up question.

Content – the biggie! This covers two areas:

• Finding industry related articles that would interest your followers. Start using a RSS reader like Google Reader and every time you find a blog that someone else has Tweeted or shared on Facebook/LinkedIn that would interest you and your connections subscribe to it in Google Reader. This is a quick and easy way to find great content for you to share on social networking sites. (Watch videos on eHow – How to use & setup Google Reader.)

 

• Writing content yourself to share on your blog. Ask your connections on social media what they would like to learn more about related to your industry. I often find questions that people ask me about social media turn into some really great blog posts! Share success stories of your other clients. Get your readers interested in reading and learning more about you. (Read more about blogging.)

I trust this post gave you some ideas on how to build your personal brand, provide value and content, instead of just all the whys! Give me your feedback and let me know what you think needs to be added or you would like to read more about in future blog posts!

Thanks for reading!

Social Media Resolutions

July 2, 2010

As many of you know Wednesday was Social Media Day as declared by Mashable, even though I was tied up in meetings most of the day, I felt torn, because I wanted to be online reading all the great Social Media Day content. I did get to catch up on a little reading the past few days and some if it made me do some thinking and evaluation.

As a social media marketing strategist, often times I am so busy working on my clients’ accounts and teaching others how to leverage Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter that I end up neglecting my own business.

I decided like to make a Social Media Day Resolution. We make New Years Day Resolutions, so why not Social Media Day Resolutions. My resolution is relating to one key piece of social media that is essential in growing your brand.

My resolution is to keep my website current. I will do this by adding important events that I am participating in and blogging, which as you know is essential for driving website traffic and SEO. I have a tendency to know I need to do things on my website, but keep putting them on the bottom of the priority list.

If you don’t have a top notch quality website and updated blog you are missing a key part of social media. The whole purpose of using social networking sites for marketing is to drive traffic to your website. The more your network will learn about you and your services the more they will hire and recommend you to others.

Here are a few suggested resolutions for you to consider:

• Blog WEEKLY. If you know you need to blog and either don’t have the time or desire you hire a ghost blogger. A lot of VAs offer ghost blogging services. I even do ghost blogging for some clients, depending on their product and services. More on blogging…Have you read Why Blog and What to Blog about?
• Be ACTIVE on social media. Don’t just do your obligatory Status Update, daily or weekly, whatever standard you have set for yourself. Realize that making one status update per week on social media is almost pointless for you. Your connections need to see you name in front of them repeatedly and it needs to be in front of them sharing great content and having conversation. Not pushing your product or services constantly.
• Grow your NETWORK. I just love when I am chatting with someone about social media and they tell me “I Tweet or use Facebook for marketing my business”. Being a social media strategist, I’ll immediately go to Twitter and see when their last Tweet was and how many people are following them. Sorry to say this, but you can Tweet all day long, but if you only have 200 people following you and they are following 2000 the odds that your Tweets are getting seen is not likely. You need to make new connections daily to get the word about you and your brand on social media.
• Let your CONNECTIONS know you on different levels. Take your online connections to other social media platforms, so they can learn about you in different ways, i.e. when you connect with someone on Twitter and you really find them interesting and you would like to be connected with them for another reason (potential client or referral source for you) invite them to be your friend on Facebook. They will get to know you on a more personal level and then you can even follow up with them via a phone conversation or Skype video chat perhaps.
• FOLLOW up. How many times have you made an important contact in person or online and never found the time to seal the deal. Make sure you follow up with all commitments and request you have made online. Your online reputation is important and a key part of getting recommended or them contacting you for your services is to follow up. Make sure that you set aside time, at least every few days to complete these tasks you committed to doing.

Now that I have told you what my Social Media Resolution is and gave you some ideas for ones you should consider I ask you the following:

1. Let me know if you see something on my website that you feel I should add or do definitely.
2. Comment on this post with topics you would like to read a blog about. (I really like writing, but I don’t like my blog posts to be the same-o-same-o, like many other people in social media. Sometimes I feel like I am reading the same blog written in 10 different ways.
3. Tell me your Social Media Resolutions, so I can help hold you accountable, as I need you to hold me accountable.
4. Share your additional resolutions ideas you think should be on this list, so when others read the comments they’ll get your great suggestions also.

Here goes my shameless self promotion: If you need to learn more about how to leverage Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to grow you network you can schedule a consultation with me. If you don’t have the time and enthusiasm for maintaining your social networking sites, but realize it’s essential to growing your brand I can help you. I actually provide this service for my clients.

Thanks for visiting my blog! Look forward to next time!