Hey you, small business owner, sole proprietor, one-person business do you have a plan if / when something happens to you? This backup plan and a succession plan are essential and your responsibility as a small business owner. If you are like me, you have your plan all thought up in your head, but nothing documented. It’s time to get busy typing.

First, I want to share a little background on why I am saying this to all of you right now. Recently a young God fearing, beautiful, energetic, successful business woman, Denai Downs Vaughn was in a fatal car accident.  She not only left behind a beautiful little girl and a husband, but a business, a successful BlogTalkRadio show and had an Online Radio Summit planned out and starting very shortly with a colleague, Dale Little. It was a slap in the face for me and many of my friends, which are also many of hers! She was the exact same age as me.

I know, because I am there with you, something happening to you that makes it so you can no longer do business as usual, is a topic no one wants to talk about, think about, etc. However we have to do it! It’s ugly, scary and unpleasant, but it must be do anyway. This doesn’t necessarily have to be a death, as it was in Denai’s case, that makes it so you can no longer work. It can be a heart attack, stroke, or even a loss of limb. As much as we all would like to think we are in control of our fate, we are not.  We can control how we act, drive, the risks we take, etc., but we can’t control weather, tornados, Acts of God, or the actions of others.

I am a small business owner, a sole proprietorship and in many cases, a one-person shop. I do have a team that I bring in on a project-by- project basis, but in general it’s all on me. Every single Tweet, LinkedIn and Faceboook Page update for a client is completed by me.  The blog posts are put up on their websites and published by me. Their email newsletters are drafted and finalized by me.  The logins, passwords and the flow for these accounts are known only by me in most cases.

So what is my plan:

1.  After I complete the setup for a social media client on their accounts I will make sure I give them immediately the websites, logins and passwords for the accounts I created. Print off the logins and passwords and put in my lock box.

2. Backup plan – keep a close friend or relative (my sister in this case) updated on the background about my business. Where it is at growth wise and what kind of services I am doing. She doesn’t necessarily need every detail about who my clients are (she can get this from the lock box and computer records if the times comes where it is necessary), but she needs an understanding of how many clients I have / project scope etc.  (Sis, we are going to need to schedule a monthly meeting I think.)

3. Your team – document who your team is, what kind of information you trust/share with each one, their contact information, what your payment agreement is and the scope of work they complete for you. Print it off and put it in the lock box.

4. Outline – What you do for each client and when do you do it.  Of course I have this and you do to when you submit a proposal to them and get a signed contract back from the client, however you need this accessible easily in case something happens to you.

5. Colleague - You must talk with and designate a trusted professional in your industry with your skills set who can / will finish up the projects for your clients if something was to happen to you.

6. Successor – Is your business going to continue on with another owner if something was to happen to you. Do you want it to continue on? Do you want someone else to use your business name?  You need to document this information carefully and share with the person you designate in item #2.

The person you designate to know your backup plan – item #2 and item #5 the colleague can be the same person, but I don’t necessarily recommend that. You want someone #2 to make sure the colleague #5 is finishing the projects and keeping their commitments.  You might decide two have to colleagues that you designate. One to complete some of the tasks and one to complete the others, or the primary person and the backup person, who knows, something could happen to the first person at the same time as you.

7. Business Records - Document your system for how you keep account of your business expenses. Your spouse or backup plan person, as designated in item #2, will need to be able to organize these records for tax purposes, etc.

8. Business Debts – Document your monthly business expenses, who you pay what and when. Automatic drafts, etc. Your backup plan person will need to get these accounts closed and the automatic drafts turned off or determine if your colleague mentioned in item #5 has these same accounts, so she can finish the scope of work. Obviously, your colleague wouldn’t be able to keep all of the money made from the clients for the projects they complete if your business is still paying for the expenses attached to the individual clients.

Keep your business debts paid current. Try not to have any IOUs out there. If you pay your team flat rates per project, pay them promptly when they complete the project. If you pay monthly, document each occasion for each team member you owe them – a monthly history.

9. Keep your hard drive (yes, a techy word) organized – I know this one might throw you for a loop, but seriously, you know where and how you save your documents and records, but will someone else be able to make sense of it if they need to access the records later.

Make sure you have printed details on how you organize your computer files in the lock box. (For the non-techy, a hard drive is where are you files are saved are your computer.)

10. Passwords - If you are like me all of your clients’ logins and passwords are written down and documented, but all your login and passwords to your accounts (social media, bills, bank, etc) are in your memory. You don’t write them down because you are protecting yourself from getting hacked and someone stealing the file.

Write them down anyway, you may be protecting yourself by not documenting them, but that is the only person. You are not protecting your spouse, team, debtors, etc. when you don’t. If no one can access your accounts, how in the heck can they close them, pay anyone, etc.

Wow – what a TO DO list! I just shared 10 things with you to check out and act on, and in the process gave me many things I have to go do right now. I already have my #2 person picked out and designated, Jimi Bratt, and my #5, two people actually, Web Designer / Graphic Artist / Marketing Authority – Robin Moss and Social Media Marketing Consultant / Online Marketing Extraordinaire - Ana Lucia Novak, they already know – aren’t they lucky! LOL! Between the three of them, I know they will get my clients fixed up and finished out if an emergency was to happen.

What about you? Do you have a plan? It’s time for you to get busy and do some serious thinking?

It’s your turn … comment below the other steps you thought of that I need to do and the other steps everyone reading this post needs to do. Please comment away and remember, we are only as good as the friends and team we surround ourselves with.

P.S. This blog post is dedicated in Loving Memory to Denai Downs Vaughn. She was an inspiration to many. Please do keep her family and friends in your thoughts, say a quick prayer and end it with a WOOHOO for Denai, as she is with her maker now.

Why are you reading this post – did one of your friends shared it via Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter? Are you subscribed to my blog via email or RSS (f you aren’t certainly click & do so now! LOL!)  Perhaps the title of this post caught your attention, you are curious about My Twenty Twitter Success Tips!

As you may already know I love talking Twitter, teaching Twitter and playing on Twitter. My passion is helping small business owners and individuals use social media marketing sites, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and now adding Google+ to the mix!

If you missed Tip #1 – “Register your account, SEO Optimize your Twitter Bio, and Upload a Profile Picture” you can read it here.

2^nd tip to achieving Twitter success:

Send your 1^st Tweet: Welcome your new friends – Don’t SELL in the tweet

What exactly do I mean? Often someone will register a Twitter account and wait to send their first tweet. They will go out and start following others, which is an invitation for them to follow back, but they don’t send any tweets out for the potential follower to judge who they are and what they are about. When you follow someone they look at your Twitter stream and see what you are tweeting to determine if they want to follow back. If you haven’t tweeted they have nothing to look at to help them to make their decision.

If you are tweeting and it is all self-promoting, they will decide not to follow you and perhaps even block you so you can’t even follow them. Here are a few samples of these no-no first tweets:

• Check out my website http://websiteurl.com! (If they want your website url it’s included with your profile information.)
• Follow me on Facebook http://facebook.com/IAmVain. (If they want you on Facebook that bad right away – they will go find you & ask for the link connect with you on Facebook.)
• Let’s connect on LinkedIn http://linkedin.com/in/MoreVanity. (Same as above – they will go find you or ask.)
• I need a job in the _________ industry. Can you help me? (They might really know someone or have a good lead for you, but if you seem too pushy before they even get to know you it will scare them off.)

Quick add: It is ok to send the above tweets out occasionally after you have grown your following and developed a relationship with your followers.

The first tweets you send need to be worthy of a read.  When I am setting up a new Twitter account or teaching one of my social media coaching clients how to use Twitter I tell them the first tweet needs to be something sincere. Don’t use any links at all. Give them a welcome, what you stand for …something that will help them decide to follow you.  This is the tweet I use or something similar:

Welcome! Thank you for checking out my stream. I’ll be sharing __________ information with you. I am passionate about ____________.

You have sent the first tweet, the tweet that lets them know who you are!  Now, go out and find some content that backs up this tweet and tweet it. Content that you can share that is information related to your business, what you’ll be sharing and what you are passionate about.  Make sure and send out at least three others tweets. I realize you might be new to Twitter and you will not be tweeting as much as an experienced user, that’s ok, but do make sure and check your Twitter daily and tweet.

Realistically, you probably have already sent your first tweet and unfortunately you can’t undo that! Are you proud of what you sent? Maybe not ….

You can make up for it.  Send out a few tweets on different days at different times letting those already following you know why they did – who you are and what you are passionate about.  Luckily, Twitter is a timeline and those self-promoting tweets won’t be as visible after you have tweeted awhile.

Make sure you are tweeting to a theme. If you are using Twitter for business you would tweet stuff related to your industry. (i.e. If you are a web designer tweet articles and content related to design, graphic arts, technology trends, SEO related content).

Do mix it up a little and tweet some content about things you are passionate about also! Remember though when you tweet to avoid topics like politics, religion and profanity. When you are growing your following on Twitter you don’t want to tweet stuff that would make your potential follower decide not to follow or something that would make a follower unfollow!

That’s it for Twitter Business Success Tip #2. What I thought was going to be a very short blog post ended up a very long blog post.  Hope you don’t mind!

It’s your turn – share your first Tweet success stories and horror stories. We all learn from each others’ mistakes after all!

(P.S.: People really don’t want to know what you are eating – keep those tweets to yourself, unless of course you consider yourself a foodie and want to share a great place you just checked out.)

Want to know the secret to my Twitter success, so you can apply it to your Twitter business marketing strategy?

You are not alone in the quest to learn how to use Twitter in business better and more effectively to succeed in marketing your business. Several weeks ago, Fred Campos of Fun City Social Media and I got together to honor Social Media Day and presented a joint presentation, Facebook vs. Twitter.  The attendees gave us excellent feedback and really seemed to enjoy learning about both Facebook and Twitter, how they work together and separately in marketing your business.

The presentation flowed quite well, I gave a brief overview of the different types of Online Marketing and when you might want to use of them. I then dove right into My Twenty Tips for Twitter Success.  Each tip I shared included an explanation of how businesses could apply it to their social media marketing campaign and how I applied it to achieve my Twitter success.  In August of 2009, I had about 200 Twitter followers. By October of 2009, I had built this up to around 4000 and now I have over 18,000.  It is important that I tell you I grew my following using organic tactics only, being real, having genuine conversation with my followers (I really consider them my friends). The 20 tips I am going to share over the next series of blog posts will help you achieve this same Twitter success if you apply them effectively.

First, I want to share with you a little about Fred’s presentation on Facebook Marketing. Most of the tips I shared in My Twenty Tips to Twitter Success can be applied to your social networking strategy on multiple platforms, so it played well into the kind of content you would share on your Facebook Business Page also.

One of the tips Fred shared that really got my attention was a strategy to grow the “Likes” on your Facebook Business Page. He said “While logged in as your page, go to other Facebook Business Pages that would compliment your services and strategic partners and post messages on their wall. Also, go to pages that your ideal customer would frequent and post wall messages there too.” He advised “be sincere in the messages you post, don’t’ try to sell, or be spam like, give them a compliment so the page will leave your comment on their wall”.  The fans that frequent their page will see your wall post, most likely click on it, and go “Like” your page.  I started using Fred’s strategy to grow some of my pages and my clients’ pages. It works. To read more about this tactic, Fred’s business partner, @FunCityGal, wrote a blog post. Check it out!

I know … I know …. You are reading this post because you want My Twenty Tips for Twitter Success and you want all 20 tips right now.  You want Twitter success now … Patience, my friend, I am writing an eBook with all twenty tips for Twitter business success and how to apply each one.  It will be available for download shortly and you can have all 20 Tips pronto.  In the meantime, it will be a blog post at a time …

1^st tip to achieving Twitter success:

Register your account, SEO Optimize your Twitter Bio, and Upload a Profile Picture

What name should you use to register your Twitter username? If you are your business, i.e. coach, speaker, etc. register your Twitter id in your name.  If your business provides a service such as dry cleaners, jewelry store, restaurant, etc. register the Twitter id in the business name. 

Still need help deciding? Answer this question – What do you want to brand? You or your business? You can always take a poll and ask your friends how they would look for your particular service online.  You can always register multiple Twitter ids. I would suggest if you are new to Twitter to master its use with one Twitter id, before making it more complicated by managing more however.

How do you SEO Optimize your Twitter Bio? Use keywords to describe you or your business. Think of this as a short bio using the keywords in your industry that others would search for to find you or your service. If you have room include the state you live in if your service is for a particular area only (i.e. serving Texas.).

I don’t like my headshot and am still waiting on the company logo. You would like to use a picture of something else temporarily, perhaps a default Twitter avatar or picture taken of you from a distance.  Don’t make this mistake! If you use a default Twitter avatar people that are considering following you will not take you seriously. They will decide you are a spammer and either decide not to follow you or unfollow you if they already have.  I personally don’t follow/unfollow anyone who doesn’t have a real picture for their Twitter avatar.

Should you use your picture or your company logo? That depends on what your Twitter id is that you registered. If you registered the Twitter username as your name, use your headshot, if you registered under the business name use your company logo.

That’s it for Twitter Business Success Tip #1. Now go out and check to make sure you are following these suggestions closely.

It’s your turn … Don’t forget to comment below about what you have learned about this part of the process. Your thoughts and feedback are just as important as mine!

What do you think when you see someone following / doing what you think is a silly trend?  Do you ignore them, do you read up and research it? What exactly do you do?

I know looking at the pictures to the left of me “planking” on a guard rail you are probably laughing and puzzled. I was inspired to write the post based on a recent photo I look following a trend “planking”. You can read all about the trend online. They even have a Facebook page.  I took some “planking” pictures over the weekend to have a laugh with a friend who spent Saturday taking his 13 year old son “planking”. Some trends are silly and come and go quickly, however some trends are here to stay. 

Here are a few social media trends that most people ignored and they are still around and thriving:

• Facebook was started by some college students. People thought it was a trend for kids.  Facebook now has over 800 million users. Quite a trend! Wouldn’t you have liked to say you were one of the first, I know I would have. 

There are businesses that just focus solely on building Facebook applications and games. Any website that doesn’t have Facebook “Like” and the other social media integrations they offer are considered behind the times. If you have a business and don’t have a Facebook Business Page you are behind. If you don’t have a Facebook Profile you are even more behind.

• Twitter was started in March of 2006. The first Tweet was sent at 9:50 pm PST by Jack Dorsey. At first there were only a few regular users, now they have over 200 million users. I remember the first time someone mentioned Twitter to me I had never heard of it. I needed a training lesson and live demonstration to see what it was all about (a far cry from my Twitter addiction today). This Wikipedia post about Twitter is quite interesting.  

Developers are now continually building the new latest greatest Twitter tools to manage your following, grow your following, Tweet, etc.  I personally have used and use many of them.  To name a few of my favorites – SocialOomph.com, Tweetdeck.com and Tweepi.com.

If a trend is something that could affect your business look at it a little closer before just dismissing it.  Follow it!  I am not saying act on it, but watch it a little closer than turning a blind eye. 

This is my approach with a new technology trend:

1. Does it make sense?
2. What are others saying about it?
3. Could it be applied to your business?
4. Would it damage your reputation?
5. Does it cost you little or nothing to implement the trend for a short time to test it?

I usually will test a new social media trend, so I can support my clients and friends with answers to their questions. I like to know the positives and the negatives. I then will think about the strategies that can be used with the new trend for business owners.

These are just a few thoughts I have on trends.  I know you have some great feedback also. Now, it’s your turn! Please comment and share!  Thank you!

P.S. I realized after taking the “planking” photos last weekend, I was actually doing it wrong. To me, that made it even funnier! If you want to see the rest of the photos I made, check out the album on Facebook. Also, for those that are thinking I am losing my mind, I was “planking” on a guard rail in a park, not on the side of the highway!

Are you ready to STOP diluting your network and STOP polluting online?

I recently spoke with a great group of ladies at Essential Energy.  I was presenting the “Not So Secret ‘Secrets’ of Social Media Marketing”.  Their experience level with social media ranged from zilch to aficionado. 

One of the attendees asked me “What can I do about friends that take photographs of me and post them on Facebook.  I told her “unfortunately, you are at their mercy”. 

Etiquette tips about Digital Photographs:

• Show the digital photo to those in the photo when it is taken. Anyone that doesn’t approve of the photo can speak up.
• Email those in your digital photographs a copy.  Give them the opportunity to request you don’t post the photograph.
• Crop the picture.  Look at the picture closely at all those in the picture. If the picture isn’t flattering or shows someone in a bad light, cut them out of the photograph.
• Tagging photos on Facebook. Don’t tag your friends on Facebook in the photos. Let them do it.  Send them a link to the album via a private message on Facebook and say “You are in a couple of these photos. I didn’t tag you, but go in and tag yourself in the ones you want to.”

More about this  … “Is this Photo of You? Are You Protecting Your Digital Footprint?”  for suggestions how to avoid getting photos snapped of you don’t want out there.

Another asked about ”Proper Online Etiquette”.  I have been thinking about this topic quite about since this time. A few thoughts …

Proper Online Etiquette:

1. Get permission. Before you share something a friend told you privately via a message, email or Twitter Direct Message get their permission. Give them the chance to say “No”.
2. Facebook Tagging. So you post an article or something on Facebook (a note, photo, status update, etc.) and you want to tag some friends so they see it.  Make sure you have an understanding in advance with those you tag, so they don’t care that you do it.  Send them a private message and say, “I posted a Facebook Note I wanted you to see, I tagged you. I hope you don’t mind”.  Once they give you the ok a few times when you ask them in advance, from then on tag away!
3. Facebook Event Invitations. I don’t know about you, but I am getting so many of these on a daily basis it is hard to keep track of the ones I actually want to receive.  Here is my advice on this:  Spend some time when you create an event and actually select the people that would be interested in going and live in the area of the event. You can target this event invitiations by lists and area. Put this tool to use and STOP diluting your network and polluting online.
4. Twitter Mentions. This is like Facebook tagging and it is just as annoying when someone mentions you in a Tweet and all they want to do is drive you to their article.  Especially, when you don’t even give them a name of the article.  I myself will do some mentions like this, but it is with friends that have told me they don’t read their Direct Messages and the best way to get their attention is this method.  I myself will send a Direct Message to someone if I have some content I have written I want them to see.  There is a fine line between spamming and annoying with this, so be cautious on doing too much of this.
5. Give credit where it’s due! When you are on Facebook, Twitter, etc., if you have a friend / business page that has shared a piece of content via a status update or tweet and you share it with your network – give them credit for it.  Your friends can tell when you have taken their content and shared it to your profile without giving them proper credit. Tag them on Facebook or mention their Twitter id in the tweet. (If the Facebook tagging isn’t working, put their name in the update and if they see it, they know you tried!)

More about this …. From Chris Brogan – Etiquette in the Age of Social Media and from eHow – Social Media Etiquette!  

One final thought to keep in mind …. I have found in using many different social networking sites, people do things online that are not proper online etiquette, but that is not their intention. They usually don’t realize what they are doing or how it affects and possibly offends you and others. Keep that in mind and be patient, gentle and tactful in letting them know.  (You could just send them a link to this blog post and say “see item # and so on”. LOL! #Joke)

I hit a few of the high spots. It’s your turn …. Now! Share some of your Online Etiquette Tips and lets help each other to grow and develop online!

I started using social bookmarking in the last 9 months, when I started blogging more and more. I actually had something to social bookmark, or at least I thought so.

Last week in a Skype conversation with Dean Bairaktaris, known as TheDudeDean online, we talked about Digg, an important social bookmarking site and the value you behind it.  As one of the former “top Diggers” he had lots to share with me. These are my take away thoughts from the conversation with TheDudeDean.

Here is how to make it to the 1^st page of Digg:

1. Don’t be the first to submit your content to Digg. The Dude said “This just looks bad and doesn’t encourage other Diggers to want to ‘Digg’ it.”

• It is always better if a friend or a follower submits your content to Digg.
• You do not want this to be the same person every time to submit your content.
• You can get buried if you do make it to the front page using poor tactics/poor content.

2. Be the first to submit a hot news item to Digg.  The first one to submit an article gets all the credit. The ones that “Digg” it afterwards helps you make it to the first page.

• Make sure it is “Digg” worthy.
• Don’t just click “Digg” to be doing it.
• When you “Digg” something read it, know what & why you are clicking “Digg”. Post a comment on why you like it.
• Search for your submission before you submit.  The Dupe Detector will often screw you.  Try to avoid Duplicate submissions(Dupes) as much as possible.
• Learn about canonical URLs (read URL normalization).  Sites like YouTube and WordPress can generate different URLs for the same post.  Especially YouTube. While this does allow you to Dupe posts, this is generally frowned upon.  For novice level users this isn’t a bad thing, but if you’re on the top active list, Digg Support will notice you doing it.  Digg Support always bans you without any warning.
• Submit from “White List” sites, in other words don’t try to get a brand new site to pop right from the get go, that takes time.  Its a lot easier to get a main stream site to go popular on Digg than it is for a new site.  Use di66.net and socialblade.com they’re both great tools for finding out whats REALLY going on over at Digg.

3. Follow other Diggers and “Digg” their submissions.

• This is a great way to get their attention and eventually if you submit the right kind of content, get them to “Digg” your submissions.
• Their followers will “Digg” your submissions if the “ Diggers” do.

Special thanks to TheDudeDean for the great conversation and education last week about Digg. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter. He is quite an interesting, knowledgeable techie for the rest us #geeks to know.

Being the Online Marketer that I am, the conversation with TheDudeDean gave me all sorts of ideas how to use social media to get my submissions and my clients submissions “dugg”.

How to leverage social media to make it to the first page of Digg:

1. Ask your social media connections to follow you on Digg and follow them back.
2. When you submit to Digg let your social networks know you did, use the hashtag #DiggUser on twitter.
3. Form an alliance with as many “Diggers” as you can that are in your social network.
4. Ask different connections “Diggers” in your network to submit your blogging content. (Remember, you don’t want to submit your own blog posts to Digg.)
5. Once another “Digger” submits your post, let your network know about it, so they can go “Digg” it also.

Now that I have given you my Digg marketing ideas, a few sample Status Updates or Tweets to ask your network gently to “Digg” your submissions. You want to be cautious, so they don’t tune you OUT and turn you OFF.

When you submit someone else’s post to Digg:  Just submitted (title & link url) to Digg by (Twitter ID or tag on Facebook). I hope you “Digg” it to!

When someone else has submitted your post to Digg: Just noticed my post (title & link url) was submitted to Digg. So excited & flattered. Do you “Digg” it?

If you know the Twitter ID or are Facebook friends when the person that submitted you to Digg make sure you thank them for doing so. Let them know you appreciate them! (And don’t forget to submit them and “Digg’ their other submissions also.)

Many of you may have heard me say this, and I am going to say it again: Ask for what you want, all they can say is NO. Remember, people want to help you succeed. You just have to give them the idea how they can help you.

It’s your turn! Fire away … what Digg tips and ideas did you come up with while reading this post?

(P.S. Did you Digg this post? Be the first, second, third and so on … wherever you fall in line I will “Digg” it.  One thing you can count on is I will not be the first. I have to follow the most important piece of advice I learned from TheDudeDean.)

Do you use social media as a communication crutch? Are you saying things in 140 characters that you should NOT say at all?

I was inspired earlier today to write this post after several direct messages back and forth with a fellow social media professional/friend. All of us techies and social media junkies have become addicted to being casual about our communication.

We need to stop having conversations online via social media networking sites and email that should be done in person, or at least via telephone/Skype!

How many times have you sent a Direct Message (DM) on Twitter and realized it didn’t send as a DM, but instead to all of your followers? Now everyone that follows you could be reading it. Go in and DELETE it promptly and apologize PUBLICLY to the person you shouted the message to. (Twittiquette Tip: Remember, you sent in to the public, be prepared to admit your failure to the public!)

How often have you seen someone post something negative on Facebook that made you want to HIDE them from your News Feed or even UNFRIEND them? I know I see it all the time … I saw two updates just yesterday that made me cringe. You could be turning OFF your friends and followers with your negative tweets or Facebook status updates.

We have gotten comfortable about what we say to others online. We have learned to say it short and sweet (sometimes not-so-sweet). We have gotten so use to character limitations in our tweets and status updates that we even think in 140 characters. I feel like I am talking in 140 characters sometimes.

Ask yourself these questions before communicating online to others:

1. Does the communication contain anything negative?
2. Can what you have to say be misinterpreted?
3. Can you say it unless than two sentences and the person understand what you are saying and feel good about your message?

If you have to consider the above when communicating trust me and make a phone call, have a Skype conversation or have a meeting in person instead! Perhaps, maybe you shouldn’t even say it at all. There are many times I will type something to vent and then hit DELETE immediately. (That is right guys …. you read that correctly – I get frustrated too. Did I run my perfect image you had of me? Hope not! LOL!)

Tips to good online communication:

• Write it and take pause. Read it again before hitting send. (Then read it again afterwards.)
• Type it in a Microsoft Word document first. This will also help with catching typos and grammar errors.
• Preface the message with how you want to delicately discuss something and thought a email communication might be the best way to communicate effectively (for those that feel a phone conversation might make it even worse).
• Get a neutral third party to read it and give honest feedback and critique!

I am definitely not a communication expert; my focus as you know is social media! These are just my ideas and strategies that have helped me along the way. Hey, you, communication experts please chime in and give us your expert opinion!

Now it’s your turn … Successful communication starts with all of us collaborating and sharing our secrets to success. Can’t wait to hear from you! Comment away!

Mary Gregory, mom.  My mother taught me at the age of 2 years old that you can have a business, be a successful women and a mom.  She raised 5 children by herself, while building and running a successful marketing business after my father left her and 5 children alone with no child support.  Believe it or not, she could be yelling at us one minute and having a professional phone conversation the next. (It’s always been a family joke – we all learned how to cry in one breath and answer the phone professionally the next. In other words, turn on our emotions and turn them right back off.)

Jimi Bratt, (@jimibratt) sister.  She taught me that if I asked just right I could get whatever I wanted from mom. (She did after all have her own Dillard’s credit card, when we were growing up.) Later this translated into learning to ask for what I want and working until I got it.

Dr. Helen Harkness (@careerdesign), first real job (besides mom and the pizza phone girl). .  She took me under her wing and taught me how to communicate with successful professionals in career turmoil, write resumes and score career assessments among a few things. She challenged me to learn new things in technology (because she sure wasn’t going to do it). My job was everything at the age of 18 from answering the phone, doing the dishes to taking out the trash.  I learned no job is too small or insignificant.  The most important thing I learned from her is to never stop, don’t cut yourself short and be passionate in whatever you do.  I still work with Dr. Harkness virtually. She is a woman of passion and purpose. You all should know her.

Stephanie Cross (@stephaniec2c), 1st social media job. Special thanks to Stephanie for responding so quickly to my email that day in April of 2009.  I emailed her and said “I am a quick learner and love social media. If you ever need some part time help let me know.”  I got an email back the same day that said “yes” and pretty much you’re hired.  We had a conference call about her client’s projects, emailed everything I needed to know about the clients and I set up three social media campaigns and started managing them for her.  She took a chance on me and I appreciate her confidence in my skills. Without her I wouldn’t have started my own business, LissaDuty.com in September of 2009.

Ana Lucia Novak (@AnaLuciaNovak), online connection, social media strategic partner and friend. I connected with Ana online when she was managing a social media campaign of a former client I was contracted work with while at another social media company.  I sent Ana some content to use for the client and got a message back “Please call me.”  We became fast friends and started sharing social media strategy. Ana has a wealth of knowledge, information and resources. She shares it abundantly with all that will listen.  Ana and I have become strategic partners on many adventures and I can’t wait to travel to San Francisco to meet her in person.

Natalie MacNeil (@nataliemacneil), connection to someone with online clout.  One day while surfing the web for blog posts about Twitter, I came across a blog post “30 Women Entrepreneurs to Follow on Twitter” on Forbes.com, written by Natalie.  I immediately followed everyone on the blog post and Natalie.  If I hadn’t found that blog post I wouldn’t have meet Shelly Kramer, Vicki Flaugher(@SmartWoman)  or Coree Silvera (@MarketLikeAChik)  to name a few.  I learned from Natalie, who I consider a close friend, that I can reach out to those, even out of my circle of immediate influence and become their friend online by being myself.  Natalie is a kind, generous person and I am definitely better for knowing her. Do check out her blog, She Takes on The World. I read it daily and recommend you do too.

Patty Farmer (@pattyfarmer), an online connection that I took offline.  When I decided to start my virtual assistant and social media marketing business I started growing my connections on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.  I connected with Patty Farmer on Facebook, then Twitter.  We immediately started chatting back and forth.  I registered to attend a Twitter meetup Group and Patty sent me a message that she was going to be there also. If she hadn’t sent me that message I might not have joined HPMDallas (Hot Pink Mamas & Red Hot Papas) and wouldn’t have meet the next person in this blog post. Patty has coached me on marketing through numerous conversations via phone and in person how to brand myself offline, which definitely plays into my online marketing also.

Michelle Ketterman (@expertinventory). I don’t even know where to start with this woman. She is a jack of all trades kinda of gal.  She encouraged me, built up my ego and gave me the confidence to continue moving forward with my social media business when business was slow, draining on my marriage and then going through a divorce. Michelle’s has a true passion for helping people succeed in whatever they do.  Thanks Michelle for helping me to remember my value, when I didn’t.

Robin Moss, (@robinatribit) professional and personal friend. I met Robin at the DFW Social Media Marketing Meetup and we immediately started talking about Twitter.  At that time Robin’s online presence was there, but not as established as it could be.  We connected and she actually hired me to do some Twitter training with her. She knew what to do, but just needed someone to stay on her about doing it.  She took my advice and her marketing experience and has grown her online Twitter presence from 400 following her to over 2400. Robin also taught me not to barter my services. She said “someone always gets the short end of the stick”. That is still my motto today.  Thanks, Robin! (Also, a special thanks to Robin for listening to me talk about my failing marriage on and on for hours.)

Victoria Warner (@victoriawarner), attorney.  I connected with Victoria actually during a social media presentation I was giving on the “Not So Secrets ‘Secrets’ to Social Media Marketing”at Dr. Harkness’s office.  Victoria is a great attorney and has helped me through all aspects of my divorce.  I am so thankful when I sent her that Facebook message at 6:00 am on a Monday morning that said “Call me ASAP.  I need a divorce” the phone rang a few minutes later. I still remember the look on my ex’s face when he said “You already have an attorney?”, when I hung up the phone from Victoria.  It was priceless and gives me a great laugh today.

Shelly Kramer (@shellykramer), online friend.  Shelly is another friend with clout.  She doesn’t act that way though.  Her ego is small and her generosity big.  She is honest and sincere in everything online, rather it’s to her benefit or not.  She states her opinion and is never afraid to do so. Shelly, thank you for reminding me to be authentic and genuine online on a daily basis.

Erika Napoletano (@redheadwriting), online friend. This woman has a passion for honesty and tells it exactly like it is every time, no holds barred.  She writes exactly as she thinks it, profanity and all.  You will actually get a B**** slap or two from her on a weekly basis. She writes with passion and reminds all of us that we need to be authentic and if not, she will call you on it via a blog post. Erika’s writing on her blog, Red Head Writing is Rated R usually, but still quite worth the read.

Friends, as you can see these are just a few women and the stories how they have inspired me and continue to on a daily basis.  I could go on and on with names of women and the stories, but I only allow myself so many words for each blog post and I have already went way over.

Please share below a story of a woman and how they inspired you! Don’t forget their social media links and yours!

Do you really understand Your Facebook News Feed, User Profile and Business Page? What are the differences?

First, I have to address a statement a prospective client said to me last week, which has inspired this blog post:

“Every time I post an update on my business page it posts to my Facebook Profile too.”

My response:

The status update you are posting on your business page is not posting to your Facebook User Profile. The reason you are seeing the updates that you post on you business page is because you have clicked “Like” on your business page and the update is appearing in your Facebook News Feed.

That was a tongue twister to say as you can imagine …. at this point I usually recommend to the prospective client they consider my two hour Facebook Social Media Coaching session in which I explain all these nitty-gritty details.

Understanding Your Facebook News Feed ….

When you are logged as your Facebook User Profile the updates in your News Feed consists of status updates of your friends and business pages that you have clicked “Like”. You sometimes will see (based on your friends privacy settings) the new connections your friends have made, comments others have made on their status updates and pages they have recently clicked on “Like”. You will also see your status updates that you posted on your Facebook Wall Tab. This is not an all inclusive list of what you will see in your News Feed, but it gives you an overview.

Understanding Your Facebook Profile ….

When you click Profile while logged in as your Facebook User Profile (not as your business page) you are viewing your recent status updates and Facebook activity. The Profile tab will show your new friend connections and “Likes”/comments you posted on your friends’ status updates and other business pages you like. You will also see the business pages that you have clicked “Like” recently and blog post on 3^rd party websites that you clicked the Facebook “Like” icon.

Understanding your Business Page ….

First I must say that on March 10 Facebook will convert all business pages to the new layout. That is right … if you haven’t already moved your page to the new format you might as well do it before Facebook does it for you.

Before you convert your business page to the new format, do you have any Facebook photos added to your albums? If not go ahead and load up the ones you want visible at the top of your Profile Wall tab now. It’s better to have some pictures up there then the default blue box. If there are pictures in the panes that you do not want to show simply scroll over the photo and an X should appear in the upper right. Click the X on the photo and it will be removed from the pane view. It’s still in the album where it was originally added, it’s just not in the pane view on your Facebook Wall.

Your custom Static FBML tabs still work with the new business pages. You can still have a custom landing tab be the default for new visitors to your page. Instead of the tabs to view listed at the top of your business page going across, they will be in a column on the left. The names of those that like your page are only visible to the admins of the page. The visitors to the page will only see a total count of how many “Likes” the page has.

Once you convert to the new business page you can post on the page as the page or as your Facebook User Profile. You can post a status update as the page then as your Facebook User Profile post a “Like”/comment underneath. The default setting is to posting as the page when you are your business page.

To change this setting:

1. Click Edit Page on top right hand side
2. Click Your Settings on upper left hand side
3. Uncheck the box that says “Always comment and post on your page as Page Name even when using Facebook as Your Name”.

You receive notifications with the new business page format. It shows you those that have liked your page recently, clicked “Like” on the page’s status updates or commented.

To view these notifications you have to be logged in using Facebook as the page. To do this click “Use Facebook as Your Business Page Name”. You can switch back to your Facebook User Profile by clicking “use Facebook as Your Name”.

Business Page News Feed

On your business page News Feed you will see status updates of any pages that you have clicked “Like” when logged in as your business page. Just to clarify … you will not see status updates of those that “Like” your page in the business page News Feed, only the pages that your business page “Likes”.

Business Page Profile

On your business page profile you will see the status updates and recent Facebook activity of your business page, which would include comments posted on status updates of other pages and pages that you have clicked “Like” as the business page. Business pages cannot comment on Facebook User Profiles, at this point, pages can only communicate with other business pages.

As you have seen from all the specifics listed about … Facebook has many intricate details. I could go on and on about Facebook User Profiles and Business Pages. I am going to end with this and trust I have answered your questions.

It’s your turn … what did I miss? Share what you see as essential for other readers of this blog post to know. Looking forward to your feedback and questions!

Moving Friends to Fans or “Likers” as some might say

– I had to include this line, as I have had too many laughs about it with friends who also specialize social media marketing. When Facebook changed to the “Like” button for Fan Pages, which they now call Business Pages we all made lots of wise cracks.

At the end of last year, I shared One of My Facebook Secrets and I feel the need to share another one today.  Perhaps I should call this a Facebook Strategy verses a secret. I have many secrets still hidden away to share with you in my Facebook Training sessions.

I am inspired by the questions asked by my friends, fans, followers and well, you.  It motivates me to help you solve your problems, answer your questions to help you and others grow their network and brand strategically via social networking sites.

Last week on Twitter, Angela Shelton, after reading my blog post Are you a RULE BREAKER? Know Your Facebook Rights and Wrongs  she had lots of questions for me.  She wanted to know how to convert Facebook Friends over to her Business Page (Fan Page).  She said she had tried to move them over in the past, but they usually ignored her request, didn’t see it or were offended because she wanted to unfriend them of Facebook. 

What they didn’t understand is she was not trying to unfriend them, she was wanting to follow Facebook’s Statement of Rights and keep her Facebook Profile for personal connections and her Business Page for professional connections.  I had no quick answer to solve her problem in the 140 characters that Twitter allows. I decided to write a blog post giving suggestions how to entice them to “Like” her Business Page.

Here are the strategies:

• Post a status update on your Business Page that would get “Likes” and comments. Something about your business of course, not personal.  Perhaps a new client you landed or recognition you received for your business. Go to your Facebook Profile and say “Just posted some exciting news on my Business Page (link to business page)”. Make sure and go check it out. Don’t forget to click “Like”.
• Post a status update on your Facebook Profile that says “Friends, I truly love connecting with each and everyone of you.  I have recently been made aware of Facebook’s Statement of Rights regarding Facebook Profiles and Business Pages. I want to keep you updated on my business, but according to Facebook I must do this on a Business Page. Please go click “Like” (link to business page here) and let’s stay connected there also.  We’ll still have some fun on my Facebook Profile, but it will be focused somewhat different.”
• Post a status update on your Facebook Profile saying “I am having so much fun connecting on my Business Page, if you haven’t already checked it out, please do (link to business page here)”

These are just a few strategies to get your friends moved across to your Facebook Business Page.  I hope these ideas inspired a few other statements you can use to entice them.  You can repeat these statements of course from time to time (maximum once per week) at different times to catch all your friends.

As your friends click “Like” on your Business Page, assign them to a list (Read how here) on your Facebook Profile that limits the status updates they see on our Facebook Profile. They will get use to not seeing your Facebook Profile status updates regularly and gradually been communicating with you on the Business Page. Eventually, (wait several months), you can unfriend them on your Facebook Profile if you want and they probably won’t even notice.

Another quick something to know …. at this point Facebook Business Pages cannot communicate with Facebook Profiles, only other Business Pages, so if you unfriend someone from your Facebook Profile, the only time you would be able to communicate with your them from your Business Pages is when they comment/”Like” something posted on your Business Page or as you from your Facebook Profile via messages, etc…. (This will be limited based on how they have their Facebook Privacy Settings established.)

It’s your turn!  What tips did you come up with for moving friends to fans?  How are you going to entice them to “Like” your Business Page?  Look forward to hearing from you!

P.S. Special thanks Angela Shelton for the inspiration of this blog post! You should give her a follow on Twitter and check out her Facebook Business Page. Her background is quite interesting.