Archive for branding – Page 2

Twellow is the Yellow Pages of Twitter. Read WHY!

Update on this post: This blog post was written in 2010 about the value of Twellow and how having your Twitter ID registered on Twellow can create a great opportunities for you! Visit Twellow.com and register your Twitter ID.

 

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!

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

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!

Why blogging? and What to blog about?

I have been remiss in my blogging the last month. I am writing the post as reminder to myself on the why, the how and the what to blog about.

Learn Why Blogging and What to Blog About

When I meet with a client or potential client, the first they thing say to me relating to blogging is:

“I don’t want to blog. I don’t have anything to say that would interest others. I don’t have time to blog.”

I ask them the following questions:

  1. What are you interested in?
  2. What would interest your clients or potential clients?
  3. What do you want your clients or potential clients to know about your company?
  4. What do you want your clients to share with their friends (that are your potential client) about you?

Usually, they interrupt me during the last question and say “I understand the importance now and feel more inspired to write and share important information with others”. But, they chase that feedback with “I don’t have time”.

I then ask them these questions:

  1. You don’t need more clients?
  2. You don’t have 20 minutes to set down once every few days and write about something that is your passion? Your mission? After all it’s your business and you should know it better than anyone.
  3. You are satisfied with your current level of brand awareness via the social networking sites?
  4. You don’t’ need more visitors to your website?
  5. You don’t want to help your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) rankings?

Blogging is FREE! If you already have a website and don’t have a blog on it, you can add a basic blog fairly inexpensively. The ROI (Return on Investment) you will get by adding a blog will pay off in the form of SEO, brand awareness, notoriety, etc…..

You can get a blog on http://blogger.com and http://wordpress.com for FREE, if you don’t have a website.

I do need to share with you that if you have a website, yes, you can still get a blog for FREE at the locations mentioned above, however, I have more questions for you to consider before doing that:

  1. Why are you blogging again? To drive visitors to your website. To share your wealth of information with clients or potential clients.
  2. Why would you want to do all the work of writing blog posts to increase your business, brand awareness, but drive the visitors to the FREE blog website to read your blog?
  3. Why wouldn’t you want them to visit your website, read your blog, then click on the other tabs on the website and learn more about your business and services? Maybe even contact you for an appointment or refer their friends (your potential client) to visit your blog.

Often times, it’s complicated and difficult for visitors to your blog on FREE blogging sites to locate the navigation to get your website to learn more about your business and your services. Remember, the purpose in blogging is to grow your business, not Blogger, WordPress, etc… or the advertisers on their FREE blog sites.

I hope you are inspired to reconsider: Why to blog? How to blog? and What to blog? When you need a kick in the seat of your pants on blogging come back and read this post. I’m inspired now, so off to write the guest post for another blog website. Guest blogging is another whole topic I’ll discuss at another time.

Please share your feedback, comments, suggestions below on Why you blog? and What results you have gotten from doing so?

Skip Social Media Predictions – Focus on the Present

Over the last month I have been reading everyone’s blog posts on Social Media Predictions. You may have noticed I haven’t written one. This  thought actually went through my mind a few weeks back….

I better get busy blogging some predictions to show my expertise to everyone.

After a few days of dwelling on this topic, I thought better and decided it’s better for me to focus on the present, while keeping the future in mind. I am not psychic and can’t predict the future of social media. There are too many developers out there way smarter than me making new and inventive social media tools, networking sites, etc . . .on a daily basis.

Here’s my take on social media predictions:

  • My expertise is leveraging the developers’ social networking tools to build my brand and my clients’ build their brands. (I thoroughly enjoy the satisfaction I feel when I have helped a client get Retweeted, #FollowFriday or comments made on their status updates.)
  • I enjoy teaching my social media consulting clients how to use the great tools developers have made to make social networking easier.
  • I focus on advising my clients on proper etiquette, tactics and strategies for social media marketing.

With all this rambling on, my point is…

Focus on what you know! Build your brand! Develop a great strategy! Be a great person in the PRESENT and the FUTURE will take care of itself!  Do have goals and a business plan for achieving want to be in the FUTURE, but live in the NOW!

I do want to encourage you to post any comments, tips and your advice on this post! I love to learn from others and feel everyone has a value to add!  Thank you for an awesome 2009!  Let’s welcome in 2010 with a clear FOCUS and ACTION!

Personal Branding – My opinion!

I follow about 30 different social media blogs and have noticed over time that everyone gives their opinion on personal branding – i.e. what to share, what not to share, the big sharing No No’s! I thought it was time I share my opinion. Here goes . . .

Personal Branding -My Opinion

Frankly, I am tired of reading others blog posts, articles etc. . . .saying don’t tweet or update your status with what you are eating, how you are feeling, etc. . . I guess the authors of those posts where tired of reading these type of updates and decided to send their network an indirect heads up.

I think we all have common sense and know what we want to share with our network of friends, followers, connections.

If I decide to share the fact I am eating my favorite meal (Spaghetti or Cheese Enchiladas, double rice no beans) on Twitter or Facebook then I will do so. And I bet someone would comment on the update. It’s not so much what you share, but how you share it! See examples below:

I am sitting down to eat spaghetti that my sister @jimibratt prepared. She makes the world’s best in my opinion!

My purpose here would be to make my sister feel good and also let all of my followers know her Twitter id in case they want to connect with her.

Excited! Just met with a new client @careerdesign. They are working on revamping their website http://career-design.com!

My purpose here would be to let everyone know I was excited and why (i.e. new client), my client’s Twitter id in case they would like to follow and also about their website. Someone in my network may know a great connection or have some advice or words of wisdom for my client.

My point with all this rambling is:

It’s not so much what you share! It’s how you share it! In other words, Write it creatively! Make it interesting! Have a purpose! The little pieces of information you share about yourself is how you connect to your network and how they connect to you. Personal Branding after all is in essence who you are and what you want your network to know about you! Just be yourself, share great information and you will grow personally and professionally.

Personal Branding is a strategy you use to share information and your knowledge! Don’t let it intimidate you and by all means don’t let some other blog author tell you what you can and cannot share on Twitter, Facebook, or whatever social networking sites you like to use.

Please share your comments with me and the readers of this post! Everyone has a great perspective and advice to add to make us all better at Personal Branding!