VA Business Coaching Blog » Social Networking

How to Set Attainable Goals

Jeannine Clontz — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 21:53:03 +0000

Unfortunately, not every goal is a good goal. Goal-setting is a skill which can be broken down into three easily defined, concrete steps:

Brainstorm your big objective.

What are you trying to accomplish professionally or personally? Create a new product line? Streamline a process? Outsource some of your tasks? At this step, we’re trying to get to your highest-level goal, so when you name something, ask yourself, “WHY?”

For instance, if you say, “I want to create a new information product,” then ask yourself, “Why?” You may answer, “So I can make money.” That may seem like a logical endpoint, but don’t stop there, go further.

Ask yourself “WHY” you want to make money and you’ll see that there are a variety of possible motivators. You may say you want to make more money so you can:

- Quit your day job.
- Take a vacation and pay cash.
- Pay off debt.
- Buy a new car.

Each one of these objectives is slightly different, and is going to result in a slightly different path to success. Knowing your “WHY” helps you determine your “HOW.”

Define your goal in specific language.

But that’s still not enough! In order to set an excellent goal, you need to know EXACTLY how much money you want to make.

Use losing weight as an example. Instead of the vague “I want to lose weight so I feel better,” say, “I want to lose 20 pounds in six months so I can fit into my new bathing suit, jeans, etc. The more specific and detailed you make your goal, the easier it is to visualize and measure your progress.

Here’s another example. Let’s say your goal is to outsource as much of your business as you can. Your “Why” is to save you time so you have the ability to create new products, ultimately make more money and quit your day job.

You may state a simple goal like “I want to outsource 50% of my tasks.” Outsourcing is a worthy objective, but it’s not a good goal. Because your real goal is to save time, you want to define your goal in terms of hours. A better goal would be, “I want to outsource enough work so I save myself 4 hours a day.” This goal is much more defined and specific – and related to your higher-level objective!

Set a time-frame for your goal.

What if your goal was to make $10,000 to pay off your credit card debt? Do you want that money by next year, next month, or by the time you retire? Each of those scenarios will result in very different strategies.

Putting a time-frame to a goal gives it an inherent sense of urgency, and helps us better attain our goals.

Goal-setting isn’t a scary, overwhelming, or extremely difficult task. In fact, it’s pretty simple when you break it down into steps. But it is still possible to make mistakes when creating and defining your goals. In the coming weeks we’ll discuss mistakes in goal-setting, and what you can do to avoid them.

Ready to take the plunge? Join us for my Get Goaling program and we’ll keep you accountable and setting and achieving your goals to make 2011 your best year EVER – visit: http://www.VAbizcoach.com for more.

Jeannine Clontz, provides professional business coaching to established and start-up virtual assistants (VA’s). Learn more about Time Management for Virtual Assistants by downloading her FREE report “A Fresh Look at Time Management for Virtual Assistants”, or request her FREE audio CD “What’s Holding Back my Business Success?”, and more by visiting: http://www.VAbizcoach.com ; or contact her at: coach@VAbizcoach.com.

How to Set Attainable Goals is a post from: VA Business Coaching Blog

3 Tips for Crafting an Effective Tweetable Message

Jeannine Clontz — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 17:17:34 +0000

Few social networks sum up public discourse more effectively than Twitter. Thanks to its short-form nature and enormous audience, a single topic of discussion can often evolve into a completely natural case study for marketers. Be it immense disapproval or the immense success of a single principle, Twitter offers a unique look into conversation.

But how can you make that conversation happen? While it’s very difficult to create conversation out of nothing, particularly for a product or service that’s just uninteresting, it’s very easy to optimize a discussion so that it spreads throughout the social media landscape like wildfire.

Apply these three tactics to your next Twitter promotion, and learn what a bit of creative copywriting can do to your social media ROI.

1) Learn to love the ‘…’

Add an ellipsis to the end of your tweets and you stand to experience a twenty percent increase in click-through traffic. This timeless tweak has been used by performance marketers for decades, both online and off.

2) Use numbers, instructions, and summaries.

Numbers catch the eye. Instructions can increase involvement. Summaries attract users looking for information, particularly those that want to understand more about a particular topic. These Twitter tricks were all mastered by copywriters years ago, and they’re still just as effective as ever. Use them and you’ll see an increase in traffic.

3) Get people scared, even if there’s nothing to be afraid of.

In order to increase the amount of time that readers spend thinking about your product, it’s important to project a situation in which it isn’t present. If you want to increase sales of your pest removal product, remind readers about the dangers of bed bugs – all at 11:30PM.

Got an investment to pitch? Scare people by reminding them that others could get ahead of them if they choose not to leap at the opportunity. People respond to fear, even if it’s minute and fairly inconsequential. Use ‘fear words’ in your tweets to draw in readers, and use your additional content to make them familiar with your brand, your company, and your product’s advantages.

Jeannine Clontz, provides professional business coaching to established and start-up virtual assistants (VA’s). Learn more about Time Management for Virtual Assistants by downloading her FREE report “A Fresh Look at Time Management for Virtual Assistants”, or request her FREE audio CD “What’s Holding Back my Business Success?”, and more by visiting: http://www.VAbizcoach.com ; or contact her at: coach@VAbizcoach.com.

3 Tips for Crafting an Effective Tweetable Message is a post from: VA Business Coaching Blog

Now Tweeting for Business (Part Two)

Jeannine Clontz — Mon, 24 May 2010 18:49:39 +0000

Last week we looked at how utilizing Twitter in small businesses can save marketing dollars, expand your customer base, and manage and increase your ability to build relationships. In this final segment, we look at additional ways Twitter allows small business to reap big rewards.

Feedback loop

Small businesses rarely conduct market surveys due to the expense and time necessary to manage them. Twitter allows a business to monitor what people are saying about them and their products. You can ask for active feedback and criticism, respond to questions and deal with any disgruntled tweets through Twitter. Listening to what’s happening on the ground can also help small businesses decide on a strategic direction.

Keep your enemies closer

Competition is fierce for the small to medium enterprise. Twitter lets small businesses monitor their competition. What new initiatives are on the horizon and what can you do to stay on the cutting edge?

If your competitors are not on Twitter, search for tweets that mention them so you can see what others think. Competitive intelligence is a good reason for small businesses to use Twitter and stay a step ahead.

Differentiation

Being able to build a presence can make or break a small business. Twitter allows a dash of creativity, humor and humanity in marketing your business. Twitter accounts can be as funny or outstanding as you want them to be – better for your customers to remember you.

A car dealer in Albany, New York, has the attention grabbing twitter profile “iamhuge”, a silly but memorable profile name that fits in with the business’s general marketing pitch and attracts curious customers to his website, Twitter account and dealership. (“Being HUGE on Twitter: A Small Business Case Study,” Rebecca Kelley, website: 10er20.com/blog, 4 August 2009)

Twitter is not just for the big guys. Small businesses are signing up for Twitter accounts in ever-increasing numbers. There are quite a few benefits of using Twitter in small business, including cutting marketing costs and keeping tabs on competitors.

Jeannine Clontz, owner of Accurate Business Services, a VA practice, is an author, writer, speaker and VA Business Coach specializing in providing professional business coaching to established and start-up virtual assistants (VA’s). For her FREE audio CD “What’s Holding Back my Business Success?”, a 2-month trial in her Insider group coachingprogram, or 1-month trial of her coaching club visit: http://www.VAbizcoach.com; or contact her at: coach@VAbizcoach.com.

Now Tweeting for Business (Part Two) is a post from: VA Business Coaching Blog

Now Tweeting for Business (Part One)

Jeannine Clontz — Mon, 10 May 2010 20:35:25 +0000

According to research released recently by O2, the mobile phone provider (“Small Businesses are Catching Twitter Bug,” Richard Tyler, The Telegraph, 16 March 2009), almost one in five small businesses now tweet regularly. Although the larger, multinational firms were the first to jump on the Twitter bandwagon, increasing numbers of small to medium sized businesses are taking the plunge.

In many ways Twitter is a more useful tool for mom-and-pop operators than for the big players who have the deep financial pockets and large advertising budgets. Twitter, on the other hand, is free, easy to use and is the newest, most useful tool to increase sales and profits.

Cost savings

Small businesses that use Twitter save on marketing and recruitment costs. A substantial amount can be saved using Twitter instead of traditional marketing methods, an impressive cost reduction from the small business perspective. Having a Twitter account can be more cost-effective for smaller enterprises, and the intimacy of tweets suit their business philosophy and approach better than impersonal, sweeping advertising campaigns.

Spread the word

A crème brulee cart operating in San Francisco grew by word of mouth utilizing Twitter. Within a few months the proprietor had quit his day job to keep up with demand. (“Mom-and-Pop Operators Turn to Social Media,” Claire Cain Miller, New York Times, 23 July 2009) Such a success story illustrates that direct marketing, like Twitter, is a powerful tool for small businesses looking to expand their customer base. Business owners can also tweet about discounts or new products, reeling in new customers and enticing repeat business.

Relationship management

Twitter also helps small business keep in touch with suppliers. Their microblogging tool allows small businesses to connect to other small companies, promoting a sense of community that goes beyond traditional geographical borders.

An antique store in Texas connects with customers in New Jersey and orders supplies from out of town – all through Twitter-based relationships. (“Mom-and-Pop Operators Turn to Social Media”) Twitter has the ability to increase contacts, whether with suppliers, potential customers or support services like accounting and consulting firms.

Next week we look at how Twitter helps small business obtain feedback, stay abreast of their competitors, and differentiate themselves from the crowd. Stay tuned!

Now Tweeting for Business (Part One) is a post from: VA Business Coaching Blog

Small Business Marketing on Twitter

Jeannine Clontz — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 12:44:36 +0000

Of all the small business marketing options social media creates, Twitter presents the most challenges in determining its use to help your company grow. Luckily, you don’t have to be a computer expert or a marketing guru to infuse Twitter into your overall promotional strategy.

What Is Twitter?

Twitter is a web-based social networking site that can be utilized to send relatively brief messages (140 characters) to acquaintances, family members, friends, or to the overall worldwide Internet community.

Common Uses

There are numerous application options for Twitter, but mainly its uses include, news, resources, and communications. For example, LA Firefighters employ Twitter to keep the community abreast of potential fires and other emergencies. In addition, news agencies provide up-to-the-minute news updates using Twitter, While companies and public services utilize Twitter more and more, most utilize Twitter to keep family and friends updated on their current activities.

Marketing Your Business On Twitter

A Mass Media Outlet

If you run a business, Twitter can be utilized to publish news and updates about your specific products or business. The biggest overall value involves posting a clickable link to a complete article or press release allowing customers to "discover" the material via Twitter. It’s especially popular for B2Bs looking to build brand awareness and relationships. Proper etiquette is essential to effectively market on Twitter. Overt advertising can alienate followers and usually serves to create bad feelings among potential consumers.

An Internet Bulletin Board

An ideal forum to promote sales or special events, Twitter keeps customers updated on specials and new items. When promoting your business on Twitter, keep in mind that it’s designed for conversation and timely news. Make sure that you post in a personal and conversational manner and don’t subject followers to blatant advertising.

Instill personality Into Your Brand

Twitter is a wonderful option for giving your brand name its own unique voice. Successful Twittering reveals your personality and individual flair, creates a considerable difference in your overall success while increasing your Twitter followers. Followers create value when using Twitter as a marketing platform for your small business.

Client Support

When using Twitter, you’ll immediately discover its conversion benefits. Twitter allows you the opportunity to talk to prospects and potential consumers, while also responding to your followers. Demonstrate to your following that you would like to engage with them to create optimum client support and tell them that you are a trustworthy, personable individual.

Small Business Marketing on Twitter is a post from: VA Business Coaching Blog

Start Facebook Pages and Groups to Market Your Business

Jeannine Clontz — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 21:16:15 +0000

The latest trend in Internet marketing, Facebook, has a lot of potential if you use it wisely. Among its many advertising opportunities, groups and pages stand out as two of the most effective and easiest methods to promote and brand your business.

Groups

Groups, the original community-building feature of Facebook, are still quite popular, and with good reason. A group can serve as the main focus for everything related to your brand. It entices people to participate in discussions about your brand, share it with their contacts, and serves as a great communication platform with customers and partners.

However, there are a few disadvantages. Although this restriction is being considered for removal, you cannot send messages to your entire group if its numbers exceed 1,000-1,500 members, limiting communication. Groups also seem to attract more spammers than other methods, which can become time consuming to manage. Also, you’ll need to transition to a Facebook Page if you want to use advanced applications and widgets that make your page more functional.

Pages

While similar to groups, there are crucial differences in Facebook Pages. Fairly new and specifically designed to help businesses advertise their brand and engage Facebook users, they similarly allow you to promote your brand and engage potential and current customers.

Pages have major advantages over groups in the customization and communication potential. Flash, HTML, and Facebook applications can all be added to Pages, while groups have relatively few customization options. Groups promote your brand on their profile pages, whereas Pages simply stand out more. You can reach your entire membership, regardless of how many fans your Page has.

Pages are also accessible to people without Facebook accounts, so they will be indexed in Google and other major search engines. This is crucial if you’re trying to manage your brand and get it ranked higher in search engines.

More importantly, Pages allow a customizable URL to incorporate your keywords, invaluable for SEO purposes, and makes the Page address easier to remember.

You can also monitor visitor statistics, create events, invite fans to them, and promote Pages utilizing social ads.

These advantages give Pages the upper hand for long-term brand promotion, while groups are better for attracting attention quickly for a shorter period of time. It’s faster to spread the word and invite new members to groups.

Which is better?

There is no real answer to the question of which method is better for brand promotion as each method has its own advantages and disadvantages. It all depends on exactly how you’re planning to use Facebook for marketing purposes.

Groups and pages are two of many opportunities to promote your business on Facebook. Consider starting one or both of them to promote and expand your brand.

Jeannine Clontz, owner of Accurate Business Services, a VA practice, is an author, writer, speaker and VA Business Coach specializing in providing professional business coaching to established and start-up virtual assistants (VA’s). For her FREE audio CD “What’s Holding Back my Business Success?”, a 2-month trial in her Insider group coachingprogram, or 1-month trial of her coaching club visit: http://www.VAbizcoach.com; or contact her at: coach@VAbizcoach.com.

Start Facebook Pages and Groups to Market Your Business is a post from: VA Business Coaching Blog

Five Facebook Fan Page Success Strategies

Jeannine Clontz — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 22:33:47 +0000

In recent years, having an Internet presence for your business meant putting up a website. While still an important feature for promoting your business, a website is no longer enough. Web 2.0, or the social web, is an essential feature of a successful marketing plan to reach your clientele.

Facebook is considered one of the leaders of social media. Its growth has continued to increase and Facebook has become an essential and innovative idea for business marketing.

Facebook is a great way to keep up with friends and family, but you don’t necessarily want your clients to see the more personal side of your life. Businesses should take care to present a well defined and controlled image of their products and services. Facebook fan pages are an excellent choice for business.

Business Facebook fan pages have many of the same features as personal pages. You can still share articles, photos, videos, and applications, but all of the fan page content is related to your business. Here are five strategies for making your Fan page a success:

Make your Fan page a resource

Consider the information your customers need. Post articles and links to useful information on your wall and showcase yourself as an expert and your customers will return again and again.

Connect

Interact with customers by making use of Facebook’s tools. Respond to comments. Discuss the benefits of your product line and lead new customers to your website for more. Target your offers without being spammy to increase customer loyalty.

Be human

Pictures and personal information put a face on a company. As long as you present an image that enhances your business, personalizing your Fan page is a great way to get followers.

Be present

Keep your profile, articles, photos and video content up-to-date and current. It’s not enough to throw up a page and ignore it. Make sure to respond to customers who become fans. Create a group for your business and participate in groups related to your business.

Be Innovative

Facebook moves fast. Don’t be afraid to try the latest thing. Explore webinars, and other interactive media as options to improve business relationships.

Creating a Facebook fan page is great first step toward integrating social media into your marketing plan. Don’t forget to provide links from your website and/or blog to your Fan page. Connect to your Facebook fan page through other social media to continue to grow your network. In no time your Fan page will be the central hub of your successful online marketing campaign.

So what’s holding you back? Do you have a Facebook Fan Page? Please share your challenges and successes in the comment box below!

Five Facebook Fan Page Success Strategies is a post from: VA Business Coaching Blog

Social Media Marketing Tips

Jeannine Clontz — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:23:33 +0000

Adding Social Media Marketing to your overall marketing plan can help turn lagging sales around. Take the time to be proactive and sign-up for social networking sites. However, unlike some of your competition who may sign up and never use them again, you can easily show positive growth by using this innovative marketing option.

Use the following social media marketing tips to increase website traffic, grow sales and outshine your competition.

Sign up for several of the top free social networking sites, like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. These sites are simple to navigate and user-friendly (even for the technology-challenged!)
Fill out your profile – This is important to your social media marketing success. Include links to your websites and blogs, which helps you get links back to these sites, increasing your search engine optimization (SEO). Include business contact information like email and telephone as you will WANT potential clients to contact you!
Keep them coming back for MORE by offering something for free, industry news, valuable information and resources, or maybe even a contest to attract a broader following. Analyze your target markets and hone your message accordingly. If you sell organic-cotton baby clothes you would want to target your message to moms, business women perhaps, or owners of baby boutiques. People want VALUE so give them what they want and they’ll keep coming back for MORE!
Include a photo of yourself – People want to do business with someone they know, like and trust. A professional photo, not one of you and your children, aligns you with your business name and company, a great branding opportunity!
In this medium, less is more. Don’t be too salesy with your message, and don’t tweet about what you had for breakfast. You want to reel in potential customers, not scare them away. Get back to the basics of your marketing message and don’t over sell. If your message is perceived to be ‘spam’ you’ll get blocked by the social media sites and prospects. You want a fan base, not an “I Hate Your Business Because You Spam Me Too Much” club.
Keep it simple – Showcase your knowledge but don’t “talk down” to them. Social media is a great way to test what messages work and don’t work for your potential customers. Keep your language/message breezy and friendly (but with a professional edge).

So how are you using social media marketing to kick-start your business? Share your questions or information by leaving a comment below. Wishing you all the best of social media success!

Social Media Marketing Tips is a post from: VA Business Coaching Blog

Social Media Marketing Basics

Jeannine Clontz — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 23:17:45 +0000

This is a much longer post than usual, however, recent prospects still don’t quite understand the basics and I thought it was important for my VA connections…enjoy!

The Internet provides an incredible opportunity for businesses to reach their target audiences in a wide variety of ways. One of the growing areas of Internet marketing is the use of social media and social networks to connect with consumers or business-to-business clients. However, the language of social media can be confusing for the inexperienced. To better understand the uses and benefits of social media marketing, here are some common terms used in the social media genre.

Aggregator or Newsfeeder—software that gathers and organizes content from blogs or other social networking platforms through their RSS feeds, and displays the content in one central location.

Blogs—also called "web logs", they are an integral part of your social media presence. These sites allow companies or individuals to create a journal organized into reverse chronological order. This type of social media can have many interactive features, such as allowing comments from visitors, RSS feeds, and widgets. To obtain the best results in overall search engine optimization for your static website, linking a blog back to your website creates a favorable connection as it relates to your SEO.

Blog Marketing—using a web log to communicate business news, announcements, and company or business profiles.

Blogosphere—refers to all the blogs and blog interactions on the Web.

Content—refers to the material on any website, including social media sites and blogs, which can be text, pictures, video, or audio material.

Feeds or RSS Feeds—programs used by social networking sites to provide their subscribers with a simple way to obtain any new material without visiting the actual site. These feeds are usually channeled into an aggregator, which organizes and displays them for the subscriber. This process helps you to stay connected to clients and prospects.

Forums—usually in a bulletin board format, these sites allow members to interact by posting messages related to a specific topic or industry.

Groups—individuals or companies with some common interest or activity gathering together for online discussions, often utilizing email systems to disperse their messages or posts.

Lurkers—refers to people who may visit a social media site, but do not contribute through comments or postings.

Microblogging—social networking on a smaller scale, usually with posting size restrictions, the most popular example being Twitter, where posts are a maximum of 140-characters.

Podcast—audio or video content that subscribers can receive automatically, like a feed.

Profiles—information in the form of text, picture, and even audio or visual files provided by an individual or company when becoming a member of a social networking site. These offer prospect’s an inside look at who you are and why they want to get to know you.

Social media—this is the term for the platforms and tools that individuals or companies use to display content and interact online. This includes blogs, podcasts, groups, forums, networking sites, wikis, etc.

Social Media Marketing—using online social networking sites to promote a company’s service or products.

Social networks—these are sites where individuals use the network platform to interact and connect with others through their profile, sharing content, messaging, feeds, and other social media tools.

Threads—refers to messages or posts under a single forum topic, or to the comments and trackbacks of blogs.

Trackback—ability to leave a link on a blog to a related blog post or comment on a different blog.

Viral Marketing—refers to spreading awareness of a product or service from one consumer to another through the social media platforms.

Widgets—short strands of code embedded in a site that perform specific functions, like news feeds or donation buttons.

Wiki—web pages that can be edited by a group of people who have permission to do so from the page owner.

With a basic understanding of social media terms, companies will be able to utilize marketing techniques in the social media arena. Social media marketing offers a whole new platform to connecting to your target audience, opening up a world of opportunity for any business.

Have I missed any definitions; do you have questions about social media that I may not have addressed? Please feel free to leave your comments or questions below, I’m happy to help if I can .

Social Media Marketing Basics is a post from: VA Business Coaching Blog