Help is here….no more guessing what size is this, what size is that!  Here’s an awesome cheat sheet by LunaMetrics

And Free Ebook!

What does SEO mean to you?

Yes, being social does matter…

Social Media and SEO – An infographic by the team at WhiteFire, an SEO Company

Have you purchased from Etsy or maybe using it now for your own business?

Source: PromotionalCodes.net

What we do and how long we spend on the internet today has changed dramatically.

Thanks to the folks at mbaonline we can see a detail snapshot of

“A Day in the life of the Internet”.

How do you spend your time on the internet?

Did you know that in 2012, experts expect more than a billion people worldwide to have Facebook accounts?   The social media wave is still rising, and it’s just going to keep getting bigger.  With it comes a brand new way of doing business: social media marketing.  Social media for small businesses is growing right alongside these trends, and if you aren’t part of it already, you need to be.

Social media represents a great opportunity to expand your customer base, as well as forming closer connections to your existing customers.  As people come to embrace social networks, they come to rely on those networks more and more.

They consider their friends network to be a trusted source for news and recommendations, like a bridge club or poker night, except with a global reach.  If you can get your business included among these trusted sources, you’ll have a direct connection to your customer base.

At the same time, the effectiveness of traditional marketing techniques is quickly waning.  People are becoming immune to, and even annoyed by, the standard “push” marketing that has dominated the advertising world for so long.

One of the key aspects of the Internet is a person’s ability to pick and choose exactly what content comes to them.  They don’t want messages forced on them, but they will happily allow businesses  they like to send them information that’s relevant to them.  These consumers seem to really understand the business-customer relationship, and with that understanding comes a desire that the relationship not be abused.

This, then, is why social media for small business makes so much sense for marketing.  In a lot of ways, it’s a perfect match.  A small business isn’t some cold impersonal megacorp that doesn’t care about individuals.  Small businesses thrive on making a personal connection to their customers.

Further, social media is cheap.  After all, the basic platforms are all free.  A recent survey of small businesses by Zoomerang showed that over half of them paid less than $100 a year for their social media marketing.   Yet, for that tiny investment, you can potentially expand your customer base by hundreds or thousands of people.  Even if you go all the way and hire a small social media marketing firm – which not every business even needs – it would still cost you less than a single additional employee.

So, if you’re ready to embrace social media for small business, here are some tips to get you started:

• Make accounts on the major social sites.  Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In, and Google+ are the current major players.
• Maintain a blog on your site, and make sure you’ve got code in your webpages to allow  your posts to be “liked” and Retweeted by fans.
• When using social media, don’t just use it as a megaphone.  The key is to honestly engage people in discussion, not to just pitch products.
• Allow your own personality to come out.  Today’s customers appreciate authenticity and hate faceless corporate-speak.  Talk about things that interest you, not just your business.
• When people respond to your posts, talk back!  Engage them!
• If people have complaints about you, don’t dismiss or try to hide them.  Use it as an opportunity to show that you truly care about customer feedback and improving your business.

In short, the key to this brand new way of doing business is to sell yourself so that you can sell your products.  With social media, you have to make people like you.  It’s a strange way of doing business compared to years before, but it’s a new marketing world, and one that’s full of potential for promising small businesses.

Check out my new thinking cap…haha. I received it just a couple of days ago and it made my day. I know…this may sound corny but I was truly excited when I opened up the box.

Now if only I could think like “Google” and make a fortune!  Ya right, I guess I better get back to work.

Talk to you later.

As an SMM you not only spend time in your customers’ social accounts but you want to continue to grow your own online presence. This can be a bit challenging when you’re short for time. I try to engage in my own profiles early in the morning and again in the evening hours.

This week I’m giving more attention my LinkedIn profile. Growing my connections, posting valuable information regarding Social Media, engaging with-in my groups and also finding new people/businesses to follow on Facebook & Twitter.  My friends at HubSpot shared some great ideas on how to Master LinkedIn and offered a fee EBook on how to grow your network and business.

Do you #FF (follow Friday) on Twitter? Do you acknowledge and thank your new followers for joining your community on Twitter & Facebook? If you answered No, I highly recommend you start. By adding that personal touch you’re developing a relationship right from the start and don’t you agree Social Media is about relationships anyhow, right? Yes, it can be time consuming but well worth the effort!

Are you a gmail user? I am and if you haven’t heard the news, they just rolled out a new version today.

If you haven’t upgraded yet, you can do so by clicking “upgrade to new version” which is located at the bottom right corner of the page.

Here’s a video and detail info provided by hubze on the new look and feel.

Let me know what you think about the new look.

I thought it would be kinda fun to share with you some of my daily experiences as a Social Media Manger.  Also introduce social media tools that I’m currently using or just trying out.  Include some advice tips that I’ve gathered from the “experts”.  In turn, give you the opportunity to share your thoughts and ideas as well. Sounds good…

I actually had a very productive day, which I routinely try to accomplish but you know how that goes. Sometimes you can get sidetracked or stuck on an issue, which can throw the rest of your day off.

After scrolling through my email accounts I jumped on “HootSuite” updated/posted on Facebook and Twitter. I just love “HootSuite”; it makes surfing and updating my social profiles so much easier!

HootSuite allows you to work on your social networks such as Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn, Pingfm, WordPress, My Space, Foursquare and Mixi all in one organized dashboard. I absolutely love it.

It’s free for up to 5 profiles then its $5.99 per month if you upgrade to the pro plan.  They also offer a HootSuite University at an additional cost. By enrolling you’ll have access to training, testing, webinars, social media training and have the option to be “HootSuite Certified”. At that time you’ll be added to a special “Twitter List” for promotional exposure and Certified graduates are added to the directory of HootSuite Social Media Consultants. Sounds pretty cool ha?

I then headed over to Twentyfeet.com  which aggregates your stats for Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, bit.ly, Google analytics & Myspace  all in one place and best of all its “user friendly”. It also allows you to see how your key performance indicators develop over time. Very useful info, I highly suggest you check it out.

After I have a feel of what’s going on, make my to do list for the day then I head over to my clients sites. One of my favorite things about being a SMM is having the opportunity to explore other niches and continuously learning as there is uniqueness about every business and owner.

Then I’m back to Facebook, Twitter , LinkedIn and e-Mails. I also check up on the latest  postings from the experts that I follow which include HubSpot, Mashable, Mari Smith, FanPageEngine,  Social Media Examiner to name a few.

Who needs another Social Network?  I do!!  I ended my day with joining Chime.in It’s kind of like Twitter and Facebook put together and I actually like it. You can connect with people based on interest.  After setting up a profile, Chime.in will recommend who to follow or you can search for people as well. When composing a “chime” you can add a link, photo, video, add a poll. When reviewing “chimes” you can choose to like, share, save or comment.  I told you it’s like a FB/Twitter combo!  I’ve only been on it for one day so I’ll provide feedback as I get more into it.

Although I took breaks away from the PC throughout the day my eyes were tired to say the least. But I look forward to another day of Social Craziness! Talk to you soon.

You push your chair away from the desk and when trying to get up, you then  realize you’ve been sitting in the same position way too long. Neck, shoulder, back and knee pains run through your body and you ask yourself “gosh, I must be getting old”? How many times a week does this happen to you? Come on be honest with yourself here…

Regardless of your occupation, if you’re in front of a PC it’s going to happen. For me personally when working on a project or being the social butterfly that I am and don’t want to miss a tweet, it’s hard for me to walk away from the desk unless I’m completely finished with what I’m working on.

Today I kinda changed my routine up a bit.  It was a beautiful crisp afternoon so I took a break and went outside on the trampoline. I hadn’t gone on that thing in a while and it showed because I was out of breath after 10 min or so.

That little exercise got my blood flowing again and being in the sun helped me clear my head.  I was now ready to tackle the world of Social Media. But, I’m making it a habit to stretch my arms, back, neck and legs frequently throughout my workday.

You may think this practice sounds silly or feel it’s not for you, but don’t be quick to judge. If you’re in an office and feel awkward stretching then you may want to walk around or take a quick stroll outside to get some fresh air and sun.

Try it out, you’ll feel so much better throughout the day, much more relaxed, less tensed up and you’ll be more productive.

Okay, ready to give it a try? Even if it’s just 5-10 minutes, you’ll feel the difference I tell ya. Good luck and share your experience and/or tips with us!

Here’s a link to some stretching techniques you may want to try out.