Marsha Collier's Musings

5 Ways For Your Customers to Find You Online: Dominate Local Search

noreply@blogger.com (Marsha Collier) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:07:00 +0000

If you are a business owner that would like to dominate local search, there are some items of importance you’ll want to consider. A lot of the local search results in many areas have undergone a complete overhaul within the search engine results pages or (SERPS). These changes have happened across the board with all major search engines. So in this post, you will discover 5 ways to dominate local search, and do it in a way that is extremely effective in capturing new and relevant targeted traffic.

1.)    Google Places listing

Claim your Google Places listing and make sure it is completely optimized. Setting up this listing is not difficult; however, to optimize your Google Places listing may prove to be a bit more difficult. You may want to hire a professional service to make sure your listing is optimized for your local area, which in turn will bring more targeted traffic.

2.)    Local business directories

Submitting your business information to local directories is extremely important. You will want to submit your information to places like LinkedIn, Google, Yahoo, Yelp, Local.com, Yellowbook, Yellowpages, and Merchant Circle, as well as a variety of others. The more listings you have, the better it will be for total domination.

3.)    Article marketing that targets local keywords

Article marketing is very effective, but using it for the local search domination will require a few tweaks. You will need to target a few specific local keywords in order for your articles to drive traffic to that respective area. City names, local business names, local addresses, local phone numbers, or anything local will help your articles get seen by local searches. Make sure you have relevant links in your articles that point back to your web presence.

4.)    Use local phone numbers

Many do not realize but this is a powerful tool when it comes to local search domination. Instead of using phone numbers such as 800, 866, 877, or the like, use local numbers. Use the area code for your local area because many people will search businesses by the local area code.

5.)    Citation gathering

When people talk about your business on the web, Google considers this a citation. When many of these citations are found, they tell Google that your web presence has become popular, which translates into indexing your site higher in the rankings. Social networking sites, bookmarks, groups, and forums are all ways to create citations and these will help with total domination.

Using the 5 ways to dominate local search will help your business with exposure, visibility, and getting targeted traffic to your web presence.

via virtualsocialmedia.com

Facebook Files S-1 for $5 Billion IPO - Know the risks (revealing stats & revenue)

noreply@blogger.com (Marsha Collier) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 20:36:00 +0000

Brian Solis is updating as this plays out with deeper analysis and links…

Just a few moments ago, Facebook officially filed an S-1 for an initial public offering seeking to raise $5 billion. Here are a few key findings…

- 845 million monthly active users, year over year growth of 39%

- 483 million daily active users as of December, year over year growth of 48%

- 425 million monthly mobile users

- 100 billion friend connections as of December 31, 2011

- 2.7 billion Likes and comments per day during the last quarter of 2011

- $1 billion in profits in 2011

- $3.7 billion in revenues in 2011, soaring 88% between 2010 – 2011

- Profits grew 65% from $606 million in 2010

- Zynga makes up 12% of overall Facebook revenue

More data available at SEC.gov.

For press seeking analyst commentary, please contact Altimeter Group at 650-212-2282 or via email.

UPDATE 1: The Hacker Way

Really appreciate the culture of Facebook as mentioned in the S-1 under the heading “The Hacker Way.” Here’s an excerpt:

The Hacker Way

As part of building a strong company, we work hard at making Facebook the best place for great people to have a big impact on the world and learn from other great people. We have cultivated a unique culture and management approach that we call the Hacker Way.

The word “hacker” has an unfairly negative connotation from being portrayed in the media as people who break into computers. In reality, hacking just means building something quickly or testing the boundaries of what can be done. Like most things, it can be used for good or bad, but the vast majority of hackers I’ve met tend to be idealistic people who want to have a positive impact on the world.

The Hacker Way is an approach to building that involves continuous improvement and iteration. Hackers believe that something can always be better, and that nothing is ever complete. They just have to go fix it — often in the face of people who say it’s impossible or are content with the status quo.

Hackers try to build the best services over the long term by quickly releasing and learning from smaller iterations rather than trying to get everything right all at once. To support this, we have built a testing framework that at any given time can try out thousands of versions of Facebook. We have the words “Done is better than perfect” painted on our walls to remind ourselves to always keep shipping.

Hacking is also an inherently hands-on and active discipline. Instead of debating for days whether a new idea is possible or what the best way to build something is, hackers would rather just prototype something and see what works. There’s a hacker mantra that you’ll hear a lot around Facebook offices: “Code wins arguments.”

Hacker culture is also extremely open and meritocratic. Hackers believe that the best idea and implementation should always win — not the person who is best at lobbying for an idea or the person who manages the most people.

UPDATE 2: Risks

As a matter of disclosure, Facebook must release risks to caution investors against buying blindly. Here is the full list as pulled from the S-1. I share it here with you to learn from Facebook’s diligence in constant innovation or as they say “shipping.” It’s a healthy form of inspiration to always compete for the moment and for relevance over time.

1. users increasingly engage with competing products;

2. we fail to introduce new and improved products or if we introduce new products or services that are not favorably received;

3. we are unable to successfully balance our efforts to provide a compelling user experience with the decisions we make with respect to the frequency, prominence, and size of ads and other commercial content that we display;

4. we are unable to continue to develop products for mobile devices that users find engaging, that work with a variety of mobile operating systems and networks, and that achieve a high level of market acceptance;

5. there are changes in user sentiment about the quality or usefulness of our products or concerns related to privacy and sharing, safety, security, or other factors;

6. we are unable to manage and prioritize information to ensure users are presented with content that is interesting, useful, and relevant to them;

7. there are adverse changes in our products that are mandated by legislation, regulatory authorities, or litigation, including settlements or consent decrees;

8. technical or other problems prevent us from delivering our products in a rapid and reliable manner or otherwise affect the user experience;

9. we adopt policies or procedures related to areas such as sharing or user data that are perceived negatively by our users or the general public;

10. we fail to provide adequate customer service to users, developers, or advertisers;

11. we, our Platform developers, or other companies in our industry are the subject of adverse media reports or other negative publicity; or

12. our current or future products, such as the Facebook Platform, reduce user activity on Facebook by making it easier for our users to interact and share on third-party websites.

via briansolis.com

9 Super Insider Secrets of Puppy Bowl VIII +Kitten Half-Time Video

noreply@blogger.com (Marsha Collier) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:15:00 +0000

On the heels of my last post about the Puppy Bowl - thought you'd like to see a preview of half-time!

Featuring fan favorites like the Water Bowl Cam, tail-gating fans, and the Ice Breakers blimp, this year's big game is sure to be a tail-wagger.

Fifty-eight canine athletes will face off in a miniature stadium filled with chew toys, water bowls and mini footballs.
Puppy Bowl competitors are no more than 10 weeks old (but what they lack in experience, they make up for in enthusiasm) and are rescues. According to the International Business Times most have been adopted by the time the show airs.
Live tweeting the play-by-play action for this years Puppy Bowl will be @MeepTheBird.
The ever-popular Kitty Half-Time show is back with 20 kittens dancing and playing with lights, laser pens, balls of yarn, a scratching posts and more.
Hamming it up will be 5 piglet cheerleaders: the "Piggy Pep Squad".
The infamous hamster crew will fly over the Puppy Bowl in a Goodyear-style blimp to get the best live-action shots.
The show is filmed in a mini stadium that is 19 feet long and 10 feet wide.
It takes about 3 three days to film and generates over 50 hours of unedited footage. Almost 30 staffers produce the show.
Unlike the Super Bowl XLVI, the Puppy Bowl will not be live. It is filmed in advance a few months prior to airing.

Don't miss it! Tune in Sunday, Feb. 5, beginning at 3 PM E/P! Visit the Puppy Bowl site for more breaking news!

Keynote: "Online Strategies for Improving Marketing & Customer Service" (Free Reg code)!

noreply@blogger.com (Marsha Collier) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:15:00 +0000

If you’re interested in launching or building your business in the hot cloud and web hosting space, or just want to learn more about the cloud, you can’t afford to miss Parallels Summit 2012, February 14-16 in Orlando. Parallels Summit will feature cloud industry leaders and successful service providers, addressing how not to get left behind the cloud, and how you can profit from the explosive growth of cloud services for small and medium businesses.

I'm honored and excited to be presenting a keynote entitled “Online Strategies for Improving your Marketing and Customer Service.” All attendees at Parallels Summit 2012 will receive a copy of my latest book, “The Ultimate Online Customer Service Guide: How to Connect with Your Customers to Sell More!”

Guy Kawasaki, the foremost authority on technology adoption, was the original chief evangelist at Apple. In his second act, Kawasaki’s excelled at being a serial entrepreneur and networker, social media guru, best-selling author and featured columnist for American Express OPEN Forum for small business on his blog, Powering Small Business Success. In his keynote, Kawasaki will share insights from his life experiences on how to tap into the potential of customer “Enchantment” — the Art of Changing Hearts, Minds and Actions, as chronicled in his recent book of the same title. Regardless of your company’s size or how you deliver services, Kawasaki will explore why enchanting your customers is the key for service providers (or any entrepreneur) to build a business — it’s the path to differentiate yourself in the marketplace as you earn likability and trustworthiness.

Tiffani Bova, Vice President, Gartner Research, is a 15-year IT veteran, who cover IT Sales and Channel Strategies. Bova's area of specialization includes the development of comprehensive indirect channel programs, the impact of alternative models on the traditional channel, and trends in IT distribution. Bova will provide insight for channel partners and the requirements they need and should expect from their vendor partners to be successful in today's market in her keynote session, “The Role of Cloud Services Marketplaces in Your Value Chain Strategy.”

For more info and to register, go to : www.parallels .com/summit/2012 and use the code #NU3MC2for your free registration.

See you there!

Puppy Bowl VIII vs Super Bowl - What's your choice?

noreply@blogger.com (Marsha Collier) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 23:27:00 +0000

If the best part of the Super Bowl for you is watching the commercials - you might find more amusing entertainment over at Animal Planet. February 5th - 3 pm E-P

HTTP vs HTTPS and How it Affects Your Online Security

noreply@blogger.com (Marsha Collier) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:51:00 +0000

Those of you who have shopped online, use online banking, or have used Facebook may have see a padlock icon appear in your address bar, and may have noticed the address bar has turned green. This happens when your browser is using a secure or safe connection (HTTPS) to communicate with whatever site you are on. Whats the difference?

HTTP stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol and its used for a majority of websites. Its safe and secure for your day to day browsing like surfing the web, reading blogs, checking your on your favorite sports team or watching videos. The extra “S” in HTTPS stands for “secure” and websites that use HTTPS want to ensure that the information you enter on their site remains private.

Tips and Hints:

HTTPS should always be used when entering credit card, or financial information.

HHTPS should be used when you are saving a passwords or entering personal information like your name, address, telephone number…etc

HTTPS webpages might take a little longer to load, but the safety is worth it

Just because your on a site that uses HTTPS, doesn’t mean their links or applications do (Be wary of your social media apps!)

Share these tips and hints, protect your family and friends!

For more internet safety tips you can visit: www.uknowkids.com/communityprogram

via uknowkids.com

Get Free Yowza Location Based Coupon App & Discount for Stores

noreply@blogger.com (Marsha Collier) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:10:00 +0000

I'm a fervent user of all things tech and mobile. While I was at CES I learned about (and downloaded) a new free app, Yowza! It's the brainchild of actor Greg Grunberg (Heroes, Felicity and Alias). It allows you to connect with shoppers in your area and let them know about your best deals via mobile coupons. Also, sweet analytics show you how your offers are doing!

This app is an inexpensive way for small business to get a hold on the mobile market. Here's a deal for my readers, use the coupon code CES2012 at their site and you get 2 free months for your brick and mortar store's coupon offers - and then $79 a month for the first year. Sweet.

* I have no involvement in this company whatsoever - just think it's worthwile

Get Free Yowza Location Based Coupon App & Discount for Stores

noreply@blogger.com (Marsha Collier) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:10:00 +0000

* I have no involvement in this company whatsoever - just think it's worthwile

Make Your Online Sales Grow: Build Your Brand on eBay - new For Dummies!

noreply@blogger.com (Marsha Collier) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:18:00 +0000

The latest (seventh) edition of 'eBay For Dummies" just came out for 2012. In this video, discuss how to make your listings stand out from the others and building your brand on eBay!

5 Website Resolutions to Put on Your List for 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Marsha Collier) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:00:00 +0000

By Shashi Bellamkonda

We’re in the New Year and the time for making resolutions about health, wealth, family and oddball bucket lists. Don’t forget about making resolutions about your online presence as well. Your website 2012 resolutions should include content, communications, community, conversations and conversion. The secret of successful small business owners is that they spend more time “on the business” than “in the business.” One of the tools for spending on your business is your web presence.Small businesses are great at customer service and realize that their next customer will come from a current customer – Word of Mouth. In the digital world word of mouth is “word of mouse” a powerful tool to gain new customers. A new era of marketing is unfolding and digital marketing helps you in your objective to influence behavior to change positively towards you. The audience who need your product and services are increasingly searching for them online. It is interesting to see how the communication tools are coming together.

We hope you are convinced that even your brick and mortar business needs to be on the web. Guess what - “92% of online adults use search engines to find information on the Web” according to a May 2011 Pew Internet Survey (PDF).

Without further adieu, here are some 2012 resolutions you should include in your business list. Five “C” online resolutions for small business:

Content

Not having a website for your business is not an option anymore. A website or a blog all count as establishing your web presence.

Resolve to update it constantly. Once a day, week or even a month as long as you are consistent.

Show your thought leadership through content. Publish your thoughts on your industry, peers, products, good news about your community.

Education through content – provide tips to your customers, answer the most asked questions on your website or blog.

Fresh and updated content is a good way to ensure search engines are indexing your site often and your chances of appearing in search results will be better.

Communications

Email Marketing is still a top performing marketing channel for businesses. Embrace it and use it to flourish.

It is important for you to get email branded with your business name showing consistency and credibility.

Communicate with your customers to solve their problems with your product rather than selling your product.

If you are sending an email newsletter you should try to use software like Constant Contact, Exact Target, MailChimp or other professional tools. Many of these tools make it easy for you and also guide you to succeed in email marketing.

Establish communications with customers using popular social media tools like Facebook and Twitter. Before you decide on setting up your social profiles, asking your customers where they would like to connect with you is a good idea.

Food trucks use this medium very well to let customers know their location.

Last minute availability of appointments at doctors, saloons.

Your website should have the components of a Web 2.0 site – ability for your web visitors to comment, share your content and bookmark it.

Your blog, social media tools are all communication tools and working together with email make great marketing tools.

Community

Every business should nurture their customer communities by providing them with tools to spread word of mouth.

Customer appreciation days

Special offers for regular customers

Formal or informal meetings with customer advisory boards

Asking customers for ideas to improve products or suggest new product features

Provide easy ways to give you feedback or review your business

Face to face networking is important

Attend local events

Business networking and educational events

Set aside time and budget to attend and learn ways to increase your business

Sponsoring local community events – get involved in local community events, PTA organizations, schools , scout groups.

Cutting edge Technology

While investing in technology evaluate the benefit to your organization and avoid any impulse buys.

Upgrade your Internet speeds if you feel it will increase the speed of your customer transactions.

Get a new smartphone if you are away from your computer a lot and your business depends on emails and orders from customers through the web.

Invest in a tablet if you would like to carry an electronic portfolio to show customers.

Attend trade shows or subscribe to trade magazines to see what new technology can help make your business more efficient.

Consider having an advisory board of people you know who can advise you on new technology.

Conversion: All your resolutions should lead to your objective of growing your business.

Make sure you spend your time on activities that help your business grow.

Social tools can be distracting. Consider them as communication tools and allot enough time to nurture your communities there.

While only talking about sales in a social context is sometimes in poor taste, look for opportunities where you answer peoples questions and offer to help.

Definitely use analytics programs to see where your traffic is coming from and which keywords they are using to find your business online.

If you are a brick and mortar business like a restaurant, try to ask your customers where they found you.

Remember you don’t have to do all these tasks yourself. Weigh the time you would spend with the cost of hiring people to tell your story and concentrate on what you do best – working on your business. What did you add to your New Year business resolution?

New Year Resolutions List Photo via Shutterstock

Shashi Bellamkonda is Sr. Director of Social Media, AKA "Social Media Swami," at Network Solutions. Visit Shashi Bellamkonda's blog. He is also an adjunct faculty at Georgetown University. Shashi is a regular contributor to the Washington Business Journal, DC Examiner and other tech blogs like Smallbiztechnology and Techcocktail.

via smallbiztrends.com

Shashi is literally the "swami" of Social Media - and ecommerce. We can all learn a lot from him as technology advances. He never forgets the basics!

(Untitled) [Flickr]

Marsha Collier — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:41:03 PST

Marsha Collier posted a photo:

(Untitled) [Flickr]

Marsha Collier — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:40:51 PST

Marsha Collier posted a photo:

(Untitled) [Flickr]

Marsha Collier — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:40:38 PST

Marsha Collier posted a photo:

(Untitled) [Flickr]

Marsha Collier — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:40:20 PST

Marsha Collier posted a photo:

(Untitled) [Flickr]

Marsha Collier — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:40:07 PST

Marsha Collier posted a photo:

Ho! Ho! Ho! Track Santa with His Crew at Norad - Merry Christmas!

noreply@blogger.com (Marsha Collier) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 18:52:00 +0000

Track Santa with me? The NORAD Tracks Santa (NTS) program has been around for a long time; since 1955 to be exact! While NORAD has the history and the necessary technology to track Santa, the NTS program spends only minimal government funds.
So, how do they do it? The NTS program is funded through generous contributions from corporate contributors. Everything from computer servers, web site design, video imaging, Santa's tracking map, and telephone services are donated.

50 Good Customer Service & Marketing Strategies For 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Marsha Collier) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:10:00 +0000

It's good to know others mirror the thoughts I've written in my books over the years. I'm not sure if Andrew had read anything I've written, but his guest post below make me feel secure that the drum I've been beating for close to a decade is being heard by someone!

This comprehensive guide on ecommerce customer service will teach you how to improve your customer service strategy without altering the structure of your business. It also helps illustrate just how much money you can make from your existing customer base with great customer service.

50 Good Ecommerce Customer Service Strategies
1. Offer a monthly product giveaway to customers that sign up for your newsletter.
2. Offer coupons to your customers for writing a seller review.
3. Add coupons & promotions in your e-mail marketing. Don't have an e-mail marketing strategy set up? You need one.
4. If possible, work to offer same day shipping for customers that need their items in a hurry.
5. Increase your call center hours to take into account extremely early and late orders.
6. Offer free return shipping for a limited time to see if that added feature builds confidence in your customers and leads to more conversions.
7. Give customers the ability to have their items sent gift wrapped, or to purchase their item with gift wrapping for them to wrap themselves.
8. Offer gift cards to your customers so they can easily share your website with others.
9. Implement live chat. Live chat can greatly decrease the number of abandoned carts at your webstore.

10. Give a coupon to each customer that signs up for your weekly newsletter.
11. Let customers apply to become a ‘product tester’ where they get your products for free in exchange for writing about them on blogs and linking back to your website.
12. Throwing a video-submission contest using your products and rewarding the winner, then use those videos for your own marketing.
13. Provide product recommendations or similar items to customers below the items they're interested in to make it easier for customers to find items that work well in sets, and to increase average order volume. Sweetwater does a great job of this:

14. Be upfront with shipping and tax costs. No one likes hidden charges.
15. Invest into your site navigation and search functions. Customers who can't find an item they're looking for quickly is one of the major causes of a high bounce rate.
16. Start a review contest. Whoever writes a review gets entered to win a drawing of $1,000. Roots Canada has a great example below:17. Create a blog where you show off your expertise about your products and interact with your customers.
18. Start a Twitter & Facebook page and promote it on site to share deals and listen to your customers.
19. Throw a Holiday-inspired contest where a winner receives a gift package or makeover of their house with your products. To be entered into your contest you can have users sign up for your newsletter or fill out a short questionnaire.
20. Display McAfee, Better Business Bureau or VeriSign secure badges.
21. Include a personable About Us page. Here’s a great example:
22. Lower shopping cart confusion. Use one of these tools for help: http://www.getelastic.com/8-quick-n-dirty-tools-to-beat-site-abandonment-this-holiday/
23. Increase your return policy time table to increase customer confidence.
24. Give coupons to customers that share their purchases on Facebook. Shopon.com provides a tool to help you do just that.
25. Display positive seller reviews and testimonials on your home page.
26. Personalize your brand beyond your About Us page with interviews and op-eds from your staff. Show off your expertise of your products.
27. Offer delivery estimates so your customers can know when to expect their order.
28. Add additional payment methods like Paypal, Google Checkout, and Amazon Checkout so your customers can checkout with ease.
29. Open a forum where your customers can talk openly about your products. You’ll be surprised by how much you can learn from them.
30. Ask for product reviews in exchange for coupons. You can then use these product reviews as valuable SEO on your website.
31. Create a ‘deal of the day’ or ‘deal of the week’ for your customers.
32. Offer a deals section to your customers. Offer quarterly or yearly clearance sales to clear out old inventory. Wetsuit Warehouse does a great job of this:33. Give your customers free samples of products for signing up to your newsletter.
34. Donate generously to a charity and promote it on your website.
35. Run a special promotion where a certain % of proceeds goes to charity.
36. Offer a ‘best sellers’ or 'popular products' section to your customers.
37. Add a coupon section to your website for easy access. You’d rather keep your customers on your website while they look for coupons instead of on Google, right? Macy's does a great job of it: http://www.macys.com/campaign/social?campaign_id=61&channel_id=138. Offer freebies / coupons for customers that share your products on social networks.
39. Reach out to bloggers with a strong community and let them write about your products. They don't even have to be in your industry – do they have a hobby that your products can service?
40. Give coupons and deals to users who invite their friends to shop at your store. Have them e-mail you a copy of their invetation for a coupon.
41. Have great phone support? Connect consumers directly to a phone representative from a search engine. More: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2120364/Phone-Through-Rate-is-new-AdWords-Ranking-Factor (Make sure to read the comments- some good insight there).
42. Include any retailer awards on your home page.
43. Host a blog-a-thon where you invite regional bloggers interested in your products to a big party where they are the theme, in exchange for a blog post. Lucky Gunner does a great job of this: http://www.luckygunner.com/2011-blogger-shoot
44. Listen to your customer and talk about it. Offer an easy ‘submit feedback’ button on your website, then talk about any changes you make that take into account customer suggestions on your website or blog.
45. If all of your products are made by people in America, show it off on your About Us and home page.
46. Offer discounts if customers buy in bulk? Let it be known, clearly!
47. Have a list of charities to donate to? Share that list on your website.
48. Offer multiple language phone support for your products? Show it off clearly on your home and product pages. Don't have multiple language phone support? Depending on your products it might make sense to add new language support to your customer service team. Talk with your current team to see approximately how many non-English speaking calls, or calls where the caller cannot speak English very well, happen.
49. List your contact info clearly, including a mailing address, on your Contact Us page. I hate it when I find retail stores that only include a customer inquiry form to fill out on those pages without any information about the company.
50. Advertise your top customer service employees on site to show off your good customer service skills and promote good customer service within your company.

via cpcstrategy.com

Commerce of Christmas: How Much Are We Spending & Where Does it Go?

noreply@blogger.com (Marsha Collier) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 17:10:00 +0000

How do the numbers really add up? We’ve all seen the Black Friday rush and the news reports of skyrocketing Cyber Monday sales and felt the pressure to spend, spend, spend over the holidays. In this brand new infographic, It's easy to see when people shop for the holidays, where they spend their money, and perhaps most importantly of all, where on the globe is the world’s most expensive Christmas tree?

via outright.com

12 Most Stupendous Ways to ROCK Customer Service

noreply@blogger.com (Marsha Collier) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 17:20:00 +0000

by Ted Coiné

I wrote my first book, Five-Star Customer Service, with one simple premise in mind: you don’t have to charge Ritz-Carlton prices to give Ritz-Carlton service! After all, a sincere smile costs you nothing, but that alone can build you an empire – just ask Chick Fil-A how that type of warmth is working for them as they compete for customers with McWendy King.

No matter what business you’re in, you can make Five-Star Customer Service your calling card as well. Begin with some of the “12 Quick Tips” I share with each of my Five-Star audiences.

Everyone else out there is making the same sloppy mistakes, treating their customers poorly – and setting expectations low. Follow these suggestions and lock your customers in for life.

Remember, Spoiled = Loyal. Spoil your customers with your outstanding customer service.

1. Make your company a H.I.T.

Hire for attitude. Inspire through pride. Train in skills.

In. That. Order.

Remember: you can teach job-skills to anyone with half a brain, as long as their mind is open to learning. Attitude is key. When hiring, start there or suffer the consequences.

2. “It’s not my fault, but it is my problem” – Disney

Don’t take complaints personally. …But do solve them. The buck stops with you, no matter where you land on the org chart.

3. You are always on a job interview

Who’s to say that your client’s dorky intern won’t be your biggest customer three years from now, or your next boss? Give the same unrivaled level of customer service to everyone you meet, all week long.

4. If it works for Stew…

This one is written in stone outside Stew Leonard’s, “The World’s Largest Dairy Store.” If it works for Stew… I’d at least give it a try if I were you.

Rule #1 – The customer is always right
Rule #2 – If the customer is ever wrong, reread Rule #1

Of course customers make mistakes: they’re people, too! But you’ve got to stop thinking like that, or you’ll never provide Five-Star Customer Service. If the customer wants it, your only desire should be to provide it.

5.You are never fully dressed without a smile

Down? Cranky? That’s for amateurs; your competition. Can’t smile? Call in sick.

6. Replies to “thank you”

2-star answer: “No problem.”
3-star answer: “You’re welcome.”
5-star answer: “My pleasure.”

Be the 5-star “My Pleasure” Guy… or Gal. People will love doing business with you.

7. Don’t fuss at your customer

Compare:

(A) “We aren’t really supposed to do that, but I’ll make an exception this once, as a courtesy.”
(B) “I’d be more than happy to help you with that. What else can I do for you? Really; what else?”

8. “My job is to make your job easier”

This should be the mantra of every member of your company – and no one should take it more seriously than the top brass. Leap tall buildings to make your workers’ jobs easier. Encourage them to make your customers’ jobs easier. Then buy your own island.

9. Act as if your customer’s business were your own

Always start a sale by asking yourself, “If I were in my customer’s shoes, would I really benefit from this?” Keep that attitude throughout your relationship. Serve your customer ahead of yourself; your customer will take care of you, so you won’t have to.

10. Give conservative estimates of time and money required for any project

Your clients expect projects to get off schedule and run over budget; it makes them tense, and they’ll resent you for it before you even start your work. Stun them by completing projects early and coming in under-budget. Earn residual sales and referrals.

11. President/CEO: call your clients “just to check in”

A sincere and unexpected “How are we doing?” call from #1 will blow your clients away – and that moment-of-truth experience will lock them in for life. Watch your referrals multiply, and enjoy the share of your clients’ wallets you gain as a result.

12. C.A.R.E.

Communicate. Appreciate. Respect. Encourage.

Demonstrate through your every action that you C.A.R.E., a stupendous movement started by Al Smith. And you can start by practicing The 15/5 Rule, which I spell out in my recent post on the C.A.R.E. site. I hope you check it out!

…And if customer service is your thing, I can’t recommend the #custserv twitter chat group enough. The conversation is active and awesome all week long. Every Tuesday at 9 pm Eastern (that’s New York time), dive into one of the most active, fastest chats ever! It is chock-full of authors and CEOs mixing it up with front-line CSRs and small business professionals. It’s as egalitarian as it is stupendously educational… and the friendships you build will last a lifetime!

Ted Coiné

http://www.tedcoine.com/

Ted Coiné is the business heretic at the helm of the Catalyst blog. Author and speaker, futurist, and happily-former CEO, Ted is currently writing his third book, Catalyst, about how business will be done in this exciting new century. Follow him on Twitter and join the conversation on #leadbiz.

via 12most.com

Seniors Mastered the Art of Friending & Likes at my Microsoft / AARP Get Connected Workshop

noreply@blogger.com (Marsha Collier) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 20:42:00 +0000

SPOKANE, Wash. -- Mastering the art of social media - Facebook, Twitter, YouTube - is something many have conquered, but now more and more seniors are jumping on the social bandwagon as well.

For seniors "liking", commenting and defriending are foreign concepts but at AARP's Get Connected event held in Spokane Thursday, 350 seniors took the plunge to learn how to master social media.

Nancy Pritt was among those who wanted to take the plunge online. "I want to learn more, I want to get involved and do it," she said. "I'm pretty empowered about the whole thing ... I'm ready to start."

She, along with other seniors like her, are getting some help from Marsha Collier, the author of "Facebook And Twitter For Seniors For Dummies."

"It's a great way to build your life as you get older it doesn't have to get smaller it can get bigger," Collier said.

While it might be scary at first, Collier says it's time to dive in

"They just need that little extra push to get people online, stalk your children thing, I stalk my daughter all the time," she said.

A study recently found people 65 and older are the fastest growing age group in the State of Washington joining Facebook. And while Nancy Pritt might not have a Facebook account yet, she already knows the lingo.

"A comment would be I saw you on at the AARP session of Get Connected ... you look great and I'd go "like" it," she said.

Then there's friend requests …

"That means you want to ask them to be invited into your program."

… and of course a "Like."

"To like something means you agree with that comment or statement it's a thumbs up."

With the lingo down, now Nancy is ready to get connected on her own online.

"I've got some shopping to do so … right after this I'm looking forward to get going with it," she said.

via kxly.com

Help Mom & Dad Get Connected at my Free Microsoft/AARP Workshop in Spokane 12/1

noreply@blogger.com (Marsha Collier) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 19:59:00 +0000

Do you want your parents to know more about social networking, what it is and how to use it safely?

Join AARP, Microsoft and Marsha Collier, author of “Facebook and Twitter for Seniors for Dummies”, at the Spokane Convention Center for a free workshop on Facebook, Twitter, Video Chat and Safer Socializing on the Internet.

The event is designed for new or experienced computer users and will be held on Dec. 1, from 9:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. at the Spokane Convention Center (334 West Spokane Falls Boulevard – Ballroom 100A). Doors will open at 9 a.m. for refreshments and resource information.

This workshop will show you how to connect with old friends, make new ones, get connected with AARP and communicate with the grandkids. You’ll get tips on safer socializing on the Internet and learn how to make your computer easier to see, hear and use.

“While some people may shy away from new technologies, our members have been clamoring for information on how to log in to the social media world,” said AARP Communications Director Jason Erskine. “”We’re excited to offer this opportunity with Microsoft on Dec. 1.”

Attendees on Dec. 1 will also get a continental breakfast, lunch and plenty of free information and resources. The event is free, but space is limited. Register by calling toll-free 1-877-926-8300.

How to monitor social media mentions in five minutes a day

noreply@blogger.com (Marsha Collier) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 18:03:00 +0000

One of social media’s biggest obstacles is the amount of time required to do it properly. But it is an obstacle that can be overcome if you put some simple and effective processes in place.

In this tutorial I’m going to walk you through a system that will help you stay on top of the bulk of your social media mentions. The best part? Once set up, you only need five minutes a day to make it work for you.

Step One: Set up a ‘monitoring’ folder

The system I’m going to show you makes the most of the bookmark folders function within all major browsers. Head to your bookmarks bar and create a new folder.

In this example I’ve called it ‘Monitoring’ and this is where I’ll store my tools and pre-set searches (the reason for this will become more apparent later in this post).

Step Two: Gathering your tools

Now that our folder is set up, we can start to pull in the various tools we’ll use for monitoring purposes.

The tools you’ll need include:

Addictomatic – a multi-platform buzz dashboard

Social Mention – a slightly more sophisticated multi-platform buzz dashboard

Samepoint - another dashboard that includes some additional platforms the others don’t offer

Twazzup – a real-time news dashboard (with a bias towards Twitter)

BackTweets – a tool which tells you who has been sharing your content on Twitter

Blogpulse – a tool that searches blog posts for specific mentions

Google (weekly in date order) – this will take you to the advanced search box but we’ll make this even more useful during the next phase

You’ll notice that some of these tools overlap – this is intentional to provide the best possible opportunity of capturing the right information without it getting overwhelming.

We’re after relevant data, not data for the sake of it.

Step Three: Tailoring your search parameters

This is where we bring the ‘storage system’ and tools together.

Let’s start with Addictomatic.

Type your search item into the bar and hit create.

Make sure you enclose your query in quotes as this will give you the most relevant results.

Once you get your results back, you want to save this search (in this case I’ve used the bookmarks star) and save the search into the monitoring folder.

While this might seem a little laborious at first, you only need to do it once. I now have access to that saved search whenever I want at the click of a button.

Addictomatic updates the results as they appear so I’ll always have access to the latest results. Repeat this process with the next tool.

Before we get to the final product which is where the magic happens, let’s set up one more search that will become an invaluable part of your toolkit.

Head over to Google and run your search.

When your results are returned, they’ll automatically come back from ‘any time’ and in order of relevance.

We want to drill this down in more detail by activating two variables.

Go to the left menu bar and click on ‘more search tools’

Another menu will drop down – select the ‘past week’ option

Another menu will appear – select ‘sorted by date’

This will give you results like the example to the right.

Note: When you are setting up your BackTweets search, enter the URL you are interested in monitoring as opposed to the brand or keyword.

Step Four: The finished product

Now, if you’ve followed this templated process for each tool, you’ll end up with a folder that looks like this.

Step Five: Making it work for you every day

By this point you will have set up your folder with all your pre-set searches. This means that you can scan all your searches from the one organised location.

A routine you might want to follow could involve a check of each preset search in the morning, at lunch and then in the evening.

This system will give you a free and easy way of staying on top of your mentions all over the social web.

via thenextweb.com

Some good tips and new tools. Well worth the read!

2011 Los Angeles Metrolink Holiday Toy Express Santa Train

noreply@blogger.com (Marsha Collier) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 17:50:00 +0000

via youtube.com

Santa’s glittering train, the Metrolink Holiday Toy Express, once again travels from city to city to entertain families and help to collect toys for the less fortunate. This year’s 32-city tour, which passes through six counties (San Bernardino, Riverside, Ventura, Orange County, Los Angeles and San Diego counties) brings a brightly packaged gift – a 450-ton train decorated with holiday displays, a musical performance and 50,000 twinkling lights – and of course, Santa!.

Families who come to the station to enjoy this special holiday treat are encouraged to bring new unwrapped toys. Local firefighters typically collect more than 100,000 toys for the ABC7/Spark of Love Toy Drive during the season on nights the Holiday Toy Express is in town. These toys are distributed in their local communities to families who may not be able to provide gifts this holiday season.

You can check the schedule here: http://www.metrolinktrains.com/news/?id=7144

Who is the Fastest Growing Demographic in Social Media? Join us 12/1 in Spokane

noreply@blogger.com (Marsha Collier) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 17:20:00 +0000

Who do you think make up the fastest growing segment of people in Washington state joining Facebook? The answer: people age 65 and older.

That's according to a new survey commissioned by the AARP. Author and social media expert Marsha Collier and AARP volunteer Sis Polan joined Margaret to talk more about social networking and baby boomers and to promote an AARP-sponsored event taking place at Microsoft called "Get Connected."

That event was sold out, but there is another event scheduled for December 1 in Spokane. But ...

Join AARP, Microsoft and me, (I'm the author of “Facebook and Twitter for Seniors for Dummies”) at the Spokane Convention Center for a free workshop on Facebook, Twitter, Video Chat and Safer Socializing on the Internet.

Attendees on Dec. 1 will also get a continental breakfast, lunch and plenty of free information and resources. The event is free, but space is limited and your must pre-register to attend. Register online or by calling toll-free 1-877-926-8300.

Check out their website by clicking here. You can also follow them on Twitter: @AARP - and ask questions by using the hashtag: #aarptech

via king5.com

Gift Givers & Online Sellers: USPS 2011 Holiday Shipping Deadlines

noreply@blogger.com (Marsha Collier) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 18:51:00 +0000

Nothing worse than missing the mailing deadline!

This Holiday season, let the United States Postal Service® show you how easy it is to ship all of your holiday packages. With many choices for flat-rate shipping, free package pickup, new holiday forever stamps, select Post Offices™ and USPS.com® are carrying a wide variety of products for holiday gift giving, gift wrapping and gift sending. Please consider using Postal Service™ products and services to make your holiday shipping less stressful and hectic.

The Postal Service wants to make sure that you send all of your holiday mail in time for your family and friends to receive and enjoy for the holidays. Therefore, in order to ensure timely delivery of your cards, letters or packages, please note the shipping deadlines for the following different types of mail:

DOMESTIC MAIL DEADLINES

Domestic Mail Class

Deadline

FIRST CLASS MAIL®

DEC. 20

PRIORITY MAIL®

DEC. 21

EXPRESS MAIL®

DEC. 22 (Check your local Post Office)

PARCEL POST®

DEC. 15

Following is a list of related holiday dates:

First night of Hanukkah (Chanukah ) - Dec. 20th at Sunset

Christmas Eve - Dec. 24th

Christmas Day - Dec. 25th

Kwanzaa - Dec. 26, 2011 - Jan. 1, 2012

via faq.usps.com

Get Quality Photographs of Coins & Jewelry for eBay and Online Selling

noreply@blogger.com (Marsha Collier) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 17:09:00 +0000

Some of the more challenging types of eBay merchandise to photograph are coins and jewelry. A common problem is that when you use techniques that work fine for most items, silver can appear gold, and vice versa. Fortunately, the solution is simple: use ambient, or naturally occurring, light. Ambient light is the best light for photographing many types of items, especially shiny ones.

An easy way to bring ambient light into your photos is to use a Cloud Dome, a large bowl that you place upside-down over the object you want to photograph. This bowl evenly diffuses ambient room light over the surface area of the object. This way, you can produce quality digital images in average room lighting. The cloud dome also helps with the following:

Eliminating camera shake: When taking close-focus, highly zoomed-in pictures, holding your camera steady is of utmost importance. Using a tripod is difficult with close-up pictures, so using a cloud dome is the best option because your camera mounts directly to the cloud dome and is held as still as if you were using a tripod.

Consistent lighting: When you use flash or flood lighting alone (without a cloud dome) for pictures of metallic objects, your photographs can include shiny hotspots from reflections (off walls and ceilings), washed-out areas from the glare of the lights, shadows, and loss of proper color.

A cloud dome being set up to photograph jewelry.

Follow these steps to take a picture with the Cloud Dome:

Attach your camera to the dome’s mount with the lens positioned so that it peers into the hole at the top of the dome.

Place your item on top of a contrasting background.

Place the Dome with camera attached over your item.

Check the item’s position through your camera’s viewfinder or LCD screen.

If the item is not in the center, center it. If you feel you need additional lighting to bring out a highlight, use a lamp or two outside the Cloud Dome.

Focus your camera and shoot the picture.

Many items benefit from being photographed through a Cloud Dome, especially the following:

A quartz stone with gold inclusions and diamonds, photographed with the dome.

Jewelry: Taking pictures with the cloud dome keeps the gold color gold and the silver color silver. Also, using the cloud dome helps your camera pick up details such as engraving and the metal surrounding cloisonné work. It also gives pearls and gold their unique luster and soft reflection.

Gems and stones: You can take beautiful pictures of gems and stones with the cloud dome. To achieve a special look, you can use a cloud dome accessory, a reversible gold-and-silver reflector. Especially when you use the silver side, facets of diamonds glisten as if they were in the pinpoint lights at the jeweler’s. You may also want to focus a floodlight or lamp on the outside of the dome for extra sparkle.

Coins and stamps: The cloud dome allows you to hold the camera steady for extreme close-ups. It also allows you to photograph coins without getting any coloration that is not on the coin. For both coins and stamps, the cloud dome helps you achieve sharp focus and true color.

Holographic or metallic accented items: If you’ve ever tried to photograph collector cards, you know that the metal accents glare and holograms are impossible to capture. Also, the glossy coatings confuse the camera’s light sensors, causing overexposed highlights.

Reflective objects: Items such as silverware or even computer chips reflect a lot of light. The cloud dome diffuses the light so that the pictures become clear.

For more tips on photographing merchandise for eBay or online sales, please check out this article.

What's Your Definition of Rude? 15 Mistakes to Avoid in Small Business Customer Service #custserv

noreply@blogger.com (Marsha Collier) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 16:00:00 +0000

Sometimes it seems like rude customer service is the rule rather than the exception. But there's rude — and then there's rude.

When it comes to getting customer service, what's your definition of rude? What unprofessional behavior irritates you the most when, as a consumer, you are interacting by phone with another company?

Sometimes, customer service that is perceived as rude is not intentional and often is the result of absent-mindedness or carelessness on behalf of an employee. Either way, bad customer service can translate into lower sales and lost business, says Nancy Friedman, president and founder of the Telephone Doctor, a St. Louis-based customer service training company.

Based on its own surveys, the Telephone Doctor has compiled the 15 biggest sins of customer service employees today. They are listed below, along with Telephone Doctor's guidelines (in parentheses) on how to do it right.

If your company's customer service managers and front-line employees are guilty of any of these, it's time for some action. Otherwise, you may have an image problem that could sabotage your effort to produce and market great products.

1. Your employees are having a bad day, and their foul mood carries over in conversations with customers. (Everyone has bad days, but customer service employees need to keep theirs to themselves.)

2. Your employees hang up on angry customers. (Ironclad rule: Never hang up on a customer.)

3. Your company doesn't return phone calls or voice-mail messages, despite listing your phone number on your Web site and/or in ads and directories. (Call customers back as soon as you can, or have calls returned on your behalf.)

4. Your employees put callers on hold without asking them first, as a courtesy. (Ask customers politely if you can put them on hold; very few will complain or say "No way!")

5. Your employees put callers on a speaker phone without asking them first if it is OK. (Again: Ask first, as a courtesy.)

6. Your employees eat, drink or chew gum while talking with customers on the phone. (A telephone mouthpiece is like a microphone; noises can easily be picked up. Employees need to eat their meals away from the phone. And save that stick of gum for break time.)

7. You have call-waiting on your business lines, and your employees frequently interrupt existing calls to take new calls. (One interruption in a call might be excusable; beyond that, you are crossing the "rude" threshold. Do your best to be prepared with enough staff for peak calling times.)

8. Your employees refuse or forget to use the words "please," "thank you" or "you're welcome." (Please use these words generously, thank you.)

9. Your employees hold side conversations with friends or each other while talking to customers on the phone, or they make personal calls on cell phones in your call center. (Don't do either of these.)

10. Your employees seem incapable of offering more than one-word answers. (One-word answers come across as rude and uncaring.)

11. Your employees do provide more than one-word answers, but a lot of the words are grounded in company or industry jargon that many customers don't understand. (If you sell tech products, for example, don't casually drop in abbreviations such as APIs, ISVs, SMTP or TCP/IP.)

12. Your employees request that customers call them back when the employees aren't so busy. (Customers should never be told to call back. Request the customer's number instead.)

13. Your employees rush through calls, forcing customers off the phone at the earliest opportunity. (Be a little more discreet. Politely suggest that you've got the information you need and you must move on to other calls.)

14. Your employees obnoxiously bellow "What's this in reference to?" effectively humbling customers and belittling their requests. (Screening techniques can be used with a little more warmth and finesse. If a caller has mistakenly come your way, do your best to point him or her in the right direction.)

15. Your employees freely admit to customers that they hate their jobs. (This simply makes the entire company look bad. And don't think such a moment of candor or lapse in judgment won't get back to the boss.)

In defense of customer service workers, customers can be rude too. And customer service jobs can often be thankless, with little motivation or incentive to do the job right.

But the problem here is that life for customer service employees may not be fair. Customers can be rude and get away with it. Employees cannot — if they want to help their companies to succeed and keep their jobs as well.

via microsoft.com

Holiday Season Small Business Online Customer Service: Just Do It!

noreply@blogger.com (Marsha Collier) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 16:10:00 +0000

The holiday season is upon us. Here are some great trends and tips from Barry Moltz:

The time to react to your customer is shrinking. In this 24/7 instant gratification world, the time in which your customer expects you to be able to resolve their problem is getting smaller. Most customers expect to be able to reach you 24/7, and for you to resolve their concern on the very first call (or at least the same day). This is putting increasing stress on companies’ infrastructure and pressuring companies to ensure the profitability of each customer. Look for companies to begin to “fire” customers that don’t meet their profitability metric.
Customer service has become the new marketing. Small business owners used to be afraid that a dissatisfied customer would tell 7 people. Now, through social media sites, they can tell 7 million people. On the flip side, “raving fans” can be your biggest source of new business as they tell everyone how great your company is. Consumers believe what their peers say about your company more than they believe any of your own paid advertising.
You can find out exactly where your customers are talking about your company. Every business is being talked about on the Internet, but where? New customized software from companies like Flowtown allow the business owner to insert a contact’s name or e-mail address and identify the social networks in which that contact participates. Knowing where your prospects and customers congregate online is critical for engaging your customers where they are.
The “social support” experience grows. Consumers now talk and bond directly with each other over using your products. Companies like Get Satisfaction and Feedback 2.0 are building online communities that facilitate conversations between companies and customers. Get Satisfaction states that 46,000 companies use its product to provide a social support experience to listen and talk to their loyal customers.
Faster resolution of customer service issues through blog and social media site comments. Calling a company’s customer service number is no longer the fastest way for a customer to get an issue resolved. Since most brands are tracking what is being said about them on all the social media sites, tweeting your concern or posting it on Facebook will often yield quicker results. This has especially been effective for me with my vendors like Comcast, Vonage, American Airlines and Discover Card.
Integration of Web customer service and traditional phone support.Customized software now allows integration of what prospects and customers are saying on the Web about your company. More solutions like Parature for Facebook are available to integrate that information with your website and customer service center. Software now enables Facebook users to search their knowledgebase, submit help tickets and chat with customer service agents. Look for online and offline customer input channels to continue to merge in the coming year.
More self service: It started with ATMs 40 years ago and now we rarely go to the airport without using a self-service kiosk. This past year, more complicated transactions like renting a car are now being done via kiosks at companies like Hertz. Although it takes a bit longer, it is effective for impatient customers who do not want to wait in lines. Many stores have also implemented self checkout. Can buying a car or house via self serve be far behind?
Faux personalization becomes an expectation. With many consumer interactions now happening online or through automated kiosks instead of live people, customers have come to expect the type of “personal service” they get at websites like Amazon. Easily being able to track your current, past and recommended future purchases has become an expectation that is not easily matched in a brick and mortar store. Amazon always remembers who you are, but does your local retail store? As a result, where would you rather shop?
Retail stores are now an experience. Successful retail stores like Apple and Brookstone have become demo centers with a lot of service people around to help. On Black Friday, when other stores were struggling to keep up, I was in and out of an Apple store in 5 minutes with my iPad purchase. In order to compete with online shopping, successful stores are now fun places to come out and shop. Gone are the days when you couldn’t find someone to help you at Toys R Us (and I don’t miss it).
You need to chat. Helping a customer on your website used to providing an e-mail address or listing the company phone number. Real-time chat is now becoming a requirement in order to help your clients. Can video chat be that far behind for an even more personal touch?
Online inventory tracking from your customer’s phone. Your customer will no longer come into your store to see if you have a product. Companies like Milo.com can now tell the customer if a product is on your shelf. The company says it tracks real-time availability of 3 million products in 52,000 stores. Is this the end of “window shopping”?

via smallbiztrends.com

Social Media is NOT a numbers game for small business! Find your customers and engage them!

Who do you think is the fastest growing segment joining Facebook?

noreply@blogger.com (Marsha Collier) — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 20:13:00 +0000

via king5.com

Who do you think make up the fastest growing segment of people in Washington state joining Facebook? The answer: people age 65 and older.

The event is sold out, but the AARP has made it very easy to take part in their live stream and even ask questions via Twitter. Just check out their website by clicking here. You can also follow them on Twitter: @AARP - and ask questions by using the hashtag: #aarptech

How To Build A Great Twitter Reputation, Get More Followers & Retweets

noreply@blogger.com (Marsha Collier) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 16:05:00 +0000

The three steps to a great Twitter reputation are content, style and connections.

First—because this is what makes you really popular—we’ll cover making connections and building your account.
Second, we’ll work on creating tweets that will give people something to retweet, and help people get to know you and want to recommend you.
Your tweets are the core to your reputation. You’re going to need four types: Popular, focused, conversational and retweets/thank-yous.
Third, we’ll work on your Twitter style. This mean understanding the social etiquette and rules of Twitter as they apply to you.
Ready? Let’s get started:
Your strategy is going to be to become influential by helping key people, one at a time, and building a circle of great connections.
Begin by searching for people to engage with by topics that interest you. You want to find the most engaged and influential users in the topics that you care about most. Here is a collection of resources that you can use to search for Twitter users by topic:

FollowerWonk WeFollow Directory Search HashTags.org

Topsy Expert Search TagWalk.com (shows related resources) Research.ly (allows limited free searches)

Listorious List Search Local Follow Social Mention

TweetLevel topic search PeekYou http://listatlas.com/

Faxo user search (allows several filters) Hashtweeps top users by hashtag Twibs

Twellow Directory Search HooSaid user search TweetFind

Super Dashboard at peoplebrowsr.com TweepFind Icerocket

Add users that you find and are considering to Twitter lists, so you can watch how they tweet for awhile.
You’ll want to follow very few key people at first, because you’ll want to have time to devote to them once you follow them.
When influential users begin to retweet you, a LOT of people will check you out. You will gain followers if you have the right mix of tweets, and demonstrate an understanding of Twitter etiquette.
There are two key approaches to making influential connections who will recommend you and retweet you over time. Which you do most depends on your personal goals. And the approach doesn’t matter as much as how you engage. Your two options are:

1. Build A “Personal Learning Network" (PLN)
Essentially, you will seek out people who can teach you something, and people that you can teach something to.
You can focus on your business, career, hobby, or any interest. PLNs are very popular with educators. Twitter can be just one part of your PLN strategy. And Twitter chats can be a goldmine for PLNers. Browse through a few articles about Twitter PLNs to learn more.

2. Become A “Super Advocate”
This is the most powerful way to build your reputation and get influential users to promote you. Read more here. Many influential users are very focused on one particular niche, so it helps if you are also very focused on the same niche. You will pick key users and do as much as you can to assist them.

3. Engage And Follow Through
Once you have found people worth connecting with, help them. Promote and retweet them. Engage them.
Strategies include FollowFriday, writing blog posts about top users hoping those users will tweet the post, creating lists of users, retweeting users, etc. Some people try to find various kinds of favors they can do for influential users.
As always, everything works best if you are genuinely interested in the people you connect with, and are ethical, sincere and learn from your mistakes.
Once you have spent a lot of time engaging with a user, put that relationship on listening mode, and select a new user to engage with.

Content That Gets You Followed And Retweeted
As you build your reputation people are going to be recommending you.
Having the right tweets means when people check you out they will follow you, and feel comfortable recommending you to others.
It’s important to have each of four kinds of tweets mixed together every day: Popular, focused, conversational and retweets. That’s because when people check you out, your tweets are what teach them about you.
If you have all of one kind of tweet, they won’t learn as much about you, and you’ll get fewer followers, and fewer recommendations.
And don’t forget to spread out your tweets! Don’t overwhelm people with a bunch of tweets all at once. Use Buffer to naturally space things out to times when most people are online.

1. Popular Tweets
These are simply the kinds of tweets that get retweeted the most. When you make the right kind of connections, people will want to retweet you. Having a popular tweet or two to makes it easy for people to find something of yours to retweet.
Because they will at first be your most retweeted tweets, be careful! Don’t always be tweeting things just to get retweets. It will give you the wrong kind of reputation in the long run, and you’ll have created a boring job for yourself: finding things to tweet.

Hot Topics
Hot topics should be tweeted when you find them, or within a few hours.
There are many services you can check to find a hot topic that interests you whenever you are online and have a couple of minutes. Here are few to get you started:

NewsWhip

LinkedIn Today

PopURLs

BuzzFeed

Digg

Quotes, Facts And Humor
Quotes, one-liners and fascinating factoids are very overdone on Twitter, but it’s okay to share a few each week. These can be scheduled in advance. Also: try to be funny yourself from time to time!
To be funny take what you are doing or what your friends are up to, or a current news or hot topic and combine it with a funny or famous line, such as quotes from movies or TV. Make a game of it!
Another way of creating funny tweets is to say something out-of-character (stupid, obvious, or as if you didn’t mean to say it), then follow that up with, “Oh wait…”.

2. Focused Tweets
These are things you know or care a lot about. These help people get to know your interests, and this can be how you help others.
For example, if you have a wealth of knowledge in some topic area, and a lot of links to useful information, you might schedule one of your informational links to go out each day. These can also be your comments on news or entertainment or causes that you care about.

3. Conversation Tweets
The first two kinds of tweets can be scheduled some of the time. Conversation tweets are where you reply to people, help people, or get help.
Begin by regularly searching for people who need help and helping them. Start by reading tweets about people asking questions about Twitter by doing a Twitter search like this. Use Google search or search Twitter’s help website to find answers. Also read a Twitter article or two each week to learn more. (A good place to start.)
Finally, after making sure you are replying to everyone who tweets to you (even if it takes you a few days), begin asking questions from time to time.

4. Retweets And Thank-You’s
People love being retweeted.
You need to show that you retweet others. Either your focused or popular tweets should be retweets from time to time. Start by checking @GuyKawasaki and @FlipBooks from time to time for popular things to retweet. Later, you’ll be mostly retweeting things from key connections as you make them.
Don’t automatically thank people for following you, but do thank them for retweets sometimes (“follow thanks” are so common as to be considered spam by many users). If you chat with someone right after they follow, it’s okay to thank them afterward though.
Above all, learn how to turn praise for others into public compliments on Twitter.

Developing Your Twitter Style

Make Your Own Rules
Be sure you’ve read a few Twitter etiquette articles. Realize that not everyone does things in the same way, so feel free to make your own rules over time. It’s important to make your own laws, and keep improving them.
The main thing is to be responsive. To build a great reputation your tweets need to show you are a real person who engages with others. Having conversation and retweet tweets in balance is a big help.

Your Mentors
Once you start making great connections on Twitter, pay attention to how they use Twitter. Emulate them and ask questions in order to build your own style.
The fastest way to begin using Twitter really well is to have great mentors, promote them, and ask for and listen to their advice.
What do you think? Have any questions or comments on building a great reputation? Leave a comment in the box below.
Dave

via blog.bufferapp.com

Domestic Mail Class	Deadline
FIRST CLASS MAIL®	DEC. 20
PRIORITY MAIL®	DEC. 21
EXPRESS MAIL®	DEC. 22 (Check your local Post Office)
PARCEL POST®	DEC. 15

FollowerWonk	WeFollow Directory Search	HashTags.org
Topsy Expert Search	TagWalk.com (shows related resources)	Research.ly (allows limited free searches)
Listorious List Search	Local Follow	Social Mention
TweetLevel topic search	PeekYou	http://listatlas.com/
Faxo user search (allows several filters)	Hashtweeps top users by hashtag	Twibs
Twellow Directory Search	HooSaid user search	TweetFind
Super Dashboard at peoplebrowsr.com	TweepFind	Icerocket