One of the benefits of Facebook is the ability to ask your family, friends and connections for their opinion on a certain business or product.  Most people will trust their friends judgement or those that they respect and trust.  This is also extended to people that those colleagues then associate with.

If you see that someone you know or are connected with is giving a glowing recommendation, you are more than likely to contact that business when the need arises.

Take a look at this infographic (its results have been polled from businesses in the States) but its amazing to look at results of this poll.

55% of business owners say referrals give them the biggest boost in business but, in contrast, almost half had not actually rated or reviewed another business online themselves.

About the Survey
Manta polled 1,069 small business owners, who are members of Manta.com and have claimed their Manta business profile, via an online Silverpop survey between January 17 and January 31, 2012. The margin of error is +/- 2.98 percentage point.s

About Manta
Manta helps small businesses profit, connect and grow through the largest online community dedicated entirely to small business. Millions of people come to Manta each day to buy from, partner with and connect to companies. By joining Manta, small businesses easily harness the power of the Internet. Get visible; grow your business for free at www.manta.com.

Do you secretly want to be the envy of your peers … be the person that they look over and say  … “Lucky Bitch”.  If you got a twinge inside when you read that line … then read on.

I was going about my daily Facebook posting in a private group when I saw a post by  “Denise Duffield-Thomas” – she was talking about how she had used her Ipad to create videos for her website.  My inner geek sparked an interest … I had better go over and check out this person. We struck up an instant rapport , when it dawned on me that I was here for another reason.

I had to interview this lady, as she had a message that I think you will all aspire too!  Within 10 minutes we had set a time and date.  How easy was that!

The next week, we get started on our interview and half way through I wondered how come it had turned from me getting as much information out of Denise to Denise interviewing me.  We had lots of fun and Denise is a lovely lady and I am sure you will enjoy our interview as much as I did.

After our conversation, I went straight to Amazon and bought her book “Lucky Bitch”.  Needless to say my head is racing and I plan on being someone that Denise spotlights as a Lucky Bitch in the not too distant future !!!

Hope you enjoy this interview and please share your comments below.

No doubt you have often asked yourself “Does Social Media Work”… I know in the early days I certainly did!

It seems like you post and post and do what is suppose to be the right things – but you don’t see any immediate results. Social Media is not going to make you or your business an overnight success.  It’s about building relationships and being consistent.

It personally took me three months before I saw any change in my business – I wasn’t exactly the person who was out there all the time.  I found commenting on other pages hard work – what if, they thought I was stupid – what if, what I said was dumb – do you know that feeling!

Today, I was listening to an interview with Rosh Kahn from “Social Rank” who shared his journey from $100 to $20,000 a Month in Revenue.  As I listened I laughed as I remember reading about him meeting Chris Farrell from “How to Make Money with Chris Farrell”.

Grab a coffee/ tea / or beer and sit down and listen to this interview – even if you know this stuff its a good reminder of how you can make a difference in your business.  Oh and I definately got a giggle out of how he stalked Chris Farrell ! Listen to the interview over at The Rise to the Top.com

Let me know – if you have had a similar success story with Social Media for your business.

I love and use Aweber but it drives me crazy when they spring another upgrade price on me.

This has prompted me to clear out my list of subscribers.  You see, people love to get something for nothing – its human nature but the trouble is … after that, unless they are raving fans, most of your emails go into the bin.

So if you have people on your list who are “dead wood” then its time to clear them out.  It will save you money by not having to pay for an unresponsive list (people who really aren’t that interested in your product or services).

Watch this video from my friend Keith Everett who is a traffic genius in Facebook to learn how to clean up that list !

I came across a lot of freebies in my travel across the internet, some good, some bad and some I don’t really know what to do with.  The good ones, I always think to myself – I should make a list.

Well I don’t have too anymore – The Next Web – have done it for me. Here is an excellent list of resources that The Next Web have put together.  Check it out and see what tools will work for your business.

Some of the tools I love and use are:

• wordpress.org (rather than .com)
• tumblr.com
• Disqus.com
• Google Analytics
• Facebook
• Skype
• Youtube
• Twitter

No doubt there are many more that I have missed.

If you are still sitting on the fence then you might enjoy reading this story that was recently run in the Sunshine Coast Daily – Making Social Media Work !

Now if that has inspired you to learn more, then I invite you to attend one of the free presentation “Facebook Marketing for Business” the Sunshine Coast Regional Council are holding over the next few months.  These session book out very fast – so I suggest you book now so you don’t miss out.  Allow 1 1/2 hours for the session – it will be a 1 hour presentation and then I answer as many questions as you can throw at me.

Bookings can be made for either evening or day time sessions.  Evening presentations are in April and May – and then daytime presentations in June … the links below will take you directly to the Council website to book.

Location	Date and Time	Book Online
Beerwah Library	Wednesday 21 March, 2.00 pm Tuesday 12 June, 2.00 pm	Book online  [FULL] Book online
Caloundra Library	Thursday 19 April, 6.00 pm Wednesday 13 June, 10.00 am	Book online  Book online
Coolum Library	Tuesday 19 June, 10.00 am	Book online
Cooroy Library	Monday 14 May, 6.00 pm Tuesday 26 June, 1.00 pm	Book online  Book online
Kawana Library	Thursday 28 June, 10.00 am	Book online
Maleny Neighbourhood Centre	Thurdsay 21 June, 10.00 am	Book online
Maroochydore Library	Thursday 3 May, 6.00 pm Thursday 14 June, 2.00 pm	Book online  Book online
Nambour Library	Tuesday 5 June, 9.30 am	Book online
Noosa Library	Wednesday 20 June, 10.00 am	Book online

Oh and make sure that you come up and say hello – nice to know who is connecting with my Site.

PS .. If you want to do Face to Face training – check out our training dates !

I am guessing by now you are either so over that title or so confused about it all, that you are just sitting back waiting to see what happens.

If you are sitting back and waiting – then it will automatically update for you on the 30th March EST.  If you decide to take the plunge here is a quick summary of what you need to know;

Size:  Cover Photo: 850 pixels wide X 315 pixels.

I recently read an article “Are you Making these 7 Mistakes with your About Page” and thought to myself  “I had better go check my About page“.  Sure enough I couldn’t find it.

I knew I had created one at the time of setting up this site – so where had it gone.  After poking around the dashboard, I found it… nearly 2 years old and out of date.  It needs a revamp but I was happy to report I definitely had included most of the elements that Copy Blogger suggested you needed for your About Page.

Mistake 1 – I have one and it can be found on the Navigation Bar.!!!

Mistake 2 – I have one of those too !!!  See its me Donna Hamer !

Mistake 3 – Image, ticked that box too.

Mistake 4 – Cringe .. am I boring?

Mistake 5 – No video … anything over 1 minute I rarely watch unless its a tutorial

Mistake 6 – No short and sweet here !

Mistake 7 – Yes its all about me .  I had better get writing.

Are you doing the same mistakes – love to know your thoughts and please share you about Page on your Website with us .  I would love to see what you are doing.

I am always being ticked off by my friends about grammar and spelling.   I know for me when I write, more often than not I overlook mistakes as I am pushing it out there and don’t see them… (maybe I’m dyslexic).

One of the biggest issues I have is;  who do I write for?  I live in Australia, a lot of my audience is in Australia but I also have a huge list of people from overseas… they spell things differently and use different grammar.

So when you read this article – if I have grammatical errors .. and god forbid a typo please forgive me .. its not intended.

Now that I have got that off my chest and excused myself – here is a great article about the 20 common grammar mistakes that people make.  Affect and Effect would have to be on the top of my list !

Do you have the trouble with your grammer – if so check out 20 Common Grammar Mistakes.

Let me know what mistakes you have by dropping a message on our Facebook Wall.

In Australia are we behind world trends – in front. Exactly where do we stand?

Edelman Digital shared this very interesting article about the 12 Social Media Trends that Australian Companies should be looking for in 2012.

1. Better use (and integration) of social media;
2. Adoption of quicker response times;
3. Leaders will adopt principles of social business;
4. Increased emphasis on content marketing;
5. The rise and rise of the power blogger;
6. Continued debate around ROI;
7. Growth in content curation;
8. The rise in status of the community manager;
9. Combating facebook’s clutter;
10. Twitter’s growing influence;
11. Tracking the rising stars ;
    ***  Watch these ones… Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, Flipboard, Tout.
12. Where to for social influence measurement & scoring systems?

At the moment Google+, Instagram and Pinterest are constantly being talked about on Facebook.  I haven’t personally hopped on the Pinterest craze but I am looking into it and how I can use this social sharing site to leverage my brand.

To read more about 12 Social Media Trends that Australian Companies should be looking for in 2012 drop on over to Edelman Digital Site.