Sue Worthington

LinkedIn Tweets Application Is Changing

admin — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:16:37 +0000

With effect from 31st January the LinkedIn Tweets application is changing.

However this does not mean that you cannot link your Twitter and LinkedIn accounts – you can still do that from your settings page. The change will mean that the tweets displayed on your home page from everyone you follow will no longer appear.

Let’s go through that with some screenshots:-

If you have enabled the tweets application it will appear here in the ‘more’ drop down box:-

Once added when you click on the link in the screen shot above you will be directed to this page:-

Here you can see all the tweets displayed from the people you follow and the ‘connections’ tab will display all your connections who have a Twitter account listed on their profile, and you can tick a box to follow people directly from here – this is a facility that I like and use, so I will miss the ability to do this.

On the settings tab here, you can choose whether to display all tweets or just tweets with #in:-

Enabling the tweets application provides a Twitter stream on your LinkedIn home page in the sidebar like this:-

So when the tweets application is removed on 31st January 2012, in order to access your Twitter settings you will need to go to the settings box right under your name at the top right, and you will reach this page:-

You will need to click on Settings>Manage your Twitter settings, and will get this pop up box:-

Here you can add or remove your Twitter accounts, and choose whether to display all tweets or just #in ones.

So your tweets will still appear in the news feed on your home page for your connections to see, but you will lose the ability to follow your LinkedIn connections from the applications settings page.
Not too drastic really – I personally did use the follow directly ability, but other than that, you will still be able to link your Twitter and LinkedIn accounts, if that forms a part of your social media plan.

Don’t forget that not everyone wants to see a constant stream of tweets in the news feed, so please consider selecting which tweets you choose to share on LinkedIn.

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10 Steps To The Perfect LinkedIn Profile

Here’s Why Your Social Media Is Failing

admin — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 19:11:34 +0000

The reason that so many small business owners are not getting the success they expected from using social media is really quite simple – they are using it in completely the wrong way!

What do I mean by that – how many ways are there?

I think that the word ‘social’ is giving business owners the impression that they have to be the life and soul of the Twitter or Facebook party, and share their personal life and habits with the world.

That is so wrong! What happens is that a business owner opens a Twitter account and merrily starts posting away about their favourite films, their favourite sports, what they are eating, what the kids are up to.

STOP!

If this is a business account – why are you talking about your family and hobbies?

When you walk into Tesco or Comet do you expect the sales person to tell you about his wife, children, favourite tipple and which team he supports? No – you would run right back out of the store.

So why do you do that on your business social media accounts?

Why are you not telling your followers about what is happening in your industry, sharing useful articles, giving advice and tips, giving people a glimpse behind the scenes of your business, sharing videos and images – in other words attracting people to you and your business, by positioning yourself as an expert, and giving free and useful information to your target audience.

Oh but hold on a minute – if you have been posting about personal stuff you have probably gathered a whole bunch of followers who have absolutely no intention of buying your products and services – they are just there to hear your latest joke or what you are having for lunch or if you are going to the match on Saturday.

So you might need to think about who your target audience is and start to follow them – and then start to give them the information they need to make an informed decision about whether to do business with you.

That is why you are on these sites – right?

Now don’t get me wrong – you can show your personality – you can respond to people, and be lighthearted, but don’t initiate too much personal conversation and don’t give too much away about your personal life. Yes it is a fine balance, but try to remember why you are there – for business and to get more clients.

If you want to share jokes, football results, your favourite wine, or your deepest darkest secrets, then open a personal account on Twitter and post on your personal profile on Facebook – but please, please keep your business accounts for business!

If you would like to know more about how to do social media the ‘right’ way pop your email below and get your ’10 Days To Get Social’ toolkit

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Are You An Introvert Offline, But Not Online?

admin — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 23:44:03 +0000

I have always considered myself to be an introvert.

However I am now still an introvert but I am also active on social media sites, and some people may see that as something of an anomaly.

So now I tell people I am an offline introvert but an online extrovert and I really don’t see this as being strange at all.

For me it is very difficult to be in a crowded room and have to introduce myself and engage in conversations with complete strangers but online I do it happily all the time. I tweet with people, and engage in Facebook conversations with complete strangers without a care in the world. The face to face anxiety is removed making it much easier.

Also my ex colleagues (way back when I had a ‘real’ job) used to joke about the fact that when we had company events and were socialising in the evenings, I would often just quietly disappear without telling anyone, when it all got too much, and you can do this easily online – just withdraw from a conversation if you wish.

It is much harder to do that in person especially if it is just you and one other person in conversation. I am finding more and more as my online persona becomes more recognised, when I meet people offline they expect me to be quite an extrovert and are surprised to find I am often the quiet one, set apart from the group. This can often be misinterpreted as me being a bit stuck up but I am not really.

Put me in front of a computer screen and I am the life and soul of the party!

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Have You Got Your First Offline Client Yet?

Does Your Business Have A Social Media Marketing Strategy?

admin — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 22:13:58 +0000

A marketing strategy is vital for any business.

Without a strategy your efforts are more than likely going to be scattered and haphazard and ultimatelt inefficient.

But what is the primary purpose of a marketing strategy?

It should be to identify and communicate the benefits of your business to your target market and make sure that your products and services meet their needs.

Has this really changed over the last few years?

No – but what has changed are the methods by which we now communicate those benefits to our target audience.

We are now at a time when there is no doubt about the fact that business owners want to take advantage of social media, but are not sure how to integrate social media into their plans for the benefit of their business.

No matter how far along the social media journey you are, take a step back and review your efforts so far.

What success have you had and how can you improve on that? If you feel you are not achieving success with your current social media tactics, what do you need to do about it?

Perhaps you need to review, or create your social media strategy, and you can start by really thinking about what you want to achieve from the use of social media – and I don’t mean the obvious answer of more sales, but rather how you get to that point of getting more sales.

Do you want to drive traffic to a particular site or page on your site?
Do you want to build your brand name?
Do you want more exposure for a particular event?

Think about what your objectives are and then assess the best methods for achieving them.

Often you, as a business owner, will have decided to take the leap into social media, but have failed to recognise that resources need to be allocated, and of course the biggest resource is time – will that be your time if you are a solo business owner, or the time of a staff member, or will you outsource your social media activities?

You may decide on a combination of all of these.

But before you get to that stage you need to decide which platforms are best suited for your business – one size does not fit all.. Will your business benefit from Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Blogging, Video Marketing, and how will you blend all that into your current marketing activities?

Then of course who will keep up with the constant changes that are happening with social media – new sites are coming along every day and current sites are evolving all the time.

For help with planning your social media marketing strategy, you can get some advice from my ’10 Days To Get Social’ video course, which contains 10 videos based on my unique ‘Get Social For Business’ 10 step system, and gives you lots of tips and tricks to really boost your Social Media Marketing efforts.

So enter your details below to get your 10 videos, incredible interactive mindmap, get started checklists, and 10 more exclusive social media tips videos.

You might also be in the right location to attend one of my live workshops, where I help you to ‘Create Time For Social Media’

Find out more here:-

http://www.socialmediatrainingworkshops.co.uk

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Social Media Marketing Manchester

admin — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 01:14:00 +0000

Understanding Social Media Marketing is something that is becoming ever more crucial in today's business environment.

However so many business owners simply do not have the necessary knowledge to implement the required strategies.

Yes, they may have created their social media sites and started posting and tweeting – but they have no solid plan and so ultimately they will fail.

Even worse they do not know what to talk about, and end up speaking about their personal lives – if you do this your social media marketing will fail.

The wrong type of social media will make you lots of friends, but few if any clients!

What is the answer to these problems? The correct training.

'Get Social For Business' a Marketing agency in the Greater Manchester area UK, are holding a series of hands on, interactive workshops beginning mid to late August 2011.

Check back for full details of the events, also see other posts for more information.

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Social Media Workshops In Manchester UK

admin — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 00:38:59 +0000

Do you need some real, solid hands on help with your Social Media?

Are you in or around the Manchester UK area?

You are in luck – starting mid to late August 'Get Social For Business' will be running a series of interactive hands-on Social Media workshops

The 'Social Media Doesn't Work' workshop will really open your eyes to the necessity of having a solid well-thought out plan for your business Social Marketing Strategy. Attendance at this workshop will ensure you leave at the end of the four and a half hour session with a plan – you will know who your people are, where your people are, what to talk to them about and what tools you need to use to plan, maintain and measure your results.

The 'Twitter Party' will be a fun filled, action packed half day event which takes you from account set up right through to automating, scheduling, what to say and who to say it to.

The 'Facebook Fan Page Frenzy' workshop explains the importance of having a Facebook business page for your business, but more importantly how to gather the correct 'fans' for your page, how to engage and retain those fans, and how to convert them to customers.

The 'LinkedIn For Business' workshop takes you through the important steps of ensuring you are utilising the 'professional' network properly – how to connect with the right people, how to make sure that your profile gets found in the search results,

So be sure to check back regularly to get full details of these valuable, upcoming workshops.

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What Is ’10 Days To Get Social’ All About?

admin — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 16:12:03 +0000

Every day I see business owners who are simply not getting the most out of all the hours they are spending on social media, and I believe it is time to take a smart, systemised approach. Now don’t worry that needn’t be dull and boring – it can still be fun to achieve. I want the people I coach to succeed in social media, and if you have a system you will So in 10 days to get social you will ask yourself:- Who are my people What do my people want Where are my people How do I attract my people How do Ikeep my people interested How do I capture and retain my people Find out more about my 7 step system to social strategy success here

http://www.getsocialforbusiness.com

or complete the box in the sidebar to get your social marketing booming!

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Business Networking Connections

admin — Mon, 23 May 2011 17:16:36 +0000

If you go to many networking events, you probably have stacks of business cards on your desk, but do you follow-up with the people who handed them to you?

If you don’t follow up, ask yourself why not?

Is it lack of time, and you feel you have more important things to do? Or do you think that the person may not be able to help your business?

Do not let a potential lead disappear, because there is a much easier way to follow up, and you should be using it. Social media gives you the opportunity to follow up easily and with very little effort.

Make your connections quickly

I always ask people I meet if they are on LinkedIn – I find that most people who attend business networking events usually have a LinkedIn profile.
Connect with the people you meet as quickly as possible after the meeting, so that they remember you. Search for them on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter or preferably all three, within 24 hours of your initial introduction. Most people will welcome the chance to connect with you and grow their network.

Is your profile complete?

When you make that request most people will probably take a look at your profile, so it is really worth taking the time to make your profile look as good as possible.

Many, many people have a rule that they do not connect with people who do not have a profile picture, so make sure you have one – do not let something so simple as this lose you valuable connections, who could well turn into business.

On LinkedIn make sure your profile is 100% complete – if you are missing that recommendation which represents the final 5% then ask someone for a recommendation. It can often be a simple as that – most people enjoy helping others out if they can, so ask.

On Twitter make sure you have a bio which tells people in an engaging way what you do and also a link to your website

On Facebook use a business page for your business, ideally with a welcome page to tell everyone about your business.

Engage your followers

Content is king on social networks, so share lots and lots of valuable content related to your industry in general and your work in particular. You want to attract people’s attention, so sharing really great content that people want to read does just that. Photos and video always attract a lot of attention so use them when you can.

Social Media is a marathon and not a sprint

Your social media strategy puts you in a position to stay in the consciousness of the people you meet, and it also helps you to keep an eye on what they are doing in their business. You never know who is looking for what at any given time.

Converting leads via social media can take a long time, and so your efforts must be consistent and maintained over a period of time. In the long run your social media efforts really can pay off.

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Outsourcing Your Social Media Activities – Good Or Bad Idea?

admin — Sat, 07 May 2011 15:44:06 +0000

Many businesses are frustrated with social media and even if they know they should be doing it, many feel they don’t have the time, and then when they do have a go, they are not really sure what they are doing or why they are doing it, or if all the time they are spending on it is producing any results.

But what is the solution to this issue?

Does a business simply refuse to enter into the social media world? Not really an option going forward I would think.

OK so if they have staff do they get them to blog, tweet etc for the business? OK but who trains them to do it properly and effectively.

If they are solo business owners, and don’t have the above option, then do they continue to bury their heads in the sand?

Or do they accept and embrace the social media world?

Whatever the type of business one thing is certain – businesses need to have a strategy for social media.

Whether they are companies with staff or ‘one man bands’ there is a learning curve – or maybe it’s better to outsource?

OK, while it may be acceptable, and even sensible to outsource the initial set up, strategy and maintenance plan, ultimately, in my opinion, most social media platforms need an authentic voice from within that company to continue to build that online community. I believe it is hard to replicate that by the use of a social media manager, certainly on a long term basis.

I believe that it is preferable to train staff or business owners in effective social media use, and provide a maintenance plan which fits the resources available to that particular business.

Check back for details about my future training course schedule.

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How To Deal With Social Media Connection Requests

admin — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 10:12:27 +0000

I think there is a different etiquette for each site but here's what I do:-

Twitter

I do not automatically follow people back because there are some strange people on twitter you know!! No offence!

So I like to check out people before following them back – I like to see a photo and an active Twitter timeline and that we either have something in common either personally or industry wise.

Unlike some people I do believe in following people in the same industry because there is always something we can learn from each other.

Facebook

I have a personal profile and a business page http://www.facebook.com/thesueworthington

Facebook are very strict about using your profile for conducting business – it is not allowed.

So do you 'friend' people you do not know. Well again it depends what your objectives are. Some people like to keep their Facebook personal profiles very strictly for close friends and family, and if using Facebook for business keeping the two separate.

However I have Facebook friends who I do not know personally in that I have not met them – however I do 'know' them virtually, in that I belong to the same groups or training courses, or have connected in some way.

The people who have been online for a long time and using Facebook often have 5000 'friends' – this is because Facebook business pages have only existed for a couple of years so people connected for business on their personal profiles.

LinkedIn

I always connect with everyone on LinkedIn – that is my personal choice.

I am an open networker. I know that a lot of LinkedIn users only connect with people they have met personally.

Once again it depends on your objectives for using LinkedIn.

Please let me know what your 'rules' are.