UPDATE: The position is currently filled, but I’m still accepting applications for future consideration!

Things are rolling fast and furious here and it’s just a matter of time until I work myself into a tizzy and turn into dust. (Perhaps that’s a little dramatic.) I’m seeking a new team member to help keep things rolling full steam ahead.

This is a paid, part-time position ranging from 10-20 hours per week with the possibility for more hours based on performance.

You must have your own car, computer, and be based in the Lexington, KY area.

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

Duties include:

• Daily administrative tasks such as email, scheduling, phone calls
• Content research
• Proofing written materials
• Collecting raw data for client reports
• Creative brainstorming and ideation

Qualifications:

• Extremely organized and focused: you like making lists and checking them twice.
• Punctual and detail-oriented.
• Some experience with social networks including Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, Google +. (Could be a combo of these or a strength in one or two specific platforms.)
• Resourceful: Able to perform Google-Fu – Research across the web for reliable sources and subject matter experts.
• Ability to multitask both type of work duties and client industries.
• Strong working knowledge of Word and Excel.
• Experience with any combination of the following is a plus: Photoshop, Illustrator, video editing, website design.
• Experience as a blogger a plus.

I am by no means a super formal person, but my business integrity and professionalism is of upmost importance. This is a great job for you if you can roll with the punches, but stay organized and on top of multiple projects for truly wonderful clients.

Please note: Current client industries range from fitness to tourism to fashion. Interest in any of these topics is a bonus.

Interested? Please fill out the application here. No phone calls, please!

Me and NAWBO Lexington President-Elect Rhonda Bartlett

I received a kind note from a member who was in attendance about the presentation:

“Emily, I just wanted to complement you on your excellent presentation Tuesday at NAWBO. You are very engaging, an expetise, and it was very helpful. Plus I just checked your blog and I love it, too.”

To access the presentation and some referenced tools and articles, visit the presentation page here. 

Thanks to all who came out, and for NAWBO Lexington for inviting me.

“As a social marketer, you have to understand the industry, the company’s goals and product features, and interact with customers as a representative of the company, which you are,” she said. “You have to make it seamless so that people who are not on the payroll or are not in the physical location can’t tell.”

I’d love if you would check out the entire article here.

Contact me anytime to discuss how your company can incorporate social media to increase customer engagement, customer referrals, and find new prospects. Happy New Year!

To view the presentations and find links to associated resources, visit this page. Thanks to Commerce Lexington for having us and for the great audience. Let us know if you have any questions!

At the end of September, I had the opportunity to speak at FitBloggin, a conference for fitness bloggers, about using social media to drive blog traffic.  As a fitness blogger and a social media company owner, this was an awesome opportunity to present something I’m really excited about.

Session Overview:

So many of us love Facebook for personal use and staying in touch with friends. What if you could use Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest and other social media channels to increase blog traffic and build a stronger community? With existing social media sites gaining more mainstream popularity and new sites appearing monthly, how do you determine which are the best ones for increasing blog readership?

Topics covered include:

• An overview of the most popular social media sites and any emerging sites that could be beneficial to blog traffic
• Ways to optimize your presence on social media channels
• A set of tools you can use to more efficiently use your time on social media sites
• Ways to measure and evaluate which of your social media efforts are bringing in the most traffic

View the live blog recap here.

View the presentation and all associated resources here. 

As always, let me know if you have any questions!

At this point you could:

• Break out doing the Macarena
• Try to interrupt and let them you have hemorrhoids
• Silently start recalling the sequence of Pi

No matter what you do, their response would be the same: nothing. Their stream of self-promotion is apparently never-ending, and even doing a bad line dance can’t save you.

This is exactly what I think of when I see companies on social media who fail to respond to customer messages, take action on company social mentions, or include any personality in their communications. Instead, they see Twitter, Facebook, and in some cases Pinterest, as a way to just talk about themselves:

• We are awesome!
• Look at what we do!
• Look at our newest brochure!
• Look at our newest brochure in 140 characters!
• Look at the picture from our newest brochure!
• Did you see our new brochure?
• (If you’re lucky) Look – our newest brochure in Spanish!

Translation to the consumer? La la la la la….
we don’t want to can’t hear you!

There are very few differences between being a good social butterfly and being a good social company. Don’t approach social media channels as another way for you to “advertise” your business. Look at it as an ideal way to connect with your prospects and customers. Listen to what they’re saying, and respond publicly. Social media is to traditional advertising as Toto was to the Wicked Wizard – it removes the curtain. No longer can companies operate by sending out messages and shielding their ears to the responses. You can’t put an automated call system and computerized help systems behind a social media account and achieve the same personal communications expected by someone trying to reach out to you.

Don’t be a social media fire hydrant: if all you do is spew, no one will listen to you.

Want some great examples of interaction on Twitter?

• Peter Shankman and Morton’s Steakhouse
• Gaylord Opryland Hotel and the Alarm Clock
• The Starbucks Twitter Strategy

Do you have any good examples of businesses effectively interacting via social media? Or how about some examples of a social open fire hydrant? Share below!

Do you have a Facebook Page for your brand? Have you added your Facebook Timeline photo? Did you know that there are restrictions on what can be included there – including URLs? Here’s an excerpt and link to the full article.

Yesterday, there was a lot of buzz on Twitter and Facebook about the implementation of Timeline on Facebook Pages. Yes, the layout change that came to personal profiles is now making its way to Facebook Pages. Before you switch your blog or company Page over to the new layout, there are some key things you should know… <read full article>

Questions? Feel free to ask!

Responsibilities:

• Assist in copywriting needed for websites, emails, marketing materials, announcements, news, etc.
• Assist in updating our press contact lists, including traditional and online media outlets.
• Assist in research to be carried out in supporting client initiatives
• Other duties as assigned

The Ideal Candidate:

• A self-starter with tons of energy
• A whiz at finding things on Google (or being resourceful in general)
• A clear fluent telephone voice and excellent communication skills
• A college degree and or applicable experience
• A genuine interest in learning more about social media marketing
• Self motivated, self-confident, and self-determined

– This position is now closed and we are evaluating all candidates –

1. Are you a native Kentuckian? Why have a Kentucky business?

I am not a native Kentuckian, but moved here when I was thirteen. It took about twenty years of being here to stop being so stubborn about how awesome this state is. The quality of life is great, people are friendly, and the cost of living is low. Having a Kentucky business means my costs to operate aren’t exorbitant and I can provide great value to companies particularly from out-of-state who might not be able to explore social media marketing with agencies in their particular markets [Read more here...]

1) There is no reason to have a company blog just for the sake of having a blog. First, ask what are the goals of the blog?

2) Strategize: What are you going to talk about and who’s going to create the content?

3) Think about frequency and consistency: start a calendar and schedule posts for particular dates and times. 

Read the entire post for all the tips.

Here’s a recent article in the Lexington Herald-Leader in which I was quoted about using Pinterest for website traffic. I’ll delve more into statistics and tips in an upcoming blog post.

Two things with social that I see all the time from both individuals and small businesses:

1. Poor timing: This includes not responding in a timely manner (an expectation of “timely” is set by your customer), not engaging while your customer is online (instead, only when it is convenient for you to do so), and not posting content when your customers are most likely to see it.
2. Improper context: This one stretches the gamut of possible oopsies, from misappropriate use of a hashtag to reacting in haste to a negative post without reading the entire background. This causes major foot-in-mouth syndrome.

To fix poor timing:

• Think about when people are using your product or when they need you. I had an experience with Verizon Wireless this week where I had no email service and it seemed to be a widespread problem. Unfortunately, when the social media team clocked out, all the in-progress help they were giving users went with it.
• You can utilize services like Crowdbooster so you can see when your followers are most active so your tweets have the most potential for impact.
• You can also just observe when your followers seem to be most active. When are they responding to your blog or to your Facebook posts? You can also look at research like that in the infographic below from Argyle Social.

To fix improper context:

• Listen before you pipe in. If you see your name come up, make sure you read the conversation participants past tweets so you can reply with proper context.
• If you’re unsure of context, just ask. A short “is there something I can help you with?” goes a long way.

We are busy putting lots of information up on this site, so sit back, explore around, and let us know what you think!