If your potential customers are people interested in a specific thing (i.e. wine for a wineshop), than connecting with people who share that passion is a great step forward in building a relationship with your potential target market.

There are a couple of websites where you can find people based on location, business or interest.

1. http://twellow.com – Directory of Twitter users, with a multitude of options to find people you could connect with. For example on geographic area, keyword search.

2. http://twitr.org – Another directory, not as extensive as Twellow, but you can find people based on the most popular tags.

3. http://geofollow.com/ – Geographic directory of Twitter users. Look for city, state or country combined with keywords.

4. http://twtbiz.com/ – Find entrepreneurs, businesses, investors and media peeps on Twitter based on a keyword search.

5. http://justtweetit.com/ – Easy overview on the homepage of categories from which you can find people that share your interest.

6. http://listorious.com/ – Last but not least. The new way of searching great people on Twitter, is by checking out the lists that people create of interested Twitter users. Now everyone can make their own fave directories, ro what they are now called Listst. And Listorious is a directory of lists on Twitter – to find great people recommended by others that fit your keyword or geographic search.

Finding people is the first step. But don’t forget to listen to their conversations, and join in when you have something valuable to share. That’s how conversations start and it is the beginning of a real conversation starting to take place.

FULLERTON, CALIFORNIA – Social media has become the quickest and easiest way for restaurants to attract and keep a steady stream of customers. While just a few years ago restaurants were able to rely upon print publications to get the word, today most people use the internet to find tonight’s dinner. But with so many options available, how can restaurant owners make the most of social media marketing?

On November 2 16, 2009 online marketing expert and best-selling author Marieke Hensel will present a special 2-hour workshop for Orange County restaurant owners on “Social Media Strategies for Your Restaurant Business.” Participating restaurant owners will learn how to:

• Reach people when they’re hungry and looking for a place to eat
• Increase profits by rewarding loyal customers and attracting new ones
• Use their brand personality to their advantage
• Build relationships with customers and potential customers
• And much more

Registration for this Fullerton, California event is limited to 50 attendees and costs just $29.00 per person. Restaurant owners can register online at http://www.BrandingPersonality.com or by calling 1.877.747.3263. In addition to the 2-hour workshop, attendees also receive a workbook and the opportunity to participate in a follow-up teleconference two weeks after the event.

“From Google and Yelp to Facebook, Twitter and everything in between, when it comes to social media marketing restaurant owners have an array of options,” explains Ms. Hensel. “It’s no wonder so many restaurant owners are overwhelmed before they even begin! Participants will come away from this workshop with a solid grasp of how to use social media strategies to build their restaurant traffic, as well as the basis for an online marketing plan.”

Successful online restaurant marketing goes beyond advertising the menu and location. Workshop participants also learn how employee personalities influence the dining experience – and how to use these personalities to establish relationships with both customers and prospects online.

Marieke Hensel is the co-author of Business Wise, the number two best-selling business book on Amazon.co.uk in May 2007, for which she wrote on “How To Attract Your Target Group Online.” In 2007 she founded Branding Personality, the online brand strategy agency in the U.S.

Generate profits by rewarding your loyal customers and attracting new ones.

Do you want to discover…
…how to generate traffic to your restaurant?
…how to present your restaurant online?
…how to use social media to your best advantage?

If you answered yes to any of the above, you will love this Action Workshop.

Date: Monday November 2 16, 2009 – between 2 – 4 pm
Location: downtown Fullerton

ONLY 50 ATTENDEES ACCEPTED, SO HURRY!

Social Media Strategies for your Restaurant Business
Generate profits by rewarding your loyal customers and attracting new ones.

Although this presentation is geared towards restaurants, other businesses who want to learn more about social media and online branding definitely take away nuggets of knowledge.

Date & Time:
Thursday, October 22nd
7:30 am – 9:00 am

I would like to invite you as my guest at:
The Anaheim Plaza Hotel
1700 S. Harbor Blvd
Anaheim

The Hotel is located on the corner of Disney Way and Harbor Blvd, right across the Disneyland entrance. Let us know if you are able to attend, so I can put you on the guest list. Sign up by sending an email to fullerton@brandingpersonality.com or sign up on Meetup.

Are you ready to work with new clients? Then I have an easy-to-adopt business strategy for you, that makes a big impression in your regular business.

I start off saying: Focus! You can’t do it all, so choosing a strategy that is easy to implement and doesn’t take much extra time helps you achieve your goals faster.

1. Get ready. Dress yourself representable and have ample business cards with you.

2. Pick and choose 2 networking events every week. These could be in the early mornings, during work hours or after work. Whatever suits you best. Find networking events where your target market is.

3. Make your appearance consistent. Not everyone was expecting your arrival at that networking event. So attend a couple of events in a row, so people can get to know you and see that you are reliable.

4. Talk to people, don’t be shy. You are making the best impression if you ask a lot of questions. People like to talk, so if you let them talk they feel they had a great time. ☺ The other good thing is, that you can always prepare good questions. Asking what they think about the weather, doesn’t steer you in the direction of potential business; therefore, ask them about business goals, how do you network, have you been to this event before and why have you decided to attend? Let’s hope its not just for the free snacks or drinks. ☺ Always end your conversation with a thank you and ask for their business card. Don’t take too long to talk with someone, you are networking, leave the good stuff for a next appointment to talk some more.

5. And then… you arrive home with a pile of business cards. The first thing you do, is enter your business cards in an address book on your computer (Outlook, Gmail, Hotmail, etc).

Before you are ready for step 5. I want to make sure:

A. Are you on LinkedIn?
B. Are you on Facebook?
C. Are you on Twitter?

You might have heard from one of them, if not, all of them. Make sure your profile is there and it’s a decent and filled out profile. You need to provide enough information so that it adds to your credibility, and so that people recognize you. Does your profile on these websites have the same information as is on your business card? Upload your picture, this is not optional.

6. Just to make sure you’re not skipping this: Set up your profile on the Golden 3!: LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook.

7. When you have setup your profiles, you can go to each of these networks and import your address book. All these networks have a tool for it, and it will find the connections you have in your address book that already have a profile on LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook. Find your connections and connect with them. This is a 3-step process. So you are done in 5 minutes. You are connecting with them, because they might be able to give you business, but far more important – they can lead you to the right sources that give you business.

8. Send each person you connected with a personal message on each of these networks. On Facebook and LinkedIn you can do this when you are making the connection with them. On Twitter you can send a separate message.

Normally the effect of visiting an event is over in 2-4 weeks. When you are connecting with people from events on online websites as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, the effect is as long as you keep your profile active. In searches your name will pop-up. If you update your latest projects all your connections will be notified, even people you have met on events years ago.

9. Follow up on those: “I need to make an appointment with him/her” by email or phone. If there is potential business, take care of it.

10. A great way to not only keep the relationship in tact, but see if there is more (potential) interest in your company (maybe later on) is in offering to send a newsletter. Send that request out about a week later and you have another contact moment with your new connection. If they like you or are interested in your business/services, they want to sign up and stay updated.

Marketing is all about relationships: having enough connections with the right people while making the right impression. Online networking websites give the leverage to networking events that you are already attending.

These 10 tips get you the best of local networking events and give a great introduction into online networking. A combination of using local events and online networking websites adds to your credibility, it makes you approachable and gives you more impressions with people you meet than you would otherwise have.

Marieke is an international published author on How to Attract your Target Market Online (Collaborative book: BusinessWise). Businesswise is the second best selling Business book on Amazon.co.uk in May 2007. Marieke is the founder of Branding Personality, which sets up profiles for clients on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn and produces daily content for clients resulting in new business generated through these new media.

Photo by petermeuris

I was interviewed by Elaine Pofeldt from One+, a meeting planner magazine. She was writing an article on how to utilize social networking websites to find suitable venues in Europe. It was in the February 2009 issue of One+:

ONCE YOU’VE BUILT a presence on the sites with the biggest worldwide presence, you may find that local networks can add depth to your networking. If your goal is to connect with professionals in Europe, popular sites such as U.K.-based Ecademy, Xing in Germany or Hyves in the Netherlands can be good resources. Targeting an Asian audience? In Japan, Mixi is the most popular.

“Facebook has a lot of equivalents in other countries,” said Marieke Hensel, founder of Branding Personality, who started out in Internet marketing in the Netherlands and now runs her business in Los Angeles. “Usually people who are into social networking use their local languages instead of going to Facebook.”

Unlike LinkedIn, which many professionals use to stay connected to those they already know, the culture of some sites fosters meetings between professionals who don’t already know each other, Hensel says.

“Ecademy, for instance, is about connecting with people worldwide and making new, random connections,” she said.

One of her clients recently asked her how to find an event location in Copenhagen. She suggested he contact the “country leader” on Ecademy for Denmark, who directed him to local sites that he included in a proposal now under review.

“She hosts events and knows exactly which places are available,” Hensel said.

Read full article on One+

This is a presentation I gave at the BNI Liaisons meeting on April 9, 2009.

Photo by scissorhands33

I’m rich beyond my wildest dreams
… unfortunately my dreams weren’t very wild.
- Author unknown

Do you have goals for your business? Do you have goals for your life?
Or are you getting further away from your glory and personal success?
One thing can be said: if you are waiting, hesitating…
you can miss getting out of business what really helps you improve your life.
What will give you energy and inspire you to shape your future?
Do you have dreams to fulfill?

I loved the internet since the first time I saw it. And when I started making good money online in 2001, when I had an e commerce shop and made $1500 in revenues, and still being a student. I sold Hello Kitty products online, that I imported from Asia, and 75% of my clients were in the US. I woke up every morning and saw all the closed sales that were done while I was sleeping. Really, that was the best start of my day. And I would like you to have that too!

Do you like to grow your business with 50% in 2009? Tell me, how much money do you want to earn?
More and more people want to be on the internet to grow their business, as it does not matter where you are and when you are. It’s just there, 24/7. And everybody has access to you and your services whenever -they- feel like it.

What does your (business)life look like in 5 years?
(choose one or the other)
1. Self-employed <-> employed
2. Work by yourself <-> Work in a team
3. Steadily grow my business <-> take risks that could pay off (or not)
4. Hire people <-> be on my own
5. Work at home <-> get/have office space
6. Local clients <-> national clients <-> global clients
7. Work routine <-> work whenever I want to
8. Work more <-> work less
9. Keep doing what I do and get better at it <-> change my products/services
10. I grow my business according to the inflation rate <-> I triple my business income

While thinking about each of these, just focus on the business that you have right now. You might want to add new things to your life that might eat up time to focus on your company. And that’s not bad at all, as long as you consciously choose to slow down your current business and make a decision. There could be all different reasons for this, getting kids, hobbies, education, new large clients, or other new interests that you develop.

Another thing you can see from the list, is that there are so many more things important than just a monetary goal. Making money is important and without it – a business is less fun, but that can count for many other items on the list. What would you do if your work time is out of balance? Or when you are a teamplayer and you work at home with no-one around? Motivate yourself and make sure your environment is stimulating for you to perform at your best.

I am excited that you are still here with me! Now you have started the thought process about your goals and maybe already defined goals. To reach your goals, its time to look at the product, the services and the core of all that is *you*. We will cover this in the next issues. Stay tuned!

Many people share their name with someone else. If your real you has the best online reputation, do not change a thing, and keep building your name. If you do find someone else using your name to shame, you can try the following things:

1. Boost your reputation, say you have used your name as Joseph Rapsody, but another Joseph Rapsody came along and posting rubbish in forums, really work on your personal brand and get your name to fame on the internet.

2. Enhance your name, if your name is Joe Smith, you stand a good chance that there is not just one other Joe Smith to beat, there will be many. By using an initial in the middle, or always using your title in your name you will differ your name from the crowd of Joe Smiths. While there are 193.000 listings in Google for Joe Smith, none exists for Dr. Joe G. Smith.

3. Choose a new name that stands out, when I started my ways on the internet, I really did not like my name as it was, long and difficult for any non-Dutch speaker to repeat. A great moment was it that I married and could choose for my husband’s name, which I did, and I changed my last name from van der Graaf to Hensel. Other people choose for an entirely non-existing name that reflects what they do or make it easy to remember. Trade your own last name in for a last name that reflects your ambitions, i.e. Marieke Gates – Bill Gates or Marieke Branson – Richard Branson.

Change your first name into a name that is powerful or international can help to enhance your personal brand as well.  What is it that you want your personal brand to be.

It is not easy to change your name. You will only see the full effect, if people use your name like that and you feel confident if you feel you are that name.

How much time does Twitter cost?
In these times, when we have less & less time on our hands to keep starting conversations that can grow into relationships. That is how I started blogging on Twitter. It was much easier to create an output of 4 microblogs each day on Twitter than 1 blogpost three times a week on my blog. In a couple of weeks I was hooked. Moreover because I had a heart surgery and stayed in the hospital for three weeks, and with a phone on my hands I could Twitter, read messages from others, if not I would have felt isolated. Please use useless time for Twitter, like standing in line, when in writers block, or waiting for a traffic light in the car (before the other cars start honking).

How can you read all messages from your friends on Twitter?
There is so much output on Twitter. You simply can’t read all your friends messages on Twitter. And if you could, you shouldn’t. Do you think all your friends always say something highly worthwhile? Yes, its worthwhile for them, but not at all always for me. So use your internet reading technique: scan the messages.

So, if everyone is posting and not everyone is reading, why is that worth my while?
The value is in the conversation, or you could say in the reply. That’s where the connection with a person starts. Share topics that you would like to interact on with other people. People build relationships with others, because they share something. Start sharing your interests, your business interests and what you do, and people will find you because they are interested in the same thing as you.

Also, find people through Twitter Search for example that talk about topics you are interested in, and start conversations with them.

Last week I highlighted a business from a friend that offers mediation services. My friend got people contacting him through my one Twitter post. Just 140 characters can result in closed business for you or someone else.

So should I start posting anything I want on Twitter?
I suggest sharing quality content in your Twitter feed, as that builds your credibility. And eleminating trashy posts, just helps that matter too. Use the keywords you like to talk about, be positive and supportive and most important: reply!

So Marieke, what did you get out of Twitter?
I use my Twitter mostly for strengthening relationships with the internet-geeky community in The Netherlands, but that has grown to something. And right now I have a lot of local connections in California too. My ultimate goal, is that I keep strengthening and building relationships with people in The Netherlands while I am here (in California). So they think of me, when they hear about online personal branding, social media marketing or blogs and invite me to give workshops in The Netherlands now & then. (I have one full-day workshop scheduled in December on Google Analytics)

How can you help me getting the most out of Twitter?
I give workshops to companies on Twitter, and provide 1-2-1 Twitter trainings by phone & face-to-face. Next to that, I set up profiles on Twitter and develop personalized Twitter strategies for business development, customer loyalty, etc.