There was a time when a business owner knew almost every customer or client, because they walked through the door, chatted with the owner, and got to be friends or at the very least acquainted.

As business owners doing business online, we have come to accept a lack of information as the nature of the beast. We have accepted that we will need to do business by email, but that it will not necessarily help us build rapport with our clients. Well, now all that is changing…

Thanks to a gmail add-on called Rapportive, we can now have a great deal of information, about the people we receive emails from, at our fingertips. I have been using Rapportive for several months and have come to rely on the information it brings.

The very first thing I loved about Rapportive was that it replaces all the advertisements you get in the right sidebar of gmail with pertinent information about the sender of the email. No ads is a great bonus, but that was only the beginning.

What type of information does Rapportive provide?

• a picture of the sender, if they have uploaded one to google
• the information contained in their google profile, if they have one
• their job and company
• information about which social networks they are members of, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and more
• where they are located
• their latest tweets on Twitter
• their latest posts on Facebook (you can even “like” and comment right from gmail)
• request friendship or follow them from within gmail
• connect to their tungle.me schedule from within gmail
• even make notes about the contact that will be available for future reference (only you can see your notes)

With all this information at your fingertips, you can now have a very good idea of who you are conversing with and be able to connect with them in ways that you may not have done before. Do you think you could build a bit more rapport with your current and potential clients with all this information?

There are even Rapportive “raplets” that allow you to use some of your favorite apps inside of gmail, like MailChimp, BrightPearl, and several others.

Is Rapportive a great service? Yes, I believe it is.

Is Rapportive perfect? Of course not. Sometimes no information is returned, and occasionally information is out of date because someone did not update their google profile.  But overall, I’d very definitely recommend Rapportive as a great way to learn more and build more rapport with people.

Interested in downloading Rapportive to your gmail?  Go here.

If you need assistance in designing a social media strategy or would like help managing the day to day details of your campaign, contact Social Bee Online.  We are happy to help.

Until next time…

Live with passion and purpose,
Vanessa

Whatever your situation, now is a great time to really get clear about your plans and aspirations for your business. For myself, I have done a great deal of soul searching around my existing business, knowing that I have another business in the wings that I am very anxious to build and grow.

So, let’s talk about some of the things I’ve been pondering and discoveries I’ve made recently. Perhaps they may help you in planning your future for your business.

I began this soul searching adventure because I just wasn’t completely happy with where my current business is and where I saw it heading.

First I looked at why I was in business in the first place. I have a deep, abiding passion for helping people. That is the main reason I became a social media manager. So many people seem to be drowning in an environment that is just like breathing fresh air to me. I knew I could make a difference in business owner’s lives. That passion is also why I am looking at putting my second business together.

Okay, if I was happy with my reason for being in business then why was I feeling this vague restlessness?

Maybe, I thought, it was the way I was marketing. I considered my purpose for using social media as a marketing venue. Social media is inexpensive and yet provides one of the best ways to reach a large audience. If I want to help a lot of people, I first need to reach a lot of people. So, marketing methods weren’t the issue.

Next, I considered the audience I was actually reaching. Oh, wait, I think I’ve fallen into one of the sly, sneaky traps in social media. I am having a great time networking and exchanging ideas with peers in my field, but that was the majority of who I was actually connecting with. It is easy to find yourself in this situation. People who are also in the same field have a very similar mindset. Facebook and Twitter will recommend these people to connect with because they have similar interests. But this is not my target market!

Bingo, I started a campaign to reach out to business owners that have nothing to do with internet or social media marketing, but are trying to learn how to use these tools. I have been contacting these business owners with helpful tips for their sites and their posts. And guess what? They are very receptive and appreciative for the help.

I feel like I have my mojo back. Social media has become fun again. It’s not that I don’t love and appreciate my peers. I do. And I will continue to connect with them regularly, but I will also continue to connect with new people who actually need my help. I also feel that this has re-energized me so that I can take time to start building my other business, about which I am very passionate.

So, what did I learn from all this? A few foundational questions that you absolutely MUST answer if you want to be truly effective and passionate in your business. They are:

• Why am I in business in the first place? (It’s never just about money)
• Why am I using social media as a marketing tool? (Or any other medium for that matter)
• Who is my ideal client?
• Am I reaching that ideal client on a daily basis?

I hope my journey has inspired you to take a step back and evaluate these questions. Even if you’ve answered them in the past, purposes change or get lost in the daily shuffle. Check in with yourself and make certain you are still on track with EXACTLY where you want to go and how you want to get there.

As always, if you have questions or would like help with your social media marketing, please contact Social Bee Online here.  I am more than happy to help you in any way I can.

Until next time…

Live with passion and purpose,
Vanessa

Well, all that has changed because Facebook recently rolled out the new and improved groups function.  So, do I love the new Facebook Groups?

Yes, No, Maybe…..

I know, you just “love” when I go there, don’t you?

Okay, No, I don’t love the fact that anyone who is a “friend” can add you to any group without your permission.  But, I do love the fact that you can opt out of any group and that means no one else can add you back in to that group.  I think there will probably come a time that Facebook will make it more of an invite system, like the current Facebook pages.  Until then, the “Leave the Group” link is on the right side bar of the group window.

Maybe I love the new groups because I’ve been introduced (read “added without permission”) to some cool groups that I probably wouldn’t have found otherwise.  You can also request to become a member of a group by clicking the “Ask to Join Group” button in the upper right corner of the groups page.

Yes, I love the new groups for the great interaction that is readily available on the groups.  All members are allowed to post to the group’s wall, comment on posts, upload documents, add new members to the group, create a “chat” with other members through a group chat window, and email everyone in the group using the group’s email address.

Creating a group is very simple.  On your “News Feed” page of your profile you will see a “groups” section on the left side bar.  Simply click on the “create group” link.  A box will pop up that allows you to choose the icon that will appear in the “groups” section of people’s pages, choose a name for your group, add the first members of the group, and decide whether to make the group “open”, “closed”, or “secret”.  If you choose open, non-members will be able to see both the membership of the group and the content.  A closed group only allows non-members to see the membership of the group.  A secret group means that non-members are unable to view either the membership or the content of the group.

When you choose the first members of the group, it will be to your advantage to choose people who will be interested in the group and creating some interaction.  The more interaction on your group wall, the more likely that new people will choose to stay with the group and get involved.

When I add someone to a group I always send them a private message to let them know that I added them, why I thought they’d be a great fit for the group, and how to leave the group if they do not want to be a member.  This step is not a requirement, but it is a nice thing to do.  Many people have been disgruntled about being randomly added to groups that don’t seem to make sense for them or they know nothing about.  Letting people know why you chose to add them helps them feel special and make the connection.

Are the new groups the best thing since sliced bread?  No.  But they are definitely a large step in the right direction for creating more social, interactive exchanges between people who have a common interest.  Try out the new groups.  I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

If you need additional help getting started with using or creating groups, feel free to contact me here.  I’m always happy to answer your questions.

Live with passion and purpose,

Vanessa

Wouldn’t it be much better for your sanity and your business growth to leave the donkey behind (he probably needs a nap anyway) and jump aboard a bullet train. Okay, there isn’t really a bullet train of Twitter, but you can make your time spent managing your account much shorter by automating…

JUDICIOUSLY!

I am not a huge proponent of automation, because I truly believe that the social marketing experience should remain social.  That means you HAVE to engage with people on a somewhat personal level.

However, there are pieces of the puzzle that can be automated, just as there are pieces that can be outsourced.  The key is to know which pieces and how much automation and outsourcing is right for your business.

So, let’s discuss a few automation tools and what they can do for (or to) your business.

First, there are programs and services that allow you to automatically follow everyone who follows you.  Is this a good idea?  Not in my opinion.

As you travel around the Twitterverse you will discover that there are people out there that just aren’t who you want in your “following” list.  Remember, your followers can also see who else you follow.

You may not really want to be following several people who are putting “X” rated photos on Twitter.  Yep, there’s a percentage that do exactly that.  You also probably don’t really want to follow a bunch of people who tweet every 5 or 10 minutes saying “buy my stuff” or “check out my link (to buy my stuff)”.  Remember, you want to cut down on the amount of spam you receive so that you can manage things more quickly.

So, bottom line, I don’t recommend an auto-follow program, but if you want to use one I would recommend SocialOomph.  They have a free service that is reliable and relatively easy to set-up and use.

In fact, SocialOomph has a number of features that can be useful.

For instance, they allow you to send an automated Direct Message (DM) to new followers to welcome them aboard.  I highly recommend this service be used.

They will also allow you to “vet” your new followers before sending the welcome message.  They will hold the message for three days after someone follows you, so you can decide to send the message or not.   I personally don’t use this service because it is not a time saver.  I want each new follower to be welcomed and if I wanted to check out every one before the message sent, I’d just send the message myself and wouldn’t need a service.

When you are looking at sending multiple tweets out throughout the day you don’t really want to remember to send them or be tied to your computer all the time.  There are a number of services that allow you schedule tweets to be sent out at specified dates and times.  The service I use for this is HootSuite.

HootSuite allows you to monitor and post to several accounts from one dashboard.  They integrate with Twitter, Facebook, Facebook Pages, LinkedIn, and Ping.fm.  This means I can monitor and control several accounts at one time without having to log in and out of separate accounts.  I have several Twitter accounts, and believe me, it is irritating to need to log in to one to check my interactions, then log out, and then log in to the next account.

HootSuite also has their own link shortener and tracks very detailed statistics for their shortened links.  I have used other link shorteners, however with HootSuite it’s built in and means I don’t have to change sites yet again.

I know that many people use and love TweetDeck.  I have nothing against TweetDeck, except that it runs on the AdobeAir platform, which is a huge memory hog and slows my computer to a crawl.   So, if you do not choose to use HootSuite, I would take a look at TweetDeck.

I have tested and used dozens of services designed to assist with managing my social accounts.  Honestly, I find that the only two services I really need are SocialOomph and HootSuite.  They help me manage my time spent online with Twitter and Facebook quite efficiently.

If you have questions, comments, or would like to leave your suggestions for what has helped you manage your social accounts, please leave a comment in the “comments” section.  As always, if you have questions that you would like me to answer directly you can contact me at this link.

If you are ready to forge ahead, then lets talk about “Lists”. This is the one function of Twitter that I get the most questions about.

A list is basically similar to a group on Facebook. You can create as many lists on Twitter as you like.  The purpose of a list is to be able to see all the tweets from a specific group or “list” of Twitter users.

Say, for example, that you want to quickly scan each day to see what all your family members on Twitter are tweeting about.  You can simply create a “family” list and include everyone in your family that you want to check in on.

So, let’s take it step by step, to create your lists, as well as manage them.

When you sign in to Twitter you will see a tab titled “Lists”.  If you want to create a list for your family’s tweets you would follow these steps:

1. Click on the “Lists” tab and select “Create a List” from the drop down menu
2. Name your list.  In this case perhaps “Family”.
3. Enter a description. For this example I might say “All tweets from my family”
4. Choose whether the list will be public (anyone can view and follow the list) or private (only YOU
   can view the list)
5. Go to your “Following” tab and add all of your family members to the list you just created
   • Locate the person to add to your list
   • Click the “List” drop down menu, which is located just to the right of the green check mark indicating you are following this person
   • Select the list you would like to add them to

Now when you click on your “Lists” tab and select the “Family” list from the menu, you will see all the tweets from your family members that you have added to this list.

You can follow other people’s lists (if they are public), which can be a great way to discover like minded people to connect with.

You can also see all the lists that people have added you to.  You’ll find this under the “Lists Following You” menu item.

I hope this has helped you understand lists. They can be a very powerful tool when utilized well.  You could create a customer list, a prospect list, a supplier list, or whatever type of list your business needs to quickly see all the tweets in that category.

If you have additional questions about lists, Twitter, or any other aspect of social media feel free to contact me here.  I would love to connect with you and assist you with your needs.

Next time, we’ll wrap up this series by taking a look at some useful services to help you manage your Twitter accounts more quickly and efficiently.  Until then…

Live with passion and purpose,

Vanessa

Even now, not everyone has been offered the opportunity by Twitter.  They are rolling this new release out in stages.  There seems to be no rhyme nor reason to who gets the chance at a particular time.  I have some accounts that are new and small that have the new platform, as well as some very established accounts.  I also have very established, high interaction, high follower count accounts that do not yet have the new platform.

In any case, let’s take a look at what’s different and what remains the same. Already opinions are rolling in from clients and other contacts on the internet. The new twitter… Do people love it or hate it?

As you know, people don’t like change and usually fight it, kicking and screaming. In this case, I’ve seen both the love and hate side of this change. While twitter hyped the changes heavily, the hype does not necessarily meet the reality. Twitter promised that you would no longer need an external service to manage your account conveniently.

The reality is, if you needed one before, because of multiple accounts, choosing to auto-follow, choosing to send an automatic message to new followers, or you want to set up tweets to go out at a scheduled time in the future, you’ll still need those external services. If you didn’t need them before, the new twitter is, in my opinion, more user friendly and intuitive.

So, if you are going to use Twitter from their web platform (at twitter.com), let’s discuss some ways to make things easier for you, so you spend less time and get more accomplished. After all, as a business owner, you are really using twitter to prospect for new clients or customers and interact with current clients and customers who have questions or concerns. You’re not really there to read 10,000 tweets per day, just to see if there might be some breadcrumb among all the garbage you get everyday, are you?

You should be able to get the information you are looking for in no more than 15 to 30 minutes per day. Of course, if you have a number of messages from clients or prospects, that may take you a bit longer to process. But, let’s talk about how you find the tweets that relate to you.

The new twitter platform has rearranged things a bit and they have added a task bar across the top of the window.  The first item on the left side of this bar is a search box. This allows you to search for whatever you want. It will search within recent tweets, across the entire network, for whatever search term you enter. You might choose to search for your company name, your product brand name, a competitors name, etc. You can also save your searches, so next time you log on to twitter you can perform the same search to see what has been said since your last session.

To the right of the search box you will see three buttons, “Home”, “Profile”, and “Messages”. We’ll talk about each one of these buttons individually in a moment, but first let’s finish the task bar. The next item on the bar is a little square box with a blue line inside.  Click this button from anywhere on the twitter site and you will be able to send a new tweet.  This was always a bit of a pain with the old platform, because you had to be on the home page to send a tweet. Now you don’t have to change pages, just click the button. This is a great new feature.

The last item, on the right side of the toolbar, shows your avatar and username. This is a drop down menu that allows you to go to your settings, a help page, or log out of your account. Currently you also have the option to leave the new platform and return to the old one.

Now I’d like to go back to the three buttons we skipped over earlier. These three buttons control what you see on the left side of the main portion of the page. First the “Home” button.

When you click the Home button you will see the following tabs at the top of the post window:

• Timelines
• @Mentions
• Retweets
• Searches
• Lists

The timeline is where you can view the most recent posts by you and those you follow. One new feature here is when you hover your mouse over a post you’ll see a little arrow (>) on the right side. Click on the arrow and the posters latest tweets are shown on the right side, or if they have used a hashtag (#) other posts with the same tag will be shown. Also, if they mention another twitter user in their post, that users bio will be shown. You can click on it and see their latest posts and follow them right from here.

The “@Mentions” tab will show any tweets that mention your username. This is a great way to quickly see if anyone has sent you a tweet or mentioned your username to their followers (such as a follow suggestion).

Next we have the “Retweets” tab which allows you to see retweets that have come from those you follow, posts you’ve retweeted to your followers, and your posts that someone else has retweeted to their followers. It’s a nice idea to thank those who retweet your posts to their followers.

The “Searches” tab is where you can go to quickly repeat the search you saved using the search box on the task bar. And the “Lists” tab will show you the lists you have created, the lists you follow, and the lists that you are listed in. We’ll discuss lists and how to use them in a future post.

Back to the buttons on the task bar. The “Profile” button will show the following tabs at the top of the post window:

• Timeline
• Favorites
• Followers
• Following
• Lists

This timeline tab on your profile page only shows you the tweets you’ve posted. So if you want to look back at what you’ve already done, this is the tab to do so. The Favorites tab will show you any posts from those you follow that you have marked as a favorite. This is useful if you want to add a widget to you blog to capture testimonials left on twitter, or any other type of post you’d like to automatically show on your blog sidebar.

The followers and following tabs show you who is following your tweets, and whose tweets show up in your timeline (respectively).  One new feature on these tabs is, if you click on the username of someone on one of these tabs a window will open on the right with their profile and the last three tweets they have made. You can follow or unfollow them right from this window. No more going to their twitter page to see if you are interested and leaving your own page. This is a great time saving new feature. The “Lists” tab is the same as it is on the “Home” page.

The “Messages” tab, in the task bar is where you will now find your direct messages. These are messages that are sent directly to you and not seen by anyone else.

So, how do I use all these tabs and pages to get through my twitter account in 15 to 30 minutes?

• Sign on
• At my Home tab I go to the “@Mentions” tab to see if anyone has mentioned me by name
• Check the “Retweets/Your Tweets, Retweeted” tab to see who’s retweeted my posts
• Send Thank You messages to anyone who has retweeted my posts
• Check my saved searches to see if anything new is happening in my niche, company, or competition, and look for anyone posting in my niche that I can follow
• Check my lists
• Go to my Profile page to check my “Followers” tab to see if there are new followers that I would like to follow
• Finally, check the direct messages at the “Messages” button in the task bar.
• Respond to direct messages
• Sign out

Even with a highly interactive twitter account, these functions rarely take more than 30 minutes.

If you don’t have the new twitter platform yet, not to worry, all these features mentioned in the time saving instructions are available in the old platform. They may simply be in a different place.

I hope this post will help you save precious time, as well as no longer miss important tweets.  Stay tuned, there’s more to come. In the meantime, if you have questions or need assistance with how to navigate the twitterverse, please feel free to contact me through this Contact link. And remember, your comments are welcome and appreciated.

Until next time…

Live with passion and purpose,

Vanessa

So, which viewpoint is accurate? If you’ve been following my posts for a while you’ll probably know that my answer will be…

Both and Neither…

But, it’s not as clear cut as all that.  You see, Twitter is a very simple concept. Anyone can grasp the basics of Twitter in a single sentence…  Twitter is a place to microblog, where each post can only be a maximum of 140 characters.

Okay, that’s the basic concept, but Twitter has grown into a world (known as the Twitterverse) all it’s own. I had planned to talk about rules of the road, etiquette, and time savers for Twitter, but realized that that is way too much for one blog post. Therefore, I’ll be breaking this subject into several posts. For this post, let’s just talk about Twitters rules and dip our toe into the etiquette pond.

Next post, I’ll talk about time saving tips and tricks, so you can literally rule your Twitterverse in 15 to 30 minutes per day.  No, it shouldn’t really take you longer than this, once you get the hang of it.

The third post will look at useful tools and services to make your Twitter experience even better.

First, before you get too far into using Twitter read the official Twitter rules found here. It is important that you follow these rules, or your account may get shut down without notice.

Next, let’s turn to some basic etiquette…

There is a debate that continually rages regarding following those who follow you on Twitter.  Some say you should follow everyone, out of courtesy. Some say follow only those you are interested in following.

I tend to land on the selective following side of the fence. I do not follow someone who is promoting a pornographic site (yes, there are quite a few on Twitter) or someone who states that their tweets (posts) all revolve around a subject I am totally uninterested in.

Remember, in a previous post “It’s 2010…Do You Know Where Your Clients Are?“, I talked about identifying your ideal client. If someone only tweets about things I do not enjoy, they are likely not my ideal client.

Now, as I said, this is a heavily debated subject and you can certainly choose to follow others using your own criteria. This is just my criteria. I do follow quite a number of individuals and businesses that I appear to have little in common with, but I do it with an eye toward ways that I can add value for them.

One of the most common things I see happen on Twitter is the posting of items that people pull off a news feed and do not edit, or possibly do not even read. You’ll be able to identify them quickly by the fact that they start with a headline type sentence and generally repeat the same sentence a second time. This indicates to me that the person tried to automate the entire process of tweeting.

The biggest issue with these types of tweets is that they quite frequently get cut off in the middle of the sentence. When Twitter says you only have 140 characters, they mean you ONLY have 140 characters. And, yes, that includes spaces, punctuation, and your URL. If you get cut off in the middle of your tweet, no one will be going to your link to read the rest of what you wrote. That is a huge time waster.

One of the great things about Twitter is that it creates great backlinks to your material, blog, articles, whatever you post to your followers. And if your post is interesting, and not cut off in the middle, it can literally be re-tweeted (sent out by your followers to all their followers) to thousands and thousands of people. That’s a lot of backlinks.

Bottom line on this one is, don’t waste your time on Twitter by trying to get around the 140 character limit. It isn’t gonna work, and it makes you look like you just don’t care.

Another question many people ask is, “should I respond to everyone who follows me?” To this question, I say “Yes, but this is one place you can automate.” I don’t think you should try to completely automate your tweets (although putting them into a scheduling program is a good idea), but I do think it’s okay to send an automated tweet to someone to thank them for following you. There are many good programs and services out there for this function, and we’ll discuss many of them in an upcoming post. Personally, I use SocialOomph.

The last item I’d like to discuss is how often to tweet. This is also heavily debated, but statistics show that 18 to 25 posts per day brings the greatest response rate.  This does NOT mean that you should send out 20 posts in a one hour time span. Use a scheduler and send out a tweet every hour to hour and a half.

Make them thoughtful. Don’t constantly spam your followers with “here’s a link to buy my stuff.” Try to continually add value to your followers. A good rule of thumb is, no more than one marketing tweet for every 10 value adding tweets.

Please let me know what you find to be good (or other than good) etiquette in the Twitterverse by leaving a comment in the comments section. I look forward to hearing your thoughts. If you have specific questions about how to use Twitter or any Social Media venue, please go to Social Bee Online’s “Contact” page and send us a message. We’re here to help.

Until next time…

Live with passion and purpose,

Vanessa

While I agree that video, done right, can be a great benefit to your marketing efforts, video gone to the dark side can turn potential clients away faster than meeting an ugly thug in a dark alley.

So, what makes a good video, and what makes a video turn to the dark side? I’ll sum it up in one word…

PROFESSIONALISM

Okay, let’s look at some ways to present a professional video, or not…

First, let’s talk about setting. Where should you record your video? There is no disputing the expertise of Andy Jenkins when it comes to video marketing, however when he released his video series to market Video Boss he seems to have sparked a craze that most people just can’t pull off. Andy was walking on the shoreline of the ocean while he recorded his video. Looks great, lovely scenery, shows him as a normal person. Why can’t everyone pull it off?

POOR SOUND QUALITY

How many videos have you seen recently with people sitting in their backyard, or walking outside, or sitting on a deck or hotel balcony, and you can’t hear a word they are saying because of wind blowing across the microphone, or airplanes passing overhead, or a siren in the background? If I can’t hear and understand you, I most likely won’t choose to do business with you. It won’t matter how great you look silhouetted by the sunset, or how successful you look sitting on an expensive hotel balcony.

Then there is timing and format for your video. Now this is just my opinion, but if you set your video up with no way for me to know how long the presentation is and no way to pause it, I’m not highly likely to watch the entire thing, unless I’m already determined to do business with you.

Be respectful of people’s time.  Keep your videos short. People don’t have time to watch a 30 minute video that drones on and on about how great and wonderful you are, or your product is. While all that may be true, if you just spend your time with this type of presentation, it’s unlikely that your prospects will watch the entire video, or if they do, they may not watch future videos you produce.

Use some type of professional presentation software. Personally I like PowerPoint and Camtasia. There are many other good options out there. Don’t be cheesy and film someone holding up hand written poster boards. Seriously, I’ve seen this done! It looks like you have no clue what you are doing and the likelihood is that you will lose your prospective customer’s confidence.

If you use presentation software, you have some options in how you present your message.

Many people right now are choosing to write their entire script on slides and just read the slides to me. Really? Guys, I can read and unfortunately much of the time better than the presenter. If you choose this option, rehearse the script until it flows easily off your tongue. I’ve seen “professional” presentations where the presenter stumbled around so much I was convinced that they had never even seen the script before they recorded the video.

You can also choose slides that contain pictures, with or without captions. This is a better option if you are concerned about not reading your slides word for word, or want to ad lib just a bit.

You can also step in front of the camera and show the world your smiling face. If this is the option for you, please maintain a professional manner. Dress the part. You don’t have to be in a suit and tie or a dress, but please don’t look like you just stepped off the stage as the drummer for a heavy metal band, unless you’re marketing your heavy metal band.

And by all means DON’T flirt with the camera!! No matter what gender you are, flirting with your prospective customers will offend a large segment of them.

I hope these simple tips will start you on the road to truly effective video presentations.

Should you be using video? If you do it right, ABSOLUTELY. If you make it cheesy or unprofessional, it’s more likely to hurt you than to help you.

Until next time…

Live with passion and purpose,

Vanessa

At one time, business basics were an absolute must before a person considered spending the money and time to open up shop. Those basics include such things as marketing, record keeping, management skills, sales skills, etc. People also spent a significant amount of time doing demographic and market research, to see if the business was even viable. Today I hear clients say things like, “but I spent 45 minutes looking for the right keywords!  So why isn’t everything working?”

I’m not here today to talk about keyword research, but something equally (actually more) important… Identifying your ideal client. I’ve had clients tell me that “everyone” is their ideal client. On the opposite end of the spectrum, I recently had a client tell me that her ideal target market was executive fathers in their 30′s and 40′s, but she was choosing to market to women. When asked why she would ignore her target market and go after a different market, she said “because I’m a woman, and I would use this.” At least she did her homework and knew who her target market was.

So, why is it so important to know who your ideal client is? Well, look at it this way, if you don’t know where your target is, or even what it looks like, how will you take aim before pulling the trigger? By knowing your ideal client you can speak to them, through your marketing material, in a way that seems as though you are practically reading their minds. For example…

Have you ever walked onto a car lot and a salesman rushed right out to greet you and then started showing you cars he “thought” you’d like. Did you ever actually feel as though they cared about your needs at all? Or did it just seem they would try to make a sale no matter what.

Compare that to walking onto a car lot and no one comes out for a few minutes. You have time to locate the model you are interested in. You get to look at the available colors. You read a few price and option stickers. Now the salesman shows up, having carefully evaluated your actions while watching from the office. He already knows the model of car you are most interested in and can simply ask questions about the options you prefer and take you for a test drive.

Which scenario makes you feel more validated and feels like your needs have been spoken to and answered? Obviously, the second scene would be most people’s preference. It may even feel as though the salesman is a kindred spirit because they came out and raved about what a great model of car this is (they knew the one you preferred), and about how this particular color is one of the most popular and hot colors right now (they carefully watched our responses to the various color choices), and this particular size engine would probably be perfect for your needs (they paid attention to the exact model you looked at the most).

You can have the same rapport with your clients, if you target your ideal client in your marketing efforts. Will you have “other than ideal” clients show up? Of course. But they will not be predominant in your prospects and will be weeded out as you get busier and more selective with your client base.

So, how do you determine your ideal client? You make it up!

Seriously though, it is your business, your product or service, and you get to choose the clients you work with.

You should start with some market research for your product or service. Think specifically about your product or service.  What gender is your ideal client? What age range? What nationality? Are they overweight or underweight (for some businesses)? Do they have a specific medical condition (for some businesses)? What type of neighborhood do they live in? Are they married? Do they have children? What type of clothes do they wear? What type of car do they drive? Or do they drive? Do they eat at home, or do they often eat out? What type of food do they like? Etc., etc., etc.

The more specific you can be with the answers to these and similar questions, the more targeted your marketing will become. Some people believe that focusing your marketing on a narrow segment of potential customers will lower your sales. I realize it is counter-intuitive, but research has shown that the more highly targeted your marketing is, the higher your conversion rates will be. This means more sales with less effort.

Once you have your ideal client defined, it’s time to find them on the internet. If you need assistance in finding or staying connected with your ideal clients on a regular basis, Social Bee Online can help. Consistent communication through social media is one of the best and most cost effective ways to brand you and your company in your prospects and clients minds.

Until next time…

Live with passion and purpose,

Vanessa

As independent business owners, it is often difficult to manage all the tasks and work that needs to be accomplished.  We tend to wear so many different hats and it seems that everything is a priority.

It has been said that great managers do things right, while great leaders do the right things.  I believe this is at the heart of the issue of managing our days.  Many of us get so caught up in doing everything “right” that we tend to choose the wrong things to do.

Let me give you an example.  Let’s say that you have a birdhouse building business.  You know how to build a birdhouse the right way, so the hole is the correct size, it’s painted the right color, and placed in the perfect area to attract the birds your customer wants to attract.  You can do all those things right, pretty much every time.  However, that’s not the only thing that needs to be done in a business.  There’s marketing, shipping, customer service, bookkeeping, etc., etc.

How often do we choose to do the thing that we know we can do “right”, when another task may be the right thing to do?  If you’ve built 500 birdhouses, but haven’t taken the time to market them, or connect with your potential customers, or shipped out the one’s that have been ordered, you won’t be in business very long.

Because I have been feeling under the weather for a few days, I have, of necessity, had to carefully choose what the “right things” were for that day.  I knew I didn’t have the stamina to do a full days work, so prior to getting up and going to my office I asked myself one simple question:

What one task, if I could complete it today, would dramatically move my business forward?

I knew that I might only have the “oomph” to complete one task, so I needed to be sure it was the RIGHT task.  I needed to be certain my business was still moving forward.  If I had the energy to complete additional tasks, that was a bonus.  But, if I didn’t, at least my most important task for that day got completed.

This brought to mind the words of Brian Tracy.  He said, if you have to eat a frog, do it first thing and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.  His second rule said, if you have to eat more than one frog, eat the ugliest one first.

I believe we all tend to do the easy things, the fun things, the things we can do right, before we choose to do the other tasks in our business.  It’s a matter of gaining pleasure and avoiding pain.  However, this is truly an instant gratification mindset.  If we avoid the “frogs” and the things that we may dislike or are not as proficient at doing, ultimately it will cause us greater pain.  We will see this pain in a floundering business or unhappy customers or an unhealthy bank account.

How do we avoid the long-term pain?  Make wise choices with our time.

First thing in the morning (or the night before) choose 5 to 10 action items that you will complete for your business that day.  Rank those items in order of importance, with 1 being the most important.  Only use each number once (you can’t have 3 items numbered “1″).  When you start your business day, do the #1 item on the list.  Don’t think about any of the other items, just focus on #1.  When that task is complete, move to #2.  Continue through your day, staying focused on only the task at hand, until you have completed your list for the day.

If something on your list cannot be completed that day, it is moved to the next day.  Each time you complete a task cross it out.  You’ll be surprised how satisfying it can be to mark a line through a few words on a piece of paper.

Also, realize that your list is to be no more than 10 items.  This is not a laundry list of every task you need to finish between now and next year.  It’s only what you are committed to accomplishing today.

Soon you’ll find that the tasks you are accomplishing each day are the important tasks to move your business forward.  You will also find that you have fewer fires to put out, because you are taking care of the most important things on a daily basis.  So, when an emergency does pop up, you’ll have the flexibility to put it at the top of your priority list for that day, and eat that frog.

Remember, too, that for those daily tasks that can be so time consuming, such as social media management, there are people out there who are great at those tasks.  Social Bee Online can design a custom package to assist you with the social media tasks, whether you want to do them yourself and just need a short tutorial, or you want us to handle that aspect of your business for you.

Until next time, commit to do the right things at the right time, and…

Live with passion and purpose,

Vanessa