What is Twitter?

For those of you who are still not sure what Twitter is and what the point of it all is, but were too scared to ask, or just can't get along with the "War and Peace" Wikipedia version - here's the shorter, simpler Helepedia version, to clear things up, I hope it helps.

(My) Definition
Twitter is a communication tool that enables you to gather and share online information and in choosing the right people to communicate with, and in the right way, build an online following or community that share similar interests and build rapport and relationships.

It is a great free tool, for helping to promote individuals and businesses, helping them to raise their profile, demonstrate expertise and build interest in the products and services they offer.

Timely
It’s brevity and immediacy, allows information to be shared very quickly, allowing you to have up to the second news updates on any topic you choose.  For this reason it is great for current affairs, sport updates, weather, celebrity gossip, television and radio programmes. But also, any up to the minute news and information that may occur in your industry, can you think of some examples?

Accessible
Being free and accessible to anyone who has internet access, it also gives the general public the opportunity to voice their opinions on whichever topics take their fancy, at any time of day or night and regardless of the kind of day they might be having!

Public
As this is the first time such an opportunity for open, public broadcasting has been given, and on such a scale, there have been occasions when members of the public have over-stepped the mark of voicing their opinion and actually vilified others with their libellous claims resulting in legal action.

Celebrity
As anyone can use Twitter, this is also the first time that the general public and celebrities or people in the public eye have the opportunity to communicate directly with each other.  Again this can have it’s pros and cons, if celebs conduct themselves well and use social media well, it can increase their following and popularity or vice versa.

Business
You can have as many accounts as you like, but most people either have a work or personal account or one for each.  In terms of business accounts, these can be set up to represent the business as a whole, or for individuals within the company to build rapport with clients, or around specific products or services, or a combination of these depending on how your business works.

Business Benefits
When used well in business Twitter is brilliant for sharing your latest news and updates, promoting events, building an audience, answering questions, developing customer relations, providing great customer service, getting noticed by the right people, building relations with customers and suppliers, demonstrating how much you care and maximising the impact of “word of mouth marketing” by giving your customers the opportunity to share their great experiences with an even wider audience.

Business Precautions
When used badly, Twitter can make a business appear, self-absorbed as opposed to customer focused, too promotional, just caring about the bottom line, not providing good, information, service or products, not caring about the customer, not being up to date with what’s happening in their own industry, just out to promote themselves and not their customers needs.  Even large corporates like McDonalds can get Twitter wrong.

I’d like to hear from you - Please Tweet me!
I hope this give a good general introduction to What Twitter is?  If there’s anything you would like to add please feel free to comment below or better still tweet me @helencoldicott !


Like to learn how to use Twitter well for your business?
If you’re interested in learning how to maximise the impact of your marketing with Twitter, if you’d like to know how best to set up accounts for your business, if you’re worried that you don’t have the time or resources to update your social media – in fact any social media questions you have please give me a call I'd love to help make Twitter work for you – Helen 01905 23902.

How to promote an event using Twitter

Deciding to run an event or an exhibition can be a daunting task.  First you need to decide who you want to attract, next you need to pick a great date, preferably when none of your competitors are having a big event, you need to hire a great venue that’s easy for your target audience to get to, as well as all the given things like having great speakers and great exhibitors.

But one of the most important things is letting people know about it and making sure they come.  One of the many great benefits Twitter offers is that it’s perfect for promoting events and encouraging your exhibitors and attendees to spread the word for you – but how?

Marketing your event using Twitter

If you’re running your own event, there are a few things that you can do to make sure that you receive maximum exposure.

Pre Event Twitter Tips

1. For big annual or regular monthly events, you will be best to create a Twitter account just for the event. This way you will be able to build a target audience specifically for the event.
2. For one off events for your company – it will be best to run it from your own business Twitter account.
3. Create a hashtag – if you have an account with the event name – you won’t need to do this, however, if you’re running a one-off event for your company – like a product launch you need to create a hashtag.
4. Why do I need a hashtag?  By having a hashtag it's easier to measure the marketing, reach and viral affect that Twitter has had.  By encouraging people to use the hashtag it makes it easier for them to enter the conversation about that event, rather than it going on in separate conversations.
5. What makes a great hashtag? It must be unique, short, memorable and descriptive. For example if I was creating a hashtag for the Chamber’s Worcestershire Business Expo it could be #WorcesterExpo #WorcBiz2012 or for a product launch make sure you include the name of the product and the version #GoldMine23 or #drawscribe2012.  
6. Publicise the hashtag and explain to your exhibitors how to use it. When people sign up make sure they include the hashtag in all tweets, you could even award a prize for the exhibitors who uses it most successfully (most click through to sign up).
7. Follow all your exhibitors and help to promote their business and stand by retweeting them.
8. Following attendees - If it will benefit them and give them exposure, thank new businesses who subscribe to attend.   However, if this means they’ll just get bombarded by exhibitors perhaps ask them first.  For example, if a large company sent someone to attend you can tweet them a thank you using their corporate account.  This will show you care that they’re coming but also demonstrate what a high profile event you’re running.
9. Promote the hashtag to attendees when they sign up – automatic tweet using the hashtag.
10. Run a Twitter competition with prize winners announced at the event.
11. Engage – don’t forget to search for your event, use broad search terms and make sure you thank, retweet and mention anyone who’s actively tweeting about you.
12. Set up alerts, you can set up alerts using applications like http://www.socialoomph.com this will allow you to receive notifications direct to your inbox about who’s talking about your event.  Not everyone will know about your hashtags or how to use them so make sure you set up alerts that are broad enough but not too broad otherwise you’ll be inundated with irrelevant tweets.
13. Timing - Remember promoting the event and making sure lots of people attend is paramount, you need to promoting events at least 6 weeks in advance.  Make sure you include links to your website, make sure the date is cemented into people’s minds.
14. Measurement.  If you’ve got someone spending an hour a day, tweeting, monitoring and responding you need to make sure that their time is making a difference.  What is your goal, if it’s getting people to sign up you want number of click through’s to that web page and number of people who fill in the form.

How to use Twitter during your event

Although you’ll probably have a million other things to think about on the day, remember to make the most of the big event itself.

1. One way to do this is to offer a prize for the best photo from the event that’s tweeted – again make sure it contains the relevant hashtag, like #WorcExpoPhoto or #WexpoPhoto
2. Again, make sure that someone is given the job of monitoring Twitter on the day.  If there was a problem with the weather, traffic or parking.  What better way to keep your audience informed than via Twitter.
3. Take control – what you want to do is make sure you’re the authority and lead the conversation with Tweets, don’t allow your event to get high-jacked by a particularly large exhibitor or controlled by the local press, journalists or PR agencies.

Post Event Twitter Tips

1. Remember to thank everyone for making it such a great success.
2. Follow up.  Make sure you take photo’s of all of your exhibitors, you can @mention them and make a quirky comment on what happened on the day.
3. Engage, ask people how they think it went.
4. Monitor.  Continue to search for people talking about the event.  If there were any complaints, you should be the first to know and the first to respond – this way you could turn a negative into a positive very quickly.

Twitter & your marketing campaign

The other thing to remember is that Twitter shouldn't be used in isolation, it is an integral part to your marketing campaign, so make sure all web updates, blogs, PR, sign up pages etc are all well sign posted.  twitter is the perfect tool for maximising all of your current, traditional marketing techniques.

These are the main considerations when using Twitter to promote your events, if you need any professional advice around promoting your particular event, Coldicott Freelance Training offer help with marketing campaigns and regular monthly social media management sessions, please give us a call 01905 23902 or 0770 410 5954.

http://coldicottfreelancetraining.com/

What's your #TopTweet?

Not TOTP #TopTweet

How it all came about...

Each summer I like to spend a little bit of time reviewing my current marketing and business plans and seeing what improvements I can make.  Part of this process is to review my 60 seconds introduction that I make at business networking events and see how I can improve it.

I think it's all too easy to fall back on the same material and I wanted something new, exciting and dynamic that I could use that reflects the ever changing Social Media environment I work in.

So I've had an idea, as a social media trainer and consultant, why not tap into all the social updates that happen every second and share my favourite one for that day or week?

This might be something interesting & relevant in the news, it might be to help promote a great company I've heard about or work with or it might be something inspirational that I'd like to share with my colleagues.  It might even be something a bit quirky and funny that shows my funny side but also helps people remember who I am.

What I also thought was how can others benefit from this idea?

Originally, I thought I would like to call this my "Tweet of the Week" a bit like "Top of the Pop's", however having searched for the hashtag #TOTW - I can see this is already used to mean "Tune of the Week".

#FaveTweet has also gone and implies that you could probably only ever have one or two of these.

So eventually the unique hashtag I've found that is currently not being used is #TopTweet

Would you like to join in?
If you's like to share your favourite tweet of the day or week - simply include the #TopTweet hashtag and this will add your tweet to the conversation. Why not give it a go.

Look forward to Twearing from you!

http://twitter.com/HelenColdicott

What's a tweetup?

If the Hereford Tweetup's anything to go by? Inspirational...

Being my first ever tweetup I didn't really know what to expect.  I am familiar with online social networking, and real life business networking, however offline social networking was a new one to me!

I knew it would be different from most other business networking I'd attended; firstly it was a different time of day a "rolling start from 6.30 - 7.00pm" meant there was no pressure to start at a certain time, being after work there were no suits and the food focus was tapas rather than the usual full English but most importantly this made the atmosphere relaxed, informal and friendly, rather than having that rushed, "we're here to do business" under current.

I went open-minded and without any real strategy, apart from a handful of business cards should someone want one.  I found just being myself and moving around occasionally I met most people - see list below, apologies if I missed you this time - please fee free to comment!


Star Moment!
 However the stand out moment was meeting Geoff who was a photographer on holiday in Hereford from America. He wasn't sure about social media because as far as he could see he'd have to write about stuff that didn't interest him.


An interesting thought, "Why's that?" I asked.  To be honest I'm not that interested in what other people have to say on blogs.  "Well what is it that you're interested in?" "Photography" he replied, "I thought I'd seen my error straight away and that this man much preferred to communicate through his art, "Well you could take photo's and share these?"  To which Geoff replied "I've seen other sites that do this and I don't like them either, and surely social media suggests that these photo's should communicate the here and now?".  Hmmm this guy was an interesting challenge.


Well tell me a bit more about the things that you like.  "Travel, experiencing different cultures, meeting people, taking portraits, as well as architectural photo's, like ones I took on a recent trip to Prague." So I said, "Well why don't you write a blog and tweet about these things?"  And through this brief encounter, as I'm sure he's aware, Geoff had got me to re-think what I tweet and blog about and has probably sent me down a different altogether more enjoyable and rewarding path.


My Social Media Strategy takes an interesting shift...
Yes I am interested in social media and how it helps mine and many other people's businesses and relationships.  Developing relationships just works a lot better if you have stuff in common first.  So, if you want to attract like minded people who you're interested in and want to work with - just write about stuff you're interested in.  


So, what else am I really passionate about?  Walking, exploring, outdoors, food, ingredients, cooking, experimenting with food, eating out, trying new cuisines, this was something that I'd hoped to do before I started my own Social Media Training company, which embraces the other things I love and that's meeting and helping people.  This hopefully, will re-ignite my passion for tweeting and blogging, it may have taken a while but hopefully now I've found my niche?  


Social Media Marketing for cafe's, restaurants, producers and foodies in general.


So this is the starting point where I mix my passions, meeting and helping people, communicating and sharing information, knowledge, experiences and creating, sharing recipes, idea's, and information about our food.  


I'll be really interested to hear from you in the comments if you have any help, advice or perhaps think I'm doing the wrong thing?  I'll be measuring the affect of this change in terms of followers, engagement and sentiment and writing a progress report in a couple of months. Watch this space.


What an inspiring evening - I certainly didn't expect that from my first ever Tweetup - Thanks Geoff x



Some of the interesting people I met include; 

Moira Davidson - Rather Inventive - @moiradavidson - Chief Organiser
Ben Kinnaird - Rather Inventive - @ratherinventive @benkinnaird - Sub Organiser
Lou Kinnaird - @loukinnaird - Boss!

Keith Winsor - Operation Blessing - @keithwins @OBeurope
Annette Clubley - Hughes Media - @hughesmedia @zimamai
Victoria Cronin - H&W Chamber - @HW_chamber
Catherine Every - Pippin Consultancy - @catherineevery
Clare Jenner - Knipe, Whiting, Heath & Associates Ltd
Leah - Henryka Amber - @HenrykaAmber
I'm sorry I've forgotten your name lady from with the Pink wellies - Philip Morris & Son - @_PhilipMorris
Ben - The Rocket Cafe - @rockethereford - Excellent venue & tapa's http://www.rocketcafe.biz/index.html

What is Bufferapp?

What is Bufferapp?

According to the makers of Bufferapp it empowers you to be “Awesome on social media. Easily add great articles, pictures and videos to your Buffer and we automagically share them for you through the day!”

Bufferapp is a social media management, automation and measurement tool that can be used with Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.


How does it work?

You create an account that’s linked to all your social networks you wish to update.
Next, create social media updates, at a time convenient for you.  Add them all to your buffer and then these are sent at at pre-set times throughout the day, week and month.

What does it look like?

Bufferapp Dashboard - Add your updates

Benefits of Bufferapp

1. More control - You choose when you’d like to create your updates

For example, if you only have one admin day per week, you could do all your updates on that day.

2. Don’t bombard your followers - Your updates are posted at regular times throughout the day – not all at once

For example, sometimes if you have half an hour free to read and research your industry – you may find lots of possible content.  You can save these to your buffer out then have the posts spread out evenly

3. Optimum response – you can choose when your updates go out – these can be different for each social network.

For example, the optimal time that people read and share updates in LinkedIn could be between 9.00 – 10.00am.  The optimal time people read, reply and share on twitter might be 7 – 8pm in the evening.

How do I get started?

If you would like to give Bufferapp.com a whirl simply create your account with one of your existing Social Media Accounts and start adding helpful, relevant information with your social media audience.

• Perhaps you've got a social media management tool or app that you've found really useful?  If so I would love to hear about it and how it helped you in your business.
  
• Do you need help creating a social media strategy for your business which will enable your staff to use Social Media effectively?  Yes? Check out my flexible social media training courses...

Getting Started with Pinterest

Getting Started with Pinterest

Before you can start using Pinterest you need to be accepted by them. Simply go to their website and fill in your name and email address, it took me a couple of times before they emailed by confirmation that I could set up my new Pinterest account.

http://pinterest.com/

1. Create your username – Max 15 characters no spaces or symbols

Then there are just 3 simple steps:

Step 1. People

Click on things you like or are interested in and Pinterest will recommend who to follow

Step 2. Pinboards

Pinboards are where you can group together things you’ve bookmarked on the web – whether there are your products, services, views from your B&B window etc or whether they’re other people’s things and products that you like.

Step 3. Button

To install the “Pin It” button in Chrome:

1. Display your Bookmarks by clicking the Wrench Icon > Tools > Always Show Bookmarks Bar

2. Drag the “Pin It” button to your Bookmarks bar

3. When you are browsing the web, push the “Pin It” button to pin an image

Once installed in your browser, the “Pin It” button lets you grab an image from any website and add it to one of your pinboards. When you pin from a website, we automatically grab the source link so we can credit the original creator.

You're in!

Pinterest Etiquette:

Try to...

• Be Respectful. Pinterest is a community of people. We know that individual tastes are personal, but please be respectful in your comments and conversations.
• Be Authentic. Pinterest is an expression of who you are. Being authentic to who you are is more important than winning lots of followers or fans.
• Credit Your Sources. Pins are the most useful when they have links back to the original source. If you notice that a pin is not sourced correctly, leave a comment so the original pinner can update the source.

Happy pinning!

Still not sure how Pinterest can help promote your business? Maybe a little training will help?Take a look at my Pinterest for Business Training Course

How can Pinterest help my business?

You may have already heard of Pinterest – the new social media kid on the block.

So, what is Pinterest, what is all the fuss about and how could Pinterest help your business?

As with many of the social media platforms which have bloomed in popularity, Pinterest is a very simple idea, cleverly executed.

When you log on to pinterest.com you’ll see how each page looks a bit

like a pin board; yes, those things on our kitchen walls crammed with our old

family photographs, holiday postcards and ‘must do’ lists.

Here then, you can create an easy to view photo album of your products and

services to enable your customers to get an immediate visual understanding

how you can help them.

Every photo you post can be linked back to your main website or your social

media site and you can also encourage people to ‘like’ and share your pins.

It’s great for designers, photographers, artists, organisations that run events

or venues (such as hotels and tourist attractions) or any business that sells a

range of products.

Here are a few Pinterest sites that I think have got the right idea...

http://pinterest.com/source/ikea.com

http://pinterest.com/cookingwcaitlin

http://pinterest.com/visitbuckspa

http://pinterest.com/servicedapts .

Have a look also at some of the areas you’re personally interested in. You

search simply by subject, name or organisation.

It’s free to sign up and create a page (you have to request an invitation first)

and Pinterest also has a reassuring user policy which forbids nudity.

Here at Coldicott Freelance Training I’m ‘liking’ Pinterest because it’s a very

simple and effective way to showcase your business and increase your online

profile.

As with any new social media platform it’s a good idea to sign up early so if

you’d like to get started or know more, contact me for more details.

Essential tips for Start-ups in a recession

Born in a Storm

Essential tips for Start-ups in a recession

BBC Radio Hereford and Worcester are running a programme everyday this week which focuses on how some local start-ups not only set up during a recession but have also managed to survive and some of which have also thrived. I was approached by H&W Chamber of Commerce and asked if I would like to be one of the businesses interviewed for the programme - free publicity on the local radio I thought - absolutely count me in.

Kate Mundy, BBC radio newsreader and journalist, wanted to find out what a normal day for a Social Media Trainer might include, so I invited her to tag along for the day, this is what my diary looked like...

Friday 17th February

• 10.30am - Meet Ben Kinnaird to record Podcasts
  Ben and I hooked up about 12 months ago to deliver our joint venture Inventive Workshops. These are local, cost effective social media workshops run on a monthly basis followed by an Internet Marketing Club. The podcasts are there for anyone who wants a flavour for the type of things we discuss during our Internet Marketing Club and who is interested in learning more about online marketing.

• 12.15pm - The Lunch Club, The Vale Golf Club, Evesham
  Business Networking Club 19 local business people, based in and around Evesham who are asked to bring their guests on a fortnightly basis for lunch and networking.
  
  
• 3pm - Catch up with admin and email's in preparation for the following week.

If you'd like to listen to the Radio Interview...

You can catch it on Wednesday 21st March sometime between 6.00 - 9.00 am

Helen Coldicott - Director, Coldicott Freelance Training
Ben Kinnaird - Director, Rather Inventive
Rob Bell - Bank Manager - HSBC, Evesham

http://www.bbc.co.uk/herefordandworcester/programmes

For me there's no secret when it comes to surviving in a recession (I don't know any different, so it may just be tips for starting a business full-stop), but I know there were a few things that I did try and do fairly consistently.

• Keep costs low - if I could make do with something, for example a standard phone, a free piece of software, creating my own website that's what I would do. Anything that meant I kept my costs to a minimum.
• Raise your profile - This was my aim for the first 12 months. No one knew I existed or that I offered help with using Social Media so I needed to get that message out to people anyway that I could.
• 10 x 10 marketing plan - My business coach, Simon Williams advised me to use at least 10 different marketing channels or methods of communication to get my message out there. Here are mine, what you'll notice is that a lot of these are free:

1. Attend all the free networking events

2. Grab any opportunity to do a spot of public speaking

3. Network - choose 1 or 2 networking meetings that you enjoy and keep going to on a regular basis

4. Use social Media - write blogs to increase your online content

5. Build an audience - Help and advise people on your area of expertise

6. Get out there - get out of the house/office make yourself known

7. Grab any free marketing opportunity - radio interview, presenter slot at a networking meeting, to be on the chamber website...

8. Create some professional business cards and aim to hand them all out by the end of the year

9. Send out regular newsletters

10. Post social media updates - on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn - whichever platform best suits your target audience

If your business was established during a recession and you have any hints or tips for other businesses in the same boat, it would be great to hear from you.

If you'd like to know how to generate lots of free content and get noticed online - why not attend one of our Social Media Workshops...

How to create a Facebook Business Page

"How to make small business into BIG!" was the theme of this month's Start to Grow Forum, organised by Hereford & Worcester Chamber , sponsored by Hayward Wright and hosted by the lovely people at Holland House in Cropthorne, near Pershore. Thanks to everyone who came, I hope you found it both useful and inspiring?

The Little Soap Company

There was an excellent local business hero, Emma Heathcote-James who owns and runs The Little Soap Company, based in Bretforton. She told us about her journey and how she developed her product range, taking it from small, local, agricultural shows and how she came up against "the big boys" and has now successfully developed The Little Soap Company into a big business where you will find her Little Soap range in Waitrose, Warners Budgens and possibly coming soon to another major supermarket chain. She managed to get onto the Waitrose shelves in just under 12 months, the shortest time ever for a fledging business to have achieved this. Take a look at how she uses Facebook to engage with her clients and build a community around her product I think a great way to learn how to engage with people online is to see it in action and then have a go yourself.

My task was to inspire and educate small businesses in how they can start using Facebook to develop, grow and enrich their businesses by developing their business and brand through human communication and develop a sense of community and brand loyalty that can all be achieved when you use Facebook effectively.

Why aren't more SME's taking advantage of Facebook business pages?

However, I was shocked by the number of local business in the room that still don't even have their own business page on Facebook. Facebook is a free marketing and communication tool that empowers you to have a two way conversation with your customers. You can discuss what you've been doing and they can tell you what they like and don't like, if there's something missing from your products or service offering - there are a multitude of ways in which Facebook can help to grow your company.

It became apparent from speaking to people in the room that still some are concerned that information posted in their personal account will be visible to their business customers - this simply is not true.

People are still worried about, what will they talk about, who will see it, what will they think, what if a I look silly? Well what do you talk about usually with your customers and more importantly what are your customers interested in hearing more about? Just transfer that to your Facebook page.

How to create your own Facebook business page

In less than 4 minutes you can learn how to create your own Facebook business page, just watch this brief online tutorial to learn how quick and simple it really is.

Thank you inspirational ladies!

And finally, I would just like say a big thank you to Faye Hurley from Eden Aromatics. The next morning I received a message to say that Faye had been so inspired by our talk that she got straight onto it and created her own Facebook business account - if you're impressed by this business lady taking action and promoting her beautiful smellies, show her the love and "Like" her Facebook page. I thinks it's amazing how much information she has shared in just a couple of days and 7 people "Like" her business already - I'm sure this is just the start of making her small business into BIG! X

Like to learn more about Facebook?

Anyone interested in learning more about How to use Facebook for Business - why not come along to one of our interactive and action packed Facebook workshop?

Is social media the new business networking? (Social Business Networking)

• Expand your network
  
  Social Media allows you to meet people you may never have come into contact with in person.
  
  Not only does social media reach outside of our physical location, but also outside of our normal networking circles. Represent yourself professionally on LinkedIn, Twitter and on-line generally and you could start attracting larger businesses that just don’t go to local business networking events.
  
  (The image is what my LinkedIn network looks like, each dot represents a different contact and the lines show the relationships that link them together. Imagine this on a larger scale and you'll get some idea what your social business network could look like.)
  
  
• Save time, money and reach the right people
  
  
Instead of visiting all the business breakfast meetings in town, spending time travelling, getting up at an unearthly time, eating a breakfast that’s been chosen for you and paying for the privilege and then thinking did I really meet the people that will buy my products and services? Could this time, money and effort be better spent finding people on social networks who are qualified customer, leads and business partners?

• Find the right supplier
  
  
If you are looking for a supplier, why not search for them on LinkedIn? Here you can see the products and services they offer, chose the right location and see what other people have said about them in their recommendations. You can also choose a local business group and ask people to recommend a supplier for you.


• Searching for prospects
  
  If you’re looking for prospects, find out which groups your prospects hang out in by looking on their profile. Join these groups and listen to what people are talking about, what problems are they experiencing and how can you help them?
  
  Imagine you've just met this person at a Business Breakfast meeting, listen carefully to what they are saying, what problem are they asking for help with and only if you have a valid solution share that with them.
  
  Remember if you just talk about yourself and your business you’ll soon end up in an empty room (discussion) with no one to talk to.
  
  Ever been to a business breakfast and just end up speaking to one person and that person you'll probably never do any business with? An added benefit of LinkedIn is that you can listen to a discussion and then think actually that’s not relevant to me and walk away!
  
  
  
• No 60 minute advert
  
  Are you one of the millions of people who struggle with speaking in public? Do you dread having to stand up and deliver a professional 60 minute advert that highlights all the benefits of working with you and your company to a room full of strangers and sometimes competitors? Another benefit of social (business) networking is that you don’t have to do this at all.
  
  Perhaps you don’t mind doing this, but perhaps after doing this for the fortieth time that year you’re struggling to think of something new and interesting to say that your other networkers haven’t heard before? Either way, with business breakfast networking you have to stand up and deliver who you are and what you do each time. With social networking once you’ve written your profile, your twitter bio, info on your Facebook page you won’t have to adjust this as often and it could be seen by a far greater number of people looking for your services.
  


• Lay on the beach networking
  
  People who want your services can come and find you. So even if you’re out of the office all week or maybe you’re on holiday, if you have a great online social media profile people will be able to search for you and find you and your company. They can enquire by tweeting or by sending a message and this can be picked up on your return. No costly call-centres to pay and the real benefit here, qualified leads and prospect are coming and knocking on your door, you don’t even have to go and find them yourself.
  
  
• Is social media the new business networking?
  
  Social media is not a replacement for meeting people face-to-face, listening and talking with them. Social media cannot replace the dedication and time it takes people to build strong, lasting and trustworthy relationships. Building a strong network of like-minded people whose businesses can work together and where customer relationships overlap, takes, time, energy and dedication. What social media can do is further strengthen, support, build and promote these relationships and expand them even further than traditional networking alone can do.

What do you think?

Please leave a comment. I would love to know what your personal experiences of real business networking vs Social media business networking are.

If you want to find out how Social Media can improve your business take a look at our open, public workshops...

http://inventiveworkshops.com/events/

Creating an effective LinkedIn Professional Headline

Here are a few of my favourite, inspirational and quirky professional headlines from LinkedIn profiles.

Benefits of a powerful Professional Headline:

What do people find when they Google your name? Try it and find out. Google rates LinkedIn profiles very highly, so it is very likely to be one of the top search results when people search for your name on Google. Here are a few more benefits of spending time on creating a powerful professional headline on LinkedIn?

• Helps you stand out from the crowd
• First impressions count
• First step in controlling your identity online
• Authoratative resource on your career
• Helps you collaborate with others
• Higher position in LinkedIn search

Here are 3 tips to consider when creating your professional headline:

1. Remember to include your keywords
2. Make sure you stand out from the crowd
3. Explain how you help people and their businesses - don't just talk about yourself.

If you would like to share your own favourite LinkedIn professional headlines, whether it's your own or someone else in your network I would love to hear from you.

http://www.linkedin.com/in/rhysbmjones
http://www.linkedin.com/in/hrmking
http://www.linkedin.com/in/sharongaskin
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/denise-liebermann/4/939/a92

How to complete your LinkedIn profile to 100%

Before you can start building your network and developing business relationships on LinkedIn it pays to invest some time in providing a 100% complete profile.

Why?

To improve your online visibility and create a good first impression. Google values the information provided by LinkedIn, therefore when someone searches for you in Google it is highly likely that your LinkedIn profile will be at the top of the Google search results.

If you were looking for someone on Google and found a half filled LinkedIn profile with a bland headline, what sort of first impression would you create?

When someone searches for you in Google this is the information they will see:

Therefore, your name and headline are the most important things to get right to create a memorable, useful impression that makes the reader want more.

Get found in the LinkedIn results

In order to increase the likelihood of people being able to find you in LinkedIn, it helps if you have filled out your LinkedIn profile fully. People with 100% complete profiles rank higher than those with information missing.

How do I get a 100% complete profile?

Just make sure you have the following:

• A profile photo - Ideally professional headshot not a holiday photo
• A profile summary
• A current position
• 2 past positions
• Education
• Specialities
• At least 3 recommendations - How, write them for others or just ask politely!

Like to learn more about making LinkedIn work for you and your business? Attend our Understanding LinkedIn Workshop, just £25 per person.

How to use Twitter Search

Twitter is a fabulous business research tool. To understand the basics of using the information available on Twitter here are a few ideas:

• Market Research - You can research what your target market are talking about
• Competitor Analysis - You can research what your competitors are talking about.
• Enhancing your Expertise - You can search for the most relevant topics that just you’re interested in and differentiate yourself from other businesses.

Searching by your Keywords

• With any industry there will be a long list of keywords that might be relevant to you. I would think about 7 or 8 hot topics that are relevant to the products/services you offer and do a regular/daily search to see what people are talking about locally.
• You can search on popular topics in your industry, latest news, legislative updates, software updates, politics, offers and promotions, job openings, etc.
• Once you've found people who have something worthwhile to contribute, follow them. You want to follow people who are actively participating in Twitter conversations on your key topics.

Searching for the right people to Follow

• First you need to be clear who your target market is. Build up a customer profile for their likes, dislikes, where they hang out, who they follow and admire, what information is relevant and interesting to them.
• You can follow your clients and prospects, but also follow people that your target market like – so you’re building a similar ‘Following profile to them’ this way you may appear in their recommendations on who to follow.
• Reflect your own personality, develop yourself as a thought leader for your industry or specialism. To do this you need to follow people you admire, respect, leaders in your field etc. Also consider governing bodies and best practice organisations.

Searching for Competitors

• Don't obsess about what your competitors are doing, invest more time developing your own strategies, promotions and content. But it won't do any harm checking out who you're competing with locally and what they are talking about.
  

What are Twitter Trends?

Twitter's Trending Topics algorithm identifies topics that are immediately popular, rather than topics that have been popular for a while or on a daily basis, to help people discover the "most breaking" news stories from across the world. We think that trending topics which capture the hottest emerging trends and topics of discussion on Twitter are the most interesting.

About Twitter's Trending Topics

• To see a quick snapshot of the most tweeted-about topics on Twitter, look to the sidebar on the right of your homepage. You can also see trends in many of our mobile clients and on the mobile web.

• From news stories to the latest buzz about movies, music and more, the trending topics reflect what new or newsworthy topics are occupying most people's attention on Twitter at any one time.

Note: You may notice that some topics come with a number sign "#" before the word or phrase. This is called a hashtag and was put there specifically to mark it as a topic so that people can follow the conversation in search.

Localise

Twitter can either show you topics that are trending worldwide or those that are trending in one of more than 100 cities and countries.

To change views:

1. Click change next to your location name in the sidebar. A pop-up menu will appear, displaying a list of countries.

2. Click on the country of your choice. If that country has specific cities as an option, you’ll be able to choose a specific city.

- Clicking a location will automatically update your home sidebar and display topics from your chosen locale.

- The green checkmark signals your chosen location. Click on the X to close the location window.

3. You can switch locations at any point by clicking on change to bring up the full list of options again.

Please note:

• If you don't see your country or city, it means there aren't enough Tweets from that geographical area to create a quality list. Locations are not manually selected, but rather displayed dynamically based on tweet volume.

• When you click a topic listed under your local area, you will be shown the overall search results for that trending topic, not the local search results for that topic - to get an overview of the local Tweets on a local trending topic, use advanced Twitter Search operators.

These are just a few tips on how to use Twitter Search. This forms just part of your overall Twitter strategy which is what we'll be discussing in our next Blog.

If you're interested in learning more about why we think Twitter works well for business, sign up for our Understanding Twitter Workshop - just £25

How to create the best Twitter Profile

Summary - Creating the right first impression is important when doing any kind of business networking, so this blog will concentrate on getting the right look for your Twitter Account or Profile page.

Your Twitter Profile

The building blocks of any social network are user pages known as profiles. It’s a good idea to do whatever you can to reflect your personality and personal/company brand, without going over the top with bold colours that might put some followers off!

• If you work for a large organisation you can create a company Twitter Profile, using your company logo and information.
• If your company has a recognisable spokesperson, you can create a profile for them.
• If you are the owner of a SME, self-employed, freelance or a consultant it might be best to use a combination or your logo and personal information.
• Personal accounts. You can use Twitter to communicate with your friends and family.
• Multiple accounts. You can have more than one account. So it might be appropriate to have a personal and business account and make sure you’re logged into the right one when you’re telling all your friends what your plans are for the weekend!

What's an Avatar?

People will read your Tweets next to a small avatar 48 x 48 pixcel square image, this is called your Avatar.

For a Personal Twitter Account your avatar = Your photo

For a Business Twitter Account your avatar = Your logo

How to change your Avatar:

1. Log in to www.twitter.com

2. Click Settings.

3. Click on Profile on the fifth tab of your navigation bar.

4. Click the Browse button next to your profile image.

5. Choose which file to load.

6. After selecting the file, click Save at the bottom of the page.

2. Your Twitter Bio

You have just 160 characters to explain who you are. Having a Bio means you will have more followers on average. If you Bio contains the words, Official, Founder or Expert again you can expect above average number of followers.

3. Your Twitter Background

We recommend changing your Twitter background to reflect your corporate branding, this is what you need to do:

1. Log in to www.twitter.com
2. In the top navigation bar, click Settings (or go to http://twitter.com/account/settings)
3. Click the furthest tab on the right, labelled Design
4. Select a template by clicking on it, or upload your own background image by clicking "Change background image." (figure 1)
5. Save your changes when done
6. If you want to customise the sidebar and font colours of your page, click "Change design colours"
7. Click any of the boxes to change your colours; click Done when you're finished. (figure 2)

The standard background image dimensions for Twitter are:

• File Dimensions: 960 px by 720 px
• Horizontal position: 20 px from the left (to give yourself some padding).
• Vertical position: 14 px from the top (will line up your graphic with the top of the twitter logo. Our eyes like symmetry).

Note: Whilst these haven’t been officially documented by Twitter, but have been unofficially documented all over the web between graphic designers and the social network community.

Creating the right first impression is important when doing any kind of business networking, so once you've got the basics right, you'll be ready to start using Twitter yourself and making the right connections - which we'll discuss in my next Blog!

If you would like to learn more about Twitter Best Practise for Business, sign up to our Taster Workshop today, prices start from just £25/session.

How Social Media improves your SEO...

• Want to learn how social media improves your position in the search engines?
• Want to know why social media is relevant to improving your business sales pipeline?
• Looking for the missing piece in your social media strategy?

Why bother with Social Media?

In under 7 minutes this video answers this fundamental social media question using simple language and diagrams.

Thanks to SEO2020.com for their short & simple Youtube SEO explanations

Some of the key points:

• Locate the specific networks that you need to be involved in
• Listen to what their needs are, what questions are they asking?
• Answer those questions through the content you produce
• Find your content "Evangelists" or communicators who will shout about your content
• Build your community who are interested in your message
• Choose the right community for you

Want to learn how to engage and convert your website visitors into brilliant customers?

Attend our Internet Marketing

Taster workshop

For just £25

We will give you the right advice, tools and focus to attract more people to your website on a small budget.

Our Social Media Workshops are available in Worcester & Bromsgrove, to find out more please visit our website.

http://inventiveworkshops.com/

Choosing the right keywords for you

On Page Search Engine Optimisation

If you have been looking into improving your natural position in the Google search results (or any other search engines results) you'll probably know that the first step is improving your page content and one of the easiest ways to do this is by including the keywords that people use to search for your products/services, into the content of your web pages. My previous blog explains the two main types of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), and improving your page content is the first, easiest step to take.

Beating the Competition

What we look at in this blog is after you've got your list of keywords, what's the next step?

Most of us don't have a completely unique product or service, there will be other people who offer the same or similar products/services that we do, and therefore use the same keywords (competition). It could also be the case that your competitors seem to rank higher than you in the search results, even though you think you may be including all the top, most popular search terms in your content.

Finding your Niche keywords or phrases

This article shows you how to use the "Google Keywords Tool" to find possible niche keywords and phrases that you could use, to improve your Google ranking. It is vital that you do offer the products and services and don't just include them in your page text (if you did this people would arrive at you page expecting to find a product, discover you don't offer it and quickly leave your page resulting in a "bounce"). Bounces form part of the algorithm that lowers your position in search engine results. The three things we will be trying to achieve in this order are relevancy, least competition and then search popularity.

How do we find the best/right keywords for us?

After carrying out your initial exercise to think of all your relevant keywords, you should have a list of around 20 - 25 keywords or phrases for each product/service that you offer. When you use the Keywords Tool - you enter keywords and phrases relevant to one product at a time.

Using the Google Keywords Tool

First of all search for the "Google Keywords Tool" using Google search.

1. Type in all your keywords and phrases - one per line
2. Tick the box - "Only show ideas closely related to my search terms
3. Open - Advanced Filters and Options
4. Choose you target audience location and main language
5. Don't include adult ideas - unless you're in the sex industry
6. Show ideas and statistics for - Most of the time how will they be searching? From their desk on a laptop or from a mobile?
7. Filter Keywords:
   Local Monthly Searches
   Here you want a decent online audience size, this is relative to your product/service. E.g. Here I have stated that I want at least 1000 local searches/month.
   Competition
   To find out what the niche search terms and phrases are for your business – you want to choose “Low” competition.
   Global Monthly Searches
   If you wanted to target foreign markets you could choose this to be high and local to be low. E.g. Here I have stated that I want at least 5000 local searches/month.

Select the picture to enlarge the Google Keywords Example...

Discovering the most effective keywords for your business and to maximise your online transactions is an exercise that needs to be done over a period of time. The best thing to do is choose your list, check you results each month and see which terms results in the best traffic/conversions for your business.

If you would like to learn more about Search Engine Optimisation and improving your own online marketing strategy we are offering Monthly Inventive Workshops in Worcester and Bromsgrove - Prices start from just £25 per taster session - Book your place today.

What is SEO or "What is Search Engine Optimisation"?

Definition of SEO
Search Engine Optimisation simply means improving your website so that it appears high in the organic (not paid for) search engine results.

The most popular search engines are Google, Yahoo and Bing and good (best practice) search engine optimisation techniques are pretty similar across all three.

There are two main types of SEO, on-page and off-page. Generally on-page relates to having high quality, relevant content that meets the needs of your searchers (or the search queries that your target audience types) and is content generated by you or your company and therefore within your control. Off-page optimisation generally relates to links to your website made by you or preferably other people and therefore not in your control.

On-Page Optimisation

Search engines are so quick and effective, because we want people to find our information when they search for our products and services. So when they search for our products and services we try to meet that search criteria by including those "keywords" they are searching for in the content of our pages. Moreover, if someone (or our potential customer) asks us a question, we try our best to answer that question.

Search engines reward websites that are relevant by ranking their web pages higher in the search results. This ensures that the search engine is working effectively.

The algorithm (mathematical equation) that search engines have developed (and improve and change all the time) only have one aim in mind - to deliver relevant, high quality results for the searches that people enter. If you try and gain a foothold in the rankings that you don't deserve, the search engines will find you out and punish you, they can do this by excluding your website from their search results altogether. Concentrate on improving the information you provide to your customers and you'll be rewarded over time by high rankings. If you include keywords just to get people to your page and then the content is poor - people will quickly leave that page - this is a "bounce" get a high "bounce rate" and this will send you down the search engine rankings.

Off-Page Optimisation
While we can control some of our inbound links, the majority and the ones that search engines favour are links made by other people. This is a way of letting the search engines know that it's not just the person who owns the company that verifies this website has good, relevant content about the products and services it offers but that it had been recommended by a third party.

By getting more inbound links from other people, this improves the authority of your website. The longer your website has been established and the more inbound links that it has the higher it is likely to rank.

Where do I start?
If you are just beginning to learn how to improve your web ranking, start by thinking about what products and services you offer and who will be searching for these. Assuming your target audience are likely to search for your products online, next think about creating a list of keywords (words or phrases that people use to search for your products and services).

No two people search for things in the same way (or using the same words and phrases), so next ask all of your colleagues to do the same so that you have a comprehensive list. now you're ready to optimise your keywords - which is the next Coldicott Freelance Training SEO Blog - sign up and receive the next Blog in your inbox.

In the picture we can see an example of a keyword list for "Handmade Chocolates".

Search Engine Optimisation Taster Workshop?
If you would like to learn more about, website optimisation or search engine optimisation for your website - you might like to attend our Search Engine Optimisation Taster Workshop.

Click here to book your place