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5 Twitter Advantages for Your Small Business

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Rosemary O’Neill

5 Twitter Advantages for your Small Business

Are you still trying to make sense of Twitter?

As an onlooker, it appears much the same way the New York Stock Exchange looks from the observation window–messy, chaotic, and disorganized. But stand a moment and keep looking, because you will start to see groups of people gathered around specific topics. Over here, a loud tribe of Kardashian followers (we’ll just step around them) and over there in the far corner, an intense crowd of small business owners.

They pop in to conduct their transaction and then move back to their desks on the trading floor.

What’s great about Twitter is that anyone can step out onto the floor and mix it up in the trading scrum.

Use Twitter as a Small Business Advantage

  1. Network and share your expertise – join a regular Twitter chat (check out the massive list of chats here). At the appointed time, go to Tweetchat.com and type in the hashtag for the chat. Follow the conversation and add your own thoughts. With regular participation, you can form a strong network. I highly recommend the #SOBCon chat!
  2. Build relationships to support your PR efforts – it’s an open secret that journalists like to hang out on Twitter. Your faxed press release will get tossed in the recycle bin, but it’s very easy to learn insider information on media likes/dislikes, beats, and current projects on Twitter. One place to start is Twellow’s news and media category (http://www.twellow.com/categories/news).
  3. Find leads – yes, you can actually find real people who might want to be your customer on Twitter. Use Twitter’s advanced search to find people who are searching for “help” plus your keyword, and then offer assistance. The important thing to remember is that you’re providing help, not a sales pitch. That’s the fast route to loserville.
  4. Be available to your customers – Twitter is the open phone line, and although all of your customers might not be on Twitter, the ones who are will appreciate having access to you. Just be sure to subscribe to alerts so you can hear the phone ring when someone mentions you or sends a direct message.
  5. Show your human side – Mix in some personality to your business Tweets, and use it as one more way to humanize your business. Not to share a steady stream of cat pictures, but sharing your passion for motorcycles or movies can be a great conversation starter.

Are you still procrastinating on jumping into Twitter? Share your fears here and maybe we can work together to get you out onto the trading floor.

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Thank you, Rosemary!

You’re irresistible!

ME “Liz” Strauss

Are You Determined?

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A Determined Mouse

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Nan’s Grandparents lived just south of Atlanta in a town of 200 where everything and everyone was an antique. They had no television. When folks might crawl into the TV for entertainment, Gram and Gramps would sit on the back porch pitting cherries, snapping beans, or peeling potatoes for a meal. When the chores were done, they would talk to each other or read.

When Nan and i went to visit Gram and Gramps she told us about when the refrigerator broke. Nan’s Gram said she put some things out on the back porch to “keep.” She figured they might as well be in reach of where she need them, while they waited for the the “Fix-it” man to come the next day. The back porch was enclosed and shaded from the heat.

Gram said the next morning she made coffee and went out to the porch to enjoy her garden and some time to think. That’s when she noticed that “a visitor” had come in the night to find something to eat.

“Must have been a field mouse,” she said as she described a flattened bag of chocolate chips meant for some cookies shed planned to make. “That mouse had a goal and worried that bag to death until he got the very last chocolate chip. He was a determined critter. He didn’t let some bag win.” That’s what Gram said.

Are You Determined?

Whenever I feel anxious or notice my motivation slip, I think of that mouse. I put my goal where I can see it. I become determined — like that critter. I let my goal determine where I’m going, what it takes to be satisfied, where I’ll be ending up. Then, I get determined about my success — I “worry,” plow, and navigate over, under, and through whatever irritations life throws between me that vision I value.

Are you determined?
Determined, resolute, decided, resolved — the end is undisputed.
Being determined is the difference between sticking out and leaving things unfinished.
Being determined changes roadblocks and obstacles in to problems to solved.
With determination, we change habits, attitudes, and even what we think.
Imagine where you might get if you’re determined.

We can change the world — just like that.
–ME “Liz” Strauss

10 Ways to Sell your Ideas

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by Patty Azzarello

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Selling Your Ideas

Selling Your Ideas

Are you ever frustrated that no one listens to your ideas?

If your opinions are not appreciated, or your proposals get dismissed, you need to do a better job selling them.

The Harsh Reality


1. Right or Effective? Remember, you can be 100% right and zero% effective. Having good ideas is completely different than getting them acted on. You need to do the work to put yourself in a position to sell your ideas, and then you need to actively sell them.

2. YOU are being judged. People are judging you as much as your content. Don’t spend so much time on your content that you forget your Personal Brand is also on trial. Be mindful of your Executive Presence. The way you present is as important as what you present. What is your strategy?

3. It takes Effort. You need to invest time, energy and personal relating, if you want to gain support for your ideas. Saying you don’t like politics is a cop out. It absolves you of any more effort. Successful people work to actively sell their ideas.
How can you stack the deck in your favor, and get your audience ready to say YES?

Performing Vs. Presenting

4. Don’t miss your 15 Minutes of Fame: My biggest career jumps have come from some very specific opportunities to present to important groups of people. Don’t just present. Use the opportunity to perform. Think about the key differences between performing and presenting and how you can make your communications the most persuasive.

5. Don’t bury the lead. Make sure to put the main point of your communication up front. Don’t bury it with lots of archaeology and context about how you got there to show how smart you are. It back fires. People get bored and you miss your chance.

6. Own the Outcome. Always own the outcome of the communication, not just the communication. What do you want to happen as a result of this communication? Think it through. If nothing is going to happen as a result, why are you communicating? Always ask for something.

Be More Relevant

7. Find a Hook. Make sure you connect your new information with things people already know and care about. Always find a hook that is something already on their mind to hang your information on.

8. Always translate: Be really careful not to use your jargon and your vocabulary when you are trying to convince others of something. Always relate your ideas in their words. One of the best pieces of advice I ever got about this is to make the name of the meeting something they would want to come to.

It’s Personal

9. Not just the facts. Even the most analytical people act based on emotion. The facts may make a compelling and persuasive case, but if you want people to act or change you have to also motivate them personally. How do you compel them to act with your data?

10. Get support up front: Know how your ideas impact people, get their input, give them a chance to shape what happens ahead of time. Don’t spring new ideas on people in public. Build a relationship and get their personal support before you start announcing or requesting things in a group setting.

Want to know more?

Selling your Ideas was the topic of a recent webinar I did. There’s a podcast.
I do a Free Webinar each month on a topic of personal leadership and business effectiveness. If you are interested you can get invited.

How do you sell your ideas?

What did I miss? Who do you need to convince? Who are your supporters and adversaries? Please add your best stories and strategies in the comment box below!

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Patty Azzarello works with executives where leadership and business challenges meet. She has held leadership roles in General Management, Marketing, Software Product Development and Sales, and has been successful in running large and small businesses. She writes at The Azzarello Group Blog. You’ll find her on Twitter as @PattyAzzarello

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Are You Allowing Your Blog To Be Spamtastic?

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By Terez Howard

Spamtastic is not good.

I went on vacation for one week and didn’t touch my blog. When I returned home, I found 112 comments on my blog. Do you know how many I approved as legitimate? Two. And I wasn’t even sure if one of those two was just really good-sounding spam.
Last week, I talked about making valuable comments on other people’s blogs. What about your own blog? Do you give just any comment a passing grade?

 

How can you determine if you’re receiving an actual comment to your work or plain old spam?

Here is one basic rule of thumb: Approve a comment if it contributes to your discussion. If it doesn’t say anything meaningful, trash it.

Some spamtastic comments that don’t belong in your blog

The empty compliment. Perhaps you’ve seen the commenter who says this: “Sweet post.” I’ve gotten that one dozens of times. There’s nothing wrong with a compliment. We all love to get them. But it does not contribute to your blog’s discussion. It doesn’t say anything at all.

Here are a couple comments from my blog that I sent to the spam folder (I did no editing to these comments):

“I found your blog on Yahoo , this is a good blog , i will come back.” People like to say they bookmarked your blog and will return for more. Check out what website they link to, and you might find that exact same comment over and over again waiting for approval, linking to the same blog. That’s what I discovered.

“Keep posting stuff like this i really like it, Good job My friend” This direct quote was from sunglass. I don’t know who sunglass is, but I oftentimes (not always) will not approve authors who do not provide a name. Sunglass, Pc tv and replica handbags have not as of yet provided anything that contributes to my blog. Yet, they keep continuing to post their spam.

Unrelated nothingness. I cannot stand the person who goes off on a topic that has nothing to do with my blog. Perhaps such comments would be of value on another blog, and perhaps not. I’m not really sure. I know one thing: They do not fit my blog.

Let me share some of this nonsense:

“If you are willing to buy real estate, you will have to receive personal loans (There was a link on the keyword personal loans). Furthermore, my mother commonly utilizes a financial loan, which is really useful.”

“Kyle Shelley of All in Education has given me very substandard service. I am amazingley angry in the data that he has provided.”

String of html text. Lately, this has been the most popular form of spamtastic comments on my blog. I will get seven or eight of these in a row every other day. They say absolutely nothing. Their obvious sole purpose is to provide the webmaster with endless links back to their site.

English, people! Besides English, I have gotten comments in Spanish. I can only tell because I know un poco from my four years of high school Spanish. I also get comments in what appears to be German. Isn’t it obvious that these comments don’t contribute to my English-speaking audience? I would post some examples of these, but I have no idea what they say.

Be fantastic, not spamtastic

Don’t approve every comment that comes your way, just so it looks like your posts are getting tons of conversation. It’s not conversation if there is no real communication.

Make your blog a high quality one by encouraging discussion with your readers. When those comments appear, savor the real contributions and don’t hesitate to trash the garbage.

What kinds of spamtastic comments do you avoid?

 

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Terez Howard operates TheWriteBloggers, a professional blogging service which builds clients’ authority status and net visibility. She regularly blogs at Freelance Writing Mamas . You’ll find her on Twitter @thewriteblogger

Thanks, Terez!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

Whoa! Could You Stop for 1 Second? Or Are You a Work Snob?

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You’re Not Doing Yourself or Anyone Else Any Favors

Hey, I know you’re busy, gotta get a lot of things done. But whoa!

But, could you stop for 1 second? It’s barely that –> . <-- long. Just stop. Don't do anything, before you read on.

–> . <--

If you don’t stop once in a while, you’re not doing yourself or anyone else any favors.

About Things Humanly Possible

When I first got into publishing, I was an adrenaline junkie. I loved getting things done. I prided myself on being able to find more seconds in an hour than anyone could. I could arrange, rearrange, multi-tier, multi-task, and multi-delegate the same page to multiple people while I was doing multiplication for multiple project quotations in my head. I could spin 23 plates on sticks and watch 18 fishing poles in the river, while I was juggling 6 balls in the air and talking on telephone. I even said things like, “I want to be known as the person who can do the impossible.”

It all embarrasses me now.

Because more isn’t more. Not one of those things got my full attention. I was good, they all got B work or better. But none them got my best. And in the end, they got the best of me instead.

When I finally got a job, where they wouldn’t let me do that, I learned the value, the fun, and the excitement of going deep and doing quality work. Less really is more. That’s when I found out what I was really capable of. That’s when I did the work that I’m still proud of, the work that lasted.

So if you’re

  • tossing off emails
  • overbooking meetings
  • missing details
  • forgetting things
  • Twittering while you’re talking on the phone
  • thinking you can do more in the same time than anyone

You might be what I was — a work snob — I thought I was better than the rest.
A work snob because every human can only do what’s humanly possible — even if they do it well. Slow down just enough to show folks how damn good you really are. Take a rest.

What are you doing to keep the human in you around?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!