Social Media Do's and Don'ts

I will admit being a relative late-comer to the social media scene. As such, I have learned many lessons over the past several years through formal study, by reading what others have to say and working at it day and night. Also in my early efforts, I made some mistakes. These mistakes seem to be common among those who try to dip their toes into the social media water through Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other social/business networking platforms. In the spirit of “Givers Gain” this blog post is an attempt to pass on a summary of do’s and don’ts for the benefit of those who come after.

On the popular topic of social media do’s and don’ts… here are some excerpts and useful comments from

Quotes from CNN.com: “How to gracefully promote yourself online.” (Credit goes to Authors: Brenna Ehrlich and Andrea Bartz, who are the sarcastic brains behind humor blog and book Stuff Hipsters Hate)

Story highlights:

• It’s a fine line between tooting your own horn online and spamming everyone with tweets
• Try introducing your website to family members and close friends first
• Once you develop fans of your venture, use a public forum to THANK them personally

Are you on any online mailing lists? And how do you feel about their happy little droppings in your inbox? Gmail’s new Priority Inbox even sifts out those non-urgent newsletters from actual missives. But a funny thing happens when you yourself are thinking about starting a newsletter. “It’ll be the best thing in everyone’s mailbox!” - “It will be clever and fresh and interesting. Everyone will love it!” – Face slap from reality…

Self-promotion is an art, not a science, because it takes a bit of instinct and talent to tiptoe across the tightrope between tooting your own horn and sprinting down the street at 6 a.m. with an air horn blaring whilst your soon-to-be-former friends roll their eyes and plug their ears and discuss behind your back how desperately they wish you’d just shut … up!

To summarize what this writer learned over a couple of years and also from this referenced article:

Start with the low-hanging fruit - Your family and friends who actually care about your success.Only reach out when you have something to say – Please don’t send out weekly newsletters full of too much wordy prose. Attach interesting links, be entertaining and informative or don’t bother at all.

Thank your fans – Making them feel special will keep them coming back. I like to send them cards when I have contact information, or pick up the phone and just say “Hi” nice to hear your voice!

Let’s not let Social Media interaction take the place of real human interaction.

Want to be a HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL LinkedIn Member?

Note: The origin of this post is from LinkedIn Success Strategies group. I highly recommend it to all. Join this group! 

So what makes a highly successful Linkedin member? Here is what I have discovered as not only habits, but also “secrets” of the treasure chest on Linkedin.

1. They invest their time strategically by putting fresh content on Linkedin when it’s the best time to do so. Let me explain, for me weekends are times to prepare Linkedin content, but as you will notice most collaboration does not take place on weekends. So hold the great Q/A’s, the awesome discussion topics, or the great status updates until Monday and never late Friday. Think about what your audience is doing and be strategic.

2. They use their status update to post something new every 24 to 48 hours and 80% of those updates include a link that gives a call to action. Such as signing up for your next webinar, promotions to visit your blog, or visiting your corporate website etc.

3. They answer target specific questions that are related to their target market. This is great exposure for your business that Linkedin Pros are doing everyday!

4. They change their Picture profile every two months. This creates dialogue and interaction with your network. This is another way to keep your brand in front of everyone. Pictures are worth a thousand _ _ _ _ _ (fill in the blank)

5. They answer every Linkedin email/inmail. Maybe not timely, but they never waste an opportunity!

6. They post their company events on the events application provided by Linkedin and use this as a way to measure interest and involvement for such things as conferences, webinars, or seminars. The events application has only been recently used by Linkedin Elite, but many are beginning to wise up to its amazing potential.

7. These highly successful members have identified their target markets on Linkedin, their goals on Linkedin, and are executing their plan every single work day. Social Media can be measured, but most don’t understand how to begin measuring their Social Media efforts because they have never identified their goals for using the Linkedin space. Once you have identified your goals then you can build a measurable matrix to analyze your efforts.

Independent Contractor or employee in disguise?

Many new business owners and some who are not-so-new are attracted to the idea of using independent contractors instead of employees.  There are a lot of people in my profession for example who tout themselves as independent contractors. 

Advantages of independent conttractors
There are advantages to using independent contractors such as the employer saves on FICA, Unemployment, and other taxes.  They are also not obligated to pay workers compensation and other insurance benefits.  They are not subject to FMLA or other employment related legislation.

Disadvantages of independent contractors. The main disadvantage to using independents is that you must keep on top of exactly what qualifies someone as an independent contractor. If you misclassify someone as an independent contractor who isn't, the penalties can be extremely costly.

Not only that, but there are two different sets of "tests" for independent contractors — one under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and a 20-point test administered by the IRS. While the tests differ, they both focus on how much control the employer has over the employee's work.  See also the official site:  http://www.dol.gov/compliance/laws/comp-flsa.htm

One safe way to assure that you are not penalized for misuse of an employee as a contractor, is to use someone who has formed a corporation.  As an example my company is incorporated and licensed to do business.  For other advantages, see my cost comparison table at: http://www.apvirtual.com/Cost_Comparison.html.

Branding your business on social media sites

I have a client (a most excellent electrician) for whom I handle bookkeeping and other assorted tasks. He's been thinking about “dipping his toes” into social media - mostly on his own. I suggested to him that if he does not feel comfortable with a photo to ID himself, then a picture would work too. Lots of people use logos if they have them and if not then a picture which could relate to his identify and that people would recognize as they continue to see posts from him on various platforms.

Of course my ultimate goal is to give him a real presence but for now I wait in the wings while cheering him on in his efforts.

What are your thoughts on this subject? Those of you who specialize in this niche what have you done or not as the case may be, while you watch some of your contacts in this same situation. They have budget challenges of course and some of them just want to know how to do it themselves… they see it as a new challenge.

I feel that as the pressure of their every day business grows, they will slack off or hopefully go the other way – seeing the value of using a VA to assist with social media and things like branding and continued posts of information relative to their business. We all know that social media will keep them on the top of the minds of their contacts whenever an opportunity presents itself for a referral.

Can and should you outsource your social media tasks?

I read with interest a recent blog post on the subject of what a marketing virtual assistant can do to assist clients to maximize their online presence.  Here are some excerpts and suggestions:

• Edit and upload Facebook, LinkedIn, blog posts or other network updates;
• complete profiles and account information on relevant sites;
• edit and distribute articles;
• monitor alerts for your key words and participate appropriately;
• manage social media groups and comments;
• build pages on Facebook, Plaxo, etc.

I have the following additional suggestions:

• Write and/or write and distribute e-newsletters;
• go "mining" for contacts in your target market, i.e. LinkedIn;
• create a database of contacts to assist with all of the above functions.

You would not want your VA to try to fake your personal relationships and respond to friend's posts... only create content relative to your business.

As the blog pointed out - social media is so much about being consistently there.  Sort of like the brick and mortar imperative:  the store has got to be open 7 to 11.  In social media, the time requirement is not so strict, but it's there.  Sporadic updates, long unexplained absences and extended vacations deflate your efforts like an old balloon.

Your social media marketing assistant assures your presence is solid online. For more info visit my website or email me.

I have taken some of the key points in the blog that relate to my services.  For the entire post, please visit Sydni Craig-Hart's guest blog on My Miss Assist blog.  http://mymissassist.com/tag/sydni-craig-hart/

Looking for new ways to increase referrals?

This year many of us are looking for new ways to:

- Acknowledge your clients on special events like birthdays and milestones

- Increase referrals

- Have a regular follow up plan for prospects and thank you cards

- Create a passive stream of income

If this is you, then read on! I've been using SendOutCards (SOC) for about 8 months. I have so much fun and it increases my business too. This is an ingenious greeting card referral system. When I was first introduced to SendOutCards, I did not think it was my cup of tea. BOY, was I wrong!!! I received several phone calls and return cards from friends and business contacts after sending my Christmas cards this year. They all loved the personalization of the card (it even had my own handwriting inside it and photos I took myself). One of my clients has now become a distributor herself using SOC to promote her e-commerce website. What does that mean for me? It means money in my bank account just for sending her a Christmas card. My client ended up signing up under me as a distributor plus I handle some clients campaigns as a VA which is more hours for me on monthly retainer. You can't beat that! Everyone loves receiving a personalized card in the mail.

Test it out for yourself...I would like to offer each and every one of you a FREE GIFT ACCOUNT which will allow you to send greeting cards at my expense using an incredible referral system called SendOutCards.

Try it today: http://SendOutCards.com/apvirtual

While there, please watch the two videos to learn more about how Send Out Cards can help your business make more money

No budget for marketing your small business?

Small businesses often have no budget for a marketing department. In fact both owners and staff are stretched to the max just keeping up with the day to day business and doing what directly affects their bottom line. Therefore as a small business owner, you can choose to hire a virtual assistant to help you with your marketing tasks, especially if you intend to use social media for marketing.

Online marketing can be very cost-effective although it requires creativity and time. Once you get the hang of it and really put in the effort, online marketing can bring your business great referrals and increase your profits. There are many techniques and tools available.

Here are some of the things a virtual assistant can do to help you with online marketing:

• Manage website or blog- the company’s website or blog can be one of the most important sources of information about the company and its products online. Whenever someone needs information about your business or your products online, the person can simply visit your blog or website to get information. The virtual assistant can help you with all of the tasks related to managing a website or blog. The VA can create content related to your website or update products in your shopping cart.

• Do article marketing- the virtual assistant can write and submit articles so that more people can find your website through the articles. Publishing 2-5 articles per week can have a major effect on your website traffic and can also help you build a good reputation in your niche market.

• Your virtual assistant can be your representative posting information and engaging other people through online forums.

• Create interesting videos: You can hire the VA to create scripts and gather materials for your video.

• Email marketing - can be effective in business if done properly.

• Create and maintain social media presence on networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

A competent virtual assistant becomes fully immersed in your business and can quickly become familiar with topics of interest to your target audience. Also we know the tricks and tips to finding good material online to add value for your clients and engage them in your subject matter.