Explaining Social Media To Your Family and Friends
For many of you that work on the Internet virtually from home, you probably get the question from family members: “What exactly do you do?” I remember when I first started working in the Internet industry just about 6 years ago, I received a lot of interesting comments and looks to say the least:)
I was recently at a family function and someone asked me about the types of training courses we teach at VAClassroom. I started sharing about our Social Marketing Training Program and quickly realized that what I was speaking “Greek” to this person. Twitter? Huh?
Anyways, since you are involved in Social Media to some extent or have an interest in adding it as a service in your business, I thought I should send you this video that will save you some grief with family and friends when they ask “What exactly do you do?”
This video is called “Social Media in Plain English” and it is one of the best and most practical explanations I have seen on this topic!
Enjoy the video!
Our Social Marketing Training Course started last week and we just completed our 2nd session on Social Media Strategy and Social Networking Set-up and Management. I will keep you posted on the next enrolment in January!
Social Media Marketing Training Program Sold Out
Well, this has been a crazy busy week as we just starting the first run of our live Social Marketing Specialist Training Program. We have an enthusiastic group of about 40+ who are very pumped about learning how to position themselves as a Social Marketing Specialist in 2009.
It is amazing to see the demand for this kind of niche! One of our students mentioned that she connected with one of her clients on what she had learned in the first session of the Social Marketing Training Program and the client wants her to get started right away with building a Social Media Strategy - very cool.
Another Virtual Assistant mentioned that one of her clients was waiting to hire her once she completed the course. Also, last week, I got a call from a marketing firm, who asked if three of their Virtual Assistants could attend the program as they really wanted to bolster their Social Marketing efforts in 2009.
All of this is pointing to serious opportunity for those seeking to offer a Social Media service in 2009! Although this course is sold out right now, we will be offering another opportunity in January. Free Free to jump on our alert list at our Social Marketing Training page here.
Until next time!
Lessons from Barack Obama’s Social Media Strategy
Well, the long US election campaign culminated last night with Barack Obama winning the Presidency of the United States. This is now the time where streams of political analysts will weigh in on what the parties did right, the potential missteps the Republicans may have taken and so on and so forth. But politics aside, as a Social Media enthusiast myself, I have to stand back and applaud the Social Media Strategy that was brilliantly executed by the Obama campaign!
The social network gurus on his team implemented some innovative strategies, even going as far as creating their own Obama Social Network where people all over the US could connect, share Ideas and dialogue about the issues.
I read a great post today from an Aussie that summed up the social media brilliance displayed by Team Obama over the last few months. Take a read of this post titled: Lessons We Can Learn From Barack Obama’s Online Marketing Strategy. As you read this, reflect on your own Social Media efforts and take stock of how effective your current activities are - is there something to be learned from this Social Media President? I would love to hear your thoughts and feedback!
The timing of this post is great, especially as we get set to launch our new Social Marketing Specialist Training Program here at VAClassroom.com. Obama’s ability to successfully leverage Social Media will no doubt alert to action many of those businesses who may be dabbling with Social Media, but not employing any real concrete strategy.
The opportunities for Social Marketing Specialists will be plentiful in 2009!
Social Marketing Specialist Training Program is Now Live!
Well, it has certainly been a whirlwind of a week as we have finally opened the doors to our brand spanking new Live Social Marketing Specialist Training Program!
I am not sure if you were able to attend the live webinar we did this week titled: “7 Profitable Social Marketing Services for 2009″, but we had a rather big audience and a great response. We actually have just finished producing the recording of that event and I have included a link to view the 67 minute video webinar below:
Social Marketing Webinar Recording
Please note, the audio is a little quieter then expected, so you may need to crank up your speaker volume:)
With our Social Marketing Course, we offered 40 seats and we are now have about 14 spots remaining as of today. There is such an interest among Virtual Assistants right now to develop their Social Media Marketing skills. I believe this will be one of the most highly sought after services moving into 2009!
Enjoy the webinar!
Adopting a Social Media Marketing Mindset
One of the key first steps to becoming a successful Social Marketing Specialist or Consultant is to understand and adopt a “Social Marketing Mindset”. As many of you know, Social media is really all about building relationships, adding value to the community and being real and authentic.
I had an opportunity to dialogue this week with three team members from one of the fastest rising Web 2.0 companies on the Net, Freshbooks.com. Some of you may use their Invoicing and Time Tracking system, which is ultra cool. But, they are SUPER innovative when it comes to social media and have fully adopted this Social Marketing Mindset. They were recently listed #2 for the Top Web 2.0 companies in Canada (Backbone Magazine).
Check out this out the very insightful 22 minute informal discussion between myself and Saul, Rayanne and Gregg from Freshbooks by signing up at our Social Marketing Page. You will see that they are very passionate as I am about Social Media and share some great prespectives on this fast growing industry.
For our upcoming Social Marketing Specialist Coaching Series, I am fully hoping to recruit Saul Colt and/or Rayanne Langdon (Social Media Gurus at Freshbooks) to join our Expert Panel. More on that later…
The Top Seven Social Marketing Services for 2009
Well, many of you that follow my blog regularly know that I love to talk about what is going on with Social Media. For the past two years, Social Media Marketing has become of passion of mine and I have absorbed pretty much every PDF guide, webinar, ebook, podcast I could my hands on regarding this topic!
It is an undisputable fact that 2008 was the year Social Media dominated the Internet and ultimately changed the way we comunicate and market our businesses in the online world!
But, most experts predict we are just at the tip of the iceberg! Social Network Sites such as Twitter, Facebook and LInkedIn all experienced tremendous growth 2008, but that does not even come to close to what is anticipated for 2009.
So, with the rapid growth of Social Media and the influx of businesses using it to build their brand and exposure, I am going to make a bold, but obvious prediction for 2009…..
Social marketing will become the most “in-demand” skill and service requested by small businesses (possibly with the exception of design and copy) As I listen to Internet experts and connect with my online business pals, Social Media is quickly moving to the top of their marketing priority lists. Many of them took Social Media Training Courses such as StomperNet’s SMARTS program, but here is the fundamental problem: “Most simply don’t have time to maximize the potential of Social Media Marketing for their respective businesses.
So, it probably goes without saying that one of the hottest niches to further develop your skills and services falls in the area of Social Marketing.
Based our our extensive research, I have broken it down into the Top Seven Social Marketing Services that businesses will be desperately seeking in 2009….
On October 28th… we will will be running a live, FREE webinar event,
“Seven Profitable Social Marketing Services To Offer Your Clients in 2009″
If you are interested in Social Media and and see the huge potential in positioning yourself as a Social Marketing Specialist in 2009, then this webinar is for you.
Just visit the below web page to view a short video on this upcoming Social Media event. We are limiting this webinar to 200 seats so be sure to sign-up as soon as possible. I will be in touch soon with some more details!
http://www.vaclassroom.com/socialmarketing
50 Twitter ideas for your Business
Over the past week, I have had a number of interesting conversations on the “business value” of Twitter. Again, I was probably one of those “Twitter” naysayers initially as I truly thought it was quite trivial and a total time drag! I am now happy to say I am a Twitter convert and see the huge business and networking potential with this fast growing social media channel.
In dialoguing with my VAClassroom members and other colleagues, there are certainly a whole variety of opinions and thoughts on Twitter such as:
“Twitter is a waste of time - who wants to hear what someone else is having for lunch?”
“Twitter is a place for me to dialogue and share ideas with my VA peers”
“Do I really want to tell people “What I am doing”?”
“Twitter is a fabulous to tool for strategically building rapport and relationship with prospective clients”.
“Twitter and my incessant beeps via my Tweetdeck app are driving me crazy”
“Twitter is a place where I can be real with my peers and clients - it is authentic and casual”
“I find Twitter a great “seed planter” for my business as it quickly connects me with potential JV partners and clients..”
Those are just of the few of the comments I have received….
Now, Twitter like Facebook is one of those tools that can seriously hinder your productivity and focus if you allow it too! While some people prefer to just share random thoughts and dialogue back and forth with their twitter pals throughout the day, I personally find that it can become a distraction. If was a betting man, I would say that Social media apps like “Twitter and Facebook” have likely affected employee productivity:)
But in saying all that, I believe Twitter is a serious force to be reckon with when it comes to building authentic relationships with key business contacts and clients and is dynamite for networking yourself and your business!
I came across a very worthwhile list of Twitter Ideas for your business at Chris Brogan’s Blog titled:
50 Ideas on Using Twitter for your Business
Some of his ideas I really like such as:
“Instead of answering the question, “What are you doing”, answer the question “What has your attention” - that seems to lend himself to more business-oriented approach to Twitter.
“Ask Questions - Twitter is great for getting opinions” - I have already found this useful in doing quick surveys and gather pertinent data for projects I am working on.
“Twitter brings great minds together and gives you daily opportunities to learn” - great point.
Chris also says to “Talk about Non-Business topics as well” - While I agree with him, I think this (like Facebook Fun Walls) can be a slippery slope! It is easy to lose an hour quickly by chatting on Facebook or tweeting back and forth. You just need to weigh out the time cost that this might have towards your work priorities. Again, this is fine balance that is not always easy to strike!
Twitter - a Recruiting Ground for Mainstream Media?
While being a Twitter skeptic myself at the beginning, I have become increasingly fascinated with the different ways Twitter is intersecting with mainstream media. I read a great post from Small Business Trends today, “Grab Attention of Top Editors and Producers with Social Media“. The blogger, Jonathan Fields, mentioned how the senior writer and blogger for the popular Business Week Magazine, was writing a cover story on blogging and social media and was regularly asking Twitter followers for input. Jonathan sent him a tweet giving his 2 cents on Social Media only to find that the Senior Editor loved the quote and included it in the article months later. Wow, from a Tweet to a quote in a major US publication!
He also told of a top editor from Wiley Publishing (an avid Twitterer) who recently posted this tweet: “Pitch me a book idea in 140 characters or less. Go”. How’s that for an opportunity to get in the face of a senior editor of a major publishing company?? The net has certainly broken down conventional ways of getting things done!
Take a read of Jonathan’s full post as it clearly reinforces the dynamic relationship that is taking shape between mainstream media and Twitter.
Okay I am officially a Twitter Believer - there is definitely untapped potential to make new business contacts, build your client base and even ink a book deal:)
The Power of Video Marketing for Virtual Assistants
Happy Canada Day! Yes, “I AM CANADIAN” (Molson Beer Commerical Reference) and singing the “True, North, Strong and Free” from beautiful and ridiculously hot Phoenix!
Yesterday, I ran a teleseminar event to my VAClassroom Members titled: “Marketing your VA Business in a Web 2.0 World“. We spent some time discussing the power of Video Marketing and the sheer potential it has for rapidly increasing website traffic and improving search listings.
I had mentioned to the group that I had recently noticed that very few Virtual Assistants actually include Video on their websites nor have posted to YouTube. Now, I am sure some of you do, but I still think you would make up a small percentage.
I posed the question to yesterday’s group “Why are most Virtual Assistants not including Video in their marketing efforts?” Does it have to do with simply not having the right equipment to produce the videos or is there a “fear factor” involved here? Is there a hesitation to jump in front of the camera for fear of looking silly or not presenting yourself very well? Would you fall into this category?
I have produced many YouTube Videos in my home office, back yard, park, coffee shop, hotel room and I have to say that I always feel a little wierd initially when doing the videos, but thanks to the editing power of Sony Vegas Movie Studio, I am able to clear my stutters, stammers and “duh” moments and actually produce a quality video. Creating videos is kind of like “public speaking” - the more you do it, the more natural you become. The first couple you might feel like a deer caught in headlights, but it gets easier!!
The bottom line though is that Video marketing is way too powerful and effective to not include in your overall marketing strategies. Over the last few months, I have produced a number of YouTube Videos and continue to see targeted traffic and improved search listings for VAClassroom as a result. Let me show you….
If you go to YouTube and search for “Virtual Assistant”, you will see that VAClassroom has the number 8 spot on that list. If you type in Virtual Assistant Training, I have videos holding down the #3,5 and 6 spots, which again bring traffic to our site. Finally, if you type in “Virtual Assistant Certification”, you will see that we have spots 1 & 2. Again, these videos are sending targeted traffic back to VAClassroom.
To elaborate further, if you go to Google and type in “Virtual Assistant Certification”, we are not on the first page, but our YouTube video holds the 18th & 19th spot on the 2nd page of search results out of a total of 3.8 million search listings for this keyword.
Now, these videos have had strong link building implications for VAClassroom.com. If you do a Google search for “Virtual Assistant Training”, VAClassroom currently holds the 13th spot out of 387,000 listings.
Now, it is very important to note that we only launched VAClassroom less than 2 months ago and we are already seeing some good natural search traffic which is great. Now, I must say that Video Marketing has certainly played a key role in some of our early success and can have the same impact for your VA websites!
The other comment is that I have not seen too many VA websites that include a “Welcome Video” on their homepage. Again, this is an ideal opportunity to provide a personalized introduction to every prospective client hitting your page. People like to look at people, so it is just smart marketing to include a creative introduction video right on your home page that will further compliment your existing web copy. I would recommend using easyflv to add your videos to your website - very userfriendly!
Again, you probably can tell that I am super pumped about Video marketing primarily due to the profound impact it has had on my traffic and search listings. There is no better time to incorporate Video into your overall marketing strategy then right now!
A Social Media Widget to add to your Virtual Assistant Toolbox.
As I have discussed in previous posts, Social Media Marketing is a rapidly growing niche for Virtual Assistants to tap into. Some Virtual Assistants are positioning themselves as Social Network Specialists for busy clients who want to leverage the power of Social Media, but simply do not have the time.
I came across this cool social media widget on Internet Girl Fridays’ Virtual Assistant website. This particular Social Media Widget enables you to present all your social network profiles in own location on your website or blog.
While this widget is great for showcasing your many Social Network Profiles, I do think it would be ideal for those of you who are seeking to add Social Network Profile Set-Up and Management services to your VA portfolio. It could serve as a nice marketing tool to prospective clients interested in expanding their exposure and business presence through the Social Networks. You would be able to showcase the quality profiles you have set-up for your own business and in turn give them a taste of what they could expect if they were to hire you to set-up and manage their online Social Profiles.
Again, most businesses simply do not have the time to effectively manage and update their Social Network Profiles, so a most excellent “in-demand” service for a Virtual Assistant!
