Seven Must-Have Google Tools for Maximizing Your Business Productivity

Do you love Google Tools as much as we do? Google has a talent for coming up with features that often cater to the needs of Virtual Assistants and Online Business owners and can even help brick and mortar businesses take more of their activities online. For example, the blog post “Free Google Tools Changing the Way I Do Business” talks about the way Google’s suite of tools can streamline people’s work in the Real Estate business, providing quick access to email and documents.

If one of your goals for the last part of 2010 is to maximize your business productivity so you can hit the ground running in 2011, Google Tools can help you do that.

So without further ado, here’s a list of the ones we’d highly recommend:

1. Gmail – Google’s web-based email client provides you with 7+ GB of storage, as well as mobile access and a very effective spam filter. With Gmail we’re able to access our messages on any computer and on mobile devices when we’re on the go. Some other features we like about Gmail are:

•    Google Search within Gmail
•    Labels, Filters and Stars to help organize messages
•    Always-on HTTPS encryption

2. Google Docs – We’ve discovered Google Docs are a great way to create documents (also spreadsheets, presentations, forms, and drawings) to share online with colleagues or clients. Here’s how you can use them:

•    Upload any files from your desktop.
•    Edit and view them from any computer or smartphone.
•    Invite real-time collaboration on documents.

3. Google Calendar – Our VAClassroom team has just started using this free online calendar to enhance our productivity, and so far it’s working really well. Here are some of the things it’s allowing us to do:

•    Share our schedules with each other so we can synchronize our activities.
•    Access a mobile version of the calendar.
•    Customize reminders so that we’re notified by email or text when an upcoming event or task is approaching.

4. Google Reader – It’s very important to stay on top of what’s happening in your industry, but trying to monitor all your favorite blogs and websites for new content can be frustrating and time-consuming. Google Reader allows you to input the names of your favorite sites, and then it will check them regularly for new content and display it all on one screen. Here’s what else you can do with this tool:

•    Recommend articles to friends, colleagues or clients by sending them relevant links.
•    Add a customizable clip to your website or blog sidebar to display your latest shared articles.
•    Access your Google Reader on your mobile phone browser or from any computer.

5. Google Blog Search – This is an invaluable tool to use when writing blog posts for your business. It allows you to research blog posts on particular topics to see what other people are saying and what’s been written about before. With the advanced blog search, you can search using several criteria:

•    Words or phrases in post or title
•    URLs
•    Dates (useful when you’re looking for the most recent blog posts on a topic)
•    Author

6. Google Chrome – The Google Chrome web browser has proven to be faster and more stable for us, especially when viewing our VAClassroom training videos. Often if students are having difficulties viewing videos on other browsers, we recommend Google Chrome. So far it’s also offering these benefits:

•    Greater speed
•    Sophisticated security to allow safe browsing
•    Auto-updates

7. Google Alerts – As mentioned before, keeping apprised of certain topics related to your industry can be tricky and time-consuming. In addition to Google Reader, you can also use Google Alerts to keep on top of what people are saying about you, your business, your competitors or your industry in general. When you set up Google Alerts, you receive email updates of the latest relevant Google results according to the topic you chose. You can preview and then customize your alerts based on the following criteria:

•    Type of alert (News, Blogs, Updates, Video, Discussions)
•    How often you’d like to receive alerts
•    How many email results you’d like to receive

So there you have it – seven must-have business tools for maximizing your business productivity heading into the latter half of 2010. As the Internet landscape changes and evolves, most likely Google will come out with some more cool tools, and all of us involved in the Virtual Assistance business can benefit from anything that helps streamline our work with clients and all our Internet Marketing or Social Marketing activities.

So now we’d like to hear your thoughts! What Google Tool has had the biggest impact on your business productivity? Please add any other favorites to our list!

Virtual Events and Social Media – A Match Made in Web Heaven!

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day, and we’re going to talk about marriage… no, not that kind of marriage – the marriage of Virtual Events and Social Media.

Virtual Events are already very popular because of their inherent benefits – they’re cost-effective, attract a wider global audience, generate increased exposure and save time – but Social Media enhances the power of Virtual Events by providing an effective channel to promote, create buzz and facilitate interaction for these online events.

Consider Twitter Hashtags. They are an extremely powerful medium to use for promoting and creating buzz around a Virtual Event, and the best way to explain them is to show them in action. Check out this excellent video by Krishna De:

Another way of pairing Social Media and Virtual Events is to make use of interactive chat alongside an online event. For example, Facebook tested a new feature during the 2009 Presidential Inauguration that allowed people to post status updates and comments beside live streaming video on CNN’s website. According to the Facebook Developers blog post “Posting the Stream in Real Time with the Live Stream Box,”

“It was a significant moment for Facebook Platform. We realized how powerful it was to see what your friends were saying, not just on Facebook, but right in context on CNN.com.”

Following that event, Facebook launched the Facebook Live Stream Box, a feature that website owners or developers can install on their website so Facebook users can share updates and content about a live event through Facebook Connect. With this tool, any updates posted will appear in the Live Stream Box, as well as on the Facebook user’s profile and friends’ News Feeds.

Additionally, Ustream, a website that supports live streaming presentations, includes a Social Stream that can be used to chat with people over Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and AIM while an online event is taking place. Ustream also allows you to incorporate the Live Stream Box within your Facebook Fan Page. According to the Ustream.tv website, this feature adds a new tab to the Fan Page, developed and customized by Ustream, with the live player residing both on Ustream.com and the Facebook Profile. Here, Facebook users can chat with the host and with each other through the Live Stream Box as well as through chat and Social Stream on the Ustream.com Show Page.

This combination of Social Media and Virtual Events contains untapped potential for businesses, Virtual Events Specialists and Social Media Specialists. Businesses are in desperate need of people with the skills necessary to set up events, promote them and facilitate interaction between attendees. Virtual Assistants can be the matchmakers that bring Virtual Events and Social Media together, creating a union that will most certainly generate more visibility for your clients’ businesses and take the Virtual Events niche to new heights!

VAClassroom Listed as One of the Top Websites for 2008!

Well, in business it is always nice to finish a year on a positive note! We have so enjoyed working with the 42 VAClassroom students who have been plowing through our live Social Marketing Specialist Training Program over the last 6 weeks. The Training program has exceeded our expectations and we have been super pleased with all the feedback received thus far.

Also, we were honored today to be listed with such reputable websites as Copyblogger.com and Stompernet.com as part of Andrea Kalli’s Top Websites for 2008 Thanks Andrea – much appreciated!

As we close out December, I will be sharing a few of my predictions for 2009 as it relates to Blogging, Social Media and the Virtual Assistance industry, so stay tuned!

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!

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…