Are You Ready to Tell Google Buzz to Buzz off?

There’s a new kid on the block in the world of Social Networks, and if you use Gmail, he’s already living on your street! Google recently unveiled Google Buzz, a Social Network that’s built right into Gmail. If you have a Gmail account, you might have noticed a colorful balloon that showed up on the left-hand side of the page – that’s Buzz!

Google had some great ideas when they unveiled Buzz. Check out this YouTube video posted on the Official Google Blog to introduce Buzz:

Unfortunately, despite these good intentions, Buzz has caused some frustration among loyal Gmail users. For example, the blog post “Buzz off, Google: Social networks should always be opt-in, not opt-out” highlights the fact that all Gmail users were enrolled in Buzz without being asked first. Furthermore, Google automatically made a social graph of your most-emailed people and made sharing of that graph opt-out instead of opt-in. As this article explains, “it’s super easy to miss the check box, and the default should always be the safest choice.”

In Google’s defense, they listened to users’ feedback and have introduced some improvements. The Official Gmail Blog reports that the following changes have been made to Buzz:

1. There is a more visible option to not show followers/people you follow on your public profile.

2. You have the ability to block anyone who starts following you.

3. There is more clarity on which of your followers/people you follow can appear on your public profile.

Given Google’s popularity and history of creating quality products, there is definitely the possibility that Google Buzz could someday rival Facebook and Twitter.

What do you think? Are you ready to tell Google Buzz to buzz off, or do you think Google can rise to the challenge of making Buzz the best Social Network around?

Customer Service 2.0 - Local Business Raises the Bar Using Social Media.

You may remember a post we published a couple days ago entitled “Social Media Goes Local in 2010,” where we described the innovative way restaurant owner Joe Sorge is using Social Media to promote AJ Bombers and other restaurants in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Well, the interesting conversation on our VAClassroom Fan Page generated by this post revealed that one of our VAClassroom members, Janet Janowiak, a resident of Waterford, Wisconsin, also featured Chris Brogan’s Kitchen Table Talks video in her post “Local Business Success Built by Twitter.”

Shortly after she published her post, Joe commented on her blog and emailed her an invitation to dinner.  "Joe's comment came in moments after my post was published," Janet explained. "This really proves how connected the social media world is. I don't know what tool Joe uses to monitor his brand, but I was praising him and look how quickly he replied. Imagine if someone made a comment that was negative. I'm sure that Joe would do everything in his power to make the customer happy."

What a gracious response and a perfect example of customer service reaching new heights through Social Media! Joe’s personal touch goes a long way to building positive brand recognition and exposure for his restaurants via social networking – an excellent case study to encourage local businesses to adopt a Social Media strategy ASAP!

Social Media Goes Local in 2010!

If you enter AJ Bombers restaurant in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and slide into one of the booths, you’ll notice interesting graffiti written on the heavy varnished wood. As you look closer, you’ll find out that people have written Twitter user names all over the place.

Now why on earth would people be thinking about Twitter at a restaurant?

Well, believe it or not, Social Media is going local, and brick and mortar businesses are capitalizing on the power of Social Media to help generate more traffic to their business and to keep their current customers coming back.

Check out this fascinating Kitchen Table Talks video with Chris Brogan and Joe Sorge, owner of AJ Bombers and other restaurants in Milwaukee:

As Joe explains, “AJ Bombers was built by Twitter.”  Imagine business owners being able to monitor customers’ experiences from a distance, making adjustments and responding to complaints on the fly from their Twitter account.  Imagine loyal customers being offered daily specials through tweets from their favorite restaurant. That’s the power of Social Media.

However, according to a recent article in Social Media Examiner, “3 New Studies Show Value of Social Media and Businesses Slow Response,” only 47% of companies are experimenting with Social Media, and of those that do, many are failing to effectively build online community and provide a favorable platform for interaction and feedback.

This finding shows that there’s a definite need for Virtual Assistants with Social Media skills to fill that niche and educate businesses on best practices for using Social Media. For VAClassroom grads, the possibilities are endless, and brick and mortar businesses would surely benefit from your expertise in Social Media Marketing.

So survey the brick and mortar businesses around you and just imagine how a Twitter Account or a Facebook Fan Page could build their clientele and keep people coming in the door. The sky’s the limit with a little imagination and a passion for engaging people with the tools available in this exciting new Web 2.0 world!

Ignite Your Business Visibility with Facebook Connect.

Have you ever wished you lived in a shopping mall? It sounds funny, but it would make life a lot easier, especially if you lived in a huge mall like West Edmonton Mall or the Mall of America.

You could park the car, enter the building, and everything you needed would be laid out in front of you without ever having to leave home. Stores in that mall would probably get a lot more business than stores outside the mall because it would be easier to access them, and residents of the mall would recommend certain shops and services to each other by word of mouth.

Now imagine you had a place to live on the Internet and were able to visit different websites without having to give up the comfort of that home. The Facebook Connect feature was unveiled in 2008 to create easy, one-stop access to websites from your Facebook profile. It’s an API that enables people to use their Facebook identity and connections to authenticate themselves on any third-party site, community or blog. In essence, it makes your Facebook profile the “home base” and eliminates the need for new sign-ups on other websites.

In Powered, Inc.’s e-book “Marketing Predictions for 2010,” Aaron Strout, Chief Marketing Officer, predicts that Facebook Connect will play an increasingly important role in the ways brands connect with their customers and other constituents on Facebook in 2010.

It’s already showing an incredible ability to help businesses draw more Traffic, thereby increasing their Return on Influence and ultimately their Return on Investment.

Here are some examples:

Increased Traffic:

The Official Facebook Connect News Page reports that since implementing Facebook Connect, the CBS Insider has gained a significant increase in traffic on theinsider.com, with over 85% of new registered users using Facebook Connect.

Increased Return on Influence

According to Facebook’s latest statistics from Citysearch,"Since implementing Facebook Connect, daily registrations have tripled, and connected users are twice as engaged as users not using Facebook Connect. 94% of users who write reviews share those reviews back on Facebook, where 70% of their friends who see the review click on it, and travel back to Citysearch.com.”
This points to the viral nature of Facebook Connect, the ability of users to bring content, activity and conversations from third-party sites back into their Facebook newsfeed, thereby creating more social engagement.

Increased Return on Investment

Lauren Miller in her article “5 Services Using Facebook Connect Effectively” reports that although the Tap Tap Revenge 3 App on the iPhone may be one of the simplest implementations of Facebook Connect on the iPhone, it’s become one of the biggest selling apps of all time on the app store.  It works great because it gives you rewards when you tell your friends about the game and posts updates on your friends’ newsfeeds about your activity and scores.

All this being said, Facebook Connect has great potential to open up a very profitable niche for you and your clients’ businesses. This is good news for our VAClassroom graduates who are already providing Facebook services for their clients or are planning to add that service in the near future.

As Ken Burbury says in his article “Five Reasons Companies should be Integrating Social Media with Facebook Connect,” “At the end of the day, companies need to fish where the fish are. And right now the fish are spending their time on Facebook.com.”

What are your thoughts on Facebook Connect? We’d love to hear your comments!

Don’t Just Shorten Your URL: Understand Your Social Media Traffic Too!

Creating a shorter URL link, made increasingly popular by the micro-blogging giant Twitter, has now evolved into the next generation.   You knew it was only a matter of time, right?

The new kid on the block is Cligs, which is growing at a rapid rate, providing not just shorter URLS, but the additional features of providing you the stats of your submitted links, with analytics, social media monitoring and geotargeting capability.

The driver behind Cligs is to help you understand your traffic.  By tracking the traffic going thru your links, your online activity and the buzz it creates, whether for business or otherwise, is made transparent to you.

Why use Cligs?  Besides being FREE and user-friendly, it provides:

-    An informative Blog, regularly updated with news features and tips;

-    Real-time analytics, who’s sharing your link and who’s linking to you;

-    Geo-targeted destination URLs, to target your marketing and promotions on a per-country basis;

-    Referral statistics, to show which links sent you traffic;

-    Tools, gadgets and widgets, such as Wordpress plugins;

-    Various Twitter applications, such as a short a URL partnership with “Twitblogs”, the blogging service with Twitter which automatically gets tweeted with a link to the full post;

-    Ability to create an unlimited number of cligs, pointing to the same destination from different sites for traffic tracking purposes;

-    100% search engine friendly.

Has anyone tested out Cligs yet? I would love to hear your feedback!

TwitWall: When 140 Characters isn't Enough

For businesses who are utilizing Twitter’s staggering marketing potential as part of a Social Media Marketing campaign, Twitter provides a lot of room for creativity and innovative solutions for reaching target audiences.

Now that celebrities (such as Ashton Kutcher and CNN) , presidential campaigns and millions of users worldwide are accustomed to micro-blogging, Twitter is providing an enhancement to the micro-space of Tweeting.

For everyone already on Twitter, how many don’t realize they have a TwitWall? This easy to use feature is a blog companion for Twitter, allowing a space for Tweeters as an alternative, or addition to their micro-blog of maximum 140 characters. This page within Twitter allows users to embed their favorite videos and widgets, upload photos, mp3 music, podcasts, and source-images originating from existing http:// locations.

The little set-up time and effort involved is very appealing for those wanting more of a presence on Twitter, outside the context of the micro-blog. Additionally, TwitWall utilizes your existing Twitter followers that you’ve already established, with everything posted on your TwitWall updating your status on your Twitter timeline. It also carries over the personal branding design preferences of your Twitter page, such as background image, colours etc.

So why use TwitWall as a blog page rather than just your traditional blog post?

This question was posed to TwitWall founder Michael E. Carluen, who stated, “For users who currently have existing blogs, TwitWall can be a repository of content they would like to share with their Twitter network, but does not fit the general content of their main blog.”¹

As an additional blogging platform that’s unique to your followers, TwitWall provides a dynamic new communication tool, ready to be discovered!

Six Keys to Building a Thriving Virtual Assistant Practice in 2009

Happy New Year! I definitely took a long hiatus from my blog, but have re-charged my creative batteries and am officially ready to go!

I have had the privilege of working with a whole variety of Virtual Assistants over a number of years and have been able to assess the particular traits or characteristics that make some of them  very successful. As we head into a New Year full of much promise here are six keys to building a thriving Virtual Assistant Practice in 2009:

KEY #1 - Be Active in Social Networking - I continue to hear great testimonies of some of our VAClassroom students finding new ideal clients through such popular Social Networks as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. They are building their network with a target audience and are finding opportunities emerge through these connections! So, one of the keys to sustaining a Thriving Virtual Assistance practice in 2009 is to become a "Master Networker" in the key social networks, forums, groups and online communities!

KEY #2 - Build a Compelling Web Presence - I have also had the opportunity to review many different VA websites and I noticed that some of them still do not market themselves super well. The page sometimes is super text heavy, with no multimedia or compelling images. As an Internet Business Owner (who currently works with 4 VAs), I love coming to site that has a YouTube Video, compelling graphics, an optin box to a free PDF guide, Twitter & Facebook Badges and possibly a blog. This shows me that this business is cutting edge and savvy! So, here's a test....

Go to your website right now and ask yourself: "If I was a prospective client, would I be drawn to my website?" Now is the best time of year to make changes!

KEY #3 - Participate in Blogging and Social Media Content Sharing - Many of you who are blogging right now know the value of being of thought leader in the VA industry and building credibility with your prospective client base - not to mention the great SEO value of regularly updating your blog! The key with your blog is to create content that would be relevant to your target client audience. For example; I saw a PDF guide that a VA was offering called "101 Reasons to Use a Virtual Assistant in 2009" - this was great and relevant content for small busineses, which certainly could pave the way to new client opportunities!

It is imperative to build your traffic and web presence through sharing content in such sites as HubPages, Squidoo and EzineArticles. This again positions you as a thought leader and drives traffic and Search Engine results back to your website!

KEY #4 - Establish a Clear Business Niche - As you know, the Virtual Assistant role is constantly in flux and means many different things to different people. Many VAs are bloggers, web-designers, social media marketers, bookkeepers, event planners, PR specialists and so much more! The most successful VAs have been able to establish the right niche at the right time to create the best opportunities for their business. For example; businesses are screaming for VAs with Social Media Marketing expertise, which is why we recently launched our Social Media Marketing Specialist Training Program.

Also, it is important to identify the niche audience you are targeting. Is your ideal client audience, Real-Estate Agents, Business Coaches, Women Entrepreneurs, Internet Marketer, Ecommerce Sites etc..?

KEY #5 - Proactive Marketing Strategies - I always love the saying "The squeaky wheel gets the grease"! Translation: A Pro-active Virtual Assistant will create the best opportunities for their business! As you know, the clients may find you on Social Networks or via your website, which is great, but for the most part, you will need to go out there and connect with your ideal client audience in creative ways. For example; One of our VAClassroom Students mentioned that she was putting on workshops for small business associations in her local area on "The Power of Social Media Marketing". Well, this served as an excellent avenue for her to position herself as an authority and build some new client opportunities.

KEY #6 - Highly Committed to Continual Learning - Of all the industries I have be apart of in my career, none has moved faster than the Internet Business. New technology and web trends are evolving at a rapid pace and 6 months is like 5-10 years in another industry! It is paramount that you are actively pursuing learning and training opportunities in your niche to ensure that you remain on the cutting edge and at the top of your game in 2009.

So, there you have it.... Six keys to building a thriving Virtual Assistant business in the New Year!

I am sure there are other "Keys" and would love to hear yours!

Charitable Organizations Using Social Media to Spread Christmas Cheer

Can you believe that December has already arrived - this Fall season has just blown by hasn`t it? I came across an interesting article that I thought might interest you. In these tough economic times, great charitable organizations like The Salvation Army are feeling the crunch and overall giving is down this year. The Salvation Army and other non-profits have gotten creative this Christmas season and are making use of the popular Social networks, Twitter and Facebook to connect with the younger generation and ultimately increase their donations! This article confirms an interesting trend taking shape with a growing number of non-profits and charitable organizations starting to use Social Media to spread awareness and bolster their donations. The emergence of non-profits using Social Media presents an ideal, niche opportunity for those considering working as Social Media Specialists and Consultants! Many of these organizations are just feeling their way through Social Networking and need a consultant to help them to chart the right course! As many of you know, we are currently running the Social Marketing Specialist Training Program to about 40 students. We just actually finished the training session involving Facebook and Twitter and talked about non-profits being an ideal client prospect! Check out this interesting article on The Salvation Army and the virtual `Red Kettle`. CNN Article on Salvation Army

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!

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...

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:)

TweetBeep Your Way to New Client Prospects For Your Virtual Assistant Business!

Now, I am fairly certainly that many of you are becoming avid "Twitterers", but are you also a "TweetBeeper"? Okay Craig, speak English! I have started to use TweetBeep over the last little while and have been quite impressed with the potential for Virtual Assistants to connect with clients interested in hiring Virtual Staff - Your marketing strategies couldn't possibly get more targeted:)! TweetBeep functions similar to Google Alerts in the sense that you can receive daily or current alerts based on specific keywords listed in Twitter conversations. So, check out a segment of a TweetBeep email alert from yesterday for the keyword, "Virtual Assistant": (mind the less than stellar quality of the below image:) As you scan this list, you will see the first two are ideal "twitterers" to follow and connect with as they are both serious about hiring VIrtual Assistants. The 4th post demonstrates a very smart way of doing "Twitter Marketing" - Sharing a blog post relevant to prospective VA clients. The second to last post (Hi Frances!) also has a heads-up Twitter post by attempting to engage those that are seeking a Virtual Assistant - nice! There are no shortage of creative ways to connect with prospective clients in Twitter. We covered a number of these ideas in a recent teleseminar we did at VAClassroom, Marketing your VA Business in a Web 2.0 World." So, if you are not yet using this tool, it is time to start "Tweetbeeping" your way to a wave of new clients for your Virtual Assistant business.

The Niche Opportunities for Virtual Assistants in the Fast Growing Social Media Landscape

Over the last 18 months, I have become an incurable learner on the exploding Social Media Movement and the profound impact it can have for Internet Business Owners like myself. I have digested blog posts, articles, webinars and even wrote a couple of my own articles pertaining to Social Media. (Check out my SiteProNews Article, "Is Social Media Marketing really worth your time and effort?").  My overwhelming conclusion is that Social Media Marketing is a MUST for all business owners in order to realize their full potential in 2008 and beyond! We are currently seeing a major shift in thinking among Internet Businesses pertaining to Social Media. In 2007, businesses were asking the question (with skepticism): "Can Social Media Marketing really do anything for my business? Is there any value in hanging out in Facebook groups, commenting on blogs, networking in Linked.com and sharing my videos in YouTube? I think that question has been effectively answered by many of the Industry experts who have openly endorsed Social Media Marketing as a powerful business building channel. The real question Internet Businesses are asking now is: "Okay, we see that Social Media Marketing is a GOOD thing, but how the heck do we find the time to actually carry out all these important Social Media Marketing activities???? The answer......Virtual Assistants who have tapped in to this exploding Social Media Niche. There are Virtual Assistants who are becoming specialists in editing, producing and syndicating videos to all the major video-sharing sites. There are others who are Facebook experts who know the "ins and outs" on building industry-specific groups, business facebook pages and even setting up and managing Pay Per Click Facebook campaigns. There is even the whole emerging trend of "Presence Managers" where businesses hire a Virtual Assistant to represent or even be them in the various social networks they are targeting. Now, there are some ethical issues with that one, but a growing area for sure! Given that Social Media is continuing to experience explosive growth, there are no shortage of opportunities for Virtual Assistants to tap into this niche. So, with my collective passion for Social Media and Virtual Assistants, I have decided to run a teleseminar that might interest you, titled: "How Virtual Assistants can profit from the Social Media Explosion in 2008".  This will essentially be a "mini-lesson" taken in part from the upcoming release of the Internet Marketing VA Training Program at VAClassroom.com.  Also on the call, we will be making an important announcement and special offer regarding the launch of VAClassroom.com, so certainly worth checking out Please stay tuned to this blog over the next day or so as I will provide some more concrete details on how you can get signed up for this important teleseminar!