Jing FREE Video Capture Tool

Video Marketing is an easy, effective and proven method of reaching out and attracting a broader audience.  Social networking and marketing is about increasing your visibility and putting you, the person, back into your business.  Video does this by giving people a voice and a face to go along with your words.

I always tell my students and consulting clients  to try FREE tools (if they are available) when they’re starting something new.  That usually takes care of the “I don’t have the money” excuse and at the same time takes care of the procrastinators!  After all, the sooner you start, the sooner you’ll see results!

If you have been thinking about dipping a toe into the vast waters of video marketing as part of your social media marketing  plan, then Jing is a great FREE starter tool you should use.  The free version gives you up to 5 minutes of video.  It captures still shots too!

Snap a picture of your screen to record a still shot photo. This will enable you to do a plethora of things…

• Slide shows
• Power Point Presentations
• Training Materials
• You can also add captions, arrows or highlight specific areas on your still shot for further detail and explanation
• Take some still shots off of your website or blog and create a free 30 second or less video on Animoto with music and captions. It’s a snap and fun to do!  Take a peek at My Introduction Video I did with Jing snap shots in Animoto…
  

  Record video of onscreen action.

  • Have you ever been talking to your VA and said, “Sure wish I could show you what I mean!”  How about a client or business associate? Now you can!
  • It’s a perfect training tool.  Now you can demonstrate training steps through video, and then upload it to a video hosting site such a YouTube.
  • How-to Videos are popular and highly effective in conveying your expertise.  Short, helpful How-To’s will attract and encourage viewers to check out your site! Don’t forget to put a “Call to Action” at the end of your video for better results.

  Share instantly over the web, IM, email etc…

  • Post your video on YouTube, Slideshare & Screencast, just to name a few.
  • Save it as a file.
  • Share it on Facebook, Twitter and other social sites.

  Here are a few other things you can do that Jing has shared.

• Collaborate on a design projects
• Share snapshots of a document
• Narrate your business conference photos
• Capture that pesky computer bug in action
• Show Clients how to use or sell your product
• Comment verbally on your clients projects
• Comment on your student’s  homework
• Post tidbits from your business on Twitter or Facebook

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Upload your Avatar to Gravatar!

My day is filled with a million and one things to do! One of those things to do involves commenting on other people’s blogs. A good social media plan mandates that I participate in other people’s business lives. When I write a comment on another blog, I like to leave a link to my blog and a picture, which is referred to as an avatar.

One way that I increase my visibility and reach across the Internet is to post the same photo wherever I comment. Now, I no longer have to waste time uploading my picture on several different platforms because I have discovered a resource that does it for me.  It’s called Gravatar.

Take a peek at this video to see how it works and how it can help you implement one piece of your social marketing plan more efficiently!

Take a moment right now to go to Gravatar.com and set up your universal avatar and make your life a little bit easier!

Please let me know what you struggle with! I just might have the answer….and if I don’t, I bet I can get it!

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1.   Click on the Application title under the update on your wall as indicated in the photo below.

2.   This takes you directly to the application page where you can block the application.  Just click “Block Application” and a pop up box will appear to confirm your action.

3. Reconfirm that you want to block the app by clicking on “Block Fish World “(or whatever app you’re blocking) and this will ensure that this App no longer shows          up in your feed.  That way if your friend decides to leave Fish World or Farm Ville long enough to participate in real conversations, you’ll still be able to see                what they have to say!

If this helped you or someone you know, please hit the ReTweet button at the top right of my post and tell your followers. Leave a comment and let me know how you like your new uncluttered look!

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You’re working hard to develop your brand and increase your business visibility.You’re developing relationships & gaining credibility. People are starting to talk….

• How are you keeping up with the buzz you are creating?

• Do you know who is talking about you?

• Do you know where your articles are being posted?

• Who’s saying positive things about you?

•  Who’s saying negative things about you or your products and services?
  

• Who’s linking to your online real estate?

As a solo business owner it’s critical that you manage your online reputation.

It is perfect social manners to thank anyone who gives kudos to you, your business or services. If anyone bashes you, it is important that you are on it by implementing damage control immediately!

Let me introduce you to one completely free “Reputation Management” tool.

Google Alerts: http://Google.com/alerts.

Google Alerts are delivered via email or RSS feed and contain the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic.

• Your Domain Keep an eye on your blog or website. Just type in your sitename.com leaving off the www or http. If you have a specific link from your blog posted someplace else that points back to your blog, Google should pick that up.

• Your Name, Business Name,  Products & Services These are critical alerts to implement into your social media reputation management system. Setting up an alert for your product names, your business name and your personal name will uncover additional buzz.  If you have a service that is listed as a named “system”  such as “How to Close Every 5 out of 6 Sales Blueprint System” you need to set up an alert for it as well.
  

• Your Articles If you write and distribute your own articles to various directories, you can set up an alert for each article title.

As a solo business owner you can set up this monitoring system to help you stay on top of the buzz you are creating as you strive to build long, healthy relationships by keeping the 2 way conversation going.

Sign up for my Free Step By Step Social Media Weekly Newsletter full of advice and tips on how to expand reach and visibility while eliminating overwhelm associated with social media marketing.  I focus on creating a simplified “Step By Step Social Media” plan that include automated, easy to manage processes & systems!

You’ll also receive my free Twitter 3 in 1 Bonus Report

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Image: Danilo Rizzuti/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

As a business owner I use social networks to build relationships. My main objective is to build stronger, deeper and more meaningful relationships. I want to connect with my audience in order to find more prospects, clients, customers and business partners.

I leverage Facebook to connect with people and spread my expertise beyond my local market. It’s pretty simple really….I post an update and someone may post a comment to my update. Any comment I receive confirms that I’m being heard.

Are you trying to leverage Facebook for business?

If you are, you want to be sure to acknowledge everyone who interacts with you. Your social networking success will depend on it. It’s crucial that you respond to comments if you want to find & grow strong relationships that have real substance and value to both of you. For this to happen you must open the door to every possible relationship relevant to your market.

When a friend or fan reaches out and leaves a comment, it opens that door a crack. When you respond it gives you an opportunity to open the door wider and engage your new friend or fan deeper into conversation.  It also shows them that you care about what they have to say.

1. If a friend or fan compliments you, thank them.

A compliment is a great way to start a conversation. Thank them for the compliment and then turn around and ask a question about them! If you want other people to be interested in you, you must show interest in them.

2. If they ask a question, answer it.

Questions provide the perfect opportunity to demonstrate your expertise to an interested person.  Sharing your knowledge will build credibility and give value to your Facebook community.  The more value you provide the more likely they will come back for more.

3. If they have an opposing view, respect it.

If there is one thing I know, it is this…. not everyone thinks like you do. If we want to build relationships with existing and prospective customers and clients, it’s mandatory that you respect what they think and believe. I’m not saying that you need to agree with them. I have close, personal friends that I don’t agree with 100%, don’t you? I still try to respect their opinions and they respect mine as well. By simply stating,”I can appreciate your opinion, thank you for sharing that with me” lets them know that you heard and acknowledged them.

4. If they have a complaint or problem with your product or service, fix it immediately.

Never, ever, ever let negative comments or complaints about your product or service go unaddressed!  That is business suicide. Either fix the problem or let them know that you are working on it and will get back with them.  It is counter-productive to put yourself out there as the trusted expert and then not respond when they need you the most.

Using the social networks to expand your reach requires that you BE social! Don’t waste your time on Facebook if you only want a one-way conversation.    Turn it into a 2-way conversation by giving your fans and friends a voice too!

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It seems everyone is time crunched these days! Too much to do and not enough time to do it.  That is one reason I love Twitter’s short, sweet and easy format.  I have discovered a few time saving ways to reuse my tweets to reach different people in different spaces.

Re-purposing your tweets from your twitter stream is more than a time saver though.  You  also stand to gain a higher return on visibility by making this  small investment… and is without a doubt, working smarter, not harder.

Here’s how…

At the end of the week, compile all of your tweets that contain information relevant to your newsletter readers into one email.  There will be subscribers on your list who do not follow you on Twitter and this will give them a brief look at what you are up to and all the wonderful resources you are sharing on Twitter.  This creates an excellent incentive to start following you on Twitter because they will not want to miss out on your valuable information.

If they are currently following you and have not put you on one of their specific twitter lists, it’s probably safe to say that they do not read every one of your tweets.  Some tweets are sure to slip by on the fast moving twitter stream so this is a great way to catch them up…

Another upside to this is……

• Those who chose to follow you are definitely going to be “targeted followers” because they are already subscribed to your list and clearly interested in you and your business.

• You’ll extend your reach and visibility because these new “targeted followers” you’ve attracted have followers of their own who will potentially read your tweets!

Another tip: You should always include a “follow me on Twitter” button in your emails, ezines or newsletter.   People are short on time so if you make it easy for them to follow you they will be more apt to act immediately.

Make this one small, initial investment today.  Take the time to sit down right now and create a compilation of your tweets from last week and send ‘em out in your newsletter this week!

Who else wants to share some Twitter “re-purposing” ideas?  I’d love to hear them!  Let’s connect …leave a comment  or catch up with me on Twitter!

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If you mention a friend in one of your status updates, you might want to consider “tagging” them.

As solo and small business owners we need to expose ourselves often.  To do this we use using various social media platforms.  This is how we  increase our visibility.  Increased visibly helps our audience get to know us, connect with us and remember who we are and what we do.

Tagging is another way to get a little more oomph from our efforts and a creative way to interact with our friends.

How does tagging help your business?

• Tagging in Facebook provides your businesses with a way to stay in the forefront of your friends and fans minds.

• When you tag someone they will receive a notification that they have been “tagged” and more than likely will want to check out what you “tagged” them in.

• Your tagged status update will show up on their wall as well.  There is not an option to comment on their wall so if they want to comment they have to click on the link under the post where it says “View Post” This will link back to your original update where they can leave a comment on your profile or page!

So how do you “tag” someone?

• Type in the @ symbol plus the first letter or so of the name, group or page that you want to tag in your status updates.

• This will activate a pop up box that displays the names that start with the letters you typed.

• When you select one of the names, the @ symbol disappears and the name shows up as a hyperlink in your update.

• If you click on their name in your update, it will take you to their wall.

• This works in the “Notes” section as well.

There are some limitations…

• It does NOT work in comments.

• You can’t tag someone if they are only a fan.  They must be a friend on your profile page too.

DO NOT abuse tagging!

• Only tag a friend if they are relevant to the post.

• Don’t randomly tag a big influencer in your industry just for extra exposure to their friends.  Not cool!

• Be sure that you have a relationship with the person you tag.  Don’t randomly tag a person who you have not communicated with or have some form of connection.

Tagging is great for…

• Complimenting, congratulating or thanking a friend personally in a public way.

• It is also a wonderful way to bring exposure to your friends fan pages.

So………..tag, you’re it!  Go give it a try!

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Most of us are aware of Spammers on Twitter. But did you know they could be harvesting your emails?

Type “email me at” or “contact me” or “gmail” into Twitter Search and see what turns up…

I ran the search and I was floored at the amount of people who actually put their email address in their tweets. Some even post their primary address. Once you tweet your email it becomes searchable forever.

Chris Crum’s post on WebProNews explains how easy it is for spammers to harvest email addresses from Twitter tweets by using a simple script. Chris advises that you shouldn’t throw your email address in your tweets unless you want it to be searchable.

Part of me did not want to mention this vulnerability because it gives unscrupulous spammers new ideas. I’m sure this is not new and probably has been going on for some time but I always hesitate to broadcast devious behavior for fear of spawning more copycat activity.

After performing the Twitter search myself and witnessing a lot of tweets containing email addresses I feel this issue is worth mentioning.

Sometimes what seems so obvious to some is not that way for others. If you don’t think like a spammer you might not have given this issue much thought until now.

Protect yourself by sending them to your website instead. They can ask you questions or send you information from your contact form on your website. If you are having a specific conversation and need to send your email address then I suggest you send them a direct message. Direct messages are not searchable.

Be aware that some people do not read their DM’s because they are littered with spam & false connections. If you are trying to get sensitive information to someone reply to your recipient using the required @username and tell them you sent a DM that contains the email address they need.

If you feel you absolutely want to leave an email in a tweet format it as: shelly at shellylodes dot com.

This isn’t a huge problem, but you should be aware….

Dedicated to your success,

Shelly Lodes

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The first account you register should ideally be your own name if you can get it.

Less than 15 characters would be best.

It isn’t absolutely critical that you register your own name, but I would advise you to if it is available, particularly if your name is an unusual one. I’m sure the last thing you want is someone else impersonating you on Twitter, or anywhere else for that matter.

On a side note: I discovered an insider secret (on Twitter of course!) on how to claim your brand username across all of the various social networks. This User name Discovery Tool can help you keep your brand continuity across all of the social media sites. It’s a useful tool created to assist you with expanding your brand visibility.

All you need to do is perform your search and then proceed to set up any or all sites. You could pay for it to be done for you if you choose. It is not an automated service either, because that would violate many of the sites policy. They do not retain your password information and they send you a confirmation email when each site is registered. If it were me, I’d supply them a common password and then go back in upon confirmation, click on the link in the email and change my password for each one. That would gurantee your security. Simple!

Okay back to your user name…Many people do not use spaces but they do capitalize the first letter of the first and last name. Naturally, common names like JohnSmith will already be taken. However it is possible to get variations on your own name such as John_Smith, or John_Smith23 or some variation like that. You can only use an underscore in a username. Hyphens are not permitted.

If you wish to register a business name, then you can do that of course.  It all depends on your brand.  Another way to brand yourself would be to combine part of your real name with your business. Remember, this is how you will be identified on Twitter. Then be sure to use your real name where it asks in the sign up process. This will keep you connected and identifiable with the business name you register.  I prefer to keep my  brand consistent across all of the social media platforms so keep this in mind when choosing your name.

If your name was Bob Smith and your blog was about business, a great username could be @BobsBizBlog. That user name would be displayed next to his avatar like mine is in the example below. Bob’s real name would be displayed on his twitter page in the upper right hand corner where it says Name: right above the Location, Web & Bio information. My business name and real name just happen to be the same.  My user name next to my avatar does not contain a space between my first and last name.  Where you see my real name you will notice there IS a space.

lf someone where to view Bob in there follower or following list it would look like: Bob’sBizBlog / Bob Smith. (If you click anyone’s follower or following tabs you will see the user name and their real names, or least what they entered in under the guise of their real name.) It’s always advisable to make it memorable and if possible, easy to spell. For those of you using Twitter to communicate with a local market think how memorable @AmyBestPhotos would be. If Amy sent helpful, relevant tweets and demonstrated why her photography is the best, who would you think of when your family is ready for that Christmas portrait?

I guess you got 2 tips in 1 from this post

Dedicated to your success!

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