It is behavior that is remarkably similar to that of the late 1990s technology bubble. Companies kept going up and up in value, despite no real long-term outlook. Eventually, the bubble burst and the self-proclaimed ‘experts’ ran away, seemingly unable to admit that they were wrong about some things. While social media is unlikely to end the same way, primarily thanks to the massive amount of audience and user participation that is taking place, the marketing strategy applied to social media should reflect the events of the late 1990s.

That means that instead of being remarkably optimistic without reason, companies should be relatively cautious and conservative when embracing social media marketing. Rather than looking at the short-term possibilities, companies should be looking at the long-term implications for their brand, should they sink time and money into a form of marketing that does not offer any long-term solution. Instead of hiring the latest and greatest social media consultant to develop a web strategy, businesses should be looking at their own strategy, and incorporating social media platforms as tactics, not as a replacement.

In short, the focus should not be on social media itself, but on the results that it can bring. As much as we have heard about the myriad ways in which Twitter can change the world, there has been relatively little evidence to support any such theory. Sure, brands are making it big on Twitter and plenty of companies are making some serious marketing income, but there’s yet to be anything to suggest that businesses should discard every marketing method pioneered before 2007 to jump on board the social media train.

If your business is looking to incorporate social media marketing into its strategy, there are several questions you should be asking yourself before you invest the time and money. Is your brand compatible with social media audiences? Are you a business that inspires conversation and discussion? Can you build a reliable, solid community around your business? For most, the answer is no, and a social media presence is not the most effective solution.

For some, the answer is yes, and for them it is wise to look at social media as a piece of the puzzle, rather than as the solution. While Twitter can help you sell products and Facebook can help you generate positive feedback and PR, neither can fix a broken business model or a poor product. Social media thrives on discussion, and when there’s none to be had, there’s nothing but resources to be wasted. Study the social media platforms before you dive in, and invest time and money cautiously.

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Consider your own navigating habits. If you’re anything like me, you probably have a handful of tabs (or more!) open in your browser at any given time. I use a Firefox add-on that shifts my tabs vertically to the left-side of my browser window. So, many times, all I see is the little favicon.

When I go to jump to a new tab, if a site is missing a custom favicon, I have no idea what the site is without clicking or mousing over the tab. It may not seem like much of an inconvenience, but it’s a major fail, in my opinion. Not to mention if you don’t have a favicon for your site, you’re missing out on a quick and easy way to add to your brand.

Here’s a simplified look at the process of creating a favicon:

1. Use an existing logo file or create a graphic from scratch using a generator
2. Reduce the file down to 16×16 pixels
3. Export as a .ICO file (favicon.ico) with your software
4. Upload to the root directory of your website

Ready to create your own? Here are some more in-depth tutorials to give you some guidance:

• Favicon Basics, Mark8t
• Tutorial: How To Create Your Own FavIcon, Essential Keystrokes
• Video: How to Create an Install Favicons, Butterscotch.com

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They not only dealt unfairly with me, as a service provider, but their approach to serving me as a client was very questionable.  I really wanted to give my client all the gory details, and tell them to steer clear of them, but my ethical conscience just wouldn’t allow it.

“I’ve had a client and customer relationship with them in the past, but haven’t really worked with them for quite some time.  I can tell you that I’ve recently started working with DEF Company, and have been very pleased with their services.  Their services really fit my needs,” I replied.

Of course, their next question was unavoidable.  “So did you have problems with them?” they asked.  Okay, so now what?  How do I maintain my ethical standards, but provide an honest answer to a good client?

It was very hard not to bring my personal and emotional feelings to the surface about how I’d been treated by this company.  I could certainly justify it by saying it was to save this client from having to experience the problems I’d had, but I just couldn’t…the words, “do no harm” kept sneaking into my subconscious.

Although this company had certainly not taken those three words into consideration where our relationship was concerned, I most assuredly do not want to lower myself to their standards.  .I knew that I shouldn’t say anything bad about them.  Who knows, maybe ABC Company had new owners or management.  Maybe they figured it out and started working more ethically.

My response?  “I had a problem with them some time ago, but haven’t really done business with them for a long time.  It certainly could have been something unique to my situation, and I imagine that they should be able to provide you with references, should you be concerned.  At any rate, I would certainly encourage you to at least look at ABC Company and DEF Company, compare them, check references, and make the decision you feel will be the best one for your needs.”

I answered honestly, but provided them with enough information for them to consider all their options.  It actually turned out exactly as it should have.  They looked at both companies, and reported back to me that ABC Company provided them with two references, both of which declined to provide information.  They used DEF Company and were very pleased with the results.

Even though I didn’t say what I would have liked to, I maintained my ethics, left the client with enough information to consider all their options, and everything worked out for my client.

There’s nothing magical about business ethics, it’s just that final piece of the puzzle that can make or break your business.  Don’t break your business, use good business ethics!

Jeannine Clontz, owner of Accurate Business Services, a VA practice, is an author, writer, speaker and VA Business Coach specializing in providing professional business coaching to established and start-up virtual assistants (VA’s).  For her FREE audio CD “What’s Holding Back my Business Success?”,  a 2-month trial in her Insider group coaching program, or 1-month trial of her coaching club visit:  http://www.VAbizcoach.com; or contact her at: coach@VAbizcoach.com.

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That’s why the top social media users optimize their online presence. While it’s essential to know your audience for a good online career, it’s much more important to live a life that doesn’t revolve around serving their every need. If you want to minimize your social media commitment while maximizing the results, these simple optimization techniques can help you decrease the amount of time required to respond to messages, limit your incoming email, and allow you to focus on your projects rather than your audience.

#1: Be clear about your communication limits.
Half of the reason that major bloggers and social media experts receive so many emails and requests is that they don’t specifically and explicitly ask not to receive them. Your audience is going to respond how you let it respond, and without setting limits on emails and personal contact it’s easy for that communications channel to spiral out of control. Focus on what you want from your contact, and make it clear to your audience that some types of contact might not get a response.

#2: Limit your distractions.
Wasting time on distractions and non-essential activities can cost you a lot of valuable time and lost potential income. We’ve all had days that end up wasted in front of the computer, and they’re never the ideal outcome. By limiting your social media distractions you can avoid these productivity nightmares and focus on projects that are more important to you.

#3: Don’t follow everyone that follows you.
When you listen to everyone, it’s impossible to focus on what matters. Sure, they’re your audience and your followers, but two-way contact will always end in missed opportunities and wasted time. To make your audience more controllable, focus on following only the people that you truly want to hear from. If someone out there has a message that’s absolutely essential for you to hear, rest assured that it will find its way to you – those things always do.

#4: If you have to, selectively outsource parts of your social media presence.
Tim Ferriss took outsourcing to new levels in his book ‘The Four Hour Workweek,’ and while it drew controversy, it drew many more adopters. Outsourcing isn’t particularly difficult, and when managed properly it can save you a lot of time. If you’re not a fan of hiring outside help, there are hundreds of programs and plugins that could save you valuable time. Want to alert incoming email that you might not be able to respond immediately? Set up an auto-responder and program it to let people know you’ll get back to messages as soon as possible. Hire a virtual assistant to help manage many of your social media marketing tasks that don’t involve pretending to be you or communicating as you. Small automations and outsourced tasks can end up saving you hundreds of hours of time every year, so be sure to experiment with them.

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Resources:
Jamie’s Blog – Blog Jamie Blog
Flip Mino – on Amazon
Flip Ultra – on Amazon

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Here are five things to consider in crafting your 60-second infomercial:

1. Who is your target market?  While I can open my informercial by saying, “although I have clients in almost every industry…” – you still want to focus on your niche or target market to help people think of who they know that could benefit from your services.  If you’re still not sure, analyze your current client list and see if there is a particular industry, or type of client that seems most logical to your offerings.
2. What problems does your target market have that you can solve?  Keep it simple.  Come up with one or two things – don’t overdo it – less is more!
3. How do you solve these problems?  Again, don’t come up with a laundry list of products/services, just enough to whet the appetite so they’ll want to find out more.
4. Mention something specific that speaks to results, like: ‘many of my clients say their sales increased at least 20% as a result of working with us’.
5. End with either a memorable tagline, or a question – like – ‘is that something that might be of interest to you or someone you know?’

Once you have it setup, print it out and practice it (and time yourself) several times until you have it pretty well memorized.  You don’t want to come off sounding too scripted, but you will need to get comfortable with all the aspects so that you’re sure to hit all the points you need to in your time allotment.

Once you have this mastered, you will want to cut the content even more, for a true elevator speech – which is usually only 30-seconds in length.

Finally, especially if you attend networking events regularly, you will want to have several different versions for answering the questions numbered two, three, and four above.  This gives people the opportunity to hear more about the additional services/products you provide.  If you only talk about one specific product or service, they’ll believe that’s all you offer and you could be leaving potential sales on the table.

With a little bit of work, and practice, you’ll have the perfect 60-second infomercial that helps people immediately recognize what it is you do, and who they need to refer to you.  Word of mouth marketing is the most cost-effective way to market your business.  The infomercial is the best tool to close the sale!

Jeannine Clontz, IVAA CVA, MVA,  EthicsChecked™, owner of Accurate Business Services is a Virtual Assistant (VA).  ABS provides ‘as needed’ marketing support and consulting to busy entrepreneurs.  Clontz is a writer, author, VA Coach, and speaker on business topics including business ethics. For her free 10-Step Guide to Finding the Right VA, or her FREE Report, Social Media Marketing Benefits, visit:  http://www.accbizsvcs.com, www.VAbizcoach.com or her book website http://www.entrepreneurialfreedom.com

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All of my kids are close in age (3, 2 and the baby), so the infant stage was still pretty fresh in my mind. But, it still took us some time to get used to the tracking and transfer of knowledge that comes with having more than one person taking care of him.

For example, I have to make notes so I can keep my husband in the loop about when the baby ate, slept, and had his diaper changed. Plus, because of some special needs, we need to closely track other things like when he took his meds, how often he spits up, contact with allergens (he’s allergic to latex) and any unusual behaviors.

I did pen and paper, and tried emailing the notes from my BlackBerry, but it’s just annoying and time consuming to keep track like this. Not to mention on the days we’ve had the grandparents help out…I swear, I had to write pages of notes to make sure they knew everything they needed to know.

So I found this site — Baby-connect.com — which seems to have solved my problems. It’s a free site that lets you track and share vital information about your baby. Here are some features of the site from their website:

• Easily track feedings, diapers, sleep, activities, mood, temperature
• Easy to use! Log entries with just a click
• Easily view entries from current and prior days
• Email reports to spouses, doctors and nannies/sitters
• Upload photos
• Enter free-form notes
• Indicate and modify the time of an entry
• Upload child photo, indicate birthday, blood type and allergies
• Bottle size Unit: oz or ml, Time Format: am/pm or 24
• Track as many babies as you like
• Setup as many parents and caregivers as you like
• Send entries to twitter
• 60 built-in activities descriptions
• Display real time log of activities during the day

And here’s a screenshot:

I signed up and have been playing around…I’m really impressed with the functionality. I’m especially intrigued with the iPhone app since I may be making the move from BlackBerry to iPhone soon. But more on that in my next post.

Anyway, pass this site on to new parents or even those who have multiple caregivers for their older children. It’s a time and sanity saver!

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So, if you’re like millions of people around the world you resolved as the new year came in to get healthier.  And, if you’re trying to get moving and watch what you eat what better way to help you with that then some apps for your BlackBerry to help you along.

Most weight loss experts will tell you (and most people who have successfully taken off weight will agree) that keeping a food journal is a great help in watching your food intake.  Being the geek that I am I have a few requirements for my food journal:  1.  It needs to be “techy cool” 2.  It needs to have a web and blackberry sync 3.  It needs to be easy to use.  I’ve tried some computer based applications, I’ve tried BlackBerry only applications but I want something with both options.  Well, I found one and it’s FREE:  Calorie Counter by FatSecret.  FatSecret has an iGoogle add-on or you can use the website.  It also has apps for the iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, and iPod Touch.  I love this app (and website) for helping me track my food.  Calorie Counter is available for free at the BlackBerry App World.

FatSecret also keeps track of your exercise and calories burned but to help me track my walking, cycling, and running I use Bones in Motion.  It has a website to track your cumulative mileage, etc.  But, the BlackBerry app (also free) uses the GPS capabilities to track your average speed, distance, time spent walking, and the amount of calories it estimates you’ve burned.  It can also give you audible warnings at certain mile markers if you desire.  One cool feature (if you like to go on long excursions) is a tracker online that you can give your family.  It’s password protected so it’s not like anyone can see where you are but if you have the app running your family can track where you are on your walk/run/ride (I will admit that I haven’t used this because I haven’t had a need to have someone know where I am — but it is a cool feature — I wouldn’t mind if my friends who do the Ironman triathlon had this so we could figure out where they are).   Bones in Motion is free and available at BlackBerry App World as BiM Active.

So, here’s to a healthier, happier, and thinner 2010!

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