Ch Ch Changes
By · Comments
I got a J.O.B.! You know that thing where you get up every day and go to an office. This is big news for me because I’ve been an entrepreneur for the last 8 years. In 2002, I started my own Virtual Assistant business that merged in to a Social Media & Marketing Support business over the last few years. I loved being an entrepreneur and wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world except for this new job that the universe handed to me. It was an opportunity I could not pass up and it came at a time that just felt right. Two kids are leaving for college at the end of the month and the other is turning 17 which practically leaves me in an empty nest (ie. I’m not needed at home so much anymore).
I did not make this decision lightly. I love being an entrepreneur. I love wearing jeans to work every day. I love my commute (about 10 steps). I love what I do. But… I was also ready for a change. The song Changes by David Bowie has always been my favorite song and it is the song I’ve been singing in my head for the last few days.
In case you are wondering what is going to happen with my business Virtual Simplicity and my blog Sally Around The Bay here is my plan:
I plan to keep my business site up, right here where it is and have it be a referral source. I know a lot of amazing wonderful and incredible Virtual Assistants, Social Media specialists, Web designers, etc. I want to continue helping connect people. So, if you need support on a project, just ask and I will point you in the right direction.
The question I get asked most often when I announce, “I got a job!” is “What about your blog? What about Sally Around The Bay?”. Well, Sally is still going to be going around the bay! In fact, I’ll be getting out a lot more. My new job is in San Francisco so I will be taking the bus and/or ferry to and from work (a.k.a. tweeting time). I plan to discover lots of new fun restaurants, businesses and fun things to do in San Francisco and will continue to blog about them. I probably won’t be on Twitter 24/7 anymore but that doesn’t mean I won’t be tweeting. I’ve got the bus/ferry ride to and from work, evenings and weekends to tweet, blog, Facebook and go out and have fun! 
The other question I get is, “Does this mean no more TweetUps?”. Of course not! I love TweetUps. Just because I have a job does not mean I won’t have a life! I’m really looking forward to my new job. I’m even looking forward to the bus rides – which could probably be a whole blog in and of itself.
Thanks for all your support over the years! I look forward to sharing my new adventures with you!
Pearltrees, the Social Curation Tool
By · CommentsHave you heard of Pearltrees yet? It’s a pretty cool new social curation tool I’ve been experimenting with! I was fortunate enough to meet the CEO of Pearltrees recently. The new Beta has been launched. Here is a sample of my own personal Pearltree and the new beta announcement:
Pearltrees, the Social Curation Tool, launches Beta 0.7.2 today; Service Has Now Reached 2 Million Pearls Within 7 Months of Launch
Announced today, Pearltrees, the social web curation tool, launched a new beta release: Version 0.7.2, and announced that they have reached 2 million pearls within 7 months of their first beta release. Pearltrees latest beta release, will significantly improve the user experience by increasing the speed and performance of the platform, by as well as adding new ergonomic features such as full screen video viewing, automatic updates of the detailed window and new meaningful animations.
As of July 2010, the Pearltrees North American user base has surpassed the French Pearltree community, which is where the service was launched last December. Global growth continues at a rate of 30% by month and some organizations have already adopted Pearltrees, showing increased momentum and interest in the service.
Users can also embed a whole Pearltrees’ into a website or blog with a simple button click, making it as easy to embed a Pearltree as it is to embed a YouTube video. Fans, readers and customers of a particular site or blog can discover a series of web pages and explore them in-depth without ever leaving your site. Users are exposed to a complete experience about a topic in one easy-to-navigate window.
As Pearltrees expands in the U.S., so are the number of creative ways Pearltrees is being used across a variety of interests, including: food, restaurants, wine, travel, music and politics, to name a few. Here are a few examples of how people are using Pearltrees to curate content:
- Check out a Pearltree showing a simulating iPod playlist to for working out
- Here’s a Pearltree for a special gluten free diet
- Find here all the resources a teacher needs
- Create a Pearltree to curate your favourite clubs in the city
- Build a guide of Buddhism
- Use Pearltrees if you are a label as a creative way to present your artist
- How to train for a triathlon
- You can use a Pearltree to organize and curate your favorite wine experts
For example, you could create a Pearltree to share five recipes to make your brunch a success or where to find the best barbecue accessories, or even how to organize a whole meal – from wine and starters to main courses and dessert.
Why Pearltrees is Unique:
With the onslaught of information we’re being hit with online every day, it’s impossible to keep up with content and even harder to discover or curate that content into something that is meaningful and relevant. Combining the best in curation, organization and discovery, you can use Pearltrees to quickly save and access online content you find every day, discover new content from others who are interested in similar topics and ideas, and drive people to your world of interests.
Facebook Overwhelm? Create friend lists!
By · CommentsAre you overwhelmed by the amount of updates coming through your Facebook news feed? Do you even care what your boss had for dinner last night? A way to avoid overload on Facebook is to create friend lists. That way you can view the updates of who you want to view and filter out everyone else.
Here’s how to create a friend list on Facebook:
From the Home page → Click on Friends (located on the left side of the screen) → click +Create a List button at the top right. Name the list (ie. High School Friends) then select all of your high school friends and click on Save List.
You can create as many lists as you need. Next time you log in to Facebook to check your news feed check by friend list. You can have a list for family so it’s easy to quickly see what all your family is up to. Another one for work, etc. The newly created lists will be located under the Friends link on the left side of the home page.
If you want to delete a friend list on Facebook follow these steps:
Click on Account → edit friends → On the left column find the category “Lists” → click on the list you want to delete → then click “Delete List”
How to Use Social Media for Restaurants
By · CommentsSocial Media for Restaurants
By Guest Blogger: Bethany North
As a restaurant in a local area, you may have a difficult time making your mark if you are competing with the big chains out there. Even if you do happen to be a big chain restaurant, there is no such thing as too many customers, which is why it is important to make social media work for you as a restaurant, whether you are big or small.
- Facebook: Start out by setting up a Facebook account so that you can keep people updated about events in your restaurant, specials, discounts, and even happy hour. This is the best way to get people involved because they do want to know what is going on locally, but they don’t want to have to search for it. The way that this works is that your friends will friend your Facebook page for your restaurant, which will in turn be quickly circulated to their social circles. Genius.
- Submit to Directories: Whether you submit to a paid or free directory, directories are a big deal when it comes to social media. This is where people go for local reviews and information, so if you don’t take the time to submit your restaurant, you may be overlooked in favor of your competitors.
- Twitter: Twitter will work the same way as Facebook where people can follow you to find out the latest happenings when it comes to your restaurant. This is the quickest way to tell people to make reservations in time for Mother’s Day, about your new menu for Valentine’s Day, or anything of the like.
- Encourage Your Customers to Visit You Online: After you have set up all of your social media profiles for your restaurant, don’t stop there! You must include your Facebook page and Twitter profile on your restaurant business cards or website so that people are encouraged to follow you. If they don’t know that you have social media profiles, they won’t search for you. However, if you are easy to find online, you better believe that people will follow you to stay aware of your happenings and come in as potential customers.
Social media is much simpler than it seems for a restaurant, but you do need to put yourself out there so that your customer base can find you online!
Check out guest blogger Bethany North’s Website for a great selection of Pasquini Livia 90 at The Coffee Bump!
Why Foursquare Makes Customer Loyalty Fun and Easy
By · Comments
Businesses need to set up their customer loyalty programs on foursquare because it makes it fun and easy. All you need to do is decide what promotion(s) you want to offer, and contact foursquare’s developers to make it happen.
Why is it fun:
For users, foursquare is like a game. Users get competitive because you can earn points, badges, and rewards from merchants. It’s also a way to find where your friends are and where you should be. Plus foursquare gives users 3 ways to ‘shout it out’: foursquare friends, facebook status, and tweets on twitter. Contests among friends is common. I compete with friends on number of checkins, number of badges, and number of mayorships.
Why is it easy:
Because foursquare developers are so tuned in to the business market, they are ready to write the code you need to run your promotion. You are limited only by your imagination. Here are some of the most popular promotions foursquare currently has developed:
- Freebies like coffee and lunch for the Mayor* of Whole Foods Market
- % or $ off a promotional item at Starbucks
- Discount of freebie after the 3rd checkin at Carrabas Restaurant
- Free drink at the local bar when you’re part of a swarm*
- Punch on a frequent shopper card
Wait no longer; contact foursquare today to see how you can have a fun and easy customer loyalty program!
*Mayors are foursquare users who check in the most days at the same venue within a 60 day period.
Terri Sinclair is an award-winning speaker, trainer, coach, and founder of develup. She’s been helping people communicate better for over 2 decades. Terri coaches other coaches and entrepreneurs on using social media in their business plan. She also teaches small businesses how to provide exceptional customer service. Anyone interested in her training or coaching can visit develup.biz
Is FourSquare just a Flash in the Pan?
By · CommentsYou may have noticed I’m a bit obsessed with very interested in FourSquare at the moment. Someone even accused me of being a FourSquare addict… I’ve been asking around for other peoples opinion’s on FourSquare. Here are guest blogger Kazia Mullin’s thoughts on FourSquare:
The other evening I was having dinner with a friend and the conversation turned to social media and mobile marketing.
“Foursquare is a flash in the pan,” my friend said. “No one will be talking about it this time next year. Why would anyone care to tell the whole world where they are?”
But what my friend is missing is that Foursquare is about more than just a medium for broadcasting where someone is hanging out for the evening, Foursquare is a social network for sharing; sharing business reviews, sharing tips, sharing community. And it’s this sharing that makes Foursquare a new powerhouse in the social media game.
Foursquare users are predominantly young, educated and predominantly single (data found at http://www.quantcast.com/foursquare.org). And, as made evident by the nature of Foursquare, they are also big smart phone and social media users. Every time someone on Foursquare checks-in using their mobile phone, they are not only looking for local deals and tips but they’re also sharing their location with their friends on Facebook and followers on Twitter. With every check-in a business or location gets a mention and a little buzz out in the social media sphere.
But Foursquare works best when businesses get involved too. As a business, log onto Foursquare to see if anyone’s added you to the Foursquare location database. If they have, great! You’ve already got a Foursquare following! Next, claim your business location as its owner using the straight forward four-step process to manage your Foursquare business listing. The set up also walks you through how to encourage an active Foursquare following and ideas on how to turn Foursquare people who have only heard of your business into customers.
If your business isn’t listed on Foursquare yet, not to worry. It’s easy to add your business to the Foursquare directory. Also, this should be a signal to examine the effectiveness of your business’s social media strategies.
Once your business is listed, you have the opportunity to reward your loyal customers, to broadcast events, and to monitor how your customers are experiencing your business.
It’s true, Foursquare isn’t for everyone. I don’t foresee a time when the majority of people will be checking into Foursquare every time they come through a business’s doors. However, the power in Foursquare lies in the building of customer loyalty and encouraging one of the oldest forms of social marketing, the word of mouth endorsement. Someone who takes that extra 30 seconds to check into Foursquare and recommend your business online, will certainly be the person who will tell his or her friends about one of their favorite places.
Kazia Mullin is currently the Foursquare mayor of her favorite supermarket, coffee shop, Merritt Visitor Centre and the Coquihalla Highway Summit. She is also one of the partners and Director of Strategies at Advantage West Marketing, a marketing firm specializing in Strategic Community Marketing for small to medium businesses. Kazia also blogs about small business marketing strategies on her blog Kitchen Table Marketing.
Do You Need a Social Media Time-Out?
By · Comments
Many of the teams playing in the World Cup this year are being banned from using social media. Their internet usage is also being limited.
This got me to thinking. (Yes, I do that sometimes). Could we all benefit from a social media/Internet timeout?
When I was a kid my mom limited my TV watching time. I don’t remember exactly how much time I was allowed a week, maybe 5 hours. My mom put a bowl near the TV with little slips of paper listing 15 minute time increments. I could watch TV for as much time as was listed on those papers. When the paper ran out no more TV watching for me until the next week. This made me be a conscious TV watcher (this was before TiVo, VCRs or any kind or recording devices). It was the time of watch it now or NEVER. I studied my TV Guide and planned out which shows to watch. I really enjoyed Saturday morning cartoons so I’d try to save up as much time as I could for Saturday morning. I especially liked the School House Rock cartoons!
At the time I thought this was a drag but looking back I see value in what my mom did. I learned to not just sit in front of the TV mindlessly. I learned to plan what I wanted to watch and for how long I would watch.
Fast forward to today… we have the Internet 24/7. It’s practically attached to the palm of our hands. In fact I think my teenage daughter’s iPhone actually is attached to the palm of her hand.
We have no breaks!
In May 2009 a survey found 42% of people admitted to taking their mobile phones with them to the bathroom. Key word here – admitted. (Come on… you know you’ve done it).
A friend who visited Bali told me the community she was staying in had a day where they gave their machines a break, to thank them. They turned off all machines: computers, fax, washing machines, etc and some people even put flowers on the machines to bless and thank them for all they do. My friend was there working and at first this caused her a lot of stress but then she said it turned out to be very peaceful to not hear all the background electrical noise and to have all the people be present and not distracted by the machines.
Can you imagine North America ever giving their machines a day of rest? We go berserk when we get the Twitter fail whale or if our internet goes down for 5 minutes. Considering my livelihood comes from social media and the internet the thought of taking a planned time-out gives me some anxiety but I’m seriously considering committing to some no screens retreat days this summer. That means no screens (cell phones, TV, computer, etc).
What do you think? How long could you last with no screens?
Starbucks is Saturating FourSquare
By · CommentsI’ve been experimenting with FourSquare this year and having fun discovering new businesses and making new friends with it.
I always got excited when I checked in somewhere and saw the little yellow banner saying ‘special nearby’. I’d click on that little banner with the feeling I just won something or anticipation that I might discover some hidden new gem.
I’m a big proponent for restaurants to jump on the social media bandwagon. In fact I advise restaurants to get involved on FourSquare and Twitter, to acknowledge their loyal customers who are shouting out to the world that they love & support their business.
But things are changing… Now that the big giant Starbucks is playing on FourSquare things have changed. Starbucks recently announced they will be offering mayor specials across the nation. This is all fine and dandy, but the effect it is having on me is that FourSquare feels saturated. Just about every single place I check in now says ’special nearby’. Problem is every time I click on the little yellow ’special nearby’ banner it now just says… Welcome to Starbucks. As mayor of this store enjoy $1 off a NEW however-you-want-it Frappuccino blended beverage. Any size, any flavor. Offer valid…
Here is my problem, I’m no longer clicking on the ’special nearby’ banner because I don’t want to read about the Starbucks special (AGAIN) that I’m probably never going to earn anyway. The Starbucks specials on FourSquare are drowning out all the others. Besides some friends who actually were the mayor of Starbucks on FourSquare didntt have the best experience with it. You can read about their story here.
What do you think about the nationwide Starbuck’s special (for the mayor only) on FourSquare?
Photo Credit of FourSquare Starbucks Special from Mashable.
Businesses Benefit from Using Foursquare
By · Comments
By Guest Blogger: Lynna Pham
Understanding Initial Apprehension
With so many different sites that already exist for social media advertising, it’s understandable that people feel skeptical about something new. Foursquare is now a little over one year old but has been taking the social media world by storm. If you haven’t heard, Foursquare is a social networking site that integrates location based services for mobile devices. By using the application on your mobile device, you can check-in and let other users know when you’re at a certain location. This unleashes a world of possibilities as businesses can discover the potential of geo-location services that really works to the advantage of small and local businesses.
Why Your Business Should Care about Foursquare
1) Gain insight directly from customers – Check what customers are saying about your business. There’s always room for improvement and you can use these comments for a better understanding of how customers view your business.
2) Focus on relationships – Reward loyal customers with promotions and bring in new customers with special offers. You can also check out your competition and see what they’re up to.
3) Track your progress – Keep a tally of weekly/monthly check-ins from Foursquare. Whenever you offer a promotion, you’ll be able to accurately keep track of how many customers you bring in through this channel.
The Social Aspect of Checking In
Foursquare is about more than just showing off your mayorships and badges. Sure, it’s fun to collect new titles and show your friends where you’ve been. But marketers are also learning about ways to use it for self-promotion. You can also add your friends and see where they’ve been. The application recognizes your location and can instantly check out tips from places nearby locations from other users. This is a great tool as restaurants and local businesses get free word of mouth advertising. I mean, who better to ask for recommendations than people you’re actually friends with? A bakery can advertise fresh baked goods and eateries often offer discounts for checking in through Foursquare. There are so many possibilities!
Photo credit: Foursquare website
Lynna Pham is project coordinator at emarketed, a Los Angeles web design and search marketing firm.
Five Ways to Network on LinkedIn
By · CommentsThis is a guest post provided by Elizabeth Cutten. Elizabeth helps run FindBizCards, a small business credit card / business blog helping entrepreneurs around the world get tips, tricks, and more!
If you’re not familiar with LinkedIn or maybe you have set up an account in the past and never really did anything with it. You’re going to soon find out that you’re sitting on a goldmine of potential networks. Whether you’re looking for a new job, a long lost co-worker, or maybe a business connection, you’re going to be able to find it here!
I wanted to give you some simple tips that you can use and I’ll show you tricks on how employers find potential employees for their job openings. In this technological age, more and more companies are going to websites like this for employees that are going to work for them.
#1 Make sure that your profile is complete – When you fill out a profile on LinkedIn, they are going to tell you exactly what needs to be done. You’re going to want to make sure that you have your profile completed at 100%.
#2 Treat it like a resume – Employers will do searches for people with particular skills that they need. They will also sort it by geographical locations. You’re going to want to make sure that you have proper spellings, grammar, as well as a clean set up. You don’t want to clutter to much, nor do you want to make your page look like a big mess.
#3 Add others as friends – Find people that you already work with or who you know. The more connections that you have, the more spread out you’re going to be. What you’re going to want to do is search out old co-workers, friends, and more. The cool thing about this is that you’re going to show up in other people’s profiles as “people you may want to connect with.”
#4 Join the groups – Take full advantage of the groups online. There are a lot of groups for just about every niche available. For example, let’s say that you want to open up a bakery. I’m sure there are bakery owners that have united as a group. Join it, communicate, and you network with some great people here.
#5 Use keywords – If you’re looking for a job, make sure that you use rich keywords that are going to be able to allow others to spot you. If you’re good at programming, what languages are you good at? You don’t just want to put programming. Instead, put keywords such as PHP, Java, etc. Be specific is the point here.
On LinkedIn, you can answer questions, communicate in groups, as well as send messages to others. You can do all of this from the comfort of your own chair. If you haven’t joined, or your user name is just collecting dust, it’s time to get up and start networking!
