Ten tips to incorporate social media into your marketing plan:

1. Determine What Social Media Sites Are Best For You. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are the top three, but that’s only the beginning. Determine who your target market is and then meet them where they are. It’s okay to ask by taking a survery by email or on your website asking which social media avenue your clients prefer. Once you determine that, be consistent and realize that you can’t be everywhere all the time. Pick the ones that are best for your business and really engage.

2. Team Up With Other Entrepreneurs. By teaming up, you allow easy access to retweets, Facebook posts, etc. Plus, it’s a great way to provide your audience with more valuable information on topics that would interest them by sharing information that is provided by the business(es) you team up with. Just make sure that your choose teammates with information that is a good fit for your audience.

3. Don’t Just Advertise, Build Relationships. We’ve all seen them. The tweets and Facebook postings that we know are scheduled and we know are only trying to sell us something. We aren’t saying that you can’t promote your services or products. In fact, we encourage you to do that. But do it right. Don’t just be about landing the deal. Truly connect with your audience and show them why they would want to work with you. We know you’ve heard it a million times already, but it speaks for itself and bears repeating: Social media is meant to be “social.”

4. Make It a Two-Way Street. You post and you post and you post on Facebook. You’ve tweeted away on Twitter & you’ve updated your status on Linkedin. Finally you’re done. Social marketing is ready to be checked off the list. Not so fast! Realize that just like you are posting there are others out there posting and building relationships as well. Get out there and respond to others, too. When you think about it, how do you feel when someone posts on your Facebook posting or blog entry? It feels good, doesn’t it? When you see a Facebook posting that you like leave a comment – always making sure you add value and are not just promoting your business.

5. Make It Exciting. We see this often: business owners on Twitter who get on for 20-minute increments and during that time we are inundated with retweets. They will throw in an occasional tip or two, but basically it’s just 20 minutes of nonsense. Now we love a good retweet, but we don’t enjoy this at all. When you are marketing your business via social media, make sure that you engage with others and make it exciting. Give some good information and tips – don’t just retweet to be seen. Provide great value and your followers will not only enjoy your messages, but when they are looking to refer someone who needs your services, you will be on the top of the list.

6. Learn From Others. One of the best things about being in business these days is that you have the opportunity to follow the pros and see what they are doing right. They eagerly give out tips, videos, etc. Make it a point to follow those who you respect and can learn from. Sit back and take notes. But more importantly, take the action steps necessary to make these points work. It’s more than learning from them, you need to actually do what they recommend as well.

7. Contribute to Other Networks. Another great aspect of social media is getting your message out to more than just your audience. Offer to guest post for other networks in your area of expertise. You never know who may see your posts and become a client.

8. Create An Expert Status. Why do people follow you? Many times it is because they see you as the best at what you do and they want to learn from you. Therefore it’s important to always give solid tips and advice to really show your expertise. Create high quality blog postings, tips lists and posts to share with your audience. It may take extra time to create high quality work, but the effort will be well worth it in the end.

9. Spruce Up Your Page. Social media has come a long way in a short time. No more are you limited to a tiny avatar of your logo. Most of the social networking sites today allow you to fully customize your page with images, backgrounds and more. Spend the time to create a page that will draw in your audience and make them want to come back daily.

10. Be respectful. One of the things that most business owners value most is time. It’s important when you are on Facebook, Twitter and the other networks, that you be respectful of others’ time. A few ways you can do that:

• Don’t Expect An Instant Response. Sending an Instant Message (IM) to a colleague or respected leader is fine, but recognize that they may not be able to chat with you immediately. Often times that person has allocated a certain amount of time to be on the site. If they are constantly on an IM, they can’t get what they need done. We’re not saying you can’t IM, but be respectful when you do.
• Don’t Take Advantage. Social media is a relationship builder and gives us instant access to industry leaders. However, be careful not to take advantage of someone’s goodwill by asking a zillion questions. Most business owners enjoy helping others, however, to provide personalized coaching is a different story. Always respect the person you are communicating with and we bet you’ll find you get way more back than you ever imagined.

See how easy social media is. When done right it can bring amazing results for your business. Not only will you establish yourself as an expert, but you will be promoting your products and services regularly. Make it a commitment to master social media marketing and we promise you next year at this time, you’ll be so glad you did.

About the Authors:
Jill Hart of Christian Work at Home Moms, CWAHM.com and Diana Ennen of VirtualWordPublishing.com are the co-authors of So You Want To Be a Work-at-Home Mom.

Top 10 Publicity Ideas to Market Your Business This Holiday Season

1. One great way to boost sales and awareness of your company is to enlist the help of a publicity virtual assistant. These experts specialize in helping you to get more publicity.  They can handle everything from writing and sending out press releases to creating entire media campaigns. Let them write better descriptions for your products, find the best keywords to drive traffic there, do research to find where best to locate your target audience, and then finally handle all your PR needs. Publicity virtual assistants take the time to learn their niche and to develop a relationship with their clients so that they can bring amazing results.  See, your holiday sales can meet and exceed last year’s sales after all.
2. Do specialized holiday marketing. It’s not too late to take advantage of all that can be done this year to make more sales.  Consider having a Black Friday sale or a Cyber Monday sale.  Add a contest to your site.     Send out postcards and gift certificates.
3. Article  & Press Release Writing and Distribution – Article marketing works.  It’s a great way to get more exposure for your business and when done right, can result in front page Google rankings, more clients, & lots of sales.  Get active and write a press release about your business making a holiday or New Year connection. For example, share how you are giving back during the holidays, any promotions you have, etc.
4. Get speaking — Set up speaking engagements for the New Year.  In January businesses go back to all work, no play after the holidays.  It’s a perfect time to get out there and connect with businesses and line up speaking engagements.  Also, consider a teleseminar series too.
5. Create a Holiday Blog Tour.  If you have products or tips for the holidays, connect with other bloggers.  Ask if you can provide some holiday tips.  Bloggers are busy this time of year too so they will appreciate the added help.  And the best news, you get more exposure.
6. Set up a Google Adword Campaigns – More people are online now because of the holidays.  And a lot of those people will be checking out the search engines to find Christmas Gifts.  It’s a great time to set up a Google Adword campaign and get that added exposure for your business.
7. Reconnect with ALL your clients and let them know how you appreciate them and perhaps how you can help them with other needs they may not even know you offer.  Send a personalized holiday card or greeting.   For local clients stop by their office and drop off presents, popcorn tins for the staff and/or their favorite coffee for their afternoon pick-me-up.  For potential new clients, drop off a Holiday cup full of wrapped candy with your business card or perhaps get your business name printed on the candy bar.
8. Set up a marketing campaigns designed especially for and around your company or brand.  Write down a marketing plan for the year that will focus on brand recognition.  Most importantly, make sure your brand represents your company the way it should to your target audience.
9. Update your website.  Take a look at your website and see if it is the best that it can be.  Pay special attention to your homepage and keywords.  Look to the overall appearance, the professionalism of your wording, the explanations explaining the benefits you provide, etc.  In fact, everything in your site needs to convince a client to work with you.  Now ask yourself, does it do that?  Is this something I can be proud of?  Too often we throw together a website, just to have it done.  Remember this can often be a client’s first impression of you.  Is it selling you well?
10. Don’t forget your social networking.  Even ½ hour a day can make a considerable difference,  Remember to build relationships and share more than sell.

The holidays are a great time to make money, even in this economy.  If you’d like additional tips stop by SoYouWantToBeaWahm.com today.  Also, share with us your tips for the holidays.

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Jill Hart, Founder of Christian Work-at-Home Moms http://www.cwahm.com/ and Diana Ennen, President of Virtual Word Publishing, http://www.virtualwordpublishing.com/ have teamed up to write So You Want to Be a Work at Home Mom: A Christian’s Guide to Starting a Home-Based Business http://www.soyouwanttobeawahm.com/.  Start or expand your business today with their help.  Article is free to be reprinted as long as bio remains.

We know what it’s like. You have a great idea and are ready to begin building your business, but how do you know where to start? What are the first steps that you should take? Below are a few tips to get you started in the right direction.

Have a Plan & Work That Plan

The first step toward starting a business is to have a plan in place. Most successful businesses take the time to make sure they have a blueprint to success, a plan. When you have a blueprint and a direction to go, you will be so much more successful. There are many free resources across the Internet that can aid you in structuring and thinking through the writing of your business plan. Once you get the plan in place, follow it!

Don’t Try To Do It All Yourself

A wise business owner knows that they can’t do it alone. Even if you have a small budget to begin with, you can enlist the help of a virtual assistant or possibly volunteers or mentors. Get more on board who have experience that can help you in your business.

Know Your Audience (and why they would be interested in your products or services)

Who are you trying to reach? Who needs your product or information? Take the time to do market research and list out who you are selling to and where you can find them – both online and offline. This will help you both when creating the product/service and in your marketing efforts. Also, make sure you keep in touch with your audience and find out how they feel. You can easily create surveys and find out valuable information about what they really think.

Be Clear On Your Rates

You must be clear not only with potential clients, but you must know for yourself what you need to earn. Be brutally honest with yourself about how much you need to earn to keep your business afloat. Now set realistic goals and figure out how to make that happen. Remember in setting your rates that often times you are selling the value of your services or products, and not necessarily the service or product itself.

You Gotta Want It

Someone asked me once why I thought some entrepreneurs succeeded while others, just as talented, failed. My answer? Those that succeeded wanted it bad enough to do whatever it took to make it happen. Running a business isn’t easy, especially in the beginning. There will be long hours, tough critics and disappointments that can’t be prepared for. The entrepreneur who works through the tough times is the one who succeeds in the end.

Get Busy

Don’t wait until you “have it all together” to take that first step – it will never happen. If you have a great idea and have done enough planning to know where you’re headed, go for it. Be prepared to learn some lessons. Be prepared to make changes along the way. But, if you never take the first step you’ll never know the joy of the journey.

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Jill Hart of Christian Work at Home Moms, CWAHM.com. and Diana Ennen of VirtualWordPublishing.com are the co-authors of So You Want To Be a Work-at-Home Mom. For more tips visit http://SoYouWantToBeaWAHM.com.

As popular as blogging has become, I often hear from home-based business owners who are trying to figure out exactly what a blog consists of and how they can use one to benefit their business. Below are three tips that can help maximize the impact of your business blog.

1. It’s All In The Name

Be sure to choose a name for your blog that is both descriptive and easy to remember. Try to stick to either your business name or the name of your star product/service. If none of these are available consider using your name or business tagline.  Also, consider possibly adding in your keywords … such as Publicity Virtual Assistant.

2. Use Keywords Effectively

When you write posts for your business blog be conscious of the words that you choose. Pepper your posts with keywords relating to your business, products, services and brand. These keywords will trigger Search Engine results and help you reach the top of the results for your keywords. Be careful not to overuse keywords, though, because readers will get frustrated  and the Search Engines consider that against the rules.

Also, consider keyword phrases – often called long tail keyword phrases (why, I’m not sure!).  Long tail keywords are simply a sting of words that make up a phrase that represent your keywords. Think, what would people type in Google to find me.  Examples, “how to start a business.”  Think … how can I define my blog more (or this particular post). I wrote this blog post on … (fill in the blank), now what keywords do I need to put in so others can find me? 

About The Book

So You Want to Be a Work-at-Home Mom details all the basics of starting a business in a spiritual, motivational, and comprehensive manner. From deciding what type of business to start to keeping your family and faith first, this helpful tool details every aspect of establishing a business. With proven success tips utilized by the authors and others who own work-at-home businesses, this inspiration approach will provide you with the resources you need to start your own home-based business.

So You Want to Be a Work-at-Home Mom includes:
* Detailed information on types of businesses to start
* Ideas and assistance for setting up, operating, and marketing your business
* Definitions and descriptions of work-at-home terminology and processes
* Help for developing your Web site
* Explanations of the business nuts and bolts, including bookkeeping, taxes, and more

About the Authors
JILL HART is the founder of Christian Work at Home Moms, the co-host of the live internet radio show, The CWAHM Network, and the publisher of RadiantLit.com. Jill has published many articles and is a contributing author in Laundry Tales, The Business Mom Guide Book, I ll Be Home for Christmas, and Faith Deployed. She holds a bachelor s degree in human development and family studies. She resides in Nebraska with her husband and their two children.
DIANA ENNEN has been a leader and mentor in the work-at-home industry since starting her business in 1985. She is the author of many books, including Words from Home: Start, Run, and Profit from a Home-Based Word Processing Business. She resides in Margate, Florida, with her husband and their three children.

Staying motivated can be a difficult task in starting and running your home-based business.  There are times that things happen and your self-confidence plummets.  You find yourself doubting your decision to start a business in the first place.

Here’s are some steps to keep your power:

First, don’t sit ideally by waiting for the phone to ring.  Keep busy creating new marketing ideas.  Plan B should already in full force and effect.

Be creative.  Energize yourself with the creation of a dynamite brochure.  Design a new mailing piece that conveys exactly the benefits you can offer your clients.  Re-read that marketing letter you just sent and fine-tune it.  Look over your website.  How can you approve upon it to better convey the benefits of your business?

Search for new places that you can promote your business.  Spending time online doing research is important for establishing your business.  Make new connections with other entrepreneurs and organizations.  Find places to exchange links and add your articles.  Don’t be shy.  You should be very confident in your abilities and eager to share that with others.

Read, read, read.  Learn anything and everything you can on starting a business.  Let others show you how they’ve done it.  Take full advantage of the Internet as well.  Find chats and message boards and talk with others.  Find out how they have achieved success.

Start fresh daily with a renewed determination that you are going to make this work.  Visualize yourself addressing that new client with your new leather briefcase in hand, portfolio neatly prepared, and the confidence that you can make a difference in their business. They need you and you’re going to show them exactly just how much.

Finally, you need to believe in yourself under all circumstances.  Write down why you know this business is going to work.  Write down again how you plan to make it happen.

With the right attitude, appropriate skills, extensive research, and sheer determination, you can and will succeed.  That phone will ring — and ring — and ring.  And with each ring, you’ll be grateful that you believed in yourself enough to make it happen.

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Diana Ennen, Author; Virtual Assistant the Series, Become a Highly Successful, Sought After VA, and Corel Word Perfect Office Ready Virtual Assistant Solution Pack (www.corel.com).  She’s the president of Virtual Word Publishing, www.virtualwordpublishing.com, offering publicity and book marketing.  Article is free to be reprinted as long as author’s bio remains intact.  Stop by our site for free information on starting a business and a free sample section of VA the Series.

Virtual Assisting has become one of the most exciting and rewarding home-based businesses.  What a privilege it is to be a part of such an evolutionary industry that continually grows and offers new opportunities and rewards for those coming into the business and those veteran pros as well.  Marketing your Virtual Assistant business can be a rewarding adventure, providing you with permanent clientele and additional profits.

Here are some marketing ideas to help grow your virtual assistant business:

Tip #1 – Fill a need. Be aware of what your clients need even before they tell you.  What can you do that will make their business better? What skills do you possess that sets you apart that would meet the needs of your potential clients?

Tip #2 — Find a mentor or a coach. Find someone who already has gone before you and knows what works and what doesn’t.  Why make the same mistakes, when you can avoid them and learn the best ways to do things.

Tip #3 – Market to Your Existing Clients:  Your existing clients already know the caliber of work that you do so let them market for you.  Always do your absolute best for them and they will keep you around for a long time and they will tell others.

Continually tell them of new services or features.  Send out a newsletter or even a tip of the week to keep your name in front of them.  And when was the last time you called or emailed them ”Hey, how are you doing?  How’s business going?”  A personal, “What’s been happening” call can or email can make a very favorable impression.

Tip #4  - List Tips on Your Website: One of the ways to prove your expertise is to list on your website the things you know.  This shows your clients and potential clients that you know what you are talking about.

Tip #5 – Get involved on Social Networks:  Getting active on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and others not only helps you connect with others, but puts you front and center to potential clients.  Provide useful information and post regularly.

Tip #6 — Add a P.S. to your Signature Line: We all know how important that signature line is for your business success. Here’s a simple way to make it even more profitable–Add a P.S. to your e-mail messages. You can offer your clients additional discounts or let them know about a new service.  Did you just get a new VA certificate?  Tell them! This can be a perfect opportunity to perhaps toot your horn a little.

Market your way to success in your business!  And lastly, enjoy your marketing.  When clients see that you enjoy what you’re doing, they want to do business with you.

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Diana Ennen and Kelly Poelker are the co-authors of numerous books including Virtual Assistant: the Series, Become a Highly Successful, Sought After VA and accompanying Virtual Assistant the Series Workbook, and Virtual Assistant – The Series: Working Virtually, A Guide to Working Remotely as an Employee.  For complete information on starting your own VA business, stop by  http://www.virtualwordpublishing.com.  Article is free to be reprinted as long as the author’s bio remains intact.

We all realize how Virtual Assistants have revolutionized the way we work today.  Most businesses now count on their Virtual Assistant the same as they used to count on their secretaries, only so much more.  VAs are a prized and respected part of their client’s team, and unlike secretaries, who often were taken for granted, Virtual Assistants are praised for their professionalism and skills.  Most businesses today can’t imagine where they would be without their VA.  And as the potential for success in a virtual assistant business continues to explode, so does the need for good Virtual Assistants.

Today’s Virtual Assistants need to take pride in their business and also to learn as much as they can about their niche, which is the specialty they have chosen to specialize in. One niche that I highly recommend is to offer publicity and marketing services to clients.  This is an area that is growing in leaps and bounds as more and more authors, businesses, and other professionals realize the need to market their business to get good publicity.  A business can expand tremendously when hiring a Virtual Assistant to help them spread the word about their products or services.  Also, authors today aren’t aware that once they write a book, that’s when the real work begins.  They need to get the word out about their book in order for it to be successful.  That’s where a good Publicity Virtual Assistant comes in.

Publicity and marketing is thrilling to say the least.  There’s such a great rush when your client gets recognized in national magazines, or a TV station wants to do a segment on them and you helped them achieve this success.  Or better yet, when your efforts start resulting in substantial increased sales for them.  Clients will not only keep using your services, but also tell others about this new positive addition they have to their business. And best yet, you too get to feel that satisfaction as you are helping them achieve their goals.

One of my most successful tips is learning how to effectively use any publicity that a client receives.   When clients get national attention in a magazine, newspaper, or TV Segment, or even on a popular website, it’s important to make sure that everyone is aware of this. A press release should immediately go out to announce their accomplishment.  This release should be added to their website and also should go to all their local papers, radio stations, and TV networks.  Media loves to highlight a success story of their locals, so make sure you get this out there as soon as you can.  And you don’t have to wait for the publicity to happen.  If your client lands a major TV segment, you can start sending this press out beforehand in order to get more media for when the event happens. You just want to make sure that the client is fairly confident the segment will air.  Also, don’t worry if the segment gets bumped back, that often happens as breaking news takes priority.  This can almost be a blessing, as then you get to do more publicity before the airdate.

It’s also important to follow-up with the reporters and let them know how much you appreciate the acceptance of your quotes for an article.  When you go the extra step to show them your appreciation, they remember you when the next article comes up and they need help with more expert advice.  Many reporters work for multiple magazines so one good ally can lead to lots of media exposure.  Always keep your PR hat on.  Learn to take any situation and turn it into good press for your clients and your business as well. Stay on top of current events and see if you have anything to offer. Whenever a story hits the press that any of my clients would have a connection to, I’ll send it right away.  Having press releases already prepared for clients on their business is always a great help.  How do you know about these events?  Sign up for Google Alerts under the topics of interest and then whenever a story is written,  you can follow-up with your press release or article to the reporter.  It works!   I also use ProfNet from PRNewswire, which allows me to get daily leads from major news outlets.  You can also consider PRLeads.

It’s also important to learn how to write a good press release and article and also where to send those.  Make sure that your press releases and articles are newsworthy and also something that interests the readers.  When I write a release, I always think would I read this release?  Would it interest me?  If not, I doubt your target audience would be reading it either.  Plus, be careful to sound too promotional.  You can easily get your message across without sounding like an ad.

Publicity is a great niche for Virtual Assistants.  To learn more stop by my site at www.virtualwordpublishing.com or contact me for a free 10 minute call on PR tips or my free PR Informational Package.

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Diana Ennen and Kelly Poelker are the co-authors of numerous books including Virtual Assistant: the Series, Become a Highly Successful, Sought After VA and accompanying Virtual Assistant the Series Workbook, and Virtual Assistant – The Series: Working Virtually, A Guide to Working Remotely as an Employee. For complete information on starting your own VA business stop by http://www.virtualwordpublishing.com and http://www.vatheseries.com.  Article is free to be reprinted as long as the author’s bio remains intact.

Want to have the best relationships with your clients? As your grow your virtual assistant business, it’s important to build solid business relationships with your clients.  Then these clients will not only keep coming back, but also refer others to you.

Here are ten fun tips to help you establish a great working relationship:

#1 – Come Again? It’s critical to establish right from the beginning how you will handle the communications with your clients. If e-mailing, what is the standard turnaround time that you respond back to emails.  If phoning, what are your hours?  Once a client knows when they will hear from you, then they can plan their day and work accordingly.

#2 – No Surprises – Nothing is worse for a client than to discover four hours before you leave that you are heading out on a week-long vacation.  That’s stretching it a bit and you probably wouldn’t do that, but think about other ways you might be surprising your client and not giving them the advance notice they need.   Keep in mind that they are probably under pressure too to get their work done.  Always give as much advance notice as you can when things will disrupt the business flow.

#3 – Where’d She Go? For building good client relationships, try not to disappear off the radar screen.  Check in with your clients often.  When a client writes and they don’t hear back from you for days (or weeks), they fear the worst.  Even if you are working on a large project and the deadline is weeks away, e-mail them and let them know “All is going well.”  That builds confidence and security.

#4 – OOPS, Where Did That Come From? We’ve all been there.  You get the email from the client saying they found a typo or typos.  Ouch.  We can’t be perfect, but try and be as close as you can.  Proof and reproof your work.  Also, if possible wait until the material is fresh and reread it again.  Determine the time when you are at your best, and use that time to do your proofing.

#5 – Super Size It Please - Always give your clients more than they ask for.  You will be rewarded with not only more work, but lots of word of mouth referrals too.  And there are so many ways to do it.  For example, 1) Set up an Autoresponder for them so they can sell more products; 2) Set up Google Alerts under their topic or target audience so you can find websites or blogs that will help them spread their message; 3) Help them produce a newsletter or blog; 4) Send them more clients or referrals; 5) Ask them directly what you can do to better the relationship; and 6) Most importantly, listen to what they say. It’s so easy to get busy and listen with half an ear, or try and talk too much about your business.  Being a good listener is a valuable asset.

#6 – Short and Sweet – Make sure that all e-mail correspondence is typed accurately and is short and to the point.   With everyone having busy schedules, this helps your clients save valuable time. One thing you’ll discover is if you write too long of an e-mail often your main points will be missed.  This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t strive to get the answers you need, but keep in mind that their time is valuable and to use it wisely.

#7 – You Need it WHEN? – Determine exactly when work is to be completed or when the order is to go out.  This will save a tremendous amount of problems down the road if everyone is in agreement.  It’s also good to have a written contract. Be specific.  Once everyone knows what is expected, things run so much more smoothly.

#8 – My Dog Ate It – One thing you want to do is always try and make your deadlines and avoid excuses.  We all know that things come up and that’s okay if it happens occasionally.  However, if you make it a habit of needing additional time or not finishing projects, that client will fear sending you more work.  Not a good thing.

#9 – Saved by the Bell – Make it a point to back-up your work on a regular basis.  And test those backups.  Can you imagine even losing a week’s worth of work?  Your clients are counting on you to protect their work so you want to make sure it is.

#10 – Howdy Partner – Remember that you are establishing a partnership relationship with your clients.  You want to help their business grow because as you do, your business grows too.  Let them know you value them as a client and are glad that they have entrusted you with their work.  In other words, you appreciate them.  Also, let them know that you appreciate referrals so that they can help in your success.  It can be a two-way street with this partnership.

And finally, enjoy.  Start a friendship with your clients and let them know that you care about them.  Most of my clients today are good friends.  This isn’t to say that I’m not professional and don’t conduct myself professionally, as I do. However, I let them know that I’m also interested in them personally and how they are doing.  I take time to know their birthdays, their kid’s names, etc.  Think how you feel when something lets you know they care about you.

Hope you enjoyed these ‘fun” tips.  As our Industry continues to thrive, it’s important to earn the respect and trust of our clients and also fellow Virtual Assistants.  When you set up your business with the goal of doing a fabulous job, you’ll end up with fabulous clients, and fabulous friends.  It’s a win/win for all.

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Diana Ennen is the President of Virtual Word Publishing, www.virtualwordpublishing.com and the author of numerous books on starting a virtual assistant business including Virtual Assistant the Series: Become a Highly Successful Sought After VA and accompanying Workbook and also Corel WordPerfect’s Office Ready Virtual Assistant Solution pack.  E-mail her at diana@virtualwordpublishing.com to receive your free Business Informational Package.  Article is free to be reprinted as long as bio remains intact.

It’s pretty obvious that the marketing of today has changed.  You have newspapers going virtual/web only, Twitter and Facebook replacing postcards and phone calls, and potential clients now being the main target of your press releases as opposed to editors.  It’s all changing and to do PR today, you need to change with it.  The good news is that it’s never been easier. The bad news, you need to learn a new way to do things. Fortunately, there are tips that can make it easier and I’m here to show you a few.

First, no one can deny the power of social networking.  And those that do are just plain wrong. I’ve been in business since 1985 and I liken this to way back when emails became a way of life.  Many still contended they wanted to do it the old fashioned way and nothing would beat a letter. (I know it’s hard to even imagine this today.) It wasn’t long until they realized their error, but by then their competition was way ahead of them. Don’t make the same mistake now.  You absolutely need to get with it and get on board. I can practically guarantee you within weeks you’ll be hooked and wondering why you ever hesitated. It’s so easy, and the potential so great, you need to start today.

Let’s break it down.  Twitter first.  Forget all the “I don’t care what they ate for lunch excuses,” that’s where your competition and peers are and you do need to be there too. Sure you do have a few tweeters who will update you on the latest hot dog they ate, but that’s rare.  What you do have is more and more businesses networking and connecting with each other in ways never thought possible.  It’s also more than just networking back and forth, you can have chats, host events, get more publicity for your articles and press releases & even announce your seminars and radio shows.  And that’s not even the half of it.  There are entire books written on this, so my first recommendation is to get them.  Why struggle and find your way around when you can easily read the tips from those who know exactly what you need to succeed.

Also, while you are getting your feet wet, don’t jump in and start posting and selling and ranting and raving.  Take it slow.  Sign up, take a sit, remain quiet for a short time and read what others are posting.  Follow the leaders in your industry and take advantage of their knowledge.  It can almost feel like walking around with them all day and looking over their shoulders for their secrets.  What’s cool is they give their tips freely, why wouldn’t you want to take advantage of that? As an example, if someone were looking for information on starting a virtual assistant business or getting publicity for their business, they could follow me at Twitter.com/dianaennen

Now the key many forget is that not only do you need to follow them, you need to listen earnestly to what they are saying.  Go to the sites they recommend.  Actually do the things they suggest.  And most importantly, if you have the opportunity to contribute and honestly have something of importance to say, do!  Even if they aren’t following you, once you list their twitter name @name, it will go to them.  Best yet, you might get a retreat or even better a RT and follow back.  As many say, those are the ultimate compliments.

Now it’s important to learn the social media  lingo – Hashtags, Retweets, Fans, Follow Friday, this is just a few of the many names you need to know to do business better.  It can be overwhelming.  No, in fact it is overwhelming.  However, if you keep it simple and take it a step at a time, you can do it.  When you see a term you don’t know, look it up right then.  Write down your interpretation and do the investigating to find out more about it.  Here are just a few to help you on your journey.

What’s a retweet?   That’s when you find somone’s information useful and you want to pass it onto your followers.  So basically RT (retweet) is good content that you pass on.  Many RT just to RT.  Don’t be one of them.  You know your followers and what they want and need, that’s what you should be RT’ing.  We highly recommend signing up for TweetDeck for ease in doing this.  A click of a button and you are there.

Next you need to know about Follow Friday.  This is definitely one of my favorites. Think of Follow Friday as your day networking at a business get-together, only better. You get to stay in the comfort of your own home, and you get to immediately make the connections, not when you get home with a handful of business cards.  Try and plan your week so you can participate.  Remember this can be even more effective than a Chamber meeting or an expensive business seminar.  So plan a lighter load on Friday whenever possible.  You want people to mention you so mention them.  Also, don’t just list 20 screens of twitter names that you want people to follow.  Tell your followers why they should follow them.  What do they offer that your followers would be interested in?  Remember to put #followfriday in your posting.  (By the way, see that # in followfriday.  That’s what is called a hashtag.  Cool huh!)  And finally, you want people to retweet your followfriday postings, so keep your count to 120 instead of 140 so they can easily do this.  In fact, do this for all tips or postings you wanted retweeted.

Finally, try and post on Friday mornings.  I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ll often go down my postings to find those I want to list.  I know I want to list them before hand so it’s not that I’m just going down my friends column, but often times I don’t have their information readily available.  By posting on Friday you are giving it to them.

Finally, sign up for Trilalerts for your keywords.  Start following those of interest.  For example, I’m a virtual assistant, so I’ve signed up for virtual assistant updates.  Now I can follow other virtual assistants easily.  I do the same for Publicity, etc. Who do you want to connect with?  That’s who you sign up for. Follow the media.  Sign up for Facebook and Twitter for the newspapers and TV stations in your area.  Look for business reporters who tweak and follow them.  Learn their style and what they are looking for in their articles.

Also, follow some of the owners of the many article and press release directories who tweet.  Some of the best are on there and giving away secrets to success left and right.

Facebook is pretty self explanatory.  The key here is to spend some time to expand your network.  Fortunately you get notices when someone responds to your posts, so try and go and follow-up as soon as you can.  However, be careful that you don’t get sidetracked doing this too often. Build relationships.  You can have thousands of friends and fans, but can you honestly connect to all of them.  I know I sure can’t. Twitter also now allows your tweets to be sent to your Facebook page too.  This is definitely a plus.  Just make sure that you don’t do this to all of your postings, only the ones you feel would interest your friends on Facebook.

Article Submissions, Press Release Submissions -  I also say you need to send out articles and press releases religiously.  Many question how some succeed with this and others don’t.  What’s the difference? The main thing is that they know what to do. They realize the difference that page ranking can make and don’t waste their time on sites that don’t get results.  They sign up for Google Alerts under their keywords and then check out the sites that frequently get spidered.  Then they send to those places and add those sites to their database.  We do have a fabulous  PR informational package that is free to anyone who emails us.

Marketing a business and social networking doesn’t have to be expensive if you just remember to network and use all the tools available to you.  In fact, it can be fun as you get to meet new people and develop new ways to sell you and your business.  Also, keep in mind if you don’t want to do it yourself, there are excellent qualified pros and virtual assistants available to assist.  You don’t need to do it all.  You just need to do it!

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Diana Ennen, specializes in publicity and marketing and is the President of Virtual Word Publishing, http://www.virtualwordpublishing.com.  Ready to jumpstart your PR campaign, then email her at Diana@virtualwordpublishing.com.  Free PR Informational Package available. Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/dianaennen . Article is free to be reprinted as long as bio remains.