I will be co-hosting a seminar overview called “Social Media – Can you afford to ignore it?” on the 23rd September with Tamsin Fox-Davies – small business marketing mentor. It would be great to see some of you there! Our last event was a great success and lots of fun too. Since the event we have been in touch with several of our attendees via different social media platforms and it is wonderful to see how they have embraced the social media habits so well.

Book into the event now – 23rd September

So, we are repeating the event for a new group of people. The venue will be the lovely “Seminars @ 38″ on Devonshire Street W1. If you know anyone who has in the past complained about things moving too fast, or feeling they arent getting a return on their time investment, then please share this event with them.

View below a few video testimonials from the last event.

Please share this post with anyone you think might be interested, and be sure to comment below!

Book yourself in at our Early Bird Discount

I regularly train people on the amazing tools available to businesses today – Blogging, Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin.

I wanted to share some general guidelines which all of you can use right away in order to make the most of these free ways to enhance your online marketing beyond just your website.

There are really just 4 points which I feel will “sum it all up”. Have a read, have a think and let me know if you agree!

Fill out your profile properly. This is your public persona, so– include a proper description of yourself. I am amazed how many people have signed up for Linkedin and haven’t uploaded even a picture of themselves. Fill in the bio on Twitter. Upload a good quality picture – I recommend a cropped head and shoulders as usually you will be seen as a little thumbnail!

Vary your updates. When you are blogging, utilize all the different types of blog posts you have, not just news, but interview, reviews, best of’s how to’s, think about things which will be useful to your audience, the type of things they would share around. When tweeting on Twitter mix it up – links to useful articles, replies to other people, RTs, mentions. On Facebook keep things visual but still varied.

Don’t sell. These are not sales tools: They are social, so they allow you to make new friends, contacts and connections. They are networking, so you can use them for business. And they are marketing, so you can use them to raise awareness. But you will do this best by being generous and sharing, not salesy.

Keep learning. Read other blogs, follow other people in your industry, read other people’s profiles on Linkedin and check out how people are using Facebook for business. A great place to start is on Mashable, the leading blog for Social Media. See what you can get from the information they post online, and try and make yourself look as good as possible by emulating the best. there is so much information out there – I have run full day courses on this and still not covered all there is to teach – and not even come close to covering everything!

Overall the idea is to not get overwhelmed – follow these basic rules – and you will see the magical things that can happen with social media! Please comment below if you have ANYTHING to say – even if you WHOLEheartedly agree with ALL your HEART – or if you want to add anything!

There are a multitude of options and ways to market small businesses on the internet. Nowadays it’s important to think about the whole internet as your “playground” – rather than just your website!
Most people are familiar with the concept of having a website to market their businesses but it’s important to consider social media and blogging as well. Read on for some tips on how to use each effectively. And please comment at the end! We like comments!

Social Media

There are 3 main social media platforms that each small business should consider.

All of them are FREE.

Twitter is great for all businesses – whether B2B or B2C. It’s best to be yourself on Twitter rather than a “faceless company”. There is a unique language spoken on Twitter so we provide 1-2-1 training to help people get used to it.

Linkedin is the most “respected” of social media platforms. It’s really a must for all professionals, as there is huge value in your existing contacts. The biggest mistake people make is not paying attention to their Linkedin profile and not filling it in thoroughly.

Facebook – if the business in question is retail, commercial or visual (eg a gallery, photographer, fashion designer) then Facebook is a brilliant way to market yourself. But you do need to be active regularly and post a variety of different things up there.

Websites

Our websites range from single page sites to small brochure sites to full sites with case studies, galleries, blogs and social media integration.

Each site is different but here are some things to start you thinking about your next website incarnation.

• A professional, well thought out design
• No more than 7 main navigation links – and sublink organised within these
• A clear homepage which draws people into the most important parts of the site
• Case Studies
• Testimonials
• A blog
• Link to your Twitter page
• Well written “plain English” text – and not too much
• A press area
• Newsletter sign up

If your business has a website you can be proud of and gives a great first impression, and if you are active on social media and blogging regularly, then you will really stand out.

Blogs and Blog websites

Blogs can be within the website itself, as in many of the websites we have created – or separate. It’s best to be very organised and plan your blog posts in advance. This means there is fresh content on her website all the time which means it’s a more interesting site to go and visit. You can also have  a feed from your latest blog post

Having a regularly updated blog on the site is also great for SEO. Each time you add a page to your blog, you create another page on the internet, and this means search engines are more likely to find your site when people search for you.

You can also create an entire website using “Wordpress” which is the system that blogs are built on. This allows you the ability to update all the text yourself without needing to know any special coding.

What do we do to help? If you want us to help just get in touch – we are very experienced with setting up and providing training on social media, websites and blogs. In January we will be holding an education session on blogging and if you would like to enquire about attending, please get in touch by emailing keren@topleftdesign.com or visit http://tld-blogging.eventbrite.com

On the other hand some people prefer to call and would benefit from taking the time to write a proper email – in the end it could even save time as emails are an opportunity to clearly list action points and confirm proper detail.

Here is a quick and easy guide – worth a read we promise! And we have even included a special list of when its best to use Social Media for communication!

Phoning is good for:

• Building rapport with a client or a supplier
• Explaining how to do things if step by step emails didn’t make sense – on the phone, you can gauge the reaction and explain certain things more and not explain some things as much.
• On the phone you can bounce ideas off each other
• If this client seems stressed in an email, and you want to let them know all is well, you can reassure the client by phone
• Getting a quick answer for something from a supplier or a client.

Email is good for:

• Sending step by step instructions so the recipient can sit in their own time and try out the tasks
• If you want to send a confirmation that something has been done and include a link.
• Email is good for accepting an invitation or confirming attendance to an event or a meeting, so the recipient can keep track.
• Emails can be quicker as there is less small talk
• Emails are good for recapping a call with the points of action – to make things more official and avoid misunderstanding

It is good to use email to make sure details are understood – especially for when quoting money, confirming costs, confirming exact action points, details and deadlines.

Social Media is good for:

Now, a NEW method of communication has come out FULL FORCE – people are using Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to communicate more than ever before. Here are some useful ideas for how to use Social Media networks like Facebook or Twitter to save space in your email inbox!

• Saying “hi” and “it was good to meet you” – this is a message that can be done on Twitter and shows the rest of your followers who you met and that it was a good meeting!
• Sharing an interesting link or article you found with someone – via a retweet and an @reply on Twitter to someone who you think will find the information useful.
• Showing you liked something someone did – as it’s a public forum, Twitter is a great place to praise someone’s work or blog article! Hint Hint!
• Introducing two people – if you @reply two people or copy two people in, Twitter/Facebook or LinkedIn are ideal for this as the contact information will be available on people’s profiles

Each of the social networks (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Ecademy, BT Tradespace and the others) has their own purpose, and the main thing about LinkedIn is:

• it’s a trusted network - which means you connect to people who you have met in a business capacity
• its for business – so not really for sharing personal details but for sharing your business activitiesSo, it’s really for business contacts and business topics. Whether you run your own business or work at a company, it’s about your professional life – an online CV and profile. LinkedIn is highly searchable, so as people are in the habit of Googling you, it’s a good idea to make sure your profile is online and up to date and says all the things you want people to know about you, and none of the sordid details you may not want to share.
  Below we have put some useful icons you can save off and use on your website pages if you want to link to your LinkedIn profile. We recommend if you own or work in a company, you get everyone in your team to update their profile and link to it from your company website, as this will extend the network of your company.

People use LinkedIn to varying degrees. The most active (and successful) users consistently participate by:

1. Joining LinkedIn groups for specific topics and interests
2. Setting up their own groups and keeping them going by inviting people and starting new conversation topics
3. Interlinking their Twitter and Facebook and other Social Media profiles to their LinkedIn profiles
4. Putttng little “LinkedIn profile” links on their website where they have their own bios or on the homepage
5. Submitting forum posts to their LinkedIn groups and responding to other’s conversations
6. Writing and adding blog articles which are useful and relevant for the specific groups
7. Using other tools such as the slideshare tool to show PowerPoint presentations.
8. Consistently keeping their profile up to date.
9. Browsing profiles of other LinkedIn users and ask their mutual contacts for introductions.

Of course – the more you put in the more you get out – if you use this resource as a way of keeping in touch, keeping “in people’s heads”, and getting inspired to meet up in “real life” then you will see too the magic that can happen from connecting through LinkedIn.

At the very least, keeping your LinkedIn profile up to date is of utmost importance – as this makes up a big part of your online professional reputation.

Some people don’t know  that there is actually a LinkedIn Learning Centre. – see www.learn.linkedin.com – this is a valuable resource and show you a lot of what is possible on LinkedIn as well as answer FAQs.

See http://learn.linkedin.com and let us know what you learn – just email us or comment in the comments box and let us know extra tips!

Networking can be interpreted in many ways
but activities should include:

- going to networking events, parties, trade shows, and other gatherings where you meet new people
- making sure you keep in touch with those people
- connecting those people with other people you know, where it would be of mutual benefit
- meeting people again for “1-2-1s” and finding out more about their businesses
- Joining a group such as BNI, NRG, Business Junction, Athena, or Chambers of Commerce where you meet regularly to continue to get to know other members.
- Building relationships with other business people and showing yourself as an expert in your field as well as a nice reliable and helpful person.

All of these are typical of traditional networking.

What we are seeing now is that there are a lot of online groups as well. These have been around for many years and their usage is growing. Examples include Ecademy, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

There are many benefits to making proper use of these:

- They are way you can control your online reputation and raise your profile – if you are conscious about how all content you post online can affect this.
- They are easily found by search engines so if people “Google” you then your profile can come up so its good if it shows you off as an expert in your field and a nice friendly person.
- Social networking websites are extremely low cost and has huge potential for spreading your sphere of influence.
- You can see who your contacts know and ask for introductions, and use their list of contacts as a reference point in your 1-2-1s
- It’s important to put some effort into your profile so you really show off your skills/personality/etc – best to look at other’s on the same website to see what to follow – or ask us!
- If you do have Facebook Profile, a Blog or a Twitter account, all of this can be interlinked with your online profile – to take people on an online journey all about you and how great you are!
- Status updates can remind you of what others are doing and prompt you to get back in touch with them

And now the crux – offline PLUS online – combined!

We really would encourage you to get in touch with people when you have met them in real life via searching for them on one of the online networks where you may both be a member. Why?

- it’s an ice breaker, and means you have something else in common
- you can read a bit about them on their profile before you get in touch and then have more to talk about
- Once you connect with them on an social networking site, you can be “friends” or “contacts” which means your status updates and news announcements get fed to each other’s news feeds.
- On an ongoing basis you can see when your new contact has done something new – like posted a blog, or visited a place you have been to, or made a contact you know – and this can prompt you to get in touch again to discuss this new topic.
- As above, if you meet someone online, meet them in real life and really get to know them on a 1-2-1 basis. The right contacts in your network can make the world of difference! As Dave Clark from NRG says, you will build up a network of advocates – people who recommend you and speak highly of you once they have gotten to know you and understand your business.

We have seen time and time again the magic of this – and we have many stories about it we would love to share. Please call us on 020 7486 2629 and we can tell you all about them – and also help you with your online profiles, the content of your status updates and blogs, and getting your head around all the technicalities – it really is easy once you learn how!

We are also offering one on one training sessions on these – email us if you would like to know more.

The Social Networking websites we wanted to recommend as a good starting point:

Ecademy:
www.ecademy.com

Some people find it annoying to join Ecademy because all sorts of random people contact you when you join, but you can adjust the permissions (go to “My Settings” and then “Notifications”) so you don’t have this happening.

We recommend to stick with Ecademy, it’s really brilliant once you get the hang of it!

There is a very good searchable database on Ecademy, and you can use this for looking up people’s profiles, putting up your own, and contacting people who YOU would want to talk to. They would the look at your profile so it’s good to make sure this is properly finished.

See http://www.ecademy.com/account.php?id=21731 for Keren’s profile.

Twitter:
http://twitter.com

This is all about status updates and “following people” – you can follow Stephen Fry, Jonathan Ross, and Barack Obama – and Top Left Design of course!
http://twitter.com/topleftdesign

See also http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9ce3a368-f82d-11dd-aae8-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1 for an article about Twitter.

LinkedIn
www.linkedin.com

This is a very worthwhile network and and it’s full of people in the corporate world as well as SME owners – so it has GREAT potential! Most people are on LinkedIn even if they are somewhere in their career.

If you would like to know more about this or indeed how to make better use of Social Media within your business and website, please get in touch!