Category: Social Media

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Twitter Your Way to Success

Do you have a new website or blog? One of the first questions you may now be asking yourself is how do you get traffic to the site?

Twitter is an excellent vehicle to use to build traffic and create buzz. There are all kinds of Twitter applications that help you to move your Tweets to other venues. I use TwitterFeed to post my blog on Twitter and to post my Tweets on my blog. It is an easy to install widget that goes into your blog template and it works.

I recommend for new website and blog owners that they do a few things to help drive traffic to their new site, here is my short list:

  1. Use Twitter first, it is easy, fast and fun.
  2. Get going with Twitter Feed.
  3. Schedule Tweets on days you don’t do blog posts with Twuffer.
  4. Actively and aggressively work to build your Twitter network.
  5. Get going with Facebook and LinkedIn – these are the big social networking sites.
  6. Consider setting up accounts Plaxo and Xing for social networking.
  7. Do a press release. Yes it is pricey but will get links out there for your website or blog in a hurry.
  8. Start posting on forums and other blogs – not commercials but real comments – make sure to link to your new site. You won’t get search engine organic capital this way, but you may get a bit of traffic.

Do you have something to add to my list? Click comments and share your tips for traffic.

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LinkedIn Penalty – Have You Been Caught?

If you are loading a large contact list into LinkedIn, be aware that you may run into their user penalty. What I am speaking about is a step by LinkedIn to trim spam and to keep their application about connections.

For me, I am definitely not a spammer. However I did get caught by the filter just the same. LinkedIn encourages you to load your address books and lists and to connect with every person you have ever contacted. However, if some of these people do not remember you or if you were a casual acquaintance, they can mark your invitation as “I do not know this person” and ding you. Get three or four dings and LinkedIn will not let you connect with anyone unless you know their email address.

So be careful about loading a large list you may get caught too. At this point LinkedIn says contact their customer service department to say you understand the rules and they will re enable the ability to connect but make sure to not let that happen again.

If you’ve had similar issues with LinkedIn, let me know what you did to resolve them. By the way one of our European friends mentioned that Xing.com is the application in Europe so look soon for our Xing profile and connect with us there too.

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How to Successfully Use LinkedIn for Business and Networking

I’ve just published my September e-newsletter and it is a special feature on how you can use LinkedIn for business. This special edition is interesting reading and my candid viewpoint on social networking.

If you have been pooh-poohing the value of social networking or thinking that Facebook and LinkedIn take too much time, you really need to read what has happened to me as I researched this article. From my perspective, I have a whole new take on social networking and am actively and aggressively growing it not to move my business forward.

Here’s just a snippet to get you thinking…

“What I found out in my testing was, well, shocking. So much so, that it has dramatically changed my viewpoint of social media and social networking. Here’s my candid experience and story. …In under 12 hours from my large list invitation my LinkedIn network contained over 90 connections. Less than one week later I am at 140 connections and still growing. In the first 24 hours, I also picked up a possibility for a new speaking engagement in front of 60 local area public relations professionals and a potential new subcontracting partner project for search optimization, ghost blogging, and Google AdWords management. All this with a wee bit of time investment.”

I now as of today have 178 connections and am looking to break 200, and that seems very doable. I have made business connections with three resources which should turn into remarkable business endeavors and have reconnected with clients and friends in a fun new way.

Read my story and see what you think.

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Spend 15 Minutes a Day For Success Your Way!

That’s all it take is 15 minutes a day to network your way to success on LinkedIn or Facebook. I have found that by interacting with connections in a non-threatening, non-selling way that you create relationships that really do translate into selling opportunities.

I don’t use Facebook or LinkedIn for selling, but I have picked up several new selling opportunities just this week alone by connecting with others. What I have been able to do specifically is to enrich relationships that existed before and move them to a truly more personal level and it’s fun on top of that.

With Facebook, I found out the birthday of several key clients and past clients and was able to send them a personalized digital gift for their big day. Personal interaction is what the Web is all about now and so the ability to connect on someone’s special day is not only good business, but being a good “friend”.  In our increasingly online world people want to do business and interact with “real” people who will take the time to get to know them as more than a dollar sign.

So for success both for personal enrichment and for creating new business opportunities the mantra is now “Spend 15 minutes a day for success your way!”

Want to know more about how to use LinkedIn for creating a network, make sure to subscribe to our monthly e-newsletter that will be coming out September 1 for a special issue on how to use LinkedIn for your business. Subscribe today!