Tag: Tips

Posted on

Using Twitter at at Conference or Trade Show

How to use Twitter at an event or conference.
How to use Twitter at an event or conference.

Are you at a trade show or conference and want to tweet out what is happening? It’s easy.

Download the Twitter app for your phone at the Apple Store or Google Play.

Enter in your Twitter credentials to allow your desktop activity to be synced with your mobile activity.

At your next event, look near the entry for the hashtags your event is using. You may see something like #WebConf2019 for Web Conference 2019. At the end of our tweet add the hashtag. See my example below:

Seeing and learning today with our team at #WebConf2019.

I recommend when you are at a trade show or conference that you attach quick pics to your tweet using your smartphone. Simply take your photo, save to your phone’s gallery and then craft your tweet. After the hashtag click the paperclip icon to add a photo from your gallery and click tweet!

It is very easy, fun, and your tweet becomes searchable with the event hashtag. Remember you don’t need to be perfect when you tweet at an event, but be in the moment and capture the essence of the fun and what you are learning.

Posted on

Working With Teams

Nancy McCord a Google Partner and Bing Partner
Nancy McCord a Google Partner and Bing Partner

My firm employs a number of staff to assist with Google Ads consulting, social media, and blog writing. Not all staff is located on-site.

Here are a few tips on how to communicate and keep staff on track and accountable as well as focused.

Use Technology to Communicate
Most of our staff is under the age of 30. I have found that assuring that they have mobile access to tasking is key. We use TeamUp for our online tasking and scheduling app. Each staff member has a smartphone with enough data monthly to access work. I require that when projects are completed that they mark the item done or drag that item to the day they will work on it.

Use Video to Show How
When I have complicated tasks, I do a video explanation followed up by an email. Some of my staff like to closely follow the steps in the email and others get the gist of what to do by watching the video. As a good boss I know which of my staff members needs what and I try to supply the information in the way that I know will be the easiest for them to get and understand. My videos are typically 4 to 10 minutes long and show as a hands on what to do. The emails are detailed so staff can print it out and follow step by step.

Teach Accountability
Although work gets done, assuring that they note that something has been completed in TeamUp or doing the required follow-up email or text can be a challenge. I use SMS Scheduler to send out reminder text messages on an automated schedule to keep staff on notice that they need to do the final step which is to let me know what they have done. I have found that text is the best way to get the attention of younger staff and email the best way to get the attention of older staff. The automation of the text messages allows me to set the reminders up once but to send out on a repeating schedule.

Working with remote staff does have its own special challenges. We do try to get together periodically face to face to celebrate and train on more intensive subjects, but I have found that these several tactics have really helped my business to be effective and grow.

 

Posted on

Not Implementing GDPR – Are You Feeling Lucky?

It is not hard to be in compliance with the EU's GDPR.
It is not hard to be in compliance with the EU’s GDPR.

So far only one of my US based webmaster clients has taken notice of the changes needed to their website to be EU compliant with the new GDPR rules on EU citizen privacy.

This is what I hear from clients:

  1. I do not sell in the EU so this does not apply to me.
  2. I don’t care if I have EU visitors. No one will prosecute me.
  3. I guess I am feeling lucky and so am not doing anything.

Let me demystify something please.

  1. It is not complicated to make these changes.
  2. There are free cookie handling scripts for this.
  3. Your privacy policy needs just a few minor changes.

For most clients we work with, the implementation would be under one hour and the cookie acceptance script is free unless you are on https and then expect to pay about $100 for the script.

The site update is not obtrusive, yet gives you protection. Although our own website does not get a lot of traffic from the European Union, factor 30 day traffic times 12 months. That number is high enough to think twice about saying no one will find me out.

One of our clients who said he did not want us to implement the updates, and said he was feeling lucky. But later sent an email and said go ahead and make the changes. He was feeling lucky but also wanted to be safe.

From my point of view, making this relatively simple update for most sites is a no brainer and I am baffled as to why more US business sites are not updating to this important change.

Being transparent with website visitors is important, not hard to do, and is the right thing to do. That is what the EU’s GDPR is all about.