LinkedIn Profile Organizer Walkthrough

Ok, you are on LinkedIn and have made some connections. As you get more active you will begin to wish there was an easier to set up and track the profiles and information that interests you. Enter LinkedIn Profile Organizer. In LinkedIn’s own words:

“Profile Organizer includes several tools to help you keep track of important profiles.”

“Track important profiles in a dedicated workspace.”

“Organize profiles into your own personal folders.”

“Keep important details that help you manage your outreach.”

Sounds pretty good huh? I am going to take you on a simple walkthrough so you can start using LinkedIn Profile Organizer yourself. Without further delay lets start this ride.

1. Go to the LinkedIn Profile Organizer Page.
2. Click the yellow “Upgrade Now” button.
3. Sign up for a LinkedIn Premium account (there is no way around this step if you want to use Profile Organizer).
4. Then from the “Send a message” sub-menu or search results page you can save profiles in custom folders and even add notes.

As I said, this is a very basic walkthrough (as I have a basic LinkedIn account) but these steps will get you started easily enough.

The benefits:

• More organization
• Easier to find information
• Tracking

Is it necessary? Though I believe it looks like a great feature, I do not believe it is necessary. If it is a feature you would like it would be worth it for you. If not, don’t upgrade.

Do you use LinkedIn Profile Organizer? If so, what are your thoughts?

5 Step LinkedIn Content Marketing Strategy

Are you linked in? Do you have a LinkedIn account? If you publish content of any kind that is important to you or your brand you should. As a matter of fact, if you are a professional of any kind, you should have an account. You can think of it this way: Facebook is your people you know network, Twitter is your be heard network, and LinkedIn is your professional network. If you want the right people to see your content it would be a huge mistake to ignore LinkedIn.

The first step is, if you don’t have a LinkedIn account start one right now. After you have an account, continue reading to learn a simple 5 step LinkedIn Content Marketing Strategy. On to our first step: Join Relevant LinkedIn Groups.

Join Relevant LinkedIn Groups

LinkedIn groups are a great place to let your voice be heard, engage with others, and make new connections. Which groups should you join? How many? How active should you be? Let’s answer these questions in order.

Which to Join

Which groups you should join depend on what your goals are. What is your niche? Are you a photographer? A marketer? Are you a local small business? A leadership guru? Whatever your forte, you should join groups relevant to that.

How Many to Join

This one is a very important question. The more groups you join and are active with the more exposure you and your work will have. On the other hand, if you join too many you wont be able to be very active in any of them. I would say a safe approach would be to just join a hand full, say 5 just for an easy round number, and go on from there. If you can handle being active in more then by all means join more.

How Active

This one is the key. You should be as active as you can. Comment on and thumbs up a few posts by others every week (at least). Post your work (be sure to follow the group rules). Get to know some of the members. You may just find that professional connection you are looking for.

How to Find and Join Groups on LinkedIn

1. Log into your LinkedIn account.
2. Click “Groups” located at the top menu of the page.
3. In the search field you are going to type in your niche and run a search.
4. In the search results click the name of a groups that you are interested in.
5. If you like it then click the yellow “Join” button.
6. Follow the above steps again, this time searching for local groups.

Publish Good Content

Right now content is more important than ever. If you have any interest in good SEO, building your influence, and being found on Google, you must publish plenty of good content. Write your content and publish it to your blog or website (and I would highly recommend that you do have a blog).

Post Your Content to LinkedIn

You want your professional connections to see your rock star content. Post it to LinkedIn. Be proud of your work and let yourself be known in your niche by your connections. Look at it this way, even only 20 connections will likely link you to thousands of professionals. If you want to be seen by the right people then LinkedIn is the place to do it.

Post Your Content to LinkedIn Groups

Remember those groups we talked about a minute ago? Post your content there too. Don’t be spammy and be sure to follow the groups rules.

Engage With Others

Now for a key to the whole thing. If you want others to take you seriously and be engaged, then you have to be engaged with them. Read what your connections and groups you belong to post. Comment and thumbs up where you can. Communicate and show them you are interested. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Show them that you are interested in them and you just may find that they become more interested in you.

What have we accomplished?

• You are now a member of the largest professional network in the world.
• You have joined groups that are either interested in or part of your niche or are local to you.
• You are putting out great content.
• You are sharing your content with other professionals or potential clients.
• You are engaging with potential clients and members of your niche.
• You are meeting great professional connections.

You have accomplished a lot so far huh? Put the power of LinkedIn to work for you and make your content known.

What are your thoughts? Do you use LinkedIn as part of your content marketing strategy? Why or why not?

Leverage the Visual with Pinterest

Pinterest Facts

• Traffic on the Pinterest site increased over 5% from 2011 to 2012.
• It produced 4X the revenue per click as Twitter.
• Pinterest buyers spend more and make more purchases than any of the other top 5 social sites.
• You can use hashtags on Pinterest.
• You can set your logo as your Pinterest profile picture to increase brand recognition.
• 79% of Pinterest users are female.
• Almost 80% have at least had some college.
• 69% have an annual income of at least $50,000.

I would like to thank the Marketing Land blog for the above statistics. The infographic can be fount at http://marketingland.com/infographic-marketer-guide-to-pinterest-36487 and has other great information as well.

Pinterest is the #4 social network in the top 5. It is popular and growing. From the above statistics you can see that it is a great social platform for business.

Getting Started

Getting started with Pinterest is easy. Just follow these simple steps:

1. Go to Pinterest.
2. Click “Join Pinterest”.
3. Click to join wit Facebook, Twitter, or your email.
4. Follow the on screen instructions and you are ready to enjoy all that is Pinterest.

Set Up Your Boards

So far so good huh? Now things get more interesting. Why more interesting? Because now you are going to make Pinterest your own. How you ask? By creating your own pin boards of course. 🙂 And by the way, this part will be even more painless than setting up your account was. Lets go for it:

1. Log into your Pinterest account if you aren’t already there.
2. Point at your name in the upper right corner and click “Your Boards”.
3. Click “Create a Board”.
4. Give your board a name.
5. Write a description (not necessary but a good idea).
6. Assign your board a category if you want.
7. Make it a public or private board.

Now onto the best part of all…

Start Pinning

Now for the fun. Welcome to the wonderful world of pinning. Here are a few pointers:

• From within Pinterest if you want to repin something just click on it then click the “Repin” button.
• From outside Pinterest use the “Pin It” button. The way it works is simple:

In Pinterest point to “About” next to your name in the upper right corner and click “Pin It Button”.

Drag the “Pin It” button to your bookmarks bar of your browser.

Then when you want to pin something that you find on the Web just click “Pin It” and fill in the information asked for.

Pinterest Hints

• Organize your boards with meaningful names. Your visitors will thank you.
• Write a description identifying your pins.
• Remember, good SEO applies on Pinterest too.
• Be yourself and show the world your flavor.
• Completely fill out your profile and upload a picture (just like you should do on any other social network.
• So things don’t get too noisy try following individual boards rather than every board of everyone you follow.
• Always remember branding.
• Good content applies here just as much as it does on your blog or Facebook Page.
• Include links to your other social profiles in your About section.
• If you are selling on Pinterest post your prices and how your readers can make the purchase.
• Have fun pinning!

Tell me about your Pinterest experience. How do you use Pinterest? What tips can you share?

Bring Your Social Media Under Control With HootSuite

What is HootSuite? According to the HootSuite website:

Save your time and your sanity. Improve productivity by managing all of your social networks within HootSuite. The dashboard is designed for you and your team to listen, engage and measure all from one simple interface.

I would say they summed it up very well. HootSuite is a social dashboard designed to make your social media life an easier one. Read on to see how to get started on this amazingly sanity saving service.

Check Your Accounts in One Window

One of the coolest features of HootSuite is you can keep up with your social media accounts in one window. Rather than logging in and out of your various accounts you can view them all from one program. HootSuite allows you to manage your Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Foursquare, WordPress, MySpace, and Mixi accounts. That in and of itself is pretty impressive. Keep in mind that with a free HootSuite account You can add only five connections to your networks and advanced features such as analytics won’t work. For most of you this very adequate for your needs.

Post to All in One Shot

Another benefit of HootSuite is that it allows you to post to all of your added networks at once. Posting is easy:

1. Click inside the field at the top of the webpage that says “Click to select a social network”.
2. Choose the networks you want to post to.
3. Where it says “Compose a message…” type your post.
4. Click the Send Now button.

Easy peasy so far huh?

How-To

How do you get started? Just follow these simple steps:

1. Go to http://hootsuite.com/.
2. Bookmark the HootSuite page so you can return quick and easy.
3. Under “Sign Up Today – Free” either sign up using Facebook or fill out the form.
4. Add your profiles.
5. Set up your streams so you can keep track of the information you wish to use HootSuite to follow.
6. Explore your new HootSuite set up.

Pretty simple, and you didn’t have to download and install a single program. If you have any questions please comment below and let me know.

Tell me about your HootSuite experience.

4 Steps to Simplify your Social Media World

Social media has without a doubt become a very powerful focal point in most of our lives. It is where we market our brand, socialize, make plans with friends, get entertained, and just hang out. I believe it has become a good thing. I also believe it has empowered everyone to get their message out to a global audience. The challenge is, it can be such a time thief. How can we keep up with our social networks and still have time to run our businesses and even go outside once in a while? Here are four steps to make your social media manageable again.

Simplify your feeds.

In time as you the number of those you follow grows your social feeds can become a true challenge to keep up with. Let’s face it, most of us don’t have time to spend two to four hours a day reading updates on social networks. What makes this really challenging is that in order to grow your following you have to follow others. What is the solution? How can you follow so many and still keep up with your social media feeds?

HootSuite

HootSuite is a social media management program that does many things well. The main feature I use it for is to place many of my feeds into one window so they are quicker and easier to read and manage. You should give it a try.

Paper.li

With paper.li you actually view your Twitter feed as if it is the front page of a newspaper. Now you can more easily scan through the “headlines” and see the top stories of your massively long Twitter stream of updates (if it isn’t that long now it will be as you follow more people). It works great and I use it everyday.

Twitter Lists

Are there some on your Twitter feed that you don’t want to miss an update from? No worries, Twitter has a feature called Lists. With lists you can create a list, make it public or private, and add those you want there. To get started go to your profile and click “Lists”.

Circles

In Google+ create Circles to organize your contacts. It works slick and easy. You can organize your Circles any way you wish.

In setting up and using HoorSuite, paper.li, Twitter Lists, and Circles you have made your social media readable again.

Simplify posting

The first thing I’d like you to do is start paying attention to what your friends and contacts are already posting. In doing so you will get to know what is on their mins. You will discover what is important to them. By knowing what they are interested in, thinking about, and what is important to them you will gain invaluable insights into what you should be posting about.

Start using Buffer. Buffer is an amazing service that (for free) allows you to schedule your Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook posts. It is very convenient and powerful if used in the right way.

Structure your time

From its very beginning social networking has always been very addictive for many. As your list of friends grows it can become overwhelming. My advice?

Limit yourself to posting and reading two to three times a day. That is enough. You will be keeping yourself out there without turning yourself into a spammer.

Go outside once in a while. There is more to life that Facebook, Twitter, and your computer. Be sure to take breaks. Who knows? You just may find that you enjoy the real world.

Organize your inbox

Just a couple of quick and easy pieces of advice here that I know will make your life easier.

* Organize your messages into folders, categories, or labels (depending on the email program or service you are using).

* Mark important messages with a star or flag. In doing so they will always appear at the top of your messages.

If you simplify your feeds, simplify your posting, structure your time, and organize your email you will find that your social media life will become easier.

What are your tricks to manage your social media accounts or to just make your online world an easier one to live in?

Social Fitness

You hear it from the doctor, news media, and even the White House. America needs to get in shape. I have a good question for you though. What kind of social shape are you in? Are you too socially thin or socially obese? Are you socially weak or strong? In this article I will give you some tips on how to:

• Have social room to breathe.
• Get social stamina.
• Become socially flexible.
• Gain social strength.
• Build social power.
• Have social balance.

Breathing

Breathing may just be the most important thing any of us ever do. Without breath there can be no life. It is said that a human being can only live 4 – 8 minutes without oxygen. Lets all take a deep breath as we think about that. Now, answer me this: How long do you think your social media program will survive if you don’t give it room to breathe? Trust me when I say that if you just push and go go go you will burn out and find no joy in it. This is the Internet! It is supposed to be fun, not something to burn out over.

Here are some tips to give yourself some room to socially breath:

• Take a break once in a while. Physically, if you just continue to push with no rest, you will tear your body down rather than build it up. The same holds true with a social media program. Just understand that you are not required to sit in front of your computer for hours at a time without pause. Yes, there is more to life than just social. Go out and experience it.
• Don’t overextend yourself. There are over 200 known social networking websites on the Internet. If you are hooked into too many you will effectively have time for nothing else and you will burn out. Not to mention, you wont be very effective on any of them because you are spread too thin. My advice would be to pick no more than 4. Ask yourself these 4 questions:
  Which one do most of my target audience hang out on? Which one will I find most of my influencers on? Which one will make it easiest to display my wares? Which one will help my SEO the most? There you have your 4.
• Have a routine. Rather than an unorganized hit and miss shotgun approach have a plan. How often will you post at each site? What kind of posts will you make? How often will you engage with your stream? How will you keep up with it? Have a planned routine and work it.
• Know when to walk away for a while. Yes there should always be room for life in the real world. Once in a while go out and experience it. Then you will never burn out on social.

Stamina

Without energy the human body just wants to sit and sleep. With plenty of stamina the body wants to keep going. Social media can be the same way. With social, if you don’t have stamina you will run out of wind and stop. How do you build up some social stamina?

• Get a good social tool to work from. With the right tool your social media life will be easier and you will be able to pick up the momentum to keep going. My favorite tool is HootSuite. Check it out and I think you will love it as well.
• Practice. Just like any other activity, social media gets easier and you get better at it with practice. Keep working at it. Leverage what works. Drop what doesn’t work for you.
• Keep going. There is never a good time to give up. Keep going and it will eventually pay off. Social marketing is something that takes time and patience.

Flexibility

When it comes to your body, the surest way to injury is to never stretch your muscles. In the realm of social media, if you aren’t flexible in your approach you will come off as stiff, and you may even injure your marketing efforts.  Here are some tips to get a little social flexibility:

• Pay attention. Pay attention to what is working and what isn’t. Is it rock star or is it epic fail? Are you seeing ROI? If it isn’t working, and you have leveraged it to its capacity maybe it’s time to change gears and try something else.
• Keep an open mind. Read about what others are doing. Follow blogs. Pay attention to the news. Read books and articles. Really great ideas are everywhere. Keep an open mind to a different or new approach.
• Embrace change when it makes sense. When a change makes sense embrace it. Change is nothing to be fearful of. What is frightening is the thought of trying the exact same thing over and over while expecting a different result.

Strength

You need a strong body to lift a heavy weight. In the same way you need a strong social presence to lift a heavy social media strategy to the heights of success. How do you build a stronger social presence?

• Post regularly. At the very least you should be posting once a day to each account. At the most it should be 3 to 5 times. Post much more than that and you may be accused of being a spammer. The point is, be active so your name stays out there.
• Continuously engage with others. Yes that means reading what others are posting. Comment, share, retweet, like, favorite, etc. If someone sends you a message or comments on your post respond as soon as you can. Keep the conversation going and keep building relationships. That is what both social media and marketing are all about anyway.
• Put out good quality content. Content is not only king (yes it is important enough that I will keep repeating it) but is the key to effective SEO. Over time good content will build into a strong Web presence that will result in a true return on the time invested.
• Keep it interesting. People like interesting, entertaining, funny, informational, and different. People love the visual. Post the kind of things that your audience wants to read. Mix things up once in a while. It is ok to post text. It is also a good idea to post images, video, Slideshares, infographics, and yes even the occasional meme. The key is, if you aren’t offering them something in a way that they will find interesting they wont read your posts.

Balance

Just as in everyday life if you have no balance you will fall over, in your social media life if there is no balance something will eventually fall down. Just like any other aspect of living you need balance to be healthy. Spend your time on social networks. Also, spend time with other necessary parts of your business. Take time for a hobby. Spend time with friends and family. Take alone time for quiet. Find the balance you need and your social will stand stronger than ever.

Now take the steps you need to take to get into social shape.

How socially fit are you? Comment and let me know your thoughts.

10 Tools to Help You Set Up Your Social Media Radar

How would you like to have a system set up to keep an eye on what your prospects have on their minds, what concerns or questions your customers have, what is going in your industry, and what your competitors are up to? What if I told you that the basic tools you will need to do this are all free? I want to impress upon you 3 things:

• You do need a social media radar system.
• It would benefit you with all the information that I mentioned above.
• All of the tools I am going to share with you are free to use.

I am going to share with you what tools to use, the basics on setting them up, and some tips on how to use them. Without further delay here is the lineup of the tools that will compose your social media radar system.

Twitter

One of the amazing features that Twitter offers you is the ability to read whatever information those you follow are sharing. Check out How to Get Started With Twitter to get set up. Then check out Become a Twitter Power User to see how to make the most effective use of your new Twitter account.

To use Twitter as a component of your fancy new social radar system:

• Follow your customers and prospects.
• Follow your competitors.
• Follow similar business to your own.
• Follow the influencers in your industry.
• Read your Twitter stream at least once a day (though 2 or 3 times is better).
• Interact with those you follow.

Google Alerts

According to Google:

Google Alerts are emails sent to you when Google finds new results — such as web pages, newspaper articles, or blogs — that match your search term. You can use Google Alerts to monitor anything on the Web.

What does this offer you? A very powerful component in your social radar set up.

Here is what you need to do to make it work:

1. Go to the Google Alerts Webpage.
2. Sign into your Google account if you aren’t already logged in. I would advise you to use quotation marks to make your search an exact search.
3. Type in what you want to monitor in the Search Query box.
4. In the Result Type drop down menu choose what type of results you are looking for. Usually I would recommend to choose everything.
5. Choose how often you want to receive results.
6. Choose All Results in the How Many drop down menu.
7. Choose to either send your results to your Gmail inbox or a news feed.

Google Reader

Yes Google has done it again with yet another rock star tool. With Google Reader you can follow all of the blogs and feeds you read in one place. Talk about convenience and a time saver. Keep up with industry and competitor news as well as important news from your industry.

Just follow these steps to get started:

1. Go to the Google Reader site.
2. Sign into your Google account if you aren’t already logged in.
3. Click the Subscribe button.
4. Enter the URL of the feed or blog you want to follow.
5. Click Add.

Facebook Page

Create a Facebook Page and you will have an amazing social center for you and your target market.

Check out the article Design Your Own Facebook Page Step by Step to get started.

Now follow the steps in 7 Steps to Customize Your Facebook Page to work your page like a pro.

Social Media Groups

Join groups on social media sites. Make sure to join groups from your local community, places your target market hang out, groups that are relevant to your industry, and business groups. It is great communication platform and you will meet a lot of people.

• Facebook Groups
• Google+ Communities
• LinkedIn Groups

SocialMention

Social is a real time social media search engine. You can see who is talking about you, a competitor, a product or service, or whatever you like.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Go to the SocialMention website.
2. Type in your search in quotes to get an exact search.
3. Enjoy the results.

Yes it is that simple. Not every result will be relevant but you should get pretty useful information. Also, check out all the features of the site. Explore and you just may be impressed.

Facebook Insights

Follow the instructions on the Facebook Insights That You Can’t Afford to Ignore article and you will reap the reward of great data on your Facebook Page followers, what is working, and what hasn’t worked. An amazing and free tool.

Google News

In my opinion one of the best general news pages available. Go to the site and enter whatever it is you are searching for, and that includes you, your competitors, industry, and products. It gives you a list of news stories bout your search. On the results page it even gives you the option to add a section for the specific search on your Google News homepage.

Here is my routine:

• Check out the top stories.
• Search for and check out specific topics.
• Check out both Business and Technology on the navigation on the left.

That is just what I do. Your interests may be different, don’t ignore this powerful tool.

Yelp

Yelp.com is like a very popular yellow pages that allows users to review businesses. With millions of unique monthly users it is definitely not something to be ignored.

Customers

This is the most important part of your social media radar system. Talk to your customers. Listen to them. Pay attention to their concerns. Answer their questions. Get to know them on Facebook. Be social with them in your shop. They are the most important people in the world to your business and they are the most powerful tool that you have in your social arsenal.

What tools do you use to keep your ears open?

Equation of a Successful Social Media Post

There are two types of posts in the realm of social media: those that are engaged with and those that are ignored. How are your posts doing? Are you getting the clicks that you are looking for? Are your posts selling? Ignored posts can be a great source of frustration for content writers. Are your posts being ignored? Perhaps it’s time to learn the successful post equation:

Hook + Useful + Benefit = Success

Lets take a closer look at the parts of the equation of posting success.

The Hook

The hook is exactly what it sounds like: something to get your readers’ attention. It can be something funny, shocking (yet tasteful), off the wall, or best of all it can be visual like a picture or video. Remember, the visual sells. Why is this an important point? It is important because if you don’t get your readers’ attention in the beginning you will likely lose them before the end.

Some tricks to make developing effective hooks easier:

• Brainstorm. Make a list of everything that comes to mind. When brainstorming there are no bad ideas. Keep it going till you run out of ideas for a hook. If you have a hard time getting started walk away for 15 or 20 minutes and come back to it.
• Save what you have brainstormed to use later. Over time you will have a list to fall back on if you need a hook but can’t come up with one.

The Useful

So you have hooked them in with a rock star level hook. Yes you are that good. Now what? Now that you have their attention it’s time to give them something they can use. If you get someone’s attention but have nothing to offer them you will lose that attention and have a hard time getting it back again. What is useful? Something that your reader can relate to and apply in some way. It can be something they can use in their business, to enhance their life, to find pleasure in, or even to share with others that need the information. Have something useful to offer them and you will keep their attention.

The Benefit

At this point you have hooked your readers in and provided them something they can use. Is that enough? Nope. If they can’t actually reap a benefit from what you have to say then they have no reason to use the information you have provided or to even continue reading your posts. A perceived benefit is a key to successful sales. Some examples of a good benefit?

• Something they can be entertainment by and laughter. People like to be entertained. They like things that amuse them.
• Show how what you are posting can improve their lives.
• Explain in a few words how the information can be beneficial to their business or career.
• Let them know whats in it for them.

A Successful Post

Look at what you have done. You got your readers’ attention, offered them something they can use, and showed them how the information you are selling will help them. What do you have? An epic post that just may lead to engagement and conversion.

Hook + Useful + Benefit = Success

Here are a couple examples:

“Want to save some money? Come to our big sale this Saturday and save save save! Save money and get quality merchandise.”
is better than
“Come to our big sale this Saturday and save save save.”

Or,

“Lose the old clunker and cruise in style! Visit us today for great deals on used cars. Upgrade your ride while giving your wallet a break.”
is better than,
“Great deals on used cars. Visit us today.”

Apply this simple formula to all of your posts and let me know if you have seen a difference in the responsiveness of your readers.

Share your comments. What tips can you offer on writing great social media posts?

8 Ways to Grow your Twitter Following

Twitter has become nothing less than a phenomenon. Last year Twitter passed the half a billion user mark. That is a lot of users. It is also a huge market. Though Twitter is a very unique and amazing tool for communication in general, it can also be a powerhouse of a social marketing platform. There is one key to making Twitter work for you: To be heard you need followers. I am not going to advise you to buy followers nor am I going to direct you to a tool that promises to do it for you. I am going to give you good Twitter best practices that you can grow on. Here are 8 ways to grow your Twitter following and get your voice heard.

Follow Others

Following others is a key to getting followed yourself. If you don’t follow them why should they follow you? It is all about community and relationship building. Who should you follow?

• Follow your collaborators. Whether they are vendors, investors, or you name it, you should be following those that contribute to you or your business. It shows them appreciation, helps you keep tabs on their latest news, and are usually easy follow backs.
• Your target market. Current customers and prospects are good choices to follow. Doing so will give you ear to their questions, interests, and what is on their mind.
• Follow influencers. It is only wise to create connections with power players in your industry. Many will follow you back. Best of all, forming a relationship with them can possibly create a great connection that you may need in the future.
• Follow experts. The reason is obvious: they know the industry and you can learn from their tweets, You can ask them questions. Get connected to those in the know.
• Follow the competition. This one may not lead to a follow back but this is a great way to see what they are up to, what is working for them, and what isn’t. Their followers will also see your name in their list of followers.
• Follow those that follow you. First of all it is only polite. Second, if you don’t, many of them will unfollow you. There are a couple exceptions to this rule. If they are an obvious spammer, bot, or would reflect in a negative way on your business then it might actually be wise to not follow them back.

The really cool thing about following others is that if they follow you back you will receive the following benefits:

• Every post of yours that they retweet, favorite, or comment on will be seen by their followers.
• The fact they you are following each other will be seen by their followers. This could lead to even more follows.

Post Regularly

Sticking with it and not overdoing it are the secrets here. I would say post between 3 and 5 times a day. Post much more and followers could become annoyed and unfollow you. Post less and you wont even be on the radar.

Be Active in TweetChat

A TweetChat is like a virtual meeting on any topic you can imagine. It is a very cool way to meet other tweeters, get your voice heard, and make new connections that could become potential  followers. Just go to TweetChat and follow the instructions to get started.

Be Interactive

I can make you one 100% safe guarantee. If all you do is post and follow you are going to have a hard time keeping your current followers or attracting new ones. Retweet, Favorite, and Reply the tweets of others. Interact with them. Don’t just throw ads in their face over and over again. Make it interesting and mix it up.

Tweet Content

Yes, content is king even in the twitterverse. If you aren’t writing something others find interesting, entertaining, useful, educational, or otherwise attention grabbing, they are not going to follow you and read your tweets. Good quality content on the other hand is the true way to win follows and influence tweeters.

Promote Your Twitter Account

The secret to doing this is simply to get the word out there. Here are some ideas, maybe you can think of more.

• Tell your Facebook, Google+, and Linked in friends about your Twitter account.
• Tell your real life friends and family.
• Put a link to your Twitter profile in the signature of your email.
• Put it on your business cards.
• Put a link to your Twitter on your blog or website.
• Wherever you can give it exposure without being a spammer, do so.

Use Direct Messages Wisely

One easy to lose a follower or potential follower is to spam their inbox. The Direct Message feature should be used to ask legitimate questions that you don’t want to ask in the open for everyone to read, or,  if you have a legitimate thing to say just between the two of you. It should never be used to spam people for follows or to buy your product.

Fill out your profile completely

If you don’t you wont get the follows. it is that simple. People won’t trust someone that doesn’t at least share basic information about who they are. The very basics?

• Profile picture
• Name
• Bio information

As I said, these are the bare bone basics. The more information the better.

Follow these tips and have some patience. You will get followers.

What tips do you have to increase your following on Twitter?

7 Steps to Customize Your Facebook Page

Your Page is the face of your brand on Facebook. What does that face show? Is it attractive? Interesting? Is it just basic and unimaginative? The point I am making with these questions is that you want to provide something on your Page that visitors will want to return to. You want the kind of face that will cause a double take when others visit your Page.

This article is all about you putting your best face forward. Now lets make a better Facebook Page.

1. Set up a landing page.

What is a landing page? Both honest ad vague answer: Whatever you want it to be. It is a page that visitors are taken after clicking a link. It is also a powerful tool. With it you can take your visitors to a promotional offer, advertisement, getting Likes, getting email addresses and other information, displaying your blog, or whatever you want. Take the time to do it right and this feature can really pay off.

Follow These Steps

1. Log into Facebook.
2. In Facebook Search type in Static HTML: iframe tabs.
3. Click Go to App.
4. Click Add Static HTML to a Page.
5. Choose your Page from the drop down menu.
6. Click Add Static HTML: iframe tabs.
7. You will now have a new tab on your Page called Welcome. Hover over the new tab and click the pencil icon.
8. Click Edit Settings.
9. Click Change next to Tab Image.
10. Click Change again.
11. Browse for the image you want to use for the tab.
12. Go back to the tab settings and type and save a new name for the tab if you want to change it.
13. Click Okay.
14. Click the Tab.
15. Choose the App you want to use.

Available Apps

• HTML
  If you know how, enter or copy the code for the landing page so you have the greatest control over its appearance.
• Image
  Upload an Image.
• Website
  This can be a custom page you have created and uploaded somewhere, your homepage, blog, etc.
• Drag & Drop
  A WYSIWYG to design the landing page.

I don’t have time or room in one blog post to teach you HTML but I think you get the point on the value of a landing page. You don’t even need to know how to code to set it up.

If you have any questions at all in this process let me know.

2. Get visual.

I am talking about the two rockers of social media when it comes to engagement: images and videos. Post them. Yes this one isn’t very technical but it is something very neglected. Most visitors will not return to a page of just pure text. People like the visual. They want to be inspired or entertained. Give them what they want and they will return for more. Here are some ideas:

• Things and situations that are funny.
• Events you have hosted.
• How-to infographics or videos.
• Highlights of the best of your best product.
• Things that put a human face to your brand.
• Things your target market find entertaining or interesting.

You know your target market better than anyone else (or at least you should). Give them what they want and make it visual.

3. Fill in all information completely.

I know this doesn’t exactly sound like a customization but it is a necessity if you want to put your best face forward and make your Page stand out. People don’t go to your Page just to be given a sales pitch. They go to your page for two reasons:

1. Content
2. To see you

The simplest way to show them the rock star that is you is to show them your basic information. In the very least:

1. Have a Profile Pic and Cover.
2. Go to your Page.
3. Click Edit Page.
4. Click Update Info.
5. Fill out all the information that you can.

These things seem basic but your visitors will appreciate it and you will have a far more effective Page.

4. Add custom tabs.

You can go two different routes wit this one. You can either create your own tabs or you can install ready made ones. I wont go into creating your own for now. I promise to publish a how-to soon. You can find many guides on Google. Here are some pretty useful ready made tabs you can install on your Page:

Livestream: Allows you to stream live events.

Fan of the Week: Your fans like to feel appreciated. Make them feel good and encourage engagement.

Booshaka: Highlights the most active fans of your Page.

ContactMe: Makes it really nice and easy for your fans to get in contact with you.

SupportTab: This one is very cool. When your fans click this tab they are taken to a page in which they can ask you questions and search for answers.

These are just a few and there are many others. Check them out. You might just be surprised by what you will find.

5. Be content intensive.

This is a fact that you will hear me preaching about time and again. Content is king. It is important. It is key to SEO, engagement, and conversion. Make your content useful, educational, or entertaining. Be sure it is of a good quality. This one will make your Page either look like gold or Quasimodo.

6. Pin what you want to keep them focused on.

Pin posts to the top that you want to keep your fan’s and visitor’s focused on. When you pin something it stays at the top of the Page. How to do it:

1. Type your post.
2. Click Edit or Remove.
3. Click Pin to Top.

7. Highlight your latest masterpieces.

Finally, if you write an update that is particularly important in some way you can highlight it. Just write your update and click the star. It will become larger than a normal update, thus drawing attention to it.

These tips will get you a good start in both customizing your Facebook Page and making it more attractive to visitors.

I encourage you to take a second look at your Facebook Page today. Is it really all that it can be?

What tips do you have to customize your Facebook Page?