A coffee conversation - via Tweet

I thought you might enjoy this story about how I found - or rather they found me - my new favorite coffee shop in Bellevue.

A couple months ago, I was trying to set an appointment to meet a friend for coffee. I cannot find the original conversation on Twitter, but it went something like this:

@Dana - would love to meet for sometime next week.
@Readysetgrow - that would be great. How about coffee in Bellevue on Tuesday at 2 p.m.
@cafecesura - We would love to have you come in for coffee.

What the heck? At the time, I didn't even know how that happened. Now, I understand how. But more importantly, Cafe Cesura is a brand who is paying attention, and listening to what people are saying on social media - about what they do!

Dana and I didn't meet there for coffee, but I have made Cafe Cesura my Eastside coffee destination - all because of a tweet.

How are you using Twitter to listen to what your customers or potential customers are talking about, or listening to know if they are talking about you?

Confused by all of it? I'm having a workshop in a couple weeks to help demystify Twitter and help you have results like the one above.

Facebook is your Friend

See what I did there?

 It is amazing to me as we sit, nearing the end of 2012, how many business owners have yet to embrace Social Media as a tool to help market their business. That is part of why I do what I do!

On CNN last week, Social Media Visionary Gary Vaynerchuk said, "If you aren't on Facebook and Twitter in 2012/13 - you're basically not a relevant business in our society." Do those words give you pause? If you are in business, perhaps they should.

Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus can all be a friend to your business - tools that can help not only build relationships, but also build your reputation as an expert, educate and even help your Google search results.

Social Media is all about creating opportunities, planting seeds. There are no guarantees, but every time you post on any Social Media platform, you are planting, watering, and ultimately growing relationships that can benefit your business.

Would sure love to hear your success stories! Where have you seen success using Social Media? How has Facebook become your friend?

I just "unliked" your page - and I thought you should know why.

I'm a sucker for Facebook Business Pages. I love to see the creative and helpful ways businesses are using to engage with their online community. Some pages do it so well - but more often than not, they just don't.

Here are a few mistakes I've seen lately:

1. Asking for "likes" from your page. They already like you, why are you asking them to like you again.
2. Asking for help to get more likes over and over again. I recently saw a business page that did this every day for a week (and I unliked their page as a result)
3. Bragging - No one likes people who brag.
4. Posting too many times per day.

Here are some solutions to these challenges.
1. Ask for likes from your personal profile. Tell them what you post about and provide a link. Make it easy for people to "like" you.
2. It's ok to ask for help getting likes - but show them how, or better yet, provide good content on a regular basis and people will automatically begin to share and your numbers will grow.
3. Change the bragging around. Instead of talking about me, me, me - talk about who and how you helped. A great example of that is, "This week we helped a small business who thought they had lost all their data when their servers crashed. We were able to restore data with minimal downtime."

Are there pages that you have un-liked? What caused you to make that change?

Random Acts of Post-It Notes

Picture this...you walk into an elevator and turn around (like we all do) to push your desired floor and there it is, a random, anonymous Post-It note. The particular one I'm referring to was in the elevator at the Dallas Hyatt a couple weeks ago. It simply said, "You matter."

It made me feel good, but more than that, it inspired me to want to do the same. So, I've been carrying around a pack of the Extra Sticky Post-It notes, and I've been leaving them in public places...bathroom stalls, elevators, entry doors, etc.

The messages I've written have been "You make a difference", "You are loved", "You matter", etc.

Would you join me? What messages will you send?

I just thought this would be a cool way to remind people that they mean something to someone, somewhere! We all do, afterall!

Social Media Etiquette. 6 Things you are doing to Lose Friends and Fans

Google, "How to get more Facebook Fans" and you will get thousands of articles. Even recently, our friends at The Oatmeal gave us their take on the issue.

So, your number is going up. (Yay!) But, you aren't getting more comments and likes. Maybe you've broken some unwritten etiquette rules - that you didn't even know about, honestly.

Here are a few things that might be impacting your Social Media bottom line.

1. Starting a page, inviting friends with NOTHING TO SHOW! Personally, if I am going to like a new page, I would be much more likely to join an active community - or at least one that has the appearance of community. Be sure to populate the page with articles, information, blog posts, etc. to show new viewers what they might expect from liking your page.

2. Starting a page, inviting friends and NEVER posting. Because a Facebook page is all about engagement and creating community, you MUST be active. Daily posts are a good standard, and a great habit to develop.

3. Over inviting, when you are holding an event - When you are having an event, create an event and invite those people who might be able to attend. And, by that, I mean - if you are having a networking event in Seattle, don't invite your friends that live in Albuquerque.

4. Over promoting when you are holding an event - Something that starts to look like spam is when you send multiple Facebook messages, or post on multiple friends walls. Be warned as you can easily be reported and lose posting privileges.

5. Using only your personal page to post your business information. Not only does using your personal profile for your Business violate the Facebook Terms of Service, but it's also just downright annoying if all you ever share is business information. A Business Page is the perfect place to share sales, new products, etc.

6. Using only tools to post. Studies have shown engagement on Facebook decreases by over 70% when you use tools anyway. If you want to engage with your Facebook audience, come to Facebook! Feel free to use tools to post to Twitter and LinkedIn! People aren't necessarily expecting to have a conversation on those platforms.

I am sure there are more...in fact, I can think of some already, but these are some of the top.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts and experiences.

Facebook Insights...not so private.

Facebook has taken a lot of heat about their privacy policies. Most of that can be corrected through settings, thank goodness.

What has recently come to my attention is something on Business Pages that you might wish were completely invisible to the "fans" of your page. The image above is from the Pinterest Facebook page. They have over 1.7 million fans, which at first may seem like an impressive number. (It really is impressive) But, click on that number and your opinion might change.

When you do, you will see some information about the page that show their engagement - a key indicator to the effectiveness of a facebook page - has been in a steady decline for the past month.

The rub is that this is information you or I could find on any Facebook page. And, while this information cannot be completely deleted, you may want to make it challenging to find. If you have more than 4 tabs, you can hide the one with the likes.

If you need a little help, please just give me a call and I can walk you through how to change it!

And, what do you think about Facebook making this visible to everyone? Would love your thoughts.

Timeline: Ready or not, here it comes!

If you haven’t logged into your Facebook business page recently, you might not be aware that there is a change coming to your page THIS FRIDAY! But, do not fear, here are some tips to make the transition easier.

1. Choose a great cover photo for your banner on your Facebook page. The ideal dimensions are 850 X 315 pixels. Your profile picture will also be resized to 125 X 125 pixels.

2. Add some milestones. One unique feature of Timeline is the ability to jump to past dates. Click “add Milestone” and you can tell a story. When did you start your business? Hire your first employee? Win an award? This is a place to document your business history.

3. Visit the admin panel where you will find useful data, including recent page interactions (new comments, likes and likers), the insights graph and messages from fans. Explore the new Build Your Audience and Manage buttons to see their functionality as well.

As an added note, people can now send messages to your business. This is a new way for your fans to communicate with you and Any time a fan or customer reaches out to your business, it’s an opportunity to connect that you don’t want to miss. The challenge will be to remember to look for new messages which are part of the admin panel.

The shift to Timeline may take some getting used to, but when the sense of overwhelm disappears, you will find a much more robust tool that will help your business thrive.

So excited to have had the opportunity to participate in a webinar yesterday with Ovaleye.tv. You can see it at Ovaleye.tv appearance.

This was a first for me and was a great learning experience. If you watch, I would love your feedback!

Thanks much.

Here is one way to do it...WRONG!

You may have seen set ups like this before, perhaps at an event booth - or at a location, like this one. This photo was taken at the end of an event at the MGM Grand Las Vegas called The CSI Experience. This display was right before check out where you get your certificate for being a great crime solver.

They want you to stop, login to Facebook from a public computer, go to their Facebook page and click like. I don't know about you, but I'm sure not going to do that.

One solution could be a QR code. Point that code to the Facebook page - where Smart Phone user could scan and click like.

Would you enter your Facebook login and password on a public computer? What are your thoughts?

The Power of One - Facebook post!

I watched an amazing thing happen today on Facebook and thought I would share it with you.

My friend, Andrea King, owns Anywhere But Here Travel. Today on their Facebook page, was a simple picture.

I thought the picture was cool, so I re-posted it with a question. "Could you sleep in an underwater hotel room?"

What happened next was amazing - and shows how quickly an idea, a post, or a picture can spread on Social Media.

From that one post on my page, there were 27 likes, 25 comments and 2 shares. But, that is just the beginning. The results on the Facebook page were even more staggering. That one photo generated 29 likes, 17 comments, 12 shares and at least 8 new likes on the page.

This is just one of many, many examples out there about engaging an audience. Because I took part, I was able to see the reach first hand - and even I was amazed.

Check it out for yourself!

Happy posting!

How important is "Practice What you Preach"?

In an industry like Social Media - it's easy to see what other Social Media companies, agencies and individuals are up to. Visit their Facebook business page or Twitter feed and the activity stares you in the face.

So, when someone claims they are the "expert", how important is it that you see them actually DOING what they say they can do for you?

I heard about a company today - that I will keep secret. When you visit their website, they sure talk a good game. They even have a white paper available with some great tips. But, when you visit their Facebook page - you can see that they have only posted about 25 times in the past two years. And, there is almost no engagement there.

So, that is my question...does it matter to you? If you were looking to hire someone to help you with your Social Media matters - do you examine their Social Media profiles to see if they know what they are talking about?

It's seems important to me, and I'm wondering how important it might be to you.

Please share in the comments below!

Can a FB Business Page have a Stalker?

I ask this question because I would love to know your opinion about this.

One of my clients is a LOCAL prestige brand - where you can ONLY purchase locally. It seems that no matter what I post on their page, one specific person (who lives in the midwest somewhere) either likes or comments - or even both. It does seem odd, but I wonder if it even really matters. And, sometimes it even gets a bit annoying!

Does your business or brand have any over-enthusiastic fanatics? What are your thoughts?

My playlist and hobbies

It's time for Ovaleye (web hosting provider) Biz Blog 3 for 5 Challenge - and I've decided to participate to get this blog moving in a forward direction. So, twice every week, Ovaleye is sending me (and others) blog prompts - three for "Behind the Scenes" and three for "Expert Status".

I am going to see where this takes me, but I hope in the next month you will get to know me and what I am good at.

Are there things you would like to know? Today, I am going to share from the personal side.

When I am in my office, I fire up Pandora and have created a Depeche Mode playlist. Then Pandora delivers me happiness in late 80's tunes from Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, The Cure, Pet Shop Boys, Tears for Fears, etc. Every song makes me smile!

My two other favorite artists are Nicole Nordeman and Casting Crowns. They are the only two artists where I own all of their music!

As far as hobbies are concerned, I love to sing! Singing in the shower, the car, at church! If I have the opportunity - I am going to sing. I actually annoy my daughter because we will be playing Scrabble - and when I find a word in my tiles, I inevitably start singing a song with that word in it.

The other activity I love is Drum and Bugle Corps! If you aren't familiar with what that is, it's like Marching Band on steroids! Specifically, I work with the Cascades Drum and Bugle Corps from Seattle, WA. This corps has taken me on many a journey, whether that was trips to Denver, Florida or California to see them live, or taking a two week family vacation and going on tour selling souvenirs.

We now often spends weekends in Yakima with the corps and I am "fundraising chair" for this great group!

Tell me about your playlist and hobbies. I would love to know more about you as well!

Sometimes a transformation can look like someone losing weight and getting fit, sometimes it a color makeover, but sometimes it can be something as simple as a tweak in the way you think about things.

The theme for SIC:// is Transformations and yesterday, many were transformed in a very serious way .Thanks to the great artist and folks at Spring Creek Group. (http://www.facebook.com/SpringCreekGroup) They transformed a number of attendees into their fantasy – from the rockstar, to the cape wearing superhero. This is the one of me – a double fisted, cell phone wielding Social Media superhero!

But, transformations don’t have to be quite that drastic.

For me, after hearing from Stefan Weitz at Bing, one of the simple things I might change is using Bing a bit more often, because of the relationship between Facebook and Bing.

The other thing that was obvious yesterday is it isn’t all about the presentations, but sometimes even more beneficial are the chance meetings in between. From the fantastic gals I met from Woot. (http://www.woot.com) or the employee from the Microsoft Store who told me to come in to the store and he will give me his “Friends and Family” discount. SCORE!

Did you have any moments? Get new information? What changes might you implement in your business as a result of what you learned?

The Problem with "Like Exchanges"

When I first started my business, I too was lured by the power of the like...

1. How many people like my page today?
2. How come my friends won't like my page?
3. How come my number isn't going up faster?

So, I joined some like exchanges...you may have seen them on Facebook and LinkedIn especially. The idea is that you post your facebook page and everyone there should come to your page and click "like." And, you should do the same.

What a brilliant idea! Or NOT!

The problem with these exchanges are numerous.

• It's not about the number of "likes". If you are just looking for numbers, I guess a purpose is served, but if what you are really looking for is potential connections/referral partners and customers - you won't find them in the "like exchange".
• It messes up the look of your business page wall. One of the benefits of liking back and forth is that each posts on theh others walls. It looks like spam and it doesn't allow you to keep control of your brand.
• The success of a facebook business page relies heavily on engagement. People who participate in like exchanges are just there for the like - and may never communicate with you or your page again.

It is worth the time to let your fan number grow organically. When you take the time - add value, communicate with your fans, and engage - the results will be worth the effort.

The fine line between overwhelmed and inspired

These days, I am much more selective about the events I attend. There are so many great options in the Seattle area and I tend to overdo. (I know I'm not alone on that one.)

This week, I attended two events specifically that had me feeling on that line between overwhelmed and inspired.

The first was a Social Media Club event about moms and blogging. Such fantastic information, amazing people to meet and a HUGE to do list when I left.

Friday was my weekly meeting with BizEnrich where one of the members did a presentation about SEO, a very basic presentation, but one that still left me feeling like I need to do more.

How do you deal with those feelings of just too much to do? I want to stay inspired, but hate the feeling that I just have so much more to do.

I would love to know your thoughts...

Facebook Edgerank and What It Means for Your Business | Social Media Today

Facebook Edgerank and What It Means for Your Business | Social Media Today

5 Ways to Add Value to your Social Media...

Imagine this. You go to a party, an ordinary social function and you see “that girl”. The one you would rather avoid because she absolutely never stops selling. Everything that comes out of her mouth has something to do with how she can solve all your problems with her product. Annoying, right? Don’t you avoid her at all costs?

Well, try thinking of facebook as a party.

Just like that real life party – if you never stop selling, it will change the way people view your business (or choose not to) online.

When you are at a party, meeting people, you actively contribute to the conversation with useful information. You don’t walk around telling everyone to buy from you, buy from you, buy from you. So, why is it that so many people do that on Social Media? I am guessing it’s because that is all they know. I would like to help in changing that.

I worked with a client last week who paid me the best compliment. Not only did he say that I did a good job with the work I provided, but that I “added value” to his site.

With that, I thought I would provide 5 simple ways that you can add value to your Social Media experience. And, when you add value, you will gain more fans and followers!

1. Provide relevant, timely information. Like it or not, over 1 million people spend time on facebook everyday. If you can provide articles, videos and links that help them, they will continue to come back. For example, you are a catering company and it’s just after Thanksgiving. Maybe you could find an article that gives interesting uses for leftover turkey. Or you are a dog care company and can provide tips for keeping your pets healthy and safe during whatever season we are in.

2. Be a part of the conversation. I am all for tools that make social media easier and less time consuming, but if we go back to the cocktail party analogy, they don’t really provide for conversation. It’s most definitely a two way street. If you aren’t active on facebook itself, your “fans” will notice and realize you are only there to sell, which could be a huge turn off.

3. Promote other people’s businesses. What a great way to promote your power partnerships and the people you recommend. This makes you valuable as a “go-to” guy or gal. It will create the assurance that if someone needs something, even if it isn’t related to your business, you will know someone and be able to refer them to someone you know and trust.

4. Don’t sell all the time. I think this point speaks for itself. No one likes anyone who doesn’t stop selling, and if all you ever do is talk about you and your product, “fans” will un-like your page or hide it from their feed. Either result takes you out of their “top of mind”.

5. Keep the conversation going offline. Social media is just that…social. When you create relationships through online venues, be sure to take them off the computer. Meet for coffee or lunch. Get to know one another and how you might each help one another.

What are some other things you have observed?

What do you want to know?

My daily Facebook frolicking and Twitter trolling gives me lots of blog fodder. And, I am well aware that I have many thoughts and opinions that I would love to talk about. But, more than that, I would like to know what you need help with - what you would like to know more about. I post lots of short tips and tricks on my facebook page http://www.facebook.com/readysetgrowmarketing if you would like to stay up-to-date there. I also post some great, relevant articles from other reputable sources.

Would you like to know how social media can help YOUR particular industry? What else would you like to read about? Post your comments here and we can keep the discussion going!

Here's to more connections, followers and fans!

Stand Out when you Stand Up

How often does this happen to you? You go to a networking event and one-by-one, every attendee stands up and says, "My name is Joe and I do _________". It's what everyone tends to do, so everyone follows along. If I am not in the market for _____________, Joe may have just given me permission to tune him out.


Let me give you some simple tips to help you stand out in those networking crowds.


1. Paint a mental picture. If you are a travel agent and you live in a cold climate - tell the group to imagine themselves digging their bare feet into a sandy beach. Be creative. Try different scenarios and guage the reaction.


2. Ask an interesting, interest piqueing question. Be original. If you are a financial planner, don't ask something trite, like "Who has all the money they need?" Obviously, the answer will be no one. I have a friend who is a financial planner who asks questions about planning a vacation...then at the end of her "commercial" she brings it back to how we are planning for the longest vacation of our lives, our retirement. I hope you see the difference.


3. Sell through the room, not to the room. (credit to BNI for this one) It's not usually about who you know, but who they know. If you focus on the outside of the room people, it takes the pressure off those who are actually in the room listening to you.


4. Nobody likes to be sold, but they all want to buy. For some reason, we like it when it's our idea. :-)



5. Focus on one specialty. If you focus on one thing you do for your clients, it's much easier for the people in the room to think of that one thing and someone they might know who needs that. If you have more than one business - as many people do - choose one to market.

What items would you add to this list? I've just listed a few!