Posts Tagged ‘social media’
Friday, March 5th, 2010
The Retail Advertising and Marketing Association (RAMA), a division of the National Retail Federation (NRF), yesterday unveiled the results of a survey on the habits of social media users, at NRF’s Retail Innovation Marketing Conference in San Francisco. Comparing social media users to the average U.S. adult, RAMA’s survey, “Social Media: An Inside Look at the People Who Use It,” examined differences in demographics for each group, including male and female usage, as well as age differences in social media users vs. other adults.
Highlights of the survey include the following:
- Seven out of 10 social media users between the ages of 18 and 34 regularly use Facebook more than such other sites as MySpace, Twitter and Classmates
- 71.8 percent of social media users said that after an online search, they tell others about a product or service through face-to-face communication
- More people who use social media prefer to give advice about a product or service rather than receive it
- Social media users are more likely to use other new media, compared with average adults age 18 and older
- 70.6 percent of female social media users regularly use Facebook, vs. 61.0 percent of males
- More men than women like to communicate with others via cell phone conversation after searching for a product or service online
Click here to review the full report. This is interesting stuff, social media is changing the way we market ourselves. For more information on how you can use social media in your business, check out our Social Media Teleclasses. These classes, which feature will answer your most common social media questions for both new and seasoned users. We had a Facebook expert, a Twitter expert, a LinkedIn expert and an expert to talk about time management and social media. We wanted the goods, no fluffy stuff; if you are a social media beginner or Tweeting several times of day, you want to learn how to maximize your social media results through questions, examples, case studies and tools, you can start using immediately. No one needs one more thing to do; but everyone wants and needs new clients. By listening to our social media audio recordings you will finally understand how this marketing phenomenon can expand your clientele to a place you have not imagined.
Tags: Professional Organizer Business, Professional Organizer Courses, Red Bench Program, social media
Posted in Marketing, social media | No Comments »
Thursday, August 20th, 2009
A question we get all the time is should I have a blog or a newsletter. Well, you may not like the answer because its both. The good news is you can use these two amazing tools together to help you stay in touch with existing clients as well as increase your visibility on the web. And no joke every time we send out the newsletter, traffic increases to our website and we experience a boost in sales to our professional organizing classes, our audio recordings or our eBooks and forms.
During our social media event, called
Embrace Social Media, we learned the first step to using social media and online communications is to have a blog. Using Word Press or Blogger you can have a free blog up and running in no time. This is an important first step because this allows you to own all of your intellectual property. When you post on Facebook and Twitter, you don’t own that material. So having a blog gives you real estate online and its all yours. Also a blog increases your web visibility with well done search engine optimization.
I know what you’re thinking I don’t have time for both a blog and a newsletter. But these tools can easily work together for you. Blog a few times each week, or write all your blogs at one time and schedule them like I do, and then use the blog posts for your newsletter articles. Now, you are not recreating the wheel, but rather leveraging the same information in multiple formats. Brilliant! You can use the posts as an article, a tip series or a promotion. Get create and leverage what you already have on hand. If you would like to receive our newsletter, email us at info@aredbench.com with “Add to newsletter” in the subject line.
A Red Bench provides training and classes to professional organizers and other service based businesses.
Tags: A Red Bench, Angela Ploetz, Christa Patchen Wagner, Christa Wagner, Embrace Social Media, Professional Organizer Business, Professional Organizer Courses, Professional Organizer Education, Professional Organizing Classes, Professional Organizing Training, Red Bench, social media
Posted in Grow Your Business, Marketing, social media | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, August 19th, 2009
It goes without saying we are all putting more information online than ever before. I have a rule of thumb that is don’t say or do anything I wouldn’t want my mother to read or see. But there are a lot of subtle ways we share much more information than we even think.
Here is a great article called Online social networking: a fraudster’s dream come true! Take a minute to read and protect yourself from hackers, fraud and identity theft.
Wanna learn more about social media and how to use it effectively? We will launch the Embrace Social Media, a TeleSummit Audios and Transcripts one at a time or you can get all eight very soon! More details coming soon!
Thanks to Canadian based professional organizer Jacki Hollywood Brown for letting us know about this article.
A Red Bench provides training and classes to professional organizers.
Tags: A Red Bench, Angela Ploetz, Christa Patchen Wagner, Christa Wagner, Professional Organizer Business, Professional Organizer Courses, Professional Organizing Classes, Professional Organizing Training, Red Bench Program, social media
Posted in social media | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009
Are you using social media, but not really sure why and not seeing much benefit? Keep in mind the process can take time and turning friends and followers into clients does not happen over night. But there are a few ways to speed up your results.
Since we offer training to professional organizers, and other service based professionals, we had to get some answers on this new phenomenon that is changing the way small businesses market their business. We had an Embrace Social Media, a TeleSummit a few months ago and it was a huge success and I learned so much on each of the eight expert calls
. How to use LinkedIn to find and make new connection and how to use social media and still manage to get all your other work done.
Our Embrace Social Media, a TeleSummit Audios and Transcripts will be available soon, so stay tuned or email us at info@aredbench.com to be the first to hear of their release. But in the meantime, here are a few of my own takeaways from the event.
- 90% Is Showing Up: One of our experts, Dan McComb on the topic of the The Social Media Phenomenon, said show up and be consistent. If your going to start a blog or post on Twitter then do it consistently. You can decide what that means for you, but show up and be present with your social media usage. By doing so you will more quickly become a trustworthy expert people come to rely on.
- Enjoy It: Like everything else, you don’t have to to anything you don’t want to. Expert Nancy Marmolejo, whose topic was How to Turn Followers Into Fans (and Fans Into Leads!) With Social Networking said be sure you’re enjoying social media or people will not find you genuine. Social media is very transparent and people can see right through you, so be genuine and either like what you’re doing or leave it.
It’s up to you if you want to participate, but there is a lot of opportunity out there and the world has certainly become a lot smaller with so many friends waiting for more information.
We will launch the Embrace Social Media, a TeleSummit Audios and Transcripts one at a time or you can get all eight very soon! More details coming soon!
Tags: Angela Ploetz, Christa Patchen Wagner, Christa Wagner, Dan McComb, Nancy Marmolejo, Professional Organizer Courses, Professional Organizer Education, Professional Organizing Classes, Professional Organizing Training, Red Bench, Red Bench Program, social media, Social Media Training, Teleclasses
Posted in Grow Your Business, In The Know-What's Hot In Organizing, Marketing, Teleclasses, social media | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 11th, 2009
We are hearing a lot about social media these days. It’s a topic that certainly can stir some emotion. Some people have jumped in with both feet and others are avoiding it like the plague. We have been using social media for a little while now and I have to say I am finding the blog and Facebook enjoyable and worthwhile, but I still have so much to learn.
Since we offer training to professional organizers, and other service based professionals, we had to get some answers on this new phenomenon that is changing the way small businesses market their business. We had an Embrace Social Media, a TeleSummit a few months ago and it was a huge success and I learned so much on each of the eight expert calls. How to use Twitter effectively and not lose your mind, how to create content around keywords and the do’s and don’t of a blog.
Our Embrace Social Media, a TeleSummit Audios and Transcripts will be available soon, so stay tuned or email us at info@aredbench.com to be the first to hear of their release. But in the meantime, here are a few of my own takeaways from the event.
- Engage People and Be Interesting: My best status updates are the ones where I pose a question and get lots of answers from my friends. This has been the beginning stage of several information products I have in the works. By asking interesting questions you get people to engage and participate with you.
- Listen: Don’t just talk all the time, listen to what’s going on, make comments and contribute. A great thing to do is send people Happy Birthday wishes to let them know you are thinking of them.
It’s up to you if you want to participate, but there is a lot of opportunity out there and the world has certainly become a lot smaller with so many friends waiting for more information.
We will launch the Embrace Social Media, a TeleSummit Audios and Transcripts one at a time or you can get all eight very soon! More details coming soon!
Tags: Angela Ploetz, Business Training, Christa Patchen Wagner, Christa Wagner, Embrace Social Media, Professional Organizer Courses, Professional Organizer Education, Professional Organizing Classes, Professional Organizing Training, social media, Social Media Training, Teleclasses
Posted in In The Know-What's Hot In Organizing, Marketing, Teleclasses, social media | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, August 5th, 2009
It goes without saying that social media is changing the way we market ourselves. All of a sudden we can get our message to so many more people for virtually no cost, but our time. Since we offer training to professional organizers, and other service based professionals, we had to get some answers on this new phenomenon. We had an Embrace Social Media, a TeleSummit a few months ago and it was a huge success and I learned so much on each of the eight expert calls. How to use Facebook effectively, how to turn followers into fans and how to manage my time, yet still use these amazing and ground breaking tools.
Our Embrace Social Media, a TeleSummit Audios and Transcripts will be available soon, so stay tuned or email us at info@aredbench.com to be the first to hear of their release. But in the meantime, here are a few of my own takeaways from the event.
- Start with a blog first. If you are heading down the path of social media, the first step is to get a blog so you own all your intellectual property. If everything you write is on Facebook or Twitter, you don’t own your material. Create a blog and then link your blog to the various social media tools. For help getting started purchase and listen to our class called How to Plan, Build and Promote Your Blog with Blog Expert and 2 Time NAPO Conference Speaker Rich Brooks.
- Add Value: If you are using social media solely for the purpose of personal use, then sure post that your child just pooped himself. But if you are using social media for your business think about how you can add value and what would attract people to your. What problems or challenges do your followers have and how can you provide some help and solutions.
It’s up to you if you want to participate, but there is a lot of opportunity out there and the world has certainly become a lot smaller with so many friends waiting for more information.
We will launch the Embrace Social Media, a TeleSummit Audios and Transcripts one at a time or you can get all eight very soon! More details coming soon!
Tags: A Red Bench, Angela Ploetz, Business Training, Christa Patchen Wagner, Christa Wagner, Dan McComb, Nancy Marmolejo, Professional Organizer Courses, Professional Organizer Education, Professional Organizing Training, Red Bench, Red Bench Program, Rich Brooks, social media, Social Media Training, TeleSummit
Posted in Grow Your Business, In The Know-What's Hot In Organizing, Marketing, Teleclasses, social media | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
I will be the first to admit that I was reluctant to get a Facebook account, but after a few friends (and you know who you are) peer pressured me into it, I took the plunge. It’s now been six months using this tool and I have to admit I really like it and am enjoying it. Now, just like anything else Facebook can take over your life and it has for many people. You have to monitor the amount of time you are dedicating to Facebook and have some idea as to why you’re using it. Is it just for fun? Are you using it for business too?
So we all know Facebook can kill productivity if you keep it open all day, so I’m not going to even go there. From an organizer’s perspective close FB when you’re not using it and use a timer to avoid overuse. On the flip side it has helped me in a few areas that I think are important to mention:
- It has greatly reduced my email. Thank goodness for small favors, something has decreased the amount of emails coming into my inbox. Of course I love to hear from friends via email, but who has time to email back and forth all the time. Using FB I can touch base with them as often as I want in a much more social way. I can comment on something they said and its appropriate to only say a few words rather than go on and on.
- I can check as often or as little as I want. With email, because its in my inbox, I feel obligated to respond to everything. Don’t you? Using FB, its not the same and I can check in and out with much less pressure.
- Staying in better touch with friends and family. Of course, this is obvious, but when you live as far away from home as I do it’s so nice to be able to connect with people on a regular basis. Just yesterday I was “IMing” with my cousin who is in New York. I can see what she’s up to for the summer and we started chatting. It was great and I feel connected to her and others in a much more genuine way.
Like anything else, FB can become one more thing to do so if you don’t enjoy it, don’t do it. If you want to learn to use Facebook more effectively, be on the lookout for the Audio Recording being released fro our Social Media TeleSummit. And if you are going to embark on this new phenomenon, keep a watchful eye on the clock. 10 minutes can turn into two hours in no time. Give yourself some guidelines and have fun with it!
Click here to find me on Facebook.
Tags: A Red Bench, Angela Ploetz, Christa Patchen Wagner, Christa Wagner, Facebook, social media
Posted in Marketing, Time Management | No Comments »
Monday, June 15th, 2009
For our fourth session, of eight on our Social Media TeleSummit, decided to shift gears a little bit. We interviewed Gillian Muessig of SEOmoz. Her topic was 
SEO Tips and & Tricks: Ideas so Juicy, You’ll Need a Napkin! I had met Gillian before and saw her on a panel at a CRAVE conference a while back. I knew her information would be awesome, but wow did she blow me away on the call yesterday. Man, can that woman talk about SEO. She is so passionate and so eloquent you just want to listen to more of what she has to say.
So what did I learn? I learned before I engage in any social media, I need to have a strategy in place to get my website at the top of the search page. Am I doing that? Probably not as well as I should. She asked if my website deserved to be on the top of the page? Implying had I done my homework? Have you? Great question. Gillian took us through using links and how we should structure our links to get the most benefits, we talked about keywords and incorporating this all with social media; it was invaluable information.
Thank you so much for being on the call Gillian. You are truly the Mom of SEO and that title is yours to keep. Continue to check our website and blog for more information regarding social media and SEO. If you missed the Embrace Social Media, a TeleSummit, be on the lookout for Gillian’s presentation available from A Red Bench.
Tags: A Red Bench, Angela Ploetz, Christa Patchen Wagner, Christa Wagner, Gillian Muessig, How to use SEO to drive traffic, Red Bench Program, SEO, social media, Teleclasses
Posted in Grow Your Business, Information Products, Marketing, social media | 1 Comment »
Friday, June 12th, 2009
Our third expert on the Social Media TeleSummit was Chi
p Lambert of Network2Networth. His topic was Increasing Your Connections and Profits Using Linkedin. I did not know what to expect from the call as I have not used Linkedin. I did have a profile, but I have never used it and just had not found the Linkedin very helpful. I went into the call with few expectations.
Boy, do I feel very differently now and I look forward to incorporating Linkedin into my business plan. I learned a great deal on this call and realized what how I can use Linkedin as a way to find many contacts through the power of other connections. This will be especially helpful to me being in a new city and I am counting on having many connections I didn’t even realize I had. The call was fantastic in terms of teaching me how to use a tool that does not seem that intuitive to use and I definitely see the benefit in using it.
Thank you so much for being on the call Chip. You are clearly passionate about networking and profitability and I learned a great deal. Continue to check our website and blog for more information regarding social media and Linkedin. If you missed the Embrace Social Media, a TeleSummit, be on the lookout for Chip’s presentation available from A Red Bench.
Tags: A Red Bench, Angela Ploetz, Chip Lambert, Christa Patchen Wagner, Christa Wagner, Embrace Social Media, LinkedIn, Red Bench Program, social media, Teleclasses
Posted in Grow Your Business, Marketing, Teleclasses, social media | 1 Comment »
The first day of the