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Learning Google+ One Day at a Time

January 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Are you into “Connecting with People”?

Whether for personal or business networking purposes the Google+ tool is here to help.

Over the last few years the popular phase, “Facebook me” was quite common. It didn’t matter if it was a college student shouting at their Mom from the car window as they were heading back to the dorm or perhaps a real estate agent that you were using to close the deal on the house of your dreams, it seemed everywhere you went people were talking about “Facebooking”. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Community Manager, eMarketing, Google, Social Media Tagged With: Facebook, Google, Online Collaboration, Publicity, Social Media
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Facebook Pages, Ooh La, La…

March 11, 2009 By Leave a Comment

facebookSo, you must have heard that Facebook is undergoing some changes, yet again. But please don’t despair, I promise these enhancements look to be great. Especially from a business Facebooker standpoint…

I was in the midst of creating a new Facebook Page this week for one of my dear clients and boy did I pick the right time to hit the books! Studying that is! Yes, studying Facebook.

In my business it’s hard but imperative to keep up to date on changes, enhancements, improvements, widgets, gidgets, and gadgets. I swear, every little break I get in between projects I spend in my feedreader (reading over 400 new articles a day or at least the headlines, he, he…) By the way, I share all the stuff that is the most Impactful from an online marketing perspective. You can grab my Google Reader Shared Items Feed and save yourself a whole whack of time trying to find the best reads.

So, what makes me go Ooh, la, la over the new Facebook Pages? Here it is in a nutshell – and keep in mind Facebook’s Mission: To Make the World More Open and Connected…

In case you were wondering a Facebook Page as defined by Facebook: is a customizable presence for an organization, product, or public personality to join the conversation with Facebook users. the Page focuses on the stream of content posted by the Page administrator (and it’s FREE, yes it is FREE to create your own Facebook Page).

(These highlights are complements of Facebook)

  • Facebook is unifying and simplifying the way people interact on the site by making Facebook Pages similar to user profiles.
  • By leveraging the real connections between friends on Facebook, a Page lets Fans become brand advocates. Posts by the page will start to appear in News Feed, giving Pages a stronger voice to reach their Fans…
  • In addition, pages now have the flexibility of multiple customizable tabs previously exclusive to user profiles.

Here are the things in my own words that I am excited about. This is an actual message I sent to my client to get the ball rolling on this new Page:

Now the pages will look more like a regular profile and have news feed updates, etc… I have downloaded the new Facebook Pages Primer and am taking lots of notes. The key is to keep the page content updated regularly. We can post news, events, photo’s, video, etc and it will now show up in the fans news feeds attracting viral attention from their friends, etc… So basically, any news, updates, sales, new products, etc we can promote on the page. Also, I can create a badge of the page to promote on the site and blog.

Here are a few question I have in regards to getting this new page published:

* What graphic/logo do you want to use as the main photo (note, this will show up with every update within the fans main Facebook news feed so it should be something very attractive.
* We will have a choice of which tab (wall, info, discussion, photos, video, boxes) that you want as the main “landing page” for new potential fans to see as they first arrive.
* The Wall tab will be where all the main up to date information is posted. It’s like the main news feed. If you want to post content that does not go into the news stream (that shows up on all fans news stream walls) we will post it on one of the other tabs and choose – do not publish.
* The page will be able to send a status update – just like a users profile. And that update will show up in the fans news stream as well.
* Each tab will have it’s own unique URL for off-site promotion (how cool!).
* And, the best feature is the “Additional Insights” tool. This tool is free and is like an analytics for the fans “engagement” tracking. You will be able to view how many fans comment on your posts, how many facebook users start and stop viewing your posts in news feeds, etc…

So, just so you know the Facebook Pages “news feeds” are not yet showing up in the users stream but they say to expect it any day now.

We will launch the new page just in time for all the hoopla!

So don’t wait, start browsing around other Facebook Pages. Take some notes on what looks good, what looks bad, what is working and what doesn’t… Good luck, and please share your page with us below in the comments section!

Note, Facebook graphic is compliments of Iconspedia – thank you!

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Filed Under: Virtual Assistance Tagged With: eMarketing, Facebook, facebook pages, Internet Marketing, Online Collaboration, Social Media, Social Networking
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Do You Know Your Tags Are Talking?

January 19, 2009 By 2 Comments

Simple little words, written in the right context and placed in the right spot, can either stop a reader cold or trigger intense debate online.

Within the large scope of the social media world lives a handy little technique called tagging. The act of tagging means to “tag” online content for the purpose of filing, sharing, and systematically storing useful information.

Anyone who creates, reads and/or shares content online today should pay attention to these tiny little gems as tags alone can play a huge part in your social media and online marketing strategy.

As easy as it seems, sometimes the value of your tags and tagging strategy can be underestimated.

A cool tool I came across recently to help capture the key tags within your site or that of someone elses’ is called Wordle – Beautiful Word Clouds. It is very simple to use and can be kind of fun as well. As with all things new and shiny it can eat up some of your time or you could put it to good use. A few of the ideas I had to use it for would be competitive research (what tags are your competition using that are being clicked on the most?), industry trends (what are the top blogs in your industry and what are their largest tags?), and also to bring focus to your own blog (are the tags you want to put emphasis on really attracting that much attention?).

Here is the Wordle I captured from my Ultimate Biz Assistant Blog today:
Wordle: Virtual Assistant's Wordle

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Here is the Wordle from the Virtual Assistant Networking Association’s Blog, Partnering with A Virtual Assistant (a great place to learn about finding the right virtual assistant for your business):
Wordle: Virtual Assistant Networking Association Blog

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Here is the Wordle from the VAclassroom Blog, Virtual Assistant Training Blog (a great place to learn the skills you need to service clients in a social media marketing and/or Internet Marketing based business:
Wordle: VAclassroom Blog

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And here is the Wordle I created of Darren Rowse of Problogger.net:
Wordle: Problogger.net Wordle

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From the first glimps of each of the above Wordle’s I would say that these blogs are pretty much on track for what they are known for within their industries.

Please be sure to share any cool Wordle’s with us that you may come up with!

Filed Under: eMarketing, Social Media Tagged With: content sharing, Online Collaboration, Social Media, tagging, tagging strategy, tags, user generated content, wordle
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Google Analytics New Stuff, Motion Charts, Custom Reports – Loving It!!!

November 24, 2008 By Leave a Comment

As you may know, I am a huge fan of many Google Applications. I was pleasantly surprised recently when I logged into my Google Analytics account to find they have added some pretty swift new features. If your Google Analytics account is at least one year old then check for the word beta within your dashboard. It will be on the left sidebar beside custom reporting, advanced segments, and also on the top right under your account profile name.

I spent the entire afternoon today studying the documentation, watching video tutorials, and customizing some pretty snazzy reports for the account registered to this site. I spent the most time reading the Quick Start Guide for Custom Reports. It defines how to design, build and view your custom reports.

Also announced recently is the Google Analytics Tracking For Adobe Flash. I have recently noted an increase in the number of Flash websites that are coming up. Until now I was never partial to them myself however, from some of the new stuff coming out I am liking it more and more.

Some of these reports are easy to insert into Google Spreadsheets with a one click widget install. Comes in handy when sharing key information with virtual work teams as everyone can be granted access to the account. Plus, you can invite people live to the screen to view the documents and also chat right in the sidebar. Online collaboration!!!

Check out this funny video the Google guys made about Motion Charts.

Filed Under: Google, Marketing, Resources, video Tagged With: google analytics, google spreadsheets, Keywords, Online Collaboration
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Will Google JotSpot Help Evolve A Virtual Assistant’s Office?

February 28, 2008 By Leave a Comment

I have been using Google Apps for about 8 months and I love the flexibility and convenience that this free service consistently provides. Running a virtual assistant company brings many challenges so when it comes time to share and collaborate I need a stable, web based product.

I have my name on the waiting list and cannot wait to test drive Google’s latest apps additional – Google JotSpot; helping people collaborate, share and work together online. JotSpot’s team and technology are a strong fit with existing Google products like Google Docs & Spreadsheets, Google Apps for Your Domain and Google Groups.

This is what the FAQ’s at JotSpot say about the application:

What is JotSpot’s product?

While other wikis only support plain old text, JotSpot’s wiki allows you to create rich web-based spreadsheets, calendars, documents and photo galleries. It’s as easy as using a word processor — you don’t need to know HTML. Thousands of businesses are using JotSpot to manage projects, build an intranet, share files and stay in sync with colleagues and customers.

Filed Under: Resources, Virtual Assistance Tagged With: file sharing, JotSpot, Online Collaboration, Virtual Assistant
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