Are you having a hard time driving traffic to your blog?  Here are a couple of easy tips on how to share your blog post on Facebook.  Remember it is your responsibility to get the word out about your business, website or blog – not their job to come find it.  Don’t forget – you need to make it easy for people to share you online through social media share buttons.

If you’re like many business owners, you know you need to embrace social media but you may not be sure entirely how to make it worth your time.  Facebook is no exception!  Just because you have a Facebook page for your business or service doesn’t mean you’re engaging your audience and making the most of the medium.

Here’s 3 steps to help you make the most of your Facebook timeline!

Step One: Who sees that again?

Remember, you have a variety of traffic who can view your Facebook page.   You may not want every group to see every item that you post.  Spend some time deciding which groups you would like to display your content to.  You can use the Facebook categories to tweak what content shows up to various people.  For instance, you may want to limit your truly personal messages to close friends while everyone can see business related posts.  Some common ways to organize your information are shown below:

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The official “day” may have passed, but there’s still soooooo much we as human beings can do to protect and respect our earth. Recycle, reuse, re-purpose…and in the spirit of our Operation Business Cleanout, we can put the kibosh on junk mail.

One thing that tends to irk me is the onslaught of junk mail that seems to get worse every year.

Halt Paper Junk

Electronic junk mail is an inconvenience, and various software can prevent it; but the paper junk mail that fills your mailbox is another matter. It is not just an inconvenience; many are concerned about the negative effects on the environment that so much junk mail may produce. Of course, trees are required in massive numbers to produce the enormous volume of junk mail (approximately 41 pounds or 1.5 trees per household per year) that takes up so much space in your mailbox and home.

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Last September, USA Today ran a story about a self-absorbed contract worker who totally dropped the ball on his client at the last minute.  He just didn’t get the job done and appeared to feel no remorse about leaving the client in a lurch.   His excuse?  He explained that “It wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. I ran into some glitches along the way. Plus, I’ve got a lot going on. I’ve got a life, you know.”

That story has stuck with me because I just couldn’t get over how out of touch this young person was when it came to making his client happy.  As small business owners we understand that we’re in the job of making clients happy.  It’s how you get and keep clients.  But when it comes to our business’s website, do we tend to appear as self-absorbed as this young man was?

The short answer, unfortunately, is yes.  Even more unfortunate is the fact that most small business owners don’t know any better.

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Facebook advertising is a very powerful (and still fairly inexpensive) way to reach your audience precisely.  Facebook been instrumental in the growth of decisive minds – so I thought I would share some quick tips on creating a Facebook ad or Sponsored story.

How do you create a sponsored story or ad?  Simply visit www.facebook.com/ads/create and get started with a simple, three-step process, first using your existing Facebook account as your login.  (No one will be able to see your personal details.)

You can define your target audience based on existing profile categories: (This is where Facebook gets its power)

• Location

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Jing is a time-saving tool that I learned about on Denise Wakeman’s website – and wanted to share, as it’s so useful if using screen prints is a part of your everyday work.

Jing in Action

The screen print on the left depicts today’s post … in process.  Just click on it to see an enlarged version.

With Jing, many of the steps involved in using the old “Print Screen” functionality are streamlined – a big time saver right there.

Jing:  Free and Easy

Jing is free (there’s also a pro version), easy to set up, and once you have it, it’s always available via an unobtrusive sun symbol that hovers at the edge of your screen.

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Entrepreneurs often wonder how they can promote their business on Facebook without coming across too sales-y, and it’s a valid concern. The way you do it is just like with any social media site–it’s all about balance.

Sometimes you will be promoting something you are offering very directly, but most of the time it’s your content that will do the promoting for you. What that means is that when you’re sharing helpful content related to your niche or expertise, you are indirectly promoting yourself and your business. It’s subtle, but very effective.

Plus, by offering regular content on your Page, you will naturally encourage interaction because you are giving people something to respond to.

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Have you been working very hard at building your list?  Do you create customized, personalized e-mails that share valuable content with your audience?  But, then nobody reads them?  Super frustrating.  So, how do you get people to open your e-mails – here are three tips for you:

Come from a place of being helpful not just looking for a sale?   If you only send e-mails when you have something to sell – then people will only open the emails when they feel like buying something (not often).   If you offer helpful content in *every* e-mail (whether you are selling or not) – your prospects will look forward to your emails and happily open them.

Pique curiosity — People get hundreds of emails a day.  What are you doing to make your e-mail stand out?  Scan your e-mails – which ones are YOU opening?  Be careful here.  You can really annoy your subscribers if you they open an e-mail that promises interesting content – but is just huge sales pitch.  Respect your audience – and they’ll respect you.

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Retweeting is one of the best ways to show your love on Twitter.  Retweeting tells your followers that you think a tweet … or the tweeter … is really worth paying attention to.  If you are a Twitter user – or interested in getting more engaged with Twitter, read on!

Retweeting:  Why Just Retweet?

I first learned about Just Retweet from Connie Ragen Green, and was intrigued because Connie doesn’t recommend anything that she hasn’t used and valued highly herself.

I am an active Twitter user and am very aware, from my own experience, of the value of retweeting.  So Just Retweet definitely piqued my interest.  As an added bonus, the ability to ‘delegate’ or systematize any on-line task is an opportunity worth exploring!

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Do you feel a little tongue tied when it comes to social media?   I think we all are from time to time.  You know that posting frequently is one of the best ways to build your community and credibility.  And, you also want to create content that engages your audience so that they’ll keep coming back for more.   Honestly, it took me a while to get the balance exactly right for my audience — and I’m still tweaking what works.    I’ve found that the posts that get the most engagement are interesting, engaging and add value.

Think about how each post adds value to the conversation.  Use what I call the “party test”.  “You don’t exactly go to a party and start spouting off what you had for breakfast (unless you are recommending a great new breakfast place).  You might tell someone about you and your business – if it is in context with the rest of the conversation.  Social media works the same way.  Make sure that your content is relevant.

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