Archive for October, 2008

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How to Find and Follow People on Twitter

Monday, October 13th, 2008

Last week I posted a video on how to get started with Twitter, the popular social media application.

Of course, joining Twitter is just the beginning. Since Twitter is a social media application, it doesn’t get interesting until the conversation starts. The first step to having a conversation is listening; or in Twitter parlance, following people.

When you follow people you get their "tweets" (their posts of 140 characters or less) on your Twitter page or in your Twitter feed. You can follow friends, colleagues, industry leaders, or just interesting, funny people. To learn how to follow people, you can check out this video below, or watch "Twitter: How to Find and Follow People on Twitter."

And don’t forget to follow me, Rich Brooks, on Twitter!

Rich Brooks
Small Business Tweeter

Posted in Entrepreneur & Small Business, How-To Web Marketing Videos, Social Media | 4 Comments »


Use Multiple Channels to Reach More People

Thursday, October 9th, 2008

This week I sent out Does Your Small Business Really Need a Social Media Strategy through our email newsletter, flyte log.

My friend, Josh Hurley, sent me this screen capture that showed my email had ended up in his spam folder:

Junk

Hell, I got lucky here. Many ISPs have such tight junk mail protection that the email may not have even reached Josh in the first place. But, as I told Josh, email wasn’t my only delivery vehicle.

  • I archived this article on my Web site
  • I blogged about the article here and on the Internet Marketing 101 blog I write for MaineBusiness.com
  • I Tweeted about it on at least two occasions, and used Ping.fm so that my message would also update my Facebook page, my Plurk account, and a half dozen other sites where my status gets updated.

I can’t control every junk filter out there, just like I can’t control when the bridge will go up and make me late for work. However, by having multiple distribution channels I can reach a wider audience and get past more gatekeepers. It’s all about the redundancy.

Rich Brooks
You Can Say That Again

Posted in Business Blogs and Blog Marketing, Email Marketing, Entrepreneur & Small Business, Search Engine Marketing, Social Media | No Comments »


Social Media Strategies for Small Business

Monday, October 6th, 2008

This month’s issue of flyte log is entitled Does Your Small Business Really Need a Social Media Strategy? I bring this up because so many small business owners are still wondering if they really need search engine optimization or a blog…now we’re asking them to consider the value of a LinkedIn account, or a Facebook page, or even Twittering? It seems a bit much.

But businesses large and small, and especially individual professionals, are all discovering the networking, marketing, and even sales benefits of social media. I may spend a lot of time on social media, but it’s been a lot more fun and rewarding than the traditional networking event, and less restrictive than being required to show up to a weekly BNI meeting. (Not that there’s anything wrong with BNI.)

In the article I talk about some specific things that have happened to me and flyte since I got invested in social media…go check them out. And then come back here and leave your own stories, or ask your own questions. Let’s keep the conversation going.

Rich Brooks
Social Media Consultant

Posted in Entrepreneur & Small Business, Social Media | 14 Comments »


Getting Started on Twitter: A Step by Step Approach

Monday, October 6th, 2008

Last week at a TechMaine networking event I ran into Sarah Downs of the Maine Marketing Association. We talked about my upcoming social media lunch and learn I’ll be putting on for her group in November. The conversation quickly turned to Twitter, which she wasn’t familiar with. By the end of the conversation, with help from Fred Abaroa, Sarah was ready to set up her own Twitter account, but wasn’t sure how.

Although signing up for Twitter is easier than finding Viagra in your inbox (I wish I had used that line instead of the one I did in the video, but I don’t have the patience to re-re-record it,) I figured I’d walk you through the process.

If you have trouble seeing this video you can check out How to Get Started on Twitter: Signup and Setup directly on YouTube.

And when you’re done watching the video, be sure to follow me on Twitter.

Rich Brooks
Small Business Tweeter

Posted in How-To Web Marketing Videos, Social Media | 4 Comments »


Red Bull Delivery = More Efficient Web Development

Thursday, October 2nd, 2008

Redbulldelivery
Two beautiful women just delivered three cases of Red Bull to our offices here at flyte. (Actually, I can’t be sure they were beautiful, but the way the light gleamed off the three cases of Red Bull they seemed entirely angelic to me. Nah, I’m pretty sure they were beautiful.)

As I carried one of the cases triumphantly around the office above my head, Andy asked the all important question: "when will they be cold?" Realizing they weren’t getting any colder two feet above my head, I stuffed as many of them as I could in our small fridge.

Now I know that my team will be sufficiently energized to complete the work ahead of them.

I’m wondering if we’ll have to start changing the tagline on the bottom of all our Web sites: Web Site Design by flyte new media | Fueled by Red Bull.

Rich Brooks
Got Wings?

Posted in Entrepreneur & Small Business, Web Design & Development | 5 Comments »


Email Marketing Wish List: What Email Newsletter Companies Should Offer

Thursday, October 2nd, 2008

I’m a big fan of Constant Contact for email marketing, but that doesn’t mean you can’t improve on a good thing. Here’s my wish list for a perfect email marketing service provider.

  • Flexible HTML templates that can be updated without HTML knowledge. Entrepreneurs and small business people should be able to choose a template, make some quick changes (upload a logo, change fonts and colors, etc.)
  • Ability to create or enhance standard HTML templates. Those with advanced design and coding skills should be able to go "under the hood" and make additional changes to the templates. This gives Web designers the opportunity to create non-cookie-cutter solutions for their clients. (And a big reason flyte uses Constant Contact.)
  • Ability to do A/B split testing. This is email marketing, after all. I should be able to quickly create a split so that I can test the efficacy of competing subject lines or calls-to-action. (This is missing from Constant Contact and probably my biggest pet peeve.)
  • Ability to track different signup paths to an ezine and give appropriate confirmation and welcome messages based on those signups. In other words, I want to know if it’s my blog or Web site that is generating more signups. Plus, it would be nice to know if people are subscribing to flyte log because of a particular article (10 Questions to Ask Before Setting up a Web Site or The 11 Biggest Mistakes Small Business Bloggers Make) or just signing up through a signup box on our site. These are important marketing questions that will help drive my business thinking down the road.
  • Ability to track down people who filed spam reports and beat them about the head and neck. I mean, who are these people? I run a double opt-in mailing list. You can’t get on my list without subscribing on our site and then clicking on a confirmation link. That’s not spam, that’s free choice! If you no longer want to receive the ezine then unsubscribe! Geez….

OK, I’m sure there are other items that belong on the wish list. What do you look for/want out of an email service provider?

Rich Brooks
Email Marketing for Small Business

Posted in Email Marketing, Web Marketing | 8 Comments »

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