I’m pleased to announce, that in addition to my Marketing and Social Media consulting business, I have now launched a new venture called WebinarListings.  Through hosting a few of my own Webinars (online seminars), I noticed that there was no central website for hosts to promote their webinars, or for people to find out about them.  So, I created one!  Today is the beta launch of my site, and it will eventually be FULL of a variety of Webinars for all interest areas (business, health, technology, etc), in any part of the world. Right now it happens to be focused on marketing, social media, technology because that is where my connections are, but that will soon change. Webinars are a great way to learn new things right from your computer AND are free most of the time.

So, if you’re interested, I invite you to check out the site, and connect with me in any way you choose (many options below!), especially by signing up for the weekly newsletter.  During the beta period, the more traffic and registrations/followers I build, the more interest hosts will have to list their webinars with me… so I’m counting on you! If you hear of any Webinars being put on, please pass them my way so I can contact the host. And feel free to tweet, blog, facebook update, talk, or spread the word in any way.

I’m also running an introduction promotion for this week only (through the 14th) — use promo code “intro50″ for your Featured Webinar listing and get 50% off your Webinar.

I’m really excited about this, as it is really putting to use the skills I have in social media, marketing and Webinars. I’m looking forward to seeing where this takes me!

WebinarListings contact info:

Let me know what you think!  I’ll take all the feedback I can get.

I asked one simple question of my followers on Twitter, and got 20 responses.  Here are their answers.

JoeManna: The people I have conversations with.

acraKA: Relationship building

alliemiami: Making great business connections is simple I start a conversation with someone of interest & it takes off

joewaters: The strength of weak ties.

econwriter5: Useful exchange of info

dmeiselman: An easy way to connect with new people that share an interest. Twitter lets me start relationships I would not have otherwise.

cargillcreative: Learning from others and making new connections…those are two ways I’ve benefited from using Twitter.

JoeCascio: I get connected to smart, friendly, creative people. I make friends. I don’t have to listen to asshats. Does one need more?

Dawn_Migliore: Getting news before it breaks and great links on topics you’re interested in

LevelTen_Colin:  Networking, hands down.

michaelflint: Reach and search.

jensjewellery: Publicity for my Etsy store.

abarcelos: Definitely for two-way valuable interaction, both personally and professionally.

fairminder: Meeting new friends, maintaining friendships and finding clients and colleagues to complete client projects, all on Twitter

rsomers: A radio-like stream of ideas in the background as I work

melwebster: Links to interesting stuff and a good laugh at all of the blatant self-promotion

Notice, not one person said to “find out what people are eating for lunch” (a big misperception of Twitter!).

What are your thoughts on this?  Anything to add to the list?

I have been working really hard over the past few months to keep my email Inbox clean and as close to zero as possible. A few people have asked how I do it, so I thought I’d write about it.  Here’s proof that it works:

I use Gmail, but most of what I’ve written can apply to any advanced email client. Here are my tips:

• Unsubscribe - I can’t say enough about the value of unsubscribing.  I have signed up for so many newsletters over the years, but my interests have changed.  I also do a lot of shopping online, and many sites automatically add you to their email list (or I miss the opt-out button).  Now, as soon as I get something that I find myself automatically going for the delete button, I unsubscribe immediately.  No need to waste my time each time deleting these emails.  Plus, there’s something therapeutic about using the unsubscribe button!
• Filters - Filters allow you to perform a certain action automatically to incoming emails.  I use filters in a few ways:
  • Move emails I don’t need very often automatically to my Archived box -  For example, I receive a lot of emails that are about social events in the Boston area.  Usually I’m too busy to add anything else to my schedule, so I don’t need to clutter my Inbox with them.  Instead, I have them automatically go to Archive, and if I am looking for something to do at night, I know where to look.
  • Filter out emails I want to deal with all at once – For example, all the notices I receive from Twitter telling me I have a new follower… I prefer to go through my new followers all at once and review them.  Getting them out of my Inbox reduces the clutter.
  • Filters are great for Google Buzz, which makes any reply to you, show up in your Inbox. If you dislike this, create a filter to move these to trash automatically.
• Labels (this is a Gmail feature which is very similar to email Folders) – I use labels to categorize emails coming into my Inbox. About 1/2 of the emails I receive are set up to be labeled automatically. For example, each client I’m working with has a its own label, so any email arriving from that client gets automatically labeled.  That way, I can glance quickly at what is high priority and who it is for.  I also use labels to identify news subscriptions I receive, so they’re still in my Inbox, but easily identifiable as lower priority.
• Dedicate time to go thru emails – On a daily basis I try to keep my Inbox volume low.  But, inevitably it piles up a bit throughout the week.  I find that designating time to go through my emails each week and get it back down to zero really helps.  I typically do this on the weekends, but you can do it whenever works for you. The key is to ensure you do this, or 10 will become 20, and 20 will become 30, and so on.
• Add to task list – I used to leave follow-up items in my Inbox, and star them as important.  But, that then just cluttered my Inbox and made it tough to see what else I was receiving.  Now, I take to-do items and put them on my task list, and move the email to the Archive folder.  That allows me to prioritize my to-do’s and keep my Inbox clean.
• Conversations – One of my favorite features in Gmail is the grouped conversations, which groups all emails in the same email stream together.  So, if you send an email, and 10 people reply, it just shows up in your Inbox as ONE email, rather than 10.  All 10 responses are grouped together.  This helps a lot in keeping the visual volume down.
• Mark as read – For any of the news subscription emails I receive, I automatically mark those as read, so they mentally clutter my Inbox less.  They’re still in my Inbox, but don’t feel like they have the same urgency as Unread emails.

(Photo credit: Email)

What do you think?  Do you have any more tips to keep your Inbox in control?

I had coffee this week with a fellow marketing consultant like me, with one big difference: she’s an SMS (Social Media Skeptic). We spent much of the hour we were together talking about the merits (or lack thereof) of social media. Since I’ve already written a similar post about Twitter, Why You Shouldn’t Use Twitter, I thought I’d focus this time on blogging.  So, here are some of the objections she had, along with my thoughts on the topic.

• SMS: Blogging takes too much time — it’s a full time job.
  • Me: It doesn’t have to be a full time job… if you commit to write one post per week, that’s a great way to get started, and that will only take a few hours per week.  If you have a few people blogging on a rotating schedule that shares the workload across people.
• SMS: Even if you only write one post per week, you still have to respond to all the comments.  Who has time for that?
  • Me: Yes, it’s important to make time to respond to comments, but think about it in a positive light… if your customers (or potential customers) are engaging with your brand and what you’re blogging about, isn’t that worth the additional minute you spend responding to them?  What other form of marketing can you engage customers like this? (a lot, but many of them are in social media!). Isn’t the point of marketing to engage with your consumers?
• SMS: Not everyone is a good writer, so they shouldn’t be blogging.
  • Me: There are so many ways to blog.  You can use video, audio, photos, short paragraphs, etc.  Not all of these require 4 hours to write a post, or good writing skills.  In addition, you can rotate your bloggers on a schedule so not one person is carrying the load, or also use guest bloggers on occasion to mix it up a bit.
• SMS: I’m not technical, so I could never figure out how to put together a blog.
  • Me: Just over a year ago, I didn’t even know what WordPress was (it’s a Content Management System that allows you to easily put together a blog/website in a very user friendly way), and now I know it very well, and even train others on using it.  Sure, occasionally I get stuck, but 95% of the time, I can manage it on my own.  In addition, there are some VERY user-friendly WordPress themes out there, such as Headway, that allows you to drag and drop boxes, and edit the design elements by just clicking.
• SMS: Blogging (and social media) are fads, and will not be around for much longer.
  • Me: I do agree that there are some social media tools that might not be around in a few years.  But, I think that the overall categories such as blogging, micro-blogging, etc. are here to stay.

Once I had responded to all of her objections, I pointed out some of the other positives of blogging:

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - The more you write, the more activity and comments you get on your blog, and the more inbound links you get.  This is exactly what the search engines look for when analyzing websites.  All of this activity is viewed very positively, so will positively affect your search engine rankings.
• Interact with customers – As mentioned above, isn’t it a POSITIVE thing to be able to interact with your customers?  To hear their feedback, get them engaged, get them asking questions?  All of that happens on a blog, and it’s all on YOUR website.
• Establish yourself as an expert in your area - Writing blog posts in your area of business allows you to establish yourself as an expert, and display what you know in your area.  It may or may not be directly related to your product, which opens people up even more to hearing your message.
• Low cost - For the cost of $10, you can buy a domain name and build a blog.  If you want a premium theme such as Headway or Thesis, that will run you $90. So, for $100 you can have a blog.  True, the biggest cost with blogging is time, but the actual budget outlay is less expensive than most other forms of marketing.

(Photo credit: No social media, Blogging sucks)

So, what do you think?  Is blogging a good idea?  Are there any other objections you’ve heard?  Or benefits I haven’t mentioned?

I came across this this morning, and wanted to post it as a GREAT way to take the “same-old” and turn it into something newly creative. Look at how it stops people in their tracks. It’s unexpected and new.

What other examples have you seen like this that are unexpected ways to advertise or promote a product?

Are you wondering why I’m writing a post about how to cross-post, when I JUST wrote one about how I’m not a fan of cross-posting? Well, for starters, some of these tactics are temporary, meaning you turn them on and off for each update, so it’s not just a flow of ALL of your updates.  And, second, I thought it would be helpful to have all of this in one place to keep track of it! And third, to me, even some of the “permanent” cross-post tactics (such as Blog to LinkedIn) can be useful. So, if you do decide to cross-post after reading my post here’s how:

Twitter to Facebook Profile

• Individual updates
  • Tweetdeck Desktop – Add your profile to your Tweetdeck account by clicking on the plus at the top of the screen.  Once your account has been added, you can toggle each account on and off by clicking on the account name.
  • Tweetdeck for iPhone – Go to the settings page and add your Facebook account.  When updating  your status, select your Facebook account.
  • Selective Tweets – Install the Selective Twitter application in your Facebook account.  Once you’ve done that, any Twitter update you make with #fb, will also update your Facebook status.
  • There are many other mobile and desktop applications that do this, such as Seesmic Desktop, Hootsuite, and many more.
• Permanent
  • Install this Twitter application in your Facebook account.  Once you’ve done that, EVERY Twitter update you make, will also update your Facebook status.  CAUTION, this can be annoying to your Facebook friends.

Twitter to Facebook Fan Page

• Tweetdeck Desktop – see above.  Hootsuite also does this.

Facebook Fan Page to Twitter

• Individual updates- There is currently no way to update Twitter from your Facebook Fan Page on an individual update basis.
• Permanent 
  • Install this Twitter application in your Facebook account.  Once you’ve done that, EVERY update you make on your Facebook Fan Page, will also post to Twitter.

Twitter to LinkedIn

• Tweetdeck Desktop – see above.  Hootsuite also does this.
• Adjust your settings in LinkedIn.  Once you’ve added your Twitter account, you can choose to have all or some of your updates flow to LinkedIn.  Again, I CAUTION  the use of permanent update cross-posting.  For individual updates to flow to LinkedIn, simply use #in or #li when you update your Twitter status.

LinkedIn to Twitter

• This functionality is built right into LinkedIn now, so each update you make on LinkedIn, you can select if you want it to also post to Twitter, by checking the check box below your update.

Twitter to Blog

• Add a widget to your blog that displays your recent tweets by installing the “Twitter for Wordpress” plugin on your blog. Your tweets will stream into a widget on the side of your blog, similar to mine on the bottom right.
• You can also install the Wibya toolbar (see mine at the bottom of this page) which shows your Twitter updates.  If you want to know more about the Wibya toolbar, take a look at my post on the topic.  Another similar toolbar is the Meebo Bar.

Facebook Fan Page to Blog

• This is possible using the Wibya toolbar or the Meebo Bar.  See above.

Facebook Profile to Blog

• This is possible using the Wibya toolbar or the Meebo Bar.  See above.

Blog to Twitter

• Twitterfeed - You can easily automate the posting of your blog to Twitter by setting up a feed on Twitterfeed.

Blog to Facebook Profile

• Create a Facebook note for each of your blog posts by following these instructions: In the “Applications” menu (in the bottom bar), choose “Notes.”, under “Notes Settings,” click on “Import a blog” and enter your feed address.  For more detailed instructions and screen shots, see this post.
• Wordbooker – This is a Wordpress plugin that imports your blog posts to Facebook.  The difference in this versus using Notes, is that your posts get a separate area on your profile, and any comments are imported back into your blog.  (Thanks to @tpapi for the suggestion!)

Blog to Facebook Fan Page

• Wordbooker – see above
• Social RSS – Install this application on Facebook, and your blog posts will feed directly as updates to your Wall.  You can also create a box that will show your posts in a box on your Fan Page.  See WebinarListing fan page for an example.

Blog to LinkedIn

• Install the Wordpress application on LinkedIn or BlogLink onto your LinkedIn profile and have all your blog posts flow to your profile.

Not possible at this time (if you know of a way to do these, please let me know in the comments!):

• Facebook Profile to LinkedIn
• Facebook Profile to Twitter
• Facebook Profile to Facebook Fan Page
• Facebook Fan Page to Facebook Profile
• Facebook Fan Page to LinkedIn
• LinkedIn to Facebook Profile
• LinkedIn to Facebook Fan Page
• LinkedIn to Blog

You may also be familiar with Ping.fm, which allows you to update 50 social media sites at once.  You just post it once, and it updates the sites you choose.  So, obviously this is a great way to cross-post.  A few weeks ago, Seesmic acquired Ping.fm, so the Ping.fm functionaility will be incorporated into Seesmic in a few weeks, making it a great option to cross-post.  Ping.fm is currently incorporated into Hootsuite as well.

Did I leave anything out?  I plan on keeping this updated over time, so please let me know if I have missed anything!

Last week, I found out about a really cool new toolbar for websites called Wibiya. I asked them for a beta invite and they said it would be launching to the general public soon (I guess I wasn’t special enough!), and sure enough, I was notified about it today.  So, what do I think?  Well, considering I was inspired to write a blog post about it within 15 minutes of installing it, I’d say I like it! :-)

So, what is Wibiya?  If you’re viewing this post on my website, just look down at the bottom to the pink bar.  If not, here a screen shot of it broken into 2 parts.

What it does essentially is bring your social media components (and a few other things) all to one place, and a place that is available everywhere on your site.  People can do the following right from the toolbar:

• Facebook
  • update their status (with automatic link to your site)
  • become a fan of your Facebook page
• Twitter
  • see your tweets
  • follow you on Twitter
  • tweet (with an automatically shortened link to your site)
• Blog
  • subscribe to your RSS feed
  • See your recent posts
• Search your site
• Chat with others
• Message your site visitors
• Translate your site into different languages

…all without leaving your site.  There are also a bunch of other apps, such as photo galleries and YouTube integration, that you can easily install.  What a great way to give people the functionality they want, without forcing them to leave your website and you never get them back.  Sure, most of these tools are available with other WordPress plugins, but it’s great to have everything in one place, so you can fill your site with more good content.

In addition to all of this functionality for your site visitors, you get analytics too!  So, as soon as I posted on Twitter, I could see how many people were visiting which pages, and where in the world they are.  What a great way to get instant feedback, to see if people are driven to your site.  It also shows you overall stats for the past 7 days, including assumed bounce rate reduction, and new RSS registrations.

As I said, I JUST downloaded this 1/2 hour ago, so I’m still poking around.  But, overall, this is a VERY cool app… a definite BUY recommendation from me! Oh, wait, it’s free.  :-)

What do you think? Have you discovered anything I haven’t mentioned above? Any downsides you see?

Selecting your handle is an important step when starting out on Twitter. It’s not that you can’t change it whenever you want, it’s just that as people start to recognize you as your Twitter handle, your brand and your reputation, it becomes harder and harder to move away from that.  There are a few handle options you have, so I thought I’d go over the pros and cons of each:

Your Real Name (first, last, initials, business name or some combination of the those)

Examples – @lizstrauss, @loic, @chrisbrogan, @DaivRawks, @jbruin, @pistachio

• Pro – You’re branding your own name, so people will recognize you
• Con – It’s harder for people offhand to know what you do or what interests you

A Description (who you are, what you do, what you’re interested in)

Examples – @BostonMarketer (that’s me!), @SEOSEM, @BostonTweet, @thebrandbuilder,  @skydiver

• Pro – People automatically know what you do, or what interests you.
  • I can speak from personal experience on this one… I get quite a few referrals through Twitter for Marketing and Social Media Consulting work.  I attribute that to a lot of factors, but one of them is that my name makes it clear what I do.  So, if someone is trying to think of a referral for Marketing in Boston, I come to mind.  The same thing happened to me on the other side last week, when someone asked me for a recommendation of someone who is good at SEO. The first person I thought of was @SEOSEM because of his name.  I follow close to 4,000 people, so remembering specific people is difficult.  Having an obvious name, makes remembering you easier when it comes to referrals, or just finding someone in a particular area of interest.
• Con – You’re missing out on an opportunity to brand your own personal name.  I joke sometimes that people don’t actually know my name — I’m @BostonMarketer to them.  But, I do think it’s somewhat true.
• Con – If you’re not focused in what you’re interested in, it can pigeon hole you into one area

A Random Name (probably not obvious to everyone why that’s your name)

Examples – @lmzadi1, @NoOneYouKnow

• Pro – CAN be memorable
• Con – You’re not branding your name, or what you do, so it’s a missed opportunity
• Con – Oftentimes difficult to remember

(of course, there are also combinations of the types above, i.e. @pamelawella, @JessicaKnows, @LauraLovesArt)

Overall, my personal recommendation is to choose a name that describes your interests, as long as you are focused in the reason you are on Twitter.  If not, then go with your real name!

Other miscellaneous tips:

• Names I find difficult are ones where it’s A name, but not the person’s real name.  For example, @BstnMelody — I find her name VERY difficult… because her name is NOT Melody, but rather, Robin.  So, when I see her, I keep wanting to call her Melody.  Another one is @Admore, whose last name is not Admore, but rather Damore. (Sorry Robin and David, I needed to use you as examples to make the point.)
• Regardless of what your Twitter handle is (unless you share an account with multiple people), you definitely should have your real name onyour bio as well (see image — you see Rachel Levy, although my Twitter handle is @BostonMarketer).  It puts a real name to your handle, and makes you more personable.
• The use of underscores makes typing the person’s name more difficult.  On a laptop keyboard, it’s just pushing the shift key.  But, on the iPhone it’s an additional two strokes to get the underscore.  I would recommend staying away from underscores if you possibly can.
• Having a long Twitter name makes it difficult to get retweeted — the longer your name is, the more characters your name takes up to RT you.  My name (@BostonMarketer) is 14 characters, and I think it’s a bit too long… my recommendation is to keep your name under 10 characters.
• Don’t use a lot of random numbers or strange spellings of words in your name, as it’s difficult to remember.

(Photo credit: Follow Me, Twitter Handle list)

What do you think?  What are the best naming conventions?  Any other pros/cons I’m missing?

Most people know that I am now doing marketing and social media consulting full time now (while still being open to full time positions if the opportunity is right!). Right now, I’m mostly doing strategy and tactics for a variety of companies in consumer products, consumer services, pharmaceuticals, an B2B.  One area I’d like to do more of is training to large groups.

Do you have any ideas for companies who would need social media training internally for multiple employees. I’m thinking of companies that rely on relationships specifically to build their business, so it’s particularly important that people outside of marketing are engaged in social media.  An example would be a law firm, or a consulting company.  Or a company with a lot of marketing people who isn’t up to speed yet on social media.  I could do trainings in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, or social media in general.

Any ideas?  Please email me at rachel (at) rachel-levy (dot) com.  Of course, I’m also open if you know of any companies who needs strategy/tactical help as well!

When I mention Twitter, I usually end up sitting there listening to all the reasons people DON’T want to use Twitter. And, often times the person hasn’t really used Twitter much, or has just heard these reasons from other people! I figured I’d write them all down, so the Twitter-skeptics don’t have to think of the reasons anymore:

• Why do I want to hear when someone is going for coffee or what they’re having for lunch?
• I don’t want to share that kind of stuff about my life
• It’s too young
• I don’t have time
• I use Facebook instead
• None of my friends use it
• I tried it last year and I didn’t get it
• It’s a waste of time
• I don’t like text-messaging
• It’s just for marketing people
• It’s just for geeks (from @mdurwin)
• I just don’t get it (from @mdurwin and @KarenVazquez)
• I don’t have anything important to say (from @acraKA, @rossmevans and @PamResearchDiva)

Those are all reasonable things to think about Twitter.  And, they can definitely be true if you use Twitter in certain ways.  But, it doesn’t have to be like that!  I thought I’d share some of my tweets from yesterday, and the general category of the benefit of Twitter:

• Opinion/Advice…. Designers– is it common to charge extra to deliver the eps files to your client? OR Consultants… Do you charge for local travel time on hourly projects?
• Help…. Any ideas on where to download a HIGH RES rendition of the “hand pointer” (what appears when you’re about to click on a link on computer)?
• Provide information… Why Google’s real-time search with Facebook and Twitter is so important http://bit.ly/6WkSig
• Learn something… great idea! RT @mlourie: How to embed video into your LinkedIn profile using Google Docs http://bit.ly/5n4NuS
• Promote something for charity… Looking to help someone in need for the holidays? Sponsor a child thru Operation ELF! (AMAZING org I’m involved w/) http://bit.ly/7gyWcm OR RT @johnhaydon Bone marrow match needed for a 4 yr old mixed race girl: http://bit.ly/6UXhP0
• Connection…. Happy birthday to @justinlevy and @adampieniazek! Hope the next year is a great one for you!
• For fun… Damn, headset fell in coffee mug :-(
• Provide Industry information… Four email marketing predictions for 2010 http://bit.ly/6uBNmw

And, that was just in one day!  It’s really amazing what you can do on Twitter, if you take the time to understand how to use it.  Here are even more reasons to use Twitter:

• Spread a message
• Connect with people with similar interests/Networking
• Find customers/evangelists
• Customer Service
• News
• Branding (personal or for business)
• Build community
• Market Research (aka “listening”)
• New business/sales
• Build customer loyalty
• SEO
• Recruit employees

The way I explain Twitter is in terms of Facebook, as most people understand that: “Facebook is about connecting with friends. Twitter is about connecting with people with similar interests.”  I can’t even tell you how much it’s done for me in terms of networking, getting clients, and learning about things that interest me (social media being one of them).  I think it’s about time to give it a REAL try!

(Photo credit: I don’t get it, I hate Twitter)

What other reasons have you heard for people not wanting to use Twitter?  What other benefits have you seen?