I want to tell you about a great Social Network, Pinterest, that is starting to get a lot of traction. In fact, Time Magazine named Pinterest one of the five best social media sites of 2011, along with Klout and Google-Plus. I can see why. It is downright addicting.

Pinterest is kind of a cross between the words Pin and Interest because what you do is “pin”  images of your favorite foods, clothes, places, designs, and everything else, to online boards that you create. When you find something of interest in a blog post, you can “pin” it to one of your boards. If you see something you like on Pinterest, that someone else has pinned, you can “repin” it.

Pinterest came into it’s own in the midwest by women planning weddings and doing crafts. They would use it to make wish lists of beautiful things. It spread from there. This past summer more men jumped in giving it a dose of Testosterone!

When you pin something, it is strongly encouraged that you find and credit the original source. I just heard from one of my peeps who writes a food blog that her peanut butter and jelly french toast photo was pinned on Pinterest and it resulted in her traffic zooming to over 6,000 hits in just one day. [Read more...]

I have been asked to be on a panel of “experts”  who will provide a Social Media Makeover for an Atlanta business  this fall.   The SMB Social Media Makeover Forum  will be part of Digital Atlanta 2011  – a week long (November 7-11) calendar of events that will focus on the digital and social media scene in Atlanta. Last year’s inaugural celebration attracted more than 3,000 people including business owners, entrepreneurs and professionals from various industries, non-profits and educational institutions. Organizers expect an even bigger turnout this year.

Dan Greenfield of Listen Interactive  has put together this makeover event which will take place on November 8th.  To start building some buzz for the event, Dan has asked his panel of experts the following questions.  I thought I would share my answers to these three questions with you.

1. What is the biggest lesson you have learned from doing social media?
2. What do you think is the most common social media mistake that most newbies commit?
3. What is your best makeover tip for a small company (with limited funds) looking to get more fans on Facebook or followers on Twitter?

What is the biggest lesson you have learned from doing social media?

I have learned the power these tools offer.  We are living in an amazing time where each and every business has the ability to get their message, products, services, out to people who are seeking them locally or worldwide, even on a very small budget. What is possible today is unprecedented in that before, small businesses were limited by not being able to afford the amount of advertising, PR, or Tradeshow presence needed to reach even a fraction of their niche. Using social media in conjunction with a content management website has allowed me to develop a strong reputation and following that has translated into finding my “right” [Read more...]

About My First Teleseminar

If you weren’t on my Ten Step Social Media Plan teleseminar  last week, you really missed something! It was my very first time hosting a telephone conference call. Seventy people signed up, and about 15 people were on the call. Those who signed up, but couldn’t make it, got a recording sent to them later.

If you weren’t actually there, you missed a hilarious glitch (one that I edited it out of the recording!) where I muted everyone to keep the sound down, but also muted myself (mistake). I kept talking for a few minutes  and thank goodness for text messaging, and someone had my back and sent a text before I went on talking to myself for too long! [Read more...]

Someone asked me this past week for tips, given how busy we all are how can we find balance in our lives as well as doing social media without driving yourself crazy.

First, you have to decide if you want to be a contender. You have to believe you can be and that it is in your hands and understand that it really is something you cannot hire out. You can hire help but you must direct and participate  and be the one that is creating  and developing the relationships.

You can’t send your assistant or your publicist to a cocktail party or networking event with [Read more...]