May

27

The Truth About Profiting from Social Networking Released in Italian

Filed Under Book News, Social Media & Social Networking | Leave a Comment

The Truth About Profiting from Social Networking - ItalianSperling & Kupfer, a leading Italian publisher based in Milan, just released a translated version of The Truth About Profiting from Social Networking. The book’s Italian title is simply Social Networking.

Here’s the interview I did with Corriere della Sera, Italy’s leading newspaper, to promote the Italian release. (The original actually looked much different than the current archive).

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May

12

Social Media Thought of the Day

Filed Under Social Media & Social Networking | 1 Comment

Here’s what’s on my mind today:

If you want your social media marketing campaign to succeed, make it revolve around human interaction.

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May

3

What to Do About Social Media Overload, or How to Network Online and Still Have Time to Run Your Business

Filed Under Social Media & Social Networking | 1 Comment

LinkedIn. Facebook. Twitter. YouTube. MySpace. StumbleUpon.

And the list goes on. With so many options available today, it’s easy to experience social media overload.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I’m a big fan of social media and how it can help you generate buzz and develop your business. But it can be overwhelming, even addictive for some. With new social sites popping up every day, how do you make the most of the opportunities social media provides and still have time to run your business?

Here’s my advice:

  1. Be choosy. You don’t have to participate actively on every available site. Pick a few sites that best match your goals and your target audience and invest your time there. Don’t feel guilty if you don’t have a presence on MySpace or Digg just because “everybody” else does.
  2. Check your web analytics. Review your web stats to see where your traffic is coming from and focus on the social sites that bring the most traffic. A great free tool that helps you analyze your web traffic is Google Analytics. You may be surprised when you view your results. For example, I didn’t expect much when I created a MySpace profile, but I generate a lot of traffic from this site even though I update it infrequently.
  3. Schedule time for social networking. Whether it’s every morning for 15 minutes or once a week for an hour, having a schedule helps you set limits. Your schedule doesn’t have to be set in stone, however.
  4. Categorize sites based on effectiveness. If you discover that your Facebook profile generates far better results than your MySpace profile, for example, you may want to invest time on Facebook on a weekly basis and update your MySpace site only once a month.
  5. Consider automation. Using tools like Ping.fm enable you to update multiple social sites at once. Linking between your social site profiles, your blog, and your website also helps increase visibility with little effort.
  6. Get focused to get results. Just because you spend an hour a week on social sites doesn’t mean you’re automatically going to generate the results you want. You need to understand the best ways to use each site so that you spend your time effectively. Fifteen means of strategic social networking can be worth far more than several hours of aimless social surfing.

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May

2

Virtual Entrepreneur Tip: Form Virtual Alliances

Filed Under Virtual Entrepreneurs | Leave a Comment

clairesookmanAlthough running a virtual business is a desired lifestyle for many, working away from a corporate environment for the first time is a challenge for many new entrepreneurs. Here’s a tip from Claire Sookman, of Virtual Team Builders:

To combat the “loneliness” of being a virtual entrepreneur, I’ve developed relationships with other entrepreneurs who also work virtually. Some of them I know very well and others I have never met, but we have developed strong bonds.  We support each other in a number of ways including getting business advice from each other or just checking in.

Read my entire interview with Claire in my upcoming book, Virtual Entrepreneur: Create a Business You Can Run from Anywhere.