I found this Chris Brogan Kitchen Table Talk this morning and was surprised to find that Chris was in my hometown, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  The interview is with Joe Sorge, owner of three Milwaukee restaurants, including AJ Bombers whose success was built completely with Twitter.  This success story reinforces my belief that social media does work for local businesses if you have a plan and follow through with it.

As a Virtual Assistant, I have been using social media for quite a while now and recently have found myself disturbed by other’s ideas of how to handle it.  This is the first part in a series of blog posts regarding social networking and my beliefs on proper methods of success.

Start with a Plan

A well written social media networking plan is necessary to help guide you to success with minimal effort.  You will be able to see on paper, (or the computer screen), what your needs are in order to reach your goals.  A great plan should include:

• Goals – why are you using social networking?  To drive traffic to your website, blog, Fan Page?  Increase your search engine rankings?  Is your goal measurable?
• Target Market – who are you trying to reach?  Potential collaborative partners, employees, customers, service providers?
• Venues – Where does your target market hang out? Are there special forums unique to these people? Do they participate in Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook?  Do they read blogs or post/view photos or videos?
• Participation – How can you participate in these venues? Do you have a professional presence there already? Does it reflect your branding? Do you need to sign up for anymore outlets or subgroups?
• Scheduling – What will you do or how will you interact with others in these social networking groups?  Will you check in daily, weekly, once a month?  Remember, you need time to build your reputation and spread your message.  List each activity on each venue and the frequency you will perform it.  At a minimum, you should commit 30 minutes per day to this marketing effort.

Let’s be realistic here; you wont gain 100 new customers your first week on Twitter, nor will you land that high-rollin’ client on LinkedIn that will partner with you and pay your wage for the rest of your life.  These stories are few and far between.

Hiring a Social Media Specialist or a Virtual Assistant that is trained in this area will be a great benefit to your efforts.  If you prefer to learn yourself, the best training course that I have found is at the VAclassroom, by Craig Cannings.  Feel free to investigate his program here.

Upcoming Series Topics:

• Implement your plan
• Interact and build relationships
• Share your knowledge
• Twitter – spread your message and drive traffic
• Tools to measure
• How long does it take to see a return on your investment/influence
• Follow the right people on Twitter
• Inspire someone in your LinkedIn network
• Become the go-to person in your field
• Gain media attention

Please note:  The above list may be added to or subtracted from as I feel necessary.

I would like to hear your story of social networking.  How did you learn, do you do it all yourself, are you a seasoned blogger, Twitter user, Fan Page creator?  Please share your trials, tribulations, successes and failures with me and if you think my thoughts are off the mark, I’d like to hear that too!

I was very surprised yesterday morning to discover a Google Alert in my inbox indicating that I had won the VAnetworking Blog of the Month Award.  How honored I am especially since my blog is so new!  In addition to being new, my topics tend to be all over the board, depending upon what project I am working on at the moment or what is paining me or inspiring me.  This just proves the support and family-like atmosphere that this group projects.  I would not be where I am today without discovering Tawnya Sutherland from an article in Entrepreneur.com. (This link goes to an article about Tawnya but not the one that got me involved with her. That one is a number of years old and no longer posted.)

Are you an aspiring virtual assistant like me? Do you have an Insiders subscription to VAnetworking?  I have found this group of VA’s to be the most open, addressable and helpful people in the industry!  You don’t really even need the paid Insider subscription, if you don’t want to receive the valuable RFP’s or invitations to special classes and trainings.  It is just a great place to tips and tricks of the industry.  The response time is incredible.  I don’t think that I have ever posted a question that wasn’t answered by the end of the day.

However, I do suggest that anyone that is starting up their own virtual assistant business check out Tawnya’s Virtual Business Startup Solutions package.  There is also a Kick Start download on the website.  I should have gone this route, but, I thought that I could start my business by myself.  Yes, I was able to but it took quite a while and occasionally, I would have the horse before the cart and have to back up and improve my plans!  It would have been a lot easier if I would have just followed Tawnya’s program.

And, if you are not a virtual assistant, but think you may need one or would like to find out more information about how to partner with a VA, first, read their blog and then join the forum! This is an excellent place to hang out.  Once you easily discover the openness and honesty of professionals in the VA industry you will feel very confident by posting your Request for Proposal on this board.  You can also find out more from my webpage “Why a VA?”

I found this post this morning on the VAnetworking.com blog site and felt that it was worth more exposure, so I posted a link to it here.  Karri Flatla of snap-va.com is a great Virtual Assistant and peer of mine.  She writes for the VAnetworking blog regularly and always provides excellent information!

Karri’s post is very timely, addressing the client that can’t afford much but knows that they need help.  Currently, I am working with a client and by following Karri’s advise in her post, I am able to help this client move the business forward at a steady, controlled pace without breaking her bank.

So, you are contemplating your very first website.  Congratulations, but there are some things that you should know before you begin.  First, if you plan on hiring someone to design and publish your website, do not let your webmaster purchase your domain name for you.  Read the rest of this entry »

Are you struggling to find clients, customers or collaborative partners?  This was a problem that I was able to overcome as soon as I discovered two things.  One is the networking site meetup.com and the second is the value of volunteering.

Meetup.com is a website that, after you sign up, (free), and indicate your preferences, will notify you of meetings in your area that are of interest to you.  There are so many different categories for meetings here, it will blow your mind.  You can find any type of business topic or group here as well as hobby type groups that range from scrapbooking to the occult!  Let’s think about this for a minute.  Are you starting a new business and are struggling with your advertising or marketing budget.  Meetup.com is the answer.  You don’t even need to attend meet-ups that pertain to your specific business.  Try joining a meet-up that revolves around a hobby you are interested in.  This way, you will be meeting new people and, during casual conversation,  be able to spread your marketing message.  Just be sure not to come on too strong.  This isn’t a platform for a live infomercial!

Most meet-ups are reasonably priced; I haven’t spent any more than $20 per meeting and this included a wonderful educational presentation and lunch.  You may be able to find some meetings that are free.

I made a great connection at a recent meetup.  I met my collaborative partner here.  We work perfectly together!  He is a web designer and SEO master; I compliment his services with my social media skills.  We go together like milk and cookies and are able to offer our clients full Internet marketing packages with slammin’ results!  My partner brings in the mid to large sized companies from the area and I have my ear to the ground worldwide because of my virtual partnering with VAnetworking and IVAA.

The second secret to spread my message is by joining the local Chamber of Commerce.  I live in a rural area where each nearby community has its own Chamber.  I joined my two nearest ones and am very active in both.  Yes, it takes some time to volunteer, but it doesn’t cost me anything but the registration fee for a whole year!  I have met many friendly, smart local business people, some of whom, I’ve needed their services.  In turn, I have been gaining a few clients from the membership and have received a number of leads from them also.  There really is nothing better than word-0f-mouth marketing – live and in person – it’s just as viral as Twitter, Facebook and blogging!