Posted by Fiona | Apr 20th, 2010

How to promote your social media with your email signature

If you’ve built your blog, your twitter account, your Linkedin account, your Ning community, your Facebook fan page…. then now you need to be telling people about them. But not in a spammy way. Adding your addresses to your email signature is a perfect way to spread the word – with your kind of audience – without being in their face about it. If I receive an email from a colleague or client, it’s good...

Posted by Fiona | Apr 1st, 2010

So how do I get started with social media?

At a recent social media workshop this was the second most asked question (after how do I find time for social media?). This is such a huge topic… where to start? (eg grabbing your twitter name is a good start) The first step is to have a plan (who is your audience, what are my objectives/strategy, what platforms will I use, how will I measure it? etc), and to listen to your audience (using google alerts,...

Posted by Fiona | Mar 30th, 2010

5 ways to manage your social media time

One of the biggest obstacles for business owners engaging in social media is the time factor. At my workshops the most commonly asked question is – How do I fit in social media? How do I find time for social media? So here are my five tips to help you fit social media into your already busy day; 1. Decide how much time you will spend on social media a day. Sounds simple – but this is the golden rule. If you...

Posted by Fiona | Mar 12th, 2010

Viral video of the week – gone to the dogs

This is my favourite viral video of the week – an ad for a well known dog food brand. This is a stunning video (but then I’m a biased dog-owner and aspiring movie maker). Though everyone else agrees (apart from the fact that the concept was stolen from Pleix  – which is worth a watch too; though it looks like they are throwing the dogs around) the video is striking, very cute and has that wow factor. I sent...

Posted by Fiona | Feb 15th, 2010

Are you a social media spammer?

I recently came across this checklist of how to drive traffic to your website using social media. (Probably from the same people that Snipe parodies here) To me, this kind of checklist is the ‘dark side’ of social media; because it misses the whole point of social media entirely. I’m on a mission like Luke Skywalker to highlight the ‘light side’ (except I’m more Princess Leia). So these were the...

Posted by Fiona | Dec 23rd, 2009

Chiefette’s pick – Top viral videos of 2009

As everyone winds down to the Christmas holidays and looking for any excuse not to do any work, I’m sharing my favourite video picks for the year. Enjoy! Best social media viral video Fabulous message, stirring soundtrack and smart visuals… I play this at the beginning of our social media training days.   Best staff sing along Don’t you wish your Friday night drinks were as inspired and fun as this? Lip...

Posted by Fiona | Dec 2nd, 2009

Why online is better than print

When I started Her Business magazine back in 1995, websites weren’t around; we didn’t even have email. By 2002 we had a website that gave us a presence online and automated a lot of processes; readers could subscribe online or change their address, which saved us lots of time. For awhile I couldn’t really see other benefits of being online. Though by then I’d begun to discover blogging and began to play with...

Posted by Fiona | Nov 2nd, 2009

Social media in business is kind of like dating…

Your eyes meet across a crowded room -          You read an interesting re-tweet or stumbleupon them or follow a link on a blog.   Or your friends set you up -          Mr Tweet recommends them or Linkedin says you might know them.   So you do your homework and check them out -          You google search their name, read their Linkedin profile, read their Facebook profile, read their...

Posted by Fiona | Oct 2nd, 2009

Got the social media blues?

well Scott has… here’s a great little ditty about unrequited love in this age of social media. ...

Posted by Fiona | Oct 1st, 2009

Dear spammer – please get a real job!

I love the internet and social media in particular – but I see ‘red’ when I see people abusing it… four instances come to mind straight away… A friend of mine prints photos onto canvas and recently mentioned she discovered a photo site where you go in the draw to win prizes for uploading photos of your kids. She contacted them and offered some of her products as prizes. I’m always interested in...