Do you speak English? Communication tips for business owners. (PART 1)

As any new migrant will tell you, the inability to communicate effectively can get in the way of opportunity. No matter how clever you are, communication attempts can be thwarted by the lack of skill to communicate well and get your message across.

Communication skills are  more important today than ever before.

And, communication barriers go beyond language barriers. Let’s assume you speak English well. You may not be the next best-selling author, or Tony Robbins, but you have a decent command of the English language. You’re good at what you do and you want to grow your business.

But, nobody’s listening, nobody’s buying.

What’s happening?

Do you speak English?

My mum arrived here from Greece aged 15. She spoke no English and, like many migrants new to a country, struggled for a long time to be understood.

Some migrants, like her, moved to neighbourhoods with like-speaking people, worked in factories where their native language was spoken, mingled only with others from their own culture. No doubt their progress with the English language was slow.

Mum wanted to learn the language of her new country - to be understood.  So, when my brothers and I were in school and she finally had some time to herself, she went off to English classes and while we kids would at times giggle at her attempts at words (English is a HARD language) she persisted. She wanted to be understood. I didn’t realise, at the time, the persistence this took.

Communication today

Doing business today requires you to be able to communicate better and differently than ever before.

Technology has given us many tools with which to communicate. But the tools themselves don’t make us good communicators. The mastery of one or many, could however make you a market leader.

Over the next few weeks I’ll post about the effective use of of my favourite communication tools for business.

Here’s my position on Communication:

Communication is a skill.

It can be learned, improved, mastered. By anyone. Yes, including you - regardless of your level of schooling.

Tools do not make you good.

Communication tools like blogs, podcasts, emails, newsletters, videos, webinars, seminars etc. are TOOLS. Their use, alone, does not make you a master of them.

In my opinion:

• A bad podcast COULD be worse for your business than no podcast.
• A bad webinar COULD be worse for your business and reputation than NO webinar.

The key to more effective communication is to take action AND to get education and improve your skills. For example:

• If you’re going to blog, get some basic training.
• If you’re going to podcast, then get some honest feedback on your voice and some voice training.
• If you’re going to do seminars, then please, please, get some presentation skills.

You get the picture?

The big opportunity

Those who commit to master of their communication will win the hearts and minds of their customers, staff, allies and community.

If you’re up for the ride, then let’s go.  Next week’s post: Basic Communication Tools to Grow Your Business

Cheers
Suzi

New iPhone app means you only need to print 1 business card.

Apple took out a full page ad in today’s paper to promote a number of their iPhone apps that are good for business.  One application stood out to me, and it could save you a whopping amount in printing.

Possible Scenario at your next meeting:

PROSPECT: “Do you have a business card?”
YOU:  “Sure.”

Then…

• You produce a card (or something glamorous made from long-lasting plastic, platinum etc. with all your details - including your Twitter handle!)
• Your contact takes a photo of it with their iPhone (what else would you use, really?).
• Your details are now in their phone.

No paper, no waste.

The Business Card Reader allows you to take the photo of a business card on your iPhone (or Blackberry). It then ‘reads’ the data and enters the details into your address book.

So, no scanning, data entry, or piles of business cards stashed in drawers.
Now all you need is one business card and friends and colleagues with iPhones.

I’ll be getting the app.

Suzi

Useful resources from Ed Dale’s Internet Marketing Seminar

Last Friday to Sunday I attended an Internet Marketing seminar hosted by Ed Dale of 30 Day Challenge fame. You may know Ed from Internet Marketing this Week, an almost-weekly podcast that I highly recommend if you’re interested in what’s new in new media and technology.

The 200, or so, participants enjoyed both local and international speakers on the subjects of outsourcing, content development (including using video), search engine marketing, business best practise, using offline marketing to drive customers online and blogging. All good, practical, information.

The highlight for me was the ‘hot seats’ where brave participants nominated their website for review by an expert panel.

I was lucky enough to be chosen and as a result got great feedback that I’lll start to implement this week at the Australian Businesswomen’s Network website.

The Twitter tag of the weekend was #30dchome. I thought you may be interested in looking it up - as you’ll find that participants posted highlights from the program as well as some handy links.

The 30 Day Challenge

You may have heard me speak about The 30 Day Challenge before. It’s a free, annual program, that is designed to get you online and doing business. Last year over 30,000 people participated. I’m sure it’s coming again in 2010.

I’ll post something when dates are released but in the meantime you can keep in touch with news by:

• Subscribing to Internet Marketing this Week on itunes
• Following Ed Dale’s page on Facebook
• Following Ed Dale on Twitter

Additional Resources

• Guest speaker Lynn Terry (Affiliate Marketing)
• Guest speaker Leslie Rodhe (SEO)
• The fabulous Market Samurai tool

Cheers,

Suzi

2010 will be a Very, Very Good Year for Entrepreneurs

By Yvette Vignando, www.happychild.com.au

I have good news for me and for you. Phil Ruthven who has spent decades charting the growth and change in Australian business says that 2010 is going to be a “very, very good year for entrepreneurs, no question.” Fantastic!

2010 is the year that I’m launching my online business www.happychild.com.au, a website for parents about raising children with emotional intelligence. I’m excited, a little apprehensive, impatient to get started, mad keen to succeed and loving all the learning and challenge that comes with starting a new business.

In each blog post, I’ll share with you information, tips, books and websites that are helping me on my entrepreneur’s journey. Please do the same; I’d love to hear your ideas too. ABN Startup and Growth Members: I bet you’ve got so much to share and the ABN is a wonderful supportive community in which to do this.

2010 is going to be a “very, very good year for entrepreneurs, no question.”

Surround Yourself with Honest Believers
As I’ve had a few hiccups along the way, including a website that never got launched, I’ve found it’s crucial to be surrounded by people who believe in me and my business idea. Even though I’m convinced that my business will be fabulous, it’s so valuable to have the constant encouragement and feedback of friends, family and mentors to keep me going when things inevitably go wrong. These ‘believers’ as I call them, have been honest and generous in also pointing out where I may need to rethink my plans, and have helped me solve numerous challenges over the past year. An example of a great source of this support has been my pod member from MentorNet, Alycia Edgar. Make time for lunches, coffees and phone calls with your ‘believers’, and don’t forget to let them know how important they are to your success.

Read Widely
If you’re like me, you love good books about developing your business and books that inspire you to keep working towards your goals. There are so many great books; here are three I’ve been reading lately:

1. Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk - about building your personal brand, and in particular doing it using social media. It’s a high energy book, informative, engaging and motivating.
2. You Tube for Business by Michael Miller - plenty of practical detail about how to leverage online video to market your business.
3. Getting Things Done by David Allen - systems to use if you want to be more organised and more productive in your day and in your office.

And just a reminder, Phil Ruthven from IBIS World says “the conditions are never going to be better… if you wanted to start a business from scratch” - I’m definitely a believer in that!

---

Yvette Vignando - www.happychild.com.au Yvette is pursuing her passion - to take action that helps children develop great social and emotional skills as a foundation for a happy and successful life. Formerly a lawyer and then successful executive coach specialising in Emotional Intelligence, Yvette was encouraged by her experience of MentorNet to launch her business - a website for parents that publishes practical and engaging information about raising children with emotional intelligence. Yvette looks forward to sharing the challenges and successes of her experience as she navigates her way through the adventures of launching a website, and tackles online sales and marketing, an evolving business plan, and the growing universe of social media. Yvette hopes that by following her personal and professional development as an entrepreneur you will also be inspired to follow your passions. Phone: 02 9889 0999 Email: yvette@happychild.com.au Website: www.happychild.com.au Twitter: www.twitter.com/yvettevignando LinkedIn: View her Public Profile Member Profile: See Yvette’s Member Profile

My Top 9 iPhone Social Media Applications for 2009

There are probably a dozen iphone apps that I use regularly. Some are standard and functional e.g. Google Maps (a humdinger when I get lost in the city or need to get directions while overseas), Voicememo (often used to record messages to remind myself to do things) and the weather application.

While I have some fun apps e.g. Shazam (song recognition) and  Check Please (for calculating tips when travelling in the US), most of the apps I use enhance or enable my social media activity.

The applications allow me to post to my blog (and respond to comments), tweet, check my web stats, record an audio blog, instant message my contacts, create a video and post it with one click, add photos to my social networks - to name just a few options.

Here are 9 of my favourite social media related apps. They are not in order. All are in the itunes Applications store but I have included below links to the developers websites. Most apps are free, but a couple have a small (and worthwhile) fee.

Audioboo

This is an iphone audioblogging application. You record a message (up to 5 mins) and host it on the Audioboo site with the click of an icon. You can then use the embed code in blog posts or in statuses on Twitter and Facebook. Here’s a post where I’ve used the AudioBoo app during our 30 Days of Social Media program.

Analytics

The free version is sufficient for me to be able to check the traffic on our blog and website easily.

Tweetie

While I also have TweetDeck and Twitterific, Tweetie is the one that I find easiest to use to track Twitter conversations and add tweets.

What’s App

This is very cool. What’s App is an iphone to iphone messenger without text/SMS costs.

Gorillacam

Just started using this app. Adds great functionality to your iphone camera. Paparazzi (3shot) option, self-timer, time lapse as well as a ‘press anywhere’ option overcomes some of the frustrations of using an iphone camera. Team it with a Gorillapod (a mini tripod for your iphone) and you have a pretty cool camera.

Facebook

You’ve probably got this if you’re on Facebook. It’s improved and easy to use to update status and stay up with news. Could use a little more functionality.

Dragon Dictation

This app provides voice recognition on your iphone. You can record and translate sound and then send to mail or txt. Great for quick memos.  [I have to share this as it made for a good laugh. When I was first using it I was speaking slowly saying "This is Suzi". The translation was coming up as "This is Crazy"… so I guess it needs a little practise to get it working write (or a feined US accent may help)].

Animoto

Select from pics on your iphone, choose a soundtrack from Animoto’s library and click a button - and you have a professional customised video, for free. Fun for holidays and capturing special moments.

FaceMic for Facebook

This is a new one for me and was recommended by Facebook maven Mari Smith. It allows me to record a message and post it to a friend’s Facebook page. Great for birthday messages.

BONUS - CAUSE IT’S WORTH MENTIONING!

CrushIt

You may have heard of Gary Vaynerchuck of Wine Library TV fame.The story goes that he turned a $5 million dollar business into a $50 million and has created fame and fortune online through his video blog. His book - Crush It - has been created as an app that is a vook (a video book). At the start of each chapter you get to see and hear Gary and then you can read the book Kindle-style within the app. It’s a great way for any author to deliver their content and I can see applications for many educators and content creators.

As I said earlier, these are just a few of the tools that help me manage and create social media content and which allow me to keep up with the conversations that I choose to be a part of - while I’m ‘on the go’. (Of course that is today… apps are being created so quickly some of these may be replaced by newer/better ones… in which case I’ll be sure to post any new discoveries.)

Got a great iphone app to share? I’d love to hear about it.

Best wishes,

Suzi

My Top 5 Books for 2009

When you see the list of my top five books for 2009 you’re bound to notice a pattern. I’ve had a bit of a one-track-mind this year. Most of 2009 I studied online communities, technology and social media.

I don’t know exactly how many books I’ve read this year, but many of them have been on similar subjects. I immersed myself in podcasts (more on that in a few days), courses (both online and live) and especially books — as I endeavoured to learn and implement as much as possible about the changing online landscape. My goal: To master the ability to connect and work with my online community of business women - and to use what I learn as I implement the new information to pass on to the community skills and tools that they can use to run their businesses better.

Now… for the list.  If you’re working on building an online community, want to better communicate within your social networks, want practical ways to build your social capital, then I recommend these titles.

I’ve included Amazon links below so you can read up further on the books. Dear Australian Readers: Don’t write to tell me I should order from Aussie retailers - I’m yet to find Aussie bookstores that satisfy my book needs, who delivery quickly and inexpensively and who have the books that I need, when I need them.

The Whuffie Factor - Tara Hunt

After hearing Tara Hunt speak at the South by South West festival in Austin I ordered this book (which was released in July). It’s about how to build your social capital. The author offers a no-nonsense guild to how what grows and what diminishes your online reputation and how to educate and empower your connection. (Here’s a post I wrote about this book when it was first released.)

Trust Agents - Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation and Earn Trust - Chris Brogan and Julien Smith

This one is terrific. The authors describe trust and the most important currency today. I’ve listed to the audio book (which is read by both authors) and am yet to devour the printed version. How to build trust, maintain a good reputation, build relationships online, what breaks trust and what empowers trust.

Free - the Future of a RadicalPrice - Chris Anderson

In the digital marketplace, the most effective price is no price at all, argues Anderson (The Long Tail). Great examples of companies using ‘free’ to build big businesses. The concept can be a hard one to accept and to see the application in you own business, even harder BUT get it and you can transform an industry and your business.

Crowdsourcing - Why the Power of the Crowd is Driving the Future of Business - Jeff Howe

How is collaboration (and the ease by which you can crowdsource using socialmedia) changing the face of business and product/business development? How to harness the power of the crowd. Great examples.

Facebook for Dummies - Leah Pearlman and Carolyn Abram

I love the “Dummies” books. I’ve purchased a number of the social media/tech titles (including ones on Facebook, Twitter, Wordpress, SEO, You Tube, Blogging) because they are easy to follow and the authors walk you through many aspects of using social media tools or both business and personal outcomes. In this one you’ll learn how to optimise your profile, promote your business, create a business page - it touches the main aspects you need to master to get results with Facebook.

140 Characters: A style guide for the short form - Dom Sagolla

I haven’t yet finished this one but it’s definitely already worthy of being on this list. As relevant for status updates in Facebook and LinkedIn, the book covers basic grammar, creating your own style, writing for best effect using Twitter and other short-form vehicles.

If you have any book recommendations you’d like to share, I’d be happy to hear from you.

AUDIO VS PRINT BOOKS

I’ve been an audio book listener of a couple of years, but more so this year partly because I don’t want to wait (I can start the book now - I don’t need to wait to get the physical copy) and partly because of convenience (I can consume the material when I’m walking or driving).

These days I buy most books in both audio and printed version. The audio gets listened to pretty quickly. The printed version ends up more like a workbook with highlights, post-it notes stuck through it and as an easy to follow reference for implementation of the principles contained in the book.

To Kindle or Not to Kindle?

I haven’t bought a Kindle yet. I have the iphone app version of it and may get one (but I’m yet to be convinced of the extra benefits…. Right now I’m using my iphone to read/listen to the vook Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk (get the vook in the Apple Apps store). The iphone is plenty big enough for me to read on. Also, with the Apple tablet (hopefully) not too far away, I’ll be interested to see if that creeps into the same territory as Kindle.

Best wishes,

Suzi

Additional Resources

Tara Hunt on Twitter

Chris Brogan on Twitter

Chris Anderson on Twitter

South by South West Festival (I’m going. Hope you’ll be there too.)

Corporate Gift Ideas from our Members! Discounts and bonuses.

It’s that time of year. Time to shop for gifts to say thanks and show your appreciationto those who have supported you this year.

We are committed to making things easier for you in business - and this year we decided to also make it easy for you to buy gifts for Christmas. We asked our partners and members just like you to put together some specials for you for Christmas

Here is a fantastic list of 42 Christmas offers and specials from member-to-member. Save on active wear, marketing services, web design, cupcakes, children’s books, makeup, paper products, even fashion styling. You save AND you help another woman in business and fellow member. See all the specials here and Happy Shopping!

Not a member? Join now and save.

Business lessons we can learn from elephants

Last Friday ANZ held a Women in Business event at Taronga Zoo. The breakfast networking event was held at the Wild Asia Exhibit, the home of Luk Chai, the first Asian elephant calf to be born at Taronga Zoo.

The networking event (attended by local businesswomen and guests) was part of ANZ’s Be Money Confident initiative for women.

Be Money Confident ambassador, Antonia Kidman, gave a speech about business lessons we can learn from elephants.

The lessons, while light-hearted, held many truths and resonated with me.

These same lessons (and the recommendations that Antonia provided) are also very aligned with the work that we do at the Australian Businesswomen’s Network to support women.

Lessons we can learn from elephants

The elephant’s gestational period is 22 months, the longest of any land animal.	Lesson: It can take time for good ideas to gestate. Slow and steady is not necessarily a bad thing. It’s important to take the time to properly plan, since many new start-ups can fail simply because they haven’t done their homework first.
Elephants are born with fewer survival instincts than many other animals. Instead, they must rely on their elders to teach them the things they need to know.	Lesson: Finding a good mentor with experience is critical. Being willing to accept their help, particularly in the formative stages can enhance your business’s success. It also provides a way to learn business skills as your business expands. Seek out advice from an accountant, financial specialist or take advantage of mentoring programmes.
Elephants are a symbol of wisdom in Asian cultures and are famed for their memory and intelligence.	Lesson: Respect can take time to earn. Women tend to be less adept at self-promotion. In other words, we are not quick to tell other people about our achievements and successes and this has wider knock-on effects. Successful businesswomen should be celebrated and more widely promoted, not only to inspire other women, but also to encourage the business community to consider the huge potential that exists in female-run businesses.
An elephant’s skin is extremely tough and measures about an inch thick. But although tough, it is very sensitive.	Lesson: Develop your own thick skin. For many of us, criticism can be hard to bear. Whether it’s peer response, a tough economic environment or one too many rejections, every business faces situations which make it easy to think about giving in. But by learning to view these situations objectively and figuring out what you need to learn from the experience you stand a better chance of weathering the storm. And at the same time, relish your ability to show sensitivity and empathy, which can be used to your advantage.
Healthy adult elephants have no natural predators, although lions may take calves or weak individuals.	Lesson: A healthy business is the best defense. This starts with proper business planning, including a focus on cash flow. Many businesses – particularly those in the service-based sectors suffer sever paeaks and troughs in revenue. Make sure you really understand the financial demands and costs of your business.
Elephants have the ability to use their trunks like snorkels for breathing and are known to swim like that for up to 6 hours and 50km.	Lesson: Use what you’ve got! Our skills at multi-tasking and organisation can make us great entrepreneurs. Have self-belief and be prepared to recognize your success.
The elephant’s trunk may have over forty thousand individual muscles in it, making it sensitive enough to pick up a single blade of grass, yet strong enough to rip the branches off a tree.	Lesson: Know how and when to use your strength. A factor that links many successful businesswomen is their determination to succeed. Often this manifests itself in competing just a little bit harder, and being prepared to make tough decisions when the situation requires it. While having clear goals and aspirations is important, real success requires self-confidence and courage.
Elephants display a wide variety of behaviours including those associated with music, art, altruism, play, use of tools, compassion and self awareness.	Lesson: A work/life balance is important. While it can be tempting to devote ourselves to our business, this can at times come at the expense of our families or ourselves. Women are very good at feeling terribly guilty when we take time out. However, this is so important! There is no doubt taking time out of your business can be hard to do if you don’t have the support system in place with good employees, friends or family. But when we do, the benefits are rewarding. Not only do you feel more refreshed, making you a better wife, partner, mother or friend, but it helps to centre you around what is important, providing the ability to look at your business with fresh eyes.
Elephants can communicate over long distances by producing and receiving a sub-sonic rumbling, which can travel in the air and through the ground much further than higher frequencies.	Lesson: Take advantage of the communication tools at your disposal. Modern communication like the internet can help keep networking connections strong, through use of email, blogs, and social networking tools. It can provide links to like-minded, experienced business owners through mentoring programs. There are great resources available online to assist in bringing a business idea to life, or helping to broaden and grow your business skills and best of all most are free.
Elephants live in a structured social order. Females spend their entire lives in tightly knit groups made up of mothers, daughters, sisters, and aunts. These groups are led by the eldest female, or matriarch.	Lesson: As women we need to stand together and learn from each other’s skills, strength and experience Make an effort to find people who share common interests and a sense of community. Local business associations and local council networking groups offer the chance to meet other women – and gives you the chance to support and learn from each other’s experience and skills
And finally: When a group gets too big, a few of the elder daughters will break off and form their own small group.	Lesson: Women can be the driving force to create new enterprises, and explore new opportunities. Research from the UK suggests that women are more likely to be more innovative than men in their approach to business development and new ideas, which can only benefit the business community. If you have a good idea, a plan for success and the resources to strike out, then have the confidence to be entrepreneurial.

You can learn more about ANZ’s Be Money Confident initiative here. You’ll find interesting articles and resources as well as budget calculators.

Your 30 Day Social Media Plan - #30DSM - Day 30: 30 Days of Social Media

It’s Day 30 of 30 Days of Social Media. We’ve covered a lot of ground over the last month and yet it feels like it would be easy to go for another 30 days of tips and strategies on how to put social media to work for your business.

Today, however, let’s take a look at how we can start to implement some strategy into your social media activity.

Your 30 Day Social Media Plan

Execution and implementation is the key to being successful with any new body of knowledge. No point knowing new stuff and then not doing anything with it. (As a serial student of business I am guilty of learning, learning and more learning. The magic seems to happen when I actually use and share what I have learned.)

I believe that if we focus on ONE area for a whole month, we’ll do better than splitting our energies across the myriad of areas. (Ok, you can sneak two or three areas of focus into your plan, but I suggest you consider putting together a 30 day plan for one area to start.)

Over the last 30 days we’ve looked at:

• Wikis
• Twitter strategies
• Facebook Pages
• Online Networking
• RSS (Real Simple Syndication)
• Promoting events through social media
• Generating Leads
• Podcasting
• Using Video and YouTube
• Managing Your Online brand
• and a whole lot more…

So, what ONE area would you like to focus further on for the next month?

---

YOUR 30 DAY SOCIAL MEDIA PLAN FOR [INSERT YOUR FOCUS AREA HERE]

Here are three steps to take to create a one-page plan for this area:

Step 1:

Choose an area of Social Media to focus on for the next month.

Step 2:

Set your goals and objectives for this area. (Hint: Stay big picture and set some measurable goals that we can look back at in 30 days and celebrate the achievement of.)

Step 3:

Determine what three actions can you take

• tomorrow
• next week
• over 30 days

to get closer to the achievement of your goals for this area of social media.

EXAMPLE

AREA: Facebook Page for My Business

GOALS:

1. Set up a Facebook page by (date)
2. Get a vanity URL
3. Add photos and a video
4. Post at least once a week to the page

2. Have 100 fans for the page by the end of the month

3. Integrate my Facebook Page strategy into my business strategy

ACTIONS

Week 1:

• Post twice to the Notes section:
  • post link to one relevant article
  • post link to one relevant event
• Advertise/promote the page on my email, on  my website, in a newsletter, through Twitter and other social networks

etc.

Take action. Do it now. Set you goals and schedule the activities that you’ll complete to get to these goals.

Thanks for taking part in 30 Days of Social Media.

Write and tell me what you plan to focus on. I’d love to hear from you and be a part of your journey.

Until then,

Suzi

(I owe thanks to many people for their support with this free program. I’ll write more on that tomorrow!)

How to promote your event through social media – a DIY Guide in three easy steps! #30DSM - Day 29: 30 Days of Social Media

Organising an event at the best of times can be a chore. However with the growing appeal of social networking sites this often arduous task can be made a little easier. Brooke Simmons of Pursuit Communications illustrates the steps to promote your event through social networking sites in today’s 30 Days of Social Media lesson.

---

How to promote your event through social media – a DIY Guide in three easy steps!

by Brooke Simmons

Firstly, you will have to decide if it’s relevant to promote your event through social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin etc. If it’s a “soft” product launch - there’s no point in telling the world about it – wait until all the “wrinkles” have been ironed out and then invite the masses. The same can be said for a VIP event: the last thing any organiser needs is a mass of people turning up at an event, which is intended for a select group of people.

Equally there’s no point in organising an event where members of the general public are invited to attend and there are very few people aware of the event in the first place!  If you don’t promote it properly, how will anyone be expected to know?

Cue the social networking site.

These sites offer a range of solutions to track, interact and ultimately control any event you wish to promote.

If you believe there’s an opportunity to promote your event via a social networking site you will firstly need to understand “your audience”.

1. DECIDE which mix of social media outlets will be suitable for your launch. To do this, think about the networks you keep in all of your social media outlets. LinkedIn is often associated with past-colleagues and current client contacts. Facebook is, for many people, a combination of friends and Twitter can often be a combination of these two. So use your best judgement on which outlet or outlets you’ll use and stick to them. (I recommend using no more than two outlets for promoting any activity – I’ll come to this in a moment.)

Once you have decided on which outlet(s) you’ll use for your event, make sure you use the social networking site sensibly.

2. REMEMBER it’s a social networking site not a place where you can bombard everyone with invitations, reminders and messages about the event. Just with fashion, less is more. What you believe to be a “friendly second, third or fourth reminder” can be interpreted by others as spam.

Once you offer the initial invitation allow people a chance to respond by the specified RSVP date, answer any questions that may be asked in the meantime and only follow up after the RSVP deadline, ensuring you leave enough time between the RSVP date and the event itself to allow for extra details to be added. These could include additional background material, late confirmation of special celebrity guests – that kind of thing. I suggest allowing an additional day for following up RSVPs from a social networking site; some people aren’t as vigilant checking their social networking accounts as they are with their e-mails.

3.  The most important tip I’ll offer is to use THE TOOLS that are available for each social networking site.  Some suggestions are:

• Link a post about the event to your Linkedin page from your blog – a majority of times you’ll be able to do this through a widget. A cross pollination such as this can often encourage people who may not have regularly visited your blog to do so and vice versa.  A blog entry also allows you to enter more details about your event and give potential attendees a chance to comment on the event.
• Create an event on Facebook: if you choose, this will allow your attendees to post their images, comments and topics about the event all on one tidy page.
• Create a “hashtag”  on Twitter for your event so those attending who are Twitter users can comment about the event, track back previous tweets and see what others are tweeting all by searching for a simple “hashtag”. For example for a client event that I have coming up I’ll be using the “hashtag” #ToniaTodmanRoses and #Bluminlaunch. If you’re still confused this site offers a great explanation.
• Consider looking at Eventbrite for use on social networking sites: it’s easy to use and the site walks you through the whole process.
• For those people who may not be able to attend due to geographic location, why not consider creating a webcast of the event or inviting people to attend via Skype.

Ultimately use common sense when it comes to organising an event and promoting through social networking site. Don’t create more work for yourself than is needed and use the power of social networking sites to your advantage.

Good luck!

---

Brooke Simmons - Pursuit Communications

Brooke Simmons has over four years experience within the public relations arena and over ten years experience in the media, most recently she has worked on the following clients - Events by Olivia, Gosford City Council, Talk’N Tours, I Hate Cinderella, Wet Ones, Sassi Sam,  SBNG – Small Business Networking Group Central Coast NSW, Sam’s Beer, Blumin’ & Tonia Todman Roses, Brands on Sale Campbelltown, United Airlines, Lenovo Australian Olympic Torch Relay, Radisson Resort Fiji, Lufthansa Airlines, REED Constructions Australia, Carlson Hotels Asia Pacific, Kaspersky Anti-Virus, Autodesk - Australia, Glass Onion Website Design and OZtion Online Auction Site.

In addition to her public relations capabilities Brooke has held the title of Managing Editor for Manchester Unity’s member magazine U Magazine from December 2006 –April 2008.

Prior to her foray in the public relations arena, Brooke has held other roles within the media industry. Previously working at; Silverspan Marketing, Nova 969 FM and Regional Radio Bureau - now known as Regional Radio Works.  As a result Brooke is well versed on the many facets of the media and also holds a great number of media contacts.

She is contactable at the following email address and phone number;
E: brooke@pursuitcommunications.com.au, P: +61 (0) 407 780 710

---

TODAY’S TASK

Got an event coming up? Post it on one of your social networks today.

Until tomorrow,

Suzi

Next Page »