Virtual Office Assistant Benefits

Three BIG reasons why Lake Gaston Business Owners should consider hiring a Virtual Office Assistant…

2011-08-10T16:34:00.006-04:00

SAVE MONEY

SAVE TIME

INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY/EFFICIENCY

How it saves money…
Hiring a Virtual Office Assistant to assist with administrative tasks cost less than hiring full or part-time help. There are no taxes involved, no need to provide benefits or paid leave for vacations and sick time, and best of all no need to purchase software, hardware and other office supplies for a new hire.

How it saves time…
Consider how many hours you personally spend on administrative tasks instead of concentrating your efforts to pursue new clients, making sales, or meeting deadlines. Hiring a Virtual Office Assistant will free up that time spent on administrative tasks, allowing you to spend your time to do what you do best.

How you can increase productivity/efficiency…
By saving time and money, turning over tasks such as email, snail mail, scheduling appointments, posting on social media, organizing files, etc., you can increase productivity, make your business more efficient, and relieve some of the stress caused by too much to do.

Go to http://www.virtualofcassistant.com/ to learn more about hiring a Virtual Assistant to take on administrative tasks, so that your business can run smoother than it has ever run!

Tip # 3 - Set Aside Time for Social Media

2011-07-05T17:50:00.006-04:00

It is important to set aside time each day to browse through your Social Media accounts, whether it is just Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or a combination of the three. Glimpse over posts from others, choose which topics you find interesting, and read what they have to say. If you do this once or twice a day, you won’t get behind on the latest social scoop. Also, this is a great way for you to get ideas of things you might consider posting. Remember the information I blogged about in Tip # 1 – creating a list of topics to post on Social Media? Well, now is a good time to have that list handy. As you read what others are posting, it may trigger new ideas for you to consider for future posts – jot down those ideas so you don’t forget. This will save you time later when you are at a loss of ideas to share through Social Media.

Now remember, you don’t have to post daily, but you should at least browse daily. There are some who post daily, some who post multiple times a day, and others post once in a while. Those who post multiple times a day can be a turn-off to some; which may cause them to lose followers. So, depending on your business, you need to decide when / what to post. The best way to determine that is to see what others are doing. So, set aside at least 15-30 minutes of your day to be social. If you are a morning person, do it first thing. I personally wait until about 8PM each night to check my three accounts – it completes my day.

This completes my tips on how to save time for Social Media. I hope you find the tips useful. In fact, comment on this blog or in Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn with your own ideas on how you save time each day for Social Media.

Tip #2 - Save Time - Share Across Social Media Platforms…

2011-06-30T10:56:00.006-04:00

In my first tip on finding time for Social Media I spoke about making a list of topics of value for your followers. To take that one step further, look outside of the box and think about topics not only related to your business niche – think of topics related to your network of followers. When you attend a networking event, do you spend all of your time speaking to one person, or do you walk around to find new interesting people to connect with? The answer should be that you walk around to meet new people. Networking is powerful – those new interesting people may end up becoming a client of yours, or they may know someone in their network that could benefit from what you do.

The idea with Social Media is the same. Twitter is a great social media platform where you can follow business organizations, politics, National Brands, etc. – then once or twice a day you can catch a glimpse of what is going on in the business world. Twitter limits posts to 140 characters or less, but is powerful because those 140 characters if written creatively, will entice a viewer's interest. Most posts (called tweets) are followed by a link to a blog or website that contains further detail about the main topic disclosed in the 140 character tweet.

So, how does this save you time and create ideas for you to post on other social media platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook? Well let’s use the real estate agent again as an example. If I’m a real estate agent with accounts in the 3 major social media networks, and I just can’t always find the time to post in all three, I simply link the three together so that I have an ‘option’ to post the same message across all three social media platforms. And since Twitter is so easy to browse through, you may find a topic that may be of value to your followers – so you click on the link to read more. Most of the time when you read more, there is an option on the page to “SHARE” – so you simply click the option and choose an individual social media platform to share the information; or if you have Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook linked together just choose to share on Twitter. You will receive a prompt that allows you to enter a lead-in to your post (keep it short and catchy), then click share. The information will be placed on your Twitter account and will automatically post to LinkedIn and Facebook. If there is no sharing option, simply copy the URL of the page you want to share, go back to Twitter, type in a catchy lead in comment, and attach the URL link – DONE!

Now getting back to the real estate agent – let’s say I work for a local Century 21 Realtor. I should be following my national Century 21 office as well as other industry related companies like Realtor.com, my local chamber, local businesses, surrounding major city chambers, etc. When I access Twitter (once or twice a day), I browse through to see if any of them have posted something of interest. Let’s say Realtor.com has a post on Twitter on how to find coupons or discounts for moving companies. I see the post, click on the link to get more details and find a great web page where you can put in a zip code and find coupons and discounts for my local area. This is valuable information to share with my network of followers, but Realtor.com doesn’t have a share link; so, I copy the URL of the web page – go back to twitter – type in “Moving? Find great discounts & coupons for moving companies” – then I attach the URL link. My post will now display in Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook and be seen by all of my followers, some of which may spread the word by sharing this post with their followers.

Okay that example was directly related to the real estate business niche. Now think outside of the box - let’s say I follow my local Chamber of Commerce and they post about an upcoming local event. I could re-tweet that post so that all of my twitter followers will know about the event – they decide to attend with family and friends who ‘potentially’ may be interested in real estate. Not only did I help my local chamber, I also put myself in the position of gaining new clients.

(Note: at this time re-tweets will not redirect to Facebook or Linkedin – so you could just copy/paste the chamber post into a new post which would carry forward.)

If you plan your time wisely, access Twitter once or twice a day, look for topics of interest for your followers on all 3 major Social Media Platforms, then share the topic - you are done. So, take 15 minutes today and try this – it’s simple and powerful.

Of course if you need assistance setting up and linking Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, you can always consider hiring a Virtual Office Assistant to assist you!

How to Find Time for Social Media

2011-06-28T18:25:00.008-04:00

I’ve had discussions with many of my business clients about how important it is to get involved with Social Media. And the number one comment from them is “We can’t find the time.” Well it is a fact that Social Media does require time, and if one isn’t careful that time can be wasted if not thought out properly. So, just how does one go about finding time for Social Media?

Over the next few days I will give you a few pointers. Today’s pointer is “Plan Your Time – Set Goals”.

You needn’t go overboard with Social Media posting. Posting once daily or weekly depending on the type of business you own is enough. Think about what you can post or share that will be valuable to your followers and make a list (set goals). For instance – a real estate agent might jot down: latest real estate trends, current market values, how to spruce up your home prior to listing, what to be aware of when looking for homes, etc. That agent has followers in their social media network that may find any one of those items of interest. Another idea is listing trivia points of interest related to your business that might spark conversation from followers, i.e. “Did you know you can save $(x amount of dollars) a year on your electric bill by turning your thermostat up one degree higher than normal during summer months?”

The idea is to spark interest in whatever you share - so be creative.

Now that you have a list, save it on your computer or keep it on your desktop where you can get to it easily. The reason for this step is you may come across another item of interest that you want to add to the list. This list will serve as a guide to what you want to share with your social media network of friends or fans. The next step is to take that list and start figuring out what to write about one of your list items. For the real estate example ‘current market values’ mentioned above, use your company resources to find info on current market values and share it – the best way to do this is begin with an opening statement, i.e. “Finally the housing market values are beginning to rise for the Lake Gaston area...read more”. After the opening statement, provide a website link to the resource in which you found your information. For the trivia question above, provide a link to the facts that support your statement.

You can either use this list as a guide to remind you of ideas you want to share, or you can take it one step further and take several ideas from the list – write down what you plan to share and then once daily or weekly, copy/paste that info into your Post or Tweet.

By planning ahead, you will find it much easier to manage and find time for Social Media. Of course if you still can't find the time, you can always hire a Virtual Office Assistant to do it for you!

Stay tuned for tip # 2...

Why You Should Join Your Local Area Chamber of Commerce

2011-06-11T11:21:00.012-04:00

If you are looking for an easy and affordable way to help your business grow, consider joining your local area Chamber of Commerce.

In today’s economic turmoil, local business owners are finding out how important it is to support one another in order to keep their business afloat. This especially holds true in seasonal resort locations.

Resort locations also tend to attract more internet traffic for those non-locals looking for a great vacation spot, or resort property owners living elsewhere needing services. Most start by checking out websites of local chambers; and those websites promote information about their business members. If you aren’t a member of your local chamber, you won’t be found when the computer savvy tourists or non-local property owners view chamber websites to find area information.

The internet is not the only way your local chamber can benefit your business. Chambers also provide advertising opportunities, directory listings of local businesses and attractions, call in referrals, and networking opportunities at chamber events; all of which provide business recognition.

So, don’t be left out of the loop, consider joining your local area chamber of commerce today and watch your business grow!

Should Your Small Business have a Twitter Account?

2011-04-24T14:57:00.000-04:00

To stay in the game and promote your small business you should absolutely have a Twitter account. So, just how does Twitter differ from Facebook?

Facebook is all about mutual friends and business connections on a ‘social networking’ level. Twitter on the other hand is more of an ‘information networking’ level, where information comes from people and organizations all around the world. You can log onto Twitter at anytime without having an account and find current information or news from around the world. On Twitter you are more apt to follow celebrities, brands, news sources, hobbies, sports etc. where you can find up-to-date information about them all in ‘real time’.

On a recent blog post by Mashable Co-Editor Ben Parr he states it best - “On Facebook, you’re supposed to connect with close friends. Becoming friends with someone means he or she gets to see your content, but you also get to see his or her content in return. On Twitter, that’s not the case: you choose what information you want to receive, and you have no obligation to follow anybody. Facebook emphasizes profiles and people, while Twitter emphasizes the actual content (in its case, tweets).”

Tweets are short and sweet, yet powerful in that about 35% provide links to more information about the topic within the tweet. For business owners this is powerful because that link could direct to your website, blog, or even Facebook account where viewers can find out more information about you. Not only can you boost revenue for your business, you can stay current with your field by following others related to your business. In addition when you view messages from those you are following that may be of value to your followers, you simply re-tweet and spread the word.

So, what are you waiting for? Sign up for Twitter today and start Tweeting!

Should Lake Gaston Business Owners Use Social Media?

2011-02-22T17:26:00.000-05:00

Now, more than ever, it is important to get the word out about what Lake Gaston has to offer. Our current economic times have slowed down tourism and on the lake. We need tourism in order for our businesses to survive. Never has it been easier to communicate with a huge audience than utilizing the available social media means of communication. So, to answer the question about whether Lake Gaston business owners should be involved with Social Media, the answer is YES!

In our small Lake Gaston community, we all need to be aware that whatever we can do to strengthen our community will ultimately strengthen us as individual business owners. As social media channels like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter become more and more part of daily communication, it is important that we participate and not be left behind.

Would you be interested in attending a training class that includes more information on why Lake Gaston Business Owners should use Social Media along with instructions on how to set-up, maintain, and link social media accounts? If yes, comment on this post and provide me with questions or topics you would like to include in a training class. I have actually started a training package to be offered to Lake Gaston business owners in the next few weeks. Below are a few questions that will be covered. While commenting on this post, provide other questions you have regarding Social Media.

How to get started?
How to keep up with daily posts?
What do you post?
Which Social Media Channels should you get involved with?

Why are About or Company Profile pages important for websites?

2011-02-15T19:14:00.000-05:00

Do you have an “About” or “Company Profile” page on your website? If no, you may want to consider adding one. If yes, when was the last time you updated the page with current information? “Company Profile” or “About” pages provide important and useful information to potential or existing clients and consumers. After all, you wouldn’t want to do business with someone unless you knew a little bit about them; the same principal applies to your own business. Unfortunately, many businesses fail to provide this page or do not keep it current, which could result in viewers leaving their website and going to a competitor’s website.

Just what information should this page include? To cover the basics, start with the following:

· Who you are / Include experience

· What you do / What you sell

· Where you are / Where you sell / Where you service

· When you are available

· Why you do what you do / Why choose your company

· How you do what you do

Check out other competitor websites to see just what they include on their profile page to get more ideas. Remember that this profile page should be personal, interesting and informative. If need be, add links to additional pages that might include information about your staff, mission statement, or additional information on other segments of your business. Details are important since it gives the viewer an understanding of just who the business is. Include interesting facts about the business or staff, videos, and images to make the page more appealing.

Once you fine tune the page, go back and make sure your text includes those important ‘keywords’ that people use to search for your business product or service.

Now having said all of this, if you need assistance adding or updating an “About” or “Company Profile” page, give me a call and I will gladly assist you.

Ten Commandments for Success

2011-02-08T13:38:00.000-05:00

Upon attending a business event recently in Virginia, Mecklenburg Electric Cooperative (www.meckelec.org) shared a list of “Ten Commandments For Success”.

#1 - WORK HARD!Hard work is the best investment a person can make.

#2 - STUDY HARD!Knowledge enables a person to work more intelligently and effectively.

#3 - HAVE INITIATIVE!Ruts often deepen into graves!

#4 - LOVE YOUR WORK!Then you will find pleasure in mastering it.

#5 - BE EXACT!Slipshod methods bring slipshod results.

#6 - HAVE THE SPIRIT OF CONQUEST!Thus you can successfully battle and overcome difficulties!

#7 - CULTIVATE PERSONALITY!Personality is to a person what perfume is to the flower.

#8 - HELP AND SHARE WITH OTHERS!The real test of business greatness lies in giving opportunity to others.

#9 - BE DEMOCRATIC!Unless you feel right toward your fellow man, you can never be a successful leader.

#10 - IN ALL THINGS DO YOUR BEST!The person who has done his best has done everything. The person who has done less than his best has done nothing.

Can you think of others we could add to the list?

Testimonials to Inspire Potential Clients

2011-02-01T14:00:00.000-05:00

Last week I posted some information about asking for testimonials. This week I'd like to expound on that subject and get your ideas as well.

A testimonial to inspire new clients needs to include details or reasons why someone chose to work with you, and should include bullet points or comments that outline the results of that relationship. The more details, the better – but while publishing, it is important that the information complies with the new FTC guidelines (*).

So, how does one go about nudging clients / customers to provide something inspiring? One way is to provide them a few ideas to get them started, by suggesting some lead-in questions. Here are a few you may consider:

1. What reason caused you to seek out our product / service? (For example – were you looking for someone to design your website?)

2. What was the determining factor that made you decide to choose our company?

3. Describe your experience in working with our company. (For example – were we prompt? attentive? courteous? - etc.)

4. Would you refer our services to others? And why?

5. Did our product / service meet your goals and expectations? How?

The idea of providing ideas will hopefully encourage your client / customer to provide honest feedback that will not only convince potential clients to contact you, but also allow you to improve where needed.

Now that I’ve provided the samples of lead-in questions for your client / customer to consider when providing an inspiring testimonial, you now need some guidance on how to request the testimonial.

After you’ve completed a service or provided a product to one of your clients, consider sending them a letter (sample below) requesting a testimonial on your behalf.

==============================================

Dear _____,

We just wanted to take the time to thank you for being our client this year and to let you know that we appreciate your business, and look forward to working with you again in the future.

We would greatly appreciate your feedback on our [products or services], and request that you provide a testimonial on our behalf that we can share with potential clients. As you know, referrals and recommendations are a key fact to a successful business. [If you are sharing publicly on the internet – it’s a good idea to let them know.]

Although you may write whatever you’d like, we’ve provided a few questions below for you to consider before you get started.

[List the questions mentioned above or other questions that may apply to your given situation.]

Thank you for your time and support.

Regards,

================================================

If a client provides testimony on your behalf without your asking, consider sending them a thank you note and ask their permission to share with potential clients; if you are sharing publicly (i.e. on the internet) make sure you state that.

(*) In October 2009 the FTC approved final guidance to advertisers on how to keep their endorsement and testimonial ads in line with the FTC Act. To read more information about this topic, please go to http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/endortest.shtm.

These are just a few of my ideas to get you started on testimonials. What other ideas would you like to share on this subject?

Asking for Testimonials

2011-01-26T19:45:00.001-05:00

Social media is quickly changing the way we do business. Not only is it important to use social media to promote your business and keep up with the competition, it also helps if your clients or colleagues that follow you provide favorable testimonial to allow others to see how well you do business. After all "word-of mouth" can go a long way. It's a known fact that referrals are a key to success.

So, just how does one go about asking for testimonials? It’s not an easy thing to do, and most of us feel uncomfortable asking – we’d much rather have them come naturally, without prompting. In today’s world however, people are busy and may not think to provide positive feedback or appreciation, so we need to figure out how to nudge them a bit. Here are some nudging tips:

· Follow-up – after you’ve dealt with a client’s needs, contact them to ensure you’ve met their expectations. Once they respond, ask if they would be willing to share their feelings by writing a short testimonial that you can share with potential clients.

· If someone expresses during conversation or email how much they appreciate what you’ve done for them, ask if you can quote them on your website or share through social media.

· If they follow you in social media networks or on blogs, ask them to say (post) a good word on your behalf. One suggestion is to post that you just completed a job or service for a client and say how much you enjoyed working with them. This could nudge them to respond with a kind word back.

· Another option is to design a simple survey and deliver it to them at the end of a project or event. Not everyone will complete the survey, but those who are happy with your work (or unhappy) will likely respond. Post the results.

Testimonials will inspire potential clients and are a key factor to your continued success. So, go out and start nudging today!