More Twitter Tips on Social Networking

Many know now why Twitter is a good choice for marketing yourself and your business. You get a lot of exposure, spurts of high traffic and it can be extremely viral. Do it wrong and you get nothing.

Twitter is social networking. It’s more than a two way street. It’s like a traffic jam or an opened store front. Eventually people who don’t know each other will find something in common to talk about and if you talk long enough, you’ll become friends.

When you haven’t seen a friend in a long time and one day you bump into them, it’s a great surprise. You’ll have lots to catch up on and talk about. Wouldn’t it be a bit odd if you haven’t seen or spoken to a friend in a long time and out of the blue get an email from them asking for a favour? I would find it a bit strange.

The same goes with social networking sites. To be effective you have to be present and you have to be engaging. Before you build your business relationship get to know a bit more about the person each day. Things happen and people get busy or their priority change. Don’t automatically assume that because you’ve chatted and gotten to know each other a bit in the past, you can solicit your business to them. Both parties have to be willing. There’s no point in introducing your business to someone who’s not on the same page as you. Take the time to rebuild and reconnect.

Social networking is not about the numbers. It’s quality. It’s not possible to connect with all of your thousands of followers on Twitter and that’s fine because you follow people for different reasons, right? It’s not about “I’ll follow you and you follow me”. Choose and find people that you want to inspire, help, grow and that they can do the same for you.

~Sophia

Twitter Tip: Keywords

Like many things, using anything properly will only yield successful results. There are many right and wrong ways of using Twitter.

People who use keywords to find and follow people related to their niche must not just rely on their keywords or key phrases. It’s important to visit the person’s page and read their profile, maybe click on their website and take the time to read their Twitter stream.

I often wonder how people find and follow me and I’ve come to the conclusion it’s based mostly on their keyword search. I had mentioned a job lead called “Basketball Logger” and the next day NBANewsUpdate is following me. I could care less about basketball and it’s so not related to my niche. If I’m casually chatting with friends about dogs, there’s no reason why I should get a sudden surge of dog followers, but you know I do.

I understand using keywords is helpful when it comes to finding and following new people to connect with, but make sure you take the extra steps to ensure you are following the right people for the right reasons.

~Sophia

Common Mistakes Newbies Make On Twitter

When it comes to social networking and networking your home business online, often times people will turn to social media sites such as Myspace, Linked-In, Facebook and Twitter.

Today I would like to discuss Twitter and the mistakes I often see newbies (new users) do on Twitter that can drive followers & business away from them.

Here are some things you should NOT do on Twitter.

1. Do not send business information, sales information or business links to people via DM (Direct Message) unless that specific user asked to receive that information from you. This includes automatic DM’s that folks send to everyone who is now following them. (Thanks for following me type of DM’s)

2. Don’t Tweet business links 24/7. No one wants to read tweets that contain your business link over and over and over again. If you do that, you will be labeled as a link spammer.

3. Don’t do keyword searches for your area of interest on Twitter and then send @ reply business spam messages to users. A lot of users will report you for spam & block you from their Twitter streams & accounts.

4. Do not set your Twitter account up on auto-pilot aka, Tweet later type of services unless you plan on logging in every day and tweeting in real time too. Tweet later type of services is where you set up an account with them, draft up your Tweets and have that service post your tweets on Twitter for you.

Part of networking is being real, connecting with and chatting with your followers. You can’t do that if your Twitter account is on 24/7 auto pilot.

5. Watch what you tweet. No one wants to read tweets about what you did in your bathroom, bedroom, etc. Furthermore, leave the trash talking potty mouth at the door. You don’t want to offend your followers by discussing inappropriate content or using foul language.

For Twitter to work for you…you really need to mix up your tweets. Yes, tweet about your business and provide some business tips…but also spend some time chatting with your followers so that they can get to know you and you can get to know them.

Do you have any ‘mistake’ type of tips you would like to share with our readers? If so, leave them in a comment!

Shelly

5 Ineffective Tactics on Work At Home Forums

There are still many people who join work at home forums and have no idea when it comes to forum etiquette. It’s so important to read the forum rules before doing anything as that will tell you what’s expected from you.

Here are five tactics to avoid when you’re participating on a work at home forum.

1. Don’t pretend and don’t post you have found a cool site when the site is yours.
“I found this really cool site with tons of great information. I couldn’t believe how well-thought out this website is. It’s truly amazing and you should check it out. http://www.iownthissite.com”. Credibility and trust is what you want to earn, not lose. There is a place for links and they belong in your signature.

2. Posting for the sake of posting.
Experienced members can tell if you’re just a spammer. Show your intelligence, not your ignorance.

3. Copying snippets of other people’s articles.
It’s obvious to people when you post a snippet of someone’s article because it’s not “conversational”. It reads as an introduction to an article. What would be more impressive is if you interpreted in your own words. What would be super impressive is if you brought something to the table from what you actually know and practice.

4. Know your audience.
If you sell cuban cigars, you don’t join a health and wellness forum. That doesn’t make sense and if you do, once again you will be frowned upon. Know who’s your target market and then cater to their wants and needs.

5. Say what you mean and do what you say.
If you say you’re looking forward to networking, then make the effort of visiting the forum at least once a week. I’m sure you have lots to share and people want to know what you know.

Keep it real and be yourself. Honesty really goes far and it’s expected. There are a lot of great and smart business people on work at home forums that may help bring you and your business to another level.

~Sophia

Work At Home Job Tip: Use Twitter To Job Hunt

The longer I’m on Twitter the more I discover how you can use Twitter to find a work at home job.

I’m often coming across tweets in my Twitter stream from various people looking for someone to complete a job for them. Not only are there independent owners looking for help, but corporate companies are also using Twitter to find employees or Independent Contractors.

First of all, create a Twitter account. It’s preferable to use your name as your Twitter username if your account is for job hunting. If you have a portfolio online add the URL to the website field and then sell yourself in your bio.

Upload a good and clear photograph of you. Forget the cutesy avatars. If you have time customize your Twitter background and use this added space to include your credentials or experiences.

Start following experts in your niche by using the search function in Twitter. Tweet about what you know so you add value, tweet about telecommuting job news you have read, share tips about your industry and help answer other people’s questions that relate to your field.

You have to be consistent in your networking efforts and you have to engage with your followers. Remain professional at all times and never say anything bad about a previous or current employer or company.

By combining social media sites with your other methods of finding a work at home job it can only be of a greater benefit for you.

~Sophia

Networking Checklist: 3 Important Questions

I know work at home networking forums are still very viable ways to build credibility and to get more exposure for you and your business. Finding an active forum is a tad tougher as I’ve seen many who have been created and then fall flat and short in expectation in the coming months.

You can’t network on dead forums, but you can still get backlinks. As long as the forum is still up and open, there’s traffic. It’s not my way of using forums this way, but if the opportunity exists you may as well use it to your advantage. Of course I prefer an active forum as I enjoy networking on forums because I love to help people.

One of the many things people tend to “forget” or lose focus on is their purpose for joining networking forums.

Are you really for helping others lead a better life? To have financial freedom? To have a toxic free life? Whatever your goal is in helping others is your networking efforts working for you?

All work and no play leads to a very boring and unbalanced person? Maybe, but I rather have more quality posts on business topics than to have postings in the non-business forums.

Three questions to ask yourself if you’re networking in the right place:

1. How many posts are you involved in discussing business?
2. How many posts are you involved in non-business discussions?
3. Each day or when you visit forums, where do you find you post the most in?

All three of these questions when answered honestly will tell a lot about your networking efforts; where you need to improve and how to be more conscious of what you’re doing or in this case, not doing.

It’s not too late to re-evaluate and ask yourself if networking forums are still a viable marketing tool for you. There’s no right or wrong answer. You just have to know or figure out if you’re not networking properly how it will reflect on you because no one wants to be perceived as a spammer. More importantly is it helping you grow your business?

To your success,
Sophia

How To Use Twitter To Build Your Business

There are many different ways to build your business. You can build your business by writing articles, blogging, signature and email advertising, link exchanging and more.

Ond of my favourite social networking site besides work at home forums is Twitter. Twitter is micro-blogging allowing you to only type up to 140 characters of text. They are short and sweet, but it can add a lot of punch if you deliver it the right way.

A day ago I was having a blog issue and when I asked on Twitter for help, many of my followers offered their assistance and helped me spread the word I was having a problem. I wasn’t surprised at all by the responses. When you join a networking site like Twitter and network the right way, it always pays off.

Here are some tips on using Twitter to help grow your business.

1. Networking is about interacting with other people. Networking is never one sided. You don’t get anywhere if you make it about you all the time.

2. Everyone has information and knowledge. Don’t be afraid to share what you know and ask if you don’t. You don’t have to tell all your trade secrets. We don’t know everything there is to know. Asking questions starts conversations.

3. Help promote others. Remember the saying, “What goes around comes around”? You can help promote others by retweeting their tweets.

4. Do you have something free to give? Who doesn’t love freebies?

5. Follow quality people that you think may help you build your business. There’s no written rule about reciprocating a follow back. Follow people that interest you. Eventually you will be able to tell who are your quality followers. Do they interact with you or others? Do they offer quality tweets or are they just in it for themselves?

6. Be yourself. Be genuine. Be helpful. Be interactive.

7. Be consistent in your networking efforts. Networking doesn’t have to take a lot of your time. It’s about quality and using your time wisely.

Your business won’t grow instantaneously overnight. It takes time to build relationships and exposure for you. Your business will flourish when you consistently put your best foot forward.

To your success,
Sophia

Should You Start Your Own Online Forum Board?

Have you considered starting your own online forum board? If so, have you thought about everything that would be involved in starting a new online community?

These days, there are thousands of online message boards for just about any subject matter imaginable. When thinking about starting your own community, there are a few things you need to consider before getting started.

1. What kind of community would you like to have?

example: work from home, business, craft and hobbies, blogging, sports, general chit chat, etc.

2. Is there a need for this type of forum board?

Let’s use Work At Home as our example. These days you can find hundreds, if not thousands of work at home message boards.

Problem: All of these web sites are trying to attract the same type of members.

If you are considering a work at home forum board, how can you make your board unique from the hundreds that already exist?

Solution: Narrow down your focus! Have your work at home message board geared towards one of these areas:

a. City and State
b. Grandparents who work from home
c. Single Parents who work from home
d. Independent home business owners
e. Telecommuting
f. Virtual online businesses
g. Direct Sales businesses

3. Do you have the time to run an online community?

As an experienced forum owner, I can tell you that I spend a minimum of 1 hour a day, 6 days a week, managing my online community. I spend a minimum of 2-3 hours every week just advertising my community so that I can attract new members to my forum boards.

4. Can you afford to run your own online community?

There are some free online message board providers online, however, I personally think you should avoid them. The majority of them have unwanted advertisements on the forum and limited administration control.

I recommend getting your own domain name and web hosting. You can do this affordably for around $110 per year. With this option, you will have complete control over your community.

5. Have you educated yourself about the technical aspects of installing and running your own forum boards?

There are several great articles and How-To guides on the Internet. Go to any of the major search engines and do a keyword search for ‘How To Create A Forum Board’ to find them.

6. Are you in this for the long haul?

Building an online community is not a short-term thing. Members who spend their time on your forum board want to know that the community will be there for years to come.

If you have answered YES to all of the above questions, then it’s time for you to become a forum board owner. With some hard work and patience, you can have a very successful online community.

Shelly Hill has been working from home in Direct Sales since 1989 and is a Manager with Tupperware. Shelly also has her own online networking community. You can contact Shelly at:
Web: Classy Home Business Women
Forums: Classy Business Women Message Board

Top 10 Tips for Business Networking

I firmly believe in the power of networking as I have seen first hand how this has helped me grow professionally and personally. You need to be consistent with your networking efforts and this holds true for both online and offline networking.

There are a few basic tips you should remember when it comes to networking and they are as follows:

1. Networking is not about selling your business or products to
everyone you meet.

2. Don’t come on too strong the first time you meet new people.

3. Share about yourself, not just your business. “People do business
with people they trust and people they have gotten to know.”

4. Ask people what they do and invite them to share about themselves
and their business.

5. Listen more than you talk and ask questions that will get people
talking — not just a yes or no answer.

6. Make notes on things people have that might be useful to
yourself or others.

*tip* I keep index cards on business contacts in a file box. I will write down information about this business contact on the index cards.

7. Find common ground with the person you’re getting to know. “People
do business with people just like them.”

8. If asked what you do don’t give someone a long sales pitch. Keep
it short and informative. If they want to know more they will ask.

9. Always tell the person you were talking with it was a pleasure
meeting them and ask if it is ok if you add them to your contact
list.

10. Ask for their business card — that way you can be sure that there
will be follow up. You can exchange cards if you wish but always get
their card or if online, their email or IM name. Ask permission to
contact them again.

Shelly Hill has been working from home in Direct Sales since 1989 and is a Manager with Tupperware. You can contact Shelly at:
Web: Classy Home Business Women
Web: Shelly’s Tupperware Home Business

How To Destroy Your Online Business Reputation

When it comes to doing business online, your online business reputation is everything. It is important to remember this when you are networking on forum boards and in business networking groups.

When people ‘feel’ they have been ‘wronged’ by a business or business person, they are not afraid to post about their experience. All it takes is one ‘bad act’ and the entire Internet work at home community will know about it.

Here are a few ways on how you can ruin your online business reputation by networking on forum boards.

1. Join forum boards and only post spam ads.

2. Join business boards and post nonsense every day topics.

3. Steal another person’s business ad content and then post it as your own.

4. Steal another person’s business article and then post it as your own.

5. Always respond to other members posts with redundant one-liner replies. Members want ‘real’ input, advice and answers, so if you want to ruin your online business reputation, keep on replying with everyday one-liners.

6. If someone decides to do business with you, take their money and run.

7. Disrespect other people for their thoughts and ideas. Remember, your opinion is the only one that counts.

8. Make all of your message board postings all about yourself. We all love hearing from a bragger 24/7.

9. Consistently make typos and grammar mistakes in your message board posts.

10. Use vulgar and derogatory language in your postings.

11. Consistently lie. These days, you can find out just about anything about any person with a little online research.

12. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. So, after you have picked a few fights, riled up an entire message board community, its now time to move on to the next community and do it all over again.

If you want to build a professional online business reputation, you will want to avoid all of these common mistakes.

Shelly Hill has been working from home in Direct Sales since 1989 and is a Manager with Tupperware. You can contact Shelly at:
Web: Classy Home Business Women
Web: Shelly’s Tupperware Home Business