Twitter

How to Make Working From Home More Interesting

October 22, 2010 By Lisa

I love working from home. My no-commute arrangement gives me the freedom to work whenever I want. But sometimes all that freedom can be incredibly boring. Sure, social media can adds a little spice to each day, but there have to be other ways to make working from home more interesting.

Wendy Sullivan, freelance writer and blogger, takes a more creative approach to beating boredom by celebrating Topless Wednesday and No Pants Friday. (She takes Working Naked to a whole new level!) Her not-so-G-rated approach to working from home inspired me to find out what other home office pros do to fight home office boredom.

– Music. I max out my free 40 hours of Pandora within the first week of the month.
- Twitter. Lame, but it does make you feel somewhat like you’re talking to people.
- Hula hooping. I have a client who teaches hula hoop classes. It’s so much fun, so from time to time I hula hoop in the middle of the day.

—Sarah Early, dodeline design [Read more...]

Filed Under: Balancing home/office Life, Home office design, Making money from home, Time mgmt./Productivity, Working at home Tagged With: fighting home office boredom, Pandora, Small business, Twitter, working from home

How Not to Use Twitter to Get Results for Your Business

October 1, 2010 By Lisa

Twitter is a valuable tool that can help you bring visitors to your blog, spread the word about your business, connect with your customers and more. But as with any tool, there’s a right way to use it and a wrong way. I’m always looking for ways to make better use of Twitter. Some tips that I’ve tried worked well, while others have failed miserably.

The HubSpot article “The 9 Worst Ways to Use Twitter for Business,” takes an “avoid doing this” approach to making Twitter more effective. A few of the top Twitter don’ts include: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Home office technology, Improving your web site, Making money from home, Marketing/Public Relations Tagged With: HubSpot, making Twitter more effective, tweeting, Twitter

5 Ways Twitter Makes You a Better Person

September 17, 2010 By Lisa

Guest post by San Sharma

If you work alone or from home, there’s no denying that Twitter is an invaluable tool, both professionally and personally. As part of a marketing strategy, Twitter can help spread the word about your business. And when you’re feeling disconnected, Twitter can make you feel a part of the world around you.

But in some circles, Twitter, Facebook and social media, in general, is considered a bad thing. “We’re all getting self-obsessed,” some complain. To them I say, Twitter can actually make you a better person.

Here’s some ‘Twitterquette’ to demonstrate how:

Be more open
Contrary to popular belief, Twitter’s not all about what you had for lunch. But its 140-character limit and the ways in which you can tweet – from your desk or from your mobile phone – make Twitter an ideal platform to share a little more about yourself. Being transparent with your [Read more...]

Filed Under: Balancing home/office Life, Home office technology, Improving your web site, Internet marketing, Making money from home, Working at home, Working with clients Tagged With: Enterprise Nation, Facebook, San Sharma, social media tips, Twitter

There’s More to Twitter Than Tweeting Your Next Task

September 1, 2010 By Lisa

Last week, at a party, I mentioned that Twitter has been invaluable to my business. A few of my friends said (as they rolled their eyes) that it doesn’t matter if someone’s on their way to the gym or late to get a haircut.

They don’t get it. Others don’t either, unless they use Twitter often.

Twitter isn’t just about letting others know what you’re doing through your tweets. The truth is that unless you’re a major celebrity, not everyone cares where you’re going or where you’ve been.

There are a few ways that you can use Twitter to help you grow your business including:

Drawing traffic to your blog. When you update your blog (which you should do several times a week), tweet your latest blog headline and a (shortened) link. The better the headline, the faster your followers will flock to your site. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Balancing home/office Life, Internet marketing, Making money from home, Marketing/Public Relations, Working with clients Tagged With: Entrepreneurs, online marketing, search engines, Twitter

Martha Stewart Whips up a Batch of Social Media Tips

June 17, 2010 By Lisa

When I think of social media, Chris Brogan and Brian Solis come to mind, not Martha Stewart. So what does this culinary queen and media mogul know about social media? Apparently a lot. In a recent blog post, Jesse Stanchak of SmartBlog On Social Media highlights a few of the social media tips Stewart shared during a recent speech. With almost 2 million Twitter followers and 72,000 Facebook fans, Stewart’s tips are worth following.

Don’t let anyone tell you what to do. At its core, Stewart said, social marketing is about finding your own voice and communicating your brand’s personality. It’s easy to do what everyone else is doing and hope for a good response. Mix it up, break the rules and be willing to let others see the real you.
Find yourself a good co-pilot. Throughout her keynote, Martha Stewart tossed questions and remind-me-later asides at Eliad Laskin, her all-purpose technical guru. At some point you’ll realize that you can’t do everything and actually, you shouldn’t. Find someone who has strengths in areas you don’t.
Go where your customers are — and remember that everyone’s a customer. Instead of picking one platform, Stewart advises finding ways to adjust your pitch to reach the different communities that form online. My Twitter and LinkedIn accounts are all business while my Facebook account combines aspects of both my business and personal life.

Filed Under: Improving your web site, Internet marketing, Marketing/Public Relations, Time mgmt./Productivity, Working with clients Tagged With: Facebook, Martha Stewart, social media tips, Twitter

Why You May be Losing Followers on Twitter

May 18, 2010 By Lisa

Do you take the time to weed out the list of folks you follow on Twitter? Lisa Barone, Co-Founder and Chief Branding Officer at Outspoken Media, Inc., culls through her Twitter list monthly and stops following some people while adding others to her list. I do the same thing every few months and each time I do that, I lose followers. I’m not obsessed with how many followers I have, but if someone stops following me, I wonder why.

In her Small Business Trends post, “20 Reasons People Unfollow You On Twitter,” Barone shares the results of a quick poll she did with Twitter users. All of the tips are insightful and worth reading, especially these four.

1. You’re a self-promoter: Lots of people mentioned that they were turned off by Twitter users who do nothing but promote their own content. You want to drive traffic to your site, but there’s other content out there.

2. You’re too self-centered. Twitter is about connecting with others and not making it about you.

3. You auto-DM: Nothing hurts more than choosing to follow someone you think is cool…and then being hit with the dread auto spam DM. There will always be something annoying and creepy about getting a sales pitch via DM. Build a relationship before you try to sell something to someone.

4. You don’t share anything new. There’s nothing wrong with retweeting unless that’s all you do. Share new information when you can.

Filed Under: Home office technology, Improving your web site, Internet marketing Tagged With: Lisa Barone, Marketing/Public Relations, Outspoken Media, Small business trends, Twitter

How Tweet it is

January 29, 2010 By Lisa

With only 140 characters per message, is it possible to mess up a tweet? Absolutely. According to Lisa Barone, Co-Founder and Chief Branding Officer at Outspoken Media, Inc., “Tweeting is an art.” Her blog post “How To Write Better Tweets” is filled with several to-the-point tips to help you improve the way you tweet including:

Think before you tweet: Before you tweet that link, publish that twitter comment or get into that heated debate, ask yourself if what you’re about to put out there is meaningful. You know that queasy feeling you get in your stomach when you say something you wish you could take back? Bad tweets can give you the same feeling but you can’t ever take those words back. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Improving your web site, Working at home Tagged With: improving your tweets, Lisa Barone, Twitter

Tell the Truth Online, Pinocchio

January 28, 2010 By Lisa

I love it when someone says, “It’s true…I read it on the Internet.” Keep in mind that these people are serious. Do you know how hard it is to keep a straight face when someone says that? I’m not implying that everything on the Internet is made up but the reality is that it’s challenging to build trust and credibility.

The article “6 ways to get people to believe you online” can help you become a bit more trustworthy. A few of these tips may bring out the Boy Scout in you. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Working at home, Working with clients Tagged With: Online forum, Twitter

Communicate First, Sell Second

January 6, 2010 By Lisa

I don’t read Twitter direct messages anymore (unless they’re from someone I know). Why? Because I’m not interested in “enhancing” anything, I don’t want a loan and if I needed to find a business coach, I wouldn’t use one who solicited me on Twitter.

Maybe I’m missing something. Shouldn’t a direct message be used for sending a message that has value instead of using it to send a cheesy sales message? While I appreciate the “thank you for following me” direct messages, I don’t want anyone to sell me anything. Just thank me and move on. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Marketing/Public Relations, Working at home Tagged With: Direct messages, Twitter

Hooking Up With LinkedIn

November 10, 2009 By Lisa

I use Twitter and FaceBook to stay in contact with clients and associates. LinkedIn is another tool in my social media toolbox, but honestly I don’t use it much. The Small Business Trends post “6 Ways To Create Opportunities on LinkedIn“ changed my mind. From now on I’m going to embrace LinkedIn or at least give it more of a try. The post offers a few good tips.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Home office technology, Working at home Tagged With: Facebook, Home office, LinkedIn, Twitter