Posts Tagged ‘ Twitter ’

How To Build A Social Media Strategy: 5 Tips For Businesses Getting Started

  1. We’re all experimenting. Even the bloggers and Facebook users who look like they know what they’re doing are just experimenting, so if you feel a little fumbly, remember that use of social media as a marketing tool is in its infancy. Don’t let anybody tell you there’s only one way to use Yelp or Pinterest. They haven’t seen your way yet.
  2. Get a teenager. I assumed my teenage intern would be able to fix my computer, but she surprised me by mentoring me in social media use as well. And it’s no wonder. The kids in their teen years today don’t see social media as a new way of communicating–they see it as the ordinary way of communicating. Your most extraordinary ideas for social media will spring from the mind of your nearest teenager.
  3. Be generous and polite. Participating in social media means participating in a conversation, and even if you’re new to social media, you’ve been practicing conversation since your toddler years. You know the rules: Listen. Attend to the exchange. Respond meaningfully. Use The Golden Rule. Wish more people would comment on your blog? How many blog comments have you posted today?
  4. Match your marketing goals to your social media tactics. What are your marketing goals, and how can social media help you achieve them? Twitter might be great for alerting your followers to a big sale, but you can’t use it to release your 500-word white paper. Match each social media tool you’re using with a goal from your marketing plan, and you’ll feel clearer about why you’re using social media in the first place.
  5. Have fun! Think of social media as a big cocktail party in the sky. The people drawing a crowd are the ones who look like they’re having a good time.

The Sexy Grammarian arouses entrepreneurs and professionals to build their own strategy, brand, social media, and marketing content with private sessions, intimate workshops, custom style guides, and free online lessons and tips, such as this tip about why your company’s name should not end with an s or this advice about how to be a sexy social media writer. And check out these useful tips for business owners from last year’s Small Business Week: How To Get Organized, How To Engage Your Social Media Community, How To Set Goals, and How To Become A Sought-After Speaker.

2012
05/14
POSTED BY
CATEGORY
Secrets
Writer's Tips
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Honorary Sexy G: Elizabeth O’Brien

Elizabeth O’Brien rocks at doing what everybody wants to do on Twitter. She posts often. She posts useful information in a fresh way. And she does it all in the space of a Tweet. @GrammarRocks buzzes daily with Tweet-sized free grammar lessons, some days dozens of them. Today she’s on a roll with useful, quick, helpful, fresh bites like:

TO = (usually a) PREPOSITION

Helping verbs: Be am is are was were been being have has had could should would may might must shall can will do did does having

Click on any of her Twitter links, and you’ll land somewhere in her vast online grammar education empire, The Grammar Revolution website, a cornucopia of grammar learning tools–exercises, quizzes, and lesson plans–that O’Brien offers, all for free. She’s mini-blogging. She’s participating in the online community generously and with an approachable voice. That’s what I call a Sexy Grammarian.

Personally, I refer to her excellent diagrams and word lists to help me arouse writers and explain big grammar ideas all the time. She also has a poetry section. And you can see famous quotes diagrammed! I’ve always loved this one from Oscar Wilde. Can you read it?

This week, in the name of all that is sexy and grammatically correct in the world, join O’Brien’s Grammar Revolution, especially teachers, homeschoolers, people learning English as a second language, and anybody who just wants a better grasp on grammar. You can follow her on Twitter, leave her a note, or buy her awesome e-book. And thanks for celebrating Sexy Grammar Week with us!

What is Sexy Grammar?

It’s the fun way we present writing tools and grammar guidelines. But it’s also a philosophy—that writing and art satisfy a human urge to create, not unlike sex. Sexy Grammar is about letting your inner writer be sexy—aroused, engaged, and unapologetic. When you do that, your writing gets sexy, and that attracts readers. You can get Private Sexy Grammar Lessons here.

What is Sexy Grammar Week?

We conceived Sexy Grammar Week three years ago when we noted March 3rd as  America’s Sexuality Day and March 4th as National Grammar Day. Then we established a flirtatious Sexy Grammar Week tradition: we crown honorary Sexy Grammarians and glorify them here on the blog. This year we’re targeting bloggers who really put out, like Elizabeth O’Brien.

2012
03/05
POSTED BY
CATEGORY
Inspiration
Writers
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3 comments

Three Sexy Business Writing Tips

April may as well be over, and I’m looking forward to next month’s Small Business Week events in San Francisco.  No doubt, attendants will be discussing new marketing technology like blogging, tweeting, texting, and yelping and how they can increase small business sales in the new economy.

These strategies require writing confidence and lots of fresh content, which can be tough when you’re busy running a business. My favorite Sexy Grammar tips for business writers?

  • Share your knowledge and expertise freely.
  • Stimulate conversation with your target market online.
  • Practice using potent verbs and a scantily clad sentence structure.

Share your knowledge and expertise freely. If you own a business, you have expertise and a story. Share it by answering questions on LinkedIn or by commenting on the blogs your customers read. Be the type of online participant who stirs the pot, asks good questions, and drives further exploration of topics that intrigue your customer.

Stimulate conversation with your target market online. I agree with Fran Lebowitz, who said, “Polite conversation is rarely either,” because stimulating conversation comes from argument and intrigue. My most successful blog posts have been the ones where readers caught me in a grammar mistake or where I created controversy. Yelp understands this, encouraging business owners not to sweat negative reviews but to count page views rather than rating stars.

Practice using potent verbs and a scantily clad sentence structure. Before you click the send, post, share, or tweet button, check for engaging and easy to read construction. My Sexy Grammar lessons on Fuzzy and Wuzzy Verbs, -ly Adverbs, and Tight Writing will help.

As entrepreneurs nationwide celebrate Small Business Week, May 16, The Sexy Grammarian helps small business owners overcome fears and embrace sexy writing to reach new customers. Get involved with Small Business Week in San Francisco. And check out The Sexy Grammarian’s stellar reviews on Yelp.

2011
04/29
POSTED BY
CATEGORY
Secrets
Writer's Tips
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8 comments

Day 4: Tomorrow Is The First Tweet Me/ Meet Me Open Loft

Today’s Word Count Goal: 11800

Today’s Word Count So-Far: 5598

Total Word Count Goal: 50,000

 

Tomorrow, Friday 11/5, from 10am to 1pm, I will open my home and my process to other writers, both locally and across the Internet. Won’t you join me? Whatever you’re writing, you’ll move forward on it. You will because I have to, and when determined writers get together to write, they write.

If you come to write with me in the loft, you’ll enjoy some light refreshments and a seat at my writing table. I’ll offer a loose structure along these lines:

  • brief introductions to both writers and projects
  • 10-minute writing warm-up
  • check ins
  • 30 minute writing session
  • check ins
  • 45 minute writing session
  • check ins
  • 30 minute writing session
  • debrief

If you follow my Twitter feed during the session instead, you’ll read Tweets designed to inspire you and timed to keep you writing.

Get your Tweet Me/ Meet Me info here. Join me. It’ll be fun. And we’ve all got a lot of writing to do!

 

Watch the Sexy Grammarian participate in National Novel Writing Month for the third year in a row. I’ll post word counts and worries here daily, Tweet about it, raise funds for the Office of Letters And Light, and host Meet Me/Tweet Me open loft writing sessions all month long.

2010
11/04
POSTED BY
CATEGORY
Inspiration
The Sexy G Writes
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4 comments

Maureen Futtner and Associates Offers Uplifting Social Media Tips

Last week, I attended a fantastic workshop at the LGBT Center. Thank you, Ken Stram and the Center’s Economic Development Program for bringing this free event to my community!

And thanks, colleagues Sueann Mark and Dorothy Pang, for suggesting I make my notes available. Here they are.

Maureen’s PR for the People mission is clear–on the MF&A website as well as in her voice when she explains, with bursting enthusiasm, how social media can increase business. In this presentation, she introduced social media platforms I am already using: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and blogging. But I still learned a lot and left with a to-do list that will catapult me from social media casual user to a social media intentional powerhouse. And that’s what I went to learn.

So here are the ten hottest tips I took home from Maureen’s presentation:

  1. Remember that my participation with these tools is my participation in a conversation. What can I contribute? Am I listening?
  2. Create a social media marketing plan. Be strategic. Think before you click.
  3. Start using Google Alerts.
  4. Start using Google Analytics.
  5. Connect my Twitter feed to my LinkedIn page (done!)
  6. Review my biographical information on all platforms. Are my keywords present?
  7. Make tiny vanity links for long URLs such as Facebook and LinkedIn pages.
  8. Aim for 3 to 5 Tweets a day, mostly practical information my followers can use with only a tiny sprinkling of self promotion.
  9. Search Trending Topics, followers, and folks I follow to identify my target audiences on Twitter.
  10. Being social is fun! Keep my participation fun too!

So I’ve got my work cut out for me, but I feel a little more organized and a lot more motivated. Thanks, Maureen!

2009
12/17
POSTED BY
CATEGORY
Inspiration
The Sexy G In Business
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