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12 Steps to A Polished Online
            Persona
        TAKE YOUR ONLINE PRESENCE FROM ZERO TO HERO!

Dana Chen
DCVD Media • January 2012




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   1
1. Take stock of your online status!                                          4

2. Start or optimize your website!                                            7

3. Commit to blogging on a regular basis!                                    9

4. Assess which social platform is best for you!                             11

5. Set up your LinkedIn profile!                                             14

6. Set up your Twitter profile!                                              15

7. Tips for your Facebook fan page!                                          17

8. Leverage your industry’s best content!                                    19

9. Measure and track your site traffic!                                      20

10. Mind the SEO!                                                            21

11. Plan your editorial calendar!                                            22

12. Caring for your online persona!                                          24

Bonus: Look at the big picture!!                                             26




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    2
Kicking off your online presence in 2012 in 12 steps!
Happy 2012! Is this the year you’ll take your business online and fully maximize the amazing
possibilities that social media has been promising? Is this the year you’ll finally get your
website up and running, your email newsletters fine-tuned, Twitter followers engaged,
Facebook fans enthralled, and most importantly, see some kick ass results from all these
online tools you’ve heard so much about?


Then this guide is a great start for you.

In 12 steps, this zero to hero guide gives you a list of online activities to complete in
sequence, to ensure that your online strategy is air-tight!




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1. Take stock of your online status
Where are you now?

BEGIN AT THE BEGINNING




                          Wordpress, RSS, Facebook, Twitter, Picasa



The beginning of any online presence should start with your own website. In the next point,
we’ll get into why that is the first and foremost task you should bust ass for, now!

But website aside, let’s quickly take stock of where you are at this moment, and set some
expectations.

So what are these fancy and magical social media tools that everyone keeps talking about?

Before we go any further, let’s get one thing clear:

Social media tools are exactly what they sound like: tools.

No more, no less.

Before diving into the tactics and get lost in a flurry of social media marketing activities,
consider the following as they relate to your BBC (business, brand, cause):

       (GOALS + FOUNDATION ) x (PATIENCE + CONSISTENCY) = SUCCESS

1. Goals: Your BBC should have clear goals in the short, medium, and long term, and your
social media activities should relate directly to those goals. Not every BBC has the same goals,
so it only stands to reason that there is no one-size-fits-all social media action plans. Once
your goals are clear, then craft the battle plan. For SOME BBC and goals, it might actually
make sense to stay away from the more popular social media platforms like Twitter and
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Facebook, and focus on more niche ones. Your time is limited. So plan, and spend them
wisely!

2. Foundation: There should be a solid foundation (i.e. your business) for you to market on.
No amount of marketing can make up for a lacklustre product or service. Logical, right? And
no amount of Facebook-ing and Twitter-ing can replace the need for a web site and regular
blogging. Yes, blogging. Yes, website. Agreed? Good, there’s way more about that on the
next page.

3. Patience: Getting results from social media is kind of like going to the gym. It takes time to
experiment and try different things and see what kind of online marketing works for your
specific BBC, just like it takes a variety of approaches (sometimes with the help of a personal
trainer) to figure out the kind of workouts that have the desired effect on your body. So
patience, as they say, is the game here.

4. Consistency: Nobody gets a six-pack after 2 weeks of non-stop crunches. It might give you
a hernia, however. On the other hand, sticking to a workout schedule will slowly, but surely(!)
get you results. Being active on social media networks holds the same principle. Consistency
leads to success, clichéd but true.

And just so we are clear, here’s what to (and not to) expect from social media.

What social media can do for you:

•Compliment your BBC goals and long-term strategies.

•Give momentum to your marketing activities.

•Allow you to network with business partners, customers, and peers beyond your current
network.

•Foster closer relationships with your clients and business partners.

•Potentially give you a sustainable long-term advantages over your competitors.

What social media can NOT do for you:

•Magically and virally grow your BBC from one day to the next.

•Grow a fan base for your BBC without you building a solid foundation underneath it. In
most cases, this foundation is your website. Your fans need a place to land on after connecting
with you on various platforms.


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•Replace making offline connections. The goal of making online connections, is mostly to
take them offline at some point.

•Dictate your business goals. The tail cannot wag the dog! Your overarching business goals
for the short, medium, and long term should determine what your specific social media
activities are for the coming year.




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                   6
2. Start or optimize your website
Give all your social media activities a home to go to

GO WORDPRESS!


Before you consider trying out any of the cool social media bells and whistles of the month,
consider one thing first: how is your website?

I hear all the time from small businesses and solopreneurs that they don’t have a website, or
they have a website but it’s unfortunately under construction, or that they are not happy with
the website they currently have, so that they don’t want to spend too much time on social
media anyway - because without a respectable looking website, where are they gonna direct
their customers to anyway?


Make the Jump

                                             In 2012, your number one goal should be to
                                                 become the true MASTER of your domain, yes,
                                                 web domain!

                                                 And making your website really doesn’t have to
                                                 be difficult. With Wordpress, you have a FREE
                                                 tool that is both powerful and easy to
                                                 implement. Did you know that 13% of the
                                               Internet, including some of the biggest sites in
                                              the world, run on Wordpress?

                                          If you think anything to do with making websites is
too complicated for you, consider the alternative: 1) no website, 2) a website that costs tons of
money, or 3) most likely, a website that costs a lot of money and one you can’t ever edit or
configure without waiting for days, if not weeks, for your webmaster to answer your email.

Wordpress is truly one of the easiest platforms to learn to use and run for yourself. [A
shameless plug here, throughout Jan-Feb of 2012, I’ll be running a series of FREE webinars
on how you can set up your own Wordpress website from scratch. For detailed scheduling
info, go to http://bit.ly/2012webinars for the sign-up link!]



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                        7
Make the Switch

If you are on a system that’s currently giving you a lot of headaches when it comes to pages
and posts updating, and your content never gets found by Google because it’s not search
engine optimized, then perhaps it’s time to consider a switch to Wordpress.

What I love most about Wordpress, aside from how FREE it is, is how flexible it can be. With
a little bit of customization, a Wordpress site can look so incredibly professional and
personalized, most of your customers and partners won’t believe you set it up yourself!




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3. Commit to blogging on a regular basis
The best way to drive free and sustainable traffic to your site

STEADY AND CONSISTENT WINS THE RACE


Once you have your dream site up and running, it’s time to start blogging! Why blog you say?
Is it not good enough to throw up my contact and about pages, and forget about it?

No ....

Or let me put it another way, why would you want to forego the opportunity for free
advertising?




There are so many benefits to blogging, let me count the ways.

1. Blogging makes you stand out: When was the last time you checked out the website of your
  massage therapist, hairdresser, or dog walker? Don’t you click all around their (many times
  badly constructed) websites, wishing you could just get a glimpse of what they are about?
  And more often than not, the more information they give out about themselves, the more
  inclined you feel to check them out. And once you step your foot into their stores, all that
  goodwill you have built up from knowing them from online comes to fruition, and you pull
  out your wallet!


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Or some version of that, you know what I mean. Bottom line is, we do business with people.
Having a website says “wave, I’m here”. Keeping up a blog says, “I’m here and I want to know
about you - my customers. Here’s a little about me first.”

You know what happens when you don’t stand out? You win on the lowest price. And the
lowest price is rarely a sustainable competitive advantage.

2. Blogging gives you credibility. If you are an interior designer, show me what you’ve got!
  And don’t just snap pictures and post them on your blog like it’s Flickr, talk to me about
  them. Talk me through your style, your thought process, talk about what makes you
  unique. It’s a great way for your customers to check you out, but it’s also a great way for
  your customers to self select. If your style matches what they are looking for, they come to
  you already, half-sold!

3. Blogging makes you more searchable in Google! Google’s algorithm loves frequently
  updated websites. And what’s a better way of updating your website than blogging
  regularly? Blogging once a week on subjects that your customers are already looking for is a
  great way to get found!

4. Blogging provides you with the content you can share on social media (ah-ha!), which leads
  your customers and partners back to your command central a.k.a. website. Credibility
  established, bond strengthened, and if followed up the right way, leads gained!


So what are you waiting for, get blogging!

P.S. With online media expanding the way it is, the concept of blogging is no longer limited to
just writing, but also video blogging, and photo-blogging. So if writing is just not your cup of
tea, then pick up a camera or a video recorder, and get busy that way!




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                      10
4. Assess which social platform is best for you
LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and beyond?

PICK AND CHOOSE




                       LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, DeviantArt



Yes, we are all focused on the big three (or four) social networks when it comes to marketing
our BBC (business, brand, or cause) online. Namely, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn (some
would also add Youtube in here).  But for most small businesses, time is perhaps the biggest
constraint. Most advice you get nowadays tells you regular engagement through your social
networks is essential for social media success. But with limited time – you do have a business
to run after all, which ones should you focus on?!

The short answer?

It really depends on your business.

When to focus on Facebook

Here’s a couple of cases where it makes sense to focus on Facebook first, if you haven’t
already:

1. You are an offline business that already has a small but loyal following. In which case,
engaging with this already warm crowd is great on Facebook. Your message will go straight
into their home feeds and is integrated into their existing Facebook experience. And the
barrier to them “liking” you is way lower than a completely cold prospect, when your
potential fans already know about your BBC.




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2. You are a one-person business, but the nature of your business is very visual. If you are a
photographer, videographer, graphic designer, etc, then Facebook is a pretty good medium
for you to grow a following from. People love pictures and videos more than anything on
Facebook, so start there!

When to focus on Twitter

If you are a one-person business that trades mostly on content that is not visual, then stick
with Twitter first. The “start-up” time on Facebook is more – it simply takes more effort and
time to build up your fan page on Facebook properly.

Some other ideas for your unique business

Every business is different, so here are some ideas for you, if you feel like you’re not quite
finding your niche on the more popular networks.

Flickr/Instagram/Pinterest/DeviantArt

For the artists, graphic designers, photographers, or any businesses that have that visual
element to it. Each community tends to like, or focus on different aspects of this visual
medium. For example, Flickr has been around the longest, DeviantArt is arguably the edgiest,
Instagram the hipster-est and Pinterest the yuppiest. Find out where your customers are and
what pushes their buttons.

Youtube/Vimeo/Livestream

If you are the talking kind, or if your business is the kind that does best when shown versus
talked about, then using a video medium is a GREAT way to stand out from the crowd. A lot of
people prefer the speaking/moving medium vis-a-vis the reading kind.

Slideshare

A great tool if your work is heavily text or presentation based. Slideshare gives you a great
platform to showcase your “expertise” in the form of slides!

Quora

If you have a very specific subject expertise, Quora is a great place to answer some of those
questions and display your expertise in a very effective way: by answering real life questions
posed by real people. It is also a place to ask questions and get some great, in depth answers!




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Soundcloud

Maybe you own a record store, are a musician, or aspiring stand-up comic, Soundcloud is a
great place to post clips of your audio files online.

FourSquare

FourSquare is a good option if you have a business with a physical location. With check-ins,
you can see whom your biggest customers are (you might know that already, but this is a great
way to find out which one of those customers are cheering for you the most in cyberspace,
which may be even more valuable in attracting new customers for you in the longer run).
Reward your fans, involve them in your growth and success!

And the other big one

Google+

A relative newcomer to the scene, but growing at a seriously rapid speed, loved by techies and
early adopters. If your business is technology-focused in some ways or another, Google+
might be a good place to check out and gain some devoted fans.




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                  13
5. Set up your LinkedIn profile
Best way to show the world you are serious about business!

LINK ME UP SCOTTY!




LinkedIn is the primary business network in the world. While Twitter and Facebook’s
business values were dubious for the longest time when they first started, there was never any
doubt that LinkedIn meant business!

With that in mind, it makes sense to “link” to a much more select group of professionally
affiliated people through LinkedIn, than any other networks.


Filling out your profile

Filling out your profile fully and making it publicly available on LinkedIn has several benefits.

One, it makes you easier to find. We are on LinkedIn to connect professionally with our past,
present and future colleagues or business partners, so display your affiliations!

Two, LinkedIn makes recommendations for you based on your existing profile content.
Sometimes it’s people you can connect with, other times it’s jobs. Jobs, like project
opportunities you can follow up on!

Three, legitimacy. We all leave some form of digital footprint. And if it has to be anywhere, it
might as well be on LinkedIn, the most grown-up of all social networks.
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                     14
6. Set up your Twitter profile
Take advantage of the best networking tool

LET THE BIRD TWEET




How do you use Twitter?

It seems a moot question to ask at this point, and the simplest answer might just be that “cuz
everyone else is on Twitter!”. But giving this question some careful thought before you dive
into the land of Twitter (or if you are already on Twitter and the experience so far has been
kinda disappointing) will let you ride the Twitter bullet train to its maximum speed!

Are you using Twitter as a conversation medium with your friends, family, or
whomever you come across on and offline?

Then your use of Twitter is pretty passive – you make yourself available, but not much else.
There’s room for improvement.

Are you using Twitter primarily to gather information for your business,
hobbies, or just general news?

For example, if you are a graphic artist in City X, then one of your primary goals with Twitter
is to track what your peers are saying, watch out for offline meet ups, industry events, and be
aware of when big clients are up for grabs.

In that case, here are some must-dos:

•Have lists set up that track local as well as international peers.

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•Set up keyword searches and alert tags for people and subjects you are tracking.

Are you a curator, disseminator of information? If you use Twitter to establish
and display your expertise in a specialized area, then here are must-dos:

•Curate and follow lists of news feeds in your area of specialty.

•Only tweet what has passed your quality bar, i.e. only tweet what you have read and
“approve of”.

•Use tools like Time.ly or BufferApp to space out your tweets, so you are not flooding the
tweet stream of your followers every time you share half a dozen articles.

•Measure how many people read, comment, and retweets you by plugging Bit.ly into your
tweeting platform of choice.

Are you a networker on Twitter? Wonderful! That is one of the things that
Twitter is turbo-charged for. Here are some must-dos:

•Make lists, segment them based on geography, subject, those you want to partner up with or
do business with, and engage!

•Measures you progress by tracking how well you are doing by linking up Bit.ly to see your
click statistics, or checking out your Klout or PeerIndex scores.

•Making Twitter lists for events participants is a great way to network online before an offline
event.

•Take time out to maintain your lists (more at number 12).




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                   16
7. Tips for your Facebook fan page
What to do once you’ve created a page?

TIPS TO FANDOM!




1. Give your Facebook a human touch. Did you know that you can add a Profile page on
Facebook, and list your Administrator(s) behind the page? It's great to see their faces and bio
on Facebook. After all, these are the people talking through the wall!

2. Give your Facebook updates a human touch. We know there’s someone typing out these
messages, so sign them! It doesn’t matter that there’s multiple personalities behind a Brand,
let them all shine through!

3. Let your fans promote themselves through your Wall. First and foremost, there should be
some guidelines as to what is, or is not allowed - i.e. paying programs or services cannot
advertise on your wall, but fans should definitely be encouraged to say hi, and showcase their
own Facebook page if they have one. Giving your members the chance to show off (their FB
page, their projects), means they’ll most likely “share” that post on their own wall, which
means their friends can see your page too. Also, the more your Facebook “Edgerank” score
goes up, the more people look at and interact with your postings. Just saying, more
postings=usually all good.

4. Preface your posting with an intro. We often post blog, or external content directly in
Facebook with no context or reference. But you will see that there’s way more interaction if
you preface that piece of content with a bit of your own witty commentary. A short intro is
always useful in connecting the content to your community. But you know what’s better? A
question. Nothing gets people talking and interacting like questions.



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                     17
5. If you post offers, discounts, events, off-line meetings, for example, always make it very
easy for people to sign up from the post. Don’t just tell people about the offer and leave it at
that, we are lazy, so unless we are spoon-fed the link, many won’t make the effort to find it.
And make sure any links you add is not membership or password protected. There’s nothing
more annoying than clicking on a link, only to see that you are restricted from the content.

6. Recognize your fans! Fans beget fans. Keeping your biggest fans happy is a no-brainer in
growing your fan base for the long-run. Many FB communities recognize fans by picking “fan
of the week” and featuring them on the wall. That’s all fine and dandy, but it’s always more
effective to find out what your fans want recognition for, and rewarding them that way. For a
collaborative working community, for example, it might be more important to the members to
be recognized for their achievement, or their current project, since the connections and
influence that gives them supersedes the need for just having their picture featured. So the
bottom line is, find out what fans want to be recognized for, and give that to those that support
you the most.

7. Event calendar. It is possible to have an Event tab added to your Facebook page, which
makes it a pretty handy tool for members to get updated on events.

8. Post educational and relevant content. Posting content that support your fans' works and
lifestyles will get the most amount of reads and engagement. As long as the content
consistently adds value to their lives, they will keep coming back. But be aware that building
up your fan base is kind of like going to the gym - nobody gets a six-pack in a week, but a few
months down the road, the results will be hard to ignore!

9. Post entertaining content. This is the 80/20 rule of Facebook postings. Eighty percent of
the content should be consistently on the topic that the community is dedicated to, and the
other twenty percent can be anything fun! This is especially great on a Wednesday or Friday,
to perk up your community from the week’s work fatigue. Everyone wants to laugh. Make
them laugh!

10. Ask questions. There are so many questions you can ask your community on Facebook.
Statistics have shown that Fridays and Sundays are the best days to get feedback, Saturdays
the worst. It’s also well-known that questions that get answered the most are those that ask for
one-word, or one-sentence, answers. Questions like: Describe how you are feeling this week,
one word, go! Describe the one attribute you love the most in your customers. What’s the one
thing you are looking forward to do in Amsterdam this winter. You get the idea.




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                         18
8. Leverage your industry’s best content
Supplement your own content with other people’s content

BECOME THE CURATOR




You are probably thinking: That’s all well and good, my own website is up, my social media
profiles up and running, but how can I possibly find enough “stuff” to talk about with my
community to keep them interested?

Ah, that’s the million euro/dollar question! You are a small business owner, with emphasis on
“business”, so it’s no wonder you don’t have time to sit around and pound out blog posts
every day.

So why not curate content by other heavy-hitters in your industry, and share your excellent
taste with your followers?


Billing yourself as the expert in your industry

Because you are, right? You know the ins and outs of your industry, you have an opinion on
what works and what doesn’t, you can direct your customers to the best resources out there.
So why not curate and channel the best resources that you come across, and share them with
your followers?

After all, isn’t that the best way to foster a sense of community and loyalty amongst your fans
and followers? To constantly add value to their businesses and give them a reason to come
back to you, time after time?


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                    19
9. Measure and track your site traffic
Who’s coming, and from where?

GOOGLE ANALYTICS


Measuring whom and where your visitors come from gives you a sense of clarity when it comes
to the online component of your business. Knowing which one of your online activities
produces real results (remember, all activities should serve the end goal of driving traffic to
your website, and with website, comes the opportunity to showcase your products and
services to your potential customers), gives you the peace of mind that you are doing the right
thing for your business, at all times!

The best way to track your website performance is through Google Analytics. To do that, you
need to set up a Google Analytics account, and copy and paste part of your ID into a file in
your website. [Again, this is something we will have covered in one of our Jan-Feb WordPress
webinars, more information at http://bit.ly/2012webinars.]

Tracking and measuring traffic and your website performance is a pretty important part of
your digital master plan, not only to feedback on how you are currently doing, but serves as a
reminder of where you would like to go. If one part of your online activities just isn’t
producing the kind of results you want, then it’s good to know ASAP!




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                        20
10. Mind the SEO
Get found by the right people!

KEYWORDS UNITE


SEO stands for search engine optimization. It’s a term that describes the process of making
your website easier for Google (or any other search engine) to find.

The factors that determine how easily a website is found, is the subject of many, many books,
workshops, not to mention blog posts.

While many people disagree on the specifics, the general consensus is this:

1) Google likes a frequently updated website. The more regular your site is refreshed with
  information, the more likely it will be found, when someone types in ....

2) Keywords! People type in their questions all the time on the Google search, and if what
  they are looking for matches that one (or more) piece of content on your website, then your
  site has a chance of showing up on the first page or two.

A lot of people go to great length peppering the content of their website with all kinds of
keywords, so they show up higher on the search rank when Googled. This is not really
necessary. Google is smart to know when it’s been manipulated. And plus, you really want to
make sure that the content you produce from your site connects with your customers,
business partners, and well, just people. People don’t like reading keywords-laden copy
writing, they want information delivered in an entertaining manner from, you!




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                    21
11. Plan your editorial calendar
Lighten the load by making up your content calendar

GET AHEAD OF THE GAME




It all sounds like so much work, doesn’t it! All that website building, traffic tracking, SEO
optimizing, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook updating, blah blah blah, when would you actually
have time to run your business?

But fear not. Setting up your profiles on various networks take a bit of time, so does building
up your website (although not as much as you would think!). This is a one-time deal, then
comes the long-haul work.

Before we get into the details on how you can care for your online persona (next point!),
here's an idea that will make all this content creation madness sound more manageable: Make
up your own editorial calendar on a weekly or monthly basis!

Newspapers and magazines do this all the time. They fill in their editorial agenda with stories
and content waaaaaaaay ahead of time, leaving only a small amount of space for breaking news.

If you are blogging regularly as a way of marketing your business and reaching out to your
existing and potential customers, then it's a great idea to employ the same method as the big
guns!

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So how do you do this?

For blogging, the easiest thing to do is to just carve out half an hour of your time, once a
quarter, shut yourself off from distractions, and brainstorm as many blog posts as possible.
You are the master of your domain, and you know your customers best, so tell them what they
want to know!

Once you are done, place one post per week on your calendar, and you are set for at least a
quarter of editorial content, if not more!

On Twitter and Facebook, you can do the same in pre-writing some of your tweets and status
updates on a weekly basis. As as the week progresses, you can always add in the more
"breaking news" pieces.




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                     23
12. Caring for your online persona
Regular maintenance needed

HOW GOOGLE SEES YOU


Social media profiles beg to be updated and maintained. There’s nothing worse than making
the leap towards having a social media presence, and then not keeping up with it.

The same principle applies to all aspects of your digital activities: from blogging regularly, to
updating your LinkedIn profile, to maintaining your Facebook fan page, and of course, to
working consistently on your Twitter account.

Here’s an example of the type of regular house cleaning I think you should put some back into
from time to time. If you go through the below list at least once a month, then you’ll already
come out way ahead of your competitors!

An example of Twitter maintenance

1. Clean house. Get rid of accounts that are spammy, too robotic, too off the paths that you are
interested in. Also, make lists to separate people if necessary. If someone tweets too much,
but still a good person to follow and check up on from time to time, then put them on a “heavy
content” list on Twitter. For people that tweet on a specific subject you follow, but don’t need
to see the content showing up in your timeline all the time, put them on a special subject list.
All in all, spending half an hour sorting through your existing list of Twitter following is well
worth the effort for the sake of your long-term Twitter sanity.

2. Follow up on new off-line connections. If there’s people you’ve met offline since your last
tune-up, and haven’t followed up with them on Twitter, this is the time to connect again with
them online.

3. Go through your existing following to find new people to follow. If you have a solid list of
people that you are following already, then it’s not hard to discover new people by clicking on
the list of people they follow. I also always find cool new people to follow just by browsing
through some of my favourite tweeple’s timeline.

4. Look for new people to follow. Start with Listorious, which can give you a huge number of
people and lists to cover for any given topic. From there, check out their bios and timelines to
see if someone is worth following. I wouldn’t worry too much about over-following people. If

email: dana@dotdana.com • www.dotdana.com• www.twitter.com/investoralist 
                        24
they are not the conversationalists you were hoping for, you can always take them off your
follow the next time around.

5. Once you’ve checked off all four of the above (and bravo to you!) and still want more, then
it’s always good to do a search for top blogs in your area of interest, and follow those bloggers.
Google does a good job returning endless lists of “top 10 photography blogs” or “top 10
architecture blogs”. It’s pretty rare nowadays to not have a Twitter handle if you are a regular
blogger. So if the blog content is good, than the blogger might very well be worth following on
Twitter as well.

So there you have it, some quick tips on Twitter maintenance to make it more fun for the
digital you to hang out in!




email: dana@dotdana.com • www.dotdana.com• www.twitter.com/investoralist 
                     25
Bonus: Look at the big picture!
Always relate your business goals to your online activities

PUTTING IT ALTOGETHER




Sometimes, in the midst of this organizational frenzy, it’s easy to lose sight of the big picture.
Remember step 1, when we talked about how important it is to match your goals to your
activities?

Never lose sight of that!

A periodic assessment of how you are spending your time, and whether they are having the
desired impact on your business, is a great housekeeping habit! Plan for your activities, but
never let your day-to-day activities overwhelm your overall business goals. Remember, the tail
doesn’t wag the dog!

So here it is, all 12+ steps for you to form a sophisticated online persona for a successful 2012!
If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions on how I can make this guide better,
please email me at dana@dotdana.com, or Twitter me @investoralist.

To your online success in 2012, and talk soon!

Dana Chen




email: dana@dotdana.com • www.dotdana.com• www.twitter.com/investoralist 
                      26

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12 steps to a polished online persona

  • 1. 12 Steps to A Polished Online Persona TAKE YOUR ONLINE PRESENCE FROM ZERO TO HERO! Dana Chen DCVD Media • January 2012 email: dana@dotdana.com • www.dotdana.com• www.twitter.com/investoralist 1
  • 2. 1. Take stock of your online status! 4 2. Start or optimize your website! 7 3. Commit to blogging on a regular basis! 9 4. Assess which social platform is best for you! 11 5. Set up your LinkedIn profile! 14 6. Set up your Twitter profile! 15 7. Tips for your Facebook fan page! 17 8. Leverage your industry’s best content! 19 9. Measure and track your site traffic! 20 10. Mind the SEO! 21 11. Plan your editorial calendar! 22 12. Caring for your online persona! 24 Bonus: Look at the big picture!! 26 email: dana@dotdana.com • www.dotdana.com• www.twitter.com/investoralist 2
  • 3. Kicking off your online presence in 2012 in 12 steps! Happy 2012! Is this the year you’ll take your business online and fully maximize the amazing possibilities that social media has been promising? Is this the year you’ll finally get your website up and running, your email newsletters fine-tuned, Twitter followers engaged, Facebook fans enthralled, and most importantly, see some kick ass results from all these online tools you’ve heard so much about? Then this guide is a great start for you. In 12 steps, this zero to hero guide gives you a list of online activities to complete in sequence, to ensure that your online strategy is air-tight! email: dana@dotdana.com • www.dotdana.com• www.twitter.com/investoralist 3
  • 4. 1. Take stock of your online status Where are you now? BEGIN AT THE BEGINNING Wordpress, RSS, Facebook, Twitter, Picasa The beginning of any online presence should start with your own website. In the next point, we’ll get into why that is the first and foremost task you should bust ass for, now! But website aside, let’s quickly take stock of where you are at this moment, and set some expectations. So what are these fancy and magical social media tools that everyone keeps talking about? Before we go any further, let’s get one thing clear: Social media tools are exactly what they sound like: tools. No more, no less. Before diving into the tactics and get lost in a flurry of social media marketing activities, consider the following as they relate to your BBC (business, brand, cause): (GOALS + FOUNDATION ) x (PATIENCE + CONSISTENCY) = SUCCESS 1. Goals: Your BBC should have clear goals in the short, medium, and long term, and your social media activities should relate directly to those goals. Not every BBC has the same goals, so it only stands to reason that there is no one-size-fits-all social media action plans. Once your goals are clear, then craft the battle plan. For SOME BBC and goals, it might actually make sense to stay away from the more popular social media platforms like Twitter and email: dana@dotdana.com • www.dotdana.com• www.twitter.com/investoralist 4
  • 5. Facebook, and focus on more niche ones. Your time is limited. So plan, and spend them wisely! 2. Foundation: There should be a solid foundation (i.e. your business) for you to market on. No amount of marketing can make up for a lacklustre product or service. Logical, right? And no amount of Facebook-ing and Twitter-ing can replace the need for a web site and regular blogging. Yes, blogging. Yes, website. Agreed? Good, there’s way more about that on the next page. 3. Patience: Getting results from social media is kind of like going to the gym. It takes time to experiment and try different things and see what kind of online marketing works for your specific BBC, just like it takes a variety of approaches (sometimes with the help of a personal trainer) to figure out the kind of workouts that have the desired effect on your body. So patience, as they say, is the game here. 4. Consistency: Nobody gets a six-pack after 2 weeks of non-stop crunches. It might give you a hernia, however. On the other hand, sticking to a workout schedule will slowly, but surely(!) get you results. Being active on social media networks holds the same principle. Consistency leads to success, clichéd but true. And just so we are clear, here’s what to (and not to) expect from social media. What social media can do for you: •Compliment your BBC goals and long-term strategies. •Give momentum to your marketing activities. •Allow you to network with business partners, customers, and peers beyond your current network. •Foster closer relationships with your clients and business partners. •Potentially give you a sustainable long-term advantages over your competitors. What social media can NOT do for you: •Magically and virally grow your BBC from one day to the next. •Grow a fan base for your BBC without you building a solid foundation underneath it. In most cases, this foundation is your website. Your fans need a place to land on after connecting with you on various platforms. email: dana@dotdana.com • www.dotdana.com• www.twitter.com/investoralist 5
  • 6. •Replace making offline connections. The goal of making online connections, is mostly to take them offline at some point. •Dictate your business goals. The tail cannot wag the dog! Your overarching business goals for the short, medium, and long term should determine what your specific social media activities are for the coming year. email: dana@dotdana.com • www.dotdana.com• www.twitter.com/investoralist 6
  • 7. 2. Start or optimize your website Give all your social media activities a home to go to GO WORDPRESS! Before you consider trying out any of the cool social media bells and whistles of the month, consider one thing first: how is your website? I hear all the time from small businesses and solopreneurs that they don’t have a website, or they have a website but it’s unfortunately under construction, or that they are not happy with the website they currently have, so that they don’t want to spend too much time on social media anyway - because without a respectable looking website, where are they gonna direct their customers to anyway? Make the Jump In 2012, your number one goal should be to become the true MASTER of your domain, yes, web domain! And making your website really doesn’t have to be difficult. With Wordpress, you have a FREE tool that is both powerful and easy to implement. Did you know that 13% of the Internet, including some of the biggest sites in the world, run on Wordpress? If you think anything to do with making websites is too complicated for you, consider the alternative: 1) no website, 2) a website that costs tons of money, or 3) most likely, a website that costs a lot of money and one you can’t ever edit or configure without waiting for days, if not weeks, for your webmaster to answer your email. Wordpress is truly one of the easiest platforms to learn to use and run for yourself. [A shameless plug here, throughout Jan-Feb of 2012, I’ll be running a series of FREE webinars on how you can set up your own Wordpress website from scratch. For detailed scheduling info, go to http://bit.ly/2012webinars for the sign-up link!] email: dana@dotdana.com • www.dotdana.com• www.twitter.com/investoralist 7
  • 8. Make the Switch If you are on a system that’s currently giving you a lot of headaches when it comes to pages and posts updating, and your content never gets found by Google because it’s not search engine optimized, then perhaps it’s time to consider a switch to Wordpress. What I love most about Wordpress, aside from how FREE it is, is how flexible it can be. With a little bit of customization, a Wordpress site can look so incredibly professional and personalized, most of your customers and partners won’t believe you set it up yourself! email: dana@dotdana.com • www.dotdana.com• www.twitter.com/investoralist 8
  • 9. 3. Commit to blogging on a regular basis The best way to drive free and sustainable traffic to your site STEADY AND CONSISTENT WINS THE RACE Once you have your dream site up and running, it’s time to start blogging! Why blog you say? Is it not good enough to throw up my contact and about pages, and forget about it? No .... Or let me put it another way, why would you want to forego the opportunity for free advertising? There are so many benefits to blogging, let me count the ways. 1. Blogging makes you stand out: When was the last time you checked out the website of your massage therapist, hairdresser, or dog walker? Don’t you click all around their (many times badly constructed) websites, wishing you could just get a glimpse of what they are about? And more often than not, the more information they give out about themselves, the more inclined you feel to check them out. And once you step your foot into their stores, all that goodwill you have built up from knowing them from online comes to fruition, and you pull out your wallet! email: dana@dotdana.com • www.dotdana.com• www.twitter.com/investoralist 9
  • 10. Or some version of that, you know what I mean. Bottom line is, we do business with people. Having a website says “wave, I’m here”. Keeping up a blog says, “I’m here and I want to know about you - my customers. Here’s a little about me first.” You know what happens when you don’t stand out? You win on the lowest price. And the lowest price is rarely a sustainable competitive advantage. 2. Blogging gives you credibility. If you are an interior designer, show me what you’ve got! And don’t just snap pictures and post them on your blog like it’s Flickr, talk to me about them. Talk me through your style, your thought process, talk about what makes you unique. It’s a great way for your customers to check you out, but it’s also a great way for your customers to self select. If your style matches what they are looking for, they come to you already, half-sold! 3. Blogging makes you more searchable in Google! Google’s algorithm loves frequently updated websites. And what’s a better way of updating your website than blogging regularly? Blogging once a week on subjects that your customers are already looking for is a great way to get found! 4. Blogging provides you with the content you can share on social media (ah-ha!), which leads your customers and partners back to your command central a.k.a. website. Credibility established, bond strengthened, and if followed up the right way, leads gained! So what are you waiting for, get blogging! P.S. With online media expanding the way it is, the concept of blogging is no longer limited to just writing, but also video blogging, and photo-blogging. So if writing is just not your cup of tea, then pick up a camera or a video recorder, and get busy that way! email: dana@dotdana.com • www.dotdana.com• www.twitter.com/investoralist 10
  • 11. 4. Assess which social platform is best for you LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and beyond? PICK AND CHOOSE LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, DeviantArt Yes, we are all focused on the big three (or four) social networks when it comes to marketing our BBC (business, brand, or cause) online. Namely, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn (some would also add Youtube in here).  But for most small businesses, time is perhaps the biggest constraint. Most advice you get nowadays tells you regular engagement through your social networks is essential for social media success. But with limited time – you do have a business to run after all, which ones should you focus on?! The short answer? It really depends on your business. When to focus on Facebook Here’s a couple of cases where it makes sense to focus on Facebook first, if you haven’t already: 1. You are an offline business that already has a small but loyal following. In which case, engaging with this already warm crowd is great on Facebook. Your message will go straight into their home feeds and is integrated into their existing Facebook experience. And the barrier to them “liking” you is way lower than a completely cold prospect, when your potential fans already know about your BBC. email: dana@dotdana.com • www.dotdana.com• www.twitter.com/investoralist 11
  • 12. 2. You are a one-person business, but the nature of your business is very visual. If you are a photographer, videographer, graphic designer, etc, then Facebook is a pretty good medium for you to grow a following from. People love pictures and videos more than anything on Facebook, so start there! When to focus on Twitter If you are a one-person business that trades mostly on content that is not visual, then stick with Twitter first. The “start-up” time on Facebook is more – it simply takes more effort and time to build up your fan page on Facebook properly. Some other ideas for your unique business Every business is different, so here are some ideas for you, if you feel like you’re not quite finding your niche on the more popular networks. Flickr/Instagram/Pinterest/DeviantArt For the artists, graphic designers, photographers, or any businesses that have that visual element to it. Each community tends to like, or focus on different aspects of this visual medium. For example, Flickr has been around the longest, DeviantArt is arguably the edgiest, Instagram the hipster-est and Pinterest the yuppiest. Find out where your customers are and what pushes their buttons. Youtube/Vimeo/Livestream If you are the talking kind, or if your business is the kind that does best when shown versus talked about, then using a video medium is a GREAT way to stand out from the crowd. A lot of people prefer the speaking/moving medium vis-a-vis the reading kind. Slideshare A great tool if your work is heavily text or presentation based. Slideshare gives you a great platform to showcase your “expertise” in the form of slides! Quora If you have a very specific subject expertise, Quora is a great place to answer some of those questions and display your expertise in a very effective way: by answering real life questions posed by real people. It is also a place to ask questions and get some great, in depth answers! email: dana@dotdana.com • www.dotdana.com• www.twitter.com/investoralist 12
  • 13. Soundcloud Maybe you own a record store, are a musician, or aspiring stand-up comic, Soundcloud is a great place to post clips of your audio files online. FourSquare FourSquare is a good option if you have a business with a physical location. With check-ins, you can see whom your biggest customers are (you might know that already, but this is a great way to find out which one of those customers are cheering for you the most in cyberspace, which may be even more valuable in attracting new customers for you in the longer run). Reward your fans, involve them in your growth and success! And the other big one Google+ A relative newcomer to the scene, but growing at a seriously rapid speed, loved by techies and early adopters. If your business is technology-focused in some ways or another, Google+ might be a good place to check out and gain some devoted fans. email: dana@dotdana.com • www.dotdana.com• www.twitter.com/investoralist 13
  • 14. 5. Set up your LinkedIn profile Best way to show the world you are serious about business! LINK ME UP SCOTTY! LinkedIn is the primary business network in the world. While Twitter and Facebook’s business values were dubious for the longest time when they first started, there was never any doubt that LinkedIn meant business! With that in mind, it makes sense to “link” to a much more select group of professionally affiliated people through LinkedIn, than any other networks. Filling out your profile Filling out your profile fully and making it publicly available on LinkedIn has several benefits. One, it makes you easier to find. We are on LinkedIn to connect professionally with our past, present and future colleagues or business partners, so display your affiliations! Two, LinkedIn makes recommendations for you based on your existing profile content. Sometimes it’s people you can connect with, other times it’s jobs. Jobs, like project opportunities you can follow up on! Three, legitimacy. We all leave some form of digital footprint. And if it has to be anywhere, it might as well be on LinkedIn, the most grown-up of all social networks. email: dana@dotdana.com • www.dotdana.com• www.twitter.com/investoralist 14
  • 15. 6. Set up your Twitter profile Take advantage of the best networking tool LET THE BIRD TWEET How do you use Twitter? It seems a moot question to ask at this point, and the simplest answer might just be that “cuz everyone else is on Twitter!”. But giving this question some careful thought before you dive into the land of Twitter (or if you are already on Twitter and the experience so far has been kinda disappointing) will let you ride the Twitter bullet train to its maximum speed! Are you using Twitter as a conversation medium with your friends, family, or whomever you come across on and offline? Then your use of Twitter is pretty passive – you make yourself available, but not much else. There’s room for improvement. Are you using Twitter primarily to gather information for your business, hobbies, or just general news? For example, if you are a graphic artist in City X, then one of your primary goals with Twitter is to track what your peers are saying, watch out for offline meet ups, industry events, and be aware of when big clients are up for grabs. In that case, here are some must-dos: •Have lists set up that track local as well as international peers. email: dana@dotdana.com • www.dotdana.com• www.twitter.com/investoralist 15
  • 16. •Set up keyword searches and alert tags for people and subjects you are tracking. Are you a curator, disseminator of information? If you use Twitter to establish and display your expertise in a specialized area, then here are must-dos: •Curate and follow lists of news feeds in your area of specialty. •Only tweet what has passed your quality bar, i.e. only tweet what you have read and “approve of”. •Use tools like Time.ly or BufferApp to space out your tweets, so you are not flooding the tweet stream of your followers every time you share half a dozen articles. •Measure how many people read, comment, and retweets you by plugging Bit.ly into your tweeting platform of choice. Are you a networker on Twitter? Wonderful! That is one of the things that Twitter is turbo-charged for. Here are some must-dos: •Make lists, segment them based on geography, subject, those you want to partner up with or do business with, and engage! •Measures you progress by tracking how well you are doing by linking up Bit.ly to see your click statistics, or checking out your Klout or PeerIndex scores. •Making Twitter lists for events participants is a great way to network online before an offline event. •Take time out to maintain your lists (more at number 12). email: dana@dotdana.com • www.dotdana.com• www.twitter.com/investoralist 16
  • 17. 7. Tips for your Facebook fan page What to do once you’ve created a page? TIPS TO FANDOM! 1. Give your Facebook a human touch. Did you know that you can add a Profile page on Facebook, and list your Administrator(s) behind the page? It's great to see their faces and bio on Facebook. After all, these are the people talking through the wall! 2. Give your Facebook updates a human touch. We know there’s someone typing out these messages, so sign them! It doesn’t matter that there’s multiple personalities behind a Brand, let them all shine through! 3. Let your fans promote themselves through your Wall. First and foremost, there should be some guidelines as to what is, or is not allowed - i.e. paying programs or services cannot advertise on your wall, but fans should definitely be encouraged to say hi, and showcase their own Facebook page if they have one. Giving your members the chance to show off (their FB page, their projects), means they’ll most likely “share” that post on their own wall, which means their friends can see your page too. Also, the more your Facebook “Edgerank” score goes up, the more people look at and interact with your postings. Just saying, more postings=usually all good. 4. Preface your posting with an intro. We often post blog, or external content directly in Facebook with no context or reference. But you will see that there’s way more interaction if you preface that piece of content with a bit of your own witty commentary. A short intro is always useful in connecting the content to your community. But you know what’s better? A question. Nothing gets people talking and interacting like questions. email: dana@dotdana.com • www.dotdana.com• www.twitter.com/investoralist 17
  • 18. 5. If you post offers, discounts, events, off-line meetings, for example, always make it very easy for people to sign up from the post. Don’t just tell people about the offer and leave it at that, we are lazy, so unless we are spoon-fed the link, many won’t make the effort to find it. And make sure any links you add is not membership or password protected. There’s nothing more annoying than clicking on a link, only to see that you are restricted from the content. 6. Recognize your fans! Fans beget fans. Keeping your biggest fans happy is a no-brainer in growing your fan base for the long-run. Many FB communities recognize fans by picking “fan of the week” and featuring them on the wall. That’s all fine and dandy, but it’s always more effective to find out what your fans want recognition for, and rewarding them that way. For a collaborative working community, for example, it might be more important to the members to be recognized for their achievement, or their current project, since the connections and influence that gives them supersedes the need for just having their picture featured. So the bottom line is, find out what fans want to be recognized for, and give that to those that support you the most. 7. Event calendar. It is possible to have an Event tab added to your Facebook page, which makes it a pretty handy tool for members to get updated on events. 8. Post educational and relevant content. Posting content that support your fans' works and lifestyles will get the most amount of reads and engagement. As long as the content consistently adds value to their lives, they will keep coming back. But be aware that building up your fan base is kind of like going to the gym - nobody gets a six-pack in a week, but a few months down the road, the results will be hard to ignore! 9. Post entertaining content. This is the 80/20 rule of Facebook postings. Eighty percent of the content should be consistently on the topic that the community is dedicated to, and the other twenty percent can be anything fun! This is especially great on a Wednesday or Friday, to perk up your community from the week’s work fatigue. Everyone wants to laugh. Make them laugh! 10. Ask questions. There are so many questions you can ask your community on Facebook. Statistics have shown that Fridays and Sundays are the best days to get feedback, Saturdays the worst. It’s also well-known that questions that get answered the most are those that ask for one-word, or one-sentence, answers. Questions like: Describe how you are feeling this week, one word, go! Describe the one attribute you love the most in your customers. What’s the one thing you are looking forward to do in Amsterdam this winter. You get the idea. email: dana@dotdana.com • www.dotdana.com• www.twitter.com/investoralist 18
  • 19. 8. Leverage your industry’s best content Supplement your own content with other people’s content BECOME THE CURATOR You are probably thinking: That’s all well and good, my own website is up, my social media profiles up and running, but how can I possibly find enough “stuff” to talk about with my community to keep them interested? Ah, that’s the million euro/dollar question! You are a small business owner, with emphasis on “business”, so it’s no wonder you don’t have time to sit around and pound out blog posts every day. So why not curate content by other heavy-hitters in your industry, and share your excellent taste with your followers? Billing yourself as the expert in your industry Because you are, right? You know the ins and outs of your industry, you have an opinion on what works and what doesn’t, you can direct your customers to the best resources out there. So why not curate and channel the best resources that you come across, and share them with your followers? After all, isn’t that the best way to foster a sense of community and loyalty amongst your fans and followers? To constantly add value to their businesses and give them a reason to come back to you, time after time? email: dana@dotdana.com • www.dotdana.com• www.twitter.com/investoralist 19
  • 20. 9. Measure and track your site traffic Who’s coming, and from where? GOOGLE ANALYTICS Measuring whom and where your visitors come from gives you a sense of clarity when it comes to the online component of your business. Knowing which one of your online activities produces real results (remember, all activities should serve the end goal of driving traffic to your website, and with website, comes the opportunity to showcase your products and services to your potential customers), gives you the peace of mind that you are doing the right thing for your business, at all times! The best way to track your website performance is through Google Analytics. To do that, you need to set up a Google Analytics account, and copy and paste part of your ID into a file in your website. [Again, this is something we will have covered in one of our Jan-Feb WordPress webinars, more information at http://bit.ly/2012webinars.] Tracking and measuring traffic and your website performance is a pretty important part of your digital master plan, not only to feedback on how you are currently doing, but serves as a reminder of where you would like to go. If one part of your online activities just isn’t producing the kind of results you want, then it’s good to know ASAP! email: dana@dotdana.com • www.dotdana.com• www.twitter.com/investoralist 20
  • 21. 10. Mind the SEO Get found by the right people! KEYWORDS UNITE SEO stands for search engine optimization. It’s a term that describes the process of making your website easier for Google (or any other search engine) to find. The factors that determine how easily a website is found, is the subject of many, many books, workshops, not to mention blog posts. While many people disagree on the specifics, the general consensus is this: 1) Google likes a frequently updated website. The more regular your site is refreshed with information, the more likely it will be found, when someone types in .... 2) Keywords! People type in their questions all the time on the Google search, and if what they are looking for matches that one (or more) piece of content on your website, then your site has a chance of showing up on the first page or two. A lot of people go to great length peppering the content of their website with all kinds of keywords, so they show up higher on the search rank when Googled. This is not really necessary. Google is smart to know when it’s been manipulated. And plus, you really want to make sure that the content you produce from your site connects with your customers, business partners, and well, just people. People don’t like reading keywords-laden copy writing, they want information delivered in an entertaining manner from, you! email: dana@dotdana.com • www.dotdana.com• www.twitter.com/investoralist 21
  • 22. 11. Plan your editorial calendar Lighten the load by making up your content calendar GET AHEAD OF THE GAME It all sounds like so much work, doesn’t it! All that website building, traffic tracking, SEO optimizing, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook updating, blah blah blah, when would you actually have time to run your business? But fear not. Setting up your profiles on various networks take a bit of time, so does building up your website (although not as much as you would think!). This is a one-time deal, then comes the long-haul work. Before we get into the details on how you can care for your online persona (next point!), here's an idea that will make all this content creation madness sound more manageable: Make up your own editorial calendar on a weekly or monthly basis! Newspapers and magazines do this all the time. They fill in their editorial agenda with stories and content waaaaaaaay ahead of time, leaving only a small amount of space for breaking news. If you are blogging regularly as a way of marketing your business and reaching out to your existing and potential customers, then it's a great idea to employ the same method as the big guns! email: dana@dotdana.com • www.dotdana.com• www.twitter.com/investoralist 22
  • 23. So how do you do this? For blogging, the easiest thing to do is to just carve out half an hour of your time, once a quarter, shut yourself off from distractions, and brainstorm as many blog posts as possible. You are the master of your domain, and you know your customers best, so tell them what they want to know! Once you are done, place one post per week on your calendar, and you are set for at least a quarter of editorial content, if not more! On Twitter and Facebook, you can do the same in pre-writing some of your tweets and status updates on a weekly basis. As as the week progresses, you can always add in the more "breaking news" pieces. email: dana@dotdana.com • www.dotdana.com• www.twitter.com/investoralist 23
  • 24. 12. Caring for your online persona Regular maintenance needed HOW GOOGLE SEES YOU Social media profiles beg to be updated and maintained. There’s nothing worse than making the leap towards having a social media presence, and then not keeping up with it. The same principle applies to all aspects of your digital activities: from blogging regularly, to updating your LinkedIn profile, to maintaining your Facebook fan page, and of course, to working consistently on your Twitter account. Here’s an example of the type of regular house cleaning I think you should put some back into from time to time. If you go through the below list at least once a month, then you’ll already come out way ahead of your competitors! An example of Twitter maintenance 1. Clean house. Get rid of accounts that are spammy, too robotic, too off the paths that you are interested in. Also, make lists to separate people if necessary. If someone tweets too much, but still a good person to follow and check up on from time to time, then put them on a “heavy content” list on Twitter. For people that tweet on a specific subject you follow, but don’t need to see the content showing up in your timeline all the time, put them on a special subject list. All in all, spending half an hour sorting through your existing list of Twitter following is well worth the effort for the sake of your long-term Twitter sanity. 2. Follow up on new off-line connections. If there’s people you’ve met offline since your last tune-up, and haven’t followed up with them on Twitter, this is the time to connect again with them online. 3. Go through your existing following to find new people to follow. If you have a solid list of people that you are following already, then it’s not hard to discover new people by clicking on the list of people they follow. I also always find cool new people to follow just by browsing through some of my favourite tweeple’s timeline. 4. Look for new people to follow. Start with Listorious, which can give you a huge number of people and lists to cover for any given topic. From there, check out their bios and timelines to see if someone is worth following. I wouldn’t worry too much about over-following people. If email: dana@dotdana.com • www.dotdana.com• www.twitter.com/investoralist 24
  • 25. they are not the conversationalists you were hoping for, you can always take them off your follow the next time around. 5. Once you’ve checked off all four of the above (and bravo to you!) and still want more, then it’s always good to do a search for top blogs in your area of interest, and follow those bloggers. Google does a good job returning endless lists of “top 10 photography blogs” or “top 10 architecture blogs”. It’s pretty rare nowadays to not have a Twitter handle if you are a regular blogger. So if the blog content is good, than the blogger might very well be worth following on Twitter as well. So there you have it, some quick tips on Twitter maintenance to make it more fun for the digital you to hang out in! email: dana@dotdana.com • www.dotdana.com• www.twitter.com/investoralist 25
  • 26. Bonus: Look at the big picture! Always relate your business goals to your online activities PUTTING IT ALTOGETHER Sometimes, in the midst of this organizational frenzy, it’s easy to lose sight of the big picture. Remember step 1, when we talked about how important it is to match your goals to your activities? Never lose sight of that! A periodic assessment of how you are spending your time, and whether they are having the desired impact on your business, is a great housekeeping habit! Plan for your activities, but never let your day-to-day activities overwhelm your overall business goals. Remember, the tail doesn’t wag the dog! So here it is, all 12+ steps for you to form a sophisticated online persona for a successful 2012! If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions on how I can make this guide better, please email me at dana@dotdana.com, or Twitter me @investoralist. To your online success in 2012, and talk soon! Dana Chen email: dana@dotdana.com • www.dotdana.com• www.twitter.com/investoralist 26