Burke's Bits

In The World of Online Marketing There's Always Something To Learn

 

In addition to providing business research and information services to the business community, I have a division of Burke Research Services that I've called Search by Burke. This is where I have partenered with professionals from around the country to focus on providing internet marketing for small and medium sized businesses. Both businesses are strong because they provide a service needed by the business community, and both use my talents and skills which keeps me smiling because I don't have to work on my 'weaknesses' like I did when I worked in the corporate world. Focusing on my strengths and knowing that I cannot be successful by myself, I joined two different networks to provide support, training and up-to-date industry news to me and my team.

5 Tools for Twitter to Keep You Tweeting

Actually, there are more than 5 tools on Twitter to use. The actual number of twitter tools is insane. Hundreds of applications have been designed for Twitter, some new and improved, others not so great and eventually removed from the average user’s toolbox.

In previous posts I’ve shared some of the tools I use now, and while looking at those I realized that you might be interested in a few others that I’ve come across.

1. TwtPoll: Just like it sounds, this is a twitter tool for posting polls. If you have a poll on your website, why not add it on Twitter, too?

How To Tweet Your Next Executive

I’ve been using Twitter for research for quite a while now. And since the advent of Twitter Lists I’ve found outstanding business people to follow and connect with. One of those people happened to mention ExecTweets in a message. Here is where the link took me:

What is ExecTweets?

It is a resource to help you find and follow the top business executives on Twitter. Created by Federated Media, in partnership with Microsoft, ExecTweets is a platform that aggregates the tweets of top business execs and empowers the community to surface the most insightful, business-related tweets.

Twitter for Business

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

photo credit: ogilvyprworldwide

I’ve been using Twitter since December 2008. At first I was clueless. I didn’t know who to follow, what to tweet, how to find fellow twitter users, etc. But I jumped in. I found a directory of twitter users at wefollow.com and selected a few that were listed in the small business and internet marketing lists. Then I watched their messages. Soon I was responding to a message that struck me as interesting or incomplete. Soon I was re-tweeting other people’s messages because I thought they were of value. I quickly saw the value of Twitter for business research.

But I did not have an actual plan on how I was going to use Twitter to increase business. I was using it for research purposes and social networking.

Twitter for Research

Yes, I tweet. I’m not sure if that makes me a Twit, but I do know that I have used Twitter to connect with many interesting people in a variety of industries. I also use Twitter to look for tweets related to what I’m researching. It’s not that difficult to find the tweets, the difficult part is determining which tweets are the ones I want to dig into deeper. This, of course, is why I am an info pro and why my clients use me – I enjoy the hunt for the information.

Here are some search tips that I have found useful and hope you do, too.

Are we there yet?

Oh the memories of the road trips with mom, me and my two brothers. Though we were good travelers, all three of us eventually asked the question "are we there yet?" Always in a station wagon, always vying for the middle, eyes on each other rather than on the road. At least, until mom would point us in the right direction to see something interesting, different, beautiful. When this happened we would all turn and look, then ask her to stop so that we could see more. Of course, she was already slowing down and preparing to exit the road. She was always a step or two ahead of us, just as she should be.

Continuous Personal and Professional Development

Just in case you don't know this: I love to read. I love to read fiction, non-fiction, paperback, hard cover, college text or flashy magazine. Heck, as a kid I used to read cereal boxes while I ate breakfast! My husband nicknamed me Johnny 5 because he says I crave input. LOL So trust me when I say that no one who knows me is surprised that I am in the information business. 

Considering that every professional person needs to be mindful of their development, I thought I'd take this opportunity to share with you some of the books that I have found helpful on my journey to being an independent information professional and an online marketer. This is not a definitive list, but does include some darned good reading. And no, I'm not an affiliate of any of the sites I linked to, but I am an Amazon.com affiliate, so the links will take you to their site to see the books. 

Social Media and the Info Pro

Social Media is certainly the buzzword of the day. I've heard enthusiasts proclaim that without Social Media no business can survive, while nay-sayers chime in with their comments about time wasted and money not being made.

As an information professional, I have to say that social media is a vital part of my work. Any information professional should be up to speed on all available resources for locating information. Remember, it's my job to find the information my clients can't find, don't have time to find or don't want to bother learning how to find. A lot of this information is available via social media. I have gained clients, accepted projects and helped others through social media - so consider me an enthusiast!

Here are some ways I use social media:

A Week of Projects, Marketing, Social Media and Volunteer Work

Last week was very, very busy.  Just look at what my desk looks like this morning! Oh, the coffee is fresh, by the way.

 

Between projects I worked on my speech for Toastmasters, as well as made sure the group knows about the meeting next week because as VP Education it is my job to keep things organized (Heee!). I also volunteered some research time to a local group that provides parenting programs to families with teen-agers, Operation: SPIRIT. They want to know what other programs are available for purchase and use and I started looking on Firday - their requested deadline is this Wednesday. I know, procrastination is not good and it is a weakness of mine that occasionally rears its ugly head.

Presenting to small business groups

As an information professional and online marketing specialist, I have found that presenting to small business groups is vital to my marketing efforts. It provides me with a formal setting to describe to my potential clients what I can do for them and their business. Last Thursday I did a presentation about online marketing for GLBA, Greater Louisville Business Alliance, and thoroughly enjoyed myself.