Category Archives: Uncategorized

Posted on

Facebook For Business: Top Ten Ways to Get People to Like Your Page

Do you find it difficult to get people to LIKE your Facebook Page?  You’re not alone!  I get asked about this all the time.  Here are my top ten easy peasy ways to get people to LIKE your page.

1.  Post on your personal profile – a few times a week. Give people are reason to come over.  Say “Can you hop over to my page? I have a question for you.”  (Give the link to the page.)

2.  Post on other pages that you think would be okay with it – your friend’s profile and page (ask permission if you are not certain such a post would be welcome),  Awesome Women Hub (women), Heartfelt Mens Club (men).

3.  Post in groups where self promotion is cool – groups you belong to, Facebook & Linkedin.

4.  Send a mass email.  The easiest way is to go to the top right corner “Edit Page” > Resources > Tell Your Fans.  Follow the instructions based on the email service that you use.

5. Tag your friends from the page.  You need to have a reason.  For example, if your page is about empowering women, you might do a regular feature like “Powerful Woman of the Day: Jane Doe….” Tell a little about her or include the link to her Facebook page and tag her business page as well.  Use a picture of Jane and tag her in that as well.

6.  Advertise your page.  This can be expensive if you aren’t careful.  However, if you are careful and you can target appropriately, this is a very fast way to get new LIKEs on your page.

7.  Post on other Social Media sites – twitter, Linkedin.  Say something like this:  Are you on Facebook?  Me, too!  Let’s get connected there as well.  www.fb.com/username.

8.  Include in your email signature.  Just use the basic URL – www.facebook.com/username.

9.  Include in all print material.  Put your Facebook username on your business cards, post cards, print ads, etc.

10.  Send out a mass message through the Facebook message system.  Be careful with this.  People can get pretty upset with this.  If you do them one by one, Facebook will consider it spam.  If you do a whole bunch of friends at once, that seems to get by.  Go figure.


I saw this message recently to about 300 people:  “Hi everyone! Sorry for the mass email, but I am wondering if you can do me a quick favor..? WARNING: Iif you reply to this message it goes out to everyone. Questions? Give me a call or email me direct. I would be more than happy to talk to you.  I created a Facebook page for my company:www.facebook.com/username.  I would really appreciate it if you would go to the page and click “Like It”.


Now, I didn’t mind it.  I did notice a lot of people “leaving the conversation.”  Just know in advance that people will leave the conversation.  Decide in advance whether you are going to let that bother you or not.

Gina Carr is an Entrepreneur, Speaker and Marketing Consultant who works with CEOs and Thought Leaders to leverage social media marketing for publicity, profits and success. Combining her street-smarts learned as a publisher and small business owner with her book-smarts learned at the Harvard Business School (MBA 1990) and Georgia Tech (BIE 1984), Gina helps business owners turn great ideas into profitable money-making machines.
Posted on

Tribe Building: Who Says Popups Don’t Work Any More?

Many people teach that Popups – those annoying windows that open unexpectedly and ask for your email address – don’t work any more.  Great tribe builders know how to make them work.  If they work, they can be very effective at helping you build your list of email subscribers – people that are pretty tuned in to your tribe.
I just came across one from Joel Comm that I thought was particularly effective.  Joel is an accomplished author and successful online marketer.  I’ve been a fan for years.  I think these are the keys to this popup’s success:
1.  It is interesting visually.  It combines a real picture with an cartoon character. He uses different colors. It is very large – the widest popup I’ve seen.
2.  It is funny.  The little twitter bird sitting on Joel’s shoulder is winking.  Very cute.
3.  He offers something of value – also known as an “ethical bribe” – something offered in exchange for something else.  In this case, Joel wants your email address and he is willing to provide two free chapters of his best selling book, Twitter Power.
4.  It is relevant.  Because I have visited his blog, he assumes that I might be interested in new content he publishes.  This is a very relevant assumption.
As much as I like it, I notice there are a couple of things that just don’t seem to make sense:
1.  He says “Be sure to leave your comments.”  It is not clear where he wants you to post comments.  I guess on his blog posts.  
2.  His attempt at humor with the comment across the bottom about “We obviously can’t guarantee…” falls short because it doesn’t reference anything in the popup.  I’m guessing that this referred to something previously that has since been removed.
So, if you use a popup – make it funny, interesting, relevant, valuable, and be sure to make sure that everything on it makes sense.
Do you have a great popup?  Leave the link in the comments below.  I’d love to see it.
You can visit Joel’s blog at www.JoelComm.com.  He has a lot of interesting posts.
Gina Carr is an Entrepreneur, Speaker and Marketing Consultant who works with CEOs and Thought Leaders to leverage social media marketing for publicity, profits and success. Combining her street-smarts learned as a publisher and small business owner with her book-smarts learned at the Harvard Business School (MBA 1990) and Georgia Tech (BIE 1984), Gina helps business owners turn great ideas into profitable money-making machines.
Posted on

Tribe Building: Reasons People Unsubscribe and Leave the Tribe

If you want to be a great tribe builder, you need to have a consistent, reliable way to connect with your tribe.   Contrary to popular belief, email marketing is still one of the most effective ways to connect with your tribe to share your ideas, market your products and services, and generate action.

I’m sure you work hard at building your email list.  I know that I do.  While I don’t obsess over why people might unsubscribe, I do wonder.  This morning, I had a single email that committed all five of my “Top Five Reasons for Leaving The Tribe”:

Lied to me – In the title, the sender said that he or she had tried texting me.  I don’t think so.  Also, in the body of the email, he or she said that the link enclosed was something I had just asked about.  Oh really?

No Name – I looked around and I could not find a personal name anywhere.  I have no idea who the person is behind this email. No person, no loyalty.

Deceived Me – with “Account Information” as the “sender,” it appeared that this was some sort of official correspondence.

Too much effort – The text of this email said nothing about what the offer is.  I’m generally not going to click through a link when I have no idea what the link is about.

Smarmy – This email just felt “smarmy.”  That is the best way I can describe it.  Yes, it had a high “smarm” factor.

So, check your emails for these things.  Check for the “smarm” factor.

Email isn’t dead. It is alive and well for those who know how to do it right.

If you are thinking of starting an email program and don’t know which provider to choose, I’d like to recommend the one I use, Aweber (affiliate link).  

What are you email pet peeves?  What causes you to leave “the tribe?”

© Copyright 2011 Gina Carr International.


WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? To publish this article in your ezine or website, please include the following:

Gina Carr is an Entrepreneur, Speaker and Marketing Consultant who works with entrepreneurs and authors to leverage social media marketing for publicity, profits and success. Combining her street-smarts learned as a publisher and small business owner with her book-smarts learned at the Harvard Business School (MBA 1990) and Georgia Tech (BIE 1984), Gina helps business owners turn great ideas into profitable money-making machines. Known around the world as The Tribe Builder, Gina helps passionate people build powerful tribes of raving fans for their business or non-profit organization. Get connected with Gina at www.tribebuildingtips.com and www.ginacarr.com .


Disclaimer: This post may include affiliate links for products and services I endorse and promote. These are always products and services that I have personally used and highly recommend.

Gina Carr is an Entrepreneur, Speaker and Marketing Consultant who works with CEOs and Thought Leaders to leverage social media marketing for publicity, profits and success. Combining her street-smarts learned as a publisher and small business owner with her book-smarts learned at the Harvard Business School (MBA 1990) and Georgia Tech (BIE 1984), Gina helps business owners turn great ideas into profitable money-making machines.
Posted on

Facebook Marketing: Do I Really Need a Facebook Page? 7 Questions You Must Ask Yourself

“Do I really need a Facebook Page?  Isn’t my Personal Profile (friends page) enough?”  These are questions that I get asked a lot as a social media marketing strategist.  First of all, let’s clarify what is meant by each of these terms:


Most B2C & B2B businesses need a Facebook Page.

Personal Profile – Profiles represent individuals and must be held under an individual name.  This is your “home base” for Facebook – the entity that has Friends, LIKEs things, joins groups, and more.


Facebook Page – allow an organization, business, celebrity, or band to maintain a professional presence on Facebook. 
My opinion on this has changed over time and I must say that it really depends on a number of factors.   Every person does not need a Facebook Page.  The following questions will help you decide.

1.  Do you want to be found by the Search Engines?  Facebook pages get a lot of “Google juice.”  This can be important if someone is searching for you or for one of your targeted key word phrases that you are trying to rank for.  Even if someone is not a member of Facebook, your Facebook Page can be seen by anyone – not so for a Personal Profile.  Frequently, a Facebook Page will rank higher than your website.

2.  Who is your target audience?  Remember when “friends” were people that you actually knew?  Are all of your potential and current customers people that you actually know?  If you only do business with people that you have personally met, then maybe you don’t need one.  However, if you want to connect with people that you haven’t actually met in person – or don’t consider a friend – a page is a better way to do that.

Facebook is clear when you issue a friend request that you actually need to know the person.  You’ll never know how many people will never reach out to you since they might not have met you or they might not actually feel like you are a friend – even in the social media sense of the word. (Remember when friends were people that you actually knew?)


3.  Do you want to be able to customize and create a mini-website?  Facebook apps for Pages have become so flexible and powerful that you can create mini-websites within Facebook – not so for personal profiles.  You can add custom landing pages (Welcome) with videos, email optin boxes, blog feeds and more. 

To see an example of several Facebook Apps that can enhance your Facebook page, visit my Page at http://www.facebook.com/GinaCarrFanPage.  A great example of a mini-website on Facebook with lots of clickable links is this Welcome page that my team designed for Senate Majority Leader of Georgia, Senator Chip Rogers: http://www.facebook.com/ChipRogers4GA?sk=app_4949752878.

4.  How much posting about your business are you planning to do?  I recently spoke with someone who actually had her personal account shut down by Facebook because she was clearly using it to promote a business – a brick and mortar business.  Although I had seen this threat from Facebook for years, I had never actually heard of it happening.
I think that the lines blur for consultants, speakers, attorneys and others who are in the “thought business.”  It seems that Facebook is much more lenient with that type of promotion, education and sharing.  However, as the old Donny and Marie song used to remind us, you need to be “A Little Bit Country, A Little Bit Rock and Roll.”  (Thanks social media guru and friend, Gina Schreck, for the great analogy.)
5.  Do you really want to mix business and personal?  For most people, it is good to keep these separate.  Personal friends don’t always want to hear about your business and vice versa.  Think of your Personal Profile as your Home and your Page as your Office.  You wouldn’t post pictures of your vacation all over your office.  Similarly, most people don’t have their business papers spread out all over the house.  Separation can be a good thing.
These first few questions might lead you to think, YES!, I want a Facebook Page.  However, here is the key question you must ask prior to launching one.

6.  How much time and energy are you willing to put into a Facebook Page?  A Facebook Page takes a lot of work to get interaction and engagement. Because of the way the Facebook “Edgerank” algorithm works, people often don’t see any posts you do from your Page.  You can usually get much more interaction on your Personal Profile.
Many people essentially abandon their Pages after spending a lot of time and effort to get them set up.  One option is to hire someone who will regularly post your content to your Page so that you have a consistent presence.  Then, all you have to do is to visit the page often and interact with the people who comment on your posts.


7.  Should you convert your Personal Profile to a business Page?  Facebook now allows you to do this.  Be forewarned that it is not for the faint of heart.  There are several serious issues that must be considered before you do this and steps to be taken.  See How Do I convert my Personal Profile to a Page?  Drop me a note at www.fb.com/ginacarr if you need help with this.

My recommendation for most business owners:  Yes, you DO need a Business Page.  Even if all you do is set it up and make a post that says, “I hope this page provides some important information about my business.  I spend most of my Facebook time on my Personal Profile.  Please send me a message there at www.facebook.com/username.”

What do you think?  If you have a Page, are you glad that you have it or do you feel it is a waste of time?  Do you feel that your Personal Profile is all you need?  I’d love to hear your thoughts on this matter.

Related articles and interviews:

© Copyright 2011 Gina Carr International.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? To publish this article in your ezine or website, please include the following:

Gina Carr is an Entrepreneur, Speaker and Marketing Consultant who works with entrepreneurs and thought leaders to leverage social media marketing for publicity, profits and success. Combining her street-smarts learned as an entrepreneur with her book-smarts learned at the Harvard Business School, Gina helps business owners turn great ideas into profitable money-making machines. Known around the world as The Tribe Builder, Gina helps passionate people build powerful tribes of raving fans for their business or non-profit organization. Get connected with Gina at www.tribebuildingtips.com and www.ginacarr.com .

Disclaimer: This post may include affiliate links for products and services I endorse and promote. These are always products and services that I have personally used and highly recommend.
Gina Carr is an Entrepreneur, Speaker and Marketing Consultant who works with CEOs and Thought Leaders to leverage social media marketing for publicity, profits and success. Combining her street-smarts learned as a publisher and small business owner with her book-smarts learned at the Harvard Business School (MBA 1990) and Georgia Tech (BIE 1984), Gina helps business owners turn great ideas into profitable money-making machines.
Posted on

Ride One Horse – How to Succeed in Business Today

“It’s like you’re trying to ride two horses at the sametime.  You just can’t do it.”  Joseph Gandolfo
Like many success-driven people, I have belonged to severalmaster mind groups over the years.  In agood group, the members will tell the other members the things theymost need to hear – the things others won’t say.
Such was the case one warm summer day at the local coffee house as my colleagues listened to me explain how I continued to strugglewith getting my various ventures off the ground.  This had gone on for several weeks and theother members could see clearly why I was not making better progress.
After sitting quietly and listening to the discussion, Joelooked me straight in the eye and uttered these life-changing words:  “It’s like you’re trying to ride two horses at the same time.  You just can’t do it.”
Zing!  In an instant, I got the visual of such a ridiculous – anddangerous – attempt.  I immediately sawthe fallacy of my ways.
For years, I had prided myself on being a “serialentrepreneur” – someone who started a lot of businesses.  
Over the years, I had startedseveral businesses – a mortgage brokerage, real estate brokerage, businessbrokerage, and several magazine concepts. Some were moderately successful. None were phenomenally successful.
Joseph Gandolfo

As Joe so eloquently pointed out, you just can’t ride two horses at the same time.  If you do, something or somebody is going to get hurt.

Joe is not a management consultant.  He doesn’t have an MBA.  In fact, Joe’s “day job” is more like that of a lion tamer – he works with teenagers and helps them succeed in spite of themselves. He is a phenomenally talented counselor.  He regularly helps young people see the error of their ways.
And that particular day, Joe’sanalogy of trying to ride two horses explained my business “errors” in a way that no expensive management consultant ever had.
Joe was always great at breaking complex ideas into simple concepts by using brilliant analogies.
For serious success, here are some ways to apply the “RideOne Horse” strategy in business today: 
  • Realize that being a serial entrepreneurdoesn’t mean that you can’t start several businesses.  It just means that you can’t start them allat the same time.
  •  Forserious success, it is best to start one and ride it all the way to a majormilestone (say gross revenues of ten million dollars), before selling it orstarting another business.
  • Selectthe “horse” that you are in totally in love with, i.e. select the business thatmakes your heart sing every day. 
  • Selectthe “horse” that has the ability to get you where you are going – a longjourney up a beautiful mountain or a sprint around a short track.  Which one you choose depends upon your goals. 
  • Learnto ride that particular horse with tremendous skill – take lessons, getcoaching.  Cut your learning curve bylearning from others who have “been there, done that.”
A few months later, I saw a related book that had been written in 1991 by marketing gurus Al Ries and Jack Trout called Horse Sense – The Key to Success Is Finding a Horse to Ride, one of their many brilliant books.  In this book, Ries and Trouttalk about finding the “perfect “horse” to ride – the one person, product,idea, or service” that will ensure phenomenal success.  I highly recommend this book.                                                                                                                     
A few years have gone by since that day in the coffee shop.  I can’t say that I’ve mastered the ability to focus on one thing at a time.  I can say that every time I catch myself trying to ride two horses, I smile and give a silent “thank you” to my wonderful friend Joe Gandolfo.

Do you have problems trying to ride more than onehorse?  I’d love to hear about them.  Please share your thoughts below.  And if you know someone who is always trying to ride more than one horse, please share this article with them.

© Copyright 2011 Gina Carr International.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? To publish this article in your ezine or website, please include the following:

Gina Carr is an Entrepreneur, Speaker and Marketing Consultant who works with entrepreneurs and authors to leverage social media marketing for publicity, profits and success. Combining her street-smarts learned as a publisher and small business owner with her book-smarts learned at the Harvard Business School (MBA 1990) and Georgia Tech (BIE 1984), Gina helps business owners turn great ideas into profitable money-making machines. Known around the world as The Tribe Builder, Gina helps passionate people build powerful tribes of raving fans for their business or non-profit organization. Get connected with Gina at www.tribebuildingtips.com and www.ginacarr.com.


Enhanced by Zemanta

Gina Carr is an Entrepreneur, Speaker and Marketing Consultant who works with CEOs and Thought Leaders to leverage social media marketing for publicity, profits and success. Combining her street-smarts learned as a publisher and small business owner with her book-smarts learned at the Harvard Business School (MBA 1990) and Georgia Tech (BIE 1984), Gina helps business owners turn great ideas into profitable money-making machines.
Posted on

Real Time Communication: Leveraging LinkedIn…Harness the relationships you already have – 12 Tips for Success

Linkedin is a powerful tool for developing relationships.  This article shares some great tips that will help you get the most out of this social network.

Leveraging LinkedIn…Harness the relationships you already have – 12 Tips for Success:

Enhanced by Zemanta
Gina Carr is an Entrepreneur, Speaker and Marketing Consultant who works with CEOs and Thought Leaders to leverage social media marketing for publicity, profits and success. Combining her street-smarts learned as a publisher and small business owner with her book-smarts learned at the Harvard Business School (MBA 1990) and Georgia Tech (BIE 1984), Gina helps business owners turn great ideas into profitable money-making machines.
Posted on

Improve your KLOUT by Linking to a Single Facebook or Twitter Post

The procedure is basically the same for Facebook.  Linking to a single post makes it easy to “:market” the post for Likes and Comments – activities that are also important for increasing your KLOUT score.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? To publish this article in your ezine or website, please include the following:

Gina Carr is an Entrepreneur, Speaker and Marketing Consultant who works with entrepreneurs and authors to leverage social media marketing for publicity, profits and success. Combining her street-smarts learned as a publisher and small business owner with her book-smarts learned at the Harvard Business School (MBA 1990) and Georgia Tech (BIE 1984), Gina helps business owners turn great ideas into profitable money-making machines. Known around the world as The Tribe Builder, Gina helps passionate people build powerful tribes of raving fans for their business or non-profit organization. Get connected with Gina at www.tribebuildingtips.com and www.ginacarr.com..

Gina Carr is an Entrepreneur, Speaker and Marketing Consultant who works with CEOs and Thought Leaders to leverage social media marketing for publicity, profits and success. Combining her street-smarts learned as a publisher and small business owner with her book-smarts learned at the Harvard Business School (MBA 1990) and Georgia Tech (BIE 1984), Gina helps business owners turn great ideas into profitable money-making machines.
Posted on

Facebook for Business: Get a Vanity User Name for your Facebook Page or Personal Profile

I’ve noticed that a lot of Facebook users don’t seem to know that they can personalize facebook by getting a “facebook vanity URL.” It is free and easy to do.

Go to www.facebook.com/username    and follow the instructions.

You can name your personal profile as well as any special pages you have set up to promote your business, books, events, etc.

For example, I have:

www.facebook.com/GinaCarr
www.facebook.com/GinaCarrFanPage

The best names are simple and short.  It is best not to use periods or hyphens since you will be giving them out to people verbally and you want to make it easy to remember.

Be sure to put this in your email signature and on all of your print advertisements.

I invite you to connect with me on my Facebook page where I frequently share tips about marketing, building business, and growing a strong tribe.
Good luck!

© Copyright 2011 Gina Carr International.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? To publish this article in your ezine or website, please include the following:

Gina Carr is an Entrepreneur, Speaker and Marketing Consultant who works with entrepreneurs and authors to leverage social media marketing for publicity, profits and success. Combining her street-smarts learned as a publisher and small business owner with her book-smarts learned at the Harvard Business School (MBA 1990) and Georgia Tech (BIE 1984), Gina helps business owners turn great ideas into profitable money-making machines. Known around the world as The Tribe Builder, Gina helps passionate people build powerful tribes of raving fans for their business or non-profit organization. Get connected with Gina at www.tribebuildingtips.com and www.ginacarr.com..

Gina Carr is an Entrepreneur, Speaker and Marketing Consultant who works with CEOs and Thought Leaders to leverage social media marketing for publicity, profits and success. Combining her street-smarts learned as a publisher and small business owner with her book-smarts learned at the Harvard Business School (MBA 1990) and Georgia Tech (BIE 1984), Gina helps business owners turn great ideas into profitable money-making machines.
Posted on

Online Sales in a Slump? Check Your Online Store Design

I love helping people improve their sales.  Recently a client came to me complaining that his online sales had stalled since he had a website redesign a few months ago.

After doing a little trouble shooting, I figured out that the problem lies in the design of his online store.  Here are the problems:
1.  The purchase buttons are confusing.  Instead of taking you to the “Buy” page, they leave you on the main shopping cart/store page.
2.  If you click a quantity to buy and press “update,” it seems to do nothing.
3.  The biggest problem is that the primary shopping cart tools are lost in the graphics at the top of the page.  They essentially disappear into the header of the page.  Thus, it appears that their is no way to purchase the products.
Make sure that your shopping cart works well for your potential clients.  Here are some ideas:
1.  Ask a number of people to check it.  Give them a discount code and let them buy the product for a significant discount with the understanding that they are to give you feedback about the process – use a survey or ask them to call or send you an email.
2.  Try to get feedback from people using different email browsers – Chrome, Safari, Explorer – and different computers – MAC and Windows.
3.  Use a survey after a “regular customer” buys.  Offer them some sort of bonus if they complete the survey.
If a person has gone to the trouble to get to your Products page, you want to make it easy for them to buy.  Good luck!  I’d love to hear about your experiences with good and bad shopping carts below.
.

© Copyright 2011 Gina Carr International.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? To publish this article in your ezine or website, please include the following:

Gina Carr is an Entrepreneur, Speaker and Marketing Consultant who works with entrepreneurs and authors to leverage social media marketing for publicity, profits and success. Combining her street-smarts learned as a publisher and small business owner with her book-smarts learned at the Harvard Business School (MBA 1990) and Georgia Tech (BIE 1984), Gina helps business owners turn great ideas into profitable money-making machines. Known around the world as The Tribe Builder, Gina helps passionate people build powerful tribes of raving fans for their business or non-profit organization. Get connected with Gina at www.tribebuildingtips.com and www.ginacarr.com..

Disclaimer: This post may include affiliate links for products and services I endorse and promote. These are always products and services that I have personally used and highly recommend.

Gina Carr is an Entrepreneur, Speaker and Marketing Consultant who works with CEOs and Thought Leaders to leverage social media marketing for publicity, profits and success. Combining her street-smarts learned as a publisher and small business owner with her book-smarts learned at the Harvard Business School (MBA 1990) and Georgia Tech (BIE 1984), Gina helps business owners turn great ideas into profitable money-making machines.
Posted on

Digital Marketing: Not Blogging Yet? Let’s Get Started!

If you are in business for yourself in a professional field, you simply must have a blog as part of your marketing mix. Why?

1. A blog is the best place to display your “intellectual capital.“

2. A blog lets your tribe know about the way you think about issues and solve problems.

3. A blog is critical for Search Engine rankings.

4. It provides the foundation for all of your social media posts.

5. It is under YOUR control – versus a social media platform.

6. It’s the best place to market your products and services.

7. It’s the best place to “capture” an email address so that you can stay in close touch with your tribe.

What is the easiest, fastest and cheapest way to start blogging?

You can be a blogger in less than five minutes at either one of these sites. You don’t need a domain name. You don’t need a hosting account. All you need is your computer and an internet connection.

Blogger.com – what I currently use. Very easy overall. I found it a little tricky to set up a nice header but I finally figured out a way. See www.ginacarr.blogspot.com

WordPress.com – not as powerful as wordpress.org which has to be hosted on your own server. Still many people love this and you can create great blogs with this.

Your blog can double as your website and many people use it this way. More about this in another article. For now, just get started!

What’s been holding you back? You don’t need a hosting account. You don’t need a domain name (although you can forward one if you already have it). You don’t need any money.

No kidding and NO MORE EXCUSES!

Good luck. Feel free to post your blog below and invite people to come and check out what you are doing.

.

© Copyright 2011 Gina Carr International.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? To publish this article in your ezine or website, please include the following:

Gina Carr is an Entrepreneur, Speaker and Marketing Consultant who works with entrepreneurs and authors to leverage social media marketing for publicity, profits and success. Combining her street-smarts learned as a publisher and small business owner with her book-smarts learned at the Harvard Business School (MBA 1990) and Georgia Tech (BIE 1984), Gina helps business owners turn great ideas into profitable money-making machines. Known around the world as The Tribe Builder, Gina helps passionate people build powerful tribes of raving fans for their business or non-profit organization. Get connected with Gina at www.tribebuildingtips.com and www.ginacarr.com..

Disclaimer: This post may include affiliate links for products and services I endorse and promote. These are always products and services that I have personally used and highly recommend.

Gina Carr is an Entrepreneur, Speaker and Marketing Consultant who works with CEOs and Thought Leaders to leverage social media marketing for publicity, profits and success. Combining her street-smarts learned as a publisher and small business owner with her book-smarts learned at the Harvard Business School (MBA 1990) and Georgia Tech (BIE 1984), Gina helps business owners turn great ideas into profitable money-making machines.
Posted on

Book Marketing: Twitter Helps Unfinished Book Hit No. 1

The title caught my eye:  “Twitter Helps Unfinished Book Hit No. 1.”   I just HAD to dig into this one.

This is a great example of how social media can be used to get an incredible amount of attention for a book .  In this case, the author, John Green, did a minimal amount of chatter about his new book and his tribe went wild.

His book hit #1 on Amazon and BarnesandNoble.com.  It isn’t even due out until next Spring.

“In only a few short years, the ability to use social networking as a literary megaphone has gone from an afterthought to the focus of most marketing and image shaping by publishers,” says 

JEFFREY A. TRACHTENBERG of the Wall Street Journal.

There were several keys to his success with this effort:

1.  He had a solid base of loyal fans in place already – a strong tribe.
2.  He used video – 900 or so – to really let his audience get to know him.
3.  He used “zany postings” to really let his personality shine through – nothing stuffy.

Here is the link to the full article about this amazing story.

Twitter Helps Unfinished Book Hit No. 1

.

© Copyright 2011 Gina Carr International.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? To publish this article in your ezine or website, please include the following:

Gina Carr is an Entrepreneur, Speaker and Marketing Consultant who works with entrepreneurs and authors to leverage social media marketing for publicity, profits and success. Combining her street-smarts learned as a publisher and small business owner with her book-smarts learned at the Harvard Business School (MBA 1990) and Georgia Tech (BIE 1984), Gina helps business owners turn great ideas into profitable money-making machines. Known around the world as The Tribe Builder, Gina helps passionate people build powerful tribes of raving fans for their business or non-profit organization. Get connected with Gina at www.tribebuildingtips.com and www.ginacarr.com..

Disclaimer: This post may include affiliate links for products and services I endorse and promote. These are always products and services that I have personally used and highly recommend.

Enhanced by Zemanta
Gina Carr is an Entrepreneur, Speaker and Marketing Consultant who works with CEOs and Thought Leaders to leverage social media marketing for publicity, profits and success. Combining her street-smarts learned as a publisher and small business owner with her book-smarts learned at the Harvard Business School (MBA 1990) and Georgia Tech (BIE 1984), Gina helps business owners turn great ideas into profitable money-making machines.
Posted on

Facebook for Business – What to do with a Group you don’t Use any Longer

What do you do if you have a FACEBOOK GROUP but you’ve decided that you don’t want to use it any longer?

There are a couple of options. You might choose to delete the group. However, I think it is better to keep the group but to make some changes so that it does not remain “active” – at least officially.

The primary reason that you should keep it active is that you might want to contact the people who are in the group and you can do that easily with an email post that goes out to all the members. This is a pretty powerful tool.

In the past, people used GROUPS to market their business. Now that Facebook PAGES have evolved, a PAGE is generally a much better place to promote a business for a variety of reasons that are beyond the scope of this article. (For more information, see Facebook for Business: The Top 10 Reasons You Need a Facebook Page for Your Business)

If you decide to keep the group, I suggest you do the following:

1. Do a post that says: “Thanks for stopping by! We don’t really use this GROUP right now. Please join us on our Facebook Page www.fb.com/yourpage.”
2. Go back to the group often to put a comment under that post so that it will stay at the top of the page.
3. Edit the Group so that you can change the Group Information and the Privacy Settings.
In “Edit Group,” do the following:

  • Change the privacy settings so that it becomes a SECRET group. That way, it won’t show up when someone is searching for your company.
  • Make sure that only ADMINs can approve new members.
  • Set up the Group EMAIL so that you can use it later if you wish.
  • Add the same description as above about “Thanks for stopping by….”

© Copyright 2011 Gina Carr International.


WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? To publish this article in your ezine or website, please include the following:

Gina Carr is an Entrepreneur, Speaker and Marketing Consultant who works with entrepreneurs and authors to leverage social media marketing for publicity, profits and success. Combining her street-smarts learned as a publisher and small business owner with her book-smarts learned at the Harvard Business School (MBA 1990) and Georgia Tech (BIE 1984), Gina helps business owners turn great ideas into profitable money-making machines. Known around the world as The Tribe Builder, Gina helps passionate people build powerful tribes of raving fans for their business or non-profit organization. Get connected with Gina at www.tribebuildingtips.com and www.ginacarr.com..
Disclaimer: This post may include affiliate links for products and services I endorse and promote. These are always products and services that I have personally used and highly recommend.  

Gina Carr is an Entrepreneur, Speaker and Marketing Consultant who works with CEOs and Thought Leaders to leverage social media marketing for publicity, profits and success. Combining her street-smarts learned as a publisher and small business owner with her book-smarts learned at the Harvard Business School (MBA 1990) and Georgia Tech (BIE 1984), Gina helps business owners turn great ideas into profitable money-making machines.
Posted on

Mobile Marketing Monday – What do YOU Need to Know About Mobile Marketing?

It’s MOBILE MARKETING MONDAY here on my blog.

Did you know…

  • There are 75 countries where the number of cell phones exceeds the population of the country.
  • There are more Cell Phones than TVs and Computers combined? 5 billion (Cell Phones) versus 2 billion (TVs) and 1 billion (Computers).
  • The US market is at 94% penetration – almost 300 million.
  • 36% of US phones are smart phones.  Will be 50% by the end of 2011.
  • In 2011, 7 TRILLION text messages will be sent.
  • 200,000 text messages are sent every second.

Enjoy this great podcast about mobile by John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing. In this interview, John interviews Chuck Martin, author of The Third Screen: Marketing to Your Customers in a World Gone Mobile.

Podcast Interview: Shifting to the Third Screen

You need to be where the eyeballs are – cell phones! If you need help crafting a mobile strategy, call me. I can help.

Work With Gina – learn more here.

How are you using Mobile Marketing to bring new customers into your business?

Gina Carr is an Entrepreneur, Speaker and Marketing Consultant who works with CEOs and Thought Leaders to leverage social media marketing for publicity, profits and success. Combining her street-smarts learned as a publisher and small business owner with her book-smarts learned at the Harvard Business School (MBA 1990) and Georgia Tech (BIE 1984), Gina helps business owners turn great ideas into profitable money-making machines.
Posted on

Facebook for Business – Use Profile Photos to Build Your Credibility and Showcase Your Expertise

Whenever I see someone doing a great job of marketing with Facebook, I like to share it with you. I just saw Dawn Bjork Buzbee’s personal profile and noticed that she had done an outstanding job with her profile pictures. Take a look at how she uses Facebook for business.

Dawn did several things that work to build her credibility as a professional speaker, trainer and expert by strategically placing pictures* on her profile that show her viewers the following:

1.  Credentials – she very smartly displays her NSA MEMBER deca) – NSA is the National Speakers Association and her Microsoft Certified Trainer decal.   Similar to walking into a store and seeing a “Better Business Bureau” on the door or a diploma hanging on an office wall, this shows the world that she is a serious player in her field of expertise.
2.  Intellectual Property – Dawn showcases her books which clearly establish her as an expert as the Software Pro®.  

If you actually click one her photos, you will see that Dawn has done very helpful captions including  links to the product pages which makes it easy for a viewer to learn more and to purchase the products.  
Kudos Dawn on a job well done!
*How do you strategically select the pictures you want on your profile?  Follow these steps:
  
The five photos at the top of your new profile are the last five you were tagged in – whether you tagged yourself or a friend tagged you. Note: anyone viewing your profile sees these five photos.
You can also tag your Facebook PAGES in photos now which lets you control the pictures at the top of you business pages as well. 
  • To change the photos, mouseover each one and click the “X.” Another will automatically appear in its place.
  • To control the exact five photos you want, untag and then retag.  Tag from right to left (left is the most recent photo). 
How are you using profile pictures to enhance your credibility and build your business?  Feel free to list your facebook pages or profiles below.
Gina Carr is an Entrepreneur, Speaker and Marketing Consultant who works with CEOs and Thought Leaders to leverage social media marketing for publicity, profits and success. Combining her street-smarts learned as a publisher and small business owner with her book-smarts learned at the Harvard Business School (MBA 1990) and Georgia Tech (BIE 1984), Gina helps business owners turn great ideas into profitable money-making machines.
Posted on

Facebook for Business – Geo-targeting Facebook Ads for Specific Geographic Areas

Facebook ads can be very challenging for most small businesses that are trying to target a small geographical area – 5-10 mil radius. You can’t target specific zip codes or “town” names if the area is unicorporated (not a city). And, you can only target other Pages that have more than 1000 fans – not typical for most small businesses.

Option 1: Try using the local high school facebook Page as your target. These usually have over 1000 fans that are in your local area. Of course, this will be mostly students but many parents will be part of this as well.

Option 2: Try targeting a local publication that serves the same area. Publications – magazines, newspapers – frequently have a lot of fans.

Option 3: Target a business that attracts a lot of young people – say a local fitness facility or popular restaurant.

Option 4: Target an incorporated area (city) that is close by.

Closely monitor your results and your budget as your campaign progresses. Tweak as necessary.

I’d love to hear your ideas on this matter. Please share your tips below.

Gina Carr is an Entrepreneur, Speaker and Marketing Consultant who works with CEOs and Thought Leaders to leverage social media marketing for publicity, profits and success. Combining her street-smarts learned as a publisher and small business owner with her book-smarts learned at the Harvard Business School (MBA 1990) and Georgia Tech (BIE 1984), Gina helps business owners turn great ideas into profitable money-making machines.
Posted on

Facebook for Business – How to "Schedule" Posts in Facebook Notes

Just Ask Gina: One of my “tribe members” recently asked:
Is there a way to write notes in advance and post them to your fan page?

The simple answer is no, there is no function for this in the Facebook Notes application.

However, here are a couple of work-arounds that will allow you to accomplish the same results.

1. You can write them in advance and SAVE them as drafts. Then, go back to Drafts and Publish when you want.

2. You can schedule the posting on your blog and have the blog feed into an application on your facebook page (like Networked blogs)

To see my post about the “Five Reasons You Should Use Facebook Notes for Posts,” click here.

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=204629422908763

Gina Carr is an Entrepreneur, Speaker and Marketing Consultant who works with CEOs and Thought Leaders to leverage social media marketing for publicity, profits and success. Combining her street-smarts learned as a publisher and small business owner with her book-smarts learned at the Harvard Business School (MBA 1990) and Georgia Tech (BIE 1984), Gina helps business owners turn great ideas into profitable money-making machines.
Posted on

Facebook for Business: The Biggest Mistake People Make with Facebook Marketing

The biggest mistake I see people making on Facebook today is that they don’t make it easy for people to find them. There are new features in Facebook that make this easy to do.

The easiest way to fix this “biggest mistake” is to “link up” your Facebook Page to your Personal Profile and vice versa. Here is an example and links to “how to’s.”

This video shows how to link your Personal Profile to your Facebook Page.

This link explains the why and how to link your Facebook Page to your Personal Profile.
https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=199063043465401

If you need help with any aspect of Facebook, Twitter, or Linkedin, feel free to post on my Facebook wall at www.facebook.com/ginacarrfanpage.

Or, contact me directly at 678-653-0115 or gina at ginacarr.com. I work with businesses and individuals who want to increase their business using the latest in social media marketing.

Gina Carr is an Entrepreneur, Speaker and Marketing Consultant who works with CEOs and Thought Leaders to leverage social media marketing for publicity, profits and success. Combining her street-smarts learned as a publisher and small business owner with her book-smarts learned at the Harvard Business School (MBA 1990) and Georgia Tech (BIE 1984), Gina helps business owners turn great ideas into profitable money-making machines.