by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Nov 13, 2013 | Social Media
When was the last time you performed a real social media audit on yourself and your business? Hopefully you maintain a spreadsheet or some sort of document outlining your social channels and online strategy to support and update your marketing efforts. If not, you may not be unaware of any broken links or possible inconsistencies whether in your email signature, online bios, website or the vast array of social media tools you employ.
When people search for you, what will they find and see about your brand?
Remember, your consumers, clients, colleagues and prospects are searching for you and clicking on your links. Your digital presence needs to be current and sending a uniform message. If there are errors or inconsistencies, consider the message you are sending to your audience.
Here is a recent example from a social media audit: broken links in the email signature and website, some of the navigation buttons returned an error page, the social bios did not match any of the social media posts, the most recent post was 1.5 months ago, there was no indication of the business or industry in anything that was shared, and there was little to no engagement on social channels. This is only the shortlist. I did not understand what the company truly did for their consumers. I was clueless.
“Your brand is the sum total of perceptions about your product in the heads of your relevant audience.” Mahesh Murthy
Every online platform should mirror your brand image, voice and mission. Take the time to review your email signature, bios, channels, content marketing; anything you share should resonate with your industry and your company. The last thing you want to do is trigger any confusion as to what you do or who you serve. There should be no question.
Deliver credibility!
Project a consistent brand image and you will make your brand more identifiable, giving your potential customers a sharper indication of your company’s identity, goals and culture. You will create the know, like, trust factor enabling you to convert your audience into customers and brand ambassadors.
A strong standardized brand image will help you establish your online reputation as a solid professional and reliable company. People will look to you as a valued resource and partner.
Be a thought leader.
Be a connector.
Be a giver.
If you are sending mixed messages, have broken information, or lack frequency and consistency, you won’t have an audience.
Without an audience, you can’t sell anything.
We live in a trust society. And people learn about you from your platforms. All of these things need to be in play if you want to hit a homerun.
Look at the statistics below: If all of these people below are online, don’t you want them to have a clear, concise idea of who you are, what you do, and who you serve?
- Facebook has over 1.15 billion active users.
- Google+ has 343 million active monthly users.
- Twitter has over 288 million monthly active users.
- LinkedIn has now reached 238 million users.
- YouTube has over 1 billion unique visitors every month.
- Instagram has now reached 130 million users.
- Pinterest has 70 Million users.
What’s your message? If you are interested in another pair of eyes to review your channels and marketing efforts, please send us a message.
Let’s clean up your digital footprint so it is more than a shadow in the dark!!
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Nov 12, 2013 | Entrepreneur, Virtual Assistant
When you are looking for a vested partner, your goal should be someone with an entrepreneurial mindset who understands what it takes to not only get up and running, but who knows how to thrive in business. While you can certainly choose an offshore call center to help manage day to day tasks, you will be missing out on the bigger part of your business success, a trusted like-minded entrepreneur.
“Which do you think will build a stronger company over time? A technically competent team of people who share no collective set of motivations, styles or goals – or – a technically competent team of people who are united by a clearly articulated set of values and expectations the CEO has both described to them and tested for during the interview process? It’s not a trick question.” Hunter Walk
Finding the right fit goes beyond technical skills or a likeable personality. It takes a certain kind of individual to start and operate a company. A degree or a previous title doesn’t make you an entrepreneur. It also isn’t about someone who wants to turn a hobby into a 9-5 job or someone who only wants to cut a paycheck. There is more to it than that.
Owning and operating your own business requires a commitment to 24/7/365 days a year. It isn’t something you just dabble in “willy nilly.” In the beginning you may be wearing all of the hats, living and breathing every facet of the business, even in your sleep. There is no rest. No downtime.
The Entrepreneur:
- Methodical
- Courageous
- Strong time management and planning
- Organized
- Productive
- Strategic
- Critical thinker
- Insightful
- Intuitive
- Communicator
- Enthusiastic
- Problem solver
- Overly committed
- Driven
- Innovative
- Ability to pivot
- Open to change
- Ready for failure
- Readiness to begin again
These are innate qualities that you will never learn in business school.
It is what is in your head. What lives in your heart. How you survive and thrive in life.
Dan Schawbel, founder of Millennial Branding says: “To be perfectly blunt, people with hard skills are a dime a dozen. A high-school kid can probably learn most of the hard skills that would be required to do just about any job, but it’s doubtful that he or she would have the emotional maturity and people skills to make it in a Fortune 200 company.”
In the search for your virtual assistant, think about the match that is most important to you. What do you value most?
You are secure on who YOU are as well as the value and expertise you bring to your clients and the marketplace. Don’t you want and need the same type of support from your team? Someone who fully understands your needs, culture and business?
“Formal education will make you a living, self-education will make you a fortune.” Jim Rohn
Who is the best fit for your company? When interviewing your prospective virtual assistants, due diligence is a necessity. Not just a quick SKYPE interaction.
- Learn about them. Why did they get into the business? Here’s my story.
- What struggles have they faced and how did they overcome them.
- What are their goals?
- Speak with their past and current clients.
- Read their online testimonials.
- Google them: what social media platforms do they use? Is their branding consistent? What types of posts do they write? Is their blog up to date?
- What personality traits present most strongly in their online communications?
- Do you feel that they are transparent and open?
Find the real treasure, the driven entrepreneurial virtual assistant who is truly devoted to your dreams of success.
Look for a partner, not an automated task doer.
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Nov 7, 2013 | Small Business, Social Media
Image credit: http://www.mikemccready.ca
Your social media efforts have probably gone through several evolutions since you first began developing your online presence. At the onset, you may have jumped in with both feet while discovering the ins and outs and proper social media etiquette. It was and still is a learning process. The rules change, people maintain different ideas and policies but all the while the main premise still remains, it is about nurturing and growing relationships. It isn’t all that much of a mystery. Unmask your potential, share remarkable content, be authentic and build your brand.
“Tweet valuable content and don’t get caught up in numbers…get caught up in building great relationships!” Lisa Malcom, The Social Suite
In the midst of all of this, is the quest to be on top, showcasing your talents, your knowledge, and business acumen. We all want to be heard, seen and have a voice. What I have noticed over the years is the tremendous increase in the amount of noise and sometimes an unfortunate decrease in engagement. Building your relationships, instilling loyalty and trust within your community is at times forgotten with the push of content and URLs or the blind retweets only because you trust the source.
Proving you’re a reliable thought leader is significant, however willy nilly digital diarrhea can be overkill. Info excess is crushing – our brains are on overdrive attempting to filter all of the data thrown at us and we miss out on personal relationships during the digestion process.
“Activate your fans, don’t just collect them like baseball cards.” Jay Baer
- Mix up your content
- Don’t just post links
- Share posts of your followers and networks
- Add in some inspirational quotes
- Use dynamic images
- Spark the conversation
- Listen, truly listen
- Visit the profiles and websites of your network
- Take a REAL interest because you care
- Learn about your followers and fans
- Give credit where credit is do
- Share more than you promote
BEFORE you retweet, actually read the article.
If you care enough to share it, you should know what you are sharing with your trusting audience. Yes, it’s kind and generous to give back, but blindly posting for the sheer sake of it is almost meaningless. Does the content resonate with you? Spark any thoughts? Do you agree or disagree? What was the catalyst for sharing??
Invest the time and energy to know what you are reposting. Wouldn’t you like it if people actually read your content before they did the same? Speaking from personal experience, after having thanked someone for an RT, I have also asked a question about the post. Some respond and others don’t. Those that don’t could fit into one of 2 categories, they aren’t all that social in social media or they didn’t read the post and didn’t care to go back to it when I posed the question. Of course, there is always the chance that didn’t see my inquisitive tweet??
“You can never go wrong by investing in communities and the human beings within them.” Pam Moore
Take an active role WITH your online universe, getting to know and engage with your followers. You never know who you will meet or where the road may lead. It is a fascinating world when you invest the time and passion to mindfully participate.
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Nov 5, 2013 | Entrepreneur, Productivity, Time Management
image credit: spokesman.com
Time management is always a hot topic as we seem to think we have so little time to effectively manage our days and have some semblance of work life balance. You too want to get more things accomplished while the clock keeps ticking and more tasks seem to pile up.
What can you do? Get a handle on your time, your interruptions and your distractions. Thanks to technology and the digital world, we are always connected and being bombarded with data overload. Crush the chaos. It can take all of the discipline you can muster to tune out the influx of information coming at you. Time can be an elusive mystery when you are in a constant struggle to find more of it, so it is up to you to invest in your time, in your life, in your business. The best thing you can do is learn to manage yourself to better manage your time. “Choice management.”
We are repeatedly bombarded by data overload via our push notifications, social media notices, text messages, phone calls, e-mails, Skype chats and news alerts on a daily basis. It is marvelous to always be connected, in touch and just a mere keystroke away. You are never alone and continuously up to date in both your personal and professional life. But there is a hitch and that is the negative impact it has on our concentration and stress levels. It hurts our brains!!
As a technologically in-tune society, we must learn to filter the urgency of our incoming communications in order to remain devoted to the tasks at hand. The constant interruptions have a pronounced impact on our productivity and efficiency level, never mind time management. If we continue to allow outside distractions to compete for our time and focus, we are unable to give our absolute attention to our present moment and activities. Interruptions because of too much data in the workplace costs US businesses $650 billion a year!
Computerworld reports that we are now living in a world of “interruption technology.”
In a 2012 study by The University of California, Irvine and the US Army, it was found that frequent email checkers were less productive, less focused and more stressed. On average, these types of email users averaged 37 switched windows per hour compared to a non-email checkers who only switched 18 times per hour. The second group of workers engaged more deeply with teammates, were focused on their tasks, increased their productivity and were less stressed.
Limit Distractions
- Schedule time on your calendar to tune out and turn off
- Let others know you are “off limits” during certain working hours
- Close the door or put on ear buds
- Silence your Smartphone
- Just say NO to social media! (Facebook and Twitter updates are always accessible).
- Shutdown everything that notifies you of an alert, sound, or other announcement (your e-mail will still be waiting for you).
- COMMIT to your decision to focus and jump in with gusto
- Once your project is completed, come up for air, stretch, respond to voicemails, text messages and other communications.
- Grab an energy snack to refuel for your next session
- Hide your tech gadgets
Remember, being offline is an industrious act toward completing your projects, achieving your goals and remaining on task. You will see a considerable increase in your productivity as you continue to shield yourself from outside disruptions and digital noise or as Stewart Baines says: “infobesity.”
Turning off isn’t just for the business world. We are electronically tethered 24/7 and this crosses into our personal boundaries. It becomes too much when we allow technology to consume our time and energy away from the present moment, sacrificing the things that truly matter. In a consumer survey last year, Qualcomm found that 37% of people use their phones while attending a party, 36% do so while eating at a restaurant and 35% use their phones while playing with their children.
Life is available only in the present moment. If you abandon the present moment you cannot live the moments of your daily life deeply. Thich Nhat Hanh
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Oct 29, 2013 | Leadership, Life Thoughts
Many times in life things goes awry, causing you to lose something of value or assumed potential opportunity. You may at first experience sadness, anger, want to retaliate, feel resentment and want to otherwise lash out or bash the person or situation.
Take a step back.
Breathe.
Review the circumstances. Reflect on the situation as a whole.
- Did it always resonate and serve you?
- Did it bring you contentment and joy?
- What daily thoughts ran through your mind during general interactions?
- Were you satisfied or did you have lingering questions?
- What were your contributions to the scenario?
- Was it all that you had hoped it would be?
Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful. Margaret J. Wheatley
If much of the discourse surrounding the events did not support your thinking, values, mission or ideals, then let it go.
The lessons may seem hidden at first, but there is always an opportunity for internal growth and a time for you to spread your own wings.
Take flight!!
Is it really a lost opportunity or just a motivator for change?
If you can, ask for feedback. It is another tool to help you grow and better perform the next time. What can you revise? Is there something in your thought processes and actions that require a little more fine-tuning?
Find your wrench and start tweaking.
Instigating change is an adventure as you are able to discover more about yourself, your company and how you relate to others. Don’t take the fall as something completely personal, especially if there were signs or signals that you just weren’t sure about. It may have nothing to really do with you at all. It could be their misconceptions or misinterpretations or lack of communication that was the impetus for the dissolution. There are always three sides to a story, yours, theirs and what is found in the middle, holding more facts than miscommunications or unheard words. Some things just aren’t meant to be and you are given signs to interpret and set in motion.
When you lose a contract, a client or even a friend, it seems like a kick in the pants, but what can you learn from it? Each and every “failure” is about improvement. Empower yourself to step up and mull over the whole situation, the entire experience. The past time invested doesn’t matter – it is the journey to enlightenment and change that creates the force within you to better yourself.
Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging. Joseph Campbell
The more you are able to truly understand the internal workings of what transpired, you will appreciate the opportunity to flourish from this mishap. Even more so if you were apprehensive about the success in the first place. Follow your intuition as your gut seems to speak more loudly than your heart or your brain matter.
Celebrate the change.
The dynamics are just beginning.
It isn’t a missed opportunity at all!
It is an open door to greater abundance when you are able to let go of what no longer serves you.
Don’t be afraid to fail. Don’t waste energy trying to cover up failure. Learn from your failures and go on to the next challenge. It’s OK to fail. If you’re not failing, you’re not growing. H. Stanley Judd
Author: Brian Tracy
What changes will YOU make?
