by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Apr 29, 2012 | Social Media
Social media meets the fundamental need to be heard, to be noticed, to be known and to be validated.
Social Media (SM) is not a trendy marketing tool but rather a key facet in your viral efforts to drive business to your website, enhance company recognition, build your brand, create market segments, meet your clients and prospective client needs for information and customer service, join communities, disseminate news, press releases, product launches, improve customer service, troubleshoot issues and listen to the chatter about your company.
It is hard to believe that Social Media is only 7 years old. Facebook started in 2004. Blogging did too. Twitter was born a few years later in 2006 and LinkedIn, the business networking site began in 2009. It’s unbelievable that something has impacted the marketing world with such a force in such a short period of time.
Social media has evolved from a powerful communication avenue to a key marketing channel. It offers a platform for clients, colleagues or prospects to discover you when they’re looking for reviews, comparing pricing, or researching offers. It is paramount for you and your company to maintain a presence, ensuring the opportunities for listening, effective online communications and increased visibility. It is essential that companies create and utilize a variety of social media platforms to cross promote, market and enhance their organization. Each channel offers an individual as well as combined opportunity for company-wide growth and expansion.
How do I Measure my results?
The ROI on SM is multi-faceted: it is a return on influence and before you have influence, you need visibility. You have the opportunity to increase followers, create deeper meaningful connections, develop relations with industry colleagues and associates, increase web traffic, RTs, “likes,” shares, +1s, and discussions about your company or brand and all this eventually translates into dollars. The list below applies to ALL social networking platforms.
- Return on engagement — the duration of time spent either in conversation or interacting with social objects, and in turn, what transpired that’s worthy of measurement.
- Return on participation — the metric tied to measuring and valuing the time spent participating in social media through conversations or the creation of, social objects.
- Return on involvement — similar to participation, marketers explored touchpoints for documenting states of interaction and tying metrics and potential return of each.
- Return on attention — In the attention economy, we assess the means to seize attention, hold it and as such measure the responses activities that we engender.
- Return on trust — A variant on measuring customer loyalty and the likelihood for referrals, a trust barometer establishes the state of trust earned in social media engagement and the prospect of generating advocacy and how it impacts future business.[1]
How much time should I expect to spend each day/ week to get best results?
You could easily spend a few minutes or a few hours per day engaging followers, creating relationships, and searching for content to share and building your brand. You have to be patient. Times builds results.
25 Eye-Popping Internet Marketing Statistics for 2012
The Internet Advantage
- Over 2 billion people use the Internet on a daily basis – this is about 30% of the world’s population, reaching more people, in more demographics than any other marketing tool.
- This represents a 480% increase in 2011 alone
- Over 245 million people or over 80% of Americans, use at least one social network.
- Creating a social media strategy is simple and inexpensive. You can easily integrate it into your existing marketing plan.
Videos:
Social Media Revolution Socialnomics 2011
What Is The Business Value of Social Media? – Advice from @Hubspot
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Apr 19, 2012 | Delegation, Executive Administration
One of the most important lessons a business owner can learn is that you do not have to do everything, nor are you able to. Communicating your vision to others and empowering others to take an active role within the organization is important. Empowerment can only come if you effectively delegate projects and responsibilities to others. When delegating make sure the person you are giving responsibility to knows exactly what is expected and has the interests and skills to successfully complete the task.
Delegation is giving others the authority to act on your behalf, accompanied with responsibility and accountability for results. Three basic but major skills needed to be an effective delegator are:
1. Trust – You must believe in the people you delegate to.
2. Honesty – You must be honest with them in what your expectations are.
3. Communication – You must clearly articulate what you need done.
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Apr 5, 2012 | Organization, Time Management
Time management and organization are paramount to your success and emotional well-being. When you feel short on time, under pressure to meet deadlines, and feel stressed, you are not able to dedicate focused time on the job; your productivity and efficiency declines, creating further stress for you and The Boss.
Think about the times when you have been most productive. You were refreshed, focused and completely on task, with little or no interruptions. To create this environment you must implement an organized time management plan.
What Will Better Time Management Do for You?
TIME MANAGEMENT BENEFITS TO THE ORGANIZATION
- Increased individual productivity, accountability and commitment
- Much more timely individual and team project completion
- More effective communication throughout the organization
- Less negative organizational stress
- Noticeably improved teamwork
TIME MANAGEMENT BENEFITS TO THE INDIVIDUAL
- More control and value from your time and your life
- Increased recognition and reward from higher personal productivity levels
- Improved relationships both on and off the job
- Reduced stress and more enjoyment of everyday life
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Mar 30, 2012 | Delegation, Executive Administration, Time Management
To focus ON your business rather than IN it!
Delegating to a virtual assistant is actually a low cost, high impact solution to your admin and concierge style needs.
May I invite you to consider if you outsourced just 4 hours per week, or 16 hours per month of the back end office details that you must currently attend on a daily basis, how much time you would gain to focus on income generating activities? As you know, when we attempt to manage some of these tasks, allotting 5-15 mins per each, it usually does take longer. Add up this time spent throughout the day and these initially small projects can equate to larger time robbers that keep you from doing what you do best, what only you can do.
There is a large ROI when you choose to delegate on a virtual basis. One of the cost savings of utilizing a virtual assistant is that you only pay for project time and there are no extraneous cost factors. What might help you to further investigate the value of a virtual assistant is a short but eye-opening exercise. For just one week, keep a log or spreadsheet of every task you work on, if you were able to complete it, the time spent …etc and at the end of the week, review your list and see how much time was spent generating revenue and how much time was spent on projects/tasks that could have been successfully delegated.
If you had spent say 15 hours on admin tasks:
• Is that truly your expertise?
• Is this where you generate income?
• What would have been a better use of your time?
• Could you have been more focused on the customer’s needs?
• Would you have had more time for business development?
• Worked ON your business rather than IN it?
Ace Concierge will:
• Increase your productivity
• Enhance your time management
• Improve your efficiency
• Give you back some of your work life balance
• Manage the back end details so you can manage your business
• Be one call, one text, one tweet away for assistance
Think about your options. Ask any questions. Review the data.
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Mar 16, 2012 | Delegation, Organization, Time Management, Uncategorized
In comes the world of technological advancements and Smartphones to aid us with work, life, and staying connected but how has it really impacted our personal and professional lives? When I am out with friends I see so many people furiously scrutinizing their phones, tweeting, texting and checking Facebook updates while ignoring the company they are with. What message does this send to each party? Is what is “inside” their phones so much more essential and stimulating than spending time with one another? Why even have face to face if the other person(s) obviously has no face value?
Remember the days gone past of personal interaction, communication and building individual relationships- being present in the moment without concerns of outside influences: who is saying what to whom or being so obsessed that you miss the “now?” We all used to engage in conversation: sharing value, insight and fostering deeper relationships without interruptions or another person observing their phone for the next message. The wonders of dining alone while in the company of others? Have you been there? Is your eye contact just a fleeting glance in between text messages?
“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
While I haven’t lost the value or benefit of Smartphones, especially as a virtual assistant, but I believe there is a fine line between being rude and discourteous while amongst friends or business colleagues affixed to their phones. I will be the first to admit that I have been guilty, but that was in the past. I have made a concerted effort to be present in the moment as I have chosen to be in the company of the group. If I had a lack of interest, I would have stayed home and merely texted.
What memories do you want to create? How do you want to cherish the time you have with others? Show them you value and respect them by putting away your phone. All of the updates, emails, and text messages will not instantaneously vanish because you didn’t check them at the moment. Life is just too short to persist on this path of seeking immediate gratification of the reading the next best thing, as we end up failing to notice or neglect the wonders of our present moments.
Make your priority the people you are with by giving them your “mind full” attention.
“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment.” Henry David Thoreau
