As a Virtual Assistant, my business model is built around being able to work with virtually anyone, anywhere. When I first started using social media for marketing, I did not focus too much on networking locally either online or in person.  However, when my husband and I started an e-commerce business, OTC Sports, part of our business model for was centrally built around reaching the local market.

OTC Sports Fleece

Around this same time, I made the acquaintance of Gary Powell with ImageWear Solutions on Twitter (@imagewear).  Gary and I exchanged a few emails as I helped him figure out some of the inner workings of using Twitter and Facebook for business.  He also reached out to my husband, Jeff, on Twitter (@OTCsports), communicating back and forth about different sports related topics. Gary is a great example of what a local business can do with social media. He reached out to other locals on Twitter and Facebook, offered a helping hand, and was always willing to help spread the word about other local businesses.  Gary doesn’t use social media to be self-promoting, he uses it for connecting with people.

When the time came for us to order promotional apparel for OTC Sports, Gary was the first person we called upon.

OTC Sports Beanie

Completely knowledgeable about promotional products and apparel, Gary made the process easy and seamless. He was even kind enough to help push the order through to meet a deadline for us. We were thrilled with the items ImageWear had made for us. The quality and workmanship was outstanding.  And what’s more, is that we have gone back for more as I ordered some beanie caps as a Christmas gift for my husband with the OTC Sports logo on them.

This is just one example of how businesses can use social media to networking locally and get seen, get heard.

Just a short and to the point post that will actually be a list of references for Facebook. You might be surprised how much information you can on Facebook about using Facebook!

• Facebook Marketing Page: A page run by Facebook which provide tips for using Facebook for marketing and brand loyalty.

• Facebook Pages Product Guide: Light overview (PDF) document by Facebook about what pages are, how they work and the various elements that make up a fan page.

• Facebook Promotions Guidelines: Facebook’s guidelines for promoting your Facebook page outside of Facebook. Includes an easily downloadable (Facebook approved) graphic to place on your website to help visitors click through to your Facebook page.

• Facebook For Non-Profits: A fan page that serves as a resource for non-profits and other organizations on Facebook who work towards social good. Often they highlight other non-profit fan pages or will post news about brands or companies who are using Facebook for social good.

• Facebook Fan Pages: Another page administered by Facebook where they share news, best practices and examples for administrators of Facebook pages.

• Facebook’s Official Privacy Policy: Facebook’s official policy regarding your privacy on the platform.

• Facebook’s Blog: This is another good place to find all the latest announcements and news about Facebook. Facebook often posts about upcoming changes and events there before they happen.

Of course, working with an experienced social media virtual assistant who is already aware of these resources and keeps tabs on the latest happenings with Facebook can help you navigate using Facebook efficiently and effectively.

Image via Wikipedia

Facebook recently changed not only how news and updates are delivered to users, but they’ve also implemented a formula for deciding which news is delivered. When you log into Facebook, you will most likely first see “News Feed.” (Unless you’ve moved Status Updates to the top of your left side menu, in which case, you will see just the Status Updates from your friends.) What shows up in your News Feed is determined by Facebook based on their own formula.  The News Feed typically will include content from your Friends and from the Fan Pages that you belong to. However, unless you click on view “Live Feed,” you are only going to see the content that Facebook has decided you might be interested in.

This means Facebook now takes into account what Fan Pages your friends like, or what Fan Page stories they are commenting on, which fan pages you interact with frequently and which fan pages you visit most often.

What does this mean for Facebook Fan Page Administrators?

It means that engagement and interaction on your Fan Page just became much more important if you expect to get your Fan Page to show up in your fans’ News Feeds. No longer can you just post on your Facebook and expect that it will get seen by your fans by showing up in their News Feed. It will still show up in their Live Feed, but the Live Feed is not the default and we have no idea how many users are actually moving from their News Feed to the Live Feed.

Fan Page Administrators will now have to work to earn a spot in their Fan’s News Feeds. While this might seem like this approach works against small businesses and works more for big brands with a huge fan base and tons of interaction, it really just means that Facebook is working towards keeping content in user’s news feeds that is relevant and interesting to the user. Fan Page should be places where fans come to interact with a brand or business. It’s never been the intention that Fan Pages should just be advertising billboards who can blast out marketing messages to anyone who becomes a fan. As a social networking platform, Facebook is a place where people go to network and socialize either with people, brands or business which they have *chosen* to interact with.

Next up…How to Keep Your Fans Engaged.

Image by J.Rio via Flickr

A new report out by Wetpaint and the Alitmeter Group showed that companies with the greatest engagement in social media in the past year grew their revenues by 18% while companies that were the least engage showed about a 6% decrease in revenue. The study included the top 100 brands and include such social media channels as blogs, wikis, Twitter, Facebook and discussion forums. Not surprisingly, the top three brands with the highest levels of engagement included Starbucks, Dell and Google.

Where it gets interesting is that the analysis revealed that these companies had dedicated teams of people who were actively engaged in using the variety of social media channels. WebProNews reports that:

Basically, it shows that it pays (literally) to have a team working full time on engaging with customers via social media. Even if that team consists of one person, it means they will not be distracted by other tasks and can give the social channel the attention required for it to make a significant impact.

What this means for the small business owner who may not be able to afford nor need a “dedicated” staff of employees to help them engage with their customers using social media, but they do have the ability to work with a Social Media Virtual Assistant and make an impact on their overall online visibility and more importantly, their bottom line. Social media becomes an effective marketing channel when it is used as part of a strategy and with continuous and ongoing efforts. The small business owner or entrepreneur who may not have the time or the capacity to get started and maintain their social media/social networking initiatives can benefit from being able to work with a Social Media Virtual Assistant.

By working with a Social Media Virtual Assistant, small business owners are able to contract for just the number of hours needed plus a SMVA is well versed in how to get them up and running with their social media in a minimal amount of time. There is also the added benefit that working with a SMVA over time will make them familiar with your business, your style and your goals which means they essentially become a partner with you in your social media marketing efforts.

What are your concerns in getting started or maintaining your social media efforts as a means to connect and engage with your customers or network with colleagues?

It’s a concept that’s been around since the beginning of time. Using the web to create your tribe with a purpose and a goal is much easier now with Web 2.0. Networks like Twitter and Facebook are prime examples of how this is taking place. It’s just a matter of identifying who the leader is or becoming the leader yourself. Twitter is based on who’s following who, but in reality, there are leaders embedded into that whole premise. Inevitably and not surprisingly, there are those within each industry who simply must be followed if you want to know the very latest of what they are saying and doing.

Which will you be– are you a leader or a follower? How will you build your tribe to get your message out and your goals accomplished?

A Virtual Assistant is a skilled administrative professional and entrepreneur who provides off-site administrative assistance and specialized business services from their home office. Because Virtual Assistants are contracted services providers then there are no extra employee related expenses, no benefits to pay for, and no overhead cost such as those associated with having an in-house employee.

It is estimated that small business owners spend as much as 40-60% of their time on administrative tasks. Working with a Virtual Assistant is one way that small business owners can minimize the costs of their administrative overhead while not sacrificing service or compromising their business. A Virtual Assistant can keep your business running efficiently and effectively while creating more time for you to focus your core business tasks and income generating activities.

Continuing to market and advertise your business during a recession will be the key to staying connected with your customer base. Business analysts often recommend that companies not reduce their marketing or advertising activities during an economic downturn. However, you may want need to consider lower cost alternatives for your marketing and this is where a Virtual Assistant can help you. Many Virtual Assistants have knowledge and expertise to help the small business owner or solo entrepreneur with marketing activities, especially with online marketing ideas such as setting up and maintaining a blog. A blog is an inexpensive way to provide fresh, new content about your business online. Further, a blog linked with your website can help to improve your visibility with the search engines.

Social networking and Web 2.0 has quickly become one of best ways to get known and stay known online. Virtual Assistants are familiar with most of the social and business networking sites because many of them utilize these sites for their own business needs. Since Virtual Assistants can work with clients from anywhere in the world, the establishment and maintenance of their online persona is vital to the success of their business. This makes them the perfect resource for you to use to set up and maintain your online social and business network profile and persona.

Staying connected with your current and existing customers is also important. Your current customers are already familiar with your business, services, or products so showing them the added value that you bring will help you maintain that customer base. A Virtual Assistant can help you to send out personalized cards or make phone calls on your behalf to let customers know that you appreciate their business. Setting up, revitalizing or maintaining a newsletter is a low-cost way to continue marketing and keep in touch with your customers. Typically, Virtual Assistants have the training and experience to do this either in a hard copy format or for distribution via email.

Economic analysts suggest that one of the best ways to ride out a recession is to remain flexible. Small business owners can stay flexible by thinking outside of the traditional way of doing business and embracing the technology available that makes outsourcing their administrative tasks to a Virtual Assistant a cost-effective and time efficient option.