While the entire article is really good, I absolutely love her last paragraph

To grow your follow list on Twitter, be selfish, tweet about what has your attention and follow those that fit your criteria. It may take you a few months, but your business will be rewarded

In Project Social Media, one of the first things we do (and I consider it essential to your social media success), is define your target market and your goals for social media. If you don’t know who you want to connect with, you may as well stay home. I hear from clients that they feel they should follow anyone that follows them. They say it falls under whole reciprocity thing in social media.

I disagree. For one thing, there are a horde of spammers on Twitter, and following them will just clog up your News Feed and invite auto-DM’s. For another, someone that you share no common personal or business interests with will be very difficult to develop a relationship with, and probably be mutually pointless.

Myself, I frequently unfollow people that aren’t related to my goals with social media. I often don’t follow someone back if they follow me. But the people I choose to follow, I develop relationships with. And that’s what makes you successful on social media. So as Leesa says, define your criteria, and stick by it. Whether it might seem unreasonable or rude to someone else, doesn’t matter!

Read the full article here:

By Leesa Barnes

In August 2009, I became part of the five figure Twitter club. For the first time since I sent my very first tweet in 2007, the number of people that I’m following and who are following me on Twitter climbed to just over 10,000.

As I posted about this feat on Twitter, I got many questions from people wondering how I went from 13 followers in 2007 to 10,000 2 ½ years later.

To some, taking just over two years to gain 10,000 followers may seem rather slow, especially considering all the various tools out there where you can buy a few hundred followers per day. For me, I value quality over quantity and I’ve been rewarded with thousands of dollars worth of sales from those who follow me on Twitter.

So, how can you authentically grow your Twitter lists from a few hundred to a few thousand? Here are just a few of my tips.

First, I had a “me” attitude when I tweeted. In other words, I tweeted about the things that had my attention. I found that when I tweeted telling people what was interesting to me, Twitter became very easy to use.

I tweeted from conferences, I tweeted while traveling, I tweeted while sitting at the hairdressers. Whatever I found interesting, funny or odd, I would share it with my followers. That’s the beauty of Twitter – you can blather on about your interests and only those who find it captivating will interact with you.

Second, I completely ignored the numbers. Whether I had 13 people following me or 300, it really didn’t matter. What was important was the interactivity of my audience. I was more concerned about people NOT responding to me, than whether or not I lost a follower or gained 10 more. Once I let go of the numbers, Twitter became a true social networking tool.

Next, I followed people who fit my criteria. I didn’t follow someone else’s formula. Instead, I put together my own requirements and followed those who met it. So, what was my criteria? The person had to have a picture posted, had to have tweets sent within the last 72 hour period, and had to tweet using their real name. Yup, that’s it.

I was very unforgiving with spammers. If someone’s first contact with me includes a link to a squeeze page, free gifts, and offer, or a video extolling the services of their new MLM, I quickly block them.

Some spammers unfollow you as soon as you follow them so they can add more people to their list. Typically, if there is a difference of a few hundred people between your follower and following lists, it means you have quite of number of spammers following you and you’ll need to clean them out. So, once every 30-days, I use a service called Twitter Karma to cull my follow list.

To grow your follow list on Twitter, be selfish, tweet about what has your attention and follow those that fit your criteria. It may take you a few months, but your business will be rewarded

Leesa Barnes is an award winning blogger and critically acclaimed author who helps businesses get active using social media in 3 simple steps. To learn how you can become Marketing Fit, visit http://www.marketingfit.com to get your complimentary to get your complimentary kit called the Marketing Fit Success Kit containing a social media checklist, mindmap, MP3 file and a complimentary subscription to the Marketing Fit ezine.

As a Facebook Page owner, you can implement the Fan Box widget on your own website to gain more fans and share your Facebook updates. Implementing requires pasting just 4 lines of code.

The widget currently has 3 components: “Button”, “Stream” (optional), and “Fans List” (optional). The widget can fit in a space as small as 200 x 64 (just the “button”) or offer a richer experience including recent posts and other fans at a full 600 x 544 pixels (width adjustable from 200 - 600 pixels).

So what does that mean, exactly? You can embed a widget onto your website or blog that shows recent activity on your Fan Page. This lets people interested in your site have another way to get access to your great content.

I think this is a phenomenal addition, because I see fan pages crash and burn too often, because the owner doesn’t want to continue re-inviting their friends (since they don’t want to spam them), but aren’t sure how to get more fans for the page, and have it become a thriving community. This is one step towards that - people on your site will know you have a fan page (since they’re sometimes hard to find on your Facebook profile). And if they see activity or interesting content there, they’ll think about joining. So hop on this new tool now, and start building that Fan Page up!

Want an example? Check it out on Coca Cola’s site:

Here are some more tips for optimizing your Facebook fan page so it works even harder for you!

1. The more active your Facebook fan page is (through comments, photos, wall posts, etc. by you and your fans), the better it will do. A great way to make sure that you have activity on your page on a regular basis is by defining a publishing schedule for the page. Updating the page may not stay at the top of your mind like updating your blog might, so mark on a calendar how often you’d like to add new content to the page. It can be as simple as posting a link to your blog post every time you publish, adding a link to an interesting article or helpful site as you come across them, or adding photos of new products or from events you attended, but the more you plan to publish, the more successful and active the page will be.

2. Create an easy to remember URL for your page. There are a couple different ways to do this -

• Through the Memorable Web Address Facebook application
• Through a customized URL shortener like tinyurl.com or bit.ly
• Or, for the more tech-savvy, through a redirect on your site (you can visit How to make a Redirect for Affiliate Links for instructions)

3. Display different content for Fans and Non-Fans

This is a great tip from Mashable, and they give complete instructions on setting this up through the Facebook FBML code (sounds hard but only takes about 5 minutes).

1. Twitter is one of the most active social media sites, and it can be easy to spend lots of time there during the day. But if you run one of the many (great!) Twitter clients like TweetDeck or Twhirl, you might notice that it’s distracting, as well as possibly slowing down your computer a bit. For quick updates, try installing the Twitter Gadget for Gmail. While it may not have all the functionality of other Twitter clients, it lets you reply, retweet, or post an update quickly, and get back to business, all without leaving your email inbox.

2. Sharing Content - Looking for some content to share quickly through your Twitter Gadget? Try installing the Delicious Gadget. Essentially, you see a list of current links you’ve bookmarked, which make for easy reference for your social media efforts or to send via email.  Or, for Firefox users, you can install Google Reader as a sidebar in your Firefox window. Then, you can quickly grab a link to an article to share on Twitter, or you can share through Google, and again spread valuable content quickly without getting distracted by a new window.

3. Facebook is the definitely one of the most popular social networking sites, and I imagine many Gmail users have a account in Facebook. The Facebook Gadget for Gmail will allow you to see your friend requests, friend updates, photo updates and more within the comfort of your Gmail inbox

4. FriendFeed is a social networking aggregator that combines data from various social networking sites into a single place, allowing you to keep an eye on everyone you follow without having to visit individual sites. If you are a Friendfeed user, you can easily view your update streams in the Gmail sidebar with the Friendfeed Gadget.

4. Want more? - There are even gadgets for Digg and Flickr.

These widgets and gadgets are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to increasing your productivity within Gmail. If you’re looking for more, beyond just social networking and social media, check out these great resources:

14 Add-On’s that make Gmail more awesomely productive

How to make Gmail your ultimate productivity center

Don’t have the time or know-how to get these set up on your Gmail account? This is a great task for a social media virtual assistant to work on for you!

Facebook describes Fan Pages as “a customizable presence for an organization, product, or public personality to join the conversation with Facebook users. The Page focuses on the stream of content posted by the Page administrators.

By leveraging the real connections between friends on Facebook, a Page lets Fans become
brand advocates. Posts by the Page will start to appear in News Feed, giving Pages a
stronger voice to reach their Fans.”

To start your Facebook page -  go to the Applications Bar at the bottom left of your window once you are logged in to your Facebook account and select Page Manager:

You’ll then select Pages

Then Create Page

Facebook will then walk you through setting up the page, starting with your industry, then name. It’s never a bad idea to use keywords here, so you might try something like “Chicago Realtor® Rich Rogala”.

Once you do that, you will have created your page, and you’ll be taken to a window to customize it.

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Some “Best Practices” when setting up your new Facebook fan page

Tip: Configure your Page’s “Settings” to allow more participation.

You want to configure your Page’s Settings to allow and encourage maximum participation, so go to “Settings” which is directly under the “Share” button on your page and:

View Settings:
1) Default View for Wall -  -Posts by Page and Fans
2) Default Landing Tab for Everyone Else  -  Wall
3) Check  -Auto-Expand Comments

Fan Permissions:
Check  -Fans can write on the wall
Check  -Allow fans to post photos
Check  -Allow fans to post videos
Check  -Allow fans to post links

Tip: Use a standard picture or logo as your Page picture.

Using the same photo or logo on all your social networking profile is a great way to brand yourself. People will recognize your logo from Facebook on Twitter, YouTube, MySpace, Flickr, ActiveRain etc. before they even see your profile name, so try to be consistent.

Tip: Put “http://” before any links you use in your “Updates”.

“Updates” are kind of like e-mails that you can send to your fans inside of Facebook. Be sure that you have the “http://” in front of all website URLs (i.e. http://www.projectsocialmedia.com) that you list in your Update. This will make the link automatically hyperlinked so that individuals can visit the website with one simple click. You’ll get fewer clicks if people have to copy and paste it into their browser so you are losing a valuable opportunity to increase your website traffic via Facebook Updates.

Tip: Utilize Facebook applications to add more information and interactivity to your page.

Adding applications like Video, Flickr, RSS, or Profile HTML gives you lots of options to share property videos, have your new Flickr photos added to the page, have your blog posts added to your page, or even put up an html opt-in form to let people subscribe to your ezine/newsletter.

Tip: Invite People!

Don’t forget that the purpose of this is to gain more exposure, so invite your Facebook friends through the “Suggest to Friends” link right underneath your picture. Add a “Become a Fan!” button or link on your website, on your blog, or even in your email signature.

For more information on utilizing Pages, check out Facebook’s full Guide to Facebook Fan Page.

What is Twitter?

Twitter is called a micro-blogging platform. Essentially, it works the same way as a blog. But there are two main differences:

1. Unlike blogging on your own blog, you are blogging on their site, and your posts, or “tweets” join the public stream.
2. You are limited to 140 characters. While that doesn’t sound like much, you can say a lot in that space. And it certainly keeps you on topic!

Here’s an example:

The Lingo:

Tweets: your 140 character post

Followers: the people that choose to subscribe to your updates. They are called friends in other services, but on Twitter, they’re followers. You can “follow” other peoples updates by clicking the “Follow” button underneath their photo. You can follow them without them following you, and vice versa, but many people will mutually follow you as long as you seem fairly interesting.

Tweeps, Tweeple, Twitterverse: individual or groups of people using Twitter

Retweet, RT: reposting another persons tweet to share something interesting with your followers or help someone expand the reach of their message.

Reply: Replying to someone’s tweet by including an @ symbol and their username. It also lets you nudge someone to let them know you mentioned them, or to let your followers find another interesting person to follow.

Direct Message, DM: A private message to another user. This does not show up in your regular Twitter stream. The person must be following you in order for you to be able to direct message them.

And the biggest question of all…

How do I use this in my business?

The nice thing about Twitter, is that you can use it at whatever level you like. It can be mostly personal, and let you connect and develop relationships with other likeminded folks. It can be mostly business, and provide insights into the market, links to new listings, etc. Or, it can be a mix of both.

For me, I think the mix is the best way to approach Twitter for businesses. You share your knowledge, your business updates, what’s going on in your business life so that people know what you do. And you connect with them on a personal level so that when the time comes, you’re the Twitter friend they think of as the industry Go-To person.

So a great way to do this is to get involved with other peoples’ conversations. They mentioned their team is in the big game? Cheer with them, or “tease” them gently if you are on the other side. Someone mentions a hobby of theirs that you enjoy also? Recommend a good store for supplies, or a great article you read on the subject. They post a link to an article? Comment back via Twitter on your thoughts.

In Project Social Media, we delve deeply into the wide variety of Twitter tools that are out there to help you create searches for keywords, find appropriate people to follow, and generally increase Twitters’ potential even more.

But for now, if you haven’t signed up already, start there. Right now, the Twitter people search can be hit or miss, so you’ll either have to import your email list, or just use the search.twitter.com function to search for keywords or names that you’re looking for.

Oh, and feel free to follow us at www.twitter.com/RebeccaZwar and www.twitter.com/ConsistentIdeas

The truth is that there are many tasks you’ll come across in your web-based business that do not fall within your area of expertise. The right virtual assistant will get you set up, going and be on to the next task in the time it will take you to read the FAQ’s! Think of them as your virtual help-desk for developing, implementing and marketing your internet presence

1. Take a look at your current time spent on certain social media marketing related tasks? Do you find yourself losing hours on Facebook a day? While you may enjoy it, this could be a great first step to outsourcing, as you’ll immediately be more productive.

2. What parts of your online marketing strategy do you dislike? If there are things you know you should be doing, like looking at your analytics, but find you’re always putting them off, outsource them. You’re feeling guilt over a task you don’t like, instead of feeling positive about all the tasks in your business you do enjoy. This can immediately affect your perceived happiness/stress levels.

3. Or, if you find that you really enjoy social marketing, and aren’t getting your business must-do’s done (like bookkeeping, billing, scheduling, etc.) find a VA that can assist with those annoying tasks so you’re free to do the tasks you enjoy.

4. Find a VA by referral - the beauty of social networking is that it allows you easy access to all sorts of people that may be using similar tools as you. You can go to them for recommendations on programs, services and people. And this gives you more peace of mind as you start outsourcing projects.

5. If you’re so overwhelmed that you don’t even know where to start with outsourcing, find one tasks that stands alone (something like getting out your newsletter). You can send over your template, article, and site logins and know the task will get finished. That alone can help you see the forest for the trees and start to delegate more.

6. Know that sometimes you just have to stop and take the time to delegate, even if you feel too busy. It’s better for your peace of mind now, and you’ll never get to it later. So just do it!

7. Finally, remember that having a more objective perspective on your business can do wonders as well. A VA with good business sense can help streamline systems, suggest areas for improvement, strategize your marketing and generally provide you balance when things get crazy.

The best way to approach this is as an opportunity for you to learn more about your customers and for them to learn more about you and your brand.

Here are several great tips for doing so, from Jason Baer, at Connect and Convert:

1. Collect Profile Data in Subscription Forms

Offer your email subscribers the option of including their Twitter name on your subscription form. Something like:

“We care about our customers. Can we follow you on Twitter?” Please provide your Twitter name, and we’ll follow you ASAP. (We’re at @companyname, by the way)

2. Promote Social Media Outposts in Welcome Messages

When you send your welcome message after initial subscription (you ARE sending welcome messages, aren’t you?), include links to your various social media outposts. Carefully track which links get clicked, as it will give you an indication of which are most popular among your customers.

3. Social Media-Only Offers

If you really want to get a handle on which social media venues your customers prefer, and in what intensity, create an email that includes links to special offers or promotion codes that are shown only on your social media profile pages. Something like: “We’ve got incredible offers available on items we think you’d love. For details and promotion codes, visit us online on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter”

Check out the recommended post: Do’s and Don’ts of Social Networking

Chris Brogan, who is a very active blogger and Twitter-er, had some great tips for Facebook as well. I think one of the best when it comes to building relationships is adding a line or two when you request adding someone as a “Friend”. This goes such a long way towards good-will, and really increases the possibility that they will approve the request.

And of course, his “Stop Spamming Me” tip should be (but unfortunately isn’t always) common sense. As he says “The rules of permission marketing that exist in the regular email world apply doubly or triply here”.

So if you use Facebook, what Facebook “sins” can’t you stand? What little “extra’s” do you appreciate from people reaching out to you?