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Reducing the Noise

One problem with the current social media soup is the high noise to relevant signal ratio. The most effective way to deal with this problem is to find accepted and popular experts in your field of interest and subscribe to their feeds. This will lead you to relevant online communities from which you can find and share pertinent advice and draw new customers. This approach will work much better than broad monitoring of many social media services because it will greatly reduce the noise you will need browse and therefore, the time you need to spend building your online reputation. Click to Tweet the Article
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Eliminating Waste and Ageism from My Writing

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In today's society... in today's busy world... our current technological society... and so on. I've written phrases like that more than once. And I've stopped because: 1. These phrases don't add any value to my writing. If I'm writing about the past, I'll say, "In the past..." or some such thing. Similarly if I'm writing about the future. Otherwise isn't the perception it's current? 2. Lots of people don't know a different society , don't remember a time before computers. Technology is hardly new. Anyone over 50 like me has actually been using it longer than anyone younger. Reserve space in your writing for words that really count, that add meaning to your writing. Eliminate what's left. Make sure every word works. Your readers will thank you for it and show you by coming back to read more. photo by Street matt / Flickr Click to Tweet this Article
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Complex to Simple: Images for Social Media Posts

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Rocket Science Version The sizing of images for the various social marketing platforms, post types, and headers is becoming a bit complex. In fact, it would be a very practical way to teach equivalent fractions and geometry in Grade 9. But if you're long out of school and want all the details, get them on Twirp's Cheat Sheet: The ONLY social media image sizes you need to know . Squares and Rectangles The diagram below shows a very simplified rule of thumb for matching image shapes to social media posts on common platforms. Size Matters While bigger is better, it often means a larger file size and then icky compression stuff happens and... well, you've probably seen it on other people's feeds. I suggest your squares be a minimum of 600px by 600px; and 1200px by 1200px is about the largest you'll need. For rectangles, use minimum 600px by 300px, or maximum 1200px by 600px. originally published in Work Better, Not Harder newsletter August 31, 2017 Clic...
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Bragging Writes

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You'll see in this newsletter that success stories make great marketing content. There's positive emotion around a good story - we like to read them and share them. It's a bonus that they come in many different forms: testimonials, case studies, photos of happy customers or completed work, statistics, even video. Success stories can also be assembled in a lot of different ways. For example: written by you, or by your client spontaneous (such as on Twitter), or solicited about your products and services, or about your business itself (for example, a 10 year anniversary) short or long (useful for different purposes) numerical or graphic (such as statistics) Don't stop at collecting testimonials. There are many more ways to tell your story. originally published in Work Better, Not Harder March 30, 2016 Click to Tweet this Article
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25 Ways to Help Another Small Business Owner

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This list was inspired by 25 Ways to Help a Fellow Human Being Today and co-authored by my Twitter colleague @LinosVersion . When we help each other, we all grow stronger! Give them a testimonial. Make it social and do it on LinkedIn or Twitter. Tell someone about their business and products/services. Shop at their store, online or off. Offer some free advice or constructive feedback. Offer to mentor a newbie. Check out futurpreneur.ca . Welcome new business owners to your community - stop by with donuts. Send an inspirational or congratulatory card by snail mail. Introduce two business owners who may benefit from the connection. Promote 'Shop Local' and feature local small businesses. Write a blog about something you learned from another business owner and give them a shout-out. Put on a free learning event, such as a lunch and learn, and invite local business owners. On Facebook, share their business page with a shout-out. Retweet messages from small busine...
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How much is too much?

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And equally important, how much is too little? Too much and too little can both be bad when it comes to e-marketing. People ask me how often they should send out their newsletter and I always answer the same thing - as often as you can bring value to your subscribers . And if you can do that every single day, yippee! I myself subscribe to 4 daily newsletters. Back to reality... of course, there's work involved and that might have an impact on how often you send too. I do strongly believe that you need to send something at least once a month to be having any impact. Here's a general rule of thumb: more frequent = smaller amounts of content, and vice versa (Now remember, rules are made to be broken so perhaps I should call this a guideline instead.) Of course, social media is a great example of the 'more frequent' strategy. Aside from how much content, you'll also want to consider the type of content in relation to the frequency...
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Why is List Building so Important for Small Businesses?

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Your contact list should be the most valuable asset your small business has, like a privately owned gold mine . Once you have added someone to your contact list, you can create more chances to get them as a client or fan, sell them a product or service, and get a referral or testimonial. The possibilities open up. How many times have you stifled a good idea because you didn't have an interested audience waiting to hear from you? photo by Merlijn Hoek / Flickr Click to Tweet this Article
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5 More Inspired Ways to Develop Content Ideas

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Here is more inspiration as a follow-up to  5 Inspired Ways to Develop Content Ideas . That list had suggestions that you can do in minutes while sitting at your desk. This list of inspiring quotes requires you to get out from behind your desk. “Libraries store the energy that fuels the imagination. They open up windows to the world and inspire us to explore and achieve, and contribute to improving our quality of life. Libraries change lives for the better.”  - Sidney Sheldon #1. Swing by your local library and run your hand along a row of books. Enjoy the relaxing atmosphere and poke around for ideas by scanning book titles in the stacks. “I've found that many of the greatest ideas surface in bars because that's where many people cultivate inspiration.”  - Herb Kelleher #2. Off you go to your neighbourhood bar ... or coffee shop or... . Take a notepad and pen. Listen to what people are talking about. Ask people for their opinion on something about your busi...
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It's Raining Content!

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I had planned on calling this article ‘Feeding the Content Monster’ but when I checked Google, there were already many articles titled that. Conveniently, that conundrum leads right to the topic I want to discuss. There are a lot of us now - content marketers , that is. According to an article titled ‘Content marketing goes mainstream’ (link is broken, sorry!), a whole heck of a lot more now than at this time last year. Where is all that content coming from? Well, many of the ideas come from reading others’ content. In fact, that’s one of the top tips you’ll find content marketers sharing: search the web and see what other people are writing about . When you think about it that way, doesn't it start to seem like a big machine feeding on itself? Much of the content we create is being read by other content creators, especially in the B2B world, and used for inspiration to create more content. Surely the frenzy has to end somewhere. I find it hard to look forward and imagin...
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4 List Building Mistakes Beginners Make

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Save yourself time, money and stress by avoiding these common mistakes. They can have a big impact on your success. #1. Having your sign-up in only one place The more places people see your sign-up form, the more subscribers you'll get. Make sure it's in multiple places on your website, including on a dedicated page. Have a call to action with a link to your sign-up page on your blog, your social media profiles, and in your email signature. Regularly promote your sign-up page via social media posts. #2. Putting too many calls to action on your sign-up page People get confused by too many options. Don't ask them to sign up for your list, buy your latest product, like your Facebook page, and check out your newest blog post... all at the same time. Explain exactly what you want them to do, how to do it, and what button to click next. Don't assume everyone recognizes a hyperlink - say "click here". #3. Not telling subscribers exactly wha...
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