R&R Express

I just got the new Campaign 17 Avon books in today - so if anyone would like one - please contact me - happy to send one out.  I've just been dabbling with Avon.  Sold it once before - so would like to give it a kick in the seat and get going again.  Anyone who joins my online site and places an order will get a free gift from me.  www.youravon.com/rraymor.

I have 11 canisters of Bencheley Apricot Tea - this is regular tea - not decaf - on sale now for $4.00 a canister - regularly $4.50 - go to www.cuppajoecafe.com - or you can get a box of six for $23.00.  Contact me for this deal - or check it out at the site.  Shipping is not included in the price.

Do you have a home business and need help getting word out on your site?  Maybe you sell Tupperware or Discovery Toys - for only $10.00 a year you can have your site listed on my new gift mall site www.giftmallshop.info - this site is currently listed on over 10 sites that are getting thousands of hits, also on Facebook and Ryze - great exposure - if your category isn't listed I can add additional categories to meet your needs.

So be sure to visit and get your business listed now.

How is everyone today - actually seeing some sun here for a change.

Do you have a home Office???  Every week you need to check supply inventory.  Keep products on hand so you never run out.  Especially ink cartridges.  When you put in a new ink cartridge - add it to your list so the next supply run you pick up a spare.    Nothing annoys me more than being right in the middle of a print job and no ink.  So double check on that printer paper, ink, pens, business cards, etc.  Whatever you use for your office, keep it stocked.

First Steps

1. Build an account and immediate start using Twitter Search to listen for your name, your competitor’s names, words that relate to your space. (Listening always comes first.)
2. Add a picture. ( Shel reminds us of this.) We want to see you.
3. Talk to people about THEIR interests, too. I know this doesn’t sell more widgets, but it shows us you’re human.
4. Point out interesting things in your space, not just about you.
5. Share links to neat things in your community. ( @wholefoods does this well).
6. Don’t get stuck in the apology loop. Be helpful instead. ( @jetblue gives travel tips.)
7. Be wary of always pimping your stuff. Your fans will love it. Others will tune out.
8. Promote your employees’ outside-of-work stories. ( @TheHomeDepot does it well.)
9. Throw in a few humans, like RichardAtDELL, LionelAtDELL, etc.
10. Talk about non-business, too, like @astrout and @jstorerj from Mzinga.

11. Ideas About WHAT to Tweet

    1. Instead of answering the question, “What are you doing?”, answer the question, “What has your attention?”
    2. Have more than one twitterer at the company. People can quit. People take vacations. It’s nice to have a variety.
    3. When promoting a blog post, ask a question or explain what’s coming next, instead of just dumping a link.
    4. Ask questions. Twitter is GREAT for getting opinions.
    5. Follow interesting people. If you find someone who tweets interesting things, see who she follows, and follow her.
    6. Tweet about other people’s stuff. Again, doesn’t directly impact your business, but makes us feel like you’re not “that guy.”
    7. When you DO talk about your stuff, make it useful. Give advice, blog posts, pictures, etc.
    8. Share the human side of your company. If you’re bothering to tweet, it means you believe social media has value for human connections. Point us to pictures and other human things.
    9. Don’t toot your own horn too much. (Man, I can’t believe I’m saying this. I do it all the time. – Side note: I’ve gotta stop tooting my own horn).
    10. Or, if you do, try to balance it out by promoting the heck out of others, too.

    11. Some Sanity For You

        1. You don’t have to read every tweet.
        2. You don’t have to reply to every @ tweet directed to you (try to reply to some, but don’t feel guilty).
        3. Use direct messages for 1-to-1 conversations if you feel there’s no value to Twitter at large to hear the conversation ( got this from @pistachio).
        4. Use services like Twitter Search to make sure you see if someone’s talking about you. Try to participate where it makes sense.
        5. 3rd party clients like Tweetdeck and Twhirl make it a lot easier to manage Twitter.
        6. If you tweet all day while your coworkers are busy, you’re going to hear about it.
        7. If you’re representing clients and billing hours, and tweeting all the time, you might hear about it.
        8. Learn quickly to use the URL shortening tools like TinyURL and all the variants. It helps tidy up your tweets.
        9. If someone says you’re using twitter wrong, forget it. It’s an opt out society. They can unfollow if they don’t like how you use it.
        10. Commenting on others’ tweets, and retweeting what others have posted is a great way to build community.

         

         

        The Negatives People Will Throw At You

        1. Twitter takes up time.
        2. Twitter takes you away from other productive work.
        3. Without a strategy, it’s just typing.
        4. There are other ways to do this.
        5. As Frank hears often, Twitter doesn’t replace customer service (Frank is @comcastcares and is a superhero for what he’s started.)
        6. Twitter is buggy and not enterprise-ready.
        7. Twitter is just for technonerds.
        8. Twitter’s only a few million people. (only)
        9. Twitter doesn’t replace direct email marketing.
        10. Twitter opens the company up to more criticism and griping.

         

         

        Some Positives to Throw Back

        1. Twitter helps one organize great, instant meetups (tweetups).
        2. Twitter works swell as an opinion poll.
        3. Twitter can help direct people’s attention to good things.
        4. Twitter at events helps people build an instant “backchannel.”
        5. Twitter breaks news faster than other sources, often (especially if the news impacts online denizens).
        6. Twitter gives businesses a glimpse at what status messaging can do for an organization. Remember presence in the 1990s?
        7. Twitter brings great minds together, and gives you daily opportunities to learn (if you look for it, and/or if you follow the right folks).
        8. Twitter gives your critics a forum, but that means you can study them.
        9. Twitter helps with business development, if your prospects are online (mine are).
        10. Twitter can augment customer service. (but see above)

         

        What else would you add? How are you using Twitter for your business?

        By the way, Jeremiah Owyang has a great post on this, too.

        
        

I have a new Ning Network that is free to join www.rrxpress.ning.com - there you can post sales, events, there is a chat room, groups feature and more