After a few weeks of holiday, we are back online...here is a reminder about Reputation Management for all those conducting business online.

Being aware is being prepared!
Reputation Management

The growth of business using social media is massive – the use of Internet marketing has swollen – in a fantastic way that increases online brand awareness. So who is being loyal to your business? What is your market talking about (is it you?), how is the industry comparing – state, national, global?
Growth of social networking sites enables the Internet marketer to communicate directly with their target niche audience. Despite the ease of using these readily available tools, the use of is not enough. To go one step further you need to identify what your market is saying about you/your company and others in the industry.

This basic marketing principle is another method in designing new products and services having the knowledge on the exact wants are in your market/industry.
Online tools available:

1. Google Trends: allow a user to identify real time topics and what your target niche audience searches for online.

2. Twitter Search Tool: Find out exactly what your target audience are asking. This information is like gold – to provide a new product, the designer needs to know exact needs and wants are from potential customers/consumers.

3. Reputation management tools: Conduct a Google search for reputation management – there are numerous online tools available where you can find out exactly what the market is saying about you…an example is www.marchex.com

You can also view services to compare your online reputation to that of your competitors. Some of these service vendors will provide you with recommendations on how you can increase your online persona brand.

If you are out to attract prospective customers and develop your online presence and exposure, you owe it to yourself and the financial future of your business to learn everything you can about Internet marketing.

Happy Social Networking Peeps!

A New Year

A new job? A new home..a new hairstyle?

I can help you find ways to promote yourself and find a new job - if that is what you need!

Get yourself aquainted with LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com), fill in your personal details and upload a copy of your recent CV.

Now you have done this, here are some tips and tricks:


1. Groups

Actively participate in a handful of groups related to your professional interests to expand your network. Find "Groups" on the navigation bar. From here you can search for a group to join, manage your groups or start a new one. Groups will keep you updated with industry-related information, plus they function as a forum where you can propose and answer questions, helping you become a recognizable name.

2. Company Buzz

Under "More..." choose "Application Directory". This will bring you to a page with a number of applications that you can add to your homepage and profile. The "Company Buzz" tool aggregates mentions of a company from Twitter, allowing you to discover relevant trends and comments about your company. The tool lets you customize and modify the topics to watch and displays charts to track activity. "A lot of people who use Twitter don't know where they can see what's trending, so this is a great application for that," says Eve Mayer Orsburn, CEO of Social Media Delivered, a social media consultancy.

3. Recommendations

These blurbs from your coworkers make your LinkedIn profile more dynamic and bring more credit and validity to your profile. Career experts recommend that you seek recommendations from your coworkers, former managers, direct reports and even clients. Shorter tends to be better; one or two paragraphs will suffice.

4. Events

"Not enough people use events," Orsburn says. "It's a great way to find and connect with new people." Under "More..." choose "Events". Here you can view events (including webinars) that your connections are attending, search popular events and find ones to attend. Orsburn recommends searching for a person you admire and looking through the events he or she is attending. This will give you a good sense of which conferences or events are worth attending, and will help you build more meaningful connections.

5. Advanced People Search

Try using this search method instead of the basic search when looking for new connections. The "Advanced People Search" allows you to find contacts based on geographic area, company, keyword, industry and more. Advanced People Search also gives you the option to search based on when users joined LinkedIn, which Orsburn says can be especially handy. "One of the best ways to find people who can help you is to help them first," she says. "When you use this function to find someone who's a new member to LinkedIn, you can introduce yourself, mention that you see this person is new and offer to introduce them to some of your contacts." You can find this feature under "More..." in the navigation bar.