Some of her tips include:
- Step away from the computer
- Type your reply but don't send it. Save it as a draft or print it and tear it up instead.
- Give the sender the benefit of the doubt.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Step away from the computer: how to react to scathing emails
Today I saw this article on Twitter and had to pass it along. In this article titled "Do you get email rage?," Nance Guilmartin writes about that feeling we all get...the urge to immediately reply to an email we deem unfair, cruel or downright wrong. Guilmartin tells us how to avoid snapping back a snippy reply and, in so doing, saving our jobs, relationships or reputations.
Some of her tips include:
Some of her tips include:
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Manage Social Media with One Tool
Social media is one of the best new ways to deliver your marketing message - and to show your business personality - to your target market. With so many tools like Facebook and Twitter to use though, how do you manage them all? How do you make time to do it all?
I use HootSuite, a free Twitter-related application that allows me to set up my various accounts and to write, manage and measure my marketing messages with one tool. It currently works hand-in-hand with Twitter, Facebook, Facebook pages, LinkedIn, Ping.fm and Word Press. You can even schedule messages to go out automatically - so you don't skip a beat when you're out of the office!
And what's even better, this tool is FREE! I love it - check it out and watch how easily you can transform your social media marketing plan into a manageable, measurable task.
Virtually Yourz,
Dana Neuts
Follow me on Twitter: VirtuallyYourz
Find me on Facebook, Biznik and LinkedIn
I use HootSuite, a free Twitter-related application that allows me to set up my various accounts and to write, manage and measure my marketing messages with one tool. It currently works hand-in-hand with Twitter, Facebook, Facebook pages, LinkedIn, Ping.fm and Word Press. You can even schedule messages to go out automatically - so you don't skip a beat when you're out of the office!
And what's even better, this tool is FREE! I love it - check it out and watch how easily you can transform your social media marketing plan into a manageable, measurable task.
Virtually Yourz,
Dana Neuts
Follow me on Twitter: VirtuallyYourz
Find me on Facebook, Biznik and LinkedIn
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Some of my favorite free Twitter tools
With so many social media tools out there, it is hard to know which tools are worth using and which aren't. Here are three of my favorite Twitter tools, and all are FREE. They are applications created by nonTwitter entities, but they work hand-in-hand with Twitter. I have found them to be easy to use and big time-savers.
1) Social Oomph: If you have more than one Twitter account, this tool is a great one to use for managing all of those accounts. You can auto-follow, auto-unfollow, send a DM to all followers, screen followers (accept, ignore, spam or block) and more. I have 10+ accounts so this is a real time-saver to be able to ignore all of my Twitter emails (I auto-filter them into a special Twitter folder in my inbox) and then view all new followers 3 days a week (M, W, F). If I skip a few days, Social Oomph automatically accepts all followers after 72 hours so no one gets ignored. The tool I use is free, but there are upgrades for a fee.
2) Hoot Suite: Colleague Kirk Davis (GRCC's Small Business Assistance Center) told me about this gem. Again, I can manage multiple social media accounts in one place. It manages a variety of social media - including Facebook - but I primarily use it for Twitter. Here I can manage my tweets, scheduling them in advance. I choose the account, type my tweet, "shrink" my URL if needed, and choose the date and time to go out. I can even get an email confirmation that the tweet was sent. Want to delegate this task? You can add users to your account, so others can manage your Twitter accounts for you. The tools I use on Hoot Suite are free.
3) Twellow: There are dozens if not hundreds of Twitter search tools out there. I use different ones for different reasons. One of my newest (and, of course, free) favorites is Twellow. You can search for keywords under a variety of pre-selected categories. For example, for my iLoveKent.net site, I want to focus on Twitter users who are in the Puget Sound area. I click on a specific area of interest like real estate, dining or shopping, and then type in "Seattle" in the keyword area or I can select "Kent, Washington" in the keyword box and choose all categories. Twellow returns a list of Twitter followers that match those criteria. If I'm logged into my free Twellow account, I can follow them right there on the spot! This is a great - FREE - way to narrow your followers' list to those who are most likely to fit into your target market.
Have a favorite Twitter tool? Post your comments here. I'd love to hear your suggestions! In particular, I'd be interested to hear how Twitter users screen and purge their followers' lists.
Virtually Yourz,
Dana Neuts
Follow me on Twitter: VirtuallyYourz
Find me on Facebook, Biznik and LinkedIn
1) Social Oomph: If you have more than one Twitter account, this tool is a great one to use for managing all of those accounts. You can auto-follow, auto-unfollow, send a DM to all followers, screen followers (accept, ignore, spam or block) and more. I have 10+ accounts so this is a real time-saver to be able to ignore all of my Twitter emails (I auto-filter them into a special Twitter folder in my inbox) and then view all new followers 3 days a week (M, W, F). If I skip a few days, Social Oomph automatically accepts all followers after 72 hours so no one gets ignored. The tool I use is free, but there are upgrades for a fee.
2) Hoot Suite: Colleague Kirk Davis (GRCC's Small Business Assistance Center) told me about this gem. Again, I can manage multiple social media accounts in one place. It manages a variety of social media - including Facebook - but I primarily use it for Twitter. Here I can manage my tweets, scheduling them in advance. I choose the account, type my tweet, "shrink" my URL if needed, and choose the date and time to go out. I can even get an email confirmation that the tweet was sent. Want to delegate this task? You can add users to your account, so others can manage your Twitter accounts for you. The tools I use on Hoot Suite are free.
3) Twellow: There are dozens if not hundreds of Twitter search tools out there. I use different ones for different reasons. One of my newest (and, of course, free) favorites is Twellow. You can search for keywords under a variety of pre-selected categories. For example, for my iLoveKent.net site, I want to focus on Twitter users who are in the Puget Sound area. I click on a specific area of interest like real estate, dining or shopping, and then type in "Seattle" in the keyword area or I can select "Kent, Washington" in the keyword box and choose all categories. Twellow returns a list of Twitter followers that match those criteria. If I'm logged into my free Twellow account, I can follow them right there on the spot! This is a great - FREE - way to narrow your followers' list to those who are most likely to fit into your target market.
Have a favorite Twitter tool? Post your comments here. I'd love to hear your suggestions! In particular, I'd be interested to hear how Twitter users screen and purge their followers' lists.
Virtually Yourz,
Dana Neuts
Follow me on Twitter: VirtuallyYourz
Find me on Facebook, Biznik and LinkedIn
Monday, January 4, 2010
Why a press release?
People often ask me why press releases are important. The primary goal is to attract media attention and to stay top-of-mind with potential customers. The second goal is to drive traffic to your site so web visitors can learn more about you.
Any time I do a press release, I use both channels for announcing my client's product launch, fundraising campaign, event, business anniversary or other noteworthy news. First, I create a media list specific to my client, the industry and the market. Second, I distribute the press release to both free and paid online press release distribution sites. There are dozens, if not hundreds, to choose from so I try them out to see who gives me the most for the least. Some charge a fee, others do not, and results - specifically SEO - will vary depending on the service. Here are a few I like:
PRWeb.com (paid service)
PRLog.org (free)
Free-Press-Release.com (free and premium)
i-Newswire.com (free and premium)
1888PressRelease.com (free and premium)
To determine which services you like best, take a current press release and submit it to each of the services. After 2 or 3 days, do a Google search on the client name or news item to see where it ranks in the search engines. If you've done a good job, you should see your press release listed on page 1 of Google's results.
Questions? Comments? Email me or post something here.
Virtually Yourz,
Dana Neuts
Follow me on Twitter: VirtuallyYourz
Find me on Facebook, Biznik and LinkedIn
Any time I do a press release, I use both channels for announcing my client's product launch, fundraising campaign, event, business anniversary or other noteworthy news. First, I create a media list specific to my client, the industry and the market. Second, I distribute the press release to both free and paid online press release distribution sites. There are dozens, if not hundreds, to choose from so I try them out to see who gives me the most for the least. Some charge a fee, others do not, and results - specifically SEO - will vary depending on the service. Here are a few I like:
PRWeb.com (paid service)
PRLog.org (free)
Free-Press-Release.com (free and premium)
i-Newswire.com (free and premium)
1888PressRelease.com (free and premium)
To determine which services you like best, take a current press release and submit it to each of the services. After 2 or 3 days, do a Google search on the client name or news item to see where it ranks in the search engines. If you've done a good job, you should see your press release listed on page 1 of Google's results.
Questions? Comments? Email me or post something here.
Virtually Yourz,
Dana Neuts
Follow me on Twitter: VirtuallyYourz
Find me on Facebook, Biznik and LinkedIn
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