VernonGirl

Volunteer your way to leadership Nov. 4, 2009 - VWIB

Courtenay Pitcher of Vernon, BC will be speaking at the Vernon Women in Business luncheon on Wednesday, November 4. The title of her speech is: "Volunteer Your Way to Leadership."

 

Courtenay Pitcher has led the Vernon Woman of the Year event for the past two years as Chairperson. Last year, the event surpassed previous attendance by 100 people and had more nominees than any other year in its 22 year history. Her speech "Volunteer Your Way to Leadership" will divulge seven effective leadership techniques for leading a team to success, whether you are paid or volunteer. You will also learn some of the intricacies of running a major event and gain some insights into how volunteering to lead others can be rewarding in your business, career and personal life.

 

Courtenay Pitcher owns Lava Marketing. She is a marketing strategist and coaches business owners on how to use Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Blogs, the internet and other applications for marketing. She is Past President of Vernon Women in Business (2005) and has been a volunteer soccer coach of 7 and 8 year old boys for two seasons. She and her husband of nineteen years, Shawn, have two young sons. In her spare time, she loves to downhill ski double black diamond runs with her husband and do sports with her boys. Her goal is to complete an Olympic distance triathlon in August 2010 in Kelowna.

The Vernon Women in Business luncheon is from 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. at the Schubert Centre in Vernon, B.C. You do not have to be a member of Women in Business to attend. See the Vernon Women in Business website for pricing.

 

 

How to Retweet from TweetDeck & Other places

Today one of my business associates asked me how to retweet from TweetDeck.

A retweet is when you want to tweet out what someone else has tweeted to all your followers.

In Tweetdeck, you hover over the profile picture of the person you would like to retweet. Four icons will show up under your mouse where you are hovering. You click the bottom left icon that says retweet. Then, RT @username* and the message will show up in the "What are you doing" area of Tweetdeck. You can hit enter, and the retweet will show up in your Twitter feed. *The username I'm referring to here is the username of the person who sent the original tweet.

Here is an example of an original tweet that i retweeted the other day:

@MJBallingall Big snow on both our Resorts!! Big White could open something on the Plaza with another 5" and Silver Star will open for Xcountry Saturday!!

What often happens though, is that the person's tweet is too long. This is when I find I have to edit the tweet that I am retweeting. For example, I removed some information about Big White from his tweet since I only wanted the information relevant to Vernon, B.C. I also added the hashtag #Vernon so anyone performing a search for #Vernon would get my tweet.

Also, it's a very good idea to edit the retweet so that there are at least 20 characters remaining. The reason, is that once your tweet username is added to the retweet, the retweet may become too long. Also, if others want to retweet you, the additional room in the tweet will allow them to do this.

Here is how I retweeted the original tweet above:

 @vernongirl: Big snow on both our Resorts!! Silver Star will open for Xcountry Saturday!! via @MJBallingall #Vernon

Note that rather than RT showing up at the beginning of that retweet, I edited it so that the message of the retweet showed up first, and then I added "via @MJBallingall" to the end of the retweet. That allowed my username to show up at the beginning of the tweet.

This is what the retweet looked like when others retweeted what I said:

RT @vernongirl: Big snow on both our Resorts!! Silver Star will open for Xcountry Saturday!! via @MJBallingall #Vernon

There is a Tweetdeck support forum where you can perform a search for TweetDeck questions.

Here is the entry on how to retweet from Tweetdeck.

Thanks for reading!

Courtenay Pitcher

http://twitter.com/vernongirl

Blog: http://www.vernongirl.com

7 Ways to start a Twitter marketing strategy for tweet & retweet newbies

Twitter is the top social media marketing tool that business owners want to learn about if they are just getting underway in using social media as part of their marketing arsenal according to a social media marketing report by Michael A. Stelzner, an expert in writing white papers. Twitter is also the top tool used by 86% of the social media marketers surveyed in his report along with Blogs (79%), LinkedIn (78%) and Facebook (77%). 

If you are a small business owner who is just getting underway with social media, what is your Twitter marketing strategy?

Here is what I suggest:

1) Sign up for a free Twitter account by going to the twitter sign up page.

2) Go to Hootsuite and sign up for a free account. Watch their video tour on how to use Hootsuite. Hootsuite makes it easy to track what people are saying about your business, organize your twitter streams so you can keep up with the people you are following, schedule tweets to go later, perform searches on key words and easily follow those key words continually, view statistics on how often your tweets are being opened, track your direct messages (these are messages other Twitter users send you directly and are also known as DM), track who is mentioning or "retweeting" you (also known as RT), and even set up administrative tools for your assistant to tweet for you.

(Note: a few blogs ago, I told you to use Tweetdeck for following Twitter. I still like Tweetdeck too, especially on my iphone, but I'm liking Hootsuite more now because of its ability to schedule tweets for later.)

3) Follow everyone who follows you. This allows you to Direct Message them later. Believe me....you will want to market to them as you become more sophisticated at this important social marketing tool. You can filter out the ones that annoy you using Hootsuite, so don't worry about them cluttering up your streams with noise.

4) Tell people you are on Twitter. Post a Twitter follow icon to the home page of your site, or your blog. Put your twitter handle on your business card and email signature. Announce to all of your customers and suppliers that they can follow you on Twitter. Find your customers and suppliers on Twitter and begin following them. Begin following as many people as you can. Most of them will begin following you too, which will help you build a nice new Twitter database.

5) You most likely want to use Twitter as a method for directing people into your website or blog. That means that you need to have a blog or a site that can be updated with new information quickly and easily. This needs to be in place before you can begin tweeting. Put your webmaster on notice that you'll be engaging his or her services more often for updates so you can begin your Twitter action plan.

Think of a tweet as a mini call-to-action marketing piece. Usually it has a link embedded into it that directs people to your site. One strategy of using Twitter is to get traffic to your site. However, I've also found that Twitter builds goodwill and positions you as a leader if you RT (retweet) other people's interesting tweets.

6) Begin thinking about how you can use Twitter as a useful, timely, informative tool that you can track. You want to know if it is working or not, right?

For example, can you offer specials on Twitter that you are not offering anywhere else? Yes. That is one way to track how it is working.

Can you offer time limited offers on Twitter? Definitely. Twitter is immediate.

Can you offer contests on Twitter? Yes. Radio stations are doing it. It's a smart idea.

Can you issue media releases on Twitter? The media is all over Twitter. Make sure you follow the media. They will most likely follow you back.

Can you announce events on Twitter? Events are a great reason to push people into your website or blog.

Tell your followers about new products or advances in your industry.

Give your followers information first, that they cannot get through other marketing methods. One idea that comes to mind is real estate. I'm sure that it takes a few hours to post a listing to the MLS site. At least, it used to. Maybe it's more immediate now. But with Twitter, you could notify your followers the instant a home was listed, before it was ever posted to MLS. Or, you could have spontaneous open houses, only for Twitter followers. Heck, you could even put fresh cookies in the oven and tweet it out. I'd go to an open house for fresh cookies, especially chocolate chip, wouldn't you?

One of my associates is using Twitter to announce special markdowns at the electronics store he works at. Markdowns happen every day on product that his managers want to move to make room for new stock. These markdowns are spontaneous. The manager comes by with his or her pen to the home theatre department and slashes the price in their flyer. In the past, if you were in the store, you would get the deal. Now, my associate can tweet out the deal to his followers. Twitter allows him to build a new database of prospects and offer another service to them. Instead of prospects or clients, though, now they are called "Followers". And instead of database, now they are called "Twitter users".

7) Follow your competitors on Twitter. Okay, your competitor may not let you follow. If that is the case, try to follow people in your same industry. Lurk around and read what they are saying on Twitter. Can you get any good ideas that you can use for your own business? Are they offering deals, contests, specials or information you can tap into? Pick up Twitter marketing strategies by watching other people in your industry.

Hey, don't forget to follow me eh?

http://twitter.com/vernongirl

Thank you for reading!

Courtenay Pitcher

http://www.vernongirl.com

http://twitter.com/vernongirl

BX Ranch Park in Vernon Gets Upgrades

Vernon, B.C. - Today was an excellent day to take a walk in the park to entertain the kids who were out of school due to a Provincial Professional Development LSA Day. On our stroll, we came across a new bridge (see photo below). So I phoned the Regional District of North Okanagan to find out about the upgrades to the trail in BX Ranch Park, one of many dog parks in Vernon, and why the bridge re-routes the trail over the creek.

Keith Pinkoski, Park Planner, spoke to me this afternoon. He said, "One reason behind re-routing the bridge is to ensure people are staying on parks property. People have been going up and down the park for years. There are trails all over in that area and there has been no real direction. In the Spring, the small creek becomes a torrent. Using some mapping, and a detailed description of the creek bed, we determined where the bridges should be located in order to ensure users of the trail will still be able to cross the creek in high water. There will be two large bridges put up this year. Small additional ones will be put up by Venture Training. Another purpose for the bridges is to connect the trail to Haynes Rd. Also, BX Creek is a wildlife corridor. We want to limit our footprint and limit human intrusion into certain areas."

My dog "Julie" is checking out the new bridge.

The BX Ranch Park starts out as a big open field....

Then it turns into a lovely enchanted trail that follows BX creek in the trees under a canopy of foliage....

 

The trail doesn't require you to cross creeks over logs, but these kids wanted to navigate them for fun...

The colours of Fall are especially pretty in the forest....

There are several dog parks in Vernon. Click here for a list of Vernon dog parks.

Thanks for reading!

Courtenay Pitcher, http://www.vernongirl.com

follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/vernongirl  

 
 
 

 

Photo: New way to travel if you have MS

Vernon, BC Beairsto school parent Daniel Stark bought this trike about five years ago and imported it from Holland. He has Multiple Sclerosis, or MS as it is more commonly known, and says he can't walk that well. "The trike helps me get around, even all winter in the snow, " he says.

Photo: Toddler feeding the birds in Polson Park Vernon, BC

"I have Twitter, but I'm not sure how to use it yet" still common

Today I was at a photo shoot helping one of my clients. This client is a very savvy marketer. I asked her if she was on Twitter. She said, "Yes I am, but I'm just not sure how to use it yet."

I was somewhat shocked at her response because I assumed that her industry (real estate) was already using Twitter. I thought Silver Star Mountain would already be using Twitter too. But their Twitter page is set up and they do not have any tweets. Followers, but no tweets yet. Weird huh? I've offered to tweet for them in exchange for free skiing on their double black diamond runs, but I guess they're at a Ski show and will get back to me. Man! If they were actually really using Twitter, I could have tweeted them.

I've been studying Twitter for nine months to try and figure it out. It wasn't until about two days ago that I watched a Guy Kawasaki video on a Blog World Expo website, when he spoke to a Vancouver, BC crowd, that it all made sense. Thank you Guy for the clarity! Guy is a Twitter guru and a hockey fan.

One of Guy's recommendations was to download http://www.TweetDeck.com and so I did. That is when the light went on! TweetDeck is free and it downloads to your desktop, so it is an application you can have on at all times. It is very cool in that you can set up columns for different groups of people in your network. I have groups set up for Vernon people, Social Media people, Mentions, Direct Messages and all people I am following. There is quite a rush when you see that something you have tweeted has been retweeted by a complete stranger, or when long lost business associates begin following you. TweetDeck makes it so much easier to understand Twitter.

Many small business owners and entrepreneurs in Vernon, B.C. Canada are like me....sort of just dipping our toes into the deep water that is Twitter. We're wondering......why?

So far, I think Twitter is useful for pushing out new information that you may not see through traditional media, or traditional search engine searches. It's also useful for following a variety of news sources. It's an excellent resource for learning about Social Media too. And, it's a fantastic way to stay in front of the media.

I've read that we should intermix some personal tweets in with the useful and helpful tweets so that we don't appear like robots. But don't put useless stuff on there too often. It gets tiring really quickly. Putting quotes of what people said gets tiring really quickly too.

Guy recommended that we sign up to SocialOomph.com http://www.socialoomph.com/90646.html so we can schedule our tweets. There is also a way to automate a thank you message on there. That way, when people begin following you, you can thank them and send them to a useful link.

I went to http://www.Twibs.com at Guy's recommendation to see how some of the largest businesses are using Twitter. That is a very cool site. Oprah is on there, along with the New York Times, Perez Hilton, you name it, and you can just start following them.

When you are tweeting, keep it fresh. New, hot, breaking news or ideas are the best. Linking your tweets to new content that you have posted to a blog is cool, because then it is original and fresh. I find a lot of useful content about social media and twitter is coming out of a new site called http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/. It just launched October 12th, but I've been subscribing to emails from some of their writers for a while.

I hope this article about tweeting has been helpful.

Please follow me on twitter. My handle is vernongirl

Cheers, Courtenay Pitcher

http://www.vernongirl.com

 

let's give thanks we don't have cancer

Yesterday I heard an inspiring message from Shelley Haslett, a friend of mine. She spoke at Vernon Women in Business about her experience of surving cancer, not once, but twice. Shelley is a Mary Kay Sales Director. She constantly volunteers in the community and she is an amazing mentor when it comes to how to lead in your personal and business life with integrity. I've been lucky to experience her mentorship on several occasions working on the Woman of the Year committee, and prior to that when she was Past President of Women in Business and I was President.

She is truly an inspiring woman and a double masectomy survivor. She told our captivated group of ladies that when her second breast was lopped off, she thought it would be a piece of cake to have reconstructive surgery and essentially get a new body. In fact, the surgeons moved her fatty tissue from her stomach to reconstruct her breasts. She said she was wrong. It took more than six months of recovery after some complications, and left her with a lot of scars.

Although she is healthy now and looked smashing in the very bright pink suit jacket she was wearing, her point was to tell us what we can do for a friend or family member who is going through cancer. Paraphrasing, these are Shelley's suggestions:

You can make them a meal and drop it off in a dish that doesn't have to be returned, offer to drive them to their chemo treatment, send a card, give a phone call, go for a short visit, pick up a few groceries, wash their hair, massage their feet or take them cookies. If you're a good friend, offer to clean their bathrooms or vacuum, and don't take no for an answer. The one thing that cancer patients also appreciate is getting invitations to events or dinner parties, even though they probably won't be feeling good enough to attend. They just want to know that life is going on normally, and they want to feel included. (That part always tears me up, even in writing this.)

At the end of her speech, Shelley gave away a book called Chicken Soup for the Cancer Survivor's Soul.

During Shelley's speech yesterday, I was thinking of a man who I sent a used book to and wondered how he was doing with his cancer treatment. Ironically in the timing, last night after an early Thanksgiving supper with my family he emailed me. 

I had sent him Lance Armstrong's book "It's not about the bike" as a source of inspiration quite a number of months ago. I've never met this man in person. He is our newspaper advertising rep and I've only spoken to him on the phone or emailed him. But when I emailed him to do some advertising about six to nine months ago, he emailed back that he would be away from the office for a while to undergo cancer treatment. His email said he would be checking his messages periodically. So I decided to ask him for his home address so I could send him a copy of an inspiring book about surviving cancer by Lance Armstrong.

Quite honestly, it took me a good two months after that to locate the book. I bought two copies of it at a used book store in Kelowna. One copy for me and one for him. I attached a note to it that said something like, "hope you don't mind that it's gently used, ha ha." Then, I mailed it off quietly wondering if he was well, sick, or even alive.

Here is what his email said to me yesterday (it has been edited slightly and his name removed for privacy):

"I am sorry I have not acknowledged the gift of the book till now but it arrived back in the summer when I was staying at my parents and I put it aside on one of my brief visits home.

I started chemo today and I rediscovered it back on the weekend while I was cleaning up.

I read some then and decided to take it with me to my first session today. I am now on Chapter 8. I have just read 2 chapters at home and I am not much of a reader as such.

I also have not been all that big on Lance in the past as he was my definition of a wise ass american. He tells a good story though and he has my attention.

Actually it is the best I have come across in telling the experience I  am going through. Our experiences are similar, his is just a higher level of an  experience.

But I think the effects and the prognosis of a new leaf, a new life  after cancer is the same.

I read his 3 chapters on the cancer treatment during mine today and it was interesting timing.

It helped me get through it. My last session was back in May so it has been a while. I have been dreading today and the return to the cancer ward.

I overheard this today about chemo. Let me set it up first though.

Some of us take a bottle with a pressure flow thing to administer chemo over 24 or 48 hours to attack the cells that were asleep when you get the IV drip master dose at the hospital. It is attached with  an IV.

They told the guy that if he drops it and it breaks, to put a bag around it and bring it in right away. Do not get any on your skin or it will burn you.

Burn our skin, yet it is running through our body. It just seems wrong. As Lance put it, the chemo hurts more than the cancer.

I want to thank you so much for sending this, even if this book has been experienced before, ha ha. A good story should be shared more than once. I will pass it on as well.

So thank you Courtenay for this gift and the clarity it is giving me. I sure appreciate it. Thanks."

When I got this email yesterday, I shared it with my family. My husband shed a tear, and we were all moved, inspired, and humbled.

To all of my friends and family, and even business associates whom I've never met in person, before we sit down to a turkey dinner, let's give thanks for our health and for each other. I appreciate all of the people in my life and wish them good health. If you read this post, please send me a message. I would love to hear from you, truly.

cheers, Courtenay

my blog: http://www.vernongirl.com

my Lava Marketing business website: http://www.lavamarketing.ca