VernonGirl

Slideshare - Grow Your Business With Social Media

Grow your business with social media

View more presentations from Courtenay Pitcher.

Here is a slideshare presentation of a recent presentation I made about How To Grow Your Business With Social Media.

There was a question that came up during the presentation:

"How do I invite people to become Fans of my Facebook page if they are not already my friends. I have their email addresses."

Answer: You must first "Friend" them on Facebook, using their email, and then you can invite them to be a Fan. If you don't want to "Friend" them, you just have to make sure that your Facebook Fan Page is engaging enough that they will Fan you themselves.

Remember, you could send them an individual email and ask them to become a Fan. I'm not suggesting that you SPAM everyone. But one nice personalized note, popped through the email, is still okay, in my opinion.

Thanks for reading!

Courtenay Pitcher

What are your website objectives?

An Internet presence should begin with a website.
Here are some objectives that your website can accomplish:

*Attract new customers
*Reduce the time to market of certain products or services
*Make announcements to current customers
*Reduce paper and postage charges by using email
*Inform and educate clients about products and services
*Service existing clients
*Advertise your business around the world
*Advertise your business locally
*Increase the value of your company
*Increase your company’s credibility
*Improve your company’s image
*Help you and your staff spend less time on the phone with customers
*Attract new employees
*Show examples of your work
*Replace your brochure with quicker information fulfillment
*Replace service manuals
*Help your customers locate key personnel
*Promote upcoming events
*Attract entrepreneurs to business opportunities
*Offer on-line product purchases and/or product knowledge
*Demonstrate that you are great corporate citizens
*Attract shareholders
*Open a new communication channel to media
*Explain who you do business with (partnerships)
*Book appointments or reservations
*Take applications

Establishing credibility is one of the most underestimated powers of a good website…and a dangerous one for some consumers. A colleague of mine – a webmaster – told me about his pawn shop client who has a website. If you walk into the guy’s store, you see carpet that hasn’t been changed for 30 years and dust that’s at least that old, too. Yet, he has the most incredible website – with nice graphics and professional design, great information and a sophisticated shopping cart system. (That’s because my colleague, the webmaster, designed it for him.) His customers from around the country who buy products off his site will likely never know what a pigsty his store is. His website is first-rate and that is all they will ever see. (Boy! You gotta be careful with Internet blind dates if this principle applies!)

Think of it the opposite way. Sometimes you are better off to pull an ugly website off the Internet if it creates a bad impression of your business. One of my clients had a large website for their Optometry business when they hired me to help them update it. It was so outdated we pulled it off immediately and posted a single page that said: “We are currently renovating our website to serve you better. Please enter your email address and we’ll notify you as soon as we launch our new site.” The former site just didn’t reflect the quality of their service and products and so they were better off not using it at all.

To meet your objectives of what you want to accomplish with your website, here are some items to include:

*Frequently asked questions
*Company structure and staff, along with phone numbers and email addresses for all key personnel
*Products
*Services
*Prices
*Hours
*Locations and contact information, including physical addresses
*Directions or maps on how to find your stores
*Testimonials
*Warranties
*Employment information
*Business or franchise opportunities
*Vision/mission statement or corporate philosophy
*Number of years in business
*Upcoming events
*Community involvement and sponsorships
*Newsletter
*Shareholder information
*Search tool – especially if your website contains lots of information
*Portfolio (for designs, plans, art work, etc.)
*Listings (real estate agents)
*Reservations (accommodation)
*Vehicles (used and new cars)
*Book your appointment (vehicle maintenance, dental, etc.)
*Activities (travel, tour companies, event company)
*Packages
*Mortgage calculator (mortgage broker)
*Site Map – for larger sites
*Applications – financial industry
*Partners (companies you work with)
*Resources (links to helpful sites)
*Promotions
*Customer Care
*Awards

Realistic Expectations…

 “A friend called me up the other day and talked about investing in a dot-com that sells lobsters. Internet lobsters. Where will this end? The next day he sent me a huge package of lobsters on ice.
How low can you stoop?”
--Donald Trump

The owners of a manufacturing company came to me to help them develop a website. They did not have a marketing budget and were struggling to sell their quality wooden fireplace mantels into the state of Washington. They thought that if they had a website, residential home developers would phone them to buy wooden mantels.

It is a myth that a website is the overnight answer to your marketing problems. Like a brochure, your website must be designed, published (or in the case of a website – launched), distributed (emailed or advertised in social media sites like Facebook, Twitter or StumbleUpon) into the right hands, read (or seen), have a ‘call to action’ and target a willing participant who acts on the call. If you expect new business from your website, it needs to be promoted properly, measured for effectiveness, maintained and kept ‘fresh’.

For most people, giving birth to an effective website requires a substantial investment in time, planning and money. Although most websites take from three to six months from concept to launch, a nine-month investment in your website baby is not unrealistic if you expect a quality result (unless you have a superior marketing company to project manage for you).

Websites also serve certain marketing functions. Getting new overnight business from them is definitely not one. There are pros and cons to consider before deciding to put the website bun in the oven!

Website Advantages

*A great way to get information into the hands of your customers immediately
*Can be updated immediately
*Can present information statically and dynamically
*Are interactive – providing you with valuable customer feedback
*Are visual and can include audio
*Have unlimited space (very affordable)

Website Disadvantages
 
*Require frequent maintenance
*Can be costly to set up – both in time and money
*Are somewhat of a mystery – kind of like your car if you’re not a mechanic. Your webmaster, like your mechanic, has a lot of power and knowledge and you are subjected to trusting him or her.
*Have continual yearly and/or monthly fees including hosting, domain name renewal and maintenance

Consider Your Timeline…

 “If I had to sum up in a word what makes a good manager, I'd say decisiveness. You can use the fanciest computers to gather the numbers, but in the end you have to set a timetable and act.”
--Lee Iacocca

A typical website project, from design to launch, takes at least three to six months. The majority of the time is spent gathering ideas, images and text. Set a timeline for yourself and your web design team upon starting this project. Here is a check list that will help:

1.    Gather information, plan your site, and develop a bid document
2.    Have three design companies bid on your project
3.    Choose a design company
4.    Meet with design company to begin your project
5.    Wait for initial design concept
6.    Review the home-page and sub-page concept. Provide feedback.
7.    Review the home page and sub page again, give the web design company the go ahead to develop the remainder of the site.
8.    Wait for the design company to incorporate all of your images and text into the site.
9.    Review the completed site, test links, proof read, and provide feedback.
10.    Wait for the designers to make final adjustments to the site.
11.    Review the final design and sign it off. Have meta-tags (we’ll explain later) programmed into the site.
12.    Launch the site.
13.    Submit the site to key search engines and announce it to media and customers.
14.    Get your backup and passwords from the design company and make your final payment to the web design team.
15.    Promote, Promote, Promote!
16.    Track your success.
17.    Keep it fresh!

Patience and planning are key to making your website project a positive experience.

Don’t get e-screwed!

 “There was a time when a fool and his money were soon parted, but now it happens to everybody.”
-Adlai E. Stevenson

When your gut feeling tells you that the prices are ridiculous, they probably are. Continue reading and you’ll know whether you’re paying a fair price for the services you are about to receive!

Budget…
Establish a budget to determine what you can afford. Most website designs start at $900 and up. This cost does not include your domain name ($25 - $45/year), hosting (from $180 per year and up), database ($1,500 and up), or e-commerce ($3,000 and up). Other charges can include maintenance ($40/hour and up) and promotion ($100 and up).

When considering your return on investment, determine ways that a website can save or make you money if it:

*Eliminates or reduces the need to print brochures or catalogues
*Cuts postage and faxing charges
*Cuts time for stuffing envelopes and packages
*Cuts long distance phone calls to customers or staff
*Saves printing charges for brochures, catalogues, annual reports, owner’s manuals, etc.
*Saves personnel time speaking with customers
*Saves personnel time searching for information
*Brings new customers
*Sells products

To do Internet marketing well, it requires its own marketing plan. Every activity in your Internet marketing plan should have a budget, an objective, a market and a way to track success.

Each activity should include costs for creative, time (human resources) and items such as hosting, advertising, maintenance or design charges.

Target Market
Consider who will use your website and it will be easier for you to determine your objectives. Will it be…
*Staff
*Present Customers
*Suppliers
*New Customers
*Distributors

Important for pricing and language considerations, is to determine where your website will be accessed from…
*Locally
*Nationally
*Internationally

Determine which age group will use your website as it will help you consider the information, type style, graphics and technology that you include in the site…
*Kids
*Teens
*Adults
*Seniors

You get the idea! As with other types of media, you have to know your market before you can design an effective website for it.

Revenue
Consider the ways that your website can bring in new revenue streams….
*Support existing products and services
*Offer New products and services
*Advertising or link exchanges
*New customers

Expenses
Consider some of the expenses of website development and marketing…
*Photograph acquisition
*Copywriting
*Design
*Hosting
*Maintenance
*Promotion

Price
Pricing of the website design, hosting and maintenance is important to consider as part of your marketing plan. I always advise my customers to start small and build. Get on the Net with a small investment. Begin promoting the site and generating traffic to it. Then expand.

You also need to consider how to price your products on your website. For example, will you offer discounts for on-line ordering? Will you use your website to blow out slow moving products? Will you offer your purchases in Canadian or US currency, or both?

If you feel that the website will be worth your time, energy and money, then let’s get started!

Blogs are also great alternatives to a website. Read more about blogs.

Thanks for reading.

Courtenay Pitcher, Webmaster, Website content writer

This article was adapted from my book: Secrets of Internet Marketing

How a luxury real estate brand for Kelowna, Vernon and Calgary is born

When Gord Fowler, a dually licensed RE/MAX real estate agent in Calgary and Vernon, came to my company Lava Marketing to create a luxury real estate brand for him, I was delighted.

Obviously, everything about a luxury brand must scream:

professionalism,

quality

and class.

When a new brand is developed, we also make sure that elements like colour, font choices or design touches are consistent throughout the client's marketing pieces. 

For Gord, we developed a proposal that included a new logo, tagline and marketing photo. Once these projects were complete, he hired us to do a web page design, business card design, web page programming and 8.5 x 5.5 flyer.

Gord was decisive about choosing his new brand name: Fowler Luxury Homes. 

We came up with several tagline choices. The one that took first prize was:

You Deserve The Best.

This tagline has a double entendre....not only do you deserve to live in a luxury home with a luxury lifestyle, but you also deserve a specialist and seasoned professional in dealing with Okanagan luxury and resort properties, Gord Fowler.

Here is the logo with the tagline:

 

Every great real estate agent needs a really great photo. Our original intent was to take Gord's picture in front of a crackling fireplace inside a luxury home. As it turned out, the location we used for the photoshoot had a fabulous balcony in front of the Vernon Yacht Club. What better backdrop to scream "luxury" and "Okanagan lifestyle" than yachts? (A blue suit is always a safe and professional choice too.) Here is the result:

We integrated his logo/tagline, with his image to create a web page design that we uploaded (in pieces) to Ubertor, a template website system popular with real estate agents. I have to admit that working with a template system like Ubertor is challenging. We had to adapt our original design to fit into their rigid template. But I'm pleased with the results:

Here is the business card (front and back) that incorporates many of the same elements:

Business Card Back (notice the background with elements of the logo):

This is the 8.5 x 5.5 flyer design just approved:

What do you think of Gord Fowler's new marketing pieces? Do you think we hit the mark so that when you are looking to buy a luxury property in Calgary or the Okanagan, you'll call Gord Fowler? Please leave a comment at the bottom of this blog.

I really enjoyed working with Gord on this project. Thanks Gord!

Thanks for reading.

Courtenay Pitcher, Personal branding specialist

June 21st - Vernon - Grow Your Business With Social Media Event

When Brenda Hala approached me to provide a workshop on behalf of The Professional Photographers of Canada - BC (PPABC), I was delighted to say Yes!

Formerly called the Professional Photographers Association of BC, the association now calls itself Professional Photographers of Canada - BC to create a stronger voice across Canada.

The Association promotes and fosters the personal ethics and professional development of the working photographer and/or specialist.

Brenda Hala says that the principle focus of the PPABC is the advancement of their members and associates within the photographic industry through education, fellowship and public awareness.

Brenda is the one who takes my portrait photo. I always enjoy working with her because it's fun.

Join me for a workshop about marketing with social media, presented by the PPABC! The event is open to anyone.

Monday, June 21, 2010
8:30 a.m. - Networking and Registration
9:00 a.m. to Noon - Seminar

Location:

Village Green Hotel
4801-27th Street, Vernon, BC V1T 4Z1

Cost: $25 per person. Please pay at the door.
Cheque or cash only. No credit card.

For more information, and to pre-register, please contact:
Brenda Hala
250.542.3010
brendahalaphotography@shaw.ca

Topics will include:

LinkedIn - Learn how to network with LinkedIn for advancing your career or small business. Create a LinkedIn profile, get and give recommendations, connect your LinkedIn profile to Twitter, customize your website link, start or join a group, share what you are reading, or promote your blog or RSS feed.

Blogs – You’ll see how cheap and easy it is to begin blogging. Learn how to post articles, photos and YouTube.com videos to your blog. Learn what a category cloud is. Understand why you should comment on other blogs to promote your business. Learn why blogging can leverage your marketing, earn trust, gain you clients and increase your credibility.

Twitter – Set up a profile, tweet, retweet, direct message, reply, customize your Twitter background, and schedule tweets. How to brand yourself, increase traffic to your blog or website, build relationships and increase your profile using Twitter. Learn how to use Hootsuite.com. Learn powerful automation tricks to save time.

Facebook – Set up a Facebook page for your business. Learn how to engage people on your page. Get people to write on your wall and start discussions. Learn how to automatically bring in your RSS or blog feed.

See you there!

Courtenay Pitcher, Social Media Workshop Presenter

3 creative tips for promoting your business with donations or sponsorships

Today I am collecting swag bag gifts for the ten women who have been nominated for Vernon's Woman of the Year Award. A swag bag is a bag of gifts that the Woman of the Year committee gives each nominee as a thank you for service they have provided to our community. It is part of the honour of being nominated for Woman of the Year, but it can only be done with your support since the event is run on a shoe string budget using volunteers like me and givers like you.

I am asking you to donate ten of the same item either from your business or to promote your business.

Here are some questions you might have about donating or sponsoring an event:

1) What is the difference between donating and sponsoring?

Donating is often providing something and expecting nothing in return except perhaps a tax receipt. Sponsoring usually means you provide cash or product in exchange for marketing promotion displaying your logo, web link or company name.

In  this case, the Woman of the Year committee will provide you with printed recognition of your company name in the programme on the night of the Gala (Thursday, May 20, 2010). So, in essence, although you are giving something away, it is not really a donation, it is a sponsorship.

2) How can I sponsor an event with product or gifts if I don't have anything?

Some companies keep a host of mugs, bags, pens, water bottles or other items in their goody bags so they can give them away at events. Often, they have the company name printed on them. However, if you do not have such a thing, then it means you need to be creative in order to support the event with your sponsorship and get your business name out there.

My husband and I own Rhino Curbing, a residential decorative landscape concrete curbing company. This year we are sponsoring the event at the Platinum level. This level required a cash investment. In return we receive marketing exposure with our logo on newspaper ads, email blasts through the Vernon Women in Business and the Greater Vernon Chamber of Commerce, website, poster, programme and nomination brochure to name a few. We jumped on board to sponsor the event early (we were the first), so that allowed us to negotiate another little perk with the package....wine sponsorship.

Our company name and logo will be on each bottle of wine on the night of the Gala. However, to get back to how you can be creative even if you don't have product, consider this: for the past two years, we gave each nominee a bottle of wine for their swag bag. Last year we attached a business card to each bottle along with a congratulatory note. I'm not sure if it got us any direct business, but I did receive thank you cards from some of the nominees. That sure felt good and it does create goodwill in the community and get our business name out there in a positive way.

My point is that you can think outside the box. If you are a concierge service, give away a free grocery shopping day, free house cleaning, free flower arranging or free home decorating. If you are a senior's care service, give away a free foot massage. If you are a Re/Max real estate agent, give away a gift certificate for a free cup of coffee or one balloon ride for ten in the Re/Max balloon. Be creative to come up with ideas to support your community and promote your business.

3) What's in it for me or my business?

If your business name or business card is on the item that you are giving away there is the potential for business. It is called promotion. The more your company name is out in the marketplace, the faster you will build momentum, good will, contacts and customers. Don't give away the farm. Be smart. Consider donating something you can give with your time, or something of low cost to you and high value to the receiver.

Who is nominated for the 2010 Woman of the Year?

The women are:

Samantha Plovie
Cherie Montgomery
Kath Raeber
Angela Yablonski
Cheryl Schmidt
Daina Bull
Shelley Haslett
Deborah Stoddard
Michelle Antonation
Sharon Mackenzie

Congratulations to all these amazing women!

Contact me at 250-558-1176 or by email info@vernongirl.com to sponsor this event with ten swag bag items. I look forward to seeing you all dressed up at the event on Thursday, May 20, 2010 for the event.

p.s. I have one free ticket to give away to the event (value $40) on behalf of Rhino Curbing to the person who donates the coolest ten items by May 1st.

Thanks for reading!

Courtenay Pitcher, Woman of the Year Committee Volunteer

 

Brother and Sister Re-united After Believing Brother Was Dead

 

Barrita Durward, Owner of Cotton’s Chocolates and recognized as Vernon’s Woman of the Year 2009 for her kindness, is on a cloud higher than cloud nine. She recently found out that her brother Tom is alive and they’ve re-united.

The last time Barrita saw Tom he was running away from home, down the street, in his baseball uniform when he was fourteen and Barrita was eight years old. Tom was running away from their mother, who was chasing him down the street with a two by four piece of lumber Barrita’s mother had just cracked over his arm.

For thirty years, Barrita believed that Tom had died in a motorcycle accident. That is what she was told by her mother and her uncle. “I believed the lie because a couple people from church told me he had passed away. Before my brother left home, he took our daily beatings for us. My mother kicked him out, disowned him and abandoned him.” Barrita said.

After Tom ran away from home, Barrita, her mother and sister relocated from Vancouver to Vernon. Tom went into Foster care. He moved from foster home to foster home and left foster care at age sixteen. He has been looking for Barrita for years.

A story done in October 2009 by Ross Freake in the Business Thompson Okanagan Newspaper about Barrita being Vernon’s 2009 Woman of the Year led to the reunification. Tom did a search for Barrita on Google. Freake mentioned that Barrita’s store Cotton’s Chocolates was named after her maiden name. That was the clue that Tom needed to find Barrita.

Tom contacted Barrita for the first time on Monday, March 8, 2010. Barrita didn’t know Tom was coming to her store. He walked in on Thursday, March 18th and she knew it was him. Barrita said, “As soon as he took his sunglasses off, I could see that the kindness was still there.

Barrita says “it’s been good, overwhelming and so amazing. If there is any cloud higher than cloud nine, that’s where I’ve been.”

Tom lives in Langley with his wife and three children. He is the owner of a shipping company.

There is a humanitarian parallel between the two long lost siblings. Tom has helped build churches and orphanages in Africa through humanitarian aid trips. Barrita just returned from Mexico. Her trip there was the result of her fundraising efforts through an event she put on last February in Vernon called “Valentines for Mexico” through Sweet Smiles, her non profit association.

$6381 was raised through the Valentines for Mexico fundraiser. Barrita raised over $3,000 by selling chocolates out of her baskets to local businesses over six months. $450 was donated by her rotary club.

Sweet Smiles aids the Upper Vernon Mission, Women’s Transition House, Teens Count Two, Salvation Army and orphanages internationally. Barrita says, “We also sponsor children in Mexico and Kenya.”


Barrita’s recent trip to Mexico was February 20 to March 7, 2010 where she visited three orphanages, two schools and even an animal shelter. One orphanage is known as the House of Hope and Faith in Bonfil (a suburb of Cancun). It was her second trip to Mexico, but her first time to this orphanage.

Sweet Smiles donated a laptop, scanner, printer, netbook and school supplies to another school. Altogether, seven hundred pounds of supplies were distributed including medical supplies, clothing, shoes, school supplies, skin care products, toys, stuffies, coats, raingear, boots, towels and facecloths.

“We flew down with Westjet. As a humanitarian gesture you’re allowed one extra bag, but they donated all of the extra shipping costs. That means more money I can spend on food and appliances while I’m there.” Barrita said.

Barrita also visited The Little Yellow School House on Isla Mujures, a school for special needs children. “We purchased a new air conditioning system for them.” Barrita said.

Barrita holds a special place in her heart for special needs children. Nine years ago her daughter was born with special needs. “When I was pregnant, my mother attacked me." Barrita said. This caused Barrita to go into pre-mature labour and resulted in the brain injury and near death of her daughter. Nine years ago was the last time Barrita spoke to her mother. “My mother is an unkind cruel person. It took something horrible for me to wake up. My baby girl saved my life.” Barrita said.

Barrita rescued her sister from her mother last Christmas. Her sister has her own apartment now and works with Barrita. Barrita said, “I’m really proud of my sister. She has come a long way. My mother was pretty much controlling her life for many years. It’s nice to watch her bloom, she has never been happier.”

“I’m not thankful for my past, but I am who I am because of my childhood. I like myself today. The next chapter in my life is to create hope in people and I’m so excited to do it. It makes me feel alive.” Barrita says.

Thanks for reading.

Courtenay Pitcher

Three lucky charms for thriving in a tough economy – Okanagan business style

Lucky Charm One – Keep Overhead Low

In these tough economic times, Tammi Berzins, co-owner of Berzins Designs in Vernon, B.C. says, “People are still building, renovating and doing a bit of everything.” Tammi has been in business for four years. She says, “I love what I do and enjoy working in the Okanagan.” Tammi and her business partner Carley Sawka travel to interior design related trade shows to make sure they are current in the design world.

Berzins Designs recently completed an FF and E (the interior design and installation of furniture, fixtures and equipment) at Firelight Lodge at Silver Star Mountain Resort, but Tammi does admit these times are difficult. Tammi says, “We try to keep things minimal, and not have a large overhead. We were fortunate that the (Firelight Lodge) hotel project happened at a good time. My best suggestion for business owners is to keep expences and overhead as low as you can.” 

Berzins Designs does commercial and residential interior design work for a handful of builders in the Vernon area.

Lucky Charm Two – Fill A Need, Even if it’s only temporary

Elizabeth Sweezie has a background in accounting and a Business Administration diploma from Okanagan College. She has been organizing offices and their paperwork systems for twenty years. She started her business Office 2 Office one year ago because she knew it could fill the gap for a “temp” service.

Now, she steps in temporarily to help small businesses who are bursting at the seams with paperwork, lack of efficient systems, or expansion to organize their offices. She does collection letters, customizes forms, creates invoices, puts payables and receivables into one place and labels it all so they can find it. She says that the companies she helps just need, “a little specific organizational business to be done. This frees owners up to take care of their business.”

To find clients, she keeps herself involved with several organizations including:

Vernon Women in Business (Website Director)
North Okanagan Referral Association
Toastmasters (Acting VP of Education)
Okanagan Business Exchange.

Next, she will look at helping bookkeepers and accountants.

Lucky Charm Three – Diversify

When Adrienne Harris’ phone stopped ringing, she diversified to survive in business.

Adrienne Harris has owned Lasting Impressions Home Staging and Design for four years and she helps the homeowner or real estate professional prepare the condition of a home or property to sell. She says, “This enhances marketing, because 90% of home buyers look on line before purchasing.” According to Adrienne, when a homebuyer works with a realtor, they look at location and what they can spend. Once those needs are met, they buy that home based on its condition….that’s where she comes in.

(Before shot)

Her husband Adam Harris is a real estate agent with Century 21. Her and Adam have been buying, renovating and selling houses (also called “flipping”) for the past three years. This has led to doing small renovations for others.

“To survive in business, we’ve had to diversify. My husband went from full time real estate to taking on more renovations. I’ve had to diversify too. I’ve had to recreate my business. My phone was no longer ringing. I may do the work myself rather than sub it out to a sub trade. I’m not going to hire someone to powerwash a client’s dock when I’m more than capable of doing it.” Adrienne remarks.


Recently, Adrienne and Adam combined two businesses they own, Lasting Impressions Home Staging and Design and Portico Property Concierge, into a corporation called North Okanagan Property Services. She says, “We want to be a one stop shop service for homeowners whether they need maintenance, renovations or want to sell their home.”

You can follow Adrienne on Twitter: http://www.Twitter.com/okanaganstager

What are you doing to survive or thrive in these tough times? I would love to hear from you. Comments can be left at the bottom of this blog by clicking the comments link below.

Thanks for reading!

Courtenay Pitcher, Business Survivor

Follow me on Twitter (@vernongirl) or subscribe to my blog.

Grow Your Business With Social Media - Workshop - Vernon - April 17

Grow Your Business With Social Media
A Workshop With Courtenay Pitcher

Saturday, April 17, 2010 - 8:30 to Noon
Schubert Centre - 3505 30th Ave.  - Vernon, BC

For members and future members of Vernon Women in Business

$20 for members.

RSVP by April 10, 2010.

Register for the workshop.

8:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.         Networking and Registration
9:00 to 12:00                       Workshop

Laptops are welcome. We will be working live on the internet. Wireless access provided.

Topics will include:

LinkedIn - Learn how to network with LinkedIn for advancing your career or small business. Create a LinkedIn profile, get and give recommendations, connect your LinkedIn profile to Twitter, customize your website link, start or join a group, share your blog or rss feed.

Blogs – You’ll see how cheap and easy it is to begin blogging. Learn how to post articles, photos and YouTube videos to your blog. Learn what a category cloud is. Understand why you should comment on other blogs to promote your business. Learn why blogging can leverage your marketing, earn trust, clients and credibility.

Twitter – Set up a profile, tweet, retweet, direct message, reply, customize your Twitter background, and schedule tweets. How to brand yourself using Twitter, increase traffic to your blog or website, build relationships and increase your profile. Learn how to use Hootsuite. Learn powerful automation tricks to save time.

Facebook – Set up a Facebook Fan page for your business. Learn how to engage people on your Fan Page. Get people to write on your wall, start discussions, and automatically bring in your RSS or blog feed.

For more information, contact me or Cindy Bertrand, Director of Education for VWIB education@vwib.com

Hope to see you there!

Courtenay Pitcher, Social Media Coach

Video tutorial: How to add a Facebook Fanpage to Hootsuite.com

Here is a video tutorial on how to add your Facebook Fanpage to your Hootsuite.com account so that whenever you send a tweet from Hootsuite, you can update your Facebook Fanpage automatically.

Or, here are the written directions:

Open Hootsuite.com

Go to settings > social networks > add a social network




Click the “pages” icon. (as per the image above) Note: Do not click the "Facebook" icon.

Connect with Facebook (It will open Facebook and you'll have to type in your Facebook email and password).

It will bring up a list of Fan pages you have set up on that account and so you can tick the Fanpage that you want to come up.

Cllick "Allow Publishing".

If you're getting this post by email, you can watch the video at this link here.

Thanks for reading!

Courtenay Pitcher
Social media trainer and Hootsuite Fan

Jay Rosen's Video Tea With The Economist: Media After iPad