Twitter is an exciting medium, not just because it provides a place to connect with others but also because it generates fresh, compelling content that can draw your audience back to your blog or website again and again. The whole TweetsIn10 concept is built around helping you save time on Twitter, but the same concept extends outward – I want to help you save time in other areas in your life, too, and Twitter can help you do that.

There are several ways that you can add Twitter content to your website or blog. I’m going to show you a couple of ways today, and these are appropriate for most platforms. In the next issue, I’m going to show you some WordPress-specific plug-ins you can use. If you run WordPress, you can use the tools I’m showing you today or the plug-ins you’ll read about in the next issue.

The first option you have is to go to http://twitter.com/goodies and then click “Widgets”. This page will be familiar to you from last week’s issue. You can choose widgets for your website, for Facebook, or for MySpace. (We covered the latter two last week).

Click the website link and you’ll have 4 widget options that you can embed on your website:

• Profile Widget: This widget allows you to display your most recent updates on your website. This is a good widget to use if you want people reading your tweets in your site.
• Search Widget: This allows you to create some search terms which will then appear in the widget in real time as people around the Twitter universe tweet about those topics. If you want to have rich content about a specific topic on your website, this is a good widget to use.
• Faves Widget: If you want to show only specific tweets on your website, you can “star” them in Twitter and only those marked as favorites will show up. This is a good one to use if you want to have specific content showing up on your website from people you’re following.
• List Widget: If you’re following people and want to show them off while still positioning yourself within your industry, this is a great widget to use. Create a list in Twitter (of thought-leaders, favorite writers, top coaches, whatever) and then put this list widget on your website so other people can see who you’re following and what they are tweeting.

These are Twitter generated tools and they’re very good. But they’re not the only ones out there. You might want to look around for other widgets and tools that will do similar things but are provided by others.

I’ve also used Tweetizen in the past and have been quite happy with it. It works in a similar way: You simply create the parameters you want to have appear and then you’ll get the code that you can then embed in your website. I’ve used Tweetizen in the past to display tweets on specific topics for clients. For example, if a client wants to position themselves in the productivity coaching space, we might embed a Tweetizen display that searches for and posts tweets about “productivity”, “time management”, “procrastination”, etc.

Just go to Tweetizen and check out their really easy-to-use How-To page. You’ll notice that the Tweetizen tool can be used like a Search Widget or as a List Widget.

In all of these cases, you’ll get to outline the parameters of the tool (such as the tool’s size and appearance) and then you’ll get a code that you can embed. Just copy and paste this code into your site’s html and you’re ready to go!

Bonus Tip:

If you’re comfortable working with code, the opportunities are even more powerful. That’s because your tweets are gathered into an RSS feed. To get this feed, just sign in to Twitter and find the RSS feed in the right-side column on your profile page. Any tool that allows you to publish RSS feeds to websites, blogs, or wherever, can be used to publish your tweets (via RSS).

Related posts:

1. Tweets in 10 – Get Connected!
2. Tweets in 10 – Let’s Hear You Hoot!
3. Tweets in 10 – Twitter Plug-ins for Your Mobile

• It’s another way for people to find you
• It’s another way to connect with people
• It’s another way to drive traffic to your site

Facebook Pages used to be called “Fan Pages” so you might still see people using that name from time to time, but Facebook changed the name to Facebook Pages to reflect that more businesses and brands are joining. It’s not just for bands and celebrities anymore.

A Facebook Page is like a profile for your business. Facebook Pages have a look and feel similar to profiles that individuals have. Pages are easy to build so I’m not going to talk about building them here; instead, you can just read about it and get started yourself: Create Facebook Pages.

In this article of Tips In Ten, I’m going to give you some ideas to spend just 10 minutes a day to engage your Facebook Page following.

Step 1: Post a wall status (Duration: 30 seconds)
Think of something interesting to say and write it on your wall. It can be a tip (“Remind yourself of your top goals every day”) or it can be what you are doing right now (“I’m at SXSW”). You might also want to engage people on your site by asking a question and inviting responses (“What’s your number one way to stay productive during the day?”). Think of it like a Twitter tweet.

Plan to post a couple of these statuses every day. It doesn’t have to take long but it does a couple of things: It keeps you engaged on your page and it puts your name in your fan’s news stream at regular intervals. You don’t have to write anything controversial or profound each time, but you should also make sure that you don’t write really boring things every time. Just be yourself. In fact, it’s very similar to Twitter (except that you might not post Facebook statuses as often as you tweet).

Step 2: Add a couple of valuable links (Duration: 2 minutes)
Link to a couple of relevant news items. Make sure that whatever you are linking to is connected to who you are and what your brand is. Add a comment in which you talk about your take on the news item.

This just brings in some interesting discussion points from the outside world onto your Facebook Page. Invite people to talk about it or to share their experiences as they relate to the news item. Your Facebook Page is about engaging your audience so asking what they think, feel, or have experienced is a way to keep them active.

Step 3: Add a Flickr picture (Duration: 1 minute)
Find something on Flickr that relates to what you do and add it. Again, add a comment that gives your take on it (after all, that’s what people are showing up to see).

Now, having said that, you might be tempted to add a cute little kitten picture or a funny drunk college guy picture. If that fits your brand, go ahead. Some people have a brand that will “allow” them to share these kinds of pictures. But consider who your audience is first. If they’re professionals who want to stay professional then cut out the kitten pics. But if you know that your audience is sometimes up for a quick “awwwwwww” moment then link to it.

Step 4: Add a YouTube video (Duration: 1 minute)
Facebook is a multimedia platform and offering your users a variety of opportunities to see what you are thinking is a great way to build your brand and engage your audience.

A good way to make this an efficient use of your time is to sit down on a Saturday with some coffee to watch and bookmark a bunch of videos. Then link to one a day. It’s easier to do this because I find that if I have to go searching for a video at the time I’m supposed to post it, I either skip this step or I get distracted in a world of videos. Save it for a day when you can consolidate some video watching to make it useful to you.

Step 5: Link to your blog (Duration: 30 seconds)
This is an important step because you don’t just want to collect a whole bunch of fans who do nothing but talk to you. While you’re happy to engage them, you’re ultimately doing this because you want them to buy from you some day. So give them a way “out” from your Facebook Page to your business. Linking to your latest blog post is a great way to do this.

If you don’t write a blog, consider linking to your website. However, you may not want to do this every day. Perhaps just once or twice a week so you’re not promoting the heck out of your site.

Step 6: Like and Comment (Duration 4-5 minutes)
Your fans participate on your Facebook page because they like you. So engage them. “Like” things they say, comment on their comments. Make it a point to take some action on several each day. In the early days, you might engage all of your users, but there will come a point when you have too many fans and you can’t comment on every single one.

This is the most important thing. Although the other efforts make your Page engaging, this is what keeps people glued to your Page and coming back for more.

Bonus Tip: Promote Your Facebook page
Don’t forget to promote your Facebook Page. Facebook does provide some viral fan-base building but you will want to do what you can to add more fans. Make sure that you spend some time promoting your Facebook page. Spend time each day finding places where you can put a link to it. Some ideas include:

• Tweet about it
• Ask your friends, family, and followers to join
• Add it to your LinkedIn Profile
• Place it in the footer of your email
• Mention it in your newsletter
• Make sure it’s on your blog’s sidebar
• Add it to forum signatures
• Make sure it’s in the footer of articles you distribute

Facebook Pages are something to consider for your business. And, if you had thought about it a year or two ago and rejected the idea as not a professional way to connect with an audience, rethink it again because Facebook is continuing the march toward dominating the social networking space and you don’t want to be left behind.

Related posts:

1. How to Get ‘LinkedIn’ like a Superstar… in Ten Minutes a Day
2. Be a Twitter List Champion in Just Ten Minutes- Part 2
3. Events in a Flash: How to Promote an Event in Ten Minutes

LinkedIn was launched in 2002, which makes it a “granddaddy” among its peers. And, unlike other social networking sites, it has a specific niche focus of creating and empowering professional connections (compare that focus with Twitter and Facebook which are for everyone but can be used by professionals in specific ways). In other words, on Twitter you’re going to get a mix of business and personal followers and you can freely range back and forth between personal messages (“I’m going out with my family tonight for ice cream”) and professional messages (“For information on mastering Twitter, click this link”). On LinkedIn, it is acceptable to take a more “professional-only” and even sales-oriented approach.

If you’re new to LinkedIn or an occasional user, let me give you a quick overview of the features:

PROFILE: Everyone has a profile. You can put your C.V. on the bio along with links and contact info and your tagline, etc. LinkedIn has also started adding a few applications (including an Amazon plug-in, a blog plug-in, file storage through box.net, and virtual workrooms) to add to your profile in order to help you keep people informed and to help you connect with others in different ways.

CONNECTIONS: Once you have a profile, you build up your connections. You invite people you know and have worked with to connect with you. These are your “first degree” connections. Then you can see more info about their connections (which are your “second degree” connections) and then you can see more information about your connections’ connections’ connections (which are your “third degree” connections). If you want to meet a second degree connection, you ask your first degree connection for an introduction.

GROUPS: There are a number of types of groups – Professional groups, Networking groups, Corporate groups, Alumni groups – that you can be part of. Each group has places to post news and have discussions and network with others who share the same affiliation. There are plenty of groups for all kinds of interests and professions.

ANSWERS: Very similar to many of the other “questions and answers” sites online (Yahoo Answers, Answers.com, and so on), LinkedIn provides a place where people can ask and answer questions on a variety of business-related topics.

Of course there are other aspects of LinkedIn, but the above just highlights a couple of the main features.

LinkedIn is a tool that is only useful when you’re actually using it. Having a network of people is pointless if that network is inactive. But, when put to good use, your network can be priceless. LinkedIn is a good tool to position yourself and to leverage your relationships.

So, here is what you can do on LinkedIn, in just ten minutes a day:

Preliminary work

Start by updating your LinkedIn profile. Add in as much information as appropriate and connect your profile to some books on Amazon and your blog and any other application that might seem appropriate. This might take more than ten minutes, depending on how active you were on the site before. If you need to, spend a couple of days (at ten minutes a day if that’s all you can spare) to optimize your profile for people who might be looking at it.

Next, make sure your contact list is up to date. You might want to import your contacts from your CRM system or your email address book. Get everyone into one place and connect with them.

Also, download the LinkedIn toolbar for your browser so you can use it at a moment’s notice.

Finally, determine some short-term goals you have for your business; things you want to accomplish within 1 week to 1 month.

These are the initial steps that you’ll take and once those are done, you’ll be ready to move forward by performing the next steps in just ten minutes every day.

Daily activity

First, sign in to LinkedIn and update your status. Like the status line on Facebook, this is just a simple way for you to tell people what you’re doing. Use it to describe what you’re working on that day and make sure it positions you well. Like this: “I’m coaching 3 clients on how they can use Twitter to grow their business.” Duration: 30 seconds.

Second, connect with someone. This isn’t always possible because you might not have someone to connect with, but try anyway. Even if you end up with 2 or 3 a week, you’ll still grow your network by 100 to 150 a year. Don’t forget your doctor, dentist, lawyer, and drycleaner. Duration: 30 seconds.

Third, find a question in the Answers section that you can apply your expertise to, and answer it. Be sure to answer thoroughly and link to any resources or references that can help support your position. Be helpful rather than self-promoting, but it’s okay to leave a link to your site in the signature line. Duration: 1-2 minutes.

Fourth, find a discussion in a group that you belong to and participate there. If you’re not sure how you should be responding, adopt the same rules as you might use in a forum: Avoid blatant self-promotion in favor of thoughtful, value-added answers. Duration: 1-2 minutes.

Lastly, pull out your list of goals (which you prepared during the “preliminary work” section) and look through your contact list for 1 person who can help. It might be that you already have someone in your first degree contacts who can help you. Or, maybe you need an introduction to someone in your second or third degree contacts.

• For a first degree connection, you might write something like: “Jennifer, I’ve enjoyed working with you in the past. Your graphic designs have always communicated the message I needed. I have a goal this month of aligning my branding across several marketing channels. Would you have a moment to speak with me about how the graphical element would need to change? And, do you know someone who might assist with the content side of the branding?”

• For a second degree introduction, you might write something like: “Jack, I noticed that Maria is a contact of yours who is a Ruby on Rails developer with a background in business. That is exactly the kind of person I’m looking for to help me with a new project I’m working on. Would you kindly make an introduction? I’d appreciate it.”

By doing this, you’ll be really using your network instead of just collecting names. And just imagine how much you’ll get done when you proactively work through a list of your business’ goals with the help of 5 people each week! Duration: 4-6 minutes.

There you have it! In ten minutes you have positioned yourself, added a connection to grow your network, and sought help on business goals you have.

But that’s not all. If you find that you have a few more minutes, consider these activities. If I were you, I’d do one of these a day in a rotation and try to keep the duration to 2 minutes per day.

Give a recommendation: Recommendations are testimonials – saying something nice about someone in your network. Give recommendations freely. (You will get some in return but don’t expect them). Make sure they are truthful and spell check them before clicking “submit”.

Ask a question: You have questions; everyone does. LinkedIn gives you a great place to ask them and get good advice back from people who know what they are talking about. When you get some responses, interact with the responders via email and thank them.

Join a group: You might do this daily in the beginning, but at some point it will become tedious to comb through the existing groups to find ones that are relevant. So if you stick to picking 1-2 groups a week to join, that will be enough. After all, you don’t just want to join them, you want to participate!

Bonus Tip:

See those people with the word “LION” after their name? No, they do not live on an African savannah and chase gazelles. It stands for “LinkedIn Open Networker”. Open Networkers are those people who don’t feel that you MUST know the people you’re connecting with (which is something that LinkedIn has suggested is important and designed into their interface). These open networkers are open to invitations even from people they don’t directly know. And guess what: these people are connected! You can easily build your network from a few dozen to a few hundred in just days by joining a LinkedIn Group related to these “LIONs”. Join the LinkedIn group “TopLinked” (or visit their site at TopLinked.com), which is one of the best ways to connect with more people.

Now, not all of you will want to be open networkers. Personally, I don’t see anything wrong with it because it doesn’t seem to be different than mutual following on Twitter. But, if you plan to grow your network (and use it!!!) then this is a good way to grow it rapidly.

The most important thing:

The most important thing about LinkedIn is to USE your network. People who sign up to LinkedIn and don’t use their network effectively won’t derive any value from the site. But if you work your connections and seek to add value to them (and ask for help from them), you will enjoy your LinkedIn network just as much as you might enjoy a local, face-to-face networking event… and it only takes 10 minutes a day!

Related posts:

1. Running a Fan-Attracting Facebook Page in 10 Minutes a Day
2. “What Should I Do?” – Social Communities
3. Be a Twitter List Champion in Just Ten Minutes- Part 2

Today’s topic is microblogging.

The mindmap lists Twitter and Plurk although I’ve seen others (usually more niched microblogs) and I think an argument can be made to include Facebook statuses and LinkedIn updates. The social media mindmap also gives several Twitter tools that can make your Twitter account look better and make tweeting more effective.

I’m not going to talk about the mechanics of tweeting because I cover that elsewhere but I will give you some tips about microblogging more effectively:

Which one?
So, let’s start with the basic question: Which one should you use? Twitter? Plurk? Facebook? LinkedIn? One of the other bazillion microblog clones that are springing up?

Lisa Barone, of OutspokenMedia, wisely suggests that you choose a flagship community and focus on it. Don’t try to do all of them. This is good advice for a business considering many different marketing channels but it applies equally well to selecting just one microblogging platform. I like Twitter because it’s a big, open, and widely adopted community. Facebook and LinkedIn aren’t as easily accessible by others and Plurk has an interesting horizontal “timeline” interface but feels a little garish (the way Myspace has turned out to be). Ultimately, though, you need to figure out where your best audience is likely to be and meet them there.

Optimize it
Once you’ve chosen your flagship microblogging community, you need to customize it. Add a background, fill out the profile, etc. Don’t leave the default settings in place because it is not only boring but also a practice that a lot of spammers use.

Add friends (or followers or fans or whatever the term is in your particular microblogging community). Don’t just add anyone; add those who could be your customers. You want to listen to them so you can meet their needs.

Share
I think this is the biggest failure that entrepreneurs encounter on microblogging sites: They fail to share themselves. People encounter dry, boring businesses all day long. They want to connect with other people and it’s okay to share a little of your own personality when microblogging.

Be consistent
There is nothing more annoying on blogs than to read the words “I’m sorry I haven’t blogged for a while…” and it’s the same on microblogging sites. If you’re going to use Twitter, Plurk, Facebook, LinkedIn, or whatever other site is out there, be consistent. Communicate regularly. Share constantly. You don’t have to overwhelm people with content and if you only tweet (or plurk or microblog) a couple of times a day then that’s better than nothing. But do it every day.

People like the idea of starting a blog but they can be a lot of work. Twitter (and the rest) are blogs, too, but they are much smaller and can be far more interactive. Become a microblogger and share yourself with your market.

Happy (micro)blogging!

Related posts:

1. “What Should I Do?” – Social Communities

The social communities topic in the Social Media Framework mindmap seems somewhat empty, especially if you compare it to the immense pile of social networks I am invited to on any given day (by people I barely know). But the basic ones are here – Bebo, Facebook, LinkedIn, Myspace – so there aren’t any surprises. And, I’ll give the author this to his or her credit: it’s a tough category anyway because most social media has some kind of community surrounding it (Twitter users have followers, for example).

If your market is primarily a B2C market, it is understandable if you want to use several communities (Bebo, Facebook, Myspace). If your market is B2B, it’s likely that you’ll stick with LinkedIn (increasingly, though, Facebook is a place for business colleagues to connect). Pick one or two and really build them out and get active on them. If you try to do all of them, you’ll still end up focusing on a couple and doing a half-baked job on the others.

Once you’ve selected the one or two that you are going to be active on, build your profiles fully and be active there. Make it your network. Build relationships with your connections. Ask them how they are doing. Engage with them. Share with them.

Ning is also mentioned. Ning is a way to create niche communities around a specific topic. The idea here is to create a social network around something of your own focus – sort of like a Facebook for people who are only interested in the one thing you’re interested in. I haven’t used Ning very much but I do like the idea. (The only reason I haven’t used it much is because I have lots of other things taking up my attention right now). Ning as a concept is great and if you have a target market who will participate in a social network like that, you’ve got a captive audience who will also be highly engaged and more likely to buy. But if you’re thinking of trying Ning, you’d better weigh the ROI because they are moving away from free networks towards paid networks later this year. (Still, it might be a good thing for your business and worth the cost).

The last item mentioned in the mindmap is Cliqset. Cliqset is a way to pull together all of your content and participation from around the web into one place in a sort-of Lifestream. I like the idea of a Lifestream: People can view your Lifestream as a single repository where all of your links and status updates and bookmarks and published content is gathered. It can position you and it keeps everything altogether.

If you’re looking for a fast start to get a Lifestream going, Cliqset could be for you. But if you don’t mind a couple of extra steps, consider adding a Lifestream to an existing site you own instead. For example, convert a page of your site to a Lifestream (as I have done) or use Twitter as your Lifestream. The reason is, this can end up being an extra thing to pay attention to if it exists outside of your current network of sites, and it doesn’t offer as much value to you because of that: As an example, consider a prospective customer. When they search for you, they might look at your site and your Twitter account but it’s unlikely that they will continue on to look at your Lifestream on Cliqset (or elsewhere). However, if your Lifestream is integrated into an existing network (like your website) they will see it and it will further position you.

I have a lot more to say about social networks, but I’ve given you enough to think about for now! Find a few, succeed with them, and add a Lifestream to one of your existing identities.

Happy Blogging!

Related posts:

1. “What should I do?” – New Series – Social Media Mindmeister
2. “What Should I Do?” – Social bookmarking
3. Recommended social media tool for your business

Pictures of Insanely Cool Creative Workspaces – What comes to mind when you think of what you hear about Google.com’s office? Amazing? Fun? Creative? Here is a group of photos from various well known businesses “behind the brand” in their most intimate thinking place, their office!

Freedom’s Just Another Word (Um…No It’s Not) – Allison is clearly big on “Freedom” considering how much she has grown and found herself over the past year. She takes an in-depth look at what Freedom means to her and what can potentially be a freedom blocker. This is a really great empowering read and if you look at the very end of the article she has included a link to an exercise that will help you uncover your “4 words”.

Smart Phone, Dumb Life? – How many people out there do you know that don’t have access to the internet from their home? What about those that do not text message from their cell phones or go online from that same cell phone? Not too many!! Have you ever thought about the term “Crackberry?” Think about it. Once you live with it, experience it, and love it – you will crave and become reliant on that little bundle of technology with that cute little keypad, and the beautiful little full color screen….. Uh-oh! Where did I put mine? =)

A little Chipmunk’s Story- OMG, what an adorable story about this little guy (or girl). He was found on a trail by a hiker. Here is his story of survival and recovery. File this one under too cute!!

Your VA is an essential part of your Social Networking Strategy – Social Media – time consuming, involved, time consuming, lead generating, time…. (You get the idea.) Carol Ann Quibell posses a good question. Is it possible to have your VA take care of your social media site(s) and still have your sites be running like well oiled machines? Heck yeah! For everyone out there who has a VA or IS a VA read this blog. Whether it is idea inducing or points you can bring up in interviews about your skills you will take away something from the info. Oh, not to forget, hiring a VA to take over your social media upkeep really frees up your time to work the leads uncovered and all other aspects of your business!

Great Designers Are Spawned From Mediocrity – This is great. And if you sit there for a second, I am sure everyone can think back to a moment where you took on a new task, like writing your blogs, and you hated it. You knew the final product was not what you wanted but you tried your damnedest! So you kept at it, hopefully! Then there was that one day in which you though – I am pretty damn good at this! Melody writes about just that in this article. It is inspiring!

Have a great weekend and check out more of my favorites on HeatherVilla StumbleUpon.

Related posts:

1. Weekend Reading: My fav’s from this week: 6/11/10
2. Weekend Reading: My fav’s from this week: 7/9/10
3. Weekend Reading: My fav’s from this week: 4/9/10

With only hours to go before 2010, your planning is probably finished. Your strategizing is tucked away. Your dreams are sitting on your desk, waiting for you to show up on Monday morning. You’ve done everything you can do this year and now it’s coming to close.

And the champagne is flowing generously.

Before things get too carried away, over the next few hours, take a moment to pause and consider what I’m about to tell you: The week between Christmas and New Year is often an INSANE week, filled with gifts and festive activities and diets-be-damned eating. And the entire year leading up to this moment has been INSANE for many people, filled with bad news compounded by bad news. This past week – and this past year – has possibly been all about you running around and trying not to go crazy.

All that is about to change
Take a brief moment and reset your thinking. Make the following 10 promises to yourself for 2010:

1.    Promise to give the very best of yourself to every customer you meet. (They will reciprocate with repeat business).

2.    Promise to be positive, upbeat, enthusiastic, optimistic, and encouraging. (Smile brightly and the world will smile back).

3.    Promise to see every crisis as an opportunity. (You might just find the springboard to stellar success).

4.    Promise to invest in yourself and your business. (You know it takes money to make money… so spend a bit on your business).

5.    Promise to be more productive and make the most of every moment. (You can do more in the same amount of time).

6.    Promise to find the balance between work and family. (It’s a reward that can’t be counted).

7.    Promise to leap into new challenges. (Action and boldness are key ingredients that will help this year to be spectacular).

8.    Promise to be productive and to fight procrastination at ever turn. (Cut out that time playing Farmville in Facebook in favor of more revenue-generation).

9.    Promise to focus on operating a smart, efficient, profitable business. (That’s what it’s all about).

10.    Promise yourself that 2010 will be a great year for you and for your business. (It all starts with this decision).

These promises aren’t pie-in-the-sky dreams. They are achievable every single day and the business that commits to these 10 promises will have a successful 2010.

Here’s what I’d recommend
Write these promises to yourself. Put them on your desk. Read them every day before your day starts and review them every day before you sign off for the evening. If you’re REALLY serious about succeeding and these promises make sense to you, then create a metric for each one and use them as a checklist. (For example, for the “see every crisis as an opportunity” promise, why not create a list of things that stress you out and then choose on each week and find the opportunity in it).

When you countdown and shout “Happy New Year” today, you’re not just celebrating the turn of the calendar, you’re saying goodbye to a year of challenge and saying hello to a year of opportunity. This is an exciting time for business owners!

On that note:

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No related posts.

Incoming messages can be sorted into configurable columns that allow you to pay attention to the people who can help you the most. I have columns for:

• Everyone – because I like to see lots of tweets and pick and choose sometimes.

• Friends and family – because if someone’s having a barbecue, I don’t want the tweetvite to be buried in tweets by other people.

• Vendors and employees – it’s a nice way to get important stuff through the day; and I keep my notification on for this column.

• Clients – this is a great way to pay special attention to the folks who deserve special attention; this is another column where I keep notifications on.

• Thinkers and leaders – these are the tweets that I pay really close attention to because I’m secretly copying down everything they do so I can make my business more successful.

TweetDeck also has an iPhone app so you can tweet on the go.

If I were in charge over there in TweetDeck land, I would make just a couple of modifications to their great program:

1. Columns don’t always work for me. I don’t like that I have to scroll to see a couple of my columns. Why not create panels instead of columns so I can stack 8 on one screen (in 2 rows of 2) instead of only 4? I’m okay if I can only see 3 or 4 tweets at a time. Maybe a drag-to-resize function would work here so I can make some columns longer than others.
2. Scheduled tweets. Sometimes I want to write something now and tweet it later. Scheduling tweets makes life so much easier and helps me to connect even when I can’t be right at my computer. This is huge for lots of people I know.
3. There are a ton of functions that are only accessible when you hover over a user’s picture. How about a few other functions broken out into the tweet itself where it’s faster to use?

These are just my wishlist functions. I’m a big Tweetdeck fan and advise others to use it, too!

Happy Blogging!

Related posts:

1. The Metrics of Social Media
2. Tweets in 10 – All Hands on TweetDeck!
3. What’s Your Social Media Plan?

Exercise is something we all know we need but we often avoid or overlook until it’s too late. Our muscles aren’t just physical, though. We have mental “muscles” that need working out, too.

Recently, I read a great article Forbes by Dr. Douglas McKenna about this very thing. McKenna used to work for Microsoft and now runs his own coaching firm called Oceanside Institute. Thus, he brings a great balance of big business and small business sensibility to this concept.

You can read the full article, called “Exercise Your Self Control Muscle”,  but I will summarize it here for you.

McKenna says that self control is like a muscle and he gives a few tips to exercising this muscle for business owners. Self control, he says, is crucial for professional well-being. At first I thought he was just talking about things like avoiding Facebook until the workday is done or not responding in anger to an email, but he has far greater and more applicable advice than that. Self control, he says, has to do with our total control of self and what we make of each moment of the day.

1.    His first tip is “plan your time with depletion in mind”. In real exercise, you can do a lot more earlier in the workout but you get tired as you go and can’t do as much towards the end. It’s the same with self control. You need to give yourself a bit of a break and expect to have less self control towards the end of the day than you do at the beginning. I think this is a great tip and applicable to far more than just self control, but also to all kinds of productivity: Expect to do less later in the day than you do earlier in the day.

2.    His second tip is to standardize recurring tasks. Once again, this a great tip beyond self control and is a valuable productivity-enhancing tip. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to any of my readers that I embrace this idea whole-heartedly! Ultimately, you should do less so you can do more. (Yeah, it’s a paradox).

3.    Rest and refuel. Great advice to every small business owner who works 24/7 because they thing they have to. There may be periods of time when you do need to work 24/7 but try to keep those to a minimum and focus on giving a solid 8 hours of quality work and taking time for yourself. You’ll recharge just being around family and friends (and sleeping, of course) and that will make a huge difference. This is another paradox: You’ll get more done in 8 hours after some rest than you would get done by pushing yourself through 12 hours of work.

4.    Regular “workout” of this muscle is the key to making sure that you stay in control of your day… AND in control of your business. Like any other kind of exercise, you’ll gain the most benefits when you intentionally spend time working out every day.

Small business owners: Read the article, work out your self control muscle every day and take control of yourself (and your business).

Happy Blogging!

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1. Time Off: Do Small Business Owners Get Any?
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3. How Much Does A Small Business Owner Really Make?

I began into my normal explanation of how Twitter differs from other forms of Social Media and she stopped me right there and said Social What?

I realized something… many people don’t even realize what Social Media is. I mean they might ‘know’ about it because they have a profile on a Social Platform like FaceBook or similar, but they don’t understand the concept of Social Media, Social Media Marketing or Social Media Engineering. They definitely don’t understand how it could help them or their business.

I had to take two steps back and remember to explain the core foundation or basis of Social Media. That took me back to my college days, when my Professors would never let me go into a presentation or thesis without first discussing the theory or theories behind my discovery or beliefs.

I ask you… do your clients, customers, colleagues or prospects really understand what it is that you are doing? Make sure before assuming what may seem very clear to you may not be so clear to others. And if that’s the case, your chances of selling to them are slim to none!

Best,

Heather Villa

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1. Recommended social media tool for your business
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