OpenNetworker Update

Filed under Articles by on December 31, 2009 at 1:40 pm {no comments}

Add 999 Linked In Connections in less than 3 daysLess than 3 days ago I Checked out Open Networker to see how it helps grow networks. I quickly jumped my connections to 999 in less than 3 days and met quite a few great people. At first I was expecting to get a bunch of jumk and spam. But, I was surprised to find that I have had REAL conversations with dozens of people already. Many of these great networkers sent a great introduction email and engaged in conversation. for example, I found two people involved in virtual assistant companies. I really need to get one of those! I found a couple cycling fanatics. Many of the others were great business development gurus or HR experts. The conversation was interesting and I am involved more in the disucssion boards as a result.

Bottom line: If you want to grow your network, get to know some of the world’s greatest networkers and engage in real conversations…Check out Open Networker!

As far as adding twitter followers goes I added just under 200 new followers. That is not a bad number, but he jury is still out since I was able to do that same with SocialOomph. Yes, I’ve added a few, but it does not compare to the growth on LinkedIn.

What is Twitter Really For?

Filed under Articles by on December 30, 2009 at 5:21 pm {no comments}

My favorite use of twitter is to monitor keywords. For example, I watch for the word “composting” to join in composting conversations. People ask questions and I get a chance to answer them. That is a great way to engage in the conversation. The followers will come as you progress and they will be quality followers. One key is to talk about what you are interested in — watch and engage in the conversation around those topics.

Oh, and I don’t do twitter all day. In a normal day, I’ll check it 2-4 times. This usually takes A LOT less than 10 minutes each time and I have multiple twitter accounts that are active:

  1. I logon with Seesmic, Seesmic is a great tool to watch multiple streams for multiple accounts.
  2. Check for @mentions and respond.
  3. Then I look at 3-5 streams of keywords and only glance through the last 100-200 tweets for each keyword.
  4. If something catches my interest I’ll join the conversation.

For advertising (or promoting), I tried an experiment on Black Friday. I tweeted specials for most of the day with affiliate links. This was from an account that was clearly intended for this purpose. I didn’t offend anyone and actually made about 70 dollars that day. I may make more of an effort next year on the big sales days and plan for them instead of winging it like this year.

Bottom line, it is for networking…it is for advertising…it is for seeing what people are saying about your products or business. It is basically what you make it to be.

Using OpenNetworker to Grow a Network – A Review

Filed under Articles by on December 28, 2009 at 5:32 pm {no comments}

This first review of Open Networker will focus on the claims. Open Networker claims to be THE secret to build larger, more diverse, and more valuable networks. Open Networker is on the world’s top social networking sites. Each of the social networking sites have their own OpenNetworker.com Invite Me List. As an Open Networker Member, you can add yourself to any (or all!) of the Lists and be invited to connect by your fellow Open Networkers (and/or use those Lists to invite them).

Many people who are members of Open Networker are people like you and me! We are people that know the value of being open to new opportunities and connections. We are helpful and connected people that enjoy helping others.

Check out Open Networker if you want to grow your network quickly and get to know some of the world’s greatest networkers.

To set the stage I joined a couple linked in networking groups on the same day. So, the stats may not be perfect, but let’s see what happens. As a starting point, I have the following network stats (12/28/2009):

As I spend more time exploring OpenNetworker.com, I will share my experience. Sign up and share what you learn along with me.

SocialOomph – Twitter Time Saver

Filed under Articles by on November 6, 2009 at 10:05 pm {no comments}

Improve Your Productivity On Twitter! The more time I spend using Twitter the more I realize that I could easily use it all day long. Fortunately, a few months ago I started using SocialOomph to manage multiple twitter accounts. This time saving tool has helped me manage followers. Managing twitter followers takes less than 5 minutes to review and respond to more than 200 new followers every day across multiple accounts. But there is so much more that SocialOomph can do!

I have drafted several frequent tweets that I  schedule and modify as I see fit. This allows me to tweet while I work at my regular day job. Why would you schedule a tweet when the motto of twitter is What are you doing right now? Well, if I know I am doing something in a few hours I can plan accordingly. For example, I might arrive at a hiking trail and tweet while I am hiking. I know it is simplistic, but you can take it to the next level in business. If you are launching a product you can schedule regular updates, set a daily countdown, and announce when you are launched. This simple automation allows you to focus on the product and the launch while keeping your followers engaged. And after you launch you can quickly review the @mentions, DMs, and other keywords.

I know there is much more that SocialOomph and Twitter can do to help my business and my fun life. I am going to scratch a little past the surface soon!

My Favorite Twitter Tools

Filed under Articles by on October 10, 2009 at 8:10 pm {one comment}

I use twitter on a regular basis. I won’t pretend that I am a Twitter fanatic (yet), but I do use it almost daily. The tools I use are all free. All of these tools have a free version and several have a more powerful paid version. In some cases the extra features are well worth the money. Try the free products and upgrade after you decide you want more.

As you look through the list you might notice that many of these tools perform some sort of automation. First of all, I want to emphasize that complete automation of twitter is NOT a good idea. The human involvement is what makes it useful and enjoyable. However, a little automation will save you a significant amount of time. A little automation combined with regular manual intervention will make twitter enjoyable!

SocialOomph – Boost Your Productivity

SocialOomph is a powerful web application. The beauty of SocialOomph is that it is fully automated but with a delay. The automation tasks generally run 8 to 72 hours after the event that triggers it. This allows you to intervene and change things before making a mess. It also allows you to go on vacation and let your twitter account continue to grow and flourish without touching it every day. Schedule a few things and take a long weekend because SocialOomph:

  • Supports multiple accounts
  • Automatically follow back and set parameters to ignore (or not follow) certain account types
  • Automatically schedule tweets and rotate through several
  • Automatically send direct messages to new followers

SocialOomph is by far one of my favorite tools and the paid account is well worth it.

Twitter Tools for WordPress

Twitter Tools connects your blog with your twitter account.

  • Configure a widget to show your tweets in the sidebar.
  • Automatically tweet new blog posts.
  • Create a daily or weekly twitter digest to post on your blog.
  • And tweet directly from your blog sidebar or administrative panel.

Seesmic – Build your Community

Seesmic is a desktop tool that works great on the Mac.

  • Supports multiple accounts
  • Post tweets to multiple accounts at one time
  • Search and save your searches for easy access.
  • Watch multiple streams at one time
  • and a whole lot more!

Tweepular

Tweepular is the ultimate follower management tool. See who is following you, see who you are following and perform actions on each of the lists. Build your popularity (tweepularity) by adding new followers.

Huitter – Bulk Follow Back and Unfollow

Huitter simply allows you unfollow anyone that is not following you back. It also allows you to follow anyone that is already following you that you are not already following.

Friend or Follow

Friend or Follow simply shows who you are following and who is following you.

Featured Users – Twitter Ad Network

Featured UsersFeatured Users is a way to display your name in front of more users. If you really need to get your name out there and be in front of customers become a featured user. Your small twitter add is then displayed in several different locations.

Race Pro Products

Filed under Portfolio by on October 3, 2009 at 5:42 pm {no comments}
Race Pro Products

Race Pro Products

Race Pro Products Company is a full service manufacturing and distribution company dedicated to serving the needs of Supermarket Chains, Convenience Store Distribution, Automotive Distributors and the Economy / Dollar Store Markets.

Race Pro Products Company offers a complete line of professionally formulated “Oils, Lubricants, Window Wash, Antifreeze, Coolants and Additives “in dynamic packages for maintenance and enhanced performance of motor vehicles, marine vessels and industrial machinery.

Now, you want to learn more About the website and what makes it tick. . . (more…)

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