Office Moxie was featured in the April 2012 issue of MN Valley Business magazine.

To read the article Email marketing more important than ever, click here>> MN Valley Business Article April 2012

Making the decision to add social media to your marketing plan was a good one. There’s no question that it’s a smart, cost-efficient method for creating awareness, attracting a loyal following, building a solid customer base and boosting sales. Businesses everywhere are quick to attest to its success. But now that you’ve jumped into the social media pool with both feet, how do you keep from getting overwhelmed by the added responsibility of maintaining your calendar and keeping your content both current and effective?

Take a deep breath and discover these five ways to maintain your focus and keep from getting stressed out about your social media schedule.

1. Less is more. There are many social media networks out there and the numbers are growing all the time. Choose just a few based on your audience and your business goals. Managing a couple of networks on a regular basis is much more effective than spreading yourself too thin — or even worse — quitting because you simply can’t keep up.

2. Create a content calendar. Planning a social media calendar helps you feel better organized and more in control of your publishing efforts. Don’t try and plan months in advance. Every two weeks is more easily manageable and won’t force ideas that might be off-topic or bring no value to your audience.

3. Utilize the tools of the trade. Discover social marketing tools that allow you to manage multiple networks simultaneously. HootSuite and TweetDeck are just a couple of tools that were designed to help you create efficiencies and provide an analysis of the effectiveness of your efforts.

4. Get away from it all. Maintain a healthy social media balance by not becoming an online junkie. You’ll keep your message content fresh and more relevant when you take a few steps back and stay open to new ideas.

5. Have fun. Social media allows you to make an impression through your insights, connections and offerings. When you look like you’re having fun, people will gravitate to your message and success will follow.

Watch how your contemporaries are managing their social media presence, too. You may want to model your strategy and style after other businesses and organizations you admire. Just remember, not every message you deliver is going to result in a home run. But as you become more and more familiar with the medium, you won’t feel so overwhelmed by the process, and soon you’ll discover that being social is really a great way to do business.

If you have a comment about the article, or  your own tips  for avoiding social media overwhelm, I’d love to hear them! Feel free to post a comment below.

To your online success!

Constant Contact put together a great infographic about email marketing.

Click the image below to see it full-size — once it appears on the new page, click it again to see a nice, readable size.

Are you getting a lot of spam from Twitter? If so, then you may want to check out TrueTwit. TrueTwit is a validation service for Twitter. If you decide to use it, keep in mind that this will create an extra step for people who want to follow you. However, those who are truly interested in receiving your Tweets won’t mind the validation process. It’s another good way to keep the robots from getting into your inbox.

Have you been wanting to learn more about email marketing and what it has to offer for your business? Or, perhaps you’ve been using email marketing and would like to learn how to maximize your email marketing efforts.

If so, then you need to attend this FREE Seminar!

When: Wednesday, September 21
8:00am – 12:30pm

Where: Greater Mankato Growth
1961 Premier Drive, Suite 100, Mankato

Cost: FREE with Registration

At this seminar you will learn:

Engagement Marketing: Building relationships that drive business success

The two questions this seminar will answer:

1. How do I generate more repeat business from existing customers?
2. How do I get my customers to refer my business to others?

Building lasting relationships with your existing customers and members drives business success. Making that happen is called “Engagement Marketing.”

The Power of Email Marketing:

* Reach more people with your message

* Create email campaigns that get results

* Get your emails opened and read

* Write compelling subject lines and copy

* Interpret email campaign results (open-rates, bounce-rates, click-thru rates, etc …)

Getting Started with Constant Contact Email:
Learn how to use Constant Contact to design email newsletters

* How to brand your emails to match websites & logos

* How to work with links and graphics for a polished, professional look

* How to analyze results and target your most profitable customers

* How to link Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn into your newsletters

* How to use the latest Constant Contact features

8:00 am – 8:30 am – Check-in & Networking.

8:30 am – 9:30 am – Engagement Marketing

9:45 am – 10:45 am – Power of Email Marketing

11:00 am – 12:30 pm – Getting Started with Constant Contact Email

Join Jeff Ferrazzo of Constant Contact and Holly Anthony of Office Moxie on
Wednesday, September 21 from 8:00am -12:30pm for an exciting morning of learning!

Space is Limited — Click Here to Register Today!

Jeff Ferrazzo – Regional Development Director, Minnesota
Jeff is a business expert with over 20 years experience helping businesses initiate and build meaningful professional relationships with both organizations and individuals. As the Minnesota Regional Development Director for Constant Contact, Jeff uses his deep consulting and training experience to help small businesses, groups and associations maximize the power of relationship marketing.

Holly Anthony – Office Moxie
Holly Anthony is the founder of Office Moxie, a company dedicated to helping clients effectively and efficiently use technology to grow their business. Office Moxie offers social media, email marketing, website design, virtual team collaboration, computer training, and administrative support services. Office Moxie is based in Madison Lake, Minnesota.

Did you know that you can set up a tab with a storefront on Facebook? I came across an article about it yesterday while doing some research. It’s pretty cool. You can read the article here:

“Social Commerce with Facebook Stores”

Three Popular Facebook Store Options By Laura Lake, About.com Guide

If you want to skip the article and go right to the Facebook profiles with the store examples, they’re here:
StyleQ Store
UFC Fan Store
Aleratec Store

Of course, this option isn’t for everyone as there is a pretty hefty fee for the service but for the right business, this ecommerce option could be well worth the investment.

Your Partner on the Web,

Holly

Are you monitoring your website traffic? If not, you need to start and an easy way to do so is by signing up for a Google Analytics account. Once you sign up, you can copy the HTML code and place it on each page of your website. Okay, if you aren’t skilled in that area, then send the code to your web guru and ask him or her to put it on your website for you.
By monitoring the reports, you’ll find out how many visitors have been to your site and where they came from. For example, let’s say you recently posted a news release on webpr.com. If you put a link to your website in the article, Google Analytics will show you how many people visited your site from clicking on that link. Then you’ll know which marketing campaigns are working and which are not.

You’ll also learn:

• the length of time spent on each page of your site
• what browser visitors are using (i.e. Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox)
• source of the traffic
• keywords used in their search

If you don’t want to have to sign in and out of Google Analytics and monitor the reports yourself, your virtual assistant can do that for you. Just be sure to discuss the reports during your weekly or bi-weekly telephone calls.

If you’d like to see a sample report, post a comment here or send me an email. I’d be glad to show you one of my reports.

To your success!
Holly