Social Media Tools | Ana Lucia Novak

Lissa Duty summarizes what I have been sharing verbally with my clients and friends:

it is well worth casting a wide net by creating optimized accounts within relevant Article directories
re-share your content within Linkedin groups and niche sites (BizNik, BizSugar, Fastpitchnetworking).
leverage auto-posting tools such as Posterous or Ping.fm to submit content, photos, videos, this makes it easy to facilitate these activities on a weekly basis
- Posterous enables you to update your posts in advance (date and time), you can add tag words, add google analytics and create a feed burner, customize your header, add links and create pages.
if you are an avid blogger, add the OnlyWire for WordPress plug-in, link your accounts to it, and watch how fast your content spreads like a wildfire.
if you are an avid video user, create accounts and link them to TubeMogel or leverage Posterous as they auto-submit to Blip.tv, Tumblr, Youtube, Vimeo, Viddler, Plurk)

Getting your infrastructure in place will make your social media and online marketing activities easy to manage, and setting up your editorial calendar in advance, like creating a mind map, will help you create the content/video/article in advance, so that you network and engage real time with your friends, prospects and thought leaders.

In the beginning when you first begin a new habit, be patient with the process, because when you stick to a schedule, combined with an organized infrastructure and leveraging social media tools, you will begin to see how this process will become integrated as part of your daily life. You will know what to delegate and what parts you own, and your plans will be easy to execute.

I recommend installing iPhone apps such as Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, Linkedin, Hootsuite, Seesmic (it’s always good to have a back up) so you can stay connected with your peers and prospects.

These activities enhance your brand and set you up as a thought leader in your specific field.

PCP: Patience, Consistency, Persistence are key attributes to your online marketing activities.

A majority of solo professionals & business owners actually forget to utilize local online directories like Google Directory (now known as Google Places), Yahoo Directory, Bing Local Directory,iBegin.com and many other directories.

When you add your business profile (name, address, phone, company URL) you are helping others find you.
When a person does a local search for a real estate agent, web designer, or consultant, and add the city next to the search topic, people appear on the front pages of Google, Yahoo and Bing.

When adding yourself to the local directories, make sure you

Add “key words” which describe your business and services under title, services offered section
Use words that people type into Google search bar to find someone like you
Here is a place where you can get an idea of keywords to add to your profile:
https://adwords.googl….
You have to have a gmail account for Google Places; a Yahoo account for the Yahoo Local Business directory and a Live/Hotmail account for Bing Local Directory

This is a good start for getting found locally. Note: Most of my clients found me through local search directories, and this was FREE from any kind of advertising!

Don’t forget to add your company URL on Twitter Profile, Linkedin, FaceBook, BizNik, Ecademy and then head on over to www.google.com/profiles and add ALL your social sites to this site; enter keywords and tag words, too.!