About This Blog
Sara Lancaster here. Thanks for visiting the No. 2 Pen blog where I share examples of business websites with sharp website content.Project Hound
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Posts Tagged ‘Social Media’
Facebook Lessons from Moe the Beagle
Thursday, April 21st, 2011
Have you met Moe?
He came on board here at No. 2 Pen about a year ago and has since changed my life. Before adopting Moe I wasn’t really a dog person. Maybe I’m still not a dog person. Maybe I’m a person crazy about my dog. Either way, Moe has changed both my personal life and my professional life. (more…)
Get Started Using Twitter in One Hour
Wednesday, February 9th, 2011
New to Twitter? Don’t sift through countless articles and tutorials to get the information you need. Follow these seven steps and you’ll be on Twitter within the hour.
1 – Create a Google Alert for your business that notifies you as soon as your name is mentioned on the web. Create alerts for other key terms,too. You should also work with Google Reader to keep up on industry news and information your competitors publish. Both of these resources will help you find inspiration for tweets.
2 – Make a list of 30 tweets to publish over the next month. As a general rule, only 30% of your tweets should be promotional, while the other 70% can be entertaining, informational, and correspondence between you and your followers. Keep in mind that correspondence should not be scheduled. You’ll have to correspond live. (more…)
A Guide to Social Media Planning
Monday, July 5th, 2010
Over the last couple of weeks I’ve talked about social media planning and how small businesses need to think about their goals online. I’ve created a free, downloadable guide to complement those blog posts. The guide walks you through the process of developing a social media plan as well as providing a few tips on how to effectively use social media.
Download your Guide to Social Media Planning from my writing freebies page.
Social Media Planning, Objectives, and Buckets – Part 2
Monday, June 28th, 2010
In the last post I left off talking about buckets in social media planning. A bucket holds everything that will go into achieving a single objective including the places you will hang out within social media (e.g., Facebook) and the tasks you complete within those accounts.
Fifth, decide who and for how much time
Maybe you are the person who spends 30 minutes every morning on social media or maybe you have several people in the office responsible for monitoring your social media accounts every day, all day. Whatever the case, keep it consistent. An abandoned Facebook fan page will have the opposite impact you are looking for. (more…)
Social Media Planning, Objectives, and Buckets – Part 1
Thursday, June 24th, 2010
If your business wants to incorporate social media into its marketing mix, then it must come up with a plan. All effective marketing is backed by a plan.
Do you have a social media marketing plan?
First, decide on your goal. Think about your mission statement. What is the one thing your business hopes to accomplish? Take that idea and pull it into social media. For instance, I want to help small businesses create killer web content. Using social media, I connect with small business owners to offer marketing ideas and my services. (more…)
Make Great Stuff – Unleasher of Creativity and Social Media Power
Wednesday, May 26th, 2010
After meeting Sarah Bush of Make Great Stuff at a networking event and spending a couple of weeks participating in her famous 20-Minute Club, I begged to interview her on how she uses social media to promote her creative workshops. I actually asked Sarah very coolly for the interview, but if she would’ve said no, I was prepared to beg. She’s that good at marketing her work.
If you use social media to promote your business or your creative work, I strongly encourage you to read on. Sarah shares many tips and insights into how to make the social media machine work. Grab your notebooks. This stuff is gold! (more…)
Don’t Be a Twitter Jerk: Tutorial on Twitter Kindness
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010
Are you a Twitter jerk?
You know, are you one of those people who look down your nose at people who enjoy social media?
Not sure? Well, have you ever said: “I don’t understand it. Twitter is for people with too much time on their hands.”
If so, then you just might be a jerk. Maybe it’s time to stop judging and instead learn how Twitter works and how the site might benefit you. (more…)
7 Reasons You Need a Social Media Content Writer
Thursday, January 21st, 2010
Keeping up with your social media accounts is no easy task, especially when you have a business to run. If you are on the fence about hiring a social media content writer, consider these seven reasons why you should.
Twitter Brings Back the Exclamation Mark
Tuesday, January 19th, 2010
For years I refused to incorporate the exclamation mark into my writing, unless it was on a birthday card. For some reason “Happy Birthday!” looks so much better than “Happy Birthday.”
But in the last few months I’ve noticed that the pesky exclamation mark has made its way into my everyday writing. How could this be?
9 Bright Ideas for Your Social Media Content
Thursday, January 14th, 2010
No one cares about your breakfast and no one should ever know about your office gossip, at least not by way of your social media content. If your business has social media accounts and you are looking for creative social media content ideas, don’t look to personal and possibly damaging aspects of your day to inform and entertain those in your social networks. Instead, look to one of these nine bright idea starters to create your social media content.
1. Read mainstream news and industry news online. If you find a unique or informative article, shrink the link and post it to Twitter or Facebook. (more…)