Phyllis Zimbler Miller's Blog: Phyllis Zimbler Miller Author, page 61

Using Social Media to Expand Your Brand From Local to National

My husband Mitchell R. Miller is a tax, trusts and estate planning attorney with his office in Beverly Hills, California.

Because of the state-specific estate planning tax laws, my husband only does estate planning for people in California – and actually only people within driving distance of his office because he likes to meet face-to-face with his estate planning clients.

But what Mitch also does is provide tax consulting for accountants and lawyers on federal tax issues. And this Mitch can do for anyone anywhere in the U.S. via phone.

Thus Yael and I have been working on changing his social media presence from one focused on estate planning to one focused on tax consulting.

One of the beauties of social media marketing is that it is relatively easy to change one's positioning. No expensive print or television ads have to be canceled or substituted.

What is required is re-positioning one's brand from a strategic marketing viewpoint.

For Mitch we did a new video that emphasizes one of his main "selling" points:

Accountants and lawyers are often worried that an outside tax consultant might "steal" the client.

Mitch points out in this new 52-SECOND video posted on YouTube that he does not even need to know the name of the client when consulting on federal tax issues. Thus accountants and lawyers do not need to worry about this "fear."



Watch this 52-SECOND video now for an example of expanding your brand from local to national. And you can follow Mitch on Twitter at @MillerTaxLaw

Do let us know in the comments below what you think of this video.

© 2010 Miller Mosaic, LLC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) and her business partner Yael K. Miller (@MillerMosaicLLC on Twitter) are committed to taking the mystery out of social media so that individuals and companies can utilize the power of social media to attract more business.

For more useful social media marketing info, sign up now to get email notifications of social media blog posts at www.millermosaicllc.com/get-miller-mo...

What Is the Main Reason You Blog?

I've been pondering this question after reading the incredibly informative ebook report "279 Days to Overnight Success" by blogger Chris Guillebeau (see link below).

Chris' report is filled with valuable information that he freely shares. And although I have read many books, reports and blog posts about blogging, I still learned a great deal from him.



But the most important thing for me, after reading his report, is that I realized you have to be clear what your main reason for blogging is.

And it appears to come down to being in one of these two categories:

1) Those who set up a blog as the reason for their website (regardless of whether the blog is hosted or self-hosted).

2) Those who have a blog as an additional part of their website or have a separate blog to support the activities on their website.

Chris' report is directed at people who are in the first group, even if they eventually earn money in some way from their blog.

And I realized that Yael and I are in the second group – people who use their blog to support our website. Our blog posts add fresh content to help us get in front of our target market, and the fresh content also keeps the search engines happy.

This realization is important because, as I read Chris' report, I realized that many of the steps that he discussed Yael and I do not do. But I also realized that this is because our blog is not our main focus.

Our main focus is taking the mystery out of social media for our clients and helping them to use social media to get in front of their target markets. Writing blog posts helps with this focus of ours, but our efforts are not centered on our blog.

Chris' report is probably "must read" material for people whose online efforts are centered on growing their blog – and it is valuable material for everyone else who blogs or is considering blogging.

But before you read his report and possibly feel badly at what you are not doing, spend a few minutes figuring out your own personal reasons for blogging. Then with this focus clearly in mind, read his report at http://chrisguillebeau.com/3x5/overnight-success/ and then come back here to share any comments you have about his report.



P.S. And check out the new header that Yael did for this blog (different than the header for our whole site) after Chris' report inspired me.



© 2010 Miller Mosaic, LLC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) and her business partner Yael K. Miller (@MillerMosaicLLC on Twitter) are committed to taking the mystery out of social media so that individuals and companies can utilize the power of social media to attract more business.

For more useful social media marketing info, sign up now to get email notifications of social media blog posts at www.millermosaicllc.com/get-miller-mo...

Generic Tweets vs. Strategic Tweets on Twitter

Twitter is one social media site where I often notice you truly get what you pay for if you are having someone outside your own company do your tweeting for you.

What do I mean?

I was asked to review someone's social media presence. The tweet about nice weather for Halloween threw me off because this has nothing to do with the person's company, his brand, or his area of expertise.

When I asked about the tweet, he told me that his company pays for an outside company to do these kinds of tweets throughout the month.

Especially as he has several knowledgeable employees in his company, it would be much better from a strategic marketing perspective for his employees to tweet about interesting items connected to the company's business.

At Miller Mosaic we believe that more than one person can tweet for a company. Yet we also believe that these tweets should be part of a strategic marketing plan and not simply generic tweets that anyone on Twitter could write.

If the concept of social media marketing is to help you and your company stand out from your competition, it is unlikely that generic tweets will help you do this.

In addition, generic tweets are unlikely to produce conversations with your prospective target markets. For example, there is not much to reply about the weather being nice for Halloween.

Your best Twitter strategy is to share information relevant to what your company offers – and sharing this information in a way that reflects real people tweeting rather than a generic sequence of tweets.

The first step for strategic tweeting is to actually have a marketing strategy for Twitter. This does NOT mean tweeting your product descriptions one by one.

It does mean deciding how your company will be positioned on Twitter and how your tweets will relate to your long-term marketing goals.

The second step is to find people who can create individual tweets that support this Twitter marketing strategy. (And it helps if they use spellcheck for their tweets.) These people also need to be able to engage with tweet mentions of you or your company.

For more useful social media marketing info, sign up now to get email notifications of social media blog posts at www.millermosaicllc.com/get-miller-mo...

© 2010 Miller Mosaic, LLC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) and her business partner Yael K. Miller (@MillerMosaicLLC on Twitter) are committed to taking the mystery out of social media so that individuals and companies can utilize the power of social media to attract more business.

A One Site Social Media Strategy Is Not Enough

A woman told me she is active on Facebook to get in front of her target markets. Then she said she has a hard time getting people who have "friended" her on Facebook to visit her Facebook (Business) Page.

I replied that an effective strategy would be to participate on Twitter to send people to her Facebook (Business) Page.

Her response to this is that she knows more people on Facebook than she does on Twitter.

My reaction to this was to think of the old joke about the restaurant customer who asks the waiter to "taste my soup." The waiter finally agrees: "Where's your spoon?" And the customer replies: "Yes, where is it?"

It is precisely because this woman does not know a lot of people on Twitter that she should be using Twitter to get in front of people who might be interested in her services.

Social media is not about who you know already. It is about who you do NOT know.

And you participate on social media to share information that creates trust with these people who do not already know you.

If you are not yet on Twitter, get our free report "Twitter, Facebook and Your Website: A Beginning Blueprint for Harnessing the Power of 3 for Your Business" at www.MillerMosaicPowerof3.com – and start using the power of more than one social media site to get in front of your target markets.

© 2010 Miller Mosaic, LLC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) and her business partner Yael K. Miller (@MillerMosaicLLC on Twitter) are committed to taking the mystery out of social media so that individuals and companies can utilize the power of social media to attract more business. Sign up now to get email notifications of social media blog posts at www.millermosaicllc.com/get-miller-mo...

Social Media Gives You the Huge Advantage of Personalizing Your Brand

A huge strength of using social media to get in front of your target markets is the ability to personalize your brand. In other words, you can come out from behind the corporate veil and relate person-to-person.

How many website have you gone to where the stock photos on the home page discourage you because you know those photos are NOT the people running the company whose website you're on?

And then how do you feel when you land on a website where the principals of the company are right there on the home page? You immediately know who is "minding the store."

At a networking event in Los Angeles I was very surprised by some of the business cards that lacked even the most basic online information (for example, a website URL or even an email address).

The truth is that, thanks to social media providing us with so much information about companies who are actively engaged in the social media space, we often are suspect of companies that do NOT provide this information.



If you are head of a company that has been "hiding behind" stock photos and no personal information on the company website or on social media sites, it is time to reconsider your marketing outreach strategies.

As I've already publicly predicted, I firmly believe that any company that does not have an active and effective social media (and website) presence by the beginning of 2013 is going to be left in the dust by its competitors.

Do not let this happen to your company. Instead, start harnessing the power of social media and an effective website to enable you to relate person-to-person with your target markets.

For help doing this, get our free report on Twitter, Facebook and websites at the sidebar on www.MillerMosaicPowerMarketing.com



© 2010 Miller Mosaic, LLC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) and her business partner Yael K. Miller (@MillerMosaicLLC on Twitter) are committed to taking the mystery out of social media so that individuals and companies can utilize the power of social media to attract more business. Sign up now to get email notifications of social media blog posts at www.millermosaicllc.com/get-miller-mo...

Using Lists on New Twitter

Thanks to the changes brought forth by #NewTwitter, it seems a good idea to revisit Twitter lists.

On #NewTwitter:

I am on my profile page and I click on that dropdown box to the bottom right under my profile. You will see:

A list created through LinkedIn for my LinkedIn connections on Twitter (a list to which I don't actively add)
The main list that I created — US-troops-supporters
The choice to create a list

When you click on "Create a list" you will get this box:

You can make the list private so that it is just a helpful list of Twitter people in whatever category you decide to create – friends, fans, bloggers you like, whatever.

Or you can make the list public so that others can also benefit from the list that you are compiling.

Now still on my profile, which is open to anyone to see, you can click on the button LISTS on the same navigation line as TIMELINE. And this is what you'll see:

If you click on any of the lists, you'll see the newest updates by people on that list:

If you are wondering how you can benefit from information on other people's lists, below are the links to two posts that have suggestions.

These posts appeared on www.TwitterandYourWebsite.com and are based on advice from @CathyWebSavvyPR. And although these suggestions pre-date #NewTwitter, the posts are still quite helpful:

Cathy Larkin Shares How to Effectively Use Twitter Lists

More Advice From Cathy Larkin on Using Twitter Lists

© 2010 Miller Mosaic, LLC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) and her business partner Yael K. Miller (@MillerMosaicLLC on Twitter) are committed to taking the mystery out of social media so that individuals and companies can utilize the power of social media to attract more business. Sign up now to get email notifications of social media blog posts at www.millermosaicllc.com/get-miller-mo...

10 Useful WordPress Plugins You Might Not Know

Here are 10 useful WordPress plugins that will make your site more user friendly:

AddToAny:

A share plugin that I love. Why do I love it? Because it's always updated and in tune with the current WordPress version. Because it does so many things that I'm not even aware of (see http://www.addtoany.com).

There's another reason I truly love this plugin — the AWESOME customer service this FREE plugin has.

Have a question? Any kind of question? Just tweet @addtoany or @micropat and you'll get an answer. And not just an answer — real help.

I was having trouble positioning the AddtoAny button (see "Share This" button at the bottom of this post). Pat, aka @micropat, figured out the CSS code that I would need. He also answered all the questions I had about the lastest AddtoAny upgrades — he's one really nice guy.

Antivirus:

There are hackers who like to mess with your site. Antivirus "monitors malicious injections and warns you of any possible attacks." You can set it up to scan daily and email you if there is a problem.

Heads up for Thesis users, the first time you scan each version with Antivirus, you will get warnings about lines that have "require_once". Take a look at the lines and if they look normal, click that it's not a virus and you're all good.

Audio Player:

Have audio you want to stream on your site? Are you a podcaster? Audio Player is the plugin for the job. There are tons of customization options.

Block Bad Queries (BBQ):

Another security plugin. This one protects "against malicious URL requests."

Flash Video Player with HTML5:

If you have a video that you want to show on your site, you could upload it to a video-sharing service (YouTube, Vimeo, etc.) and embed the video. What if the video is too long for YouTube and too business oriented for Vimeo?

What if you didn't want it on a video-sharing service at all? What if you have a membership club and you want only members to see the video?

This is the plugin for you. The wonderful thing about this plugin is that it first looks for the ability to play as HTML5 (so you can watch on an iPad or iPod) and, if it can't find that ability, it will play as Flash.

I recommend you set "Skins" to "Bright."

Please note that the name in your plugin list is "Flash Video Player with HTML5" and its name in the WordPress Plugin Directory is "HTML5 and Flash Video Player." Make sure the plugin is by Rodrigo Violante and you've got the right one. Also, under Settings it is called "Flash Video."

TwitterLink Comments:

I love Twitter (I'm @MillerMosaicLLC) and most of the blog posts that I leave comments on I find from people I'm following. Most of the time when I leave a comment, I have to fill out my name and email address. Then I have the option of entering my URL.

Now I have a dilemma: I know this person from Twitter so I consider filling out my Twitter URL. And then I consider putting our Miller Mosaic URL to encourage people to check out our site. I end up flipping a mental coin.

Don't create this dilemma for the people who visit your site. Allow them the ability to add their Twitter name and a URL of their choice.

Viper's Video Quicktags:

What if you do want to embed videos from a video-sharing service? This plugin is so easy to use as you just need to insert the video's URL — the plugin does the rest of the work for you. You can easily change the size of the video.

WP-Print

Some people might actually want to print out your post or page. Make it easy for them with this plugin. If you set the "Print Comments?" option to yes, then the users get to decide whether they want to print comments.

Setup is a little tricky as you have to know where/how to drop a little php into the right file.

WP Facebook Like

A plugin that lets you have a Facebook "like" button on your site. Easy to setup. Please note that there are several plugins with similar names — get the plugin by Johnny Chadda.

WPtouch

A wonderful plugin that automatically turns your site into an easy-to-read and easy-to-navigate smartphone version. With so many people going online from their smartphones, why wouldn't you have this?

This plugin is the free version. There is a paid one called WPtouch Pro

Important Note: Every plugin you add can slow down the load speed of your site. So consider before you install a plugin and watch your load speeds.

I'm looking for a plugin that backups your site. I've been using Austin Matzko's WP-DB-Backup but it hasn't been recently updated. What plugin are you using to backup your site? Leave your reply in the comments section below.

Updating Your LinkedIn Profile

Spurred on by Joan Stewart's excellent weekly Publicity Hound ezine (see link below), I decided to do a little publicity work for myself.

I revisited LinkedIn to see what is new and how I could improve my LinkedIn profile.

First, I finally took the advice of my business partner Yael K. Miller to add my past positions. Previously I thought these positions did not have much to do with our social media marketing consulting company.

But I also took Yael's advice to locate an old resume to help with adding the info to my LinkedIn profile. And do you know what I discovered?

A great deal of my past experience does relate directly to the social media marketing consulting we do with clients. (See www.linkedin.com/in/phylliszimblermiller )

If you've been like me – dragging your feet about adding your past positions – pick up those feet now and add the information.

And here is a LinkedIn profile feature with an interesting concept:



You can now send an email message to a first-level connection suggesting the person update his or her profile.

The prompt to do this is underneath the profile box of a person with whom you are a first-level connection you will see this prompt: Suggest a profile update for [first name of connection].

Or this prompt: Help [first name] by suggesting a profile update.



If you click on the prompt, you'll get a choice of "Section" – Experience, Education, Other



Then you'll get this email message already written:



Hi [first name],

Keeping your profile up-to-date can help people find you on LinkedIn. Here's a suggestion.

[your first name]



Question: What do you think of this LinkedIn feature? Do you think that our first-level connections want us to give them unsolicited advice? (Share your opinion in the comments section below.)

Even when I want to give a private Twitter bio tip to someone, I usually first DM asking permission to share the tip. I personally don't plan to use this feature unless I use it only to ask permission to share the suggestion.

And now to help spur your publicity juices, get Joan's weekly Publicity Hound ezine. (FYI – This is not an affiliate link but it is an endorsement. I read Joan's ezine faithfully each week.)

And after signing up for excellent free advice from Joan, get our free Miller Mosaic report on Twitter, Facebook and your website at www.MillerMosaicPowerof3.com

© 2010 Miller Mosaic, LLC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) and her business partner Yael K. Miller (@MillerMosaicLLC on Twitter) are committed to taking the mystery out of social media so that individuals and companies can utilize the power of social media to attract more business. Sign up now to get email notifications of social media blog posts at www.millermosaicllc.com/get-miller-mo...

How Social Media Can Help Your Company or Organization Make Money

Someone I know recommended to a non-profit organization that it learn how to use social media to get in front of its target audiences. The organization was not interested, I was told, because:



"They're looking to make money and trying to see how they can do it."

These types of statements make my blood boil. Why? Because what do organizations or companies think makes money?

Selling your products or services to customers or clients.

And how do you do this? You work on getting prospective customers or clients know about your products and services.

Now you could spend thousands and thousands of dollars on TV advertising, newspaper and magazine advertising, and direct mail solicitations to promote your products and services.

Or you could spend a fraction of the cost to learn how to effectively use social media to get in front of your target markets. And not only get in front of these markets, but develop relationships that encourage people to buy your specific products or services.

Yes, I'm assuming:

• There are people interested in your products or services

• Your products or services do deliver on the promise of what they are supposed to do

• You have good customer service, a good return policy if appropriate, etc.

If you don't have these things, social media can work against you. People can buzz the bad as well as the good on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

On the other hand, if you meet the expectations of your clients or customers, you can also use these social media sites as opportunities to find out what other products and services people in your target markets might want to buy.

Being an ostrich and sticking your head in the sand

Many people I talk to are afraid to learn about social media marketing opportunities. These people believe that, if they ignore social media, their company or organization will still be just fine.

And maybe that will be true today. But I predict that, by the beginning of 2013, any company or organization that has not embraced the opportunities afforded by social media to get in front of target markets will be lagging sorely behind its competition.

Why wait? Get started now.

If you don't already have it, get our FREE report on Twitter, Facebook and your website at www.MillerMosaicPowerof3.com (revised for #NewTwitter).

And then, if you're ready to use social media to get in front of the target markets who can buy your products or services, see our Quick Start Social Media Track at www.millermosaicllc.com/social-media-track



© 2010 Miller Mosaic, LLC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) and her business partner Yael K. Miller (@MillerMosaicLLC on Twitter) are committed to taking the mystery out of social media so that individuals and companies can utilize the power of social media to attract more business. Sign up now to get email notifications of social media blog posts at www.millermosaicllc.com/get-miller-mo...

Locked Out of Facebook: When You Don't Recognize the Tagged Photos of All Your Facebook Friends

Yesterday I explained in the post "The Limitations of Facebook (Business) Pages" how Facebook was created to keep track of college friends. And it seems no matter how much Facebook expands, it still acts as if we are just connecting with people we know personally in our college classes or dorms.

After I published that post I apparently clicked on a video that might have had a virus. But I have Norton Internet Security and nothing got through.



I learned about this apparent virus from an email from Facebook's security team:

We have detected that your Facebook account is infected with a form of malware, or virus, called Koobface. You downloaded the virus after receiving a message from a friend, which invited you to view a video.

To restore your account, please log into Facebook and follow the instructions you see there. You can also learn more in our Help Center at: http://www.facebook.com/help/?topic=k...

I went to my Facebook account, which asked me to run antivirus software. I ran Norton again and it confirmed there were no viruses. So I clicked the Facebook box stating that I had run the anti-virus software and no viruses were found.



Then I was asked to confirm that this was indeed my account by identifying people tagged in photos of my 921 friends!



I was shown random photos in sets of three of supposedly a specific person.

I twice failed, finally passing the confirmation test on my third try.

Here's how the test worked:



First, you get only a couple of skips. There are several names provided for each photo set and I tried guessing after I used up my skips.

Second, the photos are often confusing. There are three photos on each screen with some part of the photo highlighted. Sometimes a man and a woman are highlighted in different photos in the same set. In one set, two of the three pictures were of a bridge and a dressy high-heel shoe.

And, third, I ask you, would you be able to identify the photos (not even the official profile photos) of all of your friends on Facebook?

After passing the test on the third try, I was asked to create a new password before my account was unfrozen.

Even though my Facebook account is now unfrozen, I am publishing this post to help others because it is really a dumb idea to ask for account confirmation based on identifying people tagged in the photos of your friends. (And who is that bridge or shoe I ask you?)

Why not ask questions connected to private answers I have provided? Or some other identification system that I might have a good chance of doing successfully?



I'm all for security, but there has to be a better way of doing this. Let's give Facebook some ideas.

© 2010 Miller Mosaic, LLC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) and her business partner Yael K. Miller (@MillerMosaicLLC on Twitter) are committed to taking the mystery out of social media so that individuals and companies can utilize the power of social media to attract more business. Sign up now to get email notifications of social media blog posts at www.millermosaicllc.com/get-miller-mo...