Trudy Thompson

Free guide on using Twitter

admin — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 12:45:14 +0000

My predictions for 2012 sustainable innovation trends

admin — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 12:31:07 +0000

Video filmed at Sustainable Innovation Conference, as a speaker at this event I was asked to give my predictions for trends in 2012.

Social Networking tips

admin — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 20:48:26 +0000

First create a Twitter account, either in your name or company name, this is how I use it – if I look at an interesting website I copy the link and promote it on Twitter, as well as the tweets I have in the word doc for regular things like events and speaking engagements that I want to promote several times, when I meet new people or visit places I promote this on twitter too.

I use backupify to back up all my social networks, so all my Twitter messages can be backed up for protection of the social network suppliers system going nuts and deleting my messages, but also it gives me a pdf of all my tweets which I can then use to produce a report of the activities I have been involved in, a timeline of the news stories and links to sites I have found interesting – that way I dont forget stuff that I wouldnt put in my diary. As Twitter is such an open network it is an easy way for people to look back over your recent tweets to see what kind of things you are doing – lots of people email me saying they had been looking at all my tweets and thought I would be interested to hear about what they are doing, or a news item that they think will interest me.

A fan page is what you need to promote your business on facebook, put your events on there and invite people to join your page from your various networks

Ping will connect your twitter feeds to both facebook and linkedin as well as other social networks – so all you need to do is what I do which is to use Twitter to add general content onto all my social networks, then you can add any extra stuff like comments onto Linkedin groups

Hootsuite is worth using to control several social networking accounts – you can also set up tweets or messages to go out at set times in the future, to save you having to spend too much time online, hot times to tweet are between 7-10 am 12-2pm and 5-9pm – I get a lot of response when I send out early morning tweets and

Eventbrite is best package to create your free events on it, its only worth doing the paid for ones on there if they pay on the day, as if they pay through the site then it will cost you a fee – by using eventbrite you will get a list of the attendees and it will connect with both Twitter and Facebook for easy promotion, plus you can set up reminders and follow ups to the attendees

Issuu is really valuable to use, Issuu can convert any pdfs into flipable books, you can copy and paste the code it gives you to use this image on your website – plus a link to it will be easy to promote on your social networks

Whenever someone connects with me on Linkedin I have an inbox folder in my email package which has a message rule set up to capture all those emails and put them into the folder, then an auto response sends out a standard welcome to my network reply an hour later (not sure how this was set up, the junior board kids set this up for me) when they reply to this I add the contact to my email system, you cant do this with the first response as it just gives you the standard linkedin address

Another site I think is worth using is survey monkey to follow up people’s comments after events

I have started using mail chimp for contact management – email newsletters, mass mailings etc, seems to be working well and it is free to use for small numbers – pretty cheap to use for mass mailings too

Networking tips

admin — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 14:09:54 +0000

Having good networking skills and attending the right events can really help you grow your business.

Always carry business cards with you, not just when you ‘expect’ to meet a good contact, although if you have your phone with you it might be worth having an app downloaded on it like Bump which will enable you to connect with people without having a business card – see this article for more info
Don’t just wait for a networking event, instead be polite to everyone you meet - thank and smile at the person who serves you in the garage, supermarket or restaurant
When you meet someone for the first time – never, never, never act like a sales person, even if that is what you are!
You really are just a couple of people away from the person who you need to speak to
The phrases ‘don’t burn your bridges’ and ‘it is a small world’ are true, if you behave badly it will come back to haunt you, nothing spreads faster than bad publicity
If you swap contact details with someone, do your best to follow it up the same day or at least within 24 hours, but unless they have asked to see your whole sales pitch, just keep it simple and open
Don’t discuss your personal problems with anyone in business, it makes you look weak and unable to cope with being a business person.

If you would like some training about networking with people or just want to attend some great networking events then get in touch and I will point you in the right directions