Great  content in the form of videos, posts, and blogs is important. But if no one is engaging with you, maybe they need to be told what to do. In this short video I explain how easily it is to implement a Call to Action:

• Ask for the like.

• Ask people to share.

• Ask for comments.

• Remind people to Subscribe.

Works like a charm. Which call to action works best for you?

I recently attended a funeral and started thinking about branding in the middle of the service. What kind of legacy will your business leave? If three people who have never met each other stood up to talk about you. would they all say the same thing?

Interested in your comments!

Laurie Hurley is a social media consultant and mentor with an active Social Media Made Simple Membership program. She is also the host of The Social Networking NewsHour which airs every Wednesday at 2pm PST.

I finally dove in and joined the thousands of people who claim Pinterest is the best thing since – well – Twitter.  To be perfectly honest, I did not get what all the hoopla was about. And, I am a very visual person, so one would think I would so love this new social media platform.  What I saw, though, was hundreds of colorful pictures – sure they looked great, like a slick magazine on my Mac.  Do I really need another social media tool to not only learn and use but to incorporate into my position as a social media manager for small businesses?

The answer is a resounding yes. With ten million unique visitors on Pinterest, driving more and more traffic to the hub we call our websites, it is worth it to learn the art of pinning for these five reasons:

1) With You Tube being the number two search engine in the world, Pinterest was smart and makes it easy to bring over all of your videos to a board,  meaning more traffic on You Tube and more visibility for your product or service.

2) For all of us into the “how to” do something, that is teaching someone technique or visually demonstrating products, pinning a photo with a text overlay is genius. Call it a teaser ad, but call it effective! I use Pixlr or PicMonkey - check out those two resources.

3) We all love our customers’ testimonials and raves about us. Pinterest is the perfect place to display those – you see it’s not all about the picture, but what resides under it and think of all the fun you can have posting a picture of a smiling customer with their glowing words about you just a link away.

4) Nothing is more attractive than a simple infographic about your industry. Infographics provide value, credibility and an easy visual way for your audience to compare and contrast, evaluate and basically see that you are creative as well as credible.

5) Finally, the actual images. To stand out, stand up – that is use images that are tall versus wide to attract the eye and tell a story.

From a strictly strategic point of view, Pinterest is so much more than meets the eye – literally!  A good rule of thumb if you are using Pinterest for business – for every pin, add a link to somewhere – hopefully your website or blog or even You Tube videos as discussed above.

Are you using Pinterest yet? What have your results been? If you are not, what are your reservations?

This past Memorial Day, I spent three days doing nothing. I had a lot of time to reflect on my business and the direction I want it to take.  My teenage daughters were busy, my husband was playing tennis and I was being introspective about my social media coaching practice. I believe social media should be easy. There is so much out there, that no wonder my clients come to me with tons of limiting beliefs and misperceptions about even being online. I get it, because I was once like them. Thinking I had to be everywhere, all the time. Staying up until midnight to get my real work done and then going online to post something about it – basically doing my social media marketing. That was back when I owned three educational businesses.

Times have changed for me. I limit myself to 30-45 minutes twice a day working on my business efforts. Mostly because, like my clients, I have a business to operate; people to coach, networking meetings to attend, seminars to prepare for and my radio show that airs once a week. My educational businesses were sold and all of my time is spent helping others to understand social media.

My very first business coach would always say to me, “you have to step out of your comfort zone to be successful.”  And I actually bought into that. I did things online that were not natural or authentic.  As time went on, I moved away from that coach because if one cannot be authentic, what is the point? Most people can read right through a facade that is not real. A put-on, a fake. And I am none of those things.

So I found myself another coach and did something different. I stepped into my comfort zone rather than outside of it. That feels better, don’t you think? Do what you are good at! Work and practice on the things you need to improve, but only if you truly want to, not because some coach is pushing you. It has to come from within.

So, back to my Memorial Day hiatus.  I love doing video and I love giving snippets of information to people about social media.  So, I came up with Ninety Seven Days of Social Media Summer Strategy – yep, 97 tips, one a day to end on Labor Day.

People laugh at me, thinking I can’t do it. Let them laugh, but I hope they subscribe to my You Tube channel and learn something. This is in my comfort zone. Yes, it’s a stretch, but I like challenges. What have you done lately that is within  your comfort zone. That is, what do you do well and often when it comes to your business?  Please share!

Laurie Hurley is a Social Media coach and consultant and believes in making Social Media Easy! Watch for her radio debut on http://www.toginet.com and the Woo-Hoo Radio network on June 20, 2pm, PST.

Being visible on Social Media is important. But, being consistent with excellent content is even more valuable in order to deliver your message to your audience and establish yourself as an expert in your field.  Don’t worry if you aren’t well versed in every social media platform. Focus on what you are good at!
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Laurie Hurley is the President and Founder of The Social Networking Navigator and helps small businesses and entrepreneurs overcome their overwhelm in the social stream.