Schedule Your Tweets!

So by now, you're using Twitter as a Social Media Marketing tool for your business.  Right?  Instead of having to log into Twitter each day to put forth your wisdom/essence/daily special, you can figure it all out at the beginning of the week/month, write them all out and schedule when they will appear.  By doing them all at once, you will save serious time and energy.

There are many free online tools which help boost your social media productivity.  Additional features include managing more than one Twitter account, keyword searches, see who is mentioning you, and much more. 

If I can offer a comparison, it would be like using email but without Outlook -- so you wouldn't be connected to your calendar, contacts, notes, etc.  (AOL users, I'm talking to you!  More later.)

I've been using HootSuite, but there are many others as well: Tweet Later, Twittertise, Tweet Ahead.  And, if you're the kind of person who leaves no stone unturned, here's a list of more sites to check out.

Social Media As a Tool To Raise Money

Many of us think of Facebook and Twitter as a "productivity killer."  But the fundraising for relief in Haiti opened our eyes to the misperception.  Social media sites have been a boon to fundraising: whether for venture capital or for charitable causes or even art projects. 

Companies can now raise venture capital ONLINE in mere days (OK, really buttoned-up companies, but still!); Artists can raise seed money in 30 days for their next project and charities can promote special fundraising events or ongoing capital campaigns through social networks.  It's not as easy as slapping up a link and hoping for the best: you still need a plan and content to back it up, but there are so many more avenues once your project is online.

This is just the beginning: there are so many ways that social media will reveal itself in the years to come.  Keep your mind open...

Tweet This! Gain viewers to your blog.

A friend of mine had "tweet this" at the end of her blog post and I felt like this was something I needed. So I googled "Tweet this" and found a post that showed me how to do it. I found it here.

It looks difficult, but it's not. You just have to READ. For those of your who don't like reading... yes, it's difficult.

Why is this important? Well, it's a great use of Twitter -- rather than telling people who are "following you" that you just stepped off a plane or something (woooweeee), you can actually give your followers a tangible thing to do after they've read your post and found it awesome: "go and read this blog. I found it fascinating."

And I use the Tweet This after I've published a new post, to alert my followers.

Do it before everyone else does it. It took me five minutes.

Tiny Your Link: Here's What Bugs Me

The following tip is super easy and makes you look VERY in-the-know:

When you are forwarding a link to a friend and it takes up 4 lines of space, why don't you make it into a Tiny URL?

Say what?

A tiny url merely shortens the link into a more manageable link, one that won't lose its function when it wraps around to the next line because it's... short. Tiny. Very small.

Here's how it works: Go to the website and paste your link in the box provided and then click: "tiny it." The screen will refresh with a new, leaner link (url) that you can twitter with or send to a friend or post on Facebook, etc.

This is important to know in the same way that the following is important to know:

• Don't attach 30 photos to an email to your friends
• Don't forward chain emails
• Don't forward joke emails from your parents
• Don't use yahoo/hotmail/gmail for your business email

There are a lot of new rules of etiquette in the 21st Century online. How do you find them out?

Stick with me! I'll let you know.