With everyone jumping on the social media bandwagon, the lines are being blurred about the different tools and how to use them. LinkedIn, in particular, is not a tool designed for popularity contests. With more and more inappropriate requests to connect coming across my desk, I decided it was time to explain the importance of keeping a closed network on LinkedIn.

Have you experienced an increase in LinkedIn traffic? I’ve been hit with a spate of “join my network” invitations lately. Frankly, I don’t like it. While LinkedIn is a social media tool, it’s not designed for open networking. Mostly, I don’t know the people contacting me. Depending on my mood, I’ll just click on the “I don’t know this person” button. More often, I’ll write to the sender explaining my reasons for refusing the invitation. Last week I got a snide reply back accusing me of not understanding how to network. I think it’s time to explain my position on LinkedIn more clearly.

Read the entire post, 6 Reasons for Refusing LinkedIn Invitations

Follow Sarah Mitchell on Twitter: @globalcopywrite

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Media140 hit Perth last week to a packed house of social media enthusiasts. While everyone agreed the networking was fantastic, many people felt like no new ground had been covered. Read this post to discover why Sarah Mitchell from Global Copywriting was humming along to the Troggs and getting excited about social media all over again.

I attended the Media140, exploring the future of the Real-Time Social Web conference in Perth on Thursday, 25 February. Billed as “Brands, Marketing & Communications in the Real-Time Social Web”, I booked an early-bird ticket without really knowing what to expect. I know I wasn’t the only one. I was extremely interested to hear experiences of how other people were using social media. I was also looking forward to meeting the faces behind the avatars I’ve been communicating with for over a year, mostly on Twitter. Held at the Perth Town Hall, at the end of the long day nearly all the attendees were still in their seats. The content of the conference clearly outweighed the physical discomfort created by packing over 300 people and 20 speakers into the second floor of the old building on what turned out to be a sweltering day.

Read the full post at Global Copywriting, Media140 The Troggs, Westpac and Kanye West

Follow Sarah Mitchell on Twitter: @globalcopywrite

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Cultivating Word of Mouth recommendations is valuable for any business but especially SMB and SME organisations. This post discusses one way to easily implement some content marketing strategy and increase your Word of Mouth referrals.

How often do you pass on the details of a blog post or an online article to your network? I do it all the time. I’m particularly inclined to do it when I can click on a widget to do the work for me. Time is in short supply in my office and I don’t always stop to shorten a link and send it along. Give me a tool to construct a message and I’ll happily broadcast it.

What a great idea!
I was delighted last week to see someone use a sharing widget in a different way. A company based in Sydney called Ideas into Action have a Share This Site button on their home page. That’s right, they’re encouraging a Word of Mouth recommendation by making it easy to share the details of their website. When you select the Twitter option on the widget, you conveniently get the following tweet crafted for you:

Small Business Marketing Consultants, Services & Strategies, Sydney | Ideas into Action: http://bit.ly/d9bTQ8 via @addthis

The Take-Away
Put a sharing widget on your home page. With very little effort, customers and prospects give you a valuable Word of Mouth (WoM) recommendation. It has the potential to generate unique user traffic, improving your SEO. If you're a small business, it's a potent piece of content marketing. I’ve added it to my list of website upgrades.

What cool little marketing tricks do you use?

Follow Sarah Mitchell on Twitter: @globalcopywrite

website: www.globalcopywriting.com

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Writing a blog is one thing. Getting people to read it is an entirely different matter. This post explores simple ways you can increase the traffic to your blog.

Blogs come with two problems. 1) You have to keep them regularly updated. (Yes, that’s a blush creeping up my face.) 2) You have to get people to read them. Let’s face it. Most of us aren’t full time bloggers. Few blogs enjoy massive reading audiences. That’s okay with me as long as I’m reaching the people I want to.

Read Sarah Mitchell’s full post: Avoid the Post and Hope Syndrome

Follow Sarah on Twitter: @globalcopywrite

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Debate rages about Twitter. Is it a time waster? Can you honestly impart value in 140 characters? Is it indicative of a society overloaded with information and no longer able to focus? Can you tweet your way to riches, fame and fortune? Read this post to discover 6 ways Twitter can make a difference in your business.

I read an interesting article by Jason Jordan in The West Australian Newspaper titled In defence of Twitter. It’s a good article with some good Word of Mouth (WoM) references for people to follow. Jason wrote every sentence using 140 characters or less to help prove short communications can be extremely effective. I’m glad Jason wrote the story. Twitter has done so many good things for my business I can’t be bothered to get defensive any more. Here are six of my own reasons why I think business, in particular, should be using Twitter.

Read Sarah Mitchell’s complete post: 6 Practical Ways Twitter Can Help Your Business

Follow Sarah on Twitter: @globalcopywrite

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A lot is being written about content marketing. When I first started research for a seminar, I realised much of what is published has been done with the assumption the reader understands the main components of content marketing. I wrote this post to help anyone new to content marketing or wanting basic information.

Content marketing is gaining a lot of traction in the mindset of marketers and, especially, small business owners. I recently presented a seminar on the topic at the Brew Small Business Expo in Perth. While doing my research I realised much of what is being written about content marketing assumes the reader understands the basic components. I didn’t fully understand them when I started so I thought it made sense to lay the groundwork here.

Read the rest of Sarah’s post: 3 Components of Content Marketing

Follow Sarah Mitchell on Twitter: @globalcopywrite

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According to the Harvard Business Review, 90% of tweets are generated by just 10% of Twitter users. Apparently this is a higher concentration than for Wikipedia and much, much higher than for other social networks,  where the top 10% are responsible for 30% of the stuff produced.

These people are practicing something called "Lethal Generosity" and it's a powerful force in B2B marketing and social media marketing.

More on the Velocity B2B Marketing agency post here.

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The thought of standing in front of a crowd and delivering a speech, presentation or even an introduction strikes fear in many hearts. This week I had the chance to judge and be judged in the public speaking forum.

Writers spend a lot of time sitting behind a desk in solitude with their thoughts. I enjoy working on a project, researching and revising until the copy is the way I want it. I usually deliver my work via the internet and have customers I’ve never laid eyes on. It’s a stress-free job especially when you work from a home office as I do. This week I was away from my desk and, on two occasions, remembered work can be nerve-racking.

Read Sarah’s full post: Public Speaking: The ultimate terror or extreme lead generation?

Follow Sarah on Twitter: @globalcopywrite

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