Most people I know would love to improve their bottom line, and they normally do this when they reduce expenses, bring in more cash (ah, an exchange of value we give to our clients who pay us with a thank you card…aka cash) or acquire companies.

Social Media is all about engagement. This means building relationships and connecting with clients, potential clients, and partners. It means getting out there and networking not only locally but online.

My response was to give me an hour to shift his mindset. Fellow entrepreneurs, our reality has changed. Cold calling is out. Twitter is in.  Me…I’ve never been a fan of cold calling. Surely I’d break into a cold sweat.

I am quietly building my online presence by sharing my message. It is simply “You have value”.  I show you how to realize your value, vision, and joy in your life and your business.

This is achieved by helping local businesses strategically grow their profits through Internet Marketing, Social Media, and Laws of the Universe.  I show entrepreneurs how to attract their ideal clients. Actively, through Social Media.

Over 14,000 people registered and over 4,000 listened in from all over the world. These numbers tell me everyone knows Facebook is critical for businesses, although thousands of people don’t have time to learn about it.  The question is no longer whether entrepreneurs and small business owners should have social media but which ones should they focus on. We all know we need to be active in Social Media, but the time factor in Social Marketing Management can paralyze people.

As more people ask me to help them with their Social Media, my first question is to ask if they have a Social Marketing Strategy. If you find yourself in this position, know you don’t need to do it all. Do what makes sense for your business. And no matter what you do, be deliberate in your message and give a ton of value.

The goal is engagement. How can you engage your clients, potential clients, interested vendors, venture partners? What challenges do they have? What solutions can you help them with?  You have value in your unique personality, skills, and background. People are looking for you, and need what you have to teach them. Educate them. Entertain them. Do what you do best. Whatever that may be.

Here are the top six Social Media Marketing Strategies that I choose to focus on…today. It changes so fast that tomorrow may be different. Whatever you choose to do keep it simple, short, and relevant to your business and audience.

1) Blog
If it makes sense for your business, and you can offer valuable and relevant content, then write articles, tips, or lists. Write a couple of times a week or a month. It all depends upon your plan.

2) Twitter
Take your main valuable point from your blog and tweet it.
Use the modified 80/20 rule.
90% of your content should give people tips, tools, inspiration, and humour.
10% can drive people to a sales offer or page

3) Facebook
Use the Fan Page to:
Build your brand
Run contests
Opt-in pages
Post pictures, videos, and short comments.
Like, comment, and share to engage your audience.

4) Google Pages
Google+ has 90 million users
As an entrepreneur and small business owner, you need to add this into your Social Marketing Strategy.
Post your articles in Google+. It helps with ranking in Google.

5) LinkedIn
Another critical business Social Media to engage your audience.
Join a Group that is relevant to your business.
Comment and be seen as a leader.
Create your own group to really add value about your topic.
Educate people.

6) YouTube
As another Google product, using YouTube will help with your rankings in Google search.
Start a channel.
Post your tips, lessons, how to, inspiration

And then there are hundreds of other Social Media marketing options: Pinterest, StumbleUpon, Klout, etc.

Before you begin, think it through. How can you reach out to your community? Start small to reach out to your local market. And if your strategy is to reach thousands of people world-wide like Mari, then add it to your strategy. It all starts with your value, your vision, your plan.

Our sizzling energy was so apparent that while I was giving my friends a round of hugs, a man at the table next to us commented about how happy we all seemed. Our joy barely contained, we said we’d be in Maui in two days.  Him and his friend bought us a round of drinks and shared their experience in Hawaii. The joy spread.

And, it permeated across the pub when I ran into a fellow hockey parent on my way to the ladies room. He introduced me to his friend. As we chatted, my friend asked me how I managed to have two back-to-back trips.   If you’ve been following my blog, you know I just came back from a 16-day trip to Playa del Carmen, Mexico, and San Pedro, Belize.  And now, a short 7 weeks later I’m heading to Maui.

The smart answer would have been that it’s because I’m a Law of Attraction Coach. That didn’t come until later, because I have literally just stepped into my truth and gift. As an Entrepreneur, I’ve not voiced it so directly before.

Like many of you, I have always wondered why we’re here, and spent my life seeking the truth of who I really am. My self-value, and my gift to the world, is a very recent discovery.  It came through when an awesome coach asked me, “If I could shout my message to the world from a mountain top what would it be?”

My immediate response spoke the truth of my words.

YOU HAVE VALUE.

That is my message to you.

Previously, I’d wrapped myself in the comfort of being a Business Coach who shows people how to attract their ideal clients through Strategic Planning, Social Media and the Laws of the Universe. My business experience led me there.  The passion is in the add-on at the end.

And, last evening, when my friend, Joe, asked what it was that I did again, it was the first time I’d declared my true calling right out there in public.  “I am a Law of Attraction Coach.”

Both men responded in unison, “A Law of Attraction Coach?”

“Yes, What do you want to attract to you?”

A missed opportunity, perhaps, not sitting down with them in that moment to find out their answers. But, I had friends waiting, and they had their own conversation to continue.

It was a new lesson. And, as a good student, it is the question I now propose to you.  It is my mission to hear your answer.  I’ll keep asking powerful questions to help you find and step into the knowing of your highest values. It leads us to our joy and fulfillment.

What do you want to attract to you?

Is it more clients? More money? A more loving relationship with your partner? If you are single, your soulmate? Is it all of that, and more?  Is it your dream you haven’t dreamed yet? Do you want to attract not only the small dreams you attract to yourself everyday, but the big ones?

Yes, we attract things to us everyday. When we do it deliberately, we bring what we want into our life, not the things we don’t.

I invite you to consider: What do you want to attract to you?

And I encourage you to start your Life List. What do you want to be, do, and have? You will find your value, and fulfill your dreams. If you choose. And, if you do, I can promise you that you will attract all that and more.

Anything is possible.

Aloha.

I finally completed my chapter for a collaboration project about the Law of Attraction. The final version is much deeper and one reviewer said it resonated with her. That was such a relief and amazing since it’s my first professional story.  The impetus for the outcome was in the feedback from my coach. Highly unusual since he’s my Accountability Coach not my Writing Coach, and wow, his insights paralyzed me for two weeks.

What paralyzed me?  Plain and simple. Fear to reveal the real issue. My coach asked me some tough questions:
You are influencing people with every idea, statement, word. Is this how you want to influence them?
Do you really want people to respond in this way?
There’s only five pages: What is your main point?
Can you say this in a better way, use a clearer word? (again, influence)
How will you know that you’ve reached your goal?

My inner gremlin grabbed me, and screamed, see…you think you’re a good writer but, seriously. He ripped you apart.

Ah, harsh.

So, two weeks later during our weekly session, we got down to what my real fear was and proceeded to work through them. He asked me, “If you could shout your message from the mountain top, what would it be?”  The answer came out immediately, the gremlin slid away, and the story was re-written in two days. Pretty amazing.

The takeaway. No matter what is blocking you in your business, look to the gremlin.  Face it down, and you’ll be looking past your fear. Ask a powerful question. Ask for guidance. Coaches are great resources. Every person could benefit from working with a coach, and definitely every coach will only get better by having a great coach. I love my coach. I’d love to be yours. Us coaches get paralyzed too, when we do something out of the ordinary…like write a collaboration. But, now that’s done, I’m on to my own book.

PS: My Answer to my coaches powerful question: “You Have Value.” That is my message to the world, and more than helping businesses attract their ideal clients, my  mission is to help people discover their value.

Another PS:  I’m proud of how my chapter turned out. Hope you read the book when it’s published, and that it resonates with you, too.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUsiH7TvJPM

Please visit my Inspired Leaders page to see more inspirational videos, and as always, your comments are appreciated.

I’ve added a contest to my Facebook Business page, and you have a chance to win your own contest and attract your ideal clients to you. To enter, click on the blue button Connect With Facebook on the Contest page.

If you would like more information please watch the video. Thanks, and good luck!!

Please comment below and share your link to your new Facebook Business FanPage.  I’ll check it out and if I love it will be happy to share your page.  You can see how mine turned out at  http://fb.com/hotentrepreneur.

Don’t forget to enter the contest.

Please let me know how I may support you.

When the mother of necessity knocks on your door and opens to ingenious social media tactics, the universe truly is your oyster. Love reading success stories such as this one. Hope it inspires the entrepreneur in you.

Effing Oyster Finds Twitter Gold Mine

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BltRufe5kkI

This entrepreneur was glad to give 100% time and energy to R&R leisure activities.

If you are like me, we spend our time looking no more than a foot in front of us – reading and working at our computers. I considered taking my laptop with me to work for the simple reason that I could. And, as an entrepreneur, isn’t that what I’m supposed to do? Luckily, it occurred to me that it had taken me 15 years to manifest this amazing vacation, and I need to do what vacations are designed to do…vacate your life. Unplug from the world. Leave your cellphone in the safe with “All Connections Off”. (Otherwise the roaming charges may shock you.) The only purpose for my cell was to use the timer for our siestas. And, then promptly forgot about it until our layover in Dallas. I had this niggling awareness of this faraway pinging sound. 35 minutes later I realized it was my cellphone alarm, and guiltily wondered how annoyed my fellow passengers were at me while I peacefully dozed through it. Traveling is exhausting after 14 days of pure relaxation. There is no work involved jumping waves, walking the sandy beaches, or people watching from the restaurants in Playa del Carmen. Nor is there any real effort expended snorkling the Belize Barrier Reef, or lazing by the pool at the fabulous Banana Beach Resort in San Pedro, Belize.

Vacations, true vacations, revitalize us. They energize our bodies, our minds, and our spirits. We return home tired, although with a renewed awareness of what is important to us, and why we do the work that we do. Why we dedicate our lives to helping others. Why we go on vacations, and why we need to make the time to go and explore our fabulous world. Truly, what is more important: to be fully engaged with the person you are traveling with, or that you are able to blend work with travel? What will you remember 10 or 15 years down the road? I know I’ll be eternally grateful that I was present and seeing the beauty before me, and feeling the warm wind off the Caribbean Sea.  Work will always there when we get home. If ever you have the choice between having a working vacation or truly vacating your life for a couple of weeks…ask yourself what you will remember more in 10 years time. And be truly grateful, as I am, for the opportunity to manifest a fabulous vacation. Remember those life goals I wrote about previously? I highly recommend that you go and add your dream vacation to your list. If you never think about it, if you never dream about it, it will never come about.  Dream it. Feel it. Live it.