Twitter Tips From the True Twitter Makers

The Midas Center would like to share an email we recently received from the co-founders of Twitter. We hope you will find this resourceful as they share a comprehensive list of tips on how to get the most from the Twitterverse.

After you've read the list, feel free to share your thoughts from your twitter account and include @midascenter to your tweet so we can hear your comments too! Tweet on tweeps!

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Our resolution is to help you get the most of out of Twitter this year. To start, we thought we'd send this note with four simple suggestions. Come on by our web site to try these out anytime!

1) Follow your interests.
We've found that the people who enjoy Twitter most tend to follow a variety of accounts: friends, family, people in their profession, local shops and events, and most importantly, people who share their passions.

2) Get specific.
Like sports? Follow your favorite leagues, teams, players, coaches, commentators, writers and fellow fans. Love food? Follow chefs, restaurants, critics, bloggers, specialty shops and respected foodies.

3) Don't panic.
People turn to Twitter during emergencies. Snowstorms, power outages and fires are just a few emergencies where Twitter may be helpful. Search for #hashtags and follow local civic accounts to stay informed.

4) Return to Twitter.
There are about 200 million accounts on Twitter now - that means new interests, new voices, and new ideas every day. We offer services in seven languages, apps for most devices, and SMS worldwide.

Thanks for being part of Twitter,

@Biz, @Ev, & @Jack
Co-founders, Twitter

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P.S. Stay connected to The Midas Center via our Linked In Group, The Midas Center Social Media Club, our Facebook page, or our Twitter account to get more information on the upcoming workshop we will be offering on Twitter. The Midas Center provides monthly workshops on a variety of business development topics. Feel free to stop by The Midas Center, anywhere you can get a connection to our online presence to learn more about the details of our workshops!

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Move over secretary, hello igoogle!

If you have not gotten acquainted with the powers of igoogle, you might be in the pre-internet dark ages.

igoogle is a free online tool that provides online calendar management, online document storage and sharing, web sites, blogs, RSS feed management and well, so MUCH more! This online tool is helpful in going paperless and being successful in the online landscape. Anyone want to share how igoogle has impacted their business practice? Please share!

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Social Media Tip: The Practice of Learning

Are you in the practice of learning more about the latest best practices?

Because technology is fervently changing and evolving, we encourage you to make business development part of your business practice.

Take the time to develop your skills and learn more about social media by attending a seminar or workshop in your area. If you are interested in attending a networking event hosted by Women Business Owners of Michiana (WBOM), you can join me next Tuesday. Or you may learn more about the event on their web site by visiting www.wbom.org. This particular event they are offering is a luncheon on the topic of social media. Notre Dame's AgencyND's Director Extraordinaire Don Schindler will be speaking about the latest trends in social media. Although he has much to say on the subject of social media by proof on the number of posts he shares on Twitter and his agency's blogs, social media continues to emerge, evolve and shift the way businesses and organizations communicate who they are and what they do. We're looking forward to learning more from Don and his approach to how he leads Notre Dame's social media endeavors in this new frontier.

Learn more about social media and its latest best practices, attend workshops when available. And don't forget to mingle with live people at live events. There is more to business relationships than just retweeting and emailing!

The Midas Center offers workshops and coaching sessions for individuals and groups in-person or virtually. Coaching sessions can be customized to your specific business goals and can include training, guidance, support, strategy or what ever helps you meet your goals.

Clients achieve an improved understanding of social media tools including how to better communicate and meet goals using facebook, twitter, LinkedIN, blogs, google documents and more!

Presentations now available:
• Social Media 101: The New Frontier of Marketing
• Facebook 101: Save Time and Money and More
• Twitter 101: To Tweep or Not to Tweep and More
• iHEARTplymouth 101: Small businesses get online for free
• Blogging 101: Passionate Social Activists Wanted
• Branding 101: It's not Just for Cows

Clients may also request customized presentations based on their specific needs and goals. To learn more about how The Midas Center can help you improve your social media activities and take your business to the next level, contact Andrea Cook today to schedule your first session by phone at (574) 936- 7058 or by email.

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Social Media: Help Me Help You

The Midas Center is passionate about helping businesses and organizations succeed. We want to be your Jerry Macguire. Like Jerry, we promote our clients and we use proven, best practices and a variety of creative marketing tools to help clients succeed. We completely relate with Jerry's passion and entusiasm in this clip (see video below). We are just as passionate about helping you to succeed and we are excited about the technologies that are currently and readily and "freely" available to each of us. We talk a lot about social media because there are so many tools that are free to use and have a great impact to helping you reach your marketing goals. So, tell us, help us... how can we help you?

Currently, we are creating opportunities for individuals and businesses to learn-n-grow and lead-n-succeed. Through workshops or coaching sessions, we have a list of social media topics we can offer. We also provide customized workshops, presentations and training to individuals and groups to help clients reach their specific goals through marketing on-line.

We are developing a list of topics we think would be useful. However, if you have a suggestion on a topic you think would be beneficial, we'd love to hear from you. Feel free to comment or email Andrea Cook directly with your ideas.

Help us help you!

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Social Media Tip: True Identity

Me, myself and I.

If this sums up your profile across all social media platforms, well then, your online identity is safe. However, if you have additional profiles, or online brands that you are managing, then be sure to be mindful when you log in and share comments, updates and posts.

Perhaps you didn't realize you could even branch out of your own personal identity and recreate new profiles, new brands that represent your professional aspirations and values. Well, you can and you should. Depending on what your over all objective is for using social media, you should be mindful of your own online brand. For example, if you use Facebook or Twitter for venting your views about politics, you should not use the same profile for your professional identity, unless, well, you are in politics and everything you post or tweet supports your position and principles of your political views.

As a working mother, I may use my Facebook for seeking a special Halloween costume for my kids. I also might use it for playing way too much time on Bejeweled, but I would never share personal information as a post for my professional profiles. And, yes, I do have more than one professional profile to represent my full online brand. Don't you?

To sum it all up: Who are you and what are your goals? Your profile represents your reputation and your brand. Your status updates should reflect who you are and what you want to be known for.

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Social Media Tip: Were You Open to Email?

Where are you in your understanding and acceptance of social media? Do you remember when email was the new thing? Perhaps you may recall the Apple commercial with Jeff Goldblum where he opened my eyes to how the email technology was separating members in our society. Even though he claimed in the advertisement that "email is as easy as licking a stamp" and referred to those who email as one big party, and those who did not email were missing out, there are still those in our society who are hesitant to hop on the information highway and travel together online in this internet era.

Social media is a term that encompasses all of the tools that allow us to communicate more effectively and efficiently. It depends who you ask, but I think of social media tools as both hardware and software technologies that all work together, or "sync" to improve the way we live, communicate, learn, improve, behave in society. In 1998, Apple launched the iMac ad (see video below) as a tool to help society as a whole email. Since then, there have been a plethora of tools that help us get invited to the party.

When you first got that invitation to come to "the party," how did you respond? How are you responding to today's world of social media tools?

The Midas Center offers workshops and coaching sessions for individuals or groups to empower you to better understand social media and reach your goals. Whether you are feeling like you're missing the party and just want to learn the social media basics so you can share photos and stay in touch with your friends and family, or you want your business to have a stronger online presence using social media tools, The Midas Center's coaching and workshops can be customized to your specific needs. Contact Andrea Cook today to schedule your session >>

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