Featured in Inc. Online, Start-Up Toolkit for Entrepreneurs

‘Like’ us on Facebook and network with other entrepreneurs, marketing professionals and small business owners.

Congratulations to Michael Papi from Austin, TX, who is our winner this week.

““Robyn Levin’s eBook and interactive template, Cocktail Napkin Marketing Plan™ is like marketing magic. In less than two hours, I created my marketing plan with specific quarterly goals that were simple, straightforward, and achievable. Robyn has the wisdom of a sage and the ability to communicate like the finest actor.”

Joanne S. Black Professional Speaker and Author

No More Cold Calling®: The Breakthrough System That Will Leave Your Competition in the Dust (Warner Business Books).

By Robyn Levin

If you’re like most business owners, you’re super busy figuring out ways to be profitable, however, you feel compelled to join the social networking world. One question that comes up frequently is, “What should I tweet about and how often?” Think about what you want to share when you see the box, “What are you doing?” Be strategic so you’re using your time effectively. Twitter has been proven to help drive traffic to your blog, website and even trigger a phone inquiry like the one I got this week. It’s a good idea to observe 1st and notice what other tweets appeal to you. How often? Once or twice a day works for me. If you have a dedicated social media marketing staff, tweet more frequently. Keep these top 10 Twitter Marketing Tips & suggestions in mind and remember; give value and you’ll get quality followers. Things to “Tweet” about:

1. Hosting an upcoming event or Webinar
2. Writing a new blog post
3. Writing an article
4. Writing a press release
5. Networking & looking for groups or people in your niche
6. Sharing breaking news, industry trends, etc.
7. Re-tweet someone else’s tweet or link
8. Announcing a special offer
9. Sharing a new video
10. Sharing recent & interesting stats

* Big TIP here– include a link to your blog or website and track your results using http://budurl.com

Feel free to “Re-tweet” this post on your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts.

Cocktail Napkin Marketing Plan™  was featured this week in Inc.’s online Toolkit for Entrepreneurs. Here’s an excerpt from the author, Howard Greenstein after his interview with Robyn Levin last week.

“A movie magnate was once quoted as saying “If you can’t fit your idea on the back of a business card, you don’t have a clear idea.” Brevity is popular these days – try Twitter. And then there’s the somewhat timeless metaphor – entrepreneur writes out her ideas during a meeting on the back of a cocktail napkin – and success soon follows. There’s entrepreneurial wisdom in brevity.

As a marketing and PR veteran for over 20 years, Robyn Levin found the Entrepreneurs and startup marketing teams she was coaching were missing a simple way and brief way to create a focused marketing strategy.” You can read the rest of the article on Inc’s Blog.

Think about your own behavior when you’re conducting research or browsing the Internet. Are you going to YouTube or LinkedIn more frequently?

Here’s some other interesting social media demographic data, thanks to twitter.com/neenz that called my attention to this on his tweet (post on Twitter.)

“A new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project finds more people are embracing social networking, but those Web sites remain most popular among the young.

Roughly three-quarters of U.S. adults go online, and 35 percent of those use social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook or LinkedIn, according to the report”  Read the Social Networking article here:

Nowadays, it’s pretty easy and FREE to test various methods of communication and that’s what social networking is all about. Follow me on Twitter to get some tips and ideas to improve your marketing using social networking.   http://twitter.com/robynlevin

Join us at the GET SMART Marketing Boot Camp in San Francisco and walk away with your strategic plan for the year. Learn and leverage new media tools like YouTube, Twitter and LinkedIn to grow your business efficiently. Learn PR secrets & how my clients got featured in Money Magazine, NY Times, Wall Street Journal etc. Network with a small group of professionals.

You’ll be entered to win a FLIP Video Camcorder ($139.00) value. View attendee comments on YouTube, taken right after the Marketing Boot Camp.

Date:

October 29th, 2009 -

May 15th, 2009 – Sold Out

January 30th, 2009 -  Sold Out

December 10th, 2008 – Sold Out

FREE BONUS ITEM:

Your copy of the Cocktail Napkin Marketing Plan™ e-book & FREE interactive template ($99.00) value.

Create your money-making marketing plan in 4-steps in less time than planning your next vacation!

Smart companies are jumping on board and so should you. Why not create your own branded channel on YouTube? Here’s a few ideas & steps to consider:

1. Sign-up for an account under your name or company name on www.youtube.com.
2. Take several  3 – 5 minute videos of client testimonials, educational clips, new products or services or even of your employees. You’ll quickly separate the shy from the hams.
3. I use a “Flip” camera which has a built-in USB plug that immediately downloads your videos to your computer. You can buy it on Amazon for <$150.00. Then, you can instantly upload them to YouTube, AOL and other websites or send in an email.
4. Write appropriate titles and descriptions. You can even put your geographic region on there and this will help you get found faster online.
5. Optionally, you can add annotations to make your videos more engaging. Watch the video clip of me teaching a marketing strategy class at Wharton. I used annotations when the volume was low.

Recently, I created a branded channel for the 9th annual E-Tourism Summit to share their attendee stories. The volunteers were pretty pleased to be on video and guess what they did? They shared their videos with their friends, family and colleagues. People love to share photos and videos which helps spread the word about you and your company. This is another example of “Viral Marketing” at work for you.

My corporate clients are increasing their online visibility with branded video channels and the feedback has been well received. They are building their fan base with new subscribers daily, as part of our integrated marketing campaign. One client sold out his 1st seminar using just email and video and our 3-minute promotional video got over 200 views the 1st week. These are some ideas & strategies to get you started, and the key is to do it now. Feel free to share this story.

Twitter Mania - Over Capacity

And, if you think it’s for the under 30 crowd, guess again. CEOs and marketing executives are exploring new ways to get closer to their audience and many are getting on Twitter. I recommend Twitter to my Baby Boomer clients that have a strong following and their fans want to know where they’re speaking next. You can also tout your newest product, blog post, video or any other information you want to share quickly.  For example, Twitter asks, “What are You Doing” when you login, so last Friday I shared a video of a Tequila promotion at Guaymas. I also shared my Free 10-minute video on Online PR in an earlier “Tweet”. You can check it out and click Twitter to get your own account.

Some people “tweet” about everything throughout the day, while others provide links to interesting information they discovered on the web. If you have dedicated followers in your business, this may be a great way to keep them updated instantly. It’s addictive and considered the social media drug of choice. You wonder if anyone sleeps anymore. You may even want to “Get Your Mom on Twitter.”