I received some great advice the other day about managing your Outlook and being efficient with emails.

1. Use the subject line to say what the email is about or what you want them to do

This has been the biggest eye opener for me and it makes so much sense. State clearly in your email subject line what the email it is about and what you want the recipient to do. Don’t just say “Project X” put more details about what the email is asking i.e. “Project X – start date unclear – please remind me ASAP”.

For replies, don’t just hit reply and ignore the subject line. How often do you get an email that uses the “RE: previous email subject” and then just says Thanks? Update the conversation in the subject line as well as the email body

2. Set times in your day for checking your Outlook

It might seem odd that you would ignore your email for set periods of the day but you need to make efficient use of your time. Let people know of your practice and tell them what times you check your emails. As well as being able to stay focused on your work you will find you get less emails as people will call your or come find you if they want a quick question answered. I hate those emails when I know it would have been quicker to deal with if the other person had called me.

Simple – two quick tips for a better working life

“How can social media help my small business?” is a question business people are asking everyday. It is a far better position than some others are taking when they say “Social media has got nothing to do with my business”. If you have ever had a single conversation where you explained what your business does then it is relevant to your business.

Here the BBC talks about how small businesses across America are fighting the recession with Twitter and Facebook:

It is the 21st century equivalent of word of mouth.

From mom and pop diners to cupcake shops to technology start-ups, small business owners across America have been thrown an unexpected lifeline in the midst of the recession by social networking sites.

Companies that have jumped on the Twitter and Facebook bandwagon are reporting a surge in customers while others struggle.

With minimal marketing budgets available to many small businesses, social networking sites offer a quick and, more importantly, free means of promoting their wares to a global audience.

In the face of stiff competition and a global economic downturn, it is a route more and more companies are going down.

Virtual focus group

Sisters Sophie LaMontagne and Katherine Kallinis have been using Twitter and Facebook as a marketing tool since they launched Georgetown Cupcake in Washington DC in 2008.

As well as posting details of new flavours, specials and events, they are using the social networking sites to promote their new nationwide delivery service together with their new store in Maryland.

Filling appointments

For some small business owners, traditional advertising channels such as television, radio and newspapers are prohibitively expensive.

For others, the web is a medium more in tune with their potential customers.

“They’re not a good fit for everyone, but if you’re a small business with a customer base who uses social media, you can’t afford not to use them,” says Rachael Ritchie, who runs Goodfellas Pizza with her husband in the college town of Athens, Ohio.

It’s a great way to interact one on one and build a relationship with our customers Alice Shin, Kogi BBQ

She recently asked her Twitter and Facebook followers to vote on whether she should use Coke or Pepsi as a soft drinks supplier.

“That real-time feedback is invaluable,” she says.

Goodfellas Pizza offers cross-promotions with other local businesses via Twitter.

They include Athens Relaxation Station health spa, which gives Goodfellas customers discounts, a deal which is reciprocated at Goodfellas.

“I am a one-woman business in a small town so free marketing is a huge bonus,” says spa owner Jennifer Hunt.

“And if I get a last minute cancellation I hop on to Twitter and within minutes I’ve filled the appointment.”

Small firms gain

“Every day we are seeing businesses using Twitter in more and more creative and exciting ways,” says Anamitra Banerji, manager of commercial products at Twitter.

“We’ve got lots of restaurant and bar owners right through to plumbers and building managers.”

Though multinationals such as Starbucks and McDonald’s were among the first to realise the potential of social networking sites, anecdotal evidence suggests it is small businesses that have the most to gain.

Twitter, which allows users to post Tweets of up to 140 characters, is currently developing products to sell to business users, including software to verify accounts and analyse traffic to Twitter account holders’ profiles.

The company recently launched Twitter 101 on its website, which includes advice for new users along with case studies, describing how companies of all scales and in various sectors have used the site to grow their business.

Facebook, which has 300 million users worldwide and recently announced it had become cash-flow positive, offers businesses special pages and the option to buy ads to show to users who like similar companies.

Customer interaction

As well as using social media sites to communicate with customers, small businesses are using them to connect with potential suppliers, stockists and other people they can trade skills with, such as accountants, marketing experts and technology workers.

The days of large anonymous companies are over Andrew Sinkov, Evernote

One recent Twitter post from a graphic designer asked other business users for advice on computer software his company was thinking of buying.

Kogi BBQ runs three Korean mobile food trucks in Los Angeles.

It has 43,000 followers on Twitter and 3,150 on Facebook and uses the sites to post specials, discounts and details of where the vans will be parked each day.

“It’s a great way to interact one on one and build a relationship with our customers,” says Kogi BBQ’s creative director Alice Shin.

“Customers feel a personal connection, which encourages repeat business.”

Dangers loom

But experts warn that social networking sites are not without dangers.

“You are losing control of your message by inviting customers in to a dialogue and that could be problematic if they criticise you,” says Arun Sundararajan, a professor of information, operations and management sciences at New York University.

He advised users to think of it as a conversation rather than an advertising space.

“There is a fine line between giving people a steady stream of useful information and bombarding them, he explains.

“If you do the latter you are in danger of turning customers off.”

This view was echoed by Andrew Sinkov, vice president of marketing at Evernote, a California-based online storage company.

“The key is to keep your messages concise, free of fluff or marketing jargon and only convey genuinely useful information,” he says.

Company personality

Evernote has 30,000 followers on Twitter, 12,000 fans on Facebook and has recently begun using Friendfeed, which was taken over by Facebook in August.

Evernote directs its followers between all three sites and its company blog, creating a sophisticated, inter-linked online presence.

“The days of large anonymous companies are over,” declares Mr Sinkov.

“To succeed nowadays your company has to have a personality and it’s easier than ever to create that.

Source: BBC

For a full day training on Twitter look no further than my Accelerated Twitter Success course. Having established the basics of using Twitter you will now be wondering how you can harness this tool to promote your business. This training day will equip you with the tools and strategy to achieve success.

The next training day will be on November 4th, 2009 in Maidstone, Kent. Your day will start at 9.30am and include lunch. You will be given some homework to prepare in advance and everyone will need to work from their laptop as we set in place your strategy and Twitter routine.

Full day Twitter training

• Strategy planning
• Tool use & Automation
• Effective following
• Copy writing
• Time management
• Using #hashtags to promote your content
• Integration with other social media sites
• Promotions and competitions
• Customer service
• Measurement and results tracking

November 4th 2009
Detling Coachhouse, Scragged Oak Road, Detling, Maidstone, ME14 3HB (map)

£167 incl lunch

9am – 5.30pm

Register for the event before October 24th to receive a £22 discount and guarantee your place on the course

If you are new to social media and are wondering where to start, don’t fear.  I gave this presentation to Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce members this week. Everyone should have a website by now – so what next? Do you even know if your website is getting you any customers or helping you keep your existing ones.  I know internet marketing is yet another challenge for many business owners and learning about all the latest tricks can be baffling. Twitter, Facebook, Pay Per Click advertising, email marketing…..urgh “I don’t have the time” is often what I hear.   This presentation will help you understand what comes after your website. As an Internet Marketing Advisor I assure you it’s not frightening, its just new. Underneath is the Social Media Checkist for Action which will get you started.

Sign up for my email newsletter which will give you the latest news from my blog plus tips and tricks on Internet Marketing for Business every month.

This checklist was given out at the KICC lunch which I spoke at yesterday. If you are a business owner in Kent then the Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce is a must for networking and business support in the county.

You have got a website for your company, now what? I will be looking at this question and introducing social media as a marketing channel at the Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce networking lunch on Wednesday September 9th. Full details are here.

For those attending the event, get yourself a Twitter account and bring your laptop – there will be free WiFi for all.

As an introduction watch this great video from Socialnomics09. And, if you need help signing up for Twitter watch the How To guide at the bottom.

(I’ll do my own Twitter intro to accompany my Twitter For Business event on Sept 16th. Register now)

I just got off the phone to Oliver Russell at The Big Shot. I did some work for him a while ago to set up distribution deals for this new initiative The Real Body Show. Check it out. Over about three days I made calls with my contacts to introduce them to this health and fitness video magazine.

Whilst I knew I had done a great job I was still telling myself that it wasn’t enough and was concerned that it wouldnt come to anything. In my update from Oliver just now I hear that he deals in the pipeline with AOL, Sport.co.uk and Babycentre.co.uk to name a few. I now feel great.

My lessons from this:

1. Be confident in your own ability
2. Stay connected to your network
3. Offer value and be consistent
4. Don’t panic – patience along with the above will pay off