Client Magnets Official Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Personal Productivity’

Have you ever wondered what your clients are saying about your business? Would you love a direct line into your clients’ minds; to know what they really want and what they’re willing to buy?

Social media is a place where you can really get into the mind of your buyer.  You can dialogue with your clients and listen to what they are saying -  not only to you, but to each other.  It’s the perfect place for you to find out what your clients REALLY want.    And when you discover that, you can go to it – providing it to them!

Here’s my four step formula for using social media to “get into the mind” of your prospect…

1.  Identify “Hot Topics”
By listening and engaging in social media conversations, you will quickly identify the “hot topics”.

The key here is to listen and learn. What are your prospects asking? What do they need help with?
What topics are the most popular?

2.  Respond to Demand
Once you have the “hot topics” in mind, it’s time to showcase how you can help your prospects.  Use these hot topics to create the content for your blog and social media updates.   Give your prospects the answers they’re looking for.   Position yourself as someone who is in-the-know, who understands popular concerns. Demonstrate your expertise in a way that inspires people to use your business or services.   Give your prospects what they want, when they want it!

3.  Create a “BUZZ”
Social media gives you a ready-made channel to generate buzz about your new content and offerings.  With platforms like Twitter, you can use “hashtags” to incite and track conversations about specific subjects and groups.  There are also search tools available that will enable you to easily track what people are saying about you, your “hot topics” and your content and offerings.

4.  Track and Evaluate Market Response
Facebook, Twitter, Digg and other social media networks are ready-made tools to help you in the quest to get inside the mind of your buyers. By tuning into the various social media platforms you make it easy to evaluate the response to your new product, content and business presence.  You can use the information to review the effectiveness of your offerings and continue to craft better-tailored content in the future.  It’s also a way to determine what formats and delivery methods work best to reach your prospects and clients.

I encourage you TODAY to start “tuning in” to what your customers REALLY want!  If you listen to their conversations through the various social media platforms, they’ll tell you.  You can then use that information to give them what they want – and then everyone wins!

I’m absolutely certain, that as a business owner you are emotionally invested in your business.  Perhaps starting and operating your business was a realization of a lifelong dream.   This amazing dream will certainly inspire and motivate you.  But, did you realize, if you are not prepared, then that same dream can also set you up for emotional injury that can cripple you and drain the life from your vocation.

There’s a good chance that you’ve already felt the downtrodden lows and the exuberant highs that come with being a business owner – but have you polished your ability to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and push forward after you stumble?  It’s the key to your business success.

I want to share the story of Ken, as a way to illustrate my point:

Ken is highly enthusiastic about his new business.  He’s dreamt of this since he was a boy, and he’s anxious to make his first significant paycheck, doing what he loves.

He rushes into a dynamic marketing campaign, following the leads of some other local businesses that he views as successful.  He sinks a boatload of money into it and waits.

But the marketing campaign is largely ineffective.  It turns out that his target audience isn’t looking where he’s advertising.  He immediately falls into a plummeting, emotional spiral as he dwells on the thousands of dollars that he’s lost.  His emotional low lasts for months.

The failed campaign didn’t hurt Ken financially (he still had plenty of capital with which to operate), but the taste of failure tainted his daily businesses dealings as he fell lower and lower into the emotional dump.

The campaign didn’t have to have the affect Ken assigned to it.  Business people everywhere have tried and failed, but the differences among them lie in their attitudes toward those setbacks. Did they allow the setbacks to attack their emotional wells, draining them of motivation?  Or did they consider the setbacks to be forms of inverted commerce…paid-for experiences in what-not-to-do?

Any failed attempt can be viewed in either of these two ways.  The right way, and the emotionally, financially, and successfully lucrative way to view setbacks is with a positive attitude.  Know that each one teaches you about something that isn’t right for you, or right for the situation in which you used it.  In retrospect, you’ll find that this kind of knowledge is, in fact, priceless (making the money you may have lost seem insignificant).

So, in summary, keep these points in mind when casting off on a new business adventure:

• Study your target audience, their needs, and your offering to make sure your product or service is in line with a definitive need.

• If possible, test your theory or idea first.  You’ll feel better about your effort, even if it fails, if you’ve prepared well.

• Don’t invest more money than your business can afford to lose.

• When you make your move, keep your expectations high, but don’t allow them to be so grandiose that a simple setback can bring your dream crashing down.

• Understand that great business people everywhere have tried and failed in the process of elimination.  You, too, can be great if you understand that not every attempt will be a stellar success.

• If you do experience a setback, get your heart out of it and insert some brainpower:  “How can I use this experience to increase my chances for success next time?”

Ken’s money wasn’t lost.  It was simply invested in a learning experience that would come back to him from a different direction.  But, unfortunately, because he couldn’t view his setback in this light, that money (and the experience) was lost forever.

Remember to set goals for yourself, but never give those goals the responsibility of holding up your entire business (or your emotional state).  Know that you will experience setbacks, but with emotional resilience, you’ll be able to view them for what they really are:  set-ups for success!

Have you ever opted-in to receive a newsletter, or to establish an account on a website, and you receive an e-mail asking you to confirm your subscription or your request for a new account?  This is known as a double opt-in, and it’s law, according to the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003.

This law is meant to protect consumers from deceptive marketing, unwanted pornography, and to give subscribers a clear path to opt-out of any subscription.  But what does it mean for you, the business owner at the other end of the law?  It means that if a potential client or subscriber shows intent to sign on for your offer, you must receive confirmation from them before you may proceed.

On the downside, this law whittles away at your opt-in list because many people will not respond to your email requesting them to click to confirm.  Often, they’re wary of emails asking them to click on an unknown (or forgotten) link, due to well-meaning, but fear-inducing, warnings about viruses, malware, spyware, and other internet predator ploys.

On the upside, those people who take the time to respond to your opt-in request are genuinely interested in your product or your service.  They will contribute to the overall high quality of your list with promising purchase potential.

So, how can you increase the number of people who respond to your request for confirmation?

• Offer an incentive that they can’t refuse when you send your double opt-in email. Offer a free bonus, a savings coupon, or a membership discount if they confirm their opt-in.

• If you have their phone number, contact the prospect to remind him or her to click and confirm.

• If you collected physical addresses at the time your prospects expressed interest (maybe you gathered business cards at a seminar or conference), use the physical addresses to send personal cards or notes reminding them to confirm their opt-in.  You can help to keep your correspondence out of the garbage by:

- Handwriting the address on the envelope:  it looks more personal, and much less like marketing material.  It works…just ask master direct mailing professionals.

- Using a real postage stamp:  not a metered stamp.

- Writing a personal note on the back that makes opening the envelope irresistible:  something like, “Here’s the information you requested,” should do the trick.

- Using a white or colored envelope instead of a manila one:  it has a greater chance of making it to a recipient’s read pile.

- Crafting your postal correspondence with the care that comes with believing that this will be your only chance to elicit a response:  Gary Halbert, a master copyrighter, would recommend that you treat each piece of written copy as if your life, and the life of your family, depended on a response to it.  You probably have only one chance to make a good impression.

Contacting prospects via standard post is more effective than it once was, simply because the definition of junk mail has moved from the mailbox to the inbox.  Spam has become a bigger pain than a mailbox full of confetti material, so a handwritten letter or card can seem like a breath of fresh mail – one worth opening.

Work to build your list of opted-in contacts, and you’ll multiply your revenue building opportunities.  But remember; be prepared to step outside of the email box to get those opt-ins.

In conclusion, do your absolute best to capture those subscription confirmations with incentives and a variety of contact methods that would please our friends at the FTC.  And once you build your list, know that you’ll have quality contacts who have raised their hands high, dubbing themselves as promising prospects with very deliberate purchasing intentions.

Bernadette Doyle specializes in helping entrepreneurs attract a steady stream of ideal clients. If you want to get clients calling you instead of you calling them, sign up for her free weekly e-zine at http://www.clientmagnets.com

There are no stupid questions. The only stupid question is the one that isn’t asked. Whether you’re just starting out or trying to grow your business to even greater heights, I’m sure you have many questions about your next steps.  Usually, the questions that come into your mind are more concrete in nature: Who is my audience? Where should I open my business? How should I advertise?

Good questions, but there are others that you may not think to ask – of yourself and about yourself. These questions revolve around the person you need to be in order to achieve the success you want.  These questions are so important in your journey of success.  This week I invite you to get personal.  Look within yourself by considering these 7 questions.

Think about them before answering them, and be sure to answer them honestly.  These are the same personal questions I continue to ask myself.  These are the questions that help me to propel my business higher and higher every year.  I promise you, spending a little focused time here, will reap you great rewards …

Q1. Are you setting your goals according to what you truly want or what you think you should get? If your perspective is based on what you think you can do or have to do, you’re limiting your business potential. Set your goals based on what you truly want to achieve.

Q2. Do you have a burning desire? When you set out to do something you’ve never done, you are bound to encounter obstacles and hurdles. A burning desire will motivate you to overcome them rather than quitting because the going gets tough.

Q3. Where do you want to be? Design your business on your terms. The lifestyle you want to live, how much vacation you want to take, how many hours you want to work are totally up to you. Map these things out in advance so you can determine how to get there.

Q4. Are you setting the right goals? Setting goals that excite and challenge you will keep you from becoming lazy or complacent. Be careful not to set goals that are so overwhelming that they paralyze you with fear.  Keep a balance.

Q5. What do you need to let go of? When you move from one level to another, in life and in business, you have to leave some things behind. It could be a habit, a former acquaintance or a work pattern, but the more old things you carry with you, the harder it is to climb. Let go of the things that hold you back.

Q6. Who do you need to be in order to do this? How you act and react is just as, perhaps even more important, than what you do. Take notice of your habits and your surroundings. Ask yourself if the person you need to be to achieve your goals would live and act this way.

Q7. What is the one critical skill you need? Learning to sell is the most critical skill in any business. The most important investment you can make in yourself is learning to sell one-to-one. Make the conscious commitment to making yourself the best salesperson your business could have.

Asking yourself these personal questions and revealing your personal, honest answers will give you insight on what you need to learn and do to achieve your goals.

Never stop asking yourself questions. Every answer will take you further and further on the road to your success.

How does it make you feel when you receive a thank-you note, penned in your friend’s own hand?  Or how revealing is it for you to study someone’s signature, or to appreciate the time that they invested in writing a unique, personalized message with good, old-fashioned ink?

Handwriting has become a bit of a novelty.  We communicate with texts, IMs, emails, and spoken words.  The handwritten, post-marked letter has virtually gone the way of handlebar mustaches and hoop skirts.  So when you see your name and address in script on the front of an envelope, your curiosity is piqued, right?

In marketing, it can be helpful to put yourself in the shoes of your prospects.  If you’d like to receive a handwritten note, most of them probably would, too.

The handwritten note theory has been tested by direct mail experts and copyrighters, and the results have been overwhelming:  it works.

Here are some arguments for hand-lettered script on envelopes and in correspondence:

• Since the early 1990s, even before email was the overwhelming choice for correspondence, handwritten notes were endorsed by professional marketers.  If hand-crafted script was a welcome addition to mailboxes back them, imagine how novel it will seem now that we’re fully immersed in the Information Age.

• “Pen and ink” catches a mail sorter’s eye.  Think of how you sort your own mail.  If you’re like most, you separate it into two piles:  the “I need to read that later” pile and the “ditch it, it’s junk” pile.  Handwriting gives your correspondence a better chance of landing in the more favorable stack.

• A note, card, or letter with a personalized feel will always feel more valuable.  It flatters its recipient, and makes him or her curious to know who would spend so much time on the thought of them.

• If you use handwriting to communicate, at least a portion of the time, your communication will be among the minority, making it unique and worthy of a second glance.  Many marketers have heard of the advantages of handwritten notes, but few will make the effort to do it.  This gives your effort a “noted” advantage.

Now maybe you’re thinking, “Geez.  I’m already buried under a mountain of work.  Where in the world am I going to find the time to sit down and write out notes to prospects?”  Here’s the beauty of this approach:  it’s so simple, anyone can do it.

Your niece or nephew can do it.  The neighbor kid can do it.  Your grandma can do it.  A student or intern can do it.  The handwriting doesn’t have to be yours, it simply has to be handcrafted.

Actually, adding one more demand to your growing business isn’t advisable.  Instead, think “automated.”  A good idea or good fortune shouldn’t equate to more work.  But it should call for a system to handle it.  Even if you’re only writing 30 cards per month, and you have no problem fitting that task into your schedule, you must have a plan on the back burner…for when a big idea, or a big success, hits.

There will always be marketing trends to follow.  There will always be the next big thing, onto which you’ll want to pounce before your competition gets the chance.  But, putting all of that aside, some things simply never go out of style, and handwriting is one of them.

In marketing, your handwriting grade isn’t earned with sweeping curves, crossed Ts, and dotted Is, but rather, it’s earned with the regular use of this versatile tool that simply never seems to go out of style.

Bernadette Doyle created Client Magnets Ltd to help self-employed people solve one of their biggest business problems: attract a steady stream of clients. If you’d like to receive invaluable tips and advice on how to attract clients with ease, register at http://www.clientmagnets.com

How many things do you have to do today?  Or this week?  How many of those things are springboards for the bigger and better things that are waiting on the other end of your procrastination?  The things that are going to lead you and your business to satisfying success!

Often, many of us feel overwhelmed with all of the things we need to do by allowing the end results of a virtual to-do list mill around in our heads.  Maybe your current brain-contained list sounds a little like this:

• build a website
• schedule a teleseminar
• research trade magazines
• start outsourcing – find a VA

How many times have these items (or similar items) drifted around the outside of your brain, bouncing off the inside of your skull, clouding your view of current events, and dampening your motivation?

If these words in any way resonate with you, let me share with you my prescription for de-cluttering your head and getting things done.

In order for any grand task to be accomplished, it must first be dissected into small, manageable task chunks.  For instance, building a website might involve defining your website budget, asking business associates for webmaster recommendations, interviewing copywriters, and choosing styles for the individual pages.  And the best way to break that large task into smaller tasks, without further cluttering your brain?  On paper.

To-do lists are the ultimate back-patters.  Think about it.  How good do you feel when you accomplish something that you’ve been putting off?  When you can check an item off of a list, no matter how small, you’ll experience that feeling, and will, in turn, feel motivated to do it again and again…ultimately accomplishing the large task.

Here are some tips for making a list that will work for you:

• Keep the end in mind, and only include tasks that will contribute to that end.  For instance, don’t commit to writing a free report just because it sounds intriguing to write a free report, or because you’re proficient at writing reports.  Everything on your list should contribute to your desired result.

• Remember to delegate, wherever you can.  And mark that delegation on your paper!

• Start with the items that you feel most confident in completing. If you’re most proficient in research, hit the internet and get to know some webmasters.  The quicker you can get that first checkmark, the quicker you’ll fuel your own motivation to tackle the tasks that aren’t as simple.

• View your list-making as a brain dump. Give your tasks to the paper, and envision space clearing in your head.

• Understand that the writing of the list is a checkable item. Simply making the list brings you one step further to accomplishing your grand tasks.

• Don’t stress over every little detail. As you conquer the notable tasks on your list, small details will fall into place.  For instance, if you’re planning a workshop, you’ll need to establish a date, a time, a method of advertisement, and you’ll have to know its main benefit (the problem it will solve).  You’re not going to have to figure out how coffee will be served or whether lunch will be chicken salad or turkey.  Once your motivation is in full swing, the details will fall into place as you move along.

• Commit to your list. Feel the momentum that’s generated when you accomplish even the smallest of tasks and use that to propel you forward…but remember, you can’t experience that momentum unless you keep the check marks coming.

Some of us are natural list-makers.  Others manage our busy lives in our heads…or at least we like to think we do.  No matter our natural or learned tendencies, there is a wealth of potential just waiting to be realized…on a blank page.

Building your list of potential clients is necessary for landing deals, filling seminars, and realizing the revenue that you desire.  But in order to build your list of interested parties, you must first organize your thoughts into manageable pieces of doable tasks.  There’s no better method for accomplishing this than a list.

You want a list of for-sure, ready-to-buy prospects and clients, right?  Then get your pen, grab your paper and prepare to clean your brain’s RAM with your new list!

When you meet someone for the first time, you have a chance to make a real connection, or you can just pass on your name and be forgotten. Successful relationship-building requires more than just handing out business cards. To build long-lasting, solid and mutually-beneficial relationships, a little homework and a little thoughtfulness goes a long way. Here are my tips for making an impression that brings lasting results …

Research the People You’re Meeting

If you’re meeting someone in particular, research the person or people you’re meeting. Lots of resources exist that can give you both professional and personal reference material. The Web is a source of myriad information, with things like company websites, personal bios, work histories, resumes, portfolios; depending on who you’re meeting, you may be able to find a wide range of information about your contact.

If the Web doesn’t yield any useful information, you could check with the company where your contact works, to see if they have any marketing information containing professional info about your contact. You could also check periodicals, such as magazine stories, newspaper articles or professional interviews. Depending on how public the person is that you’re meeting, you may be able to find everything from the name of a spouse to the first place he or she worked out of college.

Use the information you find when you meet your contact. Talk about common interests, such as being dog owners, adoptive parents, yachters; whatever common bond you can form with your contact can help you form a good relationship. Ask about things near and dear to the person’s heart – not just business talk – and you’re well on your way to forming a real connection.

Ask Questions and Show Genuine Interest

Get to know people to form real connections. Ask questions about everything; not just their professional life, but their personal interests and family life, too. The more you can show that you understand, know and really “get” the person, the better your relationship will be, and the more business opportunities you’re likely to gain. Be a real person to your connections, too – if your new business partner volunteers information about his wife, talk about your wife. The more personal you can make your relationships with people, the better your long-term success with those relationships will be.

Have Fun Making Connections With All People

Everyone can have fun building good relationships – all you have to do is be genuinely interested in people. Enjoy getting to know your business colleagues, or even that woman you met on the street the other day. Forming connections with people can help in all aspects of your life, and even random connections can help your business in unexpected ways. You never know when someone will refer a key contact; an affiliate who may have great products for your prospects, or a business or distributor that could make your product a high-demand success!

Don’t just see people as stepping stones to a better business. Form real, legitimate connections by getting to know people, and I promise good business will naturally follow.

Many entrepreneurs, small business owners and other professionals find themselves focused on earning an income, finding new clients and the day-to-day struggle to survive.  Having enough income and cashflow to grow your business rapidly is not an uncommon problem.  I often hear people talking about their expected income for the next day, weeks or months ahead.  They focus on knowing where the next paycheck is coming from because they don’t have enough confidence in their existing client base or cashflow.   They fear their income will dry up.

Have you ever felt like that?  If that sounds like you, then it’s time to STOP focusing on your income.  It’s time to start focusing on a long-term plan for success and diversification.  But how?  How do you free yourself from the day-to-day financial worry and really start to thrive?

The answer simply lies in starting your own high-end coaching program.   A high-end coaching programme (when designed and delivered the right way) will provide enough guaranteed revenue to enable you to stop worrying about money and be free to focus on your long-term success!

This is how the strategy works …

Sell Once a Year to Generate Guaranteed Revenue

• With your high-end coaching programme, if you market and sell the right way, you will only need to focus on the selling once and then you’re done for the year.

• Create a program with a limited number of spots, and you’ll only have to sell long enough to fill those spots and then you can focus on serving your clients and creating alternate revenue streams.

• Create a program with a fixed time limit, such as my annual programme, and you only have to sell those spots once per year. Then you’ve got the commitment for the income, and you’re free to focus on other areas of your business. No more worrying month-to-month whether you’ll have enough cash for next month; with a high-end coaching program, you can earn enough money to free yourself up for other pursuits.

Free Yourself Up to Look at the Big Picture

One of the biggest benefits for you and your business of creating a high-end coaching program is freeing yourself up to look at the big picture. If you’re like most people, you spend countless hours per week working on finding enough business, and the rest of your time goes to satisfying your existing clients. You never have time to think about the long-term plans for your business, or how to diversify your revenue streams.

Once you have the committed income of a high-end coaching program, you can stop spending so much of your time selling yourself and your services because you have a guaranteed revenue stream. Instead, you can focus on creating the other steps to achieve success in your business, and put together a long-term plan for your business!

In order to truly become successful in your own business, you’ve got to stop focusing on immediate income so you can begin to build a road map for long-term success.   Worrying about your day-to-day income is short-term thinking and can seriously hamper your long-term business success. When you start a high-end coaching program, you get financial commitments for a large portion of your revenue and begin looking at other ways to improve your business success.

So if you want to see an end to your day-to-day financial struggles and the beginning of long-term success, it’s time to start your high-end coaching programme!

Bernadette Doyle specializes in helping entrepreneurs attract a steady stream of ideal clients. If you want clients calling you instead of you calling them, sign up for her free weekly e-zine at http://www.clientmagnets.com

Every consumer wants to know what’s in it for them.  If he gives a bit of his hard-earned money, what will he get in return?  If she donates an hour of her valuable time, what can she expect to receive?

Whether the consumer donation is money, time, or loyalty, those consumers want to know that what they’ll receive will greatly outweigh what they invest.  Dan Kennedy put it well when he referred to this concept as, “Selling money at a discount.”

This is the duty of your teleseminar’s registration page.  Not only should your registration page name a common problem, agitate it, offer a solution, give benefit bullet points, and offer simple registration and payment, but it should quell fears, silence objections, and calm arguments…with a call to action that springs to action, even before those objections are formulated.  Before your prospect has a chance to ask him or herself, “What’s in it for me?” or, “How is this going to better my position?” or, “How is this going to save me money?”, you need to thoroughly answer those questions for them.

You can quantify the cost of any topic. No matter the subject matter, you will always be able to find proof that you will save your customers money, time or grief.  Consider these examples:

• If your topic is business related, and the foreseeable objection is price, include a statement like this:  “For an investment of X, you’ll get the information to avoid the problem of Y, which if left unchecked, will cost you 100 times X.”  For example, you can show your readers how spending $50 will save them $5000.

• If your topic is weight loss related, you can quantify the cost in this manner:  “You’re already spending money on this problem, in the form of high insurance premiums, gym memberships, weight loss programs, and clothing.  You’ll spend far less than all of this to participate in this teleseminar, which will eliminate the need for most of your current money spending.”

• If your topic revolves around parenting, consider presenting your quantification this way:  “How much money are you spending on guilt gifts for your children?  What if a great parent/child relationship was to replace those gifts?  You would save money and gain what you really want.”

• Or, if your topic has little to do with money, and a lot to do with emotional cost, you can quantify your clients’ investments like this:  “Isn’t it worth X to never feel Y again?”

You must calculate the actual monetary amounts for your registration page readers.  Don’t expect them to do the math – they may click away without ever seeing the true monetary benefit that you’re offering.

Even if you’re not able to attain a sign-up from every reader, a good call to action will break through denial, and push those people closer to a sign-up next time you host a teleseminar with a similar topic.

Even if you’re hosting a free teleseminar, you must use your call to action to convince prospects that their investments of time will save them money, time or angst.  In other words, you must convince them that participating in your teleseminar will literally make them money, or trap the money that they already have in their pockets.  You must convince them that investing one hour can save them five hours of work.  Or, convince them that investing one hour will save them hours of sleepless grief.

Your call to action should do just that:  call for action to be taken.  In fact, it should be so powerful, so undeniable, and make such good monetary sense, that your readers won’t be able to help but spring to immediate action.

Bernadette Doyle specializes in helping entrepreneurs attract a steady stream of ideal clients. If you want to get clients calling you instead of you calling them, sign up for her free weekly e-zine at http://www.clientmagnets.com

Social networking platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook, give you a powerful new tool for connecting with potential prospects, clients, sales leads and new business partners. Because of the nature of social networking, successful social networking is about more than just creating a marketing campaign and sending it out into the ether. Social networking is a social process, and it works best when your personality shines through to your social networking contacts. With the right techniques, you can build your personality on social networking platforms and improve your social networking success.

Offer Advice: One way you can get real personal, real fast with your contacts is to offer advice or even just sympathetic comments. Listen to what people say, and respond to them even when it’s not related to your business. This is a fast and easy way to form personal connections with people, which can lead to unexpected business opportunities. Additionally, by offering advice or sharing information about related things in your life, you’re letting people find out more about you as a person and letting your personality shine through your social networking.

Share Personal Information: Share personal information via Twitter and Facebook. For years, people have had distinctive mindsets of “this is business” and “personal is for friends.” Let your business contacts be your friends, too. When you share information about your diet, or struggling with the conflicts of being a parent and business person, you’re sharing personal information that lets other people see that you’re not just a faceless business – you’re an individual.

The things that you share might resonate with your followers, and give them a reason to keep following you beyond your business information. People are also more likely to refer friends to other friends for business opportunities than to faceless strangers, so if you and your business can become a friend, you’ll get more business opportunities.

Find Ways to Blend Business and Personal: Find ways to blend business and personal updates. If all of your updates are personal, your followers who aren’t particularly interested in your business might just go away. If you share personal information, too, your followers may be interested in you as a person and continue to follow, even if they don’t find your business particularly interesting.

By blending business with personal updates, you can share information about your business without being blatant. For example, you could say something like “Going to Ireland to speak for business, and taking my husband along as an anniversary gift.” This lets people know that you’re a successful business person who travels and speaks, but also shares information about your personal life – that you and your husband have an anniversary.

Be Genuine: The most important thing about sharing your personality through social networking is to be genuine. Don’t give fake updates tailored just to get a reaction from your followers; be forthright and honest, and people will respect your integrity. If you let your personality shine through to your social networking followers, you’ll find yourself with a bigger pool of followers, which potentially gives you more business opportunities.

Bernadette Doyle created Client Magnets Ltd to help self-employed people solve one of their biggest business problems: attract a steady stream of clients. If you’d like to receive invaluable tips and advice on how to attract clients with ease, register at http://www.clientmagnets.com