Intent (Human Artist)

1. Don’t read EVERY tweet. It’s perfectly okay. You have permission.
2. Follow anyone who follows you (and unfollow spammers & trolls).
3. Promote other people 12x to every 1 self-promotional tweet.
4. Build lists to watch people who matter to you more closely.
5. Retweet the good stuff from others. Sharing is caring.
6. A lot of @replies shows a lot of humanity/engagement.
7. Robot tweets are less sexy than human tweets.
8. Promote the new/less followed more than the “names.”
9. Set an egg timer. Twitter is addictive.
10. Everyone does it their own way. You’re doing it wrong, too- to someone.

Technical

1. A non-standard background and face avatar means we believe you may be human.
2. Leave 20 characters or more space in each tweet to improve re-tweeting.
3. Use Seesmic or Tweetdeck or Hootsuite so you can see more.
4. Linking one update to several communities is technically possible. It’s just not respectful of each community’s uniqueness.
5. Tools like http://bit.ly let you see stats. Use them.
6. Make hashtags small and simple. We need room to tweet.
7. If software allows you to “post updates to Twitter” as well as to the app, don’t do that. We rarely want to see them.
8. If you develop software that pushes updates to Twitter, be VERY explicit how that works.
9. Every time you use OAUTH to give apps permission to use your account, you open a potential security hole. Check your permissions monthly.
10. The best mobile app is the one that you feel comfortable using. We don’t know better.

Business

1. Spamming us repeatedly is okay. We just unfollow you.
2. Spend more time in search than in chatting us up about your stuff.
3. Finding people who need what you’re selling trumps advertising to us.
4. Retweeting someone’s nice words about you is lame and doesn’t buy you more attention. Let it stand.
5. If your link is an affiliate link or a client, say so (in parentheses).
6. Your customers might not be on Twitter. Use rapleaf to find them.
7. Invite your customers to Twitter, then make it worth it for them.
8. Use Twitter as a personalized communication tool, not another blast.
9. Having different accounts for everything seems like the right move, until you realize it’s hard to grow multiple followings.
10. Just make money and then the boss won’t ask about ROI any more.

Integrated Usage

1. Twitter makes every event better. Post the hashtag everywhere. Make every speaker sign/label/name include a Twitter ID.
2. Apps like TweetChat.com make following event chats really easy. Put in a hashtag and go.
3. Tweeting the content of events is nice, but so is occasionally making a real live connection with the speaker.
4. It’s okay to tweet your blog posts, but try asking a question that leads readers into the post.
5. Can you invite Twitter followers to your other social platforms, like LinkedIn or Facebook? Sure you can.
6. I’m not into mixing my location apps with my tweets, but if you do, do it FROM the location app into Twitter, not the other way around.
7. Getting others to tweet your posts or news or registrations is useful, but sometimes comes off as a barrage or spam. Be prepared for that perception.
8. Tweets that point us to photos and/or video and/or music, etc, are always a great way to enhance the experience.
9. Please remove Twitter from LinkedIn. Use the #in tag instead and be selective.
10. Spammy or no, events that tweet their attendance registration seem to drive attendance.

Off-Twitter

1. Are your tweets really what you want to show in your sidebar? Doesn’t that direct people away from your site?
2. Think of Twitter as a guidance system to what you think is interesting. A lot of that is likely off-Twitter.
3. Apps like VisibleTweets.com are neat, but can be very distracting at events.
4. If you use tweets on a screen at an event, be warned if you moderate. Angry crowds can happen.
5. Don’t forget to invite people from off-Twitter to follow you on Twitter. Include your actual Twitter ID (I see lots of “follow me on Twitter” with no details).
6. Asking questions on Twitter makes for very interesting commentary and opinions for blog posts.
7. Tweetups are awesome, especially if you make them about more than just drinking and saying hi. (Though, hey, drinks can be nice.)
8. Outside of the Twitter app, keep “Tw” names to a minimum. We’re not your “tweeps.”
9. If your only marketing efforts are on Twitter, start building an email marketing list. Never put your eggs in one basket.
10. Start thinking in 120 characters (remember? save 20). Every bit of this advice is tweetable.

Your mileage may vary. Some of these might be really helpful and others might not be that useful at all, given your own situations. In fact, feel free to make your own version, add and subtract at will, and comment on where you disagree or agree. It’s all up for discussion.

Words of Wisdom courtesy of Chris Brogan

It’s no secret that the world of work has changed forever. The internet, globalization and increased competition have forced companies, entrepreneurs and employees to move at much greater speed in an environment where change is the only constant and innovation the key to success. Companies used to want loyalty and longevity from their employees; they now treasure innovation. Conformity is the enemy of innovation and successful companies know this. They actively search for and highly value a diverse, highly creative and flexible workforce. They know and accept that employees will not be with them for ever, however, whilst they are with them, companies want and expect the best from their employees and key to this is creativity and innovation.

To be successful in such a crowded and highly competitive market place, businesses, entrepreneurs, teams and individuals all have to make sure they stand out and clearly differentiate themselves from the myriad of others who seemingly offer similar services and products. Corporate Branding is a familiar concept for most people, however, it is Personal Branding that is the new millennium’s hottest topic.

As Tom Peters, bestselling author and business management practice guru said in his groundbreaking article published in FastCompany magazine in July 1997:

“Big companies understand the importance of brands, however, today, in the Age of the Individual, you have to be your own brand…

…It’s time for me — and you — to take a lesson from the big brands, a lesson that’s true for anyone who’s interested in what it takes to stand out and prosper in the new world of work.

Regardless of age, regardless of position, regardless of the business we happen to be in, all of us need to understand the importance of branding. We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You.

It’s that simple — and that hard. And that inescapable.”

The harsh truth is that the world is a much more competitive place than it was even five years ago, and businesses are having to focus more and more on clearly and consistently communicating their brand values both on and offline if they are to retain their customer base and successfully attract new clients. As mentioned earlier, the same rule now applies to entrepreneurs and individuals as the boundaries between ‘employed’ and self.-employed’ become increasingly blurred in the new world of work.

In today’s global market, many businesses and professionals compete for the same contracts, clients and jobs. In the end it’s their Reputation, or Brand, that sets them apart from their competitors and peers. Their Brand builds over time, both in the ‘real’ world and online (internet / web 2.0), and becomes synonymous with how people describe them to others, their experience of them and the value they know they can expect from them.

Strong Brands command a premium even in a highly competitive market, whereas generic brands primarily compete on price. During tough economic times, strong brands – corporate and individual – survive and even flourish, whereas many weak brands disappear from the map or suffer serious setbacks.

Corporate & Personal Branding is therefore the most effective way to clarify and communicate what makes you, your team and your business different, special, and valuable to your target audience. It does not mean creating a fake image for the outside world. Branding is all about authenticity, relevance and a unique promise of value.

The fact is that you already have a Brand whether you have consciously developed it or not. They key is to discover whether your Brand is actively supporting or sabotaging your business and career goals and how best you can manage the Branding process.

Joanne Shawcross is a New York trained Personal Branding expert, speaker and coach. She has an international, multi-cultural background in General Management, Human Resources, Corporate and Personal Image Consultancy. She is fluent in English and Spanish and has been coaching multi-disciplinary teams of professionals and entrepreneurs in career management and professional development for over 20+ years in Spain and Latin America.

Joanne has a natural talent to easily connect and relate to people. She uses her passion and enthusiasm for people and business together with revolutionary Corporate and Personal Brand Management strategies to motivate and inspire companies, teams and individuals to successfully develop, communicate and manage their authentic, relevant and compelling brands.

In conjunction with Rebuzzna Communication, Joanne will be presenting a Personal Branding Keynote speech at ParcBit, Mallorca on 30th of September 2010.

The dawn of Social Media has changed this trend dramatically giving the customer a massive audience to air their grievances. Bad reviews for service or products are now posted to Facebook, Twitter and even photos or videos via Flickr or YouTube to emphasise discontent. These comments now get viewed via the networks of the unhappy customer and can then be shared and passed through even more.

On the other hand this can also be a positive situation. People are just as likely to comment about good experiences, as the trend now is to post pretty much all our daily activities online.

Use of geo-locating services such as Foursquare and Gowalla show your network where you’re shopping; eating; going on holiday and much more. These services now also allow photographs and comments to support positive (and negative) experiences. More than ever, customer service and product quality need to be at their best for your company to survive this new transparent world.

The big advantage a business owner has here is that he too can see these comments and react. Monitoring Social Networks and reacting quickly and positively to negative feedback can turn a complaint into a raving review of your company. The PR department of a company now has a new and instant ally with Twitter, Facebook , YouTube and more, to measure their customer satisfaction and implement “damage control” immediately.
This is another area of expertise that Rebuzzna Communication can add to your Social Media campaigns. We don’t stop at promoting your business; creating a fan base; generating content and provoking interaction. We also stand guard for your brand monitoring all comments made throughout the Social Networks and responding to ensure any negative comments receive immediate TLC.

If you  are a regular reader of this blog, you will know we also have a small rural hotel in Campos, Mallorca. The home of Pepper Santblai our famous Social Media donkey and inspiration of the creation of Rebuzzna Communication (Rebuzna means braying in English). As we have developed the hotel along a natural organic evolution, we literally planted seeds, not just for the plants, vegetables and trees we have added to the gardens here, but also for our ideas and plans to provide new services and promote these to our potential clientele worldwide. These seeds we nurtured, watered and we watched them grow.

In our real “Huerto” (allotment) summer is now ending, but for all farms & Rebuzzna a new beginning. We see Rebuzzna as a farm to nurture new ideas and now is the time to prepare to bring everything together ready for planting these new seeds for all our new clients. Our philosophy is based on applying the understanding and passion of our clients’ businesses, together with hard work and effort (known qualities of our CEO PepperSantblai) to apply our knowledge and expertise in promoting this via Social Media.

We firmly believe that the way forward to develop our projects is through a process of continuous research and collaborative work, where each brings the best of these ingredients (ideas, big and small, realistic dreams, tangible illusions ….) In Rebuzzna we have a garden that will become the brains of the farm, in the engine of this company, in the RDI (Research Development Innovation) of our organization. We believe that the key to everything is in the passion and knowledge to join in a process of constant innovation to transform creativity into reality. Thus, in our “garden” we are literally planting all the ideas we generate, and our team will daily: investigate, nurture, transplant, and evolve all our skill sets to perfect our clients’ success.

Using every tool at our disposal we are germinating the seeds we planted months ago, at the beginning of our project. Some have already started “bearing fruit”. The client page of our web page will soon show the individual client success stories identified as a vegetable and outlining it’s development and growth This is the key and our challenge: to be able to take our ideas/seeds transform them into projects/vegetables and to sell them in the marketplace.

How can we help grow your product or service?

Clients range from traditional marketers Borbalan, to Rural Hotelier and Gastronomic delights at L’Agora in Bocairent close to Valencia. The exclusive chain of Perfumerias Tin Tin in Mallorca, the best supplier of Coffee and Infusions in the Balearic Islands: Espresso Balear

Tourism (particularly for Spain and the Balearics) will be a key theme for Rebuzzna. This is already evident with clients such as Restaurante Sa Canova (probably the most authentic Mallorquin restaurant on the island!); FincaTurismo the small (but perfectly formed) association of Agroturismos; Vita Bel the elegant charter sail ship running twice daily charters from the marina at Cala D’Or and of course Finca Sant Blai Agroturismo in Campos – the start of this adventure.

More diverse clients are found with photographer Juan Carlos Castresana with his Diario Nomada creating photographic collages around the world and Fotobal his Studio services in Mallorca.

Rebuzzna assesses each client “close up and personal” to ensure the correct Social Networks are utilised to grow brand respect and awareness. Services range from Full campaign management to Social Media training for your team and in October workshops and intensive courses will be run from our Agroturismo Sant Blai in Campos.

Don’t get left out of the biggest marketing opportunity to promote your company or services worldwide – contact us today – if you make contact from this blogpost you can have a personalised Facebook Page for 50€ direct from Customised Facebook Pages

*Please note all links in the above text lead directly to the Facebook Pages of each company – if you would like to know more about their services, please go to their Page and become a Fan – thank you.

The Man Rules
AT LAST A GUY HAS TAKEN THE TIME TO WRITE THIS ALL DOWN.
FINALLY , THE GUYS’ SIDE OF THE STORY( I MUST ADMIT, IT’S PRETTY GOOD)
WE ALWAYS HEAR ‘THE RULES’ FROM THE FEMALE SIDE
NOW HERE ARE THE RULES FROM THE MALE SIDE THESE ARE OUR RULES!
PLEASE NOTE… THEY ARE ALL NUMBERED ’1′ ON PURPOSE!

1. MEN ARE NOT MIND READERS.

1. LEARN TO WORK THE TOILET SEAT. YOU’RE A BIG GIRL. IF IT’S UP, PUT IT DOWN. WE NEED IT UP, YOU NEED IT DOWN. YOU DON’T HEAR US COMPLAINING ABOUT YOU LEAVING IT DOWN.

1. SUNDAY SPORTS IT’S LIKE THE FULL MOON OR THE CHANGING OF THE TIDES. LET IT BE.

1. CRYING IS BLACKMAIL, AND WITCHCRAFT.

1. ASK FOR WHAT YOU WANT. LET US BE CLEAR ON THIS ONE! SUBTLE HINTS DO NOT WORK! STRONG HINTS DO NOT WORK! OBVIOUS HINTS DO NOT WORK! JUST SAY IT!

1. YES AND NO ARE PERFECTLY ACCEPTABLE ANSWERS TO ALMOST EVERY QUESTION.

1. COME TO US WITH A PROBLEM ONLY IF YOU WANT HELP SOLVING IT. THAT’S WHAT WE DO. SYMPATHY IS WHAT YOUR GIRLFRIENDS ARE FOR.

1. ANYTHING WE SAID 6 MONTHS AGO IS INADMISSIBLE IN AN ARGUMENT. IN FACT, ALL COMMENTS BECOME NULL AND VOID AFTER 7 DAYS.

1. IF YOU THINK YOU’RE FAT, YOU PROBABLY ARE. DON’T ASK US.

1. IF SOMETHING WE SAID CAN BE INTERPRETED TWO WAYS AND ONE OF THE WAYS MAKES YOU SAD OR ANGRY, WE MEANT THE OTHER ONE.

1. YOU CAN EITHER ASK US TO DO SOMETHING OR TELL US HOW YOU WANT IT DONE. NOT BOTH. IF YOU ALREADY KNOW BEST HOW TO DO IT, JUST DO IT YOURSELF.

1. WHENEVER POSSIBLE, PLEASE SAY WHATEVER YOU HAVE TO SAY DURING COMMERCIALS.

1. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS DID NOT NEED DIRECTIONS AND NEITHER DO WE.

1. ALL MEN SEE IN ONLY 16 COLORS, LIKE WINDOWS DEFAULT SETTINGS. Peach, for example, is a fruit, not A COLOR. PUMPKIN IS ALSO A FRUIT. ; WE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT MAUVE IS.

1. IF IT ITCHES, IT WILL BE SCRATCHED. WE DO THAT.

1. IF WE ASK WHAT IS WRONG AND YOU SAY ‘NOTHING,’ WE WILL ACT LIKE NOTHING’S WRONG. WE KNOW YOU ARE LYING, BUT IT IS JUST NOT WORTH THE HASSLE.

1. IF YOU ASK A QUESTION YOU DON’T WANT AN ANSWER TO, EXPECT AN ANSWER YOU DON’T WANT TO HEAR.

1. WHEN WE HAVE TO GO SOMEWHERE, ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING YOU WEAR IS FINE… REALLY!

1. DON’T ASK US WHAT WE’RE THINKING ABOUT UNLESS YOU ARE PREPARED TO DISCUSS SUCH TOPICS AS FOOTBALL OR GOLF.

1. YOU HAVE ENOUGH CLOTHES.

1. YOU HAVE TOO MANY SHOES.

1. I AM IN SHAPE. ROUND IS A SHAPE!

1. THANK YOU FOR READING THIS. YES, I KNOW I HAVE TO SLEEP ON THE COUCH TONIGHT; BUT DID YOU KNOW MEN REALLY DON’T MIND THAT? IT’S LIKE CAMPING.

PASS THIS TO AS MANY MEN AS YOU CAN – TO GIVE THEM A LAUGH.

(Thanks to Paul Betts for passing on these words of wisdom)

Look at it in actual value per hour: Any small business should be looking to achieve at least 50,000€ profit annually (particularly if there is a couple running the business) – ideally this figure should be double this, but we will keep the figure lower for this example. Divide this 50,000€ by the hours you work every year – let’s say approximately 60 hours a week (I know this is probably higher) x 50 weeks (assuming you get two weeks holiday) = 3000 hours. So, 50,000€ divided by 3000 hours gives you an hourly rate of 16.66€ (already showing us we need to be improving the profitability!!).

Your “Makro Run” given travel time; trolley filling; checkout queue (and they are usually long queues!); loading car; home run, then unloading – can be as much as 4 hours. This means a saving of nearly 70€ of your physical work time by taking Makro up on their delivery scheme. Add to this petrol costs; wear and tear on your car etc and you are probably close to 100€. If this is once a week there’s 5000€ saved a year.

But the savings don’t stop there. What if you applied these four hours saved to a marketing campaign for your business. Everybody is talking about the “free” marketing with Social Media: Facebook; Twitter; You Tube; Flickr and so on. Well the reality is, it’s not free – it costs TIME – but now you’ve just created some – so invest it wisely. Set up your Facebook page; Open a Twitter account; ( if applicable) find out how to use video to improve your online image. Utilising many of the Social Media tools and being a little creative you can make those four hours create hundreds of new CLIENTS and extra SALES.

Now if you need help with Facebook; Twitter or any Social Media questions – just leave your details here (with a few details of what help you need) – We’ll have you up and running in no time!!

And don’t stop with Makro! What other services can you outsource? Well Carrefour does home delivery too, for all your domestic shopping (order online). Do you do your own book keeping? Do you enjoy it? Does it take you longer than necessary because it’s a chore? Get rid of it.. do the same calculations to see what you are saving by not doing the job yourself and then find somebody who will do it for less money. Then devote that time to more marketing – or following up on existing clients to give better service or make additional sales.

So there you have it – Your Suppliers – giving you more TIME; more CLIENTS; more SALES and more PROFITS -

Remember to say Thank You!!

After 2 years “braying”via Pepper (our PR Donkey) about all the great qualities of Mallorca – nearly 30,000 tweets: images; links; photos and stories throughout Facebook,Twitter, YouTube; Flickr and too many more channels to list here. there is a loyal brigade of over 10,000 followers throughout the world. All replying in Marta’s donkish language (BOL = braying out loud / VID = very important donkey) and hundreds of people arriving at Sant Blai bringing the obligatory carrots for a photoshoot with our Twitter celebrity.

Marta has been invited to Social Media conferences all over Spain as an example of  success in this exploding new marketplace for communication and interaction – press and tv coverage started the awareness: The Daily Telegraph; El Mundo; La Economista; Diario de Mallorca; Canal 4; IB3 – the list goes on.

Apart from the benefit of sales for Sant Blai,  incredible liaisons with local suppliers and countless Joint Venture opportunities – the biggest enjoyment of this whole campaign (and I’m just reporting from the sidelines) – has been the hundreds of new contacts; friends and colleagues that we have made along the way. This has been made so much easier by the real power of Transparency that exists within the Social Media community. With so much content available from the millions of people online via blogs; posts; profiles; conversations; photo galleries – you can soon discover many like minded people to your likes and beliefs.

Rebuzna is Spanish for braying – the new Marketing company is simply carrying on Pepper’s success with promoting Sant Blai and Mallorca and will project similar characters and campaigns into the Social Media Universe for many other small businesses. The double “z” gives emphasis to the “buzz” that the marketing will create.

The genuine friendships and matching of like and complementing talents of many similar people who were also developing their skills and successes through Social Media has also allowed Marta to launch Rebuzzna throughout Spain immediately. Currently there are offices ‘stables’ in Valencia; Tenerife; Madrid; Jerez and of course Mallorca and more to come soon.

I for my part am very proud of Marta’s incredible journey through what are still very new channels of communication. If you or your company need guidance or training through these new mysterious media marketplaces, please feel free to contact us for a free consultation.

Oh and by the way, the rest of the english speaking world will also be catered for, as the Rebuzzna web page will be translated to english in a few days (I wonder who will be running that ‘stable’?)

Facebook’s  CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s covers these changes on his blog post – there is also a new  Facebook Privacy Page.

Our little agroturismo Sant Blai is (at last) filling for the summer and we have ordered in our usual batch of yummy breakfast breads, pastries and savouries – all frozen/part cooked,  ready for producing that home baked aroma in 20 minutes (perfect). But this week something new arrived – two brand new goodies surely made in heaven (or hell, depending on which side of obese you are) Double Chocolate and Yoghurt Red fruit Muffins (capitalised for the following reasons):

Obviously, with my new food regime I could not eat this succulent eye candy. All I could do was put them out for our guests and inwardly pine as I watched their eyes light up and shivers of pure pleasure shimmer through them as they savoured every taste, every flavour – leaving only crumbs.

A picture paints a thousand words...or is it calories!

Then yesterday, as I moved in to clear away the breakfast buffet, there it was – bathed in sunlight almost with it’s own aura – a Vanilla Yoghurt Fruit Muffin – I looked around for help, but there wasn’t anybody in sight (thank God). The fluffy spongy exterior almost puffing out it’s exquisite potential; the varied red fruits like little jewels glinting in the sunlight – responsible for explosions of contrasting fruity taste to the cakey texture of the muffin – and, hiding inside, la piece de resistance, the final temptation – a vanilla cream custard centre that brings together all the components of this wicked, gastronomic delight into an orgasm of exploding sensations.

Resist – I tried, I cried – but it couldn’t be defied – in just a few ecstatic moments it was gone…. Afterwards as I was standing there physically experiencing the 1000 or so new calories attaching to my fat layers – all I could recall was the raving reviews from our clients for this new addition to our already popular buffet breakfast. We have always put a lot of importance on this service and the start to each day for our clients and it has always produced excellent results. With repeat clientele at 40% of our occupancy last year, we consider our breakfast an integral part of the reasoning to return to Sant Blai. It may cost a little more – but it is definitely worth it.

So, all you hotel owners and caterers wanting to know who the supplier is for our Muffins Extraordinaire – you need to go to our FaceBook group – lobbying Spanish TV to invite our Social Media star PR Donkey PepperSantblai to the Andreu Buenafuente show (the best chat show and master of monologues in Spain). Even if you don’t want the muffins (and I know you do) join the group and send me a FB message from the page – I’ll forward the supplier AND one lucky person will be invited to a Sunday brunch buffet extravaganza at Sant Blai when we reach 1000 members (and all the muffins you can eat!).

Here’s the FaceBook address again:

Una Burra en Buenafuente – Pepper a Buenafuente YA