No Sundays

It's a delicate balance being a mom and pretty much anything else.  As many of you have heard me say: my practice must serve my family, rather than my family serving my practice.

It is with a heavy and conflicted heart that I am now stepping away from the Sunday afternoon Burlington Farmers' & Crafters' Market.  I love working markets, and I'm particularly fond of this one!  They have been nothing but good to me all these years (I was first with them in 2009), but my participation is wreaking havoc on my family.

Even though I'm no longer a vendor, please be sure to stop in and support the fifth season of this local market. (Or become a vendor yourself!)

-JS

Media Monday--HootSuite

During the Social Post Interactive's podcast about small business use of social media I lamented about not being able to post to my business Facebook page from my phone.  The Facebook app for Blackberry only does my personal profile page.  HootSuite was suggested--TA DA!

HootSuite is a free app that allows you to distribute one post to multiple social media venues.  You can attach an image or file, schedule a post for a future date/time, share your location, and adjust your privacy options; you can even utilize your Twitter tags (but not Facebook's) and feed your blog posts.  Oh, and when posting from the computer you can add a link/URL and automatically shrink it.  It was easy enough to set up an account, to link my current social media accounts, and to download the mobile app from Blackberry App World.

I did have some frustration with it during the week.  Every time I tried to post from the phone it failed to post to Facebook.  Turned out that when I first connected my fb account I had opted out of letting the app access it whenever.  No more problems once I re-connected it and permitted anytime access.  I can post directly from the computer or phone, and I can schedule a post from the computer or phone--pretty exciting, eh?

What did you do with your social media or social marketing this week?  Have you tried out HootSuite yet?  Has your message reached any additional people in the past week or two?

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Social Media Update:
Facebook Page: 21 Likes
Twitter: 10 Followers

Media Monday--At the Starting Line

Social Post Interactive, LLC kindly invited me to participate in a podcast about social media use by small businesses.  I thought I would create a blog category to keep track of my efforts as a result of the information and ideas I received; perhaps it will prove useful to other small businesses.

Prior to the podcast my small business social media included a recently started blog and a recently started Facebook page (I had re-aligned my web presence after a 15-month maternity sabbatical, during which my original website expired).  The blog didn't have any public followers, and the Facebook page had 17 fans. 

While my Facebook URL is on my sandwich boards at market, my social media links are NOT on my business cards.  I lamented over it greatly when I was placing the order, but the cards felt cluttered with the links added to everything else--the state legislature requires that I have my licensure information, I wanted to indicate my primary modalities/services (chair, Thai foot massage, infant massage classes), and I needed to have my phone and email.  I need to ponder an adequate solution, but for now it'll have to do.

So, I'm armed with information, I'm at the starting line with a fresh web presence, and where I'm starting from is now documented.  Shall we see where this goes?  Do you think I'll achieve a high return-on-investment with my no- or low-cost marketing efforts?  Do you have a business, event, or cause that you're trying to move forward through the use of social media?

Tune in next Monday!
-JS

Pause to Give!

Sitting in my massage chair can be good for you.  It's good for the community, too!

For every massage I provide during the Saturday market $1 will be donated to Cub Scout Pack 11.  For every massage provided during the Sunday market $1 will be donated to Boy Scout Troop 11.  Both are smaller units that meet in Snow Camp.

Look for upcoming dates for other local non-profits that I choose to support.

Live Local.  Give Local.