For some the ability to go back in time to their early postings may prove embarrassing but getting Timeline now allows you time to alter previous postings, removing and/or changing privacy settings.

With 7 days to tweak the page before it goes live, it’s an opportunity to design and get things right. If you think you’ve got it right you can choose to publish at any time within the week or leave it to go live at the end of the 7 days.

Your cover photo can now fit across the width of the page, rather than the small square shot previously allowed. This can allow you space to put a more panoramic shot of favourite places or express what you are about.

Although old posts have always been available to view by clicking again and again on a friends profile, now the Timeline lists them in years and months so it’s far easier to go back in time. The privacy settings on the posts will remain the same as when you posted unless you alter them individually, if you feel the need.

Timeline has already tried to guess which of your posts are the most interesting and has made these viewable. If you think a post needs expanding and it hasn’t been, you can expand it. Any item now added to your Timeline can now be given a date so they will appear in chronological order.

Facebook have added a very helpful page called the Activity Log and this is the best place to edit you Timeline. It is accessed from your profile page and every single item from a user is listed here allowing each piece to be deleted or tweaked accordingly. If you don’t want to remove completely from Facebook, you can change the visibility of the post to ‘Only Me’, then only you can see the item.

Facebook is hoping that given the Timeline design people will add to their profiles with before-Facebook items, adding to the already massive amount of data they hold.

Eventually Timeline will go live for everyone, use the opportunity to organise yours so people will see what you want them to see. Make an impression with your page and get to know how it all works.

Do you require any help with Facebook? Email us or telephone Tamara on 0203 468 8594

I personally think they have their work cut out to promote another social network when Facebook has become so well established. But as it seems to be directed at businesses it may provide a better experience for brands. Google’s significant difference being the sharing of groups, eg. colleagues and activities, rather than the entire Web. I’m not sure this is a plus for them with Facebook’s recent refinements in this area, where all parts of your information can be shared, (or not shared) with whatever part of Facebook you desire, from all of your friends down to a single individual.

Initially the project was open to only a select group, but has now been opened up to one and all. Available to one and all, you will be able to share and discuss photos,links,status,etc in the much the same way as on Facebook together with group text messaging and video chat.

With the production of Google+, they will benefit directly from Web search, with the information they can process. They still have some catching up to do but will be better placed. According to comscore, 180 million people visited Google sites,(which includes YouTube) with 157.2 million visiting Facebook. Their time spent on the sites, Facebook (103 billion pages) is 375 minutes for Facebook and Google (46.3 billion pages) an average of 231 minutes. A substantial difference, one which advertisers will pay close heed to, when choosing their platforms for advertising.Where do you primarily ask your questions? Twitter, Google or where?

Analysts are of the opinion that people will not duplicate their groups on both sites but will use them for different types of communication. Also that people who have seen Facebook as too public, too invasive and have been uncomfortable with the network will turn to Google+ as a more select offering.

How do you feel about Google+? Will it add anything to your social networking?

Do you need help with any of your social networks, email us or phone Tamara on 0203 468 8594.

Are you admin for pages on Facebook?

From then the social network will no longer collect data from the old page insights and insights as we know it, will disappear completely on February 15th 2012.

On the old page insights they advise you to back up your information as this will be deleted on February 15th but your data from December 15th will be collected in the new improved insights.

Have you also noticed…. on your personal Facebook page how you can fine tune what you see or what people see of you? If you are tired of seeing what everyone is listening to and reading, change the settings. You now have multiple choices for handling this overload of information in your news feed, by hide,delete,unsubscribe,unfriend, report or block options. The button to the right of a post drops down to give you all these options and a much calmer way to handle the regular (far to regular) postings of some. You can then still decide to visit their feed when you choose rather than your page be overloaded.

You can click to view all updates, or most or only important ones too, so again you can refine individually, what you see according to how much you want to see of friends. Further changes can be made on a friends’ profile where the subscribe button allows you to customise even more precisely. Options are here too, to add friends to particular lists; Places of work,schools,residences and family relationships.

How to hide yourself away…on chat. The follow on from all this privacy and hiding of other people’s posts, leads me to this option. On the chat screen there is a small settings button which gives you the option of, to chat or not to chat, primarily you can see who’s on line and they can see you are available to chat. If you want to refine this, limited availability can be optimised and you can restrict who can communicate with you at any point in time, alternating between your various lists.

Do you need any help with all the things that Facebook keep changing? Email us or telephone Tamara on 0203 468 8594 to find out how to optimise your pages

A VA can build into your website the option ‘to tell a friend’ , making it easy for people to spread the word about you and your services or products.

Together you can decide your strategy and what you intend to achieve. What you will provide for your list and how you will thank them for signing up and later, for their loyalty.

By creating an email signature that links to your sign up page, each communication that you send via the internet advertises and promotes you and your product.

A virtual assistant can network on your behalf and when you have been networking, they can ensure exchanged business cards from meetings are added to your list.

Virtual support can develop a timetable to remind you of dates when you have decided to broadcast, blogs, newsletters and reminders for your list.

A VA can help in many ways to build your list on the various Social Media platforms. By setting up accounts on LinkedIn, Ecademy, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube and designing a strategy, they can ensure that all profiles are completed so others can find you and learn about you and what you do.

All Social Media accounts can be bought together in one programme e.g. Hootsuite, Tweetdeck and Marketme Suite where updates can be scheduled for posting to the different channels.

Virtual support can assist with the servicing of the accounts by being responsible for responding to enquiries,messages and reviewing ‘mentions’ where necessary. By researching and joining relevant groups in your niche they can keep your profile uppermost in people’s minds. A VA can analyse posts and links to see which achieve clicks and further action, so that posts can be tweaked for performance.

A virtual assistant can create videos for you to place on YouTube, Vimeo, etc and ensure that they are uploaded and relevant information added so that the videos are easily searched for and found by the search engines. They can provide links for adding to other social media platforms giving you a highly visible video which advertises and promotes you and your products or services, which lead to sign ups and build your list.

If you need help with any aspect of list building, contact us here, or telephone Tamara on 0208 468 8594.

Image: renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

As always, a plan of action is the foundation for smooth running of all projects and the same applies to your product launch. Your virtual assistant can create a schedule of events that will lead up to the launch and those that will happen during the launch itself.

Dates and deadlines for:

Your VA can ensure all parties that have any part in the launch are identified, whether they are affiliates, jv partners or bonus items that will be included in the launch.

Virtual support can put all the pieces in place;

Virtual support can draft (for your approval) all copy for broadcasts, autoresponders and promotions
and that the time schedule for release of the materials is followed.

As your communicator, they can make sure that jvs are kept informed so that they can see that you are supplying a worthwhile product and that they are able to participate. Keeping them informed at all points is good practice, especially if they have sponsored the venture. If you have affiliates involved with your product, they can communicate with them for you about the upcoming launch making sure they have the correct links in place for promotion of the item.

A VA can draft a copy for your webpage, a thank you page, that customers will be directed to after they have purchased your product. They can contact a graphic designer and help create an image for you. They have all the knowledge available to pass on to a designer so that he can come up with a design that suits you and your product. Virtual support can proofread all items for you before forwarding to you for your final approval.

A virtual assistant can set up a shopping cart facility with coupon codes and product links to ensure ordering (and shipping) go smoothly for your customers. Links can be tracked and then analysed throughout your launch to check which links have worked best and links can then be tweaked to optimise performance.

Virtual support can set up a list building programme so that you have details of your customers available for your next product launch, and they can be kept informed of any future events that they may find interesting. Your customers who have previously bought from you already know you and your products, and are one of your best testimonials and promoters of your offers.

If you require help or advice with list building or product launch , email us, or telephone Tamara on 0203 468 8594.

They can find the best people to carry your ideas forward, those who are most suited to you and your product.

A VA can manage the team involved in the production keeping the project on track and moving forward. Ensuring the development doesn’t ‘stick’ at any point and make people accountable for various parts of the process.

Virtual support can review at a halfway point, to make sure things are moving in the right direction and proofread the finished article before passing on to you for your final approval.

With new products available, a virtual assistant can add them to your shopping cart and link them to your website for maximum effect (or provide the necessary link/s to your web developer.)

If the product is an electronic one, a virtual assistant can arrange for it to be delivered electronically after the customer has paid. Instant access to your product!

Following the purchase, a VA can assist with drafting text for a ‘thank you’ web page for your approval. They can draft copy for autoresponders for each item you have available for sale.
When copy is approved by you, a virtual assistant can implement and include relevant links for your product.
Virtual support can help you to consider the use of tracking links, identifying the links that are most effective and therefore the best ones to employ.

If your production is audio, a VA can transcribe and create a written product for distribution (or use a transcription service to assist).

If you have employed a graphic designer, virtual support can communicate with them to create the appropriate image for your product, suggesting ideas so that the image is matched to you and your product before your final approval.

When your offer is a physical item (CD, book, ) rather than an electronically available one a virtual assistant can research and set up the shipping of merchandise by a fulfilment house. They can then submit your products to enable shipping. Virtual support can draft copy documents to dispatch with the goods and submit for your approval.

Now you have your product and all systems in place for delivery to your customers, next week we will see how your virtual assistant can help with the public release and launch.

If we can help in any way, email us here, or telephone Tamara on 0203 468 8594.

They can create any number of membership levels you choose and connect the software to a product, shopping cart or auto-responder.

Virtual support can send ‘thank you’ notes, acknowledgements and website addresses via the membership management programme.

A VA can provide customer support to existing members while helping new members access the membership area.

They can place regular content updates to the area, providing members with a calendar of scheduled events, new information and products.

Virtual help can assist you with ideas on how to acquire and increase the membership.

A VA can ask present members for testimonials to use in future marketing events that you intend to produce.

Virtual support can record audio for you, for teleclasses, webinars and marketing audio messages and then edit the audio files to eliminate unnecessary background noise. They can add music to your audio files, providing intro/outro for your final broadcast.

When the file is finished a virtual assistant can post your audio in forums and other relevant places online.

In the same way, virtual support can help you to create videos, edit and add intro/outro for the final take. This can then be placed on the appropriate channels (e.g.YouTube, Vimeo). They can than edit your profile, description and keywords to help make the video easily found by the search engines.
Are you thinking of setting up a membership site? If so, we can help, email us or speak to Tamara on 0203 468 8594.

How a VA can help - Shopping Cart Maintenance

If you have decided that you would like a shopping cart on your site to earn a passive income a virtual assistant can do all the jobs from the initial installation through all the integral parts needed to run an efficient system. Creation of autoresponders in your shopping cart for all your products, and various types of sign ups, webinar or teleclass a va can integrate into the system.

A virtual assistant can customise your cart with your logo, address and contact details and link your merchant account too.

By categorising product types, setting up shipping tables and creating coupon offers, your virtual assistant can run regular reports which will identify the products that have generated the most revenue for your business. This will allow you to tweak coupons or offers and offer other deals to expand their appeal to your customers.

Order forms can be customised for various products, making it easy for your customers to find related products. Your virtual support can review recurring orders and check everything is running smoothly (cancelling orders or refunding when necessary).

For your shopping cart,your virtual assistant can draft and create autoresponders, whether it is for products or webinar, and then help to decide on the timing of autoresponders.

Your support can create and place sign up forms on your website and ensure tracking links are set up within them, so that reports, when reviewed regularly, will show the parts that are working, enabling changes to be made to pages and content, if needs be.

Need to run a webinar?

Virtual support can help create a master plan for your webinar, drafting correspondence for the broadcast, announcements , reminders and follow up emails. Information will include date/time, time zones, topic to be covered and webinar protocol to be used.

A VA can set up a webinar recording so that after the event recordings can be sent to attendees (and others that had signed up but couldn’t attend, either because of the webinar being full or other commitments.)

They can answer enquiries from your audience and advertise the webinar on various social media platform. If the broadcast is a joint venture, your support can contact them to promote, together with ensuring that all communications advertise your webinar.

Before the webinar begins your va can provide you with details of numbers attending, summary of topics, questions that attendees have emailed that can be addressed during the webinar and recording details. After the event your assistant can post the webinar recording to your website, follow up with attendees, send audio recordings to people who were unable to attend, completing the cycle and build a database from the event for your newsletter,ezine or next event.

For more help or advise, email us here, or telephone Tamara on 0203 468 8594

They can handle voicemail messages and respond to enquiries where they are able and provide you with details when necessary. When handling phone calls a VA can take notes of important items raised and pass this information on to you.

Customer support in the form of setting up billing, and scheduling appointments are easily dealt with, together with assisting with your group membership.

Support can be set up an online calendar so appointments can be scheduled with you, informing you of time, date, place and who the meeting is with. You can then be fully prepared for an appointment.

With an online calendar in place birthday cards (and any other card) can be sent out for you. Never miss that birthday or anniversary again! You can then be reminded of important dates and deadlines.

Reports of monthly sales and expenses can be correalated for you, so at a glance, you can see how the business is running.

Virtual support can put in place all manner of online systems, an online calendar, membership software and shopping cart are all within their remit, building your online presence without the need for you to learn all manner of programmes which are required to manage them.

They can offer help on how to organise document folders and your email, screen email to reduce time wasted on things that your assistant can handle, sending you only the email that you need to see and action.

A VA can set up recurring payments and pay your bills online. They can manage projects and tasks offering an all round support for your business.

Just recently I had cause to use an online plant company and thought what a grand opportunity it would have been for them to have introduced a virtual support team into the business to have helped handle customer enquiries during what is obviously a frantic time of the year for them. They only need the extra assistance for a small period of time during the year and a virtual assistant could have helped without the need to employ extra staff, and the time would have been billed accordingly. Customers need to have a response within 24 hours to any enquiry they make and not be told that the answer will take four days! One of the advantages of using virtual support, you only pay for the hours worked, reducing your wage bill considerably and keeping your customers happy with a timely response.

To find out more of how we can help in your business, email us or telephone Tamara on 0203 468 8594.

The various social media platforms will require updating and notifying of your latest ‘publication’. Postings to Digg,  StumbleUpon, Facebook, LinkedIn, Ecademy and others or on a system like Onlywire, will broadcast your newsletter to a wider audience.

We can help you get published. Do you need to know more? Please email us or telephone Tamara on 0203 468 8594.