Outstanding VA Reaches Finalist Position in UK’s Industry Awards


PRESS RELEASE

Tamara Baranova, of TJConsulting Virtual Assistants, has reached the finalist position in the search for the UK’s Outstanding Virtual Assistant of 2012 (under or over 2.5 years in business).

This is the only national awards scheme of its kind for VAs in the UK and Europe and Tamara Baranova of TJConsulting Virtual Assistants, based in Wisbech, UK, is one of 11 in the running for one of two prestigious awards. “I launched the inaugural National VA Conference and Awards in April 2007, as part of my nationwide campaign to promote and boost awareness of the VA industry as well as in my quest to find the most outstanding VA” states Founder, Carmen MacDougall, of The VA Coaching and Training Company.

Virtual Assistants support their clients, from around the globe, providing PA and business support services, working from their own office, communicating with clients via the internet. TJConsulting Virtual Assistants specialise in Internet marketing, web design and online business management services.

“I am very excited and proud to have reached the finalist position”, says Tamara Baranova, “and believe this will demonstrate to my clients and prospective clients my professionalism, commitment and approach to providing an outstanding service as well as my support to fellow VAs.”

It is hoped the awards scheme, in association with The International Association of Virtual Assistants (www.iava.org.uk) and The Virtual Assistant Coaching and Training Company (www.vact.co.uk), will promote a wider understanding of the rapidly developing industry. Judges include BeMyVa.com, Reed Learning, Mums the Business, The International Association of Virtual Assistants and Executive Secretary Magazine.

Further information on the event is available at www.vaconference.co.uk or contact Carmen MacDougall on 07967 332915 or Carmen@vact.co.uk.

Contact:
Tamara Baranova, TJConsulting Virtual Assistants
www.tjconsulting.co.uk
tamara@tjconsulting.co.uk; 0203 468 8594

Filed under: TJConsulting news — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Diane Scott @ 10:00 am

Timeline Arrives for Facebook Pages

Image: jscreationzs / FreeDigitalPhotos.netWith only a few weeks left for you to tweak your Timeline, before the 30th March when Timeline goes live, check your Page  and the new rules that Facebook have introduced.

You can preview your design and fix any potential problems. During this time only you as the administrator can see how your page will look when it is automatically rolled out at the end of March.  Facebook have  introduced Timeline cover rules which you need to read and adhere to so your Page doesn’t get removed for violation of the rules.  Updates have changed together with new features on the admin panel.  Until the end of March you can work on your design while running the Pages in the old style and if/when you are satisfied you can then publish.

By previewing your present page design in Timeline you can check how status updates and other activity will look in the new layout.

  • Change your ‘About’ information( this appears below your cover photo)
  • Preview apps and custom tabs to see how they will look
  • Custom content on Page’s tabs, they may not work in the new Timeline
  • Design/choose a Timeline cover photo.The size of your image needs to be 850 x 315 pixels
  • Choose an image that is a strong representation of your brand and when you upload the cover photo follow the guidelines
  • You are not allowed pricing or purchasing information eg’ 30% off’ or ‘download from our website’
  • Contact information such as web address,email and mail address should all be in your  Page’s About section not on your cover photo
  • No references to user interface elements eg Like or Share
  • No ‘calls to action’ eg ‘get it now’ or ‘ tell your friends’
  • No to an image which is deceptive or misleading, or one that is false or infringes on a third parties’ intellectual property
  • No to giving incentives or encouragement to upload your cover image to other Timelines
  • No to your image if it is primarily text based

    • It’s obvious from all of these restrictions that Facebook are keeping the marketing off the Timeline cover.

    So what can you do?
    For some businesses it will be an ideal extension to their portfolio. Photographers, designers and other ‘visual’ businesses will find it easy but for others it may be a little more difficult to represent your brand.  Check out some of the brands that already have their Timelines and see what they have used and if yours doesn’t look good, change it!
    Mari Smith
    Owen Phillips
    Jesse Stay
    Nigel Botterill
    Herbal Essences
    Flickchart
    Lifehacker

    For help with social media contact us by email, or telephone Tamara on 0203 468 8594.

    Filed under: Marketing,Online marketing tips — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Diane Scott @ 10:00 am

    3 Tips to Get Your Twitter Feed Re-tweeted.

    It’s good to have a healthy twitter feed and if you use some of the following tips you could have re-tweets galore too.

    When composing your tweet always allow enough space for your name @ sign and RT. By leaving 20 characters available people can RT your post without spending time removing characters and shortening your post. If people just have to press the RT button it saves them time and you are more likely to get RT’d. Time spent by you making your tweets shorter is time well spent.

    Be consistent with your tweets. Your followers will know what to expect from your content both in content and delivery. Provide content that provides value to a wide audience, questions, breakthroughs in your industry, general breaking news, compelling thoughts and quotes, humourous items and links to interesting content. Do not persistently ask for RTs and similarly choose your RT so it has value for your followers. RT in moderation not indiscriminately.

    Check out the list of the most re-tweeted people on Twitter  What information are they supplying and how? Develop a strong brand and earn the RT by providing value to your followers. With lists in mind, get yourself listed. The list option in Twitter keeps people you want to hear from in the forefront and can increase your rates of RT. Lists can be as important in the RT as your number of followers. They are a good measure of the value of the content you will find.

    Tweet grader pop in your Twitter name and check your ratings. It’s a handy way of checking that you have everything you need on your profile as it provides an instant grade and report. Just enter your twitter username (password not needed) How they grade your feed.
    You can also check out the list of top users on twitter.

    If you need more help with Twitter email us, or telephone Tamara on 0203 468 8594.

    Filed under: Marketing,Online marketing tips — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Diane Scott @ 10:00 am

    Speed Up Business Communication with a Wiki

    What is a wiki? It is an online knowledge base.

    The first wiki software programme was developed by Ward Cunningham and originally named wikiwikiweb. (Wiki is an Hawaiian word meaning quick or fast.)

    A wiki is a website that can easily be updated by anyone with permission.

    It can be run on your own server or hosted on a cloud service.

    A wiki is lockable, access can be restricted and information controlled until reviewed.

    Corporate memory can be built with a wiki.

    Build and develop standardised procedures and policies for an organisation.

    Collaborative tools

    There have been big changes in office technology and the rise of cloud software now enables people to work together on files.

    Services like Google Docs, Basecamp,Dropbox allow combined workings on most things.

    The new programmes allow all members to work on the same version of a file, so no more worries about which version you are on. Gone are the days of locked down files while someone else works on them.

    Accounting programmes like Xero,Kashflow,Sage and Quickbooks can be set up for work to be input by you or your bookkeeper, and access for accountants authorised. Edit rights, access and authorisation can be organised according to needs.

    Emails too

    As with all the previously mentioned cloud-based services there may be some risks. Ensure you have reliable Internet access and its provision has a good level of security. Use Gmail or similar hosted services, using their protected systems will provide you with a safer and more secure data protection than most small businesses can afford.

    The Cloud and it’s Shadow

    More like a silver lining than a shadow. All these forms of communicating, whether its instant messaging, wikis and collaborative tools all leave their own ‘digital copy’, a transcription of the ‘conversation’. Everything within a programme is time-stamped and assigned to respective participants and if anything goes wrong and requires further investigation it’s hard to hide all the evidence from anyone determined enough to follow the trail.

    Can you see how using instant messaging and cloud services could speed up your communications?

    Filed under: Business mentoring — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Diane Scott @ 10:00 am

    Try Instant Messaging to Tame the E-mail Monster

    Is your e-mail box a monster that is overwhelming you? Instant messaging can get your message across.

    Maybe you don’t need to go as far as CEO Thierry Breton of French technology company Atos who hasn’t sent an e-mail in 3 years but perhaps a change in how you use email and other communication tools could help with your work load. The estimates are that 90% of the world email traffic is unsolicited, which if not handled right can be an incredible drain on your time and productivity.

    Thierry’s answer to the problem was to implement a zero email policy for its employees(within the company) and has encouraged them to use instant messaging and collaboration tools instead. Email has been used as the main communication app for businesses for the last 20 years, while instant messaging was looked on as being too clunky. It may not be easy to rethink the habit of checking emails first and last thing of your working day and include instant messaging in your communications. Technology has moved on rapidly and there are many instant messaging tools readily available and easy to turn on, many are part of programmes you already know and use. e.g Microsoft Office, Skype, None of these are new technologies and instant messaging is probably the most used part of the Skype telephone service by businesses.

    It can distract you from other matters, as the nature of the app is that an immediate response is required, but being able to acknowledge a problem, share links and deal with a matter is better than waiting for a response to an email. (Especially if the automated email response says, ‘we will try to answer your email within 48 hours, 4 days, or whatever) That’s worse than snail mail.

    Social media tools such as Google+,Facebook,LinkedIn have built in instant messaging and

    Google + has its Hangouts feature enabling impromptu video conferencing. Twitter offers public and private channels for instant messaging while Yammer, a corporate tool allows staff to communicate with each other, especially useful if you have employees in various countries. Relying on external providers for security and reliability is a downside of using the social media platforms as a business tool.

    I personally have in the past had great responses from ‘chat’ when dealing with problems via customer services. I wish all companies used it!

    Filed under: Business mentoring — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Diane Scott @ 10:00 am
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