My new business cards arrived and, as I was going to a networking event, I popped a bunch in my pocket and headed out. It wasn’t until later that night when I was asked, “Do you know Zoe deLuca?” (while the person looked straight at my card I had just given them), that the value of a name really sunk in for me.

You see my new business cards have my ‘new name’ on them. When I say new name, I should probably explain…….

After 11 years together Mark and I finally got married last week. And along with the ceremony (and party) I also ‘got’ a new surname. So Zoe deLuca is morphing into Zoe Wyatt.

So what? I know lots of people get married each year and take on their Husband’s surname. But, when you have spent the last 8 years building a brand online based on your personal name (as I have) then this becomes a major “issue”.

If a person standing in front of me with my card, did not automatically make the connection that I was the same Zoe then how is my market, and potential clients, going to do this on the internet?

The reality is that I ‘could’ retain deLuca for my professional branding. In fact I still have, www.zoedeluca.com and my Twitter profile is still @zdeluca but do I really want to have to juggle two names going forward? One for personal use and one for professional? What a hassle.

What this has brought up to me is the importance of not just your ‘name’ but your ‘Branding’ in internet marketing (including social media marketing). So, what does your name or brand online say about you and your business right now?

Are ‘you’ your brand? Is your business based around your personal name and, if so, is this optimal for you? You may not be thinking about changing your name any time soon but what if you change your core product or service offerings?

My Social Media services did not even exist 5 years ago and they continue to ‘evolve’ (ie change) rapidly. Imagine if I’d branded as ‘MySpace Specialist’ three years ago, I’d need to re-brand anyway.

Even if your branding is not based on your personal name, the name you chose to brand on is vitally important in business generally, but in internet & social media marketing especially. When developing your online brand consider these aspects:

• Does your brand name accurately reflect your business?
• Does your brand instantly identify what you do/offer?
  If not, do you need to incorporate a tag line to do this?
• Can you secure the .com web address for your brand name?
• Is your brand name consistent across all social media sites?
• Is your brand already in use in social media accounts and will this cause confusion for your clients?
• Have you considered transition of your business? Will you want to sell in the future or pass to a family member?

With all of this to consider “branding” is a huge decision to make.  In fact, to answer my original question, “What’s in a name?” – obviously, in the world of internet marketing, a great deal.

My decision has been to establish three clear brands:

• Social Media ShortCut – for my Social Media Marketing Training
• MarkandZoe – for our virtual, multiple income stream business together.  With the tagline of
  “Make The World Your Office” to make it easier to understand what the business is all about, and
• Zoe Wyatt – for personal social media use and interacting with family and friends.

I’d love to hear of your branding decisions and challenges.  Are you looking to re-brand or overhaul your brand?  Leave your comments here or over on our facebook page at:
http://www.facebook.com/markandzoe (you’ll notice it says Zoe deLuca at the top that I can’t change )

I’m off to start the great name change……

Ok it may be the best Social Media Marketing Training in Australia and New Zealand

I got carried away because, as Big Kev used to say, I’m excited!!!

In less than two weeks, I get to dust off my SuperGirl cape as we will kick off our ‘Become a Social Media Super Hero’ Australian tour, this time with stops in Auckland and Wellington as well!

We know many business owners are in overwhelm mode when it comes to social media right now, all furiously trying to keep up with never ending changes, system updates, apps, tools, releases and spending excessive amounts of time on social networks, without necessarily enjoying the rewards for their efforts.

Others are not even on Social Media networks at all – and if you’re not – you should be. No, as business owners, you HAVE to be (it’s no longer an option if you want to be competitive in the marketplace).

In the past month on Facebook alone there have been several major updates and their “Pages” are changing completely as from Friday. You can see an overview of some of these changes in this video in a previous post.

We know it’s often not realistic for you to keep up with all of these ongoing developments and articulate them into effective marketing strategies and activities.

I’m hearing more and more that you’re just plain stressed by social media!

That’s where I come in and why I have teamed up with:

• Wendy Moore, the founder of Savvy Web Women and creator of the Savvy List Building Blog who is the ultimate resource on Facebook, and
• Yvette Adams, CEO of The Creative Collective, who is a LinkedIn Legend and has thousands of contacts on Facebook and Twitter as well,

to deliver ONE POWER PACKED DAY OF SOCIAL MEDIA IMMERSION to help you
Become a “Social Media Super Hero”.

Whether you are new to social media marketing or are already well on your way, this workshop will make you reach your true ‘super hero’ potential.

Topics covered at the full day Social Media Super Hero workshops include:

• Recent major updates to all three networks and where it’s going into the future
• How to professionally position your business, and grow and manage lists on Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter
• How to separate your Business and Personal accounts and why this is so important
• How to customize your Twitter background, and Facebook Page for professional branding
• How to obtain your vanity URL on Facebook and why this is so important (it’s more than just a name)
• What to write about, how to write it and when to post it for maximum results – so it actually gets read
• Online reputation management including how to handle negative feedback
• How to know when people are talking ‘about’ you, your company & your products and respond quickly
• The importance of, and how to design, an effective social media strategy, policies and schedule

and oh so much more!

Yvette Adams will be covering Linkedin, Wendy Moore will cover Facebook and I will share my insider tactics on Twitter that have allowed me to not only build a following in excess of 50,000 people but to connect with key people to create joint ventures, speaking opportunities and (most importantly as business owners) sales!

In fact, this seminar series has been a result of contacts made through Social Media and I originally ‘met’ Yvette when she sought me out for a speaking engagement after finding me on Twitter.

Yes, use Social Media the right way and your best clients and business partners will find you!

We’ll also share our top syndication and scheduling tools to allow you to get the maximum results from social media marketing in the minimum amount of time.

Most importantly all three trainers are business owners that are using Social Media Marketing to effectively grow our own businesses.  While our training has taken place all over the World, we ‘Walk Our Talk’ right here – each and everyday.

We’re not just going to overwhlem you with stats and facts but give you real, actionable steps to take away and immediately apply in your business and we will be drawing on examples from the participants in the room.

We have deliberately kept numbers small for you to get maximum results from the day – so you will need to book quickly before the events sell out!

See when the “Social Media Super Hero” team will be coming to a town near you:

21-Mar-2011 – Become a Social Media Super Hero Full Day Workshop – Sydney
22-Mar-2011 –  Become a Social Media Super Hero Full Day Workshop – Newcastle
24-Mar-2011 – Become a Social Media Super Hero Full Day Workshop – Brisbane
12-Apr-2011 – Become a Social Media Super Hero Full Day Workshop – Perth
13-Apr-2011- Become a Social Media Super Hero Full Day Workshop – Melbourne
14-Apr-2011 – Become a Social Media Super Hero Full Day Workshop – Canberra
18-Apr-2011 – Become a Social Media Super Hero Full Day Workshop – Auckland
20-Apr-2011 – Become a Social Media Super Hero Full Day Workshop – Wellington

This is the SOCIAL MEDIA WORKSHOP OF THE YEAR with 3 of Australia’s Tops Social Media trainers giving you 3 times the value of other events.  I do not expect that we will be able to repeat this series as it’s been incredibly difficult to co-ordinate all of our schedules. This could well be your only chance to have all 3 of us training you at the one event.

I hope you can make it and would be delighted if you will help me spread the word by sharing this with your friends, business contacts and, of course, through your existing social media sites!

Only a few weeks to go for sthe first of the events, so book now to secure your place!

Stop wasting time messing around on Social Media and get the training to ‘Become a Social Media Super Hero’ – you and your business deserve this!

See you soon…….

PS Hit the ‘Like’ button or ‘Tweet’ button Super Heros in training – after all it feels good to share

You have heard about hashtags on Twitter but don’t really understand what they are let alone how you set one up for your event or business?

This video takes you through step by step on what is a Hashtag on Twitter, where do you find out what a hashtag means, how you register your own hash tags (and where), and then how to use this hashtag to grow your community interractions at live events or in support of your business.

In the video I ‘define’ a hash tag of #SMSH for our recent Social Media Super Hero seminars. I consider the setting up of hash tags as a more advanced Twitter training, but you can get my complete Twitter training live by joining me at the “Social Media ShortCut Seminars” – look for the hashtag #SMSC on Twitter

For full details go to:
http://www.facebook.com/SocialMediaShortCut

My mission is to not just teach you social media marketing to grow your business but to give you the “ShortCut path through the maze of Social Media” getting you the maximum business results from social media marketing in the minimum amount of time!

And watch for the hashtag #SMSC spreading through out Twitter – oh and we’ll use it a lot at the events but I’ll explain more in the events.

Found this video useful? Like all of our Social Media Marketing trainings, please share far and wide. After all it feels good to share

“Australian business executives are returning from the World Economic Forum reassured that the global economy is recovering solidly from the financial crisis but struck by how the social networking revolution will force them to hand more power to both their employees and customers.”¹

That statement, from ‘The Australian’ newspaper, alone shows just how powerful a sales medium Social Media has become.  The power shift has been significant – now the control is with the consumer rather than the marketer.  “People Power” is now the most effective form of marketing the world over.

In fact that same “People Power” can deliver far more than just great sales outcomes.  One has to look no further than the recent Floods in Australia, Cyclone Yasi and events  in Egypt, to see the unstoppable  force of Social Media.  Twitter and Facebook could not be silenced and the message was delivered even when, in the case of Egypt, the internet was shut down.

Traditional media turned to the public for updates, photos, videos and reports. “People Power” was informing, sharing, helping and alerting the World to events as they happened and, at times warning of events before they occurred.

So if the balance of power is shifting to the consumer, what does a business do to ensure that their products and services are receiving favourable reviews and comments? The answer is as simple as it is complex – talk to your customers via these wonderful new tools.

Ask their advice – what are you doing right and what are you doing wrong?  If you are doing it correctly – do more. If you are doing it all wrong – fix it.  What should you be doing more of?  Ask but ask via the mediums that your customers use to engage on a daily basis. Your customers will love you.

Happy customers are happy to refer you too.  There is no more compelling a recommendation than that of a friend – that is the fuel that drives the Social Media rocket.  And this rocket has long ago passed the moon and is heading for the sun.  More than ever, your business needs to be on board.

So how you can master the art of engaging your customers so they become your best sales people and your greatest advocates? Attend one our “Become a Social Media Super Hero” seminars.

We’re excited to announce Zoe will be travelling all over Australia and New Zealand with leading Social Media Trainers Wendy Moore and Yvette Adams, teaching you exactly how to use Social Media Marketing to explode your business  and “Become a Social Media Super Hero”

Complete details are on the Facebook Page (of course) here. Find out where and when you can learn how to propel your business into the Social Media Age – Your Customers are already there!

Mark Wyatt

^{1. The Australkian 31st January 2011}

Get started (or re-started) in Social Media Marketing – THE RIGHT WAY!

Most of our regular readers will know that I (Zoe) am a Social Media Marketing Trainer, Manager and Speaker but, up until now, my full course has only been available online.  Well, you’ve asked (and asked) and I’m finally delivering live Social Media Marketing seminars.

To make this even more exciting (and rewarding) for you, I have partnered with Multi-Award Winning Business Owner Yvette Adams to present our “Social Media Super Hero” starter seminars.  Yvette not only owns “The Creative Collective” agency on the Sunshine Coast, but is also the Queensland finalist for the “Telstra Business Woman of the Year” awards in the “Commonwealth Bank Business Owner of the Year” category.

So…. we know we can teach you a thing or two about effectively using Social Media Marketing and efficiently using internet technology to grow your business.

“Social Media Super Hero” seminars are being held on The Sunshine Coast and Melbourne next week with more cities scheduled for early next year.  If you have a request for a specific city please let us know in the comments section below on on our Facebook page at http://www.Facebook.com/MarkandZoe

Read on for full details and booking links:

BECOME A SOCIAL MEDIA SUPER HERO

Social media is a really big deal right now. Find out WHY!!!

You know that Social Media is a really big deal right now. But we’d like to ask you one question:

“What if you could be shown in just a couple of hours EXACTLY how you can get started the RIGHT way online and positively FLOURISH from the word GO by using
1) Technology that will save you ENORMOUS amounts of time and money
2) Social Media to Build a HUGE database FAST
3) Tools that tie it all together so that you can monitor and manage it with ease, anywhere, any time??!”

Well guess what….here’s your big chance…..

Your Social Media Super Hero training includes:

The technology, tools & tricks you need to run your online business with ease, from ANYWHERE!!!

• What hardware and software you need online tools successful business owners and entrepreneurs use to start businesses, grow their businesses and run their businesses with maximum efficiency

• What EXACT tools successful business owners use to run the various areas of their business – from accounts software to HR, quoting to collaborating on documents, social media, email marketing and more and WHY
• How businesses are creating and using Applications (Apps) to their advantage
• Why you would be crazy not to explore the possibility of using these tools in your business to save enormous amounts of time and money

Online Reputation Management

- Why online reputation management is essential if you want to operate a business in an increasingly internet driven world

- How to find out the moment people are talking about you online – whether it is good, bad or indifferent

- What are ‘citations’ and why you need to encourage them

- The massive move towards ‘push marketing’

How to become a Social Media Super Hero

- What the top Social Media sites are and how to best utilize them

- How to identify appropriate usernames for your social networks
- Facebook Profile, Pages and Groups – What’s the difference? Which ones do you need and why – get this wrong and Facebook will shut down your account!
- How to interact on social networks to achieve maximum results
- How to build a huge list of targeted, valuable friends, fans, followers and subscribers QUICKLY
- How to personalise your Facebook Page for a professional business image

- What to post about and importantly, what NOT to share on Social Media

- Introduction to top tools, applications, sites and resources to get RESULTS FAST!
+ much more!

So who are your Super Hero Mentors?

Introducing you to two of Australia’s biggest **Online All Stars** but until recently just ‘quiet achievers’…

Zoe deLuca and Yvette Adams.

‘Who?’ you might say You may not have heard of them because they’ve both been busy living the ultimate lifestyle, basing themselves in sunny Queensland but running VERY successful home based businesses and earning BIG BUCKS around their commitments as mothers of broods of kids. How successful you might ask? Well read on…

Zoe de Luca

Zoe deLuca is Social Media Marketing Specialist, Speaker, Trainer, Business Mentor and Internet Entrepreneur, operating multiple businesses from her laptop while travelling the World.  With a Twitter following in excess of 33,000 to date and over 44,000 views of her training videos on YouTube and thousands of friends on Facebook & Linkedin it’s no wonder she was recently selected to attend the “10 for 10″ internet marketing training intensive in New York.

You may be surprised to learn that Zoe is a Marine Biologist by trade!! Zoe spent over 10 years working as an Environmental Consultant and Strategic Planner with Government before starting her first home based business in 2003 to allow for more flexibility to be Mum to her family of 5.

With a hunger for knowledge and a drive to grow her business while still being a full time Mum, Zoe started marketing through social media in early 2008.  She now creates social media training programs servicing clients in 7 countries around the globe.

So do you think it’s possible these two incredible women might actually be able to teach YOU a thing or two???

Come along to their power-packed 2.5 hour workshops being held in Melbourne and The Sunshine Coast this month – see dates below:

COST: Only $57 per person or $97 for 2 people

(save $20 if you bring a friend!)

Numbers ARE limited. Secure your ticket now!

SUNSHINE COAST – Tuesday 9th November, 2010

Morning Session: Function Room BCC Cinemas – Sunshine Plaza, Maroochydore
Doors open 9:00am for networking. 9:30am start – ends Midday
Details and booking here: Social Media Super Hero – Sunshine Coast AM

Evening Session: Sunshine Coast TAFE – Mooloolaba
Doors open 5:00pm for networking. 5:30pm start – ends 8:00pm
Details and booking here:  Social Media Super Hero – Sunshine Coast PM

MELBOURNE – Thursday 11th November, 2010
Victoria University – City Flinders Campus
Doors open 12:30PM for networking. 1:00pm start – ends 3.30pm
Details and Booking here:  Social Media Super Hero – Melbourne Seminar

I have received notification from Twitter that there are updates occurring over the next few weeks that will change the way Twitter interacts with, and allows access from/to, many applications.

If you are using any of the tools I recommend in my Twitter Training Videos (and you should be) then these changes will effect you.

The changes should be relatively simple to adapt to and mainly require you giving applications access to your Twitter accounts or re-authorising these.  I have copied Twitter’s notification update (below) – simply read through and click on the links for more information or to update your apps.

Any questions? Leave a comment here or ask away on our Facebook Page:

www.Facebook.com/MarkandZoe

Now onto the changes……

FROM TWITTER:

Over the coming weeks, we will be making two important updates that will impact how you interact with Twitter applications. We are sending this notice to all Twitter users to make sure you are aware of these changes.

What are applications?

There are over 250,000 applications built using the Twitter API. To use most applications, you first authorize the application to access your Twitter account, after which you can use it to read and post Tweets, discover new users and more. Applications come in many varieties, including desktop applications like TweetDeck, Seesmic, or EchoFon, websites such as TweetMeme, fflick, or Topsy, or mobile applications such as Twitter for iPhone, Twitter for Blackberry, or Foursquare.

Update 1: New authorization rules for applications

Starting August 31, all applications will be required to use “OAuth” to access your Twitter account.

What’s OAuth?

• OAuth is a technology that enables applications to access Twitter on your behalf with your approval without asking you directly for your password.
• Desktop and mobile applications may still ask for your password once, but after that request, they are required to use OAuth in order to access your timeline or allow you to tweet.

What does this mean for me?

• Applications are no longer allowed to store your password.
• If you change your password, the applications will continue to work.
• Some applications you have been using may require you to reauthorize them or may stop functioning at the time of this change.
• All applications you have authorized will be listed at http://twitter.com/settings/connections.
• You can revoke access to any application at any time from the list.

Update 2: t.co URL wrapping

In the coming weeks, we will be expanding the roll-out of our link wrapping service t.co, which wraps links in Tweets with a new, simplified link. Wrapped links are displayed in a way that is easier to read, with the actual domain and part of the URL showing, so that you know what you are clicking on. When you click on a wrapped link, your request will pass through the Twitter service to check if the destination site is known to contain malware, and we then will forward you on to the destination URL. All of that should happen in an instant.

You will start seeing these links on certain accounts that have opted-in to the service; we expect to roll this out to all users by the end of the year. When this happens, all links shared on Twitter.com or third-party apps will be wrapped with a t.co URL.

What does this mean for me?

• A really long link such as http://www.amazon.com/Delivering-Happiness-Profits-Passion-Purpose/dp/0446563048 might be wrapped as http://t.co/DRo0trj for display on SMS, but it could be displayed to web or application users as amazon.com/Delivering- or as the whole URL or page title.
• You will start seeing links in a way that removes the obscurity of shortened links and lets you know where each link will take you.
• When you click on these links from Twitter.com or a Twitter application, Twitter will log that click. We hope to use this data to provide better and more relevant content to you over time.

Thanks for reading this important update. Come and check what’s new at http://twitter.com.

Thanks,
The Twitter Team

I spend a lot of time on Social Media Marketing ( I love it) but you do have to balance the time you spend on Social Media with the business outcome you receive for your efforts.

By integrating my Social Media Networks and Bookmarking sites I can distribute a single piece of content across multiple sites with the ‘push of a button’.

Watch the video to see step by step what tools I use and how to set this up to get maximum exposure for your information across social media sites with the minimum time investment ….

Love to hear your feedback and results. Leave your comments here, stop by our Facebook page at:
www.Facebook.com/MarkandZoe or connect via Twitter www.Twitter.com/zdeluca

As always, if you found this video helpful, share far and wide with your networks/friends – simply hit the “Like” “Retweet” or “share” buttons.

After all it feels good to share

This is so much fun I just have to share the amazing “Everybody Tweet” song by singer/songwriter Lynn Rose.

The “Everybody Tweet” Facebook page at http://www.Facebook.com/EverybodyTweet , states that “Everybody Tweet” is:

“A fun, clever, technologically-revolutionary collaborative project that demonstrates the mass appeal of what the 140-character social media site, Twitter, has on the world!”

I say it’s a whole lot of fun with some staggering statistics on the impact, and speed of growth, of Social Media.

Enjoy…….

Oh and definitely “EVERYBODY (RE-)TWEET” this one

Have an Awesome Day!

Do you have a back up for your WordPress blog?

Not just an export file of the content but a full database backup should your website crash?

In this video I explain why this is so important and how to install and use a simple WP DB Backup plug in.

All wordpress site owners need to watch this video. Seriously don’t wait to learn this the hard way after a server error and losing everything (like I did!).

Thank you to @thatMLMbeat for the heads up via Twitter that there was a problem with my blog. Now I encourage all of you to tweet this and share through your social networks.  I don’t want anybody else to have the sinking feeling I had last week of their entire blog being “goooooone”.

SocialMediaShortCut Course is Now Live!

Full details on exclusive training with me to grow your Business with Social Media Marketing at www.SocialMediaShortCut.com

So you’ve heard all the buzz about Social Media Marketing – sites like Twitter, YouTube and Facebook and their potential to grow your business.

But are you completely overwhelmed with the amount of information and training being thrown at you?

In my upcoming SocialMediaShortCut course I’m going to show you exactly what you need to know to get Social Media Marketing working for you and your business without it taking over your life!

Watch the video above where I explain what the SocialMediaShortCut is all about and why I have decided (finally) to launch a group coaching course.

For free Social Media Marketing training and full details on the SocialMediaShortCut course, sign up for the SMSC VIP List below.