Des Walsh dot Com - Latest Comments

Re: Scheduling Free Consultations for Coaching

Ellie Walsh — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 22:40:17 -0000

Hi Des ... I so agree that it is important for people and coaches to meet to decide if they fit for each other... And, as you know, I have been using timetrade ... I wasn't even sure what version I was using ... so went in a discovered I have the professional version ... but at a much cheaper price as I was grandfathered in from their startup! But now you have me interested in these other options ... so I am interested to hear what you decide upon! ;)

Re: Have You Updated Your Google Plus Profile Lately?

Frank Roberts — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 11:37:26 -0000

I never knew you could bitlfy a Google Plus url. Thank you for that and your full 10 tips list on your http://myob.com.au/blog site. I am now gratefully shortened -
gplus.to/FrankRoberts

Re: Blitzing Our LinkedIn Presence with a Collaborative Project

Lorraine Ball — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 18:39:06 -0000

I have really enjoyed being a part of the group, and I am really pleased with what I have learned so far. We are also seeing a nice small bump in traffic to our website,so if you are sitting on the fence trying to decide if you want to sign up for the next round, do it!

Re: Managing Social Media Strategy In-house versus Outsourcing

Matt John Canty — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 05:07:03 -0000

it depends always on your capacity. We should admit that no matter how much experience we have in business, there are still a lot of things we cant do, that's why we need to outsource.

I like your ideals. and I support your idea about keeping things in-house and hire your own employees there, whom you can manage yourself.

Some are good at the other way around, who explore skills around the world. Most also succeed in that strategy some don't. It's actually how you handle it and how wonderful your system is.

Thanks for sharing.

Re: Have You Updated Your Google Plus Profile Lately?

Des Walsh — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 23:39:44 -0000

Thanks Walter. Good advice on the tagline and company. You have prompted me to review and change my tagline! I take your point about Liz's profile and will raise it with her.

Re: Have You Updated Your Google Plus Profile Lately?

Walter Adamson — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 23:04:17 -0000

Good tips. Also remember that your Tagline and your current company show up in the hover when you hover over a person's name in G+ - for example in a post. You should optimise these. I had to fiddle with my company list to get it right, presuming you have more than one active affiliation. Check Liz Strauss for example, is the one listed in the hover really the one she wants to be shown? Not sure?

Re: Five Simple Steps for Using Social Media to Find New Clients

Mitch — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 10:05:16 -0000

Good stuff here Des. I have an unfortunate quandary in that my main clients don't participate in social media, that being the health care industry. They might have a website, but they're not active on any social media platforms, and thus I have to resort to the old tried and true but useless methods. There are just some industries that won't play the game; the weasels! lol

Re: Five Simple Steps for Using Social Media to Find New Clients

Des Walsh — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 22:52:29 -0000

Sometimes what works well is to start from the negative. Write down the things you don't want in a client (e.g. unreliable, negative personality, doesn't listen, doesn't pay on time, etc) and then list all the opposites to come up with the qualities and behaviors you like. Some people go so far as to give that "ideal client" a name (and if there are more than one type of client, several names/personas).

Re: Five Simple Steps for Using Social Media to Find New Clients

Darrell — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 22:35:30 -0000

Yes , I am in the process of re-evaluating my services etc and not sure how to find new clients or for that matter who are my ideal clients.

Re: Five Simple Steps for Using Social Media to Find New Clients

Des Walsh — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 19:48:01 -0000

Darrell, thanks for the question. There are a lot of things you can do to find contacts with social media. Once you have clarity about the typical profile or profiles of the clients you would like to have - what I call your ideal client - then you can start to look more effectively for that kind of person on different social platforms and start studying their behavior, concerns etc., with a view to getting into those conversations as first a listener and then a contributor. For example, with LinkedIn, using the advanced search tools can help you find ideal clients in your own network, then look at what groups they are in, join those and participate.

In this post, I've really focused on just one approach to this, based on the old saying that birds of a feather flock together. In other words, by studying your existing clients (and maybe people in your network who are not yet clients but you would like to have them as clients) you could work on an assumption that in discovering where they hang out on the social web (LinkedIn Groups, Facebook, Quora, etc) and injecting yourself into those places and spaces there will be a good chance you will find more like them.

Does that help?

Re: Five Simple Steps for Using Social Media to Find New Clients

Darrell — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 12:34:19 -0000

Thanks for the useful information,I understand using social media with clients but my question is how do I find potential clients with social media.My current clients are from direct contact.

Re: The Pulse: a Blog for Small Business

Paul Hassing — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 18:23:50 -0000

Nice one, Des! Many thanks indeed for your kind shout-out. This blog is definitely one out of the box. And it's beaut to see you in our avenue of honour. I've enjoyed your posts thus far and look forward to many more. Best regards, P. :)

Re: Six Key Social Platforms for Busy Professionals

Des Walsh — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 20:03:47 -0000

Thanks Jackie. About the pin option - I like to give people choices and if someone wants to pin a post of mine I'm only too happy for that to happen.

Re: Six Key Social Platforms for Busy Professionals

Jackie Thorpe Ewing — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 18:39:54 -0000

Ran across this post today and it resounds well with me. These are my 6 of choice as well. I find I can handle this much... most of the time. While I have a Pinterest account, I'm not actively pinning... yet! And I see you have the option for folks to pin. Have you added that because it's new or because it's working for you? Just curious, you know!
Thanks,
Jackie

Re: Testing the Social Media Engagement Management Tool Sprout Social – Part 2

Bhecca — Sun, 06 May 2012 06:38:59 -0000

This tool is completely new for me but it seems very useful for my social task.thanks for the share.Highly recommended.

Re: Testing the Social Media Engagement Management Tool Sprout Social – Part 2

MLaney — Fri, 04 May 2012 07:04:21 -0000

More good analysis of Sprout Social Des. Launching www.pet-zet.com this week has kept me so busy my trial to Spout Social lapsed so your reviews are helping keep me on track to look at again when the rush abates.
Still using Hootsuite but the products are so different in presentation it is a bit challenging to have time for a side by side comparison.
Will certainly come back for your next update. THANKS!

Re: First Days on Empire Avenue and Understanding How It Can be Addictive – Part 1

Jenny MacKinnon — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 04:41:05 -0000

Thanks, Des. Helpful for a newbie like me.

Re: Testing the Social Media Engagement Management Tool Sprout Social – Part 2

Brit at Sprout Social — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 15:00:33 -0000

Thanks for reviewing Sprout Social's analytics and reporting, Des! We definitely try to encourage our users to focus on engagement and give them the tools to adjust their social media strategy accordingly. So, happy you noticed that and sounds like you're doing a great job staying on track!

Look forward to reading your next post!

Brittany Morse, Social Marketing Manager at Sprout Social

Re: Testing the Social Engagement Management Tool Sprout Social

Des Walsh — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 19:52:26 -0000

Great questions, Marion. I'm taking them on notice for the next follow up post on this.

I like your suggestion of a pricing tier between $59 and $899.

Re: Testing the Social Engagement Management Tool Sprout Social

MLaney — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 08:28:39 -0000

Thank you for the initial review. I will follow your updates on Sprout Social. As you use the tool can you comment on usefulness for managing 2 to 10 brands?

Also, any thoughts on usefulness for small teams of 2 to 4 per brand? I have read other reviews which which give Hootsuite the nod for team use due to scheduling tools. ( currently using Hootsuite)

As a small shop we seem to need a pricing tier between 59 and 899. Would love to see a limited white label version for 1-5 brands w/ small team functions for 199 per month.

Thanks for the good work.
ML

Re: PR 2.0 with Cloud Power

Amit Chahar — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 07:26:28 -0000

Great video. You're not just a business. Liked the punchline.

Re: Six Key Social Platforms for Busy Professionals

Jamie Garantziotis — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 11:16:18 -0000

Couldn't agree more, Des. Even with these 6 I'm finding that G+ gets less of my time and attention than others - although I'm trying to keep as close an eye on it as possible with the search implications. I think it's also worth adding a great bookmarking service in there like delicious, digg etc. We all have a social media number in terms of the number of platforms we can engage with - and for me it all comes down to where your audience and consumers are. At the end of the day you need to be engaging on their terms and in their networks.

Re: Six Key Social Platforms for Busy Professionals

Tom Swift — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 10:22:11 -0000

I like you mentioned a Blog here in this list Des. It's important to have a social business home. I think it also helps to include a Website in this list (i.e. another good business home). A good website can help introduce and integrate the blogging activities and the business taking place on these other platforms you mentioned -- plus help with noting wherever else you happen to go (i.e. platform) and for whatever good reasons you end up there.

I've also noticed even if you choose just 1-2 of the 6 platforms you mentioned to focus efforts. The list still grows quickly and usually immediately no matter how focused you want to be. Like you mentioned this growth is most often driven by what is going on with your business and the people interested in your business. --Thanks

Re: Six Key Social Platforms for Busy Professionals

Des Walsh — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 09:10:57 -0000

Thanks Jen. I hear what you say about the 2 or 3 and there would be circumstances where I'd go along with that.

On the other hand, it seems there could be a correlation between degree of influence and number of social networking or new media platforms one is engaged on. An article by Haydn Shaunessy in Forbes earlier this year said the top influencers are across, on average, 10.5 such channels: http://onforb.es/HeYFNn

And I'm not really saying one should "master" a whole lot: more about being present.

On the question of not using the platforms you don't like, I have to ask, what if your target market is predominantly or at least significantly there? Isn't that missing an opportunity? "Fish where the fish are" etc?

Re: Six Key Social Platforms for Busy Professionals

Jen @ YellowBirdBlogs — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 06:38:27 -0000

Helpful list, Des! If I were creating a "Big 6" list, these are the ones I'd pick as well. I would also add that you shouldn't feel compelled to master all 6 of these, either at once or ever. Better to pick the 2 or 3 that work well for you, and that suit you, than try to scattershot all of them. Some people just hate Twitter, for instance--those people should focus their efforts elsewhere. It's all about picking your marketing targets and hitting them consistently.