You are here: Home / Archives for facebook

Why social media is such an important part service to have

July 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I am sure that will all have already been using social media to promote and engage with current and prospective clients, but have you thought about how you could use these areas to add new services to your current list?

You may already know your way around Facebook and Twitter, these are areas that you could develop and then offer your existing clients support to extend their reach through social media.

It is always great to learn new skills and especially skills that clients are actively looking for and can help you extend your services reach to overseas too. By learning new skills you will be able to offer more than most other VA’s are and be able to charge more money as well as cater for a larger circle of clients.

Social media that sells is a great ecourse that will give you the skills to stand out from the crowd and offer services such as social media management, email marketing, blog content creati0n and analysing statistics. All of these services are sought after by clients around the world and are looking to pay someone to do for them.

If you want to earn more money for less time then this is what you need to be doing.

Filed Under: Biz Booster Tips, VA Training Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Why Quality is better than Quantity on Facebook

April 12, 2012 By 1 Comment

Social media is a great way to help promote your business and engage with your prospective clients and other VA’s. It is a great tool for networking and sharing your expertise as well as minimising that feeling of isolation we all can feel at times when working remotely.

Facebook is the biggest of the social media platforms and has changed quite a lot of recent months. They have introduced the new timeline feature, which when I first looked at it I thought was going to make it harder to promote your business on Facebook. This was due to the new header not allowing you to add a call to action but on further investigation there are ways around this. The new apps mean you are able to add parts of your website direct onto your page and rather than having to leave the Facebook site, this means  you are able to share important information on your page with out people having to click off of the site.

So you may be asking why I have put quality is better than quantity? Well on your page you are no doubt aware of getting people to like it. This is so that when you update your status on your page you the people who have liked your page will see this on their newsfeed. So the more liker’s you have the better your business will be and the more people will seek your services, right? This may not be the case. Having lots of likes on your page may look good to you and boost your ego, but if none of these likes are interacting with you and creating a relationship with you, they are simply just a number.

You may have seen recently on Facebook, pages actively partaking in events called Like Ladders. This is all part of the numbers games, to increase your number of likes on your page. All well and good but it can be a waste of your precious time liking everyone back who may not actually be looking for a VA and will just add a number to your like total. It is more important to interact with your own liker’s and like other businesses you think may benefit you in your business.

A great tip I recently came across is to use Facebook as your page when you are liking a business page so you can keep your profile personal and your page more business focused. Also when liking a page it is a good idea to actual write a message on their wall saying Hi and tag your page in that message making it easier for them and others to find our page.

So remember Facebook is not a numbers game, it is about making quality contacts who will help you build and grow your business.

Filed Under: Biz Booster Tips Tagged With: , , , , ,

Do you need to make a data protection notification?

November 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment

If you collect and process personal data, you must (unless exempt) notify certain details (such as your name and address, a description of personal data being processed and a description of the purpose for which the data is being processed) to the Information Commissioner.

If you process personal data without notification (or outside the scope of your notification) you are committing a criminal offence. This offence carries a maximum penalty of a £5,000 fine in the magistrates’ court and an unlimited fine in the Crown Court. Failure to notify is a strict liability offence which means that notifying is mandatory (if you don’t fall within an exemption) and being unaware of the law is not an excuse. 

The main exemption for a small private business is the ‘core business purpose’ exemption, that is, you are exempt if the only reasons you are processing personal data are for:

  • Staff administration; and/or
  • Advertising, marketing and public relations; and/or
  • Accounts and records.

The period of notification is one year. There is an annual fee of £35. Changes to a notification entry must be made within 28 days. Changes are made free of charge.

Beware of bogus agencies sending out official looking warning letters about notification and charging inflated fees to notify on your behalf. Always deal directly with the Information Commissioner’s Office – it is cheaper and better to do so. You can notify on the ICO website (https://www.ico.gov.uk/cgi-bin//dprproc?page=7.html) or by phone on 01625 545740.        

Even if you are exempt from notification you must still comply with other provisions in the Data Protection Act 1998, including the eight data protection principles.

Lawyers4mumpreneurs is the only business law practice in the UK that focuses exclusively on mumpreneur businesses. We cover the full range of business law services and have over 14 years’ experience at the highest level in providing such services. We provide mumpreneurs with a friendly, cost-effective and flexible service. See our many testimonials from delighted clients at http://www.lawyers4mumpreneurs.com/testimonials-2

Filed Under: Becoming a VA, Legal Matters Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Beware what you say on websites, facebook and twitter!

October 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment

On 1 March 2011, advertising regulation extended its remit to websites, facebook and twitter (and any other non-paid-for online space under your control such as other social networking sites).

The CAP Code says, amongst other things, that advertising should:

  • be legal, decent, honest and truthful.
  • be prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and society.
  • respect the principles of fair competition generally accepted in business.
  • not mislead by inaccuracy, ambiguity, exaggeration or otherwise

This means that not only must business owners check their own website to ensure that it complies with the CAP Code, but that anyone contributing to your Facebook page, blog or twitter will need to be aware of, and comply with, the Code.

The Advertising Standards Authority is generally reactive in that it tends to deal with complaints received rather than actively reviewing marketing communications. This may influence the approach to compliance. However it is worth noting that the ASA’s sanctions are also being increased so that it can:

  • Name and shame offenders, both on the ASA’s website and on paid-for advertisements on internet search engines which highlight continued non-compliance.
  • Remove paid-for search advertisements that link directly to the non-compliant marketing communication on the advertiser’s own website or other non-paid-for space online under its control.

 

Lawyers4mumpreneurs is the only business law practice in the UK that focuses exclusively on mumpreneur businesses. We cover the full range of business law services and have over 14 years’ experience at the highest level in providing such services. We provide mumpreneurs with a friendly, cost-effective and flexible service. See our many testimonials from delighted clients at http://www.lawyers4mumpreneurs.com/testimonials-2

Filed Under: Legal Matters Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,