Strategies and Tactics for Women by Dr. Shannon Reece

1. I Am Jealous!

I was first introduced to Ana White’s social media efforts through The Social Media Examiner. Ana White is a carpenter, cleverly calling herself a “homemaker”. She has a website to empower women to do carpentry projects. As a small business owner, I admit, I am jealous because I think Ana is doing it all right! I was particularly intrigued by her ‘Brag Blog’ I have attempted something similar but I find it very hard to get customers to brag! I also love her ‘How To’ videos on YouTube. I keep an eye on Ana’s efforts, in hopes of gleaning some great tips! Here are her links: Website, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Thanks to Christy Cook of Teach My

2. NJMEP Engages The Manufacturing Community

NJMEP (www.njmep.org), located in Morris Plains, NJ is very engaging on social media through their “Made in New Jersey” campaign. This program highlights a different manufacturer in the state each week and posts their information on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. They also engage their entire audience with relevant industry articles, conversation topics and have created a great forum for those in the industry to come together and network, learn and engage. I regularly notice responses, “likes” and other posts from members of these social networking groups.

Thanks to Emily Carter of Grass Roots Marketing, Inc.

3. You Feel Like You’re Relaxing And Having Coffee With Her!

Someone who has consistently caught my eye in the way she uses Facebook wonderfully is Bryn Johnson of Bryn Johnson Consulting. She weaves her business life in with some personal notes that are always bright and engaging.

She’s often found at a Starbucks doing some work or meeting with colleagues and she’ll tell you the kind of coffee she’s enjoying. It’s a very welcoming approach and even expanded into an open phone call she does every month called Coffee Break with Bryn. Anyone can call in and ask questions about business strategies, issues or whatever’s not working. Bryn’s enthusiasm and sharing are evident on those calls. With her wit and charm, you get to feel you’re sitting across the table sharing a coffee break. I wonder what coffee she’s drinking now.

Thanks to John Rasiej of Speak Louder Than Words

4. N.D.P.

Hanif Russell, Chairman and CEO of Black Business Works Inc. has this Noon Day Praise on his Facebook page site every day. I look forward to going on his page and reading his N.D.P. it’s positive and up lifting, as a business owner you need that. He also has questions of the week to engage his friends in thinking about what you need to do for your business, these questions engage business owners and entrepreneurs in a discussion of the week, very insightful and helpful. He also has an online radio blog that is for business owners that gives weekly tips every Monday.

Thanks to Eula M. Young, COO of Griot’s Roll Film Production & Services Inc.

5. The Tweet That Changed NASCAR Forever

On Monday, February 27th, NASCAR made history by having one of its driver’s tweet from their car. Don’t worry, they weren’t racing and tweeting. The race had been red-flagged due to a driver crashing into one of the jet driers while the race was under caution. While this was happening, driver Brad Keselowski (@keselowski) took his phone out of his pocket, took a picture and posted it to Twitter. For the first time ever, fans had a driver’s perspective of what was happening at the moment, one that wasn’t initiated by interview. Brad, already a great ambassador for all things NASCAR on Twitter, gained 100,000 additional followers (including myself) wanting to get in on what was happening. If that’s not a great example of engaging people through social media, I don’t know what else is.

Thanks to Barbara Goldberg of Back On Track Solutions

6. Helping Mum’s Build A Little Biz

Karen Gunton from “build a little biz” has cracked social networking in my view. She has a very active Facebook following with over 6k followers! Karen shares helpful and practical tips and ideas with her community to help us build our businesses. She interacts with her community, responds to questions and does an excellent job of facilitating discussion on her page. Karen has a fabulous weekly email newsletter called The Toolbox which includes a wrap-up of posts she’s found most useful over the previous week. If you are building a little biz, I recommend you “like” Karen’s page.

Thanks to Suellen Hughes of The Kickstart Business