Tweeting 101: How To Use Twitter Effectively For Your Business
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Like the rest of the always-evolving social media world, finding the most effective way or ways to utilize Twitter for your business’ benefit is still a game without a clear-cut winning formula. However, I’ve put together a quick list of basics, tips, and other relevant information that will help you, the uninitiated Twitter user, get humming right away.
1. The Basics: Here’s a quick rundown of what you need to know to tweet. Your message or status, which goes in the “What are you doing?” box, must be shorter than 140 characters. Once you click “Update”, your short message gets shouted to all of your followers. People you “follow” are the people who you hear when they submit a tweet, and your “followers” are the ones that hear you when you tweet. Got it? Good.
2. Slightly More Advanced: Writing is fun, but reading other people’s tweets is where the real fun begins. Read a tweet you like and want to pass it on? Copy the tweet and add a “retweet” marker (RT) at the front to spread the word. Want to reply to someone’s message? You can publicly direct a message by adding an “@” symbol in front of their username, and they’ll be able to review their @replies once they log in. (Same goes for you as well.) Using a hash tag in your message, like #laborday, hyperlinks the word and allows users to quickly follow all updates that contain the same hash tag – think of it as an open chat room. These are great for getting up-to-the-minute commentary on any topic out there.
3. Use Search: Twitter’s search engine is absolutely fantastic. You can quickly find what the entire Twitter universe is saying about your business (or your competitor's) in a split-second -- really important stuff here. You can also respond to any message directly from the search results page with one single click, allowing you to thank your loyal fans or help your angry customers. Search results are updated in real time, so bookmarking your search results page and fiendishly checking is one of the best points of advice for a business owner.
The Nuances Of Translation And Why You Should Hire An Expert
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The ever increasing globalization of the job marketplace is leading to a growing need for businesses to find qualified translators for their web content, their marketing material, their contracts, and their customer service. Growth of international sales is dependent on the ability to reach your target market, identify with them, and service their needs. So, what do you do to ensure the translations you receive will have the results you are striving for?
Priority number one is to find a high-quality translator. This is an area in which you very much get what you pay for, and finding a native speaker or one who is completely fluent is absolutely essential. The money spent pays for itself exponentially, and quickly, a return on investment that is well worth a few extra dollars. But why?
When marketing to other countries, your focus is to increase your bottom line, and doing so requires that your content be geared towards not only to the language but also to the culture. And I have to reiterate: A native speaker or completely fluent translator is a must, and translation tools should absolutely never be used. Cultural differences make non-literal translations necessary for a number of reasons. The most obvious is idiomatic expressions, but beyond that, certain symbols or references have different significance in different cultures. A non-native speaker, or someone who has not lived in the country, may unintentionally commit a cultural faux-pas even if the meaning of the words are correctly translated.
Why spend the money for human translation over using a translation tool?
Contest: What Does “The New Way To Work” Mean To You?
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HOW TO ENTER:
1. Answer this question: What Does “The New Way To Work” Mean To You? If you’re a writer, write a story that tells us how you are a part of this new world of work. If you’re a graphic designer, design something. Videographer? Video something. Developer? Create an app. You get the picture. As an entrant, you are free to enter your Submission in any format you choose so long as it can be published to the Web.
2. Publish your submission (complete with email address) to where you see fit – this may be your personal blog, a YouTube page, a Flickr account, Facebook profile – anywhere you think your message will inspire and excite the community.
3. Once your submission has been posted via the method of your choice, announce it to the world! Use Twitter, Facebook, Digg, MySpace, Vator.tv, or any other channel to share your creative work and message to the world.
Elance Work System Part 4: Awarding The Job
This is a continuation of the Hands-On With The Elance Work System by Matt Katsaros. To read the previous part, follow this link here: Hands-On With The Elance Work System: Part 3.
You’ve posted a job. You've searched, filtered, and invited. You’ve reviewed proposals in depth. Now, you’ve narrowed down your list and have that one skilled professional picked out in your mind. It’s time to award the job, make it official and start working.
After receiving 17 proposals, I finally found my perfect provider who goes by the name of “amstudio” out of the Ukraine. There’s a few reasons why I decided to go with a team from over the pond. First off, their feedback is an incredible 100%; although they have only done 12 projects on Elance, doing 12 projects perfect out of 12 ain’t bad!
After browsing through their portfolio, I saw that they are more than capable to a site this simple, and they have a huge list of sites they have built that all look great. And they were cost effective, doing the whole site for $300. On top of that, I have worked with amstudio in the past; they were extremely professional, and due to my previous experience, I know they would deliver quality work.
What's New: Hourly Jobs Made Easy
In the world of work, certain types of jobs are best as fixed-price, while others are simply better off as pay-by-the-hour. Our latest round of site improvements have focused on revamping and streamlining the hourly work experience on Elance. Here’s what’s new:
Timesheets: This is a new feature that will save providers a great deal of, well, time at the end of each work week. With one single form, a provider working on an hourly job can submit the number of hours worked, upcoming plans for next week, attach any relative documentation, and update current job status. Timesheets for hourly jobs does double duty, providing both a status report and invoicing the client all at once.
Automatic Invoices: As stated above, the new Timesheet becomes your Invoice, removing the hassle of submitting one manually. If needed, providers can manually submit Invoices to get paid back for out-of-pocket expenses, or other costs that are not documented in the Timesheet.
Terms: Terms for hourly jobs are now easier than ever to set up. Instead of setting up weekly Milestones ahead of time, all you have to do is set up the hourly rate, the duration of the job, and the authorized hours per week. Then, you’ll be set. Providers with flexible or irregular work week schedules are free to modify the amount of hours worked (so long as it doesn' t exceed the pre-approved number of hours authorized) by filling out their Timesheets accordingly.
