Helping others Archives - VIRTUAL ASSISTANCE BY ANITA

What’s New With Social Media Marketing This Summer?

July 2, 2017 By Anita M. Hicks

Summer has arrived and temperatures are on the rise as many of us see things cooling down around the office as colleagues, clients and media contacts are leaving for respective vacations, trips and other excursions. Even as these Summer days may seem like down time you can actually use the Summer to be very productive on Social Media as you market your business! Are You Ready To See What’s New With Social Media Marketing This Summer?

Please find these hints and tips helpful as you continue to create and share engaging content for potential clients and past customers to enjoy and interact with this Summer. Don’t forget to check out the articles about current happenings in Social Media found at the end of this blog.

Here are some great ways to help promote yourself, and your business on Social Media this Summer:

Take Advantage of Seasonality for Content
The Olympic Games in Rio, heatwaves, music festivals, cultural events or BBQs. The choices are endless. So use this time to maximize your Social Media efforts with what’s trending right now. School holidays are also topical over the Summer, with parents looking for ideas on how to entertain their children on Summer break.

Create New Content
Use this time to create a bank of new content that you can tap into over the coming months. This could be in the form of blogs or more engaging graphics and videos. These are great for building Social Media engagement.

Time For Good Housekeeping
Polish up your Social Media accounts. Are they all active? Are they providing useful content and you receiving good engagement? For example on LinkedIn you may want to use this time to reconnect with your followers (and maybe clear out the inactive ones).

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While taking advantage of these great insights, also consider reviewing helpful articles found below that discuss what’s new with Social Media in Summer 2017:

How to Optimize Your Facebook Page for Product Sales

Looking to increase the amount of product sales referrals you are receiving this Summer from Facebook without having to invest in Facebook ads?

This article from Social Media Examiner online discusses organic ways to gain more followers, likes and overall interaction on Facebook with proven techniques. To read the article in full Click Here.

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How Your Startup Can Harness The Power of Social Media

Social Media provides numerous benefits for companies and businesses that are just starting out. This is because Social Media marketing helps to increase brand awareness, create a meaningful connection with customers and more.

If you are ready to start a new company this Summer or just want to further improve your existing Social Media marketing don’t miss the chance to read this think piece from Forbes by Clicking Here.

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The Virtual Assistance by Anita team wishes you a fantastic and productive Summer. We hope you continue to fly your business to new heights this year!!!

Enjoy And Share Live Videos With Facebook Live!

July 27, 2016 By Anita M. Hicks

Have You Heard?

Facebook wants you to enjoy live video … on Facebook! So much so that the company recently released a dedicated video space on its mobile app and online platform in the hopes that you will watch and broadcast more videos live.

Facebook Live videos are real-time video posts on Facebook. Live videos from public figures you follow and your friends will appear in your News Feed. When you’re watching a live video or a video that was live, you can tap or click Subscribe to get notified the next time that Facebook account starts a live broadcast. With Facebook Live, you can show your expertise in real time, take people behind the scenes, and much more!

Facebook’s efforts to get you to watch and broadcast live videos isn’t arbitrary. With more than 1.5 billion users worldwide, Facebook and Facebook users have a real opportunity to showcase breaking news, intimate personal moments, and behind-the-scenes stories from just about anywhere in a way that surpasses TV networks and other media outlets. All of which is pretty incredible!

Before you create the next Facebook Live video for your business, personal life, a non profit or networking group you are a part of or more, be sure to review and follow five tips for creating and promoting your video from Social Media Examiner by Clicking Here.

Written by: Matt Tyson of The Virtual Assistance by Anita Team

Get More Visitors to Your Facebook Page

January 24, 2016 By Anita M. Hicks Leave a Comment

Do you want more people to Like your Facebook Page?

Whether you are using Facebook for business, community or non-profit purposes, most of us want to get more visitors to our page. These are more visitors to read, like, comment and share our content. These are folks who may become our clients or help us with our mission.

The huge question – How? Well, as in all things, there are many ways to attract more people to your Facebook Page. Here are a few items my team and I have learned that help:

Reviews – Do you have these enabled and available? Reviews at Facebook are testimonials. They offer the visitor the opportunity to give you Stars – 1 through 5 and of course, we all want “5 Stars”! Once the visitor begins to select the stars, a new window opens where they are prompted to leave wording about the page. According to a survey by Forbes, 93% of people log into the internet to find a testimonial. How do you get Reviews on your Page at Facebook? First you must include a full address in the About tab, enable the map selection for a Place setting on Google & Bing, and as if by magic, the Reviews App will appear at the left and in the More section.
Share – By sharing posts from your Facebook Page to your personal Facebook profile, you will reach more people. Asking others to share your posts also increases the amount of people you are reaching. This will naturally attract new people that will Like your page.
Facebook Ads – In most cases, online advertising is excessively expensive and the audience you reach is small compared to your outlay of funds, however, Facebook is unique. Their ads can be run with small amounts of money and you can use a budget you set in advance, rather than per click fees. Facebook Editor tool gives the ability to target certain areas or age ranges for your advertising, giving you more value for your dollar.

Questions on how to do any of these items? Contact my team and we will help!

Want to learn more about marketing & Facebook? Read this article from The Huffington Post – CLICK HERE

Pinterest More For Business than Instagram in Social Media Marketing

July 2, 2015 By Anita M. Hicks

Pinterest and Instagram are two photo-sharing social networking sites where you can upload photos for other people to see. Although they basically have the same purpose, they are not identical. Pinterest is essentially an online bulletin board that allows you to share photos related to your business. By creating ‘boards’ that target particular topics you can attract users who are searching for topics related to your business or products. Instagram however allows users to share photos taken on a smartphone with other users but inhibits users mainly working from a computer as you cannot add photos without a smartphone.

Should-My-Company-Use-Pinterest-or-Instagram

Typically, you will find teens and millenials are the primary demographic of where in contrast 28% of adult internet users were on Pinterest as of January 2015! For businesses targeting women, or in niches commonly catering to women, Pinterest has become an absolute must. This includes businesses in the retail sector, as well as those related to food, crafts, jewelry, home-décor, blogging and more as they can provide photos of their products or services.

Where Pinterest really shines in comparison to Instagram is in its ability to drive significant amounts of website traffic: Shareaholic Online reported that in December 2014, Pinterest drove just over 5% of all webpage visits (it is second only to Facebook in terms of referral sources). An additional difference between the two is that most people use Instagram to target friends from other Social Media sites where as those who go on Pinterest are typically going to find things that interest them and that they may be interested in buying.

If you are considering listing your business on Pinterest or have a business account on Pinterest that has been inactive for a bit be sure to try these tips to increase the amount of business referrals received from Pinterest!

Build Content Rich Boards Around Your Niche. You want to build content rich boards and curate your content just as you would on any other social network. Pin your products and your content to themed boards on Pinterest with shortened links that allow you to track your Pinterest traffic.
Like Other People’s Pins. If you come across pins that you like but aren’t necessarily useful to your audience or be something that you want to pin to one of your boards, you may want to consider liking them rather than repining them. Anytime you like someone’s pin, it will show up in their activity feed. This may grab their attention and get them to follow you.
Mention Other Users. You can mention others in your Pinterest comments or pin descriptions to get their attention or to recognize someone specific. A ‘mention’ is very similar to Facebook and Twitter. Type the @ symbol before starting to type the name of the person. A drop down box will appear and your choice should be displayed there for you to select.

Written by: Matt Tyson of The Virtual Assistance by Anita Team

Gratitude List

November 27, 2013 By Anita M. Hicks Leave a Comment

Happy Thanksgiving! Tomorrow is the day we celebrate this day of turkey, football and yes, gratitude. Thankfulness is something I take very seriously and in fact a few years ago I began a “month of Gratitude”; posting at least one item each day for the entire month of November that I am grateful for in my life at my Facebook personal profile. I have also encouraged others to share what they have to be thankful for with me as when we all begin to focus on the positive, more wonderful, positive things happen.

This is the exact reason why I have embraced an entire month of gratitude as over the past 5 or 6 years my life has had one gift upon another upon another building my health, my confidence, my business and my life into something more than I could have imagined. By focusing on the positives in my life and being grateful for them, they multiple. Just like by giving, you receive so much more! The philosophy discussed in Bob Burg & John David Mann’s book, “The Go-Giver” and the motto of BNI (Business Networking International) of “Givers Gain” are both examples that I am surely not the only one who embraces the ideals of giving without expectation of return. And that the more you give, surely without even realizing it, the more you receive.

This Thanksgiving of 2013 I have an extremely long list of gratitude items! My beautiful family – Danny, my partner in life and business for over 20 years now, who is truly my best friend; my gorgeous 3 children, who though not perfect are very special, each in their own way and truly gifts in my life! My friends who have decided that I am their family; who have supported my business and helped me and whom I know will not ever let me fail; they are my family and my inner circle here on earth. I lean on them for encouragement and they give it! My friends who are a part of my social media life as I adore you and know that I can find you in my news feeds for a smile or some inspiration, for my wonderful home which is the best one I’ve lived in for many years thanks to one of those above mentioned “family” and my awesome Realtor, my opportunities in both of my special networks – BNI and Rotary Club of Columbia. These folks have truly surrounded me with support and caring and I am so grateful.

I am thankful for the love of my pet, Shadow, my sometimes crazy black cat. And I give thanks for those special folks who give me gentle encouragement on what I need to do everyday to continue to improve my health. Big hugs to you – yes, Shari and Maxine – this means you! lol! I am listening… most of the time!

For our totally awesome and super special clients whom I have the pleasure to work with and help – I am deeply grateful to have YOU for my clients!

May the sun shine upon your face and the world be filled with gifts of joy and peace this Thanksgiving for you and your family! Hugs!!! ~Anita (Catch up with me & my family at Facebook this year for photos of the holidays!)

What does Success mean to YOU?

November 23, 2012 By Anita M. Hicks Leave a Comment

Well here it is – the day after Thanksgiving! I have so many gifts in my life over the past years that now I embrace the entire month of November and each day I give thanks for at least one thing in my life.

In the past years my life has many successful areas. But, it depends on how you define success. I define it by having a family and husband whom I adore with a stronger relationship now than almost 20 years ago when we were married. Success for me is also a business in which I get to do what I LOVE and with clients whom are amazing to work with every day. Success for me is being surrounded by people who truly are there for me.Success is also continued improvements in my health.

How did I get all of these gifts in my life that I am so thankful for you ask? Magic? Pixie Dust? Nope! I KNOW it was many different things that gave me this success. But, one of the most important to me is that I began to adjust the way I thought. That is right – it was with me. It was the way I was thinking. Once I began to embrace the fact that I could achieve something more for my life, my business and my future, it began to happen. Once I began to take steps (sometimes in faith) of action towards my goals, then success came to me. Once I put others needs before my own and identified solutions to help others, then, solutions were available for me.

My success is that of learning to think of not what was wrong in my life, but to think of what solution I could find, learn and do to make my life better. When I began this business, before one business card was printed or my website was launched, I had already embraced the idea that it would be successful, I would have clients, there were resources and people to help me. Once I began to think in that way and stopped blaming everyone and everything around me, things began to change.

Then I learned that one success meant that I could now find success in other areas of my life also. My relationship with my husband has improved because I began to see where i could make changes, took action to do so and now my relationship is stronger for it.

What is your goal? What success do you want in your life? Try to rethink about how you can come up with action items and steps to make this happen for you.

Recently it was my great joy to have someone ask me this question – “How are you so successful in such a short time?”. It brought a huge smile to my face because I don’t think I am successful yet as everyday there is more to learn, new people to meet and the future is exciting! This is only the beginning. But, my answer was something like the graphic in this blog.

Honestly, there are no secrets to success, just learn, do and have an attitude of gratitude. Be more today than you were yesterday. That is success… in my humble opinion!

Happy Thanksgiving to All! I am grateful for you in my life!

Vote for us to Win New Computers

August 25, 2012 By Anita M. Hicks Leave a Comment

Hello again friends! About a month ago, my husband and I made a decision to purchase a new computer for my daughter. A good investment and much needed as she enters high school this fall. She is a very motivated young lady and has already decided college will be her next step, along with a career as a Real Estate Agent. She will use this laptop for a good while and we were excited to be able to give it to her.

I did my usual step by step, methodical process to any decision. This drives my husband nuts, but it is just who I am and no way around it. Step 1: Ask all my closest, inner circle, friends who buy and know computers for help. Questions like – Where should I go locally and online? What do you suggest? Got any referrals for me?

Then I reached out to my wonderful computers and took full use of the search engines. As my daughter says, Google has it all! Final step, run around town and see if any of these laptops can be found for a less expensive price. In the end, I left the decision, based upon several options, to my husband and daughter. They know all the capacity requirements for memory and other details needed and I was happy to know the decision was made and an action would be taken.

They ended up with an ASUS computer and I have to say that for the price (around $300), it is an awesome laptop. She uses it to video chat (constantly as she could NOT be out of touch with her bff), she plays games, is a Facebook junkie (like mom and dad) and also is able to work on Power Point documents. It is really crisp and clear as far as her resolutions. I am impressed.

Then, ASUS Computers sent me an application to enter a contest for my small business to win a new laptop (state of the art) or computers for my offices! I completed the application but really did not think much of it. Then here we are in the running – amazing!

I usually don’t ask for help but sometimes, it is what you have to do! Please vote for us at the link below! And share it with your friends for us!

Here’s some of what I could use these computers for in our business –

A new laptop would be marvelous for me. I love my Dell Notebook but meeting with clients to review with them their new social media platforms at Facebook, You Tube and more will be much more visible in this new laptop. I will be able to show them and work with them to improve graphics, backgrounds and feeds in a much faster pace as this new laptop will run at the speed of light compared to my Dell Notebook!

In addition, I have my family and team members who use the computers in our home offices in Pasadena to serve our clients. Having more computers will mean more team members can work at one time! I will be able to train several folks at one time with multiple systems.

The most exciting part of all this to me is that if my business wins the new computers, I will be able to send a newer computer to our team member in Pennsylvania. She is in dire need of a faster, better computer and would be thrilled! It would mean her life would be easier and she could help our wonderful clients and hers better! It makes my life so happy when I can help others, too!

Vote for us – Please and Thanks so much for your support!!! 🙂

CLICK HERE TO VOTE – ASUS COMPUTER CONTEST

Drug Free Charlie Appearing LIVE at Six Flags!

August 3, 2012 By Anita M. Hicks Leave a Comment

Greetings! I hope this finds everyone having a fabulous summer! Usually I blog about social media, email, relationship building content or some other related business topic, but today I want to change gears and tell you about a wonderful opportunity.

My friend and one of the wonderful clients I have the joy to work with, Richard Van Dyke, has a great program for children called “Drug Free Charlie“. For years now he has been bringing his vision of Drug Free Charlie helping our children to stay free of drugs by learning at an early age through engaging and fun songs and activities! As a person who has spent 20 years of my life dedicated to helping our children, I was immediately drawn to Richard and Drug Free Charlie.

Drug Free Charlie is now appearing at Six Flags on August 18th for two shows – 1:30 pm and 3:30 pm. I assure you that he will have your children laughing, singing and dancing to drug free songs! In addition, Six Flags and Drug Free Charlie are offering discount tickets to the amusement park, water rides, and the Drug Free Charlie Shows! Visit www.sixflags.com/america and enter the Promo code in upper right corner – “DFC”. Tickets are just $28.00 including tax!

You may find more about Richard Van Dyke and Drug Free Charlie, one special clown, at www.drugfreecharlie.com

Thanks for tuning in and hope this info will help you to enjoy a wonderful day with your children, grandchildren, nieces, Girl or Boy Scouts, or anyone who is young at heart with Drug Free Charlie at Six Flags America!

Why I love Dragonflies

January 10, 2012 By Anita M. Hicks Leave a Comment

Many folks ask me, “What is it that makes you love dragonflies so much?” or “Why did you chose a dragonfly to accompany your logo for @Virtual Assistance by Anita? Well, there are many reasons, but one of the main ones is that I’ve always loved the grace the dragonfly has as it flies from land to water to air and never misses a beat!

When I began my business two years ago, I knew that my life was beginning a new, positive transformation. This is more than just a business, a career, or a source of income. My business is a source of joy, energy, and people who care truly about me. I am surrounded with a positive influence on every flight! I am a Dragonfly!

The power of Dragonfly lies in its ability to see around things by looking from different angles. Using its ability to transform colors and lights by reflecting and refracting them, the Dragonfly shows us that life, like light, can bend, shift, and adapt in various ways. This makes life’s appearance never be what it appears to be.

The Dragonfly’s magic shows us to see through life’s illusions and find our true vision. It calls us to transform within our lives and reminds us to feel deeply so we will have the compassion necessary to help ourselves and others.

May 2012 help you to fly to new heights! 🙂