I’m excited to be offering this seminar for the DC Small Business Development Center on June 25, 2013 (Date Change.) I plan to teach small business owners, who often have little to no money to spend on the marketing they so need, ways to get the most marketing bang for their limited bucks.
If you or someone you know is a small business owner (or plans to be) in the DC area, please plan to attend. Register here. 
TESTIMONIAL
“I am pleased to recommend Tamara Rasberry to my clients and for all my consulting engagements. She not only knows immediately how to engage each client, but also she delivers to each client–ahead of aggressive deadlines–quality, thorough social media services. As one who is organized, professional, and a skilled communicator, Tamara has an acute business sense to lead teams in maximizing business relationships and increasing profitability through social media platforms. Tamara exemplifies both teamwork and leadership. Also, she has a strong grasp on the customers’ business objectives and requirements. She demonstrated these skills while revamping my company’s Facebook and Twitter business pages, and she marketed them well to my current and prospective audiences. Tamara possesses the attributes of one who is extremely goal-oriented—true visionary. Needless to say, I will–without hesitation–hire Tamara Rasberry to satisfy any social media management requirements!”
Melanie Parker
CEO, QualityOne Communications Consulting, LLC
I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve clicked on someone’s Facebook page only to be disappointed in their choice of cover photo. I’ve been disappointed not because the photos were particularly unattractive or inappropriate but because they aren’t the right size.
In most cases, you can’t just drop your blog or website header image into Facebook as your cover photo and have it work. Too many times, I’ve seen words or images cut off and for the life of me I cannot fathom why someone would deem that an appropriate representation of their brand. I don’t know about you but it turns me off to the point that I don’t even want to take the time to look at what they’re talking about. If you can’t take the time to make sure your cover photo, the first impression of you that I’m getting from your page, looks right, why should I (or anyone else) bother going any further?
Facebook offers this advice for selecting an appropriately sized cover photo –
What are the dimensions for my Page’s cover photo?
Cover photos are 851 pixels wide and 315 pixels tall. If you upload an image that’s smaller than these dimensions, it will get stretched to this larger size. The image you upload must be at least 399 pixels wide.To get the fastest load times for your Page, upload an sRGB JPG file that’s 851 pixels wide, 315 pixels tall and less than 100 kilobytes. For images with your logo or text-based content, you may get a higher quality result by using a PNG file.
Of course your Facebook Page cover photo isn’t the only place where size matters. LunaMetrics was kind enough to compile ‘The Ultimate Complete Final Social Media Sizing Cheat Sheet‘ to help us get the most bang for our photo-sizing buck across multiple social networking platforms. Now go out and resize those images!
Have you ever heard the saying “the shoemaker’s children go without shoes?” My former employer used to say this frequently because, as a firm, we often lacked things we would diligently ensure our clients had such as, an employee handbook. As an entrepreneur, I find myself in the role of both the shoemaker and her child. I’m making shoes for everyone but myself!
The other day I was on a call with one of my social media coaching clients and as I was advising her I thought, well actually I said it aloud, “I don’t even do this myself. I’m the worst at doing these things myself.” I take pride in the fact that I give great advice – both personally and professionally – however, I tend to walk around figuratively barefoot. I spend so much time focused on helping others that I neglect to help myself. Whether it’s social media marketing or a personal relationship, I’m usually the last one to take my own advice – even though I KNOW it’s the right thing to do. How do I know? Because when other people follow my advice, they succeed.
I’ve recently seen this referred to as “Shoemaker’s Children Syndrome.” Sounds like a disease, right? I suppose in a way it is. As I write this post, I am deciding to make a concerted effort to rid myself of this affliction. I need to work towards my own success as much as I work towards the success of others. I’ve come up with a three-step process to overcome shoemaker’s child syndrome. I call them the Three P’s.
This goes back to my earlier post re: gaining clarity. One of the first questions I ask my clients is “what are your goals?” because everything I’m going to do for them stems from being clear on what they’re trying to accomplish. This step entails writing down goals and being specific about them.
This is something I’ve written about before and with which I still struggle. It is not in my nature to toot my own horn or talk about myself. I envy those who do it with ease (within reason.) Someone I saw on Twitter (apologies for not recalling the source) wrote a post called “Don’t go broke being the best kept secret.” That pretty much says it all, right? I must get busy self-promoting.
This step refers to other action items that will be beneficial such as reading, coaching and networking as well as consistently revisiting steps one and two. As the old saying goes, practice makes perfect.
Those are my three steps for overcoming Shoemaker’s Children Syndrome. Do you have others? Please share.
My first Glyder post.
If you’re anything like me you use your mobile device just as much, if not more than, you use your computer. I also always have a million and one things to do and am always on the lookout for things that will help me get those things done easily and efficiently. Enter Glyder.
Glyder is a small business social marketing app for the iPhone and iPad. It’s designed to make it simple for small business owners to create and share effective marketing messages via Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Email, Text Message, MailChimp and Passbook. Ingenious, right?! There’s even an option to share your completed post to Pinterest on the backend. Given the popularity of Pinterest, that was a brilliant addition. I wish Tumblr was also included but I guess we can’t have everything.
Glyder is very intuitive – no need to read pages of instructions to figure out how to use it. The current version includes five templates and the app promises “many more to come.” Glyder focuses on visuals and “short and sweet” updates which, the app says, garner 80% more engagement when compared to longer posts. We all crave greater engagement, right? There is also the option to create a custom Glyder design to match your existing branding. Another great addition.
So what makes Glyder stand out among the many other social sharing apps? Co-Founder Glenn Allen had this to say: “Very small businesses still struggle with the complexity of online marketing – they have to reach their customers on multiple platforms and are underserved by existing web-based tools. They don’t have the time required to figure out all the platforms or the money to hire an employee or consultant,” says Glenn, whose experience starting OpenTable helped develop the idea for Glyder. “After meeting hundreds of business owners and seeing the same issues over and over again, it became clear that these businesses need a faster, easier, more affordable way to communicate with their customers. We’re putting the power of professional design and proven customer communication into their pocket at a price that puts the interests of the business owner first.”
As a social media coach, I think Glyder will be a great option for my clients to use as a low-cost way of implementing some of the strategies I provide. Though I’m looking forward to seeing the expansion of this app it’s simplicity is part of it’s beauty. You want to do something, you do it, you share it, it’s done. Try it out and let me know what you think. Glyder is available for free at http://www.glyder.co and on the iTunes app store (short link: http://glydr.co/AppStore).
I’ve spent a lot of time recently thinking about passion and purpose. As you know, I’ve been providing social media management and image consulting services but I’ve decided that, in order to be in better alignment with my passions AND my purpose, I’m going to slightly change the focus of my business.
Take a look at this video then contact me!
Google launched Google for Entrepreneurs this week, just in time to celebrate turning 14. Yep, Google is only 14 years old. Do you even remember how we responded to questions before “Google it” became a part of our lexicon?
In celebration of this launch, Google is holding several events and luckily DC was one of the locations. The event was quite well attended. In fact, we were told there was a waiting list of 200 so obviously interest was high. So glad I was able to be in attendance.
Check out my Storify story below.
The theme of self-trust has been hitting me over the head lately. Perhaps the universe is trying to tell me something. Something I can share with you.
Last night I had a conversation with a young lady whom I’ve known for a while via Twitter but had never met face to face until then. It was great to finally put a face to an avi. 
We talked about a variety of topics but of course, being who we are, at some point the conversation turned to social media.
She’s been running a successful Twitter chat for a few years and we were discussing how she can use that platform to catapult her brand into other arenas. For every “but I can’t…” she gave I came back at her with a reason why she could. For every doubt she had I came back with a way to overcome it. The conversation was both personal and professional but this lack of understanding or rather believing that she was indeed not only capable but the right person to put her ideas into motion was a recurring theme. She just didn’t trust herself enough because of the messages she was telling herself. The crazy thing is, the messages she was giving herself – the same ones I was shooting down left and right – are the same messages I give myself. Every day.
Fast forward to this afternoon. I decided to tune in to the online radio show, ‘The Big Idea with Coach Hayya Lee.‘ The topic was ’8 Keys to Success in Business and Life.’ Key number five was…wait for it…trust yourself. My mind went immediately to the conversation I had last night (there were three of us total) and how negative self-talk and lack of self trust were recurrent themes. Hayya talked about how not trusting in yourself in your personal life translates to your business. She said people can sense your feelings and will thus have less confidence in you, no matter how capable you actually are. I felt like she was speaking directly to me! The crazy thing is, I can prop up, support, motivate and promote other people til the cows come home, leave and come back again. I’m good at it. It comes naturally to me and I love doing it. When it comes to doing the same for myself, I fall short. Way short. It may seem crazy to admit that on my business site but I’m just keeping it real. I’m a huge fan of authenticity.
I’ve always believed the issue was not that I doubt my skills and capabilities but rather that tooting my own horn, as they say, has never been my thing. Still, this theme of “trust yourself” has been showing up over and over- both personally and professionally- so I’m thinking there’s a message I’m supposed to get. I’m seeing how, as Hayya mentioned, so many other actions, or lack thereof, can stem from not trusting in yourself. Not just trusting yourself on the surface, but deep, DEEP down and in multiple areas.
So now I have to ask myself the hard questions. Do I trust myself? If I don’t trust myself, how can I expect anyone, potential clients, YOU to trust me? How should trusting myself manifest in a business sense so others can see it?
Now I have to ask YOU the hard questions. Do you trust yourself? How does your self-trust or lack thereof manifest itself in your business life? Let’s discuss.
Remember when I said I had a fear of public speaking? Well, those days are long gone. Thanks to reading the first three principles from ‘The 7 Principles of Public Speaking’ I have been able to conquer this fear not only in theory but in practice.
In the past several months I’ve presented in front of audiences for the DC Small Business Development Center, the Washington DC Economic Partnership and the University of DC Community College on the topics of branding, social media and resume writing. Each experience was fantastic and the feedback was extremely positive. I can’t believe I wasted so much time being afraid!
I’m on a roll now and I don’t want to stop!
Need a speaker to talk to your group about branding, social media or image consulting? Contact me today! I am officially a speaker for hire.
YOU are your brand. Represent!
It’s been a while since my last DC Social Hues interview but when I met Leon Harvey, Jr. at a recent event celebrating Social Media Day I knew he’d be a perfect candidate for the next installment of the series.
Harvey runs LifeStyleFeed.com, a website and mobile app that provides consumers, or as Harvey prefers to call them, guests, with short videos of various local venues. It’s a great way to get a feel for a place before you get there. I’m so glad Mr. Harvey (as it says on his business cards) took time from his busy schedule to sit down with me to discuss LifeStyleFeed.com – present and future.
“In helping others, we shall help ourselves, for whatever good we give out completes the circle and comes back to us.” - Flora Edwards
A child of a military family, the “being of service” bug bit Harvey early on. Through his early jobs as a restaurant server, he discovered that he got genuine joy from seeing people enjoying themselves. As he told me, “Not only do I want to be happy, I like seeing other people happy.” During our lunch meeting, I could tell this was indeed the case. He was more attentive to me than our server was!
“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” - Bill Gates
Harvey’s 15 years of restaurant industry experience have served him well in his entrepreneurial pursuit. Throughout his successful tenures as a concierge and private dining manager at numerous local establishments, he kept his eyes and ears open behind the scenes and was the go-to person for answering customer questions. The first-hand knowledge he gained of the complaints and concerns of both venue management and customers planted the seeds for the development of LifeStyleFeed.com
Rule No. 1: Meet people where they are.
One thing about stats is they’re always changing but just to give you an idea about the popularity of online video (data from Hubspot Blog):
As you can see, the smart money is on video. Though there are multiple online outlets for searching and reviewing restaurants and other venues, Harvey realized that no one had developed a service that focused on videos. That’s where LifeStyleFeed.com comes in. Harvey envisions the service serving as a web/mobile concierge for his “guests” – providing not only video previews but information on daily specials and other resources. The mobile app will also be integrated with Google Maps for your added convenience. In Harvey’s words, “I want the site to do all the work for the person.” Who wouldn’t love to have a personal concierge in their pocket?
As is my way, Harvey and I had more of a conversation than a traditional interview, but I made sure to ask him some key questions.
TR: What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned as an entrepreneur?
LH: Entrepreneurs must be willing to sacrifice. Your willingness to sacrifice correlates to how serious you are about your venture. I’ve also learned the time period from idea to concept fruition must be short. If you take too long you give someone else the opportunity to take your idea and run with it.
TR: Who’s the ideal LifeStyleFeed.com “guest”?
LH: The “ideal” LifeStyleFeed.com guest is sophisticated, savvy, intuitive, needy, cultured and is an actor vs. being a reactor. He/she is that friend everyone turns to find out what’s going on. Of course, if you don’t currently possess those traits or are not “that friend” LifeStyleFeed.com is prepared to help you change that.
TR: Other than the videos displayed on the site and the app, what role does social media play in LifeStyleFeed.com?
LH: Social media puts people on an even playing field. It gives us the opportunity to connect and engage with a much wider audience as well as potential collaborators. Our Facebook page and Twitter account are fairly new but please connect with us there to find out all about what we’re up to.
TR: What does the future look like for LifeStyleFeed.com?
LH: We’re planning to branch out into other cities and to reach beyond hospitality into the retail and fashion sectors. To that end, we’ve started an IndieGogo campaign to help raise funds to support these initiatives. We also plan to eventually include promotional groups such as meetups, brands and promoters.
“Harvey. Leon Harvey.”
The five words Harvey used to describe himself were Relentless, Passionate, Intense, Perceptive and Empathetic. I can’t think of any better traits to have for someone dedicated to making life easier for others. Download the LifeStyleFeed.com app today to get a firsthand glimpse of how it will feed YOUR lifestyle.
*Special shout-out to the fabulously talented Anthony Tilghman for the photo accompanying this post.
