Mommy Monday:: Forever Heart Publishing

Michelle Murray is the bereaved mother of Tyler Jason, who passed away in March 2006. He was only seven weeks old when he died and Murray wanted to have a proper baby book for him that would serve as a memorial of his short life.

So, she decided to create and self-publish one. "I Will Hold You In My Heart Forever - A Baby Book for Little Angels" is what Murray produced, under the umbrella of her company Forever Heart Publishing.

In addition to running her website and selling her book, Murray also works full-time as an x-ray technologist and two other children at home. “Balancing all of this on my plate sometimes can be a juggling act,” she admits. “My father helps me a lot with the book as I am not home to do the shipping.”

“I really feel that this book is helping mothers who have experienced miscarriage, stillbirth or infant death. There are a lot of mothers out there who suffer from a loss of a child. Having been through the grief of losing a baby I know more than anything that people want to talk about this precious baby that was a major part of their life,” she said. According to Murray, bereavement professionals who have looked at the book feel that it helps mothers with the grief process.

Murray is happy that Tyler’s legacy is helping other families through their grief and that something special has come from his short life.

You can find Forever Heart Publishing online and on Facebook.

Are Facebook Friends, Real Friends or Just Business Acquaintances?

By Heather Lopez

When I was in college, I was not on Facebook yet. It really wasn’t existent at the moment, at least not on my campus. I did a lot of IM’ing via AOL and MySpace messages. In some ways, I kind of miss those days because it was okay to have a profile that really spoke to me as a person. Plus, it was cool to swap your pics and profiles whenever you wanted to.  Oh yes, and the ability to play music from your profile was awesome. However, when the shift to Facebook happened, the noise and individuality got cut out a bit. Apparently, dull colors and rigid formatting appeal to the masses. And yet, because of the attraction of the masses, we are able to connect with so many more real people than before. But, are they real friends?

One thing I remember was that on MySpace, people would try to get the most friends they possibly could and the top positions on someone’s friends list were very valuable. On Facebook, those things don’t matter as much, at least not for individuals. Facebook caps you at 5,000 total friends and likes from your personal profile, because the personal profile is not really supposed to be for business. Businesses care about likes, interactions, comments and top favorite positioning on the side of the page wall. However, a majority of people use social media to develop social relationships, not for business. So as a business owner, there are some things we need to consider when planning our social media outreach.

This takes me to the questions: Are these social relationships, real relationships? And, where does business come into play?

According to a study released last year by Pew Internet, people using Facebook have more trusting and close relationships, more social support, and are more likely to revive relationships from the past. Let me analyze these three areas a bit more.

More Trusting and Close Relationships: This means that Facebook users exhibit more trust in people than others and have more people that they can trust in. While you used to be able to create a persona for yourself online, it is much harder on Facebook.  If you are fake, you will be called out. If you spam, you will be removed. Facebook, especially with the timeline, makes you more transparent. It also allows for in person connections via events.  In this sense, your relationships on Facebook are real.  Business Lesson: If people begin to know, like and trust you via Facebook, they will more likely purchase something from your business when you present it. You just have to make sure the focus is not always getting their money from their wallets. You want to develop reciprocal and real relationships with your followers and if you can then apply that to your business page, you can generate even more income. When people like your page and interact with it, they will more likely purchase from you.

More Social Support: When you are going through something, you can now turn to Facebook to vent or gain support from others for your cause, purpose, etc. You have access to a lot more friends than you would’ve just trying to go through your phone book. Plus, because of the Facebook algorithm, your status is seen by those who interact with and support you the most. Those who support you consistently may eventually be considered real friends even if you have never met them in person or IRL (In Real Life).  Business Lesson: Facebook can allow you to gain more support for something you are wishing to share. It can also allow you to express a viewpoint tor opinion that is important to you, and weed out those who are constantly in disagreement. If you make people feel part of your growth, and show them how they benefit from it, they will take on helping you without a ton of direction.

More Likely to Revive Dormant Relationships: 

You know you have done it- searched for people you went to high school with. Facebook has changed the shock factor of high school reunions. People are able to connect with so many people from their past and across so many borders. If the dormant relationship was pleasant, then the individuals will have fond memories they would wish to rekindle. If it was a strong relationship, like a best friend or a first love, the person will be more likely to trust the person even if they haven’t seen them in years. You can revive relationships with people you once knew and these would be real friends that you knew IRL before Facebook. Business Lesson: You can seek out people you have developed relationships with in the past and share with them what you are doing now, without making a sale. They may begin sharing your things to support and regain that connection with you that they once had. You don’t have to look at them as a prospect, but you can welcome their support in helping you grow. This especially applies when you are reciprocal in the support.

Overall, Facebook Friends can now be considered real friends whom you can trust in, be closer to, gain support from, and reconnect with. When you develop your relationships first, you can then focus on your profit second, as this will more naturally flow when you have a group of supporters.

Heather Lopez, aka The Social Commerce Mom, specializes in relationship marketing both online and off.  She is the CEO of Heather Lopez Enterprises LLC, where she is responsible for several events, websites, trainings, and services targeting moms and those seeking to market to moms. Heather empowers moms to create their own financial freedom through business or blogging so that they may have more time for what they treasure most. She is also a 30-something mom to two rambunctious toddlers and wife to one entrepreneurial-minded husband.  You can connect with Heather here.  

Marketing 101:: As Taught by Super Bowl Commercials

As a marketing professional {and as a woman} my favorite part of the Super Bowl is always the commercials. And, of course, the half time show. I always find it fascinating how large corporations choose to express their brands, considering they’ve spent millions to do so.

Now, it’s obvious that none of us here will ever be advertising on Super Bowl night. Nationally, anyway. However, you may have been lucky enough to scoop up one of the few local spots that were available. If you were, I hope your spot looked better than some of our local promotions. Sad. I digress ….

So, what were your favorite commercials from last night? And, what did they teach you, or fail to teach you about marketing? I think the biggest lesson to be learned is impact. When spending a significant amount of money, make sure your ad will be effective and make an impact. While we remember many of the spots from last night, many more are already forgotten. And, sadly enough they spent the same amount of money, maybe even more when you consider production.

I really enjoyed the M&M commercial, the Doritos baby and the Pepsi spot was great too. I liked many others, but those were probably my top three.

Another advertising strategy that was apparent last night was the use of celebrities. Obviously, it’s much more common when it comes to these high budget projects, but you can make that work for you as well. Network and align your brand with those who are well-known in your niche or in your community. An endorsement from someone popular can go a long way. Or, perhaps you could try celebrity gifting. Maybe a famous celebrity will endorse you indirectly by using, wearing or displaying your products. {We published a guest post last week about making the most of celebrity gifting here.}

Granted, we probably won’t see celebrities like Elton John, Mark Cuban or Clint Eastwood in your ads like we did those on Super Bowl Sunday, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use celebrities to push your brand.

It probably wouldn’t be a regular Super Bowl without a little bit of controversy, right? {It wasn’t just in the half-time show this year.} Ford asked GM to cancel their commercial mimicking the apocalypse, but they ignored the request and aired it last night anyway. You can read more about the GM vs. Ford debate here, but basically GM directly called out its competitor. They aren’t shying away, stating that the Chevy Silverado is the most reliable, longest-lasting truck on the road.

It was a brazen act, but admirable. Although I don’t usually recommend directly undercutting your competitors, if you’re going to do so you better have the data and the proof to back it up. That wasn’t the only clever thing GM did last night. They also incorporated technology and a giveaway. If you downloaded their app, you had a chance to win a new vehicle. Who doesn’t like a giveaway? This is an example of another easy marketing strategy that you can incorporate into your plan. You won’t be giving away cars, but giving away some of your own products can be beneficial.

So, what do you think? What did you enjoy and not enjoy about the marketing on television last night? Let us know in your comments!

Making the Most of Celebrity Gifting

By Shara Lawrence-Weiss

Question:

“I just signed up for a celebrity gifting. How can I make the most of it?”

Submitted by Bola from Slimy Bookworm

Reply from Shara – MommyPerks.com:

There are numerous factors involved in this. Some celebrity gifting services are free while others cost hundreds of dollars to participate in. Some of the gifting companies will offer more than just the gifting but most will not (blog posts, tweets, facebook links, key words used in the posts for SEO, etc). You need to know what you are getting for your money and what the company will be providing. If the company is going to provide a blog post, you’ll want to keep up on that and re-tweet the post, comment on the post for SEO (using your website as the back link), link the post to your facebook account or Google+ account, etc. All of this helps with your own SEO and branding.

You can also blog about the gifting yourself. Some companies shy away from this because they don’t want to be judged by the readers who will think, “Oh – how stupid. She gifted a celebrity. Who cares?” My advice, then, would be to focus your post on specific things and not on the celebrity. For instance, if your gifting company is donating money to a charity, from a portion of the sales, mention this in your blog post: “10 percent of the proceeds are being donated to the literacy group ________. We are proud to be a part of this gifting. Not only do we really enjoy this celebrity and the work they do, we also value the charity group that they support. We thought the gifting would be fun, great for SEO and branding and as a topper, we’re helping to send more books to children in need. It’s a win-win!” When you take the focus OFF the celebrity endorsement portion and place more value on the other aspects of the gifting, there is less room for judgment from your readers.

They may now think, “Oh, a celebrity gifting. Whoopie. But hey. At least they are helping charity. That’s cool.”

You can also mention in your post WHY you like this particular celebrity (character traits) and what prompted you to do the gifting in the first place. By adding the celebrity’s name to your post you’ll again increase the SEO value of the article. People Google these names, after all.

Tweet and Facebook your blog post and the posts of anyone else in the gifting group. If other business owners blogged, support their posts by promoting them as well. By cross-linking to one another in your write-ups you will give more SEO value to the posts as well.

You could add a nice picture to the post, showing what was given to the celebrity (from you or from the group, as a whole).

Many celebrities have endorsement contacts with other companies and cannot, for legal reasons, endorse the gifts that are shipped to them. Some of them refuse to send thank-you notes for this very reason; for fear that their “thanks” will be viewed as some kind of endorsement. Therefore, it’s better not to count on the letter or photos (you can hope for them, of course) but rather to focus on what YOU can do to promote and gain the most SEO from this.

You can also add the gifting to your media page. For instance, you could add a button that links back to the post (from the gifting service – if they wrote one), talking about who you gifted or you can subtly mention the gifting among other buzz-worthy comments:

*As seen on __________

*As reviewed by __________

*As interviewed by __________

*Gifted our product to ___________, a favorite celebrity of ours who often works to help children in need (we like that!)

Etc. Etc.

Please note: some gifting services will claim that unless you get a thank you note or photo, the gifting is totally worthless. This is only true if the gifting company is doing nothing more to help you: no blog posts, no SEO guidance, no tweets, no facebook postings, no back links, etc. SEO and social media promotions are a critical part of online small business success. If the gifting company is not offering any of this then it’s true – you won’t be getting much for your money. If they are offering these things, however, then you are certainly gaining something from the payment: SEO, branding assistance, back links, key words, information for your media page and so on.

Shara Lawrence-Weiss has a background in education, early childhood, special needs, freelance and marketing. She owns various websites including: Mommy Perks, Kids Perks, Personal Child Stories, Early Childhood News and Resources and Pine Media (co owner). Shara is an active member of her town charity group and a Library Board Member. Learn more about her at Mommy Perks.

Mommy Monday:: LifeCubby

Sue Testaguzza is the mom entrepreneur behind LifeCubby, a free online application where parents can store their children’s data, photos and video. Work on LifeCubby began in the fall of 2010 and the site officially went live in September of 2011.

The types of data that can be stored in LifeCubby include growth charts (height and weight), certificates, awards, writing samples, scans of artwork, current sizes, health history, allergies, immunizations, CHIRPS, etc. Parents can also use it to track things like chore assignments, allowance payments, educational goals, resumes, etc.

And, it’s great for teachers, particularly early childhood teachers. It can store students’ data, photos and videos. Teachers can also use LifeCubby for their students’ assessments (evaluations for parent-teacher conferences) for birth to age six.According to Testaguzza, balancing business with family is always tough. “I have five children of my own, and sometimes I just have to work really late, long after everyone's gone to bed, to get it all done,” she said.

“I have a wonderful, loving and supportive husband, and that is a huge blessing!  I try to get as much done as I can before the kids get home from school.  My desk is never completely cleared off, nor are all my emails answered the day I get them, but I try to address everything in a timely manner.” Testaguzza encourages other aspiring mom entrepreneurs to follow their passion and not get discouraged.

In addition to their main website, LifeCubby can be found on Twitter and Facebook.