Do you feel like no one is listening to you?  You put up a blog post, tweet it out, put it on Facebook and nothing?  Nada, zilch, zippo.  Why is that?  Let’s look at 5 possible reasons.

Now you really have to watch my video to get all of my advice on these tidbits but here is the list.

1.  You aren’t interacting.  You need to be social and talk to others first.  Retweet them, comment on their Facebook posts, get out there and comment on blogs.  I know it takes time but schedule it in!

2.  You aren’t connecting in real life.  Some of my best connections on line are with people I’ve made an effort to connect with in real life.  Get out to networking events, tweetups, call people on Skype!

3.  You aren’t putting out quality content.  Now I’m not pointing any fingers here.  I don’t know what your content is like but it might be time to take a look at it.  Are you writing about things that people are interested in?  Use Twitter searches to find out what people have questions about.

4.  Maybe your content rocks but your headlines aren’t interesting.  Make sure they are retweetable and compelling.  Take a look at Copybloggers 10 Surefire Headlines That Work post.

5.  You are playing it safe.  Stir the pot, create controversy, ruffle some feathers!  All of that!

Now I’m not saying that I’m the best at all this.  I need as much work as the next guy.  But let’s do this together and get our message heard and help some people!  Now watch my video.

Hi. Grandma Mary here. I had to let you know about two new fantastic books I have available that will finally clear the Twitter and Facebook clutter and confusion. How to Use Facebook to Grow Your Business and How to Use Twitter to Grow Your Business.

Twitter and Facebook can be confusing and frustrating – how do you get more followers, more friends or more people to like you? It’s like high school all over again. And you are busy – you have things to do. These books are quick, simple and straight-talking guides on how to leverage these sites for your business. Practical advice with step-by-step instructions.

These books are a steal at $17 each and $30 for both for a limited time – the price goes up Memorial Weekend.  Click on the books to find out more about what’s in them and what people are saying about them.  And watch the video.

That’s right, I’m packing it up.  Don’t worry, I’m not really going anywhere.  But my 30 Days to Social Media Mastery Program is.  It’s been a good run but it’s time to close the doors and focus on other projects coming out later this year.

This is fantastic training, if I do say so myself, with a daily 10-15 minute video tutorial on blogging, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, forums, JV’s and more.  Plus you get a downloadable pdf and a homework assignment to keep you on track.  It’s all self-paced and will be accessible indefinitely.  Find out more here http://www.30DaystoSocialMediaMastery.com

The doors close on Friday February 12th at noon MT.  And I have a great bonus for you – the first five people in this week get a free 45-minute one-on-one coaching session to work specifically on how to use Social Media to grow your business.  Let me know if you have any questions!   GrandmaMary@GrandmaMaryShow.com.

I had the privilege of sitting down with Joel Comm, author of Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time- among the many other things he does – and we talked about Twitter, Social Media and yodeling pickles.  He is a hoot!

He’s doing a lot of great things – iphone apps (his iFart application was featured on the Daily Show), Elevate Seminars, and has a new book coming out in the summer called Ka-Ching: How to Run a Business that Pays and Pays.  We had a great time, just watch out for the flying monkeys.  He likes to have fun at work while taking your business seriously. I like that!

Watch the interview and find out more about Joel at www.infomediainc.com

Last night I had the pleasure of going to a Denver Tweetup organized by Rick Bakas of St. Supery. It was fantastic!

Now for those of you who don’t know Rick, you should. He has a great story. He is now the Director of Social Media at St. Supery Vineyards and, as Gary Vee would say, “He’s working his face off” to help make St. Supery a stand out success story in the Social Media world.

He landed his dream job at St. Supery earlier this year after working in brand manager at Nike. He showed his knowledge of wine and ability to grow a social network through Twitter and Facebook and blogging. His passion for wine and Social Media came through and he landed the job at St. Supery. For those of you who are looking for your dream job, be inspired. Show your passion and it can happen.

I caught up with Rick at the Tweetup and he gave some great advice: “Put the Social back into Social Media”. Take a look:

Thanks to @zsazsa Kit Seeborg for the camera work!

It was great to take his advice and meet some fantastic people that I’ve been tweeting with for awhile

Grandma with Rick Bakas and Kit Seeborg

Grandma Mary with Patti Serrano (@iGrandmaTV)

Grandma with Cali (@caligater)

Was also fortunate to meet and see again these fantastic people
@DoyleAlbee
@jamiebakas
@RedHeadWriting
@BizCoachDeb
@iGrandmaTV
@zsazsa
@caligater
@Tekee
@darkheath
@vinoluci
@invinciblekate

If I’m leaving anyone out, I’ll just chalk it up to senility – or the wine. Plus there were others there I didn’t get to talk to. But take Rick’s advice and put the Social back into Social Media! Great advice.

Last night I went to see Gary Vaynerchuk on his last stop of his Crush It Book tour. For those of you who haven’t heard of Gary Vaynerchuk, or Gary Vee as he’s known, he has used Social Media to catapult Wine Library TV, his video blog about wine, into one of the hottest blogs in the internet with over 80,000 views a day.

So what did Grandma think? He was fantastic. He had great insight into what is happening right now with Social Media. I had him answer the question “If you could sum up all of your Social Media advice into one word, what would that word be?” Find out the answer in the video below.

He also spent some time talking about why his book is subtitled “Why Now is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion” and focusing on why the word Now is so important in that subtitle.  He feels that we are living in the biggest cultural shift in media in our lifetime and equates it to the development of the printing press.

He also felt that Mobile technology is going to be huge next year and he is working on getting everything he is doing right now into mobile. So go out and invest in mobile technology!

Actually his message was very clear. Find something you are passionate about and live it. Anyone can do it with hard work, hustle and quality. It was very inspirational and I encourage anyone with a dream to go out and read Crush It!

You gotta read this book!

Andrea also got her photo with Gary

What is the deal with Grandma Mary?  Here it is – the deal.

Post a comment and let me know what you think!

We all need to take breaks from time to time.  This post is inspired by my last week where I was not on Twitter, I hardly posted to Facebook, I didn’t post anything to my blog and it felt great!

Don’t worry about taking some time off from Social Media.  People aren’t going to forget about you.  You need to get away from all the yammering out there and relax your brain.

Plus when you spend some time in a quiet place (like a small closet – well I don’t really recommend that, get outside into the sunshine or something), you will find that you get more inspiration for your business.  We are all so busy.  We just need to relax and take a deep breath and appreciate all that we have done in the past year.  Celebrate yourself.

Now I’m getting all new-agey – I better stop this post while I’m ahead.  Just remember to take some time off!  Social Media will be there when you get back.

Yes that’s right! SEO and Social Media go together like peanut butter and pickles. Ok maybe that’s not the best analogy if you don’t like peanut butter and pickles – but I happen to think they’re delicious. And people don’t often think of them together. For that reason it’s a perfect analogy – people don’t think how Social Media can help their SEO. And you really need to pay attention to both for your business.

For those of you who aren’t into acronyms – SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization – basically, how easy is it for Google to find you?

You want to make sure you are optimizing your keywords in your website and you want to look like a website that has a lot of value. It’s a hidden fact that Social Media can help with that. Social Media can help with the number of site visits you are receiving as well as giving you backlinks (other websites linking to yours – the more backlinks you have, the more Google thinks that people like you).

I am teaming up with B. Hopkins from Psiphon Consulting www.psiphonconsulting.com for an exciting Teleseminar on Thursday November 19th at noon Mountain time. We are going to cover a lot of exciting material including:

• How aggressive should you be encouraging visitors to sign up, sign in or whatever for content without chasing people away?
• Is web site ROI higher than traditional marketing ROI?
• How do I get my web presence to generate more business?
• How to keep all the information we are pushing out to the Internet coordinated?
• Where do I start in Social Media?
• How do I determine the best social media outlet for my business?
• How do I maximize my time?
• Can a local business benefit from Social Media?
• How do I measure the effectiveness of social media?

And so much more! But you will need to register for the call to get the details. You can register here: http://allbusinesscoaching.com/teleseminar.php

I look forward to seeing you there!

Grandma Mary

Everyone says you have to do Social Media – well Grandma Mary has a different message – Just Don’t Do It! It’s the Anti-Nike. Only participate in Social Media if you enjoy it. Don’t do what you don’t like. Don’t like Twitter? Don’t Do It! Do something else like Facebook. Maybe you’re too shy for YouTube – that’s ok – get involved in forums or something you like.

If you are doing Social Media just because people are telling you that you need to, you aren’t going to have fun. It’s going to be a chore. Only do Social Media if you like it and you will consistently participate in it. And you don’t have to eat your broccoli either.