“Small Biz Social Media Spotlight: Trula Breckenridge”

“Stick It To The Man” week marches on, showing those big wigs at the Blog Council that real people use social media everyday. It’s also good for those of us in PR and Marketing to step back and see how those outside our industry use the tools we take for granted. This week, socialTNT highlights every day folk who use social media for marketing purposes.

If you don’t follow me on twitter: I’ve been issuing Tweets looking for examples of small businesses or individuals who use social media. Not a big surprise, there are tons of renaissance women and men on the Internet who integrate new media tools into the full spectrum of self promotion. All of the individuals who submitted were really amazing, but one woman really knew how to work emerging media into her full brand image–and she’s not in tech!

Trula Breckenridge (check out her crazy MySpace-style “about me” survey) is a craft maven running a media empire (MSPmedia) from her living room. Her twitter profile says she is a writer and positivity enthusiast, but just one look at her website, and you’ll see she is so much more than that. Her collection of books covers everything from child rearing, poetry, self-help, vegetarian cooking/lifestyle to children’s stories.

On the social media front, Trula maintains twelve blogs with topics spanning from style and fitness to science fiction and black parenting. But it doesn’t stop there. She also uses one of her blogs and flickr to promote her upcycled and handmade fashions. In a twitter/email interview, Trula says that since she started using flickr, her sales have really started taking off. Twitter has also driven more traffic to her site, leading to increased sales of crafts and books, while also helping generate more revenue from ads.

Most importantly, social media has introduced Trula to a community of like-minded individuals who have inspired her to do things she had never before thought possible.

“Because of flickr I have encountered other people interested in upcycle, reconstructed fashion…I doubt I would have ever considered my sewing as another income stream, either to sell, blog about, or write a book about, all of which I am now doing. Because of twitter I doubt I would have ever considered turning my little zine into a full-fledged magazine with distribution, which I now am in the process of doing.”

Trula, you rock! Not only do you send positive messages out to the world through your writings, but your business model is an inspiration for others on how to utilize social media.

I also want to give a special shout-out to Jeremiah Owyang for becoming an unofficial Twitter Community Manager. Had it not been for your post this week, I would have never met Trula. You have created a much-needed community on Twitter and introduced me to hundreds of interesting people. Readers: If you haven’t had the chance to read his post, GO NOW, and meet other amazing Twitterers!

I’m still looking for more small businesses and individuals who use social media to promote themselves. Send me an email or a tweet!

“Stick It To The Man” week continues tomorrow with an exciting guest for “3sday’s 3Q’s in 3Min” video interview.

[Above photo, “fist” by frankh (on flickr) used under Creative Commons license.]

“Stick It To The Man: Choice Shirts, California Cosmetics, Technomic Asia”

As the rest of the blogosphere debates Enterprise marketing, we at socialTNT want to bring it back to the people. Big corporations meet behind closed doors to figure out social media, while thousands of people are trying out new ideas every day. This week, socialTNT is gonna “Stick It To The Man” by showcasing small businesses and individuals experimenting with new media as promotional tools.

Choice Shirts is a t-shirt site where visitors can browse, purchase and create graphic t-shirts. I know, there a literally tons of online t-shirt purveyors, but how many of them use Twitter? Choice sends out daily special tweets with discount information. There are only 20-something followers right now, but this could increase if they promoted their Twitter-stream on the site.

California Cosmetics, mentioned in my post on rethinking online video strategy, is the product of a 20 year old girl named Lauren, a certified cosmetologist working her way through college. She uses YouTube to give video tutorials on achieving certain looks. Since starting on October 29th of this year, Lauren has more than 570 subscribers and is the 16th most subscribed director in the “guru” channel. Many of her posts come from requests and questions she receives from her fan-base. By listing upcoming posts, Lauren keeps her viewers coming back.

Technomic Asia is a strategic consulting firm for businesses moving into the Asian market. The firm has approximately 25 employees. Their (mostly) weekly podcast includes tips for executives visiting China or special news relevant to companies doing business in that market. According to feedburner, their podcast has about 550 subscribers. With most episodes rack up to 2000 downloads, Technomic Asia places itself in a good position to establish thought leadership.

By looking at these three examples, how can you reach your customers directly and in real time? Do you have special knowledge or skills that you can offer your customers? What’s holding you back!

How are you using social media to promote your small business? I’d love to hear from you. Send me an email or hit me up on Twitter. We will be showcasing unique angles all week!

[Above photo by Mika Hiironneimi under Creative Commons]

“3sday’s 3Q’s in 3 Min: Chef Liz Bills, California Table”

It’s that time again, folks! That’s right: “3Q’s in 3 Min!” Every Thursday, socialTNT turns citizen journalist by putting bloggers, reporters, PR pro’s or anyone with something to say about social media in front of the camera for a short, three minute interview. Lately we’ve had some high profile reporters/analysts. Today, I wanted to change it up a little.

One of the purposes of this blog is to really make sense of all the social media technologies in an effort to understand their PR/Marketing applications. Admittedly, I’m so far out in my high-tech PR world, that I forget what it’s like on ground zero. With that in mind, today’s “3 Q’s in 3 Min” takes a step back to look at how people outside the tech bubble are using social media to promote their businesses.

Today, Chef Liz Bills from California Table tells us why she started blogging, the challenges she has encountered along the way, and the successes she has seen as a result of engaging in social media. Her experience resonates with anyone who has started or is looking to start a blog–from personal blogger to corporate blogger to small business owner–or anyone embarking on their journey learning social media.

Liz, a former Kitchen Manager at SF hot spot NOPA, recently started her own personal chef/cooking class business. A confessed technophobe and computer novice, Liz felt she had to get her story online in order to compete in the tech heavy San Francisco Bay Area.

Liz’s blog focuses on the importance of buying local and organic food. It also helps to brand Liz’s company by offering up cooking suggestions. As she explains in the video, it has proven to be an invaluable piece of PR and word-of-mouth marketing.

One of her biggest challenges was learning how to use blogging software. As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, all the emerging technology can be pretty crazy for me and I deal with it every day. Liz’s advice: “You just have to force yourself to learn, especially if you want to stand out.” Hat’s off to you Liz for trying!

Take a look at what Liz has to say. (PS: There was apparently some audio glitch in my camera. She wants to let everyone know she does not have a lisp!)

How have other new bloggers solved the content problem? Has blogging helped your small business? I’d love to hear success or challenge stories!

Thanks, Liz, for sharing your experience with socialTNT. It’s great that you are so intent on trying new things.

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