CRAVE CRUSH the urban girl's blog to all that you CRAVE

7 Ways Twitter Can Benefit Your Business

June 29, 2011 by CRAVE Blogger | Comments (1)

A few years ago only 30% of Twitter users were still tweeting a month after sign-up. Last statistics I saw said that number was at 60%. That’s a large number of people who jump in, can’t figure out what all the fuss is about, and give-up. Not even mentioning how many people I know who still haven’t even given the popular social media platform a try, claiming it to be a waste of time.

In interviews with media, I am often asked how I feel about social media since my business is helping women connect for friendship offline. Reporters assume I’ll start ranting on how social media is hurting our relationships. While no application or website can replace face-to-face friendships, I never cease to sing the praises of online technology.

Twitter has benefitted my business by helping me:

1. Find Like-Minded Users: I am now connected to authors, reporters, bloggers and business owners who are passionate about female friendship. For those of us whose industries aren’t tangible and local, we can instantly find a community that speaks our language and cares about our causes.

2. Network in Easy Ways: Networking, among other things, is all about finding out who someone is and how you can help each other. On Twitter, I can do in one minute what it would take me ten minutes to do if I had to shake hands and exchange pleasantries at an event. I can scan their feed to get to know them and re-tweet their valuable comments to immediately promote them to my followers.

3. Increase my Blog Traffic: Every blog I mention in a tweet attracts different readers and is re-tweeted, reaching a wider audience than simply posting my blog and hoping I’m found. Twitter is like a community bulletin board where I can invite those who are interested to read whatever content of mine they value.

4. Track News in my Industry: This is no small thing! I have a column on my tweetdeck with the word “friend” set up in the search. That means that when someone I am following mentions that word their tweet will show up in that column helping me easily find research, blogs, testimonies and trends on the subject. This includes the big names like New York Times, Huffington Post and Good Morning America, but it also helps me find poignant musings by new bloggers and users in other industries.

5. Keep Tabs on my Competition: I can easily see what kind of media attention, events and ideas my competitors are promoting. No spying necessary! It helps me gauge my own success, inspire me to grow, and be more clear on what my unique advantage is that they don’t offer.

6. Promote my Brand: I tend to tweet three different kinds of tweets: general content on friendship (i.e. Did you know women replace ½ their friends every 7 years?), specific company information (i.e. Still 2 more spots in Chicago for this weekend’s event!) and interaction with others (Re-tweeting, introducing myself, swapping ideas). All my tweets stay on my topic in some way.

7. Stay Connected to My Community: One of my tweetdeck columns is for the women in my local business-networking group that I attend. Being able to quickly see what they’re tweeting in the weeks between our get-togethers, I have a good sense of what’s important to them, what they’re doing and how I might be able to partner with them in meaningful ways.

If you’re on Twitter, follow me at @girlfrndcircles and be sure to say hi!

Shasta Nelson, M.Div., life strategist & CEO of GirlFriendCircles.com (find local female friends) writes weekly on Shasta’s Friendship Blog and at Huffington Post.

Maximize Productivity with the Right Scheduling Tools

June 27, 2011 by Mollie | Comments (0)

Chances are if you run a business you’re constantly scheduling appointments, meetings and conferences throughout your week. You of course want to make sure you’re maximizing productivity and making the most of each and everyday. Keeping track of your schedule and setting appointment reminders are things that can useful in managing your time effectively.

Google Calendar- is a helpful time management and productivity tool that is FREE for anyone to use. You can set up weekly, monthly or even daily reminders for your appointments. You can access Google Calendar on your smart phone, iPad or computer!

Tungle- another free application you can download to your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch that allows you to schedule meetings and share your appointments with others.

OmniFocus- a highly intuitive task management application that can be used on your computer, or smartphone device. OmniFocus allows you to categorize tasks as well as organize your tasks and to do list in order of importance.

Productivity as defined by the dictionary is, productiveness: the quality of being productive or having the power to produce. Having a great and reliable scheduling and task management application for your business will surely allow you to maximize your time and productivity. So what are you waiting for? Go out and get your girly geek on with a great new calendar application!

Boost Your Business with a Video

June 24, 2011 by Mollie | Comments (3)

Videos are a great tool in business and marketing. A video allows others to get a real life view in real time to see what you and your business are all about. A video is personal and can in turn lead to increased website traffic and sales. Making a video may seem like a daunting task but with the wonders of technology today like the Flip Camera you can capture video anytime, anywhere. Once you’ve decided to take the step in making a video, pat yourself on the back because you’ve made an exciting decision, then map out your goals and plans for your video.

There are a couple things to consider when getting started-

Know your audience- ask yourself “who will be watching my video?”
Have a clear message- what do you hope your audience will walk away from after watching this video?
Where will you be uploading this video to? Do you have a YouTube Channel or maybe Vimeo? YouTube is one of the most visited websites in the world with a huge audience to offer, so there is benefit in creating a branded channel for yourself there.
What kind of video are you creating? Is this a “how to” instructional video? Are you selling a product?
Try and keep your video between 2-3 minutes, a short and sweet message is most effective!

Now go out and get your girly geek on by make a great video to share with the world!

Embrace Your Geek Identity in Style

June 22, 2011 by CRAVE Blogger | Comments (0)

I’ve been wearing glasses since around the 3rd grade. It’s a wonder I made it that long being that I come from terrible eye DNA.

My first glasses were reading glasses – metallic blue and roundish. I never wanted to take them off, despite only needing them for short distances. I would squint & strain so that I could see the blackboard without removing them.

Later, my nearsightedness emerged and my glasses became a necessity. I embraced half-rimmed glasses as my eyewear statement for several years before realizing my natural klutziness made them highly impractical.

That’s when I was introduced to plastic frames.

It was the tail end of high school. I was letting go of the trappings of impressing peers who didn’t care and coming into my own personal style. I had a pixie hair cut and a reputation for geekiness that I was a little too proud of. At the end of my annual eye exam, the sales clerk presented me with the wall of frames as per usual.

Then she pulled out a tray of new arrivals, saying that I might be interested in the latest trend.

In the tray, there were frames of every color. They looked like candy.

Sold.

I’ve had make-a-statement plastic frames every since. Orangey tan, black & red, white & black, gray & cream. I got married in a particularly striking pair of raspberry-colored frames.

I’m not myself – a geek by all definitions – without glasses perched on my nose. They are part of my identity.

Being a geek is more than just having the latest gadgets – which I do, speaking in code-ladden gibberish – which I can, or even having a penchant for the technological – oh yes. Being a geek is a worldview.

We girl geeks just see the world differently. Whether we geek out over art & design or the latest iSomethingorOther, vampires or video games, our daily activities are colored with the paint of our geeky desires. It’s no wonder glasses have become a staple of girl-geekdom.

In a recent Bust magazine article, there was a short history of the female-with-glasses archetype:

Steel or horn-rimmed but always plain and pragmatic, glasses marked both the women’s-college grind (a pejorative term for the overly studious) and the spinsterish co-ed who competed against rather than coquetted with male students.

It seems most of the 19th & 20th centuries were not kind to girl geeks. I’d like to think that’s changed. Girl geeks are leaders, entrepreneurs, sex symbols, and change-makers.

Tortoise shell or colorful plastic, you can tell a lot about a girl by her choice of spectacles. She’s passionate and she doesn’t care to hide it. She’s not afraid of committing to her choices. She sees a world that’s fuzzy on the edges so she prefers to look straight ahead onto the path she’s forging.

Glasses, and geekery in general, are alluring because nonconformity is alluring. And nonconformity is a great way to see through the mediocrity all around us.

The Dalai Lama has said that Western women will save the world. I like to think those women are geeks in glasses.

Tara Gentile empowers passion-driven entrepreneurs to find the profit in producing the work of their true spirit. She is the author of the digital guide, The Art of Earning. To find out more & read her musings on building the New Economy with you at the center, visit her blog.

Become a Tech Savvy Superwoman

June 20, 2011 by CRAVE Blogger | Comments (1)

Tech Savvy Superwomen!

As Christina Aguilera’s song goes: “what a girl wants, what a girl needs…” is her technology! The women of our times are no longer perceived as too frail but independent individuals. We are the SUPERWOMEN of this generation and rightfully so! It’s doesn’t come as a shocker to be walking down the street and seeing a well-suited woman with an iPad and iPhone in one hand and a child in the other. Technology is the new helping hand and luxury, making our world and lives a much happier place! How so? Allow me to demonstrate, with one click: a dinner party is planned, a trip is booked, and your children’s classes are registered, all accomplished in a snap while on a conference call!

Nowadays, we take technology for granted and sometimes forget to appreciate what it has done for every household. It is so integrated in our daily lives we tend to forget what life would be without it…? It’s frightening to even imagine! To further demonstrate this, here are a few applications I use and cannot live without, enjoy:

Hashable: the ultimate networking app. which allows the capability to exchange business cards, make easy intros, and ‘check-ins’ with people to track meetings and calls. Let’s not forget… GO GREEN! Not only will you be killing fewer trees, cutting cost, but will be feeling good too!

Bump: Want to share something with a friend or someone you just met? It allows you to text them for free!!!! You read it, FREE! Now that is what I call a sweet-deal!

Date Saver Platinum: Ever been on a date and needed to use the bathroom but felt embarrassed? Well, no more because the Date Saver is here to help! Phew! You can say goodbye to turning on faucets, wasting water and electricity.

Square: Start accepting credit cards today. It transforms your iPhone or iPad into an elegant point of sale. Whether you are having a garage sale or have started a small business, Square has made it easier to accept Credit Card payments on the go. WOW!

So, next time you feel like bringing out that “geeky-ness” and discover new ways to improve your life… take a tour of an App Store and see what you’ll find!

Click here to lean more about Sepideh visit her blog and check out her Twitter.

Join The Movement and Help Empower Women Worldwide

June 17, 2011 by Mollie | Comments (1)

CRAVE is all about women business owners. At CRAVE, we believe in acknowledging, celebrating and passionately supporting locally owned businesses. We know that when encouraged to thrive, neighborhood establishments enhance communities. As a business focused on supporting female entrepreneurs, and also founded and owned by a female entrepreneur, CRAVE feels a special connection with the goals of FITE. CRAVE has been fortunate to support female entrepreneurs in over 30 cities across North America and Europe and are excited for the opportunity to support female entrepreneurs through FITE in regions where our traditional channels would not be able to reach.

Join CRAVE’s FITE Lending Team and get started in making a microloan; you can help fund a microloan for as little as $25.00! You are able to select the woman and business of your choice that you would like to issue your loan to, you’re also able to read more about where they are from, their business and what they will be using the money for. You too can be apart of this global movement and help empower women worldwide.

Here is how simple it is:

Step 1: Go to joinFITE.org

Step 2: Click Teams

Step 3: Type in and search ‘CRAVE’

Step 4: Select make a microloan and your loan will go toward the CRAVE teams effort!

Tweet to Win: CRAVE Giveaway!

June 15, 2011 by Nicole S. | Comments (4)

We love trying new recipes, new cooking techniques, and new ideas. We do NOT love heading into the kitchen prepared to create a gourmet meal only to find that we are seriously lacking the tools and supplies. Prevent this horrible letdown by participating in a fabulous contest created exclusively for CRAVE followers. In honor of the re-issue of Nina Simonds award winning cookbook, Spoonful of Ginger, she has created fabulous Chinese Cooking Starter Kits. Win one of ten kits that include Spoonful of Ginger and all of the tools necessary to prepare her famous healthy and delicious dishes. All you have to do to enter is follow your CRAVE city of choice and Nina at @SpicesofLife then tweet us a message using the hashtag #SpoonfulContest. Win the contest and your kitchen will be fully stocked so that you can head in on a whim and whip up any of Nina’s healthy and delicious recipes. Still unsure about your skills in the kitchen? Check out this  video of Nina demonstrating just how to use every tool in the kit.

Each winner (there will be 10!) will receive the following prize pack:

· A 14-inch rolled steel, heavy-gauge wok with wooden handles

· A dome lid that fits perfectly in the wok, transforming it into a steamer or braising pan

· A Chinese shovel that is designed to conform to the sides of the wok, making tossing food in the pan a breeze

· A traditional Chinese handled strainer with a mesh wire basket which is used to scoop food out of a pan or hot oil or water and is excellent for holding food to drain

· A steamer rack that fits perfectly in the bottom of a wok or any pan to hold a heatproof plate or bowl that contains the food to be steamed.

· A set of handsome wooden chopsticks

· An autographed copy of the newly reissued, best-selling cookbook Spoonful of Ginger, which won both the James Beard and IACP cookbook award for health
To enter follow CRAVE and @SpicesofLife on Twitter, then tweet us a message using #SpoonfulContest to win! Check out spicesoflife.com to learn more.

3 Top Technology Timesavers

June 15, 2011 by CRAVE Blogger | Comments (0)

3 top technology timesavers

A confession: I really like paper and pens. I track my billable hours in a pretty notebook and I hang a hand-written to-do list by my desk at the beginning of each week. I write notes on a calendar in the kitchen. So if I have favorite, paper-replacing, time-saving technology, it’s because it worked hard to win my heart.

For invoicing
Blinksale – I used to create all my estimates and invoices manually, using a pretty template I’d made in Word. One of the best things I ever did for myself was sign up with Blinksale, a web-based invoicing tool. It lets clients pay by PayPal if they like (so you get paid more quickly). It provides different reports so I know how much tax I owe the government each quarter without pulling out a calculator. From the dashboard I can see at a glance who owes what, and writing new estimates and invoices takes three minutes at most. The templates are beautiful and you can send fun thank-you notes through the system as well. It has saved me hours and hours and hours!

For automatic info product delivery
e-Junkie.com – Everybody and their dog is selling info products on their sites these days. (Me, I just launched my first e-marketing workbook for solo-entrepreneurs, How to Write a Lovable Homepage.) E-junkie.com looks daunting at first, but once you get in, it’s pretty easy. You upload your PDF (or audio file, etc), set the price, and it’ll spit out a link to add to your site. Voila, you’re in business! And once you’re done, you’re done. Everything is automated.
For e-newsletters

Mad Mimi – I ghost-write and design newsletters for clients so I’ve worked with several different e-newsletter providers. Hands down, Mad Mimi is the prettiest and the easiest. And their tech support is super friendly. Also, they’re worth checking out just for their charming Facebook posts.
—
Carrie Klassen is a green tea enthusiast, amateur poet, fine point pen aficionado, INFJ Scorpio, and president of Pink Elephant Communications, a writing and design boutique for inspired entrepreneurs across North America. She also teaches workshops and writes marketing workbooks at the brand new Pink Elephant Academy for Entrepreneurs .Visit Pink Elephant Academy for a free homepage assessment quiz.

Grow Your Twitter Following Fast

June 13, 2011 by Mollie | Comments (0)

Chances are if you have a business you have social media to go along with it. Twitter and Facebook are great tools in helping you promote your business and brand in the digital world. These tools now allow you endless possibilities; you can converse with anyone anywhere. Once you’ve established your presence online your goal of course in addition to promoting your business, growing it and increasing sales or productivity is to gain a loyal following. This may seem daunting at first as there are now over 200 million people on Twitter, but try to think about this in terms of there are 200 million people waiting to hear all about what you do. A great online tool to geek out on and help you search for people who might be interested in your business is a great website called FollowerWonk. This website allows you to do three things, search Twitter biographies, compare Twitter users and something called slice ‘n dice. The Twitter bio search is useful in that you can select a keyword and even get as specific as the city you’re searching in, so if you’re looking for fashion bloggers in Los Angeles you have the option to search for just that. FollowerWonk will then list out every Twitter user that has fashion and blogger in their bio, the list is sorted by relevance from the user with the most follows to the least. You are additionally able to see how many people this user follows, their location and full bio. The compare user function assists you in evaluating Twitter users, you can see how they contrast, how they are similar and different. Information is illustrated in graphs and charts for your understanding. Slice ‘n dice is very intuitive in breaking down a user by seeing how many people follow them, what kind of people follow them and words that describe the user you’re researching.

The best part about this tool is that it’s free to start using! So let the outreach and engagement begin, FollowerWonk opens the doubles doors that allow you to connect with other great likeminded individuals.

Secrets to Launching Your Career with Social Media

June 10, 2011 by CRAVE Blogger | Comments (6)

Women want to feel secure. They want to know that they have a solid group of friends, a great career and a special person to make them feel appreciated, loved and adored.

How can a woman have it all? It can be challenging to reach both personal and professional goals without a clear sense of what you want and how to achieve it. We are all busy with to-do lists, errands, and obligations. In this day and age, technology has taken over our lifestyles in how we think business and socialize. Technology is no longer considered a masculine dominated field. Some of the most influential women, such as Jennifer Hyman and Jennifer Fleiss who created the popular fashionista e-commerce company “Rent the Runway” would not be where they are today without technology.

Technology, specifically using it for social media, is an incredible tool for personal and professional growth. It is important for businesswomen to build relationships with diverse people both in and out of their particular or ideal industry. The first step to building a successful business or brand is connecting with others. Technology allows this to happen.

Based on my personal success, I believe technology is a woman’s best friend. I jumped on the technology scene about a year ago by upgrading to a smart phone (finally!), purchasing a brand new laptop and becoming active on Twitter. I became absolutely intrigued with social media and it has been the answer to finding my niche in business, connecting with others and learning about myself.

As a woman who was looking for my calling in the business world, I turned to social media to help me find answers. I wanted to be on the west coast (It was too cold in Minnesota!) and had a desire to learn all I could about the people and companies who dominated the public relations scene in specific cities. I downloaded Tweet Deck, an amazing Twitter app for mobile and desktop and the magic started to happen. I knew that some of the top “techy” cities in the U.S. included San Fransisco, New York City, Austin and most importantly to me, Seattle-a city that I was interested in but didn’t know much about. I fell in love with Seattle through technology because I quickly learned that people there really knew how to communicate, were extremely intelligent and wanted to engage with everyone, regardless of their occupation or location. I knew I needed to create a brand for myself and technology allowed me to do that. With the immediate access I finally had with a smart phone, I found myself constantly connecting with people who knew the ins and outs of the business, had valuable advice and most of all, wanted to help. I spent every day engaging with people on Twitter (about personal and professional topics) as well as posting interesting online articles to position myself as a social media enthusiast and someone who delivered quality content.

Can social media really help a woman who wants to start a company or find a job? I have been asked this several times. The answer is, absolutely! Seven months later I am now living in Seattle. I discovered through using technology that my true calling was a career in social media. I became passionate about it and wanted to put all my energy into helping other companies and brands succeed using social media channels. After months of long distance Skype interviews, another new way technology has changed the job search and interview process, I received three full time social media job offers within a week of moving. This would not have happened without engaging online and developing real connections with people in the industry. I’ve found a job, amazing new friends and a bit of romance-all through technology.

Emily Bratkovich is a social media community manager at an interactive web marketing agency in Seattle, WA. She also works on multiple social media and public relations freelance projects for companies in California and Minnesota, be sure to check her out on Twitter and on her blog seattlesota.com.

Next Page »