Tag Archive for 'twitter'

Useful Social Media Applications For Everyone

Published
by
LimeExchange
on August 4, 2009
in Business, Freelance, Freelancing, LimeExchange and Technology
. 2 Comments

We have been utilizing social media platforms to connect and communicate with people, friends, colleagues, clients, employees and companies from all across the globe. With the latest easy to install tools and applications, social media platforms are now easier to use and manage.

We have listed here some popular social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, twitter, Myspace and easy to install applications associated with these platforms.

LinkedIn

It is a business-oriented networking site that allows you to connect with different professionals linkedinfrom varied industries. LinkedIn Applications allow you to enhance your profile, increase business opportunities, share and collaborate with your connections effectively. The advanced applications are added to your homepage and profile enabling you to control the information access.

a) WordPress- Using this application, you can sync your WordPress blog posts with your profile. Once installed, you can filter your posts with a special LinkedIn tag and even display your personal WordPress Gravatar(Global Avatar). Your connections would be automatically updated about your new blog entry and this may enhance readership of your blog.

b) Google Presentation- The best way to make your connections see that who you are and what are you working on. You can upload a PowerPoint file or use Google’s free online application to create your presentation.

• You can display the recent conversation or presentation
• Upload a visual portfolio and achievements
• You can present a small description about your work and experience to prospective clients

C) Company Buzz- It is one the most essential tools for SMBs and SMEs as this application lets you track what people are saying about your company. People share thousands of tweets and messages about different companies so this application would help you see the relevant trends and comments about your company.

• You can see charts and graphs and track company buzz
• You can add a new topic or customize old topics
• You can also keep a note of some relevant keywords and check new tweets which are coming in

d) Huddle Workspaces- The application provided by Huddle.net, helps you create different workspaces for different groups of connections and give information access at your discretion. Keep your documents private and secure, you can access them from anywhere and anytime.

• You can work with unlimited connections
• You can use discussion forums to share ideas, plans and opinions
• Use private online workspaces to share secure file with up to 1GB of space
• You can create files and edit them online
• Post comments and request approvals

FaceBook

It is another popular social networking website that connects people, facebookprofessionals and businesses from all over the world. FaceBook also allows its users to use some of its effective applications to enhance their business network on this platform.

a) Inside Job – This business application is similar to LinkedIn as it enables you to get the inside scoop on your prospective client. You can search for jobs or find the right provider for your work requirement.

b) Promotions- You can use this application for branded interactive promotions on facebook fan pages. You can create and launch interactive marketing campaigns on Facebook such as contests, sweepstakes, coupons & giveaways etc.

C) Memorable Web Addresses – This application helps in creating a short, easy and direct personal web address, so that people can find you easily or directly land up on your profile page. You can share your profile link with other networks, post it on forums, use on your business cards etc.

You can also share it with people you know but don’t want to add in your friend list, so they can still find you to send you private messages.

d) Coworkers- It is an important business networking application for freelancers, SMEs and SMBs. By installing this application, you can organize your professional contacts on Facebook. This helps you find and connect with past connections and business associates.

Twitter

One more popular social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read twittermessages known as tweets. Twitter also works as a great connectivity, tool which connects with friends, relatives, coworkers and also keeps you updated about what your connections are up to?

Twitter applications have different names like “twitter tools”, “twitter add-ons”. But they are basically simple websites, which have built-in scripts similar to twitter.

a) Twitter Search- It works as a search engine, which allows you to search your favorite topic or keyword and what people have to say about it from around the world.

b) TweetDeck- It is also one the most popular Twitter applications. It helps in creating columns to create a personal dashboard, creating groups, updating your Facebook profile and easily sharing photos with friends.

c) Power twitter- This application adds features to the Twitter Web interface including
search and recent searches, status history on mouse rollover, Facebook status updates -inline YouTube, Flickr, TwitPic, Google Maps, song.ly, and more.

d) TweetChats- This application helps in having pre- arranged online conversations between a group of Twitter users. You can enter the name of a specific topic, using a specific Twitter hashtag to identify the discussion, and then can start sending and receiving tweets solely to the users who are talking about that topic.

MySpace

It is a social networking website, which can work as a great tool to expand your networkand myspacehelp reach out to millions to proliferate business opportunities. Just like any other social media website, MySpace also offers some great applications to its users.

a) Classifieds- Using this application, you can post free advertisements, sell your product, and help friends and connections promote and sell their product.

b) Business 3.0- Businesses can now establish profiles on social networks including Facebook,MySpace and Open Social, providing 600 million network users with business information, contact details, news, and product/service listings. It also allows b2b messaging and connections, as well as employee and customer connections.

c) Personal Finance Calculators- Free online calculators that help you make money decisions that fit your income and budget. This application help you in sorting out you income and expenditure. It calculates how much money you are spending in a week or month.

d) Occupal – This brings you the best jobs in your area and lets you network with similar professionals.

Hope these useful social media applications would help you in building strong networks while establishing your business online. Please provide us with your suggestions and feedback on the same.

How do I execute the project on an online services marketplace?

Published
by
LimeExchange
on June 1, 2009
in Freelance, Freelancing and Service Providers
. 0 Comments

Freelancing has emerged as a ray of hope for millions of people around the globe in the current financial storm marked by government bailouts, bankruptcies, social unrest, recession, depression etc.

Online services marketplaces have provided individual freelancers, SMBs & SMEs with concrete platforms to leverage outsourcing and incur huge dividends even in the current economic disquiet.freelance

We are glad to share with you that hundreds of projects have been successfully done on LimeExchange in a period of less than a year since its global launch. This has encouraged us to bring to you the project management tips that will help you successfully execute the projects on an online services marketplace.

The project management tips can be placed under 3 distinct phases of project execution:

Getting started

1. Bid on the project

Before you bid on any project, make sure that your profile is complete and convincing enough for the buyer to consider your bid for his project. However, the bid that you place must be biddingcompetitive and reasonable based on proper estimation of manpower/skill requirements and hours required to complete the job.

It is recommended that you include covering notes with the bid stating your past work experience and other details that would justify why buyer should shortlist your bid.

2. Create a Project Contract

To increase transparency, mutual trust, and sustained monitoring of the project at every stage, it is recommended that you set the scope of the project, milestones and corresponding payments and discuss them with the buyers through a Project Contract draft.

Clearly specified deliverables and terms & conditions of the project will give right direction to your project management approach and help you to complete the project on time, without compromising on the indispensable element of quality. Once agreed mutually on these, you are all set to move forward.

3. Initiate a Kickoff Checklist

Kickoff Checklist contains questions on project related pre-requisites. This is most often requested by a buyer, after awarding you with the project. It is particularly important in case of large projects where stakes are high. Prepare a Kickoff Cchecklisthecklist and send it to the buyer stating that you have enough information about the project to get started. Such pre-planning of the project will enable you to deliver top-grade results.

4. Split the project into smaller parts

You can make the task of project execution easier by breaking the project into small manageable parts to ensure that you have not missed out on anything important. The milestones set for each stage of project would serve as signals to you indicating the ‘distance traveled’ and the ‘remaining distance to be covered’. This will pave way for better project management and execution.

During the course of the project

1. Prepare a list of to-do items for timely results

Brainstorm considerably and come up with a well-formulated strategy of handling the project execution in the best possible manner. If you are dealing with a bulk project, you must prepare a list of important tasks to be attended. Prioritize the deliverables as this will help you to beat the time lines set for the project. Timely project delivery will win you great respect as a trusted freelancer.

2. Communicate and Collaborate effectively

In freelance business, communication is the key to success. Professional communication will enable you to build a trustworthy and warm relationship with your buyer, which will make project execution easier. collaborate

On LimeExchange, you can easily stay in touch with your buyers through project collaboration tools such as Project Message Board (PMB) and Instant Messaging (IM). With these collaboration tools, you can discuss requirements, send status report, share files and seek feedback by asking the buyer to review.

The more you communicate with buyer, the better your project execution will be. As a result, excellent deliverables will ensure you repeat business and long-term business relationships with the buyer.

3. Attend to buyer’s queries and keep him updated with project status

The immediate and fast response to buyer’s queries and requests will help you to successfully execute the project. Answer all his private messages and work out the time zone difference so that you can be online simultaneously and resolve project queries, in case if there are any.

Also, an effective project management tool on LimeExchange such as Issue Tracker helps in monitoring tasks, logging issues and defects which can be tracked to closure. A buyer as well as a service provider can create an issue/task.

Keep your buyer updated about the project progress so that your buyer is convinced about the right choice he made by hiring you for his project.

After the successful completion of the project

1. Keep in touch with the buyer

In order to succeed in freelance business, you need to stay in touch with the buyer to develop long-term business relationship with him as this follow-up may materialize into some monetary gains in the form of projects in the future. You can keep connected to him through various social networking tools available in the market such as LinkedIn, Twitter etc.

This step is often overlooked by freelancers. However, it’s essential as the feedback given by the buyer for the services rendered by you can earn you lots of new business and profits thereby.

We hope that the above mentioned project management tips will certainly help you successfully execute the project and beat the time frames set for the same.

With this project management strategy, get started now!