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Happy Thursday! I shared a light-hearted post yesterday for "Be Inspired Wednesday". Just wanted to share in case you missed it (it was posted around 8:30 pm).  Today we're going to explore Hootsuite for Twitter .  I've talked about Hootsuite on several occasions here in this space.  At the end of this post I'll link to those previous posts in case you're just getting started. Many of you have already added your Twitter account to Hootsuite, but may not realize that you can add direct messages, mentions, pending tweets, sent items, and even "lists" to your Hootsuite tab as streams.  Adding features such as these will make your Twitter experience on Hootsuite very similar to Twitter.com itself.  Not to mention, the scheduling feature for future tweets is icing on the cake, and a super-helpful tool!  I'm going to walk through "How to add your Twitter account to Hootsuite" and then "How to add Direct Messages/Mentions/Pending Tweets

I have a quick and easy tip to share on this “Twitter Tuesday” together.  Where are you getting your Twitter news? If you’re like me, you probably subscribe to many of the top tech blogs, where you read Twitter, Facebook, mobile, and video “news”.  That said, the best place to get Twitter-related news is probably from the Twitter team themselves. Screenshot of the official Twitter blog Today’s tip is to follow the official Twitter blog: http://blog.twitter.com/ .  Add them to your favorites, whether that’s by RSS, a bookmarking site, or by a traditional bookmark. And don’t forget to “follow” the blog via Twitter, as well! The profile is @twitter (go figure). One of my favorite recent tips Twitter shared on their blog is to create “lists” to help you organize your following/followers.  We’ve talked about this before and I can personally attest to the benefit of creating “lists”.  That tip, as shared by Twitter, is here: http://blog.twitter.com/2010/12/twittertip.html .   Looking for m

It's "Facebook Friday" together.  This week has truly flown by! I wanted to share a new Facebook business page design that I recently created for the talented author B.J. Welborn.  I'm not sure if you are a Civil War enthusiast/history buff.  Personally, I'm becoming more and more passionate about history now that I work part-time with a Historic Foundation and have had the pleasure of working with B.J.   B.J. is writing a book about her Civil War Odyssey, and it's unlike any other take on the Civil War that you may have read.  She's edgy, asking the tough questions, and an all-around bold and brave lady! Here's a sneak peak at her Facebook Biz page and blog .  I hope you'll consider stopping by.  I can barely wait for her to share her amazing odyssey with us, and I truly mean that! Her Facebook page ... Her blog ... Have a great weekend! Laura Catherine Otero is a marketing professional and blogger in Charleston , SC who has been active in so

I had the honor of hosting a social media call with Jacqueline Whitmore this week. What a wonderful group of talented folks!  During the call, I walked through my “10 Tips to Developing a Cohesive Brand Online”.  I’m sharing these tips with you below for our " Be Inspired Wednesday " together.  If you joined us on the call, don’t hesitate to contact me with any additional questions.  You'll notice my Twitter and Facebook info is found on the right-hand side of this blog (and on my contact page ). I look forward to connecting! 10 Tips to Developing a Cohesive Brand Online 1. Carefully name your business and include your company logo where possible .  Your business name and logo will help brand you online. Work hard on these two things! 2. Develop a compelling and concise branding statement that clearly states who you are / what you do .  It will come in handy (big time) across many social sites, such as Facebook/Twitter/Blogger/Wordpress/Flickr/etc. Your branding stateme

So, you’ve read about the great creative-minded, energetic, all-around wonderful people I’ve met through Twitter in Charleston (and far beyond)…how I’ve become “friends-in-real-life” with many of them…how I’ve organized lunches/crafting get-togethers/dinner “tweetups” AND they’ve shown up…The real question may be: How did I FIND all these people, anyway? And, after I found them, how was the connection made?  Have you wondered how you can connect with similar folks in your local area (and beyond) as well? In today’s “ Twitter Tuesday ”, I’m going to take you back to May of 2009.  It was on this month (May ’09) that I began “growing” my Charleston (SC) circle on Twitter.  I did it intentionally.  It was hard work.  It didn’t happen overnight. But man, oh man, has it been SO worth it! I’ll also share 5 power tips you can use to grow your connections on Twitter!  Before we begin, be sure to follow me on Twitter if we aren't connected already!  Back to that day in 2009… We’d made th

I recently had the privilege of creating a Facebook business page for Coastal Community Church in Charleston, SC.  Coastal already had an awesome looking website , which gave me plenty of color and design inspiration to draw from.  Add to that, an awesome, fresh logo that was also new for the church, and I had more than enough to get me buzzing with ideas for the Facebook page design. The welcome screen/profile banner I created is seen below.  If you live in/around Charleston, SC, be sure to stop over to see the Coastal page on FB. Thanks for visiting! click to view full size, or better yet,  visit the page  LIVE on Facebook.  Laura Catherine Otero is a marketing professional and blogger in Charleston , SC who has been active in social media since 2005.  If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to this blog via Email or    RSS . Laura can also be found on Twitter ( @LauraCatherineO ), Facebook , and LinkedIn . 

Twitter has truly changed the way I do “life”.  I just can’t say enough about the wonderful people I have met through the beauty of a “tweet”! It’s something I’ve  talked about  in this place before.  In fact, I’m passionate enough about Twitter that I blog about it each and every Tuesday, during our “ Twitter Tuesdays ” together. Today’s Charleston “ Ladies Who Lunch ” Tweetup (view  Twtvite ) has me on cloud nine.  There were SO many wonderful, talented ladies.  Most (if not all) were entrepreneurs/biz owners, to boot! This is the third “Tweetup” I’ve helped organize.   The first  was with the Etiquette Expert, last summer.  Then we had such fun at Taco Boy just a few months ago.   The best part was how the Tweetup naturally came into place.  Liz, Melissa, and I planned on getting together for lunch.  We decided to invite a few tweeps to add to the fun.  Then it grew. And grew.  We ended up with 17 ladies today! Talks have already begun for a #ladieswhosip #tweetup (whether it be tea

Have you discovered @ListNotify yet? We've talked about the benefit of creating your very own twitter lists in this space before, and have talked about a handy list service (Formulist) to help you build your lists.   Today, I have another tool to add to your twitter experience for our weekly " Twitter Tuesdays " together: List Notify. How does @ListNotify work? When a twitter follower adds YOU to one of his or her own twitter lists, ListNotify will automatically notify you via a handy tweet. I like this free service because I think it’s helpful to receive this kind of notification. Acknowledgement of the listing you've received by sending the twitter user a thank you for the listing tweet may be in order. I typically send thanks if it is clearly a list the twitter user manually created, adding me personally. Make sense? You can usually detect an auto Formulist-style listing, because of the standard list names often used (such as “people-like-me”, or “recently foll

I’ve been noticing a pretty neat feature on many of my friends blogs lately…essentially, a widget embedded into the end of a post that reads “You Might Also Like” and includes links to several other blog posts by the blogger, with handy thumbnail images (example below). At first, I thought it was a WordPress feature, but did a quick search to find it was available for blogger, too.  Even better, install took (literally) less than 2 minutes and it’s been working wonderfully since. Today's " Tutorial Thursday " walks you through the simple install process.  Enjoy! How to Add “You Might Also Like” Boxes to the End of Blog Posts Login to your blog In a new window, visit http://www.linkwithin.com/learn?ref=widget Fill out their simple form (email address, blog address, platform, width) Click on “Get Widget” You’ll be taken to your blog to install the widget and save Laura Catherine Otero is a marketing professional and blogger in Charleston , SC w

It’s “ Twitter Tuesday ” together. Our first of 2011, in fact! With it being a new year, I have made a few aesthetic changes to this space.   The first has been a fresh header.   Gone are the snowflakes.   The holidays are over (they were awesome!) and it’s time to jump right in to 2011.   If you’re reading this by email/RSS, stop by , check the header out, and let me know what you think. J Thanks to The Creative Biz Marathon , I got a head start.   Love. Love. Love. The second change I made was to get rid of the Twitter “widget” that was on the left-hand side of this blog.   It was big, bright, and let’s be honest…this space is getting just a tag busy.   I still wanted to drive people to connect with me on Twitter, and I think I found a good solution: a Twitter “follow button.”   It’s smaller, subtler, but still effective.   If you’re wondering what my twitter “follow button” looks like, it’s just below the Facebook box over on the right-hand side of this blog.   A screengrab is belo