This weekend is full of goodies for you to read. I have read some already; while others I have yet to have a chance to chew on.

What are you reading on the internet this weekend? Share your great reading finds by commenting on this post.

Here is the Social Savvy Weekend Wrap Up for this week:

The Social Impact of Friendships and Lies -I found myself laughing as I read this post. Jason hit on such a relevant point of how watered down friendships have become as a result of social media.  Does that mean that social media is the cause. No, I don’t think. Read it to find out Jason’s take.

How Sticky Is Your Site? – Lexi uses her own client as an example of how to make your site sticky. Great read!

The Most Powerful Marketing Tool – Pat shares how the art of story telling can serve s strong component to your marketing strategy.

Reality Check: A Blog Is Not a Business – This had to be one of my favorite reads of the week. It is a good read for anyone looking to become a profitable blogger. The advice is practical and makes a great deal of sense. David Risely talks about getting real and understand how you really make money blogging. You have to read this!

I hope you enjoy reading these posts. Do me a favor. Come back here to this post and let me know what you read and your thoughts.

Social Savvy Online Solutions is all about helping you find ways to make your marketing and promoting efforts a little simpler. I am starting something new here on the blog that I hope will benefit the readers. Every Wednesday look for my selection of resources of the week. These posts will usually include some WordPress plugins ( I am a WP snob….sorry folks), promoting resources like good applications for connecting to your market, and some old fashioned back to basis online marketing tools that every business owner needs to always keep up with.

My target market is the new online business owner so some of you reading this may already be aware of many of the tools I mention. Then again, you just may not be familiar so stop by every week to see what new stuff I add to the list.

On with this week’s resources…

• Zemanta. This is a cool tool that integrates with your blog, pulling out key words and providing images, articles you can research and link to, as well as key words you can tag in your posts. I love it because it makes the search for images so easy and I can just click relevant words and it adds it as a tag word. Zemanta also gives others an option to reblog your postYou can  also customize your recommendations by sharing your personal resources and contacts with Zemanta so that it pulls posts and articles from blogs and resources you read for you to recommend and compliment your post. Zemanta has many cool features like the “reblog” option where you can quote me by simply copy and pasting. Zemanta will automatically create the quote for your blog post. I can write a book on this resource but be sure to check it out because it is a very valuable tool.

• Hootsuite. This Twitter application is perfect for the person with multiple accounts or users of an account. It is very similar to Tweetdeck but has some features that Tweetdeck does not. Like the statistics tool which allows you to see what links you share your followers are clicking. This is a very valuable tool for the online entrepreneur because it provides real time stats and a way for you to see exactly what your market seeks. Hootsuite also has an iPhone application for all of you mobile folks. You can find a list of all Hootsuite apps and plugins here.

• iContact. I know most folks use Aweber or Constant contact for their email marketing but I have to say that I have been with iContact for almost two years and I love it! not only are they reasonably priced but they offer various tools to help you with your email marketing. The interface is pretty easy to get and they do not release your email until they have done a spam check. It is great for the person who likes their email marketing to be done as simple yet effective as possible.  If you are looking for a low cost option for email marketing iContact is a great option.

Stay tuned for more great marketing, promoting and project management tools and resources. Share your tools and resources by commenting below! Can’t wait to see what goodies you use

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Disclosure: iContact is one of my affiliate partners. This means that I may make a profit if you choose to purchase their service. Please view my Policy statement for more information.

I love watching Shark Tank. I don’t watch a lot of TV; but when that show comes on, I am in my seat waiting to see what unsuspecting rose colored glass wearing folks will try their hand at getting one of the 5 sharks to invest in their vision. There is seldom a yes but no one leaves that room without learning why they won or lost the deal.

It all boils down to marketing and promoting. The sharks want to know a few pertinent details before they shell out their dough. These points we can all take to heed and use for marketing, promoting, and developing our business.

• Branding is important. The first impression you make when you walk through the doors into the Shark Tank is the way you look. A product is just a product until it has the look. What does it say? What does it represent? How are you presenting it? Branding is all about creating an unforgettable memory in the minds of the consumers. For example, in last week’s show the Grease Monkey Wipes owners presented a perfect branding strategy. The branding was consistent from the colors to the monkey to the shirts on the owners’ back. It was so impressive and their message so consistent that they ended up having two of the Sharks invest in their dream.
• USP (Unique Selling Proposition). What sets you apart from the rest? What makes your business structure different from that of your competition? What is it about your business that will draw the consumer to use your product or service? The sharks take this serious. There was a young man on the show who sold silk screen t-shirt but besides not having a brand, he had no real valid selling point and he had no way of proving that he is different than the competition. With a product like t-shirt you had better have an edge, something that sets you apart from the rest. Sadly this passionate young man did not and all the Sharks backed out.
• Know your target market. The Sharks want to know it all; so if you are not aware of your market they are not likely to invest in your dream. It is important to understand that in order to reach people you need to have a specific target to hit. Think about a sharp shooter. If he does not know his target, what happens? He will likely kill an innocent person.  The same goes for your business. If you have no target to hit you will likely kill your message and thus your business.
• Know how your product will benefit your target market. It is important to know how your product or service will benefit your market. On last Friday’s show, there was a sister and brother team who wanted the Sharks to invest in their company Wee Can Shop. The concept is that children have a special store built to suit them where they can shop for there loved ones. Cute concept but no real benefits to draw the customers in, other than the fact that Wee Can Shop is cute. Maybe if they would throw in birthday parties or do it yourself stuff like Build-A-Bear, they would have had something. But the company truly had no real value for the consumer. Really can’t a child just take their money to somewhere like say Target and buy for loved ones. No real benefit at all! Needless to say that the Sharks did not take the bite.
• Have a Strategic plan. Going into the Shark Tank you need to know how you are going to approach them. They will want to know what you want to accomplish, how you plan on accomplishing it, and what you need in order to accomplish it. This is true for any Entrepreneur. You have to have a plan of action. You need to know what tools and resources will benefit your marketing efforts. Ask the poor guy from the Podillow company who went into the Shark Tank with no real plan and very little knowledge about what his market needed.

Marketing is no easy feat and online marketing can sometimes prove to be even more daunting. You have to create, evaluate and tweak often. You have to talk to your market on a regular basis. You have to keep your brand and product fresh. It can be hard.

However these few tips from the Shark Tank are worth applying to your business marketing structure.

This is an easy one. You are ready to promote your tour. Promoting may seem hard but there are many ways to promote your virtual tour and most are free.

• I already mentioned Press Releases in this post. So read about them and get one written if it is your desire.
• Blog it. Talk about your tour on your blog. Let people know the who, what, where, when, and why of your tour. Also be sure to mention what is in it for them. And don’t just tell them about it the day off. Create a couple of posts that lead up to the day of the tour. Center the posts on the theme of the tour and peak the interest of your readers.
• Facebook It. If you are on Facebook then let folks know about it there too. Use the event application to create an online invite and invite your FB buddies to join you.
• Tweet Tweet. Talk about your tour on twitter everyday one week prior, the week(s) of and even after. Remember that those posts  interviews will be there for the long haul, so don’t stop talking about it when the tour ends.
• Invite your list. Jimmy D. Brown says that the money is in the list, so be sure to invite your list. Again let them know the who, what, where, when, and why. Tell them why the want to join you on the tour and what’s in it for them. You can even offer them a special incentive if they help you promote the tour. Offer a special checklist for subscribers only or a quick 5 page report. But they have to be able to prove they helped promote your virtual tour.

On Day 10 the topic will be Ideas for Giveaways and Prizes

If you have missed any part of this series, you can catch up by clicking here.

Dr. Daisy Sutherland is known to many on the internet as Dr. Mommy. She is in the business of helping mothers so that they can help their families.

She hired Social Savvy Online Business Solutions to help her put together a Virtual Tour. She wanted to stick with blogs and she wanted them to be geared towards healthy living. We decided to center is around the holidays.

I wanted to ask Dr. Mommy a few questions about her experience and she obliged.

Why did you want to do a virtual tour?
I chose to do a virtual blog tour because I wanted to give my site and my topics more exposure.  I recently added a podcast to my site and felt with having a virtual tour, I would have the opportunity to market my site and podcast to a larger group of people

How did you find the hosts for your tour?
Thankfully I had a social media strategist that was able to help me promote my upcoming tour on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn as well as marketing on my site.  The hosts who showed interest were given the information necessary to be a part of my tour.

How did you create the content for your tour?
Creating content was the easy part.  Since my strategist and I had chosen the theme, I simply found posts or articles I had written in the past that would fit the theme.  I then re-purposed them by changing the titles, some of the paragraphs and updating the topic to fit the theme better.  I also wrote some fresh new content but that was not entirely necessary.

What was the most beneficial part of your tour?
The most beneficial part of the tour was the opportunity for a larger group of people to learn more about my site, my information and my products.  It was also great for the hosts, because they were able to take a break from writing and allow me to share pertinent content related to the tour and their market as well.

What was the outcome of the virtual tour?
The virtual tour was very successful.  I had several sign up for my weekly Ezine, as well as many more downloads of my podcast episodes and sold several of my products as well.  All and all it was very successful.

Do you suggest that one organizes their tour with or without assistance? Why?
Although it is possible to organize a tour on your own, I suggest having assistance if available.  The assistance makes it easier for you to concentrate on providing the content.  The assistant will take care of the posting of your articles and communication with your hosts which is less work for you in the end.

Would you do another virtual tour?
I would absolutely do another virtual tour.  Marketing online is essential to any business whether online or offline.  With an online business it is even more essential to find ways to market your site, services and products.  A virtual tour gives you the opportunity to market to more folks that may not be aware of your business and what you have to offer.  If exposure is your desire, then a virtual tour is the way to go.

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I want to thank Dr. Mommy for answering the questions about her virtual tour experience. To learn more about all the Dr. Mommy does be sure to visit her site today. For healthy tips for better living check out her health tips blog.

Day 9 will be all about Promoting Your Tour.

If you want to catch up with all the posts on Organizing Your Virtual Tour click here.