I was recently tagged in a post by the wonderful Lexi Rodrigo.  She is a rock star copywriter and online marketing consultant.  She shared what worked for her in 2010 and asked us to do the same which I thought was a killer idea.

It has been an amazing year for me and it really helps to see how far you’ve come and do a little happy dance about it.  And if you aren’t doing your happy dance, then figure out how to get it on!  Celebrate and congratulate yourself, you worked hard!  And if things didn’t turn out the way you wanted, then tough nuts.  Don’t wallow in it.  Figure it out and do what you need to do.

So here’s what worked for me in 2010.  I’d love to hear what worked for you and what you are going to do in 2011!

1.  Providing Content

In 2010 I blogged my butt off.  Not like some out there who are posting every day, but I put out a lot of content.  Don’t let anyone tell you that Grandma doesn’t put out.  I taught people helpful tips and tricks to marketing their business with Facebook and Twitter with a little LinkedIn and YouTube sprinkled in.  As a result, I have healthy traffic to my website.  At first I was worried that putting out all this information for free would be a bad thing.  But it wasn’t.  I was still able to sell products and services to those people who wanted specific information or more of it.  Don’t be scared to provide free content.

2.  Created e-Books

I highly recommend having some informational product that you create yourself that people can purchase from your site.  It’s not hard to do.  I used E-junkie (affiliate link) to upload and sell my 2 e-books:  How to Use Facebook to Grow Your Business and How to Use Twitter to Grow Your Business.  E-junkie costs just $5/month and up and works with Paypal.  It’s a great way to deliver infoproducts and easy to set up.  I sold over 130 e-books and that was with not such great promotion on my part (I smell a resolution for 2011!)

3.  Participated and got noticed.

I participated a lot of places.  I commented on blogs (although not as many as I would have liked – sniff sniff…another resolution), participated in forums and I especially liked Sonia Simone‘s Remarkable Marketing Blueprint.  I tweeted, participated on Facebook, and tried to connect as many places that I could.  Which, combined with my content, connected me to a book deal.  I’m writing Facebook Marketing for Dummies, All-in-One due out May 2011 with two other fantastic authors:  Amy Porterfield and Phyllis Khare.  It’s been so much fun!  Make as many connections as you can, but participate.  Talk to each other!  Because that’s where magical things happen.

4.  Collaborated.

That was fun!  I teamed up with a couple of fabulous guys, Jack Jostes and Reid Peterson and we held a workshop in Boulder called Sink or Swim Marketing:  How to Master Social Media, SEO and Web Content.   That was so much fun we turned it into a webinar which was a hoot too!  Being a solopreneur can be isolating.  I definitely recommend partnering up and collaborating when you can.  More of that to come in 2011.

5.  Exposed myself.

I came out of the closet and told people why I’m doing this.  Why this is really me.  And I highly recommend being very real and authentic.  People do business with people then know liked and trust.  Don’t be afraid to be the real you.  Even if the real you wears a wig LOL!

How about you?  What worked and what are you going to do more of?

I have a voice twin.  We could have been separated at birth.  He is Adam Schein of Fox Sports and he has a fancy-schmancy sports show called the Cosmic Schein.  Take a look at his video below and close your eyes and tell me we don’t sound exactly the same.

I decided to take some pointers from his fancy-schmancy show and do a Social Media Week in Review (more exciting title to come) with some exciting graphics like he has.  Ok, so it’s a work in progress but it’s a start.

Social Media Week in Review by Grandma Mary

My Voice Twin Adam Schein

That’s right, Grandma’s off her rocker!  It’s almost Christmas and I’m getting into the giving spirit.  It’s the first ever Grandma Mary Sweepstakes and you could win a 2-hour social media strategy session.  Get your business ready for 2011.  Plus, your business will be featured on my website for more exposure. Get exposed with Grandma!  So to speak.

All you need to do is enter your name and e-mail here:  Grandma Mary Sweepstakes and if you haven’t already, pick up a free copy of my 10 steps to Social Media Success while you are at it!  Contest ends on November 24th so get in while it’s hot.

Do you feel like no one is listening to you?  You put up a blog post, tweet it out, put it on Facebook and nothing?  Nada, zilch, zippo.  Why is that?  Let’s look at 5 possible reasons.

Now you really have to watch my video to get all of my advice on these tidbits but here is the list.

1.  You aren’t interacting.  You need to be social and talk to others first.  Retweet them, comment on their Facebook posts, get out there and comment on blogs.  I know it takes time but schedule it in!

2.  You aren’t connecting in real life.  Some of my best connections on line are with people I’ve made an effort to connect with in real life.  Get out to networking events, tweetups, call people on Skype!

3.  You aren’t putting out quality content.  Now I’m not pointing any fingers here.  I don’t know what your content is like but it might be time to take a look at it.  Are you writing about things that people are interested in?  Use Twitter searches to find out what people have questions about.

4.  Maybe your content rocks but your headlines aren’t interesting.  Make sure they are retweetable and compelling.  Take a look at Copybloggers 10 Surefire Headlines That Work post.

5.  You are playing it safe.  Stir the pot, create controversy, ruffle some feathers!  All of that!

Now I’m not saying that I’m the best at all this.  I need as much work as the next guy.  But let’s do this together and get our message heard and help some people!  Now watch my video.

Hi. Grandma Mary here. I had to let you know about two new fantastic books I have available that will finally clear the Twitter and Facebook clutter and confusion. How to Use Facebook to Grow Your Business and How to Use Twitter to Grow Your Business.

Twitter and Facebook can be confusing and frustrating – how do you get more followers, more friends or more people to like you? It’s like high school all over again. And you are busy – you have things to do. These books are quick, simple and straight-talking guides on how to leverage these sites for your business. Practical advice with step-by-step instructions.

These books are a steal at $17 each and $30 for both for a limited time – the price goes up Memorial Weekend.  Click on the books to find out more about what’s in them and what people are saying about them.  And watch the video.

That’s right, I’m packing it up.  Don’t worry, I’m not really going anywhere.  But my 30 Days to Social Media Mastery Program is.  It’s been a good run but it’s time to close the doors and focus on other projects coming out later this year.

This is fantastic training, if I do say so myself, with a daily 10-15 minute video tutorial on blogging, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, forums, JV’s and more.  Plus you get a downloadable pdf and a homework assignment to keep you on track.  It’s all self-paced and will be accessible indefinitely.  Find out more here http://www.30DaystoSocialMediaMastery.com

The doors close on Friday February 12th at noon MT.  And I have a great bonus for you – the first five people in this week get a free 45-minute one-on-one coaching session to work specifically on how to use Social Media to grow your business.  Let me know if you have any questions!   GrandmaMary@GrandmaMaryShow.com.

I had the privilege of sitting down with Joel Comm, author of Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time- among the many other things he does – and we talked about Twitter, Social Media and yodeling pickles.  He is a hoot!

He’s doing a lot of great things – iphone apps (his iFart application was featured on the Daily Show), Elevate Seminars, and has a new book coming out in the summer called Ka-Ching: How to Run a Business that Pays and Pays.  We had a great time, just watch out for the flying monkeys.  He likes to have fun at work while taking your business seriously. I like that!

Watch the interview and find out more about Joel at www.infomediainc.com

Last night I had the pleasure of going to a Denver Tweetup organized by Rick Bakas of St. Supery. It was fantastic!

Now for those of you who don’t know Rick, you should. He has a great story. He is now the Director of Social Media at St. Supery Vineyards and, as Gary Vee would say, “He’s working his face off” to help make St. Supery a stand out success story in the Social Media world.

He landed his dream job at St. Supery earlier this year after working in brand manager at Nike. He showed his knowledge of wine and ability to grow a social network through Twitter and Facebook and blogging. His passion for wine and Social Media came through and he landed the job at St. Supery. For those of you who are looking for your dream job, be inspired. Show your passion and it can happen.

I caught up with Rick at the Tweetup and he gave some great advice: “Put the Social back into Social Media”. Take a look:

Thanks to @zsazsa Kit Seeborg for the camera work!

It was great to take his advice and meet some fantastic people that I’ve been tweeting with for awhile

Grandma with Rick Bakas and Kit Seeborg

Grandma Mary with Patti Serrano (@iGrandmaTV)

Grandma with Cali (@caligater)

Was also fortunate to meet and see again these fantastic people
@DoyleAlbee
@jamiebakas
@RedHeadWriting
@BizCoachDeb
@iGrandmaTV
@zsazsa
@caligater
@Tekee
@darkheath
@vinoluci
@invinciblekate

If I’m leaving anyone out, I’ll just chalk it up to senility – or the wine. Plus there were others there I didn’t get to talk to. But take Rick’s advice and put the Social back into Social Media! Great advice.

Last night I went to see Gary Vaynerchuk on his last stop of his Crush It Book tour. For those of you who haven’t heard of Gary Vaynerchuk, or Gary Vee as he’s known, he has used Social Media to catapult Wine Library TV, his video blog about wine, into one of the hottest blogs in the internet with over 80,000 views a day.

So what did Grandma think? He was fantastic. He had great insight into what is happening right now with Social Media. I had him answer the question “If you could sum up all of your Social Media advice into one word, what would that word be?” Find out the answer in the video below.

He also spent some time talking about why his book is subtitled “Why Now is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion” and focusing on why the word Now is so important in that subtitle.  He feels that we are living in the biggest cultural shift in media in our lifetime and equates it to the development of the printing press.

He also felt that Mobile technology is going to be huge next year and he is working on getting everything he is doing right now into mobile. So go out and invest in mobile technology!

Actually his message was very clear. Find something you are passionate about and live it. Anyone can do it with hard work, hustle and quality. It was very inspirational and I encourage anyone with a dream to go out and read Crush It!

You gotta read this book!

Andrea also got her photo with Gary

What is the deal with Grandma Mary?  Here it is – the deal.

Post a comment and let me know what you think!