PLN - Part 3

In keeping with my PLN plan to tap into the knowledge of the vendors in my business area, I made inroads in a couple of areas.

I had a Facebook page for my business which was pretty basic and more than a little underutilized. Because the page was attached to my personal account, if I wanted to "like" another business, it would show as a "like" from me personally, when I wanted it to appear from the store. I learned how to toggle back and forth between the account name from my personal account name to my store page name, depending on what I was trying to do. As a result, there is now an area on the page which shows business to business "likes". These act as endorsements, of sorts, and are always reciprocated in kind. It has proved to be a good opportunity for team-building and conversation starting. The nice website developer who works at the theater across the street was kind enough to show me how to do it when I mentioned it when I bumped into him at the cafe next door. I love my work neighbors!

Additionally, I did not have a email address for the business. Prior, I was filtering everything through my personal email address. I created a dedicated e-mail account, which is helping me keep things straight personally and professionally. This will be especially important in my role as the new secretary of the Merchants Association. I added the new information to the Facebook page and it will soon show on the store website, which is still in development, but should be up within a week or two.

I also signed up for a Twitter account for the store. Anyone interested in following us can do so at @HipGypsyNT. I linked the Twitter account to the Facebook page, but am having difficulty getting the tweets to show up on the page, although I know it is set up properly. There is apparently some disconnect between Twitter and secondary Facebook pages. My website developer friend is helping me try to figure out a workaround. Have I mentioned how I love my work neighbors?

I created a blog for the store and am having fun with that. My partners are blown away! Updated the Facebook page and tweeted it out there. I got a FB message from my very tech-savvy daughter in Japan yesterday. Apparently she is impressed with how much I am "evolving"! We shall see how it goes! Check out the blog and let me know what you think. In my first few posts, I was able to utilize a number of the tools we learned about this semester.