CatchPhrase is proud to share the news that Spa Shiki at The Lodge of Four Seasons has been voted best spa at the Lake of the Ozarks for 2011 through an online survey conducted by Lake Media One. Todd Borron of Spa Shiki has been voted Best Massage Therapist. The winners will be announced in a special feature section in the May/June issue of Lake Lifestyles magazine (http://www.lakenewsonline.com/).

Spa Shiki was ranked in the top 10 resorts spas in the Midwest by Spa Magazine in 2010. They deserve every accolade! I have been proud to represent them for the past 10 years. Great spa, great treatments, great people.

Easy Facebook Tip

Tag your friends and favorite businesses in your post, by simply type the @ symbol before entering in a name. When you type the @ symbol, Facebook will drop down a prompt for you to type the name of someone or something, then populate a list of your friends and fan pages. When you select the right name, a link to that person’s or business’s page appears in blue (without the @ symbol).

For example, “Dinner at @Baxter’s Lakeside Grille was great tonight!” posts as “Dinner at Baxter’s Lakeside Grille was great tonight!”

Try it and give your friends easier connections to the pages and people you like!

If you want to create a social media presence for your business, consider these top sites for connecting with customers. While there are many more social media sites out there, these are great places to start and focus on.

Here are the top sites you should be on and how they work …

Twitter is all about the present – What are you doing right now? Users create posts of 140 characters or less about what they are doing, seeing and thinking and build a follower base. Following is a one-way street: You can follow anyone (whether you know them personally or not), but they don’t have to follow you. Only your followers view your “tweet” when you post it, but it can be re-tweeted, which allows other people to showcase your message to their followers and so on. Messages are short, sweet and short-lived but still powerful because of their potential for viral distribution.

Facebook answers the question “Who are you?” Users create Facebook profiles for personal use. Businesses create fan pages. When a Facebook user becomes a fan of a business, that fan status is listed on his or her profile page and becomes an element of their online personality. Facebook gives users and businesses the ability to showcase photos, videos and links and allows other users to take a look at what their friends are up to and where they’ve been — a greater slice of life than Twitter shows. People search for those they know on Facebook and then request “friend” status. Once you become a friend, both parties can see and exchange information.

What’s happening with your career? LinkedIn, a social networking site that focuses on the professional aspects of your life, is all about business. Create a network of colleagues, request introductions through people you know, post your current projects and join professional groups. Relationships are built through contacts, which adds credibility to the network. LinkedIn groups also allow you to reach outside your circle and join in conversations that pertain to your industry and professional interests.

2009 rankings showed YouTube as the second most popular search engine. While YouTube is not a social networking site, I am including it here because it should be included in how you market yourself on Facebook, Twitter, etc. YouTube is a great place to post “how to” videos for your customers. Create an account, upload your video and post a description. Videos are great tools for connecting with your customers and helping to answer questions for them or showing them something they didn’t already know. You can post videos that potential customers can find by organic searches, and you can also direct your fans to view your video directly, via a link from Facebook, for example.

Get started! Blogging is like romance. Spontaneity is great, but when it doesn’t happen naturally, putting it on your schedule is better. Share what you know and don’t hold yourself back by letting other things take priority in your day.

Pick one day a week – give yourself 15 minutes – and write your blog.

For example, on Tuesdays, first thing when you get to the office – blog. Put it on your calendar for every Tuesday, 10 a.m. and don’t miss the appointment. Remember, it’s a blog, not a book, so keep it short but give it value. Offer info your target audience is looking for.

Have trouble thinking of what to write each week? Plan out your editorial calendar in advance so you have a plan to follow, but stay flexible and timely with your content. Make a list of topics or questions that your audience wants answered, then answer them in your blog.

As you stick to your schedule, you’ll find that blogging will come more naturally to you.

photo by luigi diamanti

If you are considering starting a blog for you or business, knowing your focus is paramount to your success. Ask yourself these questions before you begin.

What do you want to give people? A successful blog is not about self-promotion. It’s about creating and sharing content that others benefit from. Example:  Guy Kawaski’s blog is titled How to Change the World. What HOW TO is your focus?

Who do you want to reach? Identify your audience. What do they need? What do they want? Then reconsider your answer to question #1. Does your audience seek/want/need the type of information that you are sharing? If not, you need to find a new focus.

How can you create a niche? Think about what you have to offer through your blog, then take a look at what other, similar blogs are like. What will be different about yours that will make it a blog that people want to read instead of another?

After you have identified what you have to offer, the next BIG question is … How is your blog going to benefit you? How is your blog going to drive customers and/or build your reputation? Your blog isn’t about you, but it still has to serve your online marketing goals.

Social media is the power of word-of-mouth using modern technology. Through tools such as blogging, Twitter and Facebook, social media allows for messages to go viral and spread from one person to another via the Internet, exponentially. Social media is about building community and sharing information. Businesses’ out-right promotion and hard-selling tactics fail to travel in social media; they miss the point of listening to and communicating with the community.

Twitter: What are you doing right now? Users create posts of 140 characters or less about what they are doing, seeing and thinking and build a follower base. Following is a one-way street: You can follow anyone (whether you know them personally or not), but they don’t have to follow you. Only your followers view your “tweet” when you post it, but it can be re-tweeted, which allows other people to showcase your message to their followers and so on. Messages are short, sweet and short-lived but still powerful because of their potential for viral distribution.

Facebook: Who are you? Users create profiles for personal use. Businesses create fan pages. When a Facebook user becomes a fan of a business, that fan status is listed on his or her profile page and becomes an element of their online personality. Facebook gives users and businesses the ability to showcase photos, videos and links and allows other users to take a look at what their friends are up to and where they’ve been — a greater slice of life than Twitter shows. People search for those they know on Facebook and then request “friend” status. Once you become a friend, both parties can see and exchange information.

LinkedIn: What’s happening with your career? LinkedIn, a social networking site that focuses on the professional aspects of your life, is all about business. Create a network of colleagues, request introductions through people you know, post your current projects and join professional groups. Relationships are built through contacts, which adds credibility to the network. LinkedIn groups also allow you to reach outside your circle and join in conversations that pertain to your industry and professional interests.

Jennifer Bondurant is the editor of Jefferson City Magazine and the founder of CatchPhrase Communications, a public relations and marketing firm.

Last Friday I traveled to Riverside, Mo., outside of Kansas City, to visit the Argosy Casino and conduct research on casinos that offer a destination experience – more than gaming. The Argosy Casino and hotel offer a Mediterranean theme that combines earthy hues,  a huge stained glass dome, faux baskets and terra cotta pots blooming with artificial greenery along with the shooting sprays from the entrance fountain, screens functioning as electronic billboards, bright lights and the literal bells and whistles that mark it a modern casino.

The decor is enough to tell you have arrived, but the company doesn’t stop with the physical decoration to make sure guests know the Argosy is a unique experience. According to Ameet Patel, general manager, the casino wants its players to feel at home. Staff with up to 14 years of experience ensure that the regulars are known by name. The front desk staff calls 5 minutes after check in to make sure the room is satisfactory and to find out if you need anything.

Sure, they follow a script, but they don’t sound like they are following a script – and that makes a huge difference. When I walked into the casino floor, one of the attendants said, “You win today, okay?” And I believed he meant it. I didn’t win, but it was nice to know he cared. : )

The Argosy in Kansas City promotes a company culture that cares about the experience its guests and players have. It’s a corporate brand, but it lets its individual casinos make decisions about how to best serve its specific area and customers. The Argosy staff at every level appeared to support its culture of caring about the guest’s experience and regarded each guest as an individual who deserved attention. The result? A winning casino and hotel experience.

Look for my article on Missouri’s casino destinations in the winter issue of Show-Me Missouri Magazine.