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Twitter for Business… more tips for your tweets

Nadine — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 17:32:00 +0000

Here is an in-depth video on using Twitter for business. Set aside some time to view this or return frequently as time allows.

Ideas About WHAT to Tweet

adapted from: 50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business

Instead of answering the question, “What are you doing?”, answer the question, “What has your attention?”
Have more than one twitterer at the company. People can quit. People take vacations. It’s nice to have a variety.
When promoting a blog post, ask a question or explain what’s coming next, instead of just dumping a link.
Ask questions. Twitter is GREAT for getting opinions.
Follow interesting people. If you find someone who tweets interesting things, see who she follows, and follow her.
Tweet about other people’s stuff. Again, doesn’t directly impact your business, but makes us feel like you’re not “that guy.”
When you DO talk about your stuff, make it useful. Give advice, blog posts, pictures, etc.
Share the human side of your company. If you’re bothering to tweet, it means you believe social media has value for human connections. Point us to pictures and other human things.
Don’t toot your own horn too much. (Man, I can’t believe I’m saying this. I do it all the time. – Side note: I’ve gotta stop tooting my own horn).
Or, if you do, try to balance it out by promoting the heck out of others, too.

Marketing Your Practice Webinar 10-08-08

Nadine — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 15:29:37 +0000

Marketing Your Practice

Objective:

To educate RD’s on effective marketing practices and resources to facilitate growth of their planned or current private practice.

Betsy Oriolo, MS RD LD CDE

Owner, Total Nutrition Therapy, LLC

Provides in home visit nutrition counseling throughout
the Greater Cincinnati Northern Kentucky areas

www.eatright123.com

Creator of diabetes and weight management CD-rom series for RD’s

New Marketing CD-rom

Things to Consider:

Who are your customers or clients?
What is it about you that attracts clients to you?
What are their key characteristics?
What are their needs and wants?
What do they expect the product or service to do?
What do they think of the organization and its products or services?
What are their buying intentions?

7pm CT 8pm ET

To register contact: Nadine

Search More of the Web with Cuil

Nadine — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 15:54:16 +0000

Adapted from

Rick Broida

For most users, Google is the go-to search engine. But is it the best search engine? Not according to the developers of Cuil, an unfortunately named but compelling search alternative.

Pronounced “cool” (ugh), the site claims to search three times as many pages as Google and 10 times as many as Microsoft, and does so based on content and relevance (rather than “superficial popularity metrics”).

When you run a search, Cuil presents the results in three columns, complete with a paragraph summary and, where available, an image. Some searches will also produce related tabs with other suggested choices. For example, when I searched for “iPhone,” Cuil gave us tabs for “Apple iPhone,” “Free iPhone,” “New iPhone,” and so on. I also got a drill-down box with categorized links to related subjects, though this doesn’t appear for all searches.

I particularly like Cuil’s dynamic search box, which pops up a list of possible matches as you type (much like Google Toolbar). Unfortunately, the service definitely has some beta issues, and at the moment it doesn’t seem to live up to its indexing claims: I searched for a certain Samsung laser printer and it found zero results, while Google produced lots of them.

While we’re on the subject of search engines, make sure to check out Searchme, which offers visual results akin to Apple’s Cover Flow.

Using Technology to Enhance Diabetes Education

amy — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:12:04 +0000

by Amy Grobe RD

I’m not sure at exactly what age a person starts to feel old, but with my first high school reunion looming overhead, I think I am just about there! Watching these young children navigate the latest high tech devices and gadgets, I feel almost embarrassed that my cell phone does not double as an MP3 player, and it cannot be used as a floatation device in cases of emergency. My two-year old cousin can scroll through the menus on her father’s iPhone faster than I can turn mine on. However, I do feel confident that I am up to date on the latest advances in technology as used in diabetes education, which has to count for something.

In my five years of working as a Registered Dietitian, I have witnessed so many exciting changes in diabetes testing supplies, insulin delivery devices, and computer software that I cannot even imagine what the next five years will bring. I’ve seen the size of the glucose meters shrink right along there with cell phones and cameras. Several models weigh in at less than two ounces, making them much less burdensome for patients to carry their testing equipment. The sample size of blood required to check blood sugar readings has gotten smaller as well, which makes finger sticks that much less painful.

In addition to these mechanical changes, perhaps the greatest advancement enabled by technology is how patients’ blood sugar readings can be interpreted and used to empower the individual to hone his self-management skills. With most glucose meters come computer software programs that allow the user to upload blood sugar readings from the meter’s memory onto the computer. Once uploaded, the data can easily be configured into a variety of charts and graphs, making pattern management much easier. Physicians and educators can average the patient’s blood sugars or view the standard deviations to make medication and/or meal plan adjustments. If a patient wishes to have closer contact and more frequent communication with his Diabetes Educator, he can select a software program that allows him to enter and save his blood sugar readings on a web site, which his treatment team can view from any computer with internet access using a password selected by the patient.

For those technologically savvy individuals, the insulin pump is perhaps as ‘cool’ as it gets. Mimicking a pancreas, the pump releases small amounts of insulin into the pump wearer through a small, flexible catheter that is inserted under the skin. This constant insulin flow, called the basal rate, can be adjusted all the way down to one hundredth of a unit, whereas the insulin syringes and pens can only be adjusted by one-half unit. Just before eating, the pump wearer tests his blood sugar and counts the total amount of carbohydrates he will consume. Using individualized ratios, the person with diabetes can then bolus himself the proper amount of insulin to match the amount of carbohydrates in the meal/snack. Certain pump companies are compatible with specific brands of meters, enabling the meter to ‘beam’ the most recent blood sugar reading into the pump via infrared beams, which then allows the pump to calculate the correct insulin dose for the wearer. Calculators need not apply.

Maintaining a current knowledge of the most recent technologies in dietetics allows us Registered Dietitians to remain the expert and leading authority in nutrition. By incorporating these newest tools and research into our practice, we are not only providing our patients with the best care, but also providing ourselves with valuable education and skills. The extent of these technologies is limited only by our imaginations. As I was counseling one of my teenage patients, a seventeen-year-old boy about to start on the insulin pump, I wanted to ensure that he had a solid knowledge of carbohydrate counting. When I asked him to reassure me that he was comfortable with the information, he replied, “Well I have the iPhone, so I can just Google something if I don’t know.” That about summarizes how far we’ve come!

[ratings]

French Chocolate Brownies – Use Online Communities to Blog Food Images

Nadine — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 14:01:09 +0000

french chocolate brownies
Web 2.0 is all about all about creating and sharing user generated content. Flickr is an online community where users generate image content and share it with their friends.

Flickr can be used in a variety of ways to provide interesting content and images on your blog. In addition to offering a number of great food and people images, you can configure photostreams and send blog content directly from the Flickr site.

Learn more here…