Social Media Growth Twitter Chat with Holly Bertone @PinkFortitude #VCBuzz

We love giving you tips on how to build your social media following to meet our quality requirements. Today we are chatting with social media growth expert, Holly Bertone @PinkFortitude

**Please sign in here to follow the chat -> twchat.com/hashtag/vcbuzz

About Holly

Holly Bertone, PMP is an author, blogger, and breast cancer survivor and advocate.

She is the President and CEO of Pink Fortitude, LLC, a company dedicated to providing inspiration to all women

You can read Holly’s story in her book. Please follow our mentor on Pinterest and Instagram!

The book is funny and raw and a real story of #breastcancer #vcbuzz

— Holly Bertone (@PinkFortitude) March 24, 2015

Questions we discussed

Q1 How did you become a blogger? Do you remember the days when you started blogging? What was the toughest challenge back then?

I started blogging during cancer treatment to keep family and friends informed. I had no intentions of ever making it real. Now that it’s grown to be a real blog and business, I had to go back and make sure that all of the basics were covered.

The first thing I did when I knew I wanted to turn it into something real was get an LLC. I also started from scratch on social media, I wasn’t on any social media when I started. #dinosaur #painful

I joined social media in January 2014 if you can believe that!

Again, great attitude! Working hard is easy when you love it! RT @PinkFortitude: it was easy because i love what i do #vcbuzz

— Ann Smarty (@seosmarty) March 24, 2015

Q2 You are a very valuable part of Viral Content Buzz community. What’s your favorite part about the platform?

So kind, thank you. I love meeting everyone in the community. I have several folks who I’m now religiously following. There is such great content in the community, it makes it easy to share with my network. There are times that even if the buttons are grayed out, I still share because the content is relevant. #sharetilyoudrop

That adds value to the share, I believe. Good practice! RT @PinkFortitude: A2: I don’t just share but read a lot of the articles #vcbuzz

— Roxana Nasoi (@roxanasoi) March 24, 2015

It’s great exposure too, but I love learning, reading, and sharing.. next stop is learning more of MyBlogU. Now that I have Viral Content Buzz mastered I really want to get up to speed with MyBlogU!

.@vcbuzz lets you build offsite connections through the “Interactions” tab! <- #vcbuzz

— Ann Smarty (@seosmarty) March 24, 2015

Q3 You just published another awesome book: How to Grow Your Social Media Following (which I was lucky enough to have early access to). What’s your favorite social media tip from it?

Very kind, thank you. My favorite tip is to start on Twitter and tell them you are following them. Bonus to mention a commonality or person. For example, @DonSturgill new follower via @VCBuzz #newfriends have a great day!

Great idea, Holly! @PinkFortitude #vcbuzz

— Don Sturgill (@DonSturgill) March 24, 2015

It goes into their feed and not hidden w/ every other random follower and there is a greater chance of them following you back.

A3: #lather #rinse #repeat a gazillion times #vcbuzz

— Holly Bertone (@PinkFortitude) March 24, 2015

My favorite moment was when someone with 500k followers followed me before I followed them. It gives much better quality. I’m still small potatoes, but very targeted.

It’s hard too since I have two business verticals to manage, but Twitter is a great platform for that.

@jessytroy Frequency is the key. I believe It’s ok to repeat your best performing tweets after 3 or 4 weeks. wt do u think? #vcbuzz

— kcpravin (@kcpravin) March 24, 2015

I use excel to upload bulk tweets just for that very purpose.

Q4 Doing so much, do you have your favorite productivity and get-things-done tips?

I am a list person. I have a list for every day/week/month. If the task doesn’t make it to the list, it doesn’t exist. I keep my list on an excel spreadsheet and cross it off as I go. When I say list, it’s a project plan for my day. Not “bring home a loaf of bread.” And time block as much as I can.

I have my week prepped on Sunday night and then add each night as needed. I work a full time job, manage a family, and two businesses (Pink Fortitude + some properties). I’m all over #oldschool with a paper calendar too!  So, I use a regular day planner with paper and pencil and then have a master xls I manage my work from.

I prefer to write my lists on a notepad the old fashioned way. Love crossing tasks off with a pen. #vcbuzz

— Andrea Fine (@AndreaFine) March 24, 2015

Oh yeah… I even time block “fun” time… surfing Facebook! It helps me stay focused but still feel like I stay connected.

@PinkFortitude Hi Holly, I use @trello to keep up with my assignments. You can see you tasks on Google Calendar too. #vcbuzz

— Ron Sela (@ronsela) March 24, 2015

There are so many tools, sometimes I feel more comfortable with the basics. I think because I’m so new to the game, it helps to focus on one tool at a time to master. My favorite is Hootsuite!