Inland Empire Chapter of CAMFT

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Technology: Utilizing the Internet Effectively

Making Friends with Technology: Utilizing the Internet Effectively

by Carol A. Bouldin, LMFT, IE-CAMFT Webmistress

The presentation covers:

How to Take Full Advantage of our New Wild Apricot IE-CAMFT.org Website

Why Every Therapist in Private Practice Should Have an Internet Presence

Objectives:

1. Attendees will gain an understanding of how to navigate, access information, and utilize features of the IE-CAMFT website

2. Attendees will gain an understanding of how a professional website helps them reach potential clients and expand their influence

3. Attendees will gain greater user friendliness with technology (or at least strike up a promising acquaintance)!

Making Friends with Technology.pptx - Power Point Presentation 3-28-14

Carol demonstrated how to navigate the various pages on the Wild Apricot ie-camft.org website, including how to log in, apply for membership, register for a workshop, start a forum thread, edit a member profile, find information on previous presentations, participate in discussions on related topics, access the current and previous newsletters, review upcoming events, and showcased and demonstrated the Therapist and Member Directories. She also included a quick overview of her own professional websites, one utilizing WordPress and the other Wild Apricot as examples of websites that can be developed for therapists, pointing out how one can feature one’s own articles s/he has written and include reference materials, an appointment booking calendar, etc., demonstrating how a professional website for therapists in private practice is an invaluable tool in presenting oneself to potential clients.

A therapist having her own website is invaluable in that it provides an avenue for sharing more information about your experience, specialty areas, and services you provide than more limited forms of promotion like ads and business cards, or even social networking sites like Linked In and Facebook.

Some information provided by Rick Itzkowich has been included on this page regarding social networking using Linked-In along with some links to his website and his Linked-In coaching program. Rick was scheduled to present to IE-CAMFT but was unable to do so due to a scheduling conflict.

Carol A. Bouldin, M.S., LMFT has been working in the field of mental health for thirty-five years. She has worked in inpatient and outpatient settings, community mental health, drug abuse, corrections, and private practice.

Recently, her work has focused on consultation, particularly with regard to website development; she maintains and develops several websites and is the webmistress for IE-CAMFT chapter. She is available for consultation regarding developing websites for therapists and non-profit groups.

Social Networking for Non-geeks Who Want to Increase Their Business by Rick Itzkowich

If you are a small business owner, one of the best tools to grow your business is networking. What exactly is networking? It is the exchange of information, support and/or referrals. While many small business owners already do face-to-face offline networking, many are still not using online (Social) networking (SN). This is a major strategic mistake. While I don't believe that face-to-face networking is going to go away any time soon, social networking is becoming more prevalent. It can greatly enhance your offline networking.

The main reasons people don't use SN are: they don't know how to get started; there are too many choices out there; and it’s too overwhelming. In this article I will attempt to address these objections.

Why use Social Networking (SN)?

Networking is all about building and sustaining relationships. I have found you do this by having quality conversations with people. The more quality conversations you have with people, the stronger the relationships. Another element that helps strengthen relationships is contributing to the success of others. Any time you can share information, support and/or give referrals that will help others, you are building "social capital" that will later allow you to capitalize on for your business. As an analogy, you make deposits into your bank account so that you can later make withdrawals.

SN allows you to do this much faster and more efficiently than face-to-face networking. By engaging in SN you will build a stronger, wider network of people you can serve. This means that you will have a deeper network that will serve you and likewise you them.

SN also allows you to open conversations. Every time you join a new site, invite a new person, share a resource, post a blog, etc. you are inviting others to participate in a conversation with you. These conversations have often led to sales for my products and services. An example of this was a former client of mine who had invited me to join his network--because he found I was already in the community he had joined (see below LinkedIn). His invitation opened the door for me to start a conversation about what was new with him in his life. This led to a direct sale for one of our courses for both he and his new wife. Prior to this online encounter, I had no current information on him or a way to contact him. Their course registration would not have happened without this online vehicle.

How to get started

I will share with you how I'm doing it. This is by no means the only, nor necessarily the best method. It is just how I've done it. The system I'll outline has some specific elements that anyone can duplicate or use as a model to build their own. LinkedIn is free. They also allow you to control the amount of information you receive. If you devote just one hour per week to your SN activities, in time, you will see a significant payoff.

LinkedIn

www.LinkedIn.com

I use this site to build my network of people that will allow me to play the role of "matchmaker." The people I have linked with are, for the most part, people I feel comfortable referring to others and referring others to them. One of the ways I use this site is with my BNI – Business Network International referral partners. Whenever I do a one-to-one meeting with them, I have them look through my contacts at LinkedIn and identify who they would like me to introduce them to.

Another way I use LinkedIn is by asking my network if they know of a particular individual or vendor that is not in my direct network. This way I can expand my reach way beyond what I could on my own. For example, last week I received an inquiry from one of my clients to see if I knew a videographer who specialized in doing work for websites. I didn't. However I asked my network in LinkedIn, and I was able to get two different people that came highly recommended.

The third way I use LinkedIn is by building my credibility. Building trust is essential in building strong business relationships. One of the best ways to build trust is to have others give you endorsements and testimonials. LinkedIn makes it very easy to request and receive these recommendations.

To get started in LinkedIn, you create a free account, and you start building your network. The easiest way to do this is to import your address book contacts from whatever database you use - Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, etc. By doing this, you can immediately see who is already in LinkedIn. Connecting with them is then just a matter of you clicking a few buttons to send them an invite. If they are not already in the system, you can use a different LinkedIn invite to ask them to join. After joining, they can link to you. This takes an extra step on their part, but not on yours.

Once you start your network, you can continue to add people. Remember it is not just about numbers. It is about quality. However, the more quality connections you have, the more your network is worth--to both you, as well as the others you connect with.

So there you have it. A beginner’s guide for non-geeks to get started integrating Social Networking (SN) with Offline Networking. I would really welcome comments as to how YOU are using these platforms and the results you’ve experienced--so that I can learn from you.

If we have yet to be connected on LinkedIn, please send me an invitation at http://tinyurl.com/letsconnectonlinkedin and you will experience what this is all about.

Rick Itzkowich, “Rick I The LinkedIn Guy,” is a genuine people connector. He bridges the two worlds of face-to-face networking and online networking. He understands and practices networking like few others do. As a successful entrepreneur, Rick creates turnkey products that meet today’s demand for tools to increase your business. Learn more about Rick at http://www.rickitzkowich.com

For his Linked-In Coaching program, click: Linked-In Coaching

Rick serves as a subject-matter LinkedIn expert resource for both online and offline marketing communications, such as MO.com and Focus.com. He also serves as an advisory board member for ExpertMarketeer.com.