Karen and Chef/Author Becky Selengut at end of Good Fish, Good Cook project PHOTO: Claire Barboza Photography

As many of you have noticed, I’ve been very busy the past six months with my social media marketing and consulting, food blogging and various other business activities with entrepreneurs!  As I kickstart this blog once again, here’s a recap of what’s been going on in the world of One Smart Cooking Marketing:

• Presented four 30 minute keynote speeches about using LinkedIn for business networking professionals
• Conducted two-hour workshops teaching skills and strategies for using LinkedIn for business networking professionals
• Guest speaker on Social Media for Startup Businesses at Edmonds Chamber of Commerce “425 Launch” monthly meeting
• Cooked all 75 recipes in Good Fish cookbook – and blogged about them daily – in the 97 days between Memorial Day and Labor Day
• Earned “Food Blog of the Day” by Foodista
• Garnered media coverage of Good Fish, Good Cook project in Al Dente/Amazon.com blog
• Spoke on social media panel at Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce monthly meeting
• Guest speaker on Social Media for startups to Entrepreneur Class at Seattle Central Community College
• Provided social media consulting/strategy services to restaurants, food trucks, dietitians, authors, event planners, promoters, attorneys, business coaches, entrepreneurs, small business owners

If you have any groups who would like to hear from an entertaining and accomplished speaker about using Social Media to increase their business, please let me know!  I also provide individual training to entrepreneurs and small businesses on how to maximize their use of the various social media platforms.  And I’m open to the possibility of cooking through another cookbook – just ask me!

Don’t worry your pretty little head any longer – I have many ways to help you!  One of my new services is a series of classes to help the uninitiated, novice and intermediate Twitter users, with a goal of getting each group comfortable with this social media tool.

For those of you that are confused by the Twitter craze and have no idea whether it’s an appropriate tool for you or your business, I’m offering the ”To Tweet or not To Tweet – That is the Question” class. This two-hour seminar will cover:

• What is Twitter?
• Why Twitter is different (for business) than other social media tools
• What is the time and cost investment to use Twitter?
• How Twitter can be helpful to your marketing efforts
• How a “Twitter for Beginners” class can give you the training you need

Other options are the ”Twitter for Beginners” and “Intermediate Twitter” classes, both 2.5 hour hands-on sessions (bring your laptop!) where we will tackle the specific features and many of the tools available on Twitter.  If you don’t have a Twitter account yet, or have created an account but don’t know what’s next, the Beginner class is for you.  You’ll learn to create an effective profile, discover what to do – and not to do – on Twitter, how to decide what kind of messages to “tweet” and how to find/attract “followers”.

If you have the above basics of Twitter conquered, but know “there has to be more to it ”, the Intermediate class is your best bet.  In that class, we’ll cover the power of Tweetdeck and other organizational tools, how to engage in productive conversations, the wisdom of using ”lists” to monitor and manage your followers, discuss “hashtags” and “follow Friday” topics, among other advanced skills and features.

The classes are currently held in Bellevue, and I’m scouting out additional locations in Seattle (let me know if you have ideas!)  The cost for “To Tweet…” is $25, and the Beginning and Intermediate classes are $65 each.  You can view full descriptions and sign up at this registration page.  I’m open to additional ideas, topics and suggestions, so please leave me a comment below.  See you in class!