How to unleash the power of Twitter - what we've learned

Until we started Talented Ladies Club, Twitter was a complete unknown to us. And if we're honest, we saw it as much more of a personal social medium than a useful (and powerful) business tool.

But as we try and help working mums find a way to make social media work for them, we felt that we should practice what we preach and open an official Talented Ladies Club account.

So we did and, well... we didn't so much really. We'd occasionally post links to our latest articles, and halfheartedly find people to follow, in the hope they'd follow us back. In the early days we were excited to get to 10, then 11, then, 12 followers. Getting to a heady number like 200 seemed like an impossible dream.

Then one day, while scouring our Google Alerts for interesting stories we saw something about Jacqueline Gold's #WOW competition in which she picks three female-run business to promote on Twitter every Wednesday. It seemed a great idea and we were determined to win - as we did the very first week we entered!

Excited about this new idea of Twitter competitions, we then searched for more, and found Theo Paphitis' #SBS. We also spotted that lots of people seemed to be tweeting about something called #purplebiz - a retweeting competition held daily.

#purplebiz is run by a company called The Purple Dog Network who, as well as their free Twitter contest, provide a range of packages to help businesses unleash the power of Twitter. By this point we knew enough about Twitter to realise that we knew practically nothing! And we decided to hire Purple Dog's services.

And here we are. We've had one 'lesson' already from Purple Dog (a 40 minute enlightening phone call) and are amazed at how much we didn't know about good Twitter etiquette. Like lots of people we had felt quite shy about venturing onto Twitter. When you tweet as a person, to people you know, it's easy to just be yourself on Twitter. But when you're tweeting as a business, to lots of businesses and people you don't know (and who don't know you) how do you act? What do you say? What should your personality be?

Now we feel much more confident about tweeting. Understanding the ratio of tweets (as a quick guide, you should tweet four times as many thanks and retweets that help others, than you should post personal, self-serving tweets) really helps, as does knowing where to find our mentions (in Connect) so we can acknowledge anyone nice enough to mention or retweet us.

To date, we're 6 followers short of 300 (if you fancy helping us reach the magic 300, you can follow us here) and are really excited about putting all our new knowledge about Twitter to good use, and enjoying meeting lots of lovely people. We look forward to chatting with you there, too!

We find out what it's like to be a celebrity working mum, thanks to TV presenter Amanda Lamb!

It's easy to assume, as we're juggling an obstinate toddler and the stress of getting to work on time, that celebrities have it easy. Not for them the every day struggles of childcare, demanding employers and guilt of your average working mum. But we forget - celebrities are every bit as human as the rest of us, and are often trying to cope with the very same issues!

As writer Lucy Mason discovered when she interviewed the very lovely TV presenter Amanda Lamb about being a working mum. It turns out that, rather than waltzing down red carpets all day in designer dresses without a care for their offspring, celebrities have just the same concerns as the rest of us working mums. Wanting to do the very best by their children, but also feeling the need to still do something that is 'them'.

To find out what Amanda Lamb thinks about being a working mum, and how she and her husband achieve their own work-life balance you can read the full interview here.

In the meantime, we hope you're having as sunny a Friday as we are here, and have a fun-packed weekend ahead!

Why working mums who work from home put in more 'office' hours

This probably won't come as much of a surprise to working mums - or anyone who works from home for that matter! - but a recent survey by video conference firm UCi2i discovered that home-working employees can put in as many as 24 extra days a year.

While the perception from their office-based colleagues mostly appears to be that home workers have an easy life, the reality is that the peace and quiet, time (and stress) saved by not commuting, and better work life balance are more likely to lead to better quality work and voluntary overtime. 

So if you're a home working mum angling for a well-deserved pay rise, suggest your boss takes a look at this news story!

We interview bestselling author and working mum Fiona Gibson

It's been a really busy few weeks for us. Not only are we putting together the content for our first free monthly e-mag (if you haven't already signed up for it, do so now!) but we've been interviewing some really inspirational working mums to find out how they have built and managed a successful career while raising a family.

One of these mums is bestselling author Fiona Gibson. Fiona started her career on magazines - working on Jackie, Just Seventeen, Bliss and More, where she introduced the infamous position of the fortnight column. More recently she was a contributing editor for Red magazine and a weekly columnist for the Sunday Herald.

Fiona reveals how she got her big break as a novelist, what inspires her books and how she fits her writing around her three kids. So if you're an aspiring writer, check out her interview for inspiration and maybe even a tip or two!

Talented Ladies Club in the Brighton Argus

Last month the Brighton Argus ran a story about Talented Ladies Club. Read it here.

Ever wondered how professional bloggers get their big breaks?

Today there are thousands - if not millions - of bloggers around the world. Many of them would, I'm sure, love to earn an income from their writing. And some actually do.

This week, we spoke to award-winning professional blogger Jo Middleton (self-styled Slummy single mummy) and found out why she started her blog, and how she got her first big break. We also squeezed some tips for other aspiring bloggers out of her.

So, if you're a wannabe professional blogger and you'd love to learn the secret to success, check out Jo's interview here now!

How to kick off your post-baby job hunt in style

The prospect of looking for a job after months - or even years - at home raising your children can be scary. You may feel like you've completely lost touch with the old 'work' you, and even a glimpse of your former office wardrobe can trigger a growing sense of dread (partly because you suspect little of it will still fit...).

But it's not all bad news. Relaunching your career is not just a chance to pick up where you left off - it's an opportunity to re-evaluate what work means to you, and actively choose a position that fulfills and excites you.

To ease yourself into a new job hunt properly, it's important to consider what you want from a job, and exactly what you have to offer. And as luck would have it, we've put together a helpful article helping you do just that. Learn the three key questions you should ask yourself before you start sending out your CV to all and sundry.

If you need a little morale boost when considering a return to the workplace, why not find out why working mums actually perform better, too?

And just to show you how we think of everything, here's some advice on what to wear when relaunching your career after maternity leave!