Archive for the ‘Social Media’ Category

Every day, it seems, there’s a new tool out there that is going to do wonders for you and your business. Sometimes, though, it seems these tools will take an Einstein to learn how to use them. You try to teach yourself and your computer starts smoking. Well…not really, but frustration  sets in and you give up and go back to your old tried and true methods.

But there are resources out there that can help you develop the skills you need to use these new tools. Just don’t let the volume of these resources overwhelm you. Begin by having a clear plan of action, then pick a project, learn the skills and make it happen.

Here are a couple of resources you may want to check out:

Grovo: Their main product is approachable video content. Their site has a broad catalog of video tutorials on a variety of web tools, from Google Analytics to getting started on Facebook. And if you’re already pretty adept at using these particular tools, Grovo can expose you to new ones.

E-Business Now:
This is a particularly accessible site with instructional video workshops available on-demand at no cost. They start with basics like the value of  leveraging technology. Later lessons give an overview on topics like cash flow management. Here again, even if you’re a well-seasoned entrepreneur, these videos might provide a refresher course on the different options out there.

Good luck with that smoking computer. Still need help? We’re here for you.

There’s no doubt the couple of big social networking sites that we hear about the most are powerful tools and have a wide reach. But there are many different social networking sites out there that can help you promote your business. Think local and if your city or area has a social network managed by local entrepreneurs, sign up.

If you’re not that lucky, there’s a site that brings national resources and name recognition to bear in a series of local networks. We’re talking about Yelp (www.yelp.com). This social networking site and mobile app has networks in all 50 states and eight countries. It focuses on local businesses with local directories and services with user-generated reviews. You can engage with Yelp’s active user community and take  dvantage of the specific tools for local businesses with Yelp for Business Owners (biz.yelp.com).

Foursquare (www.foursquare.com) is another site to check out. This useful and fun site lets you earn points and unlock badges for discovering new things.

Biznik (www.biznik.com) helps small business owners, entrepreneurs and ‘companies of one’ create and maintain connections with each other. It’s akin to holding conversations with your professional peers. They recommend not only thinking outside the box, but flattening it and  ecycling it.

For additional local interactions try Meetup (www.meetup.com) or Tribe (www.tribe.net).

Small businesses can take full advantage of these smaller social networking sites. Search the Internet to see if there is a group near you where  you can interact with others in your situation. Just be sure to keep in mind that all these groups and small social networking sites aren’t set up  to be used for sales pitches or self-promotion. They’re for strengthening your business, building relationships and uncovering new opportunities.

You’re a small business and you advertise locally in the newspaper, on the radio, perhaps in the Chamber of Commerce magazine. You’d like to grow, get bigger within your region, maybe even go national someday. Maybe even go international. That would take some mighty big changes. But there’s a way to test the waters. Begin with a website, a blog site, link to Facebook and Twitter and use the multiple ways there are to test responses to your ads. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) will get you up there on the search engines and make you easy to find. The World Wide Web is free, but all this will cost you time and we know your time is valuable. So let us take our time at a reasonable cost to you and guide you through this process. You’re ready for the world. See if the world is ready for you. You’ll never know until you try. The choice is yours.

There is a misconception that LinkedIn is the opposite of  Facebook, that one is good for connecting with customers and the other with  business people. Actually, LinkedIn is good for both.

The secret with using LinkedIn to your advantage is by  creating a group that caters to your target audience. It’s as simple as  clicking on Create A Group. This creates a community where you can send weekly  messages and updates with articles and helpful resources. This is a way to  promote your personal and company brand to many instead of just to one-to-one. Join  other groups and contribute to them to build goodwill that will serve you well  when you encourage them to join your own group.

Don’t be tempted to bombard these potential customers with  self-serving material. Instead, offer help, make yourself available for  questions, and work to make people better understand your business. You will  pick up more customers by acting as a resource than by showering them with ads.

But don’t write off ads. LinkedIn Direct Ads (www.linkedin.com/ads) will let you  target professionals by location, industry and other factors. This is perfect  for those in service professions.

It’s also worthwhile to cater to individual consumers when  you consider a study that finds 28% of LinkedIn users are senior executives  making more than $104,000 per year, and 30% are heavy users of the site making nearly  $93,000 per year.

Stay up to date by visiting these sites: the LinkedIn  Learning Center at learn.linkedin.com and www.lewishowes.com.  Lewis Howes, an expert on using LinkedIn to  help your business, regularly updates his blog with tips.

And don’t forget, we are always available to help you with  the wonderful world of social media. Just give us a call.

LinkedIn is B2B (Business to Business) so it’s ideal for interacting with suppliers and clients. Sales managers find clients are more responsive to LinkedIn than to email or voicemail where they can be overloaded with spam and other junk. LinkedIn gives people control over who they are
communicating with. Therefore, like Facebook and other social media, it has a higher value than voicemail or email. A connection has been made so there is more trust. It is a gatekeeper. This is especially valuable with high-power clients.

Tips for Using LinkedIn

Incorporate your Twitter account so items you post there will automatically be on your LinkedIn profile. Join groups that will offer valuable network connections. Keep your personal profile up-to-date. Add the Polls application to perform market research. Go to the Answer  Questions section to find questions where you can show off your expertise. Request recommendations from satisfied clients. Write recommendations for contacts that you think highly of. Ask contacts for introductions to those you’d like to reach. Put your LinkedIn URL on your email, business card and other marketing materials. Start a group on LinkedIn and begin discussions and weekly announcements. Add a photo.

On a cautionary note, be selective about who you connect with. People may use you to gain contacts, but they may not care about you, your company or your product or service. Ask why they want to be Linked with you.

And ask us if you need help with setting up this or other social media network. This is our business. This is what we do. Call today and we’ll help you start using these valuable tools.

LinkedIn is a strictly Business to Business social media service with over 80 million users. It is used by businesses for marketing purposes, for help with sales, for services to increase customer retention and to deal with customer service issues. If you want to interact with suppliers, partners or other businesses, this is where you need to be.

Set up company and individual employee profiles with information about your services, industry, website, location etc. As you set it up, look at it from the point of view of a client who is looking at it and saying, “What benefits are in this business for me?” Keep it positive and up-to-date. List any job promotions, new hires, anything that says how well you are doing.

Sales managers should use LinkedIn to deal with customers. All your employees should join and say positive things about their jobs and what they do. Employees’ personal profiles should list skills, experience and any other professional examples of work. Employees can create or join groups within LinkedIn where business people meet others with the same interest, careers and duties. Keep these groups active with things members can respond to or share. Some employees may have their own profiles already so have them link themselves to the company profile.

Need help with these social media services? We can set you up with a website, a blog site, and links to Facebook and LinkedIn. Call us today. We’ll guide you through the wonderful world of social media.

Once upon a time, newspaper, radio and television representatives called on you, took your information, made up an ad, ran it and sent you a hefty bill. Perhaps they still do, and perhaps you also have a website, a sort of digital billboard. But if you’re not using Internet marketing and social media to get the word out about your service or product, you’re missing a huge opportunity. Send us your information, we’ll turn your website into a blog site, write the copy, get you on Facebook and Twitter, post your information on a regular basis to keep it fresh and  ynamic, and keep it circulating out there where your customers can see and respond to your message. And we won’t send you a hefty bill. The Internet is free. You simply pay us a small fee for our time.

Last year enough data was stored to fill 60,000 Libraries of Congress. Four billion mobile phone users have turned into data-streams. YouTube says it receives 24 hours of video every minute. Companies are gathering more detailed data on the buying habits of their customers than ever before. According to the McKinsey Global Institute big data are the next frontier for innovation, competition and productivity.

Companies are using data to enable them to adjust prices and promotions. Manufacturers use sensors in their products that allow them to see if they need repair long before they break down. Auto manufacturers tell customers when their cars need to be serviced. And so on.

But companies also need to be careful to treat data as a slave rather than a master. All these analytics and mathematical numbers are great, but they can obscure the unreliability of some numbers that are fed into them. Garbage in, garbage out. When all’s said and done, there is no substitute for intuition and good judgment. But if used wisely, the ever-growing store of data can provide important insights for businesses, both large and small.

Talk to us about analyzing usage of your website to find just who is interested in your product or service.

Social Media Promotions To $38 Billion By 2015

Marketers are expected to spend $38 billion by 2015 according to Borrell Associates in Williamsburg, VA. That means those not using social media now had better begin to learn something about it. Businesses are currently servicing existing customers and generating leads with their social media resources.

Directing Word of Mouth

No business can completely control what is being said about it on the Internet. But they can influence it. And they do it through social media.

Typically businesses will have people singing their praises and some that are somewhat hostile. Monitoring tools, such as TweetDeck and HootSuite, can give a business access to statements made about their product or company. And then businesses need to promote their praises and control  their complaints. They can promote their praises by quoting or linking to positive statements made about them. And they can control their complaints by identifying and contacting the people complaining. From there they can do what they can to turn an aggravated customer into a happy one.

Visit Business and Social Media for more on this subject.

What do you plan to do with social media in the next few years? If you need some help, then contact Huck Huckabee

I grew up in a small family business. We knew all of our customers and they knew us,  personally. Social media is creating the opportunity for businesses online to develop a personal relationship with their customers no matter where they are. And businesses are taking advantage of this opportunity.

Social Media Makes It Personal

Local businesses have always had the advantage when personal relationships are important to a business. Business contacts become friends. They learn about each other. They’ve seen their business associates in person.

Today, in the case of a national business, personalized interaction via a blog, Facebook and other social media gives some of this advantage to companies on the other side of the country.  A photo on Facebook that changes on a regular basis can add an element of personalization that was reserved for local businesses in the past. The appearance, the hobbies, the interests and other personal traits create character that makes your business contacts your friends.

What Should You Do?

Your competition is going to get personal with the customers you are competing for no matter where they are located. To learn how this is going to impact your company, you need to ask yourself two questions:

1. Will they implement social media before your do?
2. Will they use it better than you do?

If your competitors do it first and win over your customers then it will be hard for you to get them back. And over the long term customers will migrate to the company with better social media correspondence.

The key is for you to get started quickly and stay ahead of your competition in providing value to your customers. Value can be created on social media through the sharing of information. Everything from product information to the achievements of your employees creates an image of your company. That image has value.