A guide to boosting your business using online tools…

With the seemingly constant buzz over social networking, some people may wonder what all the fuss is about. How could these cleverly-named contrivances ever be relevant to your personal or professional life? The answer lies in people power. Millions of people use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and daily deal sites like Groupon on a regular basis. Each of these social media outlets offers ways to connect with customers and generate growth for your business. This includes opportunities in marketing, networking, and advertising. As an added bonus, they’re all free.

LinkedIn

Why it’s useful: LinkedIn’s 135 million users are focused on professional networking. Whether you are staying in touch with colleagues, seeking to fill a position at your company, searching for a potential vendor, or keeping updated on the latest industry news, LinkedIn is all business all the time.

Get started: Creating a LinkedIn account is simple – it only requires your name and email. To get the most return for your efforts, fill out your profile as thoroughly as possible. At minimum this information includes your current job, past jobs, education, honors & awards, and groups (service, industry, alumni, etc.) Next, start searching for and linking with colleagues, former co-workers, old classmates, and any business connections you may have. You can also create a company profile to keep your business connected with current clients, searching for potential customers, and up to date on the competition.

LinkedIn is a great way to follow up with business contacts you have recently met. A quick “Nice to meet you,” message can go a long way in establishing and maintaining a business relationship. As with Facebook and Twitter, always include a link to your LinkedIn profile in your email signature, website, etc.

GROUPON (and other daily deal/group buying sites)

Why it’s useful: An estimated 85 million people subscribe to daily deal sites and there are literally hundreds to choose from; Groupon, Living Social, Google Offers, Yelp Deals, Amazon Local, and BuyWithMe are just a few. The appeal of these sites is advertising exposure to a huge, targeted (i.e. local) audience, which could potentially generate a massive amount of sales and new customers.

Get started: Each of these sites work generally the same way: the merchant (that’s you) contacts a group buying site and arranges to offer a particular product or service at a great discount, usually 50% or greater, if and only if the site can generate a specified amount of sales. Carefully calculate how much this deal may be worth to your business. After factoring in the actual discount as well as the cut for the group buying site, you may make about 25% of what you would on a normal sale. If you think that sounds like a terrible business decision, consider this: 97% of merchants featured on Groupon request to be featured again. The effectiveness of the advertising and the enormous influx of new customers are worth the potential short-term drop in profit. If this viral advertising technique seems like a good fit for your business, go online and fill out a form on any daily deal website to find out more.

Social media offers powerful opportunities for mass advertising, connecting with customers, and industry communication. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Groupon are highly effective tools for your marketing and advertising arsenal. Equipped with these tips (and SOCIAL MEDIA 101), you can step confidently into the world of social media to boost your business and grow your customer base. Happy networking!

An easy guide to boosting your business using online tools…

With the seemingly constant buzz over social networking, some people may wonder what all the fuss is about. How could these cleverly-named contrivances ever be relevant to your personal or professional life? The answer lies in people power. Millions of people use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and daily deal sites like Groupon on a regular basis. Each of these social media outlets offers ways to connect with customers and generate growth for your business. This includes opportunities in marketing, networking, and advertising. As an added bonus, they’re all free.

FACEBOOK

Why it’s useful: With over 800 million active users, Facebook is undeniably the crown king of social media. Creating a profile for your business on Facebook will only take a few minutes and maximizing your Facebook page’s potential will take only slightly more effort.

Get started: First, ensure that you are utilizing every bit of contact information space with your address, phone number, a map to your location, and a link to your website. Secondly, make your page a helpful resource to your customers (and potential customers) with timely and relevant updates. Another great way to help your page stand out by occasionally adding fun, unique pictures or images that display your company’s unique style and personality. Lastly, encourage interactivity on your Facebook page by using the Questions function to poll visitors and also replying to anyone who posts on your page.

TWITTER

Why it’s useful: Twitter boasts more than 200 million micro-bloggers. Using Twitter as a means of marketing and advertising gives your campaign a more personal feel, making it an especially useful tool for small business owners.

Get started: Completely set up your business profile and add a picture before you start tweeting. If possible, create a custom Twitter background using your company’s brand. Then try posting a couple of test tweets over the course of a few days before you start following other people and asking people to follow you.  Vary your tweets: Twitter is a more personal form of social media so don’t feel like you have to be all business all the time. Keep it fun and interesting by varying comments about your business, helpful links, personal status updates, industry news, etc. Lastly, listen more than you talk. Follow other leaders in your industry to keep up with the latest news, techniques, and information relevant to your business.

Hopefully these statistics and will ignite a creative fire to spark your social media campaign. You may already be posting and tweeting away! However, there are more tools in your arsenal, stay tuned in the coming weeks for…

Social Media 102: LinkedIn & GROUPON (and other daily deal sites)

We often include a link to a business owner’s Facebook fan page (local business Facebook Pages) on their website, so they can encourage their visitors to “subscribe” to current updates and create a comradery between their business and its customers.

But what if someone clicks on the Facebook link on your website and they are met with nothing but a login page?  They can’t peek inside the Wall a bit and check you out a little first? This is a common problem created by permission settings in your Facebook account.

Here’s what to do:

Login to your administrative Facebook account (the personal account of one of the admins) and visit your Facebook Page.

Click the Edit Page button on the right.

Under Manage Permissions, there is an option for Countries.  People often enter their home country or their customer’s countries in this box, but that will cause problems.  If someone is not currently logged into Facebook, Facebook does not have an immediate way to identify their country so it will force them to login first before they are allowed to view your Page.  Remove any countries listed here, and just leave the Countries box blank.  (Unless you do want to restrict certain countries from seeing your Page at all.)

With that setting adjusted, your Facebook page will be viewable publicly, even to visitors who are not yet logged into Facebook.  They will be prompted to login when they decide to “like” your page.

Find WEBii on Facebook too! Become one of our special fans.

Technology is in a perpetual state of improvement and re-invention in order to stay ahead of the competition. The world of social media is no different. Since 2004, social networking giant, Facebook, has dominated the landscape by keeping over 700 million users connected.

Though Facebook’s relevance and presence in the social media market is more strongly felt than any other, the sheer magnitude of this iconic site has begun to diminish the original exclusivity that it was born from.

This has created a dilemma for some users. As in real life, you may be friends with many people, but you do not want to share every conversation, photo, video, or memory with all of them. The same can be said for social networking world as well.

Enter Google+. In an attempt to cater to those needs, Google  launched a trial version of its new social networking site. The  main feature that distinguishes Google+ is “Circles”. Circles allow the user to allocate friends into groups for a limited sharing experience so that not everyone sees every comment, photo, or video that you to share.

Another new feature on Google+ that will help differentiate itself from Facebook
is “Sparks”. Sparks is linked to Google’s search engine and after telling Sparks what you are interested in (by typing in information like you would for a Google search) it  streams information to you and the people within your circle based upon common interests.  Sparks provides results for products, events, or anything that one has shown interest in. These results can in turn be easily shared with others in their Circle.

The combination of these two features seem to further enhance the necessity for your site to have strong SEO capabilities. Since Sparks is connected to Google’s search engine, page rank especially on Google, would obviously be an important factor, but it may not be the entire story.

In a recent article by Barry Schwartz, he noted that he had spoken with Dewitt Clinton of Google on this very topic. Here is the response he received in regard to how Sparks results will be generated, “Still very much in flux and being further expanded and tuned….but this is very early still.”

Since it is still in the test phase only time will tell how valuable of a resource this will be, but one thing that is evident is the necessity for your site to be visible on search engines especially in an age where search results will not only be sought out by the consumer, but also suggested to them based on their searches, interests, and needs as well.

For best SEO practices, build your blog content directly on your own website first.  Then use Facebook and other tools to promote the blog articles you write.  You can include a link to the unique post, with a short description and image if you like.  This drives traffic to your website with links and social marketing, while strengthening the content foundation on your actual website – where you want Google and other search engines to find you.

You can still manage other “blogs” on separate websites, which will help with your link building strategy (good organic SEO).

We recently wrote about business professionals using social media to connect with existing customers and generate new ones, but what about the use of social media between businesses?

If you’re a company that produces glass sheets for sliding doors, is a blog or Facebook page really going to be of any use to you? Surprisingly, yes. Social media can be and is often used by businesses who deal directly with other businesses.

The use of social media in the business-to-business world (B2B) is different from its use in the business-to-consumer world (B2C). Instead of just spreading awareness about a business and engaging with current and potential customers, B2Bs utilize social tools to find and interact with other businesses, build a reputation, and ultimately, increase the bottom line.

For B2B businesses, social media is best utilized in two ways: maintaining a blog to establish your business as an industry leader, and exploring social sites to gain customer insights.

A blog is a wonderful tool for any business. Especially in the B2B world, a regularly updated, thought provoking blog, will be noticed by potential customers. If the blog is truly engaging, it may be shared among businesses. When people want information about your field of work, they will remember your blog, and continue to turn to you for advice and insights. This can potentially generate sales.

Social media is a wonderful research tool for B2Bs. Looking at Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn is a great way to see what people in your industry are talking about – what do they value? what are they looking for? B2Bs can also use tools like Google Alerts, to track keywords and follow industry trends. Being knowledgeable about the latest in your field or industry will contribute to your social leadership position.

In a November 2010 issue of Working Mother magazine, Linkedin was sited as a “top tool” for working moms:

“The ability to multitask is a must for the working mom. LinkedIn is one of the tools you can use to maintain your work-life balance while also gleaning key insights from other career minded professionals. The site is also a fantastic way to establish your professional identity online, let other professionals know about your recent career accomplishments and even nab your dream job.”

The Web in general can be used in wise ways to make a professional woman’s life more efficient.  I believe that Linkedin is a strong contender because of its concentration on a business environment; unlike Facebook, Linkedin is solely focused on harboring and maintaining only business contacts.

Your website should also be used as a “top tool” in your work strategy.  Websites are really a multi-tool, and like a Swiss Army knife, they can be a “life saver”.  Your custom website will serve as a marketing device, a reputation manager, a sales generator, and an efficiency tool.  Imagine how much more time a working mother can save by offering information, downloadable forms, and product ordering on your website – rather than being constantly tied down by the telephone.  Plus, make sure your Linkedin and other community profile links are present on the website, so people really get several touch points.

A tip for Linkedin: if you have had an active profile for a while, remember to log in periodically and review your entire list of contacts.  Have you communicated with these people in any other way?  Do you see any opportunities to reach out to someone either in another online medium or offline with a personal note or networking engagement?

I surprised myself one day when reviewing my list of contacts at Linkedin, realizing that I had nearly 100 untapped people in my database who I had not talked with in a long while.  I took the opportunity to locate some of them on Facebook and help boost our profile there.

In a recent addition of Website Magazine, we learn more about the rebranding efforts of MySpace.com.  The relaunch is right around the corner – set for late November 2010.  Will MySpace be a new social media hotspot again?  Will it be able to absorb as much success as Facebook has?

The answer may be in its niche market – entertainment.  Afterall, Apple embraced the entertainment culture to a point of growing their company exponentially with iPods, iPhones, and iPads.  Other companies like Verizon are recognizing young lively music loving teens as their target demographic – and one that actually influences and spends money.  So maybe between the music fans, the music venues, and the music-makers – MySpace has a real future.

“It took time for Myspace to wake up. Perhaps too much time. But, this new iteration of the website has dusted off old criticisms and revamped a once industry-leading brand. Where Facebook is clean (almost dull these days) and focused squarely on interaction and making friends, the new Myspace is all about delivering bright, vibrant and viral content, where and how their users want it.” (Website Magazine)

Let’s see how things unfold in the next few months.

I am intrigued when I learn that regular business professionals are using social media tools like Facebook and Twitter as a primary part of their communication strategy with customers, and in turn actually generating business from it.

An October 2010 article published in the Austin American Statesman describes how Austin real estate agents are using blogs, Twitter, and Linkedin:

“…commercial realtor Mark Pustka, of McAllister and Associates, says that having his own blog and website has increased his profile immeasurably. He diligently monitors his LinkedIn account, where past clients and associates have logged kudos about his service.”

“I am on Twitter, which I started doing about a year and a half ago,” says Pustka, “It’s difficult to measure the effectiveness of it so far but I will say that LinkedIn is really useful. It’s like putting your résumé on the Internet.  I kind of see a correlation between the number of people I’m meeting with each week and those people that have looked me up on LinkedIn. I think that (potential clients) use LinkedIn when they meet somebody and want to know who is this person and want to know his legitimacy, what has he done before.”

Learn more about Mark Pustka.

The Q&A format is nothing new to the web. However, with the recent launch of “Facebook Questions,” there may be new opportunities for small businesses in this common form of communication.

Facebook Questions not only allows individual users to ask and answer questions, but business pages as well. From your business page, you can post a question to your fans.

Posting a question on your page is a great way to engage with your following, and show that you appreciate their feedback. Your fans are used to seeing your status updates and posts in their news feeds, so share something new. Your question may remind them of your business and may increase the likelihood of them visiting your page. The questions you pose to your network, are also indexed by Facebook, and made available to the entire Facebook community. When users find your question, they in turn find your business page. Tapping the collective knowledge of over 500 million Facebook users can help you reach valuable information, and make your business page more visible to more people.

You can also view questions asked by other individuals or businesses, and answer them on behalf of your business page. Answering questions can be a great networking tool – a way to interact with other businesses and make your presence known. When people stumble upon questions you have answered, they again stumble on your business page.

When you click “Questions” on the left-side toolbar on your Facebook homepage, you will see that Facebook Questions has suggested topics for you to follow. These topics are based on the information in your profile. You can see a list of all the topics and choose which ones you would like to follow.

Taking a little time out of your week to post and answer questions can help you engage with your fans, and help your business page establish a strong presence.