Archives for March 2014
Should You Focus on Facebook, a Blog or Both?
Feel as though there’s not enough time to focus on both Facebook and a blog? With multiple social media sites all vying for your time, it’s no wonder you may be considering simplifying. However, blogs and social media sites can complement each other as well as drive traffic back and forth. Because of this symbiotic relationship, a smarter approach is to become more efficient at both disciplines.
Why Continue Blogging if You’re on Facebook?
For starters, you have greater control over your website than you do over Facebook. Each blog post attracts traffic in its own right and brings visitors to your site where you can use conversion optimization techniques to turn visitors into email subscribers and buyers. While you can put opt-in forms on Facebook tabs, marketing on Facebook is far more limited than it is on your own site.
In an addition, blogging gives you something to post on Facebook. By posting links to your blog, you can start conversations, encourage sharing, and drive targeted traffic back to your website where, once again, you can work on conversions. 
Not only that, it’s getting harder to stand out on Facebook. Many of your followers simply won’t see your Facebook posts. Unless you have the budget for sponsored posts, the majority of your followers won’t see all of your updates.
Why Go on Facebook if You Have an Active Blog?
If blogging gives you greater control, why bother with Facebook? Integrating your blog with Facebook exposes you to a much wider audience. As users interact with blog posts that appear on Facebook, their followers see that interaction. Thus, some will click through to read your blog post resulting in more traffic to your website. From there, some will convert, others will share the post with their followers, and so on.
In addition, you can activate Facebook comments and like and share buttons on your blog. With over 1 billion active Facebook users, enabling Facebook comments and placing like and share buttons on each blog post makes it easy for your visitors to comment, like, or share your blog posts via Facebook. They can do so without having to leave your blog. Again, this means that other users will be exposed to your blog posts simply because their friends engaged with you.
Becoming a More Efficient Social Media Business User
Social media doesn’t have to consume all of your time. Use the tips below to become more efficient at both blogging and Facebook marketing.
- Use Facebook’s social plugins to link your blog with Facebook. These social plugins are found at Developers.Facebook.com. At the very least, add like and share buttons. Consider adding Facebook comments as well. One of the benefits of Facebook comments over the generic options offered through your blogging platform is that over a billion people already have Facebook accounts. In addition, your comments may get fewer spammers because they must use their Facebook accounts in order to leave comments.
- Â Schedule time for blogging. In order to be an efficient blogger, you need to commit to it. Whether you spend an hour a day or an hour a week, make sure to schedule time to get it done.
- Schedule time for Facebook. The same is true of Facebook. While you’re at it, go ahead and preschedule a week or two’s worth of updates in one sitting. In another sitting, preschedule posts for all of the major holidays and industry related events for the entire year. This will ensure that your Facebook page has a steady stream of updates without requiring you to spend a lot of time each day.
- Â Set a timer. Whether blogging or updating your Facebook page, use a timer. Knowing that you have a limit will force you to work more productively and keep you from wandering off track.
- Keep a list of go-to topics handy. Overcome writer’s blog by maintaining a list of topics to write about. Either work your way through the list of assign a given topic for each day of the week.
- Use a different approach for the same topic. Let’s say your topic is window washing. You might approach it on your blog with a post titled “How to Wash Windows.” However, on Facebook, you might ask a question such as “What would you rather do, wash windows or mow the lawn?”
- Cross post. While you may not want to link to every single blog post, it’s smart to cross post periodically. After all, you want to drive traffic back to your website where you’ll have a better opportunity to convert visitors.
Using a blog in conjunction with Facebook is a win-win choice. Instead of choosing one over the other, work more efficiently and use them both.
Watch out elephants! This slayer of business challenges comes with 30 years of record breaking sales, marketing, operations, training and leadership experience . He has worked face-to-face with 100’s of small business owners as well as large firms. His love of creating, communicating, developing and executing results for clients shines with each project, publication and training event. His entrepreneurial spirit, passion, industry experience, education, problem-solving prowess, charismatic personality and been-there-done that attitude leads his client focused approach.
The Do’s and Don’ts of Social Media for Business
You’ve got your Facebook page up and running, maybe even a Twitter account. That’s a fantastic start but you may be wondering, now what?
Use this list of do’s and don’ts and get your social media presence off to a terrific start.
- DO respond promptly to comments and questions. Social media users are accustomed to timely, if not real-time responses. If you will be using your social media sites as a customer service channel, a prompt response is essential.
- DO learn the etiquette and terminology of the social media sites you are using. If you don’t know what specific hashtags or acronyms mean, do a quick web search and find out.
- DO learn as much as you can about your target audience and actively seek out the right type of followers. For example, if your ideal customer is a 40-year-old business woman, find Facebook groups that appeal to her and join the
conversation. Alternately, you could run a Facebook ad that specifically targets other users in your desired demographic.
- DO run exclusive social media promotions. People follow your business page for many reasons, and access to exclusive discounts is one of them.
- DO be social, but not too personal. Sharing behind the scenes photos of your business is a fun way to socialize with your followers without being overly personal. Keep your socializing on a professional level just as you would at a business mixer. This isn’t the place for idle gossip, swapping recipes (unless it’s related to your business of course), or posting cute pictures of your kids.
- DO keep promotions to a minimum. The general rule of thumb is the 80/20 rule. That means out of ten posts, eight of them should be non-promotional in nature. This doesn’t mean posting eight cute pictures of your kids (see the rule above) and two coupons. Examples of non-promotional posts include links to interesting industry research, asking questions, sharing tips on how to use your products, and tips for solving a problem your target audience might have.
- DO think of diverse ways to repurpose content across multiple sites. For example, if you write a blog post about an industry report, you might post the most eye-opening stat on Twitter, ask your Facebook followers for opinions about a controversial one, and post an infographic on Pinterest.
- DON’T post long videos. Short, 30-second videos are fine, but anything longer is likely to be perceived as an intrusion.
- DON’T keep talking about yourself or your brand. Stop and listen.
- DON’T make participating in a social campaign overly difficult. The easier you can make it for users, the better.
- DON’T forget “what’s in it for me?” If you want your followers to take a specific action, think about what’s in it for them? Why would someone want to join your mailing list – what’s in it for them?
- DON’T try to be on every social media site possible. There’s way too many of them. Pick a handful of sites that make sense for your business and its audience and focus only on those. Otherwise, you’ll wear yourself too thin.
Finally, DO keep plugging away at social media. Time and experience will make you better at it.
Watch out elephants! This slayer of business challenges comes with 30 years of record breaking sales, marketing, operations, training and leadership experience . He has worked face-to-face with 100’s of small business owners as well as large firms. His love of creating, communicating, developing and executing results for clients shines with each project, publication and training event. His entrepreneurial spirit, passion, industry experience, education, problem-solving prowess, charismatic personality and been-there-done that attitude leads his client focused approach.
From Perfect Prospective Client to Raving Advocate
Have you ever observed and admired a company with the perfect business model? Is there a way to know exactly who your target customer is as the marketplace and your business evolves? If so, how would you market to them? If you had the best online presence, how would you capture their information, whenever they visit your site or come to your destination? Would you educate them and nurture them about your product or services or just pitch them over the phone until you have a customer or a worn out welcome? Does the perfect business get referrals from their customers and turn their customers into raving advocates?
In order to have the perfect business model, within your sales and marketing process, you have to know how you are going to accomplish the following components within your perfect overall business model. Those components will mainly have the following features:
•Driving Traffic and Generating Leads to Your Online Sites & Physical Locations
•Capturing Information about the Traffic that Visits Your Site & Locations
•Qualification, Nurturing & Education of Your Leads & Prospective Customers 
•Trained & Perfected the Trial Close and Converting the Prospect to a Customer or Client
•Staying in Constant Contact with Interested Prospects You Failed to Convert
•Turning a Customer into an Advocate and that gives Your Business Referrals
•Massaging Leads from Your Referrals with Education, Nurturing & continually Qualifying
•Taking all the above Metrics from a Recording Process to Driving Action & Not just Plans
•Keeping the Process Flowing Automatically, Systematically & yet Economically Sustainable
We’ve found that most entrepreneurs, and many seasoned businesses, conceptually know about the perfect business model, some even pursue it, but many don’t know what tools or techniques are out there to help them to accomplish it.
In today’s world of information overload, you will find many tools and techniques to help you accomplish a perfect business model. However, as all of us frequent the businesses where we are the customer, our fresh set of eyes and perspective see things and know things the internal leadership does not. This is why the perfect business model rarely moves beyond the conception phase.
Your business must generate excitement, spontaneous enthusiasm, buzz and traffic. Your business must know how to capture leads with systems, how to consistently follow up with those leads, and how to turn them into advocates by creating an experience surrounding their purchase. Your business must have a sales team that knows this system will only enhance their performance through increased opportunities and conversion of leads to customers.
There are many, as we have witnessed real world examples from successful business owners on how to accomplish your goals and dreams. These successful sales and marketing digital juggernauts make it look natural, easy and automatic. That’s because it is, as long as you instill that from the top and expect it just as you demand your car to start in the morning.
Thomas von Ahn | Chief Elephant Slayer | Viral Solutions LLC
Watch out elephants! This slayer of business challenges comes with 30 years of record breaking sales, marketing, operations, training and leadership experience . He has worked face-to-face with 100’s of small business owners as well as large firms. His love of creating, communicating, developing and executing results for clients shines with each project, publication and training event. His entrepreneurial spirit, passion, industry experience, education, problem-solving prowess, charismatic personality and been-there-done that attitude leads his client focused approach.
Embrace the Principle of Leadership Equality
Leadership Equality is a term that has to do with, the responsibility of leading being evenly distributed among many, as opposed to being concentrated into a few. In organizations today, we are seeing more business models with organizational structures that are moving towards focusing heavier workloads, responsibility for dictating strategic direction, and management responsibility onto middle management. To this end, we have seen more and more middle management positions calling for leadership tasks in a variety of organizations in different industries.
Historically, leadership responsibility has usually been placed in the hands of a select few, usually placed at the top of a company’s organizational chart. This older, more bureaucratic, approach has typically implied that leadership, particularly as it pertains to driving improvements in the organizational structure and processes within the organization, has been a top-down phenomenon. We know instinctively that the old bureaucratic method is no longer effective particularly in the light of new communication methods (social media, new technology platforms, etc). To be successful, organizations will need to attract individuals that understand that they will own the outcome of their work and that they have a moral responsibility to the organization to contribute to leading other peers and in some cases superiors as well. Organizations also will have to embrace the fact that much more attention has to be paid to their system of internal education with regard to discussions of innovative business practices.
To facilitate the move towards organizational structures with more potent and leadership-driven middle management, there are some core steps that today’s organizations should take. First the organization has to accept and embrace the principle of leadership equality and train it 
into their employee ranks:
- The responsibility of leadership is owned equally amongst the entire corporation, whether individuals accept it or not
- No one individual is more important or valuable than another
- All intellectual contributions influence outcome, no matter how big or small
- The organization must be transparent and seek input from nay-sayers or dissenters within
- Organizational humility is a requirement for embracing the shared leadership. No one individual takes all of the credit, nor deserves all of the blame.
The next step is to build responsibility for leadership into the core requirements for employment and include it into continuous improvement processes such as performance reviews and the development of organizational objectives. Promoting leadership equality within the organization will drive middle-managers and all employees to take more responsibility for business outcomes, lead to improved internal communication and education, and drive business effectiveness.
Thomas von Ahn | Chief Elephant Slayer | Viral Solutions LLC (in conjunction with Dino Browne)
Watch out elephants! This slayer of business challenges comes with 30 years of record breaking sales, marketing, operations, training and leadership experience . He has worked face-to-face with 100’s of small business owners as well as large firms. His love of creating, communicating, developing and executing results for clients shines with each project, publication and training event. His entrepreneurial spirit, passion, industry experience, education, problem-solving prowess, charismatic personality and been-there-done that attitude leads his client focused approach.
Vine Videos Encourage Whimsical Approach to Telling Business Story
Most business people, especially those in the developing stages of their careers, know how an effective “elevator presentation” can open doors and create opportunities. A Vine video falls in the same category—a quick, snappy introduction to your company or your product, or a fun reminder just to reinforce your brand.
In business today, you don’t get much time to make a pitch. That first impression can be all-important, and if you blow it, you often have to just move on to the next customer, pitch, or opportunity. What if you could grab more attention instead of fighting for small bits of notice?
Fast and Outrageous
The importance of being innovative is a concept espoused by many successful entrepreneurs, none who embrace it more vividly than Bob Parsons, GoDaddy founder, as well all know by now. Being a bit quirky in management style and 
marketing messages works well for firms from airlines to non-profits. “Out-of-the-box” marketing characterizes Vine, and the face of business interaction with the public is changing because of these short bursts of information.
Keeping the message fresh, and staying attuned to customers’ changing needs are keys to success in the fast-paced world of business today. E-commerce firms in particular stand to benefit from promoting their brands in eye-popping, far-from-mainstream manner. Established retail firms and service companies simply want to get in on the fun.
Hanging on the Vine
Six-seconds are hardly enough time to blink, and certainly less than enough time to think seriously about the message. But, that may be just the point. With a six-second Vine video, the viewer reacts. Hopefully, that reaction is a smile, a nod or share, meaning they understand the value or noteworthiness of the tidbit of information transmitted.
These fun little bits of colorful and whimsical multimedia blurbs appear before your eyes for a short burst. Most Vine videos are on a repeating loop, but viewing one that way is certainly not the point of the message. Major companies use them. The Gap did a Vine to showcase footwear, and home improvement giant, Lowe’s, produced one to demonstrate cleaning products, according to BethKanter.org.
Vines are not limited to advertising, and can fit into any niche. For example, Penn Foster, a leading online school offering programs such as business management associates degrees, has also jumped on the Vine wagon. The school has recently posted Vines of their SXSW panels that included current students and recent grads representing Penn Foster’s programs. Anyone can create and use a Vine for just about anything, so sky’s the limit.
Small Messages, Quick Bites
Consumers want their information in small bites today, as the marketing experts at Search Engine Land say. They may spend time researching pros and cons or reading analytical information on their own, but if they’re going to respond to an online message, they’re going to do it quickly. Condensed six-second Vine commercials are as effective as full-length, professionally produced videos.
The incredible growth of the free mobile app demonstrates its popularity. Vine has more than 40 million users. Even major corporations today are using the graphic “tweets” for everything from staying in touch with customers and introducing new products to offering “how-to” tips. Part of the fun of “the Vine” is the videos can easily be embedded and shared on Twitter or Facebook.
Watch out elephants! This slayer of business challenges comes with 30 years of record breaking sales, marketing, operations, training and leadership experience . He has worked face-to-face with 100’s of small business owners as well as large firms. His love of creating, communicating, developing and executing results for clients shines with each project, publication and training event. His entrepreneurial spirit, passion, industry experience, education, problem-solving prowess, charismatic personality and been-there-done that attitude leads his client focused approach.