I dont want you to sign a contract!

Dont Sign That Contract!

I am a small business owner. I provide marketing for other small businesses. I create a social media presence. I design websites. I get my clients online in a positive, professional manner. What I do is not difficult but it is a service which takes time and planning. If you are like most male small business owners (my target clients), you hate the internet and are too busy working to create, never mind maintain, a social media presence. That is my niche. Initially, I thought an annual contract would be a good thing. It would guarantee me a regular monthly income, at least for a year. But if my client becomes disgruntled or decides he doesnt have the budget, I dont want to tie him to a contract. I only want happy clients. If someone is paying me begrudgingly the whole way because he thinks he can do it himself, or his college aged kid can do it…why would I want to tie him to a contract? Go. Do it yourself. Let me find clients who see my value add and what I bring to the table. I dont want unhappy, crabby clients. They could ruin your day and your reputation.

Create an Agenda and Solve Your Content Anxiety

Sample cartoon for a staffing firm to use on “Funny Friday”.

What should I post today? What can I say that is different or helpful today? How can I find the time to write anything? Every writer has asked these questions as a deadline for an update rolls by them. Developing relevant content on a regular basis challenges everyone responsible for social media. A pre-planned agenda for your postings guides and inspires you. Use an agenda to post across all of your social media outlets such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and your blog.

Here are some ideas for a staffing company we recently helped. No matter what your industry is, you can use the same concept. Brainstorm with your team for creative, relevant ideas for marketing your services tailored to your company and industry. Just remember, the key ratio in social media is 80% education and only 20% sales, so soft pedal the sale pitch for your business or services.

Moving Mondays – focus on people looking for jobs. Post positions you would like filled.

Talent Tuesday – target corporations hiring. Highlight great candidates you could place.

Wise Wednesday – share tips for candidates such as resume, interview and career tips. What to look for in a job. Warning signs of a potential job

Thorough Thursday – provide hiring tips for corporations. Document the cost of a bad hire. What to look for in a potential candidate. How to match talent and the job. How to woo the perfect employee.

Funny Friday –Share some of your war stories, favorite relevant cartoons and videos

Staffing Saturday – Promote your firm. Highlight your successes, jobs you filled, people you placed and non personal Info about your team

Sunday News –Articles from the Sunday paper about jobs, economy, anything topical.

You will find it will be easier to come up with good relevant content which can be created then scheduled ahead. And, remember, this is just a guide. If something relevant and hot comes up, no one will know but you, that you changed your plan.

Creativity is key to business success!

Creativity helps you find the RIGHT customer solution or, in fact, any solution. As a small business marketing consultant, I develop content for small businesses across industries. My biggest business challenge, after time constraints & scheduling, is the actual creativity required to be clever ALL THE TIME! It can be exhausting! ; ) 

I find being open to new ideas, rested, well fed and feeling well, all key to this creativity. Listening to music helps (rap is the exception for me, I am sure it works for others) as does a long walk in the local woods. Stepping away from the computer is VERY important and talking to people, sharing ideas is a fabulous inspiration. I can be mid-sentence and lightening strikes…if I dont speak immediately, it can flitter away into the ether of my thoughts, never to return again….aaargh! If you are working, disruptions must be minimized so that your train of thoughts is not running you over. One thing I know, creativity cannot be confined to work hours. Nor can it be forced to appear on demand…If you dont have it, you dont have it…Stress will kill creativity faster than a structured classroom.  

But, nothing beats the electricity of a creative moment (well maybe a few things, but you are probably being creative there, too!). Otherwise known as the “Aha!” moment, it is the moment and feeling of complete satisfaction in your work.  

Some Tips in Using Twitter

Twitter has 215M active users.  50% of those active users follow companies. 67% of US users are likely to buy from brands they follow.  This is a FREE tool where you can reach 215M users. It is really amazing, isnt it?  

Now, Twitter is unique with its own language (see the attached cartoon). Your messages have to be under 140 characters and to overcome that challenge a unique language, designed specifically by Twitter users, has evolved.  Hashtags help organize tweets, there are specific shortcuts u equals you. ur equals your. u get it. 

If you are a small business, you should be on twitter. Your competitors are probably there now. Twitter helps you connect with business partners, clients and new prospects.  You are probably wondering how to approach this wild beast with its own language and signs.  But, dont be afraid. Let me share a few secrets with you.  

1. Get a twitter account and create a handle (name), preferably something like your business name.

2. Observe for a few weeks.  Follow competitors, suppliers, other business partners. It is safe to retweet tweets you like.  You will see the retweet icon under the tweets in your feed. (I know, it sounds ridiculous.)

3. Once you want to get started, tweet not just about yourself, your products & services, but about your team, your clients, things you love.  Retweet other peoples good content. Share ideas. This IS social media, you know. ; ) 

4. Twitter is a bit like Google in the sense that people dont scroll down the whole page of tweets, at least I dont.  In Google, if you are not on the first or second page, you wont be found.  Most reasonable people have lives and are not constantly scanning their twitter feed.  But, this is a good thing.  It allows you to reuse your own tweets at reasonable intervals.

5. If you happen to be a Pinterest person, when pinning a pin you can tweet it out from the same screen. (Sounds crazy, right? ) This helps us with content all the time. 

6. Just remember, as tempting as it is, many businesses find it better to stay away from politics and religion.  And dont insult anyone in an attempt at humor. 

7. Dont spam…

8. Follow us on twitter at www.twitter.com/likingmarketing. We tweet social media tips all the time.

9. And stay away from buying followers. You want to build a following of reliable people and it takes time and an investment of tweets.  

Good Luck…if you need help, let us know. www.likingmarketing.com

Challenges of the Small Business Owner – Focus!

“Do what you love and never work a day in your life!” they say.  As a marketing consultant and small business owner, I love marketing.  Nothing makes me happier than a planning session, where I can sit with clients and hammer out a marketing strategy with them, emphasizing their value-add, defining their services then working the plan and seeing the results of new prospects & clients for my customers.  I love it!

But, it takes more than a love of marketing for me to be successful.  A few hours of each day must be dedicated to things I hate…paperwork, billing, reconciling accounts, tax preparation. So, yes, its important to do what you love, but as a small business owner, you have to do some things you hate!

One issue is focus…something 95 percent of people say they struggle with.  Focus on your to dos….whether you love them or not.  Clear your desk, put on music, have water and snacks at your desk so you are not tempted to leave your work area  and turn off everything you are not working on and get down to business.

I am telling you!  I should do it better myself! ; )

The Importance of Analytics to Track your Social Media Marketing

Knowledge is power.  And in business, understanding the effectiveness of your social media strategy is key to success.

• Before you strategize and monetize your social media, you need to have a presence.
• Pick the top five such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and a blog.
• How many followers do you have on each venue? Which venue is growing fastest, slowest, etc etc? Where is your greatest sphere of influence? Is your growth tied to your activity in that channel?

LiKing Marketing tracks the effectiveness of our social media marketing:

• The total number of followers on each venue
• How much each channel has grown
• How activity on a channel (such as postings and tweets) has impacted the growth of the fan base.

We graph this info to document our progress, trends and areas to improve. This information clearly indicates where we need to boost activity and which channels have the highest impact for us.  And over time, we are assured that slow and steady is one key to success in growing your social media influence.

The following chart illustrates our total social media impact and the piece of the pie that each channel contributes.  We can see where we need to grow (our blog) and the surprising positive impact of Pinterest. It is additional information that helps us plan and adapt accordingly.

What tools do you use to track your efficacy in social media marketing?  We would like to know.

3 GOOGLE SEO TIPS FOR YOUR BLOG AND WEBSITE

You have great content on your blog and website, how do you drive people to find you? 

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is an ever changing algorithm designed to keep the internet relevant.  

Here are 3 easy tips for SEO and your blog or website.  This way, the people looking for your services will find you.

1. Keep your url short, easy to remember, appropriate to your topic and ideally with a keyword or two.  Google gives the first 3 to 5 words in a url the most weight. 

2. Engaging images, video and diagrams are not just for entertaining or introducing color to a bland text document.  They reduce your bounce rate (how often people hit on one page and stay a second and leave your site), increasing your visitors’ time on the site or blog.  These are two hot button factors for Google Ranking – low bounce rate and length of time on your readers stay around. Obviously, the longer they stay on your site reading your content, the higher your ranking.

3.  Your keywords (the words people would put in Google search to find someone like you or some company like yours) should be in the 1st 100 to 150 words of your article, blog or website. This shows Google that the article is about that content, making it easier for Google to index your writing.  

Hope this helps…good luck!

 

Content Strategy is Key in Successful Marketing

Its not just that you should post often but you need to post relevant…relevant content. Yes, Keywords are important, but rather than writing for SEO, its key to write for your audience.  You need to grow your audience and followers.  The content needs to be relevant to your target audience, relevant for your service, relevant for you.  Where do you start?  Well, for beginners, take a look at the competition. What are they doing or saying. Its not that you are going to copy it, but it is important to have a handle on what your competition is doing and saying.  Then amp up your game.  You have a target goal, now exceed them and grow your business.

 

The International audience of Pinterest & twitter

I know, I know, everyone knows that social media is international.  But, I am struck by our followers on Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/likingmarketing) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/likingmarketing) and how truly international they are.  How easy it is to share ideas with people from around the world in different cultures and business environments!  The international flair of these venues is a boon to businesses with international target markets. And the philosophical exposures to different cultures is fabulous.  

It is very interesting to see world events unfold to a global audience.  To see Pope Francis’ comments on Syria to Putin shared and the various perspectives is very interesting.  

If you are looking to expand globally, whether in influence or selling your products, Pinterest and Twitter are two low cost, easy to use venues to help you reach those markets. 

Social media is a Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Solution

Social media is just not for selling.  It is an integral part of a business continuity and disaster recovery plan for business, schools or town governments.  Not only is it low cost but it is on a different computer system.  When the organization’s computers are down, people can access their devices independently on a separate network. You can communicate with your followers on Facebook & Twitter. And they can communicate back.  Its great for school closings, update on any disaster related issues.  Advise your followers today of this channel and tell your employees, students & citizens of this alternate channel and, in the event of an emergency, to check in with you on these venues.

Another great solution is a service like Wordivate.  www.wordivate.com It affordably broadcasts messages to a consenting group (such as students, parents, employees) via texts on phones.  How great and simple is that? And, it is very affordable.

So, remember, the keys  to disaster recovery and business continuity are redundancy, backup, alternative solutions and methods.  It can be relatively low cost, but the cost of loss can be catastrophic.