Home Wealth Project
Extensive Research On How To Build Wealth From The Comfort Of Your Own Home.
How Small Businesses Are Using Social Media [Infographic]
Feb 6th
It’s undeniable that small businesses today benefit greatly from the use of social media sites. Whether for promoting their enterprise, reaching out to clients and responding to queries from customers, regular networking efforts on social media indeed has its rewards.
A big chunk of entrepreneurs using Facebook, Twitter and so on belong to the small business industry. It should be noted, however, that even the Fortune 500 companies are also taking advantage of these sites.
Apart from the real time communication that the sites offer, it’s absolutely free to promote a business and keep in touch with customers. One does not need to have technical skills to be able to manage a social media account and this ease of using the sites is what primarily attracts business owners to use them.
Below we share an infographic design from Infographic Labs showing the latest studies and surveys on how businesses are using and benefiting from the top social networking sites. Recent figures tell only one thing – entrepreneurs regardless of the field they’re in will continue to tap social media for their marketing campaigns.
View full post on Business Pundit
Generate Cash At Will Using Twitter
Jan 23rd
Using The Turbo Cash Generator You Can Generate Cash At Will Using Twitter. It’s All Done Automatically. Just Sign Up, Enter Your Twitter Details And Start Earning.
Generate Cash At Will Using Twitter
How to Sell Anything Using Social Media
Jan 5th
How to Sell Anything Using Social Media
This content from: Duct Tape Marketing
One of my predictions for 2012 is that more people will come to understand that you can indeed do business using social networks and, frankly, I’m already seeing it.
There are couple reasons this.
First off, people are getting more comfortable with social media and social behavior and the “social media is a pure engagement temple mentality” of some early adopters has faded.
More importantly, however, is that smart marketers are testing, tweaking and trying lots of things and figuring out how to build know, like and trust – the path to selling anything, anywhere – on social networks.
In my own experimenting I can tell you that generating and converting leads using social media takes a more patient approach, but once you find the right path, it’s actually a better way to sell in any environment.
The reason I see many people’s social media marketing efforts fail is that they are still simply broadcasting sales messages. This approach still works to some degree in an advertising setting because people often stumble upon your ads with a buying intent. It still works to some degree in email marketing efforts because people have asked to get your messages and you can easily earn the right to sell in that relationship.
However, most people don’t participate in social networks to shop so any sales message can feel sort of harsh and in the snack sized, feverish world of tweets, shares and likes any and all messages are very easy to ignore.
If you want to sell using social media, here’s one path:
Test your message
Using 140 characters or less to basically write an ad that makes people want to retweet and click isn’t something most people can muster in real time – and yet, that’s what most try to do.
I’ve had tremendous success using Google AdWords to test very compact messages. Once I find a message that draws clicks there, I know I’ve got a winner that will get action in the form of a tweet or share.
This somewhat scientific approach is one of the most overlooked aspects of marketing in social media and it’s the primary reason people that contend you can’t sell there say so.
Target your message
Here’s another proven technique that seems lost on many marketers. Just because there are 800 million people on Facebook doesn’t mean you need to appeal to all of them.
The quickest way to get the right kind of attention is to announce “hey you 437 people that need to get better at X” I’m talking to you.
If you want to learn more about the impact of using data to form your social media messages look no further than the work Dan Zarrella is doing.
Prove your worth
It’s nearly impossible to get someone ready to buy simply by crafting a mouth-watering tweet. There’s just not enough information to develop trust.
You must make your initial relationship building all about valuable content. Give something away that you know your targeted prospect wants and needs. Move the free line to the point where your free stuff is better than most other people’s paid stuff and watch how enamored people get.
Here again, there’s nothing new about this. For years, smart marketers made tiny little inexpensive classified ads in the back of magazines like Popular Mechanics pay off nicely using this exact approach.
Engage
Now, here’s a step that just might be unique to social media and online marketing in general and it’s a very powerful one.
In the process of giving away all that great information ask your prospects to tell you things, share things, rate things and help you make the world a better place for all who inhabit it.
Seriously, create feedback forms and make that part of the deal for why you are giving away such great stuff. Socialize your content and make it easy to email, tweet and like. Send a series of emails during your content sharing phase that reinforces the important takeaways from the content and offers more engagement like email support or live Q and A sessions.
Ask for the order
Once you’ve done all this work and logically and authentically led a prospect to the place where they do indeed have some level of trust, it’s time to tell them where this journey is ultimately headed.
Paint the picture you know exists in their “current reality”, remind them of the incredible glimpse you’ve shared and then illustrate what the picture could look like.
Don’t make the mistake of assuming they will connect the dots – show them how to get the value you know you have to offer and be extremely clear about it. One of the benefits of this approach is that, if you do it right and they still don’t buy, you’ll earn the right to ask why and they’ll gladly help you understand how to get it right.
There’s nothing that magical about this approach really. Marketers have been using some form of these elements for years, but it’s the total package, including patience and hard work, that makes it pay off in the world of social media.
View full post on Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing
The Power of Permission in Using Email Marketing
Jan 2nd
Emarketer reports that:
“Interactive marketing is becoming a larger part of the marketing mix, and Forrester estimates that by 2016, online advertising spend will be equivalent to television spend today. Marketers will spend $77 billion on interactive marketing by 2016.”
According to StrongMail’s annual marketing trends survey, conducted by Zoomerang, the majority (68%) of business executives worldwide said they plan to integrate their social media marketing efforts with email in 2012.
I remember back in 2007-8, when I first launched my business, I was running several workshops dedicated to email marketing and integrating it with social media, especially Facebook. I had a cross section of attendees from lawyers, consultants, non-profits, MLN’s and blog hobbyists. They thought it was a good idea, but most looked at me like a deer in the headlights. Fast forward to 2012, the cycle has moved to a different place with regard to adoption and the effective usage of it now.
The benefits of professional email marketing have been very strong and clear from the beginning. It was the very first platform I used to build my business database. It has experienced quite a resurgence, as we all can attest to the massive email marketing we get daily, many of which we did not subscribe to. (Ugh, it’s spam people.)
Benefits of Permission
When someone voluntarily signs up to become a part of your email marketing database, they are committing to you as a professional and are giving you “permission” to send them timely, helpful and relevant resources and information. This is the greatest way to grow and build trust . It is also a very targeted and effective way to ‘ask people for their business’. There is great power and responsibility in permission based marketing, as long as you are using it appropriately and respecting your community.
Here are 5 ways to grow and build trust using email marketing:
1) Create a monthly Newsletter with specific themes and content that is thoughtful and highly targeted to what your followers need and want from you. Get to know who is on your list and why they joined it in the first place.
2) Be consistent with sending your message and campaign out monthly and find the best frequency and timing. Do not over kill your list with too many daily emails. More and more people are tuning out and unsubscribing to those that over email, regardless of how popular they are.
3) Offer content especially for this community that other people do not have access too that are NOT on the list. Let your community know how exclusive they are to you and how much you want to serve their specific needs.
4) Integrate your email marketing campaign into all your other platforms. Unify the message across your social media, blog, websites, podcasting, video and mobile. Make sure your visual logo, look and feel are consistent over all your platforms.
5) “Serving is the New Selling’ should be your approach and mantra. Giving lots of FREE WHY, then SELLING the HOW is a perfect formula. We are in it to make money right? Yes, but earning the business by building strong relationships and using the trust to sell your products and services is why they choose you and ensures more longevity in customer retention.
Make a commitment to one of the professional email marketing systems like Constant Contact, which has been mine since 2007, or several other great choices like IConnect, Aweber and Mail Chimp.
Email marketing has been one of the top platforms that I will continue to use. My list grew over 30% last year nationally and internationally. It has allowed me a more personal, direct and exclusive way to communicate to and with “my tribe” and serve them.
Email Marketing Photo via Shutterstock
The Power of Permission in Using Email Marketing
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
E-book: Using The Internet For God.
Dec 20th
Offers An E-book About How To Use The Internet For God.
E-book: Using The Internet For God.
Gain Confidence With Women Using The Power Of Hypnosis Pua
Nov 16th
Gain Unlimited Confidence With Women Using A Simple Mind Reprogramming Hypnosis Download And Accompanying Ebook. Overcome Social Anxiety And Approach Anxiety With This Exciting New Mind Reprogramming Product.
Gain Confidence With Women Using The Power Of Hypnosis Pua
Turn Your Passion into Profits using Social Media!! – 50% Commission
Sep 19th
Discover the little known secrets to using Facebook, Twitter & Blogging that will generate unlimited traffic to your site, leads, clients, sales, and put more money in your pocket. Use social media to build a business based around your passions!
Turn Your Passion into Profits using Social Media!! – 50% Commission
How To Create A Membership Site Using Dl Guard
Sep 17th
Discover how to visually learn how to setup your very own membership site and reel in huge profits using Dl Guards membership site script
How To Create A Membership Site Using Dl Guard
Using Gmail as a Simple CRM Tool
Sep 2nd
Using Gmail as a Simple CRM Tool
This content from: Duct Tape Marketing
CRM systems are great and powerful marketing workhorses capable of funneling leads into campaigns, automating nurturing routines, tracking conversion metrics and interfacing with ordering and accounting systems to create a complete sales machine, but sometimes you just need to keep track of who you contacted and when.
Using Google’s free suite of tools you can create a nice lightweight CRM system with just a few tweak along the way. Since email has become one of the primary forms of contact, and particularly if you’re already using Gmail, exploring options that allow you expand on the tool you use the most might be the fastest route to creating a useable CRM like option.
Contacts
Gmail comes with a contact database that will automatically store information on anyone you add or correspond with. You can add lots of information beyond email and name and upload contact information from other systems and files.
This isn’t the prettiest interface, but it has just enough functionality to work. Once you add a contact your email exchanges will be searchable and you can add them to a task or appointment in Google Calendar to create even more searchable data for the record.
Groups
One of the keys to using the Gmail contact database as a mini CRM tool is to use the contact groups function. By creating groups in your contacts page for things like customers, prospects, journalists, vendors and strategic partners you can effectively sort your contact list by function and even create mail campaigns to these groups.
Nested Folders
Another way to keep track of key information in Gmail is to use email folders for your key contact groups and add the nested folders function found in labs to create subfolders. So, if you have a client folder, then you can create a folder specifically for each key client underneath the client folder.
Then when you have email come in from a client you can use the move to function to store the email in the appropriate folder so you can access it more easily. You can also pull up any contact record and see recent emails to and from the contact.
Rapportive
Free 3rd party add-ons can also help beef up your new CRM system. Browser plugin Rapportive is a tool that adds social media data to your contact records. With this plugin added you automatically see LinkedIn or Facebook information on you contacts or anyone that sends you an email in the right sidebar of the Gmail screen.
You can also follow and connect with contacts on Twitter or LinkedIn directly from the Gmail interface. This is a great way to get a bigger picture of what your contacts are doing and have instant information on people that send you emails.
Boomerang
Another 3rd party plugin you might consider adding is Boomerang. This handy plugin gives your emails some smarts. When you send an email, for example, you set it remind you if you don’t hear back from the recipient in a set number of days. Or you set an email in your inbox to go away and put itself back in on a certain day.
Many of the functions in Boomerang allow you to set-up and operate your own little tickler file system based entirely on emails sent and received.
App Marketplace
Of course there are lots of additional apps that integrate with Gmail and the entire suite Google Apps found in the App Marketplace. For example, the Mavenlink app turns the system described here into a full collaboration and project and task management suite.
Full-featured tools are great, but sometimes a simple solution you can master and use in the way you’re already working is just the ticket.
View full post on Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing
47 Percent of SMBs Still Not Using Social Media. Oy.
Aug 25th
Hiscox, a small business insurance company, recently published a survey of 304 small business leaders to find out more about their social media use. Somewhat shockingly (at least to me), only 12 percent of respondents described social media promotion as a “must” for their businesses, with 47 percent of SMBs admitting that they still don’t use social media at all for business purposes. However, they are still hooked on word of mouth marketing, with 50 percent of SMBs saying they couldn’t live without it.
Hmm, I guess social media, that place where people sign on to talk about your business, doesn’t count as “word of mouth marketing.”
For those who do use social media, 19 percent say Facebook is their platform of choice, 15 percent prefer LinkedIn and just 4 percent are hooked on Twitter.
Buy why aren’t more business owners hopping on the social media bandwagon? When asked how they felt about social media, 24 percent said they simply didn’t have time to participate, while another 14 percent admitted they don’t know enough about it to get started.
That sound you just heard? That was my heart breaking.
While the education component acknowledges a natural learning curve, it is one that small business owners will need to overcome and tackle if they want to compete in the digital age. With more than 100 million users on LinkedIn, 500+ million users on Facebook and 200+ million users on Twitter, your audience is waiting for you to get involved. Your customers are on social media, which means you need to be, as well. And though the tools are new and can be intimidating until you find your legs, the core of social media isn’t much more than just talking to people. More specifically, social media is about talking to your customers. You need to make time to do that
And that really is the most important component – making time.
While speaking at the Hudson Valley 140 conference yesterday, I was asked how it is I have time to tweet and engage in social media, while still finding time to run a business. The answer is both easy and incredibly difficult:
I plan for it and I schedule it in my day.
I asked other small business owners (via Twitter) how they’re able to make it work, and their answers weren’t too different from my own:
- They schedule it in.
- They multitask, talking to people on social media while they watch television or perform other tasks.
- They use tools like Seesmic and Hootsuite to make their social interactions more productive.
- Bottom line: Social media is now part of everything they do.
Whether you realize it or not, social media is important to your small business. It’s giving you the opportunity to maximize the same word of mouth marketing that SMBs have relied on for years and that 50 percent of respondents said they couldn’t live without. It gives you the opportunity to grow bigger wings by making your brand more accessible, more visible and more authoritative simply by showing up and engaging. For SMBs who are often on a tight budget, the cost-effective tools associated with social media often provide an opportunity they can’t get elsewhere.
But that does take a time investment.
What do you think? Are you surprised that just 12 percent of SMB owners view social media as vital to their business? What social media tools do you most often rely on to do your SMB marketing? Conversely, what’s stopped you from getting involved in social media and what would make you change your mind?
47 Percent of SMBs Still Not Using Social Media. Oy.
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
