Are You Protected Against Hackers?

With so much of our personal data out there thanks to ecommerce and social networking, it’s no wonder hackers and cyber criminals are able to help themselves to our information, which can have catastrophic results. Hacking can lead to such quagmires as identity theft, scams, theft, and file destruction. Is your personal and business data safe?

What can you do to protect your personal and company data against hackers and cyber crime?

Make it Strong – The first step to protect your data is having strong passwords. Use as many characters as possible, both capital and lowercase letters, and at least one number and one symbol. Leave out obvious details such as your name or date of birth. Avoid easy-to-answer security questions, ones to which the answer can be easily found online (your high school, pet’s name, favorite team, etc.). Also, don’t use the same password for all of your accounts. Having unique passwords will limit the potential damage if one of your accounts is compromised.

Back it Up – Regularly back up your files locally, making multiple copies of them to prevent against hard drive failure. This is especially important for your business, because lost business data usually adds up to lost time and money. So, make sure your backup system is fail-proof. Or, get even more backup protection by utilizing Managed IT Services, offered by many business solution providers, which will securely backup and store your data to protect against hackers and other disasters.

Secure Your Network Devices - An often overlooked area that’s vulnerable to hacking is your printing and imaging hardware. Threats aren’t just limited to outside attacks from cyberspace. People both inside and outside your organization can actually hack your devices and steal information from document images that are saved on the hard drives of your imaging devices. Your office equipment provider can help you take measures to secure these devices.

Browse Facebook Securely – Facebook accounts are frequent targets of hackers, so if you use Facebook, take advantage of the security measures provided to you. In your account settings enable ‘secure browsing’ to use an encrypted connection (https://) instead of a standard connection (http://).

Watch Where You Click – Never, ever click on a link in an e-mail from someone you don’t know. Phishing creates bogus e-mails attempting to lure you to a phony website and have you enter your username and password.

In the information age your personal data is out there; however, employing these methods will make it more difficult for hackers to get their hands on it.

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TemplateMonster has the best ever gift for you! You are free to use the range of premium free web templates professionally developed with extra efforts of TemplateMonster expert designers! What is good about these web designs is that they are totally free and you may use them for your own projects at absolutely no cost. But make sure you don’t resell these free templates or include them into your design portfolios. They are all made for your personal use only.

Just pick one of many awesome free website templates, than go to the template download page and type your name and email address that you want the template package to be delivered to. After that, go to your mail box and wait for your precious free theme that will be instantly delivered to you with all of the graphic .psd sources required.

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The Restaurateur's Zen Guide to Email List Building. Why your Restaurant Must Have Email Marketing

Unique restaurant ingredient known as Galangal

Look, I understand. You're a restaurateur and the last thing you have time for is to send out email marketing messages to your customers. You've got an entire restaurant to run. In fact, you don't even have time to read this article. But just bare with me for a moment. And even if you did have time to send emails to your subscribers, you'd say, "why do I need an email list anyway? I use Facebook to promote my restaurant." So let me make this perfectly clear. No matter how much social media you use to promote your business, nothing, I mean nothing, is as effective as email.

ExactTarget's Channel Preference Survey has shown that although social media is the current raging-bull-in-the-sushi-house, email is the channel that influences the most purchases. Email is where the money is.
It's not that you don't want to use Facebook or other social channels, you do. It's that you want to use all of those social channels to drive sign-ups to your email list. The email list is the center of the wheel, and Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, FourSquare and all the other social media channels are the spokes that point towards the center of the wheel.

The #1 direct channel that influences the most purchases is email at 66%.

The 2012 Channel Preferences Survey, ExactTarget

If you have an email list of people who have been to your restaurant and opted-in to your list, you have a means to speak to existing customers directly. It's a lot easier to resell to an existing customer than it is to find a new one. 

What content am I going to email my restaurant customers?
You need to build a relationship with your customers. And you'll do this through meeting them in person, and then through email. Customers that know you will feel a sense of connection to you. So besides sending them the obvious coupons and incentives that bring them back into your place, also give them the history of the place, the history of you, the owner. How you learned to cook, what you specialize in, where you trained, what you cook when you're at home. You want to give customers a sense of who you are. Let them get to know you (and your staff) and thus they'll feel connected to you.

Waldo may not be good looking, but he's got
a great personality : ). Introduce him to your
customers and build the relationship

• Share your recipes. That's right, I said it. Actually share your recipes with your customers. "What? Share my recipes? Look kid, meatballs don't go with sushi. And, I don't give away none of Mamma's secret recipes." Oh really? You think customers are never going to come back because they now know your secret? Do you think no one comes in to Gordon Ramsay's restaurants because they bought his recipe book and now they just cook for themselves at home? Instead of them always cooking your recipes at home, you'll be surprised how often customers will think of coming in to your restaurant and talking about it with you. You'll position yourself as an expert. Make a video of you cooking the recipe and share a link to the video in email. Use your position of expertise to publish your own recipe book that you sell in your restaurant. Not that anyone would buy it. Your food sucks. I'm kidding.
• Publish a calendar of events at your store. Do you have any special events? Cultural holidays? Let customers know why they can't miss these great events.
• Introduce a staff member. You can't be everywhere, but your staff can. Customers should get to know your staff members as individuals. A great way to go deeper is to write about your staff in your email.
• Highlight an uncommon ingredient you use. Where does it come from? What does it look like when it is grown? What is it used for culturally? Where can customers buy it?
• Have the chef explain a particular dish. What's special about it? What does it mean to him or her? Show a picture of it and offer it as a house special for this Friday night.
• Highlight reviews of your restaurant that you find on Yelp. Particularly reviews that rave about a particular dish. 
• Send out menu changes and new items announcements.

How do I build an email list for my restaurant?
Since you are face to face with so many customers, you are in a unique position. There are many places you can ask diners to opt-in to your list. You'll want both a paper sign-up form and a sign-up form on your website.

Whatever you do, be sure the customers want your emails. If they don't, there are lots of problems you will cause for yourself.

• Do you offer paper menus for customers to take away? Promote the email list there.
• When customers make reservations, ask them to sign up then, or use OpenTable which enables a sign-up on their site.
• Put a sign-up form on your website - put it on all pages, or on each menu page.
• Promote it on the comment card that you're probably already giving to customers.
• When you bring the check to their table, have the sign-up form in the fold-up booklet. And bring a pen even before you know they want to use a credit card.
• Put a sign up form in your normal menu when you first bring it to the customer.
• Create a well made sign up card that has a glossy picture of the free appetizer they'll get if they sign up for your email list. Use this card to get sign-up in the store. And use it if you do catering, or if you have an open house at a partner's neighboring  business.
• Entice sign ups with a coupon. Put a sign-up form in with your paper menu if you drop menus on neighborhood mailboxes. Only customers who sign up for the email list can use the coupon. Since the paper sign-up form is also a coupon, customers will bring it in the store when they visit.
• Put  your website URL at the bottom of the printed cash register receipt. Send them to your website to sign up.
• Do you have an iPad? Have them sign up directly on that when at the register.

A warning about the fishbowl: it's ok to use a fishbowl to collect business cards, but unless it is very clear that customers are signing up for an email list when they drop their card in, do not add these people to your subscriber list.

How do I incent my customers to sign up? 

• Tell them they'll get a coupon by email for a free appetizer
• Send them a free meal on their birthday or anniversary (as long as they bring a friend!)
• Tell them they'll receive weekly specials and discounts. 
• Partner with a neighboring business, have an open house together co-promoting each other's businesses. Have a door prize for anyone who signs up for the newsletter like giving away a free dinner for two.

Why are social channels not as powerful as email? 
Because the rate of engagement is so different. With a channel like Facebook, when you post an update, only a small percentage of the fans that have Liked your page are actually going to see it on their timeline. Whereas with email, a high percentage of the recipients on your email list are going to see and read your email, or at least see the subject line in their inbox. You are hitting so many more eyeballs with email. Don't avoid using social media though. Instead, use social media to drive more people to sign up for your email list.

What about Groupon?
I have no problem with Groupon. I'm not saying to not use Groupon. I'm saying that whether or not you use Groupon, your own email list will be worth far more money to you in the end.

Let us know creative ways you've used email to market your restaurant in the comments section.

Read next: Save time using this free tool to post your updates to multiple social networks

Image credit: Computer Clip Art, FotoosVanRobin under Creative Commons

Using Your Facebook Dashboard to Succeed

Facebook as a social marketing tool

Every person on Facebook has a dashboard they use to keep track of friends and apps. They can monitor who and what they see. This is also possible for businesses that use Facebook. You can use your dashboard to keep track of likes, dislikes and see what people are saying about your company. This will give you an opportunity to reach out and engage with your customers whether they are happy or unhappy with you.

Why Your Business Needs to be on Facebook

It’s all about location, location, location.  Whether it’s an online location or share of mind location, you must have the prime area and Facebook has over 900 million users making it at the top of places to locate your business. 

Using your dashboard, you can see who is engaging your updates and sharing them. You’ll see who of your clients are also active online, who they’re connected with and which topics and specials are of most interest to them. There’s a wealth of customer intelligence in your Facebook dashboard and insights.

Monitoring Traffic

Did you know that you can see who on Facebook is going to your site and/or blog? Get some real insights on customer flow, their interest in topics and how well your website is doing in continuing the conversation that you start in your social networks. 

It’s also a great place to monitor conversations and have an active customer service arm that reaches into the mobile devices that most people access Facebook with.

Tracking Engaged Users

It is possible to track every customer and see how they are engaging with their friends. Their posts become public so you will be able to see what they are saying about you and your business. 

Are they talking about your business? You can greet and thank them or try to resolve issues which draw dislikes.

Who Can Be Reached?

There are many ways you can target your message and promotions. Once you get their attention, then get personal with your contacts on Facebook. You want them to see you as approachable, a resource and someone they can access here that they could never reach through another channel. 

Whatever you’re doing remember to keep delivering them value so they will listen and stay engaged. 

Review the posts and updates and find out:

1. What are they most interested in?
2. What are they sharing the most?
3. What do they like most about you?
4. What are their burning question and/or issues?

How retailers can use social to drive customer loyalty and make more money

Brick and mortar retailers (and online retailers) do a rather poor job in using social to help grow their own businesses. Several years ago, when you first started your retail store selling dried lima-beans, or used lawn-mower blades, or defunct Suzanne Summers flab-o-blaster-cisers or whatever it is that you sell, none of this social-schmocial stuff mattered.  Times have changed!  And so should your approach to building customer relationships.  Here are some quick ideas that you should incorporate into the retail experience you are providing for your customers.

For Brick and Mortar stores - ideas to grow your social

• Use in-store signage to promote your email newsletter, SMS messages, Facebook community, Twitter feed, and Pinterest page.  And while you're at it, promote your website.
• At the point of sale, ask your customers for their email address.  "If you give us your email, we'll send you special discounts on volume lima bean purchases!"
• Offer to send the customers their purchase receipt via email. This means you'll get their email address.  This isn't permission for you to start sending them your newsletter, but when you email their receipt to them, you can promote your email list signup form, SMS program, Facebook community, Twitter feed, and Pinterest boards.
• On your paper receipts, promote all these channels.  Print it right there on the receipt.  Offer a special incentive if they join or sign up for one.
• Monitor your social channels and answer questions / comments from customers early and often.  And, thank those that commented or tweeted.

For Online stores - ideas to grow your social

• Send shopping cart abandonment emails.  Today, only 22% of online retailers are doing this.  These can be very effective.
• Send a personalized email after purchase to thank the customer and invite them to your social channels.  Too many retailers send a thank you email, but it's not personalized.
• Monitor your social channels and answer questions early and often

ExactTarget did a great study on these topics

And since you have a retail store, check out how a tiny tavern sold thousands of tshirts bearing their logo.  The greatest free advertising your store will ever get.

Why frequent marketing touches will fail every time

It's so common that we small business marketers believe that frequently interacting with our customers is what grows relationships with them. Send them a lot of emails and tweets, touch them on a Facebook business page, respond to every comment on our blog posts, repin their pins on Pinterest, blah blah blah. Sounds good right? The more you interact the closer your relationship is with your customers, right? I mean, that's what a relationship is right? It's about interacting a bunch of times? Well, let me ask you a question. Was it the number of times you went on a date with your future husband when you were "courting" (sorry, it's an old southern term) that really added up to that head-over-heels love that grew between you? Or was it the quality of the shared experience that the two of you had together during that time? Think out loud for a minute. But don't let Loraine in the cube next to you hear this. Did it matter that you and your (future) husband happened to hear the Louis Armstrong song "What a wonderful world" playing in the background on your date, OR was it actually the fact that that song was playing the first time the two of you ever danced? The first time the two of you danced was a shared experience. And the fact that Louis Armstrong's "What a wonderful world" already meant something special to you, and you two shared that experience together, is what built the relationship between you.

It's the shared experiences in our lives that stand out and matter to us, not the number of times we happen to have interacted together. In your marketing, you need to build a shared experience with your customers in order to have a real relationship with them. What does that mean in a small business?  Take a look at a few examples-->.

Ted's Montana Grill
Ted Turner started this small chain of restaurants several years ago. If you don't know Ted, he's this "semi-wealthy" guy who seemingly would to be able to turn even dried cow pies into gold. At any rate, Ted's doesn't just serve up a great, perfectly seasoned, lean, Bison burger and call it quits. That wouldn't be enough to build a shared relationship with his customers. Instead Ted's makes it clear that they care about the environment. The tables are covered with recycled paper instead of fine linen tablecloths that have to be laundered constantly. The drinking straws are made of paper. That's right, paper. Why? Because a paper straw simply disintegrates in the land fill whereas plastic straws will be preserved right along side a twinkie for a thousand years or so. The restrooms have these sporty toilets that may have cost more to purchase, but save on water in the long run. All of this screams of sharing this common feeling and goal with customers who care about the environment, but who still want a spankin' good burger or steak.

Whole Foods
Whole Foods is a grocery chain on a mission to sell nothing but the healthiest products available. A customer who is conscious about their personal health, concerned about what they eat, and concerned about how the foods were grown and sourced would normally go to a typical grocery store and have to scrutinize every product label to see what the ingredients are, and if the label mentions anything about the growing and sourcing of the product. Instead, if you step into Whole Foods, customers rest assured that every single item in the store is basically healthy. You don't even have to look at the labels. We're talking about tens of thousands of items here.  Everything is organically produced, thus it is better for the environment. No product contains toxins like high fructose corn syrup, BHT/TBHQ (chemical preservatives), or trans fats. And everything is sourced in such a way that there are no unfair labor practices being used (such as poor treatment of workers, child labor, or human slavery). Even their coffees are all labeled "Fair Trade", "Whole Trade", "Rainforest Alliance Certified", "We don't kill unicorns", or something similar. Whole Foods makes it a point to tell their customers these things. They reach out and show that they actually care about this stuff.  It's an experience they share with their customers who also care about these things. As a byproduct, they sell a lot more groceries and make a lot more profit.

Thought Reach
We at Thought Reach also use shared experiences to grow relationships with our customers.  For one thing, we make it known that we are obsessed with good coffee.  Our customers identify with us because they too love great coffee. And since we support the Fair Trade movement, our customers who also care deeply about this cause identify with us. It's a shared experience that transcends the normal business relationship that is based on just a bunch of interactions.

For you to apply these ideas to your business, start by thinking about what you are passionate about, and create a way to show that to your customers thereby creating a shared experience.

p.s.-  No gnomes or unicorns were harmed in the writing of this article.

What shared experiences can you use to connect with your customers?

Aunt Bea says to not post to Facebook more than once a day

With all this talk, caterwauling, and fluff about how important it is to use social media to build your small business, it's important to talk about what NOT to do as well.  As it turns out, when it comes to posting on social media sites, too much is not a good thing.  You've worked hard to obtain a social following, so don't abuse your relationship with your followers.

Take a look at the graph below.  For businesses that have a Facebook business page (and you should), posting more than once a day showed diminishing returns.  In fact, if you compare the number of Likes and clicks of the first post of the day to the later posts of the day, the results are downright sucky.

So remember, post to your Facebook business page once daily, but give it a rest after that.  Some might argue that there are a lot of Likes/clicks to achieve with subsequent posts in the same day, but why not wait until tomorrow?  That post you were about to put up as your second post of the day will show better returns if it's held off until another day.

Just like Aunt Bea always said.  "The best day to do any job is tomorrow".  Well ok, so Aunt Bea would have never told anyone any such nonsense.  But in this case, that's exactly what you should do (but don't tell Aunt Bea I said that).

Read next>> Find out how The Black Dog Tavern on Martha's Vinyard is running circles around your small business advertising strategy.

How to be in Time for Timeline

Facebook continues to change and enhance its features for all its users. After releasing the Timeline layout for personal profile pages a few months ago, they have released Timeline for business pages. And, all will have to change over by March 30 so the time to learn to use it is now!  The new layout will benefit businesses in many ways but we have to adjust some things to make it work to our advantage. The new layout makes it easier interact with our fans, post enhanced graphics, and will give us the ability to arrange our posts the way we want them to show on our page.

If you have a business page on Facebook, there are a couple of things that you need to do before switching to Timeline. Timeline gives us more creative freedom and if we take advantage of that, our business can attract more customers and make them stay long enough to find out more about us. The Timeline layout for business pages will automatically be forced to all pages on March 30. If you want to get the new layout for your business page, here are some things you need to prepare:

Profile and cover photos – the new layout gives you the option to upload a cover photo and a profile photo. For your cover photo, you can choose something that depicts your business. Be creative, and if you know someone who can help you come up with a design or make a design that you have in mind, do so. Make it look as professional as possible. According to Facebook, the ideal size for a cover photo is 851x315 pixels. You have to look out for this so you are sure that the photo you upload will remain clear and vivid.

Your profile photo will be a small box on the side, within your cover photo. What you can put here is your business logo. The ideal size is about 180x180 pixels. If you have a personal page that is already using Timeline, go ahead and experiment with it so you get an idea on how you can be creative with your business page.

Information tab – Facebook has a new “About” page. When your fans click on your “About”, the first thing that they will see is the information about your business. So before switching to Timeline, make sure that you check your details, contact information, and anything that you want your fans to know about you. If you are not making use of this page, it’s time you fill in that space because when people visit your site, they will surely want to know more about your business. Don’t forget to place contact details and links to your blog or other sites, if you have any.

Milestones – this new feature lets you add company milestones on your profile. This is helpful in informing your fans or those who visit your page about the latest happenings in your business. When you launch a new product, have a promo, or participate in events in your community, you can add these events as milestones. Through your business activities, you are giving your audience an idea of what your business is about.

Plan to make your “likers” visits worth their while.   Prepare yourself on how you are going to maintain your site. When you switch to Timeline, you will have new tools you have to get familiar with. For example, you now have the option to choose a post that will show on top of your page for as long as a week--something like a featured post. You can also change the dates of your posts. This allows you to fix your posts and have a constant flow of content in your page. There’s also the “star” option, wherein the posts that you “star” will be highlighted on your page. This means that you can attract and engage your customers to participate in discussions that you marked. Facebook will also add features that will help you control message activity in your page. If you want to control the comments from your fans, messages will go to your inbox instead of your wall.

Facebook is a place where we can get closer to our customers. Now that there’s a new layout coming out, it’s important that we find ways on how we are going to present our business to our fans. Through creativity and preparation, we can use the new layout to further increase our fan base and to engage more people to interact with us.

Are You Ready to Face Timeline?

Facebook will force their new layout, Timeline, to  business pages by the end of March. Why is this important for your personal brand? Timeline will give you the chance to be more creative with your profile. There will be new features that will give you more control over your profile, your posts, and your fans. Switching to the new layout will give your personal brand an edge but there are some things that you need to prepare to make your new profile work for you.

Here are some of the new features that you have to look out for:

Cover photo – the cover photo is an important part of your profile. It’s a huge space where you can place creative shots or choose graphics that says a lot about your personal brand. Timeline for personal profile pages was released months ago and since then a lot of people have displayed how you can be creative with your cover photo.

Your cover photo is the first thing that your visitors will see on your profile. Make them stay long enough by being creative: attract them with your cover photo. Make sure that you use an image size of 851 by 315 pixels to ensure great photo quality. Also consider your profile photo: it’s not going to display like it displays on the old layout. Your profile photo will only fit in a small box at the bottom left of your cover photo.

It’s also important to note that on a mobile phone your timeline cover will not show.  Mobile users will only be able to see your profile picture.  When you’re placing important information in your timeline cover, keep this in mind. Anything placed there will not be visible to your mobile phone user.

Timeline cover photos also have strict guidelines:
No calls to action
No “like this” or “like this” arrows
No mention of a “sale”
And No contact information

“About” section – the “About” section is where you display your achievements, contact details, and other items about you that you want others to know. Take the time to fill this space with important details about you. If you already have this, maybe it’s time to review and rewrite your information. Facebook added this feature to make it easier for people to get to know you. If they stay long enough on your profile, they will go to your “About” page, and when they do, you want to make sure that they find the details they need from you that showcase you in your best light.

Admin panel, activity log, and other features – Facebook will also add features to help you be more in control of profile activities. For example, you will be able to manage comments that you get, and get analytics. You can also enable the Track Friend Activity feature, which allows your visitors to see how their other friends are talking about you.

Make sure that before you go and switch to the new layout, you are ready to adjust to the new features. Before you switch, try out the new features and see how it works for you. You can do trials with your cover photo and other new additions before you launch your new profile.

As a personal brand, everything that you do and everything you show others makes an impression With the new Timeline, you can start building a community of both professionals and consumers. You are making it easier for yourself to attract and build relationships with others. Through this, you can build your brand’s reputation. People judge a brand by how they maintain their profiles. If you take the time to adjust to the new page layout, you can make it work to your advantage.

How Small Businesses Can Win at Social Media

by Debbie Schaeffer

I find that Social Media for LOCAL businesses is still in its infancy. Many businesses feel that it is too much work and do not see the benefits. Those of us that are in it - yes it does take work - but the field is constantly changing and growing and becoming more techno-savvy so by participating and constantly learning, we will be way ahead of those that join in later.

Here are some tips from my experience with social media:

Social Media Presence
I belong to Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Foursquare, Yelp and YouTube and I have a blog on my business site. On your blog or website you should have all the icons to these sites linking back to them. They should be positioned where they can be easily seen. I see many sites with the buttons on the bottom of the page and you don't even notice them.

Facebook
Not only should you have a personal page but you must have a business page. There are approximately 120 people on my business page that do not follow me personally. Most of the people are customers and not necessarily personal contacts. It's important to share news and events, announce sales, show customers' before and after photos, talk about expert solutions, and more.  This gives you another opportunity to turn up in search engine results. 

The common question is how to get people to "like" your business page.  You need to be proactive to ask people especially if you are a local business. Always ask! If you don't, then they won't know your page exists.  Then, you can add the Facebook button on any online communication you have whether it's a website or email newsletter.

Linkedin
This is a great example of using social networking for making B2B connections. Many people who are on Linkedin are not on Facebook so you don't have to worry about repeating your message in multiple places.  Linkedin allows you to describe your business as well as explain your position.  You only have so many words you can post an update but its a great way to keep people up to date with sales, events and great info. I get more feedback from Linkedin post than any other site. It's a good idea to join groups, but be prepared to spend time joining in the conversation.

Twitter
I have two accounts. One for me and the store (@DebbieSchaeffer @Mrs_Gs)

Yes it is very cool to have a ton of followers but if you are a local business and your customers are local, having a follower from California or the UK doesn't help if you are looking to gain more customers. However, the beauty of Twitter is that you can follow experts in your field, I follow the CMO of Best Buy. I also follow all my brands who have Twitter accounts. I love to "retweet" and be the first on my block to announce something big. For example, JD Power & Associates recently announced that Wolf is the #1 range, but I was the first to tell my Wolf rep. It felt good!

Foursquare
This sight is getting more popular everyday. People leave tips about a business or restaurant, offering great feedback to potential customers and the business managers as well.  As a business owner, you can place special deals and coupons for people who "check in" to your location.  I have also created a Foursquare profile and venue for my upcoming 75th anniversary gala. When guests arrive, they can "check in" and leave tips for an opportunity to win fun prizes.  There are many ways to entice customers to interact with you or your business with Foursquare.  However, like Facebook Pages, you need to encourage people to "check in" through your various communication channels both online and in person.

YouTube
For a year I knew I needed to do more video but I just didn't know how to get started. As cameras have become more sophisticated and smaller, creating a video is easier than ever. But it wasn't until I went to a local Social Marketing Seminar on YouTube that I said now is the time to just do it!  I'm far from a natural in front of the camera, but I keep trying. I created a mrsgs.tv page which will contain all my videos and it will link to the main page of my business site. Consumers prefer to watch a video than read - look how great Old Spice is doing with their video campaign.


Debbie Schaeffer is the 3rd generation female business owner of Mrs. G TV & Appliances in Lawrenceville, NJ.  She is a nationally recognized leader among women in consumer electronics and has become known among colleagues and vendors as a social media maven. Visit her store, read her blog, and watch some video at www.mrsgs.com.

Is Social Media Getting the Attention It Deserves?

by Shannon Suetos

Social media, new media, whatever you want to call it, has been gaining popularity for the past few years. More and more marketers are seeing a need to have a presence in these different mediums. The problem is tying revenue from these efforts. At the end of the day, small business owners are concerned with the bottom line.

“A September 2010 survey by Econsultancy, sponsored by digital marketing agency bigmouthmedia, found nearly half of companies worldwide still said “the jury is out” on the value of social media for their firm. This group still felt they were not able to measure the return on their social media investment—even to put a value on it relative to their other marketing activities,” reports eMarketer.

eMarketer also found in a different report that, “The biggest obstacle for social strategies was not having enough data to come up with a measure of return on investment.” Because social media is becoming a viable marketing tactic for many companies, the question now becomes how do we tie revenue to our social media efforts?

Have a Plan

What is it exactly that you want to see from your social media efforts? Are you engaging your target audience to get brand awareness? Do you want to drive more traffic to your blog and website? Do you want to conduct a contest? The first step for any marketing tactic is to have a plan with goals. You don’t go into a PPC campaign blindly, so you don’t want to do the same with social media.

Write up a clear plan on exactly what you want to see happen with your social media strategy, and from there you can figure out how you are going to measure your efforts. Many marketers set up a Twitter account or Facebook page and then ignore their profiles. You have to commit to these profiles and spend time on them just like you would for any other marketing tactic. When you are writing up your marketing plan, decide how many hours (even if it is just an hour) a day you will be dedicating to social media.

Conversion Rates

Just like with any other online marketing tactic, you need to set a benchmark. Start tracking your website traffic from Twitter, Facebook, YouTube wherever you are present. Set up specific landing pages if you have to. The more you can see a straight conversion rate from your efforts, the more you can start tying in a revenue stream from the traffic brought in from these sites.

If you are conducting a contest, a new landing page is your best option. You will be able to see exactly how and when your target audience is paying attention to your stream, which allows you to figure out when the best time is to post new information.

Links

If you are paying a writer (or taking time from your day) to write content to bookmark, track that time as social media time. If you are getting quality backlinks from the copy you are writing, and in turn submitting it to social bookmarketing sites, then that can be tied into SEO revenue. Social media can be a great way to attain more links to your site and get brand exposure—you just have to start tracking your efforts.

Although the links that are submitted to social sites are nofollwed, it doesn’t mean that reporters, bloggers or other companies won’t find the article and use it for their site—which could be followed. Monitoring your company online is a must—whether you have a social media presence or not.

Contact Forms

If you already ask your customers about how they heard about your company, add the options for them to select Twitter and other social media sites you are on. This will give you an idea of the brand exposure and actual sales you are making because of these sites.

Jeffery Cohen writes on Social Media B2B that, “The total cost divided by the number of leads, or other number that represents conversions, is the cost per lead. As these leads go into the normal sales funnel, and get qualified, you will see the return on your social media investment.”

The main point for marketers is social media may or may not be a viable option for your company, but you have to set benchmarks and measure your success. There is no guarantee that Twitter, Facebook and YouTube will be the right fit for your company, but you will never know until you try. Start out small and see if you get any followers and traffic from these sites. You don’t have to throw a lot of money at a “social media guru” if you don’t know if it will work.

Shannon Suetos is an expert writer on fulfillment companies based in San Diego, California. She writes extensively for an online resource that provides expert advice on purchasing and outsourcing decisions for small business owners and entrepreneurs such as VoIP Service at Resource Nation.

Why Social Media Can Help Women Entrepreneurs

Being an entrepreneur is hard enough.  You have your entire business riding on your back, and regardless if you have built up an empire, a small business or have a one woman show you need to know how to do many things.

Social media, or new media – whatever you want to call it – doesn’t seem to be losing too much steam.  Many businesses have figured out how to use this medium to their benefit and help gain more leads, brand awareness and even use it as a networking tool.

However you decide to use social media, you should be aware that women are leading the game.  A study conducted by BlogHer and iVillage states that, “nearly three-quarters (73%) of online women are now active social media users, engaging weekly or more often with popular social media platforms.”

Having a great networking circle is a must for entrepreneurs. Knowing where to go to find like-minded women can keep you up to date on your industry as well as having a great circle of entrepreneurs to run ideas off of.

WomenForbes.com reports that “women often use online social networking tools to make connections.”  Jodi Kahn, the head of iVillage, goes on to say in the article that, “We're women--we like to talk about things. Women use social media as a way to connect."

For women, the networking sites most used are: Twitter, MySpace, Bebo, Facebook and Flickr.  This doesn’t mean you need to stick solely to these sites, but it just means you will run into more women engaging on these sites.

Although social media is a great tool, remember you need to offset social media with a great website.  After all, where are you going to send your Twitter followers if you don’t have a website?  If you want to keep the conversation going, have a blog on your site as well.

Having a blog can give your site more traffic, allows you to set yourself as an expert in your field and also allows your visitors to communicate through comments.  Being able to stay connected to your clients in more than just one medium is key.

What types of social media tactics do you find helpful?

Shannon Suetos is a writer based in San Diego, California.  She writes extensively for an online resource that provides expert advice on purchasing and outsourcing decisions for small business owners and entrepreneurs such as phone systems & VoIP service at Resource Nation.