2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. 7
  9. ...
  10. 270
May 22, 2013

Find your voice in the social media crowd

megaphone
Photo courtesy of Grant Neufeld (Creative Commons)

How enemies, unfollowers & churn can be a good thing

Chris AbrahamEvery other week I like to remind you that you’re being a social media wuss. And, by wuss, I mean you’re being too much of a social media “nice guy”; spending too much time worrying about what others think. You spend too much time trying to get everyone to like you. You’re always afraid of stepping on toes or offending anyone. You’re especially afraid of getting fired. If you’re honest with yourself, that’s your biggest fear: losing your job if you’re an employee, or losing (or alienating) your clients (or prospects) by doing something as revolutionary as having a voice, an opinion, an agenda, or a point of view. Heaven forbid.

Here are three signs that your social media shout isn’t really getting heard. Continue reading →

May 21, 2013

Attract customers to your community with content

Patagonia

Guest post by Mackenzie Fogelson
SEOmoz.com

mackenzie Everybody is talking about content. And everybody’s writing content. Social media specialists, agencies, marketing departments, probably even your mom. And a lot of it isn’t pretty.

Hopefully, by now, you got the memo that if you want your content to grow your business, it should be good. And hopefully you’re ready to do something about it.

There is a very tiny yet very significant theme to keep in mind — a shift in perspective — that is important to embody when you’re generating content for your website, blog, and social media outlets (oh, and offline, too):

It’s not about you. It’s just not. Continue reading →

May 20, 2013

Does your infographic tell a story?

Infographic-small

Make sure you do more than throw numbers at readers

Target audience: Businesses, infographics specialists, marketing professionals, designers.

JD LasicaIlove infographics. And I love storytelling. But rarely do the two meet in any meaningful way.

So I couldn’t resist the chance to share a new infographic from one of Socialmedia.biz’s clients, Charles Schwab. When Schwab hired us to create a series of infographics for the company, we spent considerable time developing a storyboard that was mindful of their brand while conveying a message that was as much about people and behavior instead of just numbers and data.

Charles Schwab’s first infographic, The Road to Retirement (also see their Facebook page), focuses on a simple idea: the power of starting to invest early in life. So we thought it would make an interesting infographic story to start with Julia and Justin, two people in their 20s, and take them through their 40s and 60s. That way, any readers can compare themselves to where these two individuals are at the same age — and then think about their own saving habits. Continue reading →

May 16, 2013

Top 5 CRM platforms for small business

CRM

Insightly, SugarCRM, Nimble, Zoho CRM lead way

Guest post by Megan Totka
Chief Editor, ChamberofCommerce.com

MeganTotkaAt some point, a growing small or medium-size business comes face to face with a basic question: How do we manage our relationships with our customers?

By using customer relationship management (CRM) software, a business owner can track customers’ shopping and buying habits, information about new prospects, sales, vendors, past interactions via social media and more. A good CRM system organizes all this information and makes it easily accessible, allowing team members to work more efficiently and productively.

CRM software was once reserved for corporations and enterprise-level businesses that had access to the technology — and the resources to use it. But as more software vendors have developed CRM platforms, adding features and honing both functionality and integration, this powerful business tool has been refined into versions easier to use and more affordable for companies of all sizes.

Today, there are many CRM solutions designed especially with small businesses in mind. Continue reading →

May 14, 2013

Can you build an audience while maintaining intimacy?

collectibles
Photo by practicalowl (Creative Commons)

Yes. In fact, you must. Just don’t go on social auto-pilot and start collecting people

Chris AbrahamYou know how much I am obsessed with long-tail blogger outreach, right? I am a man possessed! That said, I really don’t collect people. People don’t like being collected. As people, we don’t like being part of a menagerie. While it’s easy to collect people, it’s even easier to take them for granted, and there’s probably a tipping point. I have been consulting some bouncing social media babies recently, and they’re doing it right. They’re each running a couple of hundred followers and friends and they know everyone. They’re aware of exactly who they’re following and get really excited whenever anyone follows them back.

But please forgive me, I felt the same way too, and I must tell you that I really needed the reminder. I mean, not to brag, but I have had 500+ connections on LinkedIn since before many of you were born. And with 43,000+ followers on Twitter and 4,777 friends on Facebook, it keeps me busy.

With such a torrent of conversation splashing and sloshing around me all the time, manifesting in an endless din, I of course am just about always overwhelmed.

It’s almost impossible to both maintain the cultivated intimacy of those very first days of exploration when you knew the name of everyone you followed and, especially, everyone who followed you. Continue reading →

May 13, 2013

20 tools to grow your business & get more productive

Triberr

Boomerang, TimeBridge, AwayFind & much more

Shonali BurkeA couple of years ago, I wrote a post on the five productivity tools I found myself using frequently. Since times change, and apps/platforms come and go, I thought I’d take a fresh look at how my daily toolkit has changed, and share that with you.

Note that I use Gmail almost exclusively, so if that’s you, you’re in luck. If not, well, you’ll have to see if they work for your particular set-up. Here, then, are 20 tools to help you grow your business, by keeping you efficient, productive and in the know.

Email, contacts and calendar/scheduling tools

1Boomerang for Gmail: I still use and love it. Boomerang is a great way to schedule emails ahead of time so that you can clear your backlog, or take care of responses, but not look like a crazy person who is up all hours of the day and night (even if you are, there’s no need to show it). It works as a Firefox and Chrome plug-in and there’s also a version for Outlook. See the video above for the inside scoop. Continue reading →

  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. 7
  9. ...
  10. 270