Social Media Management – Setting Your Sights on the Right Sites
February 4, 2010
Copyright (c) 2010 Enzo F. Cesario
http://www.Brandsplat.com/
One of the most amazing features about the Web is that it allows many people to take advantage of features they did not originate. Livejournal, Twitter, Digg, Reddit and each of the many other Social Media sites were proposed and implemented with a relatively small cadre of people, yet thousands of businesses are finding ways to use these sites for promotion and improvement every day. These sites allow for communication with the nearly captive audience that is any business’ dream.
Of course as is the case with any innovative process many businesses jump in to Social Media Marketing without understanding the problems at hand, and find themselves ignored or scorned for seeming to be incompetent. In some cases this is a failure of research, while in others it is a case of forgetting that these audiences are indeed people with complex opinions and attitudes. Combine these traits with the mass communication capability of the Internet, and you have equal potential for word of mouth fame or disaster.
Before jumping into SMM, every business needs to consider the core options available to them and see just which ones truly suit the organization and its needs. The leadership must consider the objective of their business and the audience that will facilitate this objective. Then they should consider not just which Social Media sites this audience frequents, but how to reach them in a way that makes them care. To that end, what follows is a short review of some Social Media sites and a comparison of their roles to highlight these issues.
Twitter is Social Media at its barest; short messages are sent out to anyone following the account, usually consisting of no more than a brief comment or a short URL. US President Barack Obama relied heavily on Twitter during his successful White House bid, using it to promote rallies and campaign meetings. The very brevity of Twitter gives it some of its most unexpected strength. After all, what could be more mysterious than a message reading ‘Tyler Park, 9:30 pm, bring chips and sunglasses’? Sunglasses at night? Chips? It immediately gets the mind racing with questions and interest.
Yet in a classic example illustrating that audiences are not simply feedback devices, but actual people, consider the gone-wrong story of the Republican Party in Connecticut. In an effort to satire some of their opponents, the party set up 33 fake Twitter accounts impersonating state Democrats! Twitter shut down the accounts citing terms of service clauses against impersonating other individuals. The move raised a number of ethical questions and is a classic example that users should always ask if ‘can’ necessarily means ’should.’
Facebook and Myspace
The title of this section indicates a common perception in the media that these competing services are offering essentially the same product. In a sense this is true, as both offer users a chance to join groups, manage and customize a profile, and use a variety of applications for entertainment or business. They represent the more involved tier of Social Media, combining aspects of blogging and websites for easy access.
However the facts show that perceptions can be misleading. Facebook only allows for plain text customization, whereas Myspace allows users to customize with HTML and CSS. While this may not sound like the greatest of distinctions it does make Facebook more accessible to the ‘casual’ user of Social media, while Myspace by default becomes the realm of those more interested in website design. If your business’ aim is to recruit potential designers, this distinction alone tells you where to focus your efforts.
Digg and Reddit
These sites and others like them are in essence an Internet popularity contest. Users submit content, and other users vote on whether they find it interesting. The theory of use here is that these sites can be used as a benchmark for public opinion, based on a reading of what is popular at any given time. Except it isn’t always that simple. Digg has faced criticism that the site’s owners have a great deal of direct influence on which stories make it to the front page, which does call into question whether it actually represents public opinion.
Not the Final Word, Just a Thought
Above we mentioned the curious case of Republicans attempting a bit of satire and finding themselves called on ethical questions. Another fact to consider is the irony vote. It is not unknown or even uncommon for Internet hobbyists to vote en masse for an irrelevant news story just to see if they can make it popular as a jest. For example, the infamous and popular social site 4chan seemingly organized massive, worldwide boycotts of the Church of Scientology because it could.
Working with a professional social media marketing agency can help ensure that your online efforts are focused on the right sites, with the right message, to the right audience for maximum ROI.
Above all, the lesson that must be learned is that the Internet is not a static collection of people waiting to obey the input of various broadcasters. Each audience is composed of many distinct and individual users, many of whom are intelligent, critical thinkers with opinions and ideas of their own. If your campaign treats them as a switch to be thrown, it will fail, period. If you want your campaign to succeed, treat these audiences with respect and develop a campaign that communicates with rather than at them.
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Enzo F. Cesario is an online brand management specialist
and co-founder of Brandsplat, a social media company that
uses blogs, articles, videos and social media to drive
traffic to your site. For the free Brandcasting Report
go to http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit our blog at
http://www.iBrandCasting.com/
Women and Social Entrepreneurship — A Growing Trend by K. MacKillop
February 3, 2010
Copyright (c) 2010 K. MacKillop
LaunchX
http://www.launchx.com/Women business owners have long been the fastest growing sector of entrepreneurs, and it is very common for this group to lead the charge of social entrepreneurism. Social entrepreneurs use their business acumen to both create a profitable business and contribute to the greater good. Wanting to use your talents to create social change no longer requires a low-paying position within the nonprofit sector. In fact, many women are finding that the power and privilege that comes with successful entrepreneurship make it easier to make a difference, both financially and by promoting new ideas.
The majority of nonprofits rely on outside donors to keep the good works going. Running a for-profit business provides a broader opportunity for increasing sales and profitability, primarily because of the flexibility of private ownership over the purpose restrictions of a nonprofit. And, using the business practices and profits of a for-profit business to exact change allows the owner to alter priorities as needed. A nonprofit is locked into the stated purpose included in the organizing papers.
There is nothing wrong with improving one’s own financial status. The attitude that one must suffer in order to do good is yesterday’s attitude. The more you have, the more you can do, and more and more Americans are accepting this reality. Again, women are leading the charge in showing this to be true. Those in the highest net worth categories (mostly entrepreneurs and business executives) are very active, and very generous, philanthropists overall. On average, over half of these women contribute over $25,000 per year to charity, while 19% contribute 1 Million dollars or more each year.
There are over 10 Million businesses that are partially women-owned in the US, and about 7.7 Million businesses that are majority-owned by women. Of the majority owned, nearly half are home-based and employ 14 Million part-time or full-time employees. Around 70% of women-owned businesses are in the service sector, though the retail sector is slowly growing. Another nearly 8% are in the real estate sector, including property management and leasing.
Whatever type of business, there are indications that women are doing a better job overall of keeping an eye on the details and managing change — a proportionately fewer number of women-owned ventures are failing during this recession than men-owned. It may be in part because these businesses tend to be smaller on
average, thus are better able to slide through the recession, but whatever the reason, women in business are doing well. With an estimated 1.1 trillion in sales each year, there is plenty of opportunity to improve your own station while working on the social issues most important to you.
Combining a for-profit business with social activism provides the best of both worlds. Women who are thinking about launching a nonprofit should consider the alternative. The fundamentals of running either type of business (profit or nonprofit) are essentially the same — planning, marketing and financial management. But the payoff of for-profit success can be extreme. Not only will your increased personal income allow you the freedom to do more, but the power of entrepreneurial success will allow you to provide encouragement and set an example for balancing work and the greater good.
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University, is founder of LaunchX and authors a blog focused
on starting a business (http://www.blog.launchx.com/). The
LaunchX System provides everything you need to launch your
own social entrepreneurship idea, including step-by-step
instructions, key software, and coaching. Visit
http://www.LaunchX.com/ and take our Business Readiness
Assessment and learn what to do next for your business startup
(http://www.launchx.com/are-you-ready.html)
Adaptation
February 2, 2010
First of all, I confess to have “stolen” the concept for today’s blog from my friend and peer, Afsheen. Her blog about this has been percolating in my brain for a bit…I have a bit of a love for metaphor, and so I would characterize the thoughts this way, using the natural world as my palette.
So let us look at the adaptation in the wild… the shark, which was a “start-up” thousands of years ago, has survived changing market environments by being extremely good at its initial business focus of eating, etc. It has developed the tools to survive in multiple environments, chosen a “market” that is very wide (the oceans), and has shown that it is excellent at what it does, and can weather the changes of environment that have extincted other similar species.
In a nutshell, the shark is successful at its business because it stayed with its strengths and honed those skills. It did not become a platypus – who, while a successful start-up in its own right, has a much smaller niche market environment, and clearly tried to be too many things – it holds its market share tenuously, because if the environment shifts too much, it will become extinct (okay it is meant to be a funny example – my apologies to any platypii or platypus lovers who are offended).
Note also, that for the shark, there are competitor species, who are also equally good at what they do, but they are relative “newcomers”. The Orca (a mammal) does a darned good job of being a predator – shares the same market environment, and for the most part is successful…just a recent arrival on the market – relatively speaking.
Bringing this back to business, and out of metaphor – a start-up can extinct itself by trying to be too many things at once, and losing site of both its market share environment and what it does best. It doesn’t mean that it cannot be successful in a smaller, niche environment – a boutique offering – or a specific industry vertical. But it will not be as pervasive or have the brand identity that a business who focuses on it’s primary offering does, at least until that offering has developed a widespread following and established its credibility.
By trying to meet all the requirements of all customers, the start-up can go from being adaptable to being unfocused, and diluting its own potency in the market place.
As in nature, success is a delicate balance between agility, adaptability, skills and luck.
How to work with a recruiter to get a job | eHow.com
January 31, 2010
Top Ten Startup MistakesThat Almost Always Lead to Business Failure Copyright (c) 2010 K. MacKillop
January 30, 2010
Copyright (c) 2010 K. MacKillop
LaunchX
1. Insufficient Startup Idea Development — Most startups do not fail because the business idea is bad. The problem is that many first-time entrepreneurs fail to actually plan the business before sinking cash into the startup. No matter how great a business idea is, it can’t succeed without detailed planning. Take the time to work through every angle of your business idea. Not only will you have a better grasp of how far your business can go, you will also reduce your risk and prepare yourself to make the best decisions as you go.
2. Failure to Understand and Comply with Legal Obligations — An unbelievable number of entrepreneurs leave the legal aspects of business startup to someone else or, worse, ignore them altogether. Eventually this failure to comply with legal obligations will come back to bite you…and the outcome can be devastating. Every entrepreneur must understand and secure all necessary licenses and permits, and set up compliance systems for taxes and fees due the local, state, and federal government.
3. Poor (or no) Marketing Planning — Marketing is the lifeblood of every business startup, and it is more than business cards and a yellow pages ad. A significant portion of your time and expense budget should be dedicated to marketing. Poor or no marketing equals no sales…equals business failure. Do your homework before you launch to identify your target markets, figure out how to best reach them, and establish clear objectives and evaluations to ensure your marketing efforts are paying off.
4. Poor (or no) Financial Management — Success in business is all about the bottom line — no profit, no business. Keeping the books correctly is half the battle. Too many first-time entrepreneurs are willing to turn over complete responsibility for the books to someone else — a dangerous decision that very often leads to business failure. Reviewing and analyzing the financial reports is the other half. It is critical for every business owner to understand what the financial reports mean and how a change in one area affects all the others. Cash flow issues are also major financial management problem for many startups in the earliest stages. Good planning before launching a startup will clarify how much cash on hand your business idea will need to succeed. Whether you consider yourself a numbers person or not, as a business owner it is critical that you take responsibility for learning and applying basic financial management skills if you want to succeed.
5. Sales Forecast Errors: Establishing your initial sales forecast can be difficult, but there are procedures you can follow to make it as realistic and accurate as possible. All too often would-be entrepreneurs build a sales forecast around what they would like to sell, rather than what they are likely to sell. While optimism is an excellent entrepreneurial trait, an overly optimistic sales forecast will leave you with serious cash flow problems and even greater difficulty in securing financing.
For example, one business plan we recently reviewed appeared well-written and professionally laid out. However, the sales forecast reflected sales that required every member of the staff to bill out 19 hours per day, 300 days per year. Another retail business showed average total purchases at $230 each, even though the average price of their products is only $12. Assuming that each customer will purchase an average of 19 items each time they visit is unrealistic. Any competent investor will look for these errors.
6. Under-Capitalization: Not starting with enough capital to support the business through the initial stages is a common error. By thoroughly planning your idea, you will know how much capital you need to cover while you build your customer base, including working capital to keep yourself in ramen noodles until your business takes off. Good planning will also increase the chance of securing investors, whether public (banks) or private (family and friends).
7. Poor Web Presence: An effective web presence is an absolute must for any modern business. Simply posting a website is not enough. In fact, uploading a website without marketing it is like posting ad copy only in your own living room — if your target market doesn’t see it, it might as well not exist. Many recent startups have crashed and burned because the entrepreneur thought that simply posting a website to the internet would drive sales. It won’t.
8. Leaving Critical Tasks “To the Professionals”: Many entrepreneurs believe that a good idea and solid operations are enough to build a successful business, so they opt to turn over critical startup tasks, like marketing and accounting, to outsourced professionals. For some, the business side of business just doesn’t interest them, so they choose to forgo learning the details of financial and marketing management. Eventually, these choices backfire. If you don’t know how the money works, you can’t make the best decisions for your business. If you are not aware of the outcomes of your marketing efforts, you can’t accurately forecast sales and thus can’t plan for the future. It’s your business, you need to know and understand every facet from the beginning, or you might as well be working for someone else.
9. No Ongoing Planning and Review: As the actual operations of a startup take up more and more of an entrepreneur’s time, it is very easy to overlook the critical tasks of reviewing and planning. Every aspect of a company should be reviewed periodically, particularly the financial statements and marketing plan. If you don’t know where you are or where you have been, it’s impossible to know where you are going.
10. Lack of Patience – Pit of Despair: Every startup experiences a period of time between being ready to sell and actually building the sales. We call this gap the Pit of Despair because the entrepreneur is left wondering if they have made the right decisions and whether the business is ever going to work. Many startups hit this point and the entrepreneur quits in frustration. Startups don’t generally succeed overnight. The Pit of Despair should be used to refine internal systems, work through free internet marketing techniques (participate in relevant forums, write and publish articles, build website content), and plan for the future of the business. Don’t let the inevitable delay destroy your chances of success — plan for it, expect it, and use the time wisely.
For the most part, a strong focus on the three keys of startup success (planning, marketing, and financial management) will overcome most of the common reasons for business failure. Pay attention to the details from the beginning, learn all you can about running your own business, and don’t let anything get in the way of building your business into the thriving company it can be.
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K. MacKillop, a serial entrepreneur, is founder of LaunchX and authors a small business startup blog. The LaunchX System includes step-by-step business startup procedures (http://www.launchx.com/features.html), small business
software and more, to help entrepreneurs start a business based on their idea and avoid these top ten startup mistakes.
Visit http://www.LaunchX.com/ for a free Business Readiness Assessment and get on the road to starting a business today:
http://www.launchx.com/are-you-ready.html
Tech IT Easy » Five Elevator pitches for Enterprise 2.0 adoption
January 30, 2010
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via Tech IT Easy » Five Elevator pitches for Enterprise 2.0 adoption.
I LOVE this blog and this posting speaks to anyone who does business, not just those who may be speaking or pitching. If you work, you should read this!
How to Set Boundaries With Your Boss | eHow.com
January 26, 2010
This article, by Michelle Vermillion Lawrence, is a great guideline for setting boundaries with your boss.
via How to Set Boundaries With Your Boss | eHow.com.
I suggest that the steps described work well with co-workers, friends, and relatives as well. Setting boundaries when you fear consequences, is always a challenge, even when those fears may be unfounded.
Salesforce.com’s Fund Raising Points to 2010 as Year of SaaS Acquisition | Blogs | ITBusinessEdge.com
January 25, 2010
This article talks about Salesforce.com, the incredible story of how Salesforce.com carved its niche and blossomed into a standard tool for sales folks across industries would make a short book all by itself. Watching how it maneuvers in this economy is a pleasure:
This looks to be an interesting year for SaaS based apps.
Hiring Well When Starting a Business Can Be Critical to Success Copyright (c) 2010 K. MacKillop LaunchX
January 22, 2010
Copyright (c) 2010 K. MacKillop
LaunchX
http://www.launchx.com/One of the most stressful roles for most entrepreneurs is that of Employer. Finding the right people with the right skills,personality, and attitude is a challenge, to say the least. The hiring process provides some opportunities to sift through the candidates, but only if you know what you are looking for and how to find it.
Before the hiring process begins, it is critical to define exactly what you are looking for in a new employee. General work responsibilities should obviously be defined in each job description, along with any specific skills or experience necessary to successfully fill the position. Writing job descriptions for each staff position should be completed prior to recruiting as this will help you target your help-wanted marketing effectively. In addition, consider the personality traits that will best fit in with the culture your company has developed. New hires do not need to be just like everyone else, but should be able to fit in and complement the staff you already have.
The resumes and applications that come in are your first line of evaluation. Some employers elect to use a checksheet, comparing the resume information against the experience required in the job description and selecting those with the highest score. Unless the job requires identical experience, this is not the best way
to find the right employee. Instead, look for evidence of the fundamental skills the job requires rather than someone who has done exactly the same thing. For example, if you are seeking a worker to sell widgets, the sales experience is far more important than widget knowledge. A talented salesperson can sell ice to Eskimos, so don’t reject a resume simply because they are new to your particular industry. If the resume includes a cover letter, read it. It is common for employers to overlook the cover
letter, but they can reveal quite a bit about a potential worker. Misspellings or poor grammar may indicate a lack of attention to detail…if they won’t put forth their best work on trying to get the job, they aren’t likely to give much more once they are hired.
Once the resumes are narrowed down to a few qualified candidates, the next step is the dreaded interview. Interviews are tough from either side of the desk. Both parties have a lot at stake and both are trying to leave a good impression. Your questions should be developed before you begin interviewing candidates. Only include questions that are designed to elicit specific information related to the job you are hiring for. Keep in mind that the candidates are going to be slightly more anxious and slightly more serious than normal, so don’t expect the responses you see in the interview to be the final answer on that candidate. Try to be creative in finding out what you need to know, but don’t subject your interviewees to ridiculous “tests” to see how they handle a situation. There was a recent trend of leaving candidates alone in an office for a long time, or staging catastrophes, or asking silly “what three items would you want if you were stranded” questions that were supposed to reveal some deep dark evidence about the candidates’ personality or character. These methods are not only ineffective, but lack integrity. Ask what you need to know and try to elicit a conversational tone to the interview. Both parties will be more comfortable and you are far more likely to see the “real” person on the other side of the desk.
If the position you are filling includes any specific job requirements that can be easily tested, consider requesting samples of work from the candidate. If the job requires
communicating with customers and suppliers by email, shoot an email to each candidate and evaluate the responses you receive. If they will be writing ad copy, ask them to come to the interview with ideas for improving your current marketing campaign. If they will be joining the sales staff, ask them to sell you an item from your desk. These methods can be very revealing as to how the candidate gets work done and how they will fit in with the established culture of your venture.
For example, one small business owner was looking for an IT worker to revamp the company website. He asked each candidate to review the website before their interview and tell him the first three things they would do if hired. Several candidates listed changing the image, adding content, and other basic site
alterations as their top three. One candidate said she would spend a few days getting to know the employees, customers, and products before suggesting any content changes because the website should be a pure reflection of the image and culture of the business. She got the job.
Finding the right employees for your startup is critical. They will not only be representing your business, but they will also be representing YOU. Never hire out of desperation. If you can’t find the right candidate, consider hiring through a temporary labor service to test out employees before you commit. Also, don’t expect the perfect employee to just show up from off the street. Keep an eye out for good employees of other businesses and target any recruiting to the pool of people most likely to fit with your image and culture. Most importantly, prepare yourself for the legal and procedural issues that come with being an employer long before you plan to hire.
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K. MacKillop, a serial entrepreneur with a J.D. from Duke University, is founder of LaunchX and authors a blog focused on starting a business (http://www.blog.launchx.com/).
LaunchX has developed an Employer’s Manual to help new and existing businesses prepare to hire their first employees (http://www.launchx.com/unit-5.html). Check out the complete line of business startup kits from http://www.LaunchX.com/
