small business owners

Top 5 Twitter Management Tools

Twitter management tools Ever wonder why small business owners and entrepreneurs join Twitter, only to stop tweeting? My guess is that one reason they give up is because they lack the necessary tools to manage their presence. If you’re in that same boat, and are thinking about jumping ship, I’ve got a life preserver for you – in the form of some handy Twitter management tools.

ManageFlitter – This is one of my favorite tools for identifying and removing fake Twitter accounts. When you log in with your Twitter id, ManageFlitter evaluates your followers and allows you to see who’s not following you back, which accounts don’t have a profile image (potential spam account), and inactive accounts, among others. You then have the option of unfollowing fake accounts, or other accounts that don’t add any value to your Twitter experience. The basic service is free, but you can pay extra for analytics.

Read more

How to Grow a Successful Business – Profit First

What do a website, social media and email all have in common? They are marketing tools that a business can use to generate sales.

That’s all well and good. But how do you grow a successful business and generate a profit?

The traditional GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principle) formula is:
Sales – Expenses = Profit.

That’s what I’ve been following since I started my business in 2009. There’s just one problem with this principle. Even though I’m making money, I don’t have much to show for it.

That’s because I’ve been making the mistake a lot of other small business owners make. I’ve been reinvesting my profit back into my business. I’ve spent money on courses to improve my social media marketing skills. And I’ve been working with a coach to improve my speaking and marketing skills.

Read more

How to Save LinkedIn Company Page Recommendations

Changes are on the way for your LinkedIn Company Page. Recommendations will be disappearing on April 14th, when LinkedIn discontinues the Products & Services tab from company pages. If you’d like to save those recommendations, you have two options.

#1 – You can copy and paste them into a document file. Be mindful though, if you want to use the recommendations in promotional or marketing materials, you should ask permission from the individual who made the recommendation.

#2 – You can also request a copy of the recommendations that were present on your LinkedIn Company Page as of March 4, 2014. LinkedIn says the recommendations will be available through Customer Support until Friday, May 30, 2014.

Read more

The 30 Minute Plan for Getting More Clients

getting more clients Small business owners and solopreneurs in particular, rarely have a moment to spare in their workday. But if getting more clients is a priority for you – and it certainly should be if you want to grow your business, you have to make time for marketing. But just how much time is the big question.

How does 30 minutes a day grab you?

Here is a formula you can follow Monday through Friday that is almost guaranteed to get you more business. (Notice I said, “almost.”) Sorry to disappoint you, but I cannot guarantee that you’ll get more clients. I can only guarantee that if you follow this strategy, you’re bound to be more successful than you are right now.

It doesn’t matter what time of day you set aside 30 minutes for marketing. Ideally, it should be at the start of your day. That way, once you’re finished, you can relax and get on with the rest of your tasks. But if you’d rather set aside 30 minutes at the end your workday, that’s fine too. The key to success is to be consistent. Experts say it takes 30 days to establish a habit. This 30 minute marketing plan should become a habit if you want to get the most benefit from it. 

Read more

Pinterest Promotes Pins… Changes for the Better?

By Robbin Lynn Crandall

It was bound to happen. Because why would any social media platform let itself lag behind the rest when it comes to promotion? Or making money, for that matter?

CEO Ben Silbermann of Pinterest, the popular virtual bulletin board platform, has announced that to ensure Pinterest is here to stay, he will start experimenting with promoting certain pins from a select group of businesses.

But, he says, this doesn’t mean users will start seeing a bunch of garish banner ads.

This is good news.  

Read more

Social Media Marketing Lessons from Diana Nyad

Social Media Marketing Lessons

By Gloria Rand

U.S. endurance swimmer Diana Nyad made history on Monday afternoon, becoming the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage. Appropriately enough, Nyad completed the task – her fifth attempt since 1978 – on Labor Day.

After the swim, the 64-year-old swimmer said she had three messages, “One is we should never ever give up. Two is you never are too old to chase your dreams. Three is it looks like a solitary sport, but it’s a team.” 

Read more

What is Inbound Marketing and Why Should I Care?

By Gloria Randinbound marketing

Ask a landscape lighting contractor or massage therapist what inbound marketing is, and chances are, you may get a blank stare. They may not know the term. But the two small business owners are likely using inbound marketing to promote their businesses.

Inbound marketing is any marketing tactic that involves earning someone’s interest in your product or service, rather than buying their interest. Prime examples include SEO (search engine optimization), social media, blogs, and ebooks. Traditional “outbound marketing,” (the opposite of inbound marketing) involves activities like direct mail advertising, TV and radio ads, banner advertising and cold calls.

Read more

Facebook Changes Page Cover Image Rules… Again!

Facebook is at it again. They have changed the rules for what a business page can display on its cover image. Essentially, all you have to worry about is making sure your image does not contain more than 20% text. Gone are the rules about not displaying website URL’s, phone numbers or calls to action such as “like my page.”

Read more