Social Media Reality Check: cool stuff!
It is often hard to find relevant Canadian content in terms of Social Media ‘stuff’. But Newswire put this out there today. If your small business has not adopted a social media strategy, these survey results will open your eyes.
Kindergarten: The Basics for Small Business Success
Remember the saying “All I really need to know I learned in Kindergarten“? That saying should hold true in your small business. The list is basic, ironically whimsical, and valid.
These are the things I learned:
- Share everything. (Good for power brainstorm sessions and idea creation)
- Play fair. (Merit, merit merit!!!)
- Don’t hit people. (If someone ‘screws up’. Let them dust off and try again)
- Put things back where you found them. (Like my stapler!)
- Clean up your own mess. (Tidy workstations, businesses, and offices, are easier, healthier, and more productive places to work)
- Don’t take things that aren’t yours. (Ideas, thoughts, inventions…and merit!)
- Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody. (If you ‘screw up’, apologize and fix your mistake)
- Wash your hands before you eat. (Makes for a healthy flu season)
- Flush. (duh!)
- Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. (I always loved the ladies that brought in home-cooked food. It surely increased morale)
- Live a balanced life – learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day – some (Don’t make your business your life. Make sure to live and love too.)
- Take a nap every afternoon. (To the dedicated entrepreneur, a ‘nap’ is a 15-20 minute afternoon siesta. Try it sometime)
- When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together. (What is your competition doing? Probably taking a nap)
- Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that. (Plant your businesses roots deep and watch it grow. If you water it and give it light it will turn into a beautiful flower)
- Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup – they all die. So do we. (Your business will change, it will evolve, and hopefully prosper into something amazing. It’s your duty to avoid business death, but to understand that it can happen)
- And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned – the biggest word of all – LOOK (Self explanatory)
Now take one or all of those items and apply it to your life and your business.
Watch it grow.
Twitter Tools for Tough Times
Tweetr
This tool allows you to send files to your Twitter friends by simply dragging them on to the application. Tweetr automatically uploads your file or picture and provides you with a shortened link. Great, with only 140 characters to use.
Twitsay
If you got a BIG announcement to make, perhaps a launch of a new product, or you want to propose to your girlfriend (haha), this app is just for you. Twitsay let’s you record a voice message and broadcast it via your Twitter account.
Twits Like Me
Simply enter your Twitter username and it will analyze your recent tweets and then suggest other Tweeters that may interest you. I tried it and found some pretty cool people.
Twhirl
This free desktop client lets you follow live Twitter updates while you work. It is both Windows and Mac friendly, and it connects to multiple accounts so that you can simultaneously monitor your, say, Twitter and Friendfeed accounts. I don’t particularly like this app, as the window is small, the updates scattered and you can’t organize the people you follow into groups.
Twitterlight
This app allows you to highlight text on your screen and submit it to Twitter. You can also shorten a copy of the URL of the page and ad it to the text.
Group Tweet
Allows you to make a protected Twitter group so you can discuss private information with many people. This is great for internal business conversations.
Twitxtr
This app lets you upload photos from your phone to post to Twitter. You can also grab pics from Flickr, Picasa and Facebook accounts. Talk about intense photo sharing.
Straw Poll
Awesome and cute. This is an excellent way to do quick and simple polls to get to the bottom of some of your small business issues. It’s easy to use and fun for followers to engage in some basic research/polling.
Twitgraph
Analyze your Twitter usage by simply entering your user name. It will output graphs that shows you information about your tweets, including the most commonly used words as well as overview of your daily tweet volume.
My fave – TweetDeck
Tweetdeck although intimidating at first, easily enables you to organize your ‘followed’ into columns, know as ‘groups’. The fun part is that you can label these groups however you like. Tehehe.
From my ‘Your Social Media Start-Up Guide’
In the era of Social Media, everyone has a say. Smart businesses have already made that leap and are participating in their client/customers conversations. They are engaging in their markets needs and wants and creating products and services from immediate responses. Other than face-to-face contact, it is the most intimate, real-time relationship building that businesses can do to get to the heart of their most important assets, their customers
Social Media is important to a Small Business because it is becoming a new way of marketing. Mathew Ingram from The Globe and Mail said “All media is becoming Social Media”. Just like the creation of the Morse code allowed for cross-Atlantic communication and the internet enabled one to instantly send mail, Social Media is quickly becoming a fundamental element to daily business operations. If you aren’t on board this social media train yet, you better buy your ticket. The next train is coming. Are you ready to get on?
Note: I am currently writing “Your Social Media Start-up Guide”, a useful, no fluff guide for entrepreneurs and small business owners. If you are interested in contributing or receiving a final copy, please email me at renee@reneewarren.com. I look forward to your feedback
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
I call it, Care, Relate, Manage.
Let’s Daydream here:
So you confidently left a networking session and made two new contacts and potential prospects. (Refer to my last post Networking to Get Work). You go home, email those people and develop a relationship. Then, within a couple months, they’re your customers.
Wake up. Now ask yourself:
How are you going to manage and maintain all these new relationships? You need to consistently follow and track leads. This process should be inexpensive and time saving.
How can you use CRM effectively? Oddly enough the same relationship management tools still apply at this stage of the relationship as they do while networking, only you’re way more involved and have more data to track.
Having a CRM system to track leads that come in through networking events, your site or your on line marketing activities is fundamental if you’re looking to convert those leads into customers or members. But for companies on a tight budget, especially small business and start-ups, there are only few alternatives to the expensive package.
Here is the reality:
There are many software packages out there that are cheap or free and easy to use. Here are 4 CRM tools to help you better manage your database.
1. FreeCRM
2. ZohoCRM
3. CiviCRM
4. Salesforce.com Free CRM
Remember: free versions have their limitations. Don’t expect to have access to all available CRM tools and applications with these free packages.
Sweet Launch
SweetFlour Bake shop, is the first customized made-to-order cookie bakery to open in Toronto and I had the honour to be a part of the pre-opening launch party this past Saturday.
My cookie of choice:
– Regular dough
– M & M’s
– Toffee bits
Although cliched to order just that, the selection was almost overwhelming. They had nuts, fruits, chocolate, seeds, etc…over 20 decadent mix-ins to chose from. It was all so YUMMY I had to Tweet about it.
What I loved: The turquoise Tiffany-esk take away boxes, the choice of ingredients, the owner, the branding, and the potential for a franchise. As you can see, we all left a little bit happier.
Welcome to the Twitterverse
Small business owners, here is the thing…you must jump on the social media bandwagon. Don’t be shy, don’t procrastinate, don’t hesitate. If you haven’t already done so you should be signing up for Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn today. Why? It’s Free and it’s where the conversations are happening.
Twitter: Where do I start?
Simple. check out this to-the-point FASTFORWARD Blog Guide to Twitter . It explains, in simple language, how to use it for your business and how it will benefit you.
Network to Get Work
Business networking is a form of marketing as you, the owner, are the face and overall representative of your business. Wherever you go and whatever you do is a pat of your business image. For this reason it is important that you develop proper networking skills to help you maintain a positive image and to get more work.
Networking can be understood as a four-act process.
Act 1. You must be able to approach someone and engage them in conversation. Whether this is done online or in person creating dialogue is easy. Just don’t go at it without a plan. Have an idea of what you want to get out of the conversation. Is it to learn more about what that person does, how they can help you, or how you can help them?
Act 2. This is referred to as the net-chat step. Net-chat is the technique of collecting and giving information, finding out as much as you can about the other person in the shortest amount of time.
Act 3. This is where you disengage from the conversation. This step is ultimately important as you need to leave a positive impression. What is your closing line? What is your hook? What is your call to action?
Act 4. Follow-up. Too few entrepreneurs actually follow up within the 24 hour timeframe. The longer you go without following up increases your chance of your new contact(s) forgetting who you are and what you talked about. Send a quick email or a phone call and say how you enjoyed the conversation, what you liked most about their interests, and to keep in touch.
Many times the new people you meet wont be of any direct business importance to you. Don’t disregard that fact that they are potentially a great referral service. They may suggest your business products or services to someone else.
Remember:
– Be Focused
– Be a listener
– Be sincere
– Be mobile
– Be a joiner
– Be sensitive to cultural and physical differences
You can also see this post and other small business related posts at blog.bizlaunch.ca
The Face behind your brand
When I say Elmo, you think… Sesame Street.
When I say Miss Piggy, you think … The Muppets.
When I say Steve Jobs, you think …Apple.
…I was in Starbucks this morning getting my coffee and I received an email from a friend who was announcing his resignation from his current job. There was a level of secrecy as he hadn’t made the announcement public. It made me wonder why I was one of the few selected to receive this special announcement. I checked to see who else was cc’d and was rather honoured and surprised at who else was also getting it. Then I realized that these were high-caliber, young, professionals who owned or represented a brand. He was reaching out to us for a very specific reason. It got me thinking…although some of these individuals don’t own the company they are working for, they are the face of the brand. They are the front line go to person. I wondered if these companies made the right choice in choosing such people. Although they are outgoing, intelligent, personable people, I wouldn’t say that some were the right people for the job. Perhaps I am wrong.
If you are a small business owner hiring for a brand rep., PR, community manager, community type position, make sure you select wisely as these people or this individual will be your mascot, the person and face that people will think of when communicating with or about your business. Make sure their personalities match that of your organization and that they will consistently and professionally represent your brand to its fullest potential.
Probationary Periods: Are They Legal in Canada?
According to the monster.ca website, YES, probationary periods are legal. However, a formalized signed contract must indicate a time line and specifications regarding the extent of the period. Employers can legally fire, and without ’cause’, an employee if they fail to meet expectations while under that period of probation.
According to the monster.ca website, “In the absence of language asserting that the employer will rely on the probationary term, the courts treat the terminated employee like any other. An employee, who does not meet performance standards and is terminated without cause, is then entitled to severance determined by a court.” That being siad, it is always recommended that you, as a small business owner/entrepreneur, write a formal, yet simple, employee contract stating the details and outcome of a probation period.
For more details on this subject, read this great article on the Monster website: Are Probationary Periods Legal in Canada?
Renée Warren's Blog 