Facebook: Five Business Success Tips List of tips that can help a business create fabulous Facebook pages. 1) Create a Page People Want to Visit. What is it about your business that would make people want to come back to the page often, or create a community atmosphere?  Whatever that is, make your Facebook business page reflect that — instead of just asking people to buy your products, or touting the virtues of your management team.  For instance, American Family Insurance drew nearly 40,000 “Likes” when it added a Teen Safe Driving tab to its Facebook page for parents and teens looking for ways to negotiate the rules for new drivers, and one  featuring storybook favorite Clifford the Big Red Dog encouraging families to offer “be big” ideas for improving their local communities. 2) Plan for Success. Creating a Facebook page for your business and hoping for success is like any other kind of  “pray and spray” marketing effort:  doomed to failure.   You need amarketing plan for your Facebook page before you start the process.  What tools will you use to drive traffic?  (Facebook ads?  Organic search?  Promotion in your company’s other marketing channels?  PR?  Email?  All of these plus banner ads on your other websites linking back to Facebook?)  Don’t forget regular content updates — and communicating with your friends and fans.  (Not all Facebook updates show up on people’s news update pages — you have to interact with them before your data shows up on their update pages.) 3) Find Your Place. If you run a bricks-and-mortar business, find your place on Facebook Places, and encourage check-in and mapping.   (Set up your Foursquare presence at the same time, if you haven’t already.) Like other aspects of your Facebook business page, think carefully about how you can interact with your customers to encourage them to use Facebook Places, and what benefits your company can get — and offer to your guests — through Facebook Places. 4) Participate in the Conversation. Facebook is a place where people talk — and they expect others to talk back.  It’s not just a place where they are going to click “like” every time you post something new — even if they do like it.  So be prepared for comments, criticism, suggestions, and questions — and don’t automatically block or delete anything negative.  Remember, if you block an unhappy customer from posting on your Facebook page, they are perfectly free to post on their own — or start a page that highlights a customer service problem. 5) Select the Right Tools. Small businesses often start their social media marketing effort using free tools — but businesses in regulated industries such as insurance, financial services, and healthcare probably need the more robust compliance, monitoring, approval, and management tools available with social CRM tools like Socialware or Actiance.    For a list of free and paid tools, with examples, check out the downloadable presentation from a recentwebinar on the basics of social media marketing in a regulated environment. Why hasn’t your processor mentioned the Durbin Amendment?  Learn how to lower your card acceptance cost: www.vms-washington.com and ask about the Durbin Amendment that was passed on October 2011 and how it will help you lower your rates.
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Facebook: Five Business Success Tips

List of tips that can help a business create fabulous Facebook pages.

1) Create a Page People Want to Visit. What is it about your business that would make people want to come back to the page often, or create a community atmosphere?  Whatever that is, make your Facebook business page reflect that — instead of just asking people to buy your products, or touting the virtues of your management team.  For instance, American Family Insurance drew nearly 40,000 “Likes” when it added a Teen Safe Driving tab to its Facebook page for parents and teens looking for ways to negotiate the rules for new drivers, and one  featuring storybook favorite Clifford the Big Red Dog encouraging families to offer “be big” ideas for improving their local communities.

2) Plan for Success. Creating a Facebook page for your business and hoping for success is like any other kind of  “pray and spray” marketing effort:  doomed to failure.   You need amarketing plan for your Facebook page before you start the process.  What tools will you use to drive traffic?  (Facebook ads?  Organic search?  Promotion in your company’s other marketing channels?  PR?  Email?  All of these plus banner ads on your other websites linking back to Facebook?)  Don’t forget regular content updates — and communicating with your friends and fans.  (Not all Facebook updates show up on people’s news update pages — you have to interact with them before your data shows up on their update pages.)

3) Find Your Place. If you run a bricks-and-mortar business, find your place on Facebook Places, and encourage check-in and mapping.   (Set up your Foursquare presence at the same time, if you haven’t already.) Like other aspects of your Facebook business page, think carefully about how you can interact with your customers to encourage them to use Facebook Places, and what benefits your company can get — and offer to your guests — through Facebook Places.

4) Participate in the Conversation. Facebook is a place where people talk — and they expect others to talk back.  It’s not just a place where they are going to click “like” every time you post something new — even if they do like it.  So be prepared for comments, criticism, suggestions, and questions — and don’t automatically block or delete anything negative.  Remember, if you block an unhappy customer from posting on your Facebook page, they are perfectly free to post on their own — or start a page that highlights a customer service problem.

5) Select the Right Tools. Small businesses often start their social media marketing effort using free tools — but businesses in regulated industries such as insurance, financial services, and healthcare probably need the more robust compliance, monitoring, approval, and management tools available with social CRM tools like Socialware or Actiance.    For a list of free and paid tools, with examples, check out the downloadable presentation from a recentwebinar on the basics of social media marketing in a regulated environment.

Why hasn’t your processor mentioned the Durbin Amendment?  Learn how to lower your card acceptance cost: www.vms-washington.com and ask about the Durbin Amendment that was passed on October 2011 and how it will help you lower your rates.

Source: vmswashington.wordpress.com

The Price of Social Media. It’s Not Free. I know what you are thinking.  I can use Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin for free.  I can set up a page, profile, or account, and it will not cost me one penny. That is very true.  Accounts on almost all of the major social networks are completely free to set-up.  They will never ask for a credit card or a PayPal account.  They ask for nothing but information in return. Wait.  That is not entirely true.  They do ask for something.  They ask for time.  Time to fill out your profile.  Time to create that page.  Time to post interesting information and updates.  Time to respond to your family, friends, and clients.  Oh, and did I mention the time to find all those great articles that you are sharing on Twitter and Facebook? They ask us to spend our time.  But that’s free, right? Or is it? Social media accounts may be free to start, but there are many actual and hidden costs to establishing a presence within social media.  It’s important to know what some of these will be, before you or your brand begin. Actual Costs Within your company, who is responsible for your social media?  Or are you the social media department?  Either way, the hours you spend on social media is time taken away from other aspects of your company, whether it be speaking with new clients or ordering goods to sell. And, as all of the literature suggests, you should have a landing page within Facebook, as it increases engagement considerably, and this may be the last time your “fans” directly visit your page.  Not only do the applications to use cost money, ranging from $5 to $30  per month, but what about the time it takes to create the landing page.  And the learning curve?  If you’ve never done it before, it could take hours just to figure out how to create the landing page.  Then you need to create it. If you are creating these Facebook pages yourself, then you are not tending to any other aspects of your business.  Your time is money. If you have someone within the company handling this, what is their hourly rate?  Their time is certainly money.  Either way, setting up your accounts will take time, which relates to an hourly rate. Now that you’ve set up these accounts, do you just sit back?  If you build it, will they come?  Unfortunately, the answer is no.  You need to tend to these accounts.  You need to find great articles to share.  You need to engage with your clients and customers.  The time you’ll invest will vary from a few minutes per day to hours per week, depending on your social strategy.  (You do have one, don’t you?  After all,Saying You are on Facebook Does Not a Social Strategy Make.) Hidden Cost Now that you are active on social media, you are beginning to realize that you will also need to utilize their advertising engines, something you hadn’t thought of before, while thinking this would all be “free”.  Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn all offer their own brand of advertising, whether it be ads or sponsored stories, to bring your message to your specific customer.  And all of these ads cost money, whether it be per impression or per click, they will all cost, and you will need to set a budget for these ads, that very well may be above and beyond your standard advertising budget. So, in the end, is it worth the cost?  That is only something you, as the business owner, can decide.  I would only ask, “Can you afford not to?” What other costs to social media have you found?  Share with me. Why hasn’t your processor mentioned the Durbin Amendment?Learn how to lower your card acceptance cost: www.vms-washington.com and ask about the Durbin Amendment that was passed on October 2011 and how it will help you lower your rates. 
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The Price of Social Media. It’s Not Free.

I know what you are thinking.  I can use Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin for free.  I can set up a page, profile, or account, and it will not cost me one penny.

That is very true.  Accounts on almost all of the major social networks are completely free to set-up.  They will never ask for a credit card or a PayPal account.  They ask for nothing but information in return.

Wait.  That is not entirely true.  They do ask for something.  They ask for time.  Time to fill out your profile.  Time to create that page.  Time to post interesting information and updates.  Time to respond to your family, friends, and clients.  Oh, and did I mention the time to find all those great articles that you are sharing on Twitter and Facebook?

They ask us to spend our time.  But that’s free, right?

Or is it?

Social media accounts may be free to start, but there are many actual and hidden costs to establishing a presence within social media.  It’s important to know what some of these will be, before you or your brand begin.

Actual Costs

Within your company, who is responsible for your social media?  Or are you the social media department?  Either way, the hours you spend on social media is time taken away from other aspects of your company, whether it be speaking with new clients or ordering goods to sell.

And, as all of the literature suggests, you should have a landing page within Facebook, as it increases engagement considerably, and this may be the last time your “fans” directly visit your page.  Not only do the applications to use cost money, ranging from $5 to $30  per month, but what about the time it takes to create the landing page.  And the learning curve?  If you’ve never done it before, it could take hours just to figure out how to create the landing page.  Then you need to create it.

If you are creating these Facebook pages yourself, then you are not tending to any other aspects of your business.  Your time is money.

If you have someone within the company handling this, what is their hourly rate?  Their time is certainly money.  Either way, setting up your accounts will take time, which relates to an hourly rate.

Now that you’ve set up these accounts, do you just sit back?  If you build it, will they come?  Unfortunately, the answer is no.  You need to tend to these accounts.  You need to find great articles to share.  You need to engage with your clients and customers.  The time you’ll invest will vary from a few minutes per day to hours per week, depending on your social strategy.  (You do have one, don’t you?  After all,Saying You are on Facebook Does Not a Social Strategy Make.)

Hidden Cost

Now that you are active on social media, you are beginning to realize that you will also need to utilize their advertising engines, something you hadn’t thought of before, while thinking this would all be “free”.  Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn all offer their own brand of advertising, whether it be ads or sponsored stories, to bring your message to your specific customer.  And all of these ads cost money, whether it be per impression or per click, they will all cost, and you will need to set a budget for these ads, that very well may be above and beyond your standard advertising budget.

So, in the end, is it worth the cost?  That is only something you, as the business owner, can decide.  I would only ask, “Can you afford not to?”

What other costs to social media have you found?  Share with me.

Why hasn’t your processor mentioned the Durbin Amendment?Learn how to lower your card acceptance cost: www.vms-washington.com and ask about the Durbin Amendment that was passed on October 2011 and how it will help you lower your rates. 

Source: vmswashington.wordpress.com

Spotlight on Seattle Event February 16th “Spotlight on Seattle” Professional Networking Event at Mercedes-Benz of Bellevue was “the event” to attend to see the who’s who of the Seattle area to raise money for the local YMCA. There were over 450+ people at this event, very classy and made everyone feel like they were someone as they dropped off their car at Valet parking and walked on to the red carpet.   Local celebrities, business owners and socialites were interviewed by Jed Etters who did an excellent job (You can see his interviews at vimeo.com/album/1842871).  The location was perfect, large facility that hosts the 450+ people at the event which was sold out, lots of drinks and food, and great music in the background.  If you were a professional in the Seattle area and wanted to meet the top professionals in the area this was the event to meet them and grow your business and to network.  Associated brands participating were: Mercedes Benz, COBALT Mortgage, Google Places, Seattle Met, John Howie, Sea Star, DNA 2050, KIND bars, Pirq, Unsocial, Brandbuddee, Cobalt Mortgage, Jones Soda, Renewal, Pinka Bella Cupcakes, X-Gym, Wink, Tenacious Ventures, Dog’s Best Friend plus many more!  Sasha O’Leary (The Networking Queen) did an excellent job setting up the sold out event and was an excellent host.  Actual Networking wants to thank Spotlight on Seattle and Sasha O’Leary for hosting such a great event.  To find this event and others like it go to www.actualnetworking.com and see what events we are “featuring” and where Actual Networking will attend next. Thank you, Michael Roberts Chief Networking Director of Actual Networking Find networking events, post networking events, earn advertising credits! 100% Free (Also earn points by ‘liking’ events to your Facebook!)
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Spotlight on Seattle Event

February 16th “Spotlight on Seattle” Professional Networking Event at Mercedes-Benz of Bellevue was “the event” to attend to see the who’s who of the Seattle area to raise money for the local YMCA. There were over 450+ people at this event, very classy and made everyone feel like they were someone as they dropped off their car at Valet parking and walked on to the red carpet.   Local celebrities, business owners and socialites were interviewed by Jed Etters who did an excellent job (You can see his interviews at vimeo.com/album/1842871).  The location was perfect, large facility that hosts the 450+ people at the event which was sold out, lots of drinks and food, and great music in the background.  If you were a professional in the Seattle area and wanted to meet the top professionals in the area this was the event to meet them and grow your business and to network.  Associated brands participating were: Mercedes Benz, COBALT Mortgage, Google Places, Seattle Met, John Howie, Sea Star, DNA 2050, KIND bars, Pirq, Unsocial, Brandbuddee, Cobalt Mortgage, Jones Soda, Renewal, Pinka Bella Cupcakes, X-Gym, Wink, Tenacious Ventures, Dog’s Best Friend plus many more!  Sasha O’Leary (The Networking Queen) did an excellent job setting up the sold out event and was an excellent host.  Actual Networking wants to thank Spotlight on Seattle and Sasha O’Leary for hosting such a great event.  To find this event and others like it go to www.actualnetworking.com and see what events we are “featuring” and where Actual Networking will attend next.

Thank you,

Michael Roberts

Chief Networking Director of Actual Networking

Find networking events, post networking events, earn advertising credits! 100% Free (Also earn points by ‘liking’ events to your Facebook!)

Source: vmswashington.wordpress.com

Check out our new Facebook welcome page.  The welcome page was added to give the users more information about us and our website.  We also added tabs to link the users to our website, twitter and how to contact us.  Check out our website at: http://www.actualnetworking.com    Find networking events, post networking events, earn advertising credits! 100% Free (Also earn points by ‘liking’ events to your Facebook!)
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Check out our new Facebook welcome page.  The welcome page was added to give the users more information about us and our website.  We also added tabs to link the users to our website, twitter and how to contact us.  Check out our website at: http://www.actualnetworking.com   

Find networking events, post networking events, earn advertising credits! 100% Free (Also earn points by ‘liking’ events to your Facebook!)

Source: facebook.com

10 Social Media Strategies to Define a Successful 2012 

Welcome to another New Year! While everyone else is busy thinking about or already breaking their New Year resolutions, it’s time for us to take a moment to rethink what it is we can really do better now and over the next 12 months.
I’m sure you heard it everywhere last year. Experts found the highest blog mountains and social network skyscrapers to Tweet in concert, “You need a Facebook brand page! Why are you not on Twitter yet? Have you checked-in on Foursquare? Hurry up and get set up on Google+. If you don’t get on social media, you’re going to go out of business!”
And, here you are…still in business, I presume. But like any keen business leader or entrepreneur, you’re avidly thinking about your next move and your social media strategies for 2012.
You already know that running the show in a mode of “business as usual” is not only limiting, it’s terribly complacent.  But if you are to change, you need to better understand exactly how technology is influencing the behavior of your customers and why.
The truth is that you can create your company brand pages on every social network you can imagine and you won’t succeed unless you know whom you’re trying to reach and where, what it is they expect and value, and how these channels represent a meaningful opportunity for you and your consumers to connect.
You first must answer what’s in it for them and what’s in it for you.
Defining your Social Media Strategy
Social networks, smartphones, tablets, review sites, gamification, geo-location, et al. are producing a new breed of consumer, and businesses are largely missing them altogether. In fact, the emergence of this more “connected consumer” is forcing the end of business as usual.
At the same time, the decision patterns of these connected consumers has ushered in an era of risk where any business, large and small, is vulnerable to digital Darwinism — the evolution of consumer behavior when society and technology evolve faster than the ability to adapt.
Ten Social Media Tips
In 2012, consider yourself a digital anthropologist or sociologist as you immerse yourself in a day in the life of your connected consumer and seek to close the chasm between you and them.
There are many professional social media analysts, researchers and strategists who can help you find the answers you seek.
Starting now and forever, technology and empathy are now part of your business strategy. To what extent disruptive technology impacts your markets will depend on your industry and the rate of adoption within it.
Priority areas for your social media strategy should include an understanding of the following:
1. Social Networks from Facebook to Twitter to Google+ and how they’re connecting to influencers and businesses
2. Geo-location check-in services such as Foursquare and Facebook location updates to share locations and earn rewards or opportunities for discounts.
3. Crowd-sourced discounts and deals including Groupon and LivingSocial and what’s valued and why.
4. Social commerce services like Shopkick and Armadealo and how they create personalized experiences that are worth sharing.
5. Referral based solutions like Yelp, Service Magic, and Angie’s List to make informed decisions and how shared experiences can improve your business, products, and services.
6. Gamification platforms such as Badgeville and Fangager, and why rewarding engagement improves commerce and loyalty.
7. How your consumers using mobile devices today and what apps they’re installing. Also, how they’re comparing options, reviewing experiences and making decisions while mobile?
8. The online presence your business produces across a variety of platforms such as tablets, smartphones, laptops and desktops. You must realize how consumers are experiencing the online presences you create and whether or not they deliver a holistic and optimized experience for each platform.
9. The consumer clickpath based on the platform consumers are using. Are you steering experiences based on the expectations of your customers? And are you taking into consideration the device or network where the clickpath begins and ends? Are you integrating Facebook F-commerce and m-commerce into the journey?
10. The expectations of connected consumers, what they value in each channel and platform, where they engage and how your business can improve experiences and make them worthy of sharing.
This is your year…
2012 is the year for you to grow your small business while earning relevance among a growing class of connected consumers.
Regardless of technology, the future of business isn’t created, it’s co-created. To succeed, it takes a culture of customer centricity and the ability to recognize new opportunities and adapt based on what they present.

In the words of Charles Darwin, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.”

Source: vms-washington.com

Networking for the masses

Are you looking for a place to post and view networking events, social events, web based seminars, business workshops, business seminars and professional events? Actual Networking is the place to do it. Its free to post and view events in your area. Come to participate in Seattle’s latest startup.
Find networking events, post networking events, earn advertising credits! 100% Free (Also earn points by ‘liking’ events to your Facebook!)
Find us at: www.actualnetworking.com

This is better than viewing 20 different webistes to find events in your area. This is the one stop location for posting and viewing events. Contact us if you have any questions.

Thank you,

Michael
Chief Networking Director of Actual Networking



Source: actualnetworking.com