Quote of the day

8 Valuable Tips for Women Entrepreneurs

The feminist in me (which is pretty much all of me) bristles a bit when we talk about women entrepreneurs as a separate group that requires preferential advice. But unfortunately, we still live in a patriarchal society and as much as I wish I could deny it, women are still treated differently in many areas, including entrepreneurship.

There are also a lot of double-standards out there when it come to how female and male entrepreneurs are treated. Yet, starting in a lower position than our male counterparts, female entrepreneurs are forced to work harder and often outperform men.

All of that being said, I have to admit that it is still somewhat helpful to see advice out there that is specifically tailored towards women and how we interpret and are interpreted by, the world.

Here are some of the best pieces of advice I’ve seen for women entrepreneurs recently. I should add that, if we were to put this advice into a Venn Diagram, while all of it would be useful for women entrepreneurs, a lot of it would also be useful for all entrepreneurs whether male or female, and a lot of it would also be useful for women in general.

1. Find your passion. If you’re going to be spending most of your waking hours working towards something, try your damndest to make it something you’re truly passionate about.
2. Keep your home and work life separate. This can be a huge challenge for those who work from home, and if you’re diving into a startup venture full-time and can’t afford an office space, you’ll almost definitely be working from home. If you keep your schedule too flexible, customers and clients will take advantage of it, causing unnecessary stress.
3. Form real connections with other women. I’m not saying join a twelve step program for women entrepreneurs (does such a thing exist? That could be a genius startup idea in itself!) but get out there and meet other women who are in the same boat. Get yourself a kickass mentor, or create a group if one doesn’t already exist in your area.
4. Network your face off. Even if you’re far from a social butterfly, you can still network with the best of them. Being a successful networker is a learned skill. Knowing the right people, or even just knowing the people who know the right people can be incredibly beneficial when you’re trying to build and grow your business. It can also help you become part of a community of likeminded folk.
5. Don’t start a business just for the money. Sure there are a lot of serial entrepreneurs who jump from one venture to the next and chase trends and money rather than what really interests them. This works, but not often, and it can take a long time before you start actually making money, so it’s best to make sure you enjoy what you’re doing so you don’t burn out before the money even comes.
6. Be brutally honest with yourself. If you can’t be honest with yourself, how can you be expected to be honest with anyone else. It’s challenging at first, but you need to be able to see your own strengths and weaknesses with a critical eye, and assess shortcomings or needs for additional support with unbiased judgement.
7. Ask for help when you need it. This goes along with the previous tip. Don’t try to conquer the world single-handedly. The most successful entrepreneurs know when to ask for help. Be strategic about it and know that it’s not a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of good judgement and awareness.
8. Take risks. Almost every aspect of entrepreneurship involves taking risks, and while some might end in failure, the ones that don’t can be very rewarding. Just remember to enter these risks with the confidence that you will succeed.

 Source: http://bit.ly/1pN1NJO

28 great tactics for promoting online content

Content distribution has been a big topic all around social media.

As Mark Schaefer’s book “The Content Code” explains, “Great content isn’t the finish line; it’s the starting line.”

We spend so much time and inspiration on creating our content, and then once we hit publish we forget that we must work to share that content.

Here are 28 tips on how to extend the reach of what you publish online:

Promote your content on social media

This is probably the first place we all go. You hit publish, and your automation tools push your post out on social media.

Then you forget about it and run off to the next piece.

Nope. There has to be more planning. The folks at CoShedule say having a social media sharing schedule will double your traffic.

Here’s what they suggest:

1. Upon publishing —Social media message is sent when blog post goes live.
2. Same day —Initial social media messages trickle out to your accounts over the next two or three hours.
3. Next day —Messages are shared again on the appropriate social media channels.
4. Next week —Another series of messages are pre-scheduled and sent.
5. Next month —Even more social media messages are pre-scheduled for the following month.
6. Next _____ —Additional messages can be scheduled for the three-month mark or beyond.

Here’s what I do:

1. Upon publishing —Twitter: I schedule this through IFTTT to go out with #new, the title and the featured image once the blog is live. It’s also pushed to Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Google Plus the day it publishes.
2. Same day —Twitter: I’ll use the Click To Tweet quotes to send out a few times later the same day, but by using the quotes versus the title these have different ledes (opening or enticing paragraphs) and don’t seem like I’m pushing the same content over and over. (I try to have at least one quote in each post.)
3. Next week —I’ll pre-schedule reoccurring tweets over the next few days, and over the next two months from my personal handle (if it’s evergreen).
4. Next two months —Again, using prescheduled tweets with different ledes and different images (if there are any), my posts are hitting my personal feed for a good two months.
5. Ongoing —From here I let Revive Old Post take over, which helps our evergreen content to “live forever.”

RELATED: Free download: 11 Essentials for a Stellar Online Newsroom

Other tips:

• Changing your lede helps the content stay fresh; try to come up with three different ways to pose one title.
• Ask questions. For instance, for this post, I could change my lede or pose a question (depending on the platform and the space it affords) to say, “Are you doubling your content distribution efforts with a promo schedule?”
• Add hashtags to help searchers find your content.
• Tag people, and ask them to weigh in, but only if you have a good relationship; don’t spam people.
• Use pithy quotes or stats from the article as a new lede.
• As mentioned, use Click To Tweet to create snackable, shareable bites.
• Reference your article—when relevant— in online conversations. Again, don’t be spammy.

Promote your content to your list(s)

If you have a marketing list (and you should), use it.

Many people share weekly newsletters or several times a month. Use this as a vehicle to share your latest post(s).

Here’s what I do:

1. We have a monthly newsletter with themes, so I share a post from the prior month only if it fits with the theme we’re working with.
2. We have a subscriber-only blog email that delivers our blog to straight to inboxes. This is a highly segmented and highly engaged list. How? We give subscriber-only gifts— templates, workflows, tricks and tips—to those on our list as a bonus for the blog post’s theme. In this email we have two places with ready-to-tweet links.

Other tips:

• Have an RSS feed set up on your blog so subscribers can add it to their aggregators.
• If you decide to take it a step further, as we did with our subscriber-only list, make sure those links tag your brand, use any branded/relevant hashtags and are trackable. We use Bitly and Click To Tweet’s link generator to make this happen.

Promote your content through syndication

Our posts are syndicated through a few platforms, including B2Community and SteamFeed.

This means nearly all our posts are republished on these sites with permission.

Many sites do this for free; some do it as a paid service, such as Outbrain.

Here’s what I do:

• I research well-trafficked sites offering syndication (B2Community) and ask to be a part of the program.
• I vet offers from sites asking to syndicate my content (SteamFeed and a few others that are on a post-by-post basis). In some cases, I get paid to let other sites use my content.

Promote your content through advertising

As we ramp up with advertising efforts for our clients, this is an area I have to beef up in 2016.

There are so many ways to promote your content. Here are some of the easiest/most common:

• Facebook ads
• Facebook custom audiences (show ads to your lists)
• Facebook lookalike audiences (show ads to people similar to those people on your lists)
• Remarketing ads (Facebook or Google—ads that “follow” users with cookies)
• Twitter ads
• Google AdWords

There you have it! These 28 tips are only a starting place, but a solid one.

Did I leave anything out? Let me know in the comments section.

Source : http://bit.ly/1KTJL1V

4 Things Successful Change Leaders Do Well

We know that two-thirds of large scale transformation efforts fail. But that’s not a terribly helpful piece of information―unless we’re looking for confirmation that this is hard, really hard. What is useful is to understand what leaders can do to substantially increase the odds that their companies won’t be among the two-thirds of those that fail. From my research and work with companies around the world leading large-scale transformation initiatives, here are the four things I’ve found that virtually all successful change leaders do really well:

Recognize embedded tensions and paradoxes

Smart, capable, solid professionals most often perform well in their roles until they reach a level in their organizations at which they are confronted with a series of embedded tensions and paradoxes that make leading effectively much more complicated. The most common paradoxes leaders face when driving a transformation effort are:

1. Revitalization vs. Normalization. At the core of every change initiative is the desire to breathe new life into the organization―to revitalize ways of thinking, behaving and working. But one change initiative often morphs into many, and before long employees become “change weary.” Thus, we find ourselves in the conflicted situation of needing revitalization but desiring normalization.
2. Globalization vs. Simplification. Doing business today means doing business globally, but the complexities brought on by globalization are often in conflict with the need for organizations to make it simple for customers to do business with them. Leaders struggle with creating organizational responses that address the need to master globalization while offering customers and employees optimal simplification.
3. Innovation vs. Regulation. Many organizations, particularly in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, are saddled with trying to do business, let along innovate, under increasingly crushing regulatory environments. This is a stifling tax on a company’s capacity to find creative approaches to solving unmet customers’ needs. As such we struggle with the tension between the desire to boost innovation and the need to operate under increasing regulation.
4. Optimization vs. Rationalization. Customers not only have more power today―in some industries, they seem to have all of the power. Organizations are struggling to provide solutions that are better, faster, cheaper and increasingly customized. Leaders are caught in a seemingly endless struggle to reconcile the tension between optimizing benefits to customers while rationalizing their costs of doing business.
5. Digitization vs. Humanization. Advanced technology is at the core of virtually every company’s business model today. Entire value chains are being digitized. Yet, the onset of ubiquitous digitization is occurring at the same time that individuals are yearning for a sense of meaning in their organizations. Leaders are struggling with how to reconcile the increasing need for the digitization of their business models while trying to create organizational climates that have an authentic sense of humanization―creating an overarching sense of purpose and collective ambition.

Successful transformation leaders embrace these tensions even though they make the challenge more complex. There are no easy answers; however, the leader’s bedrock commitment to helping to reconcile these tensions is paramount. That means above all committing to an on-going communications and listening campaign so people know what’s going on and know how they might contribute to the transformation effort―and know that they are invited to do so. This process starts by the CEO and top team telling powerful and compelling stories of where the company has been, where it is now and where it needs to go―and why. But it doesn’t end there. Senior leaders must be ready to open up the flood gates so managers and employees closest to the client interface can surface these tensions and discuss them openly. While this might not resolve the tensions and paradoxes, it enables people to at least acknowledge that they exist, have their concerns heard, and discuss proactive ways forward together.

Hold everyone accountable

The leadership of the change effort can’t end with the top team, the top 100 managers, or the top 1,000 managers. It has to be an all-hands-on-deck engagement. The change leader must signal that enterprise-wide transformation will be a collective effort, with accountability distributed throughout the organization.

But it is far easier to say this than to do this, so change leaders must be ready to back up their statements with real world initiatives that will strengthen engagement. For example, when Hess Corporation launched its 2020 Change Initiative, CEO John Hess challenged his entire leadership team to come up with solutions that would make the company more agile, cost conscience, and faster at decision making. And to minimize change weariness brought on by needless duplication of effort, he created a champions team responsible for coordinating the variety of efforts underway.

Invest in new organizational capabilities

Change leaders must go beyond storytelling, motivation, and mobilization efforts―they need to provide resources so that the organization has what it needs to win in the new environment. This might include capital improvements, process improvements, and building new talent capabilities.

For example, for three decades leading up to 2010, HSBC had successfully pursued a growth strategy and organizational capability that was founded upon acquisitions. However, with acquisition upon acquisition, the leaders within HSBC failed to develop a one-company culture, which made it difficult to integrate its offerings to an increasingly demanding customer base. As such, Stephen Green, HSBC’s Chairman at the time, set the company on a course that called for a dramatic slowdown of acquisitions, at least until the current portfolio of companies was integrated and a culture of what Green referred to as Collective Management was cemented. This meant nothing short of building new organizational capabilities based upon collaboration and client-first thinking, which not only meant developing new systems and processes but building a collective mindset that would make aspiring to being a one-company culture a reality.

Emphasize continuous learning

It’s far easier to talk about revitalization and renewal than to actually do it. The companies that pull it off have transformation leaders that commit to a relentless learning process.

Perhaps the best example I know of a remarkably successful transformation leader is Alan Mulally, who not only led the transformation effort for Boeing Commercial Airlines, but also the stunning turnaround of Ford Motor Company. Mulally would be the first to insist that Ford’s transformation was not his achievement but rather the collective achievement of thousands of stakeholders, including employees, suppliers, dealers, unions, financial institutions, Board members and others. Mulally believed deeply in his “leading together” philosophy from his Boeing experience, but this became even more critical at Ford, due to the multitude of stakeholders and a political infighting culture that had become toxic. Mulally would have none of that. He brought his top managers together weekly to assess problems and progress, through his implementation process called the Creating Value Roadmap. Met with heavy resistance at first due to fear of admitting problems, Mulally pursued this course and built trust that those who were brave enough to acknowledge that they needed help were actually showcased as exactly the kind of leader that Mulally was looking for in Ford’s future. At every meeting, managers were asked: what have we learned by airing concerns, making course corrections, and especially, fixing problems together? By combining his relentless focus on implementation and making tough calls with an equally important focus on continuous learning, Mulally transformed Ford from a moribund company on the verge of bankruptcy to one of today’s most successful automobile companies in the world.

Leveraging these four activities, while framing the transformation effort as a collective challenge to be embraced together, fuels positive change over the long haul—which is important since the transformation journey is a never-ending one for most companies today. Ultimately, these practices create a culture of agility and resiliency that will pay dividends out into the future, as large-scale change becomes an organizational capability and not a recipe for management failure.

Source : http://bit.ly/1SlSxH1

10 Key Do’s and Don’ts of Social Media for Business

When it comes to interacting with consumers, there’s nothing more effective than social media. Keeping tabs on what’s happening on social networks, you’ll gain valuable insight into your target audience, forge meaningful relationships with your customers and create a community of brand followers. It’s clear that every professional out there needs to be present on social media. Here are 10 key do’s and don’ts to help you survive on social platforms and build a strong brand that resonates with a wide range of consumers.

1. Do know your target audience

Without knowing to whom you’re addressing your messages, you cannot enjoy the full benefit of social media. Your social media accounts should be tailored to match the expectations and preferences of your target audience, not reflect your personal interests. Consumers don’t really care about you as a person – they’re far more interested in what you can do to help them in solving a problem.

That’s why you should know who you’re talking to before you start posting stories and sharing your expertise online. This is where 80/20 rule comes in handy. Make sure that 80% of your content is relevant to your target audience and 20% of it is specifically about your offer. This is a formula that works perfectly for self-employed professionals.

2. Don’t forget to set privacy settings

Just like you use them on your personal files, you should do so with your business accounts as well. Be careful when posting – just because you can delete a post doesn’t mean that the internet will forget. You have no idea about who might have seen it before you decided to delete it – and they might have saved this information. Always think twice before posting something or sharing content. Make sure to have full privacy settings in place and protect your passwords. Never give your passwords to other people and make sure they’re hard to crack. If your social accounts fall into the wrong hands, they can cause you a lot of trouble.

3. Do set the standard for good behavior

Even if social media and similar online activity seems more private, it’s hardly so. Every single thing you write and share will leave a permanent mark on the web. That’s why you should always set a standard for behavior online, showing your audience that you treat your online presence seriously and are in full control of your reputation on social media. Good online behavior will never lose you customers – your reputation as a solid company with great social media following will only help to boost your visibility on the web.

4. Don’t rely on automation too much

Automation is great for scheduling and organizing your social media activity, but never rely exclusively on such tools for posting. If you do, you’ll quickly lose that valuable personal touch with clients which makes your brand stand out. Show that you’re human and strive to make engagement experience for your target audience more personal.

5. Do pay attention to timing

Post only when you’re sure many people are listening. It’s pointless to be active in social media at times when there’s hardly anyone out there to engage and respond. That’s why you should always keep tabs on analytics and find out when your followers are most active on specific social media platforms. Use this information to your advantage when scheduling your posts – engaging consumers in these time frames will help you to make the most from your social media activity.

6. Don’t forget to respond or delete negative comments

Responding to comments, even if they’re negative, is a must. If you fail to respond in time or at all, count on your audience to notice that and change their perspective on our brand. Without active engagement, you’ll send a message that you don’t really care enough about your customers. You should be using comments as opportunities for interacting with your audience.

Show your audience how you deal with both positive and negative situations. That’s why you should never, ever delete negative comments. The person who posted them in the first place is still out there and seeing your lack of acknowledgment and outright denial will just enrage them. Stay calm and try to solve the issue – this is how you avoid a damaging PR disaster.

7. Do strive for originality

Be original and try different forms of content. Only by shaking things up once in a while you’ll keep your audience on their toes and wanting more. Be creative and show your personality. This is how you can gain loyal following – it’s what makes you stand out from others. Make sure your social channels are engaging and leave consumers with a positive impression.

8. Don’t be confident to the point of arrogance

Sometimes you might want to share your expertise and start to sound a bit too arrogant. If you want to make the most from your online presence, never use that tone. Don’t try to come off as a know-it-all – this isn’t an attitude that makes people like you. Respect the value your audience brings in to your conversation and keep an open mind – it’s not like you’ve got an answer to every single question. You can learn a lot through your interactions – always acknowledge valuable contributions from the community.

9. Do understand which social media networks work best for you

Before you create an account for your business on every single social network you know, pause for a minute and reflect on the social media landscape for a while. You’re using social media to meet your customers halfway, so what’s the point of being active on a platform none of your relevant audiences use? That’s right – when analyzing your target audience, you should also strive to learn about their favorite online hangouts.

Just because everyone has a profile on Facebook doesn’t mean that you need one as well. Remember than in order to bring you benefits, you’ll need to invest time in each social network – choose only those which are most relevant to your sector and audience. If you’d like to drive more traffic to your website and improve customer engagement, you need to choose networks that really fit your type of business.

10. Don’t share too much information too often

Don’t be hyperactive on social media – otherwise you risk coming off as someone who has no idea about when they’re doing. Take extra care about the content you share and make sure it’s 100% relevant and engaging. Sharing too much information can seriously damage your business operation. Just imagine what could happen if you share hints or pictures of your brand new product too early – you simply lose the momentum and effectively kill the entire product launch campaign. Post consciously and responsibly.

Becoming aware of these key do’s and don’ts of social media for business will help you to unleash the full potential of your brand and build a vibrant community of loyal followers who are genuinely interested in what you’ve got to say.

                Source : http://bit.ly/1JZv0KE

5 Traits That Make Entrepreneurs Great At Selling

Great salespeople aren’t born. They’re made.

That’s right.

Contrary to popular belief, there’s no such thing as the “natural salesperson.” Yes, it’s true that some people naturally have personality traits that make it easier for them to sell. But even these lucky people have to learn how to be better influencers. They work hard to hone their sales skills. They learn through experience and practice. Just like any other professional.

In order to be successful, entrepreneurs have to learn how to sell effectively. If they don’t, it becomes almost impossible to succeed. Here’s the good news: Anyone can learn how to sell. I learned. So can you.

When I first started learning how to sell, I was excited. I loved the idea of getting people to buy from me. Since I was good at dealing with people, I figured it’d be easy for me. I was both right and wrong. Yes, I knew how to talk to people I knew how to get them to like me. It helped, but it wasn’t enough. I could get some business, but not as much as I wanted.

So I ended up going through sales training. I learned quite a bit. I worked hard to master the sales techniques I learned. It made me better. Again, it helped, but it wasn’t enough. I wasn’t as good as I wanted to be.

Through my experience, I learned that there are certain qualities that make a person a great salesperson. I found that these are qualities that I needed to possess in order to become the type of influencer I wanted to be.

When I started to adopt these qualities, I found that they shaped the way I used the sales techniques I had learned. I saw that I could use what I learned to have a positive impact on my prospects. Below are the qualities that can make you a great at selling.

How To Become Great At Selling

Trait #1: Mental Toughness

“The way you think when you lose will determine how long it will be before you win.” – GK Chesterton

Let’s face it, selling is not for the faint of heart. You have to be mentally tough to be an effective persuader.

Here’s why.

Selling involves rejection. Lots of it. Even the greatest salespeople in the world get rejected. A lot. It’s unavoidable. If you’re not mentally tough, rejection can erode your self-confidence until you feel like giving up. It can be pretty discouraging. To make matters worse, the discouragement you feel because of the rejection can carry over to the next sales call.

This makes it harder to keep the same level of enthusiasm, which makes it more likely that you will get rejected again. It’s like a vicious cycle.

The difference between a great salesperson and a not-so-great salesperson is how they view rejection. Great salespeople see rejection as an opportunity to improve. They can learn from the mistakes they made on the sales call and adjust their approach accordingly.

In this way, a great salesperson can turn a rejection into a tool that can be used to earn more business on her next sales call. Being mentally tough is the only way you can handle consistent rejection without missing a beat. If you want to be a great persuader,  you better become tougher.

Trait #2: Genuine Concern For The Prospect

“Stop selling. Start helping.” – Zig Ziglar

Yes, I know it sounds nice and fuzzy, but a great influencer actually cares about the people they seek to influence. They desire deeply to bring a lasting benefit to the lives of the people they wish to persuade. The same is true when you’re trying to convince prospects to buy your offering.

Great salespeople want to see their prospects get what they want. This means they present only the solutions that fit the prospect’s needs and wants. They won’t try to push potential customers into buying things they don’t need.

When you approach your sales calls in a way that is focused on helping the prospect solve their problems, you gain a greater level of trust. It enables your prospects to connect to you on a deeper level. You have to show your prospects that you view them as more than just a paycheck. You must have a genuine desire to see your prospect get what they want. If your prospect believes you are only trying to get their money, they will be much less likely to listen to what you have to say. 

Start finding ways to help your prospects. Even if the help you’re giving them doesn’t involve your product or service. Give value beyond what you sell. When you do this, you become more valuable to your prospect.

The more valuable you are to your prospects and customers, the more likely it is that they will continue to do business with you. The amount of influence you have over a prospect is directly tied to how much of a benefit you are to them. Find ways to offer more value.

Trait #3: Patience

There are no shortcuts to any place worth going. – Beverly Sills

This might be a surprise, but I’ve found that patience is a key trait to have in order to be great at sales. I know it goes against how most people view salespeople, but it’s true.

Great salespeople are patient with their prospects. Instead of shoving their offering down their prospect’s throat, they take the time to get to know them. They focus on understanding what their customer’s true needs are.

Being pushy and aggressive has become a thing of the past in most cases. People just don’t want to deal with high-pressure sales tactics.

I can’t blame them.

I’ve found that taking the time to make sure my prospects are comfortable with buying from me creates a better experience for both the customer and myself. That’s exactly how great salespeople want their clients to feel

Before presenting your solution to your prospect, take the time to get to know them. Ask questions. Build rapport.

Make the interaction as human as possible.

The more your prospects feel connected to you, the more likely they are to buy your product or service. You must focus on building the relationship. It may take a little longer, but in the end, it’ll be worth it.

Trait #4: A Sense Of Purpose

“People don’t buy WHAT you do. They buy WHY you do it.” – Simon Sinek

This is incredibly important. If you don’t have a sense of purpose in what you’re doing, you won’t be able to persuade others that your product or service is worth buying. You have to believe in what you’re selling.

It’s about branding.

An attractive brand purpose helps you stand out from your competition. It gives your prospects a more “human” face to connect to.

With so many brands to choose from, your prospects have many potential choices to make. By identifying and expressing a purpose that people can buy into, you become more relatable.

Why do you do what you do?

What do you believe about the world your company occupies? What problems are you trying to solve? What kind of impact do you want to make on the world and the people in it?

These are the types of questions you must answer if you’re going to persuade prospects to become paying customers. A strong sense of purpose will enable you to sell with conviction. This is something that makes great salespeople far more influential than those without the conviction of their purpose.

Trait #5: They Serve

“Make a customer, not a sale.” – Katherine Barchetti

A great salesperson is there to meet their prospects’ needs. After the sale, they don’t just move on to the next prospect. They understand the importance of continuing to give value. They focus on building relationships.

The customers of great salespeople know that they are in good hands. They are confident in the fact that they are going to be taken care of.

Great salespeople work hard to make clients are happy. This is what keeps their clients coming back for more.

Because of this, these salespeople are able to turn their clients into evangelists who sing their praises to others. Also, they don’t have to worry as much about the competition. They have cemented their place as their clients’ resource.

If you want to be great at selling, you have to serve. You have to do everything in your power to give a wonderful experience for your customers. In each interaction with your customers, try to make as big an impact as possible by giving them as much value as you can.

Exceed their expectations whenever possible. Give them unexpected benefits every now and then. When your clients feel they are truly being taken care of, they will remain loyal to your brand.

Conclusion

If you want to become great at selling, you must have these traits. It takes time. But when you have these traits, you will find it easier to attract and keep clients.

Become mentally tougher. Genuinely care about the success of your prospect. Don’t rush through your sales process. Find your sense of purpose. And finally, serve your newly-earned customers.

Becoming great at selling will also help you become a great entrepreneur. Not only that, it will help you make a greater impact in the lives of others.

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Source : http://bit.ly/1NlFfXT

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5 Ways to Use Social Media for Increased Business Success

If you're about to grow your social media campaigns, you should be aware of the many different ways that social media can be used to grow your business. Social media can be leveraged in a variety of ways, some that are obvious and some that are a little more obscure. To truly get the most out of your social media marketing efforts, you may want to coordinate multiple aspects of the campaign at once.

Here are the five ways to use social media for increased business success.

1. Customer Acquisition

A social media platform will give you unprecedented access to prospective customers. Not only will customers be able to find you and engage with your products, but they will also be able to learn more about you as a business. By creating compelling content and showcasing your products and services, you will build trust and a relationship with potential clients. Social media marketing is an extremely affordable method of customer acquisition and growth.

A single post or marketing video can reach hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of individuals—without any increased cost associated with these growing numbers. Over time, your social media outreach will grow and you will be able to reach even more potential customers. Social media accounts also help with customer retention. Your existing customers will follow your brand and be reminded of your brand, encouraging them to continue their purchasing.

2. Reputation Management

What are people saying about your business? Do you know? There are reviews for every company out there today, on a variety of websites—and not all of them are true. There could even be negative information available about you through a competitor. Sometimes there are even mistakes: a customer could damage your business unknowingly simply because they confused you with another company. All of this can hurt unless you appropriately manage your reputation.

Social media is an excellent platform on which you can address any customer complaints. As a first line of contact, social media inspires individuals to contact you through a channel that you can control, rather than potentially voicing complaints through a third-party service. In addition to managing negative reviews and commentary, you can also promote positive reviews and information. Make sure that the customer always knows your side of the story when disputes arise.

3. Brand Awareness

Brand awareness is critical to growth. An individual may not engage with your brand the first time they see it, and they may not make a purchase even throughout many dozens of interactions. But that individual could still share your information. Individuals that follow you and interact with your brand will eventually become brand ambassadors, introducing others to your company even if they themselves are not a customer. 

Brand awareness increases the amount of trust that individuals have in your brand, in addition to making them far more likely to think of you the next time they need a related product and service. Brand awareness can be very difficult to quantify, but it can be seen increasing in the form of brand mentions across social media sites. Brand awareness is also very closely tied to customer acquisition, as you should see your customer acquisitions rise with the popularity of your branding.

In addition to making customers knowledgeable about your brand, you can also establish your brand voice and your company identity. Social media makes it very easy to reach your customers on this personal level. Creating a coherent and consistent brand identity will tell your customers what they should expect from your business and will encourage the demographics that you're focusing on.

4. Customer Service

Modern brands have to be "always on" in terms of responding to customer concerns and complaints. Customer service issues can arise at any time, and a responsive customer service team is necessary to address these problems before they become more serious. Many individuals today will reach out to a company through social media channels before they'll use anything else, and this means that the dispute becomes public regardless of what the company wishes to do. Consequently, companies today can experience "runaway" customer service issues, whereby problems snowball through a lack of attention.

Appropriately managed social media accounts allow a business to control these types of issues. Through social media, you are able to provide better customer service through a direct connection with the customer. Even when mistakes occur, customers are more likely to think favorably of a business if they are responded to professionally and with care. Merely by responding in a timely and polite fashion, companies can build their customer trust and make sure that their customers are satisfied every time.

Of course, customer service can also go wrong. There are many businesses that have learned a harsh lesson regarding their public relations. When dealing with customers online, you need to make sure that you're always focused on addressing and resolving their needs—not getting defensive or potentially aggravating them more. On social media, the entire world watches, and mistakes are very rarely forgotten.

5. Market Research

Are you wondering which of your next products will be the most successful? Do you want some guidance on your current marketing campaigns? Social media sites are one of the best places on which to conduct market research. You can see all of your engagement and activity and you know exactly which demographics you're reaching. You can poll your own clientele for information about what they truly want from your business and you can see how they react to your ideas before you attempt to launch them.

The value of social media marketing is that it's instantaneous: you get feedback almost the moment that you produce any content. This makes you remarkably agile; you will be able to identify "winners" and "losers" very quickly and be able to improve your products and services with this information at hand. Even better, the market research done on social media is free. Your customers will freely respond to your inquiries and all you will need to expend is some time.

There are an incredible amount of benefits to a cohesive and inclusive social media campaign. A social media campaign can do many things at once, and the more that you do with it, the more value you will receive from it. Of course, not all social media campaigns are created equal: different platforms may lend themselves better to certain strategies. Either way, however, having a positive, useful, and consistent social media presence will always draw customers to you and encourage them to stay.

Source : http://bit.ly/1PC3RgJ