Archive for December 2010

Gift Photo Albums With Facebook Friends

December 29th, 2010 by bstoller

Here’s some great information regarding a new way to use photos on Facebook.

New Site Lets You Create Gift Photo Albums With Your Facebook Friends

Written by admin on December 29, 2010 – 0 Comments
Categories: mashable

The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.

Name: Keepsy

Quick Pitch: Keepsy’s platform allows Facebook friends to collaborate on scrapbooks and to pitch in for group gifts.

Genius Idea: The equivalent of a birthday card on Facebook generally consists of about 100 “happy birthday” wall posts from friends and family. Keepsy hopes to offer a more thoughtful alternative through its collaborative album-making platform, which launched on December 15.

Whoever has the idea to create a birthday scrapbook can invite their Facebook friends to create pages using Facebook photos, text tools, and provided templates. The platform automatically highlights which friends are mutual between the creator and recipient to make this part easy. When friends create their pages, they can also choose to chip in for a group gift — either a hardcover physical version of the book that costs $29.99, or for an Amazon gift card.

Digital scrapbooking and group gift buying have both been done before. Products like Apple’s iPhoto or Shutterfly could easily be used to create a similar gift album, and eBay launched a group-buying app in November that also leverages Facebook. But Keepsy is the first company, to our knowledge, that has combined the two.

It’s an effective combination. Planning a group gift is usually a pain, but Keepsy makes a gift that is both easy to coordinate and personal. Since the photos and the friends required for the project are already on Facebook, starting an album takes about five minutes.

One challenge for cofounders Peter Weck and Blake Williams is that their first product is a birthday album. Since there’s a surprise component involved, all conversation about the gift album remains between the friends working on the project. Keepsy can’t communicate through public wall posts or in other ways that might attract new users but ruin the surprise.

According to Williams, that’s why expanding to other types of albums, such as class yearbooks or wedding albums, is the startup’s first priority. It’s also looking to add more gift card relationships like the one they have with Amazon. These relationships, along with the physical albums, will be Keepsy’s main source of revenue.

Dave McClure, James Hong, Tim Connors, and other angel investors have agreed that the idea has potential, investing a total of $1.1 million over two rounds of funding.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Bliz

For a direct link to this article click here

Categories : Facebook Marketing
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Top Predictions for Small Business Marketing – 2011

December 29th, 2010 by bstoller

Small Business Marketing Predictions for 2011

This is a great article from Mashable.com

About 7 days ago Erica Swallow 9

5 Predictions for Small Business in 2011

Over the course of 2010, Mashable has offered quite a few small business resources, ranging from tips on social media and marketing to resources for web design and development.

As this year wraps up, we’d like to look back at the technological advancements that small businesses have benefited from and predict how those technologies will affect entrepreneurs in 2011.

Here are my five predictions about how small businesses will continue to adapt to changing technologies as we move into the new year.

Read on and let us know what you’d add to the list in the comments below.

1. Increased Spending on Websites

Small businesses are predicted to increase online marketing spending, with websites taking the front seat, according to a recent survey. The survey found that 54% of respondents indicated that their businesses currently have websites. Unfortunately, most of those websites contain nothing more than general information, and less than half of them incorporate customer service features.

The importance of being easily findable on the Internet () has still not been fully recognized by small businesses, but increasingly, smart entrepreneurs are taking notice. Next year will be marked with increased spending on website development, lifting small business sites from their current iterations as online brochures to more prominent positions as useful resources for customers.

Those making valuable upgrades to their online presences will increase functionalities revolving around e-commerce, reservation systems, corporate blogs and social media integration. Furthermore, we may see increased attention on better web design.

2. Smartphone Revolution

A whopping 49% of small business owners use smartphones, outpacing the rest of America in smartphone adoption, according to a recent Forrester study.

As more small business owners are exposed to smartphones on a daily basis, it’s inevitable that they will begin to innovate with mobile technologies. In 2010, business owners were tweeting on the go, using location-based services and investing in mobile advertising.

In 2011, the smartphone revolution will continue to ensue, with ever increasing smartphone adoption. Mobile devices will continue to change the way that companies of all sizes do business. With most business needs at the tips of their fingers, small business owners will experience more flexibility than ever before.

3. Social Shopping and E-Commerce Advancements

While a number of small businesses benefited from social shopping in 2010, others were left wondering if group buying was really worth the risk.

Regardless, it’s evident that e-commerce is a huge advantage for small businesses taking part in it. Offering their products online, businesses have widened their customer bases beyond their local markets.

While only 30% of small business websites currently incorporate e-commerce abilities, the increased buzz around online and social shopping will probably push more small business owners to experiment with the medium in 2011.

4. More Focused Social Media Efforts

This year was a time of social media experimentation for many small business owners. Testing many social media services in the past year, small businesses are becoming more knowledgeable about which platforms their customers use most and how their companies can benefit from staying connected on each platform.

It isn’t uncommon to visit a small business’s website to find a mass of social icons pointing to less-than-utilized profiles all across the web. It seems that anxious entrepreneurs have spread themselves thin in the social media realm this year, trying out every platform that got buzzed up.

The simple truth is that not every platform is right for every business — it’s all about where your customers are.

Having answered quite a few social media questions from small business owners this year, I have a feeling that next year is really going to be about paring down to the essentials based on proven successes and strong metrics.

5. Increased Adoption of Cloud Computing

Earlier this year, a group of Internet and tech experts and social analysts predicted that Internet users will “live mostly in the cloud” by 2020. While I don’t have the expertise to analyze that prediction, I can point to the fact that I and many of my friends and co-workers already do live and work mostly from web-based and mobile apps, relying less on software installed on our desktops.

Cloud services have already simplified many processes for businesses. Google Apps and Google Docs (), for example, make hosting and collaborating on spreadsheets, presentations, forms and word processors much simpler. Box.net () and Dropbox () have also made online file sharing and collaboration much easier. Meanwhile, 37signals supports a full line of business tools for project management, CRM, internal communications and group chat.

In 2011, businesses will be increasingly exposed to cloud services as tech companies introduce more and more products geared toward moving our digital lives into the cloud.

For a link to this article on Mashable.com click here

Categories : Marketing Strategies
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Marketing for Small Business – How to Use Your People

December 27th, 2010 by bstoller

Marketing for Small Business

Marketing for small business can really be a challenge. First of all, you need to ask yourself an important question – “Why do you need new customers?”

Most will find this question strange, but think about this for a second. Do you need new customers because you are constantly losing the ones you have? Do you need new customers because you want to grow? If your answer was because you are losing customers faster than you can create new ones, your business is in serious trouble. Your business could simply be poorly run and you probably need to do some soul searching to find out what your business really wants to accomplish.

Hopefully, your answer more resembled the second answer – you want to grow. If growth is your objective, then you may want to be reminded of the terrific opportunity you have by educating your current and potential customers. By educating your customers and potential customers, marketing your small business becomes much easier.

I’ve often heard that “Your business must grow for people to grow” and also “People must grow for you business to grow”. I believe that these sayings are right on the money. If you put a little more effort in training your associates (also called “employees” by some), they will begin to educate your customers and potential customers for you. Anytime a customer learns something from the association with your business, your relationship just stepped up a notch and so did your customer loyalty!

According to William Arthur Ward, “The mediocre teacher tells, the good teacher explains, the superior teacher demonstrates, and the great teacher inspires.” You may want to keep this quote in mind when considering your overall marketing for your small business. Think of your educational training for your associates as part of your overall marketing plan!

Categories : Marketing Strategies
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Internet Advertising for Small Business is Changing

December 22nd, 2010 by bstoller

Internet advertising for small business is changing rapidly. How can a business owner, who is already busy trying to keep customers happy, be expected to keep up with the trends??

He or she can’t!

Of course, checking in with the Discovering Profits website is a good start! (Sorry, had to get that plug in there!) There are a few trends going on out there that every business owner needs to be aware of.

1. Local Search Marketing Taking the Place of Traditional Advertising

Local Search Lets You Dominate Your Niche

I think most people are starting to catch on to this, but most businesses are still very slow to catch on. Those that are are reaping low cost benefits. This form requires someone who knows the ins/outs of this, but once you are set up with Google Places and a campaign for articles, press releases, videos, etc., this program is like having a billboard on the internet. Once you build it, it continues to get traffic for a very long time with little maintenance involved (once the campaign is performed.

2. Mobile Marketing

This form of advertising is extremely new but is growing VERY fast. There are many forms, but this basically involves sending texts to your customers to announce certain activities or specials that your business has to offer. This is great for any business that has a high volume of traffic (or would LIKE to have a high volume of traffic!). Texts have been proven to have a 90-95% open rate within 15 minutes! Compared to e-mail that has an average open rate of around 17-22% and can take days to get this rate.

3. Social Media

Click to see Facebook Business Page

Social media is still very much misunderstood by most business owners. Every hears that they should participate, but very few actually understand what it takes to bring customers in the door. Here’s a hint – DON’T ASK FOR AN ORDER! Social media is to build relationships. If you have a new friend on your Facebook business page, that friend isn’t going to buy anything from you until he/she gets to know you a little bit and can feel that he/she can trust you. Usually it takes from 5-7 points of contact before you should ever approach them about a sale. There are many right ways and wrong ways to do Facebook, Twitter, and other social media avenues.

The Important Thing To Remember is to Have a Plan

While advertising and marketing of small business is changing rapidly, don’t fall in the trap of doing something just because you hear it is the thing to do. EVERY marketing or advertising dollar needs to be part of a plan based upon your business’s strengths, weaknesses, and the business’s competitive advantage. While we have worked with many businesses, we’ve found that most do not have this plan and most are purely reactive. Call Discovering Profits to set up a marketing consultation to get you thinking – it’s free and it could change your business forever!

Categories : marketing fundamentals
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Facebook Marketing Strategies for Small Business

December 8th, 2010 by bstoller

Facebook marketing strategies for small business has been very confusing. Many business owners are rushing to get a Facebook page because there is a lot of “buzz”.

What many business owners don’t understand is that if you don’t follow some basic rules, you are not only going to waste a lot of time, but you may actually HURT your business and it will be very difficult to recover.

Facebook is officially the largest website, recently surpassing Google for the most visitors. There are over 500 million users and growing by the minute. This trend is important in that people are talking about where to shop, where to eat, where to buy a car, who to call when their furnace goes out, etc. Small business owners who have jumped may not land where they want unless they keep the following rules in mind:

Mistake No. 1: Business Owners Send People to Their Personal Profile
The main benefit of using a fan page (also called a business page) for your business is that fan pages are indexed by the search engines, while most profile pages are not (depending on your settings). This means your fan page content can show up in Google, Yahoo! and Bing search results, exposing your business to tons of potential new customers who are not on Facebook.

Plus, if you add your website URL to your fan page bio, you’ll have an inbound link from Facebook (a high-ranking site) to your website. This can boost your website even further in the search engine results.

Another disadvantage of using a profile page for your business is that you can have a maximum of 5,000 friends. With a fan page, you can have unlimited fans, which is essential if your goal is to attract as many fans as possible.

Mistake No. 2: No Interaction With Fans
Most business owners put a lot of time and effort into attracting fans on Facebook, then never engage them in conversation. This is a big mistake.

Your fan page is where people go to find out more about your business. If you don’t interact with your fans, they will probably leave. If you don’t interact, they also want get your posts to people’s news feeds either.

The whole purpose of having a Facebook fan page is to engage and interact with your fans. It’s a social network, after all — so go socialize.

Do this, and when it comes time to promote your products or services down the road, you’ll find your fans will be much more open and receptive to what you have to offer.

Mistake No. 3: Posting Early in the Day or Late at Night
The whole purpose of your fan page is to get your message in front of as many fans as possible and to get them commenting on it, hitting that little “like” thumbs up, or sharing it on their wall feed so their Facebook friends will see it, too.

If you post an update for your fans in the wee hours of the morning or super late at night, it doesn’t matter how good your content is — chances are, the majority of your fans aren’t going to see it.

We suggest that you use “inspirational content” when you post in the morning – 9:00 am – 10:00 am seem to be a good time for the morning. In the afternoon, you should post entertainment content to keep your fans awake.

It seems most people check Facebook in the morning, most likely over a cup of coffee at the office before the day gets busy.

With this in mind, save the early-morning or late-night posts for your personal profile page. Put posts on your business fan page wall before noon or right after lunch.

Mistake No. 4: Posting Text-Only Wall Posts
Posting text-only wall posts day after day is kind of like serving the same thing for dinner over and over. Even if what you’re serving up is delicious, repetition is boring.

To keep your fans interested and engaged, mix it up by posting a combination of text, pictures and video.

More data released by Vitrue reveals that wall posts containing pictures usually get 54 percent more fan engagement than straight text posts. Video posts come in second, getting 27 percent more engagement than text posts. Text posts come in last out of the three.

So to get your fans commenting on, liking and sharing your content, include pictures, graphics and other eye candy in your posts — and include them often.

Mistake No. 5: No Promoting
One of the reasons Facebook is a fantastic place to attract new customers is because the social network is such an open, friendly place. Most Facebook users are on the site to connect with friends and, as a result, you can market here without encountering a lot of buyer skepticism you’ll find elsewhere.Less-than-savvy business owners who relentlessly post promotion after promotion will quickly find their fan numbers dwindling. Annoyed fans can choose to hide your updates or simply “unlike” your fan page altogether.

To avoid this, observe the 80/20 rule.

Eighty percent of your wall posts should offer no-strings-attached value to your fans in the form of tips, advice or friendly banter. Once you’ve built up a relationship with your fans, you can talk about your products or services the other 20 percent of the time.

When it comes to marketing your business on Facebook, keep in mind that you’re entering a social network, and new rules apply. Social networks are all about networking, interacting and connecting.

Start with a professional fan page, post a combination of text, video and images during the first part of each day, and focus on building relationships instead of selling. That way, you’ll be positioned to grow a large, loyal fan base of potential customers.

Of course, should you need help, the professionals at Discovering Profits are here to guide. Whether you do it yourself or have someone professionally manage your business page, it never hurts to have a professional guide you to success.

Categories : Facebook Marketing
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Archive for December 2010

Gift Photo Albums With Facebook Friends

New Site Lets You Create Gift Photo Albums With Your Facebook Friends

Top Predictions for Small Business Marketing – 2011

Small Business Marketing Predictions for 2011

5 Predictions for Small Business in 2011

1. Increased Spending on Websites

2. Smartphone Revolution

3. Social Shopping and E-Commerce Advancements

4. More Focused Social Media Efforts

5. Increased Adoption of Cloud Computing

Marketing for Small Business – How to Use Your People

Marketing for Small Business

Internet Advertising for Small Business is Changing

The Important Thing To Remember is to Have a Plan

Facebook Marketing Strategies for Small Business

Case Study and Testimonial – Bliss Salon and Spa

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