#HappyMonday it’s officially the start

#HappyMonday it’s officially the start of #VeteransWeek – don’t forget to wear your poppy!

Who doesn’t love a lazy Sunday? #Ambiti

Who doesn’t love a lazy Sunday? #Ambitious people – use your time wisely with #CRM2Plus

Spending your Sat analyzing client portf

Spending your Sat analyzing client portfolios? That sounds tedious. Get #CRM2Plus, finish in 1/2 the time & congratulate yourself w/ a #PSL

4 Ways Brands Are Still Getting Social Networking Wrong (And What to Do About It)

By now everybody (unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 10 years) is aware of how relevant social media is to brand-building and brand awareness. Not everyone has yet embraced its usefulness, but each day, more and more people get onboard. Facebook alone now has 1.5 billion users. Just think about the potential reach! If you’re not using social media to generate brand awareness, you’re not doing yourself any favors.  

That being said, if you are using social media, but not using it effectively, you’re wasting your time. Here are 4 ways that brands are doing it wrong – and how they/you can get it right…

1. Boasting & Hard-Selling Rather Than Engaging

Stop being so narcissistic! People don’t care about how wonderful your products or services are nearly as much as you think they do. At least not if you’re shoving it down their throats at every given opportunity. Take it down a notch. Engage with your social networking audience. Post things that are relevant, interesting, fun, engaging and most of all, useful. Not just things that tout your brand as being the best thing since sliced bread. You know the old expression, “If you build it, they will come”? Well, build your brand by engaging your audience and making them want to engage with you – and customers will start rollin’ in. Remember, people don’t like to be sold to – they like to be intrigued and informed and entertained.

2. Trying to Make Use of Every Social Platform Known to Mankind

There’s such a thing as overkill. Are you aware of just how many social platforms are in existence today? It’s not just Facebook and Twitter anymore. Not by a long shot. Here’s a list of just 21 of the most popular – and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. No matter how large your staff is, you couldn’t possibly have the resources to keep an engaging social media campaign going on each and every platform. Sure, your brand would be represented on all of em’, but not well and not effectively. So, focus on the sites where your most of your customers are – Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are good bets, but do your research – and limit your social networking endeavors to the sites that will bring you the most traffic.

3. Not Responding to Customer Comments – the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Ah – now this is a biggie! What’s the good of being on social media if you’re not going to be social?? When a customer or prospective customer comments on one of your posts, whether it be on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or your blog, whatever you do, RESPOND! And not just to the positive and happy comments. And none of that automated bull that so many brands like to make use of. Social networking is for being human – not for being a brand stuck somewhere in the vast cyberspace. Remember the part about engaging? Well, it’s a two-way street. If someone says something glowing about your product or service, or even just makes a nice comment on one of your posts, thank them and tell them that you appreciate their input/insight. And if someone posts a comment that’s not quite so complimentary or that voices a complaint or opposing view, thank them and tell them that you appreciate their input/insight – and then (if it’s a complaint), let them know that you’re sorry that their interaction with your brand wasn’t as positive as it could have been and offer them something that will hopefully rectify the situation. But whatever you do, don’t ignore people on social media. And double whatever you do, don’t engage negatively on social media. Telling someone to take a flying leap because they were less than satisfied with a service you provided isn’t the way to make social media work for you.

4. Creating Boring, Useless Content Rather than Helpful and Fresh Content

On Facebook, you know the guy who constantly posts what he had for breakfast or that his new baby just learned her fifth word? Well, don’t be that guy. No one wants to engage with that guy. No one, other than his mother, cares! What you want to post is useful content – helpful content that’s relevant to your brand and to your industry. Can you post the odd joke or general interest story? Of course. No one’s saying that you have to be all business all the time, but for goodness sake, don’t start boring the stuffing out of people, or you’re not only going to lose your social networking audience, you’re going to lose your customers due to lack of credibility – and boring people to death. Keep it fresh and upbeat and engaging and useful. Answer questions, offer solutions and keep people coming back to read your posts because they’re acquiring information there that they’re not going to get elsewhere. If you’re not already blogging, consider starting a blog – it’s one of the best ways there are of imparting relevant information to an audience who’s going to appreciate it. Don’t know what to blog about? Well, what questions are you asked by your customers? Most of those will make for wonderful blog posts that will be read and enjoyed.

Social networking isn’t rocket science, but it’s certainly something that requires attention, research, time, thought and strategy. And when done right, the rewards to your brand can be exponential.

Why We Really Hate “Back to School”

Unless you’re a kid, I guess the title of this post is a bit misleading. As adults, and especially as parents, I don’t suppose we can honestly say that we hate back-to-school (I mean, seriously, how many parents do you know who are complaining right now that their little darlings are going to be out of their hair and back to a semblance of structure next week??).  What we really hate, is what back-to-school represents: The end of the summer.  What we really hate, is the fact that we become inundated with back-to-school advertising in the middle of July when autumn still seems a million years away. It brings to the forefronts of our minds the imminent threat of cold weather, no more lakeside vacations and less time enjoying the carefree lifestyle that summer invokes.  

No, we’re forced to get back into a strict routine, sunlit hours become limited and, well, there’s just an overall feeling of “melancholy” in the air as we come to realize that that’s it until next June.

We really hate the idea of back-to-school because the question on everybody’s minds these days is, “Where the hell did the summer go?”.  Remember when we were complaining about all the snow and cold – that never-ending winter? Is it just me, or does it feel like no time at all has passed since?  The warm weather, the sunshine and vacations from work are done for another year! And to boot, guess what the Farmer’s Almanac has in store for us in the coming months? Yep, you guessed it – a brutally cold and snowy winter.

And THAT’S why we really hate back to school.

Have a safe and happy long Labor Day weekend, Everyone!  And enjoy what’s left…

HOW TO MANAGE YOUR TIME WISELY ON SOCIAL MEDIA

A very commonly asked question about using social media for business is:  “How much time does it take?”  A lot of people mistakenly believe that a good social media strategy for their business is a total time suck and not worth the effort.  Not so!  If you are one of the people living under that misconception and not taking advantage of what social media has to offer, you are missing out on important conversations and networking opportunities that can greatly benefit your business’ bottom line!                    

I’m not going to lie to you and tell you that it takes no time at all to implement, develop and maintain a viable social networking strategy, but I can tell you that it’s not as daunting an undertaking as you might think – the risk of missed opportunities far outweighs the risk of time spent.  And, you are in complete control of how much time you put into it.  Here are some tips to help you manage your time wisely on social media activities for your business:

First, focus on why you want to use social media.  Depending on industry and company mission, business owners use social media for different business purposes.  Do you want to use it for research? Networking? Sales?  Or, a combination of all of the aforementioned?

If research is your aim, you’ll want to source out blogs and relevant news sites that provide you with the quality information you require.  You can subscribe to their RSS feeds (news feeds) so that you can keep up with any updates posted that are of importance to you.  Imagine having all of that information literally at your fingertips?  If you ask me, it sounds like this will actually save you some time!!

If you want to use social media for networking, it’s imperative that you build a community or audience.  This is easy to do on sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Once you have created your accounts (a snap), it’s just a matter of building your communities by posting on a regular basis (again, this does not take a whole lot of time) and interacting with your audience.  Depending on how much engagement you’re interested in, this can take anywhere from only minutes a day to a couple of hours – not necessarily any more than that, unless you so choose.

If your motivation is sales and marketing, it’s important that you get your brand name out there.  You’ll want to let people know what your brand is all about – what services and/or products you offer – how these services and products can benefit people.

Again, engagement with your audience via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Blogging will be key here.  Social media sites are currently the most innovative methods of marketing your brand’s products and services.  They provide an unprecedented means of getting the word out.

Secondly, it’s important to develop a strategy to manage your time wisely.  Once you gain perspective on your purpose for using social media for your business, it won’t be difficult to determine how much time per day or per week you’ll require.  Here are a few ideas that can help:

–          Create a schedule.  Set some time aside each day (at least at first) to check your Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn accounts.  Take a few moments on each account to post something relevant and especially to respond to any inquiries or concerns that people in your communities may have.  Make it a point to join in on conversations/dialogue wherever you can contribute something meaningful.  (Remember, it’ll take a bit of time to build an audience.)   If you decide to blog, ensure that you post something at least once every other week or so.  Blog posts take on average anywhere between an hour to a few hours to research and compose, but unless you’re a very ambitious, avid blogger, a post a week or every other week should suffice.

–          Focus on activities that will have the most impact.  A crucial thing to remember here is that you have to be where your customers/clients are.  If you have identified that they are mostly on Facebook, then by all means, concentrate a good chunk of your social networking time there.   But, you don’t want to neglect the other networks, as they are all beneficial.

–          Although you want to garner a wide audience, it’s not necessary to overdo it. You don’t have to be friends with or follow each and every person with whom you come into contact.  If a relationship will be mutually beneficial, you want to be connected to that person, if not, then don’t be afraid to be selective.  If you’re connected to absolutely everyone, you will be spending more time than you have to on social media.

–          By the same token, it’s imperative to stick to your purpose.  It’s easy to get sidetracked with irrelevant activity on social media (do you really have to watch that YouTube video right now??).  Stay focused on your business purpose and you will spend your time much more efficiently on social media.

If you use your time wisely and keep your focus in mind, you will find that you social media endeavors significantly pay off and that you actually enjoy your time spent with your connections.

Need help putting together a social media strategy for your business?  We’d like to see you at our Social Media for Business workshop.  We can show you how to use your time wisely and effectively to make social media work for your business’ bottom line.  Please click on the link below for a schedule of workshops in your area.

https://escomputertraining.com/socialmedia

A Celebration of Earth 2015

Did you know that Earth Day came into existence on April 22, 1970? I have to admit, this isn’t a fact of which I was completely aware before today. I mean, I know Earth Day has been a ‘thing’ for quite some time, but I wasn’t aware of its exact origins until I Googled it and did some research over the past couple of days. Interesting! From Earth Day Canada:    

“Celebrated every year on April 22, Earth Day is the largest environmental event in the world. More than six million Canadians – including nearly every school-aged child – participate in an Earth Day activity in their communities.”    

Earth Day was founded (as mentioned above, in 1970) as a day of recognition and education with respect to environmental issues. It’s globally celebrated, and has actually been extended to Earth Week – seven days of events centered on the advancement of “green awareness” and just plain being appreciative of all the wonders our incredible planet has to offer.

So, according to Earth Day Network, at a time when “Americans were slurping leaded gas through massive V8 sedans” and “Industry belched out smoke and sludge with little fear of legal consequences or bad press” and “Air pollution was commonly accepted as the smell of prosperity” (Really??), the idea for Earth Day came to Gaylord Nelson, a Senator from Wisconsin. (It must be said here that there has been some debate as to the actual founder of Earth Day – according to other sources, John McConnell, a peace activist was the first to propose that we celebrate the planet on March 21 (also in 1970), the first official day of spring.)

And…

“As a result, on the 22nd of April, 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment in massive coast-to-coast rallies. Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values.”

So how did we Canadians first come to celebrate Earth Day? Earth Day was first recognized in Canada in 1978 (although, again, I have read conflicting articles that put it in 1980), but the first actual Canadian Earth Day fell on September 11 and was introduced by Dr. Paul Tinari, then a student at Queen’s University and today a physicist, solar engineer and, oh yeah, the Director of the Pacific Institute for Advanced Study (which is a virtual research and development facility that studies the issues challenging our fair planet).

Earth Day is a day to make us ponder, enjoy, improve and truly appreciate our planet.  Try to do these things every day and Earth will be as breathtaking as it is today, for generations to come.  So, get out there and pick up garbage, plant a tree and just take in the wonderment that is Planet Earth!

And, hey, maybe one of these days somebody will declare Earth Day a stat holiday! All the more reason to celebrate!

How To Create a Share Worthy Blog Post

Who knew that using negativity in your blog post’s headline could get you more traffic? Apparently, that’s true! People like to read about things that they should never do –  and they prefer to click on a “Worst Of”  list as opposed to a “Best Of” one.  Says something, doesn’t it? But, hey, whatever works!  If it gets people reading your blog, it’s worth a try, right?

Mitt Ray, founder of Social Marketing Writing, has compiled an excellent and informative infographic illustrating some very useful (and somewhat surprising) tips on how to create a blog post that people will want to read and share. It taught me a thing or two!  (And here’s the link to Mr. Ray’s original article:  http://socialmarketingwriting.com/write-perfect-blog-post-infographic/ )

Enjoy this thought-provoking infographic…

It’s 2015: Is Your Business Social Yet?

If you haven’t yet begun to implement social networking as a means of brand awareness and connecting with clients and prospects, it’s gotta’ be because:  a) you’ve been doing a stint in prison; or b) you’re afraid / resistant and you still don’t get how & why social media can be your business’ greatest asset.  Well, WAKE UP!! It’s 2015, and if you haven’t implemented a solid social media strategy for your business, you pretty much don’t exist!

There are all kinds out there now: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr (and all the wonderful blogging sites), Google+, Pinterest, Instagram and, well, I could go on for a while. So, for the purpose of brevity, I’ll just give you a quick rundown on why and how Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and blogging, if nothing else, are essential to the well-being of your business.

Let’s start with the basics about social media as a whole.  What do social media do for you? They keep your name in front of clients and prospects – on a regular basis. They’re second to nothing else in terms of community building. They provide you with platforms through which you can easily and quickly maintain regular contact with your business connections. They allow you to effortlessly share and disseminate crucial information, via both text and images (not to mention video).  And last but not least, they promote brand awareness – in real time.

Here, briefly, are some ways that social media can work for your business:

1. Facebook – Facebook is the perfect place for you to connect with clients & prospects on a human level – a personal level. The first rule of using Facebook for business? Don’t try to blatantly advertise or sell your business on Facebook. That’s not what it’s about. You want to make lasting connections. You want to let people know what’s in it for them. Facebook allots you a forum within which you can mix the business and the personal. Let’s, for argument’s sake, say you’re in the real estate business. What can you post on Facebook? Photos and details of your listings, changes to mortgage lending rules, home improvement & décor ideas, links to informative industry related articles and videos, helpful hints & tips (for example, on how to ease the pain of moving), getting your home holiday ready, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Facebook also allows you to do really cool things, like form Groups (a home decorating group?) and create Pages (how about a Page for your listings?) that will take your business to the next level. Try to post on a regular basis – once twice a day – or at least several times a week. Keep your posts informative, engaging and entertaining to garner tons of “Friends” and “Likes” and “Shares”. And, most importantly – have fun on Facebook. It can be a great way to engage people and communicate!

2. Twitter – Twitter functions as an effective broadcast medium – you can think of it as a ‘micro-blog’. Twitter allots your customers/ clients a forum within which quick and easy access to your business is possible.  In business, communication with your clients is key – not only do you want to reach out to them, but they want take comfort in knowing that you are accessible to them NOW. And that’s what Twitter can do. Tweet about relevant industry news and information. Tweet links to important articles and news items that you know will be of benefit to your clients. Ask for feedback about new products and services via Twitter. It’s fast, it’s easy, it’s completely interactive and it’s always there – in real time.

3. LinkedIn – LinkedIn is the business connection place within the realm of social media. A LinkedIn profile not only lends credibility to you and your business, but much like Facebook, it becomes an integral means of communication and connecting with people – with business-minded professionals. It provides a platform within which you can promote your services as well as the services of others. And others, in turn, can promote you and your business. Use LinkedIn connections to find jobs, people and business opportunities. Use it to find quality employees for your expanding business. Follow other companies within your industry on LinkedIn to keep up to date on news, important information and available offers. Research companies and people with whom you are interested in doing business and ensure that your profile is complete so that others can research you. Take advantage of features like LinkedIn Answers, LinkedIn Groups and LinkedIn Direct Ads to position your brand in the forefront of people’s minds.

4. Blogging – Blogging is an innovative and creative way of giving people a glimpse into the confines of your business. Your blog is the voice of your brand.  What to blog about? That’s easy! You don’t have to be Ernest Hemingway or Mordecai Richler. As a professional with years of expertise and knowledge, you may not be aware of the depth of information that you have to offer your clients. What’s common knowledge and taken for granted by you is not necessarily available information to the average person. The blog is a place that is easily accessible to your clients, where you can disseminate this information. So go for it – showcase your knowledge – be a smartypants – and an industry leader through your blog!

There’s just SO much information I could share with you on how you can effectively use social networking to your business’ advantage. I could actually teach a whole day’s course on the subject. Hey, wait, I do teach a full day course on the subject. If you want to join, we’d love to see you. Here’s our link:http://escomputertraining.com/socialmedia

welcome back and Happy 2015. Best of goo

welcome back and Happy 2015. Best of good fortune to one and all.