Social Media For Business 2

ow that you’re familiar with the basic benefits of Social Media For Business, it’s time to dig even deeper into the question of “What can social media do to better your business?” See what else this multifaceted tool can do and start seeing results like:

1. IMPROVED CUSTOMER INSIGHTS

Monitoring customer insights gives you an unfiltered view of what people think of your business, and this is only one small facet of the kind of customer insights that can come with social media. Through social listening you can gain valuable first hand knowledge about what your customers like, are interested in, and how they behave.

2. BETTER SEO RANKINGS

Strong brands have strong social media. Long past are the days where an updated blog with optimized titles and meta descriptions are enough for high rankings, the requirements for Google (and other search engines) search success is ever changing. SEO is the best way to capture traffic, and being active on social media can play a significant factor in creating a brand signal to search engines proving brand legitimacy and relevance.

3. HIGHER BRAND AUTHORITY

Brand authority is nothing short of a commodity at this point in the social media game. When people want to compliment or complain about a business they often times turn to social media first. The more your brand name is talked about the more valuable it will seem to new and existing users. Interacting with your customers often, as well as reaching out to interacting with your industry’s influencers will help boost brand authority and create clout.

4. DECREASED MARKETING COSTS

Social media is by far one of the smaller investments of both time and money that you can make in your business to generate traffic. As little as an hour a day on content and strategy can yield noticeable results. Even paid advertising (now available on nearly all major channels) is relatively inexpensive. Start small, figure out what works,  adjust accordingly and you’ll never have to fear going over budget.

5. RICHER CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

The customer is always right. Right!? Well one thing for sure is that the customer always comes first. Every single customer interaction is a public display of your customer service skills. How efficiently do you deal with a customer tweeting their discontent? How gracefully do you thank a customer and hopefully interest them in another on of your products without coming off as greedy? Social media in its purest form is a communication channel, and has the ability to make your customers feel valued and appreciated not only because it’s good practice but also because prospective customers are watching!

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Social Media For Business

The future of business may lie in social media, but why should a business spend time growing their profiles on these sites? These are just some of the answers…

1. INCREASED RECOGNITION

Visibility is everything. Any chance to publicize content is valuable and worth exploring. Social media is just that, another outlet for your brand and company voice to be broadcasted to the masses. This is important because it makes it easier and more accessible for new customers, as well as familiar and recognizable for existing customers.

2. STRONGER BRAND LOYALTY

Brands that are engaged with their customers on social media have higher brand loyalty. Social media doesn’t have different and elusive rules about customer service. Just as a genuine smile and pleasant disposition go far at a storefront, polite, timely and engaging responses on social media do wonders for brand reputation and loyalty.

3. EXPANDED CONVERSION OPPORTUNITIES

Every post you make on a social media platform is an opportunity for customers to convert. When you build a following, you’ll simultaneously have access to new customers, recent customers, and old customers, and you’ll be able to interact with all of them. Every post, image, video, or comment you share is a chance for someone to react, and every reaction could lead to a site visit, and eventually a conversion. Not every interaction with your brand results in a conversion, but every positive interaction increases the likelihood of an eventual conversion.

4. HIGHER CONVERSION RATES

Social media is a place where brands can act like people do, and this is important because people like doing business with other people; not with companies, this is the humanization effect. Another factor is brand equity, higher number of social media followers tends to improve trust and credibility in your brand, representing social proof. The value of building a strong social media community will improve your brand’s worth to investors, bloggers, media, and potential customers.

5. INCREASED TRAFFIC

Website traffic is the bread and butter of any business’ digital life. Without social media, traffic is limited to those that are already familiar with your brand or those searching through your ranked keywords. Every social media channel added is another hook that baits back to your site, and any content produced and published carries with it endless potential for new visitors. The more (quality) content produced equals more traffic, with more traffic leading to more leads and more leads to more conversions… Money in the bank.

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5 Types of Side Hustles to Make You More Money

If you’re looking for a way to make money outside of your everyday job, getting started with a side hustle is an obvious first step. But the decision of what your side hustle could be may not be so obvious to you. From using your professional skills, to just helping out around the neighborhood, the options available to increase your income are limitless!

Freelance Work

Use the skills in your professional repertoire and work doing UI/UX design, writing, developing various sorts of web pages or apps, all types of creative work (photography, voice acting, animation or illustration, video editing/production), data mining, and consulting for multiple business needs (HR, legal, finance, internet security). Or if you have a great idea and an entrepreneurial spirit, creating your own startup company.

Hobby Work

If you’re a pro at makeup, cooking and baking, music, or have any hobby you could make into a lucrative business, you can use that skill to make money while having fun at the same time.  Successful YouTube personalities can become millionaires, and just about any hobby can be shared via online content. Sell baked goods or handmade products at local farmers markets, craft fairs or online. With the right mindset, you can make any hobby a profitable side project.

Home Care

Lawn care businesses aren’t just for kids. Find jobs that you can do around your neighborhood. Yard work, gutter cleaning and interior work like house cleaning or holiday decorating, even moving services and odd jobs like baby/pet/house sitting are all options.

Investing

If you aren’t afraid to take risks and are good with money and numbers, investing might be for you. Getting involved with real estate, penny stocks, peer to peer lending or even using an investment app like Robinhood, Betterment, or Ellevest (specifically for women) can all be used to make money by trading, buying and selling.

Renting/ Sharing Economy

The sharing economy has started to take over as a means to make money, especially in the millennial demographic. Uber, Lyft, and Airbnb really kickstarted the movement, but now you can rent out other belongings including your camera, bike, car or even boats. Keep your eyes open for sharing resources that work for you!

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Small Business vs. Startup

When starting a new venture or running an existing business, with the immense amount of financial and personal investment that requires, semantics is the last thing one thinks about. Words like entrepreneur, business owner and CEO get thrown around pretty often, and with the rockstar allure that shows like Shark Tank have brought, their definitions are now practically common knowledge. The new buzzword, floating around the business world is startup, not to be confused with a small business … And so you don’t make that mistake, here is a breakdown!

Startup

Definition: A startup is an entrepreneurial venture which is typically a newly emerged, fast-growing business that aims to meet a marketplace need by developing or offering an innovative product, process or service.

Major Keys:

• Rapid Growth
• Passion
• Innovation
• Market disruption

Small business

Definition: The definition of a small business is an independently owned and operated company that is limited in size and in revenue depending on the industry.

Major Keys:

• Profit
• Existing
• Longevity
• Market share

Startup vs Small business

A small business can have products or services that have been around for millennia, creating for itself a space in the current market. Small business’ hope to grow quickly, but more important than growth is first revenue and then profit, versus a startup’s main priority being explosive and exponential growth. A startup would put a new spin on an old product or service, or better yet, create something brand new. Startups aren’t concerned with gaining market share, they are here to to turn the existing market on its head. As you can see, although startups and small business’ have similarities, there are some fundamental differences in structure and purpose.

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Podcasts for Marketers, Entrepreneurs and More

Podcasts are a great way to learn new things, expand your current knowledge, and if you’re in the market, podcasts can be a great way to find influencers. Best of all, podcasts are free resources, you can work while listening to them, and you can find them about just about any topic you can think of. These are some great podcasts for entrepreneurs, those in business, and anyone interested in marketing.

Mixergy

With the tagline “Learn from Proven Entrepreneurs”, this podcast does just that. Going in depth with over a thousand founders, thought leaders and experts, host Andrew Warner shares everything from “street smarts” to good business practice.  Podcast subscribers can unlock exclusive courses, cheat sheets on how to successfully start your business, and many great audio and video interviews.

The Rise to the Top

Host David Siteman Garland covers topics all about marketing, business, management and everything that goes along with becoming what he calls a “mediapreneur”. Garland’s strategy teaches listeners to sell their products online, create successful products, and run a business that will work on all levels.
The Tim Ferriss Show

Best-Selling author of The 4-Hour Workweek, Tim Ferriss is called “the world’s best human guinea pig”. In his podcast episodes he goes in depth with guests from areas that many might consider odd for a marketing/business podcast, such as pro sports, music, gaming, etc. With the insights from these guests he takes the tricks and tools of their trades and outlines how those tactics are useful for those tuning in for business purposes.

Marketing School

In this daily 10 minute podcast, marketers Neil Patel and Eric Siu give advice for marketing your business. The advice is easy to follow through on, covers a wide variety of topics related to marketing and comes in small enough segments that the information is manageable and easily retained.

Eventual Millionaire

Weekly interviews with successful business and thought leaders, all who have a net worth over a million dollars discuss how you can turn your business around and make more money, even eventually becoming a self made millionaire. Hosted by business coach Jaime Masters, this podcast helps you define your goals, build your business, and earn more money.

The Growth Show

Hubspot’s podcast doesn’t stop at marketing. Bridging topics like sales, data, business practices and even the Netflix show Making a Murderer, The Growth Show comes from one of the top resources for marketers, so it’s no surprise that the insights presented in these relatively short episodes have such a wide range.

If you’re a fan of podcasts check out my previous list of great podcasts for digital marketers or add your own suggestions in the comments.

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Content Curation For Beginners

In the day and age of “Content is King” creating all your own fresh, relevant and engaging content can be very overwhelming if not often impossible. This is why content curation is a great way to share powerful content created by industry experts and thought leaders. Sifting through the black hole that is the internet to find that perfect blog or video to share with your audience can be a daunting task, here are some options to make it a little easier!

Google Alerts

By far the easiest way to find content is to have it sent to you directly. Google has the “Google Alerts” option where you can set keywords you’re interested in receiving notifications on. Every time new content is created be it an article, blog or webpage Google sends you an email.

Social Media

You can get content from your audience directly via social media. Using Twitter’s List option and searching through relevant hashtags is a great start. Although this is a “roll your sleeves up” method, that can be tedious and time consuming, it can often be the fastest and most cost efficient.

Pocket

Having a way to save and organize your newly found content can be invaluable. Pocket gives you that option, save its button directly to your browser and start saving relevant content. Pocket also gives you the option of organizing by tags for easy future reference.

Newsletters

Newsletters and email blasts can be annoying to some, but for curators they’re shoe in. Getting on the mailing lists of some of your favorite publications is a great idea especially for those short on time. Most companies do daily or weekly recaps of their blogs, making it easy to sift through more content in a shorter period of time and pick up on what you may have missed through the other social listening tools.

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Coworking Spaces: The Future of Global Business?

Coworking spaces are starting to become more common throughout major cities, especially in places that are considered tech hubs, or that are home to many small businesses, startups and entrepreneurs.

COCO (Minneapolis/St Paul)

COCO has five locations throughout the twin cities, and is part of LexC, a network of coworking spaces throughout the US. Offering spaces for individuals, small groups or larger meetings, the amenities that are available make these spaces comfortable, workable and great for networking.

WeWork (Worldwide)

WeWork has spaces all over the US, Europe, South America as well as in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul, Australia, and Israel. Started in 2010, community was the focus behind WeWork. The company hosts camps, parties and on location amenities dedicated to creating connections with others in the space.

Betahaus (Berlin, Barcelona, Hamburg, Sofia)

These European coworking spaces were founded in 2009. Many of the members of the coworking spaces are freelancers. Betahaus hopes to bring the social aspect to people that work in jobs that are usually isolated. Different types of memberships are available depending on the amenities that you need to access.

Punspace (Chiang Mai, Thailand)

With locations in Nimman and Tha Phae Gate, Punspace offers 24/7 access for members, with business focused amenities. For Thailand’s growing tourist market, Punspace’s coworking in Chiang Mai offers a beautiful and functional way to work.

KoHub (Koh Lanta, Thailand)

A coworking hub on a tropical island, KoHub allows for work and play in a productive and welcoming community. Just minutes from the beach, this getaway lets you enjoy island life while getting everything you need done.  KoHub even offers on location room and board packages for those looking to take a vacation even if work has to come along.

Hubud (Bali)

Hubud, named for being a Hub in Ubud promotes what they call “location independence” for people looking to work and live how they want. Partnering with global activist groups you can work, live and volunteer all from one central location. The founders of Hubud showcase four main values: community, connectivity, creativity and conversation.

Impact Hub (Worldwide)

Creating a global network of members attempting to change the face of the work space was Impact Hub’s goal from their beginning in 2005. With over 15,000 members and more than 80 locations in the US, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, South America and the Caribbean, Impact Hub offers inspiration, flexibility and community to their members. Events and programs to help members build their businesses are all offered to increase the collectivity within the environment.

What do you think of trend of coworking spaces? Do you or would you use them? Let me know in the comment section.

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Instant Translation Technology

Have you ever wished you could translate something you’re reading immediately as you are reading it without having to type or copy and paste a phrase into Google Translate?

Now you can, by simply pointing your phone at the page and using the Google Translate app.  The app can translate over 103 languages, and most recently added Japanese translation to the list.

The full 103 languages are available for text translation. You can translate about half of the languages offline (no internet needed), you can use your camera for instant text translation or upload photos for translations. With the handwriting feature you can draw characters instead of typing, and with 32 languages you are able to have instant two-way speech translation.

The app is available for iOS and Android, and is free to use.

If you are unconcerned with text translations, and conversational translations are what you need help with, Waverly Labs’ Pilot Earpiece is going to be a game changer. These in-ear devices come in pairs so you can speak to anyone regardless of whether or not they have their own. You will hear what the other speaker is saying in your own language, and they will hear what you are saying in theirs. The devices are available for pre-order now for $249 USD. They are expected to ship in the summer of 2017.

Another wearable option is the ili translator. With instant offline spoken translations, a helpful library of travel phrases and an easy to understand interface, ili is being offered exclusively for businesses in the US starting in June 2017, with general consumer products becoming available later in 2017.

World travel just got a whole lot easier!

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