There are so many social media outlets these days, and it can be challenging to keep up with them all. Wouldn’t it be great if you could organize your social media streams and make posts from one central command center?
Enter HootSuite.
HootSuite is an online app that helps us organize our social media. I use it almost every day to save time and increase efficiency.
This is what it does and how I use it to enhance my business.
Post on multiple platforms. Why log in to several different social media sites, so that you can post the same status update? HootSuite allows you to manage your social networks from one central dashboard including posting status updates and monitoring recent activity of those you are connected with.
For example, if I want to make an announcement related to my business or post a new organizing tip from my website, I can do so on all my social media outlets by logging in to HootSuite once. This saves me so much time when it comes to social media marketing, and in a snap, I’ve done some superb, widespread online promotion.
Schedule messages. With HootSuite, you can schedule status updates to be posted on your social media sites for the day or the week or the month all at once!
I block off time on Monday mornings to do social media marketing for my business/website. During this time, I use HootSuite to schedule different status updates throughout the week; then I forget about. It’s like having an assistant work for me and perform little tasks that I don’t need to remember to do.
Link social media to my RSS feed. Want to automatically feed your blog posts to your social media outlets? Do it with HootSuite.
Another thing I don’t have to remember to do…Using HootSuite, I set it up so that my blog feed automatically posts on my social media outlets.
Track traffic. HootSuite has a feature built-in to shrink links in status updates, which is very Twitter-friendly. Using their analytics reports, you can track how many clicks your links get and gauge how much traffic is being sent to your website.
My status updates almost always contain a link, so this is just fantastic. I can see how many clicks I’m getting on my links, compare which status updates are doing better than others and so on.
Go mobile. There’s an app for that! Take this awesome software with you anywhere you go. It’s available for iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry, and Keitai.
Like with anything else, being able to do things for my business on the go is convenient and welcome!
It’s free. All of the above mentioned features are included in HootSuite’s free version. Wow! Want access to even more options? Upgrade to the pro version for just $9.99 a month.
OTR friend, Rajeev Edmonds is back with more tips for small business owners. In his last post, he shared tips about blogging. This time, he tackles Facebook.
Businesses across the world, be they small or big, are turning to Facebook to get more customers. Facebook pages are an effective medium to attract a large user-base of this most popular social media platform. They are easy to create and administer, provided you spice them up with the right ingredients to pull your customers convincingly. What makes a killer Facebook page and how it can help grow your business?
Basic Elements
Image – The very first thing that grabs the attention of a new visitor is the image used on your Facebook business page. Normally businesses use a logo or a combination of logo embedded in another photograph. The rule of the thumb is – “make it eye-catching and don’t hesitate in experimenting.” Here’s an excellent tutorial about facebook profile image hacks. You may consider changing this image every six months to give a fresh new look to your business page.
Description – Your business page description should clearly explain what the page is all about and what fans can get from it. You may include some lines about promotional stuff a fan may get after liking the page. This may include free ebooks, premium video tutorials and similar things. Whenever I visit any Facebook page, it’s the first thing I read before going ahead.
Essential tabs – Apart from default tabs, you must create a welcome tab for new visitors. Other important tabs may include discussion board, events, notes, photos, videos and reviews. Your Facebook business page may or may not require all of these tabs. For example, if you produce video content on regular basis and maintain a dedicated YouTube channel, you may want to create a separate ‘Videos’ tab on your business page.
Miscellaneous Tips For Managing Facebook Business Page
- Create a “Freebies” tab visible only to fans. Give a sneak peak of this page on the default landing page for non-fans.
- Keep a secondary administrator in case of an emergency. Pages with large fan-base usually have more than 2 administrators and in different time zones.
- Fostering a community is an art. Keep your business page updated and regularly reward the most active fans.
- Import your blog and various social media updates (Twitter, Linkedin) on a separate tab via Facebook applications.
- Create privacy & spam policy and set appropriate permissions for fans adhering to that policy. If you experience too much spam, you may restrict posting to selective tabs.
- If your budget allows, use facebook ads to drive targeted traffic to your business page. Take my word – It’s worth the money.
- Tag liberally to let others know you care for them and you listen to them.
Whether you’re running a non-profit organization or own a small business, Facebook business pages have the potential to kick-start your conversions/sales. Don’t be left behind and create one today.
About the Author
Rajeev Edmonds is a Social Media Enthusiast who blogs about how to blog. A developer by profession, he started blogging in 2008. Rajeev is also a technical reviewer of books with subjects ranging from Web Developement, WordPress and Social Media.
Connect With Rajeev: Twitter | Website
Normally, our Thursday article is reserved for one guest blogger, but today we’re mixing things up a bit. We’ve decided to share posts from a few of our Rock Star guest authors, and have gathered them below for you. Check them out and let us know what you think.
Business Travel: Skip the Stress | Mike Neumann. Travel a lot? Check out Mike’s tips on how to keep the stress away and stay organized (part one). Also, check out part two (essential packing list) and three (the return home).
Connect With Mike: Twitter
Small Business Owners: Organize Your Public Relations Efforts | Nicole Nolte. Is your PR plan in a cluster? Nicole outlines free resources every biz owner should look into (part one) and also shares seven steps to organize your PR efforts (part two).
Connect With Nicole: Twitter
Advice From the Social Media Swami: How to be the Master of Your Time | Shashi Bellamkonda. Shashi B. knows what it’s like to be busy! He’s got his regular gig as a Social Media Director, has a heavy travel schedule, is a well sought after speaker and event organizer, AND has three personal blogs? He’s also a husband and a dad. Check out the three things he does to master his time.
Connect with Shashi: Blog | Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook
Are you a small business owner who’s interested in blogging? Do you want a well organized blog? Do you know what elements you need to ensure maximum impact? In the first of this two-part series, Problogger, Rajeev Edmonds, explains the reasons every SMB should have a blog.
Businesses across the world are turning to new media channels to reach out to maximum prospects. One such medium is a blog that has the power to build a strong online presence facilitating direct interaction with customers. Business blogging came into existence with the start of this century, and since then, it has gone under several transitions. Any business, that is really serious about pulling more customers through internet cannot afford to isolate themselves from this excellent and powerful medium.
What makes a good business blog that brings more sales and authoritatively asserts your dominance in your domain? Well, here are some of the essential components that can make a successful business blog, provided they are followed and implemented in a correct manner.
Purpose : Why Blog?
Business blogs are made with a purpose that clearly underlines the primary goal for which they are made. They are governed by company policies that define their scope and objective. Depending on the requirements, a business blog can take any shape that may or may not look like a regular blog.
1. News and Announcements Outpost - A good percentage of business blogs falls under this category. They start as a normal blog and gradually mutates into a news and announcements platform with virtually no interaction with visitors. What a waste of time and money.
2. Hardcore Selling Counter - Blogs have the power to influence and change human minds. It’s a powerful tool if cleverly used, can help boost your sales exponentially. Some businesses use their official blog to aggressively promote and sell their products. They do it through extensive reviews and sales pitches driving prospects to the main web site product’s sales landing pages.
3. Community Building - This is one of my favorites, where the focus is more on creating a large fan base and converting them into returning customers giving you much more business in the long run. Some popular business blogs manage to create a huge fan base that not only brings more sales, but also work as a marketing army who spread positive reviews to their extended network.
4. Hybrid Approach - This is perhaps the best approach to business blogging. You hard sell on it, you build a community, you announce new products and services leaving no stone unturned to help grow your business. Maintaining such blog requires considerable effort and careful planning, but the end-results are equally rewarding.
It’s up to you which approach you choose for your business blog. Community building and hybrid approach are two of the favorites that can pump new life in your business yielding results above your expectations.
Design And Integration
Normally, business blogs are tightly integrated with company’s web site. The strategy behind this tight integration revolves around driving traffic to-and-fro from both ends increasing the probability of more conversions. What do we mean by tight integration? How does this help in getting more conversions?
Part II: Design/Integration and Community Building Strategies.
Image Credit: Flickr
About the Author
Rajeev Edmonds is a Social Media Enthusiast who blogs about how to blog. A developer by profession, he started blogging in 2008. Rajeev is also a technical reviewer of books with subjects ranging from Web Developement, WordPress and Social Media.
Connect With Rajeev: Web | Twitter
Related Articles
- 5 Social Media Tips for Small Business (kylelacy.com)
- Business Blogging 101 (somestudio.wordpress.com)
- Start A Business Blog – Be Different (businessblogwriting.com)
The 2010 NAPO conference was great! There were so many awesome elements of this conference, it’s hard to pick just one thing to talk about. So, here are some highlights from my time in Columbus, Ohio…
Three AWESOME Keynote Speakers
1. The good programming was really enhanced by the fantastic keynote speakers. First up was Tim Sanders. If you looked up “funny,” “motivating,” and “knows his stuff,” you’d find Tim’s picture. He inspired us to be better business owners and to change how we think about relationships. Here are a few nuggets he shared:
• Networking is not giving out your business card. That’s prospecting.
• Networking is putting two people together who need each other and getting out of the way. Networking is a verb.
• Being helpful is the best marketing. Otherwise, it’s just noise.
• Grow everyone you do business with. Multiply their value.
• Integrate community into everything you do.
• Turn your clients into friends, not your friends into clients.
2. Our second keynote was Gina Schreck, otherwise known as the Geek Chick. Like Tim, she was hilarious! …and energetic and just fun. She shared a few interesting stats and gave info on how we can use social media tools to brand our companies and get the word out.
• Facebook: If Facebook were a country, it would be the 4th largest.
• Video: Have a video over 10 minutes long? Post it on http://blip.tv.
• YouTube: YouTube is a power tool. 24 hrs of video is uploaded every 60 seconds. Are you on YouTube?
• Twitter: Be interesting, helpful, or be quiet.
• Twitter: How are people listing you? Are you seen as an expert?
• Twiter: Twitter is a FREE power PR tool – don’t follow blatherers! Follow 5 smart people.
• Make yourself easy to find. Post your content everywhere.
3. The third and final keynote was delivered by Monica Wofford. Apparently, she went to comedy school with Tim & Gina. =) She, too, was very inspiring and focused on how we can build our confidence. She says that everything we do, say, think, and believe is contagious!
• Have you ever felt negative on the inside and tried to pretend to be positive on the outside? Does it work?
• The next time someone doubts that you can succeed, say to yourself, “Watch me.” And mean it.
• It’s ok to not feel confident…but not for long.
• You are the average of the 5 people you hang out with the most, so surround yourself with people that have similar goals and thoughts…but, first, be clear about what you want.
• There is no substitute for you.
• If 2% of the population loves you, that’s over 1 million people and that’s enough. You can’t be all things to all people.
Want more info? Search #NAPO10 on Twitter.
Neat Company's Paper Monster
Connecting With Vendors @ The Expo
I ran into Jim, Lauren, and Erin at the Rubbermaid booth and caught up with the folks at Neat Company. Some of you might remember that I won a NeatDesk last year. This year, I got lucky again and won a Dymo Label Manager 360D Label Maker! I’ll be testing it out and will share in a later blog post.
Kim Oser, Liz Jenkins, & Deb Lee
Catching Up With Friends
This was my second time attending NAPOCon. It was so nice to catch up with “old” friends and to connect with people I’ve been tweeting with for a while. Here’s one of my favorite pics…
Visit my Facebook page to see more pictures!
This week’s guest post is for our small business readers and comes courtesy of Nicole Nolte, a public relations executive. Today, she shares four free resources on how to get started with organizing & tracking your PR efforts. Next week, she will tell us her top 7 tips to get your small business on the right PR track.
PR Plan a Complete Cluster? It’s Time to Organize Small Biz Owners!
I’m sure the word organize is not the first thing that comes to your mind when discussing public relations (PR), but it is a key component of any successful PR initiative. Given that most small business owners face extreme time and resource constraints, organizing PR efforts is critical. Clearly, there is a need to increase awareness about your company but do you find you have no idea where to begin, what you’ve already done and/or how to maintain tracking of your efforts? Below are some suggestions for organizing and tracking your PR efforts.
Where to Begin?
Several small business owners I’ve spoken with understand the need for public relations but tend to ask – How do I find money for PR? What if I can’t hire for a specific PR position? What if the resources simply are not there? Like anything else, PR is a commitment. Do you label it a priority and if so, are you willing to take the time necessary to make the program successful?
Whether you decide to handle the PR program or hire an external person/agency, there are several free resources for you to consider in helping your efforts. Below are some examples:
- “20+ Free Press Release Distribution Sites” - Check out this Mashable article that lists over 20 free press release sites. You need to let the media know what you’re doing, so why not do it for free?
- Sign Up for the “Help A Reporter Out” (HARO) Newsletter - This provides you with queries from journalists looking for potential resources. Three times a day you will receive up to 30 possible pitching opportunities! Can’t beat it.
- Social Media Tools – These are a great way to build relationships with reporters/target audience: find them on Twitter, Facebook and Linked In. Please note: do not pitch reporters directly via these avenues but rather build relationships – its all about engaging. In today’s landscape, social media provides an excellent avenue for resources to help with a successful PR strategy – but that is a whole different blog post!
- Sign Up for Key Sites – Industry leading sites such as Mashable or Alltop can provide you with articles focused on PR and social media to help direct you.
*Next Thursday, we will share Nicole’s top 7 tips that will give your PR program a kick in the pants.
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About the Author
Nicole Nolte is an Account Director with Welz & Weisel Communications where she serves as an account lead working to support companies within the security, government and telecommunications industries. In addition to managing accounts, Nicole provides strategic guidance across the agency as how to best implement today’s social media tools for building communities, increasing brand awareness and creating relationships that matter. With a solid background in technology, Nicole started her career at Weber Shandwick Worldwide, where she primarily supported the Microsoft Mobile and Embedded Devices Group. If you’d like to join her on Twitter, you can find her tweeting here: @NicolePRexec.
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