Let Your Customers Own Your Brand

There is nothing more important to branding than the customer and what they have to say. Traditionally, companies have filtered the conversations surrounding their brands. This is a tactic that gives the customer a reason not to trust your company. The reality is that customers today will be heard. They have many opportunities for accomplishing […]

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Optimize Facebook by Thinking Like Facebook

Facebook is a world distinct from the rest of the social media universe for one reason – Facebook controls Facebook. For the most part what happens in Facebook stays within Facebook, and that’s just the way they want it. Social Context and Smart Lists The interrelationships and contextual information shared on Facebook builds social context […]

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The Biggest Social Media Risk

We all know the excuses for not using social media – not being very good with technology, not enough time, and not willing to be that visible. Of course, there are many more reasons why small business are not taking advantage of the opportunities that social media offers them. What’s the biggest risk with regards […]

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Why You Should Design Your Business Around Social

“The social version of anything is more engaging and will outperform non-social.” That’s a direct quote from an interview with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the 2010 Web 2.0 Summit. He noted that we are all hard-wired to connect and engage with other people. This followed his comment that “Over the next 5 years most […]

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Workflowy is Your Mobile Productivity Tool

There are many cloud-based tools for managing your productivity – but Workflowy is one that is nicely optimized for your mobile device. My experience with productivity tools is they are short on features or too complicated. Simple tools allow me to make a list. Complicated tools capture tons of information that I am challenged with […]

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How Little Choices Increase the Value of Your Customer Experience

When you offer your customers the right choices, you create memorable experiences that increase the value of your business brand. Offering the wrong choices can drive customers away. So, the challenge is determining which are the right choices. It turns out the the best choices you can offer your customers are those that allow them […]

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Facebook Marketing for Dummies: An Interview with Amy Porterfield

Very few businesses dispute the value of Facebook marketing. Why then are so many still not taking advantage of this invaluable lead generation and business relationship building tool? According to Amy Porterfield, co-author of Facebook Marketing All-In-One for Dummies – it can be complicated. It was refreshing to learn that like many of us, Amy finds […]

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4 Tips for Using LinkedIn Classmates

Classmates is a new LinkedIn tool that could prove to be invaluable for both job seekers and businesses looking to break into new corporate accounts. You can use it to enhance your relationship with current connections that share an association with the colleges or universities you attended, connect with companies that are especially friendly with […]

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You Are The Business

If you are the owner of a small business you know that you ARE the business. I’m not talking about wearing many hats, but the fact that your mere presence instills confidence in your customers. This is not only true for small businesses, but also for larger organizations such as Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, or Zappos – […]

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3 Invaluable LinkedIn Tips

Business networking before social networking was tough work. You typically ended up with a stack of business cards in hand, with the challenge of determining your next best actions – who to follow up with and how. Soon after getting back to your office the phone rings and you are off the hook.  You settle […]

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