Secrets of Building Your Brand & Business With Social Media – How to Leverage Social Media Today
So what are these things listed above and what is “Social Media” anyway and more importantly why should I care? If these social media platforms are not on your radar, you may be ignoring a dynamic and exciting trend that can have a profound impact on growing you business, leads, sales and ability to influence change.Social Media is a term that is increasingly being used to describe conversations that are taking place on-line. Wikipedia.org defines the term Social Media as: an umbrella term that defines the various activities that integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction of words, audio, pictures and videos. And while that sounds pretty impressive, when it is all said and done Social Media is really nothing more than people have a conversation on-line.So how do you manage it? You don’t!For years, traditional marketing involved a one-way communication effort. Through public relations and advertising campaigns, companies put forth value propositions to generate market appeal, attract and retain customers and drive sales. However, in this day and age with the rise of Social Media platforms such as Blogs, online forums, and social networks like LinkedIn®, Facebook®, Myspace®, and Fastpitchnetworking®, the voice of the consumer is quickly drowning out those carefully crafted company messages and “staying on message” is becoming unmanageable. And with over 3.5 million conversations taking place online daily in the U.S. alone, companies are realizing that that the marketing to today’s technology-driven, or “Digital Natives”, means engaging in a two-way communication and being increasingly transparent.And even before the rise of Social media, the internet had already begun to give us transparency of information. If you have a question all you need to do is “Google it”. So today with the rise of social media, the transparency of information is increasing and companies are not able to hide behind their branding “gurus” any longer. And in fact we see that the successful companies of today are establishing a sense of community with their customers, listen to their concerns, and get them involved in the company or organization. In fact the companies that leverage these tools will show their customers, and the marketplace, that they are not just giving lip service to putting the customer first, by blogging, facebooking or just Linking In, these organizations will be demonstrating that they have a real interest in their customers.So now your question might be that’s great information but how does that help me and “How do I use this to grow my business?” Great question and glad you asked. As a sales performance consultant I study sales and the buying process to better work with my clients. And I will put forth to you that at the core of any Sales process is “superb communication” or really good conversations, which would include getting information, giving information and ultimately getting commitment. The platforms of social media, per the definition out of Wikipedia, are great tools for having conversations online and in fact are emerging as being great platforms for “superb communication”.And as “superb communication” is at the core of the sales process we can begin to see how social media can be a great tool for enhancing communication i.e. giving information, getting information and gaining commitment.In fact we are seeing forward-thinking companies leveraging blogs to open communication lines between product developers and end users. Almost like a virtual water cooler, these blogs become a meeting point for troubleshooting, improvement ideas, and just giving feedback all of which can result in products and services becoming more relevant. Additionally, end users that feel they are part of the company’s process become much more engaged with a brand almost to the point of becoming evangelistic for the brand.So now that social media has blown the concept of “staying on message” out of the water, spending more money on attracting people to a brand doesn’t make sense. But what does make sense is figuring out how to add value to the existing conversations that are taking place online about your brand or industry. And trust me those conversations are happening online, right now, about your business, industry, and perhaps even about you specifically, so to demonstrate your commitment to your customers, get involved in the conversation. Do a Google search on your company name, your name or industry. See who is saying what about you, your company or your industry and get involved in the conversation.Add value to the discussion out there in cyberspace, it will only pay dividends to you and your organization in the long run, and the ‘long run’ in Internet time is next month, so get LinkedIn® try a little Fastpitching and get “bloggy with it” just get involved and have fun. And remember this isn’t like “running with scissors” you really can’t get hurt with social media but you are sure to be surprised in one way or another.
Web Design Companies – How To Choose The Right One For Your Business
Your website is your company’s calling card on the internet so you need to have one you’re proud of and does the job it’s meant to, and offer pleasant viewing for your browsers which can only be achieved with quality web development. That means getting a professional web development company to develop your site and create web based solutions for your business. But before approaching a web design company, you should clarify your requirements. Here’s how you do it.Firstly, you must establish your goals. What’s the purpose of your web site? Are you selling products, displaying your portfolio, announcing your services? What do you want your visitors to do? Put yourself in your visitor’s shoes. What do they expect to find at your website?Next you have to set your budget. Having these figures in hand at the beginning can help in your negotiation with the web design companies. But don’t reveal your budget. Always get quotes based on your needs first. The first thing you would probably do if you live in Liverpool is, go to Google and search for web design companies in Liverpool. Take the advantage of the global reach of the internet and search for web design agencies in UK. Also take into considerations if you have any technical staff you employ, would you need to do the maintenance of the sites yourself? If you do not have the staff, then web based solutions could be the right option for your web development, which are offered by many web design agencies in the UK, how would you find these companies? Just do a quick search in Google for web design agencies UK and it should bring up a long list of web design agencies in the UK. But then it is down to you to single out the right company for your web development needs. However, you could do a more specific search for certain areas like web design companies in Manchester, which would be more local so you can go to see your web development company when you may need to. Web design companies in London would tend to be more expensive compared to the rest of the countryEstablishing your goals in this way allows you to clearly explain your requirements to the web design agency that you choose. In fact, these are the same types of questions that web development companies ask at the start of any project. Having the answers readily at hand means you have a better chance of getting the site that you want. Plus, the information you gather from these questions can help in choosing the right web development company.Finally we come to the all-important step of choosing a web design company. Remember that building a website involves the separate skills of design and development. You need a company with expertise in both web design and web development. And if the firm has business skills, then better still, as you will find if you search for web design companies in Birmingham, they have a lot of al round skills in web development and offering web based solutions.In fact the ideal web design and web development firm should also offer SEO consulting and marketing advice. Searching for web design companies Leeds would give you less choice of web development and SEO, however, if you searched for web design companies Manchester or web design companies London, you would find more companies with mixtures of different skill sets to make your web design and web development project successful, also the firm should be knowledgeable about the fast-changing world of ecommerce and be able to offer solutions such as database integration, content management, and shopping carts, for example. A firm that has this all round knowledge will be able to come up with ideas and advice that lead to total development solutions. So how do you find your dream design firm?The first thing to do is to make a shortlist of website design and web development companies and check their online portfolios. See if their designs look like they’d work for your concept. Is the layout clean and easy to navigate? Is the image of the company presented well and is the website’s purpose immediately clear? Be wary of designs that are heavy with flash animations, or feature graphics but little text. This suggests the design firm values form over function which is ineffective if you’re trying to sell something. Check if the company has offered web based solutions in the past, ask if you can speak to any of their client who have had web based solutions and web development done from them. Remember, you want to find one firm that can handle both the design and development aspects of website creation. Finally, you should ask for customer references. Then, get in touch with existing clients and ask about their experience with the web design company.It’s not easy to find the right website design company for your needs. But if you follow the above guidelines, you’ll be able to find the right web design agencies UK for your business. You can find web design companies in all of the UK’s major cities such as Manchester, London, Birmingham, Liverpool and Leeds.
What to Include in a Product Launch Plan to Be Prepared
If you are preparing for your first product launch then there are certain things you need to think about beforehand. In this article I am going to discuss what to include in your product launch plan so that you are fully prepared.Who is your target customer
Make sure that you fully understand who you are targeting your product to. Have a clear picture in your mind of who your customer is and what their needs and challenges are that you can specifically address those when you launch your product. Your product should be the solution to those specific issues.Your launch platform
Where will you launch your product? Will you launch it to your email list? Perhaps you will launch it on a forum or another website that allows you to launch products? You need to know where you’re going to do your product launch so that you can investigate when the best time of your launch will be.Timing your launch
Once you know where you’re going to launch your products you need to decide what time will be the best so that your launch gets the biggest visibility. This requires doing some analysis of the most popular times of day for your particular launch platformSpecial offers
Decide if you are going to have any special offers as part of your launch. If you are going to offer any form of discount for quick responders then you need to make sure you have that in place. This means setting up the payment system to include the discount or perhaps using a special discount code.Testing the process
It is always a good idea to test the payment process to ensure that it is working correctly. Make sure that the download page is available and that the links work correctly.Customer support
When you launch a new product make sure that you will be available or your customer support team will be on standby to answer any questions about your launch or questions from any buyers. It is important to be available and to respond quickly.Buyers email campaign
When someone purchases your product ideally you will capture their email address so that you can send the download link to their email. This means having a buyers email campaign in place. Set this up in your auto responder account so that it will happen on autopilot.You might want to include an email after a week asking people how they are getting on with implementing your product and if they have any questions or feedback. It is very important to nurture your buyers relationship so that they will become repeat customers.