The Mistake of Big Business

Posted on February 21, 2012 | Leave a comment

Recently, I’ve been involved in several conversations that uncover a mistake made by big business.  I hope you are not making this mistake in yours.  The big mistake is to censor what others say in your social media about your company, your products or services.

One example of this is when an owner or manager trolls their employees Facebook or Twitter accounts in search of information about their companies.  Some companies even fire their employees based on these comments.  I believe this is a mistake for two reasons:

  1. when an employee complains about work it is a reflection on their supervisor and not necessarily on the company.  It is an opportunity for you to monitor a potential problem and if you fire them, you loose an opportunity to improve boss-employee relations.
  2. when companies silence their employees, the public usually considers this censorship and you might loose customers

Another example of this practice is when a customer complains on social media or leaves a negative comment on your company blog.  This is a great opportunity for any smart business owner.  I know it stings, specially if you are a small business owner and you believe you are doing everything right.  Stop being right and start listening.

I grant you, you are not going to make 100% of your customers happy.  The best customer service will always find one person that has unreasonable requests.  That is no reason for you not to offer your best solution to the problem, right there in public.  The average consumer will see that you are making the best efforts to accomodate the customer, within reason.  In some cases, people just want to be heard and that is enough.  In others, you will have to make them whole, and that is fine also.  There will be days when giving them their money back will result in more positive will towards your company and more customers.

Think how would you like to be treated and act accordingly.  And don’t delete negative comments.  That is a mistake.  People will not trust you, specially if they already saw the negative comment.  Just make sure that you answer it in public so that your followers can see the chain of events.

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Four Easy Steps

Posted on February 17, 2012 | Leave a comment

For people that have followed internet marketing for a while, the formula is very simple:

Find market + Create product + Build website + Drive Traffic = Success

Four easy steps will set you on your way.  My question to you is, what happens when you have a business already.  How does your strategy include the internet in that case?

The first step you should take is assess the market.  Do a search for similar websites already existing and study what they are doing.

Step 2 is to decide what medium to use.  What I mean by this is, do you want to blog or use Facebook?  Should you have a Twitter accoun, use Quora, Pinterest, Youtube?  Which media are you using and why?

Step 3 is to create a marketing plan that includes the media selected.  This means that if you print business cards or a flyer, you must include your address on Facebook or your blog url.

Step 4 is the hardest one, follow your plan.  If you decide you are going to blog once a week, do it.  Facebook more your thing?  Then post regularly.

The most important step you take in social media is consistency.  If your friends and prospects expect something from you every Wednesday, make sure that happens.  If not, they will loose faith in you.  Remember, if they don’t trust you they will not do business with you.

Do it right and you will create a tribe.  If you have any questions on how to do this, leave them in the comments section below.

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Outlook for Social Media

Posted on February 14, 2012 | Leave a comment

I love social media.  It is a way to connect and to stay in our prospects minds.  It is also a way to reconnect with all friends, teachers and relatives.

I remember when I was young and products took years from the conception to maturity.  Social media’s growth curve is a lot different.  We are so used to having things now that the social media curve is rapidly reaching that point.

According to Brendon Bruchard, in 18 months, some of our favorite sites like Facebook and Youtube are going to reach maturity and if you don’t have a stake in that ground, you might as well move on to something else.  This is the time to create the strategies and the plan to dominate for years to come.

What I see for the future of your small business is simple:  the more mobile devices out there, the more important it will be to have some sort of presence on the internet.  I believe it is important to create our own resources and not leave it to chance.

If you want to learn more about this in the future, stay tuned.  We want to inspire you and teach you this concepts in regular language.  It is for you to have all the knowledge to make wise business decisions.  When it comes to your company, you should be the one creating the image you want.  We are here to guide you.

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