by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Feb 11, 2014 | Small Business, Social Media
Mining your infinite online follower audience is a low-cost way to propel your small-business brand into the global digital world. Establishing your brand with social media allows you to cultivate relationships as well as strengthen existing ones. Your social media efforts can lead to brand recognition, credibility, brand advocates, increased web traffic, search rankings and word-of-mouth marketing. Social Media’s B2B Value: Building Relationships.
With 73 percent of U.S. internet users turning to social networking sites and 53 percent of American adults carrying a smart phone, businesses that don’t employ social network marketing may find themselves losing out to the competition.
According to a survey by VerticalResponse:
- More than two-thirds of small business owners are spending more time on social media than a year ago
- 43 percent of respondents said they spend six or more hours per week on social media activities for their businesses.
- They are posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest and Google Plus and blogs.
You probably invested a great deal of time, effort and thought in building your website, writing content and developing your social channels with the purpose to showcase your products and services. You want to solve your audience’s needs and greatest pain points but if no one follows your brand, or can’t easily find you where THEY want to, then you will only be talking to yourself.
Social media is conversational and value added – allow it to flow as a two way conversation with visible methods of connecting with you and your brand.
Everybody’s talking at me
I don’t hear a word they’re sayin’
Only the echoes of my mind
People stopping staring
I can’t see their faces
Only the shadows of their eyes
Social Media Visibility: How accessible are you?
- Do you make it easy for your community to connect and engage with you?
- Is your page easy to navigate?
- Can people find your contact page?
- Are your social share buttons easily found?
- Do you visibly display all your other social channels?
Many of the projects I work on for my clients revolve around the numerous aspects associated with social media marketing and management. I was recently asked to review an extensive list of blog posts for data mining, pull out tweetable content and create a spreadsheet with some other detailed information.
One of the things I discovered was that many of the sites did NOT list their Twitter handle, anywhere, unless I Googled their company or personal name to find it. It was a necessary component for this project.
This was a little disheartening, even more time consuming. If you have an online presence, you should be straightforwardly displaying your social channels for your audience. They want to engage with you. They want to share your content and give credit but if they have to dig and search, you may be the one missing out on some free advertising and mentions with trackback links to your site. It is all part of the synergistic marriage and magic of social media.
Don’t make it a laborious chore to find and connect with you. Social media and your channels represent your largest piece of marketing real estate to build relationships. Invest your time or that of a virtual assistant to perform a social media review of your sites. It will prove to be an asset in creating a cohesive customer experience.
In a Market Probe International survey about small to medium sized businesses by Twitter they found:
- 74 percent of people who follow small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) follow to get updates on future products
- 47 percent of people who follow brands are more likely to visit the company’s website
- 70 percent of SMB followers retweet because they like the SMB’s content
- There is a 30 percent lift in recommendations of an SMB after following or interacting with them on Twitter
Maximize your platforms with your branding, cross promote, make connecting with you a simple single click of a button. Social is a 24/7/365 endeavor and while you may be offline, your global customers and network are busy searching, reading, sharing and engaging.
“We don’t have a choice on whether we do social media, the question is how well we do it?” Erik Qualman
Streamline the process with your consumers, making participation, connecting and networking a no brainer. Know and understand your followers, what they want, who they are and where they “reside.”
“Over time social media has spawned into a global institution, allowing whole communities, businesses and individuals to engage with each other. Simply put social media is the superlative form of interaction available today.” Susan Dolan
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Feb 6, 2014 | Business Values, Communication, Entrepreneur, Small Business
Your business can’t survive online without the trust from your consumers. They won’t buy unless they feel the know, like, trust factor. You must earn the trust and loyalty of your audience; your community. Cultivate your relationships through authentic communications and reliability. Your network is always looking for validation to ensure that a potential partnership or connection is dependable, trustworthy and “real.” Remove the feeling of vulnerability and risk of doing business with someone behind a keyboard. There can be an uneasy feeling and some have been burned, which is something you must understand and respect from the customer’s point of view. It is up to you to help them develop a comfort level and place of safety to do business online.
I believe fundamental honesty is the keystone of business. Harvey S. Firestone
You don’t need a contract to instill honesty and live by a moral compass. Give out what you expect in return and nothing less. Your business depends on it. Your reputation will either make you or break you. Credibility and a sound reputation is what gets you to the finish line toward establishing rapport and a long term relationship.
Each of your social platforms showcase you and your brand. You have the opportunity to personally interact with your followers – your potential customers on a personable level. Let them get to know you through your content, postings, engagement and dialog. Keep it real and keep it you.
Trust = Authority x Helpfulness x Intimacy / Self-Promotion Steve Rayson The New Formula for Social Media Trust
Your 10 Tips to Build Trust:
- Offer solutions: SHOW them you care and are truly interested in listening and solving their problems. Consumers have pain points that need care and understanding. Demonstrate that you you know what they want and need.
- Communicate clearly and responsively. No one likes to be on hold listening to ear bleeding elevator music. Engage. Whether you are responding to a post comment, email or client text message, don’t keep them waiting and wondering. Service them promptly.
- Be transparent. It helps to instill trust and shows the human side of your company and your brand.
- Be accountable. Do as you say; back up your words with actions and if you make a mistake, own it 100% and correct it. The customer is the one who writes your paycheck.
- Privacy and confidentiality. Respect a client’s proprietary information and discussions. There is no reason to share this type of data. You are being trusted with details or questions and they should not become public knowledge or water cooler chatter. Lock it up!
- Testimonials. When you receive recommendations, make sure they are openly displayed as they help to validate your service and your company. Add them to your website, email signature and other marketing collateral. If it is a tweet, then save it as a favorite so others can see “real-time” recommendations. Ask for them on your LinkedIn profiles.
- Under promise and over deliver. It may be a cliché but it is a premise of good business and service. There is nothing more disappointing or frustrating to be let down by a vendor missing a deadline.
- Educate and share valuable content. Enrich the lives of your audience without self-promotion and you become a trusted resource not a snake salesman.
- Feedback. Never bury your head in the sand. Always ask for feedback on a job, a post, a conversation. If you don’t ask, you don’t receive and you won’t know what you are missing. If you off point, you won’t be able to take charge and correct the course. Feedback is a valuable learning tool toward successful relationships and communication.
- Commit to your word. Very simple yet some have a propensity to fall back and forget such a courtesy. Do as you say without hesitation. There is enough misrepresentation in the world, especially online but if you intend to build your brand, your reputation and your business, then follow through with your verbal handshake.
How do you build trust and instill confidence with your customers and community?
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Feb 4, 2014 | Productivity, Small Business, Time Management
You can’t “manage” your time but you can learn to better manage yourself. “Time management” takes discipline and commitment. There are many hindrances to time management but they all relate back to how you regulate your life and productivity levels. It is a matter of the daily choices you make and how you set your priorities. If something is that important to you, then you will get it done; otherwise, you will make excuses. Your success depends on getting the most out of each day.
We seem to think we have so little time to effectively manage our days and have some semblance of work life balance. You too want to get more things accomplished while the clock keeps ticking and more tasks seem to pile up. It can take all of the discipline you can muster to tune out the influx of information coming at you. Time can be an elusive mystery when you are in a constant struggle to find more of it, so it is up to you to invest in your time, in your life, in your business.
“People are always trying to find ways to save more money, but saving time may be the true mark of success.” Geoff Williams
Get a handle on your time, your interruptions, your distractions and your data overload. The first step toward success is to be cognizant of the level of disturbances which you allow into your day. It could revolve around the daily notifications you receive regarding text messages, emails, news alerts, phone calls or any other immediate disruption that diverts your focus from the task at hand. Learn to be fully engaged with whatever you are working on and give it 100% of your focus, otherwise, it may only get half done or be done inefficiently. Decide what is most critical and stop multi-tasking. It diminishes your productivity, may change your brain chemistry and increase your error rate.
Another substantial detraction from your efficiency level is the organization of your office space. When you create a more structured environment you become more efficient and effective. You are no longer scrambling to locate important papers, files, emails or even your keys. Your time management increases as does your personal and professional productivity. Your setting is not just about physical space but mental as well. If you reside in chaos or mayhem, it does transmit into your work habits and daily living.
Being busy, doesn’t equate to being productive. You could be wasting your time and energy doing menial tasks or simply procrastinating. Focus on real work that gets you closer to your goals. Ask yourself, “Does this serve my goals? Is it getting me closer to completion?”
“When we’re busy, we see that as being productive, when productive is really narrowing down what we need to do.” Cathy Sexton, time management specialist.
Time Management:
When you learn to manage yourself, you will better manage your time.
- Turn off notifications
- Set priorities and goals
- Don’t procrastinate
- Time block your day and schedule
- Organize your data
- Institute systems and processes
- Develop a routine
- Set boundaries
- Use your calendar for appointments and To Dos
- Use action steps for items on your To Do list
- Stop multi-tasking
- Keep your workspace orderly
- Use news aggregators for your RSS feeds
- Automate social postings
- Schedule time to engage in social media and stick to it
- Check email at specific intervals
- Learn to say no
- Get appropriate amounts of sleep
- Know your most productive time of day
- Delegate
“He who every morning plans the transaction of the day and follows out that plan, carries a thread that will guide him through the maze of the most busy life. But where no plan is laid, where the disposal of time is surrendered merely to the chance of incidence, chaos will soon reign.” Victor Hugo
What steps are you ready to implement in order to become more productive and manage your time? Sound off!!
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Jan 30, 2014 | Social Media
Social media has grown to be the inbound marketing tool and connector for businesses and individual users alike. It is a global tool to stay in touch, meet, greet, communicate, network and market. Looking at all of the social predictions for 2014 is a strong indicator of things to come as well as viewing the exponential growth experienced over the decades.
The statistics show that traditional media has taken a backseat to social media marketing and it will continue to explode, changing the way you do business and interact with your customers. Your consumers are online searching for information, longing to be educated, looking for solutions and sharing their brand experiences. You need to be online, listening and responding. If you don’t, your competition will.
- Facebook has over 1.19 active billion users per month
- 72% of online adults use social networking sites
- 9 billion photos are uploaded to Facebook every month
- 74% of Smartphone users use their phone for real-time location specific information
- Twitter adds 300 users per day
- 71% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase based on social media referrals
- 43% of all marketers found a customer via LinkedIn and 52% of all marketers have found a customer via Facebook
1. Relationships
Social media isn’t just tweeting and posting! Keep that in mind.
It is an extension of your brand, your mission and your values. It is meant to support your company, reinforcing your reputation, products, service and commitment to your customers. Build relationships in and around your social channels, showcasing your desire to serve your audience. These relationships are the foundation of your brand’s reputation, success and bottom-line. Build the trust and see the return.
Nurture and cultivate your audience with real conversations and engagement, offering value and rich content. Don’t just push URLs and self-promote; get involved. Share. Ask questions.
While disseminating information is helpful, people buy from people and they want to get to know you. Humanize your brand and be personable. These relationships that you build will lead to increased brand advocacy. Make the time!!
Your relationships may not just be client based but colleagues, co-collaborators, business partners, vendors or friends. Enrich one another
2. Brand Advocates
Creating an online brand experience for your consumer is an opportunity to engage and interact on a more personal level than traditional forms of old age media. You are speaking WITH instead of AT them. These relationships can evolve into strong brand advocates to share your message, service and products. This word of mouth advertising and shouting from rooftops (social channels) is the greatest form of marketing your brand can hope for. Each consumer is connected and has a voice – they will share their testimonials and experiences with the world, so it is your job to make it a positive one. Pay attention to them, understand their pain points and give them viable solutions.
3. Global Communities
One of the greatest opportunities of social media marketing is to create your community, your network all over the world, not just in your backyard or down the street. You can interact with customers all over the world without ever needing to leave your office. You couldn’t get this from a newspaper and you don’t have to wait to respond to an editorial comment on page 15 of the paper (if you happen to catch it). Social is immediate and interactive. You are of course monitoring your brand and industry via alerts and other key search channels. Right?
It is this responsive communication that keeps the customers engaged and coming back for more. You build trust, authority and loyalty which again translates to generating brand advocates.
There are little to no geographical boundaries when it comes to socially marketing online. Your bandwidth far exceeds local advertising giving you the opportunity to reach and engage with millions of people across the open seas. Personally, I marvel at my connections and know that without social media, I never would have had the great fortune to connect with so many incredible clients and colleagues.
Relationships, brand advocates and global communities are of course just part of the short list of why we love social media. As you know, this is just the tip of the iceberg. It has become an integral part of our business and lifestyles; whether good or bad, it is here to stay.
- Embrace it.
- Understand it.
- Invest in it.
What are your top 3 reasons for using social media?
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Jan 28, 2014 | Entrepreneur, Virtual Assistant
Entrepreneurs and small business owners alike are extremely busy building, generating, troubleshooting and growing their organizations to scale and own a piece in their market share. It can take an army to build a business; a team to orchestrate your success and manage each facet of your internal systems and processes.
Entrepreneurship requires 150% dedication, focus and effort. It is not a part time endeavor to embark upon while meandering through life. If you are choosing to operate a business, then you must live and breathe your corporation, from top to bottom, every day. A strong interrelated component to your company is your online world and reputation as a solid and reputable organization. Your customers are online every single day and you need to be where they are, serving them and providing solutions.
“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination are omnipotent. The slogan ‘press on’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” Calvin Coolidge
Social Media Marketing is essential platform as part of your marketing mix. Consumer buyer behavior reflects their consistent quest for up to the minute information about your company’s products and services. People buy from people and customers prefer the immediacy of the web, the data they can search, the recommendations they find and a community for their voice. You need to not only have an online presence but to be actively listening to your prospects, colleagues, partners, competition and clients.
“Companies need to realize how important it is to integrate social into every part of their marketing and communications plans of 2014.” Lindsay Bell & Laura Petrolino – Arment Dietrich, Inc.
Keeping a tidy and productive digital office necessitates a visible online presence with consistency and frequency or your voice will get lost within the noise and fundamental chatter. Building and maintaining your networks takes a lot of time, energy and focus. There are literally hundreds of social channels to choose from, which can be overwhelming. You need to evaluate and understand your audience, where they hang out, what they want and what they consume.
Managing your online presence, social channels AND daily business operations requires an extensive amount of time, energy and triaging of tasks and projects. Some days go much smoother than others, averting the challenges and roadblocks.
When you are hit with a few time bombs, take a step back or six, and ask yourself, what is the competition doing that I’m not? Why do they seem to effectively manage their day to day operations and business systems with such ease and simplicity?
They may just have a secret weapon that you don’t. A vested and dedicated partner.
A Virtual Assistant
“If you want to grow your business past a certain level, you’ve got to add more people. You’ve got 24 hours in the day, and you’re never going to get more. So if you need to take care of more stuff. . .because that’s what you need to do to grow a business—do more stuff—you’ve got to add other people’s 24 hours. You’ve GOT to delegate!” Laura Roeder
What does your competitor know that you don’t?
- Too many hats reduce their focus on their core mission. It isn’t about the fashion statement but getting things done.
- There is another entrepreneurial expert who can support their business, brainstorm ideas and share in the passion of building their business.
- They want to work ON their business rather than IN it.
- They understand the virtual assistant offers different strengths and brings a different skill set to the digital world.
- The Virtual Assistant uses a variety of tools and platforms to help enhance and expedite daily tasks and systems.
- They don’t need to stay updated on every single new tool or platform.
- They are better able to prioritize and accomplish their goals.
- Work life balance isn’t just a phrase but an important lifestyle decision.
- Social media is time suck and they need support to gain greater visibility and notoriety.
- An extra pair of eyes and “brain matter” benefits the editing and proofing process.
- Valuable and rich content curation takes hours of time and they want to focus on building relationships instead.
- They would rather be in the field networking and meeting clients than managing their appointment scheduling and reminders.
- They are able to be more organized and have increased time management to focus on what is important, rather than on what needs to be done.
- They save money by delegating because they only pay for project time, not benefits, insurances, training, office supplies or taxes.
- In order to make money and experience the ROI from their online activity, they value and understand the opportunity to partner with an executive Virtual Assistant.
“You cannot grow your business all on your own so stop trying to. It’s time for you to trust others to help you. Without delegation your business will be limited by your own time and energy.” Matthew Swyers
What will be your secret weapon in 2014 to help you drive your business and meet your goals? If you’re looking to take your business to the next level, you’ve got your Ace right here.
