You are here: Home >> social media

What is Pinterest and Why Businesses Should Be Paying Attention

February 20, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Share

 

What is Pinterest and Why Businesses Should Be Paying Attention

by Frederika Angus

 pinterest

Pinterest. It’s social media’s newest fastest growing platform. It’s been around for almost 2 years and this past Tuesday reached 11.7 million monthly active users. If you have a business that requires you market to consumers, pay attention to what’s going with Pinterest.

The best part about Pinterest is that unlike using SEO techniques to rank highly in google search, this platform allows users to discover and experience your brand visually. And unlike Facebook and Twitter where the content visibility is limited to the time you post it, pinning content goes on and on as more people collaborate and share within the same interest.

Post image for What is Pinterest and Why Businesses Should Be Paying Attention

Get up to speed quickly on why your brand should care about this social media platform and how to get started right away.

Great article on the basics on Pinterest from Mashable
http://mashable.com/2011/12/26/pinterest-beginners-guide/

Tips on how to read your ideal customer’s mind using Pinterest
http://www.arealchange.com/blog/read-mind-pinterest

Very specific ways for your brand can leverage Pinterest
http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/12/five-ways-brands-can-leverage-pinterest/

Using Pinterest for Marketing
http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/31434/6-Compelling-Reasons-You-Should-Use-Pinterest-for-Marketing.aspx

9 Ways to capture the attention of ideal customers
http://www.inc.com/john-brandon/9-tips-boost-your-business-pinterest.html

Let me know what questions you have below.

Find me on Pinterest here and connect with me.

And if you’re convinced that Pinterest is the right platform to expand your brand and ready to get started but need an invite, go to my contact page here http://nextlevelvision.com/contact/. I’ll make sure you get an invite sent to you with 24-48 hours.

Talk to you soon!

Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Stand Out From the Crowd with your Social Media Content

February 13, 2012 by 2 Comments
Share

Stand Out From the Crowd with your Social Media Content

by Frederika Angus

stand-out-social-media

Social media can be overwhelming. Especially when you are using social media for your business and you want to be heard and stand out from the crowd.

At the end of 2011, Facebook had on average 483 million daily active users. Twitter had over 100 million active users. Google+ had more than 150 million active users. Those numbers are continuing to be on the rise.

That’s a lot of competition!

It’s like being a small fish in a small pond with millions of other small fish for small businesses.

Post image for Stand Out From the Crowd with your Social Media Content

And at the rate that social media moves, your ideal customers can forget about you just as quickly as they found you. It’s like my mom always told me, “Out of sight. Out of mind.”

Your brand cannot afford to be out of sight from potential revenue generating opportunities nor out of the mind of your ideal clients. This is why your branding efforts on social media is critical for you to stand out. Social media branding is bigger than a great profile picture or background. While your brand strategy should incorporate visual elements, those visual elements should help support your overall brand message.

How do you expand your brand through social media in a stand out way?

Too often I see the “self-proclaimed experts” sharing the ideas and opinions of everyone else and very little of their own original content. It’s fine to share great articles and quotes that resonate with you from others … occasionally through out the day. The trouble starts when you begin to bombard your following with everyone else’s opinion.

This style of social media content distribution downgrades your expert credibility and leaves them with questions like:

If you are the expert, where’s your opinion? Why should I follow you if I can just follow the person whose content you’re always promoting?

It’s difficult to differentiate why you are different from the thousands of competitors you have on social media with this strategy. That’s why it is vital that your website has blog functionality attached to it or that it is completely built using a content management system like WordPress.

You have to be the creator of valuable content that your target market can’t wait to not only read, but consume.

3 Tips For Stand Out Content in Social Media

  1. Commit to writing at least twice a week. Yes, I understand you have work to do and you don’t need another thing on your plate. This is only recommended this to those who want to go beyond their current level of success. Your ideal customers are consuming the majority of their content in snippets of 140 characters and through article links on status updates. Get your brand in front of them consistently to avoid the out of sight, out of mind syndrome.
  2. Use current events as a way to attract into your niche. We are in a right now society. Content that is quickly consumed and shared via social media is relevant to what is going on in the world. After Steve Jobs died, the internet and social media platforms immediately had articles and graphics posted for others to consume from all different perspectives. Write content in your niche that people are currently searching and looking for.
  3. Share you! People recognize and respect authenticity. Don’t be afraid to be genuinely you as your write. It’s not necessary for you to write like a journalist for people to love and appreciate what your write. Ensure that your content sounds the same as if someone was talking to you across the table sharing coffee. The best way stand out in the conversation is to contribute content with your unique and fresh way of thinking.

Stand out brands are leaders in their industry. Social media is a great, cost-effective avenue to expand your brand quickly. Elevate your social media strategy by standing out with your content.

Talk to you soon!

Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: , , , ,

Building Your Small Business, Networking and Having Enough Time to Spend With Your Family. Is It Possible?

January 26, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Share

Building Your Small Business, Networking and Having Enough Time to Spend With Your Family. Is It Possible?

by Frederika Angus

When you decided to go into business, your goal was probably to generate an income, a substantial income. Now it wasn’t all about the money, but the lifestyle that the additional money could provide for you. This business was supposed to be a bridge between the life you currently have and the one you dream about. You know, the life where you live comfortably without the stress of bills, are free to dictate how you spend your time instead of being told, and enjoy doing fulfilling work and serving your clients.

I wholeheartedly believe that entrepreneurship is a great vehicle to make all of those things happen. As an entrepreneur, I can also tell you that all of those things don’t happen if you don’t make enough money in your business to eliminate the need for a full or part-time job. One of the best ways to put money in the bank is to have a large enough funnel of prospective ideal clients.

Networking to expand your brand and reach of influence is a very smart way to to gain new customers. Unfortunately, the way networking is typically done does not produce a very good ROI, or return on your (time) investment.

I received a great question from a client requesting tips on how to add networking to an already full plate. What is a busy entrepreneur that loves time with their family, has an additional job and is even going to school to better their skills for their clients to do?

Really there are only two options (since we know not networking means no new work coming in). Either you decide to network live or online. Let me explain.

If you decide you will do in-person networking events, be selective. I value spending time with my family and creating memories that will last a lifetime. Every event that presents itself for networking is not necessarily the event for me. Select events where you know that the people in attendance are of high quality. These are the people that are not at events because they want to be seen or they have nothing else to do. Be mindful to associate and network with people who may know your ideal client or even potentially be your ideal client.

Also understand that at networking events you are the representative for the brand. Yes, especially at live networking events, you are branding via your business cards and your overall appearance and attitude. Because of the corporate clients that I attract, I understood the importance of being memorable in a very cookie cutter industry. My cards are intentionally not like most. It has a flair and quality that reflects me and allows me to standout days and even weeks after meeting someone. Just this past week I happened to run into a person from a past business function and he identified me first by my business card which reminded him I was unique in the marketplace and that we should talk further.

Learn how to network online from your couch and even while you sleep!  You have enough going on in your life that you don’t need “one more thing to do.” Networking usually takes time away from the things or the people that you would prefer to spend your time with. If you are not already making good use of the technology that is available, start today. Connect with me on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook to help expand your online network. Developing relationships on these platforms is a good way to also expand your brand where your ideal clients hang out without being intrusive.

If your networking purpose is to generate new leads and prospective customers, there are strategic methods, systems and tools that you can use that will work for you even while you aren’t working your business. Weigh your return on investment. Would you rather spend 2 hours talking to a person in hopes that you will be able to schedule a meeting that might one day lead to a customer? Or would your 2 hours be better spent with friends, family, or even doing what you love and taking care of yourself while your lead generation is handled for you?

Over the next few weeks, we will further discuss how to build your brand online in such a strategic way that you are actively adding new prospects to your network because they are already looking for you. I’m looking forward to sharing these innovative strategies and techniques that will take your business to the next level.

In the meantime, be sure to post any comments or questions you have below.

Talk to you soon!

Filed Under: Branding, Entrepreneurship, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Keeping Up With the Joneses – Free Tools That Will Help Your Business Hear the Marketplace

January 12, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Share

Keeping Up With the Joneses – Free Tools That Will Help Your Business Hear the Marketplace

by Frederika Angus

How much time do you spend researching your target market? Your industry? What about your competition? How consistently are you obtaining feedback from your clients?

If your answer is not enough or not at all, don’t feel badly. Most solopreneurs and many small business owners don’t have dedicated research and marketing departments. Unfortunately, not knowing what the marketplace desires or needs could really be hindering your profits and your branding.

If your small business is just starting up or hasn’t been involved in the marketplace for many years, you may not have much insight into target market research or industry trends. You may only recognize the terms because you know they are included in formal business plans. The benefits of being able to “see” what is upcoming and having your ears to the ground are numerous.

What would it be worth for you to know the needs of your customer, provide them and be the sought out industry expert?

Fortunately, there are tools available for free that can work for you while you continue to get the work of the business done. In this article, I’ll discuss my two of my favorites. They will help you keep up with the Joneses, whether your Jones is Customer Jones, Industry Jones or Competition Jones, and enable you to make informed business decisions.

Google Alerts

Google has a very innovative group of tools that has changed how we use and even refer to web searching and the internet. Google Alerts are emails sent when Google finds new relevant information that match your specific search terms. The results provide you with a listing of newspaper articles, web pages and blogs allowing you to monitor anything on the web.

You can set up alerts for your business name, your name, keywords, your website address, even on your competition’s company name to “hear” what the world has to say. You can even decide how often you want the alerts delivered to you. For more critical terms, like your name (if it isn’t a common name) or the name of your company, it may be best to have at a minimum a daily delivery. For industry terms, you may only want to receive information once a week.

Twitter

I am a social media enthusiast (read: I am a social butterfly that loves spreading her wings via social media). As a researcher, consultant and strategist, I absolutely love the power of being able find out anything, immediately, with social media. As a marketer, coach and encourager, the ease of being able to share valuable information with people I may not otherwise have met is one of the highlights of my day. As much as I enjoy Facebook, I have to confess Twitter is my favorite when it comes to hearing what people are saying.

The biggest bonus to Twitter is the search functionality. Pop in your company name or industry keyword and you are instantly connected to real-time updates. Depending on which Twitter app you have installed on your smart device, you can even save those searches for future use and see what new information is available in the palm of your hand.

Hearing the marketplace has just gotten easier!

Do you have any favorite tools to listen to what marketplace is saying? I’d love to hear them!

Talk to you soon!

Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Mistakes Small Business Owners Make With Social Media

December 27, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Share

Mistakes Small Business Owners Make With Social Media

by Frederika Angus

Social media is an effective way to connect with people quickly, develop new relationships and have nearly instant access to potential customers and business partners alike. While most small businesses understand the importance of using social media as a way to build and expand their brand, there are some critical mistakes that are made than can harm instead of enhance your business.

Not having a social media plan

There is a big difference in how you utilize social media personally and how to leverage it’s power to present and provide valuable information to the world. It is important to know what you want to achieve through the use of social media. Without having a plan, it will be more difficult to measure if your efforts are providing your desired results.

Updates that are too personal

Simply put, be personable without being too personal. Avoid talking about relationship troubles or issues with colleagues, or clients. Strive to be a positive source of information and provide valuable information while cultivating relationships. Doing so will develop a culture of followers that will be loyal to your brand and business as they learn more about you as an entrepreneur and how you can serve their needs.

Promoting without participation

Have you ever been at a party talking to someone who believes the best topic of conversation is themselves? Make sure not to do the same on social media. It will be a real turn off to your ideal clients. Social media networks are a wonderful place to give as well as receive. Avoid just talking about your business without engaging your followers by responding.

What other social media errors have you seen businesses make? Share additional mistakes below.

Talk to you soon!

Filed Under: Entrepreneurship, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , , ,