March 2023 - TODAY INDIA

Internal Communication: 12 Essential Elements

There are 12 essential elements of a successful internal communications strategy:

1. Effective employee-directed communications must be led from the top

Effective communications require the active commitment and endorsement of senior managers. It is not enough simply to develop a ‘vision statement’ or formulate in general terms the values by which the company lives. Behaviour is what counts. Managers must be seen to behave in a manner that is consistent with the ethos they are promoting.

2. The essence of good communications is consistency

At all costs, avoid following fashion and tinkering. If you try to improve communications and then fail–because your messages are inconsistent or are ‘good news only’–things will not quietly settle back into the way they used to be. You will inevitably have created expectations, and may have to live with the consequences of having disappointed those expectations.

3. Successful employee communications owe as much to consistency, careful planning and attention to detail as they do to charisma or natural gifts

We might not all be another Zig Ziglar, Tony Robbins or Bill Clinton. But even such communication ‘giants’ slip up if they fail to plan, fail to pay attention to detail and fail to project a consistent message.

4. Communication via the line manager is most effective

‘ Line Manager to employee’ communication is an opportunity for people to ask questions and check that they have understood the issues correctly. However, be aware that business urgency and reality may dictate the need, on many occasions, to inform employees directly rather than relying entirely on the cascade process. (Though managers will still need to answer people’s questions and listen to their views.)

5. Employee communications are not optional extras, they are part of business as usual and should be planned and budgeted for as such

An employee communications plan–key themes, targets, objectives and resources–provides a context in which to deliver initiatives that arise at short notice.

6. There must be integration between internal and external communications

There must be a fit between what you are telling your people and what you are telling your customers, shareholders and public. (By the same token, there must be a fit between what you are telling your people, and what the external media are telling them.)

7. Timing is critical

However clearly expressed and well-presented your message may be, if it arrives at the wrong time you might as well not have bothered. Old news is often worse than no news. Consequently, it is important to ensure that the channels you use can really deliver at the time you need them to.

8. Tone is important

Expressing overly-gushing enthusiasm about a technical change of little real significance to your staff or public at large is scarcely calculated to make people take your message to heart. If they don’t take that message to heart, why would they take the rest of what you say to their bosoms?

9. Never lose sight of the ‘what’s in it for me?’ factor

We are self-interested creatures. I may have invented the most amazing gadget ever, but unless I get you emotionally involved you are never likely to listen to my message about it. But if I can show you how my gadget will revolutionise your life, add dollars to your wallet, free up your time, fix your smelly feet, wash your car for you, stop your kids arguing with you, bring peace with your spouse, bring world peace…

10. Communication is a two-way process

Employee communications are NOT a one-way information dump. Capturing feedback is of critical importance, and if you are not seen to be listening and acting on what you are told, why should people bother telling you?

11. A single key theme or a couple of key themes is a means of giving coherence to a range of diverse employee communications initiatives

In recent years, the overriding theme of many corporate employee communications has been the impact on the business of competition, regulation and economic forces. Many messages and initiatives can therefore be evaluated according to the light they shed on one or more of these key themes.

12. Set your standards and stick to them

Determine which channels should be mandatory and which should be optional; establish quality standards for all channels and review these at least annually.

Forever Living Products Business Review – Can You Get Wealthy With This Aloe MLM?

If you’re checking out this review, chances are you’re looking for some information on Forever Living Products (FLP). In this simple third party review, I’ll go into some details that will help you make an educated decision about the company and opportunity. I’ll also talk about one of the most important things you need to think about if you’re serious about succeeding with Forever Living Products, should you decide to join.

First, let’s cover some details about the company itself. Forever Living Products is a debt-free company that sells various aloe-based products through a network marketing business model. The company was started in 1978 by CEO and founder Rex Maughan. Since then, the company has been documented in several magazines including Inc 500 magazine, Business Journal and Direct Selling News. While the company is based in Scottsdale, Arizona, Forever Living Products operates in over 140 countries and has offices in Japan, the UK, Mexico, Ireland, Vietnam, Scandinavia, Paraguay and Turkey. In addition, the corporate team is made up of seasoned leaders who collectively have over 300 years of experience in network marketing. It’s pretty to see that the company is extremely solid and positioned for future growth.

When it comes to their products, Forever Living Products markets various products made from aloe vera. Experts claim that aloe dates back to 2200 BC and has been used by the ancient civilizations of Egypt, India, Greece, Rome and China. Aloe vera is well known for soothing burns and skin irritations, but it’s also filled with hundreds of nutritional compounds that sustain the body.

Forever Living Products has created various products from aloe vera including aloe vera drinks that fortify the digestive system, weight management products, a complete line of aloe-based supplements, personal care products and a line of cosmetics. From a business perspective, it’s important to know that the products are exclusive and can’t be bought any where else. In addition, since the company controls the entire manufacturing process, they can maintain quality control.

Now, let’s go over the business opportunity. To become a distributor, you’ll have to pay an initial start-up (which mostly pays for your first order of products), and then maintain an autoship order every month thereafter. The compensation plan pays out several ways including retail profits, personal bonuses (similar to rebates), group bonuses, a luxury car bonus and an annual profit sharing bonus. Overall, the company provides the opportunity to make upfront income and long-term residual income, which is great news for distributors.

In closing, Forever Living Products is a documented company with a solid business opportunity. They have a strong corporate team, great products and a generous compensation plan. With that said, it’s important for you to know that while you can certainly build a business by approaching your friends and family, you can significantly increase your chances of success by combining your offline efforts with generating leads online. With the economy spiraling downwards, there are millions of people on the internet that are looking for a network marketing company they can join. By positioning yourself in front of them, it’s not hard to see why it would be possible to generate 20-30+ leads a day for your business.

My suggestion is that you use a self branding attraction marketing system and learn the proper marketing techniques that will allow you to generate leads at will. If you can successfully do that, and partner with an experienced and documented leader, you can very well be on your way to building a solid business for yourself and your family.

Owning Your Very Own Disneyland Turnkey Website

Have you ever wanted to own your very own website but weren’t quite sure what one you wanted? This is very understandable, as there are so many different types of websites to choose from. When deciding what kind of website to buy, you will want to make sure that it has a niche that many people are interested in. You will also want to be sure that it is about something that you are interested in.

How does owning a Disneyland website sound to you? Everyone in the world loves Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Pluto, Goofy and the rest of the Disney characters that we have all grown up to love. It would be real difficult to find a person that is not familiar with Disneyland or Disney characters. That is why owning a Disneyland website will be a great choice for someone who is on the hunt to buy a website. When people are familiar with what is on the website, they tend to stay. What niche is there that is more popular than Disney!

Visitors to your website will include those who may thinking about visiting Disneyland or Disney World, people who are looking to purchase some of the latest Disney merchandise, or people who are just looking to learn about some of the current Disney news and events. Tourist and Disney enthusiast will love the fact that they can visit a website that is focused on just what they love – Disney!

If you are a person who currently owns other websites, owning this Disney website will positively add to your current website ownership portfolio. For those who are just looking to break into website ownership, there could be no other better website niche to start with than Disney. No matter what type of business or line of work you are in, adding that you are the owner of a popular Disneyland website will surely benefit you. It will show your colleagues and others that you do business with that you are professional about your work and care about keeping a professional image.

You will also be able to make a little extra money from your new website. You can add popular pay-per-click ads on your site, as well as affiliate ads, you will be able to earn as much as your marketing efforts and strategies take you. There are many website owners who make a living from pay-per-click ads and affiliate ads. Others earn extra money to supplement their current income.

HR Outsourcing: A Start-Up Silver Bullet

If you are considering a start-up, you may want to avoid the hassles, headaches, and burdens involved in building out your HR infrastructure.

The big guys are doing it!

As recently as the early 90’s HR outsourcing was a very small, emerging option that was met with skepticism by big business (over a billion in revenue). These early outsourcing companies did not have the tools, paths or resources to meet the demands of their early adopter clients but with the vast improvements of the internet and workflow processes, by the early 2000’s outsourced HR had become a 165 billion industry.

Not only did it grow but it grew very well in regard to retention. An Accenture study in the mid-2000’s had shown that over 80% of companies that chose to outsource HR functions were happy at the management level as well as the employee level. During this period, the Shell Oil Corporation was able to reduce HR infrastructure and overall HR costs by 40% while improving benefits and employee retention.

Great, it works for the big guys, what about the start-up?

With this in mind, anyone considering a business start-up can be free to remain focused on the business they are developing verse trying how to meet compliance, policy issues, and finding all the right tools to track all employee needs. This cumbersome task is time-consuming as well as costly.

With a little research and due diligence, a start-up can identify cost effective solutions that are now plug-n-play and will be developing a partnership with their provider. Many of the options in today’s market place are well suited to grow as the underlying start-up grows.

Any glance at today’s startup world shows the great need to get HR correct from the start instead of the mad scramble that seems to be in the news on a weekly basis as companies fail in this most critical issue in running a business.

Cash is king!

As a start-up, keeping cash as long as possible is always important. What many new businesses fail to see is that high-cost investments into HR infrastructure have no R.O.I., these costs can be avoided by tapping into the outsourcing company. Yes, there remains a cost but is spread out over each new hire.

Two other cost saving benefits that many are not aware of in today’s market are, pay as you go worker’s compensation and payroll funding. Each of these silver bullets can be a cash saving life line for any new business.

With proper vetting, all these great tools can be a part of any start-up who chooses to outsource their HR infrastructure.

Creating a Borderless World through Social Networking

Over the years, Internet is continuously evolving and inciting endless creative ideas that leverage novel online marketing strategies such as social networking sites to achieve a greater share of on line business networking.

The rise of social networking sites has created a borderless world by reaching out to people around the globe regardless of race or nationality, profession, affiliation, education, and aspirations.

The concept of “bringing the gap of technology, business and friendship…” is ConBuzz’s

(http://www.conbuzz.com) primary objective of connecting to the world, leading professionals who desire for career advancements to a higher level of endless opportunities as well as achieving job satisfaction and stability their hearts so desire.

ConBuzz, established in November 2006, holds its corporate office in Florida, U.S.A. The company prides itself with its innovative and comprehensive business and acquaintance needs. It keeps its millions of members from around the seven continents updated on daily news, current events, and business events all over the globe. Its global network assists all its members to work its way to grab unlimited possibilities of being connected to the whole world through its state of the art technology.

ConBuzz offers a variety of services covering the field of law, finance, management, marketing, IT and Internet, architecture and construction, arts, creative, media, and employment.

Its legal services team is composed of top-notch lawyers who are adept in business and corporate law, intellectual property/patents, labor and employment law, mediation and arbitration and real estate law.

Its financial group is a team whose expertise evolves around accounting, financial planning, insurance and real estate, while its management team excels toward business processes/operations, change management, organizational development, outsourcing, and strategy consulting.

If you are looking for comprehensive marketing advice, ConBuzz has a group of professionals who are experts in the field of advertising, branding, direct marketing, events and tradeshows, market research, public relations and communications, search and online marketing.

In keeping abreast with global demands and competitions has a team of IT and Internet experts who are well trained in interface design and usability, networking and security, technical support, translation and localization, web design and development, and technical writing.

ConBuzz likewise gives assistance to employment related matters like recruitment and placement,

executive search, technical recruitment, career coaching and resumes, and executive coaching.

In the field of art and media, ConBuzz employs its cutting edge technology in audio, video, multi media production, graphic design, photography, printing, writing, and editing.

ConBuzz is designed to heighten social networking for business networking to its maximum level and create virtual communities of people into global proportions with the ultimate objective of utilizing technology in reaching out to the whole world.

Effective Small Business Marketing – Down With Corporate Mumbo Jumbo

“Corporate speak” is everywhere. That doesn’t make it a good thing. By corporate speak I mean such cryptic statements as “we help you achieve optimum enterprise performance, maximize efficiency through the value chain and leverage proven practices and integrated solutions to accelerate your business.” Huh? This gobbledygook may make you sound smart, but do you want sound smart or be smart? Good marketing is clear. This stuff is anything but.

Many businesses fall prey to the siren song of corporate speak. It’s tempting for a few reasons. For one thing, it’s what they’re used to seeing. What a waste of valuable marketing space.

For another thing, it shows off their impressive vocabulary, which many misguided businesspeople think is a way to position them as experts. Well, maybe “We utilize proprietary methodology to precisely identify, quantify and create a hierarchy within specific business acceleration opportunities,” sounds impressive to some. But does it meet the company’s primary marketing objective, which is to attract new clients?

What if the site said this instead:

Using proven investigative methods, we will help you:

Identify processes that are draining your resources
Define the changes necessary to reduce the drain
Design an action plan that offers the greatest benefit in the shortest time
Reduce waste, improve efficiency and raise profits

This second formula works because it’s in simple language that everyone can understand quickly. It still sounds knowledgeable and professional, yet the bulleted layout is easy to understand. These are critical points in a world where you are competing for attention with not just your competitors, but a constant onslaught from incoming email, beeping Blackberries, ringing phones, 24-hour news sources droning in the background and endless opportunities for Internet surfing.

Here are few tips to help you clarify your message:

Junk the Jargon

Let your spouse or a friend who is not in your line of business read your marketing. If he or she can’t grasp it quickly, simplify the message. And remember that terms that you’re intimately familiar with will sound like a foreign language to many potential clients. Kaizen, Six Sigma, Hoshin Kanri, Lean. If you just can’t resist the urge to include these terms, at least define them for your less-informed clients. They may be the ones with the greatest need and the deepest pockets.

Away with Acronyms

PVM, CRM, KPI, 3PL…your clients shouldn’t need a secret decoder ring to understand who you are and what you do.

Wordiness Weakens

In marketing, less is always more. Be concise.

“As a corporate leader, it is imperative that you maintain constant contact with each member of your organization and maintain an open door policy to make your staff feel comfortable approaching you with questions, concerns and feedback to engender team spirit, enhance motivation and make everyone happier and more productive.”

Can be boiled down to this:

“Maintaining open communication within and between staff on all levels of your organization will improve motivation and productivity.”

Simple is not a dirty word. Deliver a clear, easy-to-understand message…and you will optimize the effectiveness of your marketing collateral and Web-based communications to maximize their impact on your target audience, which will pre-sell prospects and accelerate your ROI. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

How Much Is Your Reputation Worth to Your Bottom Line?

Probably much more than you think and a new survey, which revealed that only one in four people believe that business leaders will tell the truth, should give even the most apparently popular of Chief Executives considerable pause for thought.

Trust in business leaders has hit its lowest ever score in the annual IPSOS MORI Trust in Professions survey, for the Royal College of Physicians, since the yearly index began in 1983. The proportion who said they thought business leaders told the truth fell to 25%, a miserable fourth from bottom among 16 different professions about whom opinions were sought in the survey. Only politicians, journalists and Government ministers fared worse.

The bailout of the banks and the recession are being blamed as the major contributing factor to this lack of trust. But it’s all too easy to view reputation as something only large corporate giants, like the banks, have to worry about. In truth, reputation is an issue that should be uppermost in the minds of everyone from the smallest of SMEs to the most high profile of statesmen and women.

Trust is the foundation stone of a positive professional reputation. It inspires confidence from amongst customers, employees and stakeholders and underpins opportunities for growth. Equally, the reverse is also true. A poor reputation will make you absolutely the last person anyone wants to do a deal with, work for, or recommend.

There are countless examples in the media of professional reputations waxing and waning. But perhaps the finest example of a reputation in freefall remains Gerald Ratner, who threw away his job and wiped billions of pounds off the turnover of his company overnight after calling his products ‘crap’ during a speech to the Institute of Directors. In a recent interview he confessed that, some nineteen years later, he still feels haunted by the mistake that cost him his hard-won reputation.

In the day-to-day battle of growing a business it can be tough to find the time and resources to focus on an issue like brand and reputation. But failure to do so can be catastrophic. Your reputation will affect your revenue whether you like it or not.

Could you be one of the business leaders 75% of people – including members of your own company – do not trust?

If you don’t know for certain, then it’s important to your business to find out.

The good news is, ultimately, that the health of your reputation is in your hands. Whilst you might get hit by incidents or events that knock you and your brand in the short term, if your strategy is right, you respond well and you make those events the exception rather than the rule, on balance people will put their faith in you.

But what if you’ve never really thought about your reputation before? Or worse, maybe you only know how much your reputation is worth to your bottom line because, like Gerald Ratner, the bottom has just fallen out of your business following something that you’ve said or done?

In my view, all leaders – no matter how large or small their organisation – should have a clear strategy to ensure that their reputation is positive and actively supports the future growth potential of their company.

I believe that the key to a great reputation is to understand how you come across to your key stakeholders; to learn how to listen and respond to feedback, to have a proactive strategy for your personal brand and to consistently, over time, lead with the behaviour you want people to recognise and put their trust in you for.

As respected US business investor, businessman, and philanthropist Warren Buffet once said: “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.”

Perhaps it’s time to find out what your stakeholders really think about you?

Pros and Cons of VoIP For Small Business – Is it Right For You Or Not?

VoIP in a business environment can work very well. A lot depends upon your existing network though. If you have an overly secure network with a lot of traffic then expect the quality to fall. Try and keep your voice traffic on a different network to your data and remember that VoIP/SIP is not as secure as traditional telecoms.

First some of the benefits…. VoIP systems often cost less for recurring maintenance than traditional PBX equipment and are easier to configure when applying moves, adds, and changes. Incidentally, there is normally no configuration change required to move an extension in a VoIP network. Many VoIP systems also let you use the Internet for your outbound calling, which can reduce your long distance bill and displace the cost of a PRI or analog trunk circuits for access to the public telephone network. VoIP also enables Unified Messaging, which integrates email, voice mail, IM, and calendaring.

However there are some drawbacks….. IP phones are more expensive than traditional analog phones and have more stringent requirements for the network to support them than standard email and web surfing. While VoIP systems do generally have a more intuitive interface than traditional PBX equipment, in a company of 20 you’re not likely to see much turnover I would expect.

Additional drawbacks are:

– Voice quality (not all your calls will be as clear as a traditional analog line).

– Reliability. If your Internet or System Network goes down you are left without computers and a phone system.

– Basic Features are sometimes billed a la cart and can end up costing you more per user then a traditional phone system.

– Hosted VoIP solutions require you to buy the phones (and associated routers) and then bill you every month for the service. Where as a phone system (with all its equipment) can be financed over 3 – 5yrs and then you own the equipment and system features & service.

The best approach for determining the viability of such a move would be to have a cost analysis performed for each option and look at the total costs and system benefits, up front, at year five, and beyond.

For a small company, these are conditions that generally would indicate a possible business case for VoIP:

– Your company has multiple sites and pays for Wide Area Network circuits to connect those sites together as well as PRI circuits or Centrex lines for PSTN access.

– You have a number of “remote workers” who work out of remote/home offices, and the company pays for their home phone and long distance as well as their Internet access.

– Your company spends a significant portion of its technology budget on long distance or international calling.

– Your company has high turnover and/or personnel are constantly changing offices.

– Integration of unified messaging and/or advanced calling functions such as on-the-fly conference calls would allow your company to conduct business much more effectively, so much so that it would positively impact your bottom line.

– Your company is getting ready to move to a new facility and would have to pay to run cable.

Outside of those, I would say VoIP may not be your best choice. One option worth considering is a gateway that services traditional analog phones, but converts the call to VoIP when calling external numbers.

Don’t get me wrong I love working with VoIP, but if your current system isn’t broken or costing you an arm and a leg to maintain it, you may not need to upgrade.

How A Window Cleaning Business Survives During The Winter

In some parts of the country window cleaners are able to clean commercial and residential windows year round regardless of what month it is, because the seasons in their part of the country are much milder and more constant.

Well that’s great for them, but what about the rest of us? Is the sentiment I hear expressed most often in regards to this topic. But I have good news for you. Just because its winter time doesn’t mean that your income has to die, it just means that you have to adapt and expand on the services you offer.

Before I get into describing some of the various ways a window cleaner can make money during the winter, let me remind you that while the residential market may die down during the winter months, the commercial market still continues to provide stable income. Why? Because commercial businesses need to maintain clean storefronts and office spaces in order to make them inviting for customers. This means that they need your window cleaning services as much if not more during the winter than they do in the summer.

Now on to some different ways you can keep your window cleaning business in profit during the slow winter months. I will share with you several services you can offer, but please don’t let yourself be limited to only these services. Think outside the box and think about what your customers need during the winter months besides window cleaning.

Christmas Light Installation

One of the most profitable services you can offer your existing and potential customers in the winter time is a Christmas light installation service. In this case your customers would pay you to hang up there holiday lights and then come back at the end of the season and take them down. This can be extremely profitable if done right as you charge the customer upfront for both the installation and the removal. This can lead to a nice chunk of change in your hand right before Christmas time. Christmas Light Installation has become such a large part of my winter income that I started another company that only deals with holiday and special events lighting.

Gutter Cleaning

This can be a year round service, but is much more profitable during the fall, and winter months. Gutter cleaning is essentially just using your ladders to reach the gutters of customers homes and then cleaning out all the debris. This is an essential service for many homeowners who live in areas with lots of deciduous vegetation, as leaves, dirt, twigs and other debris can very quickly clog up a homes gutter system. Not only is this debris unsightly, but it also causes a fire hazard as well as prevents the gutters from doing their primary job of shedding water away from the house. Water damage is a very expensive repair and many homeowners are more than happy to pay you to clean out their gutters once or twice a year.

Pressure Washing

This is another service that can be offered year round, but can also be very lucrative in the winter months. Water mixed with dust and dirt makes mud and mud gets everywhere in the wintertime. Especially in areas where the city transportation department spreads dirt over the roads to prevent people from sliding on the ice; that dirt has to go somewhere and a large percentage of it winds up in parking lots and against commercial businesses. These businesses become very excited when you offer a pressure washing service to clean up their sidewalks and walkways.

The services outline above are just but a fraction of the services a window cleaning business can offer its customers during the winter months. This article is not meant to be exhaustive, but rather to help get you thinking about what you can offer your customers to make additional money in the slow season.

How To Grow Your Small Business Using Social Media

Are you a small business owner looking for ways to grow your business? Are you looking to attract more leads to your business, or have heard about Social Media Marketing, and now want to try it?

As a small business owner you face many challenges – limited capital, minimal support staff and having too much to do in what seems like very little time. So, how do you grow your small business without heavy investment in marketing and advertising? Answer – through the use of technology. Web 2.0 provides you with various tools and techniques that help you to generate leads and increase the exposure of your home-based business. Social media is one such tool. Here’s all you need to know as a small business owner to begin increasing revenues using social media.

What is Social Media?
Social Media is a category of online media where people are talking, participating, sharing, networking, and bookmarking online. Examples include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, GooglePlus, and MySpace.

What is Social Media Marketing?
Social media marketing is using the above mentioned platforms to reach a new audience of consumers and create product brand awareness. By spreading word of a product from user to user, Social Media Marketing strives to gain greater legitimacy for a message because it is shared between trusted “friends.”

Which Social Media Channels are most popular?
Studies show that Facebook & Twitter are most popular social media channels followed closely by YouTube and LinkedIn, GooglePlus.

Why should Social Media Marketing Interest me?
If you think this kind of Marketing is not for you, think again. These platforms offer a large bundle of benefits to small business owners. Here are some reasons why you should consider using Social Media for your business.

Exposure: As a small business owner you rely largely on network marketing to channel leads to your business – which, in turn relies on your interaction with people. This is the core notion of what Social Media is! But Social Media offers virtually unlimited opportunities to interact with people – millions of them! With this interesting form of marketing, your business is no longer limited to local leads; you will find leads coming in from a diversified geographic market!

Zero-cost: While other marketing media would be expensive, this type of marketing is relatively free, or requires negligible monetary investment. It’s a great low-cost way to get your message across.

Improved web presence: Being on popular social media platforms strengthens your web presence. The more people talk about you on Facebook or Twitter, the greater are the chances of your business being found on relevant web searches such as Google, Yahoo!, or Bing.

Direct contact with prospects: These platforms put you in touch with your customers directly. You can have one-on-one contact with them, know what they really want.

Go viral: Such marketing offers you the opportunity to go viral with your marketing. Think about this. You put up a video about your business on YouTube. 10 people like it, and five of them share it with their friends, who in-turn share it with 20 more people. This is known as “viral marketing,” and it can be a very effective method to increase your lead generation.

What is a Social Media “game plan” and why should you have one?
A social media game plan is a process consisting of a few simple steps that can help you achieve your social media marketing objectives. The social media arena is large and you can get lost in it if you don’t play by the rules. There’s a lot of competition and you have to have a clear plan if you want to stand out of the crowd and get noticed.

Your ideal Social Media game plan
A typical game plan for your business should consist of these four steps

Build your network
Propagate your presence
Stay connected
Monitor

Step 1 – build your network: The first step is to search for and add those users to your network whom you think fall into your target audience segment. When placing a request to add users to your network, it is always better to accompany such requests with a personalized message. You can also look for and join groups that pertain to your line of business. For example, if you are a business selling Health drinks and other health-related products, you could join groups where topics such as nutrition, diet or health are discussed. Such groups provide you audience for the products you have to offer. However, when in a group, do remember to ADD VALUE. Answer questions that you are equipped to answer, actively participate in discussions, be subtle and don’t aggressively “push” your products.

Step 2-propagate: The next step is to announce your Social Media presence. You can do this by adding links to your social media pages on your website, e-mail signature line or newsletter, if you have one. You are out there with your business-announce it!

Step 3-stay connected:The third step is to stay connected with your fans and group members. Social media marketing initiative is easy to start, but requires effort to maintain. And like many networking efforts, results are usually not immediate. Acquire permission from group members and others on your network to send e-mails. You can then e-mail relevant content to people on your network. The key here is to send RELEVANT, VALUE ADDING content-not an advertisement of your products/services. If you are a health-drink selling company who is also a part of the diet and nutrition group, you can send links such as ’10 Best Anti-Oxidant Rich Fruits’ and then perhaps add an image and some information about your product, encouraging people to get in touch with you if they’re interested. This approach will be better-received than just sending the prospects an e-mail flyer totally dedicated to your product.

Dos and Don’ts
While social networking is all about human interaction and cannot be strait-jacketed, here are some tips that will come in handy.

What you should do?
Add value to your contacts: Always add value to your contacts. Always! Provide them useful information, tips and other interesting facts that they can use. For example, Jane, a home-based business owner sells health drinks and weight loss products. So, it makes sense for her to provide her audience with interesting articles on the topic of weight loss.

Be consistent in your online participation: It is not a one-time effort. It is about building a relationship… and relationships take time. Be consistent in your social media communication. Have an interesting tweet/post/update at least every day. In some few cases, multiple postings a day are even better-but don’t forget rule#1-add value. Your posts shouldn’t sound like pointless ramblings or advertisements of your product/service.

Pay attention to what’s being discussed: If you have joined a forum or a group, actively participate in relevant discussions. Use your specific, professional knowledge to help others. Contribute to add depth and dimension to a discussion.

Conversation is the key: As mentioned before, social media marketing thrives on relationships. To build a strong relationship with your prospects, you need to engage in a conversation with them. Maintain a 2-way communication between you and your audience. Take genuine interest in what they have to say and follow up on comments or observations that are made.

Thoroughly know the subject you are talking about: Position yourself as an expert on these platforms. But be sure that you know what you’re talking about. Research if you aren’t sure of something. Mistakes on these platforms spread quickly and damage the reputation of your business.

Personalize your interaction: It’s advisable to personalize your interaction with your audience. Inquire about an event or occasion posted on a Wall, such as a recent trip, or “like” their vacation pictures on Facebook.

Portray your individuality: The biggest advantage small business owners have over large corporations is the fact that they are much smaller and haven’t lost that real-person feel. Let your audience know the person behind the business. Make sure your interactions include a personal side!

Respond to your customers’ grievances ASAP: Did you know that 88% of customers say unanswered complaints on social media sites deter them from doing repeat business? And deleting customer complaints is even worse! So make sure you resolve your customer’s complaints on social media platforms immediately. Even if you can’t resolve them, at least respond so that they know they’re being heard. Acknowledge everything.

Mention your Social Media presence: Advertise your profiles. Always provide links to your social media profile in your website, blog, e-mails and even print materials. For websites and blogs, it’s best to add Facebook and twitter widgets which provide a live feed of what’s happening on your Facebook/twitter page, right there on your website or blog. Provide incentives or value adding information such as whitepapers or articles in order to encourage people to follow you on social media sites!

Monitor & moderate: Monitor your social media presence. Find out where your name’s coming up online and in what context it has been used. A Google alert is the simplest way to do this, though there are many free tools available online to monitor your web presence. Also stay in-control of your social media pages. Read what others are putting up on your page and respond promptly.

Syndicate your Social Media content: Content creation takes time. So why not make the most of the content you have? Post your content on all popular social media sites and don’t hesitate to re-use them. Turn a blog post into a link and put it on Facebook. Convert it into a video and add to YouTube and Facebook or turn it into a presentation and put it up on SlideShare. The aim is to get maximum exposure for your content.

What you should not do?

DON’T overtly push your products/services: Social media is a platform

where you build relationships, to create value. It’s NOT an advertising venue. Your audience

will shun you if all you talk about is the stuff you sell. Think about it, would you talk to your family

and friends about the products you sell all the time? Of course not! Then don’t treat your

social media audience any differently.

DON’T spam your contacts with pointless updates: OK, so now you added two new products to your line-up. While it’s great to share the news, don’t spam your contacts with ads. Put up a link to the new range of products; monitor who is interested and share information on a need-to-know basis.

DON’T have grammar and spelling errors in your posts: You are a small business out to create an impression. Don’t spoil it through spelling and grammatical errors. Use spelling/grammar checking tools, but never rely solely on them. Proofread your posts before putting them up online. If spelling or grammar is not your strong suit, have someone else proofread your work before it goes out

DON’T fail to respond to requests for help in your area of expertise: If you are a part of a group or forum, seize every opportunity to display your expertise. Don’t be a wallflower-actively participate in discussions.

DON’T let your profile get stale: Make sure your profile is frequently updated and that you offer something new. One mistake many small business owners make is creating social media profiles and then forgetting about them. Your social media efforts have to be on-going to bear results.

DON’T get distracted: There’s a lot of distraction available online-especially on social media channels that can make you lose track of your productive hours online. Games, quizzes, forums and live-chats-while these can be interesting tools to attract prospect interest, focus on your goals. Otherwise you’ll find yourself investing too much time and energy into activities that offer no returns to your business.