How to Pump Up the Volume on Your Online Marketing – Twitter Chat |  |
- How to Pump Up the Volume on Your Online Marketing – Twitter Chat
- JPMorgan Chase-d After Risky Foreign Investments
- Ben Watson of Hootsuite: Managing Twitter Chatter
- Lights, Camera, Action!
- Laptops: How Thin Can You Get?
| How to Pump Up the Volume on Your Online Marketing – Twitter Chat Posted: 18 May 2012 02:10 PM PDT Save the date! In honor of Small Business Week, we're holding a Twitter chat on May 23 at 3:00 pm Eastern time, on the topic of online marketing. I am thrilled to partner again with Stephanie Chandler on this event. We're going to cover some of your favorite topics – from email marketing, to local listings, to online reviews, to optimizing your website, to social media, and more. A big shout out goes to our sponsor, Yahoo! Small Business, for making it possible. This Twitter chat came about almost by accident. I recently had a chance to preview an intriguing new Marketing Dashboard from Yahoo! Stephanie and I were on the same demo. One thing led to another, and we suggested a Twitter chat. Those of you who are regular readers know I am a HUGE fan of business dashboards – I write frequently about them. I learned the value of dashboards when I was in the corporate world, where dashboards tend to be highly customized. Most of us don't have the resources to build customized dashboards for our own businesses, connecting with all of our business systems. That's why it's great to see the growing trend of ready-to-go dashboards for small businesses. Today you can find dashboards for tracking sales, finances, or – now, with the new Yahoo! Marketing Dashboard – for online marketing. Managing your online presence and making sense of all the data you have is more important than ever, as the infographic below shows. Twitter Chat Details – Mark Your Calendars! When: Wednesday, May 23, 2012, at 3:00 pm Eastern time Where: On Twitter! Follow the event hashtag #YDashboard to participate Who: Stephanie Chander (@Bizauthor) and I (@smallbiztrends) are co-hosting. Sponsor: Yahoo! Small Business (@YSmallBusiness) Bonus: We'll be holding random drawings for two $100 AMEX gift cards. But you have to be there! If you're new to Twitter chats, check out Lisa Barone's "How to Participate in a Twitter Chat."
Click to see larger infographic From Small Business Trends |
| JPMorgan Chase-d After Risky Foreign Investments Posted: 18 May 2012 11:30 AM PDT The manner in which J. P. Morgan Chase lost more than $2 billion is particularly appalling. It’s even more insulting when one takes into account that risky foreign bets were made in lieu of investing in American companies.
For months, JPMorgan Chase has been one of the most difficult banks for small businesses seeking capital. My company, Biz2Credit, recently conducted an analysis of small business loan rejections. More often than not, JPMorgan Chase ranked #1 or #2 as the lender that most often denied requests for small business funding. At a time when big banks reject almost 9 of 10 funding requests, the banking behemoth was a leading naysayer. Meanwhile, JP Morgan Chase took small business account deposits and bet big on risky investment products that led to huge losses. Embattled CEO, Jamie Dimon, says that “it could get worse” because of the company’s “errors, sloppiness, and bad judgment.” I’ve experienced first hand the hypocrisy of how Chase treats small business owners. My company’s business credit card had an unlimited line of credit. Without cause, they capped it at $10,000 even though my personal and business credit rating is quite high. Biz2Credit’s credit marketplace attracts up to 6,000 loan applications each month from small business owners, many of whom were rejected for loans and business lines of credit by Chase even though they had existing banking relationships with the firm. Led by Dimon, JPMorgan Chase had built a stellar reputation for being great risk managers, but now the curtain has been drawn back, and the Wizard of Wall Street isn’t looking so great and powerful now. His firm took oversized bets with other people’s hard earned money and lost big time. Yet Chase frequently rejected small business funding and cut lines of credit because they were deemed “too risky.” Does Chase really expect us to believe that derivatives and credit default swaps were considered a safer bet than American entrepreneurialism? In its pursuit of continued big profits, Chase went to extremes to try to guard against risk. Anyone who understands how the markets work knows that this is not feasible over the long haul. You don’t take record profits without taking big risks and saying otherwise plays us all for fools.
From Small Business Trends |
| Ben Watson of Hootsuite: Managing Twitter Chatter Posted: 18 May 2012 08:30 AM PDT Tweet, Tweet. Who’s there? Millions of people. The power of social media is helping small businesses make great strides getting the word out about their business, products and services. But one area where it’s specifically making it’s mark is in better customer relations and service. The amount of information flowing in and out can be overwhelming. But there are organizational tools to help and today, Ben Watson, Vice President of Customer Marketing for Hootsuite, joins Brent Leary to share a solution. * * * * *
Ben Watson: Customer marketing takes us down a step and says, “Who are our customers? What is the ultimate value driver for them? What is causing the turn? What is causing the update? What's different by the different verticals we work with, and even break down the functional role?” So in a nutshell, my team looks at the unique needs of different customer segments, identifies them, and then insures that we are creating a marketing plan to speak effectively to those people and help them to understand the messages we are putting out there. Small Business Trends: Can you give us a little insight into how things have changed over the years? Ben Watson: Yeah, we are bumping up to 4 million users right now. Growth continues to explode. I think what is interesting about the Hootsuite story is that, while there is a significant difference in how the enterprise, or small business, or agency would manage their social media, there's even more difference in terms of an individual who just wants to manage profiles across multiple networks and take advantage of some basic features. What we see at Hootsuite, when we take it up to the enterprise side, is massive growth in terms of the number of members on teams that are managing social media. Also, growth in the different organizations within the enterprise that are managing social media as well. At the same time, we have a massive base of individual users, small agencies, and small businesses. We need to continue to focus on their needs as well. There we see, "I want to know what people are saying about me. I want an effective way to manage my inbox, and to use social media as the messaging communications platform. Also, to have an effective way of listening to the things that I am interested in. Being able to create filters based on topical areas that I am interested in, or geographical area where I am located in. Because I want to know what is the difference in the conversation locally vs. the conversation that is happening around the world.” The bottom line is there's a lot of consistency in terms of how people are using social media and the things they want to do. But, on an individual basis, we see a lot of different types of views. A lot of different frequency of views and a lot of different needs in terms of governance, security, and team work flow, and depth of analytics that is required to cross these different segments. Small Business Trends: You recently came out with Hootsuite Team. Can you talk about how that addresses the need for businesses to be more strategic and more collaborative with their social engagements? Ben Watson: One of the first things that people need to do is get organized around social media. Looking at the different functions within the teams and looking at the work flows that are going to be different by departments. Also, looking at the hand off. If something comes in from a marketing perspective and really belongs in customer support, or if somebody reaches out to express their interest in an employment opportunity, how do you insure that it is routed into human resources effectively? Hootsuite Team was really meant to help with the first critical step that many enterprises and businesses are facing today, which is mapping my organization involved with social media into a common tool bringing everybody together in one place. Then giving them appropriate levels of control over the different social accounts, over social networks and profiles that they ultimately need to manage. It is both an organization tool, in terms of getting my people together in one place, and it is a collaboration of work flow tool in terms of having appropriate checks and balances in place for the messages that are going to push out across us over the network. Then it is to bill shared understanding in knowledge around the impact of our works. Small Business Trends: How difficult a challenge is that today as compared to maybe a year or to ago? Ben Watson: The types of networks are changing. The number of networks is changing. Some real centers are forming around some of the social networks that are more established in the same place for a long time. We see first the increase in the number of people within the enterprise that focus on managing those. We also see a significant increase in terms of the number of accounts that people are actually managing. Some of our enterprise accounts are literally managing hundreds of social profiles across a myriad of networks. That added to the complexity. I think it is more complex. At the same time, ourselves and other folks in the industry are working to make this easier. To get organized thoughout and easier to understand what the ROI looks like. Small Business Trends: What impact do these kinds of tools have on the actual customer experience? Ben Watson: The result on the customer experience is better interaction, better personalization. The person that I am speaking with truly understands my problems. I am, hopefully, being interactive in a more timely fashion so that my issues are resolved. Small Business Trends: Where can people learn more? Ben Watson: A great place to start is Hootsuite.com or follow us on Twitter @Hootsuite. This interview is part of our One on One series of conversations with some of the most thought-provoking entrepreneurs, authors and experts in business today. This interview has been edited for publication. To hear audio of the full interview, click the right arrow on the gray player below. You can also see more interviews in our interview series.
From Small Business Trends This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 18 May 2012 05:30 AM PDT
Summer’s here and I’m excited about movies! In addition to the regular action blockbusters and goofy comedies, there’s a whole slew of sci-fi and superhero films I can’t wait to settle into with my popcorn and a box of Whoppers. Still, as much as I’m looking forward to these films, I’m already tiring of some of the accompanying merchandising and co-branding. Soda? OK. Toys? Sure. Lunch meat? Really?! So one day while musing on the old “lights, camera…” phrase, the idea of modernizing that trope came out in this cartoon. From Small Business Trends |
| Laptops: How Thin Can You Get? Posted: 18 May 2012 02:30 AM PDT With people going gaga over tablets in 2011 into 2012, what has happened with the laptop? For one thing, it’s getting thinner and thinner. With Apple leading the way, look for new laptops to really shed the pounds in coming months. We’ve got some tech reviews and some other cool gadgets you may want to check out with your business’s next laptop purchase. Apple Leads Thin RevolutionMacBook Pro will be thinner than ever. Get ready for the new 15-inch MacBook Pro leading the way from the company that produced the iPad, arguably the king of the tablets. The new iteration is reported to feature a "jaw-dropping retina display”, super-fast USB3, and is described as being an ultra-thin version of the current MacBook Pro. 9to5Mac Thinner Apple laptops feature more powerful chips. The new MacBook Pro is likely the first in a new generation of thinner laptops to feature more powerful chips from Intel Corp. Among other features are high-definition screens like those of the iPhone and iPad, flash memory to cut start up times, and extended battery life. Bloomberg New Chips Help Laptops Slim DownNew processors are the key and more are coming. The key to new laptops are not just consumer fascination with the new slender tablet format, but also the availability of new processors that make the devices possible. Lower cost competitors like AMD are getting into the game as well, guaranteeing that even cheaper machines will be slimmer and more functional than ever. Yahoo! Finance Lighter Devices, Better FeaturesHP enters the fray with two kinds of laptops. While the manufacturer has split its laptop offerings into two classes, consumer and enterprise, it’s clear that either one might appeal to small business owners depending on their needs. More to the point, HP’s machines are priced higher than budget machines and may see tablets, including the Apple iPad, as the real competition. CNET News Thinnest ThinkPad will come with 4G. The so-called “thinnest ThinkPad,” Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Carbon ultrabook, weighing in at just under 1.8 kilograms and only 18.8-mm thick, will feature a little something extra for the emerging mobile work environment. The new laptop is to offer 4G mobile broadband connectivity at $1.99 for 30 minutes. Though the new broadband will be available in the U.S. and a few other countries from the outset, Lenovo is reportedly working with other broadband providers to eventually make it available world wide. IT World Thinner machines, better display. A so-called retina display, high resolution meant to bring the laptop screen closer to the iPhone or iPad viewing experience, is already in the supply chain and expected to be featured in the new MacBook Pro. But how many other laptop manufacturers are willing to spring for the expensive feature? CNET News Other Mobile Tools to WatchAs laptops get thinner, iPhone screens get larger. It might not be too surprising that as laptops get thinner in an attempt to mimic the portability and convenience of iPhones and tablets, iPhones are set to increase their screen size in a bid to compete with the viewing experience of larger machines. A new version is said to use a 4-inch diagonal screen, compared with the 3.5 inches of the current iPhone 4S. WSJ Devices become an in-store marketing tool. With increased features and sleeker more attractive designs, laptops aren’t the only digital, Internet-ready devices making huge strides in terms of usage. This post, from an organization dedicated to evangelizing the process, looks at how iPad can be turned into an incredible marketing tool for a bricks and mortar business too. OnSpot Social Anomalies & AccessoriesOne new laptop is actually thicker and heavier? That’s right. In a year where the watchwords seem to be thinner and lighter, one manufacturer is inexplicably heading in the opposite direction. Sony’s new Vaio T13 series is actually thicker, by about 0.7 inches, and heavier, the 3.5 pounds, than Sony’s existing laptop. It’s not much of a discrepancy and the new model has plenty of features, but the size is a little weird in an industry focused on the thinner and lighter trend. Wired New chip lets you recharge devices through your shoes. A godsend for mobile entrepreneurs and other workers on the go if the technology can be marketed effectively, Kenyan developer Anthony Mutua says he’s developed a chip that can recharge your mobile devices while you walk. Though the application discussed specifically refers to mobile phones, it’s easy to see how it could apply to all mobile devices, allowing you to generate power while on the go and worry less about outlets and batteries. Digital Trends From Small Business Trends |
Small Business Trends: Can you tell me a little bit about what you are doing with customer marketing at Hootsuite?
Whether you’re growing your business or starting a new venture, BlackBerry solutions provide you with the freedom you want and the control you need. [Series sponsor]
| You are subscribed to email updates from Small Business News, Tips, Advice - Small Business Trends To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
No comments:
Post a Comment