10 Ways to Use Hashtags for Your Business |  |
- 10 Ways to Use Hashtags for Your Business
- 7 Attitudes That Make You More Relationship Centric
- The Small Business Tax: Government Regulations
- Trouble Again in the Small Business Sector?
- LinkedIn Security Breach: A Reason to Change Your Passwords (At Least!)
| 10 Ways to Use Hashtags for Your Business Posted: 11 Jun 2012 12:00 PM PDT If you’ve seen something that looks like this on Twitter – #awordorphrase – and aren’t sure what it’s all about, it’s a hashtag, and it’s meant to organize the stream of billions of Tweets into categories. Let’s say you see #SMB and you click the link. You’ll find all the most recent tweets using this hashtag. These are likely people interested in small business.
Here you’ve got 10 ways you can start using hashtags to your benefit: 1. Create a Hashtag. There’s no rule saying you can’t create your own hashtag for a promotion or event. Let’s say you sell recycled paper products. You could create #HowIRecycle to encourage your followers to share their own recycling tips. The more people use it, the more others will latch onto it. 2. Use it For a Contest. Holding a contest online? You can tie a hashtag to it. Simply require entrants to send a tweet with the hashtag to enter. For example: I just entered to win @recycleco’s $1 million giveaway with my #HowIRecycle tip! 3. Find Others to Follow. Those that are using a hashtag you’re interested in may be good people for you to follow. Find hashtags that relate to your industry or your target audience’s interests. For example, if you sell dog supplies, find dog lovers to follow by searching #dogs. 4. Host tweet chats. Tweetchats (also known as Twitter chats) are a great way to build a following around both your hashtag and your brand on Twitter. A Twitter chat is simply a designated time for people who share an interest to tweet about a topic. Sometimes you’ll have an expert or panel sharing tips, with others asking questions and chiming in. Choose a hashtag for the chat, or simply use the one you’ve already established. Choose a topic for your event (using the recycling example, you could host a Tweetchat about ways offices can recycle and reduce their carbon footprint) and publicize it. Don’t forget to let participants know the time (accounting for time zones) of the event, as well as the hashtag they should follow to participate. Anyone who includes your hashtag will be included in the Twitter chat stream. 5. Attend Twitter chats. You can learn a lot from other people’s Twitter chats, not only about the subject they cover, but also how to host a Twitter chat in general. You’ll also meet other likeminded people to follow on Twitter. 6. Get Educated. If you don’t have time to read a dozen blogs, check the hashtags you follow to see what’s happening in your industry. You’ll often find links to news blurbs and blog posts, and can be selective about what you read. 7. Jump in the Conversation. People are already talking about topics you’re interested in. By following the corresponding hashtags, you can jump in with your own expertise. 8. Categorize Your Tweets. If you’re already tweeting a lot, adding hashtags to the words you talk about frequently can help others who follow these hashtags find you. For instance, if you tweet about “small business” often, simply replace the words with #SMB in your tweets and all the small biz folks who follow that hashtag will now see your tweets. 9. Keep Your Tweet Stream Organized. If you use Hootsuite or similar tool to organize and filter the tweets you view, having columns set up for certain hashtags can help you easily access the tweets you want. 10. Sparingly. Hashtags are great, but don’t go overboard! People have started making up their own hashtags, but Twitter may consider these spam, so it’s not a practice I’d recomend. Use them when appropriate, and keep them simple and short if you’re making them up.
From Small Business Trends |
| 7 Attitudes That Make You More Relationship Centric Posted: 11 Jun 2012 10:00 AM PDT Relationships are the new currency, especially now with social media giving us another world to mine and harvest great people, in addition to meeting people in person. Being able to fit into and become a part of company culture and the new social media culture, both incredibly ethnically and demographically diverse is so essential today.
Fitting in will make you stand out, rather than trying to stand out by not fitting in. We can make a stand with our personal brand by being unique, individual and autonomous and being people centric and friendly is where it starts. There are four elements of human hunger that are well documented in psychology: 1.) Everyone wants to be heard: Llistening Here are 7 attitudes that can make you more relationship centric and friendly: Show the Way Care About People Foster Agreement Be Self Disciplined Be Adventuresome Sense of Humor Serving is The New Selling Everyone has the potential to find, foster and develop great relationships. Everything you need is already inside of you. If anything isn’t there then add it. Build your portfolio of networks, relationships and connections and keep growing and investing in them. Remember, the WE in Your Social ME-dia works. . .
From Small Business Trends |
| The Small Business Tax: Government Regulations Posted: 11 Jun 2012 08:05 AM PDT When governments impose regulations on small businesses that drive up the cost of doing business, it’s like imposing a tax. Google’s dictionary defines tax as “A compulsory contribution to state revenue, levied by the government on workers’ income and business profits or added to the cost of some goods, services, and transactions.” And when those regulations hit small businesses hardest, it’s like imposing a tax on small businesses. That’s why whenever small businesses are polled, such as by Gallup, business owners regularly put regulatory burdens at or near the top of concerns. And it’s not just business owners’ perception. As Professor Scott Shane has pointed out in the past here on Small Business Trends, researchers and even World Bank studies have shown that regulations adversely impact small businesses, in four ways:
The following new infographic from the Chamber of Commerce website illustrates just how regulations impact small businesses:
Click for larger image of Small Business Tax Infographic Notice that the cost per employee of complying with regulations is $10,585 for small businesses with fewer than 20 employees, but only $7,755 for larger companies. Almost 90% of businesses in the United States have under 20 employees, so that means the vast majority of businesses are affected adversely — with small businesses paying over 36% more per employee. According to Tyler Shears, an executive with ChamberofCommerce.com: ”We created this infographic to raise awareness of an issue important to us and millions of other small businesses. We are a small business ourselves and we serve small businesses. The business owners we hear from who are in the trenches competing, devote their life savings to developing innovative products and services, hiring more staff, and growing a business for the benefit of family, employees and community. So we were concerned to see how regulations and compliance hit small firms harder.” From Small Business Trends |
| Trouble Again in the Small Business Sector? Posted: 11 Jun 2012 05:04 AM PDT Several recent indicators suggest that the small business sector may be weakening again. • Revenue growth has flattened. The Intuit Small Business Revenue Index, which uses data from users of QuickBooks Online to measure small company sales, increased by only 0.01 percent in April, a significant decline from the 0.4 percent the measure increased last December. • Small business owners' sales expectations are weakening. The fraction of respondents to the National Federation of Independent Business's (NFIB) monthly survey of its members who report expectations of rising sales over the coming three months shrank from 9 to 6 between December 2011 and April 2012. • Small business employment growth is slowing. The percentage of respondents to the NFIB survey who increased employment over the previous three months declined from a net of positive 1 percent in December 2011 to a net of negative 4 percent in April 2012. • Small company employees are working less. The Intuit Employment Index, which measures employment-related activities at companies with fewer than 20 employees who use Intuit Online Payroll, shows that the number of hours worked by hourly employees has dropped 2 percent since December 2011. • Fewer companies are borrowing. The Thomson Reuters/PayNet Small Business Lending Index, which measures the total amount of small company credit, is 15 percent below where it was last December. • Small business owners are more reluctant to expand. The NFIB survey indicates a decline in the share of small business owners who think the next three months are a good time to expand their businesses from 10 percent in December 2011 to 7 percent in April 2012. Making economic forecasts is a tricky business, made more difficult for the small business sector by the lack of precise measures being released by the government in a timely manner. Moreover, measures other than the ones mentioned above tell a more positive story about what's been happening with small businesses lately. However, these negative signs have me concerned that small business sector is weakening once again. From Small Business Trends |
| LinkedIn Security Breach: A Reason to Change Your Passwords (At Least!) Posted: 11 Jun 2012 02:30 AM PDT A recent breach of LinkedIn security resulted in 6.5 million “hashed” (i.e., encoded) passwords being stolen and published online. LinkedIn quickly took action, and stresses that only a subset of the encoded passwords had been decoded. If LinkedIn thinks your password is one of the ones at risk, it disabled your account and sent you notice about choosing a new password. Still, the incident raises important questions for small businesses about the security of their data, whether shared over social media, stored on a private Website, or on a mobile or other Internet ready device. LinkedIn Breach Exposes RisksLinkedIn shares more about security problems. The company, whose site is used as a social networking tool by many in the business community, has insisted it shut down all affected accounts and doesn’t believe other users are at risk after hackers exposed millions of users’ passwords online. But how safe is your LinkedIn account? Reuters Current security issues should serve as a warning. What lessons should LinkedIn’s millions of business users take from the recent hacking? Well, for one thing, users of services provided by third party vendors cannot assume that these companies are providing adequate security. Wall Street Journal In account security, users bear some responsibility. A surprising number of LinkedIn users whose passwords were leaked onto the Web this week used combinations like 1234 and 12345. The revelation clearly demonstrates that when it comes to online security, users of social media and other services must be much more careful and take more responsibility for their own protection. Digital Trends Tips For Protecting Your BusinessTake the proper steps. The LinkedIn password breach should teach us all some serious lessons about online security. Steps to take to protect your business include immediately changing all passwords, carefully protecting your passwords once you choose them, avoiding automatically clicking on URL links, sharing information carefully online, educating employees about online security issues, and more. Wall Street Journal Choose the right password. The LinkedIn breach demonstrates another security issue with many social media business accounts. Picking a strong and secure password difficult for others to guess and keeping that password safe is also critical. One tip that might not be immediately obvious is the importance of avoiding passwords that can be found in a dictionary, no matter how obscure. What other factors go into choosing a secure password? AG Beat Be ready for cyber attacks. Password problems are not the only threats your business faces while operating online. Like LinkedIn, your site may also be susceptible to attack. Among the most important things to consider when preparing for cyber attacks is to be sure that proper security solutions are deployed, writes Anand Naik in a recent column. What are you doing to prepare? Business Standard Protect your online customers. While customers appreciate the convenience of online shopping, many still say they feel less secure making purchases online than from a brick-and-mortar store, according to data provided by Neilsen. Small businesses must work hard to protect their online customers and to publicize those efforts so customers understand the efforts that go into keeping their information safe. PC World Protect your mobile phone. Mobile phones are as common in many small businesses these days as PCs or laptops, and keeping them secure should be a huge priority. After all, while big businesses might be targeted more often, small businesses aren’t immune to hacking. With smartphones holding an increasing amount of vital company data these days, businesses should follow some critical security tips. Fox Small Business Center Important QuestionsIs your online business safe? How can you be sure your small business is safe from hackers and other security risks? Susan Delly has these important suggestions, including a compliance certification you’ll want to meet to protect online merchants, businesses, and shoppers. Troubles at LinkedIn recently highlight the need for security online. Are you vulnerable? ZippyCart What does Google security mean to you? Google, a huge online player important to many small businesses, has announced its ISO 27001 security certification. The certification is amongst the most widely accepted independent security standards in the world. But how exactly can this certification make a difference to you and your business when operating online? Dynamic Business From Small Business Trends |
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