Twitter Apologizes for Fake Tweets to Promote Ads |  |
- Twitter Apologizes for Fake Tweets to Promote Ads
- enMarkit Leads in Social Commerce in India
- Offer Newsletter Sign Up Incentives to Your Site Visitors With Incentivibe
- Cash Isn’t Always King: Accepting Credit Cards Can Increase Your Business
- New Lumia Smartphone Has Largest Screen of Any Nokia
- 4 Powerful LinkedIn Tips To Generate Sales
| Twitter Apologizes for Fake Tweets to Promote Ads Posted: 25 Jul 2013 02:00 AM PDT
Twitter found itself in an embarrassing situation this week, for which it has now apologized. It posted an image of fake tweets on its blog, to demonstrate a new advertising opportunity. That might not have been such a big deal, except for one thing: they used real Twitter user’s profiles to create the fake tweets. And they didn’t have approval from the three Twitter users whose accounts they used. SFGate yesterday reported about a post on the official Twitter blog announcing the TV ad targeting program, where marketers can extend the impact of their TV commercials with targeted Twitter ads. The post showed a screenshot of the Twitter ads dashboard. It pictured tweets raving about particular products seen on TV commercials. But the Twitter users pictured in the screenshot never made those tweets. They hadn’t given their approval, and weren’t even aware that Twitter had used their Twitter handles. At least two out of the three were publicly angry. According to the SFGate article:
Twitter subsequently replaced the image, using tweets profiling Twitter employee accounts. It also posted an apology at the top of the blog post. But for the Twitter users involved, that’s not good enough. As of this writing (late Wednesday, July 24), one of the Twitter users involved is still — understandably — hot about it.
This is not the first social network accused of using their users’ likenesses or images for ad products. Facebook was sued for improperly using its users’ profiles to endorse products. The post Twitter Apologizes for Fake Tweets to Promote Ads appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| enMarkit Leads in Social Commerce in India Posted: 24 Jul 2013 04:00 PM PDT
One of the biggest trends in e-commerce today is the role social media is playing in the industry. Consumers exchange information, recommend and review products and services widely. enMarkit is an Indian company that wants to capitalize on this trend and facilitate and complete actual transactions on social media. Vipin Aggarwal, campus entrepreneur turned venture capitalist, and Ekta Mittal, formerly with Amazon, launched enMarkit at the end of 2012, a mere year after meeting each other. Through enMarkit, Vipin and Ekta take a technology-enabled approach to addressing the fundamental issues of doing business online in India. The idea is to emulate real world Indian shopping behavior where people seek references about good shops from friends then use their friends' name and business with the shopkeeper in order to get better deals. After a purchase, the shopkeeper is eager for more referrals so he offers incentives for repeat shoppers and referred customers.
That’s the enMarkit motto Vipin Agarwal, founder of enMarkit, champions. By combining all the best aspects of already existing ecommerce websites such as ETSY, Amazon and eBay, with social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, enMarkit has found a way to leverage the advantages of social networking to properly benefit ecommerce for service providers and individual buyers. EnMarkit's nifty Pinterest-style website allows vendors to create a Web page for their business, get a dedicated brand page within minutes, and sync up their social networks so that enMarkit can manage their product listings for them. Likewise, buyers can rate and review sellers they've purchased from and share their experiences among their online network. Since the launch of enMarkit at the end of 2012, they have reached over 7,000 new registered sellers, over one million page views with only a 23% bounce (industry average being 40%), and the month on month growth in number of visitors is over 400%. In addition, 37% of traffic on the enMarkit website comes from referrals. F.A.S.T Payments at O.N.E. Storefront The team has built two enabling solutions, the F.A.S.T. check out system and ONE unified storefront, to help translate this real world social buying behavior to the virtual world of ecommerce.
As all vendors know, if something is too hard for customers to figure out, they won't do it. Through enMarkit's universal and mobile friendly Fast Anywhere Secure Transactions (F.A.S.T.), buyers can safely purchase services or products that run the gamut from handcrafted gifts to home stays abroad. First, sellers choose their membership:
Then they create a listing that describes their product or service (pictured top of page). Once they've entered a description, uploaded photos and even videos of their product, a unique, integrated payment link is generated allowing the seller to then share their listing through every online networking outlet they use. The perk here is that there are no setup fees because sellers don't pay enMarkit anything until they actualize their first transaction. Once they've made their first sale, only "Advanced" and "Professional" members pay a first transaction fee. EnMarkit does, however, enforce a 5% transaction commission for each sale, which is used to recover money transfer fees and operating costs, but buyers can use enMarkit at no cost. When buyers click a listing link a clean popup opens with the item description, its price and a "Buy It" button at the bottom, which takes them to the F.A.S.T. page that collects their payment information. F.A.S.T. makes it easy for buyers and sellers to make online purchases, but the most intriguing part about enMarkit, what sets them apart from all other e-commerce websites, is their ONE storefront, which connects vendors and customers on multiple social platforms. Social media then plays a crucial part in lead generation and indirect marketing for the enMarkit seller because once a shopper has purchased an item, she can write a review for the seller and share her new product and experience with her online network of friends. On the flip side, in order to retain and draw more customers, sellers can offer discounts to loyal patrons who write positive reviews and refer their friends. Can this be the start of crowdsourced marketing? Where social networks function organically as airwaves for consumerism? ONE enables social graph search among the displayed items so that buyers can get information on the sellers who have been ranked by their social networks; they can see who's viewed it, liked it, commented on it, bookmarked it, bought it and reviewed it. Furthermore service providers are ranked on the enMarkit webpage depending on how closely they are connected to each buyer creating a personalized shopping environment for each buyer and seller. Further empowering the buyer is their ability to post a product or service they are looking for on enMarkit and have vendors vie for their business. For Buyers it's an Inverted Ebay; For Sellers it's a More Personalized Craigslist Vipin and Ekta have created a mash up of ecommerce websites and social networks and added Yelp with a twist. And they've done so all the way from Gurgaon, India, a small city just north of Delhi. Vipin had spent more than five years investing in, managing, building and exiting multiple business in India, but he was always eager to help entrepreneurs and therefore kept a look out for technology enabled solutions to help launch their businesses. Once Vipin and Ekta were introduced to each other, they discovered a shared interest in social enablement. Whereas Vipin shared the business challenges to be addressed, Ekta brought together solutions through technology. At the end of 2012 Vipin and Ekta left their jobs and started the journey to launch Colabcom Technologies, the holding company that owns the enMarkit brand. And so far enMarkit has already been recognized at multiple forums for its unique innovations on design, simplicity, and usefulness to the online transactional ecosystem. Just to name a few, enMarkit has been shortlisted among the top 4 up and coming ventures from India by the TiE Global Conclave, has been hailed as the fastest growing ecommerce company in India by YourStory, and has been featured on NextBigWhat, India's largest platform for entrepreneurs and small businesses. Not even a year later. Currently, enMarkit focuses on the Travel and Design verticals within the Indian geography, specifically targeting service providers and service seekers, but in due course, they will broaden the footprint of their offering. When asked about enMarkit's future, Vipin's ambition is for enMarkit to reach over one million users by this year's end. He expects to be operational break even within the next 5-6 months and he expects to be profitable on a Net Profit basis by March 2014. And Vipin won't be resting on his laurels once that goal is reached. The idea is to make enMarkit the one stop destination to provide solutions for all go-to-market and post-launch market building strategies for individuals and businesses. Instead of focusing on service led business models, the aim is to leverage technology to create products that offer higher scalability and better margins. Vipin and Ekta have introduced a universal yet individualized social ecommerce solution that embraces social network marketing unobtrusively for its users. It is a personalized market for buyers and sellers to mingle among their own, their family's and their friends' vast online networks. The post enMarkit Leads in Social Commerce in India appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Offer Newsletter Sign Up Incentives to Your Site Visitors With Incentivibe Posted: 24 Jul 2013 01:30 PM PDT
Imagine you have a small business website with plenty of traffic. Unfortunately, you don’t have many subscribers to your regular email newsletter. These visitors are finding your site okay, but once they leave, they never return. Now imagine you could give them an incentive for signing up for your newsletter. This might include a chance to win a big prize like a great weekend getaway, a new Tiffany Co Gift Card, an iPad and Apple TV combo or other prize. A startup called Incentivibe gives you a way to offer high ticket prizes on your website as an incentive for the leads you need. Incentivibe CEO and Co-Founder, Adeel Vanthaliwala, took time out recently for an exclusive interview with Small Business Trends to explain. The Conversion ProblemHere’s the problem, said Vanthaliwala. While website businesses have worked long and hard to build traffic on their sites, converting that traffic into leads is a bit more difficult. In fact, according to data supplied by Incentivibe, 95 percent of the people who visit your website leave without ever becoming leads. One solution is to offer free ebooks or white papers to visitors in return for newsletter signup or other actions. But Vanthaliwala said this generally only works for business to business websites with less success if you sell to consumers. Worse yet, he added, for some visitors white papers or other information just aren’t enough of an incentive to sign up and give you their email addresses. Larger prizes might create more incentive, Vanthaliwala said. But the cost is sometimes prohibitive to small startup websites. they may not have the budget to spend for giveaways week after week or month after month. Newsletter Incentives: How Incentivibe WorksIncentivibe offers websites the ability to pool their resources by paying a fraction of the cost of a larger prize. For example, for a $24.99 monthly fee, small websites can participate in a giveaway for a prize worth $500. A site owner simply install a widget with the giveaway information to his or her website. Incentivibe offers integration with a wide variety of platforms including Magento, Shopify, Big Commerce, Volusion, Unbounce, WordPress and any custom made website. The contest widget includes only the name of the site on which it appears. So site owners don’t need to worry about promoting other sites inadvertently. They can even co-sponsor a contest with a competitor, said Vanthaliwala. Incentivibe also offers free administration of the contests and free contest rules tailored to legally meet the requirements of your country or region. How They Got the IdeaVanthaliwala and co-founder and chief technology officer Abdul Basit Munda came up with the idea for Incentivibe while wrapping up a previous venture in February 2012. Carrying $50,000 in debt and working two to three part-time jobs at a time to support their families, Vanthaliwala and Munda decided to learn from their own mistakes and built a new business as a result. Vanthaliwala explains in a post on the company’s official blog:
For a basic overview of Incentivibe’s service, view the video below. The post Offer Newsletter Sign Up Incentives to Your Site Visitors With Incentivibe appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Cash Isn’t Always King: Accepting Credit Cards Can Increase Your Business Posted: 24 Jul 2013 11:00 AM PDT Sponsored Post
If you don't already accept credit cards at your business, you are missing out. There are many advantages to accepting payments via credit card, but the most notable of them have a positive effect on your bottom line. Here's how: 1) Increase Sales OverallThe simple act of accepting credit card payments can give a significant boost to your business. Research shows that sales can double or even triple versus current sales. One survey, sponsored by Intuit, found that 83% of small businesses that accepted credit cards saw increased sales. Fifty-two percent of those surveyed made at least $1,000 more a month and 18% made at least $20,000 more a month. 2) People Spend More with CardsThis is probably not a new concept to you: there is seemingly endless research that shows it's easier to spend money with a credit card than with cash. The pain of paying is greatly diminished when handing over plastic instead of cash or a check, so customers spend more. Credit cards also increase impulse purchases (and tips for those in the service sector, such as cab drivers, waiters and other). Why? Simple: consumers are not tied to what is in their wallets at that moment. 3) It's Just Good Customer ServiceCash payments are decreasing. Almost one of every three purchases is made with a credit card, according to Visa. Providing the option to pay with a credit card is becoming less a courtesy and more an expectation. Customers are more likely to do business with you if you accept the form of payment that offers them the most convenience and flexibility. Especially when dealing with big-ticket items, consumers appreciate the ability to pay up front with a credit card and pay off their purchase over time. 4) Broaden Your Customer BaseCredit cards are like a global currency. Because purchases are automatically converted to the appropriate currency, selling internationally with credit cards is easy for both the buyer and you, the seller. If your business has an online presence, the world is your market, not just your city or town. 5) Give Your Business an Instant FaceliftAccepting credit cards gives your business a better image with greater credibility. In the eyes of the customer, it means your business is established and trustworthy. 6) Increase Cash FlowCredit card payments take the waiting out of getting paid. No more waiting weeks for checks to clear, and no more waiting weeks or even months for a payment after sending a bill. Instead, your funds are deposited automatically and directly to your bank, usually within a few days, giving you faster payment cycles and better cash flow for your business. 7) Time is Money TooCredit card payments are more efficient and less time consuming. The payment process is automated: automatic approvals and automatic deposits into your bank account. That means fewer trips to the bank, no invoices to print and mail and no more dealing with bounced checks. With the time you save, you can focus on other important aspects of your business—like making even more sales. Sometimes, getting the process started to get your business ready to accept credit and debit cards can be complicated. To make it easier, Community Merchants USA has put together free tools and resources on everything you need to know about credit and debit card acceptance. Check them out and add more value to your business! Credit Card Photo via Shutterstock The post Cash Isn't Always King: Accepting Credit Cards Can Increase Your Business appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| New Lumia Smartphone Has Largest Screen of Any Nokia Posted: 24 Jul 2013 08:00 AM PDT
Your business needs a smartphone. But you aren’t ready to pay the price hanging off some of the more ballyhooed models available today. Fortunately, your options are opening a bit. This week Nokia unveiled the Lumia 625 set to reach markets in Europe, China, Asia Pacific, India, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America by September. There’s no word yet on when it will be available in the U.S. But other Nokias released in emerging markets have eventually found their way here, so no worries. Lumia 625: Not a Flagship PhoneThough not a flagship phone, most notably because it packs only a 5 megapixel camera, the Lumia 625 does have several things to recommend it. At 4.7 inches, the Lumia 625′s LCD screen is the largest on a Nokia phone ever. The display is bright enough to be easily visible in daylight and the phone comes in an attractive pallet of colors: orange, green, yellow, white or black. The Lumia 625 is also a Windows phone running on Windows 8 with Amber updates of new features included, important to many business users. Most attractive, of course, is the price. The phone is being introduced at 220 euros (just under $300 if offered in the U.S. market, Computer World estimates.) At that price and with available features, the Lumia 625 makes an attractive introductory phone however, reports Mat Smith of Engadget in a video overview below. No Need to WaitFortunately, if you’re located in the U.S., there is no need to wait for the Lumia 625. Another Lumia phone will be available at an even lower price by the end of the week. AT&T will introduce the Lumia 520 for $99.99 to customers of its prepaid GoPhone wireless service beginning July 26, CNET reports. Also introduced in emerging markets earlier this year, the phone features a 4-inch 800×480-pixel resolution screen of the same quality available on pricier Nokia phones. Like the Lumia 625, the phone also runs on Windows 8, carries a 5 megapixel camera, and comes in a variety of colorful shells. The post New Lumia Smartphone Has Largest Screen of Any Nokia appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| 4 Powerful LinkedIn Tips To Generate Sales Posted: 24 Jul 2013 05:00 AM PDT Many people think of LinkedIn as just another social networking tool that lets them connect with people who share their career interests. Those in the know, however, can take advantage of powerful LinkedIn tips to generate sales. Follow these 4 tips to start making your LinkedIn profile work for you. 1. Join Discussions, Groups and Associations
The more connections you make through LinkedIn, the more people you’ll meet who might want to buy items from your company. That means you should get involved. Join discussions, groups, and associations so you can find other people working in your industry. You can even start a group to attract people who might want to buy from you. Make sure that sales is your secondary goal. Making connections should always be at the front of your mind. If you make the right connections and get involved in the community, then the sales aspect will become much easier. 2. Select an Account Type That Meets Your Needs
The standard LinkedIn account is free, but it doesn’t give you access to many tools. If you really want to connect with more people to boost your sales, you should consider upgrading to a premium account. Good account options for businesses include:
Even if you choose a Sales Executive account, which is the most expensive, you’ll spend less than $75 a month. That’s worth it if it helps you make more sales. Of course, you can start with the cheaper Sales Basic option ($15.95 a month) to see if it works for you. These premium accounts let you:
3. Display Your Expertise
LinkedIn has over 200 million members. That means you face a lot of competition from other people using the site to make connections and sales. How do you plan to stand out from the crowd? Displaying your expertise is a powerful way to get noticed. Post insightful, well researched information in discussions. If you can teach something to other people in your industry, then they will start to see you as a leader. Once you become an industry leader that others rely on, you should have a much easier time converting leads into sales. 4. Manage Your Flow of Information
People want to buy from a company that offers good customer services and reliable products. That doesn’t mean they want a barrage of information from you. Don’t use LinkedIn as your personal advertising forum. That will make people dislike you. After some time, it will even make them disconnect from you. No one likes to get spammed. If you become a spammer, then you will lose potential sales. At most, you should send updates only once every two days. Anything more than that is overkill. What are some of the most successful ways that you’ve used LinkedIn to generate sales? Stand Out Photo via Shutterstock The post 4 Powerful LinkedIn Tips To Generate Sales appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
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