Revisiting Your Predictions, Latest Facebook Privacy Concern, And More

Posted: 21 Dec 2013 03:42 PM PST

Business community news

We took a look around the small business community to see what others are discussing this past week. Here are some interesting articles we’d like to point out to you:

How Well Do Your Trend Predictions Pan Out? (WebMetricsGuru)

Business writers love to make predictions of what will happen in the coming year. But does anyone ever go back to see how those panned out? That’s exactly what Web analytics and SEO specialist Marshall Sponder did. And he freely admits he was flat out wrong on a few things. But on others he got it right. See for yourself how he scored. Then go back and look at any predictions you made for 2013, and whether you were on point. No cheating now!

How to Increase B2B Sales Conversions (V3 Integrated Marketing)

Want to know how to increase online sales if you sell to other businesses? Ever wonder if the time of day makes a difference — or the day of the week? These and other fascinating factoids are covered in a report about online B2B buyer behavior. The report was assembled by SoftwareAdvice.com and recapped by the smart and prolific Shelly Kramer.

Facebook Knows What You Were GOING to Share — but Didn’t! (Techaeris)

Privacy issues are endemic with social media, and Facebook has been responsible for its share. Here Alex Hernandez highlights a Time report about the social network’s latest admission on what it knows about you. Facebook can read not only what you share, but also what you typed into the text window and decided NOT to post. So remember that.

The Resume is Dead — Unless It’s on YouTube (Venturi)

Your business will be looking for talent in a completely different way in the near future. And the best of that talent will likely be looking for you in a totally new place, writes Kerry Voellner. Think YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and, of course, LinkedIn — to find future employees.

Giving Thanks via YouTube (YankeePrepper)

Speaking of YouTube, we want to point out a video “thank you” we found on YouTube. A business owner who goes by the name “YankeePrepper” gives thanks for selling a business, selling a building to yet a different buyer (he calls it almost miraculous), and starting a new online business selling coffee during the year. Business owners and marketing managers often tell us they’d like to do video, but can’t think of how to use it for their businesses. If that describes you, check out this personalized example.

Which Images Get Better Engagement on Instagram? (SiteProNews)

If you want to know the kinds of Instagram images that get more likes and, in general, drive more engagement, look no further. Though no one can predict exactly how an Instagram image (or any other content) will be received, this infographic from Visual.ly will get you thinking.

Scale Your Software Startup (One Million by One Million)

Super-savvy startup guru Sramana Mitra talks with Nick Mehta, the CEO of Gainsight. The Bay Area-based B2B firm works to help SaaS companies retain existing customers while acquiring new ones. That’s a common challenge for businesses.

In Defense of Content Marketing (Certified Hosting)

There’s a reason content is so often talked about by companies working to market a product these days. It’s because it works, according to Kent Roberts. Here he shares some of the reasons why.

Blogging as Your Business (BizSugar Blog)

Sure, blogs can be an effective way to market your business and drive traffic. But, truth be told, blogs can be an effective publishing business, too, for some. Jane Sheeba tells us more.

The Best Way to Train Employees (People Management Consulting)

If you want to get the best out of your people, the right training is an important component. Cecil Wampler gives us a glimpse of what that training should look like and then answers a few questions in the BizSugar community.

Move Ahead Despite Your Fears (New Hampshire Writers’ Network)

Here is as encouraging a message as we’ve seen anywhere for the coming New Year — or for anytime you face a challenge. Business writer Linda J. Jackson points out there’s a first time for everything. So don’t be afraid of trying something new in your business career.

Finally, we’d like to remind you that if you have news or an insight to share, email us at sbtips@gmail.com with suggestions — yes, we do accept suggestions. Tell us about your news, articles and videos that you think would be of interest to other small business owners. Or submit your content to the BizSugar.com community — we use that as a key source to listen to authentic small business voices and what YOU are talking about.

Business people image via Shutterstock

The post Revisiting Your Predictions, Latest Facebook Privacy Concern, And More appeared first on Small Business Trends.

“Klout Matters” Shows How To Improve Your Social Media Influence

Posted: 21 Dec 2013 11:40 AM PST

Reading Klout Matters: How to Engage Customers, Boost Your Digital Influence–and Raise Your Klout Score for Success by Gina Carr (@GinaCarr) and Terry Brock (@TerryBrock), you get the sense that the social influence platform Klout is on the right track.

I recall many posts praising — or criticizing — the Klout scoring platform. For example: “Why do I care that Whatshisname has a Klout score of 55?” Or: “What's the prize for improving a score?”

This book answers those questions, as well as how the score matters to your business. Carr is an entrepreneur and speaker, while Brock is an internationally recognized business coach. Both have leveraged their experiences to write a terrific social media guide. I discovered the book at a local bookstore and purchased a copy for this review.

What Matters When We Influence Others

This book's release is notable, given how much content sharing and search engine results are becoming interwoven. Introduced in 2009, Klout was one of many platforms that relied on Twitter's data, initially. That singular source was also a source of criticism.

Some marketers argued that early iterations of the Klout algorithm did not reflect the true influence a person really has. Other social media critics claimed that Klout scores undermine authentic online communication – promoting socializing by a singular score. In fact, a Business Insider article on Klout's scoring system noted President Obama scored lower than that of a well-known blogger.

But as more social media platforms were created, Klout has undergone changes to incorporate influence from other platforms, and as a result, users now needed to understand how other platform usages play into their score and business. The book’s introduction captures the value of that understanding off the bat.

"Business people are expected to have a strong working knowledge of social media and why it's important … Those who deal with the ideas, thoughts, words, and concepts need to have especially strong skills with various social media platforms."

The authors address the folly of gaming the system. Score-building myths such as buying followers are dispelled, noted as a poor reputation-building practice. Instead, Carr and Brock suggest tips that can explain long advocated social media benefits, such as being a thought leader.

"One of the most important skills that any thought leader can develop today is how to learn. You are a person that sends information to others. This helps build your Klout score as more people are attracted to your message."

Learn the Value of Each Social Media Platform Klout Monitors

Carr and Brock have a crafted flexible guide that ultimately organizes the details. Chapters offer tips specific to the usual social media suspects – Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, Google Plus – as well as the latest social media niche sensations such as Instagram.

There are also little known tips such as linking a Wikipedia page to your Klout profile – although the authors note you need to be "written up in reputable publications online or offline" to make this happen. An easier suggestion nugget may be focusing on Bing integration. Here's what Carr and Block wrote:

"In an effort to further integrate an offline component of influence, Klout is now counting the number of times a user is searched for on Bing. In order for this to affect your Klout Score, you must add Bing in your settings in Klout and tag articles on Bing that reference you."

There's also a tip about adjusting the Klout topics under which your profile appears in the system:

"As there is not a way to say that you are an expert in a certain functional area – such as speaker, author, cyclist – it is wise to select these areas as "topics" you are influential in. While being a speaker does not mean that you are an expert in the business of speaking, it is currently one of the ways that you can let the world know that you are an expert speaker."

Other useful tips like increasing twitter handle mentions to comments from posts shared on LinkedIn serve applicable ways to best manage your Klout score for the long haul.

The last chapter notes the authors' wished-for features from Klout. An aside: one wish, adding YouTube among connect network selections, did come to pass just before the book's publication. Appendices offer additional resources, a reasonable value for new online sites and podcasts that cover social media trends. It also serves well for discovering productivity tools such as Bottlenose, a measurement platform similar to Hootsuite, and Eyejot, a video recording app.

Read this book to gain a better appreciation for Klout and to help organize your social media strategy. As multichannel strategies become more important in analytics and social media measurement, the capability to measure how your business manages across platforms is worth investing time to learn. Carr and Brock, through an examination of Klout, offer a guide that makes such investments easier.

Read Klout Matters to know what matters in your everyday influence of clients and customers.

The post “Klout Matters” Shows How To Improve Your Social Media Influence appeared first on Small Business Trends.