How the Workplace Will Change in the New Year

How the Workplace Will Change in the New Year
Facebook Ends (Some) Sponsored Stories Amidst Fake Endorsement Lawsuit
6 Ways to Create A Positive Brand Perception
Vimeo Makes Its Player Faster, More Social, Better for Mobile
Take the Test: Determine Your Small Business Health Score

Posted: 14 Jan 2014 04:00 PM PST

new year workplace

What does the future hold in store for your small business's workplace? The Herman Group just released its 2014 Workplace Forecast, which seeks to help shed some light on the answer. Below are new year workplace trends I think will matter to small business owners and what you can do to take advantage of them.

New Year Workplace Changes

1. As the economy improves, companies of all sizes will be hiring. But it won't be easy due to an expanding workforce shortage. Companies have been reluctant to spend on training and development, leading to severe shortages of trained workers in many fields.

What can you do? The reality is, you may need to provide training to bring new employees up to speed. Tap into free or low-cost training offered by resources in your area, or have current employees cross-train new workers.

2. Communities will join forces to end worker shortages. Local governments and economic development departments are recognizing the risk that a shortage of qualified workers brings to the local economy, so they're partnering with businesses and schools to help train tomorrow's employees today.

What can you do? Get involved with local schools, adult education facilities, colleges and universities to make connections with potential employees and to put your "two cents" in as to what type of training is needed.

3. Unemployment rates will stay relatively high. Unfortunately, that won't help solve the talent shortage. Many of the long-term unemployed lack desirable work experience or life skills, or their skills have atrophied from being out of the workforce so long.

What can you do? Unemployment can mean opportunity for small business owners to hire experienced, eager, often older workers who aren't interested in career paths. Look for workers who have made an effort to learn new things and keep their skills fresh. Also, be open to unemployed workers who are seeking to transition to a new industry because their prior careers are now obsolete.

4. Be prepared for disaster—both natural and otherwise. The increasing frequency of natural disasters and extreme weather conditions means businesses of all sizes need to be prepared for disaster. Don't just consider how a disaster or extreme weather could affect you, but also how it might impact customers and suppliers. For instance, Southern California, where I live, is enjoying gorgeous, sunny weather right now, while most of the nation is enduring sub-freezing temperatures, which has hampered shipments from that part of the country.

What can you do? Make a plan not only for dealing with disaster in your region, but also for operating if you're cut off from your regular suppliers or vendors. Also, consider man-made disaster in the form of workplace violence. With an increasing incidence of and attention to workplace shootings, it's important to take employee complaints seriously. Develop a plan for dealing proactively with conflicts and communicate a plan to deal with the worst-case scenario.

5. Layoffs aren't over. Even as the economy improves, companies of all sizes will continue re-engineering, eliminating some positions and either automating those jobs or hiring fewer, but more highly skilled workers to fill new, more complex roles.

What can you do? If you don't want to lay off staff, call on your employees to help you find new ways to do things better, faster and more cost-effectively. They may have great ideas for ways you can do more, make more profit and keep all your people.

6. Retention still matters. Employees will be more confident about job-hopping as the economy continues to strengthen. As the Affordable Care Act shakes out, people who held onto jobs just to keep their health insurance will finally be able to quit.

What can you do? If you haven't worried about keeping your employees engaged and happy, you'd better start now. Find out where your employees envision being in one or five years and plan a program to get them where they want to be.

Change Conept Photo via Shutterstock

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Facebook Ends (Some) Sponsored Stories Amidst Fake Endorsement Lawsuit

Posted: 14 Jan 2014 01:30 PM PST

If you blinked you might have missed it. In a recent edition of its “Platform Roadmap” published in Facebook’s development section, the company said it would “sunset” its sponsored stories advertising option. Or they may only be sunsetting a type of sponsored story. Like much of the language around Facebook’s ad products, it’s bafflingly confusing and unclear.

But the part we do know, at least, is that sponsored stories that show certain aspects of what other people Like, are being discontinued effective April 9, 2014.

This ad product is not to be confused with “promoted posts” (which are staying). Promoted posts are when you pay to promote one of your own Facebook update posts. Those remain unchanged by this announcement.

The sponsored stories at issue here appear to be the ones involving a business paying to turn someone else’s Like activity into an ad. These involve Likes of a business’s website (“domain sponsored stories”) , and Likes of a business’s app or story in an app (“open graph sponsored stories”).

Say, for instance, that your name is Courtney Cronin and that you “Liked” something on the Jasper’s Market website. Jasper’s Market could pay to have that action (with your name and face attached) turned into a sponsored story ad. (See image above).

So why are they being discontinued? Facebook doesn’t say. But, sponsored stories have been controversial.

Facebook says these notifications provide sponsors with “social context” showing that users are interacting with the brand. But critics of the sponsored stories feature have said that it gives the impression of an endorsement and should require a user’s consent for use of their image and name. So in the example of Courtney Cronin, if Courtney happens to be a prominent food critic and writes a popular food blog, it could amount to a valuable endorsement, without paying Courtney anything for the use of her name and likeness. If you were Courtney, you might not like that.

Suit Alleges Facebook Faked “Likes”

The elimination of sponsored stories may have something to do with a class action suit recently filed against Facebook which seems to connect to the feature.

This lawsuit alleges that Facebook “faked” likes from a Colorado man, Anthony DiTirro, (and perhaps others). It claims Facebook also featured DiTirro’s photo and name on a sponsored story paid for by USA Today. DiTirro is asking for $750 in damages for himself and restitution for any other users affected.

Conspicuously, the suit was filed the same day Facebook announced it would discontinue the sponsored stories feature, observed Marketing Land.

In its announcement on the official “Platform Roadmap” outlining future Facebook developments, the company seemed to downplay the importance of the sponsored stories feature, explaining:

“Page post and page like ads already automatically have the best social context (likes and comments) added.”

Got that? It wasn’t very clear to us either. But one thing that seems clear is that you can no longer create new sponsored stories that involve Liking something on a company’s webpage. And existing ones have to be finished with their runs by April 9th.

The concession may speak volumes. Critics have insisted that Facebook sees its users more like products than customers. But it is their interest that drives activity on the site and their attention advertisers are paying to capture.

We’ll update this story as the facts become clearer.

Image: Facebook

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6 Ways to Create A Positive Brand Perception

Posted: 14 Jan 2014 11:00 AM PST

“Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” ~ George Bernhard Shaw

We hear this all the time – perception is reality. Do you agree with this and believe in it?

I do.

Our personality and professional image sets the tone and stage for how we are all perceived. With the reality of a 24/7 online media world that can change things in a real-time split second, one small wrong move or right move can go viral and change everything.

What does your social brand say about you online? This is your calling card and visual home that people will use to determine why connecting with you is viable and has value.

Creating a positive brand image today is a combination of many factors including your visual presence, relevance, value, character and ability to serve, engage and move people.

Ultimately, it's a blend of our IQ – Intellectual Intelligence, EQ – Emotional Intelligence and I what I like to call, your SQ – Spiritual Intelligence. We control our perception destiny far more than we realize.

Below are 6 ways to create a positive brand perception, which we shape by how we look, what we say and what we do.

How to Create Your Positive Brand Perception

Update Your Technology and Your Website

We are getting very "smart" from phone, TV, 3D, and online and web learning. So keeping up with the latest technologies reflects the value you can deliver to your customers and community. There is a current look to Web technology with widgets, slide shows, social integration, linking that we all use, expect and want.

Make sure yours reflects this.

Invest In Your Professional Branding

Having your own look, logo and image across all your marketing and social platforms helps you stand out, be more unique and says "I'm serious."

Invest in yourself and your branding. Get a referral for a graphic designer from your network whose work you like.

Qualify Your Relationships and Connections

I wish everyone well, but qualifying the best people, communities and activities to invest my business time on is crucial.

Build relationships and connections with those who can help you grow toward your goals the most.

Increase Your Dedicated Meetings and Conversations

Dedicated in person meetings or phone calls does more to move a relationship forward than just about anything.

Making the time to get more personal and get to know people shows your interest in them and creates the opportunity for them to get to know you better, too.

Commit More Time to Purposeful Social Media Marketing

Eighty six percent of marketers say social media is important for their business. One of the biggest benefits of social media is its ability to connect and engage with people on a regular basis. Facebook is the top social media followed by YouTube, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn.

Smart, strategic activity that keeps you in front of key people will grow your business relationships.

Get Out, Join and Volunteer

Attraction marketing is everything you do both in person and online that puts you out there to meet people and share your expertise and personality.

Be involved in your industry, community and niche daily. Suit up and show up and be an active participant, not a quiet bystander.

Our personality and professional image sets the tone for how we are all perceived. How we look, what we say and what we do can leave a positive, lasting first impression or ending impression. It's up to us to be consistent, authentic and fresh in all of our self marketing activities. Learn from these top 10 brands on social media.

Relationships are gold but they take time. Invest the time in the right people and it will boomerang back to you.

Perception is reality – and we can create them both in positive and memorable ways.

Half Empty or Half Full Photo via Shutterstock

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Vimeo Makes Its Player Faster, More Social, Better for Mobile

Posted: 14 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST

Vimeo improved video player

If you use video regularly for business, you probably know that YouTube recently added live streaming for all users.

But you might not be aware that one of YouTube’s rivals, Vimeo, has “rebuilt” its video player. The changes make the player faster, more compatible with mobile, and easier to share socially. There’s also an option to make it easier for you to monetize your content, to sell or rent your video on a pay-per-view basis.

In the official Vimeo Staff Blog, Brad Dougherty explains:

“The player may look (mostly) the same on the surface, but behind the scenes we rethought everything from the ground up. Our re-engineered back end means that videos load twice as fast, and we simplified the front end to make it compatible with way more devices.”

You can take a look at the new player:

Changes in the Vimeo Player

Here are some of the main changes in Vimeo’s new player:

HTML 5 replaces Adobe Flash. This is important because it will better render video on newer browsers and mobile devices (many of which do not even play Flash) as the older platform is phased out.
The share screen is redesigned with Facebook, Twitter and email buttons making it easier to share video in the most obvious ways. An embed code is accessible from the screen of each video.
Video playback time is improved. Videos in many cases start in under one second, the company claims. One of the knocks against Vimeo in the past has been slowness, so the speed improvements will be welcomed.
An in-player purchase feature is added making it possible for you to rent or sell your video to viewers “on demand” from an embedded trailer you can embed on any site. Here’s a peek at the setup window for the in-player purchase feature:

Other changes include new subtitles and closed caption support. You upload a caption or subtitle file (Vimeo suggests using the free Amara service), so that people can read along, including in other languages.

A sync feature also allows you set scale, HD and volume preferences over all your videos. The sync feature also pauses one video when you start to play another.

Keep in mind that Vimeo’s policies expressly forbid businesses to use its free accounts for any commercial purposes. There are some exceptions made for authors, artists and independent video production companies. So if your business involves any of these kinds of products you may need to investigated further to see whether you qualify. Otherwise you’ll need to pay for the Vimeo Pro account at $199 per year. That’s less than $17 per month, and for a business expense may well be worth it.

Vimeo offers an ad-free platform with no commercial messages running before, after or over your business message. Some consider ads the bane of YouTube videos.

Vimeo, while not quite as large as the mammoth YouTube, is one of the top 10 video sites in the United States. A comScore report for December 2013 shows Vimeo had nearly 33 million unique visitors and 142 million views for all its videos together. Still, that’s less than one-fifth the unique visitors of YouTube. But if you use video mainly on your website and in your social media channels, the viewers you reach through your channels will be the ones that matter to you anyway.

Image credits: Vimeo screenshots

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Take the Test: Determine Your Small Business Health Score

Posted: 14 Jan 2014 05:00 AM PST

Sponsored Post

small business health score

This is a good time of year to assess the health of your company. Review these 10 elements and determine your small business health score to find out where you stand.

What is Your Small Business Health Score?

1) Cash Flow

Having a cash flow positive company is critical for success. This means the business has more cash at the end of the month than the beginning.

How to score: Add 2 points for cash flow positive. Subtract 2 points for cash flow negative (less cash at the end of the month).

2) Quick Ratio

This simple balance sheet formula divides current assets minus current liabilities. Ratios greater than one mean the company has enough current assets to pay its current bills.

How to score: Add 2 points if the company’s quick radio is above one. Subtract 2 points if it is below one. Note that a healthy quick ratio number will vary by industry.

3) Customer Annuities

This means repeat customers pay the company automatically every month.

How to score: Add 2 points if this is true. Subtract 1 point if the company needs to recreate its revenue and find new customers every month.

4) Fixed Overhead Expenses

High fixed overhead expenses do not give companies flexibility as sales and profit changes.

How to score: Add 1 point if most of the company’s expenses are variable. Subtract 1 point if most expenses are fixed or they are high compared to sales.

5) Management Team

Strong companies are not about their owners, but their team leaders.

How to score: Add 2 points for a truly collaborative organization. Subtract 1 point if the CEO makes all the top down decisions.

6) Employee Turnover

Loyal employees generate more profit for companies than those with high turnover.

How to score: Add 2 points if the company retains employees for at least 5 years. Add 1 point for 3-5 years. Subtract 1 point if employees stay 2 years or less.

7) Strategic and Focused Plan

Companies that have a written plan about where they are going and employees that are clear about the company’s direction succeed.

How to score: Add 1 point if every company employee can articulate the plan. Subtract 1 point if they can’t.

8) Systematic Sales and Marketing Plan

Many small businesses only market when they have no sales, but immediately stop when they do.

How to score: Add 2 points if the company has an ongoing systematic plan including social media. Subtract 2 points if sales and marketing is mostly improvisational.

9) Infrastructure

Growing companies need to have an infrastructure that supports them. Nextiva uses the integration of tools from Marketo, SalesForce, and NuviApp (social) to deliver reliable communication solutions to their business clients.

How to score: Add 1 point if the company has integrated systems that can be effectively used by employees and customers. Subtract 2 points if each system is independent from each other or does work effectively.

10) Outside Advisors

Small business owners need to ask for help.

How to score: Add 1 point if the owner has a formal advisory board. Subtract 1 point if the owner is insulated and never asks anyone outside the company for advice.

Scoring Totals:

Above 10: Congratulations! Your small business is healthy and well positioned for 2014. Look at improving any area where the score was negative to increase your strength.

0 to 9: At risk! Key parts of your small business need to be improved. You are vulnerable to changes inside and outside the company. Pay attention to the elements where your score was negative.

Below 0: Danger! Too many parts of your business are unhealthy and your company risks going bankrupt this year. Seek help immediately!

So what is your small business health score?

This article, provided by Nextiva, is republished through a content distribution agreement. The original can be found here.

Test Score Photo via Shutterstock

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