In a previous post I talked about managing negative blog comments and taking the high road in your response. Just as in advertising when they say there is no such thing as bad publicity, so it sometimes is with negative comments. Those comments written in anger can end up doing some good for your blog, website, forum, or Social Media site. They stir emotions, they invite participation. Every time someone clicks on your blog or replies to a comment, those on the internet notice the increased activity and they’ll come over to your posts to see what all the commotion is about.

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You’ve written a blog post or created a video and you’ve posted it for the world to see. When you post your opinions on open forums like app stores, on social media, in blogs, or on a website, you are bravely putting yourself out there. Your hope is that you will inspire and that you’ll add positively to the general conversation. Things are looking pretty good until you notice that there’s a pretty nasty comment about your post, and then you notice another.

What do you do?

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An unwatched video is nothing short of a waste of time and money. So now that you’ve designed and created a video to showcase your software, how do you make sure that people actually see it?

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Now that you’ve done the groundwork in preparing for your software demo video and you know the purpose and the message you want to get across, it’s time to actually start creating the demo!

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Before you start creating a video highlighting your software, there are a few preliminary steps you must take to ensure your video’s success. Just like any builder needs to work from a solid, reviewed blueprint, so does a videographer need to work from a planned and precise script. As all builders know, it’s easier to correct a problem at the blueprint stage then it is to try and fix something after the structure is finished.

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With so many social media options out there, and with more on the horizon every day, it’s a challenge to know whether your business can benefit from any of them or not.

Google+ is one of the new guys, and there are mixed reviews so far. If you’re already using Twitter and Facebook and getting good results, then you might not want or need another avenue right now. If you’re new to social network platforms and still working on goals for what you want to accomplish, Google+ should be thrown into the mix.

Google+ ties several Google products that serve businesses together. One point especially worth noting is that with Google being a top search engine in the world, public posts made on Google+ automatically rank higher than any others in a Google search. What’s not to like about that?

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By now, you’ve probably heard about Pinterest. It’s an online “image” grabbing site that allows users to group images captured (pinned) from websites onto pages which can then be shared with others who have a similar interest. Think of it as online scrapbooking except that, this being the internet, you’re able to follow the graphic image back to the original website.

Let’s say that someone I follow has a page of “Hardware, You Gotta Have.” If I see a photo of a new Ultrabook™, I might be inclined to click on that photo to get more information from the original website. It is in those traffic clicks where lies the possible advantage of Pinterest to your company. Pinterest is yet another possible way to drive consumers to your website.

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Any investment in your business should be for a specific reason. And each investment of time or money should have specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely (SMART) goals associated with it so you can determine if the investment is viable. Using social media is no different, yet with something so intangible, how do you go about creating these measurable goals?

You start with the basics – the big picture goals, such as:
• Increase fan or follower base
• Drive traffic to the company website
• Build/increase your company’s e-mail subscriber list
• Reach new clients through relationship building

With these high-level goals, you now have to determine your specific goals. I can’t say what your goals should be since I’m not familiar with your company or what your definition of success is. You or your management team have to decide what numbers to strive for. I can, however, give you some suggestions on how you might start tracking the goals mentioned above.

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When you’re using any tool for business, you want to know if you’re getting a good return on your investment. And if you’re using Twitter, you’ll realize that a lot of information is flowing, but you may not feel you are managing it or capturing it.

There are third-party tools available to help you track statistics, schedule tweets, manage multiple accounts, moderate posts, and a lot more. Most tools have a free version, or offer free trial, but even those with small fees are worth the investment – if they deliver the information you need, of course.

For viewing, tracking, and managing data, here are a few options

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Everyone wants to make a good first impression, right? If you have a brick and mortar building for your business, you want visitors to feel welcomed as soon as they come through the door. The same is true for online landing and welcome pages – you want the individual to be attracted enough to stay on the page, and interested enough to either leave you their email address immediately, or start engaging with your business in some way.

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When I teach blog writing classes, one of the first questions my students always ask is: what’s the best way to compose an effective blog post?

Anyone here ever read a newspaper, I ask? Well that’s not how you write for a blog. I go on to explain – when you read an article in a newspaper, you’ll find that it uses the inverted triangle approach. That means as much relevant information is packed into the top of the story, trailing off with the sort of “nice to knows” at the end. This is done so that if the editor runs out of space for the story, she can lop off the last one or two paragraphs of a submitted article and not lose the important information.

A newspaper article does and should not end on a strong note. That’s just not how they are read. It’s not what we expect to see.


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Often when it comes to online marketing, we can feel overwhelmed. There’s Twitter, blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, and whatever is the newest thing (Pinterest anyone?) How on earth are you supposed to keep all those balls juggling in the air while still having time to get your real work done?

The answer, of course, is in setting limits and keeping focused.

Start at the Beginning
Remembering always that information flows outward from your website, first set your priorities. You need to have the groundwork done each day. If you have a company blog, get that blog post up, preferably first thing in the morning. Your completed blog post will then drive most of your Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn responses.

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Having expertise isn’t enough for companies these days. You need to be able to broadcast that experience to your customers and your competition. Doing this will you gain customers and win competition and it will also set you apart as a leader while helping to improve your brand value. Here are five ways you can establish yourself as an expert in your field.

Start slowly
If you aren’t fully involved in Social Media right now then start slowly. People are more likely to trust someone who throws in an occasional comment and who, after a while, gets more active, then someone who comes out at top speed from the get-go. Let your presence be heard and be consistent in sending messages out. Take small steps, eventually increasing your exposure over time.

Once you hit your stride, continue at that pace. Nothing takes away confidence in someone more than having that person be unreliable.

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Once you’ve created a marketing plan that identifies what it is you want to sell, how, and to whom, you need to start getting the word out on your business.

One question that most start-up companies will ask is how do I effectively reach the most people while keeping a reasonable marketing budget? Thanks to the Internet, not only is it possible to market on a shoestring budget, it’s almost considered the norm these days. Here are some ways you can get your business’s word out with very little money.

Start a blog – Give people a reason to visit your website. If you don’t have a blog, people might visit your website once or twice to gather information and never return. If you have a blog that…

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There have literally been thousands of books written on how to create a company’s marketing strategy. It can be as complicated or as straightforward as you like. To hit the ground running in getting your company’s brand out into the public, these are the bare bone minimum things that must be immediately established for any company’s marketing strategy:

1. Understand the market climate

Markets change all the time. Keep an eye on what’s happening. If it’s a down market, for example, you need to be sensitive to the fact that people won’t have a lot of extra money. Your customers will be looking specifically for value and durability. In short, they want their money’s worth. Companies like Dell understand this with their “Grow IT Faster, Run IT Better, Grow IT Smarter” campaign. They show you the value of… (Read more….) Read more >

An effective elevator pitch can break the ice in networking scenarios and used the right way, can garner new clients, customers, or investors. Working through developing an elevator pitch will give you more clarity surrounding your target audience and business goals. You’ll also gain a degree of confidence once you know you have the words to say when asked, “So, what do you do?”

What it is – An elevator pitch, also known as an elevator speech or elevator summary, is a short overview of your company, products, or services.

There’s a reason it’s called an elevator pitch; you have a small window of time to make a good first impression. You want the pitch to take no more than 60 seconds (30 seconds is best) to deliver at a comfortable speaking pace, which is generally 150-250 words.

Why you need it – You need an elevator pitch because … (Read more…) Read more >

When using Twitter for business, you want to keep in mind that you’re building relationships. It’s a dance with people you can’t see and who may or may not end up being future customers or clients.

Here are 5 ways to use Twitter in order to build your company’s presence.

1 – Keep your ears open.

Use Twitter Search to ‘listen’ for your company’s name, your competitors’ names, and keywords for your business. You can search via a specific Twitter handle (@Intel), regular name (Intel), or through hashtag terms (#techninnovation). It’s a way to eavesdrop without being rude. Search allows you to stay on top of current trends, know the good and the bad of what people are saying about you, and deal with potential problems before they become major headaches.

2 – Have a personal touch for the company account.

Show the Twitter handles of the real people who are posting for the company account. For example, the SAP (@SAP) profile says: The official Twitter feed of SAP. All Tweets by @SocialKev unless otherwise noted. It lets your audience know they’re having real conversations. If you only list one name, makes sure to update the profile when responsibility shifts due to holidays, vacations, sick days, and so on.

3 – Keep self-promotion to a minimum. Focus the majority of your tweets…(Read more….)

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LinkedIn may have started out being a place for job-seeking professionals to find connections and new employment, but it is now also a powerful marketing tool for businesses. It’s an incredible resource that gives you worldwide exposure for your company. LinkedIn is about connections. With more than 2 million businesses, LinkedIn is a powerful way to network and meet people relevant to your business and professional needs.

Businesses of all sizes always want new clients. Once your business has a business page created, you, and other employees in your company, start building exposure for your company by reconnecting, or linking, with people you already know. This is done by sending an ‘invitation to connect.’ These people can be from any part of life – past clients, past colleagues, high school, college, current and past associations, groups, fields of interest, and so on. As they connect with you, you will be able to identify others you’d like to connect with. You can do that directly, or ask for an introduction from a current connection, depending on the type of relationship.

Either way, you want to have your ‘handshake’ ready (basically your electronic elevator speech, short, sweet, and simple.) Tell the person why…
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Facebook started in 2004 as a social network directory for college students, but now it’s used by all ages. It’s still a great tool for personal connections, but it’s also powerful for businesses wanting to stay in touch with their audience and attract new customers.

Facebook has millions of users and continues to grow every day. Businesses of all sizes access the power of Facebook by creating a ‘page.’ The page has different functionality from the common ‘profile’ that is created for an individual. Think of the Facebook business page as a small-scale combination website and blog because you can have static information as well as real-time comments posted to the ‘wall’ (acts like a company bulletin board) of your page.

A page’s audience is built …
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Like a complicated puzzle, it’s always tough to figure out where to start when you are planning your internet marketing campaign. There’s Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, websites, and blogs. That’s a lot of things going on at the same time.
So where does one start and with what? The easiest answer to this, of course, is to start at the beginning. Once you’ve built your platform, your customers will then be able to begin finding you.

The first place to start is a website and a blog, but before you can do that (I wasn’t kidding when I talked about it being a complicated puzzle) you need to sit down and everyone on your team needs to agree on a few things which will become the foundation of your company’s platform including:

• What does your company stand for? (social, economic, or political platform)
• What do you want your company to be known for? (product, services)

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