Due to the government shutdown, the Small Business Administration will not process loans back by the company. Over a billion dollars goes to small businesses all across the country. Unfortunately these loans cannot be funded because there is no one to process the loans.
Also, the government shutdown also affect those businesses that have government contracts.
How has the shutdown is affect your business?
Questions you should ask yourself when Creating a Social Media Marketing Plan
1. Who should set up and maintain my company's social media account? If you have a large company, designate someone from your marketing department.
2. How often should I post to my social networks? At least 2 to 3 times a day. Stagger your post throughout the day.
3. Which social networks should I use? You can always start out with Twitter or Facebook. Until you find out what works best for your business.
4. What is my goal for using social media? To convert likes into customers. You want to attract and engage your customers. Most importantly you want to expose your brand.
The biggest mistake you can make is not to have a Social Media Plan. So build a plan (or let us build one for you) and stick with it. Once a month you will have to go back and evaluate what works and what doesn't work.
Building a mobile app can be a little overwhelming. Before you build an app you must ask yourself four questions.
1. Who is your audience? Identify whom you're building the app for. Will your app be used by an external or internal audience? External- for customers. Internal-for employees.
2. Should you build a mobile site or a mobile app? Actually your company should have both app and a mobile site.
3. Should the app be built in-house or outsourced? It maybe smarter to outsource the initial development. Then set up a team in-house to do maintenance and updates.
4. Will my app lie within the company guidelines? Will your mobile strategy be in lined with your company goals and objectives.
Think carefully before you proceed.
A fundraiser trend for building capital for small business is on a rise. Lately, I've seen a few social media advertisement, commercials and emails regarding Crowdfunding. What is crowdfunding? Getting small donations of money from a large group of people. This is a case of your story not your credit score.
Websites such as Indiegigo, Crowdfunding Start up and Kick Starter walks you through steps of setting up your profile. Majority of these sites have a group of non professionals investors who will invest in your business depending on your story. The key to success is attracting people's attention.
Tips for Successful Crowdfunding
1. Include a video in your pitch.
2. Be active.
3. Have money set aside already.
If you have already raised money successfully through crowdfunding, please share your story. Give us some tips.
We all hate rude comments, but we have to face them. When a customer leaves a rude comment on your Facebook, Twitter, Blog or other social media channels our first instinct is to delete it or not respond to it. Not responding to customers comments takes the personality out of your brand.
If someone leaves a nasty comment, getting to the bottom of is the comment is what is important. If the customer chooses to continue to leave one nasty comment after another. Respond one time in a respectful manner. After that let it go.
If your company does something wrong own it in a public way but be careful what you are apologizing for. Be specific when apologizing. If not, it can be used against you.
So lesson of the day:
1. Respond to negative comments
2. Don't delete negative comments right a way but remove it after a period of time.
3. Be professional.
4. Be specific.
