These days, everyone has their “device” of choice. There’s always been a great divide of sorts when it comes to people who favor Apple products versus those who prefer PCs. Now, there are so many different types of tablets, laptops, smart phones, and desktop computers.

In an office setting, it’s nearly impossible to please everyone when it comes to technology. Everyone is used to using their own devices at home and may be loyal to one platform over another. Personally, if you handed me any smartphone other than an iPhone, it would take me a while to figure it out, whereas I have friends who are loyal to their Android powered phones or Blackberries.

Of course you want everyone in your office to be happy with the device/computer/phone that they have to work on. People who are familiar with the platform they are working on are often able to be more productive. In the past, companies have always provided their employees with their choice of computer and/or phone. Depending on the industry, different types of devices might be more popular. But lately, more and more companies are switching to a BYOD (bring your own device) policy.

Here are some reasons that BYOD can be a great alternative for small businesses –

1. Less up front cost – instead of having to purchase a whole fleet of cell phones all at once, typically BYOD companies will pay a portion of the employees’ personal phone bill instead.
2. Employees don’t have to have multiple devices – at a company that my boyfriend used to work for, they issued iPhones to each manager. Great, in theory, but it left ¾ of the staff to carry around TWO iPhones all of the time. The company could have saved a ton of time and money by just offering a stipend to each manager. Plus, employees wouldn’t have to have two phones.
3. Laptop vs. desktop – if employees bring their own devices, they can choose if they prefer a laptop, desktop, or both.
4. Easier to work on the go – instead of having to come into the office to use computers or phones, employees can work on the go through the use of the cloud if they use devices that they already own.

There are a few potential downsides to the BYOD practice as well, as with anything. It makes it tougher to track employee productivity. It may take time for someone to replace a lost, stolen, or broken device. But if you take these things into consideration before implementing the practice and put policies in place, bringing your own device can make for a productive work environment.

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I pride myself on being on the up-and-up when it comes to social media and Internet marketing. I should be, I blog for quite a few social/marketing/business blogs each month! But this week, I came across a topic that was unfamiliar to me. So of course, I had to delve into it further and learn about this mysterious topic.

The article that helped me to discover social commerce, or “s-ecommerce” as it is sometimes referred to, describes social commerce as new Internet retail outlets that rely on peer communication and social networks to gain sales. Gibberish? Kind of. But once you think about it, it makes sense. There were a few examples of social commerce that stood out to me in particular:

Etsy – Etsy has seen a very fast rise in a very short time. Etsy shops can be opened by anyone, and must feature original, handmade, or one of a kind products for sale, with a few exceptions such as antiques. The reason that Etsy would be considered social commerce is because it involves peer-to-peer selling. There is no advertising or marketing done outside of the Etsy home site. Yet many Etsy sellers have become wildly successful (a friend of mine has had 3,500 sales in less than 2 years).

Group Discount Services – companies like Groupon or LivingSocial would absolutely fit into the social commerce group. Most of the sales completed through this website are from social media advertising or recommendations. Again, very little outside advertising is done (i.e. TV, billboards, etc).

Business Donations – sites like Kickstarter and GoFundMe allow people to help fund the pet projects of others. This is a way for those with no marketing or production budget to sell their idea and get people to donate money to start their project. They are based solely on social marketing and word of mouth. Many projects that have been started through sites like this have gone on to be immensely successful.

Social commerce is an interesting concept, and one that we should all be paying attention to. As buying power and advertising shift more and more into the social media world, focusing on social commerce as a business model is going to be important. The true impact of social media has yet to be exposed. Social commerce also encompasses things like reviews, recommendations, and newer shopping-focused sites where people can recommend products to friends and family. If you are a business owner, it’s particularly important to pay attention to the trend towards social media when it comes to purchasing power.

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Let’s face it, whether you are a business or just a casual user of social media or a blogger, sometimes coming up with original content can be downright difficult. Lacking inspiration and not knowing where to find it can be very frustrating. I’m actually guilty lately of referring to thinking of things to write about as akin to running up against a cement wall. Coming up with new and fresh content can be tough. Sometimes, we get into a rut and just think about posting/writing/sharing the same old topics, over and over again.

So how can we break out of this rut? Here are a few suggestions:

1. Review your old content – sometimes looking back at what you’ve written or posted in the past can spark a new idea. Perhaps you could offer a new take on a topic that you’ve written about previously. Maybe your stance on an issue has changed, or you have studied something more in-depth and can offer an expert opinion this time.
2. Consult a friend, family member, or colleague – I find that as with a lot of things in life, bouncing ideas off of another person can absolutely spark my creativity. Even if they don’t give you exact topics to post or blog about, they may be able to get you thinking. I often tell my boyfriend what I’m considering writing about, and get ideas from him about what he would like to hear more about when it comes to that topic. He and I work in completely different fields, so it’s nice to get an outsider’s perspective, and it also almost always helps me to move forward with whatever I’m working on.
3. Get out in the world around you – take some time to listen to what’s going on in your world. I guess I am saying that you ought to eavesdrop a little, as silly as it sounds. But when you go out to lunch or to the grocery store, hear what others are talking about. Often, they may have ideas that you can capitalize on. As a bonus, you may find that topics that you hear people talking about will also resonate with your readers.
4. Use multi-media – if you are tired of writing the same blog posts again and again, or asking questions on Facebook, think about adding another dimension to your content. Consider recording a video blog. Post a photo series. Record yourself talking about your company and make it into a podcast. Record a video on Vine. There are so many opportunities to easily make content interactive.

Coming up with new content can sometimes be challenging, but in order to keep your website, blog, or social media pages fresh and inviting new consumers, it’s critical to try to come up with new material.

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LinkedIn is now arguably one of the most important social networks to be a part of, particularly if you are a part of the professional world. LinkedIn allows professionals from all over the world and nearly every industry to connect. Both those who are seeking jobs and those who are looking to hire new employees can take advantage of LinkedIn. The network has grown exponentially in the past few years, and now has millions of users and can compete with the other social media giants like Facebook and Twitter.

Your LinkedIn profile is a bit more in-depth than other social media networks that you might participate in. While on Facebook, you might scrape the surface when it comes to your employment history and education, LinkedIn delves much further into your professional background. The site offers space for you to write a summary about yourself and your experience and interests. It also showcases your job skills, community service work, and continuing education.

LinkedIn is becoming a requirement when it comes to employment. Some companies have even shifted their hiring focus to the site. There are also many ways to be interactive on LinkedIn. You can join LinkedIn groups that are related to your profession. You can share articles with colleagues or on your page. You can endorse the skills of others, or write recommendations for people that you have worked with, and they can do the same for you.

LinkedIn has also recently added a new feature. You are now able to add photos and other multi-media content to your profile page. This is a great addition to a well-rounded page. The goal of using LinkedIn is to make yourself look attractive (so to speak) in the professional world. Adding photos can be a great way to do this. Photos of yourself in a professional situation or volunteering can show your personality to potential employers or connections. The same goes for posting content that is related to hobbies. Many employers would prefer a well-rounded employee who enjoys activities outside of work, as well. Posting photos and multi-media content is a good way to add to your appeal.

As always, it’s important to keep your LinkedIn page professional. While it may seem silly to address professionalism when it comes to a network that is based on your work and accomplishments, you would be surprised with what people include on their pages! Just be careful to only add content and media that is relevant to the content that you have posted on your LinkedIn page.  If you’re not sure if the content you’re adding to your page is okay or not, read the 12 most wrong things to do on LinkedIn and make sure you’re not doing any of them.

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Social media has had a massive impact on marketing and the way that consumers view businesses. While many businesses are taking part in social media marketing, many fail to see the market research potential that the platform offers as well. These tips and tricks offer simple, easy to implement ways to turn social media into a powerful marketing research tool.

Forming your Marketing Research Plan

Before you can begin to sift through your various social media platforms for information, you must first form a research plan. With the sheer amount of information that is constantly streaming across many of the most popular social media services, such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, having a plan will help to keep your research focused and allow you to organize and act on the information that you obtain.

Common research plan steps include:

1. Set Your Goals: One of the keys to successful marketing research is focus. By determining exactly what you wish to obtain from your research, you can track your progress and returns easily. Be as specific as possible when setting goals for optimal results.

2. Choose Your Research Sources: Social media platforms vary in appearance, audience, tone and other factors. Choosing a platform that aligns with your goals can help to speed up the process and improve the quality of your findings. For example, B2B businesses might consider LinkedIn or Twitter as these platforms offer access to a wide range of other businesses and professionals.

3. Conduct Your Research: With goals and a target platform in mind, it is time to start researching. There is a wide variety of ways to conduct marketing research using social media. Popular methods and tips for optimizing your existing efforts will be discussed in a moment.

4. Analyze Your Results and Start Again: With the rapid pace of many social media platforms, you can accurately track trends, opinions and topics as they change. Depending on your market, these changes could occur daily or slowly occur over the course of months. Because of this, market research through social media is often an on-going process.

Using Social Media to Track Trends

One of the easiest forms of market research to conduct using social media is trends tracking and analysis. Most major platforms offer multiple ways to search recent posts for key terms or trends. An example of this is Twitter's hashtag searches. By choosing terms related to your questions or market, you gain instant access to a near-constant stream of information.

Observe or Engage for Varied Responses

One of the major benefits of social media research is that you can choose your level of involvement. Passive collection and observation offer outstanding ways to obtain information without having to worry about how your brand or business might influence the speaker's opinion. On the opposite side, active engagement with others on social media can lead to insightful findings and expose a side of your market that you might not see normally. By mixing both methods, you can create a well-rounded set of data for analysis.

Build a Network of Competitors

The public nature of social media has changed business accessibility forever. While this offers a number of marketing benefits, you can also use it to your advantage for research purposes. Locate and follow your competitors' social media feeds for a first-hand look at their marketing methods, brand, strategies and products or services. This can help you to find additional ways to strengthen your brand or reveal new opportunities for your business.

Using Social Media to Improve Communications

Terms such as value, quality and innovation are different from business to business. Likewise, your customer base is likely to have a differing definition from your business as well. Social media offers an accessible, easy to use way to learn about what your customers or clients think of products and services, as well as revealing their common complaints, issues or concerns. By creating a customer-centric approach to your marketing through social media research, you can increase the efficiency and effectiveness of your marketing campaigns.

Tools to Help Your Social Media Research

• TweetDeck: This free program from Twitter offers a consolidated interface from which to conduct research on both Twitter and Facebook. It allows for hashtag tracking, user searches and real-time notifications.

• Hashtracking: As a premium service, Hashtracking provides comprehensive analytics and trends on up to 40 Twitter hashtags for a flat monthly fee. It includes numerous reports and sharing options to help manage your data.

• Tweriod: Social media research is all about finding your audience and compiling information. If your business has an existing Twitter account, Tweriod will let you know the times when your followers are most active for increased research productivity.

Social media is becoming a popular market research tool quickly due to its low cost and ease of use. These tips and tricks will help you to harness the power of social media for your marketing benefit.

Ray Nelson is a marketing writer who specializes in writing about marketing geared towards women among other topics like market research and social media marketing.  

While browsing the web recently for news and how I could translate stories I read into blog topics, I found an article titled Social Media Marketing: Get Out Now, You’re Doomed to Fail. I was surprised to read this, because in my experience, many companies have had success with social media marketing; plus, it’s virtually free. Since the headline captured my attention, I went on to read the article. To my surprise, it wasn’t really about getting out of social media marketing, it was about how to be successful at it. Perfect!

Social media marketing tactics boast hundreds of success stories when it comes to businesses. Social media marketing can put previously unknown businesses on the map. However, launching a successful marketing campaign takes thought and planning. If you don’t put thought or a plan of action in place, your business could be committing a social media mistake.  This article says that if you don’t take the time to learn more about what you are doing when it comes to social media marketing, you may as well just give up.

I would encourage any small business owner or employee to take this advice with a grain of salt. It’s so important to take full advantage of social media marketing. It’s one of the cheapest, most far-reaching types of marketing that is available to business owners right now. With hundreds of millions of users all over the world, I think that if you don’t invest your time in social media, it’s going to wind up being detrimental to your business.

Here are some things to consider when it comes to social media marketing –

• Take the time to check out the social media pages and campaigns of your competitors. This will help you to be better prepared to attract customers to your pages.
• Consider time, budget, and resources.  Before joining social media networks as a business, make sure that you know how much time and what resources you will be able to dedicate to updates and marketing.
• Consider your strengths and weaknesses. Make sure that you don’t try to over-reach when it comes to social media. Pick the networks that you are the most interested in and will be able to dedicate resources to. It’s better to have a strong presence on a few networks than a weak presence on many networks.
• Think about how you want to handle your social media strategies. In order to thrive in the social media sphere, you need a successful social media strategy.  Are you planning to hire an outside person or firm to update your pages? Delegate an in-house person to manage them? It’s important to choose a specific strategy, or risk forgetting to update.
• Develop marketing campaigns that are specifically tailored for social media. Don’t just try to fit your current marketing plans into a social media platform – social media sites deserve campaigns that are designed just for them.

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Some of the first killer applications for personal computers were electronic address books that replaced the Rolodex. They were simply contact management systems, electronic databases that made it easier to keep all of your contacts up to date. In the era before office networks, laptops, smart phones and the World Wide Web, many businesses would print out contact lists and share them with employees.

The modern equivalent is a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, software designed to connect customer interactions such as email, phone calls and contracts with appointments, fulfillment and other deliverables across your entire company.  CRM solutions promise faster customer service for less money, better customer retention and, ultimately, more customer loyalty and increased sales.

CRM systems are being adopted worldwide at a rapid pace. IDC reports that the CRM software industry grew to 18 billion in worldwide revenue in 2012. Meanwhile, Gartner anticipates a 500 percent rise in mobile CRM by 2014.

Today, there are a plethora of CRM systems available to businesses of all sizes and industries. Large companies will look to enterprise level solutions such as Oracle or Salesforce.  Small companies will benefit from solutions like Insightly that are specifically designed to meet the budget, resource constraints and feature needs of small businesses.

In the age of Internet everywhere and billions of connected devices, many small businesses will look to cloud-based (online) CRM’s. Why? Because such solutions provide anytime, anywhere access and do not require you to purchase and maintain expensive hardware or have a full-time IT person to keep the system up to date.

So what should you expect from a CRM?

1. It should serve as a centralized collection and storage system, so you can share sales, marketing and customer service data and track customer interactions throughout your organization. That means everyone on your team has access to the latest information about each customer – when the last appointment took place, what was covered, what that customer is interested in, etc. That allows you to personalize relationships with customers, regardless of which employee deals directly with them at any given time. The last thing customers want is to sit on hold on the phone, or be transferred from person to person to get the answer they need.
    
2. Many CRM systems also contain project management and administrative features, such as the ability to create tasks and milestones for projects, and receive email reminders for upcoming activity. These features are incredibly useful for making sure that you are meeting client expectations and obligations and delivering on time.
    
3. You can pull reports based on the data you feed the system. Find out which products are profitable, and which are garnering customer complaints. Who are your most profitable customers and what are they buying? Internally, you can find out how long it takes sales reps to return customer contacts. Look at your pipeline, with an eye to potential profits. How many deals are in the pipeline? Which deals are moving forward, and which have vanished?

   You can also track the effectiveness of your marketing initiatives, including your website, direct mail and email campaigns.  Your CRM solution should eliminate any bottlenecks and capture useful data to track campaign effectiveness and make intelligent marketing investment decisions.
    

4. By using a CRM system effectively, you can expect faster turnaround time for closing a sale. In addition, as different company departments are able to share data, employees can efficiently work as a team, as opposed to working individually or in isolated groups.

So expect your CRM system to help you understand your customers better, serve them more effectively and design new strategies that will increase customer loyalty, along with sales. Study after study shows that a positive experience is key to customer retention and ultimately to your bottom line.  http://returnonbehavior.com/2010/10/50-facts-about-customer-experience-for-2011/

What makes a good CRM? The definition of a good CRM depends on the needs and objectives of your company. Every CRM tool is different, so some of what you can expect depends on the system you choose. But before you sign on the dotted line here are a few key things to keep in mind:

1. Affordability. Consider the total cost of ownership, not just licensing or subscription fees. Do you plan on using an on-premise solution or a cloud solution? There are significant differences in the amount of time and money you need to invest between these two options. Do you need to spend time and money on training? Does the vendor provide free support? Does mobile access or additional storage cost extra? Do you need your CRM to integrate with other systems already in use? How much will that cost? If your company grows how much will any additional licenses cost?
    
2. Value. Many CRM providers offer tiered plans based on group size to help you decide what package may be right for you. But using group size as your only deciding factor may lead you to be penny-wise and pound-foolish. Look at the features and functionality in a higher tier than you would normally choose. Ask yourself if these things save time, money or help generate sales?  If the answer is yes then the value received may more than offset the added cost of the higher tier.
    
3. Features. Talk to the people who will be using the system before you start shopping. Make sure you know how your current business processes are working. Find out what’s missing, and what staff members would like a CRM system to do. Do you need help desk automation, sales forecasting, order processing and tracking, and advanced analytics? Increasingly important features include mobile phone access and integration with social media. Ultimately, you’ll have to decide which features are critical to your company’s success.
    
4. Ease-of-Use. Your Sales, Marketing and Customer Service people should not be terrified of using the software. It has to be user-friendly. Otherwise, your team will stubbornly resist using it, and your CRM will never live up to its promised value. Take advantage of free trials that are an excellent way to help you evaluate how easy the software is to use. 

In summary, a CRM system leverages technology to efficiently identify and capture qualified leads, convert them into customers, and cultivate loyal relationships that keep customers in the fold for years to come. Choose the right system, and you can expect to accomplish those goals faster and better than in the past.

We spend a lot of time talking about how to make social media work for business and what kind of marketing targets social media users. But we don’t often take a step back and see the true impact that the addition of social media networks has had on our everyday lives. Ten years ago, could you ever have imagined what social media is, let alone how it has changed our world?

The addition of social media to our everyday landscape has been both a positive and a negative influence. Social media has made it incredibly easy for news to spread. It seems as though people are more educated as to what is going on in the world around them, because it is no longer necessary to check the news. More than likely, someone on your Facebook feed has posted a story, or you have seen a tweet about what’s going on. This ease of spreading information has gave birth to a new type of marketing, real-time marketing. At the same time, many people feel as though their privacy has been compromised. It is very easy to find out nearly any kind of information about any person online, and this is in large part due to the presence of social media.

One positive aspect that has personally made me feel as though social media has helped people draw closer together is the amazing ability for grassroots campaigns to be successful. While of course incredibly tragic, last week’s attack at the Boston Marathon is an example of this. People posted all over social media with requests for help, blood donations, and places for displaced runners to stay. The response was astonishing. Blood banks and hospitals had to turn away people looking to donate blood because they were full to capacity. It’s just amazing.

The overwhelming use of social media can have downsides as well, as with anything that grows in popularity so quickly. Sometimes, news spreads too quickly and facts are distorted. Again, in the case of the Boston Marathon, rumors regarding what exactly happened circulated for days, whether they were correct or not. Gruesome photos of people who were injured were posted all over the Web without permission from the victims or their families. Imagine finding out that a friend or relative was hurt by seeing their photo on the Internet or in a new story, before you hear it directly.

​But there is no denying the power of social media. It will only continue to grow, if people keep up the level of interest that they currently have. I would encourage anyone who uses social media on a regular basis to be a savvy user. Don’t share sensitive information. Do take the time to pass along things that you find interesting or you are passionate about.

A recent article was published by Texas A&M Engineer Research Magazine and presents some numbers for different social media networks:

• Facebook and Twitter combined have over 1 billion users.
• Pinterest grew from 400k users to 18.7 million users in less than a year.
• YouTube is the second largest search engine, preceded only by Google.

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While so many companies, large and small, are turning to social media as a primary marketing tool, are they really listening to what their customers have to say on the networks?

“Listening” via social media is an interesting concept. Since social media is a real-time medium for interaction, quick responses are necessary in order to make your followers/customers feel like you are hearing what they have to say. Many companies use canned responses (much like that oh-so-annoying automated phone system) to reply to customer inquiries. It’s so important for your customers to feel like a real person is on the other end of the computer and is taking their question, complaint, or suggestion seriously.

For small businesses, it’s particularly important to engage with your customers in a social media setting. While someone might accept a pre-formatted response from a big company, likely figuring that they are too big and busy to answer personally, a small business gives a personal feel. This should reflect in your social media interactions.

Here are some ways that you can demonstrate to your followers that you are hearing what they have to say:

Respond Quickly – ideally, you would respond to customer inquiries/feedback on your social media pages within 2 hours, at the most. Not only does this keep your customers happy, it also keeps negativity at bay. If a customer posts a negative comment or experience, the faster you can get to it and put out the fire, the better. Also, businesses should be prepared to respond to crisis situations.  Situations like that can explode very quickly, and if you aren’t paying attention, it can have a negative impact on your business.

Ask Questions – instead of just waiting for your followers to pose questions to you, take the opportunity to ask them questions. Even something as simple as “what’s your favorite product?” can help you gauge the level of interest in different products that you offer, as well as get people interacting with your page.

Value Opinions – when a follower posts a suggestion on your Facebook wall, or Tweets you something that they would like to see your company offer, take the time to give the suggestion serious consideration. If customers see that when they suggest something, that actual changes are sometimes made, they are more likely to feel like they are being heard, and that their opinion is valuable.

Ask for Feedback – ask your customers to post their most recent purchases (of goods or services) and how they liked it, how they used it, etc. This is a somewhat sneaky way to gather information about what products or services are the most popular with your customers, and if you’re giving your customers what they want.  It also makes them feel like you care about what their buying experience was like.

Using social media can be immensely helpful to a business. Just make sure that you are keeping your customers involved, so that they feel like they are being heard.

Megan Totka is the Chief Editor for ChamberofCommerce.com. She specializes on the topic of small business tips and resources. ChamberofCommerce.com helps small businesses grow their business on the web and facilitates connectivity between local businesses and more than 7,000 Chambers of Commerce worldwide.

All of us in the business world get stuck sometimes. Running a small business and being innovative in everyday workings of that business can sometimes be draining. We are not always on our game when it comes to being creative. Lack of inspiration can happen in any business. Writers get writer’s block (it’s a real thing, trust me!), those businesspeople in sales hit a wall and can’t get new clients, everyone has a hard time occasionally.

So what should you do when you can’t get inspired to do new things for your business? You can always dig a little deeper within yourself to find it, but there are many places that you might not think to turn to for inspiration that can really be helpful. Here are some ideas of places to look and people to talk to in order to get inspired:

• Your friends and family – friends and family members, particularly those that are not involved personally with your business, can be a great source of inspiration. Because they are not constantly thinking about your business the way that you probably are, they can offer a fresh perspective. Presenting your problem to a neutral third party is a great way to get new ideas so you can build a better business.
• Co-workers or employees – it’s a good idea to get into the habit of asking your employees and co-workers for input, particularly when you are feeling stuck on what to do next. Often your employees will have ideas on how to improve on current processes, or even thoughts on new products or services that you can offer.
• YouTube – watching videos that relate to your business or industry can give you some ideas about where to take your business. For example, if you are in the marketing business, check out some videos of marketing campaigns that others have done. While you obviously won’t want to plagiarize their ideas, the work of others can help you to be more creative and think critically about your business. A quick YouTube search also turned up hundreds of motivational speakers who post videos on the site. While it may seem cheesy, sometimes someone encouraging you to do well will open up your brain for new ideas.
• Other social media sites – consider asking your personal network for ideas for your business. Most people have social media friends or followers from all aspects of life. Talking to those who may be in a very different situation than you can offer you a new perspective. I have friends and followers on social media sites that are friends or acquaintances from high school, college, jobs, and online forums. They represent a huge cross-section of economic and geographic statuses. It’s always amazing when someone posts a question on Facebook and gets 10 very different answers from 10 very different people. It’s the beauty of social media, and you can use it to help your business.

Inspiration is sometimes hard to come by. But there are many avenues that you can explore in order to get new ideas for your business. It’s important to keep it fresh in the business world, or you risk losing customers.

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