Congratulations:  it’s a new website!  I’m proud to announce my new website:  SocialMediaOnlineClasses.com, where you can take my online social media classes on your schedule.  Here at Willow Ridge Media, I’ve focused on educating small business owners on how to promote their businesses online, and I’m taking that much farther, empowering you to DIY.  I’ll continue blogging on the new site, and I encourage you to join me.  Membership in the site is free, you don’t need to join to read the blog posts, but joining gives you access to discussions we’ll be having about social media, and the opportunity to network with other small business owners.

Classes are affordable, on your schedule, and of course, I’m available to answer your questions.  I’ve gained American Council of Education (ACE) accreditation for my courses in the past, and I’ll be doing so for these as well.

I’ll no longer be blogging here at Willow Ridge Media, and I encourage you to subscribe to the SocialMediaOnlineClasses.com blog, either through an RSS reader or email, so you can stay up-to-date on social media.

Thank you for your trust in me, and I look forward to exciting times ahead for small business!

Which email marketing strategy is more important:  B2B or B2C?  Both!  If you’re doing only one or the other, it’s time to start focusing your message to each group.

Email marketing is especially effective for B2B and B2C because you can send a targeted message to each segment, versus using a website, blog, or social network, where you’re really courting both audiences.

B2C Channel. Think about what email newsletters you look forward to.  I immediately open the ones that help me, either personally or professionally.  I want to learn, be entertained, and get a sense of the person behind the newsletter, but I never want a direct sales pitch.  Sure, have a call to action, but don’t blast it in the opening paragraph.

I include a few different short articles that link back to my website, each offering a takeaway for my readers.  I include my contact information, my social network links, and I tell clients if they have a question I’ll respond the same day.  I always get a response from that. Don’t be afraid to let your B2C audience know a little about you personally:  I send a recipe in my quilting newsletter and often hold contests for free fabric.  People love those and I know they make the recipes because they tell me how they turn out!

B2B Channel.  For business clients, it boils down to three essential elements:

1. how your product increases their revenues
2. how easy it is to find your product
3. where to buy your product

Make it super-easy to to find and order your products by including links to distributors or other wholesale channels.  I recommend to my clients that they link to the actual page on the distributor’s website that lists their products, because those sites are often cumbersome to navigate and you want to make ordering Amazon-easy (one-click).

Let clients know any sales tools you have available for their reps, include photos of displays other businesses have done with your product, and support them in any way you can.  Let them know if you do product training, any sales or discounts you have, and be a sales partner with them.

Media Channel.  I also target a third audience: the media.  I let them know anytime a publication does a review, I get an award, or other newsworthy event I think they’d be interested in.  I also point to my website media room, which includes press releases, short articles, and photos of me and my products, all for their use.  I often get requests from vendors and the media for articles because I’m on their go-to list for people who can produce something in a rush.  You want to make it that easy for them to cover your business.

Don’t overload audience with too many email messages:  once per week or month is enough, and only you know your business well enough to understand which is appropriate.  Ultimately, ask yourself the question:  how often do I want to receive these, and there lies your answer.

Next time I’ll cover the biggest trend in email marketing, which is mobile.  An exploding number of emails are now being read on mobile devices, and I’ll tell you how to make yours mobile-friendly.

Ready to learn more?  Check out my online classes over at SocialMediaOnlineClasses.com, where I’m debuting a brand new WordPress 101: Intro to Blogging course, along with my existing Facebook courses.  Email marketing is coming soon, so take a look and register now!

Choosing a Web Hosting Company

SMB Guide:  How to Choose a Good Web Host Provider

Guide to Building a Small Business Website Using WordPress:  How to Select Hosting

Inc.’s Guide to The Perfect Host

Here’s my story in hopes it will help you:

I now have five total websites, and they’re all hosted with the original web host I chose from day one.  We’ve been through a lot together, and I’m grateful for all of their help.  Why did I choose this particular web host and how have they helped me?

• They were recommended by WordPress as a blog hosting company that works well with their blog tool
• They offer a 5-minute WordPress installation
• They have online help when I get stuck, including videos
• They have live, English-speaking technical support staff available 24/7, so when I’m really in a bind I get can answers
• They helped me figure out how one of my websites was hacked into AND they fixed the problem for no charge! (A web developer I had hired to add a shopping cart to my site had used shoddy techniques and left my site open to hackers.  Ugh!)
• They’re affordable, have never had a service outage, which makes my business available 24/7

Who are they?  Bluehost.com, and I’ve been with them for over five years and counting.

Website Design

Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can use a Facebook page as your main website.  Give your business credibility by having a well-designed website, the 21st century version of an online business card.  If people can’t find you on the web, you’re losing business, period.

Inc.’s How to Design the Best Website for Your Business

5 Steps to Building a Business Web Site that is Social, Content-Rich, and Makes you Money from SBA.gov

10 Tips to Make Your Business Website Rock

Technology on a Budget

How can you keep costs down while still getting the technology you need to run your business?  Open source software, cloud computing, and staying lean.  Great articles here.

Ultralight Versus Lean Startups

13 Terrific Cloud Services for Small Business

50 Must-Have Small Business Apps for iPhone and iPad

Getting Funded and Getting Paid

Many mega-banks and small community banks are backing away from small business lending, but loans are still out there to be had.  It can be tough to navigate the maze of SBA resources, but it’s worth it.  I secured an SBA loan for the second printing of my book after my community bank turned me down, but it wasn’t easy.  It took six months of solid determination, filling out massive amounts of paperwork, and constant follow-up calls.  Here’s where to go for help.

Search for Business Loans, Grants, and Financing at SBA.gov

5 Tips for Not Getting Ripped Off by a Credit Card Processor

Indie GoGo (create a campaign to fund your small business and use social media to spread the word.  You keep all funds you generate)

Kickstarter (tagline:  A new way to fund and follow creativity.  Similar to IndieGoGo, but you keep the funding only if you meet your goal.)

Marketing

Promoting your business can be a full time job, and keeping up with the latest social media tools is nearly impossible.  Here’s how to stay ahead of your competition and market efficiently.

6 Elements of Your Social Media Strategy

Entrepreneur Guide to Sales and Marketing

Wall Street Journal’s Small Business Marketing News

Government Resources for Small Business

The U.S. government is serious about providing assistance to entrepreneurs.  Know why?  Because small businesses pay taxes, and more profitable you are, the more taxes you pay.  That’s a good thing. Don’t complain about paying taxes:  that means your business is doing well, and you probably got there with the help of the SBA, SCORE, or other government agency.  If you’re not there yet, or need help in getting there, here’s where to start:

Small Business Administration website: SBA.gov

Small Business Development Centers. These university/college-based offices partner with the SBA to provide educational services to aspiring and growing small business owners.  Their budget is far greater than SCORE’s and provides more services.  I was made aware of SBDCs by my SCORE mentor, who actually recommended their educational programs.  He said they have much bigger budgets and more resources than SCORE.  SBDCs exist in all 50 states, and if I can find one in a rural mountainous area, you can too!

SCORE website. SCORE offers excellent mentors and counseling.  My own SCORE mentor guided me through the process of getting an SBA loan.  Definitely take advantage of the leadership here.

Lastly, check out my growing list of online courses to help you get started with your entrepreneurial venture.  Classes are instructor-led, on your own schedule, and I’m available to answer your questions when you get stuck.  Look forward to seeing you in class!

Does anyone still use email marketing?  Absolutely, and if you’re an entrepreneur, you should be too.  Why?  Because EVERYONE has an email address.  While some of your customers read blogs, a majority are on Facebook, and a few might use Twitter, they all use email.  You need to show up in their Inbox offering quality content on a regular basis.

What does that mean for business owners?  Email marketing needs to be one of the essential tools in your online marketing toolkit.  The keys to making it work in this age of sophisticated social media?

1. Select an email marketing provider that’s affordable, easy-to-use, and provides excellent customer support.  I use iContact, because they have tremendous customer support that no one else can match.  Mail Chimp is known for being super-affordable, and Constant Contact is the 800-lb. gorilla.  I begrudgingly use Constant Contact, because many of my PR clients choose it as their solution, and here’s my experience:  their tool is difficult to use and their customer support is adequate at best.
   Evaluate carefully, ask around, and make your choice.  Full disclosure:  I am an iContact affiliate, and decided to finally become one because I was already referring so many of my own clients to them. I’ve had a great experience with them and I recommend quality providers to my clients.  If I don’t use a service, I don’t recommend it.
2. Get delivered to the Inbox, not the Junk mail folder. Gmail’s SPAM algorithm is ruthless, and often many valid messages I receive end up in the Junk mail folder.  How can you make sure this doesn’t happen to you?  The easiest way is to ask subscribers to add you to their address book or contact list, and place the request at the top of your confirmation message to them.  Make it easy for them by attaching a Vcard (.vcf) contact file they can open: it automatically adds your contact information to their address book.  All major email providers offer a way to create these, usually by exporting.
3. Keep your message short. Think magazine article, not term paper.  Write short paragraphs that lead with a single scannable line (recognize that here?) that will allow readers to easily locate what interests them.  Use bulleted and numbered lists, keep content short, and link to the deep articles on your website/blog.
4. Deliver Quality Content. The best way to get your messages opened is to deliver content people want to read.  If subscribers look forward to your communication and it provides how-to’s, entertainment, or solves a problem, you’ve improved the quality of peoples’ lives and your emails will be opened consistently.  Avoid constant sales pitches, high-pressure sales tactics, and other used car salesman tactics.
5. Don’t use shortlinks. If you normally use bit.ly, tinyurl, or some other URL shortener, refrain from using those shortened links in your online mail-based marketing.  Gmail identifies those as SPAM, and your email will never see the light of your readers’ Inboxes.
6. Schedule delivery in the evening and on weekends. That seems counterintuitive, but here’s what studies find:  people have Inboxes flooded with messages, and we treat reading email like doing homework.  It requires discipline and time to get through them all.  Your best chance at maximum awareness is when people have the most leisure time, and that’s in the evenings and from Thursday to Sunday.  I’ve tested this in my own campaigns and definitely see higher open rates when I deliver in the evenings.
7. Include one highly visible and simple call to action (CTA). What’s the goal of your email marketing?  Realize it by asking for what you want in a prominent place and with an easy-peazy way for people to do it.  Don’t put too many CTAs in one email or you’ll dilute the effectiveness of your message.

I’ll be developing courses in email marketing over at my new website, SocialMediaOnlineClasses.com, so let me know what you’d like to see.  What are your big challenges in developing an effective email campaign, and what tools do you use?  Classes are online, you take them on your own schedule, they’re affordable, and I’m available when you have questions.  Register at SocialMediaOnlineClasses.com.

What’s your biggest email marketing challenge and your biggest success?

Small business owners:  here’s a slick way to keep your online marketing campaign on track:  watch this quick presentation on my 6 Elements of Your Social Media Strategy to keep you and your staff on track.  No matter where you are in your online marketing, whether you’re just getting started or are a veteran, it helps to have a reminder.

Forget the pundits who tell you Twitter is better than Facebook, or YouTube is the place to be.  Where you need to be is where your customers are.  And do not make the mistake of trying to advertise to your audience in social networking:  people will ignore you and block your messages.  Learn how to get started the right way.

These elements apply no matter which platform you’re using:  Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, blogs, YouTube, or wikis.  These same elements set the course for your approach, and without them, you’re spinning your wheels.  These tools can be a time drain, but by focusing on these six vital parts, you’ll chart your course and never stray.

Wow! Now you have no excuses NOT to be using social networking for success in your business. Want your own chart? Submit your email and I’ll send it to you instantly, and I promise not to use your email for any other purpose. I don’t like SPAM either.


Email Marketing You Can Trust

Here are links to all of the posts in this series:

6 Elements of Your Social Media Strategy:  #1 – Who are your customers?

6 Elements of Your Social Media Strategy:  #2 – What are you selling?

6 Elements of Your Social Media Strategy: #3: – Where are your customers?

6 Elements of Your Social Media Strategy: #4: – Why should your customers choose you?

6 Elements of Your Social Media Strategy: #5: – When/how often do you plan to reach your customers?

6 Elements of Your Social Media Strategy: #6: – How do you plan to engage your audience?

6 Elements of Your Social Media Strategy Slideshow & INFOGRAPHIC

Then, when you’re ready to really get serious, register for one of my courses I develop and teach at my new website:  SocialMediaOnlineClasses.com.  I’m debuting with three Facebook courses and will be adding new courses on additional platform as the year progresses.  Let me know what you’d like to see, and I look forward to seeing you in class!

Chances are if you’re a small business owner, high-priced commercials are out of the question.  Lucky you!  In today’s age of social media, commercials aren’t nearly as effective as a DIY YouTube video.  Who, me?  Yes, you.  You don’t have to be a video pro to create an authentic video that showcases your business.

How do you get started?

Get an inexpensive Flip video camera or Canon PowerShot.  Both take incredibly sharp images and are priced around $150.  Invest in a tripod and you can even record video solo.  Not ready for additional equipment?  Use the webcam on your computer.

Brainstorm content to reach customers.  Not sure what kind of video to make?  Here’s a list of ideas that work:

• The most shared videos online are how-to and tutorials, because they deliver valuable instructions, while at the same time establishing your credibility as an expert.
• Consider a behind-the-scenes look at your business.  My kids love watching How It’s Made, and I must admit there’s something hypnotic about watching how even the most mundane items are made.
• Gotten some negative reviews online?  Offer a genuine video apology, and you’ll earn people’s trust.
• If you’re an author, create a fun book trailer using Animoto, a free video slideshow tool.  I did this for my own book, and it was the start of two YouTube channels, which I’ve found to be highly effective in driving traffic to my website, increasing subscriptions to my blogs and email newsletter, and selling products.

Add titles to the video’s start and end.  Viewers are not going to remember your business name or website, so help them out.  Create a simple title frame to introduce your video that includes your business name, and a concluding title frame that offers your website and other social media channels.  You can use simple video editing software like iMovie (Mac) or Adobe Premier Elements to add the titles and make simple changes to your videos.

Keep it short. People are busy and you’re competing for their attention.  Get to the point, do it quickly, and be concise.  The best advice I’ve heard on quickly getting to the point is from children’s author Rosemary Wells, who said “start in the middle.”  You may have learned about introductions and summaries in English class, but those days are gone.  Keep your video under five minutes, and if you can keep it under two minutes, that’s even better.

Learn from the professionals. Many former television anchors are going solo these days, and they offer excellent advice.  Take a look at Mary Ellen Miller’s guest vlog, or watch Amani Channel’s excellent how-to videos.  He’s a former Fox reporter who now lives in Atlanta and does solo video reporting, training, and consulting.  His tips have helped me create better videos and I’m sure he’ll help you too.

Create a YouTube Channel. Once you’ve created multiple videos, develop a presence on YouTube by creating your own channel.  It’s easy, free, and helps people find you:  YouTube is the second largest search engine behind Google.  Stay tuned, because my next post will contain a tutorial on how to do this.

I hope you’re now convinced that you can create an effective video for your business.  We’re here to help.  Take a look at our online classes and how we can help you be successful in social media.

How are you using social media to stand out from your competition?  Have you effectively differentiated yourself, especially on social networks?  The challenge in using any social media channel is you’re playing by their rules:  Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and other major players want a consistent look and feel for their users, but the result is often a generic experience.  Brands tend to look the same.  Large brands often hire expensive advertising firms to give their social media channels a unique look, but how can small business owners compete?

Video.

But isn’t video expensive?  Not anymore.  It doesn’t have to complicated, pricey, or intimidating.  How does video help you stand out?

1. Gives a personal side to a brand. People enjoy doing business with other people, and by shooting a short video, you offer the opportunity to potential clients to get to know you and your business.
2. Establishes credibility. Think of a video as an interview:  people want to know who you are and why they should choose your company over others competing for their business.  Tell them, or even better:  let your clients do it in a video testimonial.
3. Explains how-to. Share your expertise in a how-to video.  People love to learn with YouTube, and it’s a great way to get noticed.
4. Allows us to forgive.  Charlie Sheen may think he’s “Winning,” but everyone one else thinks he’s a train wreck.  Don’t be oblivious to your company’s shortcomings.  Customers appreciate a sincere apology, and businesses so rarely offer them that those who actually do make a tremendous impression.
5. Offers a promotion. Get your loyal fans excited with a promotional video.  Consider crowdsourcing a contest for clients to shoot their own video and submit it.  AT&T did this and the winners were highly creative and humorous.

Get the remaining ten tips by watching my guest vlogger and former anchorwoman Mary Ellen Miller for 10 Ways to Be Comfortable on Camera.  Not sure how to make video work for your business?  Check out the courses at SocialMediaOnlineClasses.com and you’ll be mapping out a video strategy for your business in no time.

If you’ve wanted to use video but were unsure of how to present yourself, watch this terrific video by my friend and Twitter colleague, Mary Ellen Miller.  Founder of MarketingMel, an innovative public relations, marketing, and social media agency, Mary Ellen is also a former anchorwoman and offers her 10 Tips to Feel Comfortable on Camera. Thanks Mary Ellen!

Congratulations!  If you’ve been following my month-long series on Building a Facebook Business Page for Your Small Business, you’ve developed a fantastic presence in the largest social network on the planet.  Now how do you promote it?  What’s the secret sauce recipe to get people to visit your page and Like it so you can connect with them?

Tell people about your page. My experience is that business owners tend to see Facebook as a separate part of their marketing strategy and they don’t integrate it well with their other promotions.  Let customers know about your business page by putting it on your company’s signage.  The funniest, but possibly most effective place to announce your page?  Your company’s restroom!  Where else do you have people’s complete and total attention?  I’ve seen this lately both at Chik-fil-a and Ractrac gas stations.  I’ve also seen signage in the aisles at Whole Foods, on company’s product packaging, on their front doors along with their business hours, on their receipts, and their invoices.  Think of every point of customer contact and how you can integrate your Facebook presence into it.

Collaborate with colleagues. Online marketing depends on relationships with others, so band together with others in your industry who have complementary products and do a promotion.  Require that people visit your business pages, Like them, and share about them with others.  I just did a similar promotion on my Quilts and Creativity blog: I promoted a book from a colleague and gave away a free copy.  Most bloggers ask people to leave a comment to win, but that misses out on the power of sharing in social media.  So, I asked readers to share about Kay’s book on their social media networks, then leave me a comment telling me about it.  I had a total of 47 comments, which is a good response.  But here’s how I leveraged it for even greater exposure:  studies show that people have, on average, 150 people in their online social networks.  So 47 people shared with their 150 friends (47*150=7,050), for a total promotion of 7,050 people learning about her new book.  Wow!  Where did most of my readers share? Facebook.

Spend time online. The biggest mistake I see people make on their business page?  Never showing up there.  You have to be present on Facebook for people to Like your page.   If you want truly engaged, loyal fans, show up, talk to them, ask them questions, help them with their challenges, and they’ll come back for more.  If you’re never actually on Facebook, people know it and will ignore you.  Once you’ve developed a terrific business page, come up with a posting schedule, visit your page everyday, and talk to your fans.

Ready to promote your business online?  Haven’t started yet?  SocialMediaOnlineClasses.com has a three-course offering on Facebook, from building your page, customizing it, then marketing your business on this global social network.  Classes are online, on your schedule, and offer virtual office hours so you can get one-on-one time with me.  Don’t wait any longer:  the time to market your business online is now.

Having a Facebook business page isn’t enough, even for a small business:  you need to give it a custom look to really get results.  Why?  First impressions mean everything, especially online, where people’s attention spans are easily diverted by cute YouTube videos, Farmville, or the latest quiz on your friends.  You need to grab people’s attention and keep it.  But how can you do that in a minimum of time?  You need to get back to running your business, so here’s how you can get maximum results with minimum effort:

1. Create a custom landing tab. Statistics show that customized landing tabs increase Likes by 40%.  Facebook’s March 2011 update made it more difficult to give a custom look to a tab, but you can still do it using third party applications like Wildfire and Tiger Lily.
2. Feed your blog content automatically. Not everything you post in this social network has to be original.  You can import your blog’s RSS feed automatically, creating far less work for you or your staff.  It’s an easy way to give people a taste of your deepest content channel, and you can still directly add shorter status updates.  I’ve used several third party apps for importing RSS feeds and my favorite is RSS Graffiti.
3. Get a custom URL for your business page. Once your page has 25 Likes, you can create a special URL for it that removes all the numbers and special characters that make it difficult for people to find you.  Choose your URL wisely, because once you have it, you can’t change it.
4. Add an email marketing sign-up box to one of your tabs. If you use email marketing, give people the opportunity to sign up for your newsletter without ever having to leave your page.  This is one of the best ways to capture people’s contact information and ensure they receive your marketing message.  Even if people Like your business page, that doesn’t guarantee they’ll see your content on their News Wall, especially if they’ve Liked a high number of business pages.  If they sign up for your email marketing, you can contact them directly, outside of Facebook.  Check your email marketing provider’s blog for a tutorial on how to do this – the major players all have them.
5. Display your presentations and videos directly in Facebook. The more value you can give to people, the longer they’ll stay on your page and Like it.  Got a great PowerPoint presentation you’ve uploaded to Slideshare?  Recorded incredible YouTube videos?  You can add these to your Facebook page so people can see them right in the social network.  Sure, you can post links to them, but eventually those scroll off your Wall.  Give them a permanent home so you can earn customers’ trust.

What’s the catch?  Some of these techniques are not easy to do, and no instruction manual exists for “customizing my Facebook page”.  Where can you learn how to do them?  Register for Facebook 102:  Customizing an Existing Facebook Page for lessons in how to do each of these techniques and far more.  The course is online, affordable, and you take it on your schedule.  The best part?  I’m available when you have questions.  Look forward to seeing you in class!