Facebook if used smartly can prove to be very helpful as it makes lead generation very easy. So for all you marketers and business owners not taking advantage of a possible Facebook presence, which will further lead you to maximum lead generation campaigns, we’ve gathered a few very helpful tips that will for sure help you to start milking this social media site for more of its worth.

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Learn to Share

By saying learn to share I don’t mean learn to share your food/toys, I’m talking about sharing any new offer, achievement, picture or update on your Facebook page’s wall! Learn to make the most out of the opportunities Facebook provides you with. By sharing feeds on your wall, you are giving your Facebook fans a golden chance to be updated, and in return your efforts to be exchanged into valuable and much needed leads. When you share on a daily basis, you make it to the news feed of your fans. Share the same content that’s on the website if you have to. Whatever helps you generate those leads.

Content links from multiple blogs may be shared too, but you need to make sure each link that you post, features a call to action statement(s) and leads the consumer on some sort of a landing page with a conversion form that will help the visitors to directly convert. Just ake sure you don’t go over board with the updates. Constant bombardment on the newsfeed can deem as annoying, causing fans to unsubscribe.

The Wonders of Plugins and Buttons

Apart from recurrently sharing updates or relatable links of your website or blog content on to your Facebook wall, you should, more like can also include the share buttons on your web pages. This will make it easier for you to evaluate your performance based on the amount of likes and will definitely make it easier for other users who are indulged into reading your content to do the same and share it on to their social media networks. You can even Add Live Chat to Website, because Website Live Support allows you to proactively talk to your website visitors and convert them into customers. Make sure you add the required plugins of “like” and “share” buttons to each update that you post. What the plugins do is that they effortlessly increase the reach of your content and make it viral in no time.

Expand Your Page’s Reach

According to Wikipedia, the term reach means, “In the application of statistics to advertising and media analysis, reach refers to the total number of different people or households exposed, at least once, to a medium during a given period. Reach should not be confused with the number of people who will actually be exposed to and consume the advertising, though. It is just the number of people who are exposed to the medium and therefore have an opportunity to see or hear the ad or commercial” In this case, reach is a vital aspect in this strategy of social media lead generation.

The more followers you’ll have on your page, more will be the users who will be exposed to the content you share. By exposed I mean will be able to see your shared content. In a study carried out by Hubspot an interesting finding was released which showed a correlation between the number of Facebook fans and the number of leads generated. As per the details, according to Hubspot companies that had 500 to 1000 fans ended up generating four times more leads compared to those with only 10-25 fans. Which is obvious, because more the number of people on your list, ensure the number of people your posts will be exposed to. And as the number of fans increases, so does the number of leads generated.

And since every like gets shared on the newsfeed, each one increases your chances of sharing content to added customers, who in future can turn into your fans/valuable leads. Now how to increase these Facebook likes? By making sure you install the “like buttons” on your web/Facebook pages. Another smart and very widely used technique these days, is to sponsor a contest to generate more likes on your fan page, for example, you’re in the business of selling T-shirts, you say the person with the most likes/participation on the page will get a free T-shirt or some other interesting give away. All these contests aim at is generating consumer activity on the page by incentivizing them. Another example and commonly used tactic is to give away free products or discounts to the 100th,500th or 1000th person who likes their fan page.

Call to Action Buttons

No longer does Facebook allow it’s users to add call to action ore commonly referred to as CTA buttons, to their page’s main profile page. So what does one need to do in order to place the CTA buttons which further attract more customers on Facebook? What one can do is add custom tabs with accompanying CTAs which is still possible with the use of the oh so commonly used iFrames. However, make sure you point the CTAs to your landing pages for webinars, offers, promotions, or free downloadable content in order for you to gather leads.

A very recent development is that now the users don’t need to leave the website in order for them to complete a conversion form and then become a lead, because Facebook provides you with an easy conversion opportunity from your Facebook fan page without making you leave. HubSpot recently launched a HubSpot Welcome application for Facebook. This app is a perfect example of what I discussed above. You can even Add Live Chat to Website, because Website Live Support allows you to proactively talk to your website visitors and convert them into customers. Exactly what we all need.

 Advertisement: WebGreeter™ provides live chat support services to businesses looking to improve their Search Engine Ranking and conversion rate from their websites by up to 50%. To find out more visit our homepage.

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Cultural and technological changes are impacting local businesses in a more severe way than we can imagine. What we all need to understand is that the old fashioned (more commonly referred to as the traditional marketing) techniques are being replaced by new exciting and innovative, techniques.

Firstly let’s try to understand what all comes under the shade of “Old fashioned” marketing?  A fractional list may include the very basic yellow pages, newspaper advertising, television and radio advertising, telemarketing, direct mail, and even e-mail marketing (interesting right?). Now let’s swiftly just go over all of these.

Why is newspaper advertising sort of endangered? Simple, because so are newspapers.  Optimists like to believe they’ll last for another five or so years, but reality checks say otherwise. What’s true is that newspapers are increasingly becoming an anachronism.  With the widespread availability of technology, people have started relying on the Internet and smart phones for news updates. Considering this is the ongoing trend, and costs absolutely nothing, why would anyone still buy a newspaper? These days live feed is mostly preferred since it’s much more cost effective and current. Website Live Support provides you with the live support facility, and they do it pretty well.

Telemarketing is another avenue fading which is dying out as new innovations are coming out.  Telemarketing is known as the epitome of “interruption marketing”. Ever wondered why it always ruins dinner time? Telemarketing is also the best example of the “noise” marketers make in an attempt to gain our attention. This approach however is dying now due to the very popular government legislation which introduced the Do-Not-Call lists and Caller ID.

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Coming down to TV and radio advertising, these two are being challenged by innovations such as TV and podcasting.  Direct mail’s first stop in every house is always the bin. And let’s just face it, with internet technology and email facilities being so widely available, who uses direct mail anymore?

What might come as a shocker to you is the fact that email-marketing is also fading away. Social networking has suppressed all other forms of marketing as we know it. People now prefer no-noise and the direct selling approach, meaning whatever approach you’re adapting, make sure it’s subtle.

“Mass advertising has lost its ability to move the masses. Technology has given people many more options than they had in the past and created a consumer democracy. Everybody has a thousand choices for any product they might want to buy, and there are a million different products competing for their wallets. So marketers need to find ways to speak to customers individually, or in smaller groups. With so many choices, each customer has many factors that weight in his or her decisions, so marketers have to find the reasons that speak to particular customers’ concerns. Old-style, one-size-fits-all mass marketing can’t do this.” – The End of Marketing As We Know It. New York: Harper Business, 1999.

What we’re trying to help you understand is that other than the few corporate giants, the idea of market saturation is not possible anymore. Instead, it’s time you started looking for alternative approaches.

One of the most popular and effective forms of marketing is web-based advertising. The best part about this is how specific you can get. For example, you can specify when your message/ad appears, it can appear when a certain keyword regarding or related to your company is entered in a search engine, or every time your rivals information is viewed etc.

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You can even do a comprehensive analysis of traffic demographics for high-volume sites, by doing this you’ll find out which sites are most reviewed or logged onto and this information can help with your investment plan accordingly. Another very interesting feature you can benefit from is Adding Live Chat to Website and providing Website Live Support. This makes it easier for you to get direct with your customers and provide a better customer service experience.

Another advantage of web-based advertising is that you can see the results of your marketing plan with click-through rates and web traffic report facilities. In case your message is not generating the sort of response you had in mind; you can easily change the message or alter it according the situation. On the internet, your competitors aren’t your biggest competition, the quality of your products and how authentic your website and your messages are.

Something we need to understand is that traditional marketing is not at all compatible with social networking. Social networking is not just a different format; it is a completely different world, a completely different form of communication. The shift in marketing, caused by the social networking websites, is a stepping stone towards the social revolution. How it came down to this and away from the old fashioned modes is a very fascinating story.

The story starts shortly after internet became oh so widely available, and which was once a luxury became a necessity. And people worldwide, realized that internet could be used to discuss issues, events and stories on a global platform. What social networking did was provide people the platform of befriending each other and connecting with whoever they admired. Not only could you befriend people, but you could also share what you like, it was like being part of something, and you could use it to come out of a bubble-world and tell the world who you are, what you think, what you can do, and get instant feedback. Maybe even do something together, no matter where or when.

Social networking basically changed how people experienced communication. At first, back in the days it used to be one-way or controlled by the company websites.  But now, it’s about multi-faceted communication facilitated by the social web. Social networking websites have provided us with a platform where we follow people, and people follow us. All you have to do is sit back in the middle of this unbelievable network of people, share ideas that matter to you, and get enlightened by the opinions and likings of the hundred or thousand people on your network.

Marketing is no longer confined to the product you’re selling. It’s about the people you’re selling to, and how it brings all of them together. A smart way of portraying yourself as a customer oriented company, meaning showing that it’s you’re all about the customer and his needs is that you Add Live Chat to Website.

The initial idea of marketing was to sell the product, but in the current global scenario, it is to create the need of the product you’re trying to sell, which puts the control in the hands of those who are being dealt with; the consumers. The basic rule of economics that is “demand” controls the overall equilibrium in the society also perpetuates this belief that the power is in the hands of the consumers, and consumers have now gained the knowledge of their significance in this entire system. Therefore, a good marketer will never try and manipulate, instead he will form alliance with this power, and use it for his benefit. Why I say this is because; it’s never about manipulation, it’s about conviction.

Advertisement: WebGreeter™ provides live chat support services to businesses looking to improve their Search Engine Ranking and conversion rate from their websites by up to 50%. To find out more visit our homepage.

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The following steps are a good insight on how to get customers in today’s competitive environment

Marketing

The best policy to get customers, is marketing, marketing and more marketing. When a product is marketed correctly, it makes a place and position in the mind of the consumer. This is the driving force, which brings the customer forward, and eventually makes him the consumer.

Now there are multiple ways to advertise your product, as well as multiple mediums. One of the most used as well as the most expensive medium is television. Sometimes marketers place their products between the showings of a program, which might be relevant. For example, a health bar ad, during the commercial of a weight loss program etc.

Another medium, which is heavily expanding, is the web, where there are hundreds of ads popping every minute and a flood of information is pushed to the audience. Marketers need to use the internet to do focus marketing and give out more information, which they might not be able to afford on the television. Hence marketing is sometimes the back bone of getting new customers, and the more the companies invest in their marketing efforts, the more customers they will generate in the future.

Target Audience

One of the biggest mistakes that marketers end up making is the delivery of their advertising to the wrong target market. The target market is that segment of the market which you want to generate the most sales from, and make your final customer. It is necessary to understand and assess your target market, by studying your product’s attributes and getting them through to the right target market. If a marketing campaign is delivered aptly to its target market, then the customer turnover is huge and retainable as well. Additionally, it’s easy to filter your target audience on your website by using Live Website Chat.

Business Networking

One of the best ways to get through to your target market is by identifying other local businesses that serve the same target market. This will give you an edge over your competitors by tapping in the market before they can and getting a customer base that already exists, and by applying the right strategies you can make them yours. These businesses can help promote your company, by giving out vouchers or even sharing some data base information that you could use. For example, clothes boutique could help generate customers, for an accessory store etc.

Partnership

Networking is very important in today’s world especially because so much depends on word of mouth as well as positive or negative marketing, which can swipe you off of your customers. So in order for you to increase your customer base, you can make an alliance with the host- businesses who have the same target market as yours and work together with them. So taking the business networking a step higher, these businesses can join alliance, and work together in giving referrals to each other’s consumers about the other company. This however, has some loopholes, for example, if you send one of your loyal customers to the host business and they are not satisfied with the service, they might even lose faith in you. So it is necessary to be sure of who you are aligning with and how stable they are in the market.

Service

It’s quite likely that with following the above strategies there will be a customer turnover, but the real test is to send the customer back satisfied. This is important, because news spreads like fire, so the more satisfied the customer leaves the more the turnover of new customers will be. In order to retain a customer and make sure he or she is happy with the service, you have to provide add-ons and more value to the service. This will differentiate you from the rest of the market and make your customer feel valuable and looked after. You can also engage the customer by giving them loyalty cards or providing them with discount vouchers for the future, which will keep them coming back, again and again so they can make use of those fun discounts.

The service must be standardized and quality should be maintained so that there are no loop holes. For example, if it’s a salon, then hygiene and atmosphere are very important and become one of the major factors of customer satisfaction. Each business requires different services and their standard; hence a detail analysis must be done before trying to generate customers.

Another part of service is the after sales service, which is a major part of customer satisfaction. For instance if you are looking at the electronic industry, then after sales is very important, since consumers need help in setting up a product, or sometimes don’t know how it works. If a company makes them feel that they are always there for them and will help them post the purchase, then the customer loyalty increases and positive word of mouth spreads. A great way for providing great after sales service is by using Live Chat Software for Websites.

An amalgamation of all the above can create an amazing customer turn over and get the customer following roaring to the ceiling. These strategies are the basic and most fundamental ones, which make all the difference between a profiting business and one that starts with a boost and falls apart in no time. Hence it is best to use the above ways together, from finding the specific target market, formulating a focused marketing plan, effectively delivering it, doing elaborate networking and finally delivering the service with high quality. All this hand in hand will get you all the customers you need and your business with flourish in no time.

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Organizations Need to Satisfy Their Customers

So what we suggest is that you should hear directly from your customers, both satisfied and dissatisfied ones, on a regular basis as it’ll help you maintain and increase customer loyalty. An interesting quote to support this suggestion is that of Mahatma Gandhi, “A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. They are not dependent on us. We are dependent on them. They are not an interruption in our work. They are the purpose of it. They are not an outsider in our business. They are part of it.” You can hear from your customers through your website too. Just Add Live Chat to your Website and they will tell you their problem before going to someone else.

The most difficult type of customers that one has to deal with, are the angry or unhappy ones. According to the White House Office of Consumer Affairs, Washington, DC’s report, “A dissatisfied consumer will tell between 9 and 15 people about his experience. About 13% of dissatisfied customers tell more than 20 people, which will prove harmful for your company’s reputation”.

Now what makes us all wonder is that why is a customer unhappy or dissatisfied? Does the unhappy customer even have a legitimate complaint? Was the item purchased by her or him defected in any way? Was the item they paid for not fit for the reason they bought it for? Because if so, then they’re entitled to their money back by law, so what to do?

So many questions hover in our mind. What’s needed at this point is, for you to be able to say something to save yourself and company’s reputation at stake. But then again, if any of us knew what to say and how to say it, we might actually be able to save ourselves. In fact, we wouldn’t even have an unhappy customer in the first place.

In this article we’ll help you discover five extremely helpful ways, teaching you how to deal with dissatisfied, angry or difficult customers.

Fine-Tune Your Attitude

It’s very important for you to prioritize yourself into a customer oriented mindset. Because not until you change your mind set, you won’t be able to satisfy these dissatisfied customers. By fine-tuning your attitude you’re setting aside all the feelings you might have regarding how you’re not at fault and this mistake’s on your client and not on you, or that you’re being charged with unfair criticism. Most companies make websites that are product/company oriented and the customers feel lost when visiting them. One way of reducing this and showing yourself as a more customer oriented company is that you add Live Chat to your website.

According to Peppers & Rogers Group, 2009 Customer Experience Maturity Monitor, 81% of companies with strong capabilities and competencies for delivering excellent customer experience are outperforming their competition.
All what matters is for you to realize that your client or customer is disappointed, and that it’s entirely up to you to solve his problem and make him happy. Therefore adjusting your mindset is very important so that you can give a 100 percent of your attention to your clients, and focus on their problem.

Learn To Listen

This is the most important suggestion, listen actively to whatever your customer or client is saying because he or she, wants to be heard. Make sure your staff is trained for the best type of communication skills. And knows how to start the conversation with neutral statements, such as, “Please tell me why you’re upset.” Or “Let’s go over what happened,” This very cunningly creates a bond between your client and you, and lets them know you’re there to listen to whatever they have to say/complain.

Listen To Your Customers Carefully

Make sure you’re patient enough to hear their story first. Don’t interrupt them with a conclusion or solution right away, hear them out first. More like, let them ventilate. Also, make sure you’re actively listening and not just hearing whatever they’re saying.

Once they’ve had their time to explain why they’re upset, make sure you get their story right. So in case you have a doubt regarding something, ask them. So that you can be sure as to whether you’re even addressing the right issue.  When you sometimes repeat the problem occasionally, the customer still feels the same bond and tends to overlook it due to the fact that you always listen and care; hence it’s not a big deal if something goes wrong once in a while.   It lowers their stress levels because they feel like they were being heard before. More importantly, it’ll be easier for you to solve the problem as the customer would be less agonized considering your past performance.

Apologize and Be Concerned

Once you’ve completely understood your customer’s problem/complaint, be empathetic. Let them feel you understand why they’d be upset. More importantly make sure that your body language also conveys the same message as your verbal communication does. Otherwise it’s pointless.

Provide Them with a Solution

Why is a client unhappy? Because they have a problem, and how can that problem be fixed? With a possible, in your control, solution. There are two ways to do this. If you feel that you know what will make your client happy, tell them how you’d like to correct the situation. This is when you give out the solution.

In case you’re not sure about your customer’s problem or if they dislike your proposed solution, then you ask them what they want, as compensation. If it’s in your power to resolve it, then you get it done.

If your customer is on our website and not happy with it then all the hard work and finances put in are going to waste. To make sure that you give them an impeccable website experience, get your Website Live Support.

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Feedback

If the customers contact you by phone, make sure you get their name and other contact details. As this would help you contact them again for better customer service experience. For example, for a better customer experience, you could send them as a token of apology, a discount/gift certificate. For all of this, try adding Live Chat to your Website as that is an interactive tool designed to communicate with customers.

Once the situation has been resolved, make sure you follow up and check if your proposed solution was helpful. The last but definitely not the least suggestion is for you to reduce the risk of the situation happening again. Find the root of the problem and get it fixed.

It’s very important for you to maintain a certain level of professionalism by staying cool and calm, especially if the client is angry.

Advertisement: WebGreeter™ provides live chat support services to businesses looking to improve their Search Engine Ranking and conversion rate from their websites by up to 50%. To find out more visit our homepage.

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We can research a product all we want, compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges, and even download free trials. Yet, nothing has as much power as a recommendation or referral from someone who has already experienced a product or service. The best part is that word-of-mouth advertising is free – the trick is to get your customers on your side. The truth is, if you treat customers right and keep them satisfied, they can be your best sellers.

So, how do you ensure customer satisfaction and encourage positive recommendations? Well, there are actually several ways to get customers talking about you. However, the absolute number one thing your company can do for good word-of-mouth promotion is provide outstanding customer service. Below are a few suggestions for superior customer service. If you follow these few tips, you’re bound to get some word-of-mouth referrals.

1. Establish a Relationship – Know Your Customer’s Name

Knowing a customer’s name is something they may never forget. This is such an easy and powerful tool to establish positive rapport with consumers that it’s surprising more companies haven’t made it a standard. Of course, it can be nearly impossible at some companies to remember names when there is a high number of customers. If this is the case, then at least be sure to introduce yourself and attempt to establish a relationship. A customer that feels like he or she has a relationship with a company is more prone to talk about that company to friends and family.

2. Guarantee your Product

Do you offer any guarantees on your product or service? Do you offer post-sales support to help customers with questions? In other words – do you leave your customers hanging? If a customer is not satisfied with their product or service, and know they have a form of recourse (i.e., return the product, exchange the product, free replacements, etc.), then they are more apt to be happy with their overall experience. I know an employee time tracking company that offers free lifetime guarantees on all their time clocks. That is the kind of guarantee that sticks, and one that has kept their customers overly satisfied.

3. Be Accessible

What good is customer service and support if a person can never get a hold of them? The best companies offer live support with operators that actually answer the phone and are available during flexible hours. Live chat support is also a good option for certain products and services, but nothing can top having a real person on the phone to walk you through any problem, issue or concern you might have. Likewise, if you’re a retailer with a storefront, be sure to have your customer service counter convenient and accessible for your customers. And of course, any type of support department should staff friendly, respectful customer service representatives.

4. Follow Up

If you happen to work in a place that has customer support tickets, then putting a follow-up protocol in place might be one of the best things you can do. Consider a follow up as your last chance to leave a good impression with customers. Something simple is all you need, whether it’s a quick phone call to see if all issues have been resolved, or an email to see if there are any further questions. Other things to consider regarding a follow-up include calling customers on a waiting list to let them know a certain product is in, or touching base with a customer who expressed a negative experience in your store or with your product.

5. Say Yes and Apologize

We’ve all heard the saying, “The customer is always right.” Well, even if they aren’t, it’s good to try and make them feel like they are. If they point out something that doesn’t work for them, apologize and try to work through it with them. If you can’t resolve the issue, then try to offer a new solution. Say yes – make their requests (and sometimes demands) happen. The customer will remember your willingness to help and thank you for it.

6. Be Proactive – Ask for Referrals

While it would be ideal to think that every single customer is out there talking about your product, the reality is they likely aren’t. I love my auto detailing company, but unless someone specifically asks me if I know a good one, I’m not likely to divulge any information. However, if I was given a handful of business cards and was asked to spread the word, I would be more likely to do so when I notice a friend’s car is dirty. There is absolutely nothing wrong with asking your valued customers for referrals. If you do, make it easy for them  – offer them incentives or provide them with materials to hand out. Just be sure you are respectful of their time and commitment to help out.

About the Author:

Brian Anderson is a successful business management consultant and has been associated with leading attendance and time keeping software companies. His area of expertise includes streamlining business processes of small and medium enterprises with time attendance software, and providing insights to improve overall organizational efficiency. He has written numerous articles on time clocks and their effectiveness in the workplace.

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In addition to these statistics, the survey also points out how small business owners now see the social media as equally vital as the old school face-to-face interactions. A social media way to revitalize this old school face-to-face interaction is by adding Live Chat to Website and providing Website Live Support to make the experience easy and friendly.

All the basic traditional marketing activities also saw diffident increases in their importance this fall. By saying traditional marketing activities, I’m including websites, event marketing, email marketing, and online surveys, etc.

The problem with small business owners these days is that they struggle with contracting new customers as well as sustaining the current ones, and as if this wasn’t enough, they also struggle with marketing their products as well as their services in order to succeed. When it comes to websites, small business should have Website Live Support to assist their business.

Ironically the solution to the first and second problem can be solved by addressing the third problem only. Meaning you solve the third problem and the first two get solved automatically. If a small business runs a website then it should opt to Add Live Chat to Website and provide Website Live Support. This makes the online interaction between company and customer easier. In case there is any issue, it can be resolved instantly.

Marketing and advertising, is the finest key to any small business’s success and popularity. This journey of gaining popularity began back in the days with directly selling to customers, which further got evolved into advertisements with flyers and posters, and then turned into using websites and emails, and now it’s down to electronic ads on the oh-so-fashionable social networking sites. According to the Facebook’s recent F8 Developer Conference, more than half of Facebook users, more than 400 million people, log into the site every day.  Targeting the appropriate (to your product or service) customers is the most excellent way to anticipate and meet the needs of those customers.

Social networking sites include Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Myspace. All of these social networking websites offer options to create profiles and pages, wherein small business owners are able to advertise their products and services. These social media websites now even offer applications which calculate the likes and dislikes of users. According to http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com out of business owners who use social media, 86% use Facebook vs. 41% LinkedIn and 33% Twitter:

Which shows as to how out of the small and medium-sized businesses, majority are investing their most efforts in Facebook. Users of Facebook can even join groups which support small businesses, or like I mentioned earlier the customers even have the option of “become fans of…” these small businesses pages, adding to their reach and advertising audience.

We need to understand that this social networking system of e-collaboration is more or less now the very basis of electronic advertising as far as the small businesses are concerned. What small business owners are doing is that they’re using Facebook as a platform to get through to the masses, updates about their service or product, events that are taking place, what special offers are going on, what achievements or recognitions have been received by the small business, etc.

What Facebook’s done is that the recent activity of individuals, meaning their status updates, posts, comments, likes, them joining small business groups or adding support to small business advertisements, all used to be listed on the user’s profile but, now what they’ve done is evolved that into the “newsfeed” which offers multiple updates on the current activity of friends for everyone on their home page. And this newsfeed further got followed by a ticker box now, which provides real time updates. Doesn’t get better than this, does it?

Published articles pertaining to the achievement or success of these small businesses can be copied and pasted onto the business profile or be linked on to their status on Facebook or Twitter. Such updates allow the current clients and potential ones to view their activities or achievements within, not even minutes, but seconds of their publication.

Indirectly showing off these achievements by posting links and statuses, the small businesses can, more like do create what we call a “buzz” about their ongoing activities. In a survey by Zoomerang, 1,180 small to medium-sized business (SMB) owners and 500 customers were interviewed in September 2011. These participants were all asked about the 3 most important reasons small businesses leverage social media, and were given seven possible options to choose from. The result was as follows:

With the help of social media, what we can see is that small business owners are able to retain customers, build relationships, and receive recommendations by marketing the expertise as well as services they offer through the use of social networking. All you small businesses out there, will definitely and truly benefit immensely from creating a page on these social networking sites, which should contain all the relevant information about your product or service (whichever you’re selling), that users need in order to assess your quality, performance and even popularity. These pages can include the pictures of the company, your product range, pictures of some branding activity that you carried out, along with the appropriate logos and contact information.

These social networking pages target the masses with a single click. What I mean by this is that your updates and messages can be sent to all of your business followers through a single click, hence enabling you to make the most of the many aspects that the social networking applications provide us. Another interesting trend is to offer incentives to the fans on your page, by providing the followers with contests, games, and prizes for fans who participate.

Social media also allows you to create Events via Facebook or for them to be posted on Twitter, which contains the basic contact information along with all the relevant information such as the venue, timing, host, attire, admission fee (if any) etc. Social Media i.e. websites, along with the use of Website Live Support make it more interactive.

In this highly globalized and competitive world, you don’t want your small business to be wiped off the market. So before this can happen, start making use of what is a MUST now, the Social Media and Add Live Chat to Website today!

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Business networking is very similar nature. According to Wikipedia, “Business networking is a socioeconomic activity by which groups of like-minded businesspeople recognize, create, or act upon business opportunities. A business network is a type of social network whose reason for existing is business activity.” It’s actually the art of being able to market yourself in front of the business circle, which includes people that you have a help-me-to-help-you relation with. Your focus needs to be on how you market yourself, because it’s the image you portray at the end of the day that makes it or breaks it. This is important because of what’s been drilled in all our heads, “first impression is the last impression.” And in the business world, it’s nearly impossible or very difficult to change the image that has once been established. So, in order to have a favourable situation, you should try to keep your image in right direction.

In the business world, should you always try to participate in the business meetings, and business tours. It should be obvious to the people around you that you’re caring, giving enough and in fact you’re the only one who is doing the giving in the connections. Always be there for people when they need you. Remember, it’s a help-me-to-help-you relation. The more you help others, the more you’ll have a shot at making on their positive list, which will in return make them reciprocate the favour or act of kindness.

Keynote: Giving to others never goes or will go to waste.

Don’t be expecting the efforts to get reciprocated so quickly, as I said earlier you’re aiming for the long term investment. Sometimes you will be awarded with reciprocal results very rapidly but sometimes, in fact mostly it might take a certain enough time. If you’re lucky it’ll prove to be like a cause and effect relationship and you’ll get rewarded immediately. But likes I said, sometimes you might end up having to wait for a couple of oaths, or even years to get nonstop and lasting results.

I’m sure most of you like to believe that business networking is all about just meeting new people from different backgrounds, attending seminars, conferences, or any other ongoing social functions. But in reality it’s slightly more complicated. Business networking is not just restricted to attending these conferences, seminars etc, but it’s more about how you connect with the people there on these gatherings. It’s about availing and spotting potential opportunities. Let us help you understand or ensure better networking.

Socialize

In order to develop a strong network you must, must socialize. It’s the prime tool that aids network building. Attend various social gathering; meet up with various social groups who compliment your mindset. Start from being friendly towards the small groups so you can focus. And once you’ve found your target group, try getting to know the people in it, find various common grounds and similarities that’ll help you connect better.

Be Yourself

Like I said always remember the first impression is the last impression. So when building a new connection, you should definitely be your genuine and confident self. Confidence is very important because without it you can’t possibly get your point across. Think before you speak, don’t say things you don’t mean because they might not be interpreted in a positive way. So make sure whatever you say is something genuine and 100% real. In order to build a relationship you also need to build trust. Because if you build the trust, you have your future customers.

Get to Know Them Better

You need to communicate with people in order to build stronger ties with your contacts; you must get to know them well enough to know what they like, or follow, and if they can be your future potential customers. Make them feel important. Hear out their concerns. This way, you have an idea what most people really need. Having this idea may help you on your next business venture.

According to Clate Mask, the chief executive of Infusionsoft, a Web application developer in Gilbert, Ariz, “Small business owners should seek out blogs, key industry leaders and forums in their market to become aware of the social media environment for their industry,” The question is, when does it get cool to talk about your company? If you start participating in the social networking trend, it will automatically become obvious for you when to begin talking. Because social networking encourages two way communications as a result of which another member of the network will automatically end up asking you about what you do.

According to Alec Saunders, the chief executive of the Ottawa, Canada-based social networking company Iotum, “By engaging customers one-on-one, you lead to conversations, which lead to word-of-mouth. And word-of-mouth is what you want.” Interesting point to remember is that you need to be consistent within the network you’re a member of. Be consistent and set goals, and meet the potential targets. How can you be consistent, by at least calling one contact in a day. This way, you’re transforming your short-term contacts in the long-term ones, and always have a chance of attracting someone to be part in your business.

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On the 18^th of October 2010, IBM and Apple reported their quarterly results, and IBMs’ total profit was surpassed by Apple. According to Steve Lohr, a journalist at The New York Times, “The two companies have long been cast as polar opposites, even before Apple’s commercial during the 1984, Super Bowl that depicted a female rebel (Apple) striking a blow against a corporate Big Brother (IBM).”

IBM and Apple are like the yin and the yang of high-tech innovations having way more in common then the general understanding. IBM today, is seen as a not just as a machine but a steady company with five-year profit plans, that caters to the government and big corporate customers. IBM’s profit for the third quarter in 2010 rose by 12%, meaning the company delivered higher earnings for the 31st consecutive quarter. Apple however, is seen as a consumer-product hit company that is totally on a roll.

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According to Steve Lohr, “There is a lot of eureka invention and deep science in IBM’s varied businesses, industry experts say. And Apple’s continuing success, they add, is explained in good part by its ability to make innovation a managed system, more machinelike.”

According to David B. Yoffie , a professor at the Harvard Business School, IBM and apple cater to completely different markets, but, amusingly have similar strategies. According to him, “The big shift at IBM, he notes, came about 15 years ago, when the company tilted increasingly toward technology services and software and relied less on hardware.” The company changed their strategy in an attempt to build profitable business, with persistent revenue, based on service licence and service contracts, in an attempt to further be a magnet for software developers and industry partners to make use of their technology.

Since the last 10 years, Apple has also somewhat embraced the same strategy, only slightly broader in approach. According to Mr. Yoffie, “Each company has created an ecosystem of partners and developers around its core products, and both depend on ongoing innovations.”

IBM follows a much subtle and conceptual inspiration as opposed to Apple. In late 2008, IBM launched a “Smarter Planet” advertising campaign and spent hundreds of millions of dollars on it. This campaign was concluded after Mr. Palmisano – the current chief at IBM, and his team settled on a final theme: the use of technology and scientific research to undertake big challenges for business, and society in areas like transportation, energy, health care, and pollution.

According to Mr. John Kao, who’s an innovation consultant to governments and business, “Sure, it’s marketing, but it’s also a big idea that explains the company’s mission to the world and to its employees.”

On the other hand at Apple, the focus isn’t restricted to the basic science of traditional research, but is further expanded to the “behavioural science” meaning the user experience, explained a former Apple manager, who spoke to on condition of anonymity considering he was still employed at Apple.

IBM spends $6 billion a year on research and development and has laboratories all over the world and makes more patents than any other company in a year. IBM has five Nobel Prize winning scientists working for them. Apart from that, the company’s researchers publish papers, attend scientific conferences, and have made essential developments in mathematics, materials science and lastly, computing.

Apple on the other hand, doesn’t focus on scientific invention but only on their product innovation. And according to Michael Hawley, a computer scientist who worked for Mr. Jobs at NeXT “Apple does research insofar as it advances their laser-focused product aspirations…”

According to Hawley, “APPLE has technical experts who constantly scout new commercial technologies, he said; they work with suppliers, often co-inventing down to the chip level. Then prototypes and initial products are produced, with constant refinements. They are shown not to focus groups or to other outsiders, but only to Mr. Jobs and his lieutenants. For example, three iPhone prototypes were completed over the course of a year.”

IBM and Apple both have very successfully and dare I say, dramatically, transformed themselves. They’re both fantastic brands and financially very secure. The fascinating fact is that there’s ample room for both the companies to do well by investing in technology, but keeping the risk-adjustment in mind our support would always be with IBM. In case you’re wondering, this is why.

Excess of Data

This trend composites complexity on the whole and proves how IBM has been investing a great deal in capitalizing on Big Data confusion. IBM’s “Smarter Planet” initiative as mentioned earlier in this article, is entirely about data. The company’s vision is far impressive and broader in reach than any other. Explicitly, IBM’s aim is to transform all the industries through data analysis instrumentation, and decision-making tools, driven mainly by connected sensors.

IBM Does Intricacy Better Than Everyone

Backend IT is getting more and more complex by the day despite all the splendid visions of plugging into an IT “utility grid” The user experience is yes, way simpler and the plumbing may become irrelevant, but the use of IT is becoming astonishingly urbane. It’s what you do with IT that counts, not the IT itself. Therefore, IBM outshines and will print money serving big corporations figure-out how to apply technology in an attempt to generate better profits.

IBM’s Sticky

In the big tech zone, no one gets the services business model better IBM. IBM for starters is a services company, and entered the services IT economy later thanks to Lou Gerstner, which is why it’s considered sticky. And IBM has the vision and means to transform itself, in order to take advantage of the everything-as-a-service trend.

IBM’s social business is said to be the main reason behind IBM’s success. According to IBM’s Vice President, Sandy Carter’s, IBM’s social culture is directly if not partially responsible for this IBM’s grand success: “Our employees use social computing tools to foster collaboration, disseminate and consume news, develop networks, forge closer relationships, and build credibility. As a result, they’re better informed and prepared to take action on behalf of IBM.”

Carter also cited an Business Value Study by IBM where companies that use social business tools outperform the non-social group (in terms of EBITDA) by 57 percent. Carter took t a step further by saying, “If you’re not transforming your company into a social business, plan to be out of business.”

IBM’s Luis Suarez also agrees with Carter stance, quoting how IBM’s-run developerWorks, the 8 million strong customer community is aiding IBM technicians improve it’s products making it a help me to help you sort of a relation: “It’s a rich innovation ecosystem with a direct channel of communication between customers and developers on how to fix IBM products and make them better.”

Old business must evolve into Social Business as per IBM’s example. Companies need to be a bit more social, internally and externally, giving the business leaders an initiative to create and promote transparency and a culture of collaboration, without any vengeance. Long story short rapid innovation is the key to future business success.

And that constant evolution and innovation, that, is IBM!

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But what determines the success of a successful blog? It’s traffic. Now what is traffic, it’s the density of followers visiting your webpage/ blog on a daily basis. This is one of the major reasons why lead generation is one of the most essential tasks when it comes to operating a blog purely for marketing purposes.

For starters let us understand what lead and traffic generation is. Traffic refers to the number of people visiting your page daily. Lead generation is basically capturing the interest of the user into your product or service enough to make them subscribe for your blog. Leads are generated for various purposes, such as getting referral acquisitions, email lists and most importantly sales.

Lead generation on the internet, usually involves the installation of an opt-in-box, more commonly known as a form, on your website. What you do on through this is, gather customer info in exchange for a suitable incentive. By customer info, I mean the very basic submission, of details such as their name and email address. And once a visitor submits his or her info and become a subscriber, you take the relationship further by starting to build upon a relationship with them. The smart thing to do here is to place your forms appear on almost every page, the more the form appears, the more your chances of obtaining visitors details increases. Word Press provides a helpful format, because once you install the form, it automatically appears on every webpage.

Here’s a prescription of eight remarkable steps hat will help you attract more visitors and increase your online visibility.

Make Sure the Content’s Interesting

Why this is the first point, is because this is probably the most important step that would help you generate leads. If a blog has pointless, which is commonly referred to as “lame” content, or no content at all, no one would want to visit it. And once you’ve developed such an image, it’ll be hard to get rid of it.  People visit blogs for information. Or in order to read something interesting which will entertain them, or more so provide them with a good time pass. So if the content on your blog is not interesting (by which I mean totally lame and boring), your blog might end up being just another boring dry space in the internet and you can wave Good bye to the leads.

Get a Good Understanding of Your Audience

The second step is a prerequisite for the fist one. Who all are going to be reading your content? This question is very important for your understanding. Because your content should totally act in accordance with with the type of audience you’re catering to. This will help you a lot in dealing with the kind of content you are going to post or put up. By focusing on a particular area of interest you’re unintentionally developing loyal readers by letting them understand and connect with you better, since they won’t be confused of what you’re providing to them

Provide Your Audience with Freebies

Let’s just face it. We all love whatever’s free. So where there is free stuff, people will come flocking in. So give out free stuff to your audience. And this act of generosity will also attract potential audience by poking them to subscribe or create more interaction. Freebie such as eBooks and newsletters are very economical to provide, so why not start with those, the basics. Then you can even extend this act of kindness tactfully, start an article compilation with a grand reward for the winner and this will for sure lead you a good enough lead generation.

Don’t Forget To Use Social Media 

Social media is the new biggest thing in the marketing and advertising sector. This platform has defined a whole new level of awesomeness for the internet today. Everyone knows or uses at least one or two of these social media tools. Therefore making it a very successful way of capturing all those oh so valuables leads, considering the number of people using or benefiting from these tools. So be sure to include social-sharing icons on your blog, especially those of the big three: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. By doing this you’re definitely encouraging visitors to share whatever they like with their respective network, providing you with free publicity. Doesn’t get better than this!

Keep It Updated

Current and latest things are the best way to attract lead generation. People appreciate a well maintained, updated blog since it’s full of new things.

Opt-in Banner is Essential

As we’ve discussed earlier the whole point of your blog is to be able to generate leads. So in order to actually be able to do so, you must have a lead opt-in banner, more commonly referred to as a form, usually placed in the upper right or left corner of your blog, or even a pop-up serves the purpose. The opt-in box is suggested to be the first thing be the first thing that that visitor should look at when they land on your site.

Ask Around

Interaction with the audience is a must.  Do whatever it takes to successfully communicate with them. This will build the relationship of credibility, trust and respect.  Lead generation is done through search engine optimization and reputation management. Running a blog requires a lot of dedication, sense of responsibility and intense knowledge about the industry you’re a part of, in order to generate the leads you require.

Let me put it in simpler words, lead generation is all about improving communication by more frequent interaction leading to the development of interest among your audience and potential audience.

Last and Final Note to Remember

What a blog provides you with is an opportunity: It provides you with a platform to communicate with your customers in real-time, in a very convenient way. What you need to remember is that your blog is a part of your business, and all your lead-gen efforts should be aiding the business itself. Make sure your blog is like an extension of your website or stands out enough for people to draw a link with your product or service, whatever you are or may-be providing.

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Some of the main problems that Facebook loyalists are facing include:

Non-user friendly

Users feel that the new interface isn’t easy to use and creates a lot of confusion among the different posts.  They are facing problems with the division of the wall and feel it’s hard to articulate the on goings and posts updates on their wall. User’s say that the new layout is very distracting, especially because of having two parts of the wall and not knowing what would be on the left side and the right side. People have also been complaining about how it’s not easy on the eye, because users are mainly trained to read from left to right, whereas the Timeline design is more of a zigzag pattern.

A lot of people appreciated and enjoyed Facebook for its simple and stream lined designs, which they have completely altered and changed into a chaotic and confusing interface, which baffles users into mixing up wall posts and not being able to read or notice all notifications.

Another user unfriendly point to questions is that if someone feel’s that Timeline is not the thing for them and they have already opted for this structural change they can’t switch back. This makes it forceful on them to use the new design, which has already started to annoy people.

Privacy issues

One of the major concerns that a majority of people are showing, is the fact that people can run through pages of their past in no time. Timeline offer’s its users to view their wall, going back to when they started using Facebook, which includes, wall posts, statuses, pictures and comments etc. from that time onwards up till now. This might be of interest to the person viewing his own wall, but user’s feel that their privacy is at stake. Some users have also reported of deleted images reappearing back on the wall, once they switch to Timeline. Constant complains are being focused in the direction that Facebook was supposed to be a communication channel where people could connect and stay in touch with friends, but has now become a Timeline of their own life, which they don’t wish to share with everyone. They also feel that this is a great risk to privacy, because there is information that they don’t want to share with friends or coworkers from work but have to now due lack of privacy control on Facebook.

Timeline started off with showing itself as a new and innovative way of keeping track of your past and current interactions, but grew to be disliked by many for its difficult interface and lack of privacy. Facebook should continue to keep Timeline for those who desire, but shall not make it mandatory.

Have a quick look at the features and look of Timeline on clicking the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzPEPfJHfKU

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