The IMPACT of Social Media

Phone Customer Service or Social Media?

Ever have trouble reaching customer service by phone for one of your utilities or home services, like your phone or internet or tv connections and more?

I have.  I have had several instances of problems with either internet or tv connections or both and in trying to reach the correct department to correct it, was rerouted so many times, I ended up on the phone for a half hour without accomplishing a thing and feeling frustrated and like I'd lost my time - oh, wait...I DID lose my time.

Frustration turns to Connecting

So...this weekend, I became frustrated with Verizon over my phone service, and after spending time on the phone fruitlessly, I gave up and looked for an email address on their website.  Finding none, I did locate Facebook and Twitter buttons on their site, so I hit the Facebook button and was taken directly to their page to "Like" it.  

Oh, what the heck... I'm not feeling warm and fuzzy towards them right now, but maybe "liking" their page will take me to some information I can use to contact them better.  And sure enough, it revealed my chance to direct message them, and only minutes after doing so, I was contacted on my Facebook page by them, and my outcome there was so successful!... 

That I had to try it again.  Tonight, I came home to problems with my Direct Tv service, so after a brief call with someone who did not seem able to help, I Tweeted them...and magically was responded to RIGHT AWAY!

The IMPACT of Social Media

Okay, so if you don't know by now the IMPACT that social media has, isn't it time you learn? 

Do you know that Pepsi passed up ads on the Super Bowl to spend $21 million (that's MILLION) on Social Media?!  Obama's second term is accredited to his use of social media, and so is unrest in Egypt and impact on Iran's elections.

News travels at the speed of light over Twitter and Facebook connections and connecting with others across the world is only seconds away through social networking sites.  

Marketing with Social Media

But perhaps one of the largest impacts has been on marketing and how companies treat their patrons...  Companies are connecting more fully with their customers through social media, building long-lasting relationships this way, but also are more careful about how they treat their customers as those same strong relationships can turn very publicly sour quickly if a customer on the social media networks is mistreated.

Have you used social media to reach out to a company?  If so, what was your experience with it?...good?... bad?  Please share with us in the comments below:

5 Keys to Social Media Success

As I get more involved in social media for business, I see more each day of the changing social media scene and its frustrations in keeping up and mastering it.  With all the constant changes on Facebook and Twitter, new social media moguls like Google + and Pinterest, it's no wonder there seems to be no real direction in planning a social media campaign and working it with success.  It seems an even greater need with so much change, for planning and follow-up to succeed. 

With that in mind, here are a few steps that should help you with your social-media action plan:

1. Goals

What's the problem? What are you trying to achieve? Start by stating that out loud, defining it, and writing it down. It may seem too obvious but real business happens over time, with actions, not just in meetings. Setting the context correctly matters.

For example, social media for your business might be a matter of generating and publishing content to attract visitors to your website where they buy services. It might also be about publishing information, like the whereabouts of the taco truck. Or it might be to deal with complaints, like bad reviews. Maybe it's serving as a type of sales collateral, helping to close sales by positioning the business and its expertise. Start your plan by stating the goal of your social media campaign.

2. Actions

Having defined the goals, how are you going to achieve them? What specifically do you want to do?  An action plan must have specific concrete steps that need to be taken.  For social media, that would be actions like setting up accounts, developing graphics for the different pages, defining what kinds of updates should be done, on which platform, and others.  How many tweets are required?  How many are too many?  Do you post the same thing exactly on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn?  What kind of content gets liked or retweeted?  What's supposed to happen?

3. Measurement

As the plan gets going, and business gets going, how will you know if your plan is even working?  How will you judge performance?  How will you compare your plan to your actual results in order to review and revise your plan?

All of that takes establishing the measurement -- the numbers -- as you develop your plan.  Don't worry about guessing the future correctly, because nobody does.  Just make the assumptions logical and the guesses numerical, so you can test them when you're underway, and revise them as results come.  Standard numbers for measuring social media could be traffic generated, tweets, updates, likes, retweets, increase in sales, orders for special deals, or even the interesting social-media measurements like Klout or Peer Index that combine numbers into theoretical measurement of influence or impact.

 

4. Committing the people

Committees, groups, and meetings don't actually do anything for a real business.  It takes people, so an action plan includes very clearly defined tasks and responsibilities. Who does what?  Make that explicit.  Beware of the dangers of having multiple people involved in a solution, without any one person committed to doing something.

Develop commitment, not just involvement.  Compare the role of the pig to the role of the chicken in the classic bacon-and-egg breakfast:  The chicken is involved, the pig is committed.

The social-media action plan should define who's doing what.  Is it one person on Twitter and another on Facebook?  Is one gathering and curating content and another watching complaints?  Who does the messaging?  Who develops blog posts?  Spell it out.

5. Tracking and following up

Like everything in planning for business, the social-media action plan is only as good as the actions it causes.  Goals, actions, tracking, and people lead to a review-and-revise session scheduled in advance on a regular basis, maybe once a month or every other month, depending on your volume of business.  Look at the plan, compare it to actual results, discuss the reasons for the difference between plan and actual, and revise the plan.  This also includes reviewing performance of the individuals and specific tasks against their numeric measurement.  This is simply called good management.

I hope this has aided in your development of a social media plan for your business.  I would love to hear about your challenges, what you have to share or your questions in the Comments section below…

To your Success,

         Thea

Building Business Credit Basics

If you're just starting a business, fairly new into your business, or considering expanding, one of the most important steps you will take is to build your business credit.  Many business owners mistakenly rely solely on their personal credit and funds to start and grow their business. Once these are exhausted, the owner has very limited access to other funding sources.  Consequently, about half of all businesses do not make it past the first five years. 


It's important that you build your business credit so you won't fall into this category and can obtain much needed financing for your business when the time comes.  Yet most people think that obtaining business credit is as easy as getting personal credit, where the only thing you have to do is to begin filling out applications for business credit cards, lines of credit and loans.  This is not only incorrect, but can even shorten the life of your business.  

Rather than going about it  blindly, it's important that you know the steps to building positive business credit from the start.

Separate Your Business Credit from Your Personal Credit

The first and most important step for you to take is to separate yourself and your credit from your business.  Personal credit is harmed very easily and even one inquiry on it can lower your score.  Whereas, business credit is treated differently and can take several inquiries and multiple loans being out without harming your business credit score. 

So...building your credit begins from the start of you obtaining an LLC or incorporating your business and then obtaining an EIN (Employer's Identification Number) from the IRS.  From here, all your credit will be linked to the name you incorporated under (as well as your own personal name until you have fully established your business credit apart from your own personal credit) and your EIN.  So the next step for you will be to open a checking account with your local bank under your corporation's name using your EIN.  

Establish a Relationship with Your Local Bank

Establishing a relationship with your local bank can also be crucial to you down the road, so if you do all your business online, consider establishing an account also at your local bank, where they can get to know you personally.  Most banks will allow you to open a business bank account with as little as $100.  It's important to build a positive banking relationship, as banks typically report to Equifax Business, so while it's not important how much you keep in the account, it is important to never allow it to have a negative balance.  

NOTE:  ** Remember, even when you begin with IRS, you need to make sure that your corporation's name appears exactly the same on every single document and account you open. If not, you're taking the risk of having mix-ups and errors on your reports in the future.**

Register Your Business with a Business Credit Bureau

After you have established your business name and bank accounts, go the Dun & Bradstreet website (www.DnB.com) and register for a D-U-N-S Number.  This process will take 30 days.  But unless you're in a hurry for some reason, I don't recommend you pay to speed up the process.  Furthermore, once you're on their site, you will see offers from them for packages ranging any where from $40 - $300+ with special features to make them seem attractive, but again, I recommend you save your money and don't buy these.  They are in business for themselves and do have sales representatives who will be glad to take your money for these packages unnecessarily.  

After you've registered with Dun & Bradstreet, register your company with the major business credit bureaus. The business credit bureaus are Experian Business, Business Credit USA, and Equifax Business. You can use either your EIN or your DUNS for this.  These business credit bureaus frequently have different requirements regarding what you need to register and maintain a positive credit approval so make sure you pay attention to the details as failing to comply with these rules can actually harm your credit. 

Good Business Credit is Important for Financing

The business credit bureaus gather information about the credit transactions your business engages in and then they use it to create a business credit report about your company.  The credit reports also take into account the credit cards and bank loans you have, as well as similar financial information. While not the only factor considered, paying your bills on time and keeping your credit cards low are two of the best ways to ensure you have a good credit report.  Essentially, business credit makes you a more desirable candidate for financing, exactly what you want to be when you are trying to expand your business.  

Gaining Credibility for Your Business

Now that you've established your business' credit presence, you need to give your corporation some much needed credibility. This is important because when you get ready to start applying for credit, these vendors and creditors are going to look for background information on you. This is done by 1) creating a website, 2) getting a legitimate business email address, and 3) having a business designated address and phone line that's listed in the 411 directory.  While this may sound like a lot, you can actually have all this completed in 3 days time.

Obtaining Your Website

Your website doesn't have to be spectacular. Creditors simply want to see that your company has an Internet presence.  If building an online presence is not important to your company, you can make a one-page website that outlines your company's name, purpose and line of business, and contact information.  You can accomplish this cheaply and quickly 
through any of the web hosting companies, like GoDaddy or Host Gator.  

Once you join these sites and find a name for your site, they have great customer service that will walk you through the steps of putting up your one-page site.

Your Business Email Address

When you sign on with a web host for your website, you will usually be given a number of email addresses included with it.  Again, simply call their customer service and ask the details.  Your email address will be the same as the name you choose for your web site, something that should reflect your business appropriately, rather than using a free email address like g-mail or hotmail.  

Establishing Your Phone Number

Having a phone number that is strictly for your business will help you improve your business credibility.  You'll want to establish a land line for your business purposes or an 800 number that can be listed.  And you should set up this line with a voicemail greeting that is professional. 

Land lines are best, as they are automatically listed with local and 411 directories, but you can also obtain and 800 number through an 800 number service and then search online for free listing websites such asListYourself.net and YP.com to list your 800 number with them.

These are the basics needed in order to get started with building business credit. Remember that this process isn't done overnight, so be patient. Once you get into the swing of things, you'll find that it's definitely not hard either. Hope this has helped to get you started with a few basics. Would love to hear your thoughts or what you've learned...  Share with us below in the Comments section...

To Your SUCCESS,

          Thea

Retirement Planning for a Secure Financial Future

If you're in business for yourself or going into business for yourself, something that will help you along the way is to have your own finances in order.  Part of that is preparing for your financial future. 

Savings Plan for a Secure Financial Future

If you're between the ages of 21 to 35, you're in luck!  You're young enough to start out right and set aside savings that will prepare you for a secure financial future, for retirement, and for anything unforeseen that may arise.  If you begin setting aside $200 a month in a retirement account of some kind from the time you're 22 and earn about 8%, you'll have more than $37,000 saved within 10 years.  You'll have more than $122,000 saved in 20 years, and at least $1.2 million set aside for retirement by the time you reach age 67.   

Certified financial planners recommend saving 10-15% of your salary towards retirement at this age, with the best investments being a 401(k) plan.  Your contributions to a 401(k) are excluded from taxable income, and most companies that offer a 401(k) will even contribute towards it, matching anywhere from 25-100% of your contributions.  

If your company does not have a 401(k) plan, or you're already in business for yourself without the 401(k) option, your best choice may be a Roth IRA.  Contributions are not tax-deductible, but can be withdrawn at any time tax-free, and are good additions to your savings plan even if you are already contributing to a 401(k).  Another savings should be for you to not hurry in paying off your student loans, as the interest rate is so low and fixed if started after 2006. 

Saving for your Retirement Planning

If you're between the ages of 30 to 45, you are likely in the stage of buying a home and having children and not able to save as much, so hopefully, you've saved as much as possible already in your 20's.  But if not, and you do not have an emergency savings fund yet, begin setting aside in a separate account enough to add up to roughly 6 months of your living expenses.  This way, if you lose your job, or need a down payment for a home, you're not tempted to raid your retirement account.

Also, if you have children, you'll want to consider saving for them for college.  Many states now offer a 529 savings plan for your child's college fund, where you can save for their college tax-free.  Plan to set aside anywhere from $107 to $222 a month for your child's college fund.

If you're between the ages of 40-55, you hopefully have a nice retirement fund and college fund set aside by now, but if you don't, you'll have to play catch up.  If you're 45 and have nothing saved yet, you'll now have to start setting aside 29% of your salary to catch up, as opposed to 13%.  And if you're just starting at age 55, you'll have to set aside 43% of your salary. 

Financial Future of Your Child's College

If you've reached this age without setting aside for your child's college, you'll now have to start setting aside a whopping $637 monthly to catch up, or consider taking out a Parent PLUS loan for your child's college.  The rates are low and fixed, and are forgiven if your child is disabled or dies.  However, keep in mind, this may put you in an awkward place financially or your own retirement by having debt to still pay off at that time. 

Another option is to take advantage of dropping interest rates and purchase a condo near the college for your child and a few others to live in.  The other students can pay towards the rent, and when your child is finished with college, you can keep it as an investment, continuing to rent it out to students or to alums during big sports weekends, etc.

Financial Planning for Retirement

If you're between the ages of 55-66, retirement may be near for you and you should think seriously about being prepared financially.  On the up-side, for many these are the best years to set aside for retirement.  Most major expenses are behind you and you can concentrate on saving for retirement during these peak earning years.

After the age of 50, you're now able to contribute an additional $5,500 annually to your 401(k), bringing the total you're able to put into it to $22,500.  You're also able to contribute an extra $1,000 annually to a Roth IRA, bringing that amount to $6,000.

Savings Plan by Downsizing

Also by now, your kids are most likely gone to college and living on their own, so consider down-sizing.  Even if you have a house that's lost value in this economy, simply living in a smaller place will save you thousands on taxes, utility expenses, and insurance that you can then channel into savings.

You might want to consider consolidating your 401(k) plans at this point into one account, to get a better handle on how much you have, and this can also open more opportunities for you with your savings.  Also, consider purchasing long-term care insurance.  A devastating illness at this age can wipe out your savings, and so can a stay in a nursing home.  A good time to start long-term care insurance is in your 60's. And you may want to consider a plan for a specific period (like 5 years) as opposed to an expensive plan that goes for a lifetime once you enter a home, as the average nursing home stay is 2 1/2 years.

You are eligible to begin withdrawing from social security at age 62, but if you can wait till you're 66, you will increase your social security payments by 33%.  Basically, the longer you work, the better off you will be.  And when estimating how much you will need to live on when you retire, consider this...that the average 65-year-old couple will spend $240,000 on health care in retirement.

Test Your Retirement Planning

To test yourself, consider living for a year now while you're working on what you believe you can live on when you retire.  This exercise alone may help you cut back unneeded expenses, helping you save even more, and it's known that "a good saver will beat out a good investor every time."

Ahh...and now that you've begun to manage your money and savings, why not consider building your financial future into a secure retirement bundle...contact me to find out how.  

To your success,

Thea

My Weekend Reading List - 11/2/2012

Hey Guys,

Wow, it's been one crazy week. I want to start out by saying
that I sincerely hope all of our readers on the East Coast are all
safe and sound with their families this weekend. If you were caught
in Sandy's path, please know that our thoughts and prayers are
with you.

Between being glued to the weather coverage, working at the hospital

and here online, it's fair to say that I haven't had much time to
delve into this week's biggest internet marketing and social media stories.

Here are a few of the articles, blog posts, etc. that I have
bookmarked to read over the weekend:

"Would You Rather Own a Magazine or a Digital Startup?" - While
startups tend to get all the glory, the truth is that most
of them fall on their faces (because they live in VC-funded
fairytale land). Magazines operate with real business plans and
succeed way more often.

"LinkedIn Marketing: New Features to Enhance Your LinkedIn Results" -

LinkedIn used to be seen as strictly for business connections, and then it seemed

to transform into social networking...is it now headed back to strictly business?

You can now put up banners and company pages and so much more.

"Pinterest Tips" - are you on Pinterest?...no???... Why not? Do you know that there are over 11 million new visitors on Pinterest every month? It's a fun way to collect anything online that interests you and share it, and it can quickly become addictive. Check some basic info about it here...and you can view my site HERE.

"Obama vs Romney in Social Media: Who's Using it Best?" - Oh come on now...the big election day is coming around the corner, and we can't escape it and all the advertising all around it yet. What do you think? Have you checked out the different candidates in the social media?

"As Paid Content Booms, Will Ad Opportunities Shrink? "- Content, content, and more content!... Love it! Marketing, selling and now buying is all about content. But does that really mean there's less ad opportunity? If advertisers offer to pay money, I'm pretty sure publishers will take it.

Want to weigh in on any of these topics? Want to add any items to my
reading list? Leave me a comment!

To your success!

     Thea  

How Matt Lloyd's "IM Revolution" will Help you Grow your Business

Thinking about grabbing a copy of Matt Lloyd’s IM Revolution?

But what is it, exactly?

Is it a turnkey lead generation system?

A complete online marketing funnel?

Is “IM Revolution” designed as an additional income stream or to replace your existing online marketing business?

Let’s dig a little deeper, and discover a few insider secrets that may …. SHOCK YOU !

Oh, by the way, if you’ve landed on this page for your FACEBOOK training webinar, then read through to the bottom…

The IM Revolution

IM Revolution (myonlinebusinessempire.com) is the brainchild of Matt Lloyd, a 25 year old from Perth, Australia.  This new version of IM Revolution was officially launched in September, 2012.

After having spent the last 4 years struggling to figure out how to develop a successful business model, Matt finally hit gold!  In just over twelve months, Matt’s business has skyrocketed from a monthly income of around $700 to over $150,000 per month.

This sort of genuine success is seldom seen within the internet marketing arena, and Matt is determined to keep this growth happening.  To do that, he is sharing his system with others and helping them succeed too.  There is a huge buzz around this guy and his system.

So why all the excitement? Is this it… or should we keep looking?

The best answer to that question is:

It depends.

Because… If you are looking for a new type of proven partnership program that offers an unusually high income potential – IM Revolution may be exactly what you are looking for.

The magic here is that IM Revolution will show how you can earn up to 90% commissions per sale on the front end and even more money on the back end. This is especially inviting to those who like to promote using paid advertising methods because there is enough profit to make paid advertising worth it.

IM Revolution will give you access to a complete internet business plan and highly converting sales funnel that will mean you can start making consistent money online today.  But if you’re looking for a system that will allow you to sit back and do absolutely nothing and have money drop from the sky tomorrow… then IM Revolution is not for you.

IM Revolution System – $9.95

IM Revolution Review

The cost to get your copy of the IM Revolution is a measly $9.95.  In 7 days you will be asked if you think it is worth more than that.  If you do, and you want to pay a little more that’s ok.  If you don’t, and you wish to only pay your $9.95 then that’s fine too.   This mere  $9.95 gets you “in the door” and instantly shows you what a $150K / month business really looks like for the person making the sales.

Matt's IM Revolution is written in simple English, rather than in terms you need a business or computer science degree to understand.  Each step is spelled out for you in detail, so you will know exactly what to do.

More of what’s inside in Matt’s words:

“In this book, I’m going to reveal to you the biggest misconception of the Internet marketing industry… that only 3% (the top earners) know about.

I’m going to give you the 4 main leverage points that transformed my business into a multiple six figure income source, in less than 3 months.

You’ll discover the single reason why you’re not making as much money as you’d like in your business…And, I’ll reveal the exact business model I’m using which is generating over $80,000.00 in cash each month…and how YOU can cash in on it too!

This handbook is for you if you want to make more money in as little time as possible, have a life and still earn money, WITHOUT the stress and trauma of going it alone. So let’s dive right in…”

You'll love the detail that Matt gives about his business and the incredible marketing lessons that you will learn from this simple yet comprehensive handbook.

Other topics that are covered include:

• Creating Your Own Products
• How Traffic Really Works
• Calculating Your Average Visitor Value

There really is just so much in here it’s amazing!

IM Revolution – Full Disclosure

While it does cost only $9.95 for the IM Revolution handbook and you can certainly follow this formula on your own, if you want to make the best money with the program you must also jump on the chance to become a M.O.B.E. Licensee.  This is the easiest way to eliminate overwhelm and end the frustration of trying to crack the internet marketing code.  You’ll get full details of how you can start to earn immediate income with the M.O.B.E, License Rights at the end of the IM Revolution Handbook.

IM Revolution for Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is simply selling another person’s product or service to earn a commission and it is by far one of the fastest, easiest ways to get started making income online.

Yet, the challenge has always been that you find a great product or service to promote and then are left to figure out...  HOW are you going to promote this new product or service on a consistent basis over an extended period of time?  You'll have none of those concerns with IM Revolution.

With the information in IM Revolution you are given a chance to get a fully optimized sales funnel and highly converting products along with a system and support that is completely there for you any time you need them who are focused on your growth and success, like no other affiliate program I've ever seen.

What Are You Doing To Make Money Today?

So let me ask you this? What are you doing in your business today to make money? Do you have a well oiled sales funnel that is consistently converting leads into sales for you?

If you were not able to answer a resounding ‘YES’ immediately and without hesitation – then I would suggest you venture over to take a peek at Matt’s IM Revolution.

You can spend hours on getting all the traffic to your site that you want, but if you don’t have a highly converting sales funnel for your visitors, then all your efforts are wasted.

Websites, autoresponders, sales funnels, sales conversations – all these things take years to learn and IM Revolution shows you how you can leap ahead of the crowd with an easier way that will make you serious money.

IM Revolution to Build Your Own Business

The system you will discover inside IM Revolution can be used as lead generation to build your business and products.

Simply continue to maintain relationships with your new leads and as you build your own success you will have every confidence to create your very own products and offer them too.

Consider putting together a small product showing other frustrated marketers exactly how they could generate daily leads on demand, just as you will learn yourself, and pocket yet another income stream.

When you use the system outlined in the IM Revolution handbook, you can effectively generate leads and move forward with an internet marketing business plan that will show you how to earn money right away.  It is time for you to GET STARTED NOW.

So what are you waiting for?   Oh, a BONUS OF COURSE!!  Here it is…

When you purchase your copy of IM Revolution from this page, before October 10th, 2012 – I will send you access to Crystal Curtis' webinar:  Facebook "First Impression Method" - 10 leads per day that buy!  
On this exciting training event being held this Wednesday (10/10/12) night at 8:00 p.m. EST, you'll learn 5 sure-fire way to sell your products and services using Facebook advertising!  Just send me your purchase confirmation email to thea.s.niche@gmail.com  and I’ll email you your access.

Grab Your Copy of IM Revolution Today before the price goes up – Right Here, Right Now

To your Success,

          Thea

Your Blogging Strategy

In the words of Seth Godin:

Strategy matters more than ever

When everyone is playing the same game, your execution is critical. Your store is like their store, your bread is like their bread, so we care very much about the care and skill you put into your product or service.

So...when everyone is doing it, how can you blog successfully? The key is the strategy you use, and if you're not getting results with the blog you have now, the key is to change your strategy rather than give up or continue in the same way.

What strategies are working? I'll go over several here...

First of all, be sure you're making the best use of your blog entries. Blog about subjects you can write up as articles and post to article sites, and even make into PDF files that you can sell or give away as e-books.

Secondly, SEO is not what it used to be. Don't count on simple keywords gaining traffic to your site. Google likes sites that offer quality and a lot more for the visitor now than a simple web page. Instead, focus on promoting your blog through social media...share it on Facebook, Twitter, Squidoo, Google +, Reddit, StumbleUpon, and even better yet...make into a short video using Power Point or Keynote and put it on YouTube.

Along with these strategies, consider blogging about "Top Lists." Find the top in their field and write blogs about what they're doing and how they're successful, listing them and talking all about what they're doing, with links to their sites. This will link your blog to those who are top in their field to begin with, but will also gain you some momentum with your blog by referencing these, and if your blog is well written, these top people may very well begin listing a link to your entry on their sites.

Consider hiring professional writers for your blog through sites like Elance or Odesk. Or write your blog and have someone else edit it for you. If you don't like these ideas, try the 24-hour waiting method of writing your blog the day before, saving it, and then re-reading it the next day to proof it before posting it. A professionally written blog will go far in getting shared and making your site appear more professional.

Lastly, be consistent. Set aside a period of time every day to sit down and blog...say half an hour. Write for that half hour, and if it's not complete, save it and finish it the next day in that half hour. But by setting aside a specific time each day, you'll get into a schedule of doing it, and contrary to common belief, this will make you a much better blogger. It is a fact that the more often you do something, the better you become at it. It's not quality that matters, but quantity if you want to improve any skill.

Okay, hopefully these few strategies will give you a bit to work with. I look forward to hearing from you in the comment section below and watch for my next blog on top bloggers... 

To your success,
       Thea