I started participating in #hashtag conversations on Twitter when I was mommy blogging and loved them. Back then it was just for fun, and to add followers to my blog. I never imagined they would turn into such a powerful business networking opportunity!
Here’s a great #hashtags101 guide from Internet Media Labs. Describes what they are and how they are beneficial. I’ll be posting lists of interesting #hashtag conversations that I’m collecting soon and talking about different ways to participate in those chats.
I am currently involved with a start-up (getchute.com) that is growing and (in my opinion) seeing success from their time at #Y-Combinator. But getting in was certainly a process. And what happens if you don’t get in?
This article from VentureBeat talks about the benefits of co-working spaces for start-ups. I spend a lot of time at the Internet Media Labs space in New York and agree with VB’s point of view on this. Besides the collaboration, it’s a smart way for start-ups to manage a budget that tends to be tight, or non-existent! Angel investors would rather see entrepreneurs spending their money on engineers anyway!
If you’re a startup, you’ve probably considered joining an incubator. But residency can be competitive and the requirements stiff. TechStars and Y-Combinator are well-known incubators that offer funding, mentorship, and access to a community of venture capitalists and anointed digerati — but only for a select few. Applicants also have to provide detailed business plans and disclose development, operational, marketing, and sales activities to get into the club. There’s another alternative that might actually be a better fit for the majority of startups: co-working spaces. Co-working spaces offer more freedom and flexibility than traditional business incubators.
Consider these other benefits of working in the same shared office with other like-minded entrepreneurs: Read more…
On “Business Brilliant” with Lewis Schiff, Russell Simmons advises:
Meditate for at least 5 minutes a day.
Helps you decide you are taking the train the “wrong way” and that you want to change direction.
Your breath is your soundtrack.
Let your brain settle…
This is a simple Infographic but gives you some basic ideas on how businesses are using Pinterest to promote their brand and products. Includes 11 Ideas For Using Pinterest To Drive Traffic and Sales.
Pinterest Infographic, an Infographic by Linchpin SEO
Facebook Places is changing the game for local businesses. Consumers no longer have to remember to login to multiple applications to check-in to businesses and alert friends to their location. MOST, if not all, of your customers are ON FACEBOOK and access it from their mobile devices regularly throughout the day.
If you have a Facebook page and a Twitter following, you could very quickly improve how you communicate with your clients! And with last year’s launch of Facebook Places, it’s easier to track the performance of your social media marketing efforts. There are a few simple steps that you can take to begin using the power of social media through Facebook, and start engaging your audience:
Engaging people through social media is the most cost-effective way to find new customers, and ensure that your existing ones keep coming back. If you have any questions about this, feel free to comment and we’d be happy to respond!
Savvy local business owners are quickly understanding the power of FREE by embracing social media marketing. Social media marketing may seem daunting to a lot of small business owners, but when done right it can be a very effective tool. According to the MerchantCircle survey, local businesses are spending more time and budget to drive consumers in the door.
Top 10 Online Media Marketing Points from the survey:
- Local merchants are flocking to simple, free marketing methods such as social media sites and are slow to adopt mobile marketing and group buying.
- Facebook has now surpassed Google (66 percent) as the most widely used marketing method amongst local merchants.
- Facebook is almost tied with Google search (40 percent) as one of the top three most effective marketing methods, with 37 percent rating Facebook as one of their most effective tools.
- Twitter: nearly 40 percent of local merchants are using the microblogging platform to build awareness, up from 32 percent in Q4 2009.
- Facebook Places has soared past Foursquare to reach a 32 percent current usage rate, with an additional 12 percent citing plans to use Facebook Places in the coming months.
- Mobile marketing: less than 15 percent of merchants report doing any sort of mobile marketing or advertising, and more than half have no plans to do so in the coming months.
- GroupOn/Group Buying: Only 11 percent of local merchants have offered a “daily deal” .
- 55 percent of people who have run a daily deal campaign said they would not do so again!
- Traditional offline marketing methods continue to decline across the board.
- Local businesses are struggling to manage their programs, with lack of time and resources the top online marketing challenge for more than one third of merchants (37 percent).
The FourSquare App is used primarily for letting friends that are connected on FourSquare to know where they are visiting in real-time. When a person arrives at a local business, they open the app and “check-in”. They also use it to collect points, prize “badges,” and even coupons from local businesses they frequent. People have (of course!) connected their FourSquare with FaceBook and Twitter, therefore allowing their extended social network to know where they are. People who frequent the same place a lot can become “Mayors”, and are therefore eligible for special deals from that local business.
How does Foursquare know where a user is? It uses a phone’s GPS. It tends to feature bars, as well as restaurants, stores, and other locations.
From a local business marketing perspective, it can be used as a tool to drive:
(1) Repeat business: Mayors of a location (most check-ins over the last 60 days) can get special deals. These are the folks you want to treat super nice! Count-based specials can be offered to anybody that has checked in a certain number of times. There are other programs available for different types of users.
(2) Drive new customers: By claiming your business and providing one of the programs, users see an orange “Special Here” button next to your listing. The theory is that they will choose your place over one without any deals.
(3) Branding: at a minimum, FourSquare is provides branding to local businesses. How? Because people using it are probably very active on social media and could even have a high Klout score. That could also translate to a large number of Friends or Followers, and all of them are seeing the name and location of your business when they check-in!
Right now their services are free so there is no reason not to take advantage of these programs! Questions? Comment below and we’ll shoot you a note back.