post

What are these “QR codes” I keep hearing about?

As more and more people consume the internet via their cell phones (The Economist magazine posted this morning that 46% of the world’s 7 billion people have at lease one active mobile device), there are more techniques to make that easier.

Apps is certainly one way, and we’re hard at work building a knock-your-socks-off app for Bisbee, but a simple, low-tech way that anyone can use is the QR, or “quick-response,” code.

QR code for Bisbee appIt’s a simple illustration, generated for free by a software program, that can be “photographed” by a smartphone and will link that phone’s browser directly to a specific page on a website.

Why, you might ask, wouldn’t the user simply type in url of the website? First, even on your desktop, you don’t like the idea of typing in an internet address. You’d much prefer to simply click on a link and get there.

And typing on a phone, with a single finger or with two thumbs, is more difficult. In addition, while your web address might be fairly straightforward, you don’t always want people to go to your home page and then find their way to the message your want them to have. [Read more...]

post

Yes, it’s your business, but it’s all about the customer

I’ve been reading The “You” Effect: How to Transform Ego-Based Marketing into Captivating Messages That Create Customers.

Probably doesn’t require much explanation about what it covers. As with most good business concepts, they’re pretty much self-evident once you slow down and think them through.

But some of the details in the book are worth telling you about. (And they may have some effect on our own marketing, as well.)

Author Tom Thrush talks about one of the big trends we’ll be seeing in the decade to come (the book was published in April of this year.) He points out that the internet has leveled the playing field, which is nothing new, but he says that to tell us that it means our marketing must become sharable.

No longer can we simply sell. We have to offer something that is valuable to a customer because it fulfills a need or solves a problem.

The best part of doing this is that the person who consumes the information we have provided will share it with her list or think of a few other people who have the same need and push our message on to them.

[Read more...]

post

Facebook users going more toward mobile

When Facebook last week updated its “key facts,” saying it now has 1 billion active users, it also noted that some 600 million of them check in regularly through their mobile devices — phones and tablets.

Not only is that a huge number, but it’s constantly growing. The math is easy here and shows that 60% of users take advantage of mobile, while only three months ago, that number was just over 3 percentage points less, at 56.86%.

Facebook key factsSo not only is the absolute number of users growing rapidly, but so is the portion who access the popular social media service through their phones. [Read more...]

post

Twitter Guidelines for Business

Twitter_Smallbiz_Guide

post

Margaret discusses her philosophy for Prism Communications

post

Gary earns HootSuite Certified Professional status; app can automate Twitter, much more

We are constantly being asked about automation of social media accounts. There are certainly reasons to do it (and there are times not to) and ways to do it properly.

One of the top means of getting a handle on Facebook and Twitter is a service called HootSuite, which is currently used by about 2 million people around the world. We have a new client that has some needs that HootSuite should take care of quite nicely, but we’ve only tinkered a bit with the application.

HootSuite certificationBut when a client is in need, there’s no room for amateur tinkering, so Gary attended HootSuite University (yes, it’s really called that) and dove deep into the use of the software. He is now a HootSuite Certified Professional and is looking forward to doing some really need marketing with the application.

It has, for example, a geolocation feature that allows a business to monitor all the conversations about particular subjects, including the business name and products or services in a specific area.

We’ll be getting a really detailed look at how it can help a specific business over the next few weeks and hope to talk Mark Schmitt at the Cochise College Small Business Development Center into setting up a class on the subject in the near future.

As we explore ways that it might help certain businesses in our market area, we’ll write more about it in this blog.

Gary is now one of just a handful of social media professionals in Arizona certified by Hootsuite.

post

Just in case you still have questions about the “why” of social media

The Millionaire MessengerToday I’m reading “The Millionaire Messenger” (see below) by Brendon Burchard. Burchard is an “expert” about how others can become “experts” and make money delivering their messages. (If you’ve heard me talk, you know that I believe each business owners is an expert in his field.)

He discusses at length how simple it has become to make that expertise known, especially compared with the difficulties and costs involved in doing so just a few years ago. [Read more...]

post

Use a competition to get “likes” for your Facebook page

We had a discussion today at one of the Xtreme S@cial Media sessions at the Women in Business seminar at Cochise College about ways to get people to “like” your business’ Facebook page.

And tonight I get a request from one of my friends on my personal Facebook page to “like” her granddaughter’s picture at a Facebook page for Kid To Kid up in Gilbert, a business that buys and sells “gently used kid stuff.” But in order to vote for the girl (her name is Pierce, and you’ll find her listed under the name of her mother, Kelley Chavez Birk, just in case you want to vote for her, too) you have to “like” the page first.

Since it’s a two-step process, my friend clearly explained the procedure in her posting, which is good, since some people would have the tendency simply to “like” her post, which would have done no good.

To make the “Best Dressed Kids” photo contest worthwhile for all the grandmas to promote, the store is offering $100 store credit for the kid with the most votes, $50 for second place and $25 for third. [Read more...]

post

Prism offering three “kits” to help businesses start, develop social media marketing

As more small and micro business see the need for social media marketing, we’re seeing them at every level of experience, from absolute starters to experienced marketers.

And we’re seeing businesses with a full spectrum of needs for consultants as well. Some need only general guidance, some need regular sessions as they learn to do more and more and others simply don’t want to be bothered with setting up “all that stuff.”

Which this diversity of interest and training levels in mind, Prism Communications has introduced three packages, or “kits,” to help businesses move ahead with social media marketing.

The first is a “starter” kit that offers setup of all the basic social media, from blogging to Facebook and Twitter.

The second an optimization package for those who already are up and running, but want to be more effective and have more reach.

And the third is a branding kit that allows the business to create a graphic image and use that image throughout the internet and in off-line marketing as well.

All of these will be introduced at the Women in Business Conference tomorrow at Cochise College Sierra Vista Campus, sponsored by the Small Business Development Center. The price of each kit is $695, but $100 off coupons are available through Oct. 31.

 

 

post

YouTube creation from a social media seminar student

GoAnimate.com: Pirate Days with Madame Magpie at Heather Green St by heathergreenstudios

Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It’s free and fun!

Gary and I taught a YouTube class at Cochise College. As always, we enjoyed teaching and really loved interacting with the attendees. The classes offer  opportunity to discuss the unique and ingenious ways that small businesses are marketing.

One of the demonstrations that we use is a program called Go Animate, featured by YouTube, is fun and simple to use. Heather Green from Heather Green Studios volunteers to promote local Bisbee, Arizona events. “Bisbee Pirate Days” inspired Heather to use her talents to create a video to post on Facebook. Heather has a blog, Facebook page, Twitter account and YouTube account. Please take a look at her art online and stop by the gallery on Subway Street in the heart of Historic Bisbee.

If you are inspired to create an animation, go to YouTube.com/create. There, you will find several choices of easy-to-use online software. Now, you can post video on YouTube, Facebook and your blog without picking up a video camera. The software leads you through the process of picking characters and backgrounds, adding gestures and movements such as hand movements and facial expressions, writing the characters’ conversation. If you post from YouTube, a click of a button allows you to post your creation on your channel. Viola! You, too, can be a producer! Enjoy Heather’s Go Animate video posted below.