Archive for small business marketing
Gist – A New Contact Management Tool
Posted by: | CommentsAre you trying to figure out how to harvest all the potential leads in your social media files? Are you wondering what to do with all your email contacts that you think might be in LinkedIn or might be found on Twitter but you just aren’t sure if that is the case? Are there some great people in your industry who you suspect have blogs filled with useful information? Then Gist is a tool you will want to explore for data mining your social media profiles AND your email or SalesForce CRM software for contacts and leads.
Gist allows you to have an all in one dashboard to see all the contact information and communication history or anyone in any of your contact circles (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Blog, Gmail, etc). Displayed on the dashboard for each person among your contacts are not only the publicly available social site links for their profiles as well as any news articles that mention them, emails you have exchanged, links and attachments you have shared, common connections, as well as their Twitter feed.
The potential of all this information aggregated in a single easy to access location makes for a powerful resource for your next meeting with a client, your boss, your son’s angry teacher. No more digging around in your email, searching your files for content previously attached or received, it is all right in front of you in a nice easy to use spreadsheet like format. No more mind maps to figure out who knows who and how, no more trying to remember when exactly you or they sent a file attachment and where you stored in and in which folder. No more trying to figure out what is that contact’s LinkedIn, Twitter, and email information. Theoretically you can tap into their social and professional profile and find out everything you need to initiate contact professionally within Salesforce or Outlook and create an uber intelligent contact dashboard filled with all kinds of relevant content that you can assign various priorities for processing purposes. What a boon this is for managing information and contacts for prospecting and follow up purposes. What an amazing aggregating tool for gathering all kinds of information formerly scatter to the social media winds! You will know more about your prospect than the xray guy at TSA!
The beauty of Gist is the more complete profile you build for a ‘connection’ across their various profiles on line in a centralized location. It cuts out some of the manual data harvesting efforts previously required to really figure out who your social connections are and how to leverage their connections. Gist helps you know ‘more about who you know.’ The unity of information on Gist is incredibly useful. Whether it is searching or creating a dossier of a contact’s recent activities, the intelligence this tool collects and updates regularly is amazing. Still, it has its limitations in Beta form. It relies on your importing of updated lists from your various profiles. It does not auto-update when you add new contacts or connections. It limits the number of Twitter followers you are allowed to import as well. But these are minor limitations for the tool.
As a tool to use to facilitate further engagement with your followers and contact, this is an incredibly useful resource for PR, Marketing, Sales, and Social Media Community Managers. Take the pulse of your community, respond rapidly to individual needs, and engage with more people more often. Now if I could only get them to include Google local search listings for companies. Can you imagine adding a map, video, slideshare, etc?
I am hooked. And you will be too once you try it.
Is Your Web Professional a Poseur or Pro Pt 3
Posted by: | CommentsWebsite Grader is a great tool to check out any site and see how effective it is at SEO. Good SEO gives your site the chance it needs to be found by an Internet search. Take the time to evaluate a potential designer or developer’s site. If they don’t score well on their own site then imagine what they’ll do for you.
An important point to remember is that generally SEO is straight forward and takes little time to implement. Effective keyword research is required ahead of time though. Building backlinks will take time, effort and likely money. However, this effort pays big dividends over time. If you take the time to work on the issues Website Grader highlights your site and your business will benefit. Know where you stand, know if your designer or developer can deliver.
SEO Poseur or Pro- Is Your Web Professional Competent Pt1
Posted by: | CommentsSEO and Web Design are critical to the success of your business’ website. If you can’t be found (SEO) you might as well not have a web site. If your website is not user friendly once you get traffic you will not have any sticky readers who come back again and again to find your great content. A new website can cost thousands of dollars and can be a major investment for a small business owner. How do you know if your designer is a poseur or a pro? What can you do if you have already been burned and now are left with the mess to fix or clean up? Shannon Evans and Rich Geasey authors of Get Found Now Local Search Secrets Exposed are thrilled to announce that their second book in the series Get Found Now Search Engine Optimization Secrets Exposed is expected to release Feb 15. The following excerpt is designed to help you filter out the poseurs and uncover the real professional who can help you and your business get found on the internet!
Your personal or business website is likely your primary medium for providing information to potential and current customers or clients. Today, an Internet search is typically the primary way someone begins their search for goods and services. Therefore, your website needs to be on the first page of a search engines’ results (for most of us that’s Google). Not on page one? Well, less than 10% of searchers ever venture any further.
Despite this fact, most business and professional websites are essentially useless in delivering first page search results, even in the case of very specific keyword searches. Why is that? For the most part nearly every small business website is not search engine optimized (SEO) in the least. Is this the fault of the site owner? No, it’s the fault of the designer or developer of the site. A competent web designer or developer takes the time to research the keywords a site owner needs to use to have success on the search engines. Next, the designer or developer needs to use those keywords and the process of SEO to give the site the opportunity to appear on the first page of the search engine.
How do you know if your site is optimized, or more importantly if your designer or developer has the skill to achieve this? Well, a great tool is available to assist in this process and it’s called Website Grader (www.websitegrader.com). While Website Grader is not the definitive answer to how good a website is, it is a great tool to compare sites and see how you, and your designer or developer stack up.
Website Grader analyses your website for completeness of SEO efforts. After the analysis it compares the site with their database of nearly two million sites and provides it with final score of 1 to 100. A score of 90 or better and you are doing all the right things as far as SEO is concerned. A score in the 80s shows you are working it hard and with a bit more time and effort you will be doing great. In the 70s you have some work to do but you are getting there. 50 to 70 is OK if there are no serious issues the report highlights, it may simply be you have a new site and it needs time to be searched. Less than 50 and the site is poorly done and simply is not visible to search engines (or very, very new).
Get LinkedIn or Get Left Out Part 6 of 6
Posted by: | CommentsYou now have enough information to use LinkedIn effectively. In the last few posts we have discussed Profiles, Building a Reputation, using LinkedIn for Job Hunting, Using Groups and Conductiong Better Searches. Going forward there a number of ways you can continue to push the boundaries:
- Take a Webinar – find a webinar online, read a book, keep developing your knowledge of LinkedIn. One of my best sources for ideas and material is http://www.linkedin.com, which is a blog on LinkedIn. It’s full of new advice and continuously updated.
- Work on your Profile: continue to refine, add keywords, post articles, white papers, Powerpoints on your site.
- Find contacts in The FENG and invite them offline and online to connect.
- Send periodic emails to contacts: stay in touch, have coffee or lunch – keep the contact alive.
- Help others connect: Introduce people to each other, pay it forward, create your reputation as a LinkedIn hub, someone who knows people.
- Hold events for people with common interests: Create a group, go offline and host a meeting, give a seminar and publicize it through your groups.
- Form a group: Post articles, news, discussions
- Share your knowledge: Write a blog, post it through LinkedIn, post articles, answer questions, forward interesting articles to contacts.
- LinkedIn Events – check regularly to find networking events in your area.
- Explain value of LinkedIn: knowledge is power, become an expert and help others understand LinkedIn while building your network.
B2B CFO®, is a national CFO Services firm focused on emerging and mid market companies, that has grown from a handful of partners in 2004, to nearly 120 partners today. During that time the partners have built their individual client bases, and today we have total client revenue of over $3 billion. We have done all his through effective networking – and that is how you will land your next position. Good Luck..
Get LinkedIn or Get Left Out Part 4 of 6
Posted by: | CommentsI have had various periods of unemployment during my career as a CFO. At different times the process of finding a new position has seemed daunting. In the old days you sent out a lot of resumes, contacted recruiters and hoped for the best. If you were lucky enough to be introduced to the Financial Executive Networking Group, you were schooled in the Matt Bud way. Networking became the mantra – reaching out to FENG members and continuing the other approaches. But I always felt like I was exploring the tip of the ice berg, while a vast world was unavailable to me because of my lack of contacts, experiences, exposures to many people.
Today, with LinkedIn, your ability to “map” the submerged iceberg is dramatically enhanced. In 2001 I lost a position as CFO and was forced to job hunt. I entered outplacement where I futilely sent our letters, scoured job ads, devoured my nightly Matt Bud message and attempted to network. Eventually, I found a position through networking – a friend of a friend suggested I contact a company…
If I was in the same situation today, it would be a different story. First, my network would be up to date and constantly expanding through LinkedIn. I would have started by seeking connections to people in my network that were located in Atlanta and in my industry. I would have joined as many Atlanta based Groups as I could find.
I would have also started searching available jobs to see how I was connected to it, and then work my way in by linking to board members, officers, former employees, vendors and customers.
What else can you do today if you are Job hunting? Here are some ideas:
1. Get that Profile Done! Work on your profile…do you have a photo, do you list your previous employment history, do you have a summary that sells you, do you have at least ten recommendations, have you entered key words? See my profile.
2. Build your connections…find relevant connections, connect to others in your industry, connect to some LIONs (who will link to all comers).
3. Join relevant groups…when posting a job discussion use it creatively. Try “Anyone have any connections to (specific company) or (in industry)” – as opposed to “Gimme a job”. In the top part of the discussion ask your question. In the details section explain why you’re asking. Direct people back to your newly updated profile for more information on you. Finally be careful how often you post to avoid an annoying/ spam type appearance.
4. Ask questions to help research companies or industries, find and solve industry problems by showcasng your expertise.
5. Search the Jobs section and see how you are connected into opportunities. Ask connections about a position and whether it is part of a corporate growth iniative – maybe other positions to discover.
6. Download the LinkedIn jobs toolbar…search for jobs at these sites as well: Monster, CareerBuilder, HotJobs, Craigslist, SimplyHired, Dice, or Vault
7. Contact with Job Posters – you may be able to provide helpful info to a job poster that will come back later. This can work with lower level jobs e.g. Controller – help the HR person with key factors, regulatory knowledge, interview Questions to ask, salary indicators, even suggest candidates etc.
8. Use the “What are you doing now” feature to let your network know that you are job searching. Update this every Tuesday and Friday.
Lots of ideas, but you do need to work this actively. In future articles we will discuss Using Groups and Searches, and the science of LinkedIn Domination.
David Kirkup is a Partner with B2B CFO®, and an active networker on LinkedIn. He writes a weekly Blog on financial issues with a British humor slant.
