Social Media For Small Businesses

Drop hundreds of dollars on Photoshop? What do you think I am? Some kind of oil tycoon? Nope. I use PicMonkey instead and I'm able to turn boring images into better, more eye-catching visual masterpieces for my blog and social media posts. And guess what?

Social Media Examiner held their first conference, Social Media Marketing World, last week in San Diego. And as a certified non-expert in social media, I came to the conference with an open, and mostly empty, mind. I'm happy to report that I returned with more than just jetlag.

Social Media Day is on June 30, and is almost the opposite of how it sounds. Instead of being plugged in, it's a chance to meet face-to-face with the brightest social media minds in your local area. Created by Mashable in 2010, the meetings are informal gatherings of people who love social media and want to share their ideas.

Is no one reading your blog posts? We might know why. In fact, we have four potential reasons your blog is losing readers faster than Justin Bieber is losing fans. And while there's not much anyone can do to make the Biebs less of an idiot, there is something we can do to help you figure out where you've been going wrong with your blogging efforts.

With each picture Karen Scheffe posts on Instagram, she's able to not only promote her business, Elan Photographie, but give her followers insight into her colorful world. Karen has found the popular social media site to be a fantastic marketing tool because it's helped her grow her business and reach her target market in a more personal and direct way.

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, President Obama was doing his Christmas shopping. The president, along with his two daughters, stopped by One More Page Books in Arlington, Virginia, New York Magazine reported. The visit, apart from being a pleasant outing with his daughters, was in support of Small Business Saturday (SBS).

Did you know, that up until fairly recently, the cover photo of your Facebook fan page was supposed to adhere to a bunch of rules? We're talking rules that mandated no calls to action and no price or purchase information in your cover photo whatsoever.

Would you eat a cupcake with no frosting? Of course not... that's just crazy. So why, then, would you write a blog post without doing any promotion for it? OK, this may not be the best analogy I've ever come up with, but at least it shows you just how absurd both scenarios are.

Running a small business is sort of like running with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain. You have to be aware of your surroundings at all times and you can never stop moving, or you risk that whole "impalement" thing. OK.

If you are operating a small business, you can make it easy for customers to find you by creating and optimizing your social media profiles. Social media factors into a larger search engine optimization (SEO) plan that will help your business show up in online searches.

Would you eat a cupcake with no frosting? Of course not... that's just crazy. So why, then, would you write a blog post without doing any promotion for it? OK, this may not be the best analogy I've ever come up with, but at least it shows you just how absurd both scenarios are.

Dammit. It's happened again. In fact, it's happened ever since you created your Facebook Fan Page - and you're mighty tired of it, aren't you? Tired of wasting your precious time carefully crafting status updates that don't get read.

The Facebook police have recently lifted yet another restriction for fan pages: the mandatory use of third-party apps when running a contest. This update definitely makes running a contest easier and faster for small business owners, but before you go getting all "it's not you, it's me," on your app of choice, realize that the grass isn't always greener on the other side.

I'm too busy. It's too time consuming. It's too hard to track results. We've heard every excuse in the book for why a small business owner won't get active on social media. But the truth is, there are simply too many stories of success, and cold, hard facts, to ignore.

Let's face it: not everyone is a social media expert. But to run a successful campaign, you don't necessarily need to be. With a little education, interest, and effort, almost anyone can connect with an online audience and engage them while promoting their brand.

For many small business owners, Twitter is just one more thing on the social media to-do list. So to help you get the most out of it, we're focusing in on the best ways to make it useful for your small business.

Fall is a special time for business owners. We can finally turn off the AC, open the windows, and rejoice in the fact that shopping is the preferred fall activity. And it's exactly this atmosphere that makes it the perfect time of year for events, contests, and giveaways to engage with your customers.

OK, no one's saying you're a dummy. But it's fair to say that most small business owners treat social media like a red-headed step child, and wish it would kindly put itself to bed. Trying to handle social media on a daily basis, on top of every other responsibility you have, is enough to make your head spin.

Small business owners may suffer from platform paralysis, especially as new social media channels pop up. But aligning your channels with your content potential can make SM strategy decisions easier.

So there you are, minding your own business, scanning a few small business articles that tout the benefits of social media, and suddenly you think to yourself, "Wait a minute, what do these writers know about owning a small business?

Content Marketing Is Increased Traffic, Leads & Sales for your Real Estate Bizz I recently hosted a webinar called "Content Market Your Way To Increased Traffic, Leads, and Sales" with my good friend Mathew Smith, National Sales Director for REA Commercial Real Estate CRM.

When you set a piece of paper on the sidewalk on a hot summer's day, nothing much will happen. But if you take a magnifying glass to that same sheet, you're suddenly focusing all of the sun's energy into a ball of concentrated light, and pretty soon you've got a charred piece of paper on your hands.