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In this video, popular blogger Chris Brogan shares examples of successful ways business owners are using Google+. “What Google+ is turning into is a place where people connect on [common] interests, and anything you share in Google+ to the public domain immediately gets picked up in Google the search engine,” says Brogan, president of Human Business Works, a small-business education and growth company....
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Article by Brent Virkus Senior Managing Director of Find the Capital and CEO of TRiTON Capital Advisory We are constantly getting the same question from our clients and followers… What exactly does “hashtag” this and “hashtag” that mean exactly? To help clear up this whole “hashtag” question/curiosity, we found a article that sheds some light on the subject. The article was written by Tim Mcmullen. Tim is founder and executive creative director of Redpepper. We hope you enjoy… ___________________________ Whether they entertain, confuse or annoy you (or some combination of the three), hashtags do one thing 100% of the time: they make ordinary social media posts clickable. And that means two very important things for brands: your original content becomes searchable, and you have a new opportunity engage your social audience every single time you post. On planet Twitter, hashtags create instant real-time news feeds out of thin air, from first aid and safety responses after #SuperStormSandy to waiting for the #RoyalBaby to make his appearance. Instagram hashtags solicit, through a trendy vintage filter, spontaneous visual testimonials about your brand or event. Facebook, unfashionably late to the hashtag party, is a prime spot for using hashtags as a rallying cry for your cause – even if your cause is a Midnight Madness sale on mattresses. Regardless of the social platform, every hashtag you use should have a job, and you should know what that job is before you hit “post.” Six Ways to Use a Hashtag: 1. To Find New Fans. Your audience clicks on a hashtag for one simple reason: to find more content related to what they’ve just seen. If you want to be there when they search, it’s time to get familiar with the pound sign. That means using your own custom tags to serve up brand-specific collections of posts (think #BobsAwesomeCoffee), and putting some SEO-like strategies in place (think #BrooklynCoffeeShop or #FortGreene) to make sure your posts – and your fans’ posts—show up when someone gets curious and clicks. 2. To Rally Support. If there’s one thing social media users love, it’s showing their support for a cause. When big-box brand Target teamed up with do-good organization FeedUSA, shoppers were more than happy to tell...
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Article by Guy Kawasaki, In his book, What the Plus! Google+ For the Rest of Us, author Guy Kawasaki details strategies, tactics and time-savers to create an effective presence and attract followers, engage the right people, and promote your brand. In this edited excerpt, Kawasaki explains how to get started on Google+, which has garnered over 250 million active users since its beta test in June 2011. Since Google can divert the river and owns the playing field, you may find it hard to avoid Google+. Here’s how to get started: Sign up for a Google account that enables you to use all the Google products. Keep your name simple, which will make it easier for people to remember you and find your Google+ post. The next step is to find people to “circle.” When you’ve circled approximately 50 people, Google+ gets really interesting. This process will only take a few minutes but will yield many hours of enlightenment, engagement, and enjoyment. Google+ provides multiple options to get started. First, you can click on “Find people” to search for people you already know. Don’t be disappointed if all your BFFs (best friends for life) aren’t already on Google+; this is a chance to make new BFFs. Second, you can click on categories of people, such as “Entertainment” or “Fun & Interesting.” Google compiled a list of “Picks” based on the fame and level of activity of the people. You can add these entire preselected circles or individual people. There are a few simple ways to decide whether to circle someone: Does the person have a pleasant profile photo? The lack of a profile photo indicates that the person is clueless, a newbie, or a spammer. When there is a photo, you can infer a lot about the person. How many people have circled the person? Lots of followers doesn’t necessarily mean the person is worth circling, but it’s a pretty good data point. There’s usually a bad reason someone only has a handful of followers. When was the last time the person shared a post? This will show if the person is active on Google+. There’s no sense following someone who isn’t active because the purpose of circling a person is to generate interaction. Are...
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Article by, Brent Virkus of Find the Capital and TRiTON Capital Advisory An effective marketing campaign needs three components to work together as one. We call this the Marketing Matrix. When the right components are in place and properly aligned, the campaign produces a predictable, repeatable, and replenish-able flow of qualified leads with relatively little continuous effort. Clear Vision Start by identifying the Clear Vision that drives your marketing campaign. Use your Clear Vision to make decisions about what Platform you need, what offer to make, what language and images to use in your marketing, and who to partner with. The more compelling and consistent the Clear Vision, the easier it will be to turn your crank. The most useful stories are already being told by your customers through their actions. Your job is to detect and articulate your customer’s story, not to create a brand new one. Your story should be easily relatable, inspiring, and lead the customer to trust you, believe in themselves, and feel an urgent need to buy your product or service to help them solve their problem, need, desire or opportunity. The Platform All marketing campaign must include at least one asset from each category: Lead Sources: Communities (Professional associations, Networking groups) Search (PPC, Organic, Display, YouTube, Kindle) Social Media (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook) JV Partners (Teleseminars, Email newsletters, Packaged products) Offline Advertising (Television, Radio, Print) PR (News stories, Guest blog posts, TV appearances) Lead Capture: Manual (Business cards, “Hey, give me your number”) Web Form (Honey pot, Event RSVP, Teleseminar RSVP, List purchase) Social Media (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook) Lead Nurture: Auto-Responder (Useful content, Coupons, Statistics, Reports, Surveys) Breaking Bread (Hosted dinner parties, Informal lunches, 1:1 Advice) Free Product (Freemium Software, Assessments, Trial periods) Sales Conversion: 1:1 Sales (Door-To-Door, Telephone Sales, Enterprise Sales) 1:Many Sales (Webinars, Selling From the Stage, Direct Response) Website Sales (Shopping Cart, Sales Letter) Physical POS (Retail, Vending Machine, Box Office) Channel Sales (Distributors, Aggregators, Systems Integrators, Partners) Call Centers (Inbound, Outbound) Fulfillment: Personal Service (1:1 Meetings, Phone Meetings, Personalized emails) Professional Service (Created works delivered to customer) Seminar (teleseminar, Q+A call, Workshop, Training) SAAS (Platform, Online Community, Hosted Application) Digital Product (Information Product, Music, Software, Mobile app) Manufactured Product (OEM...
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One of our goals at Find the Capital is help you become the most productive you can be. A lot of us are using Smart Phones these days so in this article we thought we would highlight the Top 10 Business Apps You Should Not Live Without. There are some really cool ones… Make sure to read on! Article by, Inc. Magazine Though there’s an app for almost everything, the app marketplace is so crowded you might not know which are the best fit for you. Here are 10 apps that will make running a business much, much easier. 1. Evernote – https://evernote.com/ One of the most popular apps on the market, Evernote has evolved way past just classic note-taking. Evernote’s extended family includes Penultimate, a hand-writing app for taking notes on tablet; Web Clipper, which allows you to clip web pages coupon-style; Peek, a notecard-like study aid; and Skitch, an image mark-up tool. Cost: Free, $5 per month for premium features. Platforms: Android, iOS. 2. Tempo AI – https://tempo.ai/ Think of it like a personal assistant for your smartphone. Tempo AI goes above and beyond the typical paper calendar. It links calendar events to relevant emails and attachments for pending appointments, queues up directions to your next meeting location, and pulls up email and phone info for last-minute coordination with your contacts. Cost: Free. Platforms: iOS. 3. Xero – http://www.xero.com/ Xero is more than just a Quikbooks lookalike; its an accountant for the cloud. The money-managing web app allows you to link with banks, customers and online payment systems like PayPal–as well as monitor payroll and budgeting software as you grow. Cost: $19 to $39 per month. Platforms: Android, iOS, OS X, Windows. 4. Feedly – http://www.feedly.com/ Don’t worry about Google Reader’s impending retirement. Feedly, a news-aggregator app, compiles the latest articles from your favorite blogs and web publications–plus any podcasts and YouTube channels you subscribe to. (Ahem. Don’t forget to add Inc.) Cost: Free. Platforms: Android, iOS or on your web browser. 5. Sleep Cycle – http://www.sleepcycle.com/ You know those days when a snooze button just isn’t enough? Sleep Cycle helps with that. This alarm clock app uses motion sensors to analyze your sleep patterns, and wakes you up during the lightest phases of sleep. You just pick a half-hour window in which you want to wake up and the app takes...
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Article by, Brent Virkus of Find the Capital and TRiTON Capital Advisory The art of negotiation. Some people are good at it and some people could be better… One of the most influential people in helping me grow several successful businesses was Harvey Mackay a nationally syndicated columnist and author of the New York Times #1 bestseller “Swim With The Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive.” He’s a master of common sense business tactics. In this article, I’m going to highlight Harvey’s 15 Keys to Negotiation Success. I hope it helps take your business to the next level! Here we go… Never cut a deal with someone who has to “go back and get the boss’ approval.” That gives the other side two bites of the apple to your one. They can take any deal you are willing to make and renegotiate it. If you can’t say yes, it’s no. Just because a deal can be done, doesn’t mean it should be done. No one ever went broke saying “no” too often. Just because it may look nonnegotiable, doesn’t mean it is. Take that beautifully printed “standard contract” you’ve just been handed. Many a smart negotiator has been able to name a term and gets away with it by making it appear to be chiseled in granite, when they will deal if their bluff is called. Do your homework before you deal. Learn as much as you can about the other side. Instincts are no match for information. Rehearse. Practice. Get someone to play the other side. Then switch roles. Instincts are no match for preparation. Beware the late dealer. Feigning indifference or casually disregarding timetables is often just a negotiator’s way of trying to make you believe he/she doesn’t care if you make the deal or not. Be nice, but if you can’t be nice, go away and let someone else do the deal. You’ll blow it. A deal can always be made when both parties see their own benefit in making it. A dream is a bargain no matter what you pay for it. Set the scene. Tell the tale. Generate excitement. Help the other side visualize the benefits, and they’ll sell themselves. Don’t discuss your business where...
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