5 reasons to start your Social Media campaign in November

You’ve probably been thinking, I must get the business in good shape on Social Media. My competitors seem to be using it, maybe they’re winning business that I’m not even seeing? But I just don’t have the time (or resources, or knowledge etc etc). You’ll find below 5 reasons why now is a great time to commission a Social Media campaign. Plus several indications of why you can no longer afford to let your competitors have free rein in this increasingly important business development channel.And finally, an opportunity that will save you money and allow you to relax on your holidays, knowing that your business is continuing to market itself. 1) Events, Events,Events Coming up to Christmas there are an increasing number of events you’re likely to be attending. The Christmas and end-of-year party invitations will be coming through thick and fast. Although, I’m finding nowadays they are being held earlier and earlier, often in November! And business networking events are still in full flow. Check out this innovative Pintertest display (http://pinterest.com/richardc02/sydney-biz-events-november-2012/) showing over 50 business networking events being held in Sydney during November alone! But what about all those new contacts you make at these events. Social Media is absolutely the best way to keep in contact with them. And you want to be certain both your personal profiles and business pages are looking their best when these new contacts check you out. 2) Get Off To A Flying Start in 2013 Developing business opportunities through social media is becoming an ever increasing part of the marketing campaigns for nearly all businesses. There is even a name for this process - Social Business Development. Is your business geared up to take advantage of this new channel for sales growth? You need an established Social Media presence to exploit this new channel. So make sure you have one as business starts to take off again in the new year. Don’t let your competitors leave you behind. 3) Google Doesn’t Take Holidays (nor do Yahoo & Bing) The Internet has enabled business to continue everywhere, every day, 24 hours a day. The search engines will continue to monitor your business activity, even on Christmas Day. Social Media is the most efficient way to let search engines know you’re still around and to maintain your search rankings (or even increase them, if your competitors are out of the loop for two weeks or more). Even the Australian economy isn’t as vibrant as many of us would like. So it’s a sure bet that, at least, a proportion of your clients will be cutting back on holidays this year. Make sure you’re keeping in contact with them through an established Social Media campaign (even when you’re having a well deserved break yourself). 4) Make The Quieter Times Work For You Does your business just tread water over the Christmas and New Year period? Don’t let that happen any more. A Social Media campaign will continue developing business opportunities, even when you’re not working. Online connections will continue to be developed. Content will be published. Your other business marketing activities will continue to be supported. Many businesses find that their clients and prospects actually spend more time on Social Media services during the Christmas and New Year period. Being active yourself is a great way to keep your business visible, without interrupting anybody. 5) Four Months For The Price Of Three Here's a great opportunity. Move ahead with our Social Media campaign package in November and we’ll run the campaign for 4 months (a savings of $490). This package will equip your business with the following Social Media resources : LinkedIn Company Page; Facebook Company Page; Google+ Company Page; Twitter Account. Regular content will be generated on all these channels over a four month period. We’ll work closely with you to build a relevant online community for your business. As well as helping you to supercharge your business networking with Social Media. And we’ll ensure the campaign is fully integrated with your other marketing activities. By the new year your business will have a new very well established and very effective business development channel. Ready to start growing your business through Social Media? Contact Richard Carter of Business Connection Resources: Phone: (02) 9956 2999, Email: richardc@business-connections.com.au LinkedIn http://au.linkedin.com/in/businessconnections

Picture Acknowledgement: Search Engine Marketing  by Danard Vincente

Key Habits of Super Networkers by Lewis Howes

The seven key habits highlighted by Lewis are:

1. Ask insightful questions.
2. Add value.
3. Learn their 'story.'
4. Share a memorable fact.
5. Keep a list.
6. Make small promises and keep them.
7. Reward your 'power' contacts.

These are some really valuable pointers on networking. You can read the Full Article at: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/224819

We no longer want to rely on having people in the room with us – social media has shown us how to find similar people in any location - Forbes article.

"The idea of quality in relationships is not new. But what is truly exciting is to hear folks now talking about utilizing social in their ability to influence and interact with a smaller, but more rewarding group of people"

Full Article: Why Social Media Has Peaked and Needs a 'Sonny Corleone'-Style Demise

Networking - one of 10 mental traits of truly innovative leaders

"Whether they are naturally outgoing or not, innovative thinkers tend to be really good about meeting people, especially those they have little in common with. They see the value in knowing lots of people with different backgrounds and experiences"

Full Article:  10 mental traits of truly innovative leaders

Three good examples of "social businesses" that are disrupting their industries.

"...the writing is already on the wall: service businesses that don’t use social features to lower barriers and increase efficiency will likely not survive long"

Full Article:  Airbnb, Coursera and Uber: The rise of the disruption economy

Embracing social media isn’t just a bit of fun, it is a vital way to communicate, keep your ear to the ground and improve your business - Richard Branson

Full Article:  Why aren’t more business leaders online?

Businesses must put the internet first in all their decisions to ensure their companies have a long-term future - Martha Lane Fox

There is a skills gap among medium-sized businesses preventing them moving more of their operations online. While companies have invested in their customer-facing websites, there is far more they could be doing online that would save them money and help them expand.

Full Article: Martha Lane Fox: ‘Steal from Google’ and put online first to build sustainable recovery

Google+ Has 400 Million Members - Mashable

Google+ has also managed to reach 100 million active users within 12 months! It took Facebook many years to reach the same number of active users.

Full Article:  Google+ Has 400 Million Members

Social Business takes on a new level of urgency as organizations shift from an Information Age “informing” model to a Communication Age “communicating and engaging” model - Daniel Burrus.

Full Article:  20 Game-Changing Technology Trends That Will Create Both Disruption and Opportunity on a Global Level

You cannot have credibility saying you are customer-centric if you ignore your customers in social media channels - Charlene Li

Full Article:  The Crisis of Courage in Social Media

Eighty-one percent of executives believe their brands can get more sales and bigger market share by using social media - Article by Ryan Holmes CEO at HootSuite

Full Article: Are You Leaving $1.3 Trillion on the Table? Why Fortune 500 Companies Are Racing to Social Media

New LinkedIn Profile Format Coming Soon!

LinkedIn have announced the introduction of a new format for individual profiles.

The new format seems to provide a cleaner, more modern looking display. With a larger profile photo (so make sure you've uploaded a good one!).

There will be a graphical display of your network in the right hand column. More interesting and useful statistics are promised.

Profile photos from a selection of your connections are to be shown at the bottom of the new format. Which according to LinkedIn will also make it easier to connect and build relationships.

You can see the new format at: http://www.linkedin.com/profile/about. At present you need to submit a request to have your account upgraded to the new profile format.

What do you think of the new format?

New LinkedIn Update Format!

I spotted this new format for sending Linkedin updates on a client's account this morning (see photo). Key changes seem to be:

● You now have a drop-down menu which allows you to select options about where the update is published: LinkedIn + Twitter; LinkedIn; Connections

● You enter website links in the "Share an update" area and a display of the link is automatically generated underneath (rather like Facebook status updates).

Has anybody else seen this new LinkedIn update format yet? Or noticed any other features that it provides?

New LinkedIn Endorsement Feature

LinkedIn have just added a new Endorsement feature for profiles. This feature allows you to endorse the specific skills (or expertise) of your connections with a single click of the mouse.

How can you utilise this new feature?

There are three options:

A) When you go to a connection's LinkedIn profile, you may be prompted to make an endorsement through a new section which is displayed at the top of that profile. It will be similar to this one:

You can delete any skills you're not in a position to endorse. Or even type in a skill you would like to add to the selection shown. (My experience so far is that this section does not always display the most appropriate skills for the person concerned.)

Just click the “Endorse” button to confirm your endorsement.

B) Once you have made an endorsement as described in A) above, you are often also offered the chance to make additional endorsements, to other LinkedIn connections, through a panel like this:

Just click the appropriate “Endorse” button to confirm endorsements. (Once again, the most appropriate skills do not always appear to be displayed in this section and you can only endorse the single skill displayed.)

C) In my opinion, the most effective way to make endorsements is to scroll down a profile to the actual “Skills & Expertise” section. Then select the specific skills you would like to endorse. This section now looks like this (with or without the prompt from LinkedIn):

Simply click on the cross adjacent to the skills you wish to endorse.

Once you have endorsed a skill, your picture is shown on that person's profile, alongside the endorsed skill.

What do you need to do to take advantage of this new feature?

Make sure you have added the “Skills & Expertise” section to your LinkedIn profile. If not, you can add this section via the “Add sections” tab available when you select the “Edit Profile” option.

Also, ensure that your most pertinent skills are listed first in the “Skills & Expertise” section. So that they are easy for people to select. Although from what I have seen so far, it appears that LinkedIn is automatically re-ordering the “Skills & Expertise” section to reflect the number of endorsements received.

How significant will this new feature become?

It's hard to tell how widely accepted the LinkedIn Endorsements feature will become at this stage. But it is certainly a nice way to acknowledge the business capabilities of those with whom you work most closely.