Small Business News: Small Biz Facebook Tips

Facebook has taken the world by storm and, far from being nothing more than a way to keep up with college or high school friends, it has become a powerful tool for small businesses as well. Check out our roundup of links for more about how to make Facebook and other social media work for your small business today.

Strategy

The new FB business migration tool. We open with a link on how and why you need to move your business from a profile site to a business or brand site. FB has made it a violation of the site’s Terms of Service to use a profile page as a page for your business. There are also, as this post points out, some definite benefits to placing your business on a brand or business page instead if, for whatever reason, you haven’t done so already.Small Business Trends

Why Facebook still shouldn’t be your primary Web presence. It seems a logical question for many small business owners to ask, especially small business owners that continue to use Facebook heavily for marketing and building their brands. External Websites can be more expensive, if only slightly these days, and a headache to maintain. So why not simply migrate all your activities to the social space? Here are somethoughts.Duct Tape Marketing

Operations

Small business marketing on Facebook: a beginners guide. If you’ve been left out of the whole marketing-your-business-on-Facebook conversation, don’t worry. It’s never too late to dive in. Facebook can be a powerful place to market your small business cheaply and easily. But, if you haven’t tried it yet or set up a fan page for your business on FB, here’s a simple article to get you started.ABC15.com

Facebook and Twitter marketing tips. Though many small businesses are coming around to the idea that a presence on Facebook is necessary, some seem not to know exactly what to do once they are in the space. Certainly, Facebook has many features to help your business reach out and connect with a target audience or customer base. But what techniques should you use to engage that community and keep them interested?business review india

Techniques

How to get visitors to your Facebook site. So, you’ve created a Facebook fan page for your business or brand. Now comes the tricky part, attracting an audience. Remember when you thought all you would have to do was write a post and have readers flock to your blog? You may be in for a similar surprise with your FB site unless you use the right approach.UK News Reporter

An overview of Facebook“business and pleasure.” To get an idea of where Facebook is today as a tool for business and personal communication and networking, this link looks at a brief history of the social media site, where it’s been and where it’s going. If it seems odd that more businesses are encouraging their employees to become social, it shouldn’t. Relationships have always been a part of business.Daily News Pulse

Tools

App developers get into the act. Already business use of Facebook has encouraged developers to follow the trend creating new ways for businesses of all kinds to promote deals to their customers on Facebook via a simple smartphone app. This is likely only the beginning of what will be an increasing number of marketing tools geared to integrate with social media.Small Business Trends

Success Stories

Amateur TV cook Nadia Giosia uses Facebook, other tools. Brands large and small can be launched with limited resources or previous track record when Facebook and other social media tools are effectively used to build a powerful community around your business brand. Here’s one example of an unlikely brand that conquered cable TV with just such a social media community.Fast Company

More Tips

Tips for authenticity on Facebook and other social media. When it comes to building your online community, some will resort to shortcuts, but beware. The danger here is that authenticity is the key when creating your community, and you may risk it all with strategies that try to fake that result. There are many techniques for reaching out, but be sure to decide which ones work for you.Propabranda

Is your Facebook page accessible? The idea of social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn is to connect, especially with members of your target audience. And a great way of recruiting that interaction can be to use your Website to invite your fans to join you. But with Facebook’s changing privacy and other settings, be sure that when your fans arrive, they really are able to connect.Abnormal Marketing

Source

Inspirational Advice For The Recently Unemployed

When the economy went south and took gazillions of jobs with it, I began to hear lots of inspirational advice for the recently unemployed.

“Think of it as a new start!”

“It’s a great opportunity to try something new!”

“Being let go could end up being the best thing that ever happened to you!”

All of which is fine, but I remember actually saying out loud to the radio“Really? Ok, I suppose if you’re a fish, then, yes, being let go is fantastic.”

Writing is rarely that easy, but sometimes you get lucky.

Source

Why to Think Twice About Green Labels

Getting your business or product“green certified” may seem like a smart way to show your customers and prospective customers that you adhere to environmentally friendly practices.But be careful.You could end up spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars for a green label that’s worthless or, worse, hurts your reputation.

More organizations and consulting firms are introducing green labels and certification programs. The idea is to make it easy for consumers to see which businesses follow eco-friendly practices or meet a rigorous set of sustainability standards. Such programs often appeal to small businesses that need help navigating the evolving world of sustainability and perhaps believe a label adds some credibility to their efforts.

Yet, some certification programs aren’t as valuable as others, nor as reputable. (Read about agreen certification scamrecently penalized by the Federal Trade Commission.) Some, such as Green Seal, may require intense assessment of a business’s practices before providing certification. Others may require little or no assessment at all. They’re just a marketing gimmick: Fork over $200 in order to get a window cling or a website listing signifying you’re a green business.(I know a couple of websites, for instance, that ask businesses to fill out a short online questionnaire to self-certify themselves as green. The businesses then pay fees to get listed on the site, even though nobody actually verifies that the business does what it says.)

You want to make sure you’re dealing with a reputable certification program that will ultimately add value to your business, and not suggest you’re simply greenwashing your image. So what to do? Here are some tips when it comes to deciding whether a green certification program is right for you:

1. Read up.Several online resources can help vet green certification programs or at least direct you to reputable ones. Consumer Reports offers a helpfulEco-labels centerwhere people can look up and read about environmental labeling programs.The U.S. Small Business Administration  also has a list ofgreen labeling programs. Before signing up with any particular program, make sure to thoroughly research it online, such as checking with theBetter Business Bureau.

2.Assess the program.Determine what kind of information and guidance you will get for going through the certification process. Are the steps ultra-simple, so you’re basically just paying for the recognition? Or does it require a set of environmentally meaningful standards that are verified by the certifier? Also determine whether it’s a valuable recognition to have: Will your customers and prospective customers actually know and care about the green label?

3.Weigh the alternatives.Plenty of businesses effectively market their greenness without ever getting a label from a third-party organization. They do so by creating a dialogue with their customers. They use social media and creative marketing to tell consumers about why their products or practices are environmentally sound. They write and follow sustainability plans and post them on their websites. It’s more authentic and more likely to pay off in the end.

Source

Why Face to Face Meetings Still Matter

In today’s social media-focused economy, it’s become increasingly common to have long, complex and lasting business relationships with other people without ever speaking to them in person—or even on the phone. More of the average business’s sales support, customer service and other customer-facing functions are moving to the Web instead of being handled in person. And with cost-cutting foremost on everyone’s mind, conventions, conferences and meetings are all going virtual, too.

In this environment, you might suppose that there’s no longer much need to meet face to face. Well, you’d be wrong. The white paper from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration and sales and marketing services company Maritz analyzed scientific research and found in-person events are better than virtual events at capturing attendees’ attention, creating positive emotions and building relationships and networks.

“The Future of Meetings: The Case for Face-to-Face” aims to help companies planning events use scientific criteria to figure out when a virtual approach, an in-person approach or a combination of the two is called for. The researchers found that face-to-face works best in three situations:

1. To capture attention, especially if you are launching something new. Speaking toBtoB Online, study co-author Mary Beth McEuen noted that attendees at virtual events are more likely to multitask and filter certain information out.“{Multitasking} engages a different part of your brain, and information doesn’t make it into long-term memory,” she says. In contrast, the range of stimuli at an in-person event–from speakers to meals to meeting new people—creates novelty, which helps people be more open-minded and creative.
2. To inspire a positive emotional reaction.An event that involves interacting with other people in the flesh creates a positive emotional experience. Those positive emotions become attached to the companies involved in the event, as well as contributing to make attendees more open to new experiences.
3. To build networks and relationships.The study draws a distinction between sharing information—which can easily be done virtually—and creating networks or relationships, which still requires in-person human interaction. The research shows relationships forged in person are stronger.  As McEuen notes, “Trust is built more effectively face-to-face.”

This study focused on large events and meetings, since the organizations involved were meeting-related. However, I believe the same applies to every meeting—even just between two people. You can email, tweet and even talk on the phone all you want, but there’s no substitute for the kind of energy and connection that happens when you actually get together with a colleague or customer in person.

That’s why, no matter how busy I get, I always make time for face-to-face meetings.In my experience, they’re invaluable for building relationships that last—and that help grow your business.

How do you feel about face-to-face? Is it more—or less—important in your company these days?

Source

Wisestamp for Email Marketing and Social Signatures

Social email seems redundant. Every so often, I hear the term and I have to think: Isn’tallemail social? What I think social email means is that you make yourself more accessible by way of a smart, link-friendly signature in your email.

I have always admired the marketing-savvy friends and colleagues who have social signatures where you can click through to their Facebook page or Twitter account or LinkedIn profile via a hip, artsy button right from their email signature, and I presumed it took some special coding skills, until I found about WiseStamp.  They do the special coding part for you.

If you look at your email and the standard signature you plug in, if you have one at all, you might wonder how you could jazz it up.  After all, every contact with a customer or prospect is an opportunity to share what you’re doing that might lead to additional sales or more conversation and engagement with your brand.  It seems a real headache to create a new email signature each time your write a blog post or tweet about something, if not impossible. Well, with a tool like WiseStamp, you can showcase your thought leadership within minutes and do it in a non-threatening and very professional way via the email signature at the end of your email.

What I liked:

• Super fast– in less than five minutes I had my own custom, hip signature. You canwatch my YouTube video of itif you want. I didn’t edit the video a whole lot. I take you through it about as fast as I did it myself.

• It let me add Twitter, Facebook and various Instant Message options nearly as fast I could type this sentence.  I only added a few for this test, but there are 14 or 15 different options.

• For just about every major social sharing service I could think of, WiseStamp had a way for me to share the latest in my signature: StumbleUpon, Delicious, Flickr, eBay, Digg, you name it. They even had a popular quotes app that let me rotate in different simple quotes to spice up my signature without even trying.

Here’s a screenshot of my simple signature versus my WiseStamp one. The green box is my simple (yes, boring) current email signature via Google.  In the red box is my social icon-powered signature from WiseStamp. My screenshot doesn’t really do it justice. Having the little icons just looks way better than regular html. They havea bunch of samples.

What I wished it had:

• I would like to see a similar function for Microsoft Outlook because not everyone is on a webmail client like Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail or AOL. They do have a Mozilla Thunderbird extension, though.

• Even though I had downloaded it, I couldn’t figure out how to get back to it!  Of course, my suspicion is this is mostly operator-error. I kept thinking I would see something in my browser window, and I did, once I was back in Gmail where I had originally set it up. It shows up in the upper right portion of my inbox and I can go in there and edit the settings. I could alsoget to it via Firefox, Add-on and Options, and by clicking on WiseStamp, where it shows as one of my add-ons.  Again, they might have covered this in a tutorial, and I sometimes move to fast for my own good.

If you’re blogging for your company, adding status updates to Facebook, Twitter or other social sites and you want a low-key way to promote your latest content in your emails, then you should take a close look at WiseStamp. The basic signature app is free, but you can customize it further by spending between $24 and $36 a year.  The premium levels allow you to createa custom social icon (and the option to make the icons larger, which would be a good thing). Depending on your social presence the premium might make a lot of sense. They also have tremendous reviews from Mashable, LifeHacker, Kim Komando and other notable tech gurus.

Learn more aboutWiseStamp.

Source

Facebook Launches Business Page Migration Tool

As a small business owner did you mistakenly create a personal Facebook profile for your company when you meant to create a Brand page? Or maybe you created a personal profile before Brand pages even existed and now you’re missing out on the new functionality? Fear not, Facebook wants to help you switch over and they’ve released theBusiness Page Migration Toolto help you do it.

It’s worth pointing out that this isn’t a totally altruistic gesture on Facebook’s part. Using a personal profile as a brand is actually a violation of Facebook’s terms of service (TOS), and they’d like to remind you they can hijack your page for doing it and remove your whole identity.

OK then!

First, why should you care?

Well, other than the fact that Facebook can remove your page for violating its TOS, as a small business owner you want to get yourself set up with an official Brand page. Brand pages are better suited for local marketing because they allow anyone to“like” you (no approving friends), there’s no maximum on how popular you can get, and they offer SMBs more robust media and promotion offerings. The fact is, Brand pages are simply the better option. By not using them and sticking to a personal profile, you limit your brand’s ability to really reach out and engage customers.

So, how do you make the switch?

With Facebook’s new Profile Migration Tool. To start the process, click the link and follow the instructions that appear on screen to begin the process. Do be careful, though, because it doesn’t appear there’s any way to undo whatever you changes you make. So proceed with caution.

In the migration, all of your current friends will be switched over to fans, and your profile pics will be added to the new Brand page. Everything, else, however willnotmake the journey with you. That’s right, all of your other photos, wall content, profile information, applications and everything else you’ve created on Facebook with the account willnotbe moved over. To prevent the information from being lost, Facebook recommends usersdownload their informationbefore kicking off the process. Otherwise, once it’s gone, it’s gone.

So, should I do this right now?

Well, maybe not. There have been reports fromJeffrey Zeldman,Mashable, and others about some major migration hiccups occurring as part of the process. For example, users have complained about losing custom URLs (which they then can’t get back because they’re “taken” by the old account), disappearing apps, not being able to access Facebook help and other great annoyances.

My advice? Give it a week or two before you attempt the migration process, and do so only after you’ve made sure to back up all of your content.

Though a little wonky right now, this migration is really important for small business owners not yet moved over to Facebook Brand pages. Creating a Brand page will offer you much more functionality and will help you better promote your business to customers. Hopefully Facebook will quickly get the kinks worked out and small business owners can be on their way to engaging with customers better than ever.

Source

How to Form an LLC or Incorporate a Business

So, you’ve done your research and decided to form an LLC or incorporate your business. Maybe you want to protect your personal savings and other assets, maybe your financial advisor mentioned you could save in taxes, or maybe you simply need a legal structure to win a large client contract. Whatever thereasoning, it’s time to take the next step for your business.

The only question is how?

For the small business owner, this process raises many questions.Where do I start? How much does it cost to incorporate or to form an LLC? How long does the process take? Can I form my own corporation or LLC or is an attorney required?In this post, I’ll break down the steps required to incorporate a business or form an LLC, as well as explain the three different methods: do-it-yourself, legal filing service, or an attorney.

In most cases, you can set up an LLC or Corporation with the secretary of state’s office for whichever state you choose as your ‘state of incorporation.’ And as a general rule of thumb, if your business will have fewer than 5 shareholders, it’s best to just incorporate in the state where you actually live or have a physical presence.

Here’s a quick overview of the process for both the LLC and Corporation:

How to Form an LLC

The LLC requires much less formality, while still protecting the personal assets of the business owners from any liability of the company. For an LLC, you’ll need to file Articles of Organization or Certificate of Organization with your state’s secretary of state. While the LLC is less formal, these documents must contain at least the minimum requirements as described by state law before they can be successfully filed (and your LLC processed).

How to Form a Corporation

To form a corporation, you’ll need to take the following steps:

• Draft“Articles of Incorporation” or “Certificate of Incorporation”
• The Articles of incorporation must be executed by a person designated as“incorporator.” The incorporator must be an adult and doesn’t need to be affiliated with the corporation in any way other than merely filing the document. Later, this person will pass a resolution assigning all rights and duties to the board of directors.
• Submit your articles of incorporation. In most states, the agency responsible for corporate filings is the Secretary of State (usually the Corporations Division).
• Once the state office has processed your documents, they will return the certified documents to the address provided.
• Elect a board of directors: The Incorporator executes a corporate resolution electing a board of directors assigning all rights and duties to the board.
• Issue shares: The Board of Directors issues shares to designated shareholders.
• S-Corp: And lastly, if you want the pass-through tax treatment of anS-Corp, you’ll need to file IRS Form 2553 with the IRS within 75 days of the start date of your corporation.

How long does the process take?

Depending on the state and its current workload, processing time may vary from 1 day to 3 months. Unfortunately, as states are facing budget issues and staffing cuts, we are seeing longer backlogs, particularly at the beginning of the year. There’s also a ‘rush filing’ option, which in many states must be done via walk-in delivery. If you’re filing yourself, you can bring the completed forms in person to the secretary of state’s office. And if you’re using an online filing service, they will have a courier located near the stateoffice to bring in your forms for rush service.

How should I file?

The three methods for filing your Articles of Organization or Articles of Incorporation are: do-it-yourself, a legal filing service, or an attorney. For full disclosure, I am founder and CEO of CorpNet.com, an online legal filing service, but will hopefully provide objective advice here, because depending on your specific situation, each option has its own set of pros and cons.

• Do-it-yourself:In this case, you can download or request the forms from your secretary of state’s office, complete, and submit the forms on your own. This is obviously the lowest cost method (you’ll still have to pay the state filing fee; exact fee amounts vary by state; for example, in California it’s $100 for a Corporation and $70 for an LLC for standard filings). This is a good option if you’re more concerned about saving money than time, and if you have a relatively high tolerance for paperwork and minute details.
• Online legal filing service:An online legal filing service will file the documentation for you. This option is slightly more expensive than filing yourself, but for some, the time savings is invaluable. Legal documents can be tedious, time-consuming and fraught with details. Regulations and requirements vary across states, even down to the little details like paper size, font size, number of copies, ink color, etc. By turning to a service that specializes in these matters, you can save yourself the headache and hassle of learning and staying current on each and every detail. And you can focus your time and energy on your own business.
  Of course, it’s important to understand that a document filing service is well… a document filing service. It’s not a substitute for an attorney, accountant or tax advisor. These service companies cannot give you specific legal or financial advice for your set of circumstances.
• Attorney:If you have particularly complex business needs— for example you have strict requirements for shareholder structure or stock allocation, or you’re dealing with millions of dollars up front — you should retain your own expert counsel to help get you started. An attorney will be able to assess your situation and provide specific legal advice. Likewise, a tax or financial advisor can help you figure out the financial implications in forming an LLC, S Corporation, or C Corporation.

When it comes to legal matters, I’ll be the first to say that trying to save a few dollars up front can end up costing you big in the long run. Trust your gut; if you feel like you need to bring in expert counsel, then by all means do so. Just remember that you are able to file for incorporation or LLC formation without an attorney, and this could be a reasonable and cost effective way to go. Whatever method you choose, make sure to pat yourself on the back for taking this important step for your business and yourself.

Source