Social Media can be great for your business – great opportunities for marketing. Awesome with local search, etc. But do I think this is now the one and only way to market your business? No way. Do I think that Search Marketing, in a more general sense, that includes social is the one and only way to market your business? No, but it is the best, most cost effective and targeted way to market your business.

Just a couple of the more salient points in the argument – search engine marketing helps people who are actively looking for your product or service to find it – they don’t have to know who you are first. Social media primarily helps spread the word among friends and followers. Someone has to know who you are first, even if you initiate the relationship – it’s not going to go anywhere if no one knows who you are – so search engine marking needs to be the first priority when planning a marketing budget for your web site. This will lay the ground work for any social media and local search. I mean, if you are gonna use local search, you should probably optimize for it, especially if you are offering goods and services that are locally based, as in they can’t be shipped. If you are a dentist or install pools, you’ll want to optimize for your locality as well as the goods and services you are offering. Once you have that all in place, or concurrently, you’ll want to get into social media to “spread the word” – social media really is the new word of mouth advertising – so you should use it to your advantage as much as possible – and track what is being said about you online. People are much faster to complain about a restaurant or other business via Twitter or Facebook, than they are to promote it – so if you want it to be used to your benefit, make sure you are paying attention to what’s being said so you can rectify any complaints or issues ASAP.

This will continue to be an discussion as social media gets bigger and bigger. Social media has absolutely changed the way every size of business markets – of course it did – it’s cheap, it’s relatively easy, and it gets some results. It’s essentially put marketing in the hands of the consumer – which is great – more power to the consumer – but this is also why you really have to pay attention to reputation management – it’s essential to know what people are saying about you – the good and the bad. Social media has made it essential that you be friendly, outstanding, and special, or you are going to be tweeted about. If you are rude – tweet, tweet. If you are ordinary, no tweet. If you go above and beyond, likely tweet. Gotta go for the above and beyond – and really that makes everyone work harder, try to be nicer – win win, right?

There’s a great article over at Mashable with some tips on how Social Media has changed Marketing, as well as some things you can do to get started. The author recommends getting your employees tweeting and using social media to promote your company. This is a great idea – but I’d keep in mind that it is the first place they will turn sour on you if you part ways in an unfriendly manner – just sayin’. We’ve all seen it happen a time or two.

SEO STRATEGIST – Just as our SEO department keeps growing, as does the number of SEO staffers going part time due to motherhood, so we need more strategists! If you have experience, and know your way around SEO, send us your resume, we’d love to talk to ya!

SEO SALESPERSON – Because SEO is vital to any website’s success, we are on the lookout for a great sales person who truly understands SEO, and how it impacts a site’s conversions. If you believe in the fundamental importance of SEO, and can demonstrate it to your client, give us call!

ACCOUNT MANAGER If you are great at client interaction, and can run interference between two departments who rely on each other to work together, check out this job posting – we need ya!

RECEPTIONIST – Hannah is moving up in the world, becoming a personal assistant for Stacy in HR, and me. On second thought, this could be construed as a step down, as she’ll have to contend with me, but she’s too nice to mention what a pain in the neck I am.

If you’re interested in any of the above positions, I invite you to stop over and check out our offices. I think you’ll be in for a great surprise – a laid back atmosphere, pool, foos, darts and a nice deck when you need a little down time. Casual dress, friendly faces and some pretty awesome aesthetics to keep the creative juices flowing. Drop by, we’d love to meet you.

We all know we are finally starting to see the sun after some pretty dark years in the world economy. We were just starting to look toward what comes next, and now we are being told in all sectors that things are going to get bad again. Rising oil prices due to revolutions happening all over the Middle East, food shortages due to crazy weather this winter, and the value of the dollar dropping are all contributing to this feeling of impending doom that is leveled over the country by the media.

Now, I know all these things are happening, and yeah, it’s a little scary. But I have to look on the bright side. Maybe all this trouble over oil will finally force the administration and Congress to address the matter of drilling in our own country. We have massive, massive amounts of oil in the Dakotas, let’s take advantage of that, bring some jobs, create some capital.

As for the food shortage, I think when there is a possibility that people won’t have enough food available, maybe we shouldn’t be making fuel out of corn, and use that food for …food.

So, the bright side of things. That’s really not as tough as you might think after all that. Things are looking up, even with the higher gas prices and some talk of food shortages. According to a recent article on Fox News, business owners all over the globe are beginning to see an uptick in business. They are starting to hire.

A poll by the Young President’s Organization revealed that (direct quote): “61% of CEOs feel conditions are improving (up 46% from the last quarterly survey) and 67% of respondents believe conditions will continue to improve in the next six months.”
Read more: http://smallbusiness.foxbusiness.com/legal-hr/2011/02/10/optimisim-businesses-applicants/#ixzz1FlHxJkY7

This is a survey taken all over the globe, with all sizes of small business. I think if the guy in Sri Lanka thinks things are looking up, certainly the folks here in the US are going to be finding jobs and getting back to work in the near future.

One really interesting point made in this article is that many times, people don’t think to reach out to small businesses. They go to the big job sites and think that they can find everything there. Not all small businesses use those sites, and if you have listened to any news reports in the last couple of years, you know that 70% of all jobs in America are with small businesses – so check out the small business sector! We’re here, we’re successful, and we need people.

The videos, which were made in conjunction with FedEx, are a six part series with tips on everything from handling your company, your customers, your online reputation, and more. I highly suggest you check them out. They are worth more than a good chuckle, you might even get some good info out of them.

Check them out on LinkedIn’s Blog.
Here’s a link to the first one:
http://fedex.linkedincreatives.com/video/01/

Go watch the videos, I’d like to hear what you think of them –

Some things about big government, and this administration in particular, really tick me off make me angry. A report released just this week by the White House says that the administration has begun yet another program aimed at destroying business. Of course, small business in particular could be especially damaged – most don’t keep attorneys on retainer.

The new program set up by the Obama Administration provides workers who hate their boss, or have some complaint about their boss with a hot line number to the American Bar Association! Yeah. You read that right. Are you kidding me? The Department of Labor can’t handle it, so we redirect these people to LAWYERS???

Lawyers tend to make a big, expensive mess of everything. This seems to be a somewhat underhanded way of making life for small business, especially, even more difficult. The administration says out of one side of it’s mouth that they want to help small business because they are counting on us to start hiring. Then they go and put a roadblock up.

If you are any kind of disgruntled worker, I think there are several things you should do. Number 1 would be talking directly to your supervisor, even if he or she is the problem. If that doesn’t resolve it, follow the chain of command. Even if it isn’t resolved there, how many people are going to go and track down the Department of Labor? How many would even know to do that? I think most people would have to be pretty upset to go that far (and I am not saying that there are not instances where it is necessary), but a free hot line with advice from a lawyer? I think this is asking for a wave of calls, and a lot of money, and a lot of aggravation. It just screams ‘frivolous lawsuit’. Especially if the only way these lawyers make any money is by suing businesses. This is a bad, bad idea. I really, really hope that businesses don’t end up like so many medical practices – too many lawsuits, too many lawyers fees and insurance rates going up. But, that’s what happens when you get lawyers involved.

People get disgruntled, it happens. What do you do when an employee has a complaint? Refer them to HR? Have a sit down with the employee and hear them out?

It’s good news for the economy, one sector has things moving in the right direction. TKG has been hiring for months – we’re still looking for some folks, so be sure to check out the TKG jobs page.

“While still well short of regaining all of the positions that were lost during the downturn, the gain of 100,000 IT jobs in 2010 is most welcome news,” commented Mark Roberts, CEO of TechServe Alliance. “Based upon both the government data, our own survey results and anecdotal reports of my member companies, 2011 promises to be a strong year for IT employment,”.

I think that’s the kind of report everyone is hoping to hear. I know we have a ways to go as far as regaining momentum, but there are definite signs of life out there folks. Keep on working hard, we’re turning this economy around! The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the unemployment rate at 9.4% in December, falling back under (just) the 10%. It’s a start.

But, what if it’s not? That’s a prime question, isn’t it? If it’s not overtuned I see a lot of fallout for Web based commerce. These new rules, and there are a bunch of ‘em apparently, will make doing business on the Web harder. Over regulation always does. So far, things have run smoothly, for the most part. People have been able to find a market for products that was otherwise unavailable to them – just check out Ebay and Etsy. Do you really think the big Ebay sellers would have had as much success without the Web? And as for Etsy, most of those products are handmade and so niche that finding a market for them took a pretty broad spectrum of shoppers. You’re not gonna find that at your average flea market, craft show, or what have you. Even if you did well, you couldn’t touch what was possible through Etsy, while doing business from your home. The FCC is going to make this type of enterprise really difficult. The regulations are going to be expensive, and time consuming. There is no need for any of this, so the FCC will spend a lot of time trying to legitimize it’s own existence. Part our job, as Web developers, will be to know how to work with and around the FCC regs and still help our clients make as much money as possible.

I’ll reiterate what I’ve heard so many times already – this is a solution looking for a problem, because there is no problem. This is a power grab by the current administration. No one knows, yet, what exactly the rules are going to be, as they are being decided on. What we do know is that the FCC has decided that they can police the Web. This is going to go far beyond regulating ISPs and SEs. The FCC will go for control over commerce and content – just watch. It’s about to get real interesting.

So, I really want to hear from you. What are you seeing as potential fallout from the Net Neutrality vote? How will it affect you, or your customers?

We all know that Facebook can be leveraged for marketing purposes, but not all small businesses are going to get the greatest benefit from it. Take for example, the wedding photographer featured in the article. She states that for her:
“Facebook is huge for networking. As far as marketing goes, it’s the best tool,” said Guenin, 32, who promotes weddings and other events she has photographed on the fast-growing social media site. “

I can see why Facebook would be a great fit for her. Her business is highly social. She friends her clients when she accepts a project. She can upload pictures from her weddings and other events, allowing her clients to share them, all marked of course, with her logo. Free advertising. People like what they see, especially if she uploads the best or most interesting shots, gets lots of comments on them, and remember that when they need a photographer for their own events. It’s a great setup, especially with such ease of use and low or not cost. The only cost would come from the time involved in updating her profile, if she did not maintain it herself.

But, all small businesses are not so socially oriented. I don’t see this working quite so well for a dentist or a metal fabricating company. I mean, you can’t really post about the great root canal you just gave, or the awesome filling you just did. You might be able to get away with some shots of tooth whitening, but, really, who wants to shop for a dentist on Facebook? A metal fabricating company might have the same experience. Your friends and family aren’t going to “share” your pics of guys welding in helmets, or the finished product. Friending clients on Facebook might come off as strange. It’s not a natural fit, by any means.

In the end, there are Web marketing solutions to fit every small business. Some will do well with social media, while others might need to concentrate more on their email campaigns, SEO, and some local search – that dentist will want to spend more time on local search than Facebook. It’s just a better fit. It just makes sense.

Now, I am all for safety – I have six kids, I want them to be safe. If you ask my wife, she may tell you I have never learned the definition of safety, but I’m safe where it counts. Many of these regulations, all 3000 pages of them, are ridiculous. They are expensive for the manufacturers, sellers, and resellers. This of course, is going to make the product more expensive to purchase.

This type of government interference is going to tie the hands of manufactures and business owners. If you make everyone jump through expensive, unnecessary hoops before they can sell a product, the end result is going to be less money spent on product development or marketing or new employees. That money will have to go towards testing and retesting products, repackaging products, product warning labels and so on. To use the example given in the video below, do you, as a consumer, need to be told NOT to eat rocks, as they may contain lead? Or do you think you would probably avoid ingesting inorganic materials that won’t comfortably make it through your digestive system?

This administration so far has refused to change this law. Perhaps, if enough business owners and consumers start demanding a change, the incoming House of Representative can help effect some changes. Here’s hoping.

If you’d like more information on this topic, and how you can protest the 2008 law:
http://knowledge.emory.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1236
http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/08/the_winds_of_overregulation.html

Ten tips to turn this into the best holiday season since…2007. Hey, better than last year, right? We’re gettin’ somewhere, folks!