EduCyber Presents Growing Your Business on the Internet Series:

Thursday, August 26, 2010

"Blogging: The Center of Your Social Media Presence"

Pay online to reserve your spot >>

What is blogging? Why should I bother? Is it really that important?

Blogging has been around for quite awhile now but it certainly hasn’t become passé. In fact the experts continue to tout blogging as the best way to boost your search rankings. But it can be much more than that. Come find out how much more.

In an information-packed 90 minutes you will learn:

• What a blog is and how it works.
• Why it really is crucial to blog and blog and blog. How the technologies behind blogging make it so easy to be found.
• Five no-no’s for blogging
• How to integrate your blog into the center of your social media presence in a time effective manner.

Who should attend this seminar?
Any business owner or employee tasked with doing the blog or pondering how to expand their presence on the Internet effectively and efficiently.

Location: 4251 Kipling St.
(2nd Floor Conference Room)
Time: 8:30 - 10:00 am
Cost: $19.95 (includes a light breakfast)

Pay Online To Reserve Your Spot Today!

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9 Measurable Social Media Marketing Goals

It seems like I’ve been focusing a lot of my attention lately on helping understand or plan out their goals. Whether it be goals for a new web site or social media marketing goals, it is absolutely critical to have goals and then . . . wait for it . . . actually measure them.

So if your goal is to get more business you’re going to have to refine it just a tad. Otherwise when you get one new customer you will have reached your goal. But what it a good measurable goal for social media marketing? That’s the heart of the matter for most folks. What does a goal look like?

Here are 9 measurable goals for social media that, if they don’t work for you, will hopefully spark something that will work:

1. 200 more followers on Facebook. This is definitely measurable simply check today and at the end of the time period and see what the change is.
2. 20 retweets a week on Twitter. This will help you figure out what really gets a lot of attention. Last week’s blog on “5 Biggest Social Media Marketing Mistakes” for example caught a lot of attention.
3. 15% more click thru’s from Social Media sites to your main web site. This is pretty easy to see how it would translate into more business.
4. 4. 20% increase in “fans” who “like” your posts on Facebook. Like #2, this will help you figure out what gets people’s attention.
5. 5. 20 check-ins a week on Foursquare (this is a great site for location based businesses like restaurants, bars or coffee shops). Again, this is easily measured and if you’re getting folks checking in, it gives you a chance to interact – give them a to do while they’re there.
6. 30 newsletter signups each month directly from Facebook. Check out FBML and learn how to add html to your page.
7. 10 sales each week from Twitter. You need to be careful about pushing the business too hard in social media but with the right plan and the right product(s) it could work well.
8. 4 leads each week generated through social media (best tracked if you create a separate landing page for social media). This is more marketing-focused but could really boost your business.
9. 15% decrease in returns because of customer outreach through social media. Took a different tack on this one to help you imagine the possibilities. It’s not necessarily directly sales related. If you’re saving costs on the backend, you’ll be more profitable.

Note that all nine of these are very measurable. Note also that these are just the goals. Once you have the goal established you need to develop the tactics you will employ to achieve your goal. What are your goals?

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5 Biggest Social Media Marketing Mistakes

Everyone is joining in the Social Media Marketing blitz – or so it often seems – but not everyone is doing it well. Are you?

Here are the five biggest mistakes businesses make in Social Media Marketing:

5. Not being consistent
Some really good folks come up with a plan and start implementing it and then get distracted or busy and don’t consistently implement it. Using tools like HootSuite or TweetDeck can help you manage the flow and be more consistent.

4. Being too business focused
It’s called SOCIAL media for a reason. People want to get to know you. They want to understand you from the human perspective, not just the business side. Take some time to tell people what has your interest, even if it’s watching your daughter’s hockey game.

3. Not measuring the results
I often hear “I tried Facebook and it didn’t work.” I follow up with a “How do you know?” and get blank looks or vague answers. If you’re going to engage in social media marketing, measure your results in as quantifiable ways as possible.

2. Not following the plan
It is easy to get distracted in social media. You log on to post about your next event or a special you have coming up and the next thing you know you’re chatting with your high school football buddies or “friending” your college sweetheart. Be disciplined. Tape your plan or goals to your monitor to remind you of what you’re doing. Then follow through.

1. Not having a plan
Simple as it may seem, a huge number of businesses engaging in social media MARKETING don’t have a plan for what they want to accomplish – or their plan doesn’t fit with their business goals. I met a recently laid off individual who went on to LinkedIn and established links with 1000s of people – and he only knew about 25 of them. He asked me “What do I do now?” I had no idea what to tell him because he didn’t have a plan that he could articulate.

Create a plan that fits your business. Include measurable goals in your plan.

You’ll see results.

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EduCyber Open House

When: Tuesday, August 17th
Time: 4:30 to 7:00 PM
Where: 4251 Kipling St. Suite 190, Wheat Ridge, CO 80033 (turn WEST on 43rd Ave. to get to our parking lot)

EduCyber is pleased, tickled, and excited to announce that we’ve been nominated Business of the Year by the City of Wheat Ridge. To celebrate we’re having an open house. Please come and join in the fun, food and networking.

RSVP: Please RSVP to maki@educyber.com or 303 268-2245 ext. 3 so we can prepare for you.

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