Posts Tagged ‘social media tools’

Name that trend

In our everyday lives, a new year is a time to make resolutions. In our business lives, it’s the perfect time to forecast the trends that will affect us most in 2010.

The trouble – or fun, depending on your outlook – is that everyone you listen to is liable to have a different opinion on what will matter in the coming year and decade ahead.

So I decided to search far and wide for this season’s most interesting and relevant small business predictions. Here are my favourites:

Trend #1: Small business owners will be the new stars of economic growth – and the media.

It’s often said that small businesses are the engines that run our economy. True enough. But all too often, the oxygen is sucked up by the business titans (heard of Bill Gates or Conrad Black?). That’s changing, says Futurelab’s Dominic Basulto, as big players like American Express – through its OPEN Forum – are focusing on small business owners. Even jetsetter magazine, Monocle, from the folks who brought us Wallpaper, recently published a Small Business Guide for 2010, a hip and inspirational resource on how entrepreneurs around the world are making a difference.

Norton_and_sonsNorton & Sons Tailoring, profiled in Monocle Magazine’s Small Business Guide.

Trend #2: Web 2.0 becomes the tool to leverage personal branding.

Wine business owner turned straight-shooting social media guru, Gary Vaynerchuk is one of a handful of leaders heralding a new era of personal branding, in which small business owners and freelancers use the Internet to build their reputation and client base. Vaynerchuk says personal branding is the only real job security any of us will have in the future – scary stuff or exhilarating, depending on your point of view.

Trend #3: Building business by fusing online to offline.

No matter how much you rely on social media tools, human one-to-one contact isn’t going away says Duct Tape Marketing’s, John Jantsch. In fact, digital will only really help if it succeeds in building real business relationships. Sites like LinkedIn and Facebook can offer great ways to find prospects and build awareness but the key will be redirecting customer interest back to the real world, for example, to events where entrepreneurs and vendors can learn more about each other and network in person.

What trends do you think will most impact your business this year?

Posted by Lynnette in Growing Your Biz on January 14th, 2010

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Tara Hunt is all about inspiration in '10.

“…If your job is to dance, do your dance… If the divine cockeyed genius assigned to your case decides to let some sort of wonderment be glimpsed for just one moment through your efforts, then olé. And if not, do your dance anyhow and olé to you nonetheless….just for having the … stubbornness to keep showing up.”

– Author Elizabeth Gilbert at TED, on finding inspiration

A 21st century renaissance woman if ever there was one, Tara Hunt is an entrepreneur, pioneer of Web 2.0, public speaker, author, mom, admitted karaoke addict, Twitter-holic and one of Fast Company Magazine’s most influential women in technology.

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Tara Hunt

And if she could wish for one thing in 2010, it’s probably as much inspiration as she can muster. We caught up with her during a quick timeout from her computer.

“I write business books. You’d think that’s pretty straightforward,” Tara says. “You have the research, you fill in the blanks. But it takes me so long to get that piece of inspiration. And usually it’s at the worst possible time. I’ll be grocery shopping and I have to rush home so I can get in front of my computer and start typing.”

What’s she’s typing about these days is her message to businesses to think a little less about what they can get out of online social communities and a lot more about what they can contribute.

It’s something she’s dubbed “the Whuffie Factor” in her last book of the same name. It’s social capital, or a culture of generosity that can’t be measured in ROI or PR, but in loyalty, trust and admiration from customers.

It’s not a new idea. First nations of the Pacific Northwest called it “potlatch” and it was a central part of their culture.

“A chief gave riches away so that when it came time for him to rally tribes against invaders, they reciprocated because they admired him so much,” Tara explains. (A modern day example of this kind of fierce loyalty? Maybe ask an Apple customer why s/he owns a Mac or iPhone.)

Tara offers inspiration of her own.

So while Tara toils on her latest book, we asked her for how small businesses can start using social media tools like blogging to create and nurture a generous corporate culture and build social capital in 2010. It turns out it’s something like putting together a cultural business plan.

1. Define the culture you want. What’s your company about, what’s its higher purpose? Who are your customers and how can you make them happy?

2. Align your company to that culture. Build your team with people committed to the same goal: to deliver an experience that makes your customers happy. Think about what you can give them, instead of what you want from them. Be real, she says. Your customers can smell fakeness a mile away.

3. Learn and be patient. Developing your own social capital will come together over time. You’ll learn and make mistakes and you’ll need to be patient. You won’t be able to measure this through traditional ROI. What you’re looking for is a way to gain power and loyalty by giving. The getting will get there soon enough.

What steps can you start taking right now to make your customers happy in 2010?

Posted by Lynnette in Marketing on January 7th, 2010

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Do you need a blog?

“I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.”

- Quote famously misattributed to former IBM Chairman Thomas Watson

Funny in hindsight. But to be fair, tons of innovations come and go. The ones that stand the test of time – which become part of what we call trends – do really transform the way we live our lives or do our work. (Think, for instance, about air travel, a mouse or mobile phones.)

I’ll go out on a limb and say social media in general and blogs in particular are here to stay. Proof (besides the fact you’re reading this one)?

· 133,000,000 – blogs indexed by Technorati since 2002

· 346,000,000 – people globally who read blogs (comScore March 2008)

 

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That’s a lot of eyeballs with the potential to discover your small business and read your big ideas.

So why not a blog?

“Building business through social media is not something most small businesses are doing very well right now,” says Roger Pierce, co-founder of BizLaunch.ca. “Like a lot of new inventions, social media holds plenty of promise yet it is failing to deliver for small business owners.”

The problem? Unlike established forms of marketing like newspaper ads or TV commercials, small business owners don’t really yet understand how to use the new technology medium – which isn’t a complete surprise since the rules are only just being developed.

So, back to my question in the header: do you need a blog? The answer is a definite maybe. As with any new marketing tactic, learn all you can then decide if you want your business to dive in.

I’ll offer more thoughts and tips on developing a blog for your small business in the next few posts. Until then, here are two great resources to get you started – if you haven’t already:

· www.bizlaunch.ca, which conducts free seminars and webinars on using social media tools like blogs to market your business.

· John Moore’s blog offers some straight talk about your social media plan.

If you’ve already launched a blog, how has it helped your business? If you haven’t, what’s stopping you?

Posted by Lynnette in Marketing on November 27th, 2009

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