As small business owners, we all dream of a place where we don’t have to guess what people want or like to do. In this place, we have a 360-view of their favorite places to eat, drink, and play. We are invited into conversations among friends about pressures and pain points, brand fails, and unicorns….
The average person will spend nearly two hours a day on social media which adds up to a little over 5 years spent over a lifetime. And these times are expected to increase as social media networks become smarter and work harder to deliver experiences that consumers want to be a part of. For small…
Remember a time where you had no internet, no cell phone, no Google, no laptop, and an Atari was an advanced gaming system? Remember when you had to actually go outside and play? Read a book to entertain yourself because there was no such thing as an iPad? And binge-watching Netflix wasn’t even an option….
Millennials use social media to shape their digital identities and avoid overly promotional brands  There was a time when our primary marketing conversations centered around attracting Baby Boomers. Today, when brands have conversations about how to generate new revenue for the business, it’s difficult not to include the 23 percent of consumers who make…
The only way you can gain an appreciation for or dislike of social media is to be on it. And regardless of which side of the coin you land on, social media is here to stay. Sure, the popularity of certain platforms will change, and new ones will emerge. But the force that is social…
Posting to social media has never been easier. Social media management tools like Hootsuite and Buffer make it almost inexcusable not to post updates routinely to your social media networks. And the benefits! Once you link up all your accounts, you can schedule posts to publish when and where you want them to, all from…
Posting to social media is easy. You type something in, click a button, and it’s out there. You’re done, right? Wrong. Not if you want to survive social media. Building a strong social media following for your business isn’t about you. It’s about building a community who engages in a conversation driven by you, but…
Just being on social media isn’t enough. While it only takes a couple minutes to set up an account, it takes months to build up a credible presence. And it’s tempting to want to be everywhere because everyone else seems to be. It appears that peer pressure doesn’t end when we leave grade school. It’s…
“Should I be on Facebook?” As a small business owner trying to make a name for yourself, it’s a no brainer, right? Of course you should. So you set up your Page and start posting. But oddly enough, not much is happening. You get a few “likes” here and there, but not the big numbers you expected. Frustrated,…
Have you ever wondered how some businesses get so many Twitter followers and you’ve been stuck at 10 for months now? Well, you’re in good company. That’s a challenge for many small businesses, including my own. Building a social following takes time. But, while time certainly is a factor, so is effort. Building a social…
In my quest to find a picture for this blog post, I happened upon something else entirely, a fresh perspective. My original intent was to have a serious talk about the importance of online communities. For the small business owner who has been slow to adopt the idea of using social media as another way…
Last night, I saw the shell of a broken man. As I looked into the eyes of Lance Armstrong as he spoke with Oprah, the words liar or cheat, never came to mind. All I saw was regret. To have accomplished so much and fallen so far has left its mark, not only on Lance,…