Erik Qualman's Blog, page 565

3 Tips for Engaging Your Online Meeting Audience

Now that technology has brought us ways to communicate in simple forms for conducting business, we have wonderful, new options for connecting worldwide. Online meetings are becoming more and more popular for all types of businesses big and small. From video conferencing to webinars, we are at the peak of gaining new clients, keeping our teams in-the-know, and showing off our new products and services in innovative ways.

Below are three tips for those who are considering online meeting options. These tips will help keep your audience awake, on track, and interested in what you have to present.

1. Be prepared – have a plan

Whether you will be conducting a video conference or webinar, be sure that you know exactly what you will discuss or display ahead of time. If you are holding a video conference, have your notes or script in front of you so that you do not stumble or “um” your way through the call. If you are holding a webinar, it is best to practice beforehand. You could be showing a prospective client a demo of your product or providing your team instructions on how to use new software. No matter what your webinar will be displaying for your audience, practicing moving through screens and knowing exactly what you plan to show is crucial. This will keep your audience’s ears in the audio and eyes on the screen.

If you are unprepared there will likely be too many moments of awkward silence, too many stumbles through your script, and too many disinterested participants waiting for you to move on and finish the presentation.

There are also some great tips for meeting planning from Hospitality Net that can be very helpful.

2. Choose the right tool and know how to use it

There are many great options for video conferencing and webinars to choose from these days. Be sure that you research different tools and their features so that you find the one to suit your needs best. As an example,ClickMeetinghas a video conferencing feature that records the calls or a webinar tool that integrates with Microsoft Office. Think about which features make the tool easy to use and can also help “wow” your audience, every small detail counts.

After choosing the right tool, spend some time using it well before your web meeting. Practice with the various features, become familiar with the screens and buttons, run through your presentation with the tool ahead of time, or make a mock video conference call to a co-worker.

If you cannot find the button to share your desktop, your audience will quickly lose confidence in you, your company, and what they are about to see.The bottom line is that whether it is your overseas team or your client in the next state, you need to present yourself, company, product, or service well to gainand retain your audience’s interest and confidence.

3. Pay close attention to your audio

No matter which type of online meeting you are conducting, audio will most likely be part of it.

First, make sure that you are in a quiet location without any background noise. Traffic sounds, dogs barking, and people talking in the background are all very distracting to the audience. Second, make sure that your audio device is close and clear. Static or the sound of distance will have your listeners leaning in to hear you, become aggravated, and likely missing something of importance. Miracle Tutorials lists items you may not think about that will cause static in your audio. Last, make sure that you speak loud and clear. Mumbling, stumbling, or just talking too low can cause problems for your listeners and have a negative impact on the meeting and its purpose.

Even if you are holding a webinar, be sure to test out the audio and be conscious of it throughout the presentation; not just the visual portion.

Do not let your audience leave your online meeting with the feeling they are lacking. Lacking confidence in you or your company, lacking interest in your product or service, lacking clarity in what you explained – these are all detrimental conclusions. The key to any successful online meeting is to keep the audience engaged.

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LinkedIn: Advanced Profile Features

Last week’s CareerGlider post discussed three ways your LinkedIn profile is used: as an online resume, as a filtering mechanism, and as a way of being headhunted by recruiters. We talked about how to set out the essentials of your resume while avoiding basic mistakes.

This week, we talk about how to help people find you on LinkedIn—and how to impress them when they do.

First: Stop Changes Being Shared to Network

By default, LinkedIn shares with your network every change you make to your profile. So you don’t spam your network with small changes, move the slider on the right-hand side of your profile headed, “Notify Your Network?” to ‘No’. When you’re ready for people to see your changes, you can always switch it back.

Custom URL

Also by default, LinkedIn gives your profile page a random-looking string of letters and numbers as the URL for your profile page. A custom URL looks better, on screen and on a business card.

In the drop-down menu at the top of the page, select Profile > Edit Profile. Your current URL is underneath your photo. Click on it. On the panel on the right, you’ll see a heading: “Your Public Profile URL.” Click on the pencil beside it and change the URL to whatever you like—preferably a variant on your name that’s available.

Custom Headline

Your headline defaults to your current job title and employer, but you can change it. And there are good reasons to do so.

One is to impress people: if they like what they read, they’ll read on. Another is to impress search engines. Recruiters often use Boolean keyword queries—search terms connected by ‘and’s, ‘or’s, ‘not’s, etc. You want to show up on those searches. While LinkedIn’s search algorithm is a secret, headlines are said to rank second only to your name in importance.

There needs to be a balance, of course: LinkedIn’s search engine may like your profile, but a human is not going to be impressed if your headline is an unreadable sludge of keywords

What ‘keywords’ should you use? Job descriptions in your field will help you. Let’s say you’re looking for work in social media. Here’s a sample posting in that field from a recruiter:

The full posting is available .

Let’s assume you are just the right fit for this kind of job, and this job is representative of what’s out there. (In reality, you might well apply despite not being a 100% perfect fit, and you’d check many, many more of these postings.) How do you ensure you’re found by recruiters looking for similar candidates?

The words ‘Social Media’ should be the first thing in your headline. The posting also focuses on content skills, so that should be in your headline too. Skills in community management are also being sought, and the idea of an online community might be a nice way to hang your headline together. Finally, the problem the employer is really trying to solve—what all these skills are required to do—is promoting and managing a brand online.

Let’s put all of that together within 120 characters (the limit for the headline). One way of writing a headline is more minimalist, just using a few descriptive phrases:

Social Media Associate | Content Writer | Brand Manager | Online Engagement Specialist

Alternatively, you might choose something that’s more of a personal branding statement, for instance:

Social Media specialist and content writer passionate about helping brands connect with online communities.

Neither of these is flashy, and you might feel something a bit more exuberant better expresses who you are—in which case, go for it! But buzzwords like ‘Ninja,’ ‘Guru,’ and ‘Maven,’ are best avoided—no one is searching LinkedIn for ninjas, and some of these buzzwords are making most-despised lists.

Remember that we’re assuming in this example that you have all these skills: don’t forget your obligation is always to be completely honest.

Keywords in your Experience section

In your Experience section, make sure to include other keywords you think might be searched, or secondary skills employers may want to you to have.

In our social media example, for instance, if you had prior experience with any or all of the social networks listed, you would want to make sure those networks were listed in your Experience section. And if you had PowerPoint or Photoshop skills, you would want to get those words into your profile, and into your Skills list too.

This post doesn’t cover everything, but these tips are some of the simplest and most effective ways of making your profile more visible. The other important thing you can do is reach out to others—which is what we’ll cover next week.

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New Research Shows 95% Use Customer Reviews

PowerReviews set out to look deeper at how ratings and reviews are impacting decision making. They surveyed 800 Americans to find out what they thought about ratings and reviews. Check out the interesting stats they found in the infographic below.

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Apple closes at more than $700 billion in market value being the first company to do so

On Tuesday afternoon, Business Insider reported that Apple just became the world’s first $700 billion company. Shares of Apple closed at $122.02, a new split-adjusted all-time high for the iPhone maker.

At this price, the company’s market capitalization is around $705 billion, making it the first company to close a trading session with a market cap above $700 billion.  At this level, Apple is more than twice the size of Microsoft.

This new record high in Apple comes two weeks after the company reported a monster fourth quarter in which it sold more than 74 million iPhones and a record $18 billion in profit.

With Apple’s latest gains, the stock is now up more than 60% in the last year.

Wall Street Journal said that Apple’s market value is nearly double each of the next three largest companies on the S&P 500 index. Exxon Mobil Corp. is second to Apple with a market cap of about $385 billion; Berkshire Hathaway Inc., with its two classes of stock, is third at $370 billion; and Microsoft Corp. is fourth at $349 billion, according to FactSet.

Article originally from businessinsider.com and wsj.com

Thumbnail image from shutterstock.com

 

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Facebook launches Internet.org in India

Mashable reported today that Facebook‘s Internet.org project is taking on its biggest market yet. Internet.org, an effort to provide free mobile Internet to developing markets, launched in India this week, Facebook announced late Monday.

The service will be available in six different states in India and offer users access to a range of healthcare, communication and news services, including the Wikipedia, the BBC — and, of course, Facebook.

“Over the last year, we’ve rolled out Internet.org free basic services to countries with more than 150 million people total across Africa and Latin America,” Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s cofounder and CEO, said in a post on his Facebook page announcing the launch. “More than 6 million people are already connected to the internet who previously weren’t, and we’ve started hearing incredible stories about how the internet is changing lives and communities.

Internet.org had previously launched in Ghana, Zambia, Kenya, Colombia and Tanzania. India is of particular importance to the company, however, as analysts expect it to surpass the United States as Facebook’s largest market of users in the near future.

Zuckerberg has frequently talked about the value of Internet.org to connect the entire world to the Internet. Last month, however, he was forced to defend the effort on an earnings call when an analyst questioned why Facebook investors should care about the ongoing project.

“It matters to the kind of investors that we want to have, because we are really a mission-focused company,” Zuckerberg said in a sharp response, before adding that it could prove a “good business opportunity for us” some years out. “As these countries get more connected, the economies grow, the ad markets grow, and if Facebook and the other services in our community, or the number one, and number two, three, four, five services that people are using, then over time we will be compensated for some of the value that we’ve provided.”

TechCrunch reported that expansion to India has been on the cards for some time after Facebook launched a $1 million fund dedicated to making apps for India at its Internet.org summit in New Delhi last year.

Emerging markets are an important focus for Facebook since it has long become a mainstream service in Western markets, and the lion’s share of new internet users will come online from Africa, Asia and Latin America… via mobile phones. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg previously likened Internet.org to a 911 telephone call, that’s to say that basic services should be available to everyone on the planet without charge in the same way that you can call the cops for free.

Image from Mark Zuckerburg on Facebook.com

 Article originally from mashable.com and techcrunch.com 
Thumbnail courtesy of shutterstock.com
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Celebrate Safer Internet Day with Google’s Security Checkup and get 2GB in Drive Space

To celebrate Safer Internet Day, Google is giving away 2GB of Google Drive storage for going through the Security Checkup. Google said this survey takes just a couple of minutes and, unlike other checkups, it won’t leave you feeling guilty about not flossing. Here’s what it does:

Ensures your account recovery information is current

If we detect suspicious activity in your account, we use your recovery info to get in touch and make sure no one but you gains access.
Lets you review recent sign-in activity

Reviewing this lets you validate the sign-ins are coming from you and not someone who shouldn’t be using your credentials.
Confirms the apps and devices that access some account information

This step lets you monitor this list and remove apps and devices that don’t need access to your account any more.


Frederic Lardinois from TechCrunch said, “I just went through the process and it’s pretty straightforward (or as a Google spokesperson told me, “my mom could understand this – and that’s often not true with online security!”). While working your way through the wizard, you’ll check your recovery information, recent activity, account permissions and passwords, as well as your two-factor authentication settings.”
Once the two minute survey is completed, you will see three green checkmarks and the 2GB will appear in your Drive account by the end of the month. Google hopes that you revisit this checkup often and check out their safety center for more tips on online safety.

Image from googledrive.blogspot.com
Article from googledrive.blogspot.com and techcrunch.com
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The Social Aspect of Adoption

According to PBS.org, there are 135,000 children adopted each year in the United States.

There are many reasons why parents may wish to put their baby up for adoption, including not having support, being a single parent, not being able to care for the baby on their own, and being a teen mom or even religious or cultural reasons.

In China, for example, there have been laws against having more than one child (there are exceptions to this rule, though). If the couple were to have a girl but wish for a boy, they may put the little girl up for adoption.

Make the Connection

For parents looking to reunite with the baby they put up for adoption, social media can help connect them to their child.

First, make sure to join the most popular social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google Plus.

If you know the name of the adoptive parents, you can perform a simple search and see if you can find their social profiles. If so, you can send them a private message to open up a form of dialogue.

Keep in mind, though, that there is a chance the adoptive parents will not want to hear from you. If the adoption was closed, you may not be able to open up a form of communication.

It’s best to contact the adoption agency with any questions you have and to make sure it’s allowed to speak to the adoptive parents before making contact.

Simplify the Search

If you do not know the names of the adoptive parents, you can’t just perform a simple search on your Facebook account.

Instead, you can create a status update that states you are looking for your adopted son or daughter. You can state their birth date, what you think they may look like and where you think they may be living. This status could get “shared” among friends and family and lead you to the person you are looking for.

Again, make sure that this is allowed by the adoption agency before moving forward.

As the article “Reuniting with the baby you put up for adoption” notes, a reunion is a brave step that you need to be prepared for. You also need to prepare yourself for the chance that the child does not want to meet you.

Decide beforehand what your goals are and what you wish to get out of the relationship. Do you want to maintain contact a few times per year or do you just want to see that they are happy and doing well and not have a constant stream of contact?

This should all be decided prior to the meeting, assuming the child and adoptive parents are willing to reconnect.

Discovering a Lost One

Even if the child does not want to reunite, you can use social media to find them and see what they are up to in their life.

You can learn a little bit about the child you put up for adoption by seeing where they live, what they do for a living (assuming they are older than 18) and what they look like. Try not to obsess over meeting him or her and forming a relationship with them. Remember, relationships take time and the baby you put up for adoption may be hurt or confused as to why that happened and they may not wish to see you.

In the end, respect their wishes and try to move forward.

Photo credit: Image courtesy of 

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5 Clever Ways of Managing Your Credit Cards

Credit cards are often called a bane of our society, an unhealthy habit that drags people into debt; self-help gurus urge us to cut them into pieces and behave as if they don’t exist at all. But truth is, there is nothing demonic about credit cards – they are just a tool, a tool you should learn how to use. Here are 5 simple rules that can do the trick.

1.      Keep Track of All Your Accounts

If you have multiple credit cards you should carefully look after each of them. You may simply forget that you have an unpaid debt on one of them, and the resulting interest may unpleasantly surprise you later. Banks may change the terms of use – and although they are supposed to notify you 15 days prior, these notifications are easily missed.

So, make a list of all your credit cards, create accounts with the necessary banks and make it a rule to check them at least once a week.

2.      Keep to Low Interest Cards

When one sees hundreds of offers out there, one’s head starts swimming and it is very simple to just pick credit cards at random, laboring under the delusion that they are all more or less the same.

They aren’t. Some offers are better, some are significantly worse. Fortunately, there is no need to compare all of them manually: you may use studies and lists compiled by specialists, like this one by Move Your Money Project, and keep to credit cards that offer the best terms of use.

3.      Keep Your Balances Low

In the ages past, it was possible to use up limits of your credit cards and be happy as long as you didn’t go over them. Today it is not such a bright idea anymore – by maxing up your credit cards you decrease your credit rating, which means that the next time you are going to take a loan you will get higher interest rates, and your insurance premiums are going to cost more as well.

Thus, you shouldn’t go over 30% of your credit card limit at any given time.

4.      Request Limit Increase

To use up less of your limit, why not increase the limit itself? If your credit history is spotless, you may try to persuade the bank to increase it – just make sure it really is spotless, for such a request from you may trigger an inquiry from the bank.

5.      Ask for Rate Decrease

If you’ve had an account for a long time and always paid up on time, you may ask the bank to decrease your interest rate – especially if it is higher than average. Do your homework: look through your credit history, check the average rate at the moment and contact your bank. Don’t be shy – if your record is good, it may be arranged.

If you know how to use credit cards, they may be used for their primary reason: making your life more comfortable. They are a tool; if you hurt yourself with a tool you have no one but yourself to blame.

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How Energy Companies Can Step Up Their Game With Social Media

The energy industry is perhaps one of the most distrusted industries of the decade, with only 16% of UK customers trusting providers to give them energy advice (according to Accenture). This comes from a long trail of bad press, with rapidly inflated prices, terrible customer service and a blinkered view of the customer having an extremely negative impact on our perception of the industry today.

The use of social media has been one area over the years in which the utilities have struggled to get on board with. Whilst many of the Big Six are now regularly active on social, it’s only in the last couple of years that customers have had a choice about whether to call the E.ON contact number or tweet their problem instead.

Social media puts energy providers in a strong position to revamp their reputation and begin to repair years of damage to their customer relationships. But are they doing enough?

Response Rates

It’s no surprise that a fast and helpful response is the only thing customers want from social media, yet many brands struggle to provide it. Although companies may be inundated with countless queries and complaints via Twitter and Facebook combined, it’s up to businesses to expand with their client base so they are always able to hire enough staff to meet the demand.

In a 2014 week-long study by Customer Service Guru, E.ON was found to have the fastest response rate of all the Big Six on both Twitter and Facebook, whilst British Gas was able to answer the highest proportion of complaints daily (98% for Twitter;  92% for Facebook).

It goes without saying that answering every post or tweet is essential, with no query being left unanswered. SSE’s response rate was just 84% on Twitter and 83% for Facebook; however these queries may have required more expertise and care when formulating a response.

Listening to Customers

Social media is never a one-sided conversation. As well as using it to respond to customers directly, utilities should also be using it to gauge customer needs and desires, and measure current opinion surrounding their brand at any one time.

In 2012, E.ON created ‘Innovation Community’ to gather consumer ideas on using energy more efficiently. Not only did this make consumers feel involved, it also helped E.ON become a source of useful help and advice among its audience.

British Gas, on the other hand, could have paid more attention to how customers really felt about their services before rolling out the hashtag campaign #askBG. Although the well-intentioned strategy was intended to give social followers a voice after the company’s vicious price hikes, it only served to give them free reign to unleash a public tirade of complaints and jokes about the brand.

If there’s one thing British Gas could have taken away from the experience, it was that they still had a lot of work to do.

Facilitating Debate

As well as use social media to be a source of information and advice, utilities can also use the channel to encourage honest and open debate about issues facing the energy world. This would not only help consumers better understand the challenges of keeping costs low, but also demonstrate that the company itself takes these issues seriously.

Companies should also be demonstrating their efforts to salvage some of these issues, whether it’s by announcing milestones, posting photos of community projects, or introducing new energy-saving products.

Welcoming Transparency

Through regular, honest and transparent engagement on social media, energy companies can slowly start to win customers round again and regain that once-lost trust.

As well as maintaining a genuine, conversational tone in all of their posts (like E.ON, British Gas and First Utility), companies should be striving to keep customers in the loop about anything that might affect their service, and why a particular problem or unforeseen circumstance might have occurred.

When it comes to crisis management, social media really comes into its own. During the Hurricane Sandy disaster, a utility supplier in New Jersey dedicated 22 staff members to its Twitter feed and sent out 9000 tweets during the power outage. This simple yet effective move gained the company 44,000 new followers…and no doubt a whole load of loyal customers.

Another part of being transparent is not being quick to hide one’s negative perceptions or misgivings. Both Scottish Southern Electric (SSE) and nPower have their Facebook posts hidden from view from basic users…which doesn’t exactly promote either page as a forum where ideas and feedback are welcomed.

The Need for Social Media in the Energy Industry

When it comes down to it, energy companies should continue to perfect and hone their social media presence until they are using it to a fine degree. Although many of the larger suppliers are already making substantial progress in engagement, there is always room for improvement, and smaller suppliers (which have greener credentials, no doubt) should be throwing themselves into the platform to promote their advantage over big corporates.

Social media will enable companies to:

Build trust with customers that has been shattered by years of increasing price hikes
Solve simple problems quickly and efficiently, without needing to divert to a phone line or other customer service rep
Increase transparency, giving a glimpse into the inner workings of a company
Better understand the needs and opinions of customers, as well as how they feel about your brand
Facilitate debate and bring about real change (rather than allowing external debate to take the spotlight)
Manage crises and keep customer expectations under control in difficult circumstances.

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6 Small Business Predictions for 2015

2015 is expected to be a big year for small business growth. Here are six predictions for financial trends in small business.

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