Erik Qualman's Blog, page 584

The Rise of the Patriotic Hacker

If I were to ask you what you thought a hacker is, your response would most likely revolve around negative terms such as identity theft, data fraud, and maybe even cyber terrorism. However, it is important to know that not all hacking is necessarily the criminal, illegal act that we see so often reported in our media. For example, the U.S. government hires “ethical hackers” to test vulnerabilities in their systems from perspective criminal hackers. Additionally, The National Security Agency (NSA) allegedly uses ultra-secret hacking units to gain access to computers on a global scale. The information gathered is incredibly important intelligence for national security, including data on cyber attacks and counter-terrorism.

As technology changes, so do the people using and developing it. Although some hackers continue to hack for personal gain, others use their skills to benefit others. The folks at WhoIsHostingThis created this visual infographic showcasing the different types of people behind cyber hacking and some interesting stats to go with it.

 

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3 Strategies to Leverage Social Media During Major Sporting Events

For viewers of major sporting events like the NFL Super Bowl and the College Football Playoffs, watching the commercials is just as much a part of the spectacle as the game itself. Big-name brands spend millions of dollars on a thirty-second spot for exactly this reason, but television isn’t the only medium for brands to make an impression on viewers. Given these staggering statistics on the ubiquity of social media usage, brands can— and should— connect with consumers on social media platforms.

Here are just three strategies to effectively leverage social media marketing during sporting events:

User-Generated Content

Leaving it to consumers to create marketing content is one of the easiest ways to generate buzz. Prior to the 2014 Super Bowl, Doritos held a month-long contest asking fans to submit self-produced commercial videos to air as Doritos’ official commercial submission. It created major buzz on Facebook, accumulating over 46,000 Facebook Likes on its finalist announcement alone. The creator of the winning “Time Machine” spot received one million dollars and the commercial was shown at the Super Bowl, earning the winner as well as the Doritos brand a greater following. Heineken used a similar strategy with its “Crack the US Open” Instagram campaign, offering a pair of tickets to the US Open final to the Instagram user who finished a series of puzzles in the shortest amount of time.

Real-Time Engagement

Of all the brands featured during the 2014 Super Bowl, it was Oreo that arguably stole the show with its now viral Tweet. As the stadium’s 30-minute blackout halted the event and the viewers’ ’second screen’ became the primary focus of attention, Oreo seized the opportunity to engage Twitter users live. The Tweet wasn’t terribly innovative or eye-catching, but it was completely relevant to the moment for thousands of Twitter users. Real-time social media updates like Oreo’s Tweet are especially important for sporting events in which every move and every second matters. Reacting quickly to real-time events in sports gives brands a chance to utilize the essence of what social media sites like Twitter are all about— giving users a space to engage in virtual conversation about what’s relevant at the present moment.

Focusing on the Message

Brands have successfully promoted new product lines during sporting events in the past, but focusing on a message rather than a product may be especially effective in this context. Sports fans are often passionate about their teams and global events like the Olympics may even invoke feelings of patriotism. Tying these intense feelings to the brand through a universal message rather than selling a product may resonate more with fervent sports fans.

Procter & Gamble’s ongoing “Thank You, Mom” campaign introduced during the 2010 Olympics includes a mini-documentary series called “Raising an Olympian,” which gives credit to the mothers who raised their Olympian children. The commercials and series are promoted on Facebook and YouTube as part of P&G’s first digital campaign, and includes a mobile app which allows users to upload photos of or send messages to their mothers.

Nothing in the ads say, ‘buy our product’—Instead, P&G focuses universally on a mother’s sacrifice while showcasing the hard work and resilience of the athlete. The universal message speaks to the company’s values and connects to the viewer on a personal level, all while being directly relevant to the Olympics.

The rise of social media should come as good news for companies with lower marketing budgets as social media levels the playing field against mega brand competitors like Coca-Cola or Nike; it allows smaller brands to actively participate without draining their resources. For larger companies, the challenge is to reach consumers in an integrated marketing campaign across all platforms not just during the sporting event, but also before and after. Analytics tools are key to tracking data, gauging performance, and gaining an overall view of what people are saying across platforms.

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The Amazing Social Media Applications That Makes You’re Driving Easier

Now you can maneuver your way through traffic using one of the latest GPS-enabled apps from social media platforms. Simply download the app into your smart phone, iPhone or tablet and get a trial version for free. Alternatively, you can buy and install the app and start enjoying unrivaled map-reading technology. The benefits of navigation applications are:

1. Map Factor

This is a highly innovative navigation app that gives you audio warning when you approach speed cameras or when you exceed a specified speed limit. You can choose from a 2D or 3D view. It is compatible with any Wi-Fi network. Some of its features are:

• Has day and night switching options

• The map rotates in driving position

• You can program and save a number of favorite routes

• Uses voice guide feature with various languages

2. Osm And+ Maps & Navigation

This app has free and paid versions to guarantee automatic re-routing when you deviate from a selected route. The app gives you the freedom to verbally dictate route instructions with unmatched convenience. Its salient features are:

• Its map is updated regularly

• Switch from day to night settings

• Use Open Street Map data even when offline

3. Waze

This is arguably the coolest navigation application for the Android devices today. It gives you information about traffic jams and accidents so that you can avoid various routes. In addition, the app has information about gas stations, malls, parking, police stations, schools and other basic facilities on your route. The only deterrent may be the fact that your location is visible to other motorists using the app. Exciting features of Waze Social GPS application includes:

• Has an automatic shutdown feature to save power

• Offers real time road status updates

• Linked to Facebook to show you updates by your friends

4. Google Maps

With more than half a billion people using it across the world, Google Maps is evidently the most popular navigation tool on mobile devices. It has a highly user-friendly platform, giving you the option to choose from satellite to ordinary map view. Exciting features include:

• Gives customized route information such as highways

• Has different navigation modes e.g. walking, cycling and driving

• Convenient zoom the view in and out

5. Back country Navigator

Not only is Backyard Navigator an excellent guide when driving, it also offers unimaginable map-reading during fun outdoor activities such as hiking, mountain climbing and kayaking. The trial version lasts for 21 days after which you can buy the paid version. Its features are:

• Has marine and country trail maps

• Uses GPS technology

• Compatible with most smart phones and other mobile devices

Conclusion With so many exciting apps on your mobile device, you cannot afford to lose direction. Take advantage of them and avoid the trouble of having to ask directions from strangers. Similarly, use the apps to learn driving and book practical driving test without setting foot in a driving school!

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How To Develop Brand Loyalty Through Social Media

One of the predominant ways companies benefit from strong social media management is that it develops brand loyalty. This is a process that takes time and requires a successful, long-term strategy, but the reward is worth the effort: loyal customers are repeat customers. Loyal customers also serve as brand advocates, engaging with your brand online and speaking well of it offline. According to a study conducted by Zuberance, brand advocates drive 33% more sales and 18% more traffic than regular customers. The data tells us quite clearly the importance of loyal customers. There are 3 important ways to ensure your social media channels are contributing to the development of brand loyalty among consumers.

First, brands must post valuable content. This provides incentive for consumers to engage with the brand, which increases brand visibility. For example, if you have a skin care product, your customers are interested in the health of their skin – so sharing skin care tips would be relevant and valuable to your followers. Posting valuable content and eliciting engagement consistently, over time, will develop a strong relationship with consumers. This relationship is the basis of brand loyalty.

Additionally, brands must integrate a customer service presence through social media. By having readily available support through Facebook, Twitter, and other social channels, brands show their customers that they care about their experience. Today’s consumers – particularly those of the millennial generation – expect instant gratification. According to Social Habit, 32% of social customers expect a response within 30 minutes; 42% expect a response within 60 minutes. The needs of today’s consumers have evolved and it’s becoming clear that brands must adapt to meet those heightened needs. Consumers want answers now, and they want those answers through social media. Customers will navigate towards the brands that meet those needs.

Social Customer Care

This is especially important because when consumers are listened to, they feel validated. A guide from NM Incite shows us that 71% of consumers who experience a quick and effective brand response on social media are likely to recommend that brand to others, compared to just 19% of customers who do not receive a response. Brands that are publicly engaging their customers through social media are showing they’re commitment to providing exceptional service, and this is visible for the entire world to see. This level of engagement creates an excellent public perception, instills confidence in consumers, and meets their needs. Customers are happy when their issues have been resolved quickly and they feel heard. Happy customers become loyal customers.

Lastly, focus intently on the customer experience. Visit your brand’s social media pages yourself. Spend time reading content, navigate from one page to another, post, comment, like, tweet, and engage. Write down your impressions and thoughts along your journey. If every single area of engagement was not exceptional for you – from the design, to the content being posted, to your brand’s customer service interactions – then there is room for improvement. Every area must be perfect in order to create the best customer experience possible.

Posting valuable content that is helpful and interesting for customers, as well as having an integrated, active customer service presence will meet the needs of today’s consumers. It creates the foundation for a positive customer experience through social media, which builds brand loyalty and increases your brand’s bottom line.

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How to Best Utilize Social Media Analytics

What is it?

Social media analytics is the practice of gathering and aggregating information from social media sites and analyzing the data to provide insight for a business.

Why is it important?

Companies thrive off of information about their consumers. Social media analytics can provide insight such as:

Understanding the customer - What are their values? How do they spend their time? What are their attitudes and opinions?

Forecasting consumer behavior - Will a customer buy a product or engage with content? Why or why not?

Targeting the customer - What are the best ways to reach a target audience? How can a business most effectively engage a certain demographic?

What tools can I use?

Google Analytics - Free and easy to install, Google Analytics provides cross-platform analytics software. You can customize data collection and report creation, and utilize Google’s free online training for the platform. However, there are limitations to the free program and businesses may have to upgrade to a paid premium account

Hootsuite - As a social media management company, Hootsuite became a popular platform for brand management. Earlier this year, they acquired UberVU to strategically expand their analytics offerings. Now, real-time analysis is a tool on their social media engagement platform.

Buffer - Similar to Hootsuite, Buffer began as a social media organization tool, but has since begun to offer clients data to help track effectiveness of strategies. Buffer for Business includes “free” analytics as part of a paid package deal.

Salesfusion - Salesfusion focuses on marketing automation solutions for medium sized B2B companies. They’ve added social media analytics to their platform as an integrated offering in their publishing and sharing tools. Their software gives you pre-built reports in easy-to-use dashboard formats and allows you to schedule report delivery to key executives.

HubSpot - This SaaS company has developed a inbound marketing software platform that helps companies attract, convert, and close potential customers. Their Social Inbox can tie into your contact database, and their software integrates marketing analytics and CRM to help show the big picture when it comes to social media engagement.

How can I best utilize social media analytics?

Once you’ve chosen one or more platforms, take some time to strategize: identify your core competencies when it comes to social media, as well as any weaknesses that stand out. Social media analytics blog Quintly reports that social media analytics solutions are in a “massive growth phase” as stakeholders continue to broaden social media marketing activities. Here are basic steps you can take with social media analytics tools that can have huge impacts on your business:

Determine your reach - One key metric to track is the volume of conversation surrounding your business. Track your daily, weekly, and monthly mentions and measure growth over time. You’ll be able to learn which days of the week and times of the day are most effective for dialogue by noting when there are spikes in the number of mentions you receive. You can also see if volume of conversation increases after a marketing campaign to help determine relative success.

Gauge consumer sentiments - In addition to watching the quantity of conversation, analytics will help you determine the quality of conversation. Are people happy with your business or product? How do they react emotionally to a certain marketing strategy?

Focus on channels that are most effective - Most social media analytics tools will allow you to take data from multiple platforms. You can use this information to determine which social media channels are appropriate for your content. Maybe customers respond best to content on LinkedIn but ads on Facebook. Make sure that your marketing dollars are being well-spent by focusing your attention on whatever social media platform fits your business best.

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How the Internet Makes the World Richer

Did you know that the world has over 2.9 billion internet users? The average growth rate of internet users is 10.8% annually in the last five years. Thanks to the development of electronic commerce, it is possible for people to shop online from their comforts of their home. An estimated 74.4% of American web users will make online purchases in 2014. In 2012, the U.S. alone spent $226 billion in e-commence, with an expected increase to $434.2 billion by 2017. Not surprisingly, mobile commerce (m-commerce) is expected to rise from 11% of e-commerce sales in 2012 to 25% of sales in 2017, reaching more than $108 billion.

The folks at WhoIsHostingThis created this intriguing infographic that outlines the impact of e-commerce on our global economy and the reasons attributing to this continuous growth.

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Why More and More People Prefer Vaporizers to Smoking

With government campaigns against smoking getting more and more intensive all over the world, smokers find it increasingly difficult and frustrating to stick to their old habits. The prices of tobacco products are slowly, but steadily growing, it is getting more and more difficult to find a place where you can legally have your nicotine fix, and there are no signs of this tendency to ever abate.

Some smokers find it easier to quit their habit. Those who are unwilling to give it up, however, have an alternative – a much healthier and less legally frustrating alternative – vaporizers. In this article we shall look at a few reasons why it may be a wise decision to consider switching to them.

1.     Health Concerns

As is clearly seen in this infographic, the harm usually associated with smoking can be mostly attributed to the combustion processes lying at its basis. Burning plant leaves produce smoke containing all kinds of toxins and carcinogens to which a smoker exposes his or her lips, throat and lungs.

However, pleasant effects of smoking come not from smoke per se, but from nicotine inhaled with it. Let’s repeat it: there is no need to expose your lungs to smoke in order to get the nicotine you want. Smoke is simply a byproduct of an imperfect technological process that had to be used because there was nothing better.

Vaporizers, on the other hand, don’t produce smoke – they heat your tobacco or aromatic blends to the point of vaporization, tremendously decreasing potential health risks without removing the pleasant effects of smoking.

2.     Economy

In addition to being unhealthy, traditional smoking is just plain wasteful. Unlike cigarettes, vaporizers don’t burn your tobacco or blend, they heat it up, which allows you to use the same amount for a much longer time. Long-term smokers who switched to vaporizers say that they spend about 3 times as little without changing their habits in any way.

3.     Legal Loophole

So far, the law wasn’t very fast to catch up with vaporizers and their users. Some countries and states have already passed or are passing legislature limiting or banning them, but the laws regulating their sale and usage are generally much more lenient than those concerning regular tobacco products. In some places there are no limitations whatsoever; and generally it is much easier to find a place where you can legally use a vaporizer than a place where you can smoke without being fined.

In addition to that, the use of vaporizers doesn’t leave any bad smell, which means that it is much harder to detect if somebody is using one.

4.     Clean, Neat and Trendy

Finally, when compared to your regular cigarettes, vaping is a much cleaner habit in all respects: there is no evil-smelling smoke, no traces of tobacco in your breath, no nicotine stains on fingers and teeth, no need to look for a place to put ashes and stubs, no need to use matches or lighters. And, when all is said and done, they simply look nice and smell much better.

5.     Way to Quit Smoking

And if you really want to quit smoking, vaporizers can still help you. The majority of them allow you to regulate your nicotine intake, gradually reducing it if you so wish, which, according to numerous testimonials, is much more effective than nicotine gum and patches.

All in all, vaporizers seem to be a good choice no matter what your intentions are: either to quit smoking altogether or to switch to a less expensive, harmful and troublesome habit.

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How to Engage Your Existing Customers for a Higher Marketing ROI

Every year, businesses spend about 56% of their marketing budgets on customer acquisition. Sure, it’s always a good idea to try and spread your influence by bringing in new customers, but it should never be your main focus. To put it bluntly, if you’re investing most of your time and money trying to bring in new customers, then you’re wasting it. You’re much better off focusing on the customers you already have — ultimately creating a stronger and more loyal base audience. More importantly, marketing to current customers will earn you a higher return on investment.

According to Bain & Company, it costs six to seven times more to acquire a new customer, than to retain the ones you already have. Furthermore, returning customers are more likely to spend 67% more on your goods and services. We could keep throwing facts and statistics at you all day, but it should be evident by now that engaging repeat customers is the way to go.

 

Engage Your Customers and Improve Your ROI

Blah blah blady blah. That’s what all of this looks like at the moment because a lot of you probably have no idea where to start when it comes to engaging your customers. How do you come up with a solid engagement marketing strategy? Where should you focus most of your attention?

It all boils down to one simple, yet vital concept: your relationship with your customers. If you want to capture their hearts, money, time and attention, you’ll need to build a solid relationship with them that remains even after they’ve spent their hard-earned money.

 

Put Your Customers Before Marketing

Don’t waste time organizing your workforce based on channel demand. Instead, adapt to your customers in order to provide a more seamless experience.

To put this point into perspective, a lot of firms have different teams managing separate channels. This may seem more productive sure, but it can negatively affect your relationship with your customers. These teams are likely unable to coordinate and synchronize events across channels, leading to a single customer interacting with your company in many different ways. That is, they get a different experience with each channel. It can also poison your marketing data because it’s difficult to discern how each customer likes to be engaged with when you have to sort through information from separate channels about a single source.

At the very least, you’re better off striking a balance between channels and customers. We’d certainly recommend putting your customers first, however by structuring your teams to match your audience.

 

Keep Your Correspondence Personal

Piggybacking on the point above, research from the McKinsey Global Institute shows that personalized interactions with customers are more effective. In many cases, it can deliver five to eight times more the ROI in terms of spending. It can also boost sales by as much as 10%.

What that means for your strategy is that you should structure your teams to match your customers. The best way to do this is to assign your employees or focus your own efforts on a customer by customer basis.

 

Deliver Content Your Customers Can Engage With and Use

Keeping your ROI acceptable is not just about your products and efficiency. It’s also about pandering to your customers in different ways, one of which is providing them useful information and content. More specifically, by delivering engaging content — which encourages them to interact with your brand and marketing teams — will naturally drive up your ROI.

Safer Brand implemented this strategy in a great way, by hosting a GMO test on their Facebook page which gives customers the chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card. Not only does this get Safer Brand’s customers involved, it also helps them become more knowledgeable about the company’s products.

 

Use Visual Stimulation to Your Advantage

On Facebook, photos are the most engaging type of content delivered with an 87% interaction rate from users. Furthermore, research conducted by Media Blog has shown that adding a photo to tweets will boost engagement ratings by as much as 35%. Images work, so start using them more often whenever and wherever you can. Use visual stimulation and attractive imagery to draw in your customers. The best way to do this is to create a marketing campaign that utilizes visual elements.

Here’s a great example, although, it’s just one of many you could use: take a photo of one of your products, then post a smaller cropped version of it on social media. Ask your customers to guess which of your products it is in a sort of mini quiz and then give the winner a prize. Not only does this get people talking about the image, but it also gets them interested in your products. Chances are they’ll research your inventory a little more to discover what could be in the photo and in the process they’ll learn a little something about your brand.

 

These Ideas Are Not Comprehensive

There are many more ways to engage with your customers, new and existing. Although, we’ve clearly outlined you’re better off focusing on your existing customers first and new customers as an aside.

The most important thing to remember is that your relationship with your customers will ultimately determine their involvement. Invest your time and effort into building a solid relationship and your ROI will naturally grow. The tips above should certainly help you get started, but we’re confident you can come up with plenty more on your own, too. After all, you wouldn’t be in marketing if you couldn’t.

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Social Media Scams: 5 Tips for Staying Safe While You Share

This is a cross-posting by Jocelyn Baird originally published on September 10, 2014

You see the warnings all the time. Beware of the Facebook color scam going around! Don’t click links from fishy-looking emails asking you to log into your Twitter account! Social media is impossible to escape, but with its proliferation comes a slew of new dangers and safety concerns. The days of communication on the Internet being limited to asking strangers for their A/S/L (Age/Sex/Location) in chat rooms are over. Now we put those basic details and so much more out there for virtually anyone to know without so much as a second thought. It’s important to protect yourself from being the target — and victim — of social media scams. Awareness and vigilance are the keys to preventing your information from being compromised online just as much as off.

How do social media scams work?

Some of the scams you see are harmless, such as chain letters that claim Bill Gates will donate $1 to charity for every share or retweet. You run the risk of aggravating your friends by passing these along, but that is generally where it stops. However, other social media scams actually do pose a threat. Links that install malware or viruses onto your computer or phishing emails that trick you into giving up sensitive information are everywhere. Many of these scams rely on the laziness of the average social media user. They hope you will click a link first and think about what you’re doing later.

What steps can I take to protect myself?

1. Always look carefully at the URL of a page before logging in. Some scams work by sending an email that urges you to log onto your social media account for one reason or another. It might say that someone posted incriminating photos of you on Facebook, or claim that you need to verify your Twitter account because of a security issue. These emails are designed to resemble those sent by the official social media email accounts. Often, a careful scan of the email itself will reveal it to be fake — misspellings, a fishy sender email address. However, if you are tricked by the email and open the link within, then a habit of always checking the URL before you enter any information can be your saving grace.

A real URL for Facebook or Twitter will include “www.facebook.com” or “www.twitter.com.” If you have been prompted to log into your account through a link in an email, it’s good to be on your guard. Remember, you can always close the window, retype the correct URL and log into your account that way to see if you have any messages or notifications. Doing this ensures you are logging into the correct website.

2. Beware of shortened URLs. Commonly used on Twitter, shortened URLs are a great way to come in under the 140 character limit. However, it is impossible to tell without clicking what the real link will turn out to be. This means you might click a link thinking you will be directed to a news story, and instead find yourself on a malicious website. It is better to be safe than sorry, so if you don’t absolutely trust the person or company sharing the post, don’t click.

3. Strengthen your privacy settings. Facebook collects all kinds of information on its users, from your hometown to your birthday. If you leave your profile completely open so anyone can view it, you run the risk of being target of scammers and thieves. Facebook allows you to set the privacy of all your information, posts and photos. You can control who can see what you share in a couple different ways. At the top of the page is a lock icon that you can click to bring up your privacy settings. Facebook has worked to make this section interactive to help guide you as you manage your settings.

Who can see my stuff? opens up a menu where you can change your global privacy settings — that is, set a minimum security setting for all future posts. If this is currently set to Public, then anything you post is visible to anyone whether they have a Facebook account or not. It is recommended to change this setting to Friends so only the people on your friends list can see what you post. If you’d like to limit it more, you can even create custom lists of people on your friends list to share with (or not). You can also change the privacy settings of past posts, which is handy if you have had a profile for a while with many public posts dating back a few years or even all the way to 2004.

You can also change the individual settings for posts and sections of information on your profile. You might want your family members and certain close friends to see your address and contact information, but that’s not the kind of information you want Joe from the coffee shop — or perfect strangers — to see.

On the other hand, Twitter’s privacy settings aren’t as in-depth, but you can decide whether to include your location with posts, block people from finding you via your phone number or email address and even password protect all of your tweets to keep them private.

4. Think before you click. The introduction of games and apps to Facebook has made its users direct targets for scams and attacks through these channels. One popular method of tricking people into clicking on a malicious link is to create a fake app that promises to add features that don’t currently exist to your profile. Unlike Twitter and other popular social network websites, Facebook does not allow you to change the color of your profile background. Beware of any app that says it can do this or anything similar. Almost always, attempting to install it onto your profile will result in a virus or even the outright theft of your account by a scammer. Twitter users are also at risk for scammy add-ons and plugins that promise something great, but deliver something sinister instead.

When installing apps or games to your Facebook account, it’s also important to take note of what information the app wants access to. Some of these apps request permission to use, access or store quite a bit of the profile information you might otherwise have on lock-down through your privacy settings. If you don’t want to give friends of friends access to your photos, why would you let a random app access them? Furthermore, most apps and games require permission to post on your behalf — meaning, if it is a scam, you have just given it free reign to spam your friends’ Newsfeeds with a scam.

5. Install security software. Not only do Internet security software suites block and eradicate viruses and malware that attack your computer, but many these days also have special companion apps for use with social media. Bitdefender’s SafeGo app scans your Facebook Newsfeed for malicious links and helps keep track of your privacy settings — notifying you if vital information is left unprotected. Looking for Twitter protection? A great option is Trend Micro’s social media scanner, which connects to your Twitter, Facebook and Google+ profiles to monitor privacy settings and scans for bad links on virtually every social media site out there. Taking it a step further, many Internet security software suites also come with mobile protection so you can safely use social media on the go.

A little care goes a long way online

The most important thing to remember about social media is that it is never private. Unless you keep a profile with no friends and the strictest privacy settings, you are going to be sharing information with other people one way or another. That’s the point! So it is up to you to do what you can to protect yourself online, just as we take care to stay safe in the real world. Part of that is paying attention to privacy settings and thinking before you click links. However, employing a reputable Internet security software is also a great way to stay a step ahead of spammers and scammers. Visit our Internet security software review page to learn more about what different programs have to offer.

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Put a Social Effort Behind Your Ecommerce Platform

Whether you run a small, midsize or large business, there is a very good chance that your company website is getting traffic. With that in mind, are you monitoring and even taking advantage of the traffic that comes to your site?

For too many business owners, the answer to that question is unfortunately mildly or even no. Now stop and think about all the potential revenue that is being missed out on.

There are a number of ways to take Ecommerce and run with it as a business owner. Whether you find a hosting site to do it for you or you oversee the operation in-house, the main goal here is making sure you are active in the Ecommerce world. If not, there is a good chance your competitors are reaping the benefits.

Choosing the Best Ecommerce Approach

When it comes to putting in place the best Ecommerce game plan for your company, start with your goals in mind.

You also need to know your approximate budget, something which could determine whether you get someone to host your site or do it yourself.

Different providers such as Ecommerce Partners can offer you a wealth of experience and knowledge when it comes to the right Ecommerce solution. As always with selecting someone to work with, however, make sure you do your research and vet each provider, making sure they follow through on what they say they can do for you.

Get Social and Keep It Up

Once you have an Ecommerce provider in place, make sure everyone involved in the game plan markets your site to the hilt, especially via social media.

With Ecommerce growing globally at an incredible rate, it is incumbent upon you and your team to socialize all your site has to offer consumers.

The best ways to go about this include:

Relevant content – Content can make or break a company website. If your content is infrequently updated, not engaging and quite frankly stale, why would people want to read it? Whether you do content in-house or outsource the need to contract writers, stay on top of this important facet of the game plan;
Sharing the love – One of the many benefits of social networking is that you can build relationships with other business owners and consumers using social media. Whether it is Twitter, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook etc. make sure your company is socially active. While it is certainly okay to promote your company’s blog posts, press releases, marketing content etc. don’t make it all about you. Share links to other worthwhile pieces of content so you build your online network;
Getting engaged – Social media is a great means whereby you can actively take part in conversations relevant to your industry. For example, let’s say you are in the furniture business and you are active on Twitter and LinkedIn. You can start and/or participate in conversations tied to the industry seven days a week. This will bring more interest to your company’s website, allowing your Ecommerce platform to sell more furniture. The one area to guard against here is avoiding being pushy. Don’t post so often that you are dominating the conversation and/or coming across as self-serving.

As you can see, being social can help your Ecommerce efforts in a number of ways.

With Ecommerce sales growing across the board, make sure you find the time to be social allowing, you and your business to reap the benefits.

If you currently are engaged in Ecommerce, what has worked best for your company and what advice can you offer other business leaders?

Photo credit: Image courtesy of renjith krishnan at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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