• Food For Thought…

    I can say with confidence that all businesses have heard the phrase “online presence”, but how many have actually put some REAL thought into it? What does it REALLY mean? What can you do about it? I often hear: “Well, people are going to write whatever they want no matter what I do.” This, in […]

Google is your friend… Most of the time!

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Hey everyone! I know it’s been a little while… I should be following my own advice right?? About blogging frequently… easier said than done like I said before…

Anyhoo! Let’s talk about Google.

If you run a business you NEED to make sure you a. take over the listing (if it’s already there) or b. make your listing. Why? Because we all use Google!! Hello! Ik. so this isn’t too complicated and it doesn’t take too much time, but this is so important. ESPECIALLY, if you have a business open certain hours and/or have a brick and mortar location people can visit.

First things first… we all know why Google is important… but it is also important to check it frequently. Don’t just set it up and let it go. Trust me here. Here is why… Google does this amazing thing when someone who uses location via google (pretty much every android). When you show up somewhere google will ask you “do you know this place”. First, as a consumer please, please PLEASE do not say yes and start answering questions unless you ACTUALLY know. So, as a business, this is great because the public can help others find out about your location… Like do you serve coffee? Is this a kid-friendly place? /do you serve breakfast? and most importantly What are the hours or alternatively are these hours correct (the ones listed)?

But, this wonderful feature is EXACTLY why you need to check your info frequently because Google can/will change your listing based on answers. Also, holiday hours, stuff like that Google has a place for that. So if your CPA firm is closed on July 4th you have a spot you can put that.

One of my clients kept calling me (for good reason) because people kept coming in and saying Google says you’re open until 10pm. Well… they close at 9pm and I had changed it SEVERAL times. So thank goodness you can change it back pretty easily. But again, that’s why I implore you NOT to answer questions about businesses unless you REALLY know.

So… Now for the nitty gritty… Visit Google.com/business to set up your account. Most of us use Gmail already so you will just need to log in and go through the motions to prove you own your business etc and fill in as much info as you can!

ALSO, this is where people will leave their Google reviews and you can respond… which I recommend doing! You can also manage locations if you have a business with more than one. You can also run ads, link your website and all sorts of other cool stuff.

So, go in and set yours up. I offer training sessions so if you’re interested we can set something up. Alternatively, if you aren’t interested in learning (no shame in that) or don’t have the time I can manage your online/social presence for you. Let’s chat! 843-274-9788

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450 Yen for how many likes!!?? Just Don’t…

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I’ve seen a few ads circulating on my Facebook groups lately. It was this flashy picture and it had about 7 different options to “buy” likes for your Facebook page. The currency was in yen (no big deal I have nothing against foreign currency… just make sure you are calculating the exchange properly).

So… on the face of it sounds like a good idea huh? I pay you…. you give me “likes”! Some even claim to give you REAL likes. Which, think about this, there is a REASON they have to say this. Also, even though they say it, doesn’t mean its true.

First thing… PLEASE don’t ever trust that the likes you get will not be robot accounts, fake profiles, hacked or inactive accounts etc. Even if they say REAL accounts don’t believe it.

Second… Yes, it’s good to have a lot of likes on your page. You want likes! It makes your page show up higher and more people see your stuff. BUT, if those likes are fake profiles they don’t help you one tiny little bit… other than giving you a bigger number. Think about it… what good does it do to have a bunch of fake profiles who aren’t going to interact and DEFINITELY aren’t going to purchase or help your business? None…

Just don’t do it.

“But they are real profiles”— ok, so they are real profiles… good! That’s awesome! What do you sell?— “Avon, Paparazzi, Insurance, etc”— Ok… so are these people interested in your product or service?— “Well, I don’t know but they are REAL profiles”— Again, how does this benefit you?

“But how do I get more likes?”— You just asked the #1 question in social media! I can’t give you any simple formula for getting likes… but here is a few tips:

  1. Share your business page on your personal profile- NOT every day, but once in a while… Your friends will probably be interested in your product or service because they are your friends!
  2. Invite your friends to like your business page- Don’t repeat this action more than in a while. If they are interested they will like it.
  3. If your friends like your page ask them if they will share a post or your page, or ask them if you can share one on their profile. Again, don’t ask all the time… but DEFINITELY ask first!
  4. Find local groups- make sure you are looking at the function and interests of the groups. You don’t want to be posting Avon in a mens fishing interest group… unless you are posting about bug guard or something. Just make sure it’s relevant to the group.
  5. MAKE SURE you are posting fun, interesting content and the likes will come!

Don’t get frustrated… not everyone wants your product or service, but getting quality likes over quantity is the best practice!

News overload on Social Media… What about our kids??!!!

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I came across a post the other day from a page I follow, Suburban Shit Show: Tales From The Tree-Lined Trenches. Her kids asked her if we were going to war. They are scared (as am I) and she’s navigating the tough task of explaining “adult” things with them. “As they brace for a reality I never knew in my childhood. I suppose we feared the Soviets. The bomb. I don’t remember much. I hope they won’t either.” -@Surburbanshitshow With her permission, I thought I would tackle an important topic: News on social media and the effect it’s having on our children.

This post isn’t about politics, not about Korea, Not about any of that. What stuck out to me is when she said she doesn’t remember much… I thought about it. I don’t either… I was growing up during the Gulf War in the early 90’s and truth be told I didn’t know anything about it… I didn’t know anything about politics. The only BIG news I remember was when Princess Diana died, and we didn’t hear that until the next day.

I didn’t have INSTANT access to Fox news, or CNN, or Huffington Post. Know what I had access to? The evening news. That was it! And that was IF my parents were watching it, and IF I was paying attention.

Do you know the percentage of Children on Social Media? It’s high… I’m finding anywhere from 65-80%. That’s A LOT!

Think about your news feed for a moment. it’s filled with pictures of your friends, their weddings, babies, new jobs. But if yours is anything like mine there is ALWAYS news popping up… Politics, protests, violence, North Korea, car crashes, murder trials, etc etc. I’ll be honest here and say MOST (closer to all) of my news comes from Social media. Definitely all of my local news (we stream TV now so we don’t get local channels).

What does this mean for me? It’s good for an adult! I can keep up with what’s going on in the world. I have access to things I may or may not have access to through the TV.

Flip that around though… What effect is this having on our youth? The ones who don’t understand war and politics (I still don’t fully understand). It’s nearly IMPOSSIBLE for you to shield them from everything, although more now I see people limiting social time. But, look at the last hour on your news feed… how much did you see? Our youth is now in a time and place where they receive news INSTANTLY! They are more informed than we ever were. They have access to everything they could ever want… or not want to hear about.

The world has changed now. Kids are exposed to everything. It’s not always a bad thing… You can connect with grandma or message your friend about your math homework. But in the same breath, we open ourselves up to the hard questions.

Back to the post… I’m no parent… but in my eyes, she’s doing it right. Being honest and trying to explain is hard. She simplified it and focused on equality and kindness. She’s hoping her kids don’t inherit a world filled with hate.

Now in 2017, we are living in a social world. Social media plays an important part in most of our lives. I don’t think that’s going to change. Just remember when you post… it could be coming across a teenagers page, or a child might see it. Maybe we can all make the world a little kinder on Social media!

 

How to Respond to Negativity on social media

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Let’s be honest here the internet isn’t a super friendly place. There is a lot of negativity out there and people are READY to offer up their opinions on everything. The good outweighs the bad usually but it’s out there trust me. The more active you are the more you open yourself up to it also.

Don’t ask me about the psychology behind all this… I haven’t got a clue about that end (although I’d be interested to know… does anyone have a psychology degree??). But, online people are more apt to say mean things than they are face-to-face. We all know them… they get on a post and have something to say on each comment about how they are right and you (or someone else) is wrong and how their opinion is somehow the only one that is correct. We usually label these people as “trolls”. Urban dictionary defines Troll as One who posts a deliberately provocative message to a newsgroup or message board with the intention of causing maximum disruption and argument. What’s the best way to handle them? How do you respond?

Rule of thumb… don’t. Don’t fan the flames.

It’s more complicated than that right? It always is. Here is how I handle this… If it’s personal to me or something I REALLY believe in (spay and neuter, breeding, animal rights) I will speak my peace in a NON-THREATENING way. What does that mean? It means I don’t attack anyone personally, no name calling (probably the MOST important thing). I express WHY I believe what I do and sometimes I will even go into why it means so much to me. Then leave it at that. Trust me… the trolls won’t. But take the high road. And NEVER engage them directly… don’t ever tag or call anyone out.

As a business owner, you are NEVER Annonymous… NEVER! And trust me you don’t want bad PR online… whether it has to do with your business or NOT. Please see my previous post when a business owner took the “wrong” road and engaged and got totally railroaded! 

Same thing goes with reviews… it’s always best to respond… but respond politely.

Now… All of this advice can be taken with a grain of salt. I’m just speaking from personal experience and as a business owner. If you don’t run a business and don’t really have an “image” to maintain then, by all means, speak your mind. I’m an outspoken person myself so I have a difficult time holding my tongue too. Just remember… with screen shots, and the very nature of how open and free the internet is… it might not go away.

Stats Part 3: Deciphering!

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Ok so Here is what we all want to know… You have all this info from Facebook, WordPress and more… what does it mean? Reach, Previews, engagements, Clicks etc?

Ok. On Your pages manager for Facebook (If you’re mobile like me that’s pretty much all I use), You will see an icon at the bottom that looks like your cell phone service bars. piZap_1501610227310

Click on those and it will take you to your stats page. Alright, Top to bottom you will first see any past promotions (ads you pay for).  Next you will see “actions on page”; what this means is when people clicked on your “call to action” button you have set up on your page, or when they clicked on your contact information. Below that you will see “page views”; this is the total number of times your page has been viewed, this counts people who are logged into Facebook and those who are not as well. “Page Previews” is next this is a count of people who have hovered over your page to get a preview of it. “page likes” simply counts the new likes you have received in the time frame. “Reach” counts EVERYONE who saw your posts, all of them; it counts every time they showed up in someones newsfeed (of course they can’t tell if someone actually LOOKED or read the post, but it was shown to them). “Post Engagements” counts all actions on your posts (all of them again); it counts likes, comments, and shares. If you want to see each post you can also find those stats. If you have videos on your page the “videos” stats will tell you how many people viewed for more than 3 seconds. Lastly, there is “page followers” and this counts people who have chosen to follow your page (does not require liking).

It’s hard to go into a lot of detail here, but if you want more feel free to set up a time to meet. Facebook also gives you lots of great feedback when you pay for ads.

Now, for your WordPress site. On your WordPress.com app you will see “Stats” RIGHT under your site name. When you click on it you can sort by day, week, month, and year. This is pretty neat for the long term because you can see how you’ve done over a long period and short. You will see “Views” and “visitors”; visitors are the number of unique people who came to your page, and views are how many different pages were visited. ex. 1 visitor 5 views would mean one person came and went to 5 different places on your site. Below that you will see “posts & pages” which will tell you what pages and posts on your page have been viewed and how many times each. Below that “referrers” tell you how people came to your page (ex. Facebook, Google, Twitter). Under that, you will see “clicks” which links on your site have been followed. You also get authors (normally will be you unless you have additional writers on your blog). Then you will see “country” stats; this shows you what countries your visitors are from. Below that “Search terms” shows you what terms someone punched into Google, Bing or any search engine and reached your site. Lastly, videos, is how many videos have been watched on your site.

In the essence of time I’ll save Yelp Tripadvisor and any others for one-on-ones!

Sites can be overwhelming and confusing. But, they are SO important for you! You don’t want to waste time or money if you aren’t getting the return; so check those stats regularly.

If you want a one on one with me you can call or message me at (843)274-9788.

Stats Part 2 of 3!

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So part one I talked about stats and what they are. Next part I’m going into detail on how to read Facebook stats, WordPress stats, and other site stats; I’ll really detail what they mean.

Ok. So you have all this information, what do you do with it? How can you really work to improve?

As I already said before monitor them! Every day, or every week at the least. See what kind of traffic you are getting to each site.

After you start monitoring them keep track of your posting habits. And, keep track of any campaigns or advertisements you are doing.

See where I’m going with this? Week one

Ok… for those of you PAYING for ads on Facebook this is of the utmost importance!!! You don’t want to waste your money! Week one run a campaign to get more clicks on your “call to action”, how did your stats look? Week two boost a post, Stats? Week three do a special offer, check those stats. I can’t stress enough how important this is! Also, be sure, EVERY site will be giving you insights on your campaigns! They give this to you for a reason, so see what ads are working best.

For those of you who aren’t actually running campaigns, your stats are STILL very important; probably more-so! The awesome thing about your blog, Facebook, Google etc they still give you stats no matter if you are paying for ads or not. So how do you leverage this if you aren’t running campaigns? You are really going to want to keep really good track of what (text, picture, video) you post and when (time of day, the day of the week). This is going to be a lot of trial and error. We all know visual posts get more views… but that’s just one part of it. Watch your words… call to action… try wording things different… short posts… informational… etc. Keep track and monitor the response you are getting. Once you are tracking this for a few weeks or so you will really have valuable information on when you should be scheduling your posts and what’s getting the most attention.

The easiest way to do all this is to keep a visual representation… Write it on a piece of paper, make a spreadsheet, calendar. Doesn’t matter how you do it. You really should always monitor your traffic, but really the first month or two is when you want to track what you’re posting in relation to traffic. This will give you the valuable information you need. After that, the fun part is keeping it going! Do what works best!

 

Ok last part will be coming by Monday! I’ll be going into detail on Facebook stats, WordPress (blog) stats, and touching on Google, Yelp, and Tripadvisor as well!

Stats… what are they… why do I need them? Part 1 of 3

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Ok here we go!! Stats!! Yay everyone’s favorite subject in High School right??!!! Yeah right… I know it’s not something we really enjoy. But as a business owner, you really should be paying close attention to your stats. Throughout these I will be using Stats and insights interchangeably; really they are the same thing. Stats and insights both deal with the traffic to your sites.

Let’s start with your website and/or blog. MAKE SURE your webmaster or whoever it is that’s hosting your site gives you access to your stats. If you don’t have access to that you have NO WAY to know if your marketing is working. I use WordPress and they give me lots of REALLY good information on visitors, where they came from (Facebook, Google, Bing, Twitter etc), where they are from (US, UK, Etc), and what they looked at on my site (landing page, blog posts, contact info). I cannot stress enough to make sure your site is linked to your social media properly, and you are getting insights. Below are an example!

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Next, Facebook! Who else is ecstatic that Facebook AUTOMATICALLY tracks your stats??!! Just me??!! Nah, everyone should be excited about that! Keep track of your Facebook stats. Please… I’m begging you. It only takes a second, login to your pages manager and take a screen shot of your insights once a week. Just do it… You’ll thank me down the road…

Yelp, Tripadvisor, and Google also give you great insights… FOR FREE!!! I think I have said it before. But just for good measure… TAKE OVER YOUR GOOGLE, YELP AND TRIPADVISOR PAGE NOW!!! Respond to those reviews… and make sure you are looking at your traffic!

Ok… now that we have all these stats… what do we do with them??!!! Part 2 coming Thursday Y’all!!

That’s a nice Maserati in your garage… Why don’t you drive it?

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Why on earth would someone have a nice vehicle in their garage and NOT drive it?

Good question Huh?

This is kind of like having a great website and a blog and never using it or updating it!

Your blog and website are doing you NO good if you aren’t updating, blogging etc regularly. Don’t get me wrong here, I struggle with it myself. Time. Effort. It’s all hard for every business owner. But really this is PART of your business so it needs to be done.

Most blogs have a scheduling feature. So, sit down Sunday evening after the kiddos are in bed and write up a couple of good informative blogs and schedule them for the week. You don’t have to blog every day, but you should try to do it once or twice a week.

Don’t let your website sit there are get stale either. Update it with new pictures, new information, useful links.

We all struggle with time management, myself included. Make it a goal for the rest of 2017 to blog at least once a week.

Facebook Messages

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It’s no secret that most people are on Facebook. It’s also no secret that people use Facebook to interact with businesses as well as individuals.

When is the last time you were on Facebook and said “I wonder if (insert resturaunt name here) does happy hour specials?” Or “how late is (store name) open?” Did you check their Facebook page? If the information wasn’t readily available on their page did you message them? Most of us would say yes. How quickly did you get a response? 2 min? 1 hour? 1 day? Longer?

Just Monday I was trying to decide where to go for mine and my husband’s anniversary. I messaged two local resturaunts (around 12pm) in the area and asked if they had any Monday specials for locals or early bird specials. One place responded to me on Tuesday at 1:40pm… and ENTIRE DAY after I asked my question!! The other hasn’t responded at all. Guess what… we didn’t go to either resturaunt, we wound up going to one of our regular spots.

The point I’m trying to make here is that when people ask a question it’s generally because they want an answer… and 9 times out of 10 they want it… well… now! Now, as a resturaunt, or store, or lawyer, or whatever you’re busy… I understand that. But you HAVE to respond to people in a timely manner. 1 day in my eyes is too long.

This is what I do… for my clients. Your customers are going to have a response. And usually it’s within several minutes (unless of course someone messages at 4am). People want that. Even if I don’t know the answer, I’m rssponding to them to let them know I heard them and will find out asap.

Here is a good example. I helped out at Dr. Screams last October. I was there in person taking pictures forming groups etc. However. A lot of what I did was responding to messages. Some nights I was receiving 30 plus messages within a few hour span. We didn’t have a set closing time so a lot of questions were “are you still open?” Imagine if those people didn’t get a response and showed up… yeah… mad people bad reviews etc etc. Some were how much does it cost, or how long is the line? Etc etc. The point is all these people needed answers… and fast. And they got them. Dr. Screams has a 6 minute response time.

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I also manage the pages for a local resturaunt. I’m always getting questions about birthdays, catering, hours, specials etc. The response time for them is under 30 min.

Also, remember your response time is ON YOUR PAGE for the public to see. Yep, that’s right… you can see how quickly businesses are responding, and if they aren’t.

I’m here to run your social accounts for you. Epically those businesses that don’t have the time. I don’t take days off (I was responding to messages on my honeymoon in Disney), I’m working for you every day! Don’t trust your social media to a big business. Don’t become a number. When you work with me you’re working with ME!

If you feel like you need direction, or just don’t have the time or know how call me! 843-274-9788

Cordial behavior online (and in person) is a MUST!

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Let’s start with the first point on of this: An owner of a business or the person in charge of your brand online must ALWAYS act politely, and NEVER name-call, or use threatening or demeaning language. Period. There is no “but” to this. Point number two: people are MORE likely to complain online than in person.

 

I’m sure all of my locals (myrtle Beach area) have seen the unfortunate downfall of a Pizzeria in Murrells inlet over the past few days. I’m not here to comment directly on the circumstances of what started this debacle I’m only going to comment on what has happened after. From what I understand a young lady (who may or may not have been affected by the terrible weather we have experienced here) was let go (or maybe not). Again, I’m not sure of the circumstances. But what happened after was that her friends began to express their disgust with the owners on Facebook. Instead of addressing the problem as a  misunderstanding and explaining that the inner workings of the business are not public the owner got severely offended and took to responding… hastily I may add. Here are some of the shots I took.

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Business suicide right here! An owner should NEVER call people ignorant, idiots, etc. This could have simply been handled with a polite statement about it being a misunderstanding. Stop. STOP!!! That’s IT! The way you run your business is your business and no explanation is needed. This CLEARLY got out of hand.

Let’s talk about the backlash of this. In the 2 hours that followed these posts, he got OVER 200 1 Star reviews on Facebook! I haven’t looked since then, but I’m sure it’s not pretty. Now, obviously, the people who left these reviews were upset about the language used by the owner, and the circumstances of what happened. Ah, the beauty of a computer! The ability to type and say whatever you want with no consequences; Unless you are the owner. The owner has all the consequences. And I do need to say that the bad reviews were regarding the use of the word “ignorant” to explain the south and NOT about the girl who was (or maybe not)let go.

The owner of this business will be lucky to recover from this. The situation was blown out of porportion; mainly by the owner themselves!

What to take away from this is you will get negative feedback, you will get customer complaints. The unfortunate effect of th internet is that a “mob” can be easily formed; and the LAST thing  you want to do is fuel the fire. NEVER, and I repeat NEVER do what this owner did, and take to attacking peole. ALWAYS be polite, no matter if they are wrong, or how nasty they are speaking to you. It’s the unfortunate part of owning a business, negative feedback happens. The only thing you have control over is how you respond.

If you can’t trust yourself to make wise decisions online, let someone else take over. Read what you say before you hit enter. The internet is forever!! Yes, even if you delete it. And for the record, you CANNOT delete Facebook reviews. you can hide them, but in doing so you also hide the map of your address.