Week #15 Wrapping Things Up

I can’t begin to tell you how much this class has meant to me.  I took this class because I had started my own business out of necessity, and needed to find new ways to market myself without spending any money.  Even though I have been in the computer business for over 30 years, I had always shunned Social Media.  I was afraid of it!  Mainly from a security point, but also because I felt that I didn't have much to say that anyone was willing to listen to.  I was wrong!  This class has opened up a whole new world to me.  Social media is the leveling tool between small and large business.  Now a small business can look and feel just as professional as a large business.  If done right, can even compete with big business.  It’s awesome!  I just want to be the best that I can be, and social media gives you the tools. 

I would never have tried some of these networks if I hadn't taken this class.  Granted, I’m no expert and I think it takes a lot to become an expert on social media, but at least I've started.  That’s the leverage this class has given me, a start, a push.  At this point it hasn't had an impact on my business yet, but I expect that to change.  By tying these links to my website I expect to see my visibility grow.  The key here is to stay with a consistent message with engaging content and stay actively involved.  Thanks for all of your help and presenting a fun and engaging class.!

Week #14 Planning Next Month’s Social Media Strategy

Social media can be very time consuming and I think that as a business owner you have to find a balance for what works for you.  Initially I've set aside 11-15 hours a week for social media.  I will adjust these numbers as I need to.  I think that’s it’s important to have a consistent message and to stay involved.  I would start by scheduling a weeks’ worth of posts for Facebook on Sunday night. Hopefully that would only take 1-2 hours.  I would then reserve 1 hour a day to return comments on posts that I received.  Since I don’t have a good feel for Twitter yet, I would probably spend about 1 hour 2-3 times a week on Twitter.  I want to get more involved in LinkedIn, so I plan on spending 2-3 hours a week working with LinkedIn as well.

These are the three social media networks that I plan on using the most for now.  I will be linking them to my webpage as well.  I feel that I need to stay focused on the networks that have the largest following and that my clients use as well.  I may find over time that some are more productive than others.  I’m also planning on joining several local business groups so I can have that face to face interaction.  I can use them to help build my email list and create addition business relationships.  That’s where I’m at for now.

Week#14 Class Comments

Http://commonsenseflooring.blogspot.com
Http://marleemarlee.blogspot.com
Http://michellereneemusings.blogspot.com
Http://jvspurzem.blogspot.com

Week #14 Planning Future Strategy

The reason I took this class was because I was starting my own business out of necessity.  In June, after working for my former company for 15 years, I was asked to take an early retirement.  I wasn’t ready to retire, but I didn't have a choice in the matter.  I still have 10 years of work in me at the very least, thus, the reinvention of myself as a business owner doing what I have been doing for the past 33 years, I.T. work.  So, I had a dilemma, I needed to market myself and with little funds to do it.  I needed to learn social marketing skills, something that I had shunned in the past.  Yes, I had a Facebook page, but I was more of a lurker than a poster.  I didn't feel I had anything of value to add to the party, so I didn't.  This class has taught me that I have a lot to add to the party, and maybe somebody will listen and get something useful from what I have to say.

So now I have a Facebook Business Page to promote me and my business.  I've also joined Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn, and I’m rebuilding my website which will incorporate links to all of these.  I’m slowing overcoming my fear of posting, and I've started a blog.  I’m certainly not where I want to be yet, but I think I at least know the direction I’m heading.  I owe a lot of that to this class, it’s forced me to actually do it rather than just talk about doing it.

My Facebook business page is really the starting point and the most daily used.  I haven’t really got the hang of twitter yet, but I will be experimenting with it in the future.  I’m still in the process of working with LinkedIn, and I feel that this is also an ongoing project to be tweaked on a weekly basis.  I’m enjoying using all of these networks, but I still feel like I don’t really know what I’m doing yet.  I think it’s just a matter of doing it on a consistent basis and I will become more comfortable with all of them.  I will be devoting at least an hour a day to social networking, and maybe more in the future as needed.  I still feel that uneasiness that I should be out doing something, rather than just playing on the computer.  However, I do know that if you don’t put any work into social media networking, you’re not going to get anything out of it.

So, in conclusion, I will be tweaking my website weekly, and writing a weekly blog.  Working on Facebook daily, and LinkedIn and Twitter weekly.  That’s about all I can handle at this point.

Week# 13 Facebook Analytics

There isn't a lot to report on regarding my Facebook analytics.  I did receive 6 new likes last week.  My Post Reach is 100% for last week and my Total Reach is 150%.  2 people engaged which was also 100% from the previous week.  At least now I know where to go on Facebook to look at my weekly analytics.  Since I don’t have a ton of likes yet, The analytics probably aren't real helpful.  However, I can see that when your page gets popular and you have a lot of fans, the analytics can tell you if your content is hitting the mark.  But you do need to stay on top of it and post a lot to get feedback from your followers.

Week #13 Optimizing Yourself and Your Company

There are four Google analytic's reports that I would setup.  Anymore and I think it would be overwhelming and too time consuming.  Fortunately, they can be setup as weekly automated reports.  You can set this up to send you an email for each report every week to keep track of how your campaign is going.  Set it up for a month, 6 months, or a year, to get an accurate look.

I would first setup an acquisition report to find out where my traffic is coming from, be it organic, social, direct, or referral.  You’ll get a great pie chart that will segment all 4 of these patterns and you will be able to see which areas are growing the fastest and which are lagging behind.  You can use these numbers to access which channels are your strongest and which need work.

Secondly, I would setup an acquisition channels report.  This is a more detailed report than the acquisition report.  The channels report will give you more detailed information on each user.  Here you can see about the types of users that you are getting and if there are any demographic flaws in your targeting.  For example, if you notice that your social traffic channel tends to generate a much higher bounce rate than the others, you can take a look at the types of links you post and consider whether it has an effect on the person’s interest once he/she arrives at his/her intended destination.

Thirdly, I would setup a report on Behavior-all pages.  This report is useful for measuring the relative worth of each of your pages.  For each page, you’ll be able to view the number of total page views, the unique page views, the length of time a user spends on each page, the number of domain entrances, and the percentage of people who exited the site after viewing the page.  For example, if your blog is ranking low in terms of page views, you may want to make some changes to make it a more prominent feature of your site.

Lastly, a goals overview report.  However, before you can take advantage of this report, you will need to setup some goals.  You can setup goal’s for almost any conversion action on your site; whether it’s for making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or filling out a “contact us” form.  Once you've setup all of your goals, you can use this report to get a snapshot of how well each is performing.  If you assign a dollar amount to each of your theoretical conversion of your goal sets, you can even get a hypothetical estimate of how much revenue your campaign is generating, allowing you to estimate your ROI.

Week# 12 Coupon Deal

Since I don’t sell any products, I feel I could offer a discounted coupon deal.  Something like 20% off your first hour of service, or 20% off your first computer maintenance service.  Make it an introductory offer so they don’t think that they will always get their service discounted on anything that you do.  It’s a way for a new client to try your services and see if they like you.  It’s a onetime only offer.  That isn't to say that you couldn't give an existing client a special offer for referring a new client to you.  Sort of a referral fee.  Everyone like coupons, I think they are good if used judiciously. 

Week #12 Using Other Social Media Tools

What four additional online marketing tools do you believe could be important to the growth of your business?

Google+  I think Google + is similar to Facebook, however, I think there is a different group that follows it.  So I think if you are on Facebook you also need to have a presence on Google+.  Google pulse had a bad rap when it first launched but that seems to be changing.  It’s now the second largest social network with over 340 million users.

Yelp  If you are a relatively new business trying to get yourself noticed, yelp offers a great place to start.  A lot of people look to yelp for help in deciding what business they should use for a service that maybe they haven’t used before.  People want to hear what others have to say about their experiences with a particular business.  I use Yelp all of the time.  Be careful, it can backfire on you if you aren't good at what you do or you don’t get along with people.  A bad Yelp rating can put you out of business in a hurry.

LinkedIn  LinkedIn is really a social media site for businesses to connect.  If you want to do business with other businesses and professionals, it’s the place to be.  They have also developed marketing tools to help in marketing to other users on the site.  One complaint I hear about LinkedIn is the amount of email that you get.  That can be minimized by changing the frequency of emails.  All in all, you get a lot of bang for little dinero.

YouTube  YouTube is a great way to get your message in front of a lot of people.  If you watch something that’s engaging, you’re likely to share it with a friend.  In today’s world, many people would rather watch a video than to have to read a large chunk of material.  It will also help people stay on your website longer.  However, it does take some effort to create a video.  I think it really depends on whether the content is engaging.

I think that all four of these social media tools would be worthwhile for me to use.  It really comes down to how much time you have to devote to them.   I think that you need to set limits on how much time you work on them each week.

Week #11 Social Media Marketing Without Spending Money

My social media success will depend on me, my business, how I run my campaigns and execute my strategy.  It can be done without spending money, but it does take time.  It won’t be done overnight.  You need to be in it for the long haul.  It all starts with building relationships, lasting relationships.  To build these you have to be real and authentic.  Share your stories, both successful and disappointing.  You will need to develop social media partners.  In order to grow through social media, you need the help of others.  If you forge relationships with people, they will refer you to others.  This will become a snowball effect and help you get plenty of attention, the right way.

Don’t just focus on the numbers; likes, followers, subscribers, visits, number of sales, etc.  It needs to be on the growth of the numbers.  For instance, look instead at the growth of fans during a certain time, instead of just how many fans you have, and look at how those fans are engaging with your content.  100 highly engaged fans directly involved with your conversation are much better for your business than 1000 fans that are ignoring your content and your business.

Most importantly, you need a strategy, for any success.  Your strategy and your goals will be different for every business.  Maybe you want 10 new clients or $10,000 in new sales.  Maybe you want to just focus on Facebook or maybe Twitter.  Even if you did use paid ads, you would still need a strategy.

Give away free stuff.  Everyone loves free stuff!  Posts for free stuff get shared – a lot.  That will get you exposure and reach that you can’t get on your own.  By giving away free things you can also build your list.  You own your list.  Almost as much as free stuff, people love discounts.  Offering discounts to your followers is a really good way to reward your fans and grow your business.  People are also more apt to share content that offers a discount.  They want their friends to get the same good deals they are getting.  So not only do you reach your current audience, you can reach new audiences and grow your fan base that will drive sales.

Another great idea is to run contests.  But your “prize” should never be a free iPad, (unless you sell Mac stuff).  Your prize should be something from your business.  Maybe a free service or product, but never something you need to pay for.  It should be something that doesn't cost you to give away.

Let’s remember though that “time is money”, and you will be spending a lot of time working on your social media sites.  So in the true sense of the word, nothing you do on social media is free.

A few calls to action;

Sign up for my free webinar on how to protect your PC!

Having issues with pc maintenance? Send me an email so I can help right away

If your PC has blue screened (Oh No) call me now!

Don’t wait till it too late, let’s fix the little things now before they become big things

Week #11 Class Comments

http://socialmediause.blogspot.com
http://seanphillips760.blogspot.com
http://turmanblog.blogspot.com

Week # 11 Online Advertising

At this early point in starting my business, I need to be as frugal as possible, and only spend money where it will do the most good.  I do need to increase my client base, but I don’t have an advertising budget to do that.  Thus, I won’t be spending any money on advertising right now.  So I need to find creative ways to get my name out there.  Facebook seems to be the best way to do that from a social media perspective.  I also think Yelp is a great tool to get people to call you for services they are looking for that others have used and are very satisfied with.  I always look at Yelp now when I need a service that I haven’t used before.  I want to see how other people have responded about different businesses.  I often base my choice on what I have read there.

I’m not an advertising exec so I really don’t know what good design is for a banner ad.  I also think they would be way too expensive for my business, so I won’t be using them.  The same goes for Twitter advertising.  I don’t want to pay $2.50 – 4.00 per follower, which seems to be the going rate.  There are over 15 Facebook ads ranging from a Page Post Text Ad down to a Domain Ad.  If I were to do some advertising on Facebook, I would use a Page Post Ad and maybe a Page Like ad. 

Page Post Ads are the most social types of ads, which will in turn generate greater engagement with your page.

A Page Post Ad is basically a status update on your wall that has been turned into an ad. The ad will automatically display the ‘like’, ‘share’ and ‘comment,’ buttons within the ad, which will make it easy for users to engage. If someone clicks ‘like,’ that action will show in their news-feed for their friends to see. Page Post Ads can be highly targeted by audience, and they can reach beyond just your fans and friends of fans.

When to use Page Post Ads;

- To promote something of value to your business, such as an opt-in for a free report or sign-up for a webinar.

- To generate maximum social engagement via the like, comment, and share buttons

- To reach beyond fans and friends of fans

- To target your ads precisely

Page Like ads are also called Engagement Ads.  Engagement Ads will typically say “Click ‘Like’ To/If…” or something similar and are a great way to increase your fan base quickly. Engagement Ads will also display friends who have already ‘liked’ your page; this social proof is a powerful motivator in encouraging their friends to also ‘like’ your page.

When To Use Engagement Ads

- To get ‘likes’ for your page

- To send traffic to an Opt-In page within Facebook

- To have the ‘like’ button integrated within the ad

- To include social proof of displaying friends who have already liked your page

This is the point in the homework where I say “HELP”, because I don’t have a clue as to creating an ad.  So, I’m kind of stuck.  Needless to say I won’t be doing any ads for quite a while anyway because of funds, so I would definitely get some help before embarking into that great unknown.

Week #10 Classmate Comments

The classmates' Blogs that I commented on are;

http://jillchang47.blogspot.com
http://socialmediause.blogspot.com
http://briangilb.blogspot.com

Week #10 Email Marketing

Email marketing is useful, but to a point.  If I get a lot of emails from a business, like daily or even weekly, I tend to not read them.  I will look at the title/subject line and usually just delete them.  After a while, I will unsubscribe from that account if I’m not seeing anything I find interesting or useful.  On the other hand, the emails that I receive monthly or quarterly, I always read.  I find that they have more content that is useful.  Most emails that come out daily are just marketing tools to get you to buy something, or try to get you to impulse buy.  When I want to buy something, I will go shop for it.  The more pressure emails that I receive, the less likely I am to buy from that company.  So, my rule of thumb is less is more.  For my business, I would send out my newsletter monthly.  The only reason I would break from that schedule is if there was major virus threat alert that I would want to send to my clients for their protection.

Content ideas for my newsletter would range from new virus threats, a tip or trick for a software program or added security for their pc, maybe a free diagnostic tool of the month for my clients to load on their pc, a get to know section where I would highlight a clients’ business and offer some testimonials for them, maybe a special discounted service offer for the month, maybe some links to informative articles I’ve read over the past month, etc.  I would have these articles link to either my website or Facebook page with a read more.  I would want my newsletter to focus on how they can make their business more efficient and secure, and give them some things to think about.  If they can sense that I’m there to help them grow their business, and that I want to build a relationship with them and not just sell them something, they are more likely to trust me with their business.

Week #9 Blogging Categories

The categories that I have chosen for my blog posts are Tips and Tricks, Best Practices, and Alerts!.  These would all relate to my business of computer repair and technical support.  By helping to educate and warn my clients of possible trouble with their systems, I feel they would become more loyal to my business.  I also think they would tell their friends about these, and help to grow my business.

The names of the other blogs that I have commented on are;

http://wahineblog.blogspot.com

http://commonsenseflooring.blogspot.com

http://sdownssm.blogspot.com

Week #9 Extra Credit

Week #9 Blogging for Business

My feeling is that if the blog that you are writing is your own, like for your business, or just for fun, then you need to make it personal.  For the people that read your blog, you need to find that hook or bond, and one way to do that is by adding your personal touch.  If your reader feels that they know you or something about you, they are more likely to continue reading your blog.  This doesn’t mean to spill every little personal thing about you, but to give it your own spin on things.  If the subject matter can be related to something in your personal life or if you have a personal example to share, it makes the blog more believable and the reader feels like they are closer to you by knowing something personal about you.

Conversely, if you are writing a blog for a large company, it may be harder to infuse anything personal about you.  I think it does depend on what you are writing about, and the company may have some guidelines for you to follow.  If the blog is about your own personal experiences within the company then by all means you should be able to get more personal.  If, however, it’s about the company’s products or services, then it may be harder to get personal within the blog and they might not want you to.  It really depends on the subject matter.

Week #8 Get Visual – The Competition

I have researched several of my competitors and they mostly don’t use any of the visual social networks.  The majority of them don’t even have any links in their websites to social platforms like Facebook or Twitter.  However, the one visual tool that some of them use is YouTube.  They are using it for the same reasons that I would use it, and that is to show or explain how to do a repair on a computer or to show an advertisement about their business or why you would need a service that they are providing.  I do think that YouTube is an effective visual aid for my business.

Week #8 Get Visual - The Visual Networks

Although I see how the visual social networks can benefit a business, I don’t feel that the majority of them would be beneficial to my business.  I think they are geared more to a business that is selling a product where a prospective buyer would want to see a picture of it, or how it is used or installed.  Since my business is a service only business and I don’t sell any physical products, it would be hard to see the use of anything other than YouTube.

I think YouTube would have some value with my business as I could use it to explain how to repair a computer, or some other repair or fix that I would want to show my clients.  I know that when I've needed to learn how to perform a repair or build something for my house, YouTube videos are really helpful.  It’s definitely more helpful to watch a video on how to do something than to just read the instructions.

Week #7 Twitter

Week #7 Twitter

The search words I used to find my connections were; computer industry icons, tech services, computer repair, social network marketing, marketing, and some combinations of these.  Since I feel anyone potentially could use my services, I didn't want to restrict myself with trying to find individual users that need help.  That will come.  Instead, I wanted to stay abreast of what industry leaders are saying about the tech industry, to broaden my horizons.  I also am becoming very interested in learning more about social marketing and how I can help my existing and new clients.  I still feel this is very under-utilized among small business owners simply because they don’t have the time to really learn these marketing tools in social networking, and it’s something additional I could offer them as a service.

The lists I created are Marketing and Tech News.  They will keep me more organized because it only shows tweets of the people or organizations that I’m following.  It helps me to stay focused, and there is less noise from all of the rest of the tweets out there.  If I’m not getting what I want out of the people that I’m following, I will look for more people to follow that would be relevant to that list.

Week #6 Facebook Posts - Scheduled

I scheduled 3 post that I feel my target audience would be interested in.  These have to do with cyber security and protecting their computer from attacks.  In the final post I asked if they needed help with securing their computer and offered my services.  I see how this can be beneficial in helping to build my business by giving my fans useful information, and then offering my help if they need it.  No pressure.

Week #6 Using Facebook As - Likes - Strategic Connections

I picked these businesses to like because I feel they will be either using my services, or may know some other business that may need my service.  They are businesses that I already know and they know me so there is a bonding of trust there from the beginning.  This in turn will give their fans a reason to trust me and try me.  Hopefully this will lead to new business and relationships that can be built upon to lead to even more relationships while growing my business.

Additionally, by liking other pages, I will see those posts as well and I hope that they will inspire me.  I will see posts that go viral and those that don’t.  What worked? And what didn't.  This should help me improve my posts and interactions with others.

Week #5 Post Reach vs. Post Engagement

After goggling these terms, this is what Facebook help has to say; Post reach is defined as the number of people who have seen your post.  Your post counts as reaching someone when it’s shown in News Feed.  The figures are for the first 28 days after a post was created and include people viewing your post on desktop and mobile.

Post engagement is the number of actions related to your post as a result of your ad.  This refers to actions that happen within 1 day of your ad being served or 28 days after clicking on your ad.

So, just because someone saw your ad, doesn't mean that the viewing had any meaning to them.  Post engagement is much more important as a metric for you to analyze if your ad had any impact.  Engaging people with brand impact is the number one priority for marketing on Facebook.  Facebook is a network that is designed for engagement.  When a user engages with your posts, it reflects your brands ability to attract their attention and to create a connection with the content.

It also determines how many other people see your posts because when they engage, those actions will appear in their timeline, which in turn makes your brand visible to their friends and increases the awareness of your brand.

Page insights are Facebook's analytics for a user’s information about their Facebook page. It will give you breakdown information about visits, likes, reach, posts, and demographic info on the fans you reached by your page and the people that engaged.  This can help you determine if you are reaching your target audience.  If you aren't, then it might be time to look at your strategy and ad targeting and other efforts to grow your Facebook page. 

Week #4 Defining a Target Market for My Business

The business that I’m using is my own.  I've just recently started it and it’s call SoCal Computer Pro.

My target market is any residential PC user, male or female above the age of 30, and small business owners that may work out of their home or in a small office.  The small business can range between 1 to 30 PCs and run on a small network or standalone workstations.  It can be a server-client network or a peer to peer network, with as many as 30 printers and 15 servers.  I've supported more than this on my own, but any network much larger than this gets cumbersome for 1 person to support.  Income level should be above $45,000 a year.

The type of business can range between a home business, real estate office, law office, CPA firm, engineering firm, marketing firm, and several others.  I would prefer to stay in the North San Diego Coastal area, but I would go anywhere in San Diego County if it was the right situation.  Depending on the size of the organization, I would only be able to support 8 to 15 businesses.

Psycho-graphic information doesn't necessarily play into my target market other than the fact I would want to work for people that have high moral standards and are generally nice people.  I think that my business will be built over time as it takes a while to build a trusting relationship with people and their business.  As I build these relationships, my business will grow by word of mouth as my clients will refer me to their friends and clients.

Week #3 Two Websites I Visit Frequently

www.amazon.com

Amazon is effective because they have everything that you could ever want as a consumer.  They are a one stop shop.

They display their logo at the top left, and all of their navigation is at the top, with a large search bar.  The typography and hierarchy are easy to follow.

I keep coming back because they make it very easy to compare prices and offer good reviews of products all on 1 website.  They always seem to have what I’m looking for.

The only thing I could improve on is I don’t like all of their promotions hitting me on the home page when I first log into the site.  I understand it, I just don’t have to like it.

www.google.com

Google is effective because they are my go to website when I want answers to just about anything.  I understand they are a search engine as well, and probably the best search engine.

Google keeps it simple for their design.  However, for some of their apps, they are not intuitive at all.  They have bought or created apps that use differing approaches to how they operate, which makes them very confusing.

When I use them, I always get an answer.  I may have to restate my question a few times to find what I’m looking for, but I usually get there.

Like I stated above, some of their apps need some help with consistency in how they operate.

Week #3 Aesthetics, Design and Branding

2 Websites with potential problems

http://www.richsoil.com/raising-chickens.jsp

This site is way too busy.  It should be broken down into separate pages or sections.  It doesn't give you a sense of direction or flow.  How about at least a back to top link.  Where’s the branding?  How about a logo?  It just looks like a newsletter was thrown up on a website.  It doesn't make me want to come back and visit the site again.

http://www.gforceracecars.com

This site has some potential.  But their home page looks just like their news page, with the same info.  It appears like their home page is one large blog.  Nice pictures, but you have to scroll forever.  How about a back to top link, or maybe breaking it down by months.  Why are they not using the whole screen?  Too much wasted space, with everything stuck in the middle of the page in small print.  Do they use social media?  I didn’t see any links.  Their logo stands out though.  This site just needs to be cleaned up, utilizing the whole screen, and the home page or blog needs to be better organized.

2 websites that have done it right

http://apple.com

Apple obviously knows what they are doing when it comes to design.  Everything they do reflects that, from their website to their products to their commercials.  The design and branding is very consistent.  They keep it simple, yet elegant.  They are even trying to do this with their new operating system and the icons.  Less is more.  The website makes you want to explore it completely.  What else is in here?  They have a great site map, however, I couldn't find any social media links.  Apple is a bit arrogant in that they think their way is the only way, and if they don’t have it, you don’t need it type of philosophy.

http://swagelok.com

I like the layout of the Swagelok site.  It’s easy to find things, they keep their home page simple but with enough info and links to get you where you need to go.  They have a call to action to sign up for an account to receive pricing and quotes.  Their site is designed to do exactly what they want it to do.  I think the printing could be a little larger, but that’s the only fault I see.

Week #2 5 Business Websites and Their Social Media Sites

5 Business Websites and Their Social Media Sites

1.      Trek Superstores

            www.trekbicyclesuperstore.com

 https://www.facebook.com/trekbicyclesuperstore

https://twitter.com/TrekSuperstore

 

2.  Garmin

http://www8.garmin.com/contact-us/

 

https://twitter.com/garmin

https://www.facebook.com/Garmin

https://www.youtube.com/garmin

https://www.flickr.com/photos/garmin/

http://garmin.blogs.com/

http://instagram.com/garmin_pics

http://www.pinterest.com/garmingps/

 

3.  Home Depot

http://www.homedepot.com/

 

https://www.facebook.com/homedepot

https://twitter.com/HomeDepot

http://www.pinterest.com/homedepot/

http://ext.homedepot.com/community/blog/

https://www.youtube.com/user/homedepot

 

4.  San Diego County Credit Union

https://www.sdccu.com/

 

https://www.facebook.com/SDCCU

https://twitter.com/sdccu

https://plus.google.com/+sdccu/posts

https://www.youtube.com/user/SanDiegoCountyCU

 

5.  Target

http://www.target.com/

 

https://www.facebook.com/target

https://twitter.com/target

http://instagram.com/target

https://www.pinterest.com

https://www.youtube.com/user/Target

https://plus.google.com/+target/posts

Week #2 Communication: Business & Consumer

I have not personally used social media to communicate with a business, I've only used it for personal communication.  I'm sure that will change in the coming weeks as I get more comfortable with using social media.  If, however, you consider websites as social media, then yes I have used them several times in communicating with a business.

During the past several years, I have been buying more and more items online.  I love the ability to shop without getting in my car and wasting gas to go to a brick and mortar store, only to find out that they are out of stock on the item I wanted to purchase, or that the price was too high.  I can shop and compare prices from several vendors all from the comforts of my own home, and many times get the purchased item shipped to me for free!

On a couple of occasions, the item purchased was either broken when received or it developed a defect or problem after a couple of months of use. In these occasions, I have contacted the company through their website and email system.  To this point, I've had nothing but successful results with doing business this way.  Whenever I've contacted a company about a problem with their product, they have been more than accommodating in making it right, and have been very nice about it.  It's almost surprising, because I've had a number of bad experiences when returning a product to a storefront, generally with a bad attitude from the person I was dealing with thrown in for good measure.  Like I was the problem, not their product.  I always try to be nice to people because I've been in their position and have always believed that people will go the extra mile for you if you treat them nicely and with respect.

The last time I had a problem with a product was this past year when I had bought 2 bike mounts for my truck.  I bought a new truck last year and was looking for a better way of securing my bikes in the bed of the truck.  I found these mounts on the web and they were getting great reviews, partially because they fit securely right into the tracks of my Toyota Tacoma bed liner, and partially because the price was great.  So I ordered them.  A couple of months after using them, the securing system was getting very difficult to lock down.  I went on their website and they said that they should be lubricated periodically, so that's what I did, but to no avail.  So, I went back to their site and contacted them explaining my problem.  They told me that that had had a few issues with these mounts that had been manufactured and sold during the time frame that I bought mine.  They said keep the mounts that you have and we will send you two new mounts right away, no charge.  They were sorry for any inconvenience that it might have caused.  They couldn't have been nicer.  I received the new mounts a couple of days later, and they've been working great ever since.  A very positive experience!

Week #1 Personal or Business Social Media

So, since I haven't been into social media all that much, I'm not real familiar with all of the different sites.  I know the most popular ones and I can speak on those without sounding too stupid.  I would say Facebook is by far the most popular social media outlet for both personal and business use.  It originally started for just personal use but savvy business people picked it up quickly as a way to reach out and grow their customer base to prospective clients that may not be using their goods or services.  They were going after a relatively new market, since most of the people using Facebook were younger consumers.  With the maturation of Facebook, it's now the older generations, (50 yrs old and up), that is the fastest growing segment of Facebook.  That is the reason that so many businesses are now finding a need to have a presence on Facebook.  the traditional means of marketing are losing their value, such as print advertising.  A business has to have a presence on the internet in order to survive and grow.  I think we will see an increase of businesses using what was traditionally personal social media and finding a way to work it into their marketing plans.  Social sites such as instagram and Twitter are now becoming business used sites as well.

LinkedIn was created as a business site for people to network with their peers and even do some job hunting.  Although it is still a primary business site, I feel it is expanding into personal use areas as well.  lets face it, all of social media is about establishing and building relationships, whether they are personal or for business.  But there is a fine line between building a business relationship with someone and continuing that relationship on a personal level.  I think they go hand in hand.  I've been hesitant about setting up a LinkedIn account, mainly because I don't want to get a bunch of junk mail from others on the site.  I do have to set up an account soon thou, I just hope there is a way for me to filter out all of the crap that may come my way.

Week #1 first post

Hi all!
This is my first post and I feel like a fish out of water.  I've never really had a desire to do my own blog, I guess because I never felt I had anything very interesting to say.  I've read other people's blogs and found them mostly interesting and useful, probably because I was looking for some information that they were sharing.  I hope that I won't be too boring!

I've just chosen a simple template because I'm not really sure where this is heading and what I may want to add in the future.  I'm sure I will make changes along the way as I find new tips and tricks to try.  I'm not much of a picture taker, but that may also change as I find new things to add to my blog.  I'm going to wrap up now, and hope that this suffices for my first attempt at what I hope will become a first rate blog.