Couldn't have said it better myself!

Take five minutes and tell me its not true.

Generating Fans - continued

In the last post I asked if you had started a fan page on either Facebook or other platforms such as LinkedIn or Twitter.
If you haven’t then you should seriously think about it and if you have then well done you are heading in the right direction.

As I type this I am listening to a classic rock internet radio station from America not too long ago that wouldn’t have been possible, but what does that have to do with this you ask. Well after you have your page up and running, instructions how to do that are here, you should decide who you are going to target:

• Is your business a global business?
• Is your business a local business?
• Is your business both?
• What is your goal? 
• This could be to make money by increased sales
• Attract more visitors to your site to give them information

Whatever this is you have to have a goal or it’s all meaningless.

So how do you work out your strategy to get people to your ‘page’ well use the above as a starting point and then re work your plan and we will discuss this in more detail next time.

What is your plan for 2010, let me know?

Image credit: Keith McMean

You have a fan page on Facebook...now what?

So you have created a new fan page on Facebook and you have about a dozen 'fans' but how do you know they are the correct fans? Have you a strategy in place that will get you more fans that will buy your products or services? Do you know how to spot a real fan and someone who just connects so they aren’t ‘Billy no mates’?

This doesn’t just apply to Facebook, this applies to all social networking sites that can bring your business increased sales or exposure.

Over the coming weeks I will talk you through how to spot the real fan and maybe get a little piece of the action for your business, but the bottom line is if you don’t have a sound strategy or goal in place then it will just meander on into oblivion.

photo creadit: davynin

Crashes and other disasters

On Monday I had the mother of all crashes, my computer not car, I have everything backed up from previous experiences but it got me thinking that if we applied this to our clients and business where would we be without a backup?

If you lost one or even two of your major clients today what would you do to replace them and have you even given any thought to it? Well it happens to all of us at some point and you have to have a ‘plan b’ in place or you are well and truly sunk!

Most small businesses run on maybe ten to thirty clients, dependent on your type of business of course, but let’s say you run a retail business my guess is that you will have a handful of ‘golden clients’ that keep returning week after week and year after year, but then disaster strikes and you get a phone call to say they no longer require your services. Panic sets in and then you think what can I do to make up that shortfall? Well in most cases you will be nurturing other ‘warm’ clients and if not you should be. Just like I back up all my content just in case, you should also have a ‘just in case list'.

You may have other ways of doing this, please let me know what they are?

Photo credit: lordog

What inspires you?

I was asked a question the other day “what inspires you?” now sometimes I have to think about this one as a lot of things have inspired me over the years some of them being people, painting, music and the main one family, as without them I wouldn’t be what I am today.

But thinking about it we can all draw inspiration from lots of different places without ever really knowing it. My web background started about twelve years ago from a painting and design background and just seeing some great work really inspired me, and still does today. But I think as we all move forward on this exciting journey of ours lots of things and people will continue to inspire me and hopefully you too, if we look at it logically lots of people do great things but the web has given rise to groups having more of a say than ever before and really influencing politics and decision making, we saw the first political online vote not so long ago, and this trend will continue and you have to use it to you’re advantage in whatever it is you do.

So again I think the new pioneers really inspire me and long may it continue, let me know what inspires you?

Photo credit: nicasaurusrex