Cover To Cover

Posted: Business Notes, Closed Group, Facebook Info, Open Group, Secret Group

Taken from:  Social Media Examiner 

One of the most underutilized features of Facebook for Businesses is the “SECRET GROUP”!

• A Secret Group is easy to create and manage
• Perfect for Small-Group Interaction
• Facebook originally created Secret Groups for people to have small, intimate interactions with family and friends, but Secret Groups are also perfect for Small Businesses, Coaches and Professional Development, like “Mastermind Groups”

Why Secret Groups?

• Businesses sometimes need private spaces for working, coordinating schedules and developing marketing and advertising ideas with a small group of people.

There are THREE types of Facebook Groups:

1. Public (open): everyone can see the Group, find it in a search and make posts
2. Closed: everyone can see the Group, but only members can see (and make) posts
3. Secret: only members can see the Group, see and make posts

Soooooooooooooo, How SECRET is a Facebook Secret Group?

• When you create a Secret Group, no one, except the members of the Group, will be able to find it in a search and no one will be able to find any trace of it on your personal or business Facebook profiles.  (AND Secret Groups are not indexed by Google)
• Even if you send someone the URL of the Secret Group, they will not be able to see the Group Page.  (It’s that secret)
• You will get Facebook notifications ( and or email notifications – for each post from any member.  These posts will show up in your news feed, which can be a bit confusing until you notice the little lock icon next to any Secret Group post.  Sooooo no one can read those, unless they are looking over your shoulder!
• If you choose to get email notifications of posts to the Group, you will be able to reply to those emails and have your reply go directly to the Group comment for that post.

Posted: Business Notes, tweetsmap, Twitter

Are you using “Tweetsmap”? Let me tell you, this is really cool – wonder where your twitter followers are from?? How cool is this???? A map that shows you where your twitter followers are located! Look how vast the internet is! I know that words are always being said regarding the vastness of the internet – but a picture speaks a thousand words!

Posted: Business Notes, Twitter

What is an @Reply?

A reply is any update posted by clicking the “Reply” button on another Tweet People say lots of things on Twitter, and sometimes you want to say something back.

Your reply will always begin with @username (insert username of the person you are replying to). Anyone Tweet that is a reply to you will show up in your @Mentions tab on your homepage.

To post a reply on Twitter:

• Find the Tweet you want to react to on Twitter.
• Hover your mouse over their message and click the “reply” icon.
• Complete your Tweet in the box that pops up, and click “Tweet” to send it

What is an @Mention?

A mention is any Twitter update that contains @username anywhere in the body of the Tweet. (Yes, this means that replies are also considered mentions.)

We noticed people frequently searching for their user name (@username) to find the Tweets that mention their username anywhere in the message. We collect these messages, as well as all your replies, in the @Mentions tab on your homepage. If you include more than one person’s name in your update and you use the @username format, those people will all see the update in their personal mentions tab.

To post a mention on Twitter:

• Type your message normally, but replace any names you include with @username (including the person’s Twitter username). Our system will recognize and highlight the username that way, as shown below for this mention of @FreelanceWhales (a super cool band that we mentioned).

If I see a reply in my timeline, how do I know what message they replied to?

Easy! Just click any space around the Tweet and your details pane will open to display the Tweet they replied to, as well as other content related to the message.

Things to Note:

• When you visit another user’s profile page on Twitter, you will not see a mentions tab for them. But you can search for all Tweets mentioning their username in our search box. Search for “@username” to view results.
• People will only see others’ replies in their home timeline if they are following both the sender and recipient of the update.
• People will see any mentions posted by someone they follow (all mentions are treated like regular Tweets).
• People with protected accounts can only send replies to people they have approved to follow them.
• If someone sends you a reply and you are not following the user, the reply will not appear on your Home timeline. Instead, the reply will appear in your Mentions timeline.

Replies will always have “in reply to” listed next to their timestamp. If a Tweet doesn’t have this, it’s a mention.I know that combining visual and audio helps the information coming in to our brain cells will tend to stick!

FF - #FF stands for “Follow Friday.” Twitter users often suggest who others should follow on Fridays by tweeting with the hashtag #FF.

#HASHTAGS

Posted: 5 Things To Do Every Day For Success, Business Notes

By:   FC Expert Blogger  DAYNA STEELE What Time Do You Wake UP?????

Read On for “5″ great tips ~ but I have to ask “Are You Doing Any Of This?”

• Wake up early. For the next week, get up a half an hour earlier that you normally do–and get going. If you get a few more things done, then get up even earlier the next week. Early in the morning is a great time to get work done because most of your associates have not started emailing, tweeting, IMing, or posting yet.
•  Read the headlines and watch the news. Not only should you know what is going on in the world, you will also be the first to recognize opportunities (if you followed #1) for you and your business–long before the competition has even had their first cup of coffee.
• Send something to one person who can hire you or buy your product–something you promised to follow-up with, a quick email with a link to something relevant or a “Hey, just checking in to see how thing are going” email.
• Touch base with an old friend or associate you haven’t talked to in ages. Ask how they are, what are they working on and ask or suggest how you might help. You’ll make their day.
• Write a handwritten note to someone. Seriously. It is a lost art and makes quite an impression. There is always someone you can send a thank you note to–or you aren’t doing things correctly.

Posted: Business Notes, Business Plans

Enloop ~ Easy, Painless, Complete ~ Enloop lets you quickly create bank- and investor-ready business plans

“Starting a business is hard enough without having to additionally learn the art and science of how to write an accurate business plan. That’s why we created Enloop, giving you the tools you need to automatically create a professional plan from scratch — quickly and for free. Our patented, innovative system does the heavy-lifting for you, while educating you on the finer points of accounting and planning so you can really understand your financial forecasts.”

“Enloop was designed to let entrepreneurs focus on their business by automating how business plans are written, transcending traditional business planning software and the difficult process of writing a business plan. And Enloop is entirely in the cloud — safe & secure, ready to use whenever and wherever you need to work on your plans.”

AutoWrite Your Plan - Let Enloop write the hard stuff

“One of the most difficult parts of developing a business plan is the writing part. Not everyone knows what to say to a banker or investor. Our patented system, created by MBAs, accountants, and some really smart software developers automatically generates basic text that explains each important section for you. Change your inputs, play with different financial scenarios, and Enloop automatically updates the financial information in the text — removing a tedious task that allows you to focus on refining your plan rather than editing your text every time you make a change to your forecasts. You can always add additional text as you like.”

Financial Reporting - Not an accountant? You’re in the right place

“We understand that one of the most challenging parts of completing a business plan is in creating accurate financial forecasts. That’s why Enloop does it for you. Based on your inputs, Enloop automatically creates customized financial forecasts for your business. Sales, Profit & Loss, Cash Flow and Balance Sheet forecasts are all generated on-the-fly, easily updated at any time. You can start by taking the easy, fast route and creating a simple plan with only annual inputs, or you can create increasing more complex forecasts all the way up to 36-month inputs — good for CPA’s and accountants who require more complexity. You get to choose.”

Know The Score - Understand your odds of success, at a glance

“Say hello to EPS — the Enloop Performance Score. Our patented EPS feature provides you with the distinct advantage of seeing a FICO-like score for your business plan, on-screen while you’re working on it. The score changes with your inputs, rewarding good planning and discouraging poor planning. With a real-time score in front of you at all times you’re able to get vital feedback — motivating you to improve your plan and strengthen the odds of your business succeeding. The Enloop Performance Score functions like an expensive business plan consultant, just without the expensive part. It’s designed with safeguards to prevent unrealistic financial forecasts. We’re sure you don’t need to be reminded that the majority of new businesses fail within five years. Enloop was designed to help you avoid a similar fate by warning you in advance.”

Business Plans To Go - Download, share, print on-the-fly

“Enloop ties everything together and automatically generates a clean, professionally formatted PDF document — ready to download, print and share at any time. The document includes a cover sheet with your company’s basic information that a banker or investor can quickly review, along with your complete plan including fully formatted financial forecasts. With your Enloop business plan you’re good to go. Our system eliminates the need for entrepreneurs to master how to write a business plan document. That’s not your gig, it’s ours.”

Performance Evaluations - A report card of your company’s potential

“Just like in school, we give you a report card that evaluates your company’s forecasted performance. We test your plan in three critical areas: your overall score, three important financial metrics, and then check to make sure your business is always cash-flow positive. If you pass all three of these tests, you’ll receive a Performance Certificate with a verification number that a banker or investor can use to verify your score.”

Ratio Analysis - Important numbers that (really) matter to investors

“This is one of the most important steps in creating a business plan, but is often overlooked or misunderstood. Who really cares about your ratios? Your loan underwriter or your investor. We automatically generate a ratios report for your company and then compare your ratios to those of your industry’s averages, using the same analysis that loan underwriters use to evaluate your business. We then explain to you what each ratio means and how you can improve yours. You can quickly spot where your performance needs improvement and correct those concerns early in your development, before they become a painful reality.”

Built-in Help - Because knowledge is power

“The knowledge needed to develop accurate business plans, especially financial forecasts, isn’t easy. Whenever we ask for your input, a rich Knowledge Base is at your fingertips to explain exactly what each topic means. The Enloop system guides users through the planning process, asking essential questions that force entrepreneurs to think through the difficult parts of planning a business and then provides vital feedback for an interactive learning experience. Understanding these complex topics is half the battle. We’re there every step of the way.”

Check this out everyone – even if you have an established business, when was the last time that you updated your business plan?  The information here was taken directly from the “Enloo” website - and “Kim Komando” ~ I highly recommend that you check this out and help yourself in your business with this fine feature.

Posted: 10 Rookie Marketing Mistakes, Business Notes, Ready to be a business owner, What it takes Entrepreneurs, Women Entrepreneur

Taken from: Biznik Community ~ Maria Ross ~ Marketing Coach . . . .

I deal with the Small Business Entrepreneur – and invariably, these fine people are not marketing savvy – Without a budget they tend to let the marketing go – but these 10 references are great words of advice and wisdom:

• Scattershot messaging - does your company information on the website match your elevator pitch??? Do you have an elevator pitch???  When people ask you what do you do what do you say to them???  Does your explanation take minutes to tell?  If so, you have lost them after the first 30 seconds or so.  Really take the time to fine tune this pitch – mine is ” I help you tell your story to the people who need to hear it” – sometimes, I simply say I am in marketing, web design and blogging – depending on who asked the question.

• Amateur design:  Sometimes, design that looks simple is actually painstakingly done by a true professional.  Simple does not equal cheap.  Using Word to create your brochure should be a tool to give to your graphics person to create the brochure, rack card, postcard, business card in the format that a printer will want to have for printing production.  Printing your document on your printer can display “CHEAP” ~ most people do not have a laser printer that costs 1500 and can do some quality printing when needed.

• Trying to sell to everyone:  Your market is NOT everyone!  I cannot stress this enough!  You simply cannot talk to a teenager the way you would talk to a senior citizen – You have a specific value that you provide to a specific type of person.  Go AFTER that person.  Examples here – Tiffany doesn’t try to sell jewelry to everyone who buys jewelry; Dolce and Gabbana does not try to sell dresses to anyone who wants to buy a dress – and Hyundai doesn’t try to sell to everyone who needs a car!  This is a common type of thinking that comes from the “New” entrepreneur – figure out who your message is for and stick to it.

• Focusing on quantity vs. quality:  Spending money on an event that attracts 5,000 people is great – if those 5,000 people will ever buy from you.  It’s much better to microtarget your marketing whenever you can to yield less leads but better conversion.

• Confusing advertising with PR:  Advertising is something you pay for and everyone knows it.  It’s biased.  PR is when 3rd parties like the media, analysts or critics write or speak about you – or ask you to write or speak.  Neither comes cheap if you do them right (in both $ and/or time) but make sure you know what you’re investing.

• Confusing awareness with direct response marketing:  Awareness is a phase all buyers must go through before they buy from you – they have to know you exist right?  But you can invest in awareness campaigns without ever yielding a direct, qualified lead right away.  Qualified leads fall out of the funnel that awareness creates.  Awareness activities like events, PR and the like may not necessarily lead to immediate sales.  Those happen over time as you nurture those people.

• Forgetting the noise:  It’s not enough to run one ad or sponsor one event or send one email and think you’re going to get a response.  There is too much noise in the marketplace vying for attention and, while you’re mom thinks you are so important, your prospective customers may not!  You may be sick of your brand and message after 6 months, but others have not had a chance to digest it.

• Playing Me-Too:  If you’re making all your marketing moves based on what competitors are doing, you’re making it harder on yourself.  Often the way to differentiate from a sea of look-a-likes is to zag when they zig!  If they are all using the same language to describe what they do, for example, can you say something different?

• Investing in one-off tactics vs. integrated campaigns:  An integrated campaign is multi-touch, multi-media endeavor.  And it packs more punch.  When you negotiate, see what else you can get for your money (ie, an online ad, a webcast sponsorship, a special emailing, the chance to write a contributed article, etc.) Focus your efforts around key themes, rather then reinventing the wheel each time.

• Failing to articulate your mission, values and goals:  Without documented clarity, you’re floating in the wind.  Ground yourself by articulating exactly what your business does (and does not) stand for and what you envision your impact to be.  It’s not enough to “know” it:  write it down, share it, post it, own it!!!  These will guide you into a clear brand strategy that will make your marketing – and business – decisions easier.

I really wanted to share this with all of you.  For myself, by re-writing it, solidifies in my mind what all of these mean and how to continue to conduct my business.  I write everything down!  Now, all I have to do is find the notes I wrote!!!

Posted: Business Notes, Largest Online Seminar, Social Media Marketing

Social media effectiveness shouldn’t rely on luck. Too long have superstitious, unicorns-and-rainbows myths dominated the field. The culmination of years of research, this webinar will present a framework for reliable social media success.

You’ll learn how to build your reach, engineer contagious ideas and measure your results, through data-backed, scientifically-proven best practices.

This webinar will be certified by Guinness World Records as the largest online marketing seminar ever.

Be a part of history and register now!

Posted: Business Notes, Online Behavioural Advertising

Most of us don’t want our browsing data collected and shared. Many companies understand this. So, they’ve joined the Self-Regulatory Program for Online Behavioral Advertising.

Its site provides consumers with a wealth of information about online advertising. It also gives tutorials on how cookies work and how you can disable them.

<——- Click on the Consumer Choice Page Logo 

It will find the participating companies’ cookies on your computer. You can then opt-out of receiving their advertising.