Social Media Helps Business Growth

Small business has gained a competitive edge in reaching customers by using social media. Effective management of social media offers an inexpensive way to engage with potential customers. Businesses are able to increase visibility of their services and products through low-cost or no-cost channels. 

The massive growth of social media has aided businesses in tapping into unknown markets. They are able to conduct online research and solicit customer opinions. Marketing through social media is time consuming, but it's beneficial to business success. 

Customers want to feel connected to companies without being spammed. The following social media tips help to streamline customer interaction build online business relationships.

Know your customer

Research where to find your customers. Discover what works out best online. There are many different social media platforms, use them to locate your customers. Don't wait for the customers to find you, find them first. Listen to the customer this will help you gain more inside knowledge of likes and dislikes.

Educate yourself on social media tools

There are many social platforms, it's important to know how each of them works. Find out their benefits and how they can help grow your business. Facebook allows you to build a fan page where potential customers can "like" your page and interact with the business. Twitter is a way to market free to your followers and drive traffic to your website. Blogging offer credibility to your business and is another way to speak personally to your customers. There are many other social media tools available, research and find what works best for your business. 

Have a personal touch

With social media customers expect a personal touch. They want to connect personally. This is an opportunity to showcase your business more intimately. The customer signs up to follow, because they want to know not only more about the business but the person behind the business.

Giveaways and promotions

Customers like to enter contests and win free stuff. Promotions or giveaways will help drive potential customers to your website. This is also a way to build a contact database. If it's managed correctly they can increase your online business visibility.

Time management and scheduling will help streamline the time you put into creating a social media presence. Develop a strategy and start engaging customers online. With effort and time, you should begin to see the benefits of your online social media online presence.

Article first published as Social Media Helps Business Growth on Technorati.

Mark Gray - The Money Hunt - The Secrets of Attracting Capital

This is actually an article I started to write for publication. But I thought it was a good seminar for anyone to attend. Given the opportunity I'd like to see what this seminar offers. I'm definitely registering, this is a good chance to learn more about growing a business.

October 8, 2010/PRNewswire/Mark Gray author of "The Money Hunt - The Secret to Attracting Capital" announced  the second release of his book. The book release will begin with a kick-off "Free Tele-Seminar." Success Seminars will host the event on Monday November 1, 2010 9PM EST.

The program was updated for 2011, designed for CEOs, entrepreneurs or business owners seeking capital to start or grow a business or to buy an existing, cash-flow positive company. The series has been featured in The Wall Street Journal - Marketwatch, CNN, CNBC, and dozens more publications. Financial publications and sites say it's because the program works.

Gray has over 20 years of investment banking and completed over 300 million in equity transactions. Register for this FREE tele-seminar or for more information about "The Money Hunt - The Secret to Attracting Capital" visit us online at Gray Capital or contact the company via email at info@graycapital.net.

Day Five: Review, Catch-Up And Relax

The first step is to review your week. See what you've accomplished on your To-Do list and what's left undone. What do you have to catch up on? What's on that list that just has to be complete before the weekend?

Michael Jackson Relaxing

*Follow up on emails and phone calls - Answer all important messages. Give a final check on Friday and catch up on significant work. Then let it go, don't worry about an emergency someone will call you.

*Saying the word "NO" is easy - Let it roll off the tongue. Don't take on more than necessary. An overworked person will end up doing more harm than good. Enjoy your weekend. It also gives you a chance to wind down before it starts again on Monday.

*Let your weekend be free of work - Leave it in the office even if it may seem difficult. However, guess what it'll still be there for you on Monday.

*Schedule mom time - If you haven't added this to your To-Do list now's the chance. Try relaxing and doing something just for you and/or the family. This can be the most rewarding of all.

This week we just went over the basics. Next week we'll get into more exercises and techniques that'll help you better manage your time.

To Recap:

1. You should have reviewed what you do all day to see where you can make changes to use your time wisely.
2. You should have started a To-Do List.
3. You should have looked over your list to see where you can combine activities to shorten your days.
4. You should have looked over ways to manage time when on vacation and how to use Outlook Tasks to manage your list more effectively.

Day Four - When You're Away

Learning to prioritize when you're away is a challenge. When you go on a vacation you take time out to plan that trip. Do the same with the work you leave behind? Don't panic but prioritize. Make lists or piles and label according to importance.

It can be as easy as printing out your To-Do and breaking it up into smaller segments. Create lists and put the in order of importance, for instance,  Urgent, today, tomorrow, wait to next week and so on. Do only what has to be completed while you're away. The work will still be there when you return. Remember to avoid panicking and stressing yourself out.

You can also use Outlook to prioritize your tasks. A function in their tasks allows for you to color coordinate your schedule, and it helps with grouping your workload. You can update tasks for completion or percent of work finished. The tutorial below will help you get started with Outlook.

Stay on track with Outlook tasks

Day Three: Let's Combine Our Activities

Group all like items together. Look over the To-Do list and see what things you can combine to save time. This is essentially finding meeting your obligations by combining tasks. The combination of tasks in a particular period is considered time management. This is the beginning of reducing your workload and managing your time more wisely. What are some tasks you can combine?

You should now have a to-do list you update daily. Go over it and see where you can combine activities. Whether it's spending time with the family or writing out your blog posts for next week. For example, while on the phone look through your email or finish reading the mail. 

To-Do List	Combination of activities
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Day Two: Stop Waiting For Perfection

Are you still procrastinating? What could you have done differently? Where is room for improvement? How much time did you spend on any one task? 

The picture says it all. Not only that but it takes up so much of our time just to try and get to a place unreachable. Managing your time appropriately doesn't mean that you have to rush and end up with substandard results. Stop harping over whether it's done right, if you've checked and checked again, then most likely you're fine. Have someone else look over your work if you're still doubtful. But don't spend your day going over the same work only to realize that you've waisted valuable time.

It's easy to get caught up doing one thing because you're not sure it's right. Sometimes you have to set your current task aside and work on something else or take a break. However, "DO NOT" let it consume you. Learn to move on to something else. 

Answer these questions:

1. Are you guilty of finishing your work at the last minute or leaving it for another day?
2. Have you set up a time to schedule or plan your day?
3. From the activity yesterday can you figure out how much time you spend on various tasks throughout the day?
4. How often were you interrupted?
5. How do you deal with unexpected events?
6. Are the interruptions keeping you from completing your work?
7. Do you find yourself stressed over not meeting deadlines?
8. Are you making your To-Do list a priority?
9. When taking on other tasks do you prioritize what to do first?
10. Are you taking time for yourself?

•  Look back over what you did yesterday and prioritize your day.Plan out your day for tomorrow. Come back and share what you were able to accomplish on your list. Try to stick to it and remember to prioritize. 

Day One: Stop Procrastinating

It couldn't get any simpler than this, just stop procrastinating. However, we know this is easier said than done. Overcoming procrastination is something most of us battle with daily. Some of us do this at a minimum and still manage to complete their workload. Then there are the ones that are probably like me and procrastinate so much they feel as if they accomplished very little if anything at the end of the day.

Procrastination is defined as the act of procrastinating, putting off or delaying an action until a later time.

Some suggestions to battle procrastination:

• Use the To-Do list - Don't just write it but refer to it repeatedly. 
• For example, I have taken to updating my to-do list daily by either adding more or taking off what I've completed.
• Manage your email, set times when you'll check and answer messages. 
• I get around 300 emails a day, and if I stop and check and answer my emails all day I can spend more than three hours just catching up on messages. 
• Prioritize what you have to get to immediately and what can wait. Take advantage of your email programs. Google has a filter option where you can have emails feed into a folder. They also have a filter that marks emails important and separates them from the others.
• Don't just organize your work schedule but also your home as well. 
• Being a mom of seven and working from home can get hectic. Learning to fit in my house, work and schooling has become more than necessary. To-Do lists work for the home as well.

Day One: Workshop Activity

1. Write down everything you do today, and how long it takes. This may seem crazy, but this is where you'll first begin to see what you do all day. It'll also give you an idea of what you can do differently. 
2. Think about why you procrastinate? We all have a reason.

Come back and share what you've found out about your day. What do you think of your daily activities? What have you discovered about yourself and procrastinating?

You can also join the discussion on blogfrog workshop. Click here to join the community.

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