Several pieces of research have emerged that show many small businesses are failing to maximise the online opportunities available to them, despite the rise in e-commerce and digital marketing.
Category: Social Media
Social media is the best way to expand the reach of your SME or SMB business. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and content marketing
Online Video Marketing: The Small Business Strategy Guide
‘Companies everywhere are recognising that video has become the factor that can provide an edge over the competition’ – the wise words of James Leal-Valias, creative director at iStockphoto, writing for Business Matters a few weeks ago under the title ‘Design for Small Business: Integrating Online into Your Marketing Mix’.
Where do you stand with social media law?
With over half of the entire UK population having a Facebook account, it is claimed that employers are losing £14 billion per year as a direct result of employees accessing social media sites during work hours, yet their hands are tied when it comes to disciplinary action resulting in a minefield for employers and the rules of what is acceptable and what is not are very hazy.
“Building a Social Enterprise” – Blending Social Media and the Cloud for Business Success
Recently, I have shifted the focus of this blog series away from my personal perspective on cloud computing in order to give some of our customers the chance to present their views on the technology.
One million UK professionals join LinkedIn in six months
LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network, have announced that over one million UK professionals have joined LinkedIn since June 2010, bringing the total number of UK members up to five million, which represents 40 percent of UK professionals.
Business networking group 4Networking looks to go global
4Networking, the business breakfast network started by entrepreneur Brad Burton, has unveiled its plans to launch in the USA, Republic of Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, and ultimately to create the world’s first, joined up global business network.
The 10 Biggest Sales Mistakes People Make On LinkedIn – Part One
Sales Expert Andy Preston explains that although LinkedIn is one of the best business development tools available, many people don’t use it properly, and even worse – make various mistakes that actually LOSE them sales, rather than WIN them…
Visibility is good. Credibility is better
This winter there has been a lot of talk about ‘visibility’. For the purposes of this blog post, though, I’m not talking about whether you can see out of your windscreen when it has frosted over. The kind of visibility that has become a trendy subject is about being seen in the marketplace. We all know about information overload and how much competition there is for your customers’ attention, both online and offline. So being seen – in person, online, in the media – is essential. However it is dangerous to stop there.
Government ‘Big Brother’ proposals will halt use of social media for business
Government proposals to monitor social networking sites centrally fail to consider the impact of such action on businesses that now use these tools as an integral part of their marketing strategy and could result in some businesses abandoning social media altogether, according to a leading social media consultant.
ecademy security breakdown gives a stark warning
ecademy – the business-orientated social networking site, that we have covered many times within the pages of Business Matters, gave a stark warning to its members of the possible pitfalls of using social networking as they left supposedly private support emails sent through the site publicly viewable as the result of a programming error earlier this week.
The future of networking
Increasingly, businesses have been looking to ‘word of mouth’ marketing to find clients with the growth of networking groups providing opportunities for companies to spread the word and get referrals.
Times move on and with the growth of online social networking opening people’s eyes to the power of the internet, companies are looking to see how the increasing number of ‘social’ business networks can be used for marketing and sales purposes.
Social networking: why not embrace innovation?
177 years ago this month, the south-east of England was aflame as farm workers rioted. Under the leadership of the mysterious ‘Captain Swing’, they launched an orgy of burning and destruction across the countryside.
Business networking online
A new business networking organisation has just launched specialising in creating local online communities. Word Of Mouse, created by one of the former founders of the BRE Network is hoping to capitalise on the current boom in online social networking with sites like Facebook, Ecademy and Linked In.
Taking action
Many small business owners will be used to copping flak for addictions to their ‘crackberry’.
The tell tale symtoms are all too common. Exasperated partners railing at post midnight emailing or blackberrys heading for a watery demise in the swimming pool during that longed for summer break.However, the vexed issue of the merits of Blackberrys is truely small fry compared to the grief that could be caused to business owners by the latest internet phenomenon. The explosion in popularity of social networking sites like Facebook, You Tube, Bebo and My Space presents a new potentially very big problem for owner managers to grapple with.
