Alberta Business Marketing

Last week our team from Ulistic met with the great folks at MSP University in Garden Grove, California.  Together, we started to carve out what will become an awesome relationship.  MSPU is one of the leading managed services firms globally and the clients they work with are market leaders and enjoy the fruits of the hard work. I have personally known Erick Simpson and Gary Beechum for a number of years, they are rock solid guys and the entire team at MSPU is built on the same core values Gary and Erick bring to the table.

During our chat last week we got looking at Facebook Marketing and how businesses can leverage Facebook to market their offerings.  It is no secret that Facebook is growing.  Their recent partnership with Microsoft BING has shot Facebook up to the 6th most popular search engine.  One in Four page views on the Internet is Facebook related and the average person spends anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour on Facebook each day.  Still many question Facebook’s effectiveness in the market place.

During our time with MSPU, a number of ideas were discussed, but it was this fact amongst all the others that kind of surprised me when I stumbled upon it.  There are almost as many Facebook users in California that what there is in the entire country of Canada.   This is no secret really, we have heard for years that there are just as many people in one state in the US than what we have in Canada.  15.4 million Facebook users in Canada and almost 15.5 in the entire state of California.  What does this mean for business?

Does marketing on Facebook now make sense to your business?

If you look at the numbers closely, the 15 million or so folks from either California or Canada represent about 50% of the population.  That represents a good portion of the Canadian or Californian landscape uses Facebook.  Pretty impressive.

Are you leveraging this to get your message out there?
How can you use Facebook to market your business?

There are many ways to do this from Pay-Per-Click or Pay-Per-Impression ads, Facebook Pages and regular interaction with people.  Engagement with folks on Facebook, talking with your community, the people in your network and simply serving the market.

Do you need to know more about how to create a Fan Page that sings?
Want to know how to engage with Facebook?

I invite you to reach out and let’s have a chat about how you can use Facebook right now.

There are a number of opportunities and Facebook can be another important channel for you to help with your marketing.  You know the old saying about LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION or what Wayne Gretzky has always said “skate to where the puck is going, not where it is”.

Need a hand to figure it out…visit my Execute On Facebook or Marketing On Facebook page and take the first step in creating a marketing strategy for Facebook today.

Tags: Blog software, Business Partnership, California, canada, Criticism of Facebook, Erick Simpson, Facebook, Facebook features, Facebook Inc, Garden Grove, Gary Beechum, Human Interest, LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION, Microsoft BING, MSP University, Online social networking, search engine, Social information processing, Technology/Internet, United States, wayne gretzky, web 2.0, World Wide Web
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I am back in my home office after a very busy couple of weeks which saw David and I hit the road to Los Angeles, California and then immediately flip the other way and head to Toronto, Ontario.  I love travel, I love being on the road and love to serve those who need help and it doesn’t matter where they are physically located.  Service is what matters and helping those in need of quality support is my personal number one priority.  Travel puts strains on the level of commitment I promise the clients I serve, so this week is a catch up week on my commitments.

Commitment…what a huge word.  Many say they are committed to a cause, their careers or their family.  But, even more who say they are never truly demonstrate it.

What is commitment? Is it getting up at 5 AM and getting two blog posts done for clients before 6 AM?  Is commitment ensuring your son’s sunburn is OK?  How about your spouse? Is ensuring the needs of the family are taken care of…commitment?  Of course all of the above are great examples of commitment and where we need to be committed.

I am not going to discuss spousal, family, church etc in this post…I would rather keep it on a professional level.  Your business and the success of your business.  We all know that marketing your business, starting a blog, ensuring your sales funnel is healthy and having happy customers all takes commitment but how do you manage this commitment.  Like I said earlier there are many of your peers who pay lip service to the word commitment and never truly understand or really want to know what it really means.

Since I work with small business owners across Canada and the US each day on social media marketing and online success…allow me to slip back into my own comfort zone here.  Social Media success takes 100% commitment.  Like anything in business you can’t go halfway and expect success.  It just isn’t going to happen…just like customer service, you need to commit to servicing your clients in order to truly have success in the relationship.

Here are a few tips to help you with committing to your social media success:

1. Develop a plan and stick to the plan – If it is blogging three times a week commit to it.  If it is tweeting four times a day, then do it.  You need to have a plan and then stick to the plan.
2. Schedule your time – put it in your calendar.  This is part of your business and must be scheduled and then the schedule has to stick.  How many stale blogs are out there?  Started by business owners with great intentions but no commitment?  Start it, schedule it and stick to it.
3. Find help - You need a coach when it comes to this stuff.  Social Media is much more than Twitter and Facebook…do you have someone to help you?

Commitment is a big word to many…even myself, however I am committed to sharing thoughts with you each day…or you wouldn’t get this email or read this post.

What can I do to help you…give me a shout at 403.775.2205, I would love to help you if you require some support and a person to bounce ideas off of.  If you are located in Toronto, Boston, New York or right here in Calgary…it doesn’t matter.  I am here to serve you and the needs of your business.

Tags: 403.775.2205, Boston, Calgary, California, canada, Los Angeles, media marketing, media success, New York, New York City, online success, Ontario, toronto, Uncategorized, United States
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WOW…is all I have to say!

David and I are on our way home today after a great couple of days in the Los Angeles area visiting with partners and friends of Ulistic.

Lots of great lessons were shared during our time with our partners from both sides of the table.

I am looking forward to pushing ahead now with some of the great opportunities.

Tags: California, LAX, los angelas, Stuart's ramblings, ulistic
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One question.  That is all it took to meet a very special person and to open up what has the potential of becoming a wonderful friendship and a mutual win-win business relationship.

I met Christine in Calgary’s Maple Leaf Lounge.  Christine is a serial entrepreneur and runs a software company that provides accurate calorie counts for restaurant owners, chefs and those involved in the restaurant industry.  After a brief discussion about her industry and a number of emails with Christine throughout the day I learned that in California and New York state have mandate this from all restaurant owners and Ontario is thinking about it.

It simply took a question and someone who understands how everyone is connected.  The world is truly an awesome place and all it takes is to ask one question.

Are you reaching out to others around you or are you the type who keeps to him or herself?

I have to be very open here.  At one time I used to be very open to the type of activity that occurred yesterday, one day I flicked a switch and became a bit more closed off…well, time to change that.  Last evening David and I travelled to Santa Monica, California for dinner on Muscle Beach and the Santa Monica Pier.  We are in California this week for some very important meetings with partner of Ulistic.   The last time I was here I enjoyed lunch at a great mexican restaurant where two strangers simply sat down and enjoyed lunch with me.  It turned out to be a very informative lunch…one of the guys worked in the IT department with Boeing.

In our online world many of us have scores of friends and followers who we don’t really know.  What would happen if we simply reached out to people online as well?  What would happen if we focused on the needs to those in Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter?  Would it make the world a better place?  Would it help you in the long run?

Note:  Christine was from Saskatchewan…

Here is something else about my getting to know Christine…I know people in the restaurant business in Calgary…do you think I was able to introduce her to a few of those I know?

Tags: Calgary, California, Facebook Inc, LinkedIn Ltd, Muscle Beach, online world, Santa Monica, Santa Monica Pier, Stuart's ramblings, The Boeing Company, Twitter Inc
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Got this email from Google today.  Do we still have people using Internet Explorer 6 out there?  If so, why? Dear Google Apps admin, In order to continue to improve our products and deliver more sophisticated features and performance, we are harnessing some of the latest improvements in web browser technology.  This includes faster JavaScript processing and [...]

Tags: California, Cloud applications, cloud computing, collaboration products, Computing, Cross-platform software, Gmail, google, google chrome, Google Docs, Google Inc., Google Sites editor, internet explorer, microsoft, Mountain View, Mozilla Firefox, Online Solutions, small business technology, Technology/Internet, web 2.0, Web applications, World Wide Web
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