Alberta Business Marketing

There is lots of discussion in various small business communities throughout the world around the topic of Return On Investment (ROI) with Social Media? As an owner of a successful small business IT firm and now a partner with Ulistic, understanding ROI is not only important but essential for success in your business operations.  What is the ROI on a piece of software?  What is the ROI on that lunch with a prospect?  What is the ROI on hiring your first employee? But there is more!

Personally, I think simply focusing on ROI is very shortsighted.  I understand how important it is that your business is profitable and sees a return on the investments made however I think the deeper question is “what is the return on opportunity” or “How can my business capitalize on the opportunities out there”?  For me this is much deeper and really hits the core of why we do what we do.  I believe this is what makes our team at Ulistic different, we have and continue to run profitable and a successful business.  We know what it takes to be profitable, where to reach your markets and a unique approach to looking at the entire picture and the impact on your business.  Then we share this information with our consulting clients.

How does this tie into Social Media?

What is the ROO with your marketing efforts?
What is the ROO in having the talented staff member fielding support calls?
What is the ROO of being present in the online communities?

You have to understand the opportunity and what potentials exist in your target market.  I speak about casting your net and the importance of knowing where to fish for maximize effectiveness plus have nets out there which catch less fish (The Long Tail).  But you also need to know when the fish are hungry. (Thanks Bob Burg).

During our Calgary Social Media Workshops which Ulistic holds every couple of months for business owners, we focus on the importance of looking at the potential opportunities associated with simply being present online.  I remember how T. Harv Eker would open his Millionaire Mind intensive with every single time “80% of success is just showing up”.  This goes for your online marketing and social media activities as well.  You need to show up, that is the first step but of course it is not the last step. You need to have a presence, now there are tricks so it doesn’t consume all your time.

What opportunities are you missing by not having a presence on the mainstream social media services?  I shared recently online with you about how Google is now archiving tweets on Twitter.  Twitter, Facebook Pages, Digg, LinkedIn and many others are importance networks to participate in and do you play in these sandboxes?  David and I cover the importance of search and your social circle during our Calgary SEO courses and plus the importance of having effective online strategies in our Calgary social media courses.

What is the ROO for your online fishing (marketing)?  To me, it is so much more than talking about Facebook, Twitter and other online services.

Tags: Blog hosting services, bob burg, Business/Finance, Calgary, Facebook, Facebook Inc, Google Inc., importance networks, LinkedIn Ltd, media activities, media courses, media services, online communities, online fishing, Online social networking, online strategies, Social information processing, social media, Social Media Ventures Inc, T. Harv Eker, Technology/Internet, Twitter, Twitter Inc, web 2.0, World Wide Web
Posted in Marketing, Online Marketing | | Comments Off

There is lots of discussion in various small business communities throughout the world around the topic of Return On Investment (ROI) with Social Media? As an owner of a successful small business IT firm and now a partner with Ulistic, understanding ROI is not only important but essential for success in your business operations.  What is the ROI on a piece of software?  What is the ROI on that lunch with a prospect?  What is the ROI on hiring your first employee? But there is more!

Personally, I think simply focusing on ROI is very shortsighted.  I understand how important it is that your business is profitable and sees a return on the investments made however I think the deeper question is “what is the return on opportunity” or “How can my business capitalize on the opportunities out there”?  For me this is much deeper and really hits the core of why we do what we do.  I believe this is what makes our team at Ulistic different, we have and continue to run profitable and a successful business.  We know what it takes to be profitable, where to reach your markets and a unique approach to looking at the entire picture and the impact on your business.  Then we share this information with our consulting clients.

How does this tie into Social Media?

What is the ROO with your marketing efforts?
What is the ROO in having the talented staff member fielding support calls?
What is the ROO of being present in the online communities?

You have to understand the opportunity and what potentials exist in your target market.  I speak about casting your net and the importance of knowing where to fish for maximize effectiveness plus have nets out there which catch less fish (The Long Tail).  But you also need to know when the fish are hungry. (Thanks Bob Burg).

During our Calgary Social Media Workshops which Ulistic holds every couple of months for business owners, we focus on the importance of looking at the potential opportunities associated with simply being present online.  I remember how T. Harv Eker would open his Millionaire Mind intensive with every single time “80% of success is just showing up”.  This goes for your online marketing and social media activities as well.  You need to show up, that is the first step but of course it is not the last step. You need to have a presence, now there are tricks so it doesn’t consume all your time.

What opportunities are you missing by not having a presence on the mainstream social media services?  I shared recently online with you about how Google is now archiving tweets on Twitter.  Twitter, Facebook Pages, Digg, LinkedIn and many others are importance networks to participate in and do you play in these sandboxes?  David and I cover the importance of search and your social circle during our Calgary SEO courses and plus the importance of having effective online strategies in our Calgary social media courses.

What is the ROO for your online fishing (marketing)?  To me, it is so much more than talking about Facebook, Twitter and other online services.

Tags: Blog hosting services, bob burg, Business/Finance, Calgary, Facebook, Facebook Inc, Google Inc., importance networks, LinkedIn Ltd, media activities, media courses, media services, online communities, online fishing, Online social networking, online strategies, Social information processing, social media, Social Media Ventures Inc, T. Harv Eker, Technology/Internet, Twitter, Twitter Inc, web 2.0, World Wide Web
Posted in Marketing, Online Marketing | | Comments Off

Microsoft Partner Webcast – Feb 24 at Noon Eastern

Why must you use social technologies to market your business today? Pretty valid question in today’s world of Facebook, Buzz, Twitter, Foursquare, Blogs, Podcasts and everything else out there.  On a good day this has the potential to confuse the brightest marketing expert.

What can you do now to create a social networking impact?

When you think about it, no one is forcing you to use online technologies and you don’t have to even consider it if you are happy where you at today.  But really think about it, how social technologies fit into your business?  It is not that important if you build strong and vibrant online communities which feed into your referral sources is it?  No one is holding a gun to your head and forcing you to engage in online strategies to grow your business, are they?

You don’t have to do any of this.  Look around you though.  Do you competitors have blogs?  Are they influencing the community?  Are they posting feedback on your Chamber of Commerce Facebook fan page?  Are they out there hosting meetup groups?  What are they doing that you are not?

Join Calgary Social Media Consultant Stuart Crawford (that’s me) on Feb 24th at 9 AM Pacific or Noon on the east coast for a very special Microsoft Partner 5W25 session on Social Media.  This is not a death by “presentation software” webinar.  You will get “down and dirty” on discussions on how your business can use social technologies daily and how you can build a strong following online which will spill over to the face-to-face community.  How can you influence those in your community?  You see social media is simply a communication tool to get people to call you, email you or fill in some form on your website.  It is something very crucial to the success of your business and when done right can have a huge upside.

Here is a question for you.  If you are not out there, how will anyone know you are there?  This goes back to the core basics about business networking.  Sit behind your desk all day, no one will call you.  Don’t get online and share information, no one will know you exist.

What will you learn in this Microsoft 5W25 webinar on Feb 24th?

What will we be covering in this one hour webinar with the fine folks at Microsoft?

In my last talk I pretty much laid the ground work for this discussion.  Back in October we covered a bunch of boring theory around social media and the tools available, no one liked it they wanted more, more life stories and lessons learned from the trenches, more real life examples of success and more meat around this subject.  This time you will have your meat and potatoes on how you can use Social Media in your business.  Not fluffy stuff, real life examples of stuff I did and what some of my peers have done online.

We get to roll up our sleeves and get our hands dirty this time around.  Social Media is critically important but for reasons that are not shared now.  You need to tune in.  However, it is more than just letting people know you published a blog via Twitter or you helped a client out via Facebook.  Social Technologies and the effective use on online tools and services goes far deeper than simple status updates.

You have to tune into the webinar to get the full story.

This Microsoft 5W25 seminar is open to most Microsoft Partners around the world.

Tags: Blog hosting services, business networking, Business/Finance, Calgary Social Media, communication tool, Consultant, east coast, Facebook, Facebook Inc, how social technologies, Human Interest, Media consultant, Meetup.com, Microsoft Corporation, Online social networking, online strategies, online technologies, online tools, presentation software, Social information processing, social media, Social Media Ventures Inc, Social network service, social networking impact, social technologies, stuart crawford, Technology/Internet, Twitter, Twitter Inc, vibrant online communities, Virtual community, web 2.0, World Wide Web
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