Alberta Business Marketing

LinkedIn is one of the industry leading social networks and online communities in use today across multiple businesses and industries. LinkedIn’s focus on business-to-business networking and facilitating the sharing of ideas and strategies has won the trust of business professionals globally. Not unlike many of their counterparts, LinkedIn does have privacy challenges according to many CEO level executives. Many organizations are now reviewing their policies related to LinkedIn and how information propagates through this business social network.

More and more business professionals are turning to LinkedIn because of its overall effectiveness in the marketplace. However, many are unaware of the apparent risks to corporate contacts when setting up their LinkedIn accounts. There are many settings that are on automatically allowing for browsing of contacts and also leaving a trace of who visited another profile. Many organizations as part of their social media acceptable use policy are now requiring specific changes to LinkedIn privacy settings be made ensuring business contacts and information are kept confidential.

LinkedIn is build on a community and like many other online networks; they embrace the sharing of information and contacts. How do businesses balance the foundations of LinkedIn with the compliance and confidentiality measures of business today?

Read my white paper on the two required LinkedIn security settings.

Tags: business networking, business social network, Business/Finance, CEO, collaboration, Community websites, linkedin, LinkedIn Ltd, online communities, online networks, Online social networking, Social information processing, social media, social media acceptable use policy, social networks, Technology/Internet, web 2.0, World Wide Web
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Welcome to the age of the Internet.  I think it is pretty safe to claim this now.  Just look around you and there is no doubt that our online world is just as important as the face-to-face relationships we have.  For some, online is more important.

Cloud Computing For Business

One of the biggest shifts has been in business.  Business is now starting to embrace “the cloud” and the power of online applications.  Need proof, next time you fly, how many printed boarding passes do you notice?  How many people are using the smart phone to store their boarding pass?  More and more everyday.  Big business and small business are leveraging the power of the Internet to run their day-to-day business applications.

Even Microsoft has started to take notice. Well, they have been for a long time, at least 4 years since the first time I heard “Software + Services”.  Businesses across North America are flocking to Microsoft’s Online Solutions.  Many of them are turning to the Microsoft BPOS solution or solutions delivered by Microsoft Partners each day.  The online solutions market is heating up and taking off at an extremely fast pace.

The reality of the market today is that many small businesses are turning to Microsoft BPOS now versus having a server sitting in the back room doing nothing but email.  The next versions of the Microsoft Small Business Server will have a version that is cloud-equipped.  My understanding is that it will do nothing but authenticate your users and store files.  Sounds like a Foundation Server.

Join us for a free webinar

Ulistic is hosting a free webinar on Tuesday to help you get answers to hosting your business applications on the Internet.

Join us on Tuesday, July 20th at Noon Eastern/9 AM Pacific for a no charge 60 minute webinar that is geared to help you get some answers on what online service you should turn to.  Is it Google?  How about Microsoft Office Web Apps? Do you need a CRM?  What sort of backup strategy should I have?

Lots of questions and our goal on Tuesday is to help you get some answers.  Real world answers and the facts about the best online solution for your business.  For the past 6 months, I have been doing my own research, testing out many different online platforms.  We have also installed many different solutions ranging from Google Apps, Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite and Hosted Exchange through one of our partners.  I have had my frustrations to say the least.

I will have these real life stories plus intelligence on what some Calgary business owners have been quoted recently and what you should expect to pay the service you choose.  The truth is this, everyone has an opinion, everyone has a favourite and everyone’s needs and tolerance for techy stuff is different.  What works for some, doesn’t work for others.

It is your decision, I can only share with you what I know.

Register for Is Your Business Ready For The Internet webinar on Tuesday.

Tags: Business IT, Business/Finance, Calgary, Cloud applications, cloud computing, Computing, day-to-day business applications, Everything as a service, Google Inc., Human Interest, Internet culture, microsoft, Microsoft Corporation, microsoft office, Microsoft Partners, North America, Office Web Apps, online applications, online platforms, online solution, Online Solutions, Online Suite, online world, smart phone, smartphone, Software plus services, Technology/Internet, web 2.0, Web applications, Web Apps, Web conferencing, Windows Server, Windows Small Business Server
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Our team at Ulistic coaches many small business folks and marketing teams across North America each day.  This is the part of the job that I truly enjoy, openly sharing concepts, tips and tricks and practical use of social media.    It is always such a delight when the light bulb goes off during a consulting session with one of our clients.  Business in my opinion are done with the fluff around social media, they want the hard facts, return on investment justifications, what are the opportunities and most importantly what do need to do.  Interested in learning more, just click here, drop me an email or phone call.

One Product that rocks my world – Hootsuite

One of the products we discuss at length during our Social Media Consulting engagements is Hootsuite.  Hootsuite is the cornerstone of our social media modules and it rightly deserves it place in the pecking order of must have social media management tools for any size of business or hobbyist.

I have personally tried a number of social media services out there (Tweetdeck is one).  Hootsuite is really the only true social media dashboard product out there that is easy to use and does almost anything you can imagine.  One the biggest stress factors with social media is managing the time to engage properly online and make important connections, Hootsuite solves this.  With Hootsuite, you can manage multiple Twitter accounts, LinkedIn profiles, Facebook pages, Foursquare accounts and so much more.  You can even invite members of your team and share certain online social media accounts.

It is a must have for any serious social media professional out there and it is also Canadian.

Hootsuite is based in Vancouver, BC.

Hootsuite runs online, it is a true cloud solution.  Leveraging the power of HTML5, Hootsuite requires no software to install and no widgets or browser add-ons, simply point your browser to http://www.hootsuite.com, create your account and you are off to the races.

Karim at Techvibes shared some recent news on Hootsuite the other day.  Hootsuite is cranking it up another step.  I love the fact that I can segment my Twitter account into lists, searches and much more but now I can filter these columns on keywords or Klout.  My Klout score sits at 29, it has taken a hit over the past little while since I haven’t been that active in the Twitter Universe lately.

Go and check out Hootsuite, it is awesome web-based solution that rocks!

Tags: awesome web-based solution, british columbia, cloud solution, Facebook Inc, foursquare, Hootsuite, LinkedIn Ltd, media accounts, media dashboard product, media management tools, media modules, media services, North America, Online social networking, Real-time web, social media, social media consulting, Technology/Internet, Tweetdeck Inc., Twitter, Twitter Inc, Vancouver, web 2.0, World Wide Web
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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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Join David and I as we review “Producing Your Own YouTube Videos for Business” This Ulistic webinar will explore the compelling reasons why delaying an Internet marketing video strategy online may leave you in the dust on search results.

Our team from Ulistic will discuss some of the tools necessary to produce semi-professional video and how to do basic editing for the web. Finally we will review creation of your YouTube channel and how to post your new videos.  Tune in and invest an hour on how to step up your online marketing today.

Take ownership of your online video marketing. The trend of Internet delivered video is here, are you ready?

Then finally we will briefly discuss optimization of your Video to help it perform on the Worlds second most frequented search engine – Youtube.

Register online today – Producing Your Own YouTube Videos for Business webinar.  Live Noon Eastern/9 AM Pacific on July 12, 2010.

Tags: Business/Finance, Entertainment/Culture, frequented search engine, Internet, online video marketing, search engine, search results, Subtitling, Technology/Internet, Video hosting, web 2.0, World Wide Web, youtube, YouTube Inc
Posted in Online Marketing | | Comments Off