Do You Know Where Your Buyers Hang Out Online?

The Internet is a pretty big place, going from a single website in 1991 to more than 1 billion in 2014. At the same time, the number of users online has jumped more than tenfold from 1999 to 2013. If you’re a business owner, the challenge of finding your buyers online in order to deliver the most targeted advertisements directly to them has never been harder!

If you’re currently struggling to match your online activities to your buyers’ Internet habits, give the following three strategies a try:

1. Social-networking sites

According to the Content Marketing Institute, social media and blogs account for 23 percent of all time spent online. So there’s a good chance that, no matter what types of buyers you’re targeting, you can find them on some type of social-networking site.

Of course, the recent flight of teenagers from Facebook demonstrates that not all demographics participate equally on each of these popular sites. If you want to know where your specific buyers are, you need to familiarize yourself with the group-usage statistics associated with each platform.

One of the best sources of this type of information is the Pew Research Internet Project’s “Social Media Update 2013” (the most recent year this information has been made available).

If your target buyer persona is female, you might note that Facebook and Pinterest show promise, as more women than men are active on each site. However, if your buyers tend to be older, getting active on Facebook might be a better choice, as 45 percent of online adults ages 65 and older maintain profiles on the site, while only 9 percent of this group is active on Pinterest.

The Pew study includes demographic data on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn that are worth a look. However, while you should use these statistics as a rough guide, they shouldn’t be the “be all, end all” of your buyer identification efforts. Instead, use these numbers as a jumping-off point to determine where you should begin engaging, but be sure to measure your performance on each site to see when and if you need to change course.

2. Authority blogs

Every industry has authority bloggers, and if you can find the ones that are popular in your niche, you have a number of opportunities to connect with your target buyers -- from submitting guest posts for publication, running display ads, to responding to reader questions in the comments.

You might already know these sites, and if you do, use the techniques listed above to make your presence known. If you don’t, here are a few strategies for finding them:

• Go to alltop.com and search for your industry. Any of the blogs listed might be authority blogs, though you’ll want to qualify them further by checking for recent, consistent publication and active social profiles.
• Go to Topsy and enter your target keywords. Filter your results so that you’re viewing a week’s worth of popular links -- there’s a good chance these have come from authority blogs.
• Find one authority blogger and open his or her Twitter profile. Look for any other sites whose content is being retweeted -- these are likely authority sites as well.

3. Message boards

Message boards might sound like a dated Internet convention on par with webrings and chat rooms. But the modern message board -- think Reddit -- can actually be a hotbed of target-buyer activity.

Here’s how to find these resources:

• Google “[your niche] message board.” It’s a straightforward approach, but it works.
• Find the subreddit that caters to your industry. Not only can this be a good place to share your content, it can reveal a number of other authority blogs or message boards you should target within the other links that are shared.
• Look for public Facebook Groups. The extent to which Facebook has been adopted across groups makes it a good fit for just about every target buyer. Conduct a few searches on Facebook to find the public Groups where your buyers are hanging out and then get active there!

Bear in mind that message boards can be particularly sensitive to activity that’s deemed too self-promotional. Become an active member of the community before you start sharing, and keep your eyes open.

The constant expansion of the Internet means that new hot sites will always be popping up, while former favorites will die out. Use the strategies above to keep your finger on the pulse of your industry's online activity and use this knowledge to your advantage to get your message in front of your target buyers.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/239565

Social Media Karma and the Golden Rule

Have you heard of the golden rule? Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. In other words, treat other people in the way you’d like to be treated. This same rule applies to the world of social media.

So think before you tweet. Here are a few etiquette rules:

Don't embarrass professionals.

Journalists, writers, bloggers, content creators, whatever you call them, they all are trying to get their work out there. One way they do so is by spreading the word on social media. And this strategy is a win-win, as the author is able to market her posts in a simple fashion and people can easily discover new stories. But because of how fast the world of media is moving, sometimes errors occur, like typos, grammatical errors or incorrect information.

Do you point out the mistake publicly to embarrass and shame the writer or author? Or do you private message the individual so they can correct the mistake as quickly as possible? I choose the kinder, quieter route because it does not serve you or the other party to be mean and spiteful. Be gracious, and the author will be thankful and you’ll probably gain a friend for life. 

And another thing: Don't dismiss the person immediately when you see a typo or mistake. Read the article to the end, as you may find it useful and may benefit from the piece. Dismissing a writer’s credibility completely because of a single typo seems inflexible to me. 

Give credit where credit is due.

It’s standard procedure to give credit to the photographer if you use their images. If you see someone using your photos, and they haven’t given you photo credit, private message them. It’s possible that they may not really understand the protocol. Be gentle and you will be surprised to find that it is an innocent mistake.

But keep in mind that everyone doesn't just want a photo credit. Images are copyrighted, so the best route is to ask before you use.

Don’t be a bully or a tattletale.

I have seen so many forms of bullying over the years on social media. I usually hang back, watching carefully and not reacting immediately. Whether the attack is directed at you or at a friend, assess the situation first and don't fire off a tweet or comment immediately. Also, don't go ganging up on the person -- we’re not in high school. The drama and gossip will get back to the individual and probably come back to haunt you.

Analyze and process the situation. Is this worth your time, your energy or even a tweet? When you re-tweet them or call them out, it gives the person validation and the situation momentum, especially if the person has a decent following. 

So whenever I completely disagree with an article or a tweet, I chat off line rather than give the article or that individual any more attention than is necessary. Of course, one can have a productive healthy discussion -- just keep it professional.

Anonymity is not carte blanche.

Just remember, tweeting from a smartphone or a computer screen does not give you the right to be unkind. Being friendly and helpful to people goes so much further than a public attack. Guess what? It reflects back on you. People may not acknowledge your action openly, but they will go “radio silent” on you. What does that mean? No more shares, re-tweets or engagement.

Social media seems like such an expansive universe but really it is a small, small social world. I believe that in social media, that “six degrees of separation” connects us in a way that we were never connected before. So think before you blast out your spiteful tweets or comments. These connections bind us together by our shares.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/238142

4 Specific Focused Tasks Equals Profits

Entrepreneur Uses Low Tech Methods to Build a Fortune

Paul Sowinski has been keeping a low profile for the past 6 years with other priorities — getting married and having three kids. Home Business Magazine first profiled him back in 2003 and recently caught up with him again to see “where he is now.” At 34, he’s back to his “old self,” building his home business and being “'entertaining” and having some fun while doing it.

When Paul originally started Simple Toner in 1998, he had a grand vision. Within a couple months of his 19th birthday, he went from bagging groceries to running a thriving business selling toner cartridges to other businesses.

In his first year. Paul processed $40,000 in sales. By year two, he doubled sales by literally working twice as hard. Then “the grind” set in. After the initial boost, sales slowed and he needed to jumpstart his company. Over the next several years, Paul tried everything to build his business: trade shows, cold calling, attending networking events, passing out flyers, and even hiring a skywriter at the height of the dotcom boom. Some things worked, many didn’t.

Paul’s big break came when he figured out that the key to success was simply doing certain very specific, focused tasks every single day: #1) making 250 phone calls; #2) working out at the gym; #3) reading to his kids; and #4) practicing computer coding. Every single day, Paul does these four specific, focused tasks (with the exception of phone calls, which he only does during the normal work week.)

This obsessiveness and focus sometimes drives Melissa, his wife of five years, crazy. “The thing about Paul is that most of his focus is on printer toner cartridges. But every day, he works with our kids teaching them how to improve and compete in their own worlds. I respect him for that," says Melissa. Paul adds, “For years I tried many different things. My world changed when I started simplifying. I don’t have to think about my schedule. I don’t have to plan my day. I just do four things every day and it’s taking me in the direction I want to go.”

Sowinski wants to be the largest supplier of toner cartridges to small business in the US within the next three to five years.

http://www.homebusinessmag.com/businesses/special-types/4-specific-focused-tasks-equals-profits