Work That Matters

0 27 Oct 2011

Getting to WIN: Discovering your dream and going after it.

Lots of people are out of work right now. According to most polls, and depending on the area in which you live in, around 9% or more. People are gathering in Wall Street and politicians are ensuring that a jobs plan of some sort are integral to their campaigns. It's no secret: jobs are scarce.

Or are they? Where I live, in the midwest, I see Now Hiring signs everywhere. Granted, a lot of them are for restaurants or gas stations or other venues outside your normal 9-5 office job, but it proves that this whole "There are no jobs" excuse is completely false over here. I think a larger part of the problem falls into two things, and both of them have to do with a single dilemma: vision.

Long-term vision

Remember in second grade, where you stood up and told everyone what you wanted to be when you grew up? When I was a kid, I wanted to be a police officer. My days were spent largely engrossed in comic books and Batman cartoons, and while I knew even as a second-grader that I couldn't grow up to be a super-hero, I still liked the idea of being able to help people and save the day, so becoming a cop seemed to be the logical choice.

Like most of you, where I am now is not where I dreamed I'd be at second grade. The difference is, I'm okay with that. I'm still finding a way to fuel my passion for helping others, even though I'm not wearing a badge. I have never allowed that vision I had as a tyke to dissipate.

I really believe that's largely where the problem lies with so many of our out-of-work citizens that will tell you they are "in between jobs at the moment". They have no vision. They aren't sure what they want to be when they grow up, and consequently, they have very little direction in their lives towards any sort of goal. It's why you'll often see them going after the latest and greatest movement of the moment or getting into trouble, because they have no vision.

In his book Quitter: Closing the gap between your day job and dream job, Jon Acuff quotes from a magazine article about actor Ryan Gosling who, after the success of The Notebook got a job making sandwiches in a deli. His reason? He didn't want to end up without any vision from lack of just working. He said that the problem with Hollywood is that people don't work. They make a good movie or two and then they get into drugs. He submitted that the world would be a much better place if "people had a pile of rocks in their backyard and just moved them from one place to another."

Short-term vision

In other words, work will keep you going, even when your vision is blurred. I learned this myself last year. In June of 2010, I lost my full-time job and took the opportunity to try to get Rocket No. 9 into my full-time gig. A major problem was, I didn't have the self-discipline to get up and hustle like I should have and next thing you know, we were having some serious financial problems and my marriage was stressing pretty badly. So, I went and got a job. At a video store. Working nights. My responsibility to my family forced me to apparently put my dream on hold for awhile.

The kicker? Within 90 days of getting that job, I had another one, full-time, making good money, doing what I love. And Rocket No. 9 is still alive and kicking, and in fact, is doing better than it was when I was doing it full-time. I'm convinced this is because I did what I needed to do to strengthen my vision with work. Even though it wasn't work related to my vision, it allowed me to keep going and making progress.

If you're one of the people in desperate need of a job, go get one. Even if it means humbling yourself and getting something you're over-qualified for. Maybe you can even find an internship doing something you really enjoy. I'm confident that as you step out and begin to do something with your hands, you'll see your own vision gain some clarity and give you direction in your life.

Image Source: https://plus.google.com/u/0/107863815725205770085/posts

0 26 Oct 2011

The wonderful problem of having too much work.

Full disclosure, this blog post comes as a result of reading Paul Down's article on the same subject this morning. While he tells about how he specifically will deal with it at his shop, I'll attempt to give a more generic approach to how to handle this sort of problem.

One day several years ago, my pastor got up and began to deliver an issue the church was facing: the church parking lot needed some repair and expansion, and they needed to rethink how the process of getting out of the parking lot worked. With two Saturday night services (at the time; they have since scaled back to one) and two Sunday Morning services, traffic flow was a big issue, and could quickly turn a pleasant church-going experience into a very unpleasant one.

The thing he remarked on was this: "This is a very good problem to have. There are loads of churches that would love to have this problem." And it's true, isn't it? As freelancers or business-owners, having more work means the prospect of more money, which makes you more profitable. The idea that you would have "more than enough" is a utopia that a lot of us only dream of. And on occasion, we're likely to have it happen to us. The question is, how do you manage it successfully, so that those you have to turn away because you're booked solid don't leave with a sour taste for your company? Or more importantly, how do you handle it when more work than usual comes through your door and you need to take it in order to pay your bills or your employees?

Why you would want more work

The company isn't doing so well, so this influx of work is a much-needed blessing. At the same time you're saying your prayer of thanks about this influx of work, you should be planning out how to spread this around and stretch the money so that you can do your best to keep the company from becoming so thin again. Pay your debts. Save for a rainy day. Buy more tools, people or marketing. Use your newfound work wisely, because these things tend to come in clumps, not streams.

You've needed to delegate more tasks to someone else, and this will allow you to hire the additional staff to do that. Use caution here, and plan thoroughly, because you don't want to spend the money to hire someone, only to have to lay them off later because you didn't plan well. Be sure to hire this employee in order to not only take some of the load off of you, but to earn their own keep. They need to be able to produce enough that you can keep them on for the long haul.

You've got the room and staff to handle it, an increase in production is a good thing. This is seemingly a perfect situation, but it rarely happens like this. By definition, getting "more than enough" work means just that - it's more than enough, hopefully not more than you can handle. Explain to your staff that things may be busy for a little while and give them a plan of what's going to happen as you guys handle these new orders. Will people be working weekends? Overtime? Will you need to shuffle people around a bit, perhaps moves a salesman to the production floor in order to keep up? It's good to have a plan in place ahead of time for these things, instead of trying to throw something together at the moment you need it.

Why you might need to turn that project down

Do you have a sufficient workforce to handle it? If you don't, do not try to force it to work. I cannot express how important this is. Trying to force a square peg through a round hole is only going to lead to some bruised knuckles and a failed experiment. I used to work in a manufacturing setting, where there was a goal on how much we wanted to make that week or that month, but once we surpassed that goal, there was literally no stopping it. It didn't matter that we were busting at the seams with work already - it just kept pouring in. The result was a lot of grumpy people on the production floor, and a boss who didn't understand why his people weren't thrilled that we were raking in profits by the truckload. Their inability to successfully turn away work or outsource it inevitably lead to my leaving the company after only 7 months, which left them in worse shape than before. Your company relies on your customers and your team equally, and they need to coexist peacefully.

Does it align with your corporate vision? In my business, I care about passionate people. If I'm on the tail-end of a project and someone comes to me with the prospect of a deal involving bringing their passion to the web, I will at least give it some thought. If possible, I'll schedule it for sometime after my current project finishes, but if this prospect is on some sort of deadline because of a big event or other essential element, then I might work some extra hours to make sure they get taken care of. I'll do all of this because it aligns with my passion and vision: working with others who have a passion for what they do.

How to turn away work.

Most of us never rehearse how we'll react when we find out we've got too much work, so our reaction seems to be to knee-jerk and can leave everyone feeling let down if we're not careful in our approach. If you find yourself suddenly with too much work, here's what you do:

Reschedule it to a later date if possible.
Refer them to a colleague. And then, as a show of good will, check in on that project from time to time to see how they're taking care of what would have been your project. This will show the client that you really care about them, even though they're not your project.
Outsource it. I rarely do this because it means that I won't have a lot of control over the final project, but sometimes I just can't find any other alternative.

How to prepare for more work.

Try to find out when "more work" will strike. Are you launching a new advertising campaign, or does business pick up at certain times of the year? Be sure to have temps waiting in the wings to come in and pick up the extra slack if needed. Get them in there and trained before the big rush hits.

Talk to your team about how to handle more work. You're less likely to have people on your team mad at you if you explain the situation to them and explain what's going to happen, as well as take time to hear from them on their own reactions and ideas. If you hear a collective groan from your team whenever "more work" comes it, it means you're not communicating with them effectively on how to handle the situation.

Do you have any other tips on how to handle having more than enough work? I'm sure many of us wish we had that problem. Let me know in the comments!

0 24 Oct 2011

The best advice Steve Jobs ever gave Larry Page

In a short clip on 60minutesovertime.com, Steve Jobs, initially miffed at Larry Page and Google for "ripping-off" his iPhone with their Android Operating System, decided that since he'd been mentored by other great tech industry pioneers like Hewlett and Packard, he would give Google's CEO some advice of his own. Arguably, it's the best he's ever received.

Focus. Don't be like Microsoft, making products all over the map. Find out what you do best and focus on that. (Author's note: this is some advice that Google could definitely benefit from. While they have great products, a lot of us think that they're spread too thin, and need to return to their roots and evaluate where they're concentrating their efforts.)

Don't be too nice. As a CEO of the second most valuable company in the world. Steve Jobs has been well known for accepting nothing less than the absolute best people and the absolute best work from those people. He stressed to Page that it was important to build a team of excellent people and that on occasion, it would require that he "blow some people off".

I believe that having a clear-cut goal and vision for your own company is essential to your success, and this advice from Steve Jobs rings true to that principle. Laser-like focus and a clear idea of who you want to be associated with - things that Apple became famous for - are very much needed for any company wishing to leave the sort of legacy that Steve did.

See the video here.

Question: If you had the chance, what sort of business advice would you leave to some up-and-coming CEO in your industry?

Image Source: intomobile.com

0 11 Oct 2011

The power of do.

Quick show of hands: anyone here write for a living? Design? Do something creative?

How often do you have to deal with "writer's block" or "creative's block"? Yeah, me too.

In fact, this syndrome isn't exclusive to the creative field, either. Plenty of people in business or at home simply procrastinate doing something because their "get-up-'n-go got up and went". There's always something else to do, some bill to pay, someone that needs your attention and some lead you need to follow up on. The problem? Getting started.

In the movie Finding Forrester, Rob Brown's character Jamal Wallace sits down with his mentor, played by Sean Connery and struggles to begin writing his story on a old-school typewriter. After several seconds of deafening silence, Connery shouts, "For God's sake, just tap the keys!" (emphasis mine). And right there, Jamal learns the best tip he'll ever get about overcoming writer's block and writing a good story: just tap the keys.

When you look at the list of stuff you have to do, it can get overwhelming. When you think about what you forgot, it can guilt you into a depression. Rather than try and point out some new piece of software or give you some step-by-step formula to getting your to-do list to-done, let me just offer you this advice; write it down if you need to or want to and then just do it. Just start on the first thing. Make a goal. Need to write that paper tomorrow? Crank out three paragraphs or a page of ideas tonight before bed. Trying to dredge up the inspiration for a new logo design? Just put a pencil to paper and draw for awhile.

There is amazing power in just doing something. Inevitably it leads to a) doing the thing you meant to do and b) getting something done. And let's face it, when you get something done, you feel good about yourself, even if only for a little while.

So what are you still reading for? I know you've stuff that needs doing. Get out there and do!

0 11 Oct 2011

Goodbye, Steve.

Okay, let me just start off by saying that I wasn't sure about writing a post like this until this morning. So many people have flooded the internet with great stories about Steve Jobs and his passing that I almost didn't write this for fear of it being seen as nothing more than a "me too" marketing ploy to play off the death of one of the world's greatest innovators.

Lord, please let it be more than that.

The honest truth is that the passing of Steve Jobs has shaken me more than I thought it would. Maybe it's because it was so sudden (though some claim they saw it coming when he formally resigned in August), or maybe I'm being influenced by the outpouring of love and gratitude for the man who changed the world. But in any case, it turned out to be more of an ordeal now that I've been forced to process it.

I'm a devoted Apple fan, for sure, have been for a number of years now. But that's not why I'm shaken. I really don't know for sure if Apple will lose product sales because the next one won't be officially debuted by Jobs (though the most recent one wasn't either, and it's already topped 1 million in pre-sales). Apparently, Steve has organized his company in such a way that they will be taken care of for a long time.

I'm more shaken by the fact that the world has lost one of her most special people. I can think of nobody else who has influenced my own generation across so many different levels (other than Jesus). Love him or hate him, you can't deny the fact that Steve Jobs was an extremely gifted and talented individual that did things in his life that many of us only dream about. He inspired us to think about things we hadn't thought about before and to put importance on things that others weren't.

He was probably a tough boss. I'm not sure I could've worked for him. He had immense persuasion not only over his own team, but his "enemies". He jump-started motivation and innovation in even his competitors. How many people can really say that?

The world has lost a visionary like no other. We will go on, but we can't forget the mark that this very special man left on this world.

0 5 Oct 2011

What's The Big Deal? Developing a strategy for communicating your company's core values.

Whether you want it or not, your company is a big deal. It has some defining characteristic that will be automatically associated with it once people have experienced your brand. The trick is, getting that characteristic to be a positive one.

Keeping your roster filled

I recently sat down with a good friend and business mentor and told him about one of my most irritating problems of late: people. Not clients, my own people on my team. The problem? I couldn't seem to keep them.

Rocket No. 9 is a virtual company by choice. It helps keep overhead down and allows us to explore the opportunities (and the setbacks) of operating in this sort of environment. We have no physical location, and 100% of her employees (aside from the managing members) are freelancers.

Like most companies that work with freelancers on a regular basis, we like to keep using the same ones over and again. It helps establish good relationships that can often pay off in the long run. As a freelancer myself, I feel connected to and respect these folks. I'm always looking at new talent, but as far as establishing relationships, I don't try to jump from one guy to the next willy-nilly.

The problem has been finding folks who are serious about working with us on an ongoing basis. We've had more than one person who turned out to be pretty flaky and it's a bad deal all around: for us, them and the client. When we have to fire someone, I usually take it pretty tough because my dream is to create company that people love to work at and with - when I see that someone is not enjoying our relationship or taking it seriously, it's very hard for me not to take it personally, though I know I shouldn't.

So the question I asked when I sat down with my friend was this: "How can I attract solid, dependable folks to come work for Rocket No. 9" - His answer was another question: "What are your core values?"

Defining your values

Honestly, the question kind of blind-sided me. Beyond what my partner and I had determined the company values should be when we first launched this thing, I hadn't given it much thought. I knew where to start, though. "I want to be a company that's recognized for it's integrity and dependability," I told him.

"Okay," he said. "Then you need to establish those expectations from the moment you begin to interview someone." He went to explain how I should put these core values front and center for the company and all who do business with us, and to lead with those values when talking with potential freelancers. Rather than ask them to whip out their portfolio, ask them where they stand on these values. How would they handle certain situations that don't necessarily include Photoshop and HTML?

Asking the right questions

If I ask you to tell me what you know about Enron, you likely won't mention first that they traded energy. You'll tell me what they've become known for: scandal and greed. Inasmuch, establishing the core values for your business will help you set guidelines for how your run your business and thus help you control how the public perceives you. A counselor once told me: "You can teach what you know, but you'll ultimately reproduce what you are." Meaning, the values you hold yourself to will be what ultimately shines through in the midst of company turmoil or professional conflict. Understanding these values though, sometimes means asking some tough questions:

What would you do if an employee was found to be embezzling money?
How would you handle a long-term client that suddenly demanded more than you could handle or afford?
What if your company hit rock-bottom and had to sell or go out of business - how would you handle the customers you have?
What do you want in a successor to your position?

Defining company values is something that should be required right out of the gate, but unfortunately, too many businesses (like mine, admittedly) try to make something up as we go along, hoping we'll fall into it one day. Well, it's true: you can either define your perception now or someone else will define it for you.

image source: tshirtguru.com

0 13 Sep 2011

Blogging: You're doing it wrong?

Most of my time with Rocket No. 9 is spent looking at small businesses and how they're using their online identity to well - identify with their target audience. When it comes to blogging, so many of them are doing it wrong.

I think there's the idea that because a blog is a quick-and-easy posting tool (or it should be) that it's the best way to update your readers or subscribers with news about your organization. I believe that if you have a product or sell a service, then news about said product or service needs to be an extremely small part of your blog. Relegate it to a category, not a major portion of the content.

A blog is not primarily a news tool. To be effective, a blog needs to be primarily an engagement tool. People don't subscribe to your blog because they want to see the latest changes and updates to your product or service (unless you have a blog specifically dedicated to that). By and large, people subscribe to your blog for your experience and wisdom. Really. If you've been doing what you do for awhile and others want to learn more about it, it's a great chance to share your wisdom with your readers. If you just solved a unique problem for a customer of yours, it's a terrific way to share your experience so that they can learn from it. Or maybe they found a different way to solve that problem and want to comment on it.

Think about it - what good does it do to shovel out useless information to a captive audience? Truth is, if you're not engaging them, they won't be captivated for long.

Take some time this week to think about your blog (if you have one) and what you can do to turn it into more of an engagement tool that drives your readers to do more with your business - and I don't just mean buy more stuff.

0 13 Aug 2011

Groupon: How and When to do it.

In the last article about mega-popular Daily Deal site Groupon, I told you about the scenarios that could happen as a result. The news was by and large, not good. It may have left a few of you feeling as though the whole thing was a sham and not worth even being considered. The truth is, Groupon has worked really well for a particular type of business, and again, there’s the stat that “95% of Groupon merchants would use them again.” So it can’t be horrible (at least not at first). In this article, I’ll discuss the type of business you need to be if you want to do a Groupon deal successfully, and ways to make your Groupon feature most effective.

First of all, not every business is suited to be featured on Groupon. As mentioned last time, “seasoned businesses with a steady stream of customers” should probably not use Groupon in the first place, because they don’t need to. Since opening, getting featured on Groupon has migrated from being a marketing opportunity to being “the thing to do”, as made plain by it’s sheer numbers: Some business, somewhere within a city block of you has likely been featured on Groupon. I believe this has resulted in businesses unwittingly getting themselves into trouble because they were simply trying to be cool.

Even businesses that have been around for a good long while are now finding themselves in trouble because, through Groupon, they made a promise they couldn’t keep to their customers. Or if they were able to keep it, it was probably so strained that they lost money on products, produce or staff. Some of them may have even quit.

Case Study: Posies Cafe and Bakery

One of the most well-known cases like this was for a small bakery and cafe in the Portland area called Posies.

The deal went down like this: Jessie, owner and operator of Posies since it opened, was approached and convinced by Groupon to take a 50% hit on her sales for a chance to grow her business. Actually, that’s not entirely correct. She discounted the price of her product by 50% (because Grouponers really respond to big savings, the salesman said) and then gave half of the remainder to Groupon. So she was actually knocking her price down by %75 in order to (possibly) gain more business in the future.

Now think for a second – if you go into a clothing store, where is the stuff that’s marked down by 75%? On the clearance rack. This is the product that they’ve got too much of and need to get rid of it before they throw it away. It is usually not a considerable part of their marketing campaigns because it doesn’t make them much money.

In the mind of her customers, Jessie has told them she’s got so much product, she can almost give it away, and she almost did. By the time her deal was over, she had angered many of her loyal customers (not just Groupon members) and she had to put in over $8,000 of her own money in order to cover the bills she couldn’t pay because she’d cheapened her product so much. She said what I’ve heard a number of times already:

“I’ll never use Groupon again. Worst decision I’ve ever made.”

What to remember about running a Groupon Deal

Now, to her own credit, Jessie had a few bad ideas about her Groupon. I haven’t spoken with her, so I don’t know if these ideas were sold to her or she was simply ignorant of the terms of her sale. There is, in fact, a way to use Groupon that won’t guarantee increase, but will make your chances much better and will at least allow you to pay your own bills. Folks who use Groupon should remember the following:

You get to set the limits. The Groupon rep on the phone is not a marketing expert – they are a salesman. Their job is make sure that the deal swings in favor of Groupon, not the small business owner. If you allow them, you’ll end up just like Jessie – not even able to pay your own bills because you took such a hit in your product pricing. Don’t listen to their baloney story about “you’ll never have to advertise again after using Groupon.” That’s bull. Smart business owners know that they’ll never stop marketing their business. Understand that you have a lot more say than they may let on and be clear about what your goals are. You can control a lot of the aspects of the deal. Don’t want them to take 50%? Tell them. Don’t want to sell your product for half of the normal cost? Let them know. You can even set the expiration date yourself, or put a cap on how many of your Groupons can be sold. If they truth is that 95% of Groupon Merchants would use them again, then they need your business as much you think you need their marketing deal. Feel free to take advantage of that in regards to keeping your lifeboat from sinking.

One of our clients – a local blogging mom named Jenny who calls herself The Peaceful Housewife sells budget-friendly and energy-friendly products. She did plenty of her own research and took in some Rocket No. 9 consulting before deciding to launch her own Groupon deal with some heavily modified restrictions. Here’s what she had to say:

The Groupon deal went well. I sold 41 vouchers. I’ve already had contact with several of the customers and have gotten several orders from the deal. So far, everything is great. I had my check in the mail 4 days after the deal ended, which I thought was spectacular. So far I’m happy with it. As for whether or not I’d do it again, tough call. I’ll have to wait and see if I get any repeat orders or new non-Groupon customers from the deal.

Jenny made it a point to dip her toe in the water of Groupon, not dive in head-first. As a result, she’s not feeling the stress that’s left so many other small businesses in a bind over a single deal. She also is being persistent about seeing the true value of the marketing campaign – to create repeat customers, not just one-time Grouponers. Time will tell if this proves to be fruitful.

What kind of business should run a Groupon deal?

As stated before, a seasoned business with a steady stream of clients does not need to run a Groupon deal, if only to seem hip to “what all the others are doing these days”. There is a special niche of folks that I believe can actually benefit from a Groupon deal, because of what it’s made to do: drive a load of traffic to your door on a short-term basis.

Here are some of the folks who could benefit from Groupon:

A small retail or restaurant business that has just opened up shop and is looking to make a splash, and has money to spend.
A business sponsoring or endorsing some sort of event, where foot-traffic is more important than revenue.
Someone needing to create awareness of an event, promotion or particular product in a short amount of time. And is willing to pay for it.

Knowledge is Power

I don’t believe that Groupon deliberately sets out to kill the businesses they’re involved with – it’s ultimately the fault of the businesses for biting off more than they can chew. If you’re considering going Groupon in the near future, I hope this short series has enlightened you to the advantages and possible harmful effects of using this or any other Daily Deal sites. With the knowledge of how to harness the terms of your deal, you can make it work out best for you.

1 16 Jul 2011

5 Facebook tips for small businesses

Ah, Facebook, the behemoth of websites that seemingly changed the face of the internet in less than a decade. With more than 750 million active users, of which 50% log in at any given day, there is a vast ocean of potential clients, customers and opportunities.

At the same time, this powerful tool is still new and very, very vast. It’s easy to get lost in the lingo, etiquette and technology that has been specially-made for this service, especially for those, like many, who just learned how to attach a file to an email. But never fear, I’ll help give you some basic pointers that make Facebook work for small businesses.

Engage, engage, engage!

The number one key to Facebook’s popularity is that everyone can interact with everyone. They build and maintain relationships with their friends from long distances, times long gone and impossible to meet like never before. Many companies make the mistake of using Facebook as a spring board to broadcast their message to the masses, which can happen, but no one will listen and they will hide your posts. They key is to respond to what your fans are saying, replying to posts on your wall and producing content that is engaging and fun.

When trying to gain rapport with your fans, you also have to remember that social media isn’t in high school anymore. Facebook isn’t about how many, it’s about what kind of fans. Having thousands of “likes” does nothing if you aren’t getting any input from them. Developing strong relations with few key fans will get them to influence their friends towards your business and what you’re doing. THEY do the advertising for you, and that’s the whole point of social media.

It’s also important to let people say what they want to say. If people have honest gripes with the company, don’t censor them. Use it as an opportunity to learn, grow and help fix their problem. If you have a strong relationship with the community you’ve grown, they might even step in and defend any naysayers who post on your page.

Engaging with your followers will also help understand how they are using Facebook. By having a solid understanding of what aspects of Facebook your followers use will better equip you for adapting or drafting a social media plan or purpose and help target your online demographic of like-minded users.

Use the tools you’ve been given.

Go ahead, grab a sandwich, and spend some time to look over all the fun and free-to-use tools, plug-ins and apps that is offered by Facebook. They may not have the simplest of instructions or explanations of their use, but asking a few questions to the right people who can help will only benefit you in the long run.

There are plug-ins on Facebook that enable you to do many exciting and engaging things. “Fan of the Week” is a plug-in that allows you to recognize the fan that has interacted with your page the most in a given week. You could offer a discount or free sample of your product to that special fan. “Fan Voice” gives you the chance to interact better with fans by creating a Fan Feedback tab on your page. While plug-ins are great, the important thing is not to go overboard. Pick three or four plug-ins that you think will keep your fans (potential customers) engaged and start there first.

There is also a tool that provides business owners with detailed metrics about the effectiveness of their page content, analysis of user growth and demographics and other concerns. Log onto: http://developers.facebook.com/docs/insights/

It takes time to invest and develop a Facebook community and strategy.

Imagine being Kevin Costner standing out in a corn field on a warm summer night with a gentle breeze blowing through the stalks as they dance back and forth in a rhythmic cadence. You hear a whisper, “If you build it, they will come.”

Unfortunately, in reality, the 80s are gone and Facebook is not Field of Dreams. Many companies believe that if they set up a business page that it will set its own course. It’s not just fan growth that will suffer from this philosophy; it may also damage your relationships with existing fans, especially customers who have come to expect timely responses to their posts and queries.

There are programs out there will automatically update your pages with whatever you want. People see right through that, and you’ll lose A LOT of credibility

Many companies deal with sales, and the salesmen who are the most successful at their job are the ones who build relationships with their current and potential clients. Facebook is no different. It is vital to update and monitor the page constantly, and that will take time, effort and purpose.

You should be consistently evaluating what you want to get out of Facebook. Set clear goals. For example, are you hoping to attract 50 new fans who could become potential customers in a six-month time period? How are you going to do that? Have you designated someone within your company to maintain the page? How often will you be able to post fresh content?

Buckle up, it’s the law!

Facebook has a very strict Terms of Service regulation, and it can be surprisingly easy to violate one or two of the smaller clauses by mistake. Don’t fret, the vast majority of them are common sense, but it’s good to know some of the more common offenders to be sure you stay out of Facebook’s line of sight and not get your page deleted.

First off, don’t even think about tagging people (linking a part of an image to someone’s profile) in an image without their permission. Getting peoples’ attention by tagging them is not only a violation of the TOS, but can be reported by those being tagged as abusive behavior; which brings your violation to Facebook’s attention and opens your page’s content to review… and you DO NOT want that.

Everybody wants to see their fan count grow quickly, but don’t be tempted to create fake accounts and then become a fan of your business with them. Facebook can often detect fake accounts, which are a violation of the TOS. If you’re caught, you will lose your page and the marketing power that comes with it. But I’m sure you’re better than that, right?

Spice it up!

I can’t express how important the last tip is. The reason people go to Facebook is to enjoy funny, interesting and useful content. This is where small businesses can really shine, mainly because most don’t have any legal departments to get approval from. This is your opportunity, so loosen the tie, un-tuck the shirt and have fun!

Status updates alone get boring. But photos, videos and other forms of multimedia as a whole can get boring too. Your job is to mix it up. If you become predictable, boring or annoying, fans will hide you from their feed. So keep it varied and personal; a video here, a photo here, a tag of one of your fans there.

It’s your chance to showcase your business’ personality and brand. See what your competitors aren’t doing and do it. It’s ok to let loose and be creative. It’s about building a community and relationships, and it can’t be done if you’re being overly professional.

Go ahead and think outside the box. The better you start understanding your fans, the better you’ll get at finding what they relate to and will allow you to play around with what gets more responses with them. You want them to like your content that they share it on their own.

All in all, invest time in learning about the Facebook platform, educate yourself on how to build and sustain an audience, and don’t forget to engage with people like you do in real life. What sets small businesses apart from large companies is their ability to make personal connections with customers. They tend to forget this, yet it’s their biggest strength and asset.

0 15 Jul 2011

You've got it, now use it!

Quick tip: If you've got a blog and I can find it, I'm gonna check into it. If it's listed on your main website, I'm going to check it out.

You know what I'm going to look for?

Wear and tear.

I want to see if it's being used. If people are commenting and sharing. If the stuff you're writing has substance.

And I'm going to check to see if you are posting on a regular basis. If you're not, I'm gone.

If you haven't posted something to your blog - your connection to the real world beyond your website - in at least 2 weeks or less, you're out of communication. You're outdated, out of the loop, not in the now and not in the know.

At least, that's the impression you're giving.

If you're brandishing your blog on your main website and parading it around like it's something special, but you're not giving it the love it needs, you've got nothing more than a starving show dog.

It shows me you're not as passionate about your cause or product as I am about my money, and it keeps me from purchasing from you.

I'd say it's better to have no blog at all than one half-done.

Image source: Lord Jim via Flickr.

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