Chrome, An Essential Business Mineral

I LOVE GOOGLE CHROME!!!!

Did I come on a little strong…………………….?

I can’t talk enough about the productivity elements that Chrome offers to business people.  I've battled between Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Chrome for a while, but now I’m a heavy metal head!

Why you ask?  Let me tell you:

1.  Synchronization – I drive a lot for my work and I have an Android phone so it is great to have all of my contacts and prospective addresses synced to my phone and other devices.  Even if I’m just thinking about going to a place, if I searched it on my notebook it quickly pops up on my phone (huge time saver).

2.  Speed – I know Chrome does use a lot of resources on your computer, but when it’s going it’s very fast (I’m all about time saving).

3.  Extensions -  This is the number 1 reason why I love Chrome.  I've found some great extensions that make my work a lot more productive and insightful.  Here’s a section on those  (the bullet title links go to the Chrome Web Store):

1.  Stayfocused – do you ever find yourself just sitting in your email inbox or drifting around LinkedIn or Twitter because of one notification?  Stayfocused allows you to set a timer for websites you use and then when the time expires you cannot login to these sites until the next day.  I’ll tell you what, when you know you can’t get into your email until the next day you look at it with more focus, speed, and efficiency!

2.  PowerInbox – this one just allows you to see any social media emails more completely.  Follow people from your email and unsubscribe from a list right from the inbox without even opening the email!

3.  mxHero Toolbox - Best extension ever!  I send a lot of emails and the fact that this one sends the tracking response right to your email you can see if you have a response on your phone.  Even schedule emails for later and set the email to remind you if you don’t receive a reply by a certain time.  Huge email supercharger!!

There’s a few more, but I think these 3 will get you well on your way to web wizardry!

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3 Things The Zimmerman Trial Taught Me

This is a very controversial and emotional topic right now for many, but I need to weigh in the importance of some of the things I personally learned from this trial.

The stage was already set for a firestorm when a case of a young black teen is slain by a half Caucasian adult and the state wants to sweep it under the rug.

Interestingly, when the stage is set for trial finally, you can see some masterful marketing and psychology at hand.

1. Know Your Audience
• 85% of court cases are won at jury selection according to Herald Price Fahringer in 1993.  Why is that?  This is simply due to the fact that either side of the court room can use demographics, education, gender, income, etc to pick a panel that can best understand “their side.”  Marketing needs to do the same process.  If you know who can best benefit from your products or services than you can present their needs in the best light.  This is where you start seeing what people say on your social media channels or even what your competitor’s customers are saying.  If you don’t know who needs what you have then you’re pretty much doomed…….
2. Fear Of Loss Is Greater Than Desire To Gain
• The jury had the task of basically deciding if Zimmerman sought out to kill Martin.  Not if he did it because that is evident, but if he planned or chose to do it maliciously.  With that task they can gain the joy of Martin’s family getting justice or have the Zimmerman family lose their son and the jury having to hold onto that loss of freedom.  Not to say one choice is better than the other, but the defense did an excellent job of instilling that point.  Approach your customers this way.  Nobody likes making a decision to go forward with a financial decision and then losing money on it.  MAKE SURE THEY WON’T LOSE ANYTHING!!  If they are, then tell them.  You may not earn any business then, but you will gain their respect and possible future business. 
3. Use Emotions To Your Advantage (Ethically)
• One interesting thing to note from Anderson Cooper’s interview with juror B37 is the fact how she kept referring to the defendant as George.  Not Mr. Zimmerman or Zimmerman as most of us know him.  The women felt sorry for Zimmerman or felt horrible about what they had to do.  Think about how your prospective clients feel about you or your product.  You have to know why or how they will feel good about a decision to accept what you offer.  Communicate with them with that in mind at all times.  Use it to help them come to a conclusion that will make them happy.  That’s how we gauge decisions.  We want to feel good about decisions.  If you have to bring up how sad someone will be when they don’t work with you (ie not having life insurance when your spouse dies……) then that is ok just as long as you turn it into a positive and you first and foremost know you will benefit them with your offering. 

This tragedy will go down in American history for many reasons.  I just choose to look at things from various angles.  Ultimately what I witnessed was great application of psychology from the jury selection phase to the verdict.  That is my way of taking something positive from such a long and drawn tragedy. 

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Don’t Tweet Like A Twit

Hi guys!  So let’s start off with a few updates on social media’s impact.  Namely Twitter. 
Last year, Twitter was the number 2 tool for social media branding at 53% of businesses using it.  Facebook was number one at 83%, but that is a different strategy.  I want to talk about a few quick tips for Twitter, because I see a lot of businesses make these mistakes. 
Top 5 tips:

1. Know that you’re tweeting!
1. You’d be amazed about how many companies don’t know what or when they’re tweeting and then have the gall to say, “I don’t think Twitter helps my business”…………  You definitely need some automizing to help your tweeting, but if you don’t know when or what it’s helping you with then you’re kind of wasting the web’s time….
2. Stop talking about yourself all the time!
1. You know that friend you hate to talk to because the entire conversation is about them?  Don’t be that guy on Twitter.  So many people get surprised that they don’t have followers when all they talk about is specials and promos.  There’s only so many times someone will want to see you say thing are half off before they’re all the way gone…………
3. Be helpful!
1. Try to provide your audience with some knowledge you’ve gained from your industry or life experiences.  Sure you want to gain sales from these people, but social media is like a Hanzel and Gretel situation.  Give people a few crumbs to lead them to the real meal!
4. Get to the point!
1. Yes twitter allows 140 characters, but don’t do the long sentence … thing.  People don’t respond to those that often unless you have a very compelling 137 characters.  Try to leave something hard hitting and a quick take away with a link attached.  If you expect everyone to read all of your “extended” tweets you’ll have a lot of extended alone time.
5. Be fun!
1. Last year 91% of mobile internet access was spent socializing.  Not self promoting!  Talk about fun things sometimes.  Provide cool news articles related to your field or how you help people.  People will read this a lot sooner and you develop a subliminal link with them.  Then you’re able to slip in  very small marketing things here and there. 

Social media is very much a cat and mouse game.  You  cannot expect quick techniques to work or not spend any time planning.  You have to be likeable especially when you consider how short the shelf life of a tweet is. 
Definitely get familiar with sites like Hootsuite, Tweetcaster, and Buffer.  They’re 3 of my favorite social media tools and greatly help. 

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3 Reasons Why Pinterest is Important to Your Business

     So what is Pinterest you may ask (if you are really asking……….watch some TV)?  Pinterest is one of the fastest growing social media platforms ever.  Why?  Because it’s so simple. 

     All it is is an assortment of photos in a timeline-like arrangement.  There’s very little chatter, but a lot of eye candy.  The reason this platform is taking off is because of it’s simplicity and it’s focus on photos (if you didn’t know, photos are especially important to your ranking with search engines). 

     Here’s the great part (for some businesses).  The community is 80% female and a lot of them are buyers!

1.     According to a survey done by Bizrate 69% of users of Pinterest either purchased an item they found on Pinterest or an item they want to buy. *

69%!!!!!!!

     I don’t know about you, but having a source of customers that possibly 69% of them buy is HUGE!!!  It’s like pins on a bulletin board! …………..nobody like that……..really……….anyway. 

2.      Images play a key part in your ranking ranking online.  Images are typically ranked in searches now whether organically or not.  Therefore, you can take advantage of the organic aspect by having people pin your images or by being followed.  These follows and repins are a great source of backlinks (make sure your images point back to something of yours.  Hopefully a product page which is why I say this helps certain platforms more than others). 

3.      Lastly, Pinterest is another source of social influence.  Yes Facebook is still important, but you can integrate the two together and tap another market (your Facebook account can directly link to your Pinterest to help save you some time).  The way I see it, the more way you have for your message to be heard, the better. 

Take advantage of this opportunity.  I am.  With somewhere between 10 and 20 million users, somebody will want to hear what your saying…………..right???

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