Tag : small businesses

  • 20 of the Most Favored Social Media Blog Posts of 2010

    Posted Dec 20th, 2010 By in Blogging, Business, Social Media With | 1 Comment

    Here are 20 most read and widely-shared social media blog posts of 2010 on MirnaBard.com. It’s a good time to revisit many of these posts, as they are great reminders when planning for 2011.  Please let me know what your favorite one was in the comments below.

    Thank you for all my supportive readers.  I appreciate you more than you know!

    1. Ask Mirna: What criteria do you suggest people use to select a social media expert?
    2. 7 Signs Your Social Media Consultant is Really an Expert
    3. 15 Categories of Social Media
    4. 21 Twitter Conversation Tips
    5. 99 Favorite Social Media Quotes and Tips
    6. Top 50 Social Media Mistakes Made by Small Businesses
    7. 6 Essential Mindset Shifts for Social Media Success
    8. The 21 Essential C’s of Social Media
    9. How to Write Re-tweetable Tweets in 5 Minutes or Less
    10. 290 Email Spam Trigger Words to Avoid
    11. 4 Steps to Strengthen Your Brand with Social Media
    12. Is Social Media a ‘Get Rich’ Scheme or Competition?
    13. 3 Undeniable Ways to Turn Competitors into Enemies on Social Media Sites
    14. 25 Monitoring Tools That Will Not Cost You a Penny
    15. 11 Key E’s of Social Media
    16. 11 More Key E’s of Social Media
    17. 5 Definite Reasons Why Videos are an Effective Marketing Tool
    18. 7 WordPress Plug-ins to Help You Control Content Scraping
    19. 9 Ways to Reduce Scraping and Catch Blog Post Theft
    20. 7 Simple Social Networking Tips for Business

    Which one of the 20 was your favorite of 2010?

  • The Visa Business Network Invites Mirna Bard to Help Mentor 100,000+ Business Owners

    Posted Aug 14th, 2010 By in Blogging, Business, Facebook, Social Media, Social Networking With | 10 Comments

    A couple months ago, Visa Business Network’s Outreach team discovered my blog and reached out by completing the form on my site to let me know that they find my blog to be very impressive and a valuable resource to businesses. They asked if they could feature my blog on the Visa Business Network as part of their public blog roll.

    VisaMentorAnd what was even more exciting was Visa’s invitation the following week, inviting me to be one of the expert mentors for their 100,000+ active member community.  Of course, I accepted and anxiously waited for their announcement this week. Yeah! :D

    Recently, the Visa Business Network launched enhancements and new features to their community site to help small businesses connect learn, and accomplish goals.  Visa quickly realized that social media is playing a huge role in business and wanted to provide its community with a better way to connect, learn, and grow.

    The new features include:

    Business Goal Toolkits – These are step-by-step “how to” guides that lead small business owners through the process of setting and achieving business goals.

    Small Business Mentor Program – Small businesses will now get personalized help and guidance from other successful small business owners through a question and answer forum.  Through the mentor program, members are able to collaborate by asking questions related to their goals and receive personalized advice and responses from small business peers and mentors with experience across a wide range of industries.

    Mentors were invited based on the following criteria:

    - Expertise in the topic/goal area

    - Previous mentor experience

    - Small business experience. Since this is a community of peers, owning or working for a small business is required

    - Previous active online community involvement

    - Ability to help provide initial goal content

    - Enthusiasm for selected goal and helping small businesses succeed

    “We are thrilled to have our new mentors on board as we launch the Visa Business Network with new features. Our mentors are leaders in their respective fields and will lend their expertise to small business owners on the Visa Business Network, who are looking for guidance as they work to grow their businesses. The mentors will be vital both as a resource and participant in the growing Visa Business Network community, and we look forward to working with them to encourage and foster small business growth.”  Rich Yang, Head of Small Business Marketing

    I will specifically be mentoring businesses on creating and promoting Facebook business pages to help businesses grow and thrive on this giant social networking site.  My answers will enable many business owners to gain more clarity, eliminate confusion, and reduce overwhelm when it comes to promoting their businesses on Facebook.  So, I invite you to ask away!

    Content Ranking – Their new ranking system will also provide small businesses with quick access to the resources and articles fellow small business owners have declared most useful.

    VisaLogo

    I am sharing this with my readers for two reasons:

    1. This opportunity happened due to my content strategy and online visibility.  So, this is a reminder to all of you.  By showcasing your expertise online, you will open many possibilities.  As I always say, you never know who is reading, watching, listening and sharing your content online. Transparency does equal opportunity, and this can come from anywhere and anyone (including people who you think are competitors).

    2. It is easy and free to join Visa’s rapidly-growing community.  You can quickly create your profile by visiting  www.visabusinessnetwork.com.  You can also join their Facebook community.

    What do you think of Visa’s idea? And, do you have any great success stories due to your blogging efforts?  I would love to read them in the comments below!

  • 4 Steps to Strengthen Your Brand with Social Media

    Posted Jul 9th, 2010 By in Business, Social Media With | 1 Comment

    Social media is a very powerful tool for allowing businesses to efficiently and economically develop a strong brand presence in the marketplace. This is true not just when it applies to brand outreach, but also brand development at it’s core.

    At Flying Pig Communications, we work with a lot of start-ups and small businesses that are at the forefront of establishing who they are, in the mind of their consumer. These businesses have found amazing success in developing that core brand foundation by relying on social media as their platform.

    Unfortunately social media is so new and omnipresent, it can seem overwhelming. This prevents many business owners from taking advantage of the opportunities it presents them. Never fear…you started a business, you can’t be a coward…here is an easy four step protocol to help any business owner develop a successful social media branding program:

    1) Know Who You Are

    Before embarking on any marketing campaign, but especially a social media one, which operates on such a personal, conversational level, a business must establish a clear vision of the following cornerstones of brand development:

    -What is the goal of your business/service/product? This should have nothing to do with sales or your personal profit/success. This should have everything to do with how your business can make your customer’s life better. Why in the world, with all the many products and services out there, would your customer benefit by choosing you?

    -What makes you unique? Why would your customer choose you over the 15 zillion other ‘you’s’ on the market?

    -What personality do you want to convey? Make your business human. People like working with other people, not other things…and social media gives you the power to develop a voice, literally! Develop a personality for your business and keep it consistent in everything you do. It could be your personality, it could be one you make up….have fun and always consider what will best appeal/resonate with your target audience.

    Just like life, you need to know who you are before you can attract others. Building a brand is more about a snappy logo or catchy slogan. Building a brand is about telling your customer a story about who you are, what you believe in and why they should trust you.

    2) Develop Your Strategy

    Once you feel firm in your answers above, moving on to the actual social media program is easy. Only two questions remain;

    -What social media channels will best help you express who you are.

    -How will you keep it consistent.

    Don’t try to tackle the whole social media sphere in one swoop, more isn’t better, better is better! Choose your poison (but make it strong).

    Choose the social media mediums that will best let you both target your ideal customer and express your brand. Know your limits, a good marketing campaign is the one that is properly executed, not the one that sounds good on paper.

    3) Prepare for the consequences

    Be aware of the power of social media, both for good and evil. It can be a double edged sword, and once you commit to a plan you need to make sure you maintain consistent and communicative with your audience.

    4) Enjoy it

    Most of all, have fun! Imagine social media as a web 2.0 way of shaking hands and kissing babies. Talk to your customer, enjoy them…serving their needs is the reason you went into business in the first place!

    Guest Author: Laura Petrolino is Founder and CEO of Flying Pig Communications. A full service Marketing, Communications and Business Consultancy Firm that specializes in working with start -ups, small businesses and non-profits.

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