Is your content struggling with getting noticed, being shared or acted upon? More than likely the problem is the content lacks value. If so, I have developed a detailed way to help you turn your struggle into a success by defining each letter in the word value.

Vital – Create positive, informational and unique content. By doing so, our content becomes appealing, worthy and one of a kind. Encompassing vitality in our content opens the door for our brand, relationships and audience to grow.

Accurate – Do research to ensure the content you are sharing is correct and updated. Sharing an article from a year ago may share outdated tips or convey wrong information about a topic or question asked. This prevents possible catastrophe, failure and misleading someone. Also, can lead to poor reputation of a brand or individual.

Lead – Use knowledge in content to create a path of success. Knowledge can be in the form of a tip, blog post or response to a question asked. By leading we inspire, help someone create success and make a difference. The key is to be effective in doing so.

Understand – Create content that has a clear meaning.  An individual may not understand content as easy as another individual does. Be detailed, paint a picture with words, and give an example to avoid confusion. Always make it be known in content you are willing to explain if need be.

Engaging – Listen by responding. Let your audience know you acknowledge them. Thank them, share and respond to public content and ask how their day is going. Create a conversation by asking a question. Engaging content shows the audience you value and are there for them.

When we create content of value, we are raising awareness for our brand and our personal self. It is important to encompass this trait to keep a positive image and presence, to see growth and succeed.

How do you define content of value? Do you encompass it? Feel free to leave your response in a comment.

Have a great day,

Jason Houck

These days, starting a Facebook page for your business is a no-brainer. It seems that everyone from celebrities to major corporations to home-based entrepreneurs are using Facebook to their advantage. But there are dangers to be aware of. Having a poor Facebook presence can be worse than having no Facebook presence at all. Fortunately, there are five easy steps you can follow to ensure that your business is doing the most to entice a client to become a follower of your Facebook page.

Update Often, but Not Too Often

There’s nothing worse than a Facebook page with nothing on it. If a client sees that your Facebook page is outdated or has no useful content, they may leave and never come back. At the same time, you don’t want to be that annoying Facebook user who overloads people’s news feeds with endless useless content. The key is to find a balance that works for you. Many companies will aim for one or two posts per day. The way Facebook is currently set up, home page feeds are based on users’ previous visits, so the more they look at your page, the more of your content they’ll see in their home page feed. This is important to remember when you’re thinking about how much information to put out there on a regular basis.

Use Multimedia Content

Today’s Facebook users are typically seeking content that is varied and compelling. Organizing an event and posting photos of that event is a great way to turn your face-to-face clients into online clients. Tagging your clients in these photos will not only attract them to your page, it will also give them an immediate sense of personal connection to you. Videos are also a great way to engage potential clients. Just remember to keep them short and to the point. Users are looking for content that is quick and easy to digest.

Use Your Existing Online Tools

Your business probably has a website already, as well as other tools that clients can follow such as a blog, an e-newsletter, or a twitter account. An easy way to get Facebook followers is simply to place a “like” button on your website or blog, and to ask your e-newsletter readers to like you on Facebook as well. These are users who are already following your business in other ways, so it’s a simple task to turn them into Facebook followers. You can also sync your twitter and Facebook accounts to ensure that whatever you post on Facebook is posted on twitter as well, or vice-versa. Twitter will even shorten longer posts if they don’t meet their character limit, and will include a link to your original Facebook post.

Give Something Away

Using your Facebook account for online giveaways will really make your clients want to follow you. All you have to do is create a post that says something along the lines of “like our page and you could win a free smartphone app.” Give it a timeline, and select one of your new “likers” at random as the winner. If you turn this into a monthly event you’ll likely see your number of followers skyrocket in no time.

Be Creative and Have Fun

While Facebook works great as a marketing tool, it’s important to remember that most users are just looking to have some fun. Try creating posts that are interactive and invite people to respond. You could post something general along the lines of “I hate Mondays because ___________” and have readers fill in the blank. Or make it something more closely related to your business if you want followers who are more deeply engaged with what you do.

In the end, remember that Facebook users are people, and have specific wants and needs just like all people do. If your business is attentive to these wants and needs, you will be able to turn your clients into Facebook followers in no time.

You’ve heard it before and you’ll hear it again: your business needs to be actively engaged on social media if you want to thrive in today’s marketplace. That’s great for major corporations with big budgets and plenty of resources, but what do you do if you’re a small business with limited resources and limited time? The good news about social media marketing is that you can achieve a lot without spending too much. But there are also many pitfalls you can fall into that will end up costing you valuable time and money if you’re not careful.

Tools You Can Use For Free

One of the major advantages of social media marketing is that most of the tools are free to use. Anyone can have a Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or Google+ account provided they have an email address. There are also social media management tools like HootSuite that provide a basic package for free or a premium package for a low monthly fee. This means that anyone can get into the social media game for next to nothing.

Don’t Waste Your Time

The main problem with social media, however, is not the cost of the tools, but the time it takes to use them. This is where your business will have to seriously consider if certain social networks are worth being a part of or not. Take Twitter, for example. If you don’t have the time to tweet multiple times a day, then Twitter might not be for you. Social media users expect to see a fresh flow of content that is being continually updated, and failing to provide them with that can have a negative impact on your brand.

Can You Afford to Hire a Contractor?

Many businesses with limited resources will hire independent contractors to handle all of their social media for them. This is a great way to ensure that you have an effective social media presence even if you don’t have the resources to handle it yourself. But when hiring contractors, you can easily end up spending upwards of $10,000 a month to keep up a blog, a Twitter account, a YouTube account, a Facebook account, and more. Is this really something that your business can afford?

Don’t Spread Yourself Too Thin

Instead of trying to keep up a dozen different social media accounts when you don’t really have the time or the budget to do so, it may be best to figure out which areas you want to focus on and do those well. Consider which demographics you want to reach. Find out which social media tools they use most and do an awesome job of representing your brand across those platforms.

Social media marketing can be fun and it can be effective, but if you’re doing it wrong it can also be a colossal waste of time. And as with many other areas of marketing, going after a niche market means that you can often see a higher return coming from a smaller investment.

Customer Service is a vital and important aspect any brand must grasp ahold of and continuously focus on. When focusing on great customer service, priority should be given to the customer when a problem arises. The biggest priority is to listen and let the customer give their opinion on what they feel is the best and fairest solution to their customer satisfaction. As a result of the customer being able to convey the solution and the brand following through successfully, the person will be happy and create word of mouth resulting in a repeat customer and possibly a new one.

At times, the solution we want to see as customers is not simply possible because of rules a brand has in place. I experienced this with PayPal yesterday as a problem arose with me sending money to a business that had very sneakingly convinced me to for a product. I contacted PayPal on Twitter and within minutes they had Olivia with the appropriate department call me to see about getting the amount credited back. She called and I missed the call. I then called the number back and I proceeded on to speak with another lady who told me my credit could not be done because I had made an error which I was okay with since it was my mistake. But the lady insisted, she would double check. Within an hour, Olivia called me back and wanted to offer her apologies for what took place in regards to me sending this money. She immediately conveyed to me she understood why I made the error and as a result granted the answer to my problem although it isn’t typical procedure to do so. I immediately, said to myself, WOW and was satisfied.

This experience made me feel important, comfortable and a part of the PayPal brand resulting in being a continuous, dedicated and loyal PayPal user. By Olivia following up with a phone call when not asked, listening and fully understanding me showed me they truly care about their customers and are willing to do whatever it takes to create a customer experience that leaves a lasting and positive impression.

This experience is a true example of a brand that stays true to their commitments and ready to solve your customer problems by doing more than what is expected. Thanks PayPal and Olivia for handling an issue in a timely manner over the phone as you do on Twitter creating a definition of the phrase, The Customer Service WOW Factor.

As the social media trend continues to grow, it has become apparent that social media presents a unique opportunity for small businesses to connect with their client base on a grassroots level and in a cost-effective manner. Though it may be difficult to justify taking time out of running a business to communicate with customers over various social media outlets, in reality this time expenditure shouldn’t feel trivial. Purposeful social media in business allows for a community to be built around a business’ concept or product, which is something marketers always strive for.

How Social Media Builds a Community

Social media is an excellent tool for a small business because it allows the business to actually connect with the audience and inspire a conversation. When social media is done right, it is engaging. It creates a dialogue among owners and potential clients, and it can stir interest in a product. Through back and forth dialogue between a business and their clients, a community is fostered where you can get a feel for the types of people that are interested in what your business offers. Basically, social media allows your target demographic to be friends with you and converse with you at the same time.

Social Media As A Tool For Customer Service

The social media platform also has the very immediate possibility of being an extension of your customer service offerings. In addition to having a customer service hotline or inbox, social media is a way to monitor the conversation about your product or service online and be a part of it. Using social media, it is possible for a business to offer solutions and tips in real time and in public. In effect, social media gives a small business the chance to host the conversation about themselves, which gives a business the power to interject at any moment and correct problems as they occur.

Social Media is Worth Your Time

Though small businesses often have a hard time justifying the time expenditure that social media requires it has nonetheless become an extremely important tool for business and should be used to its full potential. It helps small companies build a community that previously would have taken the resources of professional marketers and plenty of money to build. Companies can now build a community with the same power almost organically. Furthermore, it has the potential to enhance your business by giving you the opportunity to address customer service issues in real time and in public.

Social media is still growing and there is no sign that the trend is coming to an end any time soon. Small businesses should decide how they want to engage with customers on different social media sites and begin to do so. At this point, the drawbacks of not joining social media sites are too hefty to ignore, and the potential involved with a well-run social media presence is too great an opportunity to pass up.