Biz Owners, Don’t Bite off More than You can Chew

Sure it’s your company. You established it and developed its mission. You know it better than anyone. You hired all of the employees. You know the products and services. You know the vendors and customers.

You open the door in the morning and close it in the evening.

You are the jack of all trades bar none.

But does it benefit your company when you do everything by yourself? Or by doing so have you placed your firm in a precarious position. Do you really have to devote all of your time to all issues pertaining to your business?

Realistically, regardless of how much you’d like to, you can’t tear yourself apart or tend to everything simultaneously. You aren’t an octopus.

Here’s some advice about one vital business task. Recently, I came across a concise opinion on the web about what it means to be a successful manager of social media outreach that perfectly dovetails with my writings on the subject. As you’re heard, social media is a great marketing tool.

Liz Alton wrote for Twitter Business that improving customer experience is a key concern for companies and social media managers are on the forefront of bringing customers an outstanding brand experience.

Alton cited an observation in Harvard Business Review: “Our research across hundreds of brands in dozens of categories shows that the most effective way to maximize customer value is to move beyond mere customer satisfaction and connect with customers at an emotional level.”

Success in social media means creating a community of likeminded individuals and companies, and developing a mutually beneficial conversation among all participants. The key is not to sell a product of a particular size for a specific price point. That comes later. The key is build a microcosm of people that are interested in you, your company and your ideas.

Your social media goal is to transform your company and its chief executive into a thought leader – the go-to-person on all questions pertaining to your product/service and industry. Social media managers, with a variety of analytics at their disposal, bring focus on that mission and analyze its success.

Alton suggests these strategies to build an outstanding brand experience by focusing on building those all-important conversations:

1. Ask questions

2. Respond to follower content

3. Use Twitter Polls

4. Host Tweet chats

5. Know your brand’s story, customers, and goals

6. Recognize that timeliness matters

7. Have a clear customer experience strategy

8. Always ask for feedback

“Social media managers are on the front lines of delivering their customers a great experience on Twitter. Work to understand your audience and your company’s objectives — and then focus on content, engagement strategies, and analytics feedback to help make that vision a reality,” she wrote.

Another social media analyst, Jeff Bullas, writing about “10 Essential Skills a Social Media Manager Needs to Have on Their Resume” on Linked In, noted that a decade ago social media wasn’t a profession and it didn’t even enjoy a job description. It barely had a definition. Facebook and social media marketing elicited perplexed expressions.

“Fast forward a decade and every organization must have a social media manager, whether full time or part time,” Bullas wrote.

Truer words couldn’t have been written about the comprehensive nature of social media and its effectiveness as well as the responsibility of being a social media manager. The job of being a social media manager requires 24/7 attention to the cyber venue to ensure that your audience, customers and other interested parties are given every opportunity to learn about what you’re doing. Tepid dedication to social media can have damaging results. So where will a business owner find another set of 24 hours?

Twitter is an incredible tool that can provide your brand, your small business or your civic organization with a voice and personality. Twitter can also work to turn you, the small businessperson – the owner, into a thought leader about what is happening in your industry and your sphere of interest. The benefit of such a distinction is that you will become the go-to-person for answers and advice on what’s happening.

To be successful in tweeting, you will have to develop your personality and a unique style. That’s what makes the difference and can increase your Twitter followers and turn tweeting into a successful marketing tool for you and your company. As a small business owner, your social media activity should engage the world in the conversation that you initiate.

As the leader of your organization, you are goal driven, growth driven or mission driven. You focus on the bigger picture of promoting your company, product, service, NGO or issue. Consequently, you have to delegate the social media job responsibility to a trusted associate. Just as bookkeeping or human resources, social media management is a full-time or at least part-time task.

In addition to content, successful tweets should include a link to your website and other websites, blog posts, PDF documents, photographs or videos for greater impact. By doing so, you direct the readers’ attention to more information about the topic of your expertise.

However, you can’t wake up one morning and tell yourself “I’ll start tweeting today.” You have to be prepared with a plan and strategy about what you want to accomplish. Becoming a thought leader is a legitimate marketing goal for you as the proprietor. Making your company well known for its product or service is an equally legitimate marketing goal for your business. But as the business owner, you must remember not to overlook daily chores as you tweet.

You can’t build your business by keeping to yourself and you surely cannot have success on social media without virtually shaking hands. You have to get out of your niche and interact. You should tweet the same information several times a day with slight differences. You have to invite readers to join your conversation and you have to participate in conversations. You should also follow likeminded people, similar businesses and vendors, common industries, and supportive stakeholders, like their tweets and retweet their tweets. Their followers and readers may become your followers and readers. This builds your community and recognition in Twittersphere. If you don’t interact with the world, the world, your potential clients and prospective supporters will leave you by the side of the cyber-road.

The task is greater than one person and certainly greater than the business owner.

As Bullas noted, social media managers “need to be like a juggler at a circus and keep a lot of balls up in the air and make them all land safely. It requires skillsets which means managing many moving parts. Technical, analytical, creative with a bit of project management thrown in.”

Because tweeting and retweeting are never ending, managing the space is almost a 24/7 job. There’s always someone awake in Twittersphere – nearby or far away. It means monitoring, managing, updating and being inspired by the clients, advocates and other sources and addressing the issues raised.

Among the skills needed to do the job are:

1. Strategy planning

2. Tactics and execution – when to tweet or retweet

3. Community creation and management

4. Create content

5. Understand how content works on a social web

6. Optimizing content and technology

7. Creative mindset

8. Writing skills in a limited word count

9. Be on top of the latest digital marketing trends – which venue to use

10. Analytical skills – how to read SEO

11. Leadership and communication skills – internally and externally

It’s a major commitment and investment on the part of business and NGO management that should not be underestimated. Does the owner have the bandwidth for these tasks?

How will you tweet?

Join the conversation in cyberspace about boosting your business and outreach by using Twitter and social media and let me know your achievements. If you have examples of how you tweeted to boost outreach, let me know about it and I’ll help you spread the word about your success.

I’d also like to invite you to visit my Thought Leadership website:

http://thoughtleadership.yolasite.com/              

If you’re looking for advice on recruiting, company handbooks and other human resources topics, I’d like to suggest to you this interesting website:

http://hrtiebreaker.yolasite.com/

Scroll down along the Boosting Your Outreach blogsite to read or reread older posts.

More Evidence that Sustainability Helps Your Bottom Line

Shortly after completing a sustainability project for the New Jersey Small Business Development Center and the New Jersey Sustainable Business Registry, I came across more statistics about how being sustainable can help small businesses save money — especially restaurants – the foundation of the country’s economy and the small business community.

According to an article in Foods Safety Magazine written by Marty Sieh, chief operations officer at ENGIE Insight, restaurants that implement sustainable practices can reduce costs by 30%. In a tight business environment, these reductions are boosted by increased traffic by consumers who are looking for sustainable and environmentally friendly foodservice venues.

For example, Sieh wrote: “More than 80% of the $10 billion annual energy bill for the commercial foodservice sector is spent on inefficient food cooking, holding, and storage equipment. According to the National Restaurant Association’s 2018 State of Restaurant Sustainability report, restaurants could be doing more to tackle energy efficiency, waste management, and water usage. For example, less than half of restaurants surveyed use US Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star-rated refrigerators or low flush toilets, and only 25% of restaurants use Energy Star-rated efficient dishwashers.”

While untapped technological efficiencies hurt the bottom line and the environment, the industry needs to do more than simply buy new equipment. Foodservice operations must also adopt new business models, utilize data collection, and evaluate their operations to holistically incorporate sustainability, he wrote.

“The ability to harness massive amounts of data from sophisticated control systems monitoring a variety of equipment brings new opportunities for companies to improve performance and mitigate risk. Beyond scarce resources and environmental consequences, more than half—55%—of consumers say they consider a restaurant’s food waste reduction efforts an important factor when they choose a restaurant,” he pointed out.

Indeed, statistics abound about consumers’ preference for businesses that are sustainable. Millennials are more inclined to spend their disposable dollars at retailers and restaurants that are recognizably sustainable. This means if your business is sustainable then tell the marketplace that it is.

Sieh wrote that as consumers and governments crack down on waste and recycling regulations, foodservice companies must implement programs that maximize efficient waste practices and stay in compliance.

“While certain regulations, such as municipalities banning plastic straws, have been making headlines over the last few months, they are slowly rolling out other legislation, including separating organic food waste from inorganic garbage. Companies looking to stay in compliance and avoid major fines must first understand their current waste makeup. By conducting waste audits—scientific studies of waste streams—businesses will understand the data associated with their waste profile, how food waste affects their hauling costs, and where the best diversion opportunities are. Understanding and utilizing this output helps foodservice providers adapt their business models to streamline waste practices and capitalize on their recycling and composting programs in a cost-effective manner,” he elaborated.

In many instances restaurants can incorporate simple changes to can have a major impact on the business as well as the environment, he wrote. It’s not necessary to stop everything and rebuild your business to become sustainable. Hospitality businesses and foodservice operations account for nearly 15% of commercial water use in the country. Sieh found that on the West Coast, Shari’s Cafe & Pies realized the dipper wells used to clean ice cream scoops were wasting 8 million gallons of water every year through data audits. As a result, Shari’s decided to switch from a perpetual flow of water to a heated demand-based system that reduced water usage by 35% and led to 15–18% savings on natural gas usage. Because equipment and building sensors are cheaper than they’ve ever been, and data monitoring and analytics are more advanced, restaurants can avoid massive losses in critical resources and capitalize their return on investment.

Furthermore, according to Energy Star, restaurants that invest strategically can cut utility costs up to 30% without sacrificing service, quality, or comfort.

“Restaurants, now more than ever, need to integrate sustainability and energy efficiency strategies into their business operations and corporate strategy. The road to sustainability is paved in data and without this foundational element restaurants cannot capitalize on all the opportunities these initiatives have to offer,” Sieh concluded.

The suggestions that Sieh cited in his article have applications beyond the foodservice industry. Eliminating waste, adjusting water consumption and improved energy management can help all businesses improve their bottom lines.

The August sustainability edition of The Small Business Voice that I referred to at the top of this blog focused on the benefits of joining the New Jersey Small Business Registry for expert no-cost consultation on how to convert your company into an efficient, sustainable business.

With information about the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which serve as a roadmap for businesses and municipalities on becoming sustainable, the issue also offers statistics on how businesses that are members of the registry have made a positive difference on the environment and their balance sheets.

Sustainability is not only a target for large businesses but small businesses, the corner retailer and restaurant, can also benefit from jumping on this global bandwagon.

As Deborah K. Smarth, chief operating officer and associate state director of the NJSBDC, wrote:

“The most successful sustainability strategies often start with simple, low-cost initiatives that even the smallest business can accomplish. There are real opportunities for small businesses to yield significant benefits from the adoption of basic environmental best practices.

“For businesses interested in sustainability, but not sure where to start, the New Jersey Small Business Development Centers (NJSBDC) offer pro bono sustainability consulting and technical assistance. Over the past two years small businesses across New Jersey have taken advantage of this no cost service to find ways to integrate environmentally friendly practices into their day to day operations. NJSDBC’s expert counselors work with business owners to identify ways to increase efficiency through energy conservation, waste reduction, pollution prevention, streamlined procurement and risk management. Businesses are provided a baseline assessment of their environmental footprint, and a series of recommendations on how to implement sustainable practices.”

Looked from another point of view, sustainability is a growth opportunity for small businesses.

The issue also presents sustainability success stories of these Garden State companies: Consolidated Packaging Group, Ridgefield Park; Seeds of Hope Community Development, Atlantic City; Adams Rental, Hamilton; Viridian Environmental Field Services, Upper Montclair; Classic Auto Body, Paterson; Hamilton Washery, Hamilton; and Atlantic Health System, Morristown, NJ.

It’s a lesson for all businesses and even non-profit organizations. As Prof. Jeffrey Hollender of New York University’s Stern School of Business observed in the issue: for businesses, sustainability is more than the ecology.

For further information about the organizations cited here, visit their websites:

NJSBDC: https://www.njsbdc.com/

NJ Sustainable Business Registry: http://registry.njsbdc.com/

National Restaurant Association: https://www.restaurant.org/Home

Energy Star: https://www.energystar.gov/

ENGIE Insight: https://www.engieinsight.com/

Send me your sustainable success stories and I’ll share your achievements with others in cyberspace.

Scroll through my blog to read about more ways to boost your outreach.

I’d also like to invite you to visit my Thought Leadership website:

http://thoughtleadership.yolasite.com/              

If you’re looking for advice on recruiting, company handbooks and other human resources topics, I’d like to suggest to you this interesting website:

http://hrtiebreaker.yolasite.com/

People are Leaving Facebook – Don’t Worry

You’ve probably heard that people are leaving Facebook. Don’t panic. That’s more of a problem for Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook stockholders than for you. Just run your business the way you have been running it.

Perhaps in the wake of Facebook’s calamity with Cambridge Analytica and then the whole Russian infiltration scandal, recent media reports state that young Americans are logging out of Facebook, upping their privacy, or deleting its phone app altogether.

Pew Research Center found that found that most adults questioned had limited their Facebook use or adjusted their privacy settings in the past year. The Center’s survey followed revelations that political consulting company Cambridge Analytica had scraped the personal information of approximately 87 million Facebook users for use in targeted advertising. Of the 4,594 Pew survey respondents, young adults were the most likely to unplug from platform, with 44% of Facebook users ages 18 to 29 saying they’d deleted the app from their phone, although the survey did not ask whether respondents had deleted their accounts, too.

The survey asked respondents whether, in the past year, they had either edited their Facebook privacy settings, taken a break from the platform for several weeks, or deleted the app from their phone.

The Pew survey was conducted from May 29 through June 11, two months after a Cambridge Analytica whistleblower first came forward to accuse the company of improperly amassing Facebook user data and converting the information into psychological profiles to use in targeted political ads. The fallout led Cambridge Analytica’s closure, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg giving a congressional testimony on the scandal.

Facebook’s oldest users were its most loyal, the survey found. Facebook users ages 65 above were the least likely to adjust their privacy options, with only 33% of respondents saying they’d tweaked the settings in the past year. Facebook users ages 18-49, meanwhile, had overwhelmingly moved for more private accounts, with 64% of respondents updating their settings.

Those younger users were most likely to purge Facebook from their phones, with 44% of respondents ages 18 to 29 saying they’d deleted the app. Once again, the oldest Facebook users remained plugged in, with only 12 percent removing the app from their phones.

Zuckerberg also announced that Facebook will adjust the news feed in order to make it more people friendly.

None of this should trouble small businesses that use Facebook as part of their diversified social media outreach campaign. If it’s your only outlet, then, yes, difficulties may be in store for you.
If you’ve been on Facebook for a while, then you should know which of your clients and vendors use this form of social media and certainly you must have been sharing information and observations among yourselves. Perhaps new individuals have already joined you.

If not, find a way to reach out to new customers and vendors in order to build a bigger online community – and that’s the whole purpose of social media. To build communities that share mutually-beneficial information.

Why isn’t this Facebook’s problem a troublesome development for small businesses?

Facebook is a social medium belongs in the category of a closed circle of like-minded people. People ask to join and the content is made available to them. Usually, companies and consumers familiar with your products, vendors and company ask to join. They want to be part of what you have to say. Consequently, this is your almost impenetrable castle. You’ve formed your own little world thanks to Mark Zuckerberg.

The sharing that you’re doing on Facebook is adequate exposure for most businesses. However, content should still be provided to the audience regularly. Touting the benefits of what you do will likely scare visitors away so it would be better if you discussed benefits and issues thereby turning the CEO or business owner into a thought leader. That status has greater merit in the marketplace than “my screws or paint is better than yours.”

Post information about your company or your CEO’s thoughts on industry growth a half a dozen times a week (at least once on the weekend) and then monitor your Insights.

Uploading visually appealing photos and graphics is a cinch thanks to Facebook’s easy-to-use interface and remember a photo is worth a thousand words. The browser-based program shows a grid of thumbnail-sized pictures while the user clicks a checkbox on the photos he or she wants to upload. I would suggest regular photo updates on your company’s work and relationship with vendors and clients to show the market and industry your commitment to satisfying customer needs.

Remember, social media drives word-of-mouth referrals. Potential customers can act as brand ambassadors on social media sites. This, in turn, can lead to more business for you. Potential employees follow this same principle.

A recent study by Market Force in Boulder, CO, found that “81% of US consumers are influenced by their friends’ social media posts, while a comparable 78% are influenced by vendors’ posts, suggesting that company-driven social media content is surprisingly powerful in driving purchase decisions.”

In other words, what goes around on Facebook, comes around.

Being active on social media for your business may be perceived as a free marketing tactic and it is. However, remember, it does take time, which as a small business owner, is at a premium. To keep from feeling overwhelmed, decide how much time you can dedicate to social media activities. Other ideas are to focus your social media time where your customers are spending their time or outsource and hire a social media consultant.
Here are a few ideas to bolster your social media efforts:

• ·         Add a link to your social media pages in your email signature and website.
• ·         Spell out the links in your advertising and marketing collateral.
• ·         Add share buttons to your website or blog.
• ·         Add your social media site addresses to your business cards.
• ·         If you have a newsletter, add share buttons and links to your social media site.
• ·         Post your newsletter articles on your social sites.
• ·         Consider posting discounts or coupons.

Consider your activity on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter as a major part of your marketing strategy not a frivolous attempt of sharing selfies. The time you put into engaging with your customers online will pay off in more loyal customers and larger sales.

There will always be a tendency for the marketplace to adjust its members’ relationships with a product, vendor and social medium. But if you’ve built a strong, vibrant, supportive and mutually beneficial on-line community, then you will do well in cyberspace and in meeting your business goals.

Let me know how this works for you and I’ll share it with others in cyberspace.

Scroll through my blog to read about more ways to boost your outreach.

I’d also like to invite you to visit my Thought Leadership website:

http://thoughtleadership.yolasite.com/              

If you’re looking for advice on recruiting, creating company handbooks and other human resources topics, I’d like to suggest to you this interesting website:

http://hrtiebreaker.yolasite.com/