JRK Enterprises/Rhonda Percell

Have you seen a QR code yet? Maybe. Do you know what it is and what to do with it? Maybe Not. Well don’t worry we are going to get you up to speed.
What is a QR Code? “A QR (Quick Response) code is a specific matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code) which is readable by dedicated QR barcode readers and smartphones. The code can contain encoded text, URL (website address), or other data.” – From Wikipedia.org
How to Use a QR Code? You will need a mobile device or a smartphone with a barcode reader application. There are many free barcode apps available, just make sure the app you download will read both UPC barcodes and QR codes. Select and open the barcode reader on your mobile device or smartphone. Simply place the QR code in the center of the view finder and allow the application to scan the code. Once it has scanned, it will ask you what you want to do next. If the QR code has an embedded URL (website address) in it, you can choose to open the link in your browser and view the website from your device. The link could take you to a specific website page or even a YouTube video.
A little background: QR codes were developed in Japan by Denso-Wave, a subsidiary of Toyota, back in 1994. They were initially used to track parts during vehicle manufacturing. Now they are used not only for commercial tracking purposes but marketing and advertising campaigns as well.
Business Use: Businesses are using QR codes in many of their print media advertising such as business cards, flyers, direct mail, newspaper and magazine advertisements. This is a great way to connect offline advertising to online content. Some companies are starting to put them on billboards (like in Time Square, NY), on buses, and even bus stop structures. A QR code can also be placed on a bumper sticker of a business owner’s car.
Best Buy is using QR codes on all their product tags in their stores, so consumers can scan the code and learn more about the specific product. Some car dealerships are placing QR codes on all their vehicles that will take potential buyers to a video of the car in motion and more information. And real estate agents are now including them on listing flyers of homes for sale so the potential buyer can see a virtual tour of the property directly on their mobile device or smartphone, while they are house hunting. These are just a few ways consumers will see businesses begin to use this new technology that is gaining popularity.
So, the next time you see a crazy looking image like the ones here, simply scan it with a free barcode app with your mobile device or smartphone and let the technology guide you to more information.

By: Rhonda Percell – Owner of JRK Enterprises and Social Media Consultant She can be contacted at 928-595-0847 or http://www.rhondapercell.com She invites all business owners in the Payson area to a Free Social Media Seminar this Wednesday (2/2/11) at Scoops from 6:30PM-8:00PM where she will be talking more about social media marketing for your small business and the use of QR codes.

         Many businesses have a Facebook fan page and are using it to connect with clients and customers. Below are a few tips to optimize your Facebook business fan page for the best possible results.

1. Vanity URL – Of course you first goal after creating a business fan page is to get 25 fans to like your page so you can claim your vanity URL. 
2. Welcome Tab – You should have a welcome tab that first time visitors land on when they come to your business fan page. On this welcome tab, you should encourage your visitor to click on the “like” button so they won’t miss any of your great content. You can also include a video on this tab as well. In this video, you can welcome visitors, let them know what your business is all about and what they can expect from you, and of course, encourage them to click  the ”Like” button. You will get twice as many “Likes” if you ask them to click the “like” button. 
3. Reveal Tab – You can create a reveal tab that people will see once they “like” your page. On this tab you can have an opt-in form where they can get a special discount or a helpful report. 
4. Graphic on Left Side of Page – This graphic can be up to 200 pix X 600 pix in size. Make sure to use all of this space and include both your company name and your website URL. Your URL will not be clickable in this image but highly visible to visitors.
5. Box Below Graphic – In this box you can describe your business and your page. Make sure to include a link to your website as this will be clickable so visitors can visit your website directly from your Facebook fan page. This hot link is very important. 
6. Info Tab – Make sure you fill out the info tab with as much information as possible. Remember to include many of your keywords as Facebook Business Fan pages are indexed by Google. 
7. Post Often and Engage – You will want to post regularly to your fan page and engage your fans by asking questions, running promotions and contests. You want to build a community on your page. You can do this by asking questions, listening, and encourage opinions and feedback

 So, as you can see, by using these 7 tips to optimize your Facebook Business fan page you will be well on your way to creating a great page along with a tribe of followers for your business.

Using a twitter account for your small business is a great way to connect with customers/clients. It is important to have a twitter account and meet your customer where they “hang-out”. Below are some tips for your small business twitter account.

Creating an Account – When creating a twitter account for your small business you will want to choose a twitter handle (name) that your customers will recognize. You will want to enter in your website address that you want to drive traffic to and a brief description of your business using both keywords and your location. You will also want to have a background that matches your website and your other social media platforms for your small business. This way when people navigate from your twitter, to your Facebook, to your YouTube channel, and to your website; they recognize that they are still connected with you based on graphics and colors.
How Often to Post & What to Talk About – On your twitter account you will want to post at least 3 times a day and up to 18 times a day. You can post once an hour and twitter followers will not get irritated by the number of updates you are making like they would on Facebook. You will want to post at regular times throughout the day so people get used to seeing your brand at those times each day. You will want to talk about news related to your industry, local events, and ask questions of your followers. This is a great way to get feedback about your products and services from your followers. Daily quotes and tips are also welcome. Use a social media marketing calendar to schedule your tweets throughout the week. You can use www.hootsuite.com to schedule your upcoming tweets.

Build Your Tribe – You will want to follow people in your local area and people in your industry. You can find people on www.twellow.com and follow them. You can set up an automatic direct message to be sent to people when they follow your small business on twitter, use www.socialoomph.com for auto DM’s. And you can also automatically follow people who follow you, also with www.socialoomph.com. All of this will help you build your tribe of followers and customers.

I hope you found these few tips on Twitter for your small business helpful. Please leave any comments below. If you have any questions about using twitter for your small business please let me know, I would be happy to answer them for you. Just e-mail me at Rhonda@rhondapercell.com

   This is the time of the year when people are making plans and goals (both personal and business) for the upcoming year. You may have been laying out some plans to use social media marketing more in your small business in 2011. Here are some New Year’s Resolutions that some small business owners have for using social media marketing to help bring in more customers and clients to their storefront.

1.   1. Blog – If you do not have a blog already, many small business owners are planning on starting one in 2011. A blog for your small business is like the hub of your social media efforts. You can direct all you fans and followers to article posts on your blog. Many small businesses are posting helpful articles and videos on their blogs. Remember to try to make two high quality blog posts a week. It is also important to have a “Call to Action” on your blog to engage potential customers to either call, stop by your business, or get on an e-mail mailing list.
2. YouTube Channel – Speaking of video, many business owners know that video will help them connect with their followers. You can make short videos about FAQ’s about your products and/or services, give helpful tips, or even tutorials on product use.
3. Facebook and Twitter – Most small businesses have the resolution of being more consistent posting to Facebook and Twitter. As a business it is recommended to post no more than twice a day on Facebook and up to five times a day on Twitter. You can make posts about articles, videos, sales, and helpful information about your town or industry. Also ask questions to your fans and followers to engage them. People love to give their opinions.
4. E-mail & Mobile Marketing – Many people may think that e-mail marketing is dead but according to trends for 2011 it is going to make a comeback and be very useful this year. The key is to provide helpful, useful content and not e-mail too much (not more than once a week) Even if you publish a newsletter once or twice a month, this can be a great way to stay connected with customers. You can even have people sign up for your list via text messaging by texting their name and e-mail to a phone number you provide. This way you can collect their name, e-mail, and phone number to use for your e-mail and mobile marketing campaigns. Many brick and mortar businesses also have an e-mail newsletter sign-up at their counter as a way of staying connected with current customers.
5. Integrate All Social Media – Your goal as a small business owner is to turn all this social interaction into paying customers, so it is important to drive traffic to your blog and get potential customers to a “Call to Action” When you post a video on YouTube be sure to tell your Twitter followers, your Facebook Fans, and post it to your blog. When you post an article on your blog, let your Twitter followers and Facebook fans know about it.

So, as you can see, there are many social media marketing options for your small business. Begin to make a plan for using social media in your business in 2011.

If you have any questions about using social media marketing in your small business just let me know.

I would also like to offer all the readers of my blog a free internet and social media marketing assessment for 2011. Just e-mail me at Rhonda@rhondapercell.com or call 928-595-0847.

How to Use the Social Media Marketing Calendar

•  At the beginning of each week write one tweet for each of the six types of messages.  
• Then plan out over the next week when you will send out each of these messages. 
•  It is a good idea to send a message on various days and at different times of the day (Morning, Afternoon, and Evening) because not everyone is on twitter the same time to see your tweet. 
• If you have any questions about using the social media marketing calendar please let me know, you can e-mail me at Rhonda@rhondapercell.com
• Please feel free to share this marketing calendar with other local business owners that you know.

 => Download your Social Media Marketing Calendar Here<=

The social power cluster is a great new name for your blog, twitter, YouTube channel, and Facebook Fan Page.  If you have a small business you will want a web presence on all of these social media platforms and blend them all together. The following are a few tips for benefiting from your Social Power Cluster.

#1 – Your Business Blog – Your small business should have a blog. (I recommend wordpress. You can get hosting for your domain name… I recommend HostGator and install wordpress on your server, choose a wordpress theme and start building your blog) This is the hub of your social power cluster. This is where you will drive potential customers and clients. You will want to post at least twice a week to your blog to keep it active. These posts can be articles or videos. Always direct people from your twitter and Facebook fan page to read more on your blog.

#2 – Twitter – On twitter you can post up to five times a day, but for the sake of your business I recommend at least once a day and try to post at the same time each day. Remember these tweets don’t always have to be about your business, they can be other helpful information related to your industry. Make sure to fill out your profile completely to include your website or blog URL to drive traffic back to your main hub.

Whenever you do a blog post or a video upload on YouTube make sure to do at least one tweet about it. You can even do a couple tweets throughout the week at different times of the day because different people will be on twitter at different times each day. Also remember to upload a background to your profile to brand your twitter account with your small business.

#3 – YouTube Channel – When creating a YouTube account you will want to complete all the profile information along with tags, photo/image, background image (which matches your twitter and Facebook Fan page), website address, and other important information. People love online video. So you can create short videos answering Frequently Asked Questions – these videos can be between 30 seconds to a couple minutes long. You can give helpful information about your products and/or services, tours of your business, or any other content you would like to engage your group of followers.

Always post your new videos to your blog as well as announce them on your twitter and FB fan page. Use your keywords at the beginning of your video title as well as in the tags. Also begin your description of the video with your URL (website address) Make sure to include http:// so it becomes clickable in the description.

#4 – Facebook Fan Page – When creating a Facebook Fan Page for your business use your business name in the title of the page. Your first goal is to get 25 people to like your page so you can request a vanity URL from Facebook. This vanity URL you will want to use your business name so people can type in http://www.facebook.com/yourbusinessname . You will also want to add all your information about your business. You can add special tabs like for video and upload all your online videos here or a tab to import your blog. It is recommended that you post up to twice a day on Facebook. I would recommend at least once a day and a maximum of twice a day. If you post once a day you are keeping your brand in front of your potential clients/customers.

I hope you have found this article about the Social Power Cluster helpful. Please leave your comments and questions below.

 Facebook is like a “Coffee Shop” while Google is like the “Yellow Pages”. Nobody goes to Facebook to “buy your stuff”. Your mission when getting started with Facebook ads is to create relevant, appealing ads. One thing with Facebook Ads is everyone gets to “vote” on your ads. So, you want to make sure not to offend or miss lead anyone or your ads will be taken down by Facebook. here are a couple steps and helpful tips to making a great Facebook Ad.

Step #1 – Ad Creation

To begin creating your Facebook Ad, scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page and click on Advertising. Then follow the steps to create your ad.

Your ad must engage users without being too slick or using too many regular marketing techniques. Never use fear base techniques in your Facebook ads. Think of it as if you were telling a friend about a movie or a product that you like.

Great Images Make Great Facebook Ads

Select a great image for your ad but make sure it is relevant to what you are promoting. A good color contrast in your image is extremely important. Make sure the image will stand out on the page. You don’t want them to blend in with the Facebook blue color, so colors like yellow and green are good choices as they will stand out. Also, some people will use an ugly image to get their ad noticed. Make sure you only use one dominate image in your ad. An ad that has multiple, smaller images will not get as many people to engage.

Button in Image

A great technique is adding a “Click Here” button at the bottom of your image. You can use other words on the button such as “Free Trial” to get people to click on your ads. This technique has been proven to be very effective because internet users are so used to clicking on buttons.

Words in Image

You can get more text in your ad if you add words in your ad image.

Step #2 – Targeting

First, you can target viewers of your facebook ad by location and radius to the location. This is extremely important to local small businesses. Second, you can target by demographics like male or female or age. You may wish to have on ad for men and one for woman or even separate ads for different age groups. Third, you can target via likes and interests. Facebook makes it easy to target facebook users by their facebook likes and interest. This can be very helpful for your small business especially if you know what your target customers like and are interested in. Another way to target your ad is by Connections. This is a way to target users that like your competition and are already connected with them. Using the Advanced Demographics you can target users by doing Birthday targeting. 1 million Facebook users a day have their birthday! And the final way to target viewers of your ads is by Education and Work.

Targeting #1 Rule of Thumb is to  keep your ad campaigns tightly grouped.

• If your CTR drops below.1% tighten your targeting
• Begin with a daily budget of $20-$30
• Use the Ad scheduling times when your potential customers/clients will be using Facebook. Generally, during business hours or evening. Most ad fraud occurs overnight so don’t have your ads run during this time to avoid click fraud.
• Always select Pay per Click versus Pay per Impression.
• Set your maximum bid 2 – 4 cents higher than Facebook’s suggested minimum bid and do not bid in round numbers (Bid 52 cents versus 55 cents)
• Check  back in 2 to 3 days after your ad has begun and see if the minimum suggested bid has dropped (it normally does), then reduce your maximum bid to 2 – 4 cents higher than the new suggested minimum bid price.
• An ad that is directed to an internal Facebook page (such as your Facebook business page) is cheaper per click than if your ad directs viewers to an external Facebook page (such as your Company Website).
• Rotate ad images every 7 to 10 days to keep your CTR up!

If you have any questions or comments please let me know below.

Oh my, how the world of local search has changed over the past 16 months. Heck, how it’s changed over the past month! It used to be that by localizing your content, claiming your site, and scooping up local citations, small business owners put themselves in a good spot to achieve high visibility in the search results.  

However, things have changed and they’ve gotten increasingly more complicated. As we approach 2011, I thought we’d take a look back at our 2009 post, Small Business SEO: How To Launch That Web site, to see what’s changed and what SMB owners need to know for the coming year.

52% of all social media interaction is done from a mobile device. This means if you are marketing your small business website through social media, you website should be mobile ready. Mobile ready means that your website is easily viewable on a mobile device.

If you have a wordpress blog for your small business website you can simply install the wpTouch or wpTouch Pro plugin to your blog to make it mobile ready. You can also use IMPACT page builder with a wordpress blog.

Two other mobile ready services are mobi-sites Galore and Mofuse.com

If you do not use one of the above plugins or services you can put a javascript directly on your website to auto detect the browser a  user is using and redirect them to the appropriate page on your website. You can find this code at http://javascript.about.com/library/blbrsdet.htm On this page it has the script along with instructions on how to use it.

     Companies love to plan but they are not planning when it comes to social media. The 3 huge mistakes companies are making in social media are:

     1. No consistent plan for creating digital and social content – Your small business needs to have a plan for creating and distributing content via social media. The main key here is to be consistent!

     2. No engagement plan for when people react to your content - 

So have a plan in place for engagement.  Who is going to speak on behalf of the company?  Should you be proactive or reactive?  Are their guidelines for engagement?  Do you have rules for responding on your Facebook page?  How do comments work on the company blog?  What is your follow strategy for Twitter?

All of this needs to be considered ahead of time.  It needs to be policy.

3. No social ownership - Too many businesses have their social media fragmented.  IT owns the web site.  Marketing has blogging.  Corporate communications is running the Twitter feed.  Product marketing is putting videos on YouTube.  It’s a jumble of confusion with no consistent look and feel and inconsistent messaging.  Sometimes the companies doesn’t even know all of the channels it has open.

Someone needs to have set the overall strategy.  Someone needs to be the glue that holds all the disparate channels together.

Read the entire article over on HighTalk.net