All well and good you say, but really, what the heck are you talking about?  “My kids use that myfaceyspace or whatever the thing is called, but is that really for me?” you ask.  Yes indeed it IS for you and your business.

Questions and confusion may be stopping you from using social media for your business.  Fret no more.  Thanks to the fine people at mashable.com, you can now access over 40 great tools for social media and business.

Click here for the article, enjoy.

Click kj {at} smartboymedia(.)com">here to email us if you have questions about your business and social media or if you have any questions pretty much at all.  We can’t guarantee that we know the recipe for Greek Salad that your grandma used to make, but we’ll look it up for you if we have to.

Should presentation be considered part of the value of your website.  Absolutely.  Much the same as you want your business to be presented in a positive light, you want your company website to be received in a positive manner.  Time was when you could throw a page up with your address and phone number and maybe a whirling image of Donald Duck or a bunch of animated flags waving.  Today people expect a website to be fresh, provide information that is useful and just plain work.

As to hassle, we all want to minimize hassle in our daily lives.  This extends to your company website.  You want content added or removed quickly?  Then do it yourself.  Really.  The days of hiring a company or a person to totally manage every aspect of your website are gone.  It’s not totally necessary for you to have a web person manage every detail of your site.  Major changes/problems?  Yes, you need a web professional.  Want to post a daily special?  There are options that you can do it yourself and in a very professional way.  As Chef Tell used to say, “very simple, very easy”.

If your web designer isn’t offering your a hassle free web experience then maybe you should be asking some questions to see if he can help you make your life a little less hassle free.

Questions?  Call us at 816.289.7921 or email us at kj {at} smartboymedia(.)com.

The article in question speaks to why your small business can’t ignore social media.  In a nutshell:

• The information is there for the taking.  It’s there, period.  People use social media to voice an opinion, talk about an experience or mention a business.  To ignore it on your end is foolish at best.
• It doesn’t have to be complicated.  You don’t have to have a full multimedia experience every single time you post something.  The “I don’t know computers” excuse isn’t really valid any longer.
• Small is good.  As a small business you can respond to mentions wherever they may be.  Yes it takes a little time.  Key phrase here is little.  Keep it simple, respond in kind and it will do wonders for you.

Click here for the full article.  Read it, it’s great information.

If you still have questions about how your business can use social media, feel free to contact us at 816.289.7921 or email us at kj {at} smartboymedia(.)com.

• “I don’t need a website” – This is the new “I don’t need to advertise”.  You do need a website.  People aren’t using the Yellowpages to find businesses any longer.  Google is the new phonebook and your business needs to be in the phone book.
• “I don’t have time” – Yes you do.   Hire someone to at least create the site for you and then show you how to manage your content.  It doesn’t take that long and you’ll be glad you did.
• “I don’t understand computers” – You don’t really have to “understand” computers and the internet.  Just have access.

One of the great tools that business can use for the sites is WordPress.  Wordpress is basically a blogging tool, but it’s much, much more than that.  It’s a tool that allows you to create content, manage your web presence and present your business on the internet in a very professional way.

Ask your web professional about a WordPress based site today, or contact us: 816.289.7921 or .  We’ll be happy to explain how WordPress could be the right tool for you.

As we move to embrace and use more social media to engage our customers, to communicate and to involve ourselves and our business in the community at large, it has become increasingly complicated if not difficult.

Threadsy helps you consolidate in one place.  Very nice and free!

Threadsy

• The majority of Twitter users are just voyuers – Twitter is really something that some still use rarely.  Some don’t understand it, how it works, why it works or really even why it exists.
• Chicks dig the mobile social media – 55% of women use social media.  That’s more than the 45% of men (hard math free of charge.  enjoy!)
• Everybody is doing it – Almost.  Social media use grows by 11% a year according to a study by a group of eggheads.
• Facebook users still take the newspaper – or at least digitally.
• Social media isn’t taking the place of real honest to goodness human interaction – yet.

Basically social media use hasn’t reached a 110% saturation.  Yet.  It is becoming increasingly popular and is becoming a useful tool for business.   Kind of like a cash register.

Link to article here

Other companies insist that they must manage the content for you.  That they have to create the imaging for you.  No they don’t.  What they mean is that they want you to pay them money.  To be honest, I do too, it’s what I’m in business for, however, I understand that money is an issue for may these days and everyone is looking to save a penny where they can.  Good for you and good luck.

There are lots of free tools for managing your site content.  We’ll explore a few few below.

Image editing – Say you have a picture that you want to post on your site but it’s too big or too ugly or something.  You just want to edit it and post it.  You call your firm who manages your site and if you don’t have a service agreement with them then they’re going to charge you by the hour.  So will I.  BUT…you can edit any image if you’re willing.  There are free image editing tools that work as well as photoshop for the average user.  Gimp is a fine tool that is somethign like Photoshop, just not as in depth.  It’s relatively easy to learn and use but does require you to download and install some software.  My favorite imaging tool is at Aviary .  It’s a fantastic imaging tool that is all cloud based.  You can access it from anywhere, anytime and from any computer.  There are also audio editing tools, vector tools and some other neat and FREE tools.

Resources – Sure you say,” I have an idea what I want but you computer guys…you know where everything is.”  We might know where things are but that’s only because we spend time to look for them to make our job easier to do!  Vector images for your designs are easy to come by.  Try Vecteezy for some ideas and downloads.    Dafont.com has tons of free fonts for your designs.  Did we mention that they’re free?  Nice.

Icons - So you’ve created some posts for the fancy new WordPress site that your designer has created for you (smartboymedia specializes in WordPress based sites by the way…just sayin..:) and you need some icons.   Go to iconfinder and..um…find your icon!  As Chef Tell used to say, very simple, very easy.

There are a ton of free applications and design tools for you to use.  Get someone professional to design your site, to make sure everything works and to manage updates to the site for you that are more than imaging.  You’ll be glad you did but if it’s just adding an image to a post, then do it yourself.  Save money and time and then call or email us if you still need help.

smartboymedia | kj {at} smartboymedia(.)com | 816.289.7921

A recent article on Mashable speaks to 10 essential social media tips for B2B marketing.  A few we think are pretty important.

The article speaks of finding your social voice.  Your social voice is really different than your business voice.  You have to promote your brand but to do it with an effective social voice should be more personal and engaging than a generic business voice.  Your social voice allows you to speak in a conversational manner, an engaging mannger and encourages interaction from and with your audience and your customers.  It might take a while for you to find a comfortable social voice but do try.

Another social media goal for your business should be to learn to use twitter effectively.  Don’t just tweet about the weather in your town or constantly advertise your recent specials.  Follow people in your town, area of expertise and engage in the conversation.  Twitter is really just that, a conversation.  Have one, be friendly and learn to use Twitter to your advantage.

The article mentions several other tips for B2B social media use.  It’s a great read for the effective use of social media for your business.

Let smartboy help you with your social media for  your business.  Call us today to find out how you can be blogging, tweeting and engaging quickly.  816.289.7921 or email us at kj {at} smartboymedia(.)com

There are options. You can have your site professionally designed in such a way that you can manage the content as you need to and should only occassionally have to call your designer to make changes. It’s true and if your designer is honest and willing to work with you it can be a very pleasant experience for all involved.

Content Management Systems (CMS) allow you the end user to make changes and edit content as you need to without having to turn to the original designer. You can upload content, pictures, documents and audio with a minimum of cost to you.

Some popular content management systems are Joomla, Drupal and our favorite, WordPress. WordPress is a fully functional, outstanding CMS with a repositry of plugins that help you manage your site, create compelling new content and easily manage existing content without much trouble.

With free tools like Aviary and a little learning and/or training you can edit and create images, edit and create audio for your site and do it all without spending a penny.

There’s no excuse anymore not to have a great website for your company. You can do it!