The Insanity of #BlackFriday

Are you one of the gazillions of people hitting the malls and electronics stores today? You know, I thought about it, but then remembered that I value my sanity more than I love to save money. Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking it - if you have the stones to get in there and fight the throngs of pre-Christmas shoppers (most of whom would be willing to sell their own mothers for a break on a new laptop or iPad), then by all means - have at it!

But this pretty much sums it up for me...

Happy Shopping!!!

Never Forget

HOW TO MANAGE YOUR TIME WISELY ON SOCIAL MEDIA

A very commonly asked question about using social media for business is:  “How much time does it take?”  Lots of people mistakenly believe that a good social media strategy for their business is a total time suck and not worth the effort.  Not so!  If you are one of the people living under that misconception and not taking advantage of what social media has to offer, you are missing out on important conversations and networking opportunities that can greatly benefit your business’ bottom line!            

                                                        

I’m not going to lie to you and tell you that it takes no time at all to implement, develop and maintain a viable social networking strategy, but I can tell you that it’s not as daunting an undertaking as you might think - the risk of missed opportunities far outweighs the risk of time lost.  And, you are in complete control of how much time you put into it.  Here are some tips to help you manage your time wisely on social media activities for your business:

First, focus on why you want to use social media.  Depending on industry and company mission, business owners use social media for different business purposes.  Do you want to use it for research? Networking? Sales?  Or, a combination of all of the aforementioned?

If research is your aim, you’ll want to source out blogs and relevant news sites that provide you with the quality information you require.  You can subscribe to their RSS feeds (news feeds) so that you can keep up with any updates posted that are of importance to you.  Imagine having all of that information literally at your fingertips?  If you ask me, it sounds like this will actually save you some time!!

If you want to use social media for networking, it’s imperative that you build a community or audience.  This is easy to do on sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Once you have created your accounts (a snap), it’s just a matter of building your communities by posting on a regular basis (again, this does not take a whole lot of time) and interacting with your audience.  Depending on how much engagement you’re interested in, this can take anywhere from only minutes a day to a couple of hours – not necessarily any more than that, unless you so choose.

If your motivation is sales and marketing, it’s important that you get your brand name out there.  You’ll want to let people know what your brand is all about – what services and/or products you offer – how these services and products can benefit people.  Again, engagement with your audience via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Blogging will be key here.  Social media sites are currently the most innovative methods of marketing your brand’s products and services.  They provide an unprecedented means of getting the word out.

Secondly, it’s important to develop a strategy to manage your time wisely.  Once you gain perspective on your purpose for using social media for your business, it won’t be difficult to determine how much time per day or per week you’ll require.  Here are a few ideas that can help:                                          

-          Create a schedule.  Set some time aside each day (at least at first) to check your Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn accounts.  Take a few moments on each account to post something relevant and especially to respond to any inquiries or concerns that people in your communities may have.  Make it a point to join in on conversations/dialogue wherever you can contribute something meaningful.  (Remember, it’ll take a bit of time to build an audience.)   If you decide to blog, ensure that you post something at least once every other week or so.  Blog posts take on average anywhere between an hour to a few hours to research and compose, but unless you’re a very ambitious, avid blogger, a post a week or every other week should suffice.

-          Focus on activities that will have the most impact.  A crucial thing to remember here is that you have to be where your customers/clients are.  If you have identified that they are mostly on Facebook, then by all means, concentrate a good chunk of your social networking time there.   But, you don’t want to neglect the other networks, as they are all beneficial.

-          Although you want to garner a wide audience, it’s not necessary to overdo it. You don’t have to be friends with or follow each and every person with whom you come into contact.  If a relationship will be mutually beneficial, you want to be connected to that person, if not, then don’t be afraid to be selective.  If you’re connected to absolutely everyone, you will be spending more time than you have to on social media.

-          By the same token, it’s imperative to stick to your purpose.  It’s easy to get sidetracked with irrelevant activity on social media (do you really have to watch that YouTube video right now??).  Stay focused on your business purpose and you will spend your time much more efficiently on social media.                       

                                                                 

If you use your time wisely and keep your focus in mind, you will find that you social media endeavors significantly pay off and that you actually enjoy your time spent with your connections. 

Need help putting together a social media strategy for your business?  We’d like to see you at our Social Media for Business workshop.  We can show you how to use your time wisely and effectively to make social media work for your business’ bottom line.  Please click on the link below for a schedule of workshops in your area.

https://escomputertraining.com/socialmedia

Why We Hate “Back-To-School”

Unless you’re a kid, I guess the title of this post is a bit misleading. As adults, and especially as parents, I don’t suppose we can honestly say that we hate back-to-school (I mean, seriously, how many parents do you know who are complaining right now that their little darlings are actually going to be out of their hair and back

to a semblance of structure next week??).  What we really hate, is what back-to-school represents: The end of the summer.  What we really hate, is the fact that we become inundated with back-to-school advertising in the middle of July when autumn still seems a million years away, bringing to the forefronts of our minds the imminent threat of cold weather, no more lakeside vacations and less time enjoying the carefree lifestyle that summer invokes. What we really hate, is that we’re forced to get back into a strict routine, that sunlit hours become limited and, well, that there’s just an overall feeling of “melancholy” in the air as we come to realize that that’s it until next June.

We really hate the idea of back-to-school because the question on everybody’s mind these days is, “Where the hell did the summer go?”.  Remember when we were complaining about all the snow and cold – that never-ending, horrific winter we experienced? Is it just me, or does it feel like no time at all has passed since?  I guess it doesn’t help that this summer ranks right up there with some of the coolest on record (was that summer, or was it just a slightly warm break from the hostile Canadian winter that’s on its way back?!).  Think that's just me complaining? Well, guess what the Farmer’s Almanac has in store for us in the coming months? Yep, you got it – a brutally cold and snowy winter.

And THAT’S why we really hate back-to-school. 

       

Have a safe and happy long Labor Day weekend, Everyone!  And enjoy what’s left…

Social Networking Sites: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Okay, maybe not so much bad and ugly – but there are so many social networking sites in existence right now that it’s sometimes tough to navigate and know which ones are worth your time and which ones aren’t going to be of any benefit to you at all! You’ve got your Google+, Facebook and Twitter, but have you ever heard of Plaxo or Xanga (with a healthy 50 million and 30 million registered users respectively)? There’s a social platform for almost anything you need today, and to know which ones are going to be of interest to you is to know what your purpose is. If you’re going to be using social media for business networking, you’re going to benefit immensely from Facebook and LinkedIn, but VampireFreaks.com, probably not so much.

Just for interest’s sake, below is a list of a plethora of social sites arranged by the number of registered users – from the most to the fewest- and each includes a brief description.  Which ones are you going to try?

Name	Registered users	Description
Google+	1,600,000,000	General Business promotion
Facebook	1,280,000,000	General: Photos, Videos, Blogs, Apps.
Youtube	1,000,000,000	video sharing
Qzone	480,000,000	General. In Simplified Chinese; caters for mainland China users
Sina Weibo	300,000,000	Social microblogging site in Mainland China.
Habbo	268,000,000	General for teens. Over 31 communities worldwide. Chat room and user profiles.
Vkontakte	249,409,900	General, including music upload, listening and search. Popular in Russia and former Soviet republics.
LinkedIn	200,000,000	Business and professional networking
Renren	160,000,000	Significant site in China. Was known as 校内 (Xiaonei) until August 2009.
Instagram	150,000,000	A photo and video sharing site
Bebo	117,000,000	General
Orkut	100,000,000	General. Owned by Google Inc. Popular in India and Brazil.[225]
Tagged	100,000,000	General.
Netlog	95,000,000	General. Popular in Europe, Turkey, the Arab World and Canada's Québec province. Formerly known as Facebox and Redbox.[212]
Twitter	93,800,000	General. Micro-blogging, RSS, updates
Friendster	90,000,000	General. Popular in Southeast Asia. No longer popular in the western world
hi5	80,000,000	General. Popular in Nepal, Mongolia, Thailand, Romania, Jamaica, Central Africa, Portugal andLatin America. Not very popular in the USA.
Pinterest	70,000,000	photo sharing
Flixster	63,000,000	Movies
MyLife	51,000,000	Locating friends and family, keeping in touch (formerly Reunion.com)
Classmates.com	50,000,000	School, college, work and the military
Plaxo	50,000,000	Aggregator
Sonico.com	50,000,000	General. Popular in Latin America and Spanish and Portuguese speaking regions.
douban	46,850,000	Chinese Web 2.0 website providing user review and recommendation services for movies, books, and music.
Odnoklassniki	45,000,000	Connect with old classmates. Popular in Russia and former Soviet republics
Viadeo	35,000,000	Global Social Networking and Campus Networking available in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese
Flickr	32,000,000	Photo sharing, commenting, photography related networking, worldwide
Last.fm	30,000,000	Music
MyHeritage	30,000,000	family-oriented social network service
Myspace	30,000,000	General
WeeWorld	30,000,000	Teenagers - 9 to 17
Xanga	27,000,000	Blogs and "metro" areas
mixi	24,323,160	Japan
Cyworld	24,000,000	General. Popular in South Korea.
Gaia Online	23,523,663	Anime and games. Popular in USA, Canada and Europe. Moderately popular around Asia.
deviantART	22,000,000	Art community
Skyrock	22,000,000	Social Network in French-speaking world
BlackPlanet	20,000,000	Black Americans
Fotolog	20,000,000	Photoblogging. Popular in South America and Spain
Foursquare	20,000,000	Location based mobile social network
StumbleUpon	20,000,000	Stumble through websites that match users' selected interests
We Heart It	20,000,000	Image-based social network focused on inspiration, expression and creativity
Friends Reunited	19,000,000	UK based. School, college, work, sport and streets
Reddit	17,500,000	submit content, such as text posts or direct links
LiveJournal	17,564,977	Blogging. Popular in Russia and among the Russian-speaking diaspora abroad.
StudiVZ	17,000,000	University students, mostly in the German-speaking countries. School students and those out of education sign up via its partner sites schülerVZ and meinVZ.
Geni.com	15,000,000	Families, genealogy
Goodreads	13,000,000	Library cataloging, book lovers
Busuu	12,000,000	Language learning community (headquartered in Madrid, Spain)
Tuenti	12,000,000	Spanish-based university and High School social network.
XING	11,100,000	Business (primarily Europe (Germany, Austria, Switzerland))
Nasza-klasa.pl	11,000,000	School, college and friends. Popular in Poland
Taringa!	11,000,000	General (primarily Argentina)
Hyves	10,097,000	General, mostly popular in the Netherlands.
Buzznet	10,000,000	Music and pop-culture
SoundCloud	10,000,000	Repository of original music pieces and networking.
WAYN	10,000,000	Travel and lifestyle
Care2	9,961,947	Green living and social activism
CaringBridge	9,500,000	Not for profit providing free websites that connect family and friends during a serious health event, care and recovery.[34]
Stickam	9,000,000	Live video streaming and chat.
delicious	8,822,921	Social bookmarking allowing users to locate and save websites that match their own interests
My Opera	7,300,000	Blogging, mobile blogging, photo sharing, connecting with friends, Opera Link and Opera Unite. Global
About.me	5,000,000	Social networking site
Livemocha	5,000,000	Online language learning
Open Diary	5,000,000	First online blogging community, founded in 1998
Trombi.com	4,400,000	French subsidiary of Classmates.com
iWiW	4,000,000	Hungary
weRead	4,000,000	Books
Ibibo	3,500,000	Talent based social networking site that allows to promote one's self and also discover new talent. Most popular in India.
43 Things	3,000,000	Goal setting and achievement
Jiepang	3,000,000	Location based mobile social network. In Chinese language
MocoSpace	3,000,000	mobile community, worldwide
Ravelry	3,000,000	Knitting and crochet
Tylted	3,000,000	Mobile social game network[303]
CouchSurfing	2,967,421	Worldwide network for making connections between travelers and the communities they visit.
Fetlife	2,701,715	People who are into BDSM
Draugiem.lv	2,600,466	General (primarily LV, LT, HU)
eToro	2,500,000	Social Investing, Finance
Itsmy	2,500,000	Mobile community worldwide, blogging, friends, personal TV-shows
Kiwibox	2,400,000	General.
DXY.cn	2,000,000	Chinese online community for physicians, health care professionals, pharmacies and facilities
GetGlue	2,000,000	Social network for entertainment
Grono.net	2,000,000	Poland
Vampirefreaks.com	1,931,049	Gothic and industrial subculture
Fotki	1,632,565	Photo sharing, video hosting, photo contests, journals, forums, flexible privacy protection, friend's feed, audio comments and unlimited custom design integration.
English, baby!	1,600,000	Students and teachers of English as a second language
TravBuddy.com	1,588,000	Travel
Nexopia	1,400,000	Canada
LibraryThing	1,300,000	Book lovers
CafeMom	1,250,000	Mothers
Zoo.gr	890,000	Greek Web Meeting point
Focus.com	850,000	Business to Business, worldwide
aSmallWorld	550,000	European jet set and social elite world-wide
IRC-Galleria	505,000	Finland
italki.com	500,000	Language learning social network. 100+ languages.
ReverbNation.com	500,000	Social network for musician and bands
Ryze	500,000	Business
Gather.com	465,000	Article, picture, and video sharing, as well as group discussions
MillatFacebook	461,200	General, Created in Response to Facebook [192]
Cross.tv	450,000	Faith Based social network for Christian believers from around the world
SocialVibe	435,000	Social Network for Charity
Biip.no	430,000	Norwegian community
Skoob	420,000	Collaborative social network for Brazilian readers
Identi.ca	395,695	Twitter-like service popular with hackers and software freedom advocates.
Diaspora*	370,000	Decentralized, privacy aware, general (open source)
Indaba Music	350,000	Online collaboration for musicians, remix contests, and networking.
Hospitality Club	328,629	Hospitality
Partyflock	321,125	Dutch virtual community for people interested in house music and other electronic dance music
GamerDNA	310,000	Computer and video games
Travellerspoint	310,000	Travel
FilmAffinity	250,000	Movies and TV Series
LaiBhaari	250,000	Marathi social networking
Academia.edu	211,000	Social networking site for academics/researchers
didlr	204,515	Drawing service
Faceparty	200,000	General. Popular UK.
Mubi	200,000	Auteur cinema
HR.com	194,000	Social networking site for Human Resources professionals
Elftown	185,000	Community and wiki around Fantasy and sci-fi.
Stage 32	175,000	US-based social network and educational site for creative professionals in film, television and theater
CozyCot	150,000	East Asian and Southeast Asian women
Athlinks	139,458	Running, Swimming
Goodwizz	110,000	Social network with matchmaking and personality games to find new contacts. Global, based in France.
PatientsLikeMe	109,587	Online community for patients with life-changing illnesses to find other patients like them, share their data with others, and learn more about their condition to improve their outcome.
Gays.com	100,000	Social network for LGBT community, Guide for LGBT bars, restaurants, clubs, shopping
Blogster	85,579	Blogging community
Elixio	80,000	Business executives jet set and global elite.
Hotlist	80,000	Geo-Social Aggregator rooted in the concept of knowing where users' friends are, were, and will be.
Wiser.org	71,600	Online community space for the social justice and environmental movement[326]
WriteAPrisoner.com	66,000	Site networking inmates, friends, family
Zooppa	60,000	Online Community for Creative Talent (host of brand sponsored advertising contests)
Fuelmyblog	50,000	Blogging community
Dol2day	40,200	Politic community, Social network, Internet radio (German-speaking countries)
Hub Culture	20,000	Global influencers focused on worth creation
NGO Post	15,000	Non-Profit news sharing and networking, mainly in India
Frühstückstreff	14,800	General
Advogato	13,575	Free and open source software developers
Poolwo	12,350	Social networking site from India
The Sphere	1,300	A Private Online Social Luxury Network with Exclusive Personalized Services