How Well Do you Tell Your Story?

So you’re good at updating posts on Facebook and you’re targeting prospects on LinkedIn? Tip of the hat to you. Maybe you’ve even got 1, 000+ followers on Twitter and you’ve figured out how to connect with prospects on Pinterest. Congratulations; you’re in the minority of small businesses that use social media effectively.

So how well do you tell your story? If you’ve accomplished all of the above, storytelling is the next tool you should sharpen in your social media kit.

Author Jonathon Gottschall makes a convincing argument that storytelling is the ultimate weapon for small businesses. (And big ones, too.)

Need help managing your social media (or other marketing) activities? Let us tell you our story… our clients agree, it has a happy ending.

~Diane Stresing

7 (Mostly Free) Ways to Maximize Facebook for Your Business

So you have a company Facebook page. You do two to three status updates a week, sometimes post a photo. But you’re left wondering, “Is there anything else I can do?”

We’ve rounded up 7 easy ways to help make your Facebook page work harder for your business:

1. Showcase your brand via the Facebook Timeline
2. Participate on Facebook as your brand
3. Run contests for your followers
4. Set up special apps to engage your followers
5. Open up the Subscribe button for your personal page
6. Set up networking, social and niche “groups” for targeted messages
7. Advertise your Facebook Page to promote your business

Our 7 Ways to Maximize Facebook for Your Business tip sheet will give you more details about these ideas. Of course, before trying any of them, we recommend reviewing your overall social media strategy to be sure you are meeting your goals. If you need help devising or implementing a social media strategy, please get in touch with us – we’re happy to help!

Free Social Media Blueprint

To celebrate the publication of our first Sales Renewal newsletter, we’re offering a Free Social Media Blueprint.

With a Social Media Blueprint, Sales Renewal can help get you on the right track with your social media efforts. The process includes two hours of meeting time with you to assess your current program and goals for future programs. We then prepare a plan that is customized for your business that will provide direction, make recommendations and offer tips and insights.

Contact us by October 12 to have your name randomly selected to win a Free Social Media Blueprint – a $500 value!

Quick Tip: Google Offers

Google is far more than just a search engine and when it comes to special offers, discounts or deals Google is an untapped resource for far too many businesses. Sales Renewal, for example, has long leveraged Google Places (now Google + Local) as a high traffic, free promotional platform, and more recently began similarly taking advantage of Google Wallet.

Now, Google is beta-testing a new promotion option that we’re considering adding into the mix (and so should you if we’re not doing this for you). Google Offers makes it easy to set up a special offer to reach existing customers and prospects who view your listing via Google Maps, Google Offers app, Google Wallet app (or through your Google + Local listing, if it’s connected to Google Maps). Businesses can choose from the three types of offers to provide:

• Money off – used to specify a dollar discount, such as “$20 off package”
• Percent off – used to specify a percentage discount, such as “25% off warranty plan”
• Free product – used to provide a free product or gift with purchase, such as “free flower bouquet with purchase of club membership”

As the Google listings are often at the top of organic search results, utilizing the Offers feature is an excellent way to draw visitors to your listing and set you apart from the competition. While the Google Offers for Businesses is currently only available in a select number of cities, you will soon be able to create an offer that will sync across Google Offers, Google Maps and Google Wallet.

Stay tuned!