People Updates
- fannyper, whitneys, anti-aging and 7 others updated profile information
Welcome
Loading...
Welcome to the Business Advantage
Small Business Community
Learn. Share. Thrive.
Running a small business is no easy feat. That’s why we’ve created a forum for small business ideas, insider tips, and the industry knowledge you need to help your small business grow.
Hero (Carousel)
Loading...
The Importance of Video Marketing
As technology has changed, marketing has changed with it. However, video remains the most effective advertising format. Learn more from the newest Small Business Community contributor, Joel Comm.
Sell Your Products On Instagram: A Step-by-Step Guide for Businesses
Learn how your small business can utilizing Instagram’s built-in sales tools. Mari Smith shares step-by-step tips so you can take your social media presence to the next level.
Resource Center: Fraud and Privacy
Fraud can be a serious issue for many small businesses. Check out these resources to help keep your business is safe.
Instagram and Facebook Story Ads for Small Business
The most savvy small businesses are reaching and engaging their audiences using fun, creative content. Learn how yours can do the same with these tips from Mari Smith.
Activity Tabs
Loading...
Loading...
What's new
Profile Updates
parveenbhati12, dythpixo, saha123, jmcoaching, think to share, jdmseocompany, long, and BUSYPHIL365 updated avatars:
Matters Most
What are the 6 month CD rates paying at Bank of America. Thinking of opening up one.
in Cash ManagementLike (0)
Matters Most
Need feeback on the business name "Lendinero". Your feedback is important. I believe that a business name says a lot. For instance, Jiffy Lube.
in Sales & MarketingLike (0)
Matters Most
Matters Most
What are you forecasting for your business in 2019? a. Better year b. The same c. Worst year
in General BusinessLike (1)
Matters Most
Side hustles are a great way to start a business, while keeping your day job or a smart way to start or test an additional business. One increasingly common side hustle is selling products online.… (Show moreShow less)
Side hustles are a great way to start a business, while keeping your day job or a smart way to start or test an additional business. One increasingly common side hustle is selling products online.… (Show moreShow less)in Business StartupsLike (0)
Social News
- kgrafer achieved a new status level:
Ranger - kgrafer achieved a new status level:
Pioneer - Dhani Jones achieved a new status level:
Tracker - dythpixo achieved a new status level:
Adventurer - dythpixo achieved a new status level:
Wayfarer - BAML Small Business Retirement Team achieved a new status level:
Navigator - BAML Small Business Retirement Team achieved a new status level: Tracker
- brownjames achieved a new status level:
Scout
Matters Most
Positive word-of-mouth reviews are a must for small business success. With thousands of followers and countless 5-star reviews, PSP Diesel in South Houston, Texas, understands the power of social… (Show moreShow less)
Positive word-of-mouth reviews are a must for small business success. With thousands of followers and countless 5-star reviews, PSP Diesel in South Houston, Texas, understands the power of social… (Show moreShow less)in General BusinessLike (0)
This is a great article, very informative on Online Reputation Management for Small Business. I am interested to know about these Installment loans hoping to succeed and avail Installment loans. Good…
No one can underestimate the value of building trust. It is essential for any organization to win the trust of its employees as it is crucial for the success of the company and the peace of its… (Show moreShow less)
in General BusinessLike (0)
Loading...
?????????????
?????????????
What are you forecasting for your business in 2019? a. Better year b. The same c. Worst year
What are you forecasting for your business in 2019?
a. Better year
b. The same
c. Worst year
No one can underestimate the value of building trust. It is essential for any organization to win the trust of its employees as it is crucial for the success of the company and the peace of its environment. Trust is the only emotion that bounds...
No one can underestimate the value of building trust. It is essential for any organization to win the trust of its employees as it is crucial for the success of the company and the peace of its environment. Trust is the only emotion that bounds employees to the vision of the company. It sets the behavior of employees and effects their work progress.
Mistrust of employers translated into the suffering of the company as they lack passion and drive to benefit the company. Distrust gives birth to fear and suspicion that reduces the work capacity.
If you are a manager who is struggling to win the trust of your co-workers and employees, here are the tips that you can use to build trusting relations ship with employees and gain their loyalties.
- Be an Active Listener
Pay attention to your employees when they are talking to you. Look at them directly and maintain positive body language. Act as you care about them. Nod when required and reply them. Listen to understand and obtain information. This will make them feel worthy and accepted.
- Keep them in the loop
Always keep your employees in the loop about the changes that you are making in the company, especially those that will affect them directly. Show honesty while explaining the differences. Listen to their queries about the changes and respond positively and openly.
- Adopt an open door policy
Adopt a welcoming attitude with your employees. If they are suffering from any problem personal or work-related; you should be willing to listen to them. Help them in their challenge and making a decision. Show empathy, and your employees will appreciate your positive and caring attitude towards them with their loyalty and trust.
- Give importance to opinions
Not asking the views of employees is the most overlooked strategy that stands in the way of building the trust of employees. Talk to them! And as their views and opinions regarding issues and situations. Give importance to their views; this doesn’t mean that you have to implement their suggestions.
- Offer them trust
Give them what you need from them. Trust them first and then expect them to trust you. Assign them simple tasks and give autonomy regarding the work. This will make them feel that you believe them and relies on them. This gesture can begin of a new trusting relationship.
- Remember important dates
Make a journal that includes all the birth dates of your employees. Give them a surprise and greet them on their birthdays. Similarly, make sure that you welcome them on their promotion and bonus. This will create feelings of warmth between the company and employees, and they will feel like part of the company.
Follow these tips and initiate a trusting relationship with your employees and coworkers that will benefit your company’s progress. If you are a business student, who are searching on how to write an essay online; on building relationships with employees this article will help you.
About Author
Alex Stephen is a business coach as well as a digital strategist who has played an active role in numerous businesses. His behind the scene work made many businesses successful that included ten popular brands to one writing website for education
Message was edited by: Alex Stephen. Removed one link.
Have you ever gone to a website, started reading, and realized your eyes are glazing over?? You might even think, "Gee, I really ought to be reading this page. But..." And you're gone before you can figure out what's wrong. The truth is, you've...
Have you ever gone to a website, started reading, and realized your eyes are glazing over??
You might even think, "Gee, I really ought to be reading this page. But..." And you're gone before you can figure out what's wrong.
The truth is, you've just been exposed to an example of wimpy copy. Anybody can push it around.
Competitors will kick sand in its face. There's no personality, appeal or brand coming through.
Use action verbs.
Action verbs include “Create,” “Recognize,” and “Discover." Depending on your audience, you might use even stronger action words,
including “Slaughter,” “Decimate,” “Force,” and “Trigger.”
Storytelling guides often advise you to “tell your own story.” That's good advice. It means, "Don't copy someone else's story. Be original." But when we hear, “Tell your own story” and it's easy to interpret this advice as,...
Storytelling guides often advise you to “tell your own story.” That's good advice.
It means, "Don't copy someone else's story. Be original."
But when we hear, “Tell your own story” and it's easy to interpret this advice as, “Tell a story about you.”
We’re supposed to share how we got from there to here, preferably with plot twists like conquering stubborn obstacles,
hitting bottom and getting saved by a brilliant idea.
The truth is, there’s no one story — or story archetype — that fits all businesses.
And your personal story may not be the most relevant or powerful for your prospects.
Good luck.
When you look up copywriting tips, you'll often find lists of power words for copywriting. Words like ... breakthrough astounding special secret hidden truth temptation forbidden never revealed limited crushing proven easy exciting...
When you look up copywriting tips, you'll often find lists of power words for copywriting. Words like ...
breakthrough
astounding
special
secret
hidden
truth
temptation
forbidden
never
revealed
limited
crushing
proven
easy
exciting
Those words just pulse with energy! You could get tired just reading through them.
But they're not necessarily the most powerful words a copywriter can use.
"Because..."
One of the first lessons I learned was the power of "because."
Research has shown that people will comply with a request if you give them a reason, even if it's a silly reason.
My business needs a website that is one of the main sources of value to the customer. It needs to provide information on the product, as well as list the customers involved in the current program using photographs and a short description. I don't...
My business needs a website that is one of the main sources of value to the customer. It needs to provide information on the product, as well as list the customers involved in the current program using photographs and a short description. I don't have a lot of web design skills. Wondering if I should create a site myself or have a professional do it? Thoughts?
Hi everyone, Here’s a great piece from Steve Strauss loaded with great advice for your Small Business: 8 Quick Social Media Content Hacks Have a tip you’d like to add? Leave a comment below to share with the...
Hi everyone,
Here’s a great piece from Steve Strauss loaded with great advice for your Small Business:
8 Quick Social Media Content Hacks
Have a tip you’d like to add? Leave a comment below to share with the community!
Beth
Running a business can be a matter of choices. Life, as a matter of fact, is made up of choices which take us from one experience to the next. Sometimes the decisions are easy, like what color to paint a wall. If we don't like it, we can change...
Running a business can be a matter of choices. Life, as a matter of fact, is made up of choices which take us from one experience to the next. Sometimes the decisions are easy, like what color to paint a wall. If we don't like it, we can change it. Some decisions are more difficult and can have long term effects on our lives, livelihoods, and reputations. In this article by small business expert Rieva Lesonsky, you'll see how the choice between principles and profit might affect your business, and you, both short and long term.
Principle vs. Profit: Can Your Small Business Have Both?
Have you as a business owner ever found yourself in a position like this? How did you handle it? How about as a consumer? Have you ever found yourself at your car with your groceries only to realize you'd missed putting an item on the belt to be rung up? What did you do? Is this something you've had to take into account in your day to day business operations?
--Lisa
Video is the new currency of the web. Surprising? Felix Kjellberg (aka PewDiePie) earns an approximate $15 million. Roman Atwood pegs at $8 million. Smosh (Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla) pockets $7 million. All estimates as per Forbes list of 10...
Video is the new currency of the web. Surprising? Felix Kjellberg (aka PewDiePie) earns an approximate $15 million. Roman Atwood pegs at $8 million. Smosh (Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla) pockets $7 million. All estimates as per Forbes list of 10 highest-paid YouTube stars for the 12 months ended June 2016.
The Internet and endless number of enterprise video platforms has thrown open opportunities for anyone with a passion for video to turn into sources of revenue. Video monetization is no longer buzzword for television behemoths, but for anyone who have a video library that can be streamed across the Internet.
Oh! And we missed to mention live streaming all this while. The multi-billion dollar industry is no longer restricted to broadcasting live sports events and musical shows. Enterprise video solutions now enable live streaming in education, entertainment, marketing and several other industries with great ease.
A notable provider of live streaming video solution is Brightcove who helps deliver and monetize videos across the Internet effortlessly. Brightcove extends its video facilities primarily for video publishers and broadcasters, digital marketers and enterprise users. Additionally it offers a range of other video streaming services for publishers and broadcasters for video hosting, live streaming, OTT Tv delivery, video player, live and file cloud transcoding among many others.
Here is a thorough comparison of live video streaming solutions that best fit as alternatives to Brightcove you might want to checkout.
Vplayed makes the best alternative to Brightcove video streaming. Vplayed is a top-tier video solution built for broadcasters, channel partners, content owners and publishers to launch their own typical video on demand, OTT and live streaming platform. The solution is a custom-made VOD solution that ideally compatible with any sort of industry which tends the content owners to monetize the content on various platforms. The solution is wholly packed with diverse features that put a way to streamline your content on multi platform.
This cloud-based platform is equipped with AWS cloud storage to assist in hosting of the video content in a secure and possess scalability. The end-to-end solution is armed with Content Management System which takes the responsibility of every piece of your content that tends to reach the right audience at the right time. Vplayed is inbuilt with an impressive Content delivery network that gives a promising high pixel rate video quality without any delay and also a dynamic user experience that entices the audience globally. The video on demand solution is the utmost platform that assists the content owners to store, transcode and engage a massive audience on multiple platforms.
If you are a fan of pay as you go or use policy in, then DaCast is a good choice. DaCast offers a tiered pricing package where your video streaming happens according to the bandwidth you have paid for.
Well, that’s a good thing as well as a bad thing. If your enterprise video portal picks up traffic and too many viewers started rushing to your video, you might run of bandwidth causing the stream come to a standstill. Just in case you are not sure how to calculate how much video bandwidth you will need, DaCast offers an in-built Launch Calculator to pick the right plan best fit for you.
However, there are ups that makes DaCast irresistible for video streaming. It provides a comprehensive suite of white label APIs and video tools that enhances video productivity streaming.
Contus Vplay is a comprehensive enterprise video streaming solution that allows anyone in these industries, or even outside of it trying to make their mark, launch their own online video streaming website complete with 100% customization.
Contus Vplay is offered as a readymade video on demand solution that comes equipped with multi-tier monetization for SVOD, TVOD, AVOD, pay per view and many other customizable video monetization avenues.It comes with advanced AES encryption security and user-owned digital copyrights management system, which is a curse for intruders who seek illegal access to your website. A proactive approach to track user activity with the use of customized reports and analytics gives a comparable view from your competitors.The inclusion of subscription helps in expanding the user base of your channel. You also get a 24/7 backed up customer support right from deployment to maintenance by a dedicated team of experts.
Loading...
Side hustles are a great way to start a business, while keeping your day job or a smart way to start or test an additional business. One increasingly common side hustle is selling products online. But what’s the best way to do it?...
Side hustles are a great way to start a business, while keeping your day job or a smart way to start or test an additional business. One increasingly common side hustle is selling products online. But what’s the best way to do it? Here’s a closer look at the best platforms for starting an e-commerce side hustle.
There are two basic options for selling online if you don’t want to build your own e-commerce site:
- Online marketplacesare like digital shopping malls. You rent a “space” in a larger marketplace.
- Hosted e-commerce platforms are like freestanding stores with landlords. You customize your online store using their software; they handle the behind-the-scenes stuff like site hosting and software maintenance.
Online marketplaces
Almost half of all U.S. online spending takes place on Amazon, where 83 percent of U.S. consumers have bought something in the past six months. The third-party sellers who account for over 50 percent of Amazon’s total unit sales are benefiting from that exposure.
Amazon’s Individual plans (starting at $0.99/sale) are an affordable way to test the waters but limit the number and type of products you can sell. For unlimited items and product categories, choose a Professional plan (starting at $39.99/month). Simplify your life and use Fulfillment by Amazon to handle packing and shipping for you.
You can sell handmade goods, craft supplies or vintage products (at least 20-years old) on Etsy. The Standard plan is free to join. Just create an Etsy account, select a shop name, create a listing ($0.20 per item, plus fees when it sells), and choose how you want to be paid and pay your fees. Accept payments via credit and debit cards, PayPal, Google Wallet, Apple Pay and more.
Etsy offers tools to promote your products, customize your store and design a website powered by Etsy; it also providesshipping labels and discounts. Upgrade to a Plus plan ($10/month) for additional marketing tools; a Premium plan will launch later this year.
eBay isn’t just an auction site anymore. You can sell both used and new items and choose from auction-style or fixed-price listings. You can start with a Personal account, but for those looking to scale, a Business account offers more functionality. Listing up to 50 items per month is free; you pay $10 of the Final Value after an item sells. eBay provides shipping labels and postage discounts.
For additional selling tools, bigger shipping discounts, and lower Final Value fees, set up an eBay Store. This lets you designa custom homepageand access a wide range oflisting tools to help you manage your business better.
Hosted e-commerce platforms
If you have big plans for your side hustle, BigCommerce could be for you. Big businesses and small startups alike use BigCommerce to create e-commerce sites using responsive design templates with best-in-class SEO built in.
BigCommerce also features built-in selling on Amazon, eBay, Google Shopping, Facebook and Pinterest—with no transaction fees. The Standard plan ($29.99/month) is ideal for startups and offers a free trial.
Basic Shopify ($29/month) is also great for side hustles. Design your e-commerce website and blog using one of Shopify’s theme templates with drag-and-drop ease. You get 24/7 support and can sell via online marketplaces and social media.
Want to start reallysmall? Use Shopify Lite ($9/month) to sell on Facebook and communicate with your customers via Facebook Messenger. Want to do more? Shopify offers tools to help you do everything from choosing your domain name to marketing your business and accepting payments.
Use Volusion’s responsive website themes to create an e-commerce site with features including inventory management, unlimited storage and product listings, and secure checkout and payment collection. It accepts payments via Stripe, PayPal or Apple Pay.
Volusion has built-in SEO tools and a comprehensive management hub that lets you see customer details, create discounts, and enable flat, free or special shipping rates. The personal account ($29/month) has everything you need and offers a free trial.
Take some time to explore all the options. By choosing the solution that best fits your budget, product mix, and target customers, you’ll put your side hustle on the road to success.
READ NEXT:
- Get 5 financial tips for the side hustler from Steve Strauss.
- Read Carol Roth’s 4 tips for starting a successful side business.
About Rieva Lesonsky
Rieva Lesonsky is CEO and Co-founder of GrowBiz Media, a custom content and media company focusing on small business and entrepreneurship, and the blog SmallBizDaily.com. A nationally known speaker and authority on entrepreneurship, Rieva has been covering America’s entrepreneurs for more than 30 years. Before co-founding GrowBiz Media, Lesonsky was the long-time Editorial Director of Entrepreneur Magazine. Lesonsky has appeared on hundreds of radio shows and numerous local and national television programs, including the Today Show, Good Morning America, CNN, The Martha Stewart Show and Oprah.
Lesonsky regularly writes about small business for numerous websites and for corporations targeting entrepreneurs. Many organizations have recognized Lesonsky for her tireless devotion to helping entrepreneurs. She served on the Small Business Administration’s National Advisory Council for six years, was honored by the SBA as a Small Business Media Advocate and a Woman in Business Advocate, and received the prestigious Lou Campanelli award from SCORE. She is a long-time member of the Business Journalists Hall of Fame.
Web: www.growbizmedia.com or Twitter: @Rieva
You can read more articles from Rieva Lesonsky by clicking here
Bank of America, N.A. engages with Rieva Lesonsky to provide informational materials for your discussion or review purposes only. Rieva Lesonsky is a registered trademark, used pursuant to license. The third parties within articles are used under license from Rieva Lesonsky. Consult your financial, legal and accounting advisors, as neither Bank of America, its affiliates, nor their employees provide legal, accounting and tax advice.
Bank of America, N.A. Member FDIC. ©2018 Bank of America Corporation
Positive word-of-mouth reviews are a must for small business success. With thousands of followers and countless 5-star reviews, PSP Diesel in South Houston, Texas, understands the power of social media to drive business growth. In this episode of...
Positive word-of-mouth reviews are a must for small business success. With thousands of followers and countless 5-star reviews, PSP Diesel in South Houston, Texas, understands the power of social media to drive business growth. In this episode of “The Heartbeat of Main Street," we discuss strategies for boosting your small business' online reputation.
“The Heartbeat of Main Street” delivers timely insights tailored to the needs of small business owners and entrepreneurs. Featuring a rotating line-up of small business experts and industry leaders – and covering a range of topics – each episode explores the trends that have an impact on revenue creation for small business owners.
The series is hosted by ForbesBooks’ Gregg Stebbens and Small Business Community Contributor, Steve Strauss. More information and previous episodes can be accessed through a dedicated home page and on the Small Business Community podcast page. Be sure to check back often – so you don’t miss a beat.
Narrator: Welcome to “The Heartbeat of Main Street” at ForbesBooks at forbesbooks.com and Bank of America at bankofamerica.com. Here's your host, Steve Strauss.
Steve Strauss: Art Martinez is the owner of PSP Diesel. Art is often described as being the best in his craft, and is praised for his honesty, professionalism, attention to detail, and great work. Their commitment to customer satisfaction is evident with countless five-star ratings and testimonials, and he's gonna teach us a little bit about how we can get some great reviews, too.
Art, how did you become an entrepreneur?
Art Martinez: It was in 2007, 2008 during the Financial Crisis. I did work for a dealership. Work had declined, and bills had to get paid. It started with one customer who was looking for quality work at a reasonable price, and we capitalized on that. We took that experience, we took care of the customer. We surprised him with our efficiency, our professionalism, and it grew. In about seven or eight years we've been in business and our current data, we hold about 4,800 customers year-to-date.
Steve Strauss: Wow. That's so impressive. Why do you think people love coming to your business?
Art Martinez: I think one of our biggest compliments that we get, Steve, at the shop, is our honesty and our professionalism. I believe that it shouldn't just be a transaction. It shouldn't be about profit. It shouldn't be about selling. It should just be about an overall experience. Creating a relationship with that customer and understanding their needs.
Steve Strauss: Give us an idea about how big your business is now here 10 years later after you began. In a typical day how many trucks are you servicing? How many people work for you? What's the size of your business?
Art Martinez: We've been showing since 2008 ... We've shown about a 25% growth. We started with one employee. There is a partner, Richard Alvarado, myself. We started with one employee, and eight and a half years later we have 14 employees, and we operate within a 20,000-square-foot facility. During a busy week we repair about anywhere from 25 to 35 trucks, ranging from a basic oil change, basic break job, to a full-on race build.
Steve Strauss: I know that developing a digital presence has clearly been vital to your business. Can you tell us a little bit about your strategy from the get-go with regard to digital?
Art Martinez: From the very beginning our strategy has been organic growth, word of mouth. I encourage my customers to recommend their neighbor. Their neighbor's gonna recommend the construction worker. It wasn't until about two and a half years ago that we really, really started focusing on social media and our channels. Why not? They’re free advertisement and in today’s age, we’re surrounded by that. We wanted to take that opportunity and post some pictures. Let the community know that we’re here and we’re here to help.
Steve Strauss: You do have a lot of reviews, a lot of positive reviews online. Art, what’s your secret?
Art Martinez: Steve, it’s really, really simple. Our strategy has been the same from the very first customer to our current customers now. People like honesty. People like to be treated fairly, and they want to be put in a certain situation where I said earlier, it's not just about profits. It's about creating an experience and understanding their financial needs. These trucks are used as mobile offices. The trucks are down, that means they're not making money.
A lot of our clientele are rig welders, construction workers, and when these vehicles are down, they're not getting paid, they're not making money. It sometimes means going out of the box. Whether it's a loaner program, whether it's a ride to the airport, you're creating an overall experience. You back that up with an honest experience, a reasonable bill, and maybe a courtesy call after the job has been done, a review will follow.
Steve Strauss: That last sentence is what I want to ask you about. Clearly the first part is you have to do five-star work if you want to get a five-star review, but how do you get people then to take their experience and go online and take the time to figure out where to write a review for you and then write a review for you? Do you ask them? Or are you saying it just happens organically?
Art Martinez: No, it happens organically, but a key note question that I commonly ask my customers from first impression, from when we first meet, I shake their hand, introduce myself. "How did you find us? How did you end up here?" We don't have a store front. We operate within an industrial part of South Houston, which is a very small industrial community, so in order to find our shop, you're either on the internet, you're on Yelp, you're on Google, or somebody told you exactly where we're at. That's key to me. Why? I want to know. We don't want to invest a whole lot of money in advertisement.
I mentioned earlier our biggest advertisement is word of mouth. The customer comes in and tells me that, why wouldn't he want to try our shop? We've got 145 reviews and they're all five stars, my direct approach is, well, that comes at a very high price because I can tell you just as much as we have really good experiences, we have bad experiences. This is probably gonna answer your next question, you must control a negative experience. We're in business. It's how you control it and how you make it right.
Steve Strauss: Let's say somebody has a bad experience, because you're right that does happen in business, and they go online and they write a bad review about you. How you do handle that?
Art Martinez: I can tell you year-to-date, Steve, I'm being completely honest, I don't think we've ever had a negative review posted on ... We've had customers call back and tell me their negative experience. I want to know what happened, who was involved, and how we're gonna make it right.
Steve Strauss: Well, I know I can give some advice to people also with regard to negative reviews. I saw a study recently that said that companies that do nothing about their negative review, end up, of course, with a negative review. Those companies that go back in and find the reviewer and then write to the reviewer and say, "We're really sorry you had a bad experience. What can we do to help it?" They try and fix the situation, after that often not only will the reviewer be amenable to removing the review, but they actually become customers again. You can really turn by just doing what you say you do, a negative experience into a positive by doing great customer service. I'm sure that's been your ... kind of what you're saying as well.
What do you think of asking customers to write you a good review?
Art Martinez: I think it should be encouraged, definitely. In our lobby we do have signs, "Your Experience Matters." We do talk to customers about, "Hey, if the experience was positive, please ... your input ... we want to hear your input." We're listed on Yelp, Google. That's about it. We don't really influence anybody into reviewing the business. We believe if we're doing everything that we possibly can to make it a plus experience, that review will follow.
Narrator: Thanks for listening to “The Heartbeat of Main Street” with ForbesBooks at forbesbooks.com and Bank of America at bankofamerica.com.
Learn more about how to boost positive online reviews for your business – and deal with those pesky bad ones – from Rieva Lesonsky.
Mari Smith explains how to increase authentic business reviews on Facebook.
In the past, employees of large enterprises had careers lasting 20-30 years with the same company that would in return come with a company retirement or pension benefit.Times are different. In the U.S. today, there are 42 million formally...
In the past, employees of large enterprises had careers lasting 20-30 years with the same company that would in return come with a company retirement or pension benefit.Times are different. In the U.S. today, there are 42 million formally identified freelancers which makes up more than 40% of the workforce.
75% of employees employed as freelancers/contractors/gig workers plan to start their own business at some point in the future.
When working as an Independent Contractor/Sole Proprietorship, the key word is flexibility. You can work as a freelancer or even run a physical, on the ground business. Depending on your career/businesses evolution, the lines of personal vs. business transactions/expenses can be blurred. That being said, it is always a good idea to keep at least a separate credit card designated for business expenses so that when the time comes to write off business expenses it isn’t overwhelming. As a sole proprietor, you can even write off a home office as long as certain IRS guidelines are met. Whether the business has achieved sustainability in revenue or the day to day operations have simply become too complex, these are typically good signs to start looking into the type of business to incorporate. Another good reason to consider incorporating is the potential for limited liability.
The difference between someone who is self-employed and a small business owner is that those who are self-employed typically do not have employees and do not hire contractors. Small business owners tend to hire employees and contractors.
There are many factors that come into play when deciding what type of business entity to create. It would be prudent to make this decision while incorporating the contractor’s long term intentions. Factors to consider are the type of professional practice, if you are simply an independent contractor, if you will be creating a product/hiring employees, or if you’re acting as a freelancer providing a service. Once this important decision is defined, the logical next steps would be to solidify routines of how your business will be tracking expenses, type of benefits to offer (retirement/health), how you plan on keeping track of/paying taxes (state/federal/self-employment tax), and to leverage the advice from an attorney/tax advisor.
Simplified steps to consider in creating and operating a small business
1) Determine, with the assistance of your attorney/tax advisor, an appropriate business type (LLC / S corp / partnership / C corp / single member LLC)
2) Apply for a Tax ID Number and other Tax Registrations
3) Register your Business Name
4) Open a business checking account
5) Establish a Business Record Keeping System (business credit card etc.)
6) Determine what type of benefits to offer yourself/employees (retirement/health, etc.)
7) Decide on what type of business expenses you can deduct (travel expenses/home office, etc.)
Consulting with a Small Business Banker can help you review account types for the business and the different services to consider to run your business.
As pension plans become a thing of the past, there is increased uncertainty surrounding retirement for contractors/small businesses. In addition to the phase out of pensions, many individuals that participate in the gig economy are not offered an employer 401(k) plan either. The end result of this is for the contractor/business owner to determine what type of Small Business Retirement Plan may best suit their needs.
Small Business Retirement Plan offerings
1) Small Business 401(k)
2) SEP IRA
3) SIMPLE IRA
Consulting with a Financial Solutions Advisor can help you identify appropriate retirement account types (when the time is right) and considerations in the decision. If working with Bank of America and Merrill Edge, a joint meeting can be set up with both a Small Business Banker and a Financial Solutions Advisor in order to address your needs.
Neither Bank of America, Merrill Lynch nor any of its affiliates or financial advisors provide legal, tax or accounting advice. You should consult your legal and/or tax advisors before making any financial decisions.
The external links provided above will take you to a third party's website that is not sponsored or endorsed by Bank of America Small Business Retirement.
Bank of America and the Bank of America logo are registered trademarks of Bank of America Corporation. Banking products are offered by Bank of America, N.A., Member FDIC and wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of America Corporation. ©2018 Bank of America Corporation
Bank of America, N.A. provides informational reading materials for your discussion and review purposes only. Please consult your tax advisor, as neither Bank of America, its affiliates, nor their employees provide legal, accounting and tax advice.
Merrill Edge® is available through Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated (MLPF&S) and consists of the Merrill Edge Advisory Center (investment guidance) and self-directed online investing.
Banking products are provided by Bank of America, N.A., Member FDIC and a wholly owned subsidiary of BofA Corp.
Investment products:
| Are Not FDIC Insured | Are Not Bank Guaranteed | May Lose Value |
MLPF&S is a registered broker-dealer, Member SIPC and a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of America Corporation. © 2018 Bank of America Corporation. All rights reserved.
AR7KS79J
Management expert Peter Drucker is often quoted as saying, “You can’t manage what you can’t measure.” In order to grow and improve your business, you have to be able to measure and monitor the right metrics. This...
Management expert Peter Drucker is often quoted as saying, “You can’t manage what you can’t measure.” In order to grow and improve your business, you have to be able to measure and monitor the right metrics.
This applies to everything in your business.
Yet determining the right metrics to measure, and understand, is not so simple.
Proxy metrics (or Vanity metrics) vs. sales metrics
On Facebook’s Q4 2016 earnings call held on February 1, 2017, COO Sheryl Sandberg stated that all ads should drive business. She made the distinction between sales metrics and ‘proxy metrics,’ which includes fanbase size, reach, engagement and video views.
“We really believe that at the end of the day what matters the most is all the way through to sales. What matters the most is the A/B test that these people saw ads on Facebook and Instagram, these people didn’t, and here’s the sales lift. And all of the other metrics,” Sandberg said, “are proxy metrics.”
Of course, this is not what most businesses want to hear. We’ve all been trained to believe more is better. That we ought to strive for more fans, more reach and more engagement.
But, generally speaking, those numbers are all vanity metrics.
Marketers need to see the metrics all the way through to the final goal and focus on the right metrics – those that generate revenue.
It’s important to separate out your KPIs (key performance indicators) into the right categories and report the relevant data to the right person within your business.
For example, brand awareness, social media and engagement metrics should be reporting to the CMO/marketing manager/community manager. Whereas, lead generation and sales metrics are what the CEO and CFO mostly want to know. If you report the number of retweets or video views in a week to your CEO and CFO, they may wonder how that translates to actual bottom line dollars.
Following are some suggested metric categories:
- Brand awareness metrics include social media reach, brand mentions, brand searches, media mentions and website traffic.
- Social media metrics include number of likes/fans/followers, post reach and impressions.
- Engagement metrics include people who have clicked, liked, commented on or shared your social media posts; people who have viewed your videos; number of retweets and more. This stat could also include the number of subscribers opening your emails and clicking on links.
- Lead-generation metrics include landing page visits, click-through rate, completed registrations and conversion rates. In other words, any activity that moves the prospect from being an engaged member of your social media channels to becoming a contactable prospect. This can include the prospect submitting their phone number, email address, mailing address or contacting you via Facebook Messenger, Instagram Direct or WhatsApp.
- Sales metrics include appointments scheduled, applications submitted, add-to-cart, initiate checkout, add payment details, and, of course, completed purchases.
“In God we trust, all others must bring data.” – W. Edwards Deming
Tools for measuring your online activity
You may already have a reliable set of tools you use to track an array of metrics in your business. Here are a few of my own favorites:
Facebook Insights: You’ll find these metrics on the “Insights” tab of your Facebook business page. For mobile, use the Facebook Pages Manager app (iOS) (Android) and also check out the Facebook Analytics app. Metrics include Likes, Followers, Page Views, Actions on Page, Video views, Audience retention, Engagement and more.
For video content, I recommend clicking in to each video to study the breakdown of metrics. Otherwise, you can keep an eye on the Overview > Page Summary insights for the past 7 or 28 days and export the data to a spreadsheet for further analysis.
Twitter Analytics: These are at the top right of your Twitter profile or at analytics.twiter.com. View your tweet impressions, engagement, and engagement rate. Pay particular attention to your top tweets and do more of what’s working.
AgoraPulse: This is a terrific all-in-one tool for scheduling and managing all your social media channels. The Reports section has colorful charts that are easy to read and may be a great addition to your analysis.
BuzzSumo: One of my favorite tools, this platform allows you to study how well your own social posts are doing along with any competitor’s posts. Plus, you can use the tool to discover what headlines and topics are doing well, identify key influencers, see what’s trending and more.
One stop data dashboard
If looking at an array of metrics from a wide variety of sources is challenging for you, you might enjoy a great solution called Klipfolio.
Klipfolio is a tool to create an all-in-one dashboard with visual analytics for all of your metrics at your fingertips. You’ll be able to instantly spot trends and see how your business is performing. Compare this month to last month or the same period last year with a single click. Use filters, segments, and automatic trend lines.
Cash flow dashboard
Just as you need to closely track and measure sales and marketing metrics, you definitely need to do the same with your business finances. Bank of America Business Advantage 360 offers an innovative new cash flow dashboard where you can easily see a 360° view of your business’ financial position or picture in a compelling, visual layout.
Business Advantage 360 is a one-stop ‘digital control center.’ Accessible online and on mobile, this new seamless and integrated digital platform is designed to help you get more time back in your day by helping you manage all financial aspects of your business.
BA360 empowers you as a busy business owner to optimize your time and resources and gain deeper perspective on your business so you can get back to doing what you truly love – focusing on the mission and success of your enterprise!
About Mari Smith
Often referred to as “the Queen of Facebook,” Mari Smith is considered one of the world’s foremost experts on Facebook marketing and social media. She is a Forbes’ Top Social Media Power Influencer, author of The New Relationship Marketing and coauthor of Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day. Forbes recently described Mari as, “… the preeminent Facebook expert. Even Facebook asks for her help.” She is a recognized Facebook Partner; Facebook headhunted and hired Mari to lead the Boost Your Business series of live events across the US. Mari is an in-demand speaker, and travels the world to keynote and train at major events.
Her digital marketing agency provides professional speaking, training and consulting services on Facebook and Instagram marketing best practices for Fortune 500 companies, brands, SMBs and direct sales organizations. Mari is also an expert webinar and live video broadcast host, and she serves as Brand Ambassador for numerous leading global companies.
Web: Mari Smith or Twitter: @MariSmith
Bank of America, N.A. engages with Mari Smith to provide informational materials for your discussion or review purposes only. Mari Smith is a registered trademark, used pursuant to license. The third parties within articles are used under license from Mari Smith. Consult your financial, legal and accounting advisors, as neither Bank of America, its affiliates, nor their employees provide legal, accounting and tax advice.
Bank of America, N.A. Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender.
© 2019 Bank of America Corporation.
Bank of America, N.A. is providing these third-party websites and/or other sources only as a convenience, and does not monitor or maintain the information available on the external websites mentioned, nor represent or guarantee that such websites are accurate or complete, and they should not be relied upon as such. Bank of America provides informational reading materials for your discussion or review purposes only. Neither Bank of America, its affiliates, nor their employees provide legal, accounting and tax advice.
In the early days of advertising as we know it, if a business wanted to reach the largest possible audience, there was a number it could call. That number connected the business to the advertising sales department of a television studio. At a time...
In the early days of advertising as we know it, if a business wanted to reach the largest possible audience, there was a number it could call. That number connected the business to the advertising sales department of a television studio. At a time when families sat together every evening in front of a twelve-inch, black-and-white television screen, running a commercial during the peak time shows could give brands an audience in the tens of millions.
The rise of the Internet has changed that—and not just because families no longer watch one screen together. Companies now have access to a wide variety of digital options like banner ads, social media posts and ad units, email newsletters, content marketing, and targeted search results to promote their messages directly to their key target audiences. They’ve noticed. In 2017, digital ad spending exceeded the value of television advertising for the first time.
As technology and behavior have changed, marketing has changed with it. What hasn’t changed is the type of marketing that’s still most likely to convert potential customers. Businesses that hoped they could fire their scriptwriters and box up their video cameras to focus on text ads and copywriting have been disappointed.
Video remains the most effective advertising format.
Companies that place video on online landing pages have found their conversion rates increasing by more than 80 percent. Seventy-six percent of marketers say that video has helped them increase sales. Eighty-one percentof people have bought a product or service after watching a brand’s video online.
Those conversions have been driven by a steep rise in online video watching. Marketers expect that by 2020, the average person will spend about 84 minutes every day watching videos online.
We’ll be watching those videos on YouTube, of course, but also on Facebook and Twitter, and even LinkedIn. Although relatively few marketers currently place video on the professional networking platform, about 75 percent of those that do said that showing ads to the platform’s business users achieves results. Video is popping up everywhere.
But online video is very different than the kind of ads shown on television.
Most of the video marketing seen online is short, cheaper than fully produced television spots, and is developed to resonate specifically on the platform where it’s being placed.
After the Superbowl, viewers might pull up YouTube to re-watch long, funny, big budget commercials. But on social media, they want to watch short, digestible videos, to comment, like or share, and keep scrolling. According to Hubspot, videos that generate the most comments on Instagram average just 26 seconds. Marketers on Twitter can stretch their time to 45 seconds, while Facebook’s users have an attention span that lasts as long as a minute.
Viewers also tend to watch their videos with the sound off so that they don’t disturb others during activities like a morning commute—or alert their teachers that they’re not paying attention in class. That means telling a story visually and using prominent subtitles to explain what the viewer is seeing.
None of that is simple. It takes more effort and expense to create an effective video ad than it does to make a website banner. But video marketing doesn’t have to involve a lot of effort and expense. Some of the most effective commercial video content consists of live broadcasts in which the owner of a business sits in front of a camera, talks directly to customers, and answers questions about the product. The audience might be small—a live video might reach only a few hundred people during the broadcast itself—but it can be hugely effective at building brand loyalty. And even when you’re making a YouTube video that’s less than a minute long, you should be able to do it without breaking the bank.
The world has changed since the days when soap companies sponsored daytime shows. Audiences have split and screens have shrunk, but video marketing remains just as effective. It can now be highly targeted and, at a time when we all have a video camera in our pockets, it’s readily available to every business.
Learn how to use compelling video for your small business. Check out these other articles:
About Joel Comm
As an Internet pioneer, Joel has been creating profitable websites, software, products and helping entrepreneurs succeed since 1995. He has been at the frontlines of live video online since 2008 and has a deep expertise in using tools such as Facebook Live, Periscope, Instagram or Snapchat to broadcast a clearly defined message to a receptive audience or leveraging the power of webinar and meeting technologies.
Joel is a New York Times best-selling author of 15 books, including “The AdSense Code,” “Click Here to Order: Stories from the World’s Most Successful Entrepreneurs,” “KaChing: How to Run an Online Business that Pays and Pays and Twitter Power 3.0.” He is Co-Host of The Bad Crypto Podcast one of the top crypto-related shows in the world and has spoken before thousands of people around the world and seeks to inspire, equip and entertain.
Web: https://joelcomm.com/ or Twitter: @JoelComm
Bank of America, N.A. engages with Joel Comm to provide informational materials for your discussion or review purposes only. Joel Comm is a registered trademark, used pursuant to license. The third parties within articles are used under license from Joel Comm. Consult your financial, legal and accounting advisors, as neither Bank of America, its affiliates, nor their employees provide legal, accounting and tax advice.
Time Magazine named TruTouch one of 2006’s best inventions. The device, which tests a drivers’ alcohol levels with much faster technology than breathalyzers, won a government grant that allowed the company to move into further...
Time Magazine named TruTouch one of 2006’s best inventions. The device, which tests a drivers’ alcohol levels with much faster technology than breathalyzers, won a government grant that allowed the company to move into further development.
From the initial investment, TruTouch’s developers were catapulted into a second round of funding in the form of a $438,000 grant administered by the United States Army Medical Research and Materiel Command.
The story of TruTouch is two-fold: First, yes, there actually is the potential to find “free money” when you’re starting a small business. And second . . .
It’s really, really tough to get.
Federal grant money is administered by individual agencies and each has a very specific set of requirements. For example, The U.S. Department of Agriculture awards a grant of up to $75,000 to “expand, or assist in the improvement and expansion of, domestic farmers markets, roadside stands, and community-supported agriculture programs.”
When researching Federal grants,the best place to go is the United States government’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and its Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. SBIR/STTR offers grants to companies that undertake scientific R&D projects that have a high likelihood of having commercial applications.
But not every business is in the R&D market. Here then are some other ideas for the rest of us when looking for sources of startup funding for small businesses:
State and local governments: State and local governments want to attract new business to their areas and many of them have created a variety of incentive, economic, and loan programs and funds intended to do just that.
For example, Portland, Ore., wanted to attract more startups, so prospective investors worked with the Portland Development Commission to create the Portland Seed Fund. Begun with a $500,000 infusion from the general fund, the new entity was dubbed Bridge City Ventures. Bridge City Ventures then approached other stakeholders in the city and eventually created a seed startup fund worth over $2 million.
Another great program of this kind is in New York City where NYC Department of Small Business Services is accepting applications for grants up to $90,000 to help offset rising real estate costs for small businesses. The program has an overall $1.8 million in grant funding.
It’s well worth researching to see if there are similar programs in your area.
Business plan competitions: For an exciting twist, locales have also begun creating business plan competitions where companies pitch their business idea in a “Shark Tank” environment. The winner gets some seed money and in-kind contributions from local companies. Beyond the funding, competitions can drive word-of-mouth for a small company and provide a network of seasoned business owners to support them in their earliest stages.
Partners/Investors/Angels: No, the money you receive from bringing in a partner or investor certainly is not “free,” except to the extent that it is not money that originates out of your own pocket. If you’re awarded such funding, you can bet that there will be plenty of strings attached.
The bottom line: While federal funding may be unattainable for most small businesses, there is money to be found. Paying particular attention to local sources may help. Indeed, lots of city or statewide groups have a vested interest in finding and developing viable small businesses, especially ones that can contribute to their economies and help create jobs. Targeting programs like that can help you find monetary success and help you become a thriving part of a local community.
Learn more about financing for your business by visiting our Credit and Lending Resource Center.
About Steve Strauss
Steven D. Strauss is one of the world's leading experts on small business and is a lawyer, writer, and speaker. The senior small business columnist for USA Today, his Ask an Expert column is one of the most highly-syndicated business columns in the country. He is the best-selling author of 17 books, including his latest, The Small Business Bible, now out in a completely updated third edition. You can also listen to his weekly podcast, Small Business Success.© Steven D. Strauss.
Web: www.theselfemployed.com or Twitter: @SteveStrauss
You can read more articles from Steve Strauss by clicking here
Bank of America, N.A. engages with Steve Strauss to provide informational materials for your discussion or review purposes only. Steve Strauss is a registered trademark, used pursuant to license. The third parties within articles are used under license from Steve Strauss. Consult your financial, legal and accounting advisors, as neither Bank of America, its affiliates, nor their employees provide legal, accounting and tax advice.
Bank of America, N.A. Member FDIC. ©2019 Bank of America Corporation
It could be said that an entrepreneurial spirit is often an inherited trait. Like many entrepreneurs, I grew up in a small business household where I watched my father’s small carpet store become a healthy chain of around 15 locations. The...
It could be said that an entrepreneurial spirit is often an inherited trait. Like many entrepreneurs, I grew up in a small business household where I watched my father’s small carpet store become a healthy chain of around 15 locations. The reality of life as a small business owner was a typical kitchen table conversation in my family.
When I was seven or eight years old I was asked to write a report about what my dad did for a living. Where my classmate’s parents had easily identifiable jobs like “lawyer” or “nurse,” I struggled to find a simple way to sum up “retail carpet store owner.”
“Tell them that I’m an entrepreneur, Stevie” was my father’s response. When I asked what that meant, he explained that an entrepreneur was someone “who took a risk with money to make money.”
I have heard many definitions of the word entrepreneur since, and many are quite good, but my dad’s characterization is still my favorite. It combines the essence and thrill of entrepreneurship – it illustrates that going into business requires risk, but also the possibility of a payoff if done well.
In the years since that conversation with my father I have learned the best entrepreneurs strive to reduce the inherent risk of running their own business whenever possible. It’s impossible to eliminate risk entirely, and you probably wouldn’t want to because risk is what makes it possible to grow and achieve new levels of success. But the smartest small business people learn to reduce risk, and, even then, to make sure that the risks they do take are well thought out and worth the potential loss.
How do they do that? Here are a few ways:
1. Court bigger, more stable customers and clients: There are many factors that are outside of the control of the small business owner. The economy surges and dips. Clients’ needs change. One way then to counter the constantly shifting business cycle is to work with stable corporate and government clients, when possible, because bigger customers can lead to bigger budgets and long-term relationships.
Generating opportunities to work on coveted corporate or government contracts can be challenging but is not impossible. I recently gave a webinar on the subject for SCORE, which can be viewed here
2. Create additional profit centers: If having bigger and better customers helps stabilize your business cycle, it should follow that having additional products and services can also help by diversifying the kinds of clients you serve.
Starbucks is a simple example of this kind of development. Originally the company only sold coffee beans, but they soon added coffee drinks. Then, capitalizing on an opportunity, they added Frappucinos to boost warm weather sales. And then food, music, and so on. Small businesses can use this same method to grow their offerings. By analyzing the market segment that you’re supporting and adding additional products and services to your offerings as opportunities arise, you increase the chances of making more sales in both good times and bad.
3. Establish proper legal status: It may be tempting to leave legalities for the future while you get your business up and running but delaying those steps may leave both you and your budding endeavor vulnerable. Incorporate right away. Establish business credit apart from your personal credit. Make sure you have enough insurance.
Yes, risk is part of the game, but if you play your cards right, you can ensure that your company grows and returns the investment on the time, work and care you put into it.
About Steve Strauss
Steven D. Strauss is one of the world's leading experts on small business and is a lawyer, writer, and speaker. The senior small business columnist for USA Today, his Ask an Expert column is one of the most highly-syndicated business columns in the country. He is the best-selling author of 17 books, including his latest, The Small Business Bible, now out in a completely updated third edition. You can also listen to his weekly podcast, Small Business Success.© Steven D. Strauss.
Web: www.theselfemployed.com or Twitter: @SteveStrauss
You can read more articles from Steve Strauss by clicking here
Bank of America, N.A. engages with Steve Strauss to provide informational materials for your discussion or review purposes only. Steve Strauss is a registered trademark, used pursuant to license. The third parties within articles are used under license from Steve Strauss. Consult your financial, legal and accounting advisors, as neither Bank of America, its affiliates, nor their employees provide legal, accounting and tax advice.
Bank of America, N.A. Member FDIC. ©2019 Bank of America Corporation
As Instagram solidifies its place as a powerhouse social media platform more small businesses should take advantage of this growing new channel to drive awareness, but also for driving sales. Instagram is one of the easiest platforms to showcase...
As Instagram solidifies its place as a powerhouse social media platform more small businesses should take advantage of this growing new channel to drive awareness, but also for driving sales. Instagram is one of the easiest platforms to showcase your small business’ products for sale and attract new paying customers. The Instagram app is entirely visual and almost exclusively accessed via the mobile app, although there is a desktop version.
With shopping on Instagram, you can create eye-catching, visual storefront posts for your small business that allow people to explore your best products with a single phone tap.
In this article, I’ll cover product-based businesses. If your small business is service-based, there are plenty of ways you can sell on Instagram and we’ll go into that in a future article.
Discovery has always been a key aspect of Instagram. With 80 percent of people already following a business account, and a global community of over 1 billion users, Instagrammers want to explore and find new things from companies they love. Similarly, businesses are always looking for opportunities to connect with valuable prospects and customers.
When Instagram added the shopping feature in March 2017, the company wanted to create something that was less transactional and more of an immersive experience. A way to give shoppers time and space to browse and evaluate products.
How shopping works on Instagram
Your Instagram business profile must be associated with an e-commerce catalog on Facebook. Once your Instagram business profile is connected to your Facebook catalog, you can tag products from your catalog in your Instagram posts and stories. People can tap on product tags to see prices and descriptions, or shop straight from your feed. Once you have a Facebook product catalog connected to your Instagram business account, tagging a product is as simple as tagging a person in a post.
What to sell on Instagram
To sell on Instagram, your business must primarily sell physical goods. You also need to comply with Instagram’s commerce policies. Instagram shopping posts may not promote services. Note that this just means using the shop tag or sticker feature. You can certainly still offer services (and products) using links in your bio and the swipe up feature in Stories.
Instagrammers can find your products via your feed posts, your stories, the Explore tab and from hashtag searches.
The ability to add shopping tags is available for both your main Instagram feed posts and for your Stories. I’ll go into that more below.
When you create an Instagram post with tagged products, the post is not only shared with your followers but is also shared in the Explore section. Over 200 million users visit the Explore tab on Instagram every day.
Including relevant hashtags on your Instagram posts and stories is a must, too. This helps increase your chances of discovery both on the Explore tab and in hashtag searches.
How to set up your shopping posts on Instagram
Step 1
Make sure your Instagram account is a business profile, and not a personal profile. If you currently have a personal profile that you use for business purposes, you’ll need to convert your account. Or, create a new business profile.
Step 2
Connect your Instagram business profile to a Facebook catalog. You can connect to an existing Facebook catalog or set up a new catalog using Business Manager.
If you work with a Facebook partner such as Shopify or BigCommerce, you can also set up a catalog through your account with them.
Next, your account must be reviewed before you can start selling. You can imagine that Facebook-owned Instagram needs to ensure bona fide products are offered for sale on their platforms. The review process usually takes a few days.
Step 3
Once your account is approved for shopping, you then need to enable product tags. From your Instagram business profile on the mobile app, tap the button in the upper right-hand corner > tap Shoppingunder Business Settings > tap Continue> select the product catalog you want > tap Done.
Step 4
Now you can add product tags on your Instagram posts and product stickers on your stories.
You can tag up to 5 products per single image/video post or up to 20 products per carousel (multi-image post). Tap Tag Productsfrom the Share screen. Select the product you want to tag from your catalog and place your product tag on or near the product in your image or video.
The good news is you can use the shopping tag feature on both new and existing posts.
For Instagram stories, you can create one product sticker per story and you can edit the sticker color and text. To access the product sticker, tap the sticker icon at the top right and then select the product sticker option. Unlike feed posts, once stories have been published, you cannot edit them.
Once you’ve tagged products in 9 posts, a shop tab will show up on your profile that lets shoppers browse your shoppable posts—all in one place.
Weave products into your visual story-telling in Instagram posts and stories.
Promoting your product posts
At the moment, the ability to tag products in feed posts and add product stickers to stories is only available in organic posts. Instagram does not allow paid ads with shopping tags. However, last year Instagram partnered with e-commerce platform Shopify to offer product tagging and these posts can be promoted using paid ads.
For organic promotion, remember to include hashtags in all your feed posts. You can add as many as 30 hashtags. Make good use of the stories feature - ideally posting 2-3 or more stories per day. And include a few hashtags on your stories.
Reviewing your shopping insights
Businesses can get insights like seeing how many people tapped to see more product details or clicked on “shop now.”To see key metrics on your shopping posts and stories, simply tap View Insightson a shopping post or swipe up on shopping stories. You can also sort top shopping posts on various metrics through Insights on your business profile.
Utilizing these tools within Instagram can help take your use of the platform from fun and building awareness to achieving real sales. Consider setting aside a few hours in the next month to experiment with selling on Instagram and see what it can do for your small business.
Want to learn more about using Instagram for your small business? Check out these other posts.
You can read more articles from Mari Smith by clicking here
About Mari Smith
Often referred to as “the Queen of Facebook,” Mari Smith is considered one of the world’s foremost experts on Facebook marketing and social media. She is a Forbes’ Top Social Media Power Influencer, author of The New Relationship Marketing and coauthor of Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day. Forbes recently described Mari as, “… the preeminent Facebook expert. Even Facebook asks for her help.” She is a recognized Facebook Partner; Facebook headhunted and hired Mari to lead the Boost Your Business series of live events across the US. Mari is an in-demand speaker, and travels the world to keynote and train at major events.
Her digital marketing agency provides professional speaking, training and consulting services on Facebook and Instagram marketing best practices for Fortune 500 companies, brands, SMBs and direct sales organizations. Mari is also an expert webinar and live video broadcast host, and she serves as Brand Ambassador for numerous leading global companies.
Web: Mari Smith or Twitter: @MariSmith
Bank of America, N.A. engages with Mari Smith to provide informational materials for your discussion or review purposes only. Mari Smith is a registered trademark, used pursuant to license. The third parties within articles are used under license from Mari Smith. Consult your financial, legal and accounting advisors, as neither Bank of America, its affiliates, nor their employees provide legal, accounting and tax advice.
When you own a business, it can feel like doing the work of 10 people. Particularly at the start, a business owner can be responsible for managing everything from accounting to travel arrangements to making sales calls. Fortunately, today’s...
When you own a business, it can feel like doing the work of 10 people. Particularly at the start, a business owner can be responsible for managing everything from accounting to travel arrangements to making sales calls. Fortunately, today’s business software can make juggling all these tasks a little bit easier.
Here are 9 online tools no small business owner should be without.
Scheduling appointments is a pain for small business owners with limited staff. Turn the job over to this handy app. It allows customers to schedule their own appointments online and helps you manage them by sending confirmation and reminder messages via email or text. Appointment-Plus integrates with MailChimp, Constant Contact, iContact and more.
2. Bank of America Business Advantage 360
Get a 360-degree view of your business finances with the new cash flow management dashboard from Bank of America with no enrollment or cost for business clients who use Bank of America Online and/or Mobile banking, since its fully integrated into your digital experience. Integrate your account activity to help categorize and track debits and credits, major expenses and key transactions all in one place. You can set cash flow thresholds, and alerts to make proactive adjustments.
Manage your inbox, contacts, and relationships all in one app. Cloze automatically pulls from your email, social media, calendar, calls, notes and more, then gathers all the information about each contact in one place. Next time you contact that person, your entire interaction history is at your fingertips. Cloze Business is $13.33/user/month.
4. JoinMe
Make web conferencing a breeze with JoinMe. For $20/month you get unlimited audio, video, and screen-share meetings and unlimited time for up to 50 people per meeting. Dial in with VoIP or by phone (you can even give participants a toll-free number to call). Then stream up to 10 webcams and record and store up to 5GB.
There are plenty of other helpful online tools. Please share your favorites with us.
5. Shoeboxed
Shoeboxed does more than scan and organize receipts (although if you’re a frequent traveler like me, that’s enough). It also creates expense reports, helps you prepare for tax season, tracks mileage using your phone’s GPS, and scans and organizes business cards to create exportable contact lists. Plans start at $29/month.
6. Toggl
Whether you’re a solo-preneur or have a staff, every entrepreneur can benefit from this free app. Just push a button on your device or computer to start tracking your time. It helps you track billable hours, create more accurate invoices, and pinpoint time wasters. Toggl syncs across all devices so you can start on one and stop on another. It also integrates with popular apps such as Asana, Basecamp, and Trello.
7. Trello
This project management app’s boards, lists, and cards make it intuitively easy to use. Create a board to track an overarching project, then add cards and lists to break down the associated tasks. You can add comments, file attachments, labels, due dates and more to cards; checklists and due dates ensure no one misses a deadline. Trello works on devices from iPhones to smartwatches and Kindle tablets, ensuring you and your team can use it on the go. The Business Class plan ($9.99/user/month) lets you connect Trello to Salesforce, Slack, GitHub, Evernote, Google Drive, Dropbox, Mailchimp and other popular business apps for even more functionality.
8. Tripit Pro
This app ($49/year) has everything you need to stay calm, cool and collected no matter where business takes you. Tripit Pro gathers all your travel information in one place and syncs it across all your devices. Share your itinerary with others, track reward points, get alerts for flight schedules and delays, and find new flights if your plans change.
9. Zoho Social
This collaborative social media management platform is ideal for businesses that actively market on social channels. Zoho Social allows you to manage multiple social networks, schedule unlimited posts and monitor keywords—all from one single dashboard. It’s easy to learn what customers are saying about you, making social listening a snap. Beyond these features, Zoho provides robust analytics and offers customized, real-time reports about your results including how far your content reaches and the amount of engagement it earns. There are three plans available to small businesses, including a free plan that offers the option to try before you buy more advanced features.
About Rieva Lesonsky
Rieva Lesonsky is CEO and Co-founder of GrowBiz Media, a custom content and media company focusing on small business and entrepreneurship, and the blog SmallBizDaily.com. A nationally known speaker and authority on entrepreneurship, Rieva has been covering America’s entrepreneurs for more than 30 years. Before co-founding GrowBiz Media, Lesonsky was the long-time Editorial Director of Entrepreneur Magazine. Lesonsky has appeared on hundreds of radio shows and numerous local and national television programs, including the Today Show, Good Morning America, CNN, The Martha Stewart Show and Oprah.
Lesonsky regularly writes about small business for numerous websites and for corporations targeting entrepreneurs. Many organizations have recognized Lesonsky for her tireless devotion to helping entrepreneurs. She served on the Small Business Administration’s National Advisory Council for six years, was honored by the SBA as a Small Business Media Advocate and a Woman in Business Advocate, and received the prestigious Lou Campanelli award from SCORE. She is a long-time member of the Business Journalists Hall of Fame.
Web: www.growbizmedia.com or Twitter: @Rieva
You can read more articles from Rieva Lesonsky by clicking here
Bank of America, N.A. engages with Rieva Lesonsky to provide informational materials for your discussion or review purposes only. Rieva Lesonsky is a registered trademark, used pursuant to license. The third parties within articles are used under license from Rieva Lesonsky. Consult your financial, legal and accounting advisors, as neither Bank of America, its affiliates, nor their employees provide legal, accounting and tax advice.
Bank of America, N.A. Member FDIC. ©2019 Bank of America Corporation
Have you embraced the growing trend of micro content yet? Are you publishing Instagram and Facebook Stories regularly for your business? Savvy small business owners are easily reaching and engaging their audiences using fun, relevant and...
Have you embraced the growing trend of micro content yet? Are you publishing Instagram and Facebook Stories regularly for your business?
Savvy small business owners are easily reaching and engaging their audiences using fun, relevant and creative content in the Stories format.
As explained in my article, 5 Ideas to Use Instagram Stories to Drive Small Business Growth, a Story is a piece of micro-content that disappears after 24 hours. Stories are mobile optimized with full screen, short vertical videos, images, stickers and other fun, interactive features. The Stories format is available on both Instagram and Facebook.
Instagram Stories
If you have a personal or business Instagram account, you have Stories!
Instagram ad spending is growing at a rapid rate thanks to the rise of Instagram Stories. Story ads increase ad recall, purchase intent, message association and click-through rate (CTR).
With over 400 million daily active users on Instagram Stories, this micro content feature is prime real estate to easily reach your target audience. According to Instagram, one in three of the most viewed Stories are from businesses. So, all the more reason to get going with Stories in 2019.
Instagram Stories and Stories ads are available to businesses worldwide. If you are currently using your Instagram personal profile for business, I would strongly recommend converting to an Instagram Business Profile as you’ll get access to helpful analytics, a CTA button for your profile, integration to third party tools for scheduling and other benefits.
Facebook Stories
The Facebook Stories format is a bit slower to catch on, with 300 million daily active users. But, Facebook is determined to ensure this format is just as popular (if not more, eventually) with new features for businesses rolling out regularly.
Placing ads in the Stories format provides small business owners a refreshing alternative to news feed ads.
“Stories are the future.” Mark Zuckerberg, CEO Facebook, Q3 2018 earnings call
Stories creation and consumption is growing at 15X the rate of feed content. The Stories format will eventually usurp the feed format as we know it. Or Facebook and Instagram may create a hybrid of both formats later this year.
Why Stories ads?
Both Instagram and Facebook Stories ads appear at the top of people’s feed in between organic Stories. Videos display for up to 15 seconds and images for up to 6 seconds. Users tap or swipe to navigate back or forward. Stories are always full screen and vertical, which provides a fully immersive, distraction-free experience for users.
Advertisers can include calls to action and links. Links open up inside the native Facebook and Instagram mobile app, allowing the user to browse, take action and return to exactly where they were all without leaving the app. This last part is vital to the user experience. It allows the user to maintain control. To tap and swipe, engaging with your content, and then return to where they left off.
How to create Stories ads
Take a look at Facebook’s Creative Hub to optimize your creative process and save valuable time. Mock up, preview and test Facebook and Instagram ads here.
My favorite tool for creating video Stories ads is Wave.video. Choose from hundreds of millions of royalty free assets, or upload your own. Add text overlay, stickers, GIFs, logos, music and more. You can easily create a video in landscape or square formats, and at the click of a button convert to the 9:16 vertical video Story format. [Editor’s note: Mari Smith is an ambassador for Wave.video.]
You could also create still image Stories ads using a tool such as Canva. They have some gorgeous premade templates you can use.
A great mobile app for creating Stories is Unfold.
Where to set up Stories ads
To place ads in Stories on either Facebook and/or Instagram, use Ads Manager.
If you are already placing ads, you might already be using the Stories ads format without even realizing it. Any qualifying ads that you create in Facebook Ads Manager already show up in the Instagram and/or Facebook Stories placement by default.
Instagram Stories ads are available as a standalone placement using Ads Manager.
Facebook Stories ads is included when you leave the default Automatic Placements. Currently, you can't select Facebook Stories as a standalone placement when you create an ad.
Stories ad formats
- Instagram: Single image, single video, canvas, and carousel (where you can place up to 10 ‘cards’ in a single ad).
- Facebook: Single image, single video.
Stories ad design specs
- Image aspect ratios: 9:16 and 4:5 to 1.91:1
- Video: 15 seconds
- Full Instagram and Facebook Story ad specs.
Stories ad calls-to-action
Just as you can add any of the available CTA buttons to regular ads, you can include one of these on your Story ads: Apply Now, Book Now, Contact Us, Download, Learn More, Get Showtimes, Request Time, See Menu, Shop Now, Sign Up, Watch More, Listen Now, Subscribe
Stories ad objectives
Only certain ad objectives can be used with Stories ads. These are: Reach, Traffic, App installs, Video views, Brand Awareness, Lead Generation or Conversions.
Get inspiration for your Stories Ads
- Check out Instagram’s own library of Stories Ads case studies.
- Facebook also has a vast array of Stories in Ads examples on its Success Stories site.
- See this fabulous infographic by 99firms - How Businesses Use Instagram Stories: 30 Case Studies.
- Facebook Stories ad case study of Bux app by MakeMeReach.com.
You can read more articles from Mari Smith by clicking here
About Mari Smith
Often referred to as “the Queen of Facebook,” Mari Smith is considered one of the world’s foremost experts on Facebook marketing and social media. She is a Forbes’ Top Social Media Power Influencer, author of The New Relationship Marketing and coauthor of Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day. Forbes recently described Mari as, “… the preeminent Facebook expert. Even Facebook asks for her help.” She is a recognized Facebook Partner; Facebook headhunted and hired Mari to lead the Boost Your Business series of live events across the US. Mari is an in-demand speaker, and travels the world to keynote and train at major events.
Her digital marketing agency provides professional speaking, training and consulting services on Facebook and Instagram marketing best practices for Fortune 500 companies, brands, SMBs and direct sales organizations. Mari is also an expert webinar and live video broadcast host, and she serves as Brand Ambassador for numerous leading global companies.
Web: Mari Smith or Twitter: @MariSmith
Bank of America, N.A. engages with Mari Smith to provide informational materials for your discussion or review purposes only. Mari Smith is a registered trademark, used pursuant to license. The third parties within articles are used under license from Mari Smith. Consult your financial, legal and accounting advisors, as neither Bank of America, its affiliates, nor their employees provide legal, accounting and tax advice.
Template Widget
Loading...
Become A Member
Join our small community for expert insights, insider tips, and the industry knowledge you need to see your small business grow.
Get Started Become A MemberTemplate Widget
Loading...
Podcast Player
Loading...
Search Ask Share
Loading...
Search for answers
Ask the community
Take part in the conversation and post your own question to the community.
Not a member yet? Register now
Ways to Make Your Search More Accurate
Most of the time, you just want to find content that has a particular phrase. Here are the easiest ways to find the content you want.
-
Enclose your search phrase in quotes. Search will try to find content with those words in the order you enclosed them. A search for "marketing advice" is going to return content with the phrase "marketing advice".
-
Search for content that has certain words, but not necessarily all of the words in order. This is the most basic search. Simply enter your search terms. For example: accept credit cards This will search for documents containing the words accept, credit, and cards
-
Using OR. The OR operator links two terms and finds a matching document if either of the terms exist in a document. To search for documents that contain either "web design" or just "online marketing" use the query: "web design" OR "online marketing"
- Using AND. The AND operator says that the search should return content in which all of the search terms are present. To search for documents that contain both "web design" and just "online marketing" use a search like this: "web design" AND "online marketing"
We would appreciate having your voice in the Small Business Community. You can participate in a number of ways.
-
Start a discussion in our member-to-member forums. By participating in the Small Business Community, our members gain knowledge and connections that give them a competitive advantage in building a successful business. Take advantage of the collective experience and expertise of the community to get help with a specific question or business challenge.
-
To post your question in our community, in the “Ask the community” section, from the drop-down select the category that you’d like to post to, then click the “Start a Discussion” button. If you simply want to introduce yourself to the community, please select the “Introduce Yourself” category.
Note: you must be a logged-in member of the community to post a discussion. Please login or become a member to participate.
-
Share your small business story. Do you have an interesting story to tell related to your small business? Have some advice for other entrepreneurs to help them avoid some of the pitfalls of small business ownership? We invite you to share your story with the Small Business Community. Click the “Share Your Story” link and simply answer the questions in our Share Your Story template.
- Answer a question. Are you an expert in a particular area of running and growing a successful small business? Would you like to help other small business entrepreneurs by answering their questions? We would appreciate your expertise in the Small Business Community. Please click the “Answer a Question” link to see a list of the open questions asked by members of the community.
Featured Expert
Loading...
As an Internet pioneer, Joel has been creating profitable websites, software, products and helping entrepreneurs succeed since 1995. He has been at the frontlines of live video online since 2008 and has a deep expertise in using tools such as Facebook Live, Periscope, Instagram or Snapchat to broadcast a clearly defined message to a receptive audience or leveraging the power of webinar and meeting technologies. Joel is a New York Times Best-selling author of 15 books.
Formatted Text
Loading...
