Missed Out On Cyber Monday Sales? Implement Facebook Marketing for the Holidays

Happy Cyber Monday! It's that time of year again. I did minimal Black Friday shopping, and spent my Friday giving my business locally.

As a Californian, I found this article interesting. This story shows how local Long Beach, Calif. businesses missed the boat by not utilizing social media to compete with national retailers. Ouch! 

"According to a National Retail Federation and Shop.org eHoliday survey, while consumers obtain information about retailers’ sales and promotions from various channels, nearly three in 10 (29.2%) will check a company’s Facebook page for more information, and about two-thirds (65.1%) will read customer reviews on the company’s website."

These statistics above tell the social media story. If you are a local business who didn't take advantage of social media marketing on Cyber Monday, it's not too late to implement "buzz marketing" strategies to boost your holiday sales.

Check out these easy Facebook tips to ramp up your social media presence for the holiday season:

• If you don't have a Facebook Business Page, then it's time to create one. Not every business is suitable for Facebook. But if you sell directly to consumers. then you definitely need a Facebook presence.
• Grow your fans organically and strengthen relationships. 'Tis the season so don't slack off on your Facebook fans. If you ask "fans" to like your brand/company, give them something valuable in return - discounts, coupons, etc. Your Facebook Page needs to be a two-way communication street. 
• Do NOT use your Facebook Page to SELL products. Don't come across as a spammer. It goes back to building and developing genuine rapport with your fans.
•  Install Facebook  "Like" buttons on your home page and product sales pages. This is an easy way to draw people back to your Fan Page, and interact with your customers and fans who like your products and services. 
• WHO are your target markets? No two customers on your Facebook Page are the same. What do they like? Dislike? What are their purchasing habits? Do they only buy products online based on price or convenience? Review and interact with their comments on your Facebook Page to dig for more information. Get inside the head of your targeted consumers, and figure out social media campaign strategies that will actually appeal to them. 

What social media strategies have you implemented to boost your holiday sales? I'd love to know! 

What Are The Biggest Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make?

Thanks again to Mike from the Toilet Paper Entrepreneur for including me in the line-up this week. I tackled the question - what are the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make?

My answer: 

 

"Entrepreneurs Need To Take A Proactive Approach To Marketing

The biggest mistake entrepreneurs make is taking a reactive approach to their marketing. Entrepreneurs need to be constantly marketing and networking. They wait until they are in the red to make drastic changes to their marketing strategies. Entrepreneurs need to revise and update their marketing goals and objectives on a regular basis. Whether it's online or offline, proactive marketing is a must for entrepreneurs' success."

 

Mike featurs fantastic entrepeneurs on his blog. For more helpful entrepreneurial tips and hints, check out this week's blog post at the TP Entrepreneur. 

Cyber Harassment Laws - When Social Media Bullying Goes Too Far

I don't have any tolerance for bullies. My youngest sister dealt with bullies during junior high so bullying is a subject I don't take lightly. According to a study by UCLA psychologists, almost three in four teenagers say they were bullied online at least once during a 12-month period, and only one in 10 reported such cyber-bullying to parents or other adults. That's an alarming statistic. 

Social media has opened up a new kind of cyber harassment - the social media bully. We have all experienced an online bully in one form or another. 

And cyber harassment is AGAINST THE LAW. But what constitutes cyber harassment, cyber bullying and cyber stalking?

The National Conference of State Legislature breaks them down as follows:

"Cyberstalking.  Cyberstalking is the use of the Internet, email or other electronic communications to stalk, and generally refers to a pattern of threatening or malicious behaviors. Cyberstalking may be considered the most dangerous of the three types of Internet harassment, based on a posing credible threat of harm. Sanctions range from misdemeanors to felonies.

Cyberharassment. Cyberharassment differs from cyberstalking in that it is generally defined as not involving a credible threat. Cyberharassment usually pertains to threatening or harassing email messages, instant messages, or to blog entries or websites dedicated solely to tormenting an individual. Some states approach cyberharrassment by including language addressing electronic communications in general harassment statutes, while others have created stand-alone cyberharassment statutes. 

Cyberbullying. Cyberbullying and cyberharassment are sometimes used interchangeably, but for the purposes of this chart, cyberbullying is used for electronic harassment or bullying among minors within a school context. Recent cyberbullying legislation reflects a trend of makaing school districts the policy enforcers of such misconduct. As a result, statutes establish the infrastructure for schools to handle this issue by amending existing school anti-bullying policies to include cyberbullying or electronic harassment among school age children. The majority of these state laws establish sanctions for all forms of cyberbullying on school property, school busses and official school functions. However, some have also extended sanctions to include cyberbullying activities that originate off-campus, believing that activities off-campus can have a chilling and disruptive effect on children's learning environment. The sanctions for cyberbullying range from school/parent interventions to misdemeanors and felonies with detention, suspension, and expulsion in between. Some of these laws promote Internet safety education or curricula that covers cyberbullying."

It's one thing to block a person who rants and raves and acts immature on social media, but when they become scary and infringe upon your privacy (or your family's privacy), then it's time to take action and involve the law. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, one of my clients went through an online stalking situation and had to involve a lawyer. 

Here are tips you can incorporate on your own if you are being cyberstalked. If you think that your cyberstalker suffers from mental health issues, I HIGHLY recommend not tackling this person on your own. Involve the proper authorities and seek legal counsel.

I like these tips from Quitstalkingme.com - how to track an online stalker: 

Look for clues to repetitiveness, do they use the same email to register to different websites? Do they post under the exact same username/account? Do they have a style of writing?  

Report them directly to the websites they are utilizing to harass and stalk you. Follow-up and make sure action is taking, whether through a first-time warning, closing of an account, or making sure their actions are logged, their IP is identified and tracked by the admins of the website.

For more resources and tips on cyber harassment, cyber bullying and internet stalkers, check out the following websites:

http://www.haltabuse.org/resources/laws/index.shtml

http://www.ncsl.org/default.aspx?tabid=13495

http://www.ncvc.org/ncvc/main.aspx?dbName=DocumentViewer&DocumentID=32458

http://www.cyberbullying.us/

http://www.nnedv.org/