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Ten ways to build a brand for your small business. Branding is just as important for small businesses as it is for big names.

Ten ways to build a brand for your small business

15 LinkedIn Marketing Hacks to Grow Your Business. LinkedIn isn't just for professionals and job seekers.

15 LinkedIn Marketing Hacks to Grow Your Business

Sure, millions of professionals use LinkedIn every day to grow their networks and their careers, but did you know you can use LinkedIn to grow your business, too? From making connections to generating leads, establishing partnerships and creating better brand awareness, LinkedIn makes an invaluable addition to your digital marketing strategy. At its core, LinkedIn is a professional social network. It's all about career development, professional connections, industry discussions and other types of business-related activities.

It's not like other social media marketing platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram; there, businesses have direct access to consumers that they can easily market to with status updates, images and other casual posts. Moreover, unlike LinkedIn, brand followers on these other social networks already expect or are at least aware that companies use the platforms to sell their products and services. 1. Google Matched Content Gives Visitors Personalized Experience. If you’re an AdSense Publisher, here is some news for you.

Google Matched Content Gives Visitors Personalized Experience

Google has introduced a new tool for AdSense that could change your site. By generating relevant article recommendations from the content on your site, Google says its new tool could increase not only reader engagement but your ad revenue, too. Let’s Put Our Cities on the Map. Google Launches Program to Help Small Businesses Become More Visible. Do your company’s website, hours and address show up right away when people Google you...or at all?

Google Launches Program to Help Small Businesses Become More Visible

If not, you're missing out on big business and Google wants to help you fix the problem. The tech giant today announced a major new small business initiative called Let’s Put Our Cities on the Map. 25 Resources to Help Your Business Get Discovered Online. The ways new customers find your business, has changed a lot in recent years.

25 Resources to Help Your Business Get Discovered Online

But even with all the changes that have taken place, a lot still remains the same. People still ask questions, search for products and services, and seek help from businesses in their local area. Friends, family members, and colleagues still recommend their favorite businesses and show their support whenever they get the chance. The only difference is now, people are using devices — like smartphones and tablets — and new tools — like search, social media, listings, and review platforms — to talk about their favorite businesses and find the information they’re looking for. If you’ve visited the blog, received our Hints & Tips newsletter, or connected with us on any of our social media platforms, you may have noticed that this is a topic we’ve been talking about a lot over the last few months.

If not, don’t worry. Surprise & Delight: How to Show your Customers Some Serious ... Small business social media simplified. Social Media Engagement Certificate. Social media has revolutionized how we communicate.

Social Media Engagement Certificate

It has led to a fundamental shift in how businesses including non-profit and public sector organizations must function to maintain stakeholder and client relations. Social media provides the opportunity to build a vibrant community that is invested in your organization and its initiatives. Rural Development Institute, Centre of Excellence for Public Sector Marketing, Digital Relay and Brandon University have partnered together to offer an innovative Social Media Engagement Certificate delivered by industry experts. RDI is pleased to announce that the first offering of the Social Media Engagement Certificate (2013/14) is nearing completion, the participants will receive their Certificates in May.

The second offering (2014/15) will start on April 29 & 30, 2014 with Modules 1 & 2, see below for details. 3 Web Visitor Engagement Lessons from Restaurant Owners. I’m not a frequent restaurant-goer, but I do go to restaurants with my family once in a while.

3 Web Visitor Engagement Lessons from Restaurant Owners

While I enjoy (most) of the food served, what always intrigued me is how the owners and staffs engage their new and established customers. Learning from them helps me to establish new understanding on the whole issue of visitor engagement. Here’s what I learn. Lesson #1: A busy restaurant means good food (or at least you can assume so…) …well, it’s not always like that, but when I look for a new restaurant to visit, I always look at how full is the parking lot or how long is the queue. As a website owner myself, I’m aware that my content quality can’t speak by itself. How to Use Social Media To Drive Sales. 37inShareinShare According to a report by Nielsen on social media Americans spend three times more time on social media than reading their e-mail. 7.6% of online time is spent reading e-mail and 23% on social.

How to Use Social Media To Drive Sales

The juicy bit of the study is that more than 70% of social networks users shop online. That’s ~12% more than the average person. Cap. BC Lodging and Tourism Operators to Learn Lessons in Online Reputation Management. As a follow-up to the recently released Tourism BC Business Essentials Guide to Online Reputation Management, in the coming months I’ll be facilitating seminars in Online Reputation Management in tourism regions throughout British Columbia.

BC Lodging and Tourism Operators to Learn Lessons in Online Reputation Management

Hosted by Tourism BC, part of the Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Innovation, the three-hour seminars are designed to help lodging and tourism operators harness the powers of online reviews and social media content as a competitive advantage. Overview Social networking has fundamentally changed how travelers research trips, make decisions and share experiences. Events/Workshops. On Demand, available until June 30 This online course summarizes IRS resources for small business owners using the following media: (1) On the web at IRS.gov, (2) Tax Publications, (3) Videos and (4) Social Media.

Events/Workshops

It also provides specific resource information for the Recordkeeping and Understanding Gross Business Receipts issues.

Twitter & Youtube

Social Media for Tourism. Content. Pinterest & Instagram. Facebook marketing. Email Marketing. Trend watch. Blogging. Mobile Marketing Can Determine the Success of Your Business - Patricia Robinson's Blog - Tucker, GA Patch. If your website isn’t mobile ready, you’re losing out on potential customers. More people than ever do a good portion of browsing on a mobile device. Many small businesses have the potential to get a lot of customers who are browsing from a smartphone.

But even if your website is mobile-friendly, are you taking advantage of it with the right marketing strategy? If your website isn’t mobile ready, you’re losing out on potential customers. More people than ever do a good portion of browsing on a mobile device. Beyond your site looking good on a smartphone screen, it should also have a marketing strategy that goes beyond appearance. Hopefully a few of these stats will open your eyes. •There are 7 billion people on Earth. 5.1 billion own a cell phone. 4.2 billion own a toothbrush.

•It takes 90 minutes for the average person to respond to an email. •Mobile coupons get 10 times the redemption rate of traditional coupons. •It takes 26 hours for the average person to report a lost wallet.