The majority of the small business owners I work with don’t use LinkedIn to its potential.

One of the things I try to encourage is the participation in groups related to their industry. These groups could be made up of people in the same industry, or potential clients you’d like to get to know better.

There are many reasons why this is a good idea. In the rest of this article, I’ll explain some of these in a bit more detail. Read the rest of this entry »

HootSuite is a very useful platform for managing your Twitter account.

It has a range of extra features and time saving applications that can help to enhance your social media presence.

Keep reading to discover why you should give two hoots about this handy online tool. Read the rest of this entry »

A lot of the small business owners I speak to tell me they don’t ‘like’ or ‘get’ social media.

Well, unfortunately social media is not about you. Keep reading to find out why. Read the rest of this entry »

What is Google+?

Google+ is the new social network from Google. Having previously attempted social networking with the now defunct Google Buzz, Google+ takes all the best bits of Facebook and Twitter and binds them together with Circles (more on them later). Read the rest of this entry »

Keeping your Twitter account going takes time, effort and regularity. For some people that gets too much, particularly if they’re running a business at the same time. However, there are a host of reasons not to give up on it. Here are just five of them. Read the rest of this entry »

Ever looked at one of your competitors and wondered how they managed to get so many followers on Twitter? Accumulating more followers on Twitter takes dedication, hard work and perseverance. It doesn’t just happen overnight. Read the rest of this entry »

Twitter is like a cocktail party. There are always annoying guests who just seem to get in the way of everyone else’s good time. And just as those guests don’t seem to know they’re annoying half the time, some tweeters seem blissfully unaware of the trail of irritated followers they’re leaving behind them.

If you’re doing any (or all!) of these five things, you’re the person everyone wants chucked out. Read the rest of this entry »

Plenty of businesses unsure of how to get the best out of social media turn to outside agencies to do it for them. It’s an understandable decision, but not necessarily a good one. Here’s why. Read the rest of this entry »

Most small business owners see the primary benefit of  Twitter as attracting new business. However, running a successful Twitter account can teach a whole lot more than just how to attract new followers. Read the rest of this entry »

What is Google+?

The idea behind Google+ is pretty simple.  To take the concept of Twitter, Facebook, Delicious and all those other social networking sites and make it better.

Many of you will be familiar with the social network concept.  So why is Google’s version any different?  On the face of things, Google+ isn’t a huge step away from what we know, but there are some neat little features to get familiar with.

Although Google+ isn’t quite the finished product, it’s almost there, so you’d better get ready. Read the rest of this entry »