Someone sent me a very funny U-Tube video describing a supposed new app that could alter your Facebook posts to make them ‘Mom friendly’.  It could make you appear clothed if you had posted inappropriate photos of yourself, turn your major squeeze into a plush toy that you innocently clutched and other wonderful and amazing tricks that could save you from severe scolding or worse.

 

What was once the province of the young has become a major communications phenomenon.  Not only are parents of teenagers moving into the Facebook culture, a significant number of the over-60 crowd is using the site to be entertained, connect with friends and family, support their ‘likes’, and learn more about the world.

 

My mom is on Facebook, too.   

 

My mother is in her 90s.  Granted, she always was ahead of her time.  An early email user,  she was surfing the net and sending out multiple emails daily (mostly to me) before most of her contemporaries ever heard of the Internet.  They thought she was making it up. “Your daughter writes to you twice a day? Who do you think you’re kidding?”

 

Now this is really important from a business perspective.  Social media marketing is no longer just to target youth.  If you haven’t figured that out yet, you may be asleep at the switch. 

 

Take a look at the latest Facebook statistics and think about how your business might benefit from reaching a huge continuum of market segments with inexpensive targeted messages. 

 

My mother was born before television had been invented.  Today she is on Facebook.  I think she is a role model for the kind of minds we all need to develop; minds that embrace and celebrate new technology and use it to make our lives more meaningful and our work more productive.

 

Sandra Altner

 

 

 

Posted by Sandra Altner at 12:00 AM 0 Comments

Tags women entrepreneurs  women-owned businesses  Women’s Enterprise Centre  Facebook  social marketing  demographics 

Think about all of your connections – both personal and professional. How often do you correspond with the various communities? What is the tone? Do you talk about your work, family, volunteer activities or hobbies? Whether or not you are consciously aware of it, each community you belong to has its own set of rules. Those rules apply whether you are connecting using traditional methods such as the telephone, in writing and in-person, or via a blog, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Therefore, understanding the intricacies of each group is vital to appropriate interaction.

I was asked the other day if I thought a particular post on a Facebook site was appropriate. My answer “What matters is whether the community it was intended for thinks it is appropriate.”

The challenge with many social media tools is the blurring of the line between our personal and professional lives. Just as your friends may not be interested in your latest sales promotion, your clients may not be interested in pictures from a nephew’s birthday. The beauty of many social media tools is the ability to segment our communities so that they each receive messages that mean something to them.

Selecting the appropriate tool and crafting a relevant message are vital in any communication. The next time you update your LinkedIn profile, comment on a blog post, publish a blog, tweet or update your status on Facebook – think about the community you want to reach and craft your message in a tone and style that is appropriate for them.

Posted by Michele McClymont at 12:00 AM 0 Comments

Tags social media  Facebook  online community  women-owned business  women entrepreneurs 

Do you find the proliferation of social media, web 2, cloud technology references exhausting and vaguely threatening?

As a business owner, you figure you should be at the head of the pack, but the reality is that you don’t have the time or energy to be leading edge. In fact, most days you feel as if you are trailing along, the late adopter, the holdout, the last on your block to get with it.

It seems like the tail wagging the dog; the rest of us chasing after the techie toys, often forgetting that it’s the customer, the client, the target market, that should be directing the show, not the boys from Fast Company.

Take some time to find out if the majority of your customers are on Facebook, use Skype, Twitter hourly. If so, then find an expert to help you utilize those communication tools. If not, concentrate on those interfaces that get results: personal phone calls; customized mailings; special offers that are geared to what your market values.

Technology can be a positive force to help you grow your business. The trick is to find the right way to use it and not get lost chasing after the toys that no one on your customer list wants to play with.

Take it slow, think it through, do it right.

By the way, take some time to learn more about what might work for you and what might not at our Technology in the 21st Century conference on June 1.

Posted by Sandra Altner at 11:34 AM 0 Comments

Tags social media  technology  facebook  Skype  Twitter