On the fourth day of business, it’s time to ask if your job candidate has been naughty or nice this year.   Yes, it’s social media time. 

When Facebook was introduced in 2004 it was available only to college students and shared only basic information.  Then the “Wall” was added to open communication between Facebook users.  In 2005, the “Photos” application was added.  Finally in 2006, Facebook was opened to the general public and the social media craze took off...

Everyone knows that this popular social media site is great for connecting with friends, family and attracting people to your business brand.  I thought I had heard of every use of Facebook until I had a conversation with Basso On Business client Brian Fagan.  Brian has been struggling with keeping himself on task and remaining motivated to accomplish the important things he needs to do each day to reach his goals.  He recently started mapping out his schedule to stay focused in order to assure his goals are met, but it was not enough to hold him accountable...

As social media still continues to grow and play a major role in business each and every day  you have to ask yourself the question, “Am I using my social media tools in the most effective and efficient way?”

I know that lots of you think social media can take away from your usual business day and it’s definitely something you don’t want to get completely wrapped up in, but managing your social media and keeping it up to date is a necessity for better business. There are a number of different social media management platforms and I recently came across a great one. It’s called Hootsuite and it comes to us by way of our friends in Canada up north. Hootsuite is a website and online brand management service, which publishes to websites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare, and WordPress...

I was speaking at a Chamber of Commerce recently, and asked the business owners in attendance to raise their hands if they utilized social media at their organization. About half the hands in the room went up. When I asked who actively used both Facebook and Twitter, only a smattering of hands went up. I found it surprising that while half the business owners in attendance used social media to a certain extent, only one profile was actively maintained and updated.

I started to think about why this could be the case and thought about how our usage of social media evolved. At my organization, we find both tools very important in getting out our message. We have thousands of followers on Twitter who may not follow us on Facebook, or vice versa, and it’s important our message is heard by everyone...

Acquiring the skills to not only grab someone’s attention, but develop a relationship with that person is the key to successful marketing. Integrating social media opportunities into your current marketing plan can present itself as a challenge to many, but with the rise of technology, it is almost a requirement to know how to market your company using new media. Just be sure to remember those core “time-tested” techniques you learned before the days of social media. Applying old fashioned techniques to modern day social media, will give you an advantage in exactly how to dominate the world of marketing yourself and your business...