Many small business owners believe that Facebook is the only place that they need to be. That may be true in some cases, but often business owners miss their entire target market. Here are a few reasons your business should start using Google+:

G+ Profile

Google+ gives you the opportunity to post all of your company’s information in one convenient place. You can post a brief introduction about your company and list contact information. The most important part of this is the ability to add links. You can add links to your website and all of your other social media sites. There’s no better way to gain some link traction then from Google itself.

Less Competition

Google+ has far less users than Facebook, and chances are that your competitors aren’t there yet. This is a perfect way to get a leg up on them and share content with people, who use their products.

Google+ Local

Google+ Local gives users the ability to recommend places where they had good experiences. When you go to Google+ Local, you will be brought to a page with recommendations and ranking for everything in your local area. Google has categories ranging from gift shops to Chinese restaurants, and the one with the highest ranking is listed first in each category. This is a great way to gain potential customers who might not know about your business.

Google Hangouts

Google gives you the ability to have personal face to face interaction with your community. People love to put a name with a face, and hangouts are a great way to accomplish that. You can also give product demonstrations, or have Q&A sessions with customers.

Google+ is a great social media tool that your business should be using. What’s your favorite part about Google+? Tweet us @LogoSnap and share!

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What milestone was your favorite? Feel free to share in the comments below, or tweet us @LogoSnap.

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Last week, I discussed some ways that B2C businesses should use Twitter. This week, let’s shift gears to B2B businesses and ways that they should use Twitter. Many of the same practices apply to B2B businesses, but there are some differences. Here are a few ways that businesses should communicate with other businesses via Twitter:

Post Business-appropriate Content

The majority of your Twitter following will consist of other business owners. Twitter is a great outlet for posting blogs, memes and helpful hints for other businesses. Did you just write an amazing blog post on how to lead your employees? Tweet it, so your business-owning followers can read and potentially learn from it.

Share Content

Twitter is a great resource for building and maintaining relationships with businesses. Every now and then, it’s a good idea to re-tweet a post from a company that you do business with. You can also share tweets from companies that you don’t do business with. It’s a great way to build a relationship that could potentially lead to guest blog swapping – or even better – a new client!

Referrals

Twitter can be a great channel for you to tell your followers about a great product that you used. That means people can do the same for you. If you had a great experience with a company, who uses your service, recommend it to your followers and they just might return the favor.

B2B business owners should also be sure to resolve customer issues, provide customers with information and solicit feedback. How does your small business use Twitter? Leave a comment below, or, tweet us @LogoSnap.

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The social media platform, Twitter, has grown increasingly popular over the past couple of years. Businesses are finally discovering the benefits of using Twitter. One of the most important benefits is the ability to communicate directly with people, who use your product or service. Here are a few ways that businesses should communicate with their customers via Twitter:

Solve Customer Issues

The term “social care” has recently become well-known. Social care is the use of social media outlets, like Twitter, to handle customer issues (a form of customer service). Large corporations are already taking advantage of this, but there is no reason why small businesses can’t do the same. Small businesses should use their Twitter accounts to solve costumer’s issues. It’s a great way to attract followers, show users how great your customer service is and help your business grow.

Provide Customers with Information

Twitter is a great way to distribute information to your customer base. For example, if you own a pizza shop and you have a deal on pizza, simply send out a tweet with your special: “Order two large pizzas for $13.99 today only!” All of your customers will see this and you may get a little Twitter loving in the form of @ mentions and re-tweets from your loyal followers. In the end, your Tweet to 100 followers could end up being seen by hundreds, without costing you a dime. You can also use hashtags to increase views (example: #pizza).

Receive Feedback

Any good business owner knows that their product or service could use improvements. Twitter can be a great way to receive feedback about your product or service. Post a question to your follower base, like, “How did you like your massage today?” This is a great way for people, who use your product or service, to let you know what they like and don’t like, so you can make necessary changes.

Twitter will continue to grow, and businesses should start utilizing it sooner rather than later. How does your small business use Twitter? Leave a comment below, or, tweet us @LogoSnap

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Nowadays, it’s quite common for small businesses to have blogs. Staying on top of these blogs, however, can become overwhelming. The best way to stay organized and provide the best content for your blog is to develop an editorial calendar. Here’s some information on editorial calendars and how they can be beneficial:

What is an Editorial Calendar?

An editorial calendar is generally a calendar or spreadsheet created to keep track of what topics will be discussed in blog posts in the upcoming weeks and months.

Why is an Editorial Calendar important?

Often, businesses go weeks without posting on their blogs. After setting up an editorial calendar, you will know what to post about each day and week. This makes it easier to constantly churn out content on the blog, and it’s helpful in eliminating large gaps between posts.

How do I set up an Editorial Calendar?

Setting up an editorial calendar is simple. If there’s only one person handling the blog, simply open up an excel spreadsheet. If there are multiple people working on the blog, try using a Google doc so everyone can access the calendar to add upcoming content topics and ideas. Set up the calendar for the next month so it looks like this:

Once the structure of the calendar is set up, add the content you plan on writing about for the next month. It’s best to plan in advance so you can write, find images and edit the blog post before it goes live. In some instances, like when there’s breaking news, this can’t be done. In a situation like that, you can easily insert the post in place of what was supposed to run that week.

How do I come up with content?

This part can be tricky, but becomes much easier if you utilize all of the resources available (internet, newspaper and colleagues). For example, do a Google News search about your industry and plan a post on a hot topic. Also, plan posts around events and news happening at your company. For example, run employee spotlights, which would include employee interviews. These are a great way to add personality to your company and give readers some insight into what your employees are like.

Editorial Calendars can be easily put together and inevitably lead to better blogging. There are many ways to set up an “ed cal.” How did your business do it? Leave a comment below, or, tweet us @LogoSnap!

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Crowdsourcing has emerged as a viable option for both startup businesses and freelance designers. However, it has taken some heat from graphic designers, who are threatened by the entire concept. Although the majority believes that crowdsourcing is effective, some still feel that the concept is completely useless based on the reasons below:

1.)    No Boundaries – Many argue that crowdsourcing devalues the industry, stating that there is no boundary between someone labeled “professional” and someone labeled “amateur”. In reality, crowdsourcing opens doors for all types of small businesses, giving them the opportunity to select from a large talent pool, regardless of budget.

2.)    Crowdsourcing Cost – Crowdsourcing takes the legs out from under the giants in the graphic design industry. Now, businesses with the most minuscule of budgets can obtain a logo that brings instant brand recognition, without the fear of losing their retirement savings.

3.)    Expert Insight Required – Many worry that designers won’t be able to take their vision and mold it into an unforgettable design. That’s far from the truth. With active participation and constructive feedback, designers can make the project holders dream logo a reality.

4.)    Wasted Time and Effort – Designers’ main grumble is that they can waste all of their time and energy on a project that ultimately has no winner. This may be true, but the benefits are still plentiful. Crowdsourcing gives designers the opportunity to add items to their portfolio while gaining the experience of working with a client.

5.)    Contest Holders Don’t Know – People argue that the contest holder doesn’t know what they want for a design. How can that be true when the contest holder is typically the owner of the business? No one knows a business better than its owner.

6.)    Devalue Professionalism – Competition drives results. Many people disagree with this when it comes to crowdsourcing, stating that it creates a competitive environment, which hampers the creative process of designing. Only the best design can win. A competitive environment makes all designers strive to put out their best work.

7.)    All of that FREE Labor – Some say, “If you don’t win, you’re working for free”. You have to perfect a skill before you get paid on a regular basis for providing it. Crowdsourcing gives designers the platform to perfect their skill and allows designers to demonstrate a skill before getting paid to do it.

8.)    No Prize Money Guarantee – Designers worry that they might not get paid, even after being selected as the winner. This may be true, but there are crowdsourcing websites that offer guaranteed contests, where they guarantee a winner will be selected and paid.

9.)    The Red Flags – The crowdsourcing non-believers argue that designers should be cautious of someone with a small budget. These people fail to realize that crowdsourcing gives all businesses the chance to secure a brand regardless of their budget.

10.)  Design with Mixed Messages – Many believe that crowdsourcing is a perfect way for a business to brand itself all wrong. If contest holders provide the designers with a “brief,” then they will be able to understand what the company is all about, which will help the business achieve the right image.

Even though everyone loves to hate various aspects of crowdsourcing, in reality, it offers quite a few benefits. Crowdsourcing has created an equal playing field for all types of designers, taking down the monopolies that prevent small businesses from branding themselves. Both designers and businesses can reap the benefits of this model, as long as they can see past the negative beliefs provided by harsh critics.

The post 10 Things We Love to Hate About Crowdsourcing appeared first on LogoSnap Blog.

Many small businesses don’t have the luxury of hiring a graphic designer. The majority of them put on their super hero DIY cape and start designing on Adobe Photoshop. Like any good product or service, Photoshop has been updated with new features over the years. Take a look at all of the amazing changes that have revolutionized the way you design. What feature has helped you out most over the years? Tweet us @LogoSnap and let us know!

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You voted and the results are in. The winner for the NCAA parody logo contest is Jason Peleska from Omaha, Nebraska. Congratulations, Jason!

Jason, who has been designing for us for two and a half years, is a logo design lover and a college sports enthusiast. Needless to say, when this contest launched, he was all over it. He claims to have played nearly every sport under the sun when he was growing up, and when he isn’t creating logo designs, he still enjoys getting out and throwing a ball around or watching a game on TV.

The NCAA contest winner felt most inspired by the recent SEC conference. He strongly disapproves of the organization’s ability to turn a blind eye to blatant infractions, especially when it means more money in their pockets. In addition, he despises their inconsistency, saying, “nothing is the same.” He thinks they have favorites, and suspects it’s geared towards what will fill their wallets. Sadly, he believes that the NCAA would have no reaction to his logo design, but he says that maybe the public’s perception of the organization could influence them to change their actions.

Here’s the winning design:

Want to congratulate Jason or comment on the design? Leave a comment below or tweet @MycroBurst!

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Which logo are you voting for? Leave a comment below or tweet us, @LogoSnap!.

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Accurate and clean email contact lists can make your email marketing efforts successful. Lists that are riddled with unresponsive or out-of-date email addresses are useless and greatly affect your open rate. If you regularly update your email lists, you will be pleasantly surprised at how high your open rates will be. In addition, you’ll be reaching out to an audience that you know is interested in what you have to say.

Here are some best practices for you to nourish and grow your email lists:

1. Remove opt-outers quickly
It’s only natural for some people to not want to receive your emails. Maybe your content doesn’t meet their needs or interests anymore, or maybe they think you contact them a little bit too much. Regardless of the reason, it is crucial that you remove anyone who requests removal immediately – it is both respectful and legally required. What’s the point of keeping them around anyway? Hanging onto them will only cause aggravation for both of you.

2. Add new emails immediately
Don’t wait to add new email addresses, or they could miss out on your next important email. Rather than procrastinating, add their emails as you receive them. This will ensure that they don’t get lost in the shuffle, and it is key to beginning your email relationship with them.

3. Get rid of the the duplicates
There’s nothing more annoying than receiving duplicate emails, so don’t inflict that on your valued audience. Be sure to regularly skim your lists and remove any dupes you come across. While this might seem tedious, your customer’s cluttered inbox will thank you.

4. Segment your lists
Segmenting is when you see the need to target one specific group or market for your products/services: think bespoke lists. Creating segments is a great way to create a personalized interaction through email marketing and it helps keep your lists well organized. For example, you can create a segmented list of new users and email them in order to properly welcome them and offer a special deal as a way of thanking them. Similarly, you can create segmented lists of customers who have purchased specific goods or services and inform them of other items that might interest them.

5. Don’t remove bounces right away
It might feel right to remove email addresses that have bounced after the first incident, but you should wait until about the third or fourth bounce to take action. Sometimes servers go down or strange glitches occur and you wouldn’t want to remove a valued customer from your lists. Also, check to see what the email message says on the bounce message.

Just like you wouldn’t stop brushing your teeth, you should never stop tidying up your lists – like your teeth, they need regular maintenance! You’ll be surprised at the results you receive. Do you have a great tip about email marketing? We’d love it if you’d share it with us in the comments below or tweet us, @LogoSnap!

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