The State of Small Business Social Media in 2024

11 Monday Mar 2019

Posted by IMUSM in Small Business Social Media Content

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Apex, Blogger, Cary, Chamber of Commerce, Cornelius NC Google e-city, Davidson NC, economic development, facebook, Free Stuff, google +, Google My Business, IMUSM, IMUSocialMedia, Jim Vogel, Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce, Lake Norman Small Business Network, LKNSBN, Michigan, NC, North Carolina, small business social media, Triangle NC, twitter, Word Press. Blogger

I.M.U. Social Media LLC

State of Social Media 2024

The Challenges Ahead.

Business Facebook is an important platform for organizations that support visibility and marketing through reach (people seeing the post) and engagement (people who like, share, and comment).

Visibility, strategy, and consistency are critical on this platform.

Mention Facebook to patients/ clients sitting in the waiting area. Most of them are on their phones. Ask them to like your page and give you a recommendation (Facebook); have them find you on Google to give you a review as well. Another good time is when people leave the office after an appointment. Ask them to like and share the business page.

On Facebook, posts involving fun, education, and information work best when used in conjunction with search terms (#hashtags).

Occasional posts like “caption this”, fill in the black, and trivia are posts intended to increase engagement.

It is important to note that reputation management and FB message monitoring are integral to any business and they are free as part of our IMUSM service menu.

X is an outstanding platform to increase visibility as a local regional authority. Following media outlets, newspapers, chambers, and associations add breadth to small business visibility. Tweets quickly establish local and regional credibility and allow information immediacy to followers and others in the feed.

Google controls almost all online information like Amazon controls the commerce of volume. There are 63,000 searches a second on Google. It is critical to have a strong business presence on this platform through Google My Business.

Having a presence on Google My Business will increase indexing (ease of being found) and create an array of visibility only Google can give.

Client authored reviews on Google are essential, and regular post placement on this business platform is very important for small businesses.

Blogging is another strategic aspect of business marketing on social media. Google reads the first and last line of every blog and determines whether real people are writing real stuff for real people. If that is established, Google visibility will increase based on the regularity of this narrative blogging content. Websites with blogging typically are found more quickly through a Google search than those that do not consistently blog.

The ONLY purpose of platform management and content creation is searchability. For example, quick searches like “dentist Charlotte” and “dentist near me” are the most common searches for active social media users looking for a dentist. Think of SEO (search engine optimization) as SEF (search engine finding). Promoting SEF can make a huge difference in new business acquisitions.

Integrating a content game plan for Business Facebook, X, Google My Business, and blogging makes for the potential of increasing business success.

This is what IMUSM does for small businesses and solopreneurs.

This team-spirited post is brought to you by your narrative content specialists, I.M.U. Social Media LLC, headquartered in Cornelius NC.

Jim Vogel
I.M.U. Social Media LLC
16123 Lakeside Loop lane
Cornelius, NC 28031-0360
Business: 704 800 6152
Cell: 919.244.6989
jim@imusocialmedia.com
http://www.imusocialmedia.com and https://www.facebook.com/IMUSocialMedia
Identity, Message, Understanding (IMU) Strategy & Management (SM) IMUSM!

NOTICE: The information contained in this article is owned by I.M.U. Social Media LLC and is intended for the SOLE use of the individual(s) who reads it. Any information contained within it is for the reader’s use and can be shared and linked to other interested parties. We want everyone more successful!

For great support, join your local Chamber of Commerce.

Photo: Kevin King, Pixabay

How to Use Social Media for Small Business and AI in 2024

09 Tuesday Feb 2016

Posted by IMUSM in Small Business Social Media Content

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blogs, content distribution, Davidson, Davidson NC, Detroit, economic development, facebook, Google My Business, hashtags, IMU, IMU Social Media, IMUSM, IMUSocialMedia, Jim Vogel, Lake Norman, Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce, Lake Norman Small Business Network, LKN, LKNSBN, Local Small Businesses across North Carolina “Secret Sauce” Social Media, Michigan, NC, North Carolina, small business social media, Triangle NC, Word Press. Blogger

Thanks to all of you for the opportunity to share our thoughts for 2024 and the future of small business social media and AI.

Now I am not an IT professional and I am certainly not a web professional; but after 13 years doing social media marketing and content strategy and application, it is safe to say that our small businesses here in Lake Norman and around the country and Canada need social media more than ever for their success. In fact, the most important marketing messages for business today as we head more deeply into the year 2024, are now principally found across social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Google My Business (GMB).

As most of you know, I am the owner of I.M.U. Social Media LLC, located in Cornelius, NC. We have been doing social media content creation since 2011; unbelievably, this makes IMUSM one of the longest existing small business social media companies on the East Coast. We provide strategy and organic social media content for other small businesses; with less than 12 employees, products, services, and food that need our services. And we do it in three states. It has been a whirlwind experience for both growth and opportunity.

Your small business, or if you are a solo professional, what you do, needs to be the center of attention as well because, in social media, there are four very famous corners. Both Vegas and social media have a lot in common; non-stop action! Each social media platform I will talk about today is growing and changing and each one is nonstop, 24-7-365.

Now, the famous four corners of 2024 Social Media are Facebook, X, Google My Business, Instagram, and Word Press blogging are critical for business success. At the busy intersection of the four social media corners: Facebook, Twitter, Google My Business, and Blogging, everything happens and it is always in constant motion with marketing, connecting, visibility and communication.

Every small business needs to play on these four corners. If your business uses social media, and it should, this is where you need to play.

With thousands of busy small businesses scattered around Michigan and North Carolina, from the kitchen table to the brick and mortars, it seems no one has time for anything extra, let alone take that trip to Las Vegas this afternoon. We are just too busy to hop on the plane even if it was free. However, many of us also use that same exact excuse for social media. We just never seem to have the time or schedule to make things grow.

It is important to note that without a solid social media presence, businesses are literally gambling with the future.

With that said, branding, marketing, advertising, sales, and social media are all connected now and the need to create and integrate processes has never been more important. It does not make a difference if you are a solo professional, a small business, or one of the big race teams in Concord or Mooresville; regardless of the size of the business, you have to be THE WHALE, that big player in the world of local social media in your industry.

Let me ask this? Is your business on a social sabbatical? And nothing much is going on.

Many businesses are in this category… YET,

Many small business owners know this much about social media:

They do not want to do it themselves
They do not know how or where to do it
They are not doing it right now
They do not understand what needs to be done
They did it for a while but they stopped doing it because of time
The competition is doing a pretty good job at it

Here are the very sobering facts: businesses need content, strategy, visibility, consistency, and engagement all the time. It is a must now as we head more deeply into 2022. Social Media is a marketing tool, not just a strategy anymore.

Social Media can make or break profitability and growth.

Let’s DRILL DOWN for a minute and look at some interesting statistics before we get into the HOT 2024 platforms:

Facebook: The focus in 2024 has to be here first because of its presence. Of the world’s seven BILLION people, almost THREE billion are on Facebook today. That is about one-quarter of the world’s population. These numbers make Facebook the third biggest nation in the world behind China and India, and every business MUST have a presence on this very popular platform or it will be less effective.
X: This platform is also a huge player as well. This micro-blogging empire, with over 330 million users, is critical for engagement, especially with direct client communication, building expertise, sharing knowledge, and creating credibility. I call it the local positional authority.
Google My Business: This is the most recent of the platforms and it can be considered the newest kid on the block with about 200 million users. It is constantly trying to figure out what it wants to do with itself. It is kind of a hybrid that reflects both Facebook and Twitter. Yet, it is a serious business for each of our businesses. Google and its related searches dominate access to the world’s information, with about 63,000 searches per second. Adding Google My Business gets you verified as a business and indexed on Google.
YouTube: With three billion searches a month, you need to be on YouTube with your small business.
Instagram: One billion users is why your business needs an Instagram presence!
Threads: Brand new X rival from Meta
Artificial Intelligence: AI is now a powerful partner in pursuing excellence with social media content creation when used to support the skills and expertise of content creators. While AI tools can streamline the content creation process, it’s important to edit the tool’s output to provide high-value content for the audience. Choose one top quality tool and use it to grow your business.

It is a strategic “must” to be indexed by Google, have a presence on Facebook, X, and Google My Business on a regular basis.

Again, here is the problem many of our small businesses face. Even though all of the social media efforts are free, we think we DO NOT HAVE TIME to do it! Businesses often complicate the social media process and “overthink” to the point that a strategic tweet, plus spaces and hashtags, is almost an impossible task. But look at it like you would any other aspect of your business. You need it. It is here to stay, and it is growing and changing daily.

Let me discuss blogging for a minute… And the true power of Word Press:

Blogging can drive traffic to your website. It creates credibility and visibility. It creates engagement on Facebook and Twitter. Google is the first to index and place these posts in searches. This is the SECRET SAUCE for small businesses. It is why real and organic blogging content is king for your business. The only requirement is that it has to be “good stuff” and written by real people, or Google’s algorithms will not impact your SEO.

In fact, my view is that SEO should be called SEF: “search engine finding”. When people search for a local business they are doing it in traffic at the light, the kitchen table, and at business meetings. When people look for your products and services, your small business needs to be found quickly. Being consistent across social media platforms makes a huge difference in both visibility and credibility. It is also important to note here that all searches are influenced by the quality of the writing. Google engineers are now calling it E.A.T: Expertise, Authority, Trustworthiness. The more you have of these qualities within your blog posts, the higher you are ranked.

But again, keep things simple; right now, small businesses should only focus on the four corners: Facebook, X, Google My Business, and Word Press blog articles.

I have to share something I have never shared before. I love Bojangles. And I love it so much that I suggest you replicate your social media business model after them. Bojangles is always out the door, jammed all the time. The drive-thru is continuous, car after car. It is “Bo-Time” all day long!

Yet when you stop for a minute to smell the chicken, Bojangles really only does three simple things very well: biscuits, chicken, and sweet tea. That is it. Now they might wing a Cajun Filet or two to people at lunch, and I am sure they sell a few fries too, but what makes them so successful is their famous fried chicken, fresh biscuits, and sweet tea. Their slogan, famous chicken and biscuits, says it all.

Your social media strategy should also just have the basic menu as its principal focus. Business Facebook, Business Business X, Google My Business, and Business blog posts on Word Press/ Blogger. It is where your clients (primary audience) are and your “clients’ clients” (secondary audience) are most of the time.

Keep things simple. It is all about the fundamentals. Make your social media activity fun and productive.

Let’s look at “Linkedin Corp.” for a minute. Now, everyone needs an individual Linkedin professional presence. It is a “gotta have”. Make sure you have a complete, well-written, up-to-date profile and a great “glamour” business formal picture. Be in the right groups and associations and check your messages twice a week. Just know that no one is looking for your business there on a daily basis. They only are looking for you as a professional or someone like you with your professional credentials. It is strictly a solo professional networking and connection site.

The recommendation here is to list your business on Linkedin if you must, but remember it is a connector site for professionals; a “find you”place. People are not normally looking for businesses and services there (as of yet on a large scale); they are looking for you. It is the individual professional networking site that every one of us needs to be on, especially if you are looking for work or you are changing jobs or careers.

Again, our small businesses need to be the “basics”, blogging for visibility, and using Google to drive traffic to their websites.

Now, within social media strategy, business success is three-fold: Time, Money, and Client Acquisition. We need to be critically aware of these ingredients as business people because collectively they drive success or they put us out of business.

When small businesses play in the local and regional marketplace across North Carolina, there is a constant need for fresh organic content that creates the message. Content is king. My view is that content is the only thing regardless of the platform.

Consumers across Lake Norman and North Carolina are now online ALL THE TIME! It is the best and most cost-effective way to find brands and products today. Your business has to connect people directly to your content. Blog posts, Facebook posts, tweets, and videos must engage your readers and get them to like, re-tweet, and share your information.

Most of this activity is FREE.

People are on Facebook about seven times a day here in Lake Norman. Facebook might not be your website, but Facebook is the magnet.

Traditional marketing strategies like print coupons, banners, postcards, and post-it notes on local mailboxes are less and less effective. One good Facebook post gets more attention.

This is the year, 2024, that social media will explode with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI. Every politician running for office in 2024 has a huge social media presence now. Every big news story is found on an app. Your smartphone is both application and news central.

Businesses have to have a professional online presence and they need to do it organically, REAL CONVERSATION FROM REAL PEOPLE, and keep it fresh. In the olden days, before 2008, marketing campaigns could last months. Today they have to be continually assessed, timed, and readjusted in just minutes; and that is done with the power and “connect ability” of social media.

It is all about content creation and strategy, and organic posts and tweets that attract the possibility of new clients and new business.

Remember, a lot of what we do in social media marketing we do with our smartphones, and it is within the visibility and consistency of the content that draws engagement and new clients. You do not have to be slick and fancy to be successful. You just have to be effective. You need to put the face and the personality of your business on Facebook, X, Google My Business, and Word Press and be consistently engaging. The lines of communication between the business and your chosen audience must be continuously wide-open.

Content marketing and 2024 go hand-in-hand. Small companies can indeed compete on the same level as big companies because of the power of content. The playing field has been evened up. Our small businesses can be out there and just as effective on the local level as Ford and Pepsi. The agility (quickness and focus) of your content is another aspect of your secret sauce!

Let’s look more in-depth at what needs to happen on each main platform:

Business Facebook: This is the number one platform for business activity. What does your page look like? It is filled with posts and pictures? Are you constantly evolving and improving with each and every post? Are your LIKES real and organic? Are you looking at the simple analytics Facebook offers? How many pages do you really have out there? Facebook is a very informal social media platform, like a backyard get-together. People say things on Facebook they would never say to a person at a networking event. From politics to sports, to religion and puppies; people just love to post here. It makes them feel important. Remember, clients need to feel important too. Our business pages are evolving billboards for products and services. It is important to note that every single Facebook post needs a picture. It truly is worth 1000 words. Share what you write from your business page site with the local groups you belong to, like the Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce or the LKNSBN. Ask people to like and share it. This minimizes the costs of boosting and advertising that Facebook loves as profit.
Business X: Your business tweets must be different from your Facebook posts; different audiences. Do not cut and paste one to the other. Always include a picture with your tweet if possible. Just make sure that every picture is free to use without royalties. Do not pull the photos from Google Images; only Google can do that. Find a photo site that allows (gives permission) for free downloads. Although you must go through a couple of hoops like an e-mail registration and CAPTCHA fill-in, it is worth eliminating the chance of using illegal pictures and getting a letter from a legal firm. Fill your Twitter page with links and helpful educational views steered by #s. Twitter is where your business establishes positional local authority over the course of time. Your tweets need to be informative, educational, and knowledge-based. The local positional authority gets all the gravy. For example, our general physician, the one we might have to see every year to maintain our medical benefits, makes about a little over six figures a year. The specialist in internal medicine might make $300,000. But the local positional authority in retinal ophthalmology has a house on Lake Norman with its own helipad. It is important to use Twitter to establish that kind of credibility. Be that local authority in your industry or your field.
Google My Business (GMB): This informational site needs to be used like Facebook. It does not matter how many followers you have on your GMB Page. It matters that you use it on a regular basis and that you have a verified business that Google recognizes as real. Unbelievably, Google verifies your business by sending you a POSTCARD. Make sure you get as many legitimate Google Reviews as possible. It is critical for searches and for page rank.
Word Press/ Blogger Blog Posts: We recommend using Word Press for your website and your blog posts. Google, although the owner of its own blogging site, Blogger; loves to index and page rank excellent content written by real people who use Word press websites and blog pages. Simply “bolt” your blogs to your website. Google scans the first and last line of every post determines the “legitimacy” of the article and indexes it. Google is your best friend and you should place an “optimized title” and a linkable “resource box” or footer with live URLs into each of these well-written posts.

Here is another “secret sauce trick”. Keep the blog article to about 300/ 325 words. No one has time to read your version of WAR & PEACE. People today all have A.D.D. Not the A.D.D. you are thinking of, this A.D.D. stands for ALL DATA DUMPED.

In the 86,400 seconds, you have every day, from the time you get up until the time you get up, (24 hours) you are hit with up to 100 e-mails, a dozen texts, 20 voicemails (the majority of them you delete without listening to), and you are in and out of Facebook and Twitter 10 times. Who has time to read anything for more than five minutes?

Short and sweet single-topic posts that DO NOT SELL ANYTHING but present good information, get indexed with positive page rank, and get “googled”.

And what business does not want some Google love?

Make sure the blog post includes an external (authority) link or two, and an internal link in the body of the article as well, directed back to your website. Add some SEF, some locations like Lake Norman, Catawba, Davidson, and the like; and add a simple call to action.

YouTube is also great for sharing videos as links on Twitter and Facebook. I recently placed well-thought-out Christmas music videos on all of our managed sites and people loved them.

Let’s address the use of hashtags (#poundsign), which are more and more popular and are used across every platform I have mentioned today. X launched the #s in 2007. Allowing what we call searchable topics, slogans, tags, and keywords that are grouped and gathered by topic within other people’s posts. Each “hashtagged” word, key term, or a phrase, becomes a mini-searchable link. Click on the term or phrase and see all the related posts within that topic discussion. Today, for example, people are searching the hashtags Barbie, Trump, Ukraine, Taylor Swift and more. Hashtags are a very good way to market and ensure exposure. Look at how others are using it and be a pro in no time. From your Facebook app, go to the search box at the top and search #famouschickenandbiscuits; it is easy to see how it works.

Suggested Generic Small Business Social Media Start-Up Game Plan:

Get out a clean piece of paper and sharpen that pencil…

Look at the history of the business, the current situation, and the marketing strategies currently in use… then:

Set specific and definable goals
Choose the right platforms on social media to promote the business
Assess your target audiences
Define both challenges and opportunities
Track and measure the analytics (or returns/ ROI) for growth and return
Use retargeting/ repositioning strategies and CHANGE them up every week to improve process and results

In summary, remember to engage your clients. They want and need to be paid attention to every day! Success is a team sport, not a client base. Always be networking along with a great social media presence. Remember that agile engagement, relationships, sociability, consistency, message, strategy, and opportunity will build your business. Do it right and remember to build your business on those FOUR CORNERS without gambling away your time, money, or clients.

Relevant content will always fuel loyalty and passion. And it does not cost a ton of money.

Again, much of social media marketing is free. And listen to your clients, they will tell you how to build the right content. The results are everything. Just remember that social media is a work in progress and that doing it without assessing it is a waste of time.

And speaking of time, according to Forbes Magazine, creating successful quality content in a small business can take up to six hours or more a week. It is a huge commitment. This is the reason why only 50% of businesses in the United States have a blog presence and many only focus on the really easy “BUY OUR STUFF NOW!!!” If your small business does social media right, it will be better for the effort.

There is indeed a lot of value and return on investment with social media. Focus on social media now before it is too late. And do it right for your business and your clients.

Jim Vogel

Founder I.M.U. Social Media

This informational training post was brought to you by the writing team at IMU Social Media, your small business strategy and content organization, located in Davidson NC.

We are #morethansocialmedia

https://www.facebook.com/IMUSocialMedia

https://www.imusocialmedia.com

Cell: 919 244 6989
Office: 704 800 6152
jim@imusocialmedia.com

Photo: I.M.U. Social Media LLC

13 Ways to Grow Success Through Social Media in 2024

24 Monday Aug 2015

Posted by IMUSM in Small Business Social Media Content

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13 Ways to Grow Success Through Social Media, Apex, Apex Jazz Festival, Bing, blogs, Business Social Media, Cary, Content, Davidson, Davidson NC, economic development, facebook, google +, IMU, IMU Social Media First Anniversary, IMUSocialMedia, Inside919, Jim Vogel, Lake Norman Small Business Network, leadership, LKNSBN, LKNSBN Lake Norman Small Business Network, Lower Michigan, Lucky 13 and the Golden Age of Content!, marketing, Michigan, NC, North Carolina, social media, social media and business promotion, Social Media for Small Business, Social Media Marketing Plan, The Trianglr, Triangle, twitter

Creating good content is the way small business needs to go in 2024. SEO or what I.M.U. Social Media calls SEF (Search Engine Finding) is the ticket to marketing visibility regardless of the platform. Organic content across the Web has never been more important for small businesses here in North Carolina and beyond. It is true to note that in the age of apps, AI, devices, and smart phones, the printed word is more vital than ever. 2024 signals an age of content and artificial intelligence for every business owner and solo professional.

Everything from e-mails, text messages, blog posts, Google My Business, Facebook and X is filled with words and meaning. Good content is the key ingredient to viral visibility and it can often make the smallest of businesses and the least known of bloggers front-page news if the post is indexed by the right sources.

This is a great opportunity for our small businesses. The not so great news is that few people can write as they speak, and that conversational style is not only necessary today across the platforms but mandatory. This conversational style, coupled with excellence in grammar, brings the quality of writing to the forefront. Regardless of curation, distribution, placement, ranking, or feed, content that is polished and well written, even a tweet; is the game-changer.

Local businesses are only as good as the quality of the writing. Mistakes, errors in punctuation, spelling, and grammar, can make the organization and the intended message look unprofessional.

Here is the “Lucky 13” List of 2024 Content Strategy:

Good content has a plan and a purpose associated with every comment or article
Always focus on the topic and message, and keep blog posts short (300-325 words)
Edit what is written until it sounds mistake-free and conversational when reading aloud
Yes, read everything out loud before hitting send or post
Know primary and secondary audiences and the important differences
Engagement is the top priority, not the number of likes and followers
Likeability is important but a distant second to relationship building
Be the leader and expert in your business and industry
No selling. Just share good stuff
Ask questions and give answers
Join groups on Linked In or Facebook related to the business or profession
Keep the message and the focus local and relationship-driven
Being consistent and visible creates broader markets beyond local; be patient, it will come

Always feature events, people, and commentary that will resonate within the community. Make your business the voice of your organization. It will create loyal clients. Remember content is in vogue; take advantage of it!

Success is in the printed word.

This post was brought to you by the writing team at IMU Social Media, your small business strategy and content organization, located in Cornelius, NC. We are #morethansocialmedia

https://www.facebook.com/IMUSocialMedia

https://www.imusocialmedia.com

Cell: 919 244 6989
Text: 704 800 6152
jim@imusocialmedia.com

Photo: I.M.U. Social Media LLC

The 2024 Secret to Success: Do Not Follow Your Passion!

20 Friday Mar 2015

Posted by IMUSM in Small Business

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Apex, Apex NC, Blogger, Cornelius NC Google e-city, Davidson, Detroit, economic development, Following your passion, IMUSocialMedia, Inside919, Lake Norman Small Business Network, LKNSBN, NC, Networking, North Carolina, Success, Triangle, Triangle NC, Warning: Do Not Follow Your Passion When Starting a Small Business

Most experts agree that it is tough being a small business owner. In fact, many small businesses fail within the first three years, a good number of those before the first year anniversary. Small business is not for everyone.

I.M.U. Social Media LLC (IMUSM) is turning 13 years old on July 16^th, 2024.

Our small business, located in Cornelius, North Carolina, has a very simple objective. We work for other small businesses that have very little time to do business on social media. In essence, we do content creation and placement strategy for organizations and solo professionals who need the presence and need help. Our team of writers produce blog posts for our clients; and we manage content on Facebook, X, Google My Business, LinkedIn, and Pinterest for them as well. From a Triangle-based power wash company to a DDS in Detroit, we learn each and every business from the ground up and we grow their business in virtual directions, never skipping a beat. In fact, we have made every deadline asked of us since August 2011. It is a track record we are very proud of and we adapt and change every day to maintain it.

We know that across Lake Norman, the Triangle, and beyond, professionals are leaving the corporate world, either by choice or as an employee no longer needed. Every one of them holds that entrepreneurial spirit to build a vision and be successful as a new chapter of life unfolds.

The following advice about growth, challenge, and success will prove invaluable to every reader of this blog post.

I.M.U Social Media offers the following nine points of guidance that will save time and money and get your new venture through that challenging first year and beyond:

Honestly assess your professional history and your current situation: Finding where you are as a person is just as important as discovering where you want to go. Write everything down on paper. It is paramount to develop improved processes from the data.
Follow an income path FIRST and your passion second: Do not follow your passion. Yes, you read this right. This advice will save money and time. Sit down and look at what you are good at and bolt your passion to it. Passion does not pay the bills. For example, if you were a corporate bookkeeper, you might want to start your own accounting business. However, after your history and current situation assessment, you might consider starting a senior financial services business to support the growing Baby Boomer generation; there could be less competition and more need. Niche businesses have a better chance of succeeding.
Surround yourself with great people: Success is a team sport. The advice we received from our friends and business associates in the first few months of IMUSM paid dividends. You might not agree with all of it but listen to every suggestion. Take all criticism, good, bad, and ugly, and move forward, never looking back.
Be patient and consistent: Do not waver and be steadfast. Never give up. Stick to your goals and objectives even if your income is slow to come.
Be a student of the game: Learn everything about the industry you are now in and what the competition is doing. Being the best at what you do spells success.
Have an excellent web presence: You are what people see and read. Have a good website. Have a consistent and visible presence on all popular social media sites, especially Facebook and Google My Business. Visibility is a numbers game. The more people who know what you do and why you do it, the greater the chances for success.
Network: Meet professionals just like you who have achieved success or who are also in transition. The local Chamber of Commerce and local networking groups are two great places to meet individuals with like interests. Support from others can truly mean success.
Get that very first client and grow: Motion creates emotion. A good start-up needs a client.
Do not do it all yourself: As growth happens, give up being a salesperson, a bookkeeper, an owner, an employee, and a social media guru. Success is a team sport. Give up some responsibilities and grow. “Let go, let dough!”

When I left the corporate world back in September 2008, I built an independent sales training company that eventually was over $17,000 in debt. We had no steady clients and the economy was bad. The “secret sauce” is in knowing that the economy makes NO DIFFERENCE in growing start-up businesses. It is up to you, and only you. There are no excuses. It is all about the launch, patience, a game plan, and a little luck. Please stay focused and follow the nine points as best as you can.

Do NOT follow your passion first; follow what you are best at and bolt your passion to it.

Sales training is my passion, but it was not paying any bills. I dumped my passion, as hard as it was to let go, and I used my talents as a writer to recreate myself and start a brand new business. I have never, ever looked back.

There is nothing better than dumping the bureaucratic inertia of a past career and working for you. Just follow the money and use your talents to achieve what you want. It is all up to you, with a little help from your friends.

Remember, DO NOT follow your passion first; follow what you are best at and bolt your passion to it.

Good luck and hard work to make it happen!

Best,

Jim

Photo: IMUSM

17 Ingredients in Your 2024 Business Blog Post without the Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

06 Friday Feb 2015

Posted by IMUSM in Small Business Social Media Content

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14 FREE Social Media Strategies for Small Business in 2013!, Apex, Blogging for business, economic development, IMU, IMU Social Media, IMUSocialMedia, Lake Norman, LKN, LKNSBN, Lower Michigan, North Carolina, small business social media, Triangle, Triangle NC, Word Press. Blogger

Blog posts make sense for SEO, for visibility, and for information. Those of you who remember book reports and term papers, it is all about getting it done. Alas, who has time, right?

Sit down. Jot some notes in an outline. Open word. Start typing. Do not start with the title. It is the last thing to do after you correct spelling, punctuation and phrasing.

No worries! The title will pop out every time. There is never writer’s block, just excuses.

Have fun and make your business better! Ready, set GO! The blog is due today!

Tell a good story
Know the business
Know the audience
Know the purpose
Present a point of view
Have a consistent structure and format
Invite the audience to do business
Keep the audience attention
Give the reader some takeaways
Be conversational
Label the photos with both source (name) and site (where you found it) ROYALTY FREE. Do not grab photos from Google Images.
Add just a couple of hyperlinks
For SEO and what we call SEF (Search Engine Finding), mention the business three of four times in the post
Put a dozen tags at the bottom
Sprinkle in bold terms that focus on location and subject
Optimize the title (usually location)
Create relevant external links for SEO/ SEM success

Jim Vogel

Founder, CEO of I.M.U. Social Media LLC

Photo: KROMKRATHOP, freedigitalphotos.net

Jim@imusocialmedia.com

FREE Strategies for 2024 Social Media and Professional Networking

14 Tuesday Oct 2014

Posted by IMUSM in Small Business Social Media Content

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Apex, Apex NC, ASBN, Blogger, blogs, Business Blogger, Business Social Media Remarks Presented to the Apex Rotary 1-17-13, Cary, content distribution, Cornelius NC Google e-city, Davidson, Davidson NC, economic development, facebook, FREE Small Business Social Media Strategies From I.M.U. Social Media LLC (IMUSM), FREE Small Business Social Media Strategies From IMUSM, google +, Google e-city, IMU, IMUSocialMedia, Lake Norman, Lake Norman Chamber. Apex Chamber, LNSBN, North Carolina, small business social media, Triangle, Triangle NC, twitter, Word Press. Blogger

DO THIS IMMEDIATELY!

14 FREE Small Business Social Media Strategies for 2023!

Small business social media activity is essential. Comment on your own business (if adding a thought) and other businesses you support. Use Facebook, Google My Business, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and X on a regular schedule.
Have employees, family, and friends LIKE and follow your business on Facebook, Google My Business, and X. Send everyone an e-mail with the hyperlinks in your signature information.
Brick-and-mortar businesses should place a colorful “attention-getting” sign in the front window announcing the Facebook URL and any other social media presence.
Place a sign at the reception desk or Facebook, Google My Business, and X URLs.
Put Facebook, X, Google My Business (GMB), and blog site URL on business cards, e-mail signatures, stationery, website, and newsletter.
It is important to place (live URLs) Facebook, Blogs, Google My Business, and X information in the signature box on all the outbound e-mails. This is an important and necessary content marketing strategy. We have mentioned this one already! It is very important for outbound marketing.
When employees are on the phone or e-mailing clients, have them mention the business’s social media presence and have them conclude the conversation, e-mail, and SMS with, “Have you found and liked us on Facebook (X, Google My Business yet? Consider having an online contest (great on Facebook) for your audience, or a giveaway or discount that can be promoted across Facebook, Google My Business, and X.
Use Zoom! Also, consider having a Facebook or Social Media “Meet-Up” event “offline” at your offices or at a local café for clients and potential clients; make it a quarterly informal networking event. Use Zoom!
Encourage everyone; friends, family, neighbors, and business associates to like, follow, SHARE or continuously read what has been posted on all of your business platforms. Send them the links or articles via e-mail when the subjects are considered of value to them.
Attend local networking Chambers or like events as possible. It is NOT what you know or who you know; IT IS WHO KNOWS YOU.
Join groups on LinkedIn and Facebook. Join the local Chamber of Commerce, register your business on Google My Business, and comment on other people’s articles and posts.
Join other local organizations and groups ONLINE; participate in as many discussions and conversation strings as possible.
Sponsor and participate in community endeavors like festivals, charities, 5K runs, food, and blood drives, and help share the information across your social media sites.

Visibility is essential as your social media presence grows through content, ENGAGEMENT, and consistency; call 919 244 6989 or e-mail jim@imusocialmedia.com

BONUS SECTION: Generic social media plan for small business:

Get out a clean piece of paper and sharpen that pencil… GO!

Look at the history of the business, the current situation, and the marketing strategies currently in use… then:

Set Goals
Choose the right platforms on social media
Assess your target audiences
Define both the challenges and the opportunities
Track and measure the analytics for growth and return
Use re-targeting strategies and tactics and CHANGE them up to improve process and results

Remember… ENGAGE your clients… they want and need to be paid attention to every day!

This team-spirited post is brought to you by your North Carolina Social Media Specialists I.M.U. Social Media LLC, headquartered in Cornelius NC.

Jim Vogel
I.M.U. Social Media LLC
Business: 704 439 0787
Cell: 919.244.6989
jim@imusocialmedia.com
https://www.imusocialmedia.com and https://www.facebook.com/IMUSocialMedia
Identity, Message, Understanding (IMU) Strategy & Management (SM) IMUSM!

For great support, join your local Chamber of Commerce.

Photo: I.M.U. Social Media LLC

Business Social Media Remarks Presented to the Apex Rotary (Still True in 2024)

17 Thursday Jan 2013

Posted by IMUSM in Small Business Social Media Content

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Apex, blogs, Business Social Media Remarks Presented to the Apex Rotary 1-17-13, Cary, Detroit, facebook, google +, IMUSocialMedia, Inside919, Las Vegas, North Carolina, small business social media, Triangle, Triangle NC, twitter, Word Press. Blogger

Thank you for inviting me this afternoon to talk about business social media. Now I am not an IT professional. And I am certainly not a Webmaster. But after 26 years in internal communications for the automotive industry and another 10 in retail sales and sales training, I am indeed a MESSAGE GUY. And messages are now principally found across social media platforms.

I own IMU Social Media, an 18 month old micro business that is headquartered right here in Apex. We do strategy and social media content for other small businesses that need our services. It has been a whirlwind experience for both growth and opportunity.

Let me ask you this: who has been to Las Vegas recently?

Now who wants to share a “Vegas stays in Vegas story?”

I understand completely.

I have to tell you that nothing is more over the top than Las Vegas at Christmas. We were there just a month ago and we stayed on the 27^th floor of the Fabulous Flamingo and enjoyed the Famous Four Corners view of Bally’s, Paris, the Bellagio, and Caesar’s Palace.

The intersection of Flamingo Road and Las Vegas Boulevard is non-stop 24-7 action; it is the heart of the Strip.

In Las Vegas, there is never a Monday, or even a Saturday, there are only days. It just never stops.

The famous four corners of Social Media are just as action-driven. The Internet never ever stops! At the now famous intersection of Google, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube everything happens across Web 2.0.

Every single one of us in this room needs to play right on this corner. If your business needs social media, this is where you want and need to play.

Micro small business, the heart of what Apex is all about, has no time to take that trip to Vegas this afternoon. They are too busy as they head into the last two weeks of January.

It is because we all have businesses and careers to grow in this still sluggish economy. We have no time to “gamble” with the future.

With that said, branding, marketing, advertising, sales and social media have to blend and be an integral aspect of every business. It does not make a difference if you are a solo professional, a micro business or a small business. You have to be THE WHALE, that big player in the world of business social media.

Most business owners only know this about being involved with social media:

They do not want to do it themselves
They do not know how or where to do it
They are not doing it right now
They do not understand what needs to be done
They did it for a while but they stopped because of time
Your competition is doing a pretty good job at it

Here are the facts: businesses need content, strategy, visibility, consistency and engagement.

Social media MUST be a part of the daily routine.

The focus has to be on Google for search-ability and link-ability (3 billion searches a day), and Facebook because of vastness (1.2 billion people). It is the third biggest nation in the world behind China and India; every business MUST have presence there. Twitter is also a huge player with over 200 million regular users. This micro-blogging empire is critical to engagement especially with direct client communication and customer service. It is all about engagement in the world of Web 2.0. And YouTube, owned by Google, is the video capital of the world. It has 490 million visits a month.

Here is the problem many of us face. WE THINK WE DO NOT HAVE TIME! Businesses often complicate and over think social media to the point that a 140 character plus spaces and hash tags are almost an impossible task. But look at it like you would any other aspect of the business. It is here to stay and growing exponentially.

Let me discuss blogging for a minute…

For marketing, blogging is the heart of your message. Blogging can drive traffic to your website. It is why content is king for your business. But it has to be good and organic (written by real people) or Google simply will not index it.

NOW, businesses can do hundreds of definable branding activities on the Internet from Google + and Instagram to Pinterest, Tumblr and LinkedIn. But again keep things simple; right now, businesses should only focus on the Big Three… Facebook, Twitter, and Word Press blog articles.

Here is our “secret sauce”. I love Bojangles. And I love it so much that we have replicated the business model for IMU. Bojangles is always out the door jammed all the time. The drive-thru is continuous car after car, like a parade down Salem Street.

Yet when you stop and smell the chicken, Bojangles really only does three things very well: biscuits, chicken and sweet tea. That is it. Now they might wing a sausage biscuit to people in the morning and some hot fries to others in the afternoon, but what makes them so successful is that awesome fried chicken tied to fresh biscuits and kick butt sweet tea. Their slogan, famous chicken and biscuits, says it all.

We believe a social media menu should have only three items on it. Business Facebook, Business Twitter, and Business blog posts on Word Press/ Blogger. It is where your clients (primary audience) are and your clients clients (secondary audience) are most of the time.

Yes, you do need an individual LinkedIn professional presence. It is a “gotta have”. Make sure you have a complete profile, a great glamour picture and that you are in the right groups and associations, but no one is looking for your business there on a daily basis. They only look for you. It is a solo professional networking and connection site.

If you have ever driven the new TRI EX from Holly Springs to Durham during the day or later at night, you are alone. As of today, this is where Google + is. It just not has caught on yet. Again, it is geared more for individuals (like Linked In) than small business. there are only 135 million “members”. My educated guess is that less than 10% of them use it like Facebook. Google + is simply not a player yet.

The social savvy organizations are on Facebook and Twitter, and they blog for visibility to drive traffic to their main websites. Now, the key to business success is three fold: Time, Money, and Client Acquisition. We need to be critically aware of these ingredients as business people because it drives success.

If your business plays in the local and regional market place, you need fresh organic content. Again, content is king. Our view that content is THE ONLY THING. EVERYTHING IS MESSAGE.

Consumers across the Triangle, and most of your clients and customers are now online ALL THE TIME! It is the best way to brand and market today. You have to connect people DIRECTLY to your content. Blog posts, Facebook posts, tweets, webinars, podcasts, videos must ENGAGE your readers and get them to like, re-tweet and SHARE the information.

Most of this is money free. Put your time into those famous corners.

People are on Facebook about seven times a day here in the Triangle. Facebook might not be your landing page. But Facebook can be THE MAGNET is you do it right.

Although traditional marketing strategies like print coupons, banners, postcards, and post-its on local mail boxes are now less and less important, if they work for you, continue to use them.

But the focus online is now the foundation.

Businesses need to do it online and they need to do it organically, REAL CONVERSATION FROM REAL PEOPLE, and keep it fresh. In the old days (2012), marketing campaigns lasted months. Today they can be continually assessed, timed and readjusted in just minutes with social media.

It is all about content creation and strategy, and the organic posts and tweets that attract clients and new business.

A lot of what we do in social media marketing we can do with a smartphone; but it is in the visibility and consistency of the content that draws readership and engagement. You do not have to be slick and fancy to be effective. You just have to be effective. You need to put the face of the business on Facebook, Twitter and Word Press and be consistently ENGAGING. The lines of communication between the business and your chosen audience must be CONTINUOUSLY open.

Content marketing and 2013 go hand-in-hand. Small companies can indeed compete on the same level as the big companies because of the content. The playing field has been evened up. The agility (quickness and focus) of your content is YOUR SECRET SAUCE.

Let’s look again at the chicken, the biscuits, and sweet tea for a few minutes:

Business Facebook: This is the HOME RUN place to be. What does your page look like? It is filled with posts and pictures? Are you constantly evolving and improving with each and every post? Are your LIKES REAL and organic?
Business Twitter: Your tweets must be different from your Facebook posts; different audiences. Do not cut and paste one to the other. Always include a picture; people are visual. Just make sure that you do not pull the photos from Google Images; only Google can do that. Go to a site that allows (gives permission) free downloads. Although you must go through a couple of hoops like an e-mail registration and CAPTCA fill-ins it is worth eliminating the chance of using a picture illegally. Fill your Twitter page with links and helpful educational views steered by #’s. Helpful, clever and friendly work on Twitter.
Word Press/ Blogger Blog Posts: We recommend using Word Press.com. Google, although the owner of its own blogging site, Blogger; loves to index and page rank excellent content written by real people. It scans the first and last line of every post, determines the “legitimacy” of the article and indexes it. We make sure that Google is our best friend by placing what we call an “optimized title” and a linkable “resource box” or footer with live URLS; we place a number of searchable tags into the post along with links and we always use a great picture.

Here is another “secret sauce trick”. Keep the blog article to about 300 words. No one has time to read your version of WAR & PEACE. People today all have ADD. Not the ADD you are thinking of, this ADD stands for ALL DATA DUMPED.

In the 86,400 seconds you have every day, from the time you get up until the time you get up, (24 hours) you are hit with up to 100 e-mails, a dozen texts, 20 voice mails (the majority of them you delete without listening to), and you are in and out of Facebook and Twitter 10 times. Who has time to read anything for more than five minutes?

Short and sweet single topic posts that DO NOT SELL ANYTHING, get indexed with good page rank and they get “googled”. And what business does not want some Google love?

Make sure those 300 words include an external link or two and an internal link directed back to your website. Add some SEO, some “locationals” like RTP, Apex, Salem St., and a simple call to action and you will rock and roll.

YouTube is great for sharing videos as links on Twitter and Facebook. I recently placed well thought out Christmas music videos on all of our managed sites and people loved it.

Here is a sample social media game plan:

Look at the history of the business, current situation, and your marketing strategies then:

Set Goals
Choose the right platforms for you on social media
Assess your target audiences EVERY DAY
Define both the challenges and the opportunities and make them objectives
Track and measure basic and free analytics for growth and return
Use liquid (quickly changeable)strategies and tactics and CHANGE them up.

Remember that agile engagement, relationships, sociability, consistency, message, strategy, and opportunity will build your business. Do it right and remember to build your business on those FOUR CORNERS without gambling away your time, money or clients.

Relevant content will always fuel loyalty and passion. And it does not cost a ton of money. Listen to your clients, they will tell you how to build the right content. Results are everything.

Just remember that social media is a work and that doing it without assessing it is a waste of time.

And speaking of time, according to Forbes, creating quality content in a small business can take up to six hours or more a week. It is a huge commitment. Remarkably, only 50% of businesses in the United States have a blog presence and many only focus on “BUY OUR STUFF NOW!!!” If you do it right, you will get business.

There is indeed ROI to social media if you are at the four corners and not 27 floors up in your room watching the action. Jump in now before it is too late. And do it right for your business and your clients.

Thank you!

NOTICE: The information contained in this presentation is intended by IMU Social Media for the SOLE use of the individual(s) to which it is sent. Any information contained within it is privileged and confidential. Resending to any other individual is prohibited except and only if the re-sender is authorized IN WRITING by IMU Social Media to receive this PDF. If you have received this attachment by mistake, please delete it without copying it or forwarding it, and kindly notify IMU Social Media of the error.
Jim Vogel
jim@imusocialmedia.com
919 533 9069
https://www.imusocialmedia.com

Photo: IMU SOCIAL MEDIA

FREE Social Media Strategies for Small Business in 2024!

31 Monday Dec 2012

Posted by IMUSM in Micro Business, Small Business, Small Business Social Media Content, Social Media

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14 FREE Social Media Strategies for Small Business in 2013!, @salesthereapist, Apex, Apex NC, Blogger, blogs, Business Blogger, Cary, Content Fresh Content, Dale Carnegie, Detroit, economic development, google +, IMUSocialMedia, Inside919, North Carolina, small business social media, social media, Triangle, Triangle NC

Your ownership and your personal activity are essential. You can indeed comment on your own stuff (if adding a thought) and other blog posts, Facebook posts, Google +, LinkedIn and tweets.
Have your employees, family, and friends LIKE and follow you on Facebook, Google + and Twitter. Send them an e-mail with the links.
Place a colorful “attention getting” sign in the front window of your business office announcing your Facebook and other social media presence.
Place at sign at the reception desk or waiting area with your Facebook and Twitter URL’s.
Put your Facebook, Twitter, and blog URL on your business card, stationary, website and newsletter.
Put your (live URL’s) Facebook, Blog Post and Twitter information in the signature on all the outbound e-mails. Consider this additional information your marketing “resource box”.
When your employees are on the phone or e-mailing clients, have them mention your social media presence or have them conclude the conversation with, “Have you found and liked us yet on Facebook and Twitter yet?”
Consider having an online contest (great on Facebook) for your audience or have a giveaway or discount that can be promoted across social media.
Have a Facebook or Social Media “Meet Up” event “offline” at your offices or at a local café for clients and potential clients; make it a quarterly networking event.
Encourage your friends, family, neighbors, and business associates to like, follow or continuously read what has been posted on all of your business platforms. Send them the links or articles via e-mail when the subjects are of value to them.
Attend as many local business networking events as possible. It is NOT what you know or who you know; IT IS WHO KNOWS YOU.
Join the local Chamber of Commerce and attend as many events as possible.
Sponsor community endeavors like festivals, charities, 5 K runs, food and blood drives using your social media sites.

Visibility is essential as your social media presence grows through content, ENGAGEMENT and consistency; call 919 244 6989 or email jim@imusocialmedia.com

Photo: IMUSM

On its First Anniversary! July, 16th, 2012. OLDIE BUT GOODIE!

04 Saturday Aug 2012

Posted by IMUSM in Uncategorized

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@salesthereapist, Apex, Apex Jazz Festival, blogs, Cary, Charlotte, Dale Carnegie, Dale Carnegie Training, Detroit, eboot camp, economic development, facebook, google +, IMU, IMU Social Media First Annivwersary, IMUSocialMedia, Inside919, Lower Michigan, Michigan, NC, North Carolina, Pillar Social Media, RTP, small business social media, social media, Triangle, Triangle Orthopaedics, twitter, Vogel Social Media, Woomer

If someone ever suggests to you to write down those great ideas you sometimes get in the middle of the night, do it. From great ideas can come a little luck and a brand new business that fills a much needed niche.

In a fast 12 months, IMU Social Media is one year old today. It is a great anniversary. It is a time to celebrate!

In May and June of last year, I started helping my good friend Brian Woomer, Woomer Insurance, edit and write a weekly blog post. About the same time, the Chair of the Apex Jazz Festival was looking for a “social media guy” to promote the brand new Jazz Fest. Timing was critical, so I created their Facebook page, Word Press site, and Twitter account. I was always a message person, so it was a great fit. Just after the festival, at anApex Chamber event at Triangle Orthopaedics, I met Dr. Joe Wilson who needed help with his social media. The rest has fallen into place. The business was born.

In that middle of the night last July 16, I wrote down IMU on a piece of paper. “I am you!”Identity, Message, Understanding. IMU Social Media now had a name. Lawyers did the DBA and the trademark. The business became official in September.

With Woomer Insurance, the Apex Jazz Festival and Dr. Wilson as clients it became a warm call to chat with prospective clients. We have averaged a new client every two weeks since then.

With 34 clients on board including Dale Carnegie Training and eBoot Camp, and three more on board August 1, we are doing what our clients want and need.

We never have to cold call. Everything is relationship-driven. Our mission is growing small business in a tight economy inexpensively and strategically.

Here is the IMU difference:

We focus only on small business (less than 10 employees).
We write across every discipline. We do social media for organizations that range from Premier 1 Automotive to Park Ophthalmology.
We stay with all the new trends in SEO and social media marketing.
We write conversationally in every blog post regardless of the topic.
Our clients never have to worry; we never miss a commitment or deadline.
Our mission is three-fold: saving time, saving money, and building clients through engagement.
We are designed for the very busy small business owner.
We maximizie visibility through marketing process and strategy.

With clients in North Carolina and in Michigan we are growing. We have added AABS Inc. as our bookkeeping service and we now have four writers, a sales director, and graphics support (our logo is AWESOME) with White Knuckle Graph-x, Inc. On August 1, we are adding tech support as well. Our partners, Pillar Social Media and Vogel Social Media offer the technical side of the popular platforms we create content for, and we are looking to helping more and more businesses as we head into 2013.

If you have a business and you know your competition is out on social media making a presence, but it is hard for you to do all the content creation and management, give me a call.

On August 7^th, from 5-7 p.m. at Rudino’s Sports Porch in Apex, join us as Detroit After 5 hosts IMU Social Media’s First Anniversary networking event. Stop by and say hi!

It is fun to have small business growth and visibility within popular platforms. There are 900 million people on Facebook and over 300 million on Twitter. According to a recent study, people go to Facebook four out of five times when they go online. We want them to visit you!

Thank you for reading our Anniversary blog post!

Regards,

Jim

Jim Vogel
Owner of I.M.U. Social Media
Cell: 919.244.6989
jim@imusocialmedia.com
https://www.imusocialmedia.com and https://www.facebook.com/IMUSocialMedia
Follow me on Twitter @SalesTherapist
Identity, Message, Understanding (IMU) Business & Economic e-Development

NOTICE: The information contained in this article is intended by IMU Social Media for the SOLE use of the individual(s) who reads it. Any information contained within it is for the reader’s use, yet can be shared and linked to other interested parties.