9 Reasons the Facebook Timeline is a Positive Change for your Business Page

All Facebook pages were forced to switch to the new Timeline format on March 30 2012, no matter if you wanted to or not. Here are a few reasons why this change may actually be a positive one for your business.

1. Cover Photo Feature allows your business page to be more personalized and visually appealing with an eye-catching banner at the top of the page.

2. Easier to Make Updates to your business page, as well as managing notifications and messages, as all the necessary tabs and apps have been pushed up to the top of the page. You can also select the apps you want displayed beneath the cover image.

3. “About” Section is Visible and emphasized right underneath the large banner or cover photo. This change allows the company to summarize its purpose, which is the first thing fans will see when they open the page.

4. More Information is Displayed on the wall at once with the new Timeline format; thus, making it easier for fans to skim your business page, learn about your company, and find what they are looking for.

5. Newest Business Information Shown First making it simple and easy for fans to quickly learn about your company and current activities.

6. Fans See Your Business’s Growth and Progress with the new “Milestones” feature, which allows you to display all of the important company achievements and awards.

7. Control What is Highlighted by pressing the star button at the top right corner of any post for fans to notice and pay more attention to, as it expands the area which the post you star occupies across both sides of the Timeline.

8. Control Where Posts Appear by changing the dates on posts.

9. Pin Option allows you to keep a post positioned at the top of your business page for seven days without getting pushed down and buried by new updates. This is especially useful if there are important notifications of events, offers, or any other announcement you want to keep in the forefront for fans to notice.

As you can see, the new Facebook Timeline not only makes your business page more visually engaging, but it also makes it easier for fans to navigate around and learn more about your story. So embrace the change!

Why Participate in a 15% Back Charity Event?

How it Works

An agreement is made between a business and charity to have a portion of their sales go to a cause. Therefore when a customer mentions the charity while they patronize the business by buying a product or service, 15% of that purchase goes to the charity.

Good For Charity

• An alternative way of fundraising for a cause
• Great way to advertise charity
• Build alliances between charity and business

Good For Business

• Generates more foot traffic and sales for business
• Brings in new customers
• Great way to advertise business
• Build alliances between charity and business

Everybody Wins!

Generating Leads from the SF Business Times Book of Lists

The SF Business Times Book of Lists 2012 is an incredibly useful resource when it comes to broadening your client base in the San Francisco Bay Area.  To make the process even easier for you, we at Piedmont Avenue Consulting have created this step-by-step guide to Creating an Email Blast to Generate New Business, using the SF Business Times Book of Lists.

1). Pick up a copy of the 2012 SF Business Times Book of Lists.

2). Select a page that showcases several potential leads, such as top solar companies, top construction companies, or whatever might be relevant to your business.

3). Looking over the list of 25 businesses, identify any contacts that one of your employees might know, and record their information into a Google Spreadsheet or other Excel file.

4). Upload the contact information to SalesForce or another CRM program, so that all interaction with each lead can be tracked.

5). Create case studies of previous clients who might be similar to the businesses listed such as solar, construction, etc. Be sure to include examples of several services provided by your company.

6). Make sure to include some of the case studies from step #5 on the company website.

7). Construct an email blast so that it displays these case studies. We think Constant Contact is a great email marketing solution, but you can choose which ever works best for you.

8). Target specific employees from the list of companies created in step #3 by emailing or calling them directly. Then, either mention the case studies of similar companies you provided services for, direct them to your website, and/or suggest a meeting or coffee break to discuss what you might have to offer them.

9). Lather, rinse, repeat.

Although we recommend utilizing the SF Business Times Book of Lists, the above steps can be used for any published list that pertains to your specific business. (i.e. 7×7 Magazine’s Best Of Guides, Diablo Magazine’s Best of the East Bay, etc.)

Resources:

Constant Contact

SalesForce.com

Piedmont Avenue Consulting Blog

Piedmont Avenue Consulting excels at helping businesses expand into new markets.  To schedule a free consultation, contact us today.

5 Reasons We Love Basecamp

Basecamp HQ is an incredibly intuitive and easy to use online project management tool. It facilitates project collaboration, and here at Piedmont Avenue Consulting it allows our team to stay on top of our many ongoing cooperative endeavors.

Here’s what we like best:

To-Do’s:  A team member can add a To-Do item assigned to himself or any other team member. The task can include a due date, can be emailed to the designated employee or the entire group, and comments or files can be attached to each To-Do. Sync Basecamp with your [Google Apps] account, and create To-Do’s directly from your Google mailbox.

Time Tracking:  Basecamp allows each team member to track the time they have spent working on a project or on a single To-Do item. It is then possible to run reports finding a wide array of results – track one employee’s time across all projects, the amount of time a group has put into a single project, or see how much time has been spent on a particular task such as blog writing, admin time, or the development of a single web page.

Writeboards: Every project includes a Writeboard, where files can be imported, and then any team member with access to that project can view and makes edits or changes to that file directly in Basecamp without having to download and then re-upload the file. It is then simple to compare and contrast the current and previous versions of that file, so it is clear to see who made what changes, and the original is never lost.

The Calendar: The calendar is a new feature to Basecamp, one we find far superior to Milestones, its previous incantation. The calendar allows your team to track the schedule of a project and plan out the stages and the roles and responsibilities of each collaborator along the way using a simple, graphic calendar format.

The Dashboard: The Dashboard acts as home base or headquarters for each team member upon signing in to Basecamp. From here you can easily view the latest developments across all projects, view all the To-Do’s assigned specifically to you, view the time you have tracked personally across all projects, and a calendar displaying all milestones and events related to you.

Basecamp is an excellent way for a team to manage projects and stay organized; its simple interface and design enable streamlined collaboration. If you are interested in in trying out Basecamp for your organization check out the Free 30 Day Trial, or feel free to contact us here at Piedmont Avenue Consulting.

Google Apps

Google Apps (http://www.google.com/apps/)

Google Apps provides Google for Businesses, including email, calendar, documents, and more. customized Business Cards, each one with a different design provides email, survey, etc system a variety of educational and motivational programs centered on business marketing, stock market investing, and real estate finance.

What’s your story? Are you creating Brand Awareness?

How well is your business telling it’s story? Do people remember what you do? Are others telling your story for you? This an email blast we sent out promoting our Social Media Score Report and upcoming client events.

Social Media Return On Investment Report

Our Social Media Return On Investment Report shows how to increase business profits through creative marketing and sales strategies. The report defines social media, reviews how to measure the value of social media, outlines the key components in a social media budget, and provides the best strategy for success.

Please enter your contact information below to receive your Free Social Media Return On Investment Report.

All information is confidential and we will respond to your request within 48 hours.

Social Media Score

Our Social Media Score Report is run to measure your business across the 9 key areas of the social media ecosystem we have defined. Our clients’ scores continually increase leading directly to greater marketplace awareness, stronger customer loyalty, and increased revenues.

Please enter your contact information below to receive your Free Social Media Score Report.

All information is confidential and we will respond to your request within 48 hours.

Evaluate Online Competition

Find at least 10 other companies, websites, etc. doing what you do. Then create a list in excel or database format. Then list:

1) the company name

2) website link

3) what you like about the business, website, services, products, etc.

4) what you do not like about the business, website, services, etc.

5) what is missing, what could they do better, general comments and thoughts

After having this list, you will quickly start to see patterns; Notice how you can make your business stand out from the competition. You may also find that their are already people doing exactly what you have in mind or no one. Either way, it’s good to know what is out there and be prepared to do it better or different.

Piedmont Avenue Consulting is the San Francisco Bay Area’s premier boutique consulting firm exclusively serving small to medium sized organizations and business owners to improve productivity and performance. Our clients include restaurants, retail specialty stores, financial services firms, high-growth start-up companies, real estate agencies, individual entrepreneurs, and other diverse organizations.