Every two weeks we put together a list of key events for small businesses and entrepreneurs. The following Small Business Events Guide contains worthwhile events for those wanting to grow their businesses:

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Small Biz Success Summit 2012
February 1 – 23, 2012 – Online

Presented by Social Media Examiner, this mega-event is designed to help you grow your small business using social media. There’s no travel! You simply attend this online event from the comfort of your home or office. It consists of multiple online webinars and Q&A sessions spread out from February 1 to 23, 2012. Recordings and transcripts also available.

You will hear from 28 of the world’s top small-biz social media experts, including: John Jantsch (author, Duct Tape Marketing), Anita Campbell (founder, Small Business Trends), Michael Stelzner (founder, Social Media Examiner and author, Launch), Mari Smith (co-author, Facebook Marketing), Brian Clark (founder, Copyblogger Media), Lee Odden (founder, TopRank Online Marketing), Ramon Ray (founder, Small Biz Technology and author, Technology Solutions for Growing Businesses). —-> Register now.

Where Is Everyone?: The Remote Project Manager’s Arsenal
February 6, 2012, San Francisco

So how exactly does one manage a tribe and change the world, with all these to-do’s and deadlines bogging us down? Not to mention the finicky Skype calls, buried emails, and timezone arithmetic. Join us for practical tips to get more out of you and your team:
- Preemptive strike: attack problems before they happen
- Two (free!) tools for working better, and how to set them up
- Your inbox is a blackhole. Get out of it.
- Social psychology 101
-And more…
Specifically designed with the remote project manager in mind, this class will cover tips that go beyond watercooler politics and planning agendas. Methods will be applicable to MiF-carrying PM’s and jetsetting entrepreneurs, to office bees who occasionally work from home… or anyone who has to work with other humans.

Small Biz Big Things
February 7, 2012, San Francisco

Small Biz Big Things is all about YOU, YOUR BUSINESS, YOUR challenges. In this interactive forum you’ll hear from business growth experts who have built (or are building) successful companies and can share their lessons learned, success stories, growth challenges and victories with you.

Speakers include Scott Hintz, co-founder of Tripit, Jim Fowler, who built Jigsaw and sold it to Salesforce.com, and Tamara Mendelsohn, VP of Marketing for Eventbrite.

Come network, have a great lunch and learn from experts who can help you GROW YOUR BUSINESS.

Small Business Webinar Series
Multiple Dates, Online

Feb 7: 10 Low Cost or No Cost Ways to Get Publicity for Your Small Business
Feb 9: Using Mobile Marketing to Grow Your Business
Feb 14: Great Presentation Skills – How to Improve Your Presentations and Grow Your Business
Feb 16: Using Social Media to Find New Customers
Feb 21: Keeping Your Pipeline Full Using LinkedIn

Give Me 5: Government Contracting Success Story
February 8, 2012

This educational webinar is part of the Give Me 5 program, a national program created by American Express OPEN and WIPP to help women business owners get a leg up on selling to the world’s largest customer: the U.S. government.

In this one-hour session, Give Me 5 instructor Barbara English will interview Hester Clark, President of The Hester Group and the 2011 American Express OPEN’s Victory in Procurement Woman Contractor of the Year. Through government contracting – which makes up 90% of the company’s revenues – The Hester Group has grown to become one of the largest African-American, woman-owned strategic communications and program management agencies in Northeast Florida. Hester will share experiences of how she moved her business into the federal contracting area, the lessons learned, challenges she faced and the success that she achieved.

Social Media Week
February 13-17, 2012 – London, Miami, New York, San Francisco + More

Reflecting the global impact of social media – and its role as a catalyst in driving cultural, economic, political and social change in developed and emerging markets – Social Media Week is one of the world’s most unique global platforms, offering a series of interconnected activities and conversations around the world on emerging trends in social and mobile media across all major industries.
See website for each city’s schedule of events.

Leancamp New York
February 18, 2012

Leancamp is a non-profit, high-energy day where you discover the tools that are right for you, by connecting with and learning from people actually practicing these approaches. You get actionable feedback on your current challenges, learning from a variety of disciplines.

These connections also spark new tools get to market faster. Leancamp has been the birthplace of many popular entrepreneurship techniques.

Small Farms Conference
February 25, 2012, Corvallis, OR

The event includes workshops ranging from harvesting rainwater and marketing meat products to grafting vegetables and selling produce to schools and hospitals. Speakers include farmers, OSU faculty, farmer’s market representatives and experts from the state Department of Agriculture.

Other topics include farm financing, land-use legislation and business plan development.

Inc. GrowCo
March 5-7, 2012, New Orleans

Come to GROWCO and master the strategies, tactics, and real-world solutions your company needs to thrive. Packed with actionable insights, GROWCO can be a life-changing event. You’ll learn from mega-successful entrepreneurs whose companies have created millions of dollars of wealth and tens of thousands of jobs…and a lot more.

Brite ’12 Conference
March 5-6, 2012

Now in its 5th year, BRITE ’12 will bring together 400 leaders from business, technology, media and marketing to discuss how technology and innovation are transforming the ways that companies build and sustain great brands.

BRITE offers a different blend of thinkers and doers, both onstage and off, than you will find at any other event. Participants come to think differently about the changing landscape of media and technology, and to connect with a unique group of innovators, marketers, entrepreneurs, and champions of social enterprise.

Seventh Annual Small Business Summit 2012
March 6, 2012, New York City

The Small Business Summit is New York’s premier event for small business owners looking to network with other decision-makers, attend cutting edge seminars and shop around for products & services available to help their small businesses succeed. You’ll network with 500+ attendees, hear from small business experts in exciting presentations and panel discussions, and have a great lunch. The winner of the Small Business Strategy Award will be announced live, plus great raffles and giveaways.

Early Bird Registration Rate of $149 through February 24th.

MWBE’s: Your Business is Certified, Now What?
March 12, 2012

During this lunchtime teleconfrence, gain valuable marketing and business development information that will help you win government contracts. Presenter: Jean Kristensen, MWBE Success

To register and receive teleseminar login information, e-mail pzill@westchester.org.

Geek Girl Cape Cod Boot Camp 2012
March 17, 2012, Cape Cod, MA

Whether you are a beginner newbie who needs hand-holding on all things computer, to the intermediate self-starter entrepreneur who needs some new tools, to you entirely tuned-in code toads looking to learn, there is a workshop for you at this bootcamp. See website for full list of sessions.

2012 Ohio Business Matchmaker
March 20-21, 2012, Dayton, OH

The Ohio Business Matchmaker 2012 event is a unique opportunity for exhibitors, purchasing agents (buyers), trainers, and small business owners (suppliers of goods and services) to come together.

More than 1,300 small business owners who represent small, minority, service-disabled veteran-owned, veteran-owned, HUBZone, women-owned businesses, and approximately 250 purchasing representatives from city, state, county, and federal agencies will be participating this year. Prime contractors and other organizations with a combined purchasing budget representing hundreds of millions of dollars in opportunities will attend as well.

In addition to one-on-one matchmaking meetings, this event will offer exhibitors networking opportunities and workshops covering current topics vital to small business success such as Selling to the Government, Doing Business with Federal Government Prime Contractors, SBA Policy Updates, and Surety Bonding.

Social Tech ’12
March 29-30, 2012, Seattle

Social media marketing is no longer an option for B2B—it’s an absolute necessity. Luckily, we’ve got you covered with over 25 of the leading experts who will teach you how to use social media marketing to generate more inbound leads, grow brand awareness, drive conversions, and increase revenue. You’ll meet with industry insiders as well as other B2B marketers to discuss best practices, winning techniques, current roadblocks, and find out what works for your business!

Infusioncon 2012
April 2-4, Phoenix, AZ

Get ready to learn, network and set new ideas in motion! Join hundreds of small businesses from all around the world at InfusionCon 2012, Infusionsoft’s annual user conference, and experience three days of idea sharing and inspiration in beautiful Phoenix, Arizona on April 2-4.

Innovation Uncensored
April 18, 2012, New York City

Where provocative thinkers collide and engage in meaningful, unexpected conversations. At this event, participants from various industries are charged with sharing smart techniques and exploring the next generation of innovative ideas that are shaping our world.

Confab: The Content Strategy Conference
May 14-16, 2012, Minneapolis

Deep dives. Conceptual discussions. Practical application. Whether you’re a seasoned content vet or new to the game, Confab has something for you. You’re sure to walk away with not only new insights and discoveries, but also the ability to actually DO something with them. A mixed agenda format will offer attendees a variety of ways to engage with and employ the innovative ideas that come from the scintillating content and unexpected environment.

The event content is aimed toward anyone who thinks of themselves as an innovative business leader including but not limited to the fields of technology, design, marketing, entertainment, venture capitalism, energy, infrastructure, non-profits and brand executives.

America’s Small Business Summit 2012
May 21-23, 2012, Washington, DC

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s annual event — America’s Small Business Summit — unites small business owners, managers, and entrepreneurs from across the country to learn, network, and discuss common legislative and management concerns. Past speakers include former President George W. Bush, General Stanley McChrystal, Small Business Editor of the WSJ Colleen DeBaise, and many more. Attendees help influence our nation’s economic and political agenda by advocating for pro-business policies through the Rally on the Hill portion of the program. The event will take place at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C., on May 21-23, 2012. For more information and important dates, check the Summit website, www.uschambersummit.com.

8th Annual Kentucky Innovation and Entrepreneurship Conference
June 1, 2012, Louisville, KY

The Annual Kentucky Innovation and Entrepreneurship Conference (8th KIEC) will bring together distinguished speakers, tech-based economic development practitioners, researchers, innovators, entrepreneurs, students and postdoctoral fellows.

The conference will focus on growing local initiatives powered by science and engineering talent.

2012 Veteran Entrepreneur Training Symposium
June 11-14, 2012, Reno, NV

Designed by Veteran small business owners for Veteran small business owners, VETS2012 brings government agencies, industry leaders and Veteran entrepreneurs together in a small, intimate forum to discuss the questions you need answered.

To find more small business events, contests and awards, visit the Small Business Events Calendar.

If you are putting on a small business event or contest, and want to get the word out, please submit it through our Events & Contests Submission Form (it’s free). Only events of interest to small business people, freelancers and entrepreneurs will be included.

Brought to you as a community service by Small Business Trends and Smallbiztechnology.com.

From Small Business Trends

Grow Yourself: Attend One of These Small Biz Events

Have you noticed that there is a whole new personality and a new way of being to successful entrepreneurship?  Just compare the successful entrepreneurs from one hundred years ago and those of today – there is a subtle difference about how Andrew Carnegie built his business and how Larry Page and Sergey Brin built Google.

This new theme of being successful is what James Marshall Reilly (@reillytweet)  explores in his book Shake the World: It’s Not About Finding a Job, It’s About Creating a Life.  In the opening pages of the book, we find Reilly sitting at the Ben Franklin room at the State Department waiting Hillary Rodham Clinton to speak.  As he looks around and banters with other people there he begins to wonder, “How did I end up here?”  How does a guy from a no-name school who worked with and represented rock bands end up sitting at the State Department with Nobel Prize winners and Haitian diplomats?

Instead of simply letting the thought go, Reilly takes on a project of actually conducting empirical research and speaking with the young game changers of this generation to find out how they define success, how they got to where they are and can their paths be a template for others.

Shake the World Asks if  You Are  Willing

When I received the review copy of this book from a publicist and started reading it I was unimpressed.  I thought to myself, “Here’s another book that’s trying to create some kind of success roadmap.  And another book that’s trying to elevate “young upstart entrepreneurs” and their unique way of being to something few of us are ever going to do.  Well, at least this guy has done some kind of research instead of just sharing war stories.  I’m going to give it a shot.”

You don’t have to wonder if you can create the same success that these people did – Reilly tells you that you CAN.  The question really becomes, are you will to take the same risks, make the same commitments and sacrifices as these people did?  And what about those of us who aren’t nineteen anymore and have other responsibilities?  How much of the blueprint for success can we follow?

Responding to Ordinary Circumstances in an Extraordinary Way

What I’m seeing inside this book is that responding to ordinary circumstances in an extraordinary way is a signature characteristic of the people Reilly interviewed.  That doesn’t strike me as anything new – we can say the same thing for successful entrepreneurs of the past.

What seems to set these folks apart is that they seem to be unencumbered by the negative self-talk, complaining and excuses that so many of us default to when things don’t go our way.

Take Elizabeth McKee, for example.  You’ll find her story on page 40.  Elizabeth was a student at Texas A&M.  When her friend had to quit school because she had a baby, Elizabeth asked herself why there wasn’t a child care facility on campus.  The more research she did, the more committed she became to her cause.  She went straight to the president and followed all the channels.  At the age of 20, she had raised over $320,000 to build the center, hired, fired and supervised contractors and managed to stay in school.   Don’t think that Elizabeth was “special” or privileged.  She came from a small farm in Texas and was the first woman in her family to attend college.  Her plans were to return and run the family farm.  But after the child facility experience her interests changed.

What you’ll learn from each of these stories is that it isn’t the circumstance or the person that made the difference in their success, it was the actions they took in response to their circumstances.

What you’ll gain from each of the stories covered in Shake the World is a new way of perceiving your world and a new way of taking control of your life circumstances instead of them controlling you.

It’s Not Too Late For You to Read Shake the World

I know.  You’re probably reading this and thinking that this book isn’t for you because you’re not twenty anymore.  Not true.

Granted this book is an ideal read for a young person in high school, college or just starting out.  Young people will learn that the state of the economy isn’t what drives opportunity – rather it’s the state of your mindset that matters.

Those of us with a few gray hairs will get what the title delivers – our world shaken up a bit.  I’m sure that the author intended the title to mean that these people shook the world.  What I got out of reading this book is that it’s never too late to shift your mindset about how the world works.

I was inspired by how these people looked at the world and I realized that with a little practice, I can change my mindset as well.

Read Shake the World and see what lessons you can put into practice for your own life and your business.

From Small Business Trends

Get Ready To Shake The World

Jobs.  What’s more important to an economy (and a household for that matter) than for people to be working?  Of course there’s many factors but no matter who you are, employment and jobs are right up there at the top of the list of what is needed for a healthy and vibrant economy.  That’s why I am rejoicing at today’s jobs report.

The jobs report that came out today said that unemployment is at a 3 year low of 8.3% – according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics – and that we added 243,000 private sector jobs in January.  Not sure about you but I like that.  The market was looking for 150,000 new jobs so expectations were exceeded. I realize it’s not the 4.5% unemployment we had in 2Q 2007 but it’s also not the 10.0% we had in 4Q 2009 so we’re heading in a better direction.  And, yes, I agree that we have a long way to go but I like the current trend.

What else am I (cautiously) optimistic about?  Small business lending is slowly beginning to come back.  About 15 months ago we heard from Bank of America that they planned to hire 1000 people primarily dedicated to the small business sector by 2012.  Citi announced some impressive “results” – and, by the way BofA, you get more cool points for results than you do for intentions!  Chase has also recently announced some great strides in the small business lending “results” category.

I agree with my friends and colleagues who contend that it was the local banks and smaller banks who helped us through The Great Recession with their SBA-backed lending efforts so I mean no slight to them when I say I’m happy about the direction of lending in the big-bank category.

So while the Negative Nancy’s are rolling their eyes at me and the Positive Peggy’s are ready for the big celebration here’s why neither of those extreme’s is the right place to be.  8.3% is still too high and we want a lower unemployment rate.  Additionally, since we live in a global economy where ripple effects cross borders and can circle the globe, the larger concern is how the European debt defaults will impact both the world and the US economy.  Greece is close to a likely default in the next month or two and some of their neighboring countries are looking at the same issue on the not-too-distant horizon.

Let’s not forget the global impact that was felt by our own US subprime mortgage defaults that have all occurred just in the last 5 years.  Wasn’t it Ben Bernanke or Alan Greenspan that said, “It’s a global economy, dude?”  Okay, maybe not but you get the point.

If the trend of lower unemployment continues like it has for the last 6 months then we’re all likely to be happy.  Housing is still not good but can you imagine what would happen if more people get back to work and then those same people buy or refinance their homes since rates are at historic lows and then that creates more jobs in banking and lending and the unemployment percentage continues to decrease even more?

That’s one reason the Fed is keeping rates low – let’s call it the New Fed Stimulus Package or the NFSP…what do you think?  I like how William Dunkelberg from the NFIB summed it up “The market was looking for 150,000 jobs, and we got 257,000.  We’ll rejoice, and hope for another good month next month.”

Job Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

Cautious Optimism For Small Business

That one company mentioned? It happens to be mine. Early on, much wasn’t being spent on marketing simply because the funds weren’t available. Some dabbling was done with the usual suspects: the Yellow Pages, online ads, etc. None seemed to do more to build my brand online. So now, five years later, surprisingly nothing is being invested in marketing yet enough was earned to profit and expand. Intrigued? Read on.

Unfair Advantage

I’m a big proponent of social media, blogging and networking. To be honest, my business has an unfair advantage in using these tools since it’s a marketing firm that ultimately provides these services to others. Churning out blog posts or social media updates comes naturally. However, not all small business owners may have the same ease with the keyboard or the time to do it themselves.

Marketing Strategy

There aren’t hundreds of clients coming from Twitter or Facebook. Occasionally someone will pop up and ask about a service. A few people have stumbled across blogs and made contact. So you see, it’s not a clear cut A to B path that gets new business. It’s more about branding and building your presence online.

Projects are bid on through Elance and Guru and some proposals might not stand out more than others. But you see, it’s really about what people find when looking at blog posts and the other 4 million results that appear when Googling your name. Potential clients can read blogs to get a sense of your writing style as well as where you stand. They can find social media posts that share links to great articles. And in my case, they can also find a few answers on Quora and Focus.

In short: Potential clients can get a degree of confidence by looking at what you’ve done online.

So you see, you don’t need to spend a lot of money to get marketing results. Become known for what you do and make sure that when people search for keywords in your industry – your business appears. Social media and blogging work; just ask the hundreds of companies who use it daily to brand themselves.

Take the time to figure out what works for you and your company, regardless of how little it costs – and run with it.

Zero Dollars Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

How One Company Spent Zero on Marketing

The Rolling Stones proudly sang, “Time is on my side, yes it is.” These days, time seems to be an adversary that everyone is fighting, especially when it comes to social media and small business. Unlike large corporations, small businesses do not have the ability to hire teams of individuals to monitor and respond to customer service issues on social media sites. So what’s a small business to do? Matt Trifiro joins Brent Leary to offer a solution.

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Small Business Trends: Can you tell us a little about your background?

Matt Trifiro: I have been a startup marketing person my entire life. I have been a co-founder and founder of a number of start-ups, and I joined cloud service provider, Assistly, at the end of 2010 to run their marketing team. Within nine months of my joining, they were acquired by Salesforce.com. Now we are a business unit of Salesforce.com and we are called Desk.com. I am the Sr. Vice President for Marketing at Desk.com.

Small Business Trends: Let’s talk a little bit about the speed and expectation around getting great customers experiences.

Matt Trifiro: Mobile has completely revolutionized our relationship to the Internet and similarly our relationship to companies. When I had a good or bad customer service experience, chances are, the device that is nearest me is going to be my mobile phone. The easiest thing to do was to Tweet, and I’ve done that.

With personal publishing systems like Twitter and the ability to contact thousands of people, if you are going to deliver great customer service you have to be connected to all of these high velocity channels 24/7.

Small Business Trends: How effective do you think small businesses are today being able to roll that out to their customer base?

Matt Trifiro: I think completely ineffective. The larger companies spin out a Facebook team, they spin out a Twitter team, they put two or three people on it, and they build it into their work flow and policies and eventually they build tools. Small business cannot afford to do that. It is hard enough to just learn what tool to use with Twitter. So I think that most small businesses are behind the curve in keeping up with their customers.

As a user it is really fairly simple. I just tweet. But as a small business, what would you do with that tweet? How do you assign it to somebody within your company to resolve the problem? How do you ensure that it does not fall through the cracks? When you don’t have a dedicated person on it, it is your job to answer every tweet. Small businesses cannot afford to do that so you really need to look to tools and automation solutions to help you address what is needed.

Small Business Trends: How does a small business prepare themselves to be able to handle the kind of service experience that customers really do expect today?

Matt Trifiro: You have to recognize your customers have different expectations. If you want to be competitive in this new world you have to go where they are. You will have to be there at hours when you are not normally expected to be, using technologies that you may not have ever used in the past.

The second thing you need to do is identify the tools that empower your organization to utilize those channels effectively without completely bringing you to your knees. If you cannot afford to hire a social media person, and an email person, and a customer service individual, you need to leverage technology in all aspects of your business.

Small Business Trends: How does it impact the overall organization in terms of service impacting sales or service impacting marketing?

Matt Trifiro: It is all becoming sales and marketing. If I was selling coffee at Starbucks, the most important thing to me is not that you bought a single cup of coffee, but that you come in every day and you order that triple latte with extra foam that is five bucks. Five dollars every day is a maximum amount of money over the course of the year.

When you look at a customers lifetime value perspective, customer service is almost more important than sales. It is where your revenue is coming from. A lot of customer service questions that happen in public social media are really sales questions and if your customer service team is empowered to respond to customers over social media, that becomes a sale. I think that it effects the entire organization.

Small Business Trends: What are some of the new things Desk.com offers?

Matt Trifiro: We have completely rebuilt our product to service the needs of small and medium size businesses. We have a new agent interface that is super easy to use and very easy to set up. You can attach Desk.com to a Twitter account and be servicing your customers over Twitter with literally five clicks.

You can attach a Facebook page in a similar number of clicks. You can attach an email account. All of the different channels that your customers demand service from are now organized in one place on our new agent interface. All of the interactions with the customers are stored at one place so that if multiple employees interact with the customer, they can see the entire history.

In addition, we have an entirely new mobile agent. A buyer who does some customer support but is on the road all the time now is able to interact with customers to provide support using any HTML5, Android or IOS mobile phone very simply and easily. That is new in Desk.com as well.

Small Business Trends: Where can people go to learn more about Desk. com and how it can help small businesses get up to speed with delivering the customer experience that they are really looking for today?

Matt Trifiro: Go to www.Desk.com. Every account gets their first full time agent for free. There should be no barrier, even to the smallest of companies to try it out.

This interview is part of our One on One series of conversations with some of the most thought-provoking entrepreneurs, authors and experts in business today. This interview has been edited for publication. To hear audio of the full interview, click the right arrow on the gray player below. You can also see more interviews in our interview series.

From Small Business Trends

Matt Trifiro of Desk.com: Meeting Customer Service Expectations in a Social World

I like charts, graphs, and diagrams because they make sense. Sure, your can skew them all sorts of ways, and sometimes they can get a bit out of hand, but they make sense.

Arrow going up? Great! Series of bars getting shorter? Not so good. Easy.

But I have to admit that Venn diagrams don’t do a lot for me. You’ve got one thing, and another thing, and then in the middle you get this football shaped combination of things that have things.

Yep.

Still, Venns offer a certain graphic advantage that a line or bar graph can’t, like this cartoon that’s some sort of cutesy bear or mouse. Let’s see a pie chart do that!

From Small Business Trends

A Pie Chart Can’t Do This

Facebook in Numbers: Prior to the IPO

The big news in social media and business this week is Facebook’s new IPO.  This infographic from statista and creative commons shares some very interesting figures about Facebook, before it goes public.

Highlights include:

• In 2012 Facebook is expected to reach: 90% of U.S. Social Network Users & 60% of Internet Users.
• Assuming a valuation of $100 billion, Facebook would be work 67 to 100x’s it’s estimated 2011 net income.

The Social Media Buzz

“How to Harmonize Google+ With Your Other Social Platforms”  Search Plus has placed even more importance on blending your online marketing strategy in order to adhere to the social, personal, and personalized search algorithm.  This post offers some great tips on harmonizing Google+ with your current platforms.  Via Search Engine Watch.

“StumbleUpon Kills Direct Links, iFrames Everything”  With over 20 million users StumbleUpon may be getting some heat for their recent updates.  One particular change to be aware of is the removal of all direct links which point back to content sources from within the platform.  If you are a Stumbler I strongly recommend reading this article.  Via Search Engine Land.

“The Social Enterprise: Your Path to Job Security”  While it is not surprising that social networking technologies will receive increased budgets this year it is important to understand the shift that many industries are taking.  Social media has become a recognized method in which your customers and potential customers will consume information about your services.  Social media must be used a s tool to educate, communicate, and engage on an ongoing basis.  Via InformationWeek.

Your Brand & Your Customers

“Inside the mind of your buyers”  Each of your customers has something that makes them different.  It may be their specific pain points or their budget restrictions.  This article provides 6 helpful tips on how to close a sale by focusing on what motivates your customers to buy.  Via Entrepreneur.

“The big tip for 2012: Convergence is here”  The need for a multichannel strategy has been around for awhile.  However, this year marketers will be focusing more and more on the convergence of those strategies.  Some of the trends we are seeing these days are popular television shows encouraging viewers to interact via their mobile device or iPad in real time.  Since we are finding that many customers are multi-tasking the 4 tips within this article provide guidance on dealing with convergence and what steps you should take to keep up with a rapidly evolving means of communication.  Via Econsultancy.

“3 key features of Twitter brand pages”  This piece takes a deeper look at the changes rolled out by Twitter late last year and the potential impact for brands.  It covers changes such as the expanded header area, featured Tweets, and separating your mentions from replies.  Definitely worth taking a look.  Via Ragan.

Working as a Team to Bring You the News – TopRank

Alexis Hall – Pinterest Driving More Referral Traffic Than Google+
Reports are showing Pinterest is now driving more search referrals than Google+ and YouTube.  This post, from Search Engine Watch, explores the question if the online pin board can compete with Facebook and Twitter, featuring an interesting infographic from Monetate.  Via Search Engine Watch.

Brian Larson – Super Bowl Viewers Will Check Phones 10 Times During the Game
Sometimes it takes just the right stat or factoid to drive a point home. Mobile’s growth cannot be denied by any rational person, but how about this stat: super bowl viewers will check their smart phones 10 times during the game. That’s right, the most compelling and entertaining football game of the year, which is augmented by million dollar commercials and halftime performances from Grammy award winning artists, can’t keep viewers from the powerful pull of mobile. The real question isn’t whether you should engage in mobile marketing, but rather are you positioned to be on their screen when they check their phone one of those 10 times?  Via Mashable.

Emily Conley – Inside Facebook’s S-1 Filing: 845 Million Users, $3.7 Billion In Revenues In 2011
On Wednesday, Feb. 1st Facebook filed its S1 registration (which companies use to register securities with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission).  The filing makes public certain financial and user data, including:

• 2011 net income: $1 billion (up from $606 million in 2010)
• 2011 revenue: $3.7 billion (up from 1.97 billion in 2010)
• 2011 monthly users: 845 million (roughly 50% active on a daily basis)
• 2011 average daily photo uploads: 250 million

This article also delves into shareholder information and background on the company’s ‘hacker way’ culture centered on having a positive impact on the world. Some very interesting insights into this social media giant’s success!  Via Fast Company.

Ken Horst – 5 Ways to Brand Your New YouTube Profile
YouTube has provided users with a number of smart ways to get more out the Brand/Profile page.  Some of the great updates are the ability to add multiple custom URLs in an area that is clearly visible to users and the ability to create your own custom overly ad for your videos.  You can also prevent other ads from showing up on your videos.  Via Social Media Examiner.

Time to Weigh In:  Have you taken any steps to integrate Google+ with your other platforms?  If so what have you done that has worked?  When trying to get into the mindset of your potential customers, what is the most important thing you should know?

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2012. | Online Marketing News: Facebook IPO, Harmonize with Google+, Pinterest Dominates Traffic | http://www.toprankblog.com

Understanding the nuts and bolts of small business is really important when it comes to getting things done. You can have great ideas, but putting them into action is what makes a successful venture.

Trends & Tools

Action not words. Business schools are beginning to stress action over a simple well-written business plan in contests meant to test young entrepreneurs’ ability to launch a new venture. Obviously, small business owners already know the value of legwork when it comes to putting plans into action. WSJ

Want to take your company public? The Obama administration is proposing policy that could make the process easier. If you have a business you think could be the next Facebook, please check out the proposal and tell us what you think. Bloomberg Businessweek

Handling logistics for your small business. There are some very cool tech tools to help you handle both shipping and logistics, so no reason to reinvent the wheel. If your business requires you to get products from suppliers and ship them to customers, you’ll probably find solutions here. Smallbiz Technology

2012 Small Business Book Awards

Win free books through The Great Big Biz Book Giveaway! Through February 7 you can win some awesome books free through The Great Big Biz Book Giveaway in conjunction with the 2012 Small Business Book Awards from SBT. Entering couldn’t be simpler. Just tweet a message with the hashtag #BizBookAwardsWin during the daily book giveaway for your chance to win. Small Business Trends

Vote for your favorite title. Voting has begun for the 2012 Small Business Book Awards. The nominations are in. Now it’s time to pick a winner. See the list at the link above for more on the titles up for awards. Small Business Trends

Strategy & Tech

Why competing on price is always a mistake. It may make sense at first to offer your services at the lowest possible cost…until you realize there’s probably always someone who can do the job for less than you. Here’s why price isn’t the place to compete. Michael Hartzel

Small business in the cloud. A forecast of the best applications for 2012 show variety of focuses based on your business needs. Depending upon your business model and focus, there are various applications that may interest you. GetApp.com

Success Stories

Growing a business despite recession. Hard economic times don’t mean that new ventures are doomed to fail. Here is one success story proving clearly that more than simple economic projections determine success or failure in your small business. Bloggertone

Marketing Basics

Are people reading the e-mails you send? If e-mail marketing is part of your business strategy, then being sure your e-mails are receiving attention couldn’t be more important. Here are some tips you may wish to consider. Blogtrepreneur

Why it soon may be too late to jump onto Google+. We’ve posted plenty about the Google+ platform and its usefulness for small business. Here are some thoughts about using this marketing tool before it’s too late. FixCourse

From Small Business Trends

Nuts and Bolts of Small Business

Ready to win some amazing business books? Of course you are!  Now through February 7, 2012, you can enter to win business books like:

• I Love You More Than My Dog by Jeanne Bliss
• It’s Your Biz by Susan Solovic
• Visual Marketing by Anita Campbell and David Langton
• Social Media Marketing eLearning Kit For Dummies by Phyllis Khare
• The Entrepreneur Equation by Carol Roth

The Big Biz Book Giveaway is being held in conjunction with the Small Business Book Awards.  Many of the books we’re giving away are also nominees in the book awards, so be sure to vote for them now through February 16, 2012.

How to Enter

You can enter to win the book contest each day through February 7, 2012 by sending a tweet that includes the hashtag #BizBookAwardsWin. While most of the giveaways are for the United States or North America only, there is one for International winners on February 7, 2012, so be sure to check the day’s listing.

What: Big Biz Book Giveaway

When: January 31, 2012 through February 7, 2012

Where: Twitter

How to enter: Just send a Tweet that includes the hashtag #BizBookAwardsWin to enter or simply click the “Click here to tweet” link below to be entered:

Click here to tweet

You can also copy and paste the Tweet provided below into Twitter to enter:

I’m entering to win the Biz Book #Giveaway! Just tweet #BizBookAwardsWin to enter to win great biz books today http://ow.ly/8Q72h 

Good luck!

From Small Business Trends

Enter to Win: The Big Biz Book Giveaway

January is always pretty slow in business research land and this month has been no exception. So, I’m a few days late getting this report to you but that’s a good thing because I managed to wait long enough for the release of the 2011 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). This is their 13th annual survey and the news was good.

Entrepreneurship: Alive and Well  Read more... (649 words, 9 images, estimated 2:36 mins reading time)