@BasilPuglisi

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Capitalizing on Social Media: Michigan State University

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“Many MSU alumni have emerged as players in the newly emerging social media, a phenomenon that is revolutionizing traditional notions of marketing, communication and social relationships” (MSU Alumni Magazine 2010 Summer Issue).

This MSU Alum is sold, it seems that while others are content with their status quo, Spartans are starting to dominate the digital world and that includes Social Media. With one of the largest Alumni networks in the world it is no surprise that MSU would be at the front of Social Media, from advertising, recruitment and even alumni relations, it’s clear that MSUAA has hit the ground, flying? That’s right the number of MSU Alumni on Social media is sky high!

Take LinkedIn for example, the MSUAA currently has hundreds of comments about Spartan Alumni Job Opportunities as part of the over 20,000 MSUAA LinkedIn Members. That’s 20,000 where the average Alumni group has only about a third of that! Only the Long Horns boast more with 22,000, where University of Miami, Florida State, Alabama, Penn State, Iowa and more all have under 5,000.

“At the end of the day, you have to find new ways to add value to the world,” said Scott Westerman. “It’s about the friendships and relationships that you have gained” (MSU Alumni Magazine 2010 Summer Issue).

YouTube – LinkedIn – Twitter – UStream – MSUAA Blog

MSU Rides the Social Media Wave!!!

“Think of what half a million people can do.” just a one line statement that exemplifies the experience and network that MSU offers.

“The Day we created an cancer saving drug began like any other” just one of the examples of the global impact that MSU has, had and will continue to make.

How about a campus tour? – What’s it like to live at MSU? – GO GREEN!!!

What about being part of a NCAA Division 1 Athletics program, talk about school spirit!!!

While MSU and the MSUAA seem to bolster a powerhouse of Social Networking opportunities online, let’s not forget that the nearly 500,000 alumni across the earth, which means you are as likely to run into one doing anything from helping an old lady across the street, to serving as a CEO of just about every other major company.

Basil C. Puglisi, is a member of the MSUAA and a Proud Member of the Graduating Class of 2005 from the School of Social Science at Michigan State University.

Social Brand Visibility – All About Hi5

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When you hear the words Social Networking, what comes to mind? Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, YouTube, Linkedin etc. But since 2003 there is another player in the social networking game that generates a lot of buzz; the name of this site is Hi5. In the beginning of 2010, Hi5 acquired a gaming site called Big Six, and is raising money (in the millions) to extend their reach.

When a customer join the Hi5 network, he create a profile that includes his information, interests and he can upload pictures to create a photo album that is all his. He can also play games online and interact with other users. Just like in other social media sites, he can send his friends a friendly request to join, which can be accepted or declined. If the friend accepts the request, they are now connected in the 1st degree (direct friends). It is possible to be connected in the 2nd degree with friends of friends or in the 3rd degree with friends of friends of the direct contact. 67% of the users of Hi5 social network site are between the ages of 18 and 34.

As back as 2008, Hi5 was the third most popular social network, as far as unique visitors go.

Why didn’t you hear about it? Because Hi5 is most popular in other countries outside the United States, especially in South America. It is connected to Gmail and will send an invitation to join to all the Gmail addresses in the user’s address book.

Hi5 enables the user to express yourself, use avatars, share music, find friends, play games, give gifts, and if you so inclined, flirt on line.

Today, there are about 30 million users of Hi5, and about 200 million pages are served up every day.

With so many users worldwide the site offers innovative options and precise targeting with viral marketing techniques.

So what can Hi5 do for you as a small business owner?

–          Offers unique and engaged audiences who spend on average 20 minutes a day on the site and view 50 pages per day. It is aims at young audiences that like to share and talk about what they saw.

–          The site enables advertisers to target audiences based on interest, demographics, gender, language and other factors.

–          A range of advertising products: Banners, media placement, games, video pre-rolls, viral promotions, contests and sweepstakes.

–          It allows for homepage takeover, where the background of the sign-in page advertises your company, event of movie.

–          Interaction with customers that creates viral awareness.

–          You can insert ads that appear directly in conversations.

–          Place video ads before online games.

–          Mobile ads

–          Enables you to create or sponsor an online game.

–          It has standard ad units for home page, photo pages, game pages and friend’s pages.

Hi5 is another venue in social media that is able to raise awareness to you product. There are other sites that do that, but to get all the information about your possibilities, it is best to contact a consulting experts who are familiar with all the venues, like Puglisi Consulting Group (http://puglisiconsulting.com/#) and their specialty arm Visibility Acceleration (http://www.visibilityacceleration.com/) who can customize an advertising campaign that fits your budget and needs. They are experts who keep updating their knowledge with all the new methods of online advertising and visibility.

Untraditional Ways to Create Buzz for Your Business

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Let’s face it, advertising in today’s market is tough. There is a lot of noise out there and a lot of different companies and brands competing for the same consumers. But creative companies are finding untraditional ways to create buzz around their products. See if any of these unusual strategies might work for your business.

Make It a Stunt

Create an unusual event or contest for your business. If you own a restaurant, have an eating contest and award the winner with a year of free meals. If you own a TV repair company, hold a “World’s Strongest Man” competition and see who from your community can complete various strength tests involving old televisions. Award the winner with a free TV set.

The benefit of these types of stunts is two-fold. First, you are attracting new potential customers to your business. Obtain contact information for all contest entrants, and provide losing entrants with coupons that entice them to return to your establishment. Second, you are creating the opportunity for free media coverage. Invite local television, news and blog outlets to your event. You can save thousands of dollars in advertising through just one stunt event.

Attract a Celebrity

It’s no secret that celebrities grab headlines. Get a local celebrity to come to your business and watch the customers roll in. The key is to not only attract a celebrity client, but to get the client photographed or televised in your place of business.

Luckily, the popularity of reality shows has made it a bit easier to get celebrity coverage. Pick up the phone book and call any reality shows that might fit with your product. Be creative; remember that reality shows have very low budgets, so any service that you are willing to provide for free might get you a bit of on-screen time.

Make it Funny

You need look no further than Old Spice’s highly successful “I’m On a Horse” commercials to see the power of humor in advertising. Whether you are posting in-store signage, creating a newspaper ad or shooting a television spot, infuse humor in your marketing to attract customers. If your advertisement makes people laugh, they are more likely to remember the advertisement and your company.

While some types of businesses lend themselves better to unusual marketing than others, it never hurts to take a moment to think outside the box and reconsider your existing advertising strategies.

Why do customers turn away from your website?

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Everybody is talking about internet presence and internet visibility and thinking of inventive ways to increase it. But let’s face it – the purpose of your website is not only to get visitors to your site. The purpose of your website is to turn visits into clicks. You not only want to be visible, you want to make commerce.

There are many reasons why customers that get to your site turn away from it, after one page. To understand what is wrong and change it, takes expertise. But it is a change worth making.

Here are some of the reasons why it might happen to your site:

It’s Booooring – like reading a very long advertisement or brochure. Too much technical information, too much information in general turns people away. The customer knows it will be tooting the horn of the business but he can’t find the important information that is relevant to him.

It has Typos – You want to be trusted, don’t you? Having your landing page written by someone who doesn’t speak the language well, is a turn off. Make sure it makes sense and look at it more than once. If you have many pages it might be hard to weed out all of the typos, but you must try.

It is not enticing and not specific enough – It doesn’t say why you are better than your competition.

It has not been updated – The web technology moves very fast and you have to keep up with the innovations. A site that has been up for 5 years needs a facelift. In web-talk it’s your grandfather’s generation.

It’s confusing – and difficult to navigate.

Not enough information – People want to know who you are. “About” page is important as is providing a real address.

There are no pictures and no endorsements – What people say about you is very important to add credibility to your site.

The best course of action for the business person who wants to make sure all the advantages of the internet have been taken, is to contact a company that deals with those solutions, like the Puglisi Consulting Group and their Visibility Acceleration division to get advice and design a campaign that will turn your visitors into clicks and registrations.

Obtaining Funding: The Basics

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Funding can make or break your business. Start-up funding can get your business off the ground, and ongoing funding can keep your business afloat during tough economic times. Before you reach out to investors or banks to ask for cash, follow the steps below to make sure that your business is prepared to face potential investors.

First, incorporate as an S-Corp, C-Corp or LLC. Unlike sole proprietorships or partnerships, these forms of organization allow equity to be shared among multiple investors. Hire an experienced business lawyer to help you determine the proper structure for your company and obtain proper documentation and registration.

Second, register your intellectual property. Obtain trademarks and patents for any intellectual property that your company has developed, including proprietary trade names and inventions. Again, seek the aid of a qualified lawyer to help navigate the trademark process.

Third, clean up your financials. Prepare an easy-to-read set of historical financials that includes all relevant detail and backup data. Make sure that your company’s financial data is well-organized and easy to sort through in case investors ask questions. Prepare a set of financial projections that are reasonable and grounded in fact. Make sure that you can back up the financial projections with market data or company history.

Fourth, get the right people on board. Hire employees that have relevant backgrounds for your company’s industry and product. This is especially important in very young companies; when investors look at early stage companies that have little operating history, they are often investing on the strength of the management team, not on the historical performance of the business.

Fifth, create a professional website and online presence. Potential investors will turn to the internet to research your company, and you want to make sure that your web page puts your company’s best foot forward. Add the company’s products and management team. Highlight any key customers or recent accomplishments. Keep the website up-to-date and professional at all times.

Sixth, keep an updated business plan. Business plans change over time based on business performance and market dynamics. Update your business plan to reflect these changes so that you are ready to discuss your company’s operations with investors at any time.

While the six tips above are a must for any business seeking funding, nothing “wows” investors like a highly-successful and well-regarded business. Be sure to continue to build your business as you incorporate these funding tips into your company’s goals.

How to Make your Small Business Grow?

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Sometimes it’s good to look at other small businesses and see how the owners made them grow.

Samy Liechi is a young entrepreneur out of Switzerland. At the age of 30, he had an idea for a business – he is going to sell exclusive man’s socks.

Today, 11 years later, he has sold over one million pairs of socks all over the world. How did he make it happen? Here is some of his advice for the budding entrepreneur.

Don’t wait too long – if you think you have a great idea, act on it quickly. Don’t overthink the business and don’t wait until everything falls into place. Do the design of the site the best you can, but not everything has to be perfect. 80% is good enough. You will learn the rest as you improve. It’s never really finished, is it?

Start Selling as soon as you can. A few small orders a day, even as few as 2 from family and friends, will start the business going and will put you in the mode of selling.

Make a plan – have company meetings every week and meet with your sales people for at least half an hour a week. Set those schedules ahead of time then you won’t have to waste time by trying to schedule a meeting. Everyone will have his weekly plan that will not change from week to week. Make a plan when you look at your finances. Looking at it every day might make you too anxious.

Have a marketing campaign – new business owners often make the mistake of thinking they can do it all by themselves. Outsource your work to experts but don’t think that with this your responsibility ends. Marketing companies need your leadership and your input to make things right.

And don’t stay behind the curve. Innovate your products and your website. If something is not working, think of ways to fix it. Consult with experts whose  job is to stay updated. Is there another way to do what you have been doing? Other venues that you didn’t think about?

If you are an entrepreneur, or just started up your own small business, you should contact the consulting firm Puglisi Consulting Group (http://puglisiconsulting.com/#), which through their visibility Acceleration arm (http://www.visibilityacceleration.com/) are doing what every business should be doing; checking what works and what doesn’t, adjusting, finding out better ways of achieving the goal and having the tools to measure the results.

Unusual Ways of Defining Success

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Is your business successful? You might think your are successful because you have a certain number of customers or have made a certain amount of money. But studies show that money does not buy happiness. In fact, a complicated set of factors contribute to each individual’s sense of success and happiness. Here are two unique ways to determine if your business is truly successful or not.

Does Your Business Line Up With Your Core Values?

In order to answer this question, you need to define what your core values are. Your core values should include what is important to you, not what is important to your business. Having a business that contradicts your core values is one way to ensure frustration, burnout and an unclear plan.

Core values can be anything that you believe is truly important. Some examples are integrity, education, self-reliance and health. Choose what resonates with you, not what you think others want to hear, what is trendy or what sounds right.

Once you have chosen one or more core values, assess how well your business lines up with these values at least once per year. Is your business furthering these values? If not, how can you change the business so that it aligns with your core values? Creating a business that is a reflection of your core values is a true sign of success.

What is Your Ideal Day?

Write down a realistic description of your ideal day. What are you doing from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to sleep? Compare this list to what you actually do in a typical day. How well does it match up? If your ideal day closely corresponds to your actual day, you have a successful business on your hands. If not, take a look at which areas of your day don’t match. What changes can you make to change your actual day into an ideal day? Consider outsourcing unpleasant tasks or taking a chance on an initiative that could propel your business to the next level. Remember that a successful business brings personal happiness in addition to financial success.

So how does your business stack up? If you find that you are monetarily successful but not happy with the direction of your business, it’s time to stop and plan. Think of what truly defines your core values and happiness, and make small and steady changes to ensure that your business is a bona fide success.

The Benefits of Virtual Assistants

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Have you considered hiring a virtual assistant? Virtual assistants are widely used to help with simple, repetitive tasks that are easily processed via email. Hiring a virtual assistant is a great way for your business to free up valuable time that can be better spent on other, more important tasks. Here are some of the key benefits of virtual assistants.

Low Cost Labor

Virtual assistants often provide labor at rates well below the salary that you would have to pay an in-person assistant. This is because virtual assistants are often located in developing countries such as India or the Philippines, where wage rates are below minimum wage in the United States. Even if you end up with a virtual assistant that is located in the United States, you will avoid the cost of benefits and office supplies that accompany a full-time employee.

The rate that you secure will vary by website and by provider. Some websites allow you to negotiate rates, and it is possible to find virtual assistants for as little as $2 per hour. Keep in mind, however, that the cheapest virtual assistants are often not of the highest quality. One of the most reputable websites, AskSunday.com, provides rates that range from $13.50-$14.00 per hour.

Off-Peak Hours

Virtual assistants can provide around-the-clock service. When you leave the office, you can email a task to your assistant and have it in your inbox the next morning. Of course, the time that your assistant is available to work depends on the assistant’s physical location. If you want your assistant to work primarily during your workday, look for someone in your same geographic region. If you want someone to work while you are off the clock, look for someone on the opposite side of the globe. You can even find teams of assistants that will provide service twenty-four hours per day.

Streamlined Hiring

Hiring a full-time employee takes a lot of time and resources. You must post a job ad, interview, hire the correct person, and spend weeks or months training them. Hiring a virtual assistant is a much quicker and less painful process. There are a variety of websites that simply the process, such as AskSunday.com, oDesk.com and eLance.com. These websites allow you to search for a virtual assistant, interview candidates and process payment. The hiring process can be done in a few hours or a few days, depending on how specific your hiring needs are.

For many business owners, a virtual assistant is an excellent way to free up time spent on repetitive tasks and to focus on the more important issues. If you are spending a lot of time on small tasks, try out a virtual assistant to see if you can increase your businesses productivity.

Who needs Consulting? I can do it by myself

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When you embark on this new adventure called internet visibility, or internet presence, and you are a thorough individual you immediately come across offers upon offers of e-books, lectures, webimanrs, clubs and everything else, to help you understand how to use the internet to advertise your business.

You spend time and money downloading, reading, participating in group discussions, and you learn a whole lot of new things, but when you look back at your business, you think “Gosh, I’ve spent so much time learning how to do advertise it, I don’t have time to take care of my business”.

There is a lot to learn, and if your objective is to make money by opening websites with information only and have links and link backs to sites that do sell something, you are being used as a recruiting agent. And you get finder’s fee. But to be visible with information only site, you have to learn some more and you have to add content, all the time.

It is amazing, the amount of information you need to absorb to be knowledgeable about the internet, and there are so many people advertising the “how to” classes that you know they have turned it into their full time profession. They are not doing, they are teaching.

Of course there are the scams, that give you very little for your money or those who enlist you in a pyramid type business where the objective is to bring more participants, not sell a product or a service. In these tough economic times, people are looking to reinvent themselves in a new area, and the internet filled up with useless, one page sites.

Visibility on the internet is very important to your business, but so is doing what you do best, providing a product or a service.

You will hear about press releases, social networks, articles, blogging, email newsletters, videos, expert question sites and viral marketing, but to do what those people are writing about and recommending will take all of your waking hours.

When you have a small business, with a store front, you spend a little money on keeping the front clean, re painting, re carpeting, and you spend a little more to reach new customers to enrich the circle of repeat customers. Same goes for the internet and internet commerce. You have to put some money into the upkeep of your business to make it grow. And the competition is not only local anymore, it’s global.

But so is the reward.

Your best bet is to save time on research into an unfamiliar subject and hand it over to the experts. You will have the information without having to learn how to get it, you’ll have people that make a living by staying updated on the latest trends and markets and you can see your business take off.

One of those companies is the Puglisi Consulting Group (http://puglisiconsulting.com/), and it has the experience in website solutions, linguistics, public policy, Business solutions higher education and life couching. Through their specialty arm Visibility Acceleration (http://www.visibilityacceleration.com/) can tailor a campaign for your needs.

You either spend that time and money on learning something you don’t want to know, or you pay the experts to do it for you right, the first time.

Additional Ways to Increase Your visibility On Line

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We all know the importance of being visible online. Whether we sell a product, perform a service or provide information, the way of the clients to find us is through the internet.

We’ve all heard about the simple ways of getting there; have a website, advertise on line, create e mail blasts, etc etc. This is the beginner’s stuff.

More advanced way to reach untapped new markets has to do with the language barrier. English is the most common language on the internet, but there is a vast crowd out there, that does not feel completely comfortable with the language.

Take Russia for example. Even though Russia is making huge strides toward a capitalistic economic system, and more Russians speak English, not all of them are comfortable reading and writing the language. This is an additional market of 170,000,000 people.

Or let’s look at languages, not countries. Spanish, for example. That’s another 332,000,000 people around the world. Chinese is spoken by 937,132,000 people. Of course not all of those billions have access to the internet, but those are potentially huge markets.

There are search engines in different languages, website that have a different ending, like co.il or com.au, which are the local listings for that country that you should be aware off and listed in.

That is not very complicated to do, since you have the layout of your site. Making the information and forms easily accessible and in the country’s language will increase your visibility all over the world.

It is not just a saying that the Web is World Wide.

To help you embark on this new adventure, you should consult with experts that have done that before, and have people that read, write and speak both languages. The Puglisi Consulting Group (http://puglisiconsulting.com)  is such a company that has explanations on its website in different languages. Through their company Visibility Acceleration (http://www.visibilityacceleration.com/) they are the experts in operating in different languages and will advise you what you should do.