It’s Twitters new social network that makes it easy to create and share social videos on the go.
Twitter is obsessed with limitations (because they breed creativity), so just like we only have 140 characters in a tweet, we only have 6 seconds to shoot a Vine.
Vine was released on February 4, 2013 and within 7 days of launching, over 100,000 Vines had been shared. Which makes you think…
The last month has been pretty exciting for Spokal.
We wanted to take a minute and share some of the highlights with you, and more importantly, thank you for joining us as we continue to empower small businesses to grow online.
Are you new here? You might want to check out some of our favourite posts: The Complete Guide of How Often to Post, Tweet + Facebook for Your Small Business, Top 11 Most Powerful Content Marketing Examples By Small Businesses or Should you pay for search ads on Google? Here’s how you can decide.
We were invited to present at the BCTIA Demo Day with 11 other companies on March 12, 2013. It was a great chance to meet local entrepreneurs and share the stage with some of the best emerging tech companies in BC.
Check out the presentation that won us the Investor’s Choice Award below, and feel free to read about our experience behind the scenes in this guest post on BCTIA’s blog.
On March 15 we hit another milestone – our first time being on TV! ShawTV did an interview with us and one of our customers, Collin Stewart (founder of VoltageCRM), who shared what his experience has been like as a Spokal customer.
Curious what Collin said? Check out the 2 min interview below.
TV is dead.
We chat a lot about how traditional advertising on TV is becoming less effective because we don’t watch commercials anymore. (We watch more TV online than we actually do on TV.)
And why you’d be crazy not to get customers online.
Reed Hastings, the CEO of Netflix, has shown us that as long as you create something people want, you’ll find customers.
After listening to his viewers he spent $100M on a Netflix exclusive original TV series, creating one of the most watched shows online.
Have you ever wondered what other small businesses are doing online?
Not the success stories we hear about in the news, but what the average small business owner does on a weekly basis to grow their company.
I thought it’d be fun to take a quick peak and profile the “typical small business owner in North America in 2013.”
Are you curious?
In 2011, we spent more for paid search ads on Google than we did putting rooves over our heads.
Last year that grew to $43.7B.
It’s the fastest growing advertising channel in the world.
You’ve probably heard about Google AdWords (Google’s Pay Per Click or PPC advertising platform) and you may have even asked the question, “should you pay for search ads on Google?”
Some believe you should. Obviously Google does, since they get 96%+ of their revenue from online ads. And some believe you shouldn’t. Like eBay, who just released a study proving that Google Adwords doesn’t work for them, or the 170 million keywords they were tracking.
But the big question is whether you should pay for search ads on Google?
And that depends….
how much money and time do you have, and what are your goals?
If you want to get a lot of customers in a short period of time, paying for search ads might work for you. But they can be expensive, and when you stop paying for them the tap of potential customers shuts off.
One of the biggest reasons people don’t blog is because they don’t know what to say.
Sound familiar?
Let’s tackle this beast together – here are 5 blog post ideas that you can do when you start blogging for your business. Think of it as a mini “getting started” strategy.
The goal is to get comfortable sharing your thoughts online, hitting the publish button and of course, giving your customers a chance to learn who you are by answering some of their most popular questions.
Free labour sounds great.
Well, doesn’t it?
Between you and me, I love the idea of hiring young people who are hungry to learn and help you with your business. (I’ve been on both sides of the table and the experiences were fantastic.)
But it’s not as easy as it sounds.
Before you jump in, make sure you know what you’re signing up for.
Here are the biggest mistakes I’ve seen that you can make when hiring an intern for your small business…
Content marketing isn’t a joke.
It has changed lives. Saved businesses from bankruptcy. Built million dollar companies.
Okay, so why are we talking about it?
Proof.
Content marketing isn’t just for brands like Red Bull and Nike. Small business owners like you are using it every day to grow their sales. Here are some of the most powerful content marketing examples done by small businesses.
Maybe you could be next?
(If you’re thinking, “Hold on Alexandra, what’s content marketing? How is it related to inbound marketing?” Check out these posts by KISSmetrics and the Content Marketing Institute – they’ll answer your q’s.)
One of the simplest ways to convert website visitors into customers is something that 60% of us don’t do.
Put a visible phone number on every page.
Yes.
If you have a prominent number on every page, that’s awesome. You can stop reading.
But if you don’t, you’re not alone.
Take a peek at some websites in your area of expertise, and you may be surprised to find how many don’t have a number on their home page, or bury it in their footer.
This post reviews lead nurturing for small businesses, specifically what it is, why you should do it, the tools you need, how to develop a simple plan and what to measure to keep improving.
Would you marry me on our 1st date?
Probably not.
Our expectations offline are realistic.
You don’t ask someone to marry you on a first date, and you don’t expect to close a customer the first time you meet them at a networking event. So why do you think someone will stumble across your website and buy what you’re selling?
People operate on their own schedule. They’re not ready to buy when you want them to buy. Bridge Group found it takes 7-8 marketing touches before someone will become a customer.
As a small business owner, how do you create those touch points in a scalable and affordable way?
It’s simple: lead nurturing
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