Social Media for SMB – New LinkedIn Group
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The Social Media for SMB Group is designed to help address the needs of small and midsize businesses. 
It is where business owners, and executive teams that run businesses ask questions on how to leverage social media marketing, social media research, and the broad area of internet marketing and business research to advance their opportunities.
Professionals with credentials to offer guidance, advice, how-to suggestions, resources, and other information are invited to bring their expertise to the group.
Please join Social Media for SMB Group to learn and share your knowledge!
Special Report: Website Traffic Businesses and Experts Speak Out
The Power of Sales Cycle Analysis
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Sales cycle analysis is a powerful tool to help you better understand your markets. Gaining a strong appreciation for the good and bad news about your market positioning in relationship to your competition isn’t always easy to do. Moreover, if there’s bad news it’s difficult to hear. However, not knowing where you stand is, at best, dangerous and could prove fatal.
Understanding why you do or don’t get on the short list of your prospects (or stay on the short list of your customers) is critical and sales cycle analysis helps to answer this very important question. You need to know what will facilitate or impede your progress toward becoming a preferred supplier – the position we obviously all want. If knowledge is power than sale cycle knowledge is supremacy.
Clearly, there is more than one approach to achieving insights related to sales cycle dynamics and how customers and prospects perceive a business. We won’t try to explore the options here.
However, it is worth noting that a commitment to exploring these dynamics is not a one shot deal. If you and your company are serious about sales and the factors that propel your sales, you will be well served by tracking the metrics required at least annually.
We all know markets continue to evolve quickly. A very good way to stay informed is to track market activity systematically. Creating a baseline of information and measuring against that is a great starting point and an essential part of sales cycle analysis.
You can structure sales cycle studies to help maximize your reach tactics. Knowing how to best reach your audience is a function of understanding how they search for information. More precisely it is about how customers and prospects search for information at each stage of the buying process. In addition, the new reach equation includes social networking and social media, again fast moving targets.
In addition, studies on sales cycles, almost by definition, provide competitive insights. It’s not enough to know if you’re on the short list you need to know who’s on it with you.
Combining information on brand and product positioning with a continually updated view of reach dynamics is a powerful tool in the hands of a savvy marketing professional. What are you waiting for? Get started!
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Why Unnatural Links have Turned the SEO World on It’s Head
Recently, AboutUs published a very important update titled, “How to Avoid an Unnatural Links Penalty.” This is important information to have and I want to make sure my readers are in the “loop.”
As the article states, “Google is constantly adjusting its search engine algorithm in an attempt to serve up the best websites and most relevant results to searchers. They’re at it again, and this time it’s a doozy.”
Trust me they are not exaggerating this can cause more problems than just a few SEO leaks. It behooves you to be on top of this new change, which clearly is and will continue to affect the SEO world.
For more details simply click on the link below.
AboutUs has done a very good job of laying it all out, and they provide guidance on what to look for and what to do. The 50 plus comments also provide valuable insights and a balanced perspective – Read it!
How to Avoid an Unnatural Links Penalty
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Analysis Plans the Stepchild of Market Research
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Often when I recommend that a research team prepare a formal analysis plan the first response I hear is, “Why? The analysis isn’t due for weeks and I have too many other things to do.” Alternatively, I hear statements like, “That is too much extra work, I know what to do, I’ve done a lot of analysis work.”
An analysis plan is not extra work; it’s work that makes all the other project tasks flow efficiently. It will help you produce on-time project deliverables. Typically, you develop an analysis plan in parallel with your research instrument (RI). Like the RI the analysis plan is tied back to the goals and objectives of the study.
In addition to the obvious purpose of an analysis plan, producing a plan serves to improve the RI and manage project scope, these benefits alone will pay you for the time you devote to creating it.
The RI is referenced in an Analysis Plan (AP) and while there are no hard or fast rules and no one right way to structure an AP we can offer some guidelines. The approach presented here is as good as any and better than most.
The analysis plan approach described is specific to quantitative studies. The first step of the process will be familiar to those of you who read some of my other blog posts and publications.
Research has the greatest chance of success when the objectives are clearly stated and that is where we begin. Use these five (5) straightforward steps.
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State the key study objectives clearly at the beginning of the analysis plan (AP) and refer to them throughout the process.
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Describe the major comparisons for the analysis (e.g., major cross tabulations for the study such as: Customers versus Non-customers, Companies by size, Customers that are Satisfied, Neutral, or Dissatisfied).
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State how each question is used to answer a specific objective of the study either on its own or in combination with other data points. Think through how you expect to present the results from each question. What statistics, if any, will you use in the analysis? Identify the independent and dependent variables.
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Write a clear justification for including the information from the question in the study and perform a section by section “So what” litmus test.
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When the analysis plan is finished, go back and make sure each key study objective has been addressed.
These five steps are the basic approach to the AP template. While it is straightforward it is not a trivial task. The key is to focus on objectives and think critically about how to execute on the primary goal of the study.
For a more detailed description of how to develop an Analysis Plan see Analysis Plans Made Easier, which is on the www.AtHeath.com Resource tab (scroll about halfway down the page).
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Share Cool Groups with Your Connections
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Some LinkedIn groups are so good (a.k.a. “cool”) you want to share them with some or all of your connections. You can do this in a number of ways, but the simplest way is to use the LinkedIn Share group option.
Select the group you want to share. Then click on the Share group option, which you will find toward the top of the page on the right hand side.
When you open this dialogue box this is what you will see (of course the group you selected will replace the Social Media for SMB Group heading).
As you can quickly see this screen allows you to post an update, which is valuable, but not our focus. It also provides a check box, which will allow you to post the name of the group you want to share to other groups, again not our current focus.
The last check box gives you the option of sending an invitation to one or more (up to 50) of your connections. Check that box and this is what you’ll see.
Type the first letter of the name of the people you want to send the invitation to and LinkedIn will supply a list of the contacts whose name begins with that letter. Add then to your send list.
Then do one more thing – personalize the message. You don’t have to write a long letter, in fact, a short one is better, but personalizing the message speaks volumes to people about how important they are and how important your message is to you.
Now you can share the groups you like and find useful with the people you think can benefit most from your discoveries!
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Sampling and Panel Recruitment Do You Care?
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Apparently many people do care about how panel recruitment affects sample development and with good reason.
Results from a poll posted on LinkedIn demonstrate that this is a serious issue. The question posed was:
“When you select a sample provider, how much importance do you place on their panel recruitment process?” Is it:
While the results derived are from a sample of convenience and hardly scientific, they are nevertheless instructional. So what did the 98 people who took time to participate tell us?
If you are a panel provider and you didn’t already know that recruitment practices play a deciding factor, it surely would be obvious now, with nearly seven out of ten (71%) prospective buyers voting “very and extremely” important.
Women are more likely to view recruitment as very or extremely important (72%) than men (64%) are. Differences by age were interesting. There was a very small portion of the sample (5%) in the 30-36 age group and they accounted for only 2% one of participants who voted “extremely important.” The 45+ age cohort, which was the largest age group in the sample, also had the highest proportion of votes in the extremely important and very important categories (68%). Perhaps it’s true that with age comes wisdom!
What can we learn from examining the results of this poll? I think the message is straightforward; overall this simple polling question seems to have hit a nerve. We believe that sample development is one of the cornerstones of good research.
Market research is not an academic exercise. Real business decisions are made, or at least influenced, by the results of the research we conduct – how can you make a good business decision if the sample is faulty? Simply put, you can’t.
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The Secret to Being Retweeted
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Most of us would like to expand our sphere of influence or at least be noticed. If you have a Twitter account one of the ways you increase your sphere of influence is to have a growing number of followers. However, a more immediate way to have your voice heard by a new and sometimes large group of people who have tuned into Twitter is the RT. That is, your voice is heard by new people when someone sends your tweet to their followers or retweets (RT) your tweet.
When this happens the new group of Twitter readers are exposed to you and your message. The hope is they will become interested enough in you to follow you – thereby increasing your sphere of influence. If this is one of your objectives allow me to suggest a tried an true approach that is also easy to do.
Enter the “Quote.”
The use of a quote as a micro-blog post is very effective. It seems nearly everyone loves a good quote and when they read one they like to share it or in this case RT it. If you find quotes that relate to you and/or your Twitter “theme” than you may grab the attention of new and interesting people.
The quotes you select will suggest something about you and your interests, beliefs, or philosophical point of view. So carefully select the ideas with which you want to be associated.
Here is a quote I like and that I think defines how I see the world:
“It’s amazing how much you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit.” Abraham Lincoln.
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The Pinterest Phenomena
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I think it’s fair to call Pinterest a phenomena given the short time it has taken them to go from start up to tipping point to critical mass. This networking platform has achieved remarkable success and as comScore reports, Pinterest has attracted nearly 12 million unique visitors in the month of January. There are already numerous articles and blog posts about this new network which began in May of 2010, less than 2 years ago – now that’s a phenomena!
What sets Pinterest apart is its visual nature and with approximately 10 million members (and growing) it is not surprising companies want visibility for their brands on this site. Interesting content has gone viral more then once on Pinterest – what company would not want that to happen to them?
No other networking site has focused purely on the visual, which is a perfect fit for a company’s logo-brand building campaign. Pinterest has already gained the interest of and some very aggressive practices from well know brands. Companies are trying hard to use Pinterest as a venue to expose users to brand messages using the uniquely visual approach.
However, Pinterest is facing some issues. The interface is not as robust as some would like it especially regarding links to other sites like Twitter. Perhaps more importantly Pinterest must resolve the legal issue concerning pinning someone’s work without permission. It seems they need to be more like Facebook in this respect, though I’m guessing they would prefer to be less like Facebook in most respects. If Pinterest cannot resolve these issues quickly the growth they are experiencing now may not last.
While only time will tell if this “phenomena” has staying power, it certain is off to a very good start!
Currently membership is by invitation only, if you have not been able get invited contact me and I will happily set you up.
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Remember this Research Axiom
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Research Axiom: You can never fully recover from a poorly written questionnaire.
- No manipulation of the variables, regardless of how cleverly done
- No amount of analysis, regardless of how brilliant
- No degree of insightful interpretation, regardless of intellectual prowess
Nothing can save you from a poor research foundation. The building will collapse like a house of cards!
By Carey V. Azzara
If there is one part of the research process that I know, it is questionnaire design. It is a task repeatedly given insufficient time and attention. Clients and research professional alike often underestimate the time it will take to develop a truly well structured and concise instrument.
What amazes me most is when this task is somehow relegated to a status depicted by the attitude of: “Once the questionnaire is done we can get on with the important stuff, like analysis and reporting.” The assumption that analysis work is the essence of the research and the expectation that interpreting the results is where the mastery of research ultimately lies is a mystery to me.
Have we not pounded the concept of garbage-in garbage-out into our heads? Can new internet tools substitute for critically thinking and the hard work of aligning the research instrument to the purpose of the study – answering the business questions that sponsors paid to learn?
If this seems like a bit of a rant, well I guess I’m guilty. My own research on research including the use of a 25 point questionnaire audit system has shown me that even well healed researchers are less diligent about quality than one would hope. Research is not only science it is a craft [perhaps an art] and if the proper fundamentals are not applied the product is less than artful.
I’ll end the ranting with an analogy [but don’t be surprised to hear more on this topic]. If you have not studied and then practiced writing poetry would you expect to publish a book of poems simply because your company’s marketing department asked you to?
Designing a good quality research instrument probably takes less talent than being a good poet, but it’s close.
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How to Weed Out Unwanted LinkedIn Groups
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Many of you have asked me how to weed out the groups you belong to on LinkedIn. Sometimes you simply don’t want to be a member any longer and sometimes you have reached the LinkedIn limit of 50 group memberships and you’d like to replace less useful groups with new groups.
Either way the process is the same and it’s easy, but not obvious. Here are the steps you need to take:
Step # 1 – Go to “Groups” on the main menu and select “Your Groups” from the drop down choices
Step # 2 – Select the group from the list of groups you belong to that you would like to leave.
Step # 3 – Then click on “More..” which is the last item on the group menu (below the main menu).
Step # 4 – Select “Your Settings” from the drop down menu (you’re almost done).
Step # 5 – In the lower right hand corner of the page you will see a button for “Leave Group” click on that button and you’re done!
It’s easy, but only if you know where to look.
This issue came up repeatedly when I asked people to join the Social Media for SMB group and they told me that they had reached the LinkedIn limit of 50 groups. My response was to “do what I do,” weed out the least useful groups and add new ones that have greater potential! Hint Hint.
Here’s the group link for Social Media for SMB
Have fun on LinkedIn!
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