You Spend a Ton on Social Media. Want to Find Out if It’s Working?

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Nearly three-quarters of small businesses invest in Facebook ads or other types of social media — in fact, they rely more on social media than any other form of marketing. But do you know what bang you’re getting for your social buck? Can you pinpoint which social media channels work for you, and where your content is falling on uninterested eyeballs?

If not, it’s time for a social media audit. While the word can conjure images of accountants and the IRS, a social media audit is a straightforward exercise that allows you to determine which of your social networks is delivering high-quality traffic, which aren’t generating results and what to do next.

Where Do You Start?

Simply Measured, an analytics company, produced a handy report called Spring Cleaning: Perform Your Own Social Media Audit, that says you should begin by making an inventory of every social channel you use. For each platform determine:

  • Is your brand active (you consistently engage – producing and responding to content), reactive (you typically only respond when someone engages with your brand) or inactive(you don’t really engage on your social channels at all)?What’s your URL?
  • What’s your profile handle?
  • Who has administrative access and what’s the login?
  • Who has posting access/ownership?
  • Does the profile use ads?
  • Who is your ads administrator?
  • What is the login?

Don’t focus only on the biggest channels (Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn) or assume you know all your social channels, says George Schildge, founder and CEO of the Matrix Marketing Group. An employee who left long ago might have set up a YouTube channel you don’t know about.  With this in mind, you can use tools like Namechk and Knowem to find every one of your channels.

What’s the Impact?

After cataloging all your social channels, the next thing you need to determine is the impact each channel has within your business. Tanya Korpi Macleod, president and CEO of The Holistic Marketing Agency, says to examine how engaged people are on your channels:

  • How many followers on each?
  • What kind of posting cadence gets the most interaction?
  • What kind of posts get the most interaction?
  • Who’s engaging/interacting with those posts?

Ingrid Kibler, director of social media at HCK2 Partners, also suggests you examine platform features. For example, is your Facebook’s “About” section complete? Are hashtags used strategically in tweets? Does your YouTube channel showcase a featured video?

Once you’ve answered these questions, evaluate each profile carefully and determine if it is meshes with your business objectives for the channel. “At the top-of-the-funnel is where you use social media,” Schildge says. “The objective here is to capture the user’s e-mail on your website by using a sign-up form, gated content, or a special offer.”

What’s the Competition Up to?

Macleod says you should check your social strategy against competitors using free tools like the aptly named spyfu. In addition to comparing metrics to your own channels, determine:

  • Do their posts look professional?
  • Are they posted at regular times, suggesting they have a dedicated employee or an agency?
  • Do they have shortened links, like bitly? If they say something like hub.ly, they could be using expensive marketing automation software, suggesting they have a social budget, team or agency.
  • Is the content they post original or curated, or both? Lots of original content suggests a budget.
  • Are they running ads?

“Copying someone else’s strategy or plan means you have to copy every element of it,” Macleod says. “If you say, ‘They’re on Facebook, so I will be too,’ but you don’t put the energy or advertising or effort behind it, you’ll be disappointed. The channel is important, but it’s way more about what you do with it. And if you’re not going to do anything with it? Don’t bother. ”

What’s the Next Step?

After determining your own social media results and seeing what your competitors are up to, you can hatch a plan for moving forward. Furthermore, the findings of your social media audit should guide your social plan, including:

  • Who creates the content for each social channel?
  • Who posts the content?
  • How often should you post on each channel?
  • What posting rules do you need to ensure your company “voice” is maintained.

Schildge says, “Use the 80/20 rule for social media. Share valuable content, ask questions, help people out, and 20 percent of the time you can do promotions.” If you use an audit to get your social media in shape, you can get a big payoff. As Schildge says, “Businesses with over 1000 Facebook fans had 22 times more traffic. Conversely, businesses with over 1000 Facebook fans had 12 times more leads.”

Strategic Funding provides needed operating funds to small businesses. Strategic Funding has helped hundreds of Industries including: restaurants, personal services, construction, medical, manufacturing, agriculture, retail stores, automotive, and food stores.

3 Questions to Help Determine if it's Time to Hire a CFO

3 Questions to Help Determine if it’s Time to Hire a CFO

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Your business is growing faster than you ever thought possible. Sales have never been higher and your products are flying off the shelves. The problem? You are clueless about your cash flow, you have investors knocking on your door, you haven’t made projections for how your business will be doing a year from now (never mind five years) and you are too busy to dedicate time to the financial intricacies of your business operations.

Sound familiar? If so, it might be time to hire a CFO.

“There is the cliché that many companies go out of business the year after they achieve record sales,” says Arnold Lee, managing director of CFO Growth Advisors, a Bay Area firm that provides part-time CFO services. “When a company is growing rapidly, they grow out of the way they are doing business every three, six, and twelve months; and if they haven’t designed a strategic financial model for moving forward, they can get into trouble.”

Still not sure you need a CFO? If you say yes to any of the following questions, it may be time to start looking:

Is your company in rapid growth mode?

A period of fast growth is a signal to enlist the help of a CFO. That person can help you speak with your board of directors, provide financial projections and handle meetings around outside investment and potential acquisition.

“If you have any institutional investors on your board, you better have a CFO because they will want monthly meetings and there are expectations in terms of reporting,” says Ryan Keating, managing partner and founder of Keating Consulting Group, an interim CFO firm in San Mateo, California. “If you want to raise money, a CFO can be a huge help. That person can help you navigate the first meeting, second meeting, what to do when you get a term sheet and so on.”

Are you struggling to manage your company’s finances?

Every entrepreneur starts his or her company with the mastery of a skill—usually to build a product or service better than any other company on the market. This skill doesn’t always involve financial expertise. And while you may want to handle it all on your own, it pays to have a frank conversation with yourself about items that may be falling through the cracks. A CFO can help catch those items and steer your company on a path to profitability.

Do you have a cash flow problem?

“Cash is the life blood of a business,” says Madhur Dayal, founder and CEO of JMD Financial Partners, an interim CFO company based in the Bay Area. “When a company gets more complex it can help to have a finance arm to make sure you have the funds you need to continue to grow and the ability to make projections.”

CFO help doesn’t need to cost you a fortune, even at the interim level. Hourly rates can vary wildly so be sure to shop around, but as Dayal says, help is affordable for even the most cash-strapped companies.

“There are ways to get the help you need; some of our clients pay $500 for us to be a sounding board,” he says. “A little can go a long way.”

Now that you’re convinced you need CFO help, its time to find the right person for the job. Here are a few things to look for in your search.

Similar “stage” experience

Focus on a candidate who has experience working with companies at your similar stage, advises Keating. Going through a seed round? Find someone who has done that a dozen times. Need to talk to your board for the first time? There are plenty of CFO candidates with that experience. Find them and start the interview process.

Cultural fit

The best CFOs are strategic partners who work in tandem with the CEO of a company. This is a person you need to like enough to invite to dinner and respect enough to be open to their criticism.

“One of the biggest mistakes I see is that people like to hire people like themselves,” says Dayal. “You want them to complement your skills. You don’t want them to be a ‘yes man.’ Hire someone who will talk you through the reality of your business and you will be well on your way to a successful partnership.”

Kapitus provides needed operating funds to small businesses.  Kapitus has helped hundreds of Industries including: restaurants, personal services, construction, medical, manufacturing, agriculture, retail stores, automotive, and food stores.

Daily Deal Technology

The Impact of Daily Deal Technology

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3 Businesses Weigh in on the Benefits (and perils) of Daily Deal Technology

Perhaps you’re one of many consumers whose inbox fills with a ‘daily deal’ email or three each morning? If you’re also a merchant, you might be wondering whether participating in a daily deal technology would be beneficial for your bottom line. Sure, you can reach customers beyond your regulars and locals, but how can you figure out if a daily deal technology would not only be a fit, but also be profitable for your business?

We sat down with three business leaders who share why they began incorporating daily deal technology into their marketing regiment, what they’ve learned, and advice they’d give any merchant considering daily deals:

  • Erica Harriss – Founder, Saving Grace Beauty, an online retailer that thrives on introducing people to hair products that make their “things I can’t live without” list.
  • Jeremy Levi – Director of Marketing, MARS Med Supply, a manufacturer and seller of high-quality health, beauty, and medical supplies.
  • Mitch Goldstone – President and CEO, ScanMyPhotos.com, an e-commerce photo digitization service which has scanned 300 million photos.

 

What attracted you to doing a daily deal offer?

Erica: The daily deal offer was attractive because it was essentially a risk-free way to get our company name and products in front of millions of people. These visitors are coming to these sites with the intention of buying something. Our company doesn’t pay anything for this marketing, unless a product sells.

Jeremy: For us it’s about getting our brand and product in front of as large an audience as possible. We are constantly bringing on new, innovative products. When we want to jump-start sales and get real customer feedback, daily deal sites are a great way to move large volume quickly. We then gauge what moves well and what customers think about the product so we can tweak it and improve it.

Mitch: I liked the vast outreach, economics and credibility of being featured nationally by Groupon for new customers who are predominantly female and match our demographic customer base.

 

What did you learn from your first deal that you used to make your next deal better?

Erica: Your deal photos tell a story, and you need this story to be one that consumers want to be a part of—to create excitement. Don’t just simply show a photo of your product. If applicable, show how this product can make a purchaser’s life better. You want them stalking their mailbox every day waiting for your product to arrive to help solve their problems.

Jeremy: What you think is a great product at a great deal doesn’t necessarily translate into great sales. You need to put out a lot of deals and then you’ll start hitting some home runs. Individual deals are often hit or miss.

Mitch: The first deal was a bit confusing and I learned to simplify the offer by featuring only our most popular photo scanning service. The deal must be self-liquidating (profitable) and have a game-changing crazy low price. Return S/H must be included. I realized that reviews matter most, and our company scored 92% favorable reviews on the Groupon platform.

 

How much return business do you get from your daily deal customers?

Erica: We have a product which is a consumable, so we see high rates of repeat business from our daily deal customers. Most of our first time customers find us on a deal site (about 60%). Sometimes they repurchase through a deal site, and other times they come directly to our site. We do notice that these repeat deal customers tend to order multiple products when a product they have already tried (and presumably liked) hits a deal site again.

Jeremy: For us it’s not so much about the return customer as it is about the brand awareness. That being said, when you provide a quality product, it tends to stick out in consumers’ minds—especially today, where so many products online are cheap knockoffs of quality products.

Mitch: Nearly 60% of our customers from Groupon return. Our analytical tracking tools identify that the majority become our most loyal fans and best referral partners.

 

What advice would you give any service-related business curious about whether a daily deal site is right for them?

Erika: In the service industry, time is your most valuable resource. Make sure you aren’t under-selling yourself. The deal site does take a percentage of the sale, as well as expecting you to offer your service at a discount. As a company, we are still able to provide standout service while participating in deal sites. Nearly always, we’ve been able to put a handwritten “thanks” or other quick personal touch on invoices.

Jeremy: Make sure you’re set up to handle the logistics of running the deal. Are you really ready to ship and handle the customer service of selling 1,000 pieces of your product in three days when you normally only sell 20-30? There are some Groupon sellers who pretty much live at the office from November through Christmas, and these are veteran sellers.

Mitch: Every merchant must embrace, celebrate, and welcome daily deal customers. Dazzle them. Establish a concierge customer support team to help all and make sure every customer becomes a fan. Don’t lose money and try to make it up on volume. Make sure to over perform to win the customers back.

 

What questions should businesses ask of the daily deal sites they’re considering to ensure they’re getting the most exposure and “bang” for their advertising buck?

Erica: Here’s my list of questions every merchant should ask:

-What is the reach of the deal site? Meaning, how many emails go out each day to people.

-How can you have preferred placement on the deal site front page?

-What is the expectation for percentage off of your product or service?

-How much does the deal site collect?

-What are the payment terms? We’ve had everything from 48 hours to 90 days.

-What is the return policy? Does the site’s policy trump your company policy?

Jeremy: How will you be promoting my deal? Will you be selling a similar product at the same time and if so at what price? Getting listed on the deal sites is only half the battle; you still need to make sure you are getting top exposure from them via emails, alerts and top placement.

Mitch: Have the account manager help with structuring the deal. They know best from experience what works. Ask for help and recommendations on designing a game-changing, smart deal that’s a “win-win” for all.

 

What do these deal tech companies NOT tell you when you’re approached to do an offer on their site?

Erica: They don’t tell you the formula for getting preferential placement on the deal site page. Always ask.

As well, do your due diligence when you are considering working with a site. Are they reputable? We made a mistake of working with a deal site once that we had to send several emails to finally get paid for the deal. We misjudged the fact that they only seemed reputable. While we did get paid, our company didn’t want to be attached to those type of business practices, so we’ve discontinued our relationship.

Jeremy: How quickly you get paid. If you’re just starting out you may not realize that many of the big sites pay you net 60 or 90 days, and you’ll need cash flow to survive that. Speak to those with experience and ensure you know the terms of payment and everything else these companies put into the contract, as large companies know how to protect themselves in the event something goes wrong.

Mitch: They are up front with merchants and my years of experience with Groupon demonstrates they are working with you. Everything you need to know is available and often on their FAQ pages.

 

Strategic Funding provides needed operating funds to small businesses. Strategic Funding has helped business in hundreds of industries.  Industries served include: restaurants, personal services, construction, medical, manufacturing, agriculture, retail stores, automotive, and food stores.

Growing pains: questions to ask when thinking of moving offices

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You grew your business from a basement and quickly moved into an office space you thought was far too big. Now, after a hiring surge, your team is so cramped the head of sales takes calls in the stairwell. You want to move, but cash isn’t a guarantee. Do you bite the bullet and sign a lease at a new space, or stay and get cozy with your team? Answering these questions can help you decide:

Q: Are visitors comfortable in your space?

Appearances matter to clients and vendors. Aalap Shah and his co-workers at SoMe, a Chicago-based social media agency, spent nearly five years sharing a small office and shuffling between co-working spaces. As the company grew, so did the need for space to bring in clients. Shah knew it was time to make a move.

“We knew it was the right time because we wanted to create a stronger identity for the company and a welcoming space for our clients,” he says.

Companies that don’t bring in outside visitors needn’t worry about public perception. But they may still want to survey employees on their level of environmental comfort when making a decision.

Q: Can you get beyond the cost?

Sticker shock is understandable when looking at a lease agreement, but as Alex Cohen, lead and commercial specialist at CORE, a real estate firm in New York City, says, it can be shortsighted to focus only on dollar signs.

“In today’s tight labor market, the choice of a neighborhood and the appeal of a firm’s office may be critical to attracting and retaining talent, particularly if a firm seeks to appeal to Millennials,” he says. “The quality of a space can also generate important productivity advantages.”

Q: Could you utilize your current space better?

Renovating or redesigning your space may be the perfect solution if moving is out of the question. David Ciccarelli, CEO at Voices.com, a voice-over marketplace, says when considering a move, talk with a third-party design company to get a fresh perspective.

“They will be able to tell you whether your current office can be rejigged in a fresh and efficient way for your team, or if you need to consider a new space altogether,” he says. “Their recommendations may be based on numbers and factors that you wouldn’t have otherwise thought of.”

Q: What kind of growth are you expecting?

Take a serious look at your future projections. Are you planning to hire more people in the coming year? Will you need more space for office equipment or product? If so, start looking for a new space, says Alex Kamergorodsky, co-founder of San Diego-based Bright Ideas Lighting Solutions.

“If you’re in a space that currently holds six people and you’re looking to grow at 50 percent per year and maybe your lease is ending,” he says, “get a new space with a three-year lease so it can hold at least two years worth of staff comfortably. Then, ask your neighbors about their lease timelines. There could be the potential for taking on a neighbor’s lease after they leave if it aligns with your growth.”

Evaluating choices

Ultimately your decision will be influenced by a mix of these factors, but if your business is outgrowing its current location, you will have to make some changes. Client perception, attracting and retaining talent, and your ability to grow is influenced by where you chose to do business. Even if your lease has several years left, making a decisions early can make you comfortable in the long run.

 

Strategic Funding provides needed operating funds to small businesses. Strategic Funding has helped business in hundreds of industries.  Industries served include: restaurants, personal services, construction, medical, manufacturing, agriculture, retail stores, automotive, and food stores.

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