Having a blog for your business’ website is a great way to add value and broader your service.  There are many ways you can communicate with your clients and customers that are non-intrusive and helpful.

Blogging is a great way to keep your customer informed about the latest news in your field.  It is also a great place to introduce new changes to your service or begin a dialogue about a new hot topic in the industry.

Having a blog adds a personal voice to your website and business.  Customers have many choices available to them.  Having a “home” they can go to learn more about you is beneficial and can give you an edge over your competition.  Customers like to connect with who they are doing business with and want to feel secure and know they can trust you.  By visiting your “home” a trust relationship can be built.

Blogs optimize your SEO as well.  For those that may be unfamiliar, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, and it how you rank when key words are entered in a search engine, like Google.  It is always desirable to be at or near the top.  You can generate new traffic to some of your posts which could increase your business, as well as providing a service to existing customers. It is helpful to use as many key words in your post that still keep it interesting.  Some people use very straight forward language for titles titles and use the same words in a opening sentence.  If it really fits your subject, then great, but never sacrifice using key words for an interesting or catchy title.  It will not serve you to have a post no one wants to read, try to have hook.

Servicing your customers should also be the focus of your blog too, not self-serving.  Adding value and educating customers is the goal; providing excellent customer service.  Not giving yourself a pat on the back.  You can talk about new changes or updates to your service, but it should be your primary focus and it should be occasionally, not regularly.

Rules for blogging:

Keep it professional.

Keep it informal and fun if possible.

Keep it short and to the point.

Show some personality, if there is a certain slang or jargon in your industry, use it.

Offer real experiences, show your human side.

How often you contribute to your blog is up to you, but do add to it regularly, whether it is weekly or monthly.  And have fun with it!  Don’t think of it as a chore, but as a way to keep your business fresh.

There are free publishers that are easy to use to get you started such as Wordpress or Blogger by Google

For tips and advice on how to get started, check out these links:

How to Run a Successful Blog on 1–3 Hours of Work a Day

Rules to be a good blogger

I just got done reading a fascinating article on Mashable in regards to the top 10 Facebook privacy settings that everyone should know about. They went over some very important information and how messy these privacy settings get because Facebook does change their layout often.

Below are a few of these privacy settings that I find to be the most important. If you would like to read the entire list you can find it here “Facebook Privacy: 10 settings every user needs to know.”

Facebook Places:

What a great option to have on Facebook, that is, if you only friend your close family. This option allows your friends to tag your specific locations around the world. Again, this is great if you only have family members on your page and everyone likes to share where there family members are during different times of the day. On the flip side if you have a mixture of friends, people you have just met, and family letting people know your daily schedule and locations it can be unsetting as well as down right dangerous. If this is something that you don’t want to enable you can follow these settings to disable this function:

Account > Privacy Settings > Sharing on Facebook > Customize Settings > Friends can check me in to Places

Public Search:

Because Facebook’s information is indexed into the major search engines as well as it being its on search engine people are able to type in your information and pull up your profile. If you haven’t turned on some of your privacy settings for your page people searching for you will be able to see a preview of your public profile.

Many companies also use Social Media sites as a background check or to check in on their employees from time to time, so if there are items on your page that you don’t want to share with others make sure that your public search option is disabled. You can do this by following the settings below:

Account > Privacy Settings > Apps and Websites > Public Search

Are you taking the time?

There are many more privacy settings on Facebook that you should be aware of so that your account is being displayed in the manner that fits you. It may take a little longer to setup and organize, but your privacy or lack of is something that shouldn’t be taken lightly.

As social media’s popularity explodes, more businesses are throwing their hat into the social marketing ring.

Unfortunately, there is a misconception that all you have to do is set up a Twitter account and Facebook page, post about your daily activities and a tsunami of traffic will slam through your virtual doors, begging you to take their money.

When this doesn’t happen, the social media hype hangover kicks in and businesses write off the whole experience as a waste of time.  With billions of people using social media around the world, this is a mistake no business can afford to make.

Here’s seven reasons why social media is not a waste of time:

1. Building Lasting Relationships:  While you might not make a sale on that first visit, your social media profiles are giving you a chance to build a lasting relationship with visitors.  Use your posts, profiles, comments and other interactions to turn visitors into readers and readers into customers.
2. Creating Touches:  While the number varies, most studies on sales show that you have to have multiple interactions or “touches” with potential clients before they buy from you. The more times you get in front of your potential customers, the more likely they are to buy from you down the line.
3. Adding a Personal Side:  People like to buy things and services from people they know and like.  They will often pay more, go out of their way and even accept lesser quality products if they like you.  Social media marketing gives you the ability to become more than an anonymous collection of 1’s and 0’s.
4. Content Distribution Opportunities:  The different social media platforms you use give you more outlets for your best content, link bait, recommendations, reviews and so on.
5. Customer Service:  If you don’t want to or can’t spring for a full-fledged customer service department or employee, then you can use social media to handle those duties.
6. Low Cost:  Social media marketing is relatively cheap compared to other forms of advertising and branding.  As long as you have an Internet connection and an email address, you can start.  Even tools that help you automate or amplify your social media marketing aren’t that expensive.  If you run a larger enterprise a full time social media employee can reap huge rewards for relative little investment.
7. Little Risk, Huge Rewards:  With such a low cost to start and virtually no barriers to entry, there is little risk to starting up a social media campaign.  Done correctly, and in conjunction with other marketing efforts, huge benefits can be reaped.

Social media is just another tool available for your marketing arsenal; it’s not a miracle cure or the Holy Grail of marketing.  Like any tool, if you know how to use it correctly, then you’ll get the results you’re looking for.

Here are a few of the best and worse social media practices reviewed in 2011. I would love to hear a few best practices that you have had the chance to experience, so make sure to leave a comment below.

Here we go with the Best Practices:

1) Make sure that your are social media plan involves educating, and solid information, not sales tactics.

2) Tell the truth while on social media. Don’t have different agendas that you are hiding from your audience. Remember people become loyal clients because they trust you, and because others they are close to trust you.

3) Two Sided Conversations! Social media is based on involving and engaging people in conversation. You can’t be the only one talking, you have to also listen and participate in the conversation going on around you. (answer questions, offer valuable customer service, thank people for RTing you or mentioning you & listen to concerns and take them seriously)

4) Listen to constructive feedback, and sometimes even ask your audience for their feedback. Remember what your company offers is based on the needs of your clients, not on your own needs. If simple changes are addressed let them know that you hear them!

Now for the Worst Practices:

1) Using social media for hidden agendas. Not being real is a true problem. Don’t offer things that aren’t possible. Don’t use social media as a curtain to hide behind.

2) Not keeping your eyes opened on your social media platforms listening to those following you. Remember social media is a two way street, and you shouldn’t always be the one speaking, its just as important to be the one listening.

3) Using social media strictly for the Sales. As I have said time and time before, social media is a place of engagement in a educational manner, not sales driven. People are following you to get to know you, the real you, and being propositioned for sales after sales is not what they are interested in.

Reach Out

Social media gives us the opportunity to reach out and meet people that we may never have had the chance to connect with, and that should not be taken advantage of. I have been so lucky to meet some of the most educated individuals in the social media world, and continue to learn and grow from each of them on a daily basis.

A blogs is a must have tool if you are considering any sort of online presence. 

While a static website can be a great foundation for your Internet marketing campaign, having a blog that is updated regularly will pay you huge benefits through higher search engine rankings and easy customer engagement.

So, what’s the best way to get your blog online?

There are two main ways to get a blog up and running; host it yourself or use a blog service to host it.  Both come with their pros and cons that can have a huge effect on your online marketing campaign.  Let’s explore:

Host a Blog Yourself

A self-hosted blog is the most common way to get your content up on the web.  You don’t have to own a server yourself, but rather go through a hosting company that will rent you space on their servers.

Pros:

• Low Cost:  Using a hosting service will cost you around $6 a month for a basic plan.  If you have huge amounts of traffic, you might have to buy a larger plan with more server space.
• Flexible Software:  Hosting accounts come with programs, like cPanel, that help you administer all aspects of your blog.  You can import domains, install blogging software like Wordpress, set up email accounts and a lot more.
• Content Control:  When you host your own blog, you have the final word on what you post, discuss, link to etc.  It’s your space, you can do what you want.

Cons:

• Sharing Space:  While you’re renting space from a server, you’re not the only site using that space.  It’s more like renting an apartment than a house.  This means you will be on the same server as other sites and might see some negative effects from this.  For example, your site may have slower load times if another site on the same server sees an explosion in traffic.
• Requires Some Technical Knowledge:  While the hosting programs make it as easy as possible to set up a blog, there is still some technical knowledge needed to get things up and running

Hosting Service

If you’re looking for a quick and easy way to get something up and running now, then you might want to consider a blog hosting service like Blogger or Wordpress.  These platforms let you set up free sites that can literally be up in a few minutes.  You can use a domain they assign you or use your own if that works better for you.

Pros:

• Quick and Easy:  Blogger, Wordpress and other sites make setting up a blog fast and easy.  By simply filling out some basic information and choosing a couple of options, you’ll have a clean looking and functional blog live in minutes.
• Completely Free:  These services don’t cost you a thing.  No hosting fees, no premium themes, no expensive plugins… nothing.

Cons:

• Ownership:  While you put all the work into creating a blog on one of these services, you don’t have ownership over them in any way.  If you would like to have the option of selling your web business one day, you’ll be at a disadvantage with one of these blogs.
• Content Control:  Wordpress and Blogger have strict rules about what they allow in the way of content.  They can pull your blog at any time they see fit because you link to the wrong sites, have content they don’t allow or for a variety of other reasons.

So What is Better?

While it depends on your business and preferences, the smartest way to host your blog is through a hosting service.  You actually own the web property, control it as you see fit and have the most flexibility.

Both options work, but if you’re looking to build a long term business and don’t want to risk someone else arbitrarily deciding your fate, self-hosting is the way to go.

Over the past few years small and large businesses are starting to learn the importance of social media, and how it can bring awareness to their product, brand and services. There are many different platforms in the online world to create your brand and message, but its not as simple as just posting a message. There are ethical ways and steps that businesses need to take so that their company is seen in a positive light.

Many companies are afraid of feedback, and feel if they say as little as possible on these social media platforms the smaller the chance of having to deal with negative reviews. How can you make your business better? How can you truly serve your customers if you are afraid of feedback? Part of building an ethical online brand is to allow your potential and current clients to voice their opinions. They are the ones that can truly help your business grow.

Below are a few steps that your company can follow to create a brand in the online world that both you and your customers can be proud of.

Listen to your customer first, then speak

Listen to what your customers or potential clients are asking you online. Let them know that you hear them by responding to their questions or concerns. Acknowledgment is the first step in building their trust.

Create content that is engaging not just about sales

Engage your audience by asking them to contribute things to your Facebook Fan page, Twitter Account or blog. Create polls to learn more about them and what important topics that they would like to hear from you.

Once You Create Your Presence Online, Be There, Be Consistent

Remember, first and foremost, social media wasn’t created with a time limit, social media is an ongoing process and doesn’t have a completion date. The most important piece in social media is being consistent with your audience. Don’t be extremely active one week, and then disappear for 3 months and expect your followers or fans to be there, let alone, engaged with your conversation when you decided to come back. Consistency and trust go hand in hand, make sure that you can deliver both before taking your brand online.

Be Honest

Being honest is paramount if you want to grow your online brand ethically.  Remember with social media you are coming in contact with people you would never have had the chance to get in front of with retro marketing, so don’t promise what you can’t deliver. Always be honest about who you are and what your company does, its not the best way to build social capital, its the only way.

Follow these steps, as well as implementing your own ethical practices

• Listen & Learn to your audience

• Only share relevant and engaging content, limit the sales lines

• Show who you really are at all times, Share corporate activities,  be real and transparent.

• Encourage two way conversations, ask for their feedback, and what could make their experience a more positive one.

• Don’t make promises you can’t deliver. If you make a promise and over deliver that is wonderful, if you make promises and under deliver, that is not ok.

Hey you, are you listening? Are you paying attention to your online audience as if they were standing right in front of you? I hope that you are. Understanding their needs and wants online is just as important as them calling your business over the phone to have a question answered, or walking in the front door of your corporate office wanting to learn more about you. Knowing your customers and listening to them is one of the most important ways to grow your business.

Many people say that social media is just hype and that it will go away soon. Well I’ve got news for you; it isn’t going anywhere, anytime soon. Social media is another way for your customer, or potential client to reach out to you, ask you more questions, and they are getting to know you, just as you are getting to know them.

Below is a great way to listen and engage your audience, so that you know what is  most important to them and  you can answer the questions that are on their mind, or better yet, talk to them about what they want to hear, not just what you want to say.

Online Surveys

Online surveys are a great way to listen to your audience so that you can engage them in meaningful conversation, on their terms.

Whether you ask 1 poll question a day or a 5 minute survey once a month, either way is fine as long as it is created for their benefit and not yours as a sales tactic.

For your longer surveys there are sites out there that can help you create the perfect survey tailored to your audience, one of the best ones that I have found out there is Survey Monkey. They allow you to create 10 questions for free and you are able to create the survey in multiple styles, colors and layouts,

Even the little things that you can do to create your survey are important factors to keep in mind. Who is your audience? What is their daily business? Do they have time to answer a survey where they have to write their own answers or is it a better use of time for them to be able to click on a multiple choice answer? These are all very important things to think about, and is just another way that you are paying attention to them!

If you are asking a poll of the day question on Twitter make sure that they can answer it in 140 characters, and if you are asking the question on Facebook make sure that the question is formatted in a way that they can offer you a quick answer.

Why Is Knowing Your Audience Important

I know what most of you are thinking at this exact moment, after reading the title above, common sense, right? I will agree with you because that is the first thing that comes to my mind, unfortunately, many people venturing out into the online world don’t understand that this is just as important as if your customer was standing face to face with you.

How do you know what your audience wants to learn about unless you ask. This isn’t just another quick way or platform to use to sell your product, program or service, but it is a way that you can educate them on the functions, processes, and other meaningful information if in fact that is what they want to hear.

A quick example of this; We at KarmaCRM have a product that was created with many small businesses in mind, but we also understand small businesses, why, because we are one, so we have a lot more useful information to share with our audience besides our product. Our survey’s might have questions in regards to learning about ethical ways to use Twitter or how to create a engaging Facebook Fan Page or how to provide stellar customer service, anything that may help small business owners on their path to success.

Don’t Miss The Mark

Remember when it comes to learning about your audience you must keep your eyes and ears open so that you don’t miss whats most important to the people that are reaching out to you. By missing this mark you could lose the attention of many of your followers and fans, which could tarnish your brand both online and off.

Chances are your customers use at least one of the most popular social media outlets like Twitter or Facebook, so your business needs to as well.

If not, you risk losing customers to competitors that embraced this powerful branch of your marketing before you did.

A lot of businesses who start marketing in the social media space find a whole host of frustrations they didn’t expect. Like we all learned during the Internet Boom of the 1990’s, the technology is just a tool which is completely useless if you don’t have a solid business and marketing plan behind it.

Running a proper social media marketing campaign means keeping content fresh, responding to and engaging with your potential customers across several platforms. This has turned a lot of people off to the idea of social media marketing, but don’t despair!

Here are some easy tips to simplify your social media marketing.

Plot Your Course

It’s hard to figure out how you’re going to get somewhere if you don’t know where you’re going. If you ever did any sort of traditional marketing, chances are you didn’t just start throwing money at it and hope it all worked out.

Do your homework and find out what social media platforms your clients are using. By knowing where your potential customers are, or at least narrowing down the options, you can avoid the shotgun approach and focus in like a laser to get the best results.

Know Thy Enemy

With a little harmless reconnaissance, you’ll be able to see what is working well, what’s a waste of time and where you can define yourself in the market compared to your competitors. By going in with this information, you can avoid wasting time and resources.

Are your competitors’ brands entrenched on Facebook already? Is one firm the master of Twitter when it comes to your market? Research all of this first and you’ll spend a whole less time banging your head against the wall wondering why you’re not seeing the results you’re after.

Put it All Under One Roof

Why waste time logging into several different accounts just to say the same thing in different places, when you can use one of the latest social media tools to bring it all together on one platform? Web based programs like Hootsuite, Posterous and Netvibes are very popular amongst the super stars of social media efficiency these days, and for good reason.

By logging into one website, you can read, respond to and schedule messages on a wide variety of social media sites. Most come with apps for iPhone, iPad, Black Berry and other devices so you can do it all on the go.

Outsource

Even with the latest and greatest sites out there, you’re still going to have to brainstorm posts, research them, write them, gather links and so on. Unless social media is your business, you have better things to do than burn time on these tasks.

That’s where our trusty friend, outsourcing, comes into play. You can find experienced social media help on freelance/outsourcing sites like Elance or oDesk for really reasonable rates. If that doesn’t work for you, look around at the next family gathering and pick one of your relations that has that blank stare kids get when they text for too long at one time.

As long as you help craft the uniform marketing message, have someone else do the grunt work.

Twitter can be a powerful marketing tool for your business, if you use it correctly.

While this microblogging platform often gets a bad reputation as a time waster, it allows you to deliver your message to millions while also listening to what your customers want, your competitors are doing and what the market is up to.

Like other forms of social media, there is a fine line between being a black hole of time and being useful to your business. It all comes down to implementation. If you understand how to properly use Twitter as a marketing tool, then you will get the results you want. If you just sign up for an account and throw some tweets up there, you’re going to get minimal results.

Here are ten quick and easy tips to turn Twitter into a powerful tool for your marketing needs:

Write High Quality Tweets

If you do any marketing on the Internet, you have probably heard the saying, “Content is King.” Whether you’re talking about creating blog posts, videos, webinars or anything else, if you churn out quality content people will listen to you. The same is true for Twitter.

You want to write tweets that are informative, helpful and most off aren’t constantly pushing your product. Everybody wants to buy something, nobody wants to be sold to. Of course you’re going to promote your business and products, but just not in every tweet.

No “Meforming”

If you have ever read someone’s updates online about the minutest goings on in their lives, then you have been exposed to “meforming.” Tweeting about what you had for lunch, where you went shopping, the cute thing your dog and so on bring no value to your business. Save it for a personal account or just don’t do it at all.

Repeat Your Tweets

The very best Twitter marketers out there repeat their tweets anywhere from 3 to 6 times a day. They do it for the same reason that CNN repeats their top news stories every hour; not everyone is going to catch it the first time.

As more tweets come in from other people they are following, your tweet will be pushed down the list. By the time they check Twitter you’re message might be out of sight and out of mind.

Be Prepared for Negative Feedback

There are millions of people on Twitter and not everyone is going to like you, your point of view or products. Be prepared to accept that and let them just go. You can’t please everyone and if you pander to the small percentage that gets their undergarments in a bunch over your tweets, then you’re going to be missing out.

NEVER Buy Followers

This point can’t be stressed enough. It’s very tempting when someone comes along and promises you thousands of followers overnight and guaranteed audiences. These services are bunk and they are nothing but spammers; the social media version of snake oil salesmen.

You have to earn your followers if you want real results on Twitter or any other social media platform. This brings us to our next tip…

Find Relevant People to Follow

In order to build a solid following, you need to follow people. It’s common courtesy on Twitter to follow people that follow you back. By extending the invitation to other users that have similar interests, you will get more followers yourself.

Twitter has a built in search tool, you can use third party software or directories to find people that you want to share your Tweets with. But don’t just rely on the lists these searches produce. You need to got through the users, check out their bios and read some of their recent tweets.

This will help you screen out spammers, inappropriate content and people who may not be receptive to your marketing messages. For example; if you search for “second amendment” and just follow everyone on that list, you’re going to get people who think the law allows citizens the right to have guns and those who don’t. By just adding everyone, you’re going to have a lot of negative stuff coming your way.

Be Helpful

There is no better way to gain a following on Twitter and been seen as an expert in your niche than to offer real help to people, for free. Search Twitter for questions people are asking in your field of expertise and see if you can’t help them out.

Don’t offer to sell them anything or charge for your help. You just simply tell the answer, send them a link or point them in the right direction and you will be surprised how soon they and many other people are following you. Build up this following and when you do decide to throw a commercial link up there, they will be more likely to follow it.

Be Human

While “meforming” serves no purpose, that doesn’t mean you can’t show that you are a human being and have a personality. Add a picture to your profile (pictures of very attractive people in skimpy clothes don’t count and you’re not fooling anyone) so we can see what you look like. Talk about your experiences at your job or with customers. You can even select a screen name that makes you appear more personal and less corporate; think “BrianatXYZCompany.”

As part of this make sure you respond to people’s direct messages, thank them for adding your and for retweeting your stuff and so on. Showing that you are a real flesh and blood person and not some corporate drone goes a long way to increasing your legitimacy on Twitter.

Simplify with Tools

There is a plethora of third party applications out there that can help you simplify your Twitter and social media lives. I personally enjoy Tweet Adder and HootSuite.

Tweet Adder allows you to search Twitter for users that are interested in your area of expertise and them follow them automatically. Instead of adding hundreds of followers all at once, you can automate the process and spread it out over time to make it look more natural. You can also automatically unfollow people who don’t follow you back in a certain amount of time (keep your ratios looking good), send “thank you” direct messages and many other awesome things.

Hootsuite allows you to write your Tweets in advance and schedule them for later. You can also add other social media accounts like LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace and many others. While Tweet Adder also has the ability to send out your saved Tweets, if you use more than just Twitter, HootSuite is well worth the $5.99 a month it charges.

Don’t Just Talk, Listen

Use Twitter to not only get your message out but to find out what’s going on in the trenches of your market. Read Tweets from customers, competitors and influencers in your space.

Ask questions, link to polls or surveys and ask for advice. Sure, you’re going to get some crazy stuff coming back, but ignore the outliers and focus on the good stuff.

You won’t find a marketing plan these days that doesn’t include a strong online presence. It seems like everyone from Fortune 500 companies to the smallest home based businesses have Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media accounts.

These are powerful tools and can spread your marketing message far and wide, but like Spiderman’s uncle said, “With great power comes great responsibility.”

If you don’t manage every aspect of your online personas properly you could quickly find that marketing Nirvana has turned into marketing Hell.

The Double Edged Sword

The Internet and social media have opened up virtually limitless audiences to our marketing and sales efforts, but these opportunities also come at a cost. If you also use social media and other avenues of online communication in your personal life, the lines can be blurred pretty quickly.

It is not uncommon for employers to look someone up online and see if anything interesting pops up. The same goes for clients, coworkers, joint venture partners and anyone else who has a stake in how you market yourself.

Leaving a post, tweeting, updating a status or even commenting on a web page are all so easy many of us don’t give a second thought about it. However, the Internet has a perfect memory and as long as someone knows how, they can dig up pretty much anything you have said or done online ever.

Be Yourself But Be Aware

This doesn’t mean that if you’re trying to create an online marketing presence you can’t have a personality, be funny or interject your individuality into your work. In fact, people will choose to do business with someone they know and like over someone they don’t, even if your deal isn’t as good as theirs.

The more you show that there is a human being behind all the ones and zeros, the more trust you will build with your audience. If you’re looking to form a strong brand, become recognized as an expert or get someone to give you their hard money, this is necessary.

You just have to make smart decisions about how and what you put out there for the whole world to see if you want to avoid a potential exodus of business later.

Personal and Business Online Harmony

If you’re going to use the Internet and social media to promote your business while also maintaining personal accounts, then you need to do the following to make sure you’re not sending out the wrong message:

Google Yourself

Start off by finding what’s out there about you. Luckily, most people don’t look past the first page of search engine results, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.

Take the time to thoroughly go through at least the first ten pages of searches. Also make sure you check search results for images, videos, forums, news and other sections.

Use Different Accounts

If you have a personal Facebook profile, don’t simply add a Facebook page (for businesses) onto it. Keep your professional and personal lives as separate as possible by using different accounts for each.

Make sure you have your privacy settings properly set for your situation. Facebook automatically sets theirs to the loosest possible and you have to go in and edit them.

Use Different Networks

Facebook and Twitter are geared towards more personal content, but there are also social networks like LinkedIn that are professionally orientated. Consider separating the two sides of you even more by having all your personal stuff on one platform and your business stuff on another.

Also, the popularity of industry specific social networks is exploding. By putting your business self on these, not only are you keeping things separated but you’re also networking and engaging potential customers, employers and other people you want to impress.

Control Your Content

Even if you have done a good job of managing different accounts, the content you post in the form of pictures, video and updates is going to be out there. It doesn’t take much to find it. Before you post anything, run through this checklist mentally:

• Propriety: Your post might seem acceptable to you, but look at it from the point of view of people who want to do business with you. While you can’t always please everyone, do your best to keep it on the up and up.
• Avoid Controversy: Unless it’s part of your marketing plan, avoid contentious or controversial subjects in your posts. Your political leanings or religious beliefs may be very important to you, but you have to understand that there are people out there that don’t agree with you and may not do business with you based on them.
• The Grandma Test: Before you hit the “submit” button ask your, “If Grandma saw this, would she be happy with me?” If it can’t pass the Grandma test, then you might offend some clients and it’s a no go.
• Brand Image: You shape your brand’s image online by the things you post. So, when you are putting up content ask yourself if what you are doing is adding value to your brand. If you find that you’re posting a lot of complaining, negative comments, attacks on others or just useless garbage, then you’re image is going to suffer and so will business.