14 Days of Facebook Marketing Tips. Tip #2: Inject Personality Into Your Facebook Page

Tip #2: Inject Your Personality Into Your Facebook Page

Welcome to 14 Days of Facebook Marketing Tips, on the occasion of the upcoming launch of “The Facebook Guide to Small Business Marketing” (Wiley) by Ramon Ray, of Smallbiztechnology.com and Infusionsoft.

Buy Ramon’s latest book on February 19th and get a digital box of goodies as your gift for buying the book, educating yourself and growing your business with Facebook.

In The Facebook Guide to Small Business Marketing, you will overall learn how to get more customers and keep the ones you have. You’ll also learn how to leverage overall online marketing, how to better use social media and, more specifically, how to use the power of Facebook for YOUR business.

Tip #2: Inject Your Personality Into Your Facebook Page

There is an ongoing debate about how much personal you bring into your business ‘social’ space.  We’ve even written articles about it here on Smallbiztechnology.com.  While there is a balance that should be maintained, there is no reason to toss all personality aside when designing your Facebook business page. After all, your business is YOU…so go ahead and show the world!  It may help others feel more connected to your business knowing that there’s an actual ‘human’ behind it all!

Here are three simple tips from ‘The Facebook Guide to Small Business Marketing’ on how you can inject personality into your Facebook business page:

1. Steer clear of stock images and use real pictures of your business.  
2. Get creative with the cover photo to display your product / service - it can be a great selling tool and a fantastic way to showcase your work.
3. Use conversational language, not business jargon.  Eliminate superfluous, unwieldy language and speak to your followers (don’t sell to them) in the way you’d want to be spoken to.

14 Days of Facebook Marketing Tips. Tip #2: Inject Your Personality Into Your Facebook Page

Tip #2: Inject Your Personality Into Your Facebook Page

Welcome to 14 Days of Facebook Marketing Tips, on the occasion of the upcoming launch of “The Facebook Guide to Small Business Marketing” (Wiley) by Ramon Ray, of Smallbiztechnology.com and Infusionsoft.

Buy Ramon’s latest book on February 19th and get a digital box of goodies as your gift for buying the book, educating yourself and growing your business with Facebook.

In The Facebook Guide to Small Business Marketing, you will overall learn how to get more customers and keep the ones you have. You’ll also learn how to leverage overall online marketing, how to better use social media and, more specifically, how to use the power of Facebook for YOUR business.

Tip #2: Inject Your Personality Into Your Facebook Page

There is an ongoing debate about how much personal you bring into your business ‘social’ space.  We’ve even written articles about it here on Smallbiztechnology.com.  While there is a balance that should be maintained, there is no reason to toss all personality aside when designing your Facebook business page. After all, your business is YOU…so go ahead and show the world!  It may help others feel more connected to your business knowing that there’s an actual ‘human’ behind it all!

Here are three simple tips from ‘The Facebook Guide to Small Business Marketing’ on how you can inject personality into your Facebook business page:

1. Steer clear of stock images and use real pictures of your business.  
2. Get creative with the cover photo to display your product / service - it can be a great selling tool and a fantastic way to showcase your work.
3. Use conversational language, not business jargon.  Eliminate superfluous, unwieldy language and speak to your followers (don’t sell to them) in the way you’d want to be spoken to.

14 Days of Facebook Marketing Tips. Tip #2: Inject Your Personality Into Your Facebook Page

Tip #2: Inject Your Personality Into Your Facebook Page

Welcome to 14 Days of Facebook Marketing Tips, on the occasion of the upcoming launch of “The Facebook Guide to Small Business Marketing” (Wiley) by Ramon Ray, of Smallbiztechnology.com and Infusionsoft.

Buy Ramon’s latest book on February 19th and get a digital box of goodies as your gift for buying the book, educating yourself and growing your business with Facebook.

In The Facebook Guide to Small Business Marketing, you will overall learn how to get more customers and keep the ones you have. You’ll also learn how to leverage overall online marketing, how to better use social media and, more specifically, how to use the power of Facebook for YOUR business.

Tip #2: Inject Your Personality Into Your Facebook Page

There is an ongoing debate about how much personal you bring into your business ‘social’ space.  We’ve even written articles about it here on Smallbiztechnology.com.  While there is a balance that should be maintained, there is no reason to toss all personality aside when designing your Facebook business page. After all, your business is YOU…so go ahead and show the world!  It may help others feel more connected to your business knowing that there’s an actual ‘human’ behind it all!

Here are three simple tips from ‘The Facebook Guide to Small Business Marketing’ on how you can inject personality into your Facebook business page:

1. Steer clear of stock images and use real pictures of your business.  
2. Get creative with the cover photo to display your product / service - it can be a great selling tool and a fantastic way to showcase your work.
3. Use conversational language, not business jargon.  Eliminate superfluous, unwieldy language and speak to your followers (don’t sell to them) in the way you’d want to be spoken to.

USPS Rate Increases Could Lead to Changes for Many Small Businesses

The United States Postal Service recently enacted some higher shipping rates for both domestic and international mail. It has also offered some new rules and shipping options that might have an impact on the way many small businesses send mail and shipments.

First class stamps now cost 46 cents, up one cent from the rate that went into effect in January 2012, and each additional ounce will cost an extra 20 cents. International 1 ounce envelopes now cost $1.10, and postcards have increased by 1 cent to 33 cents.

There is also new pricing in place for Priority Mail Flat Rate products, ranging from $5.60 for a regular envelope to $16.85 for a large box. In addition, free tracking services will now be offered with all competitive packages, including Priority Mail and Standard Post, which has replaced Parcel Post.

Businesses that send higher volumes of mail may also want to look into the Intelligent Mail barcode, a barcode that helps track and process mail. This barcode is now mandatory for mail to qualify for automation pricing, which can be up to 47% less than retail rates. Shippers can print their own barcodes for outgoing mail or have the USPS add it. And on top of the lower rates, the Intelligent Mail barcode lets you monitor your mail as it makes its way through the postal system, so that you can respond accurately to customer inquiries.

Clearly these rate hikes, which went into effect on January 27, can have a large impact on certain types of small businesses that ship products or use postage as part of a marketing strategy.

Justin Amendola, VP of Global SMB Digital Strategy at Pitney Bowes, a company that provides customer communication technologies to businesses, said there are a few things businesses can do to minimize the impact of additional shipping costs.

First, businesses can use online postage solutions for shipping so that they’ll qualify for commercial-based rates from the USPS. Amendola also said that using flat rate shipping options can help businesses save between 19% and 36%. And he suggested that businesses should sort through their mailing lists and remove outdated addresses or customers so that money isn’t wasted sending items to customers who aren’t even there.

Lastly, he suggested that businesses switch from the new Standard Post option to Parcel Select, a commercial option that offers savings on ground delivery and convenient pickup options.

“Standard Post is only available over-the-counter at USPS retail locations, so you’ll lose out on the efficiencies gained by printing your own postage.  Instead, switch to Parcel Select and save on every shipment.”

FedEx and UPS have also recently announced increased rates for the new year. None of these announcements are uncommon, as both companies along with the USPS have announced increased prices for each of the last several years, in an effort to make up for inflation and other added costs.

The USPS has also recently added some  innovative technology options for small businesses, such as Every Door Direct Mail and a redesigned Click N ship site.

USPS Photo via Shutterstock

Get A Quality Mobile Website On The Cheap With These Providers

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

With the rise of smartphones, having a website is no longer sufficient for having a proper presence on the web. Today a proper mobile website is a must to complement any traditional website because aside from mobile phones, tablets sales today are catching up to the sales of traditional computers, meaning that even if a person is at home, they might still be using a non-traditional display. Although having a mobile website used to require significant up front investments to cover the cost of construction, today there are many technologies that make it possible to have a mobile website virtually instantly without altering your existing website.

One of the biggest issues with mobile website technology is that while some systems actually function properly and are easy to use on a mobile device, some systems simply focus on squishing website content to fit a mobile screen,which leads to distortion and non-functioning parts of the site appearing on the screen. To fight this, many website themes follow “responsive” design practices, which means that rather than requiring multiple sites to be built for different devices, a single theme can be used across the board between mobile and traditional views. In fact, for businesses running their website on platforms such as WordPress  Joomla, or Drupal, quality website designs can be found for prices ranging from $0 to $70 (anything higher is likely a rip off), which can be plugged into the site virtually instantly, while saving the business thousands of dollars in design and development costs. In fact, as a web developer, this is the approach I take with many of my small business clients becauseI am not a fan of reinventing the wheel.

For companies operating on WordPress with a theme they already like, Automattic, the company behind WordPress, has released an excellent free plugin for the platform called Jetpack, which is  a Swiss army knife for the platform. By offering a wide array of tools in one plugin, Jetpack is a must have for any WorPpress site. One of the key features, which I happen to use on many of my own web properties, is the instant mobile website feature which allows users to take non-responsive website themes and allow Jetpack to automatically create a mobile site based on the current theme. Although this method is not perfect with all designs, it definitely is an option worth exploring within WordPress.

For companies not running WordPress, or those who have complex sites, companies such as Mobstac and WompMobile are helpful because they allow mobile sites to be created for a nominal fee. Mobstac  has a free version which supports up to 250k page views a month. Their top plan is $99/month and supports 500k page views a month and includes mobile sites and also native applications for iOS, and Android. WompMobile  provides similar services to Mobstac, however they require a $50 one-time development fee and their premium plan (which includes a custom domain, which is a must for any professional presence) is $24/month.

Overall, no matter which option a company chooses, it is important that testing be done across the board on as many devices as possible to ensure that the websites look and function properly no matter when and where the customers are.

How To Focus Your Social Media Marketing

With the recent end to the LinkedIn Answers section, I found myself feeling frustrated with the various social media sites. It seems like every time I get a handle on a site, they change it. Those changes can cause us to spend what, in my opinion, is unnecessary time online; time updating, changing, and adapting.

So how can you focus your social media marketing

The first step is to identify what really matters and make sure you are participating. From what I can tell, relevant content and participation are the most important aspects of social media marketing:

1. Relevant Content

One of the best ways to utilize social media is to share content. It can be something you have created or something you have read or watched. When you share information that you created, you are positioning yourself as an expert. It’s an opportunity to show your level of knowledge. Moreover, giving away information is a great way to build a following.

When you share someone else’s article, podcast or video, you are increasing your value to your connections. You are making sure they are getting what they need. At the same time, you are helping the content creators expand their audience.

No matter what, you are establishing yourself as a thought leader, connector and professional. People know you mean business. They gain awareness of you and are provided a window into your business practices and values.

2. Participation

It’s not enough to post. You have to engage in conversations. One of the most significant exercises is to start a conversation with your clients and contacts. You can ask a question on one of your profiles, start a discussion in a group, start a Google+ hangout or launch a tweet chat. These are all ways to engage with people.

Carve out some time and read what others are saying and talking about. Then weigh in. In this way, you remind people that you are there and have knowledge that is of value. This kind of relationship building is invaluable.

3. Quality Time

It may sound counterintuitive but I’m going to suggest that you not spend a lot of time keeping up with the changes that occur almost daily on the social platforms. You can get lost in the upkeep and never make an impact. Instead, spend your time participating in quality conversations. Provide interesting, valuable information that others can use. This means finding the most consistent way to engage.

Blogging, status updates and groups seem to be mainstays. Applications and new stuff seems to have a shelf life, so only spend time there if it is contained. For quite a while, I spent a good amount of time on LinkedIn Answers. It made sense to share my expertise and the exposure was great. Now it’s gone. The collateral I built up no longer exists. My time might have been better spent blogging about those topics.

Carve out a small space, about once a month, in your calendar to visit your social media platforms and review any changes that may have occurred. It is this structured approach that will help you invest your time where it matters most.

When you are providing content and conversation, it won’t really matter what changes occur or what is added or removed. Your exposure and credibility will remain. That’s the goal.

Target Social Media Photo via Shutterstock

Get A Quality Mobile Website On The Cheap With These Providers

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

With the rise of smartphones, having a website is no longer sufficient for having a proper presence on the web. Today a proper mobile website is a must to complement any traditional website because aside from mobile phones, tablets sales today are catching up to the sales of traditional computers, meaning that even if a person is at home, they might still be using a non-traditional display. Although having a mobile website used to require significant up front investments to cover the cost of construction, today there are many technologies that make it possible to have a mobile website virtually instantly without altering your existing website.

One of the biggest issues with mobile website technology is that while some systems actually function properly and are easy to use on a mobile device, some systems simply focus on squishing website content to fit a mobile screen,which leads to distortion and non-functioning parts of the site appearing on the screen. To fight this, many website themes follow “responsive” design practices, which means that rather than requiring multiple sites to be built for different devices, a single theme can be used across the board between mobile and traditional views. In fact, for businesses running their website on platforms such as WordPress  Joomla, or Drupal, quality website designs can be found for prices ranging from $0 to $70 (anything higher is likely a rip off), which can be plugged into the site virtually instantly, while saving the business thousands of dollars in design and development costs. In fact, as a web developer, this is the approach I take with many of my small business clients becauseI am not a fan of reinventing the wheel.

For companies operating on WordPress with a theme they already like, Automattic, the company behind WordPress, has released an excellent free plugin for the platform called Jetpack, which is  a Swiss army knife for the platform. By offering a wide array of tools in one plugin, Jetpack is a must have for any WorPpress site. One of the key features, which I happen to use on many of my own web properties, is the instant mobile website feature which allows users to take non-responsive website themes and allow Jetpack to automatically create a mobile site based on the current theme. Although this method is not perfect with all designs, it definitely is an option worth exploring within WordPress.

For companies not running WordPress, or those who have complex sites, companies such as Mobstac and WompMobile are helpful because they allow mobile sites to be created for a nominal fee. Mobstac  has a free version which supports up to 250k page views a month. Their top plan is $99/month and supports 500k page views a month and includes mobile sites and also native applications for iOS, and Android. WompMobile  provides similar services to Mobstac, however they require a $50 one-time development fee and their premium plan (which includes a custom domain, which is a must for any professional presence) is $24/month.

Overall, no matter which option a company chooses, it is important that testing be done across the board on as many devices as possible to ensure that the websites look and function properly no matter when and where the customers are.

Webinars and Online Meetings: A Guide To What Every Small Business Needs To Know

It seems like a great idea. Using modern technology, a small business owner can host an online meeting and reach out to people all around the world. But it isn’t enough to merely announce an online meeting. Success or failure depends on how well the meeting host prepares. Luckily, many small businesses have learned from experience what to do and what to avoid when putting together an online meeting. From start to finish, here are a few things you need to know before hosting your first (or next) online meeting.

Build a Campaign

Sue Koch, chief navigator of Soaring Solutions, has found that when it comes to webinars, promotion is essential. “Just like anything online, just because you build it doesn’t mean they will come,” Koch says. “Build a solid campaign around attracting people to your webinar, whether it is free or paid.”

Social media channels provide the perfect opportunity to reach out to those in your network and encourage them to attend. If the meeting is open to anyone, welcome your invitees to pass the invite on, but be sure to make clear if space is limited. This will create a “limited time offer” feeling that will encourage people to register as soon as possible.

Use the Right Tools

Popular big business tools like Cisco WebEx and Adobe Connect are great, but it’s important to note that there may be less expensive alternatives that better meet your individual needs. Roger Courville, also known as The Virtual Presenter, believes it’s important to make the distinction between presenting and collaborating and choose tools that best support them. Prior to planning a webinar, he urges businesses to consider whether their purpose is to present or collaborate.

• Presenting-If an online meeting is conducted with the intent of showing someone how something works or how to do something, it is a presentation. Look for software that allows a large number of attendees, like InstantPresenter or Infinite Conferencing, to open up your presentation to as many people as possible.
• Collaborating-Online collaborations are usually set up to involve a small, restricted group of people. It can be used to do a product demo for a client or teammates or to brainstorm ideas in-house. There are quite a few robust tools ideal for online collaboration that can help organize projects, including FuzeBox and Citrix GoToWebinar.

One Cloud-based solution getting attention in the world of technology is Blue Jeans, a scalable video bridge that allows users to connect regardless of their platform. Whether your attendees are using Skype, Cisco, Polycom, or some other software to access videoconferencing capabilities, Blue Jeans can put you all together in one place to collaborate or present.

Test in Advance

If this is your first presentation, run a couple of in-house trials before the main event. You should be very familiar with the technology you’re using, both hardware and software. If possible, take a training class on the software prior to scheduling your first meeting. Even after you’ve had a successful series of meetings with the software, it’s important to do a test run to make sure everything is working before each webinar.

“It has always amazed me how some people will spend several days or weeks organizing an online meeting and not test or get training on the online meeting software in advance,” Robert Lowery, owner of Computer Bytes, says. “Everyone likes to blame or joke about technical difficulties when things don’t work out right, but I always see it as incompetence.”

Hold Their Attention

“Companies that run webinars need to realize that it is so difficult to keep the attention of their audience,” Grow Socially’s Lou Cimaglia says. “Even the most exciting PowerPoint presentation and dynamic speakers will fall victim to a user who has completely freedom of their screen on the other side.”

Unlike an in-person meeting, your webinar attendees can be easily distracted by incoming e-mails, ringing phones, or co-workers wandering by. They even have the option of simply exiting your webinar in progress if the presentation isn’t interesting enough. Consider incorporating sound or video clips into your presentation to break things up. But, in the end, even the flashiest presentation will fall flat if the presenter is a poor speaker. Good public speaking skills are just as relevant for webinars as for in-person meetings. If you fall short in this area, consider taking a public speaking class or joining Toastmasters.

Dan Schleifer, co-founder and president of ChartIQ, has an interesting way to keep attendees awake. “The single best piece of advice I can give is to intersperse poll questions - one every 10-12 minutes during a webinar,” he says. “By analyzing attendance data from previous webinars, we found that attention greatly dropped off after 10-12 minutes. By asking an interactive and topically-relevant poll question, followed immediately by the results and a brief discussion by the speaker of those results, we were able to spike attention back up”.

After the Meeting

End the meeting with an invitation to engage, such as mention of a follow-up webinar or offer of a free consultation. Send a follow-up e-mail thanking attendees and reminding them of your contact information.

Buuteeq.com’s Brandon M. Dennis recommends recording the meeting and uploading a copy of it to YouTube. “This is a fantastic way to gain further momentum, by sharing the video with clients and posting it on your blog or website,” he says. With the right keywords in the description, this can also bring new viewers to the webinar weeks, months, or even years after the event has taken place.

12 Innovative Ways to Use Video on a Website

Have you ever thought about using video on a website  Video is extremely powerful and, if used properly, your story will be remembered far greater than written or audio information would be.

Did you know that:

• 52% of consumers say that watching a video on a product makes them more confident with a purchase decision.
• Cisco predicts that in the year 2013, video will be 90% of all consumer traffic.
• Blog posts incorporating video attract 3 times as many inbound links as blog posts without video.

If you are not using video on your website, you might want to ask yourself, “Why not”

About Us or Company Overviews

Most of these pages tend to be boring. Spruce them up with a video about your company, what you stand for, what you like and any other relevant information.

Blog

I got to a point where I was spending so much time writing blog posts that I found creating videos was a way to reduce the time involved to create my posts.

Post videos on YouTube (or other services like Vimeo) to permit a new audience to find you. If you are using YouTube, include a hyperlink in the description so that people can visit your website.  YouTube is the second largest search engine, coming in second after Google.

Product Pages and Product Demonstrations

People want to see what you do or what your product does. Use a camera to show them what your product or service does.

Show off some of your best features and explain the benefits provided. Consider using video to showcase your products or, at the very least, some of your best selling products.

Landing Pages

A landing page is designed with one purpose - to get you to do something.  Something like providing your name and email address or purchasing a product.

Add a video to your landing page to explain what you want someone to do when they arrive there.

How To

People love to learn so show them how to do things and make it relate to what your offering is.

For example, I recently bought a car with a navigation system. I can’t figure out how to use the navigation system and I would love it if someone at the dealership would create a quick video explaining how to do so.

Frequently Asked Questions

You will undoubtedly be asked the same questions about your products or services over and over. Record some videos on your most frequently asked questions and add them to your website.  Educate people about your product.

Also, take a look at some of your competitors. I’ll bet they aren’t doing this. Beat them to the punch.

Questions that Should be Asked

Just like frequently asked questions, you probably have questions that you wish your clients would ask about your products or services.

Ask the questions for them and record the answers in a video and post it on your website.

Customer Testimonials

Customer testimonials are extremely powerful. People believe credible testimonials almost as much as they trust testimonials from family and friends. Want the secret to customer testimonials that really resonate Get them on video.

Ask clients if you can record them providing a testimonial and put it on your home page since it’s probably the most trafficked page on your website. These are extremely powerful, instant trust builders.

Interviews

Interview people in your company or industry experts and add those interviews your website.

Case Studies

Let’s face it, sometimes case studies are boring. Spruce them up by turning them into a video presentation that tells a story.

Contact Us Page

Include video on your contact page. For example, record a video from the point of view of someone coming into your office.

24 Hour Web Cam

Place a 24 hour web cam in an interesting area of your office. I suggested this to a client that had a staff that was a lot of fun. I wanted the world to see that they enjoyed themselves while they worked.

So what’s holding you back Begin to incorporate video into your website today.

How are you using video on your website

Video Photo via Shutterstock

Good Technology settles lawsuit with Excitor

Good Technology has settled its patent litigation with Denmark-based Excitor.

Excitor has agreed to a cash payment and a royalty-bearing licence to some of Good's fundamental patents. The remaining terms of the settlement are confidential. Good Technology said that at the heart of this settlement is its technology, which is vital to the utility, function and safety of mobile data and devices.

Christy Wyatt, president and CEO of Good Technology, said: “Our focus continues to be solving real world customer problems. Customers today want to empower mobility within their businesses.

“We have a long, rich history of innovation that enables our customers to safely mobilise their enterprise. We will continue to invest in these market-leading solutions and will vigorously defend those investments where required to the benefit of our customers and shareholders.”

As reported by SC Magazine last year, Good Technology has filed patents against MobileIron and AirWatch and the cases are pending. Those cases relate to technology infringement.

Anonymous claims exposure of bank executives details

Hacktivist group Anonymous said it has posted the sensitive details of 4,000 bank executives on a government website.

On Sunday night, an Anonymous Twitter account called ‘OpLastResort' tweeted about the leaked information, which was posted on the website of the Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center (ACJIC), a clearing house of criminal records and statistics for the state.

The ACJIC page - where the information was posted on Sunday - has since been taken down, though a cached version of the web page is viewable using Google.

According to Anonymous, the dump included the personal data of financial institution employees - including CEOs, presidents, CFOs, IT management, loan officers and secretaries. Data alleged to be the first and last names of employees was posted online, along with individuals' addresses, titles, names of their financial institution, email addresses, IP addresses, login IDs and hashed passwords.

Anonymous launched Operation Last Resort to raise awareness of the suicide of 26-year-old internet activist and Reddit co-founder Aaron Swartz. A tweet on Monday from the 'OpLastResort' account alluded to the leaked information coming from the Federal Reserve.

Last Tuesday, the Alabama Department of Homeland Security (ALDHS) announced that intruders had breached a firewall protecting the state's IT network to infiltrate a number of endpoint computers. It's unclear if this attack is related to the Anonymous dump, but in 2010, the ACJIC announced (PDF) that its "technical operations" would support a new DHS project.

Government intervention scares users from using the cloud

A fear of government snooping is deterring IT departments from using the cloud.

According to a survey of 300 IT managers, 48 per cent said that the potential for government and legal interference puts them off from entering information into the cloud environment.

Philip Lieberman, president and CEO of Lieberman Software, said: “There are a number of reasons why IT experts might be apprehensive about storing corporate data in the cloud. However, in my opinion, the key issues are around government surveillance, cloud legislation and data security. IT managers fear that they will put their data at risk by moving to a cloud provider as they are unsure they will keep the data properly protected, which could ultimately affect their job and their business.

“The other issue is around legislation in the cloud and the fact that IT managers do not want governments snooping around in their corporate data. If a government or official body wanted to see what data a company was holding in the cloud, the cloud host involved would be legally obliged to provide them with access. This means there is very limited privacy in cloud environments. IT managers know it is much easier to hide data within their own private networks.”

The survey also revealed that 88 per cent of respondents think that there is a chance that some of the cloud-hosted data could be lost, corrupted or accessed by unauthorised individuals.

Webinars and Online Meetings: A Guide To What Every Small Business Needs To Know

It seems like a great idea. Using modern technology, a small business owner can host an online meeting and reach out to people all around the world. But it isn’t enough to merely announce an online meeting. Success or failure depends on how well the meeting host prepares. Luckily, many small businesses have learned from experience what to do and what to avoid when putting together an online meeting. From start to finish, here are a few things you need to know before hosting your first (or next) online meeting.

Build a Campaign

Sue Koch, chief navigator of Soaring Solutions, has found that when it comes to webinars, promotion is essential. “Just like anything online, just because you build it doesn’t mean they will come,” Koch says. “Build a solid campaign around attracting people to your webinar, whether it is free or paid.”

Social media channels provide the perfect opportunity to reach out to those in your network and encourage them to attend. If the meeting is open to anyone, welcome your invitees to pass the invite on, but be sure to make clear if space is limited. This will create a “limited time offer” feeling that will encourage people to register as soon as possible.

Use the Right Tools

Popular big business tools like Cisco WebEx and Adobe Connect are great, but it’s important to note that there may be less expensive alternatives that better meet your individual needs. Roger Courville, also known as The Virtual Presenter, believes it’s important to make the distinction between presenting and collaborating and choose tools that best support them. Prior to planning a webinar, he urges businesses to consider whether their purpose is to present or collaborate.

• Presenting-If an online meeting is conducted with the intent of showing someone how something works or how to do something, it is a presentation. Look for software that allows a large number of attendees, like InstantPresenter or Infinite Conferencing, to open up your presentation to as many people as possible.
• Collaborating-Online collaborations are usually set up to involve a small, restricted group of people. It can be used to do a product demo for a client or teammates or to brainstorm ideas in-house. There are quite a few robust tools ideal for online collaboration that can help organize projects, including FuzeBox and Citrix GoToWebinar.

One Cloud-based solution getting attention in the world of technology is Blue Jeans, a scalable video bridge that allows users to connect regardless of their platform. Whether your attendees are using Skype, Cisco, Polycom, or some other software to access videoconferencing capabilities, Blue Jeans can put you all together in one place to collaborate or present.

Test in Advance

If this is your first presentation, run a couple of in-house trials before the main event. You should be very familiar with the technology you’re using, both hardware and software. If possible, take a training class on the software prior to scheduling your first meeting. Even after you’ve had a successful series of meetings with the software, it’s important to do a test run to make sure everything is working before each webinar.

“It has always amazed me how some people will spend several days or weeks organizing an online meeting and not test or get training on the online meeting software in advance,” Robert Lowery, owner of Computer Bytes, says. “Everyone likes to blame or joke about technical difficulties when things don’t work out right, but I always see it as incompetence.”

Hold Their Attention

“Companies that run webinars need to realize that it is so difficult to keep the attention of their audience,” Grow Socially’s Lou Cimaglia says. “Even the most exciting PowerPoint presentation and dynamic speakers will fall victim to a user who has completely freedom of their screen on the other side.”

Unlike an in-person meeting, your webinar attendees can be easily distracted by incoming e-mails, ringing phones, or co-workers wandering by. They even have the option of simply exiting your webinar in progress if the presentation isn’t interesting enough. Consider incorporating sound or video clips into your presentation to break things up. But, in the end, even the flashiest presentation will fall flat if the presenter is a poor speaker. Good public speaking skills are just as relevant for webinars as for in-person meetings. If you fall short in this area, consider taking a public speaking class or joining Toastmasters.

Dan Schleifer, co-founder and president of ChartIQ, has an interesting way to keep attendees awake. “The single best piece of advice I can give is to intersperse poll questions - one every 10-12 minutes during a webinar,” he says. “By analyzing attendance data from previous webinars, we found that attention greatly dropped off after 10-12 minutes. By asking an interactive and topically-relevant poll question, followed immediately by the results and a brief discussion by the speaker of those results, we were able to spike attention back up”.

After the Meeting

End the meeting with an invitation to engage, such as mention of a follow-up webinar or offer of a free consultation. Send a follow-up e-mail thanking attendees and reminding them of your contact information.

Buuteeq.com’s Brandon M. Dennis recommends recording the meeting and uploading a copy of it to YouTube. “This is a fantastic way to gain further momentum, by sharing the video with clients and posting it on your blog or website,” he says. With the right keywords in the description, this can also bring new viewers to the webinar weeks, months, or even years after the event has taken place.

Information assurance training programs create new cadre of IT security pros

University information assurance programs are varied, but they are beginning to provide technology disciplines a level of security knowledge.

The Huawei security risk: Factors to consider before buying Chinese IT

A government report denounces Chinese IT Telecom giants Huawei and ZTE but should the security risks prompt action

Kaspersky Lab anti-virus error leads to user fury

Scores of Windows machines crashed today after a tainted Kaspersky Lab anti-virus update severed internet access for enterprises and home users.

The update, which has since been corrected with a subsequent fix, caused HTTP traffic to ground to a halt on Windows platforms.

Angry users took to Twitter to vent steam and ask Kaspersky how to address the problem. One Australian IT manager, speaking to SC Magazine Australia on condition of anonymity, said he arrived at his business to find workstations crippled and a backlog of user support requests. He said his Windows XP and Windows 7 64-bit machines were affected.

A Kaspersky engineer told SC that users that have updates handled through the security centre will have the fix automatically applied, while others will need to disable web anti-virus first.

SC Magazine Awards Europe 2013 - shortlist announced

The finalists for this year's SC Magazine Awards Europe have been announced.

This year sees a total of 25 awards being dished out, with 17 technology awards, four industry awards and four professional awards to be presented on the 23rd April at the London Hilton Park Lane.

For more information about the awards contact Jo Plinston on 020 8267 4043. For sponsorship opportunities, contact Rob Barclay 020 8267 8075.

Technology Awards

Best Anti-malware Solution

Avast! Free Antivirus

FireEye Malware Protection System

Kaspersky Security for Virtualisation with Security Center 9

Sourcefire's FireAmp

Symantec Endpoint Protection

Websense's Triton Security Gateway Anywhere (TSGA)

Best Content Security

Accellion Kitepoint

Cyber-Ark's Sensitive Information Management Suite

McAfee Email Protection

Trustwave Content Security

Wave Systems' Scrambls for Files

Websense's Web Security Gateway Anywhere (WSGA)

Best DLP Solution

Boole Server

Endpoint Protector 4 by CoSoSys

Excitor's DME

Websense's Data Security Suite

Best Encryption Solution

CipherCloud Gateway

SafeNet's StorageSecure

Symantec Encryption

Venafi Director

Vormetric Encryption

Best Enterprise Security Solution

Bromium vSentry

Good for Enterprise

Lancope StealthWatch System

LogRhythm 6.0

Sophos Complete Security Suite

Splunk Enterprise

Vormetric Data Security Manager

Best Forensics Tool

Absolute Computrace

RSA NetWitness

Best IAM Solution

Cyber-Ark's Privileged Identity Management Suite

Evidian Identity and Access Management suite

Ping Identity's PingFederate 6.0

Symantec O3 Cloud Identity and Access Control

Symplified

WhiteOPSâ„¢ from Whitebox Security

Best Integrated Security Solution

AlienVault Unified Security Management

FortiGate-1000C from Fortinet

Sophos UTM 9

Trustwave Managed Security Services

Best Mobile Solution

AirWatch

IBM Endpoint Manager for Mobile Devices

Sophos Mobile Control 2.5

Websense's Triton Mobile Security

Best Network Security

FireEye Web Malware Protection System

FortiGate-3240C from Fortinet

RandomStorm Management Platform

Best Remote Access

Aruba Instant with Aruba Activate

Excitor's DME

Signify: The Secure Authentication Service

Zenprise MobileManager

Best Secure Transaction Solution

Entersekt Interactive Transaction Authentication

NetAuthority's Transaction Verification Key

PINgrid

SIP Encrypt from VoIP.co.uk

Best Secure Virtualisation Solution

Becrypt's tVolution

FireHost's secure public cloud Infrastructure as a Service

SafeNet's ProtectV

Swivel Authentication Platform

Trend Micro's Deep Security

Best Security Management

Cyber-Ark's Privileged Identity Management/Privileged Session Management Suites

Secunia Corporate Software Inspector (CSI)

SecurityCenter from Tenable Network Security

Skybox Risk Control 6.5

Symantec Control Compliance Suite

Venafi Director

Best Security Solution, Financial Services

IntraLinks inter-enterprise content management and collaboration solutions

Metaforic Core

Trusteer Pinpoint

Vantage from Actiance

Best SME Security Solution

Ipswitch File Transfer's Moveit

QualysGuard Express

Symantec Endpoint Protection Small Business Edition 2013

Sophos UTM 9

WatchGuard XTM 5

Innovation Award

BT Assure Analytics

Coverity Security Advisor

Privilege Guard from Avecto

SaaSID Cloud Application Manager

Trusteer Pinpoint

Zscaler Security Cloud

Industry Awards

Information Security Consultancy of the Year

Company85

Information Risk Management

Integralis Professional Services

KPMG

MWR InfoSecurity

The Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT) consultancy engagement with Q1 Labs, an IBM company

Information Security Product of the Year

Avecto

CipherCloud Gateway

Egress Software Technologies

Sophos UTM 9

Titus

Websense's Web Security Gateway Anywhere (WSGA)

Information Security Vendor of the Year

Kaspersky Lab

Proofpoint

Rapid7

Trustwave

Websense

Best Global Security Company

KPMG 

NCC Group

Qualys

Sourcefire

Trustwave

Websense

Professional Awards

Information Security Team of the Year

Barclaycard Payment Security Team

Former London Organising Commitee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) IT Security Team

Kaspersky Lab's Global Research and Analysis Team

KPMG's Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT)

Teleperformance

Information Security Project of the Year

Barclaycard Risk Reduction Programme

Electronic Arts Security Awareness: Sentinels

KPMG TalkTalk Cast Compliance Programme

RandomStorm WPScan

South West Fire and Rescue Services (FRS) Secure Information Interchange Programme (SIIP)

The Rising Star Award

Victoria Crawley, executive advisor, KPMG 

Ryan Dewhurst, penetration tester, RandomStorm

Susan Sharawi, information security advisor, KPMG 

Alessandro da Silva, information security advisor, KPMG 

Konrads Smelkovs, advisor information protection, KPMG 

Information Security Person of the Year

Brian Honan, CEO, BH Consulting 

Bruce Wignall, global head of security, Teleperformance 

David Rawle, CTO, Bytes Security Partnerships (BSP) 

Malcolm Marshall, global head of information protection, KPMG

Passionate Fans Drive In-N-Out-Burger Success

Passionate fans drive one well-loved burger chain’s success. In-N-Out-Burger has grown to 280 restaurants in fives states and is worth in excess of $1 billion dollars. However, the privately held chain still operates on something common to many smaller businesses, the love of its customers.

Passionate Fans, Like Apple

More than a burger. In-N-Out-Burger is known not only for its food but for its customer service. In fact, one commentator compares the the excitement surrounding the opening of a new restaurant as similar to a new Apple product launch. Businesses focused on customers have similar impact no matter what their product. Bloomberg

The youngest billionaire. All this dedication has its rewards. Lynsi Torres, president and owner of the company her family started, has become one of the world’s youngest billionaires. Create a product or service your customers love passionately and you may be surprised at the success that follows. Mail Online

Resistance is futile. The key to this success is to create a product or service that will turn average customers into passionate fans. So good are In-N-Out-Burger’s sandwiches, that city officials sometimes plead with the chain to open a restaurant in their town. Even former MLB player Jose Canseco made the burger restaurant part of a platform in his supposed bid to become mayor of Toronto. Sports World Report

Bring Passionate Fans to Your Brand

Deliver on promises. It’s a simple path to creating a loyal fan base. Brandi Starr lays out a series of easy steps that will help your brand follow this approach too. First, establish attainable goals, then watch customer feedback and fix things if they aren’t right. Finally, focus on the customer. Cassius Blue Consulting

Read their minds. Finding out what your customers want and delivering may be easier than you think. Janelle Vreeland suggests using social media, specifically Twitter to accomplish your goals. Turn your fans from excited brand advocates to devoted supporters by finding out what they want and making it happen. Lonely Brand Blog

Make them feel unique. Creating passionate customers takes more than simply filling their needs. Tony Young explains the key to keeping your customers satisfied and committed is to make them feel unique. Your customers must feel they are special before they can feel your business is. Dynamic Business

Manage relationships. Technology can also help you create passionate fans for your brand. Don’t forget about customer relationship management, or CRM. Here Shonali Burke reviews one software package she believes is the best. It can create great fans for your business, too. Waxing UnLyrical