How to Use Facebook Custom Audiences to Target Your Market

It’s clear businesses have taken to Facebook. According to the company’s statistics, 500,000 pages have used Facebook’s Promoted Posts in the company’s fourth quarter with 30 percent of those being new advertisers and 70 percent being repeat customers.

Recently the company has also introduced a new way for advertisers to target their market beyond their immediate Facebook followers.

Facebook Custom Audiences allows businesses to reach customers who aren’t yet connected with them through social media.

Advertisers begin by visiting the Facebook Ad Manager page and downloading the Power Editor to get started.

Use of the Chrome browser is necessary to make the editor work.

How to Set Up Facebook Custom Audiences

Once in the Ad Manager, an advertiser selects “custom audiences.”

When a box like the one above appears, the advertiser can then upload email, phone, or user ID lists to create a custom audience of existing customers.

Advertisers do not need to be connected to Facebook users or have users “like” a specific Facebook page to target them in an advertising campaign.

Brick and Mortar Retailers

Brick and mortar retailers can use Custom Audiences to market to repeat customers. Though the business may have a Facebook fan page, “likes” on that page don’t necessarily reflect those who visit the business regularly.

But if retailers have a method of collecting phone numbers or email addresses from regular customers who buy at their physical locations, they now have a method of targeting these real customers directly on the world’s largest social network.

Online Businesses

Online businesses can use a similar approach. “Likes” collected on Facebook may not be the same as the people visiting company’s website regularly. But by collecting emails from these visitors, the business can then use Custom Audiences to target them directly on Facebook, even if they’ve never “liked” the company’s Facebook page.

Import LinkedIn Connections and Other Lists

Jake Hower of the Multimedia Marketing Show explains how to import LinkedIn connections and other lists into Facebook’s Custom Audiences feature.

Ad Enhancements Coming

Last week, Facebook announced a new enhancement to its Custom Audiences program.

The social site has partnered with digital marketing companies Datalogix, Epsilon, Acxiom, and BlueKai to further fine tune the service.

Facebook will now be allowing businesses working with any of these marketing companies to use data they collect to further customize marketing campaigns using the Custom Audiences feature. See the recent Facebook Studio post for more details.

TechCrunch recently reported that even businesses not working with one of Facebook’s new partner firms will be able to use new customer data uploaded to the site.

Facebook says it will set up predefined categories like customers interested in buying a car, luxury fashion buyers, and more for any small business marketers to use.

Google AdWords Upgrade Makes It Easier To Advertise On More Devices With Enhanced Campaigns

Google AdWords makes it easy for you to advertise your product or service on Google search result pages or in its advertising network. Recently Google rolled out Enhanced Campaigns, offer advertising more options.

Before Google AdWords added Enhanced Campaigns to its offering,  it was a challenge to place your advertisement on a variety of devices - small screens, big screens, GPS and mobile. The advertisement you placed for your ladies shoes business might look great on a 16″ web site on a computer, but it looks much different on an iPad or other mobile devices.

For example, from Google’s announcement,  a pizza restaurant probably wants to show one ad to someone searching for “pizza” at 1pm on their PC at work (perhaps a link to an online order form or menu), and a different ad to someone searching for “pizza” at 8pm on a smartphone a half-mile from the restaurant (perhaps a click-to-call phone number and restaurant locator). Signals like location, time of day, and the capabilities of the device people are using have become increasingly important in showing them the right ad.

Here’s some key features that Google AdWords Enhanced Campaigns offers:

1. Powerful marketing tools for the multi-device world
   People want search results that are relevant for the context they are in â€" their device, location and the time of day. Enhanced campaigns help you better manage your campaigns and budgets for this multi-device world. With bid adjustments, you can manage bids for your ads across devices, locations, time of day and more â€" all from a single campaign.Example: A breakfast cafe wants to reach people nearby searching for “coffee” or “breakfast” on a smartphone. Using bid adjustments, with three simple entries, they can bid 25% higher for people searching a half-mile away, 20% lower for searches after 11am, and 50% higher for searches on smartphones. These bid adjustments can apply to all ads and all keywords in one single campaign.
2. Smarter ads optimized for varying user contexts
   People on the go or near your store may be looking for different things than someone sitting at their desk. With enhanced campaigns, you’ll show ads across devices with the right ad text, sitelink, app or extension, without having to edit each campaign for every possible combination of devices, location and time of day.Example: A national retailer with both physical locations and a website can show ads with click-to-call and location extensions for people searching on their smartphones, while showing an ad for their e-commerce website to people searching on a PC â€" all within a single campaign.
3. Advanced reports to measure new conversion types
   Technology is enabling people to take action on your ads in new ways. Potential customers may see your ad and download your app, or they may call you. It’s been hard for marketers to easily measure and compare these interactions. To help you measure the full value of your campaigns, enhanced campaigns enables you to easily count calls and app downloads as conversions in your AdWords reports.Example: You can count phone calls of 60 seconds or longer that result from a click-to-call ad as a conversion in your AdWords reports, and compare them to other conversions like leads, sales and downloads.

Google AdWords Upgrade Makes It Easier To Advertise On More Devices With Enhanced Campaigns

Google AdWords makes it easy for you to advertise your product or service on Google search result pages or in its advertising network. Recently Google rolled out Enhanced Campaigns, offer advertising more options.

Before Google AdWords added Enhanced Campaigns to its offering,  it was a challenge to place your advertisement on a variety of devices - small screens, big screens, GPS and mobile. The advertisement you placed for your ladies shoes business might look great on a 16″ web site on a computer, but it looks much different on an iPad or other mobile devices.

For example, from Google’s announcement,  a pizza restaurant probably wants to show one ad to someone searching for “pizza” at 1pm on their PC at work (perhaps a link to an online order form or menu), and a different ad to someone searching for “pizza” at 8pm on a smartphone a half-mile from the restaurant (perhaps a click-to-call phone number and restaurant locator). Signals like location, time of day, and the capabilities of the device people are using have become increasingly important in showing them the right ad.

Here’s some key features that Google AdWords Enhanced Campaigns offers:

1. Powerful marketing tools for the multi-device world
   People want search results that are relevant for the context they are in â€" their device, location and the time of day. Enhanced campaigns help you better manage your campaigns and budgets for this multi-device world. With bid adjustments, you can manage bids for your ads across devices, locations, time of day and more â€" all from a single campaign.Example: A breakfast cafe wants to reach people nearby searching for “coffee” or “breakfast” on a smartphone. Using bid adjustments, with three simple entries, they can bid 25% higher for people searching a half-mile away, 20% lower for searches after 11am, and 50% higher for searches on smartphones. These bid adjustments can apply to all ads and all keywords in one single campaign.
2. Smarter ads optimized for varying user contexts
   People on the go or near your store may be looking for different things than someone sitting at their desk. With enhanced campaigns, you’ll show ads across devices with the right ad text, sitelink, app or extension, without having to edit each campaign for every possible combination of devices, location and time of day.Example: A national retailer with both physical locations and a website can show ads with click-to-call and location extensions for people searching on their smartphones, while showing an ad for their e-commerce website to people searching on a PC â€" all within a single campaign.
3. Advanced reports to measure new conversion types
   Technology is enabling people to take action on your ads in new ways. Potential customers may see your ad and download your app, or they may call you. It’s been hard for marketers to easily measure and compare these interactions. To help you measure the full value of your campaigns, enhanced campaigns enables you to easily count calls and app downloads as conversions in your AdWords reports.Example: You can count phone calls of 60 seconds or longer that result from a click-to-call ad as a conversion in your AdWords reports, and compare them to other conversions like leads, sales and downloads.

Tech Thursday (3/7): News from Go Daddy, HP, CDW, ViewSonic, Nitro and Seagate

It’s Tech Thursday from Smallbiztechnology.com. Each week we take a quick look at business and technology news and updates for the small business community and shares them with you in a quick and simple round-up.

GO DADDY ACQUIRES M.DOT - BOLSTERS ‘MOBILE FIRST’ STRATEGY

Gives Go Daddy Website Customers a Unique Smartphone Edge

Go Daddy, the Web’s top platform for small businesses, has acquired M.dot Inc., the leading mobile app for small business website creation and management. The addition of M.dot to Go Daddy’s extensive product offerings gives Go Daddy’s 11 million customers an easy way to create and manage compelling mobile websites right from their smartphones.

Over the last three years, mobile Internet traffic has grown more than 10 times from one percent to 13 percent of total Web usage. In that same time period, smartphone and tablet shipments surpassed PCs. Go Daddy customers are using their smartphones to manage their online presence more and more everyday as a means to find and acquire customers. The M.dot acquisition provides Go Daddy’s customers with an innovative platform to capitalize on these trends.

You can check out the full press release announcing this exciting acquisition here.

HP Unveils World’s Fastest Desktop Color Printer

HP Officejet Pro X Series earns Guinness World Records title for unsurpassed speed

HP has announced the worldwide release of the new HP Officejet Pro X, the world’s fastest desktop printer as recognized by Guinness World Records.

Designed to meet the demanding and unique needs of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), the HP Officejet Pro X is revolutionizing business printing by increasing productivity, reducing costs and promoting the value of inkjet technology in the workplace.

Powered by HP PageWide Technologyâ€"the company’s next-generation inkjet platformâ€"the HP Officejet Pro X Series can deliver high-quality professional documents at up to 70 pages per minute (ppm), making it the fastest desktop printer according to Guinness World Records.

Since the first HP Deskjet printer was introduced in 1988, HP has continued to innovate in the inkjet market with the HP Photosmart and HP Officejet brands, and has shipped nearly 600 million inkjet printers.  You can see more about the release of the HP Pro X Series printer here.

CDW Report: Work Imitates Life in Cloud Computing Adoption

Study Finds Personal Use of Cloud Influencing Decisions at Work; More Than Half of Organizations Are Migrating or Planning to Move Services to The Cloud

CDW LLC, a leading provider of technology products and services to business, government, education and healthcare, today announced its 2013 State of the Cloud Report, an assessment of the current and future drivers behind cloud computing adoption in the United States, based on a survey of 1,242 IT professionals familiar with their organization’s plans for the cloud. The report found that more than half of organizations are migrating or planning to migrate specific applications or infrastructure to the cloud, and that personal use of cloud services is significantly influencing organizational decisions.

The report reveals that 73 percent of respondents believe that employees’ personal use of cloud applications and mobile devices has significantly influenced their organizations’ decisions to adopt cloud computing, with 68 percent stating that employee requests for cloud services have increased over the last two years. In fact, two-thirds of the IT professionals surveyed said that their use of cloud applications and services in their non-work lives directly influences their cloud-related recommendations at work.

You can view all of the findings in the CDW report here.

ViewSonic introduces Thin Client and Zero Client Solutions for a High Performance Virtual Desktop

ViewSonic VDI solutions meet the networking needs of educators, SMBs and enterprises alike

ViewSonic Corp., a leading global provider of visual solution products, today announced its lineup of Smart Client solutions including brand new Thin Client and Zero Client product offerings that enable users to access their desktop accounts from a PC server nearly anywhere.

ViewSonic’s Thin Client and Zero Client offerings feature a powerful yet tiny 0.6L design with space saving options such as an included mounting bracket for attachment to any VESA ready monitor. Both categories are optimized and certified for use within the major virtualized environments (Microsoft RemoteFX, Citrix ICA/HDX and VMware PCoIP). Users will benefit from overall ease of deployment, simplified management, enhanced security, better accessibility and a lower total cost of ownership. Paired with TAA Trade Compliance, flexible dual digital (DVI) output support for 1080p multi-monitor usage, the consumption of up to 80 percent less energy, a Kensington lock and a low total cost of ownership, ViewSonic’s flexible and cost effective Smart Clients are the ideal choice to meet the networking needs of educators, SMBs and enterprises alike.

You can see more about the new Thin Client and Zero Client offerings here.

Nitro Adds Key Enhancements with the Latest Release of Nitro Pro

Nitro Pro 8.5, a Complete Replacement for Adobe® Acrobat®

 

Nitro, creator of intuitive solutions that enable people to work smarter with digital documents, today announced the release of Nitro Pro 8.5, the latest version of its award-winning, flagship desktop PDF product.

Nitro Pro provides all the essential tools business users need to work with PDF files and is a true replacement for Adobe Acrobat. Trusted by over 50% of the Fortune 100 and with almost half a million customers worldwide, Nitro Pro is now better than ever with key new features, usability fixes, enhanced performance, and improved user support.

You can read more about the new version features and pricing here.

Seagate Enables Growth of Small Businesses With New Networked Business Storage Solution

Small Businesses Now Have A Private Cloud To Call Their Own

 

Seagate Technology has announced the company’s latest offering of network-attached storage (NAS) for the small office / home office (SOHO), remote mobile office (RMO) and Small Business space. To address the changing needs of a growing small business, Seagate Business Storage will come as a one-drive, two-drive and four-drive configuration, which range in capacities from 2TB to 16TBs.

For business collaboration and backup protection, this new Business Storage by Seagate provides a secure cost-effective alternative to cloud backup and online sharing services. The centralized backup of Business Storage, which is accessible by both Windows and Mac OSX operated computers, will take the guesswork out of providing an employee base with backup protection and easy sharing across both platforms. Designed to backup all PC and Mac computers in an organization to a single centralized location, this new NAS includes backup software for Windows machines and is also compatible with Apple’s Time Machine® for backup of Mac OSX computers.

See more about the new offering from Seagate here.

Tech Thursday (3/7): News from Go Daddy, HP, CDW, ViewSonic, Nitro and Seagate

It’s Tech Thursday from Smallbiztechnology.com. Each week we take a quick look at business and technology news and updates for the small business community and shares them with you in a quick and simple round-up.

GO DADDY ACQUIRES M.DOT - BOLSTERS ‘MOBILE FIRST’ STRATEGY

Gives Go Daddy Website Customers a Unique Smartphone Edge

Go Daddy, the Web’s top platform for small businesses, has acquired M.dot Inc., the leading mobile app for small business website creation and management. The addition of M.dot to Go Daddy’s extensive product offerings gives Go Daddy’s 11 million customers an easy way to create and manage compelling mobile websites right from their smartphones.

Over the last three years, mobile Internet traffic has grown more than 10 times from one percent to 13 percent of total Web usage. In that same time period, smartphone and tablet shipments surpassed PCs. Go Daddy customers are using their smartphones to manage their online presence more and more everyday as a means to find and acquire customers. The M.dot acquisition provides Go Daddy’s customers with an innovative platform to capitalize on these trends.

You can check out the full press release announcing this exciting acquisition here.

HP Unveils World’s Fastest Desktop Color Printer

HP Officejet Pro X Series earns Guinness World Records title for unsurpassed speed

HP has announced the worldwide release of the new HP Officejet Pro X, the world’s fastest desktop printer as recognized by Guinness World Records.

Designed to meet the demanding and unique needs of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), the HP Officejet Pro X is revolutionizing business printing by increasing productivity, reducing costs and promoting the value of inkjet technology in the workplace.

Powered by HP PageWide Technologyâ€"the company’s next-generation inkjet platformâ€"the HP Officejet Pro X Series can deliver high-quality professional documents at up to 70 pages per minute (ppm), making it the fastest desktop printer according to Guinness World Records.

Since the first HP Deskjet printer was introduced in 1988, HP has continued to innovate in the inkjet market with the HP Photosmart and HP Officejet brands, and has shipped nearly 600 million inkjet printers.  You can see more about the release of the HP Pro X Series printer here.

CDW Report: Work Imitates Life in Cloud Computing Adoption

Study Finds Personal Use of Cloud Influencing Decisions at Work; More Than Half of Organizations Are Migrating or Planning to Move Services to The Cloud

CDW LLC, a leading provider of technology products and services to business, government, education and healthcare, today announced its 2013 State of the Cloud Report, an assessment of the current and future drivers behind cloud computing adoption in the United States, based on a survey of 1,242 IT professionals familiar with their organization’s plans for the cloud. The report found that more than half of organizations are migrating or planning to migrate specific applications or infrastructure to the cloud, and that personal use of cloud services is significantly influencing organizational decisions.

The report reveals that 73 percent of respondents believe that employees’ personal use of cloud applications and mobile devices has significantly influenced their organizations’ decisions to adopt cloud computing, with 68 percent stating that employee requests for cloud services have increased over the last two years. In fact, two-thirds of the IT professionals surveyed said that their use of cloud applications and services in their non-work lives directly influences their cloud-related recommendations at work.

You can view all of the findings in the CDW report here.

ViewSonic introduces Thin Client and Zero Client Solutions for a High Performance Virtual Desktop

ViewSonic VDI solutions meet the networking needs of educators, SMBs and enterprises alike

ViewSonic Corp., a leading global provider of visual solution products, today announced its lineup of Smart Client solutions including brand new Thin Client and Zero Client product offerings that enable users to access their desktop accounts from a PC server nearly anywhere.

ViewSonic’s Thin Client and Zero Client offerings feature a powerful yet tiny 0.6L design with space saving options such as an included mounting bracket for attachment to any VESA ready monitor. Both categories are optimized and certified for use within the major virtualized environments (Microsoft RemoteFX, Citrix ICA/HDX and VMware PCoIP). Users will benefit from overall ease of deployment, simplified management, enhanced security, better accessibility and a lower total cost of ownership. Paired with TAA Trade Compliance, flexible dual digital (DVI) output support for 1080p multi-monitor usage, the consumption of up to 80 percent less energy, a Kensington lock and a low total cost of ownership, ViewSonic’s flexible and cost effective Smart Clients are the ideal choice to meet the networking needs of educators, SMBs and enterprises alike.

You can see more about the new Thin Client and Zero Client offerings here.

Nitro Adds Key Enhancements with the Latest Release of Nitro Pro

Nitro Pro 8.5, a Complete Replacement for Adobe® Acrobat®

 

Nitro, creator of intuitive solutions that enable people to work smarter with digital documents, today announced the release of Nitro Pro 8.5, the latest version of its award-winning, flagship desktop PDF product.

Nitro Pro provides all the essential tools business users need to work with PDF files and is a true replacement for Adobe Acrobat. Trusted by over 50% of the Fortune 100 and with almost half a million customers worldwide, Nitro Pro is now better than ever with key new features, usability fixes, enhanced performance, and improved user support.

You can read more about the new version features and pricing here.

Seagate Enables Growth of Small Businesses With New Networked Business Storage Solution

Small Businesses Now Have A Private Cloud To Call Their Own

 

Seagate Technology has announced the company’s latest offering of network-attached storage (NAS) for the small office / home office (SOHO), remote mobile office (RMO) and Small Business space. To address the changing needs of a growing small business, Seagate Business Storage will come as a one-drive, two-drive and four-drive configuration, which range in capacities from 2TB to 16TBs.

For business collaboration and backup protection, this new Business Storage by Seagate provides a secure cost-effective alternative to cloud backup and online sharing services. The centralized backup of Business Storage, which is accessible by both Windows and Mac OSX operated computers, will take the guesswork out of providing an employee base with backup protection and easy sharing across both platforms. Designed to backup all PC and Mac computers in an organization to a single centralized location, this new NAS includes backup software for Windows machines and is also compatible with Apple’s Time Machine® for backup of Mac OSX computers.

See more about the new offering from Seagate here.

Tech Thursday (3/7): News from Go Daddy, HP, CDW, ViewSonic, Nitro and Seagate

It’s Tech Thursday from Smallbiztechnology.com. Each week we take a quick look at business and technology news and updates for the small business community and shares them with you in a quick and simple round-up.

GO DADDY ACQUIRES M.DOT - BOLSTERS ‘MOBILE FIRST’ STRATEGY

Gives Go Daddy Website Customers a Unique Smartphone Edge

Go Daddy, the Web’s top platform for small businesses, has acquired M.dot Inc., the leading mobile app for small business website creation and management. The addition of M.dot to Go Daddy’s extensive product offerings gives Go Daddy’s 11 million customers an easy way to create and manage compelling mobile websites right from their smartphones.

Over the last three years, mobile Internet traffic has grown more than 10 times from one percent to 13 percent of total Web usage. In that same time period, smartphone and tablet shipments surpassed PCs. Go Daddy customers are using their smartphones to manage their online presence more and more everyday as a means to find and acquire customers. The M.dot acquisition provides Go Daddy’s customers with an innovative platform to capitalize on these trends.

You can check out the full press release announcing this exciting acquisition here.

HP Unveils World’s Fastest Desktop Color Printer

HP Officejet Pro X Series earns Guinness World Records title for unsurpassed speed

HP has announced the worldwide release of the new HP Officejet Pro X, the world’s fastest desktop printer as recognized by Guinness World Records.

Designed to meet the demanding and unique needs of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), the HP Officejet Pro X is revolutionizing business printing by increasing productivity, reducing costs and promoting the value of inkjet technology in the workplace.

Powered by HP PageWide Technologyâ€"the company’s next-generation inkjet platformâ€"the HP Officejet Pro X Series can deliver high-quality professional documents at up to 70 pages per minute (ppm), making it the fastest desktop printer according to Guinness World Records.

Since the first HP Deskjet printer was introduced in 1988, HP has continued to innovate in the inkjet market with the HP Photosmart and HP Officejet brands, and has shipped nearly 600 million inkjet printers.  You can see more about the release of the HP Pro X Series printer here.

CDW Report: Work Imitates Life in Cloud Computing Adoption

Study Finds Personal Use of Cloud Influencing Decisions at Work; More Than Half of Organizations Are Migrating or Planning to Move Services to The Cloud

CDW LLC, a leading provider of technology products and services to business, government, education and healthcare, today announced its 2013 State of the Cloud Report, an assessment of the current and future drivers behind cloud computing adoption in the United States, based on a survey of 1,242 IT professionals familiar with their organization’s plans for the cloud. The report found that more than half of organizations are migrating or planning to migrate specific applications or infrastructure to the cloud, and that personal use of cloud services is significantly influencing organizational decisions.

The report reveals that 73 percent of respondents believe that employees’ personal use of cloud applications and mobile devices has significantly influenced their organizations’ decisions to adopt cloud computing, with 68 percent stating that employee requests for cloud services have increased over the last two years. In fact, two-thirds of the IT professionals surveyed said that their use of cloud applications and services in their non-work lives directly influences their cloud-related recommendations at work.

You can view all of the findings in the CDW report here.

ViewSonic introduces Thin Client and Zero Client Solutions for a High Performance Virtual Desktop

ViewSonic VDI solutions meet the networking needs of educators, SMBs and enterprises alike

ViewSonic Corp., a leading global provider of visual solution products, today announced its lineup of Smart Client solutions including brand new Thin Client and Zero Client product offerings that enable users to access their desktop accounts from a PC server nearly anywhere.

ViewSonic’s Thin Client and Zero Client offerings feature a powerful yet tiny 0.6L design with space saving options such as an included mounting bracket for attachment to any VESA ready monitor. Both categories are optimized and certified for use within the major virtualized environments (Microsoft RemoteFX, Citrix ICA/HDX and VMware PCoIP). Users will benefit from overall ease of deployment, simplified management, enhanced security, better accessibility and a lower total cost of ownership. Paired with TAA Trade Compliance, flexible dual digital (DVI) output support for 1080p multi-monitor usage, the consumption of up to 80 percent less energy, a Kensington lock and a low total cost of ownership, ViewSonic’s flexible and cost effective Smart Clients are the ideal choice to meet the networking needs of educators, SMBs and enterprises alike.

You can see more about the new Thin Client and Zero Client offerings here.

Nitro Adds Key Enhancements with the Latest Release of Nitro Pro

Nitro Pro 8.5, a Complete Replacement for Adobe® Acrobat®

 

Nitro, creator of intuitive solutions that enable people to work smarter with digital documents, today announced the release of Nitro Pro 8.5, the latest version of its award-winning, flagship desktop PDF product.

Nitro Pro provides all the essential tools business users need to work with PDF files and is a true replacement for Adobe Acrobat. Trusted by over 50% of the Fortune 100 and with almost half a million customers worldwide, Nitro Pro is now better than ever with key new features, usability fixes, enhanced performance, and improved user support.

You can read more about the new version features and pricing here.

Seagate Enables Growth of Small Businesses With New Networked Business Storage Solution

Small Businesses Now Have A Private Cloud To Call Their Own

 

Seagate Technology has announced the company’s latest offering of network-attached storage (NAS) for the small office / home office (SOHO), remote mobile office (RMO) and Small Business space. To address the changing needs of a growing small business, Seagate Business Storage will come as a one-drive, two-drive and four-drive configuration, which range in capacities from 2TB to 16TBs.

For business collaboration and backup protection, this new Business Storage by Seagate provides a secure cost-effective alternative to cloud backup and online sharing services. The centralized backup of Business Storage, which is accessible by both Windows and Mac OSX operated computers, will take the guesswork out of providing an employee base with backup protection and easy sharing across both platforms. Designed to backup all PC and Mac computers in an organization to a single centralized location, this new NAS includes backup software for Windows machines and is also compatible with Apple’s Time Machine® for backup of Mac OSX computers.

See more about the new offering from Seagate here.

3 Steps To Franchise Success in Google+ Local

Google+ Local seems to be a product in perpetual development. Local business owners sometimes find it gut wrenching. For franchises, it can be even worse than that.

Anyone who knows how complex the local search ecosystem has really become has to cringe when they think about how franchises deal with Google+ Local.

But there is hope.

The key to franchise success lies in understanding Google+ Local on a franchisee level.

1) Training is Everything

From an organizational perspective, Google+ Local can be handled in two ways:

• It can be left to franchisees.
• Or be handled by the franchisor.

Either way, everyone wins if all franchisees have a basic understanding of Google+ Local. Especially this - your listing is not exactly yours. It’s Google’s.

This may sound counterintuitive, but Google uses information from many sources to form its listings. Data that a franchisor or franchisees provide Google about their locations is just a source of information for Google. It’s a trusted source, but not the only source. It also means that your franchise locations probably already have listings that Google created.

This is the reason why no amount of franchisor control can save franchisees from issues if they think that only what they provide Google can be a part of their listing. Almost anything a local business does can reflect on their Google+ Local listing.

Google Is Looking For Consistency

You want data (especially name, address and phone number) about franchisee locations to be accurate and consistent everywhere on the Web. It makes Google perceive your locations as legitimate and prominent. This is one of the most important ranking factors in Google local.

Besides that, every brand manager will tell you that you need to be consistent in your messaging.

It Matters What People Say About You

Getting good reviews will not only make people want to do business with you, but also help you rank in local search. Do you have a review strategy in place

2) Avoid Technical Pitfalls

Running Google+ Local for a large number of locations is not fun. Traps are everywhere.

Phone Tracking

Those of us who love to measure everything will get disappointed. Tracking phone calls may hurt your performance in Google+ Local. For call analytics to really work, we need lots of phone numbers. One for Google organic search, one for paid search and then one for Yahoo and Bing. Before you know it - your data consistency is compromised.

Not Keeping Up With Google’s Guidelines

This can be costly. A few months ago, a number of businesses that serve customers at their location decided to merge Google Places listings with Google+ business pages. Many of them lost their listings only to get them back after they deleted their Google+ page.

Google changes their guidelines. They never notified anyone so it’s your job to keep on top of this.

Using Toll Free Numbers

Google doesn’t hate toll free numbers. They just don’t prefer them so you should use local phone numbers whenever possible.

Using Bad Words

Google has developed filters that prevent using specific words and phrases in a listing. Not all of those are obvious. Mike Blumenthal, an expert on Google Places, talks about it in detail here.

Your Business Is Not Eligible

To be more specific, your business model can make your franchisees ineligible for a listing. For example, the following situations make your business not eligible:

• Your location is not permanent.
• You/your staff don’t interact with the customers in person.

If You Centrally Manage A Substantial Number Of Locations

Your only practical option is to bulk verify everything. Google recommends it if you have more than 10 locations. Read Google’s guide here.

If You Don’t Have A Lot Of Locations And Savvy Franchisees

You might consider training your franchisees to manage their own presence. Knowledgeable, motivated franchisees will do more for their local search visibility than any franchisor could. This is not without risk, however.

3) You Will Need Some Help

There is literally no franchisee in the world that can do everything needed for success in local search inhouse.

• Embrace Data Aggregators: Data aggregators like Acxiom, Localeze and InfoGroup are the key to business data consistency that is so important in local search. These aggregators are primary sources of data for Google. They also feed a lot of business directories. This means you can scale your data distribution. However, it’s neither fast nor free.
• Don’t Be Afraid To Use Tools: You don’t really have a choice. You must track performance. It wouldn’t hurt to track reviews, segment the data, and have an ability to create reports. We recommend you give the allLocal tool a test ride.

Things To Remember

Your performance in Google + Local is important. However, it’s not as important as the performance of the website tied to your local listings.

These are the times of blended local search where everything counts for something and nothing can be overlooked.

Map Photo via Shutterstock

NYC Event: Build An Enterprise - Date Your Leads and Marry Your Customers

Are you looking to strengthen your sales and marketing in 2013  If so and you are in the New York City area on March 14th, you won’t want to miss ‘Build an Enterprise - Date Your Leads and Marry Your Customers’.

Join Ramon Ray, Infusionsoft’s sales & marketing evangelist, and Freda Thomas, NY Certified Business Advisor, as they take you through the steps of Lifecycle Marketing and How To Build and Enterprise.

When: March 14th, 8 am - 10:30 am

Where: Virgo Office Suites, 575 Lexington Ave, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10022

 

You can register below or use directly on the event website.

Ramon will teach you Lifecycle Marketing: a 7 step system which helps you attract traffic, capture leads, nurture prospects, convert to sales, deliver and satisfy, upsell and get referrals. Lifecycle Marketing is all about DATING your leads and MARRYING your customers. It’s about converting prospects into customers and customers into loyal customers (repeat buyers).

YOU will leave this clinic with a Lifecycle Marketing planner, customized for YOUR business full of ideas and tips to help you begin Lifecycle Marketing in your own business.

Freda will address some of the inhibitors to building a successful enterprise. She will also introduce tools, techniques, resources plus operational strategies to help you turn your business around so that you can start building the business of your dreams.

Register with discount code LCMVIP to get $10 registration.

SXSW 2013: 3 Things You Will Achieve - Learning, Networking and Human Connections

There are 3 important things you are going to  achieve at large events like SXSW 2013:

1. Learn from attending the demos/panels/Keynotes

2. Networking and Accelerating your outreach to influencers by networking

3. Achieving long lasting human relationships

As a 6th year attendee of SXSW, here are a few tips to achieve the 3 goals:

•  Plan and mark the sessions you want to attend. The sessions are spread out so plan like a college student plans their classes - the topic and the distance of the subsequent sessions if they are back to back. Popular sessions fill up fast, so plan to arrive early. Here’s a useful link to the full SXSW schedule. 
• Networking - The opportunities to network are all over. Events and meetups are great. For small business attending SXSW please come to the Small Business Meetup with Ramon Ray on March 9th and the TechCocktail’s SXSW Startup Celebration. See you there! Take a look at Eventbrite’s SXSW site to see events, many of which may be free or open. You can also check out the Plancast and search for your friends or colleagues to see what events they are attending
  

  Town Crier Photo credit Daily Marauder on Flickr

• Human Connections. I cannot stress how important this is, the guy or gal you met at the street corner listening to the Town crier may be the editor of an important publication or founder of a technology company or the blogger you always wanted to meet. Give your phone and laptop a rest and look around you and for a moment. Forget your mom’s advice of ‘Don’t talk to strangers” and make those strong human connections that will come in useful for your business. 

See you at SXSW2013!

Should You Offer Printing To Your Customers HP Makes it Possible

Hp ePrint started the evolution enabling easier mobile printing - giving printers an email address.

HP recently announced that its Public Print Location (PPL) network  is now available to small businesses who want to offer customers cloud printing services from their mobile phone, tablet or laptop.

The new printer-based HP Public Print Locations application for select HP LaserJet and HP Officejet printers allows businesses such as coffee shops, boutique hotels and retailers to register their printers on the HP PPL network. This allows their customers to securely submit print jobs directly from their device to the printer in the participating business.

So maybe you’ve started offering free (or paid) WiFi to customers visiting your store. Now you might want to consider enabling them to print as well.

Users can access the HP PPL network and geolocate the nearest location to submit jobs from the HP ePrint Service app or by logging on to www.hppublicprint.com.

Should You Offer Printing To Your Customers HP Makes it Possible

Hp ePrint started the evolution enabling easier mobile printing - giving printers an email address.

HP recently announced that its Public Print Location (PPL) network  is now available to small businesses who want to offer customers cloud printing services from their mobile phone, tablet or laptop.

The new printer-based HP Public Print Locations application for select HP LaserJet and HP Officejet printers allows businesses such as coffee shops, boutique hotels and retailers to register their printers on the HP PPL network. This allows their customers to securely submit print jobs directly from their device to the printer in the participating business.

So maybe you’ve started offering free (or paid) WiFi to customers visiting your store. Now you might want to consider enabling them to print as well.

Users can access the HP PPL network and geolocate the nearest location to submit jobs from the HP ePrint Service app or by logging on to www.hppublicprint.com.

NYC Events: Upcoming NYC Business and Technology Events (March 8th - March 14th)

Here is a listing of NYC Business and Technology Events for the upcoming week (2/1 - 2/7) that we thought would be beneficial to our small business community in the Greater NYC area.

Have a business and/or technology event coming up in the New York City area that you’d like us to add to our weekly post  If so, email us at eve...@smallbiztechnology.com.

Do-It-Yourself PR for Small Businesses

March 11th, 2013 - 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM: Green Spaces (5th Floor), 394 Broadway, New York, NY  10013

For entrepreneurs and startup participants of various levels, this workshop is for everyone! Whether you’re looking for tips on talking to journalists or to include innovation in your industry campaigns, feel free to join us.

LGBT Small Business Development Series Part Two: Managing Your Business

March 11th, 2013 - 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM:  Heartland Brewery Chophouse Times Square, 127 W. 43rd St., New York, NY

Are you an effective driver of your business Join the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce LGBT Business Committee on March 11th for part two of three of its Business Accelerator Series and network over cocktails as you hear from a panel of specialists and experienced business owners.

Business Assistance Forum - Getting to the Next Level: Here, There, & Everywhere

March 12th, 2013 - 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM: Baruch College - Newman Conference Center, 151 E. 25th Street, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10010

This FREE event, which kicks off with a networking breakfast at 8 a.m., features resources for small businesses and workshops focused on growing your business, an intro to exporting, and online marketing tools. The workshops were developed with the support of General Assembly and Baruch College’s Division of Continuing and Professional Studies (CAPS).

Performance Marketing Insights

March 12th, 2013 - 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM: Crowne Plaza Hotel - Times Square Manhattan, New York, NY

Performance Markerting Insights is a two-day, content-led, performance marketing conference. Delivering world-class international speakers, programmed within an advanced-level agenda comprising of the latest industry innovation, technology, collaboration and new revenue stream opportunities coupled with unrivaled networking.

30th Annual Conference: Destination Success!

March 14th, 2013 - 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM: 1601 Broadway, New York, NY 10019

Our conference will feature some of the most prolific speakers and experts in the supply chain field. If you are in procurement or sales, you will want to attend. Register before March 1st for the early bird registration fee of $349. Where else in New York City can you earn 7 CEH’s for that price! Speakers include Kate Vitasek of the University of Tennessee, Laks Natarajan - CPO of Marsh McLennan, Julie Kowalski of Spizzerinctum Group, Jack Garrahan - CEO of ClearEdge Partners, and Gary Smith of New York City Housing Authority.

NYC Events: Upcoming NYC Business and Technology Events (March 8th - March 14th)

Here is a listing of NYC Business and Technology Events for the upcoming week (2/1 - 2/7) that we thought would be beneficial to our small business community in the Greater NYC area.

Have a business and/or technology event coming up in the New York City area that you’d like us to add to our weekly post  If so, email us at eve...@smallbiztechnology.com.

Do-It-Yourself PR for Small Businesses

March 11th, 2013 - 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM: Green Spaces (5th Floor), 394 Broadway, New York, NY  10013

For entrepreneurs and startup participants of various levels, this workshop is for everyone! Whether you’re looking for tips on talking to journalists or to include innovation in your industry campaigns, feel free to join us.

LGBT Small Business Development Series Part Two: Managing Your Business

March 11th, 2013 - 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM:  Heartland Brewery Chophouse Times Square, 127 W. 43rd St., New York, NY

Are you an effective driver of your business Join the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce LGBT Business Committee on March 11th for part two of three of its Business Accelerator Series and network over cocktails as you hear from a panel of specialists and experienced business owners.

Business Assistance Forum - Getting to the Next Level: Here, There, & Everywhere

March 12th, 2013 - 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM: Baruch College - Newman Conference Center, 151 E. 25th Street, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10010

This FREE event, which kicks off with a networking breakfast at 8 a.m., features resources for small businesses and workshops focused on growing your business, an intro to exporting, and online marketing tools. The workshops were developed with the support of General Assembly and Baruch College’s Division of Continuing and Professional Studies (CAPS).

Performance Marketing Insights

March 12th, 2013 - 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM: Crowne Plaza Hotel - Times Square Manhattan, New York, NY

Performance Markerting Insights is a two-day, content-led, performance marketing conference. Delivering world-class international speakers, programmed within an advanced-level agenda comprising of the latest industry innovation, technology, collaboration and new revenue stream opportunities coupled with unrivaled networking.

30th Annual Conference: Destination Success!

March 14th, 2013 - 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM: 1601 Broadway, New York, NY 10019

Our conference will feature some of the most prolific speakers and experts in the supply chain field. If you are in procurement or sales, you will want to attend. Register before March 1st for the early bird registration fee of $349. Where else in New York City can you earn 7 CEH’s for that price! Speakers include Kate Vitasek of the University of Tennessee, Laks Natarajan - CPO of Marsh McLennan, Julie Kowalski of Spizzerinctum Group, Jack Garrahan - CEO of ClearEdge Partners, and Gary Smith of New York City Housing Authority.

SXSW 2013: 3 Things You Will Achieve - Learning, Networking and Human Connections

There are 3 important things you are going to  achieve at large events like SXSW 2013:

1. Learn from attending the demos/panels/Keynotes

2. Networking and Accelerating your outreach to influencers by networking

3. Achieving long lasting human relationships

As a 6th year attendee of SXSW, here are a few tips to achieve the 3 goals:

•  Plan and mark the sessions you want to attend. The sessions are spread out so plan like a college student plans their classes - the topic and the distance of the subsequent sessions if they are back to back. Popular sessions fill up fast, so plan to arrive early. Here’s a useful link to the full SXSW schedule. 
• Networking - The opportunities to network are all over. Events and meetups are great. For small business attending SXSW please come to the Small Business Meetup with Ramon Ray on March 9th and the TechCocktail’s SXSW Startup Celebration. See you there! Take a look at Eventbrite’s SXSW site to see events, many of which may be free or open. You can also check out the Plancast and search for your friends or colleagues to see what events they are attending
  

  Town Crier Photo credit Daily Marauder on Flickr

• Human Connections. I cannot stress how important this is, the guy or gal you met at the street corner listening to the Town crier may be the editor of an important publication or founder of a technology company or the blogger you always wanted to meet. Give your phone and laptop a rest and look around you and for a moment. Forget your mom’s advice of ‘Don’t talk to strangers” and make those strong human connections that will come in useful for your business. 

See you at SXSW2013!

10 Reasons I’m Attending Infusioncon: Ultimate Small Business Marketing Conference of the Year

Infusioncon is one of the (if not THE) biggest and best marketing conferences, focused on small businesses.

Produced by Infusionsoft , Infusioncon is a 3 day conference, in Scottsdale, Arizona, where over 2,000 attendees learn (from the main stage and breakout sessions) and share with each other (during fabulous luncheons and breaks) about how to grow their businesses through sales and marketing.

What makes Infusioncon special are the awesome speakers, awesome attendees (real business owners) and just the overall community of small business marketers.

I’ve attended Infusioncon 2 or 3 times, and had the honor of speaking at one. Each time, I’ve learned something new (well actually a lot of things new).

Nicole Shoots, events manager for Infusionsoft said, “We want our small business attendees to leave InfusionCon feeling inspired by the stories and ideas our speakers share on stage.”

Some of the speakers you’ll find at Infusioncon include:

• Daymond John - entreprenuer and Sharktank Panelist
• David Allenâ€"Author of three international bestselling books; Getting Things Done: The Art Of Stress-Free Productivity, Ready for Anything, and Making It All Work: Winning at the Game of Work and Business of Life
• Jay Baerâ€"President of Convince & Convert and co-author of The NOW Revolution: 7 Shifts to Make Your Business Faster, Smarter, and More Social, a leading book on social-business and an Amazon category best-seller
• Mari Smith -Author of The New Relationship Marketing and co-author of Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day. Smith is a renowned social media thought leader and one of the world’s foremost experts on Facebook marketing
• Clate Mask - Infusionsoft’s inspirational CEO and top visionary, who has led the company through 12 years of innovation and raised $71M in funding

In addition to helping my team of fellow Infusionites produce the best Infusioncon ever - I’ll be covering the event through a steady stream of Tweets and plan to produce several videos and blog posts containing insight from Infusioncon.

So here’s 10 reasons why Infusioncon is a must attend event:

1. learn from your peers
2. learn from expert speakers
3. learn from experts who are not speaking but attending (small business influencers and others)
4. network and find great partners to mutually grow your business
5. learn all you can about social content marketing
6. learn all you can about CRM and marketing automation
7. have fun
8. get a jolt of encouragement in those 3 days to build your business for the next 3 years
9. bring an employee and get a double education for you and them
10. share your knowledge with others - the more you share the more you learn

10 Reasons I’m Attending Infusioncon: Ultimate Small Business Marketing Conference of the Year

Infusioncon is one of the (if not THE) biggest and best marketing conferences, focused on small businesses.

Produced by Infusionsoft , Infusioncon is a 3 day conference, in Scottsdale, Arizona, where over 2,000 attendees learn (from the main stage and breakout sessions) and share with each other (during fabulous luncheons and breaks) about how to grow their businesses through sales and marketing.

What makes Infusioncon special are the awesome speakers, awesome attendees (real business owners) and just the overall community of small business marketers.

I’ve attended Infusioncon 2 or 3 times, and had the honor of speaking at one. Each time, I’ve learned something new (well actually a lot of things new).

Nicole Shoots, events manager for Infusionsoft said, “We want our small business attendees to leave InfusionCon feeling inspired by the stories and ideas our speakers share on stage.”

Some of the speakers you’ll find at Infusioncon include:

• Daymond John - entreprenuer and Sharktank Panelist
• David Allenâ€"Author of three international bestselling books; Getting Things Done: The Art Of Stress-Free Productivity, Ready for Anything, and Making It All Work: Winning at the Game of Work and Business of Life
• Jay Baerâ€"President of Convince & Convert and co-author of The NOW Revolution: 7 Shifts to Make Your Business Faster, Smarter, and More Social, a leading book on social-business and an Amazon category best-seller
• Mari Smith -Author of The New Relationship Marketing and co-author of Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day. Smith is a renowned social media thought leader and one of the world’s foremost experts on Facebook marketing
• Clate Mask - Infusionsoft’s inspirational CEO and top visionary, who has led the company through 12 years of innovation and raised $71M in funding

In addition to helping my team of fellow Infusionites produce the best Infusioncon ever - I’ll be covering the event through a steady stream of Tweets and plan to produce several videos and blog posts containing insight from Infusioncon.

So here’s 10 reasons why Infusioncon is a must attend event:

1. learn from your peers
2. learn from expert speakers
3. learn from experts who are not speaking but attending (small business influencers and others)
4. network and find great partners to mutually grow your business
5. learn all you can about social content marketing
6. learn all you can about CRM and marketing automation
7. have fun
8. get a jolt of encouragement in those 3 days to build your business for the next 3 years
9. bring an employee and get a double education for you and them
10. share your knowledge with others - the more you share the more you learn

NYC Event: Build An Enterprise - Date Your Leads and Marry Your Customers

Are you looking to strengthen your sales and marketing in 2013  If so and you are in the New York City area on March 14th, you won’t want to miss ‘Build an Enterprise - Date Your Leads and Marry Your Customers’.

Join Ramon Ray, Infusionsoft’s sales & marketing evangelist, and Freda Thomas, NY Certified Business Advisor, as they take you through the steps of Lifecycle Marketing and How To Build and Enterprise.

When: March 14th, 8 am - 10:30 am

Where: Virgo Office Suites, 575 Lexington Ave, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10022

 

You can register below or use directly on the event website.

Ramon will teach you Lifecycle Marketing: a 7 step system which helps you attract traffic, capture leads, nurture prospects, convert to sales, deliver and satisfy, upsell and get referrals. Lifecycle Marketing is all about DATING your leads and MARRYING your customers. It’s about converting prospects into customers and customers into loyal customers (repeat buyers).

YOU will leave this clinic with a Lifecycle Marketing planner, customized for YOUR business full of ideas and tips to help you begin Lifecycle Marketing in your own business.

Freda will address some of the inhibitors to building a successful enterprise. She will also introduce tools, techniques, resources plus operational strategies to help you turn your business around so that you can start building the business of your dreams.

Register with discount code LCMVIP to get $10 registration.

10 Reasons I’m Attending Infusioncon: Ultimate Small Business Marketing Conference of the Year

Infusioncon is one of the (if not THE) biggest and best marketing conferences, focused on small businesses.

Produced by Infusionsoft , Infusioncon is a 3 day conference, in Scottsdale, Arizona, where over 2,000 attendees learn (from the main stage and breakout sessions) and share with each other (during fabulous luncheons and breaks) about how to grow their businesses through sales and marketing.

What makes Infusioncon special are the awesome speakers, awesome attendees (real business owners) and just the overall community of small business marketers.

I’ve attended Infusioncon 2 or 3 times, and had the honor of speaking at one. Each time, I’ve learned something new (well actually a lot of things new).

Nicole Shoots, events manager for Infusionsoft said, “We want our small business attendees to leave InfusionCon feeling inspired by the stories and ideas our speakers share on stage.”

Some of the speakers you’ll find at Infusioncon include:

• Daymond John - entreprenuer and Sharktank Panelist
• David Allenâ€"Author of three international bestselling books; Getting Things Done: The Art Of Stress-Free Productivity, Ready for Anything, and Making It All Work: Winning at the Game of Work and Business of Life
• Jay Baerâ€"President of Convince & Convert and co-author of The NOW Revolution: 7 Shifts to Make Your Business Faster, Smarter, and More Social, a leading book on social-business and an Amazon category best-seller
• Mari Smith -Author of The New Relationship Marketing and co-author of Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day. Smith is a renowned social media thought leader and one of the world’s foremost experts on Facebook marketing
• Clate Mask - Infusionsoft’s inspirational CEO and top visionary, who has led the company through 12 years of innovation and raised $71M in funding

In addition to helping my team of fellow Infusionites produce the best Infusioncon ever - I’ll be covering the event through a steady stream of Tweets and plan to produce several videos and blog posts containing insight from Infusioncon.

So here’s 10 reasons why Infusioncon is a must attend event:

1. learn from your peers
2. learn from expert speakers
3. learn from experts who are not speaking but attending (small business influencers and others)
4. network and find great partners to mutually grow your business
5. learn all you can about social content marketing
6. learn all you can about CRM and marketing automation
7. have fun
8. get a jolt of encouragement in those 3 days to build your business for the next 3 years
9. bring an employee and get a double education for you and them
10. share your knowledge with others - the more you share the more you learn

ICO issues advice on BYOD data management and security

A bring your own device (BYOD) policy raises a number of data protection concerns due to its ownership, and data controllers must ensure that all data processing remains in compliance with the Data Protection Act, the ICO has said.

Releasing guidance for BYOD policies, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said that in these cases, the fact that a device is owned by the user rather than the data controller means greater emphasis is placed on compliance.

“Particularly in the event of a security breach, you must be able to demonstrate that you have secured, controlled or deleted all personal data on a particular device,” it said.

The ICO said that in the case of BYOD, "protecting data in the event of loss or theft of the device will need to be considered but not to the exclusion of other risks" and "data controllers must also remain mindful of the personal usage of such devices and technical and organisations used to protect personal data must remain proportionate to and justified by real benefits that will be delivered".

In the event of permitting a BYOD policy, it said that a controller will need to assess: what type of data is held; where data may be stored; how it is transferred; potential for data leakage; blurring of personal and business use; the device's security capacities; what to do if the person who owns the device leaves their employment; and how to deal with the loss, theft, failure and support of a device.

The ICO guidance also detailed the security implications of a personal device used for corporate purposes, as well as on suspicious or malicious applications and the transferring of data.

“A major risk to the security of the data in transit will be a ‘man-in-the-middle' attack, or other types of interception carried out during the transfer process,” it said.

“However, you should not ignore other risks of disclosure, such as an email being sent to the wrong address.

“Forcing all traffic through an encrypted channel such as a VPN, or HTTPS for individual services, can offer some security when using an untrusted connection, for example an open WiFi network in a coffee shop. However, if you are offering a VPN connection back through the corporate network you should be mindful of any internet monitoring software you have in operation, especially during periods of personal use.”

Simon Rice, group manager (technology) at the ICO, said: “Our guidance aims to help organisations develop their own policies by highlighting the issues they must consider. For example, does the organisation know where personal data is being stored at any one time Do they have measures in place to keep the information accurate and up-to-date Is there a fail safe system so that the device can be wiped remotely if lost or stolen” 

ICO issues advice on BYOD data management and security

A bring your own device (BYOD) policy raises a number of data protection concerns due to its ownership, and data controllers must ensure that all data processing remains in compliance with the Data Protection Act, the ICO has said.

Releasing guidance for BYOD policies, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said that in these cases, the fact that a device is owned by the user rather than the data controller means greater emphasis is placed on compliance.

“Particularly in the event of a security breach, you must be able to demonstrate that you have secured, controlled or deleted all personal data on a particular device,” it said.

The ICO said that in the case of BYOD, "protecting data in the event of loss or theft of the device will need to be considered but not to the exclusion of other risks" and "data controllers must also remain mindful of the personal usage of such devices and technical and organisations used to protect personal data must remain proportionate to and justified by real benefits that will be delivered".

In the event of permitting a BYOD policy, it said that a controller will need to assess: what type of data is held; where data may be stored; how it is transferred; potential for data leakage; blurring of personal and business use; the device's security capacities; what to do if the person who owns the device leaves their employment; and how to deal with the loss, theft, failure and support of a device.

The ICO guidance also detailed the security implications of a personal device used for corporate purposes, as well as on suspicious or malicious applications and the transferring of data.

“A major risk to the security of the data in transit will be a ‘man-in-the-middle' attack, or other types of interception carried out during the transfer process,” it said.

“However, you should not ignore other risks of disclosure, such as an email being sent to the wrong address.

“Forcing all traffic through an encrypted channel such as a VPN, or HTTPS for individual services, can offer some security when using an untrusted connection, for example an open WiFi network in a coffee shop. However, if you are offering a VPN connection back through the corporate network you should be mindful of any internet monitoring software you have in operation, especially during periods of personal use.”

Simon Rice, group manager (technology) at the ICO, said: “Our guidance aims to help organisations develop their own policies by highlighting the issues they must consider. For example, does the organisation know where personal data is being stored at any one time Do they have measures in place to keep the information accurate and up-to-date Is there a fail safe system so that the device can be wiped remotely if lost or stolen” 

Tips and Tricks For You to Research the Social Web

Without a doubt, research is incredibly important in every industry. You not only want to research a specific topic in your field or a topic that interests you, but you want to research - how to research.

It’s research that powers Google and gives search engines such importance. In the world of online marketing, there is plenty of talk that discusses how to improve social media marketing or tips to complete a certain action regarding social media.

But it’s always good to take a step back and determine where you’re really finding this information.

How do you research social media and the social web

Tips and Tricks to Research the Social Web

Researching the social phenomenon is all about understanding the resources available. It’s no secret that social media is becoming more and more important for businesses. So as you can imagine, there are many different resources out there to help make your life easier. Unfortunately, there are so many resources available that things can get overwhelming.

It helps to break up some of these resources into sections. Below details different aspects of social web research and some of the most popular ways to make sure you’re taking advantage.

Forums and Q&A Tools:

Learning more about social media for your business often involves finding forums and having places to ask questions. Ironically, using social media to learn about social media is a great trick:

LinkedIn Groups

LinkedIn groups and communities are often great ways to ask questions and get answers from those in the social media industry. (Or your industry, for that matter.) It’s also great because you can see exactly whom these answers are coming from.

Quora

Another great place to ask questions. I once asked a question about a service called BuzzStream, and I received several well thought out answers. One from the owner of the tool.

WikiAnswers

Here you can ask questions and usually get straightforward answers. You don’t always know if the answers are reliable because anyone can get involved. But it often works very well for basic inquiries that you need an answer to fast.

Trends and Search in Social Media:

You want to know where to go to search for different things regarding social media on the social web and you want to know where you can go to really find trends:

Alltop

This is one of my favorite resources when it comes to researching social media and the social web. It splits up different blogs and different categories to help let you know what’s going on across the Web. It’s easy to navigation and easy to understand.

Google Custom Search

This is an easy way to use Google. But customize it so that you’re only seeing results from blogs or social networks that may have the answer.

Technorati

This is another resource you can use to see what is being said across the social web. It’s easy to use, so you don’t have to sift through Google results. Instead, you can head right over and know that you’re getting the most recent and up-to-date information. Not just an article that happens to have a lot of backlinks.

Google Trends

This is probably the best way to see what is trending in social media on the social web.

Organizational Tools:

It’s important to remain organized now that more and more social networks are beginning to emerge, all with different expertise. A few tools to use include:

Dashboards

There are many different social media dashboards such as TweetDeck, Hootsuite, etc. You can use these to keep your research organized, which should help you research successfully.

Google Reader

This is a great tool to help you keep all of the information you find from different RSS feeds organized.

Evernote

This is one of the most popular research organization tools no matter what it is you’re trying to research. It helps you take notes when you’re on the go as well as when you’re online.  Here’s a tutorial on how to use Evernote to help you keep your blog active by collecting and storing researched items. There’s also an Evernote business app available.

Social Media Tips:

Below are a few miscellaneous tips about researching the social web.

Subscribe smart

Many businesses sign up for subscriptions or RSS feeds of websites that might be of value. But this can get cluttered and turn into a situation where you don’t read anything. Go through all of your subscriptions monthly and make sure you’re only following relevant content.

Google Alerts

Setting up Google Alerts is a great way to keep your research going even after you may have given up or found what you needed. It’s an easy way to get an email every time your topic of interest is mentioned on the social web.

RSS Feeds

Waiting around for alerts and going through and researching is great. But it doesn’t hurt to have an RSS feed setup to help do some of this collecting for you.

Do you have any tips or tools that you use to help you find information faster or easier

Surfing Internet Photo via Shutterstock

NYC Events: Upcoming NYC Business and Technology Events (March 8th - March 14th)

Here is a listing of NYC Business and Technology Events for the upcoming week (2/1 - 2/7) that we thought would be beneficial to our small business community in the Greater NYC area.

Have a business and/or technology event coming up in the New York City area that you’d like us to add to our weekly post  If so, email us at eve...@smallbiztechnology.com.

Do-It-Yourself PR for Small Businesses

March 11th, 2013 - 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM: Green Spaces (5th Floor), 394 Broadway, New York, NY  10013

For entrepreneurs and startup participants of various levels, this workshop is for everyone! Whether you’re looking for tips on talking to journalists or to include innovation in your industry campaigns, feel free to join us.

LGBT Small Business Development Series Part Two: Managing Your Business

March 11th, 2013 - 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM:  Heartland Brewery Chophouse Times Square, 127 W. 43rd St., New York, NY

Are you an effective driver of your business Join the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce LGBT Business Committee on March 11th for part two of three of its Business Accelerator Series and network over cocktails as you hear from a panel of specialists and experienced business owners.

Business Assistance Forum - Getting to the Next Level: Here, There, & Everywhere

March 12th, 2013 - 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM: Baruch College - Newman Conference Center, 151 E. 25th Street, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10010

This FREE event, which kicks off with a networking breakfast at 8 a.m., features resources for small businesses and workshops focused on growing your business, an intro to exporting, and online marketing tools. The workshops were developed with the support of General Assembly and Baruch College’s Division of Continuing and Professional Studies (CAPS).

Performance Marketing Insights

March 12th, 2013 - 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM: Crowne Plaza Hotel - Times Square Manhattan, New York, NY

Performance Markerting Insights is a two-day, content-led, performance marketing conference. Delivering world-class international speakers, programmed within an advanced-level agenda comprising of the latest industry innovation, technology, collaboration and new revenue stream opportunities coupled with unrivaled networking.

30th Annual Conference: Destination Success!

March 14th, 2013 - 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM: 1601 Broadway, New York, NY 10019

Our conference will feature some of the most prolific speakers and experts in the supply chain field. If you are in procurement or sales, you will want to attend. Register before March 1st for the early bird registration fee of $349. Where else in New York City can you earn 7 CEH’s for that price! Speakers include Kate Vitasek of the University of Tennessee, Laks Natarajan - CPO of Marsh McLennan, Julie Kowalski of Spizzerinctum Group, Jack Garrahan - CEO of ClearEdge Partners, and Gary Smith of New York City Housing Authority.