Category Archives: Optimize Sales & Marketing

Social media for pharmacies: let Optimize Business guide you

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Optimize Business understands pharmacyCommunities
As your business pushes through the scripts, orders the retail and behind the counter stock, balances the cash, pays the bills, drops off the banking and tries to spend time with talking with every customer….  should you be embarking on a new marketing strategy to embrace social media in your pharmacy?

Social media for pharmacies
Social media can be overwhelming at times: content (photographs, images and text), online communities, tone of voice, moderation, legal considerations, time management, public verses personal posts, timely responses to customers… Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter… a blog? Where should you start? Do you even need to start using social media?

We understand social media
Pharmacy is a unique business and every pharmacy is unique. Don’t jump into social media with out carefully selecting what best suits your needs. Nothing is worse than a business that started Facebook or Tweeting but has not done an update in the last year or two. It is part of a pharmacy’s public face, just like a shop window, it is either neat and tidy, or run-down and tired. Even worse perhaps, there is no shop window for your Pharmacy! We have great experience with social media, let us help you!

Let us guide you through the process
Pharmacists are called on to do a lot of things. Let Optimize Business help you assess your business needs for social media. We’ll sit down with you to understand your customers, your opportunities for social and then we either train up you and/or your staff or you can hand it all over to Optimize Business for a complete outsourced solution.

Our approach
We are flexible and will work to meet your individual needs. We will also tell you straight out if we think social media is not right for you. We will also talk to you about social media advertising, it is constantly changing but provides direct access to local customers you choose to communicate with.

  • Needs analysis
  • Strategy development
  • Initial account configuration
  • Content creation
  • Outsource 100% or in-house training
  • Build & engage your community
  • Social advertising
  • Grow your business!

To take advantage of current promotional offers, enter your details below and we will contact you:

What is Global Entrepreneurship Week? #GEW

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#GEWNovember 18 – 24 is an exciting time each year for the start-up, innovation, education, entrepreneur and broader communities of the world: it is Global Entrepreneurship Week (#GEW). And it is really “global” in every sense of the word.

The growing popularity of these events is partly due to the global connectivity of social media networks. Never before have so many buddy entrepreneurs had so much opportunity to use ‘free’ global communications tools to inspire, share and make connections, experiences and ideas. Twitter is buzzing with the hashtag #GEW, #GEW2013 and other country specific hashtags and LinkedIn provides opportunities for targeted networking: social media helps develop international relationships, introduced through #GEW, that many innovators will find as they pursue their goals.

So what is #GEN? Perhaps the best way for me, as a social media strategist, is to use social media (YouTube) and let the international organisers explain for themselves:

#GEW is here. Jump on, jump in or take that first step – it may just change your life! If nothing else, you will find following all the tweets and other social media posts and events an inspiring spectacle in its own right! So, enjoy and feel free to contact Optimize Business if you have any questions or queries. Here is the Australian GEW page link:

#GEW

Twitter for small business

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Is your small business on Twitter? Do you understand how Twitter works and why so many small businesses have jumped onto Twitter?

The above two minute video from Twitter gives a basic understanding of how you might use this social media for your organisation or business. Optimize Business uses Twitter as the main form of social media to engage, communicate ideas, develop business relationships and keep abreast of the latest news or trends in business.

Social media is an investment in our brand. Five years ago, people would use a search engine like Google to find your website, learn about your business and assess if they want to do business with you. Today, consumers and businesses also look at your social media presence to gauge “who you are”: YouTube is now one of the most popular search platforms and Facebook, Twitter and other forms of social media are also being used to find businesses.

Unlike Google and Yahoo!, if you are not ‘present’ in Twitter (for example), you will not appear in the results of a search that is done within Twitter. Your business will be Missing in Action in the Twitterspere, this is unless your customers are talking about you (good or bad!), or worse, your competitors are filling your void.

The absence of “your voice” from social media platforms, like Twitter, says something to the world about your business. For those who have used social media to find you, or to talk to you, your absence from their preferred channel will be noted and probably not in a good way.

It is important not to just jump into social media. You should speak to other businesses that use social media, and make sure it is done in a planned way, as part of a social media strategy that suits your brand, your business and your customers. A failed social media presence is perhaps even worse that no social media at all.

Unlike Facebook, LinkedIn and other forms of social media, each “Tweet” is limited to only a 140 characters.  Other forms of social media have larger word limits. Tweets therefore need to be short, engaging and easy to understand. The 140 character limit is quite helpful in helping you take the ‘padding’ out of your business communications.

So back to Twitter. It is a great tool for start-ups, small and large businesses alike. You can easily share (tweet) links to videos, blogs, webpages and photos to provide richer content with your short Twitter ‘broadcasts.’ If you content is engaging, you will probably find each tweet brings in additional new followers and people may share your communications by retweeting (RT) your message.

Twitter is a free social media tool that provides an incredible networking and communication channel into the hands of even the tiniest business, NGO or NFP. You can do a lot of targeted ‘campaigns’ yourself for free:

Twitter can provide almost perfect customer targeting, for free! Just search for a topic relevant to your organisation on Twitter.com and look at the people that are engaging in discussions or following others on that topic. Then search through the “followers” of relevant people and you will find people, businesses and organisations that are interested in the topic. These people will therefore be likely to follow you back if you follow them. Be a little selective in who you follow (avoid those who you would not really want following you) and you can easily build up your own followers by simply following those with common interests to your own.

Businesses, large and small, can also pay to have their products or services promoted on Twitter, via promoted “accounts” and promoted “tweets”. This video gives you a good sense of how you can pay to promote your organisation, but most new Twitter users would initially try the free approach outlined in the paragraph above.

For more information, Twitter publishes a great guide to get your organisation started on this exciting social media platform: Twitter for Small Business.

FreshBooks 2012 Andrew McIntosh CPA Optimize Business @Optimize_Biz

Twitter for Business: link your tweets to appear on Facebook!

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Get your Tweets posted on your Facebook page automatically! It is easy to set-up, go to the Twitter Help Center to learn more.

The Facebook Settings page (when you are logged in as a profile Administrator in Facebook) has a “Link to Twitter” button.  This is a good way to post onto Twitter if your primary social media tool is Facebook.

But remember the most Twitter users will see of your Facebook post is 140 characters.  This means you need to fashion your opening Facebook wording carefully to still make sense once it posts on Twitter. The link to your Facebook post in the Tweet will also decrease your available characters.

FreshBooksOptimize Business suggests doing the reverse: log into your Twitter account and then have your Tweets automatically post onto your Facebook page. This will mean that you have more control over the final text outcome that is communicated on both social media platforms. You can carefully craft your Tweet to 140 characters and this will then look and ‘feel’ better across both mediums.

You will probably find you end up doing more Facebook entries as well, because avid tweeters often end up tweeting more from their mobile devices…. so why not communicate to your Facebook crowd too!

If you want big, attention grabbing photographs or links to interesting articles, simply post direct to Facebook to ensure you do not get a thumbnail of the Twitter photograph.

© 2013 Andrew McIntosh CPA Optimize Business @Optimize_Biz

LinkedIn Badges: Are you maximising your social media?

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When did you last do a strategic review of your social media profile?  Are you missing basic opportunities to get your branding, your unique selling proposition or experience in front of your existing and potential customers?  Linkedin is now used extensively throughout the world as the premier social media tool to keep professionals connected and in touch.
View Andrew McIntosh CPA's profile on LinkedInA unique LinkedIn Badge has a personalised web link to your LinkedIn profile and is free and easy to create. Just login to LinkedIn and type or copy in this address www.linkedin.com/profile/profile-badges and you can generate badges like the one above. If you press the ‘badge’ above it takes you directly to my LinkedIn profile from this WordPress blog which you are currently reading.

LinkedIn has powerful marketing and profiling capabilities, but even if you don’t go for these more sophisticated marketing approaches, what external image are you portraying if you do not leverage the simplest social media functionality?

Three quick and easy steps to upgrade your profile online:

  • Promote your profile by adding a badge (press this link when you are logged into LinkedIn and it will take you to your unique buttons) – do this on your blog, online resume, or website. See the various example formats below.
  • Customise your public Linkedin public URL profile – for example, use http://au.linkedin.com/in/AndrewMcIntoshCPA instead of something like http://www.linkedin.com/pub/andrew-mcintosh-cpa/11/633/626 that contains a lot of random numbers and is obviously system generated
  • Update your public profile – if you are running a business, you will want the public to see who you, your experience and what you do.

View Andrew McIntosh CPA's LinkedIn profileView Andrew McIntosh CPA’s profile

View Andrew McIntosh CPA's profile on LinkedIn

If you liked this Tip, don’t forget to comment or follow this blog.  I can also be followed on Twitter at @Optimize_Biz . © 2012 Andrew McIntosh CPA Optimize Business

Cheat Sheets for Social Media Marketing Dummies

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Most small / medium businesses still don’t get social media or social media marketing (SMM) . Start with the basics, as even seasoned Marketers may not understand Pinterest, Google+ or Twitter. SMM for Dummies Cheat Sheets are a great starting point for your clients and stakeholders who need introductory knowledge: Social Media Marketing for Dummies Cheat Sheets

In the coming weeks OptimizeBusiness.org will showcase a best in class, hosted SMM system for Australian SMB, NGO and NFPs ready to run with social media @Optimize_Biz

Need a store on your Facebook page?

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Product information from Payvment’s Facebook page.

If you find you are driving interactions with your customers and fans via Facebook, why not add a store to your Facebook page?

Didn’t think it was possible?  Well, applications, or “Apps” as they are affectionately know as, are a real revolution in the functionality of software these days.  From social medias like Facebook, to accounting software like Xero, you can get an App for just about anything to enhance or quasi-customise your software purchase.

One such App is Payvment. Currently offering a free online store to Facebook users, its a god send to businesses that have developed a heavy Facebook following.  Many business face the customer experience problem of moving customers from social media to webpages or external shops or payment providers, but Payvment is an example of a great way to enhance your Facebook experience and secure a secure a sale or lead in the process.  Check out Payvment.com on the web, via Facebook or Twitter.

Read more about online stores in Facebook in the NY Times. © 2012 Andrew McIntosh CPA, OptimizeBusiness.org

SMB’s – it’s your free video channel…. don’t lose the wonder!

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Imagine it is late last century (say 1992) and you were told you could have your own video channel and distribution network to build your brand, engage your customers and advertise to those who care.

Two decades ago, what would you have given to have this capability for your small or medium business?

It’s incredible, it is free, and twenty years later, how many business owners just ignore this amazing tool?  How much value are they leaving on the table, when two decades ago they would have given an arm and a leg for these capabilities!

Imagine that futuristic world from 1992, now even richer with handheld devices that stream an amazing colour TV image; can help you find products, services or friend just around the corner when that would have taken a phone box, a good phone book and 20 minutes back then…..

Oh the possibilities of mobile video for your own business!

So please don’t lose the wonder at these amazing capabilities that surround us!  Seize the day again and re-look at your opportunities, especially those are just waiting for you on social media tools like YouTube!

You would have given an arm and leg for this capability 20 years ago, so don’t ignore it now it’s free….. SMB’s, please don’t lose the wonder of what is right in front of you!

Check out this video for some new inspiration and don’t forget to share any creative new thoughts on OptimizeBusiness.org:  YouTube – its your free channel…. are you using it?

If you need help or advice with creating your own SMB channel or video content, contact Andrew McIntosh CPA via the social media of your choice…. or call on good old-fashioned mobile phone to Australia +61 4 48516151.

© 2012 Andrew McIntosh CPA, OptimizeBusiness.org

Can you hear your customers? They are talking about you!

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Great food attracts a lot of customers. How many are on smart phones? How many are letting their friends know they are enjoying a burger at your restaurant… and how would you know? As it turns out, there could be hundreds or thousands of social media ‘check-ins’ at your business.

“Unfortunately, some business managers and owners don’t even know their customers are trying to talk to them.  One Templestowe business has hundreds of fans and over 10,000 customers using social media to tell others they were at this local business…

Sadly that restaurant owner is not using social media to talk to this captive & loyal audience – the ‘Fans’ of the restaurant – in the channel they chose to communicate with the business”

Ask us about our complimentary 30 Minute Social Media Assessment for your business.  If Social Media is for you, sign up before 30 June 2012 for our special introductory offer to get our Entry-level Business Facebook package at a 50% saving.  Call us now on 0448516151. Location based services of social media sites are generating millions of check-ins and ‘likes’ for small businesses.  Unfortunately, small and medium businesses are way behind big business in understanding this new social phenomenon.  It is also clearly visible to social media users that do ‘check-in’ that your business either understands social media or ‘just doesn’t get it.’  Give Optimize Business a call to find out how this impacts your business and sign up for our 30 Minute Social Media Assessment.