Author: Sam Allcock

“It is chiefly through books that we enjoy intercourse with superior minds. In the best books, great men talk to us, give us their most precious thoughts, and pour their souls into ours.” – William Ellery Channing As with most things in life, through reading is where people learn. And in business, a person’s ability to continuously learn is something that separates a great entrepreneur from one who is not. For you to survive in the ever-changing world of business, it’s critical that you arm yourself with knowledge. Business books are relatively cheap and are still an excellent source of…

Every business out there has something in common — they all started with an idea. Whether it’s your passion or something that you unexpectedly thought of, a business idea is where it all begins. Coming up with one can be easy for some while others may find it difficult. Naturally, the next steps after you’ve come up with a brilliant business idea is to make a business plan and execute it. You start doing your research to find out if there’s a market for your ‘future business’ which includes knowing who your potential competitors are. Then out of nowhere, you’re suddenly hit…

The ROI of employee training and development done right is massive. To be specific, employees who receive formalized training generate 218% more income than their untrained peers! If you haven’t formed a learning and development strategy for your workforce yet, this brief guide will show you how to get a solid start in three steps. Learn how to create a skills inventory, assess internal and external training resources, and incorporate adult learning principles into your training content. Let’s get started! Start Strong By Creating A Skills Inventory Job histories do an excellent job of listing the accomplishments of your employees. But a skills inventory…

We love seeing how the world’s most popular brands make waves in social media. We love picking apart their successful campaigns, how they generated tons of engagement, and more in between. But social media fails can teach us as much as #wins do. Seeing others’ mistakes is also a stern reminder that our social media presence is a double-edged sword. Let’s take a look at four of the biggest fails from big names we are all too familiar with. Wendy’s Ill-Advised Use Of Memes A few days into 2017, the international food restaurant chain sent out a tweet featuring Pepe the frog in response…

You can’t ignore user-generated content anymore. More than 95% of businesses around the globe are on social media And they’re all in the game to win! In 2017 alone, businesses in the United States spent $13.5 billion in social media marketing, making SMM the third largest branch of digital marketing. Moreover, the figure is likely to reach $17.3 billion in 2019. The competition for the attention of social media users is cutthroat – and it will only get stiffer. But the growing number of competitors and the diminishing share of voice are not the only problems for small business owners. Even more alarming… Customers…

More than 30% of users prefer social media customer service over telephone and mail. Unsurprisingly, estimates expect 90% of businesses to use networks like Twitter and Facebook to provide service and resolve issues. Yes, social customer service will become the bare minimum people expect from you from a support perspective. And you better be outstanding at it if you want to thrive. Read on and discover how to provide stellar service and an endearing experience to your clients and prospects, complete with real-life examples from popular brands. 1. Provide Fast Responses To Inquiries How soon should you reply to customer service questions…

With 71% of global internet users on social media, it isn’t surprising to see 96% of the businesses get on networks like Twitter and Facebook. Yes, the competition is stiff and reaching. And with organic reach dwindling by the day, reaching your target audience will only become harder. But that doesn’t mean you should give up on social. One benefit of social networks becoming a mainstream marketing channel is that social platforms now have the features you need to cut through the noise and get noticed. And in this post, we will explore how paid social media ads can help you do…

You already know that your business should not only have social presence. You must also practice social listening and monitoring to discover user sentiment about your brand and industry. But doing so is easier said than done. Case in point: Twitters users send out 6,000 tweets every second, or around 500 million tweets daily. On Facebook, people upload 136,000 photos, post 510,000 comments, and publish 293,000 status updates every minute. Keeping up with the sheer number of content and conversations on social media as well as the speed at which they come and go is impossible…unless you have a tool to help you filter…

Hashtags run the world of Twitter, and the right business hashtags can help you develop and grow as a biz owner. Yes. Hashtags don’t just help you reach new users and readers. And while they help you track Twitter conversations about your brand, hashtags can also let you in on the latest trends in your industry or the best practices for different areas of a business-building. In this brief post, we will look at four Twitter hashtags that can “up” your business savvy – whether you’re looking to sharpen your marketing chops, close more sales, or run a well-oiled team. We’ve…

The question isn’t whether social media for small business makes any sense, but which network you should be on! Consider this: A whopping 71% of internet users worldwide use social media in 2017, and the number will grow to 3.02 billion by 2022. If you want to reach and engage potential customers, consistent social presence is a must-have. Be warned though: Transforming your presence on the right social networks into tangible business gains is anything but easy. For starters, social networking and marketing can take an awful lot of time, a scarce resource for many startup founders and small business owners. You can’t just get…