Considering running a contest or sweepstakes on Facebook?  Great idea!

Just be sure to follow their rules.

Running a sweepstakes on Facebook is an excellent way to build customer loyalty and increase your fans,but your sweepstakes is only Facebook friendly if you:

1) Do not target individuals under the age of 18;

2) Do not offer certain prizes such as tobacco, firearms, and prescription drugs;

3) Do not condition entry into a sweepstakes by making a user update a status, post on a profile or page, or upload a photo; and

4) Use a third party app to collect entrant information and contact all winners off Facebook. (like with an email, or phone call, NOT a wall post)

For more specific details directly from Facebook visit their Guidelines.

Good luck on your next promotion!

BIG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  VERY BIG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Many business owners looked at social media as a joke, waste of time or just for teenagers or college kids in the past, but now so many businesses are embracing it and the ones that have are seeing tremendous results.

The December 2010 issue of Entrepreneur Magazine takes this even further by stating in an article “companies that do not get into social media soon will be out of business in 3-5 years.”  I realize this is a drastic statement, but it that is exactly how it is stated.

Even search engines are embracing numerous social media platforms.  Facebook and Bing have a partnership, as well as Twitter and Google.

It has made it’s way into corporate board rooms and is leveraged by brands of all shapes and sizes.  So, now the question remains…will you and your business embrace the social media craze?

Harvey Mackay’s Column This Week

Resist the resistance to change
By Harvey Mackay

There’s an old saying that goes: It is easy to change things. It is hard to change people. Resistance to change is perhaps the biggest threat to progress a business can face.

Case in point: In 1972, a young engineer at Texas Instruments named Gary Boone came up with the idea for a full computer on a chip, which we now know as the microprocessor. He got a patent even though he had trouble getting his colleagues interested in his work.

Eventually, Boone made enough noise to get a meeting with TI’s top computer jockey. Boone explained his idea for a computer on a chip to his superior.

“Young man,” said the expert, “don’t you realize that computers are getting bigger, not smaller?”

Oops.

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak tried to sell the idea of personal computers to their bosses at Atari and Hewlett-Packard. But their bosses weren’t interested. So Jobs and Wozniak started Apple Computer. For the quarter ending September 2010, Apple Inc. had revenues of $20 billion. (I got that information on my iphone.)

Neither of these changes happened overnight, nor were they without plenty of hard work and hand-wringing. Not all changes are for the better (think about the New Coke experiment.) But those instances quickly prove to be learning experiences for the next innovation.

I am in an industry that has seen remarkable change in the last twenty years. Communication that used to be mailed in a crisp envelope now travels through cyberspace almost instantly. Fax machines and the Internet forced us to look at the future of our business. We are constantly readjusting — changing — to accommodate and, in fact thrive, in our increasingly paperless society.

To not only survive, but also to thrive, the skill you need to master is resilience.

Your organization’s ability to change quickly depends on your employees. Memos and new mission statements won’t produce results on their own. Change has to come from within your workforce.

If you’re a manager, you need to set the stage so employees know what’s happening in your company and in your industry, or they won’t see any reason to do things differently. Share as much as you can about your finances, the problems your organization is facing, and what’s likely to happen if you all do nothing.

Remind your staff that change takes time. To be successful people will have to look to the future, not to short-term gains and losses. Performance won’t be transformed overnight. Once you’ve restructured, implemented new systems and launched new strategies, give the learning curve time to achieve the progress you’re looking for. Don’t be so impatient for results that you sabotage your efforts and those of your work force.

Change works best when it’s a collaborative, interactive process. Consider everyone who’ll be affected, from front-line employees to high management, as well as customers and other stakeholders. Provide them with updates on your progress. Ask them how it’s going and what could speed things along. If you’ve done a good job of selling the change and giving them the facts they need to bring it to life, their insights and opinions will prove invaluable.

Susan Dunn, a clinical psychologist, has observed that people who can bounce back after failure and figure out what needs to change to confront new obstacles without losing their nerve generally do these essential things:
• Learn from experience. Resilient people reflect on what happens to them — good and bad — so they can move forward without illusion.
• Accept setbacks and losses. Face the reality of what happens in order to get past it.
• Recognize emotions. Resilient people identify what they’re feeling and express their emotions appropriately.
• Keep time in perspective. Past, present, and future are separate. Don’t mix them up (by letting what’s in the past determine your choices in the here and now, for example).
• Think creatively and flexibly. Look for new ways to solve problems and face challenges.
• Take care of yourself. Resilience is based on good physical and mental health. Get enough rest, eat sensibly, and spend time with people who support you.
• Ask for help. Resilient people don’t try to do everything themselves. Ask others for assistance, and learn how to do so graciously and effectively.
Mackay’s Moral: If you still believe you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, you might as well roll over and play dead.

One of my goals is to help small businesses keep up with the latest technologies that will “drive more customers through their door.” When I heard about mobile marketing (or SMS) I really saw how this could benefit a business owner. We are in the midst of a mobile revolution. Communication and branding are changing before our eyes. Businesses and individuals alike are quickly realizing the power of realtime communication on the go.

Using SMS will connect directly to most mobile phones and can be used as a great connection tool. Businesses can now stay connected through the world’s most recognizable Mobile Media shortcode - 90210. We offer a comprehensive marketing plan to complement your mobile marketing, plus we are extremely affordable for the “small biz”.

Test it out for Yourself!
Text: janet To: 90210

My entire career has evolved from the internet and the social media technologies that provide a platform for real-time, worldwide interaction. My own business uses social and mobile media to build the brands I partner with in marketing.

Please review all the pages on my website to see the offerings available. Whatever your needs, I keep it affordable and help you ENGAGE with your current clients and soon-to-be clients.

Janet Johnson