Last article I discussed creating a Facebook Page for your business - so now what?  The next step should be to get people to your company’s Facebook Page and start interacting with your visitors.  Some ideas to generate interest are to offer a special deal, a contest or better yet something for free.

Facebook Pages come with standard tabs (Wall, Info, Photos, etc…) and adding your special offer might get lost if you post it on one of these tabs.  By using an application (app) called Static FBML (Facebook Markup Language) you can add a custom tab just for your special offer.  To add the tab, log into Facebook and navigate to http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=4949752878 (we also placed a link on our Facebook Page’s Favorite Pages area at www.facebook.com/ACTPLATINUM).  Click the ‘Add to my Page’ link on the left navigation bar below the Static FBML logo.  Once the app has been added click the ‘Edit Page’ link below your Company’s logo on your Page, then select  the ‘Edit’ link under the Static FBML app. You will be able to add a title to your tab and the content, formatting the content is similar to HTML and a good reference is located at:  http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Allowed_FBML_and_HTML_Tags

You can add a form to your FBML tab to request and capture information about your visitors.  If you are a Swiftpage or ACT! E-marketing customer you can embed a survey and to ask for specific data from your visitors, we have an example on our Facebook Page at:  http://www.facebook.com/ACTPLATINUM?v=app_4949752878
Once the visitor completes your survey you will receive their form data via email to let you know they are interested in your offer.

If you are a Pro or Team subscriber for Swiftpage or ACT! E-marketing you will have a powerful integration feature for your surveys and ACT! database.  You will be able to link your survey fields to your ACT! database fields and be able to download your survey responses as new contact records to your database.  Once in ACT! you will be able to segment the contacts for targeted sales and marketing efforts and use the Smart Tasks feature new to ACT! 2011.  List building made easy!

Title: When Opportunity Knocks – ACT! Rocks! (Sage ACT! 2011 Event)
Location: Talking Stick Resort, Scottsdale AZ
Link out: Click here
Description: If you are finding your Networking efforts fizzling instead of sizzling – come to our first \”Networking: When Opportunity Knocks – ACT! Rocks!\” seminar. This no-cost seminar is designed for every business that could use more business. We will show you that by making connections and using the great tools found in ACT! (the #1 Contact Management program) will allow you to make the most of every opportunity and convert your leads into more closed sales. Plus with the release of ACT! 2011 days away, you will be the first to see the new enhancements that will save you time and money. There will be an outstanding speaker that will share their Networking expertise with plenty of tips to make you a better networker. Following the seminar you are invited to walk across the hall and attend the hugely popular Networking Phoenix\’s Signature event, where you can connect with other amazing business owners and professionals, have fun and grow your business.

Inviting business owners, entrepreneurs and professionals to an afternoon packed with information and tips that you can use right away. This seminar is ideal for current owners of ACT! software or if you are looking at implementing ACT! for your business.

Here\’s what to expect:

-> Learn how every business can use an ACT! CRM solution to save time and money to grow their bottom line

-> How to go from lead to close, using tools available to you

Social Media – learn more about the people you meet and do business with
E-mail and Drip Marketing – E-marketing right from your ACT! database
Opportunity Pipeline and Sales Management – gain control and win more business

-> See what\’s new for ACT! 2011

Smart Tasks – automate your follow-up activities
Hoover\’s Integration – get more targeted leads into your database
Outlook Contacts and Calendar Sync – eliminate double entry

-> Q&A

-> Guest Speaker with networking tips that will get you energized for the NetworkingPhoenix.com event following

-> Lots of Prizes, Giveaways and Discounts

Sign-up today at www.actplatinum.com/event.html

We look forward to seeing you September 1st!

Start Time: 14:00
Date: 2010-09-01
End Time: 18:00

More and more businesses are incorporating Facebook into their social media portfolio as a communications and  marketing tool, capitalizing on Facebook’s traffic. It’s another point of presence for your business as Facebook Pages are public and search engines will display them in their results, best of all it’s free.

Facebook has Profiles and Pages, Profiles are used by individuals and Pages are for businesses.  One item to note is that you must have a Facebook Profile to create a Page for your business.  My company recently created a new Facebook Page for our business and we wanted to provide some tips to help avoid some of the pitfalls we discovered when we set up our original business Page. 

Creating a Page is easy, log in to Facebook and navigate to http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php.   You will need to select a category for your Page; “Local business”, “Brand, product, or organization” or “Artist, band or public figure”.  The selection you make here will determine what information about your business you will be able to display on the Info Tab of your Facebook Page.  When we created our first Page we chose “local business”. This selection has the limitation of only being able to display Website and Parking options for the Detailed Info on the Page’s Info Tab.  Once you make your category selection you cannot change it and why we chose to create a new business Page, this time selecting the “Brand, product, or organization” category.  With this selection we are able to display our Website, Company Overview, Mission, and Products details on the Page’s Info Tab – allowing you to enter a lot more information and searchable content.

Another important item is your Page Name. Unless you are a well known brand, you will want to use your company name and include a description of your products or services, for example ours is “ACTPLATINUM.com – ACT! by Sage CRM Consulting, Training and Software Sales”.  By doing this your Page will display on the Facebook search results for any of the words used in your Page Name.  Once you have at least 25 people “Like” your Page, you will be able to create a custom username to easily access your Facebook presence – for example ours is www.facebook.com/ACTPLATINUM.

Check the box stating you are the official representative and click the Create Official Page button – you have just created the Facebook Page for your business.  Now let everyone know.

The next step should be promoting your company’s Facebook Page and start interacting with your visitors.  Some ideas to generate interest are to offer a special deal, a contest or better yet something of value for free. 

“Like” us on Facebook  and you will receive a free Lookup Bad Email Addresses Utility for ACT! 2010 and ACT! 2009.  With more and more companies using e-mail marketing and with the introduction of ACT!’s new E-marketing feature powered by Swiftpage E-mail the email address field in your database is very important. This is a great tool to quickly clean up the email address field for ACT!.  Be sure to share your experience in using the utility with other ACT! users on our Facebook Page!

Videos can be a great marketing tool to engage your prospects and customers. As examples, you can create videos that can capture your products or services in use, show off your amazing team, advantages over your competition, and provide testimonials of your business by your customers. With the widespread availability of video capturing tools, videos can be created on any budget size.

Using YouTube to host your videos will allow you to upload and share your videos, generating traffic to your website. YouTube is the leader in online video sharing sites and according to Alexa, the authority in website statistics, YouTube has the 3rd highest traffic rank for the entire web – capitalize on their traffic. YouTube is free and they also offer pay per click video promotion services.

Get Started – Sign up and create your YouTube account. As you enter the registration information keep in mind the most important item will be your User Name, this is used as your channel name. Be identifiable and make the User Name your company name, your brand or your website domain, for example our user name is ACTPLATINUM, our website domain, and our YouTube channel URL is www.youtube.com/ACTPLATINUM. (TIP: Use the same identifier for all of your social media pages.) Enter a Title for your channel, add tags – key words for people to find your channel, a profile description of your business, and your company website to link back and encourage visitors. You can upload your logo, change the background and use colors to match your business identity.

Upload Your Videos – Click the bright yellow Upload button, then optimize the video by entering the Title, Description and Tags loaded with key words that are important for searchers to find your videos and business. Place your company’s website somewhere in the beginning of the Description to generate traffic to your site. YouTube allows you to embed videos on other websites, so be sure to place a key video or two on your website’s homepage (we did on our homepage at www.actplatinum.com).

Join the Conversation – Start networking by subscribing to channels of your vendors, suppliers, associations, referral partners or customers and “Favorite” their videos that have relative content to your business. Your Favorites List can be displayed to your channel viewers. Link your Facebook and Twitter social media accounts with your channel that will send notifications to your Friends and Followers of new video uploads or favorites. We recently started our channel www.youtube.com/ACTPLATINUM featuring some of our great customers, add-ons for ACT! by Sage Software and Napkin Mike- please join the conversation!

A few months ago I was invited to speak to the members of the Mentoring Program at the Phoenix National Association of Women Business Owners.  The group is designed to partner new entrepreneurs with experienced business owners, learning best practices and achieving professional goals more effectively.  The group leader requested a presentation to demonstrate how ACT! software is utilized in tracking one’s goals.

First of all every business should have a business plan with goals and objectives; a business without a plan is like putting together Ikea furniture without the instructions.  The entrepreneurs were in the process of learning how to create a plan for their business and mapping out objectives, focusing on goals critical to their success.  Any business goal must be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time Bound) with clearly defined steps to achieve the goal.  Increase sales 30% to $2M in 2009 or introduce a new product line in 1^st quarter 2010 with an estimate 1^st year sales of $150K are examples of SMART goals.

OK – so what does this have to do with ACT!?    You can use ACT! to put your goals and steps into action by creating Activities in ACT! or assign Activities to other users, then carry-out the steps to attain your goals by completing the Activities.  If your goals include sales you can create and track your opportunities. Gain insight into the execution of achieving your goals by utilizing ACT! reporting , you can monitor performance and review your successes and determine improvements.

Kick it up a notch by customizing ACT! for your goal tracking.  You can create custom Activity Types of Goal and Goal Step.  Using the Goal Step Activity you can schedule due dates for each goal step and using the Goal Activity represents the completion or end date of the Goal.  You can create a Goal Dashboard that monitors you goal Activity Types and include panels that show what is due today, this month, all goals, all goal steps and those that are past due – never let a goal or action get overlooked.  If tracking sales as a goal, include a sales gauge with your company’s sales target.  An example of a Goal Dashboard can be found at:  www.actplatinum.com/ACTBusinessGoalsDashboard.pdf

Every business can use ACT! Software, it’s a dynamic CRM system ideal for tracking sales, marketing endeavors, customer service and support, and daily business operations – key components to the success of any business. Use ACT! to put your business plan in action, accomplish the goals you set and achieve business success!

So you purchased ACT! Software for yourself, your team, or your company and now you need to know the best way to learn how to use the program for your business. Choosing the right training solution is a balance of resources: time and money.

After installing ACT! Software you will find several included training tools located on the program’s Help Menu:

Reading and viewing all the included content can take days, weeks or even months and may not translate to your real world use of the program.

• Help Topics is a source for information about using ACT!, use the Contents, Index, and Search tabs to find the information and includes step-by-step instructions for specific tasks
• ACT! New User Quick Start Guide is a 116 page PDF file, covers the basics of using ACT! for new users
• Feature Tours are online flash videos that show how to use an ACT! feature

The fastest and most comprehensive way of learning ACT! Software is to participate in a hands-on training session. Live classroom training frees you from workplace distractions so you can focus on learning the program and hands-on provides practice that reinforces the skills and aids in retention.  In 4-6 hours you can learn the basics of the program to get started. Many training companies not only have basic training, but also advanced sessions to increase your knowledge and utilization of the software program.

Before investing in any training make sure the training company has ample experience with the ACT! Software products.  Prior to hiring our company, a client spent $5,000 with a national training company for an ACT! 2009 for Web hands-on training session for 10 employees.  What they actually received were training materials for ACT! 2008 for Windows (a completely different version and product) and an instructor, who had no previous experience with the software product, did not know the differences between the windows and web products, and found it difficult to answer any student questions.  Needless to say the client did not find the session to be the best use of their training dollars.

The key to getting the best value for your training budget is to find a training company with an instructor who is an ACT! Software expert. The instructor should know the feature differences between the products and versions, with real world experience to be able to answer any questions on your business use of the software.  Sources to find training companies with experienced ACT! Software instructors are http://www.actplatinum.com/CRMA.html or http://www.act.com/partners/apt/index.cfm

If you want to save time in learning the ACT! Software program invest in hands-on training, if you don’t want to spend money you will need to invest your time.