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[VIDEO] Get Ready For Google+ Redesign

Thomas Oppong — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:57:50 +0000

Google has announced that Google+ is about to to receive a massive redesign over the next few days. What to expect:

# Instead of static icons at the top, there’s a dynamic ribbon of applications on the left.
# Once you’ve upgraded to Google+, it’s easy to share with your circles from just about anywhere.
# A dedicated Hangouts page that creates even more opportunities to connect in person
# There’s a new Explore page that shows what’s interesting and trending across the network. And a new profile with much bigger photos. And a new chat list that puts your friends front and center. And a whole lot more.

This video explains it all

Best Social Networks – 3 of The Greatest For Business

Guest Author — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 18:35:49 +0000

A number of businesses unable to capitalize on the extraordinary power that is available through social media networks, however, other do not utilize this powerful means to its fullest utility. Both these attitudes are harmful to the well being of business because social media outlets are now more and more widespread in daily lives of consumers. Here are some of the reasons that explain the power of social networks to the advantage of your business.

Social media bind the power of mouth marketing. Work of mouth marketing is known as an effective advertising channel to numerous organizations, which sells effectively with the use of existing networks of reputation and trust for spreading the word of services or goods.
Social media networks have the power of directly engaging consumers. A business makes use of social networks for the initiation of conversations directly with interested people. This kind of direct engagement can allow you a personalization level or attention to the details, which may not evident with the competition, promoting the business of need of the consumers.
The social media networks offers lucrative promotion possibilities that is not available via other forms of media. It will help a lot to a business by interesting applications and programs of promotion rather than a simple banner of business promotion. These opportunities are possible by a number of rich media and social networking platforms that are available to today’s businesses.
This is an inexpensive means if the returns of it are well considered. Conventional channels of advertising are either limited in scope or are incredibly miss or hit making it a big mess. Participation of social media offers rich possibilities for the advertising of specific content. However, it also offers opportunities that are previously mentioned for the direct communication with the customers and provide them with direct information of advertising. These are the benefits of social media networks in this stiff competition of business.

The use of social networking sites can help a lot for the growth of your business. With the proper use, it also helps to get more traffic on website. For the best utilization of your crucial time, you must know the types of social networking websites that are available. Then, it will be easy for you to use the best one fitting in accordance with the needs of your business. Below are the three social networking sites that will be the greatest advantage to your business.

Facebook fan Page: Facebook has become a social networking hot spot with the ever growing population. The Fan pages in FB allow the person to ‘like’ the website or business that enables you to contact those persons in limited capacity.

Ning: This site is recently switched as a paid program. However, you can build your social networking website through it. You can create a site related to your business that helps your business promotion.

YouTube: it is a video sharing site, which allows the users to record video, comment, and other specific functions. You can create videos of your business and upload it on this website. This website is a very good means of your business promotion.

Summary: Social media network is a great platform for your business promotion. Using powerful social media networks will help you a lot in making your business successful.

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The Tragedy of Social Networking Sites

Guest Author — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 18:14:04 +0000

The dramatic success of social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus leave much to think about. What made them so popular? Are they really so good, so innovative, so well-made? Who knows? Tastes are different especially when the talk is about choosing among social networking sites like these giants. If you try to make clear which one of them is more acceptable, more suitable or more appropriate to your needs then be ready to spend long hours on this fussy question.

Facebook is good when you want to chat with your friends about any issue. It gives you the opportunity to express your long and awesome ideas, share the latest photos that you have had and the latest videos you have watched. It is really good for promoting your business. Now with its new Timeline you are able to tell your brand story to the Facebook society. It even makes possible to insert photos and videos, which is like advertising your company on TV without wasting your money. Though it was not enough for them and they decided to take up their own social search engine. This engine is not that advanced but it will be able to find which photo or video has the most “likes” and comments. Agree Facebook marketing seems perfect from which corner you look at it.

Twitter – a platform where every day thousands of people express their either stupid or ridiculous ideas. Among 140 characters Twitter users set everything that excites troubles or irritates them on their Twitter account. Twitter also allows you share video links. However this does not mean that you can’t find anything useful on Twitter. It is perfect for promoting your company. It allows finding people with the same business interest. In one word Twitter is good for business purposes.

Google Plus – this neatly deliberated and systematized network is Google’s awesome innovation which has come up to to make Facebook dreams gloomy and depressing. Its circles are splendid. It overtook Facebook on the context of circles. Differentiating people into friends, acquaintances, family etc is really witty. No wonder that this idea belongs to the Google. This eternal searching system will still open new ways for Google Plus, YouTube, Gmail etc.

So what can I add besides “Keep tight Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites! The Google campaign is not inclined to stop its progress. They will not stay in piece till they have not taken all the advantages from all of you”.

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How To Create A Social Media Marketing Strategy That Actually Works

Thomas Oppong — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 15:07:12 +0000

Social Media Marketing has come to stay. So many businesses are joining the social media train to market their businesses and products. But the most important thing is to know how to craft a great strategy to attract the right target market and audience. Social media marketing programs usually center on efforts to create content that attracts attention and encourages readers to share it with their social networks. Social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, YouTube, Pinterest and blogs allow individual followers to “retweet” or “repost” comments made by the product being promoted.

Social Media Marketing needs to be done right. The following are some of the questions you need to answer to get your social media marketing campaign started. Once you have identifies and answered these questions, you are on to creating a great social media marketing strategy.

# How many social networking sites is enough to join and how do you manage juggling more than three at a time?
# What are the marketing goals for your campaign.
# Who are the people you want to reach online, which social networks do they use? Who are the key figures / influencers on these networks?
# What do you target audience know about you and your brand and how do they perceive it?
# Do you have a social media policy? If not prepare and distribute copies to all who will be involved in your social marketing campaign. A social media policy helps you and your employees know what needs to be tweeted and what kind of information needs to be shared.
# How many users are you expecting to join your network monthly?
# What marketing tools will be used to engage customers on the social media?
# What are our competitors doing online?
# How are you going to measure your social media campaign?
# What tools have you identified to measure your campaign?
# Do you have a budget for your marketing strategy?
# Who will be responsible for managing all the social accounts you have created or are about to create?

Social Media Marketing works and lots of great brands have used social media to promote their brands and have generated huge traffic to their online platforms and sales sites. When done right, you will reap the benefits.

What Startups Really Need To Survive 2

Thomas Oppong — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:46:01 +0000

Every startup needs the requisite skills, enough funds and a great management to survive in the process of creating lasting company. But it could take more than for your startup to survive in the face of challenges. Talent and skill can keep your business running for sometime, but what will it take to keeps clients coming back and recommending your product to colleagues and friends.

I believe no business plan, no skills and no amount of money can substitute for the ability to simply keep going and quit when need be. You have to be able to know what is working, what can be improved, what is not working and most importantly when you need to quit if the need arises.

Some businesses require not just a great leader but a new great leader. Sometimes you have to give way to new managers though you are the current founder and CEO of the business. Founders have mostly occupied the top positions in their businesses but for the good of the company if you have to hire a new manager, do not hesitate to do just that.

Some businesses need to go back to the basics: have a clear business model, strategies for implementing the business model and management tools for running the business. You may not place a huge emphasis on your startup office environment, but it has to be lively. Most employees of startups spend more time at startup offices than their apartments hence the need to create a conducive atmosphere for work. You may be on a lean budget but make sure the right office furniture, snacks, weekly celebrations of your achievement are all available to boost productivity.

Speed to market. The market changes so quickly, don’t delay until you are 100% ready, or risk loss of sales/revenue/users in the process. Get out there and then adjust to the inevitable and make changes where necessary. Be agile and go to market fast for feedback purposes.

The relationships you build and maintain can also help you survive. You need to always establish good relationships even if they seem unrelated and unprofitable. People that know you will connect you with clients, partners and investors.

10 of The Best Indian Startups To Watch In 2012

Thomas Oppong — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 19:40:26 +0000

Opportunities in the web and mobile markets in India are budding new entrepreneurs every year. The country boasts of over 100 million Internet users, a 25% increase over the past 12 months. It also has the second largest mobile subscriber base at 791 million, which continues to grow at a rate of 20 million every month. For the past ten years, a lot of web and mobile technology companies have been created and some of them are now great companies that are worth mentioning. The following are some of the most promising startups to watch in 2012.

# Freshdesk is an online help desk software that allows you to support customers over email, phone, the web, Twitter and even your company’s Facebook page. Freshdesk was founded in Oct 2010 by Girish Mathrubootham, former VP of Product Management at Zoho Corp.

# Voicetap connects people in need of advice with genuine experts on every subject imaginable using ordinary mobile phone technologies. Conversations are arranged using automated SMS and concluded as standard phone calls. Experts are rewarded with redeemable points.

# SnapDeal features daily deals on the best stuff to do, see, eat, and buy in select Indian cities. It provides vouchers and discounts in all the major cities in India, including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore. The company was founded in February 2010.

# GharPay lets people pay in cash when they buy online or on the phone. They have a large network of people covering 860 pincodes that can reach the doorsteps of millions of Indians and and provide them with a simple way to pay. The company was founded in 2011.

# Interviewstreet helps you to create customized programming tests (in any language) and evaluate candidates based on their programming skills before proceeding for an interview. They have built a codechecker which would evaluate an applicant’s code, checks against a set of test-cases letting the recruiters know how optimal his code is. Interview Street is a new Y Combinator-funded startup.

# Fetise.com is an India online designer outlet dedicated to men. Their mission is to make men’s online shopping experience secure, fun, convenient, low-cost, and most importantly hassle-free! The site is an exclusive ‘by invitation only’ club that offers its members that best seasonal fashion finds with an exclusive collection of clothing shoes and accessories from the most prestigious international brands. Fetise was founded in 2011.

# WebEngage lets you create custom feedback form for your website. Conduct online surveys & increase response rate by targeting these at specific visitors. Get real time analytics.

# Moneysights seeks to make investing simple! Free online investment in top-rated diversified Mutual Funds. It brings a refreshing take on investments for its users who otherwise find investments complex, boring & stressful. Moneysights is a Bangalore based startup by ex-employees of InMobi.

# Vaultize is a comprehensive data protection solution for SMBs, SMEs and large enterprises. Vaultize turns zero-returns investment in backup into an asset: in addition to secure cloud-based backup and quick disaster recovery, it empowers collaboration between users through ‘Group Sync’, synchronization of user devices and sharing over web. The company was launched in 2011.

# Unbxd search powers the search functionality on eCommerce sites. Think of it like an advanced customizable google custom search for eCommerce sites. Anybody with structured data, especially eCommerce sites are their customers. Unbxd, the Bangalore based startup, is all about intelligent search for e-commerce websites.

Why Startup Founders Should Find Answers To These Legal Questions

Thomas Oppong — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:22:49 +0000

Many founders and partners dread to ask the right legal questions and go on to start a business without answering the most basic and crucial questions. You may not fancy answering the legal questions now but going forward, they will hunt you, you share or equity of the business and your partners.The earlier you find a lawyer to set things straight, the better especially if you started the business with a friend, colleague or even your college buddy.

If you and you co-founder are beginning to get serious about starting the business and are beginning to devote substantial time to the idea, then getting a legal advice is essential. Founders of companies often make the mistake of waiting until they have received a strong indication of interest from an investor before they decide that it is time to incorporate or talk to a lawyer or even think about how much percentage they are willing to give away.

Things will be ugly in the future if the questions below are not answered right away. Most businesses that go through incubators or startup accelerators like Paul Graham’s Y Combinator, Techstars and 500 Startups have these questions covered. If you are bootstrapping with a friend, just take time to consult a lawyer and get your legal documents sorted out.

In an initial meeting between the prospective founders and their lawyer, these fundamental questions should and must be answered.

# Who gets what percentage of the equity (founders’ stock) of the business?

# What are the vesting terms of the stock—what do you need to do going forward to earn the right to keep all of your stock?

# When are the business idea and the related IP to be transferred to the enterprise: at the outset, upon funding, or upon funding from outsiders?

# Who is to hold what office; who is to perform what function; and when should some or all of the founders be required to quit their jobs and join the new business full time?

# What happens if the business gets funded and a founder decides not to join the new company: Does that founder lose a portion of his or her founders’ stock?

# How do the founders legally extract themselves from their current employment without being sued by their current employers?

# Does a founder’s business idea really belong to his or her (former) employer?

# What is the budget for the initial phase of the business, and where is the money to come from?

Startup Quotes In 140 Characters or Less

Thomas Oppong — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:52:16 +0000

A of startup founders have given back to the community. They share startup tips and pieces of advice you can actually use. Hundreds of them have been shared on Mixergy. Others are being shared on Techcrunch, Venturebeat, GigaOm, Mashable and personal blogs of the founders. I have been reading about them for some time now and I want to share the lessons these founders have shared with the community here with you. Some of these advice and startup quotes were gathered from last year’s startup school.

# The process in creating a business is in 3 steps: Discover –> Design –> Deliver-Andy Bechtolsheim

# Building a company is like baking a cake. There are a lot of ingredients and if you’re not careful you’ll end up with egg on the ceiling.-Marc Andreessen

# Scaling the team has been harder than scaling the platform.-James Lindenbaum

# You’re building a tool, not a piece of art. Don’t be blinded by the vision.-Andrew Mason

# Innovation is the never-ending search for better solutions -Andy Bechtolsheim

# You will probably fail – failure is real but you don’t have to fail.-Andrew Mason

# The “magic formula” is an engineer who can become an entrepreneur and CEO.-Marc Andreessen

# Spectacular companies start with ambitious but unknown founders, no pedigree required.-Jim Goetz

# Success is really imitation plus innovation-Ashton Kutcher

# There’s nothing quite as permanent as a temporary business model.-Matt Mullenweg

# It’s hard to raise money even when you’re profitable.-Mark Pincus

# It’s better to do something hard if you’re capable of solving hard problems.-Paul Graham

# The point of Facebook isn’t the features, it’s the people.-Mark Zuckerberg

# Ignore your mistakes. The number one thing to worry about is “Am I doing what I’m good at?”-Max Levchin

# A defining entrepreneur is a product visionary who owns the mind of their customer.-Ron Conway

# Take on more than you’re ready to, and get used to that feeling- Drew Houston

# There is around 7 +/- 2 of sites people have in their mind. Your goal is to be one of those 7. Search is in the 7.-Greg McAdoo

# If you have an idea put it up there online, no matter what it looks like. You need the feedback early on.=Brian Chesky

With Enough Passion, Anything Seems Possible

Thomas Oppong — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:40:37 +0000

All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsions, habit, reason, passion and desire.-Aristotle

Startups come in all shapes and sizes. Aspiring founders will attempt just about any idea, product, or business model under the sun. If it can be conceived, some dreamer has probably tried it. And that’s not a bad thing. A lot of businesses and great companies were conceived, tried and tested and have survived over the years till now.

For all the challenges faced by new businesses, a lack of passion is not one of them. Entrepreneurs are true believers, famously inspired and optimistic. These qualities are critical, because getting a healthy venture off the ground can be extraordinarily difficult. Successful founders draw from deep wells of conviction and faith to sustain themselves through long days and unexpected challenges.

Drive, determination, belief, optimism, courage, confidence, commitment, certainty, and faith are the forces that drive a new business to success. But you need more than that to grow a business.

Salesforce Launches Desk.com(Social Customer Support App)

Thomas Oppong — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:18:23 +0000

Customer support traditionally involves planning, installation, training, trouble shooting, maintenance and upgrading via phone, email, and web to assist customers in making correct use of a product. In recent times, social media is playing a significant role in achieving the goals of customers support. Companies are now integrating social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc for faster and efficient customer service delivery.

Salesforce, a global enterprise software company has launched a new SaaS(software as a service) help-desk application-Desk.com which provides small-to-medium-sized companies with cloud-based customer support management to help for field queries through phone, e-mail, web, Twitter, and Facebook.

Desk.com lets SMBs manage requests for help wherever they start from—Facebook, phone, Twitter, web. It also has a mobile component, so staffers can support their customers even when they’re out of the office.

Desk.com also allows companies to build out a knowledge base filled with answers to common questions, allowing customers to solve problems without the need for a human agent.

Pricing starts at US$49 per agent per month, with unlimited access. Salesforce.com is also offering “flex” pricing for $1 per hour for part-time agents. The mobile application is included at no extra charge for full-time users. Desk.com is set for release in the first quarter of this year.

For mobile support, Salesforce has built an HTML5-based site for Desk.com that conforms well to mobile browsers on the iPhone and various Android phones.

“We realized that small and medium sized businesses might have a small customer service department, but, really, everyone in the company is doing support,” Alex Bard, the former CEO of Assistly who is now vice president and general manager of Desk.com, told Fast Company.