If you need a Corporate Social Media Policy document to get started, use this template. It outlines most of the steps you need to write your first set of Corporate Social Media Policy guidelines.

Purpose of this Corporate Social Media Policy
This policy governs all information sharing and commentary on Social Media by employees of your Business and its related companies.

Definition
For the purposes of this policy, Social Media means any application, tool or software used for online information and publication including blogs, wikis, and social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube.

Other Policies
This policy complements existing policies regarding the use of technology, computers, e-mail and the internet.

Employees Rights
your Business employees are free to publish or comment on Social Media sites in accordance with this policy.

Compliance
your Business employees are subject to this policy to the extent they identify themselves as a your Business employee.

Scope
This policy applies to all types of social media, including personal, by your Business employees as their position with your Business would be well known within the community.

Ethical Standards
All uses of social media must follow the same ethical standards that your Business employees must otherwise follow.

Setting up Social Media Sites
To get assistance in setting up Social Media accounts, please contact your Business’s (fill in details).

Confidential
While it’s fine to talk about your work with the community, it’s not acceptable to publish confidential information. Confidential information includes unpublished details about our software, details of current projects, future product releases, financial information, research, and trade secrets.

Privacy #1
Ensure that your privacy settings on Social Media sites are set to allow anyone to see profile information similar to what would be on the your Business website.

Privacy #2
Control other privacy settings that might allow others to post or see information that is personal and should not be displayed. Do not publish information that you would not want the public to see.

Identify Yourself
Do not blog anonymously, use pseudonyms or false screen names.

Use your real name and identify that you work for your Business.

Integrity
Do not say anything that is dishonest, untrue, or misleading. If you have a vested interest in something you are discussing, say it.

Copyright laws
Show due respect for the laws governing copyright, fair use, and fair dealing of copyrighted material owned by others, including your Business own copyrights and brands.

Do not quote more than short excerpts of someone else’s work, and always attribute such work to the original author/source.

Respect
Respect your audience, your Business, and your coworkers

• Do not say anything in conflict with your Business website.
• Do not cite customers, partners or suppliers without their approval.
• Do not identify a customer, partner or supplier by name without permission and never discuss confidential details of a customer engagement.
• Do not be afraid to be yourself, but do so respectfully.

Partners
Protect your Business customers, business partners and suppliers

Use common sense and be sure to make it clear that the views and opinions expressed are yours alone and do not represent the official views of your Business.

About the Author: Arthur Grant helps companies develop Corporate Social Media Policy Guidelines for Facebook, Twitter and Blogs. You can download his Corporate Social Media Policy Templates here.

Posted via email from Technical Writing Tips

In the last sixteen years, email has helped me win more business than any other tool. It’s turned cautious readers into enthusiastic buyers. It’s brought in prospective customers from the edge and driven repeat traffic to the money pages. Here are some of the mistakes I’ve made and how to get around them.

Emails Mistakes To Avoid

One of the dilemmas for web marketers is how to know what their customers really want. Email is one of the best ways to form a strong relationship with your readers.

It’s an inexact science. Everyone has an opinion. Here are some of mine!

1. Plain Text v HTML

Some of world’s biggest web marketers send out plan text emails. John Chow and Yaro Starak are two good examples. I’ve experimented with this format and have to say that it does seem to work, well, for certain types of content.

If your readers are after tutorials, for example, plain text will be fine. If it’s a Fashion newsletter or something up-market, then a splash of color is in order.

Plain text is also very powerful as the reader is ‘forced’ to read the text. Maybe guided is a better word but you get the idea. There’s nothing to distract them. Click-throughs can be very high if you use plain text with a single call to action.

2. Size Matters… kinda

The word count of your emails, and possibly the number of images, may also affect how readers respond. Some prefer short, snappy emails. Think Seth Godin’s pithy observations.

Others prefer long, detailed articles. ProBlogger and CopyBlogger are both, on average, 800-1000 words per post.

Some of this depends on your readership. If you’re sending 3 more emails per week, they may prefer short posts and/or abstracts.

But not always…

3. Use Abstracts Rather Than Full Post

One way to address this is to offer an abstract, say twenty words and then a link to the site.

The advantage is that you get them to the site where they can add comments, interact and/or buy something.
The disadvantage is that they may not be curious enough to click-thru, have web access at their work office, or feel that you’re trying to trick them into having to visit their site.
I give the full feed in my emails. I don’t want people to feel short-changed in any way.

4. No Endorsements or Testimonials

Use testimonials as social proof that others enjoy your newsletter. Get the right balance here with the wording and photos. Text that sounds too polished and flattering will make the readers suspicious.

Use the real words folks have sent you (a few typos never hurt) to give it that authentic sound. Try to avoid re-writing what they said.

If you don’t have testimonials for your newsletter, see if your current blog readers have favorable things to say about the site and then refer to this.

5. Hi, {Firstname}, we got your email!

Is there anything worse than a personalized email that’s gone berserk? If you’re going to use it – I don’t – be careful and test first. Most email software companies will have videos no how to do this right.

6. Not Testing Subject lines

Ever wonder how your email looked in different browsers?

Instead of setting up accounts on Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook, use this free tool to see how your subject line will look. It also shows how it will look on mobile devices. Great way to test your subject before you send it out.

Remember, if people don’t like your subject line, the email doesn’t get read.

All the effort you’ve put into writing the article, finding the right image, creating links and so on… all wasted. Test and test again until you see which subject lines work the best. See http://ping.fm/PtAHn

Tip: 5 words works best for me, especially if there is some call to action or pressure put on the reader to click Open.

7. Buying Email Lists

You can buy emails links if you’re mad enough but why would you? It’s about as effective as walking down the high-street with a megaphone talking about your blog. Think anyone will buy?

Instead, learn as much as you can about email list building, write content the folks want to read, and test. I use the Reports tools in Aweber to see where I’m making progress and what needs to be refined. Feedburner is fine for broadcasting for your can’t dig down segment the lists, schedule emails or broadcast followups.

If you’re serious about using email to drive sales, invest in a Aweber or Constant Contact. I’ve also heard good things about MailChimp.

8. Keep It Consistent

Even if someone leaves your company, there’s an argument for keeping the email address active if that person has a large readership. Think twice about changing the name in the From field as you may confuse the readers and/or give them a reason to unsubscribe.

Don’t change a winning team!

9. CAN-SPAM Compliance

‘Real’ companies include their physical address at the footer of their email. I know this can be made up but most companies do comply with the Can-Spam Act and add their contact details in the footer. They also make it easy for you to unsubscribe.
If you don’t include this in the email, aside from the legal obligation, it shows your subscribers that you have a legitimate identity and that can phone you if there is a problem. Remember to add the country code suffix as well.

10. Email Schedule. What Email Schedule?

Create a schedule and then stick to it. This ‘trains’ your readers to expect your emails. I look forward to certain emails during the week and make time to read them. Your readers are probably the same.

Also, don’t chop and change the schedule. Keep to the same schedule for at least a month. Don’t push too hard or be over-ambitious. Try to get one out per week. If you can manage that for a week, try then and so on…

11. Don’t Send on Wednesday

Choose the best day to send the emails based on YOUR stats.

9 out of 10 web marketers will tell you that Wednesday (or is it Thursday now?) is the best day to send emails. Their ‘research’ shows it.

Well, if they all use that day, you choose another.

Makes sense, right.

Also, think of your readers. If you’re sending out an Entertainment email, maybe Friday lunchtime is that best so they can plan their week.
Sunday also works for me as people have time to browse and aren’t in a hurry.

12. Remove Deadwood

If they haven’t read your emails for six months, delete them.

Why?

Different reasons. One is that large ISP counts the number of bounced emails (e.g. From dormant accounts) and may punish you if your negative rating gets beyond a certain level.

Again, my buddy Aweber has tools that let you do this.

13. Not Testing Before Sending

One of the advantages of Aweber is that I can sent test emails to different accounts before I sent it out.

It sounds like a small thing but it lets me see what the email will look like from the reader’s perspective.

Sometimes I catch a typo. Other times I look at it and see it needs to be revised. The tone doesn’t feel right or there are too many links.
Testing helps with this.

You don’t get a second chance with first impressions.

14. Use Special Reports

Let’s say you have a site about Travel. Send out special issues every quarter with tons on info getting your readers ready for special events. Focus on a single issue, say traveling to Asia for the first time. Include a link to a PDF version of the ‘report’ so they can keep it with them and/or share with friends.

Sprinkle in some links to your money pages or affiliate sites.

15. Use Follow-ups To Sell Longtail Products

Create a list for each type of class you offer (Yoga for Strength, Qigong and so on). When members enroll at the beginning of each new rotation, ask them to sign up for that list.

With a follow-up series for each list, you can prepare students with tips they can use to succeed that particular discipline, clothing suggestions, links to buy any special equipment they’ll need and a short biography of their instructor

Here’s an idea. Say you run a site about Finance. Follow up after 5 days and tell the new readers that you have the 5 part free newsletter about Personal Finance. Send them a link to a sample issue. If they like than – and take the course – send them another email towards the end offering another free course about Buying Shares For the First Time.

You get the idea. Don’t let your list sit there. Use it as much as you can. If the quality is good, no one will complain.

Then sprinkle some links into the newsletters that go to your money pages or affiliate sites.

16. Use Your Email Signature, Business Card and Stationery

My email address includes links to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and my email account. I also add a PS for sales, discounts, and special offers that we run from time to time. And it’s very effective.

Over the course of the week, I’ll email several 100 people. Some days I have 200 emails in my inbox when I arrive. Many of these are getting in touch with me for the first time.

Adding my contact details and social media sites to the email, makes it one step easier for them to contact me. It takes one minute to setup but can be very effective in the long term.

PS – always use a PS. We all tend to scan down to the end of a document, report, or email from habit. Add a little ‘linkbait’ there and some will take a nibble.

Don’t forget to add your email to your stationery; you never know where it ends up. Business cards are the same, especially if you make them creative.

17. Impossible to Recognize “From” Names

My ISP sends me emails from nobody@nameofisp.com. This isn’t the best way to engage with your customers. Personalize the email’s From field so it shows a real name.

As my name Ivan isn’t that common, I use it where-ever I can. It stands out from others and helps reader remember my posts.

Even if you’re a one-person company, you can create names for different functions in your business.

Rather that everything going to info@, create Sally, Tom, Stacy, Dion… and use these for your Sales, Customer Support, Finance emails.

You’d be surprised how many small companies use this tactic to big themselves up!

Are You Making These Mistakes With Your Emails?

Those are some of the ways you can get it wrong with email. I know I have and am still learning. If I were to nail down three things that really help, I would say:

Make the sign-up super simple. Don’t complicate things and get too fancy. Place the web form in the top right of the web page. Use simple words like Sign Up! or Subscribe! Don’t be clever, clever. Include a small benefit in the text near the form, such as free reports, discounts or gifts. Links to previous issues are another way for cautious readers to sample the goods first.
Write interesting headings. Study how others do it and write out 20 variations of their headlines. After a while, you’ll get into the right mindset and see how they do it. Like all things it takes practice.
Stay in touch. I send out one personal email every month. I just say hello, share some info, maybe giveaway a free book. Something that lets the reader know that I’m not taking them for granted.
That’s it for now.

What else would you add?

From: http://ping.fm/F0IPY

Posted via email from Small Business Strategies

I’m curious. How much would you pay me to write a 500 word article for you?

Ok. I don’t do freelance work at the moment. But, if I did, how would you go about it?One way to scale your internet business is to outsource writing tasks to Virtual Assistants and Freelancers. The upfront cost (payment) is offset by the extra sales you’ll make (returns) on the time you save.

From: http://ping.fm/hU4QT

Posted via email from Small Business Strategies

‘The business schools reward difficult complex behavior more than simple behavior, but simple behavior is more effective.’ Warren Buffett

From: http://ping.fm/Pcc9D

Posted via email from Small Business Strategies

Writing a Business Plan can be intimidating at first. There is so much to cover and it’s difficult to know where to start. One suggestion is to prepare yourself to go forward. What do I mean?

From: http://ping.fm/sJQy5

Posted via email from Small Business Strategies

One of the alternative careers I’ve considered as a Technical Writer is Information Architecture. Information Architecture is worth considering if you’re attracted to organization of data, for example, indexing, rather than writing. I get a bit tired to typing at times and enjoy other tech comms activities such as analysis, diagramming, and documentation planning. This short article gives some insight into how Information Architecture is used when developing websites. So, for those of who want to retain your writing skills and move into web-facing career, maybe Information Architecture is worth exploring.

From: http://ping.fm/BexuU

Posted via email from Small Business Strategies

YouTube Mobile can be accessed by visiting m.youtube.com on your phone.

From Alex Chitu, “Google’s services have a big advantage: a lot of mobile phones include applications for services like YouTube, Google Maps, Gmail, Google Search. Unfortunately, the native applications are rarely updated, so users miss the new features added to Google’s services.

A good example is the YouTube application for iPhone, developed by Apple, which still uses 5-star ratings, doesn’t support captions, annotations or search suggestions and offers a single sharing option: email. Google’s YouTube application for Android is not much better, even if it’s updated faster.”

From: http://ping.fm/rQZWD

Posted via email from Small Business Strategies

To prepare your case study analysis, you need to understand the four parts that hold the case study together. Once you have grasped how to structure your case study, you are then in a better position to refine this document and make the sections flow more smoothly from one topic to the next. Your case study should be built around the Situation, Problem, Solution, and Evaluation.

From: http://ping.fm/mZRiO

Posted via email from Small Business Strategies

Looking for funding for a new project but not sure where to start? One way to get the funding you need is to create a Business Case. This outlines the benefits, competitive edge, and other gains the company stands to make if it invests in this project. For certain projects, the Business Case is a fore-runner for a Request For Proposal (aka Invitation To Tender) where business proposals are accepted from external firms.

 Business Case Template

Over the coming weeks, we’ll look at how to write, review and assess business proposals. For now, let’s focus developing the Business Case.

I’ve put together this Business Case checklist which covers most all areas related to the project/service you are exploring. This checklist should help you address areas such as Achievability, Benefits, Costs, Critical success factors, Resources, Risks, Scope, Strategic fit, and Value For Money.

Business Case Checklist

To ensure that your business case is complete, examine the following points:

1. Achievability — this ensures that you (and other parties) have the experience, expertise, and resources to manage the project. Examine different approaches that can overcome any potential obstacles, e.g. additional resources, timelines, or budgets.
2. Assumptions — speak to all stakeholders and gather their main assumptions, e.g. in the case of outsourcing IT development, that the Intellectual Property Rights will be owned by your organization. Examine whether these assumptions are valid or not.
3. Benefits — outline the benefits, and opportunities, that each option provides. Identify the high-level benefits that align with your company’s main business objectives, and explore how these benefits can be measured
4. Costs — obtain indicative figures for the cost of the project over its entire lifecycle, not only the implementation costs. You may want to factor in 15-20% for scope creep, if appropriate. Also, determine who will pay for the project, if they have agreed to do this, and the payment method. Examine how to get an acceptable balance of cost, benefit, and risk.
5. Critical success factors — seek consensus with the other stakeholders on what constitutes success. If you do not take this step, stakeholder will have different expectations of the final deliverable. Define success factors that are specific, measurable, and achievable; identify any other factors that could affect success, such as the delivery of other parallel projects.
6. Dependencies — outline the internal (e.g. staff availability) and external dependencies (changes in the marketplace, new government legislation).
7. Options – gather details on all available options that could meet the business needs. Consider the trade-offs associated with each option, and the degree to which each option meets the project’s needs. Make sure that you have included the overall supply chain’s needs, i.e. the organization, partners, suppliers, staff and customers.
8. Procurement — send an Invitation to Tender (ITT) to prospective contractors. Evaluate their bids. Hold presentations with the most impressive bids.
9. Project Group — identify those (individuals, units, and departments) who are involved and/or affected by the project. Determine their interests and endeavor to resolve any potential conflicts.
10. Resources — scope the anticipated resource and capabilities requirements that you will need, such as staff, IT, workspace, equipment, and funding.
11. Risks – Capture all anticipated risks – plan contingences. Prepare a high-level estimate of the costs for each risk.
12. Scope – define what is in/out of scope with the existing budget; scope what can be delivered with a reduced budget, with indicative delivery dates; ensure that there are no conflicts with other on-going projects. Look at the impact that delaying the project or under-delivering could have.
13. Stakeholders — identify their role, responsibility, availability, and contingencies if they become incapacitated/released from the project.
14. Strategic fit – confirm that the project is still required and that its objectives are in line with the company’s business goals.
15. Value For Money — examine how to get Value For Money from the contractors, contractors and other third parties. Agree what constitutes VFM with the project stakeholders.

Once you have checked off these points, your business case should be ready to send to the project stakeholders.

What are your thoughts? What have I missed?

About the Author: Ivan Walsh provides Business Tips for Smart People on Klariti.com. His also runs the popularBusiness Planning Blog at http://www.ivanwalsh.com. Follow him on Twitter @ivanwalsh

Posted via email from Business Plan Tips

Posted via web from Technical Writing Tips

Robert Scoble posed the question, “Should we give Google Buzz another look?” Last week at SMX Advanced, Matt Cutts said almost the exact same thing when answering a question posed by Danny Sullivan. Here is what Matt said:

From: http://ping.fm/JCSje

Posted via web from Small Business Strategies