Social Archives - BOLLYWOOD SURKHIYAN

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Social responsibility is the theory that every entity has a duty towards the common good of society at large, in order to maintain a balance between economy and ecology. This responsibility can be at an individual or organizational level, but the idea is to give as much good back to the world that we live in, as we take from it.

Economic development has always been seen as a trade-off between sustaining the world we live in and improving the economic climate, more so in urban societies where commerce seems to override the health of the environment. However, this need not be the case. With social responsibility, we can find ways of sustaining a balance between the two by either not engaging in acts that are harmful to the environment (passive) or working towards the advancement of social goals (active).

Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR refers to the efforts of a profit-making organization or business establishment, in the area of social betterment. The World Business Council for Sustainable Development defined CSR in one of it’s publications, as “… the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as the local community and society at large”. It is often argued that CSR comes directly in the way of an establishment’s fundamental role of economic growth and profit making. However, it is clear that economic growth can only take us so far in a world where human, animal and environmental welfare takes a backseat. CSR is now a vital organ in the machinery of most established organizations the world over.

Similarly, Student Social Responsibility (SSR) and Individual Social Responsibility (ISR) are also viewed to hold both positive and negative repercussions to a society. Should an individual focus on self-interest alone or the larger interests of the community? Should a student concentrate on succeeding purely in academic pursuits, or does he or she benefit from being involved in the welfare of the society? The answer is simple: there is no individual gain when the community suffers; the fruits of one’s academic excellence hold no value when a society isn’t functioning optimally.

To this end, it is up to the individual or the organization to choose an area of social responsibility that they believe they are most suited to contribute towards. A good example of best practices in social responsibility and sustainability comes from Levi Strauss. The company came under fire from Greenpeace for its clean water practices at some of its manufacturing plants in Mexico. Levi’s made an open pledge on its site to work towards this weakness. By re-thinking water consumption at every stage of production, the company now has a new line of jeans, which uses up to 96% less water during the production cycle.

Advantages of Social Media Marketing

In the world of business, marketing is essential. However, in our new digital age, traditional marketing is becoming increasingly ineffective, and a new form of marketing is on the rise. Because of its many advantages, social media marketing has become an almost essential part of any business’s attempt to establish a firm footing in today’s competitive market. When considering the pros and cons of different marketing methods, think of all the time and money that was traditionally spent on marketing your products or services, and compare it to what it now costs to market your business on social sites.

Originally, businesses paid out of pocket for advertisements on television, billboards, or in newspapers. Eventually, these strategies came to the point where they were not cost effective in the least. Of all viewers of advertisements, only one to two percent actually contacted the distributor and was interested in their product. Why was this? One of the most interesting advantages of social media marketing is that when viewing television, advertisements often irritate and interrupt viewers, causing most of them to be uninterested in the advertised product. With social media, the targeted audience not only watches the advertisement, but also participates in it.

Participation is a key advantage of social media marketing. Online, people willingly participate in activities and blogs that market your company for you. When the customers become involved with your business or company, they not only care about your products, the come to care about your business. Social involvement with customers usually leads to an increase in clientele and customer satisfaction.

Another advantage that comes with social media marketing is that online advertising with sites like Facebook is one hundred percent free. You no longer have to rent a billboard or air time on the television or radio. You do not have to pay for ink and paper and distribute fliers about your business. You can do it all electronically and be much more productive. Almost every human being, in the United States at least, has heard of Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. Most of them have profiles. By marketing your business online, a completely new world of advertising opens up.

With all these advantages, a business almost cannot survive in our world without internet marketing. The best thing about it though, is that it is affordable, effective and can work for anyone. Any business, no matter how small, can effectively market itself online.

Carl J. Kosnar Becomes Consultant for the IFA Social Sector Franchising Task Force

September 1, 2018

News Release

Carl J. Kosnar Becomes Consultant for the IFA Social Sector Franchising Task Force

SAN DIEGO, CA–(September 1, 2018) – The International Franchise Association’s (IFA), Social Sector Franchising Task Force Group, has announced that The Kosnar Group’s Managing Partner, Carl J. Kosnar, has been selected as one of its social franchise mentors, to counsel companies seeking assistance with developing a social franchise.

“The subject of social enterprise business entities has fascinated me over the past few years. Our firm has been involved in helping companies franchise their businesses, and license products and services through technology transfer for over 35 years,” said Mr. Kosnar.

“The success of the American franchise business model is well documented through volumes of books and articles, including those I have written, over the last thirty-five years. It is not my intent to add to the prolific amount of text that already exists, but rather to explore the opportunities that we perceive in attempting to merge the American franchise business model with a Social Enterprise Franchise,” added Kosnar.

Much has been written in recent years extolling the virtues of franchising as it exists in the United States and other countries. However, there has been a dearth of information and analysis of the economic impact and potential of franchising, or similar economic expansion systems, in developing Social Enterprise ventures.

One of the pioneers in the U.S. to promote social franchising is the IFA Social Sector Franchising Task Force. The Task Force is made up of IFA members, experienced and innovative franchise professionals who have joined together to help social sector franchisors and other NGOs. The Social franchise model creates opportunities for local entrepreneurs to deliver products and services in underserved communities worldwide.

Commercial franchising and social franchising are variations on the same basic strategy for expanding a business. They differ in just two ways:

• The type and purpose of the products and services offered by the business being franchised

• The profile of the target customer

Social franchised businesses, like those operated by traditional NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) are primarily developed to offer products and services that people need – not simply want – such as healthcare, safe drinking water, sanitation, clean energy, and education. These are social enterprises whose creation is targeted to achieve goals such as those set in the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations.

For more information about social enterprise franchising, please contact Carl Kosnar.

Contact:

CARL J. KOSNAR

MANAGING PARTNER

THE KOSNAR GROUP

2306 WALES DRIVE

CARDIFF BY THE SEA, CA 92007

PHONE: (619) 994-2258

FAX: (760) 632-0772

carl@kosnar.com

http://www.kosnar.com

A Trusted Franchise Advisor with 35 Years of Experience

The 7 Wonders Of Social Media Marketing To A Brand

The universe of digital marketing is wide and varied, but the one factor that is dominating it is social media. Through online platforms, companies can reach a global pool of customers that are in billions. Any corporation that is not utilising this source is not only skipping on a fantastic growth window but a cash cow of profitability.

Be it mere PPC services or sharing content on social media, when a company utilises any platform, they spread awareness of their service or product. Furthermore, they indicate to search engines that the brand is reliable, valid and consistent. Let’s take a look at how else social media affects an establishment, positively.

Get the customer engaged.

Marketing is about winning the attention of a person and then conveying your message. Social media is the easiest and ideal way of interacting with customers. It is the one path that allows for two-way communication at lightning speed. Catering to the wishes or interest of the patron is fast paced with online platforms. When more consumers are engaging with your brand, there is a bigger probability of conversion.

Get more customers aware.

Facebook, Twitter or Instagram are not just avenues to converse with current customers. They are pathways to reaching an added audience in real time. Unlike most other marketing stratagems, social media is a hassle-free way to enhance the visibility of a brand. Just a few hours every seven days has shown, in more than 90% of companies, a greater awareness of product or service in customers.

The gist is to create all social media profiles, use them regularly and begin networking to generate a wide audience

Make customers more loyal.

Without a shadow of a doubt, the one benefit social media has for customers is the ease with which they can find brands. The convenience of connecting heightens user experience and benefits the company. How? A patron becomes loyal to a brand when they receive satisfaction. When a customer is able to communicate with the corporation within minutes of facing an issue or wanting to know more about a product through social presence, it ups satisfaction. This, in turn, leads to brand loyalty.

Gain understanding of the marketplace.

The reason social media is considered the MVP of digital marketing is not that it gives brands the freedom to introduce their products to a broader audience but because it offers a comprehension of the marketplace. When a company is able to talk with their patrons through online avenues directly, they get to know precisely what is needed.

Over and above, a brand can observe the online activities of consumer and get to know their opinions and interests. This would not be possible without pages and handles on social media. Think of social media as a research tool which can be employed to know the demographics when the brand following becomes large.

Be more economical.

Advertising, in the traditional sense, is not an inexpensive strategy. But promoting through social media marketing is hugely cost-effective.

Creating an account on any platform is free.
Developing a brand through your own handle costs zilch.
Even paid advertising is dirt cheap on social media.

To top the cake with a cherry, a company can invest the smallest amount and get a high rate of return. Significantly raising conversion rates is not hard with social media adverts, you need a little capital and the right time.

Gain a brand voice.

Through an online platform, a brand can create a voice that speaks directly to patrons and generates a healthy brand image. When a customer receives a tailored reply to their query on social, instead of a cookie cutter reply, they appreciate it more. It shows that the company values the consumer enough to take the effort to write a personal response. A brand voice, therefore, allows for effective communication, networking and healthier satisfaction in clients.

Become an authority.

Every time a small or big business posts an original content on social media or each time, they resolve a question posed by a customer, they establish authority. As more and more original posts go up and resolutions occur, in the eyes of the patron, the brand becomes an expert on the subject or topic. Just like satisfaction and loyalty affect the bottom line of an organisation, authority touches it too. Why? Because it leaves an optimistic picture in the mind of the consumer. It makes them more probable of buying a product and talking about it to other potential customers.

A Succinct Layout

No marketing guru or entrepreneur can deny that media is a magic wand. It creates miracles for budding and established businesses. When you post consistently, the benefits the trade accrues are:

better SEO
increased traffic
improved brand loyalty
healthier customer satisfaction

Remember, chances are the competing businesses is already exploiting social marketing to reach probable patrons. Don’t miss out on the opportunity.

Beginners’ Guide – Advantages and Disadvantages of Social Media

We all are beginners at some point. For the beginners the biggest challenge is to know the advantages and disadvantages of Social Media. Today we are going to talk about the Social Media – Advantages and Disadvantages. Many small business owners have not yet taken advantage of social media to help grow their business. It has become so vital for us to stay connected and convey the right message. To get the best out of this platform here are some tips and guidance for the beginners to know.

First of all some facts and figures of social media sites:

One in every nine people on earth is on Facebook
Twitter is adding nearly 500,000 users everyday
One in four Americans watches a video online everyday
During the second half of 2010, LinkedIn membership base grew, on average, by 1 million new members every ten days

Connect: Facebook helps you connect and share with people in your life. Just think what was your life before Facebook invented? Was it more relax, exiting, boring or challenging? In Facebook we can create a personal profile, add other users as friends & exchange messages. If we talk about LinkedIn, it gives us the opportunity to connect with professionals across the globe. Whether you are using it for personal growth or spreading your business. It also gives you the opportunity to connect with business minded people like you. If we talk about Twitter, it is simply amazing! Twitter is a real time information network that connects you to the latest stories, ideas what you find interesting. It gives you an opportunity to know what’s happening around the world in 140 characters long tweet!

Interact: With your connections Facebook gives you an opportunity to let people know about you. You can share your photos, stories and create fan page. As a business, Facebook pages are a good source of feedback on your product/services. In LinkedIn you can interact with professionals on one single platform. You can discuss business, resources, ideas, learning opportunities and lot more. In Twitter, tweets are text based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author’s profile page and delivered to the followers. On a personal level Twitters allows one to communicate with friends and families. On business level it connects your current & potential customers with your product & service.

Exchange: With the use of Facebook, we exchange joy, fun, sorrows, help and many more things at one place! Facebook slowly also being used like email. So this is one of the cost-effective ways to connected. With the use of LinkedIn we exchange professional expertise along with useful information which eventually enhances our professional brand. It also exchanges stronger business ideas with each other. On a business level, it helps us to exchange feedback, comments which eventually lead to increase business. On a personal level, it helps you in personal development. Twitter is a powerful tool for exchanging information and news as Twitter user often link to useful sites or articles & can be source of alternative news.

Disadvantages: As we discussed the Advantages of Social Media but we cannot ignore the Disadvantages just to be more secure on online platform.

Think about the viral potential of media. When news are negative and bad in taste, the same will happen with that brand. It is hard to undertake damage control when you are dealing with social media. Your name might get spoiled within hours. The best example is MacDonald’s Twitter promotion. According to Mail Online news article – Mac Fail! MacDonald’s Twitter promotion backfires as users highjack hash tag MacD stories to share fast food horror stories. Opponents accused the burger franchise of making customer vomit, serving pig meat from gestation crates and dishing up a burger containing a finger nail. Another disadvantage is to face threat from fake profile and ID. This is one of the biggest disadvantages of Facebook. People often use fake profile to insult or harassing someone. Students who are Facebook addicted do a bad result on his or her exams. One of the major risks of social networking and the Internet in general is breaches in privacy. These sites collect considerable amounts of personal information, with email addresses being one of the most collected pieces of personal data. Also these social networking sites possibly reduce persons’ compassion. You can check Twitter updates from your phone and send messages from anywhere. Social networking sites have the potential of having spreading negative or Anti-social messages. Amongst

As discussed above there are both Advantages and Disadvantages of Social Networking. One thing is clear; it is up to the person how he/she wants to get benefit from Social Media platform. In life we are often subjected to good and bad choices it is only we ourselves, who can decide what we want.

The Feasibility of Social Media Marketing and Consulting

A lot of research is undertaken regularly to determine new trends and developments in the online business. These exciting occurrences are conveyed to industry players and the general public as well. The online advertising market has grown enormously through the years and this growth is not at all waning.

Social media marketing and consulting has been acknowledged as one of the most viable online business opportunities. You just have to do three things to make it click.

You need to take care of the business painstakingly to make it grow and succeed for the long-term. Begin with a practical and realistic business plan. Be careful with your implementation and network with possible clients. Make sure that your customers are satisfied with your deliverables. Start slow by getting one client at a time until you are able to perfect the system and have the competence to take on many clients.

Teach a business organization to become more personal and put in place the effective foundation for success in any online venture. This concept makes it much easier for neophyte entrepreneurs to know more about social networks and brand conversations.

Give emphasis to the importance of the brand and crucial aspects in internet marketing like blog writing, put together strategies, outreach projects, brand analysis, profile enhancement and web software design.

Here is a useful advice if you want to go into this business as a competent Social Media Marketing Consulting Firm and provide professional help to new industries.

The Social Media Marketing Consulting provider must be capable of attaining the three things mentioned earlier and achieve satisfactory results. The brand becomes popular and benefits about this brand are immediately spread around because of this technique. Information is passed from a single individual to hundreds and even thousands of people. Positive information saturates the search engines and the result is website traffic shoots up. With the help of the experts, it becomes easier to acquire more customers. Converting them into loyal and satisfied customers become very manageable. These companies adhere to ethical practices and make use of effective systems to give the bets coverage for a particular business. The Social Media Marketing Consulting Company continuously upgrades its programs in enhancing awareness and upgrading the websites of their clients.

Your endeavor being one of the most feasible online business opportunities can support all types of businesses in their effort to propagate research and development, marketing promotions and advertising. These are the search engine optimization authorities that are committed in providing internet advertising and social marketing techniques as well as SEO that will surely enhance the online undertaking. Of course, the unique strategy of employing social media networking to reach out to more audiences should not be forgotten.

Social Media Marketing is now widely used by enterprising and inventive businesses. Social media has become very useful to most marketing campaigns. Business owners acknowledge the fact that this line of attack is capable of penetrating a wider audience. This technique is exciting and creates fresh opportunities to generate more visitors and inbound sales.

Where Does Social Media Fit Into a Business Marketing Plan?

According to The Social Media Examiner’s recent Social Media Marketing Report, “The number-one advantage of social media marketing is generating exposure for the business, indicated by 85% of all marketers, followed by increasing traffic [to a website] (63%) and building new business partnerships (56%)”. With 65% of the marketers stating they are relatively new to social media, many questions arose as to how to implement it effectively without “wasting” a lot of time.

Let’s take a look at the overall Internet Marketing plan of a business to think about incorporating social media into that plan.

How are your potential customers finding you?

Traditional advertising such as word of mouth, TV, Yellow Pages, News Paper ads remain somewhat effective to get traffic to your business. Many of you have discovered that using the power of the internet through the search engines is making those methods nearly obsolete. Social media is an outstanding method to find people interested in what you offer and get traffic to your business.

An essential piece to marketing on-line is a Website & a blog. Most of you reading this will find that “old news”. The design, optimization, and content of the website and an informative blog will certainly be the hub of your internet marketing plan. Yet there is more to consider. You want people to find your website, visit it, stay for awhile and become a loyal customer.

The first step of an internet marketing plan is to ask yourself these questions: Have you carefully completed your market Research? Do you know if people are looking on-line for what you are selling? If people are searching on-line using the internet do you know what words they use to locate what you are selling or providing? These terms are known as your “Key Words”. It is important to have completed the “keyword research” to know if they are searching on line for a solution that you are providing.

The next step would be Search Engine Optimization, SEO – Designing the site and its content so that it is found by the search engines. This is not an exact science nor is it magic – experts in the SEO field understand specific things need to be in place so your site gets found. Having your site reviewed often brings to light details that are easily added to affect your search engine ranking.

Local businesses need to be maximizing their listings in Google Places, Yelp and other local map applications to get found quickly, locally. An optimized listing provides legitimacy and validates the content on your website increasing search engines recognition of your site.

Paid on-line advertising is another option. “Pay per click” ads through Google and Facebook are available. PR, articles, and blog posts drive significant traffic as well and many resources are free. The links back to your site from these resources again, legitimize your site. They “vote” for and provide validity of the authenticity of your website. These are just a few of the useful tools that can increase the number of potential clients to your site.

Social Media fits into this piece of the marketing plan by getting your message out there, increasing your visibility and building a following of people interested in your services.

Blogging, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and local networking groups are just a a few of the many social media options out there. Choose your plan carefully Map out the possible services and gradually incorporate those that make the best sense into your plan. Start with one piece. Gradually add in the other pieces.

“Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and blogs were the top four social media tools used by marketers, in order.” according to the Social Media Examiner.

Blogging is easily updated keeping content fresh. It is used to inform, educate and entertain opening the door for clients to interact. Build your expertise, talk to followers using the known words that engage – give them what they are looking for, solve their problems, offer them solutions and educate them. Here is where you want to make sure you “capture” their contact information – what do your customers need that will entice them to give you their contact information? Provide it to them, and follow up.

With the analytics available on-line, you can test and determine what works within your marketing plan. What pages are holding their attention? What pages are the ones they leave from? How long do they stay? What interests them?

Building relationships– encouraging loyal, returning customers through social media significantly adds to your overall marketing approach. It has been said it is cheaper to keep a customer than find a new one. This is the phase in which profits are made.

What is your business mindset?If you strive to be helpful and known as the local expert willing to educate your potential customers, you build trust and loyalty. As a consumer, what keeps you returning to your favorite businesses? It is these strategies that keep you prominently in your customers mind.

Follow up. Stay in touch. If you don’t have a way to get information to your customers through email, it is time to implement that plan. Email is an excellent, inexpensive way to do this.

Social Media is one piece of a strong marketing strategy implemented over time. A social media marketing plan is designed with your client and your business in mind. Where do your potential customers go to find information about the products or services you offer? If they are on-line – you should be as well. With a few tools and a great plan, you just might find this your favorite way to interact and relate with your customers. It is another dimension to networking. See you on-line!

Tips on Writing an Effective Social Media Marketing Request For Proposal (RFP)

About a year ago, I wrote an article with guidelines on writing a website design and development Request for Proposal (RFP), which received a great response. Now I think it’s high time to do the same thing for those wishing to engage an agency for Social Media Marketing and other Online Marketing and Advertising consultation and implementation.

Below are my suggestions of how to prepare an RFP for social media projects, retainers and campaigns. I also suggest doing research online and viewing other Request for Proposals to see what works best for your organization. Keep in mind that whatever format you choose will determine not only how long the responses are, but also what type of focus you are looking for from the respondents. Each section of the RFP is outlined below, along with some explanation and suggested questions. Have fun!

Information about your organization and project

Introduction

The purpose of this section is to give a brief overview of the company issuing the RFP and the social media project or desired work relationship between the company and the vendor. Provide as much information as you feel is necessary to allow vendors to prepare an accurate proposal. If you feel that there is certain proprietary or other information that you do not wish to make public, require a Non Disclosure Agreement be signed before receiving that information. This may limit the participation of vendors, but it is oftentimes necessary to protect private information.

1. Company Overview

Organizational history
Your business objectives
Your company’s history using social media or reasons why your organization intends to begin to participate in social media

2. Overview of Project

State the project objectives and how they relate to the business objectives stated above. Explain the type of vendor relationship desired i.e. Project-based, Agency of Record, etc. Explain the current involvement your organization has with social media channels and how they relate to both your organization’s primary presence and any related campaigns
Explain the social media channels you wish the campaign to involve, unless you are looking for suggestions of which to use, then please specify that to the vendors
Explain how the project fits into your overall marketing strategy (online and offline) and if there is another vendor involved in other aspects of your Advertising and Marketing initiatives
Explain the measurable outcomes you would like to see
Explain the duration of the work – is it a temporary campaign, or an ongoing organizational marketing platform?

3. Overview of Audiences and Stakeholders

List primary audiences for the company, i.e. demographics, psychographics, etc
List primary information needs of each audience group
Identify if any market or audience research will be necessary in the execution of the campaign

4. Overview of Response

Make it clear the type of response you are looking for:
Are you looking for a hypothetical approach, or an explanation of the vendor’s process of how they will come to create your campaign. Many times a hypothetical approach is not the best way to approach an RFP process simply because a vendor will be missing several key pieces of information that might negatively affect their ability to propose a specific solution. We suggest looking for more general responses and weighing the effectiveness of past client work heavily

Guidelines for Proposal Preparation

In order to give all qualified vendors a level playing field, it’s important to set up an easy to follow schedule for both when your RFP is issued, when and to whom questions are allowed, and when and in what format responses are required
Specify the date the RFP was issued (Month, Day, Year). If your RFP is publicly listed, it will help those searching for RFPs on Google or by other methods to find relevant Request for Proposals
An optional requirement is to specify that all interested vendors register their intent to submit a proposal by a certain date – usually within 1-2 weeks of the RFP issue. This is a good way to limit the potential number of vendors who respond if you anticipate a large volume of proposals and would rather receive a smaller amount
We recommend allowing a question and answer period that ends at least 1 week before the proposal is due. It is up to you whether to allow questions by email, conference call or individual phone calls. We do recommend that you share all the questions (and answers) with all interested vendors in order to keep things as equal as possible. Always specify which format -phone call, email, and to whom these questions should be addressed. We recommend identifying a single person in your organization to be the point of contact. Just make sure vacation schedules, etc don’t interfere with this process, and if there is any other reason why the primary point of contact might need to be out of town during the process, specify a secondary point of contact
Responses from issuer to be sent by 20XX in the following formats (specify whether electronic submissions, hard copies or both must be either emailed, mailed or hand-delivered)
On the basis of the replies to the RFP document, a short list of potential vendors will be selected and this group will be asked to present demonstrations of their capabilities and vision for the project. These meetings will be completed by XXth, 20XX
Awarding of the contract to selected Vendor by XXth, 20XX
Work to commence by 20XX and to last until (if applicable)

Vendor Questions and Qualifications

The following is a series of questions that, if applicable, we suggest you ask the vendors submitting proposals. Some may not apply, but it is a great idea to get as much of an idea of the vendor’s approach and philosophy on social media as possible. Compare the responses both among each other, and to the research and reading that you have done to make sure that the vendor is up to date with the latest thinking and best practices.

COMPANY DETAILS

Company name and parent company name
Ownership structure
Years in operation
Mailing address (headquarters)
Other office location(s)
Primary phone
Fax number
Website and blog URL
Primary point of contact (name, title, phone and email address)
Total number of employees
Number of vendor employees whose primary function is social media
Current client list with those engaged in social media work identified
Percentage of total revenue that is social-media related
Three references for social media work including; company name, primary client name, contact details and brief explanation of services provided
Any potential conflicts with existing vendor client base and this RFP
Senior social media staff bios and links to social media profiles where applicable
Please provide a complete list of relevant social media platform and technology partners
References from clients currently engaged in social media work with the vendor

CAPABILITIES & EXPERIENCE

List all social media and online marketing capabilities
Do you have any proprietary tools or products related to social media?
Please list any experience you have with integrating social, paid and/or earned media
Is there a specific industry or type of work your firm specializes in?
Please list and provide links to primary social media communication channels for your company (i.e.company blog,Twitter account, Facebook group, blogs authored by principals, etc.)

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING STRATEGY

Please outline your social media strategy process
Which stakeholder groups do you typically include in a strategy engagement?
Describe the final deliverable of a strategy engagement
What is your approach to risk management in social media?
How do you incorporate existing applications, websites, microsites and newsletter programs into your overall social media strategy?
How do you ensure compliance with client legal requirements?
Please describe your approach to integrating across client marketing, customer service and corporate communications departments. Please provide an example of your work in this area
How do you approach adapting a traditional brand into a two-way dialogue?
Please provide a case study of your strategy work that resulted in a social media initiative and the business results achieved

REPUTATION MANAGEMENT & SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING

What is your brand/reputation monitoring process (i.e. proprietary tools used, methodology, etc)?
What is your opinion on automated sentiment analysis?
What technology do you use to assist in online monitoring?
How long (on average) between a potential issue being posted online and being flagged to the client?
What volume of mentions has your organization handled in the past (e.g. 2,500 mentions per week)?
What is your quality assurance process to ensure that the large volumes of data gathered in the monitoring process are handled efficiently and representative of the overall online conversation?
Please detail your methodology for handling online crises
What services do you provide in support of online crisis management?
Please describe the structure of your crisis management team, including bios and relevant experience
How do you assess which mentions require immediate responses and which do not?
Please outline your general approach to sourcing and responding to comments
Please provide a case study detailing your work for the purposes of managing reputation or online crisis management, including outcomes and lessons learned
Please include a sample of your monitoring report format and/or a link to appropriate dashboards (specifics should be removed)

METRICS, MEASUREMENT & REPORTING

What methodology do you use for measuring the success of your social media programs for clients?
Please provide specific examples based on past work
Have you developed any proprietary metrics? How have you applied these for clients?
How have you defined Return on Investment (ROI) from a social media perspective in the past?
How do you take data points generated from various social media channels and measurement tools and combine to give an objective/comprehensive view?
What is your approach to server analytics and community analytics for program measurement?
Do you have the capability to measure cost per lead or cost per acquisition? Please provide an example of a project on which you have done so
What platforms are you unable to measure accurately, or able to provide only limited measurements from?
Please provide a sample of a measurement document or final report (specifics should be removed)
What percentage of the budget do you recommend be dedicated to metrics and measurement?

CLIENT EDUCATION & TRAINING

Do you offer social media training services for clients? If yes, what formats are they available in?
What internal processes do you have in place to ensure that your staff is kept current on social media innovations and best practices?
How do you measure progress and evaluate training effectiveness?
How do you recommend that clients keep up to date on the latest social media innovations and best practices?

SOCIAL MEDIA AND OTHER DIGITAL CHANNELS

What are your design, creative and community management capabilities?
What percentage of your staff is dedicated to building and deploying social media solutions versus management and consulting?
Please describe your experience with the following platforms and tactics:

– YouTube or similar video sharing sites

– Blogs, Podcasts, Vodcasts, Forums

– Content Management System (CMS)

– Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

– E-mail Marketing

– Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing(SEM)

– Facebook Pages, Apps, API integration

– Mobile application development

– Twitter

– News sharing sites (i.e. Digg, Reddit, etc.)

– Virtual Worlds and Augmented reality

– Photo sharing (i.e. Flickr) and other content sharing sites (i.e. Scribd, Slideshare, Delicious, etc.)

– Social Media press releases(SMPRs)

– Crowdsourcing or Wikis

– Real world events organized via social media (e.g. Tweetups)

– Ratings/Customer service sites (i.e. Yelp, ePinions, etc.)

Please provide examples of social media channel development work completed within the last two years

COMMUNITY AND INFLUENCER OUTREACH (SOCIAL PR)

What is your process for identifying influencers within various social media channels?
How do you determine and define “influence?”
What is your outreach process for communicating with identified online influencers?
What tools and approaches do you use for Influencer Relationship Management? (Third-party, proprietary,etc.)
How have you integrated Influencer Outreach with traditional communications and/or marketing campaigns?
How do you approach seeding conversations within stakeholder groups?
What is your exit strategy with influencers once the initiative is completed?
How do you ensure authenticity and transparency when conducting outreach on behalf of a client?
Please provide a case study of an online community outreach project

CLIENT SERVICES & PROJECT MANAGEMENT

How is a typical client engagement with your firm structured?
How do you structure your account teams?
Please outline your internal communication structure. If your account staff is separate from your project management staff, please detail how these teams work together
If you are selected to provide social media services, who will be assigned to our business (please provide names, titles and short biographical notes)
What percentage of senior staff involvement is structured in to your projects? What role do they play?
How are your projects priced? Using an hourly rate? Blended agency rate? If the former, please provide a rate card
What change management practices does your agency employ?
What reports will be provided to the client in order to communicate project milestones and overall project health?
What is the frequency of these reports?
What is your process for gathering business requirements?

Writing a Request for Proposal (RFP) is a good first step when considering Online Marketing and Social Media work as it takes thoughtful planning to specify and construct an effective, integrated campaign. A well thought-out, quality RFP is essential to a successful endeavor because it helps you to focus on your goals and exactly how to achieve them.

How to Deleted Online Social Media Accounts No Longer In Use

Protecting your identity online is essential for your brand, reputation and credit worthiness, far more important than updating your Instagram and Facebook every day. Several times a year the news will cover a serious data breach of information being held by major banks, insurance companies and/or social media platforms. Once the data is taken, it can be misused or even lead to identity theft. Deleting your old social media accounts is a vital step to help ensure some measure of identity protection. It is imperative that you keep your online access to your current accounts safe and protected and delete any old accounts.

Here is a guide that will help you delete your old accounts on the most popular social media sites.

Facebook

Moving onto the biggest social network platform of all time, Facebook, with over a billion users, keeps things simple and makes it incredibly easy for you to deactivate your account.

Once you go into the “settings” tab from the down arrow in your browser, select your Facebook information and then select delete your account and information”. When you are in this menu you will go to delete your account and must add the password to confirm.

Foursquare

Foursquare hit the internet over a decade ago to let friends know where you are and figuring out where they are. In order to delete your Foursquare account, you will have to access the platform from your computer. Move onto the “privacy” settings tab where you have to scroll to the end of the page and find an option to delete your account. When you select this option you will go to a page where you need to confirm whether you want to delete your account or not.

Google

Google is the undisputed search engine leader with one of the most interconnected ecosystems. By creating one account for Google you are able to access a plethora of different applications and websites without having to create separate accounts. In order to delete your Google+ or Gmail account, you will need to delete your entire Google account.

Go to “Google account settings” and choose “delete account and services”. There you will see the “delete products” option, where you can access all of your Google applications. You need to sign in to all of the websites first before you can delete your account.

Instagram

Facebook’s younger brother is possibly the most used social media platform by Millennials, according to Hootsuite. Thanks to its focus on visual communication, it is the go-to place in order to find talented artists.

Deleting your account is very simple and takes little time to properly accomplish. While you can manage your privacy settings using the mobile app, you must go through an internet browser in order to delete your account. Simply go to the “delete your account page”, and there you will have to provide a reason for deleting your account. Once you provide the reason, you will provide your password and then select the option to permanently delete the account.

Linked In

LinkedIn is the social network for professionals looking for new opportunities to connect with other professionals and grow their business and careers. If you are on the platform, the profile should be complete and up-to-date. If you are no longer using the platform, delete the account. At the top right corner of any page of LinkedIn, you will first have to access the “privacy and settings” tab. From there, choose the “account” tab and then select closing your LinkedIn account. You will have to give your feedback and verify your account before you can delete it. From there you will see a post telling you of the consequences of deleting your account and then the final page which will be for confirmation.

MySpace

This social media platform has been bought and sold several times since its glory days (2005 to 2009). In 2016 their database was breached and leaked to a dark market website. To delete your MySpace account, you will first have to login to the account that you want to delete. From there, select the “gear” icon and choose the “account” tab. There, you will see an option to delete your account. Before you can delete your account you will have to provide a reason after which you will receive an email for confirmation. Open the email and follow its instructions.

Pinterest

Pinterest is a web-based pinboard or bulletin board, a place to bookmark images found online. To delete your Pinterest account you will first have to go to the triple dot icon on the website and select the “edit settings” option. From there you will have to go down to the “account” page and select “deactivate account”. From there you will click “yes” to receive an email, which you need to open and follow in order to permanently delete your account.

Snapchat

Snapchat is a service that, for a short time, rivaled Facebook and was the go-to social media app for many people. As is the case with Instagram, you cannot delete your account from the mobile app; you must delete it from a proper browser.

From the website browser, go to “delete your account” and enter your username and password. Your account does not delete instantly and it takes about 30 days to remove all of the information.

Twitter

Regardless of how famous your really are, everyone has a Twitter handle. Many people follow and get their news from the tweets of everyone from legitimate newsmakers and media organizations to raving fans of our favorite sport teams. Deleting your Twitter account is incredibly easy. It takes at least 30 days for all of your tweets to get deleted. Select “settings and privacy” from the form on the menu and go into the account tab. From there you will have to deactivate your account and enter your password to confirm the action.

Tumblr

Tumblr probably has one of the most bustling communities on the internet, which is also why it is very easy for anyone to delete their account. While you are able to delete your account, the content other people have reposted will remain available on the site. To delete your account, click on the person-shaped icon on the website, and go to “settings”. There select “delete account”, entering your email and password to confirm the process. Tumblr also states that it takes them a few days to properly wipe all of your content.

Whatsapp

Whatsapp is a free messaging app to send Voice over IP (VoIP), images, video calls and documents using a mobile device. To delete your account, simply open your Whatsapp and go to the “settings” menu. From there, select account and go to “Delete my account”, after which you will have to enter your phone number in international code and tap “delete”.

YouTube

YouTube is second only to Facebook as a social media platform, owned by Alphabet, the owner the parent company of Google. A well-managed channel can help to improve website ratings. A channel not in use should be deleted. Deleting your channel from the largest video-sharing platform on the internet is quite simple. You will first have to sign into your YouTube account and go to your advanced settings. From there, choose “delete channel” and then opt for “delete channel permanently”. This will launch a prompt where you can confirm if you want to delete your channel or would still like to keep it.

Final Words of Advice

According to industry experts and a recent article in Consumer Reports, it is a best practice to reduce the risk of having your personal and professional data being misused or stolen by keep your current accounts secure and deleting accounts no longer in use.

Adapt to Social Media

Adapt to social media and create residual income. By joining affiliate programs that are long lasting you stay in the game longer. Free tools must be exercised… some of them include backlink checkers and PR checkers ™ for Google PR.

When looking for backlinks… submit articles – they last the longest – on EzineArticles or sites like that but also talk to webmasters from related business to get a reciprocal exchange.

With Social Media – it is always changing so keep your post fresh and your ideas up to date.. Likes are gotten by people expressing interest in the posts that you recommend.. Video marketing can be done free with a Google YouTube account…

Getting back to the affiliate program longevity – the best ones I joined were Forex 7+ years I’ve been there… still profitable… ClickBank – many opportunities so you’ll never lose interest… and eBay – the biggest auction affiliate in the world in my mind…

In the twitterverse use #MLM #business and #entrepreneur as well as #Forex. hashtags are timeless and will carry on with the evolution of these sites… if you have questions I am always available.

One way to market was articles. One way to write an article is in essay format. Always appeal to the latest trends… visit the newest website in your niche… business news can be used as a reference as well

The best way to success is by positive thinking, One book you should read is “the secret” quantum physics has found that the ancient teachings prevalent in most religions today can be possibly modeled in modern science so don’t forget this tip.

To succeed in business you also have to stay healthy. one way is in habits and what you eat. here’s a simple recipe to end off the article

ingredients: blueberries

bananas

apples

yogurt

flax seeds

milk

juice

nuts

ice cream

Blend all the ingredients in a blender and place in freezer. After a few hours you have to cut the mix into squares and places on plates… then poke a hole and place one scoop of vanilla ice cream in the middle. chocolate sauce goes on top.

All in all in this business you have to be wise and live a balanced lifestyle. Keep up to date and come up with new ideas by brainstorming often, Usually the best ideas that work are the simple ones. feedback is appreciated.