What resolutions should you be making in the new year?

When the calendar flipped to 2012, it ushered in a new year of potential and possibilities. As a job seeker looking to take the next step in your career, now is the time to make a resolution to turn the new year into a successful one.

As the world leader in workforce solutions, we know what it takes for professionals to succeed. So to help you, we’ve put together a list of recommended resolutions that can help you land your next great job.

Reassess your Career

Did you love your previous position? Did you want more out of your day-to-day? Is part of the reason things didn’t work out because you needed a more positive work environment?

Now is a good time to ask yourself these questions and determine whether or not you want to continue in the same line of work. John P. Strelecky, author of The Why Cafe, suggests that being unemployed is the ideal time to evaluate what you want to do with your career. According to Strelecky, 45% of Americans aren’t happy in their jobs, and if you are currently out of work, you are in the perfect position to explore a variety of options.

If you’re looking for a career change, try taking classes, volunteering or working on a contract or temporary basis to get the experience employers want to see. You’ll learn more about the industry and improve your chances of securing employment at the same time.

Refresh Your Online Profiles

Today, employers turn to social networks when evaluating candidates like you. That means Facebook isn’t just for friending old high school buddies. LinkedIn, Twitter, Google Plus and other online networking sites can also be great platforms to present and market yourself. Of course, you also need to check your privacy preferences to make sure the information you post can only be seen by appropriate audiences. You wouldn’t want a recruiter stumbling upon photos from your wild weekend getaway.

Your LinkedIn profile is especially important, as it is the most popular professional networking site. Click here for a list of recommendations to help you get the most out of your LinkedIn profile.

No matter what service you use, be sure to keep your information up to date to increase visibility and catch the eye of recruiters or potential employers.

Revamp your network

Building up a network of professional contacts – and potential references – could help you in your job search. After all, “who you know” is often just as important as “what you know.”

So how can you build a solid network? You can start by reaching out to former colleagues, bosses and associates immediately. Solidifying these relationships can take time and effort, and you don’t want to miss out on potential opportunities or potential references.

You should also be selective when it comes to building your network; don’t contact people in the hopes of getting a recommendation for a position if you have no prior history with them. Instead, start a conversation on a blog or social networking site, comment on statuses, offer advice where appropriate, and position yourself as a resource. Remember that maintaining your network is a continuous endeavor and remaining in contact with your colleagues will be a vital part of your success.

Rewrite your Resume

Without a doubt, your resume and your cover letter are two of the most important pieces of content in your job search. They are the first things recruiters and hiring managers see and a poorly written or unprofessional looking resume can cost you a job even if you are a great match. That’s why it is so important to make sure yours is up to date and appeals to prospective employers.

According to US News, there are a few steps you can take make a good first impression with your resume. First, tailor your resume to the job. Create unique resumes for each individual opportunity in order to highlight the skills that are specific to the position. Furthermore, be sure to read the application carefully and follow all the instructions. This simple step can provide you with a leg up on other candidates who are applying to jobs without taking the small details into consideration.

Lastly, keep your resume simple. Leave out any irrelevant information, personal information, and photos, etc. You want your resume to be easy to read for the employer. If it takes too much time or effort to review your application, a potential employer will likely move on to the next candidate.

Revitalize your marketable skills

The Government of Alberta detailed the three critical skills that employers are looking for:

• Transferable skills, such as computer and technology aptitude, are very flexible and useful in a variety of jobs and industries.
• Time management skills and the ability to effectively manage your workload and schedule are also paramount.
• Work-specific skills, the ones you will use every day in your chosen career path, should be continually refined. In addition to taking professional development courses, temporary positions can help you gain real world experience and bolster your skill set to appeal to future employers.

As an Adecco associate, you’ll have free access to our online skills training programs.  We offer access to thousands of courses across professional fields that will enable you to brush up on your skills- or learn new ones.

You have the power to make 2012 a truly awesome year. Take the time to enact these resolutions in order to enhance your job search and land your dream job.

But remember, these tips are just the start when it comes to putting your dream job within reach. For more tips and career advice, visit Adecco Staffing Services or contact your local Adecco office today.

And now for a Contest!

Adecco USA will be running a “New Year, New You” contest starting January 15, 2012. Check out the Adecco Facebook page for more details, and find out how you could win daily prizes throughout January 2012!

One grand prize winner will  receive an interview suit and laptop- stayed tuned, and you could be on the path to career success!

Ms. Career Girl Contest

Now that you have these great New Year’s resolutions, which one are you going to stick with? Do you have another resolution that would be great for women in the workforce? Leave a comment here and the best idea will win a $50 visa gift card!  The winner will be announced on our Facebook page on Friday January 13th at 5pm CST.

This is the fourth post in a series of 5 posts about blogging: why to start, how to start, how to get readers, how to build community and how to monetize your blog.

The title of this post is a bit misleading. Read on and you’ll understand why.

If there’s one person who I admire in social media, it’s Gary Vaynerchuk.  He’s the author of one of my favorite books, “Crush It” in addition to being somewhat of a pioneer when it came to applying social media to a regular brick-and-mortar business.  Gary took his family business – a liquor store in New Jersey that he ran with his Father- from a couple million dollars a year to $50 Million per year.  Yep, a liquor store. He did this by building community online (one channel you may have heard of is Wine Library TV), being passionate about his product and caring about every single person who emailed him, tweeted him or asked him what wine goes with fish. (Sidenote: Gary tweeted me back this morning and I am totally star struck!!!  It’s pretty ironic considering I was in the middle of writing a post about how much he cares about his community.)

The reason I said that the title of today’s post is a bit misleading is because building community is not as black and white as the other topics we’ve discussed in this week’s series and is debated by many.  I can’t make you a list, or show you a process or turn on a plugin to make community grow.

Instead today’s topic is very subjective. Therefore, I want to hear what YOU think about building community online. I also want to know what blogs and online communities you admire the most.

Gary Vaynerchuk is one of my favorite speakers ever.  Therefore I want to share this video below with you.  Gary will illustrate the concepts of building community online way better than I could in a written post.  He is so animated, so funny, so unique. Warning: he swears. A lot. If this offends you, beware.  I take his swearing as pure passion.

I hope you enjoy this video as much as I do!  I’d love to hear your thoughts.

There are many marketing consultants out there who will charge companies thousands of dollars to give bad advice on building community.  There’s not a magic bullet, an algorithm or a piece of software that can effectively build a long-term community.  There must be a genuine human element that is REAL.

Like Gary says in this video, building community is about passion, patience, caring and pure HUSTLE.

The truth is that without passion, you couldn’t really expect to have patience, nor could you care enough to pump out great content day after day and respond to all of your readers.  And if you don’t have passion, you definitely aren’t going to want to work around the clock and sometimes that’s what it takes.

I have been getting a lot of emails from people who want to know how busy Moms or those who work full-time can build their side business.  The answer is quite simple.  Do something you love and work A LOT. Yep, this means making changes in your life to accommodate your goal.  It means working really hard right now in order to change the course of where you’re going.  No one said it was going to be easy.

And another misconception: just because your business is on the internet doesn’t mean it’s any easier than a traditional business.  Don’t start an internet business or a blog expecting that you can put a few hours in and get hundreds or thousands of dollars in return.  You must be patient, you must hustle, you must have a plan.  If your goal is, “I want to get a ton of readers” it’s not enough.

Another great point Gary makes is that people have huge “bullshit detectors” these days.  Lots of the big brands are failing at social media and community these days.  Why?  Because they are trying to disguise their content as genuine, but it’s really a self-promotion.  They don’t care.  They don’t have passion.  People smell it and people run the other way.

Ok, it’s your turn.

• Which online communities or brands are you a fan of and why?
• How do you build community in your own blog?
• Does the thought of building community scare you because it requires you to put yourself and your personality totally out there?

Today is the third post in a series of 5 posts about blogging: why to start, how to start, how to get readers, how to build community and how to monetize your blog.

A lot of you are terrified that no one will ever read your blog.  Believe me, someone will read it BUT only if they your blog exists! Today I’ll give you 10 ways to grow your blog’s traffic.  Following these tips from the beginning is the best way to ensure your blog’s readership will continue to grow.

1. Guest Post on other Blogs.

The BEST way to get people to your site is to get in front of new (and relevant) audiences.  You can easily do this by writing entertaining and informative guest posts for other bloggers.  A lot of people I’ve talked to with large blog followings say they got to where they are thanks to guest posting.  For example, check out my friend Matt Cheuvront’s blog tour.  Impressive, right!?

Make a focused effort of reaching out to a few bloggers per week when they were new on the scene.  If you’re emailing a more established/high traffic blog, I suggest having your post already written.  Make it as easy for the blogger as possible!  Put a link to your blog in your bio at the end of each guest post so people can visit your site.  A lot of bloggers are happy to publish guest writers because it diversifies their content and perspective.  In many cases, they’re just happy not to have to write a post themselves for a day!

2. Make sure you have a large, clearly-defined, easy-to-find RSS button.

That obnoxiously huge orange button pictured in this post is what I’m talking about.  With so many people reading blogs on the go via their smartphones, tablets and readers, you must make it as easy as possible for people to access your content.  Personally, I rarely go into a browswer and type in a blog’s URL. Rather, I go to my Google Reader and read all my favorite blogs’ newest posts from one screen. Lots of people do this- don’t miss out.  If I can’t subscribe to a blog’s content, I usually leave the site immediately.

Are any of you wondering what the heck RSS is?  It stands for “Really Simple Syndication.”  The easiest comparison is to think about your Facebook feed.  RSS constantly puts all the newest updates in one place for easy access.  Even if you don’t personally use RSS buttons, you’d be surprised at how many people do.  This is a must have!

How do I get an RSS button on my site? You’ll need to “burn a feed” first.  Do that by going to feedburner.com.  This (oddly silent) 1 minute video will show you just how to burn a feed.

Once you’ve followed all the instructions in this video and have copied the code for the big orange icon, you’ll need to add it to your site which is super easy! All you have to do is login to your WordPress “Dashboard” (the back end of your site) and then:

• Go to the “Appearance” menu on the lower left side of the screen and click “Widgets”
• Drag the box that says “text” into the right hand side of your screen
• Click on the box that says text
• Then paste that code in there and click save
• Refresh your site and you should have an RSS button!

3. Include the link to your blog in your personal email signature.

4. Comment on other Blogs.

5.  Join Twitter

6.  Share Your Posts with your Social Networks (if appropriate)

7. Read Seth Godin’s article on “How to get Traffic to your Blog”

8. Submit your blog to directories like Alltop.com and Technorati.com

9. Make it easy for people to share your posts by adding the “Sexy Bookmarks” plugin to your site.

Sexy Bookmarks adds social media buttons to every post and makes it super easy for people to “like” it on facebook, tweet the article and bookmark your article on sites like Stumbleupon, Digg, Delicious & Reddit.  Anytime you’re sharing content with a network, you have the power of scalability and the tiny minute chance that your article could “go viral” as more people share it with one another.

How do I add plugins?  It’s easier than you’d think.  It requires you to download the plugin and activate it.  There are hundreds of great instructional YouTube videos out there.  Whatever you do, don’t fear this task so much that you don’t do it!  Social media buttons will be a huge factor in growing your blog’s traffic!

10. Write Strategically.

There are 2 big reasons people read blogs: to solve a problem or to be entertained.  Think about what people might be Googling in order to find your site then incorporate those phrases into your posts or write posts that revolve around answering those Google searches.

Here are some different types of articles you can create that will give people reasons to come to your site:

• Break a news story or write about a hot topic in the news
• Give your opinion- controversy often drives traffic big time
• Interview a blogger, author or industry-rockstar
• Write about the season, big events going on & holidays
• Create a list of your favorite blogs (the other bloggers will appreciate the links and may even link back to you which is huge!)
• Teach someone how to do something
• “Top 10 Reasons Why…”
• “5 ways to…”
• Hold a contest
• Review other sites
• Review books
• Post videos (of you and/or of others)
• Put lots of pictures in your posts

Hi Gals,

If you’re like me and love TJMaxx, Marshalls, Nordstrom Rack and the like, then you will love that I’m working with retailer Annie Sez to bring you guys discount codes, free gift cards and free merchandise!

Every other Wednesday I’ll be hosting #AnnieSez chat starting at  at 9pm EST on Twitter.  For tonight’s #AnnieSez chat kickoff, we are giving away free gift cards every 10 minutes- all you have to do is participate in the conversation!  At the end of the 1 hour chat, some lucky duck will get this pink $185 Carlos Falchi bag that I wish I could have for myself!

I’ll ask 6 different questions throughout the hour that relate your career, fashion and life after college.  It will be a ton of fun and a GREAT way to build your Twitter following and network with other professionals while having fun (great for job seekers too by the way!).

A tip for those who are new to Twitter chats: I recommend tweeting via TweetChat.com while on the chat.  Twitter chats can move really fast and this tool filters conversations so that you only see tweets from your feed that are marked with #AnnieSez.  It also automatically adds the hashtag #AnnieSez to each Tweet you send out so you don’t have to retype it a hundred times.

Hope to tweet you tonight!

Nicole

PS- I’m looking at wedding venues today… Ahhhh!!!!

By, Patricia Brehm

Today I found a fascinating TechCrunch article by Aileen Lee, “Why Women Rule the Internet.” The idea is that women are now the matriachs of the vast web abyss. Namely, the idea goes that since women are more inclined to work with the social networks, engage in online networking, building e-based professional relationships etc. In another fascinating article posted on  SEOmoz, about “Tips for Link Builders” recommends “being a girl” and if you search through blog posts as well as forums, you’ll find numerous mentions of finding a female community manager or social media specialist.

In contrast, the realm of Information Technology, the driving force of code and script that creates social media, seems to be an industry containing mostly men. According to Wikipedia (source of all reliable information nowadays), the desire to drive women into computing careers seems high. In technology communities, a number of resources have sprung up to foster fellowship amongst females in high-tech industries. For example, Sarah Blow founded Geek Girl Dinners as the result of being fed up with a lack of females at technical events. Even geek chic pioneer ThinkGeek has started a line of heroine t-shirts, including Ada Lovelace,  who is considered to be the first female computer programmer. If you go to Slideshare you’ll find a presentation entitled “How to Be An Awesome Community Manager,” written by Marta Majewska, dealing with how to manage an effective social network.

According to Ms. Lee’s article, not only are women powerful in developing a business presence on the web, but female consumers also play a critical role in Internet commercial success. Her article cites astounding sales figures driven by female consumers. So whether it’s electronic retail or driving social networking, the idea of a matriarchal web presence seems to be pervasive and powerful concept.

What are YOUR thoughts?  Is being a female really an advantage when it comes to online branding?  Do females have more power?  If so, why?

Did you ever notice that the best local restaurants are the ones you never see advertised?  That’s because successful local restaurants wouldn’t see a high ROI on print advertisements.  They see a much higher ROI by focusing on their values. 

Hometown Heroes have 3 things in common

1. They know their customers.
2. They care about their customers.
3. They evolve with their customers.

Here are 10 ways you can know your customers, show you care about your customers and evolve with your customers by using social media.

1. Listen, listen, listen!  Smart social media marketers make friends way before they earn customers.  If you don’t feel like you have time to listen, hire someone to do it!  It’s one of the most important parts of seeing a return on social media marketing!
2. Set up Google Alerts. Include alerts for your name, your restaurant’s name, your competitors, restaurant associations, restaurant trends, etc. Incorporate your findings into specials, events, adjustments and coupons.
3. Monitor specific phrases on Twitter that potential customers might be tweeting about. Use a free tool like Tweet Deck or search.twitter.com.  Respond to these phrases.  Chat with these people online. 
4. Run a fun and interactive Facebook fan page. One way of doing this is to make your customers into local celebrities.  For example, consider featuring local high school athletes, veterans, new Moms, grandparents or college graduates depending on your target market and offerings. 
5. Offer a discount to those who show they are a fan on Facebook or check in using Four Square. 
6. Post pollson your website, blog or Facebook fan page to engage visitors and find out peoples favorite dishes.  Use the results to improve your business.
7. Address customer service issues as they happen by monitoring online “chatter.” If someone complains about bad service or cold lasagna, apologize and offer something to them to prove you really care.  Not only have you learned a valuable tip on how to improve your business (perhaps a staff member needs to go if several people share the same complaint) you’ve left that customer feeling surprised and satisfied that you were listening and addressed their issue personally.
8. Make sure your restaurant is on Yelp.  Monitor the comments from “yelpers,”address and adjust as needed.  Remember, one dissatisfied customer can send one tweet, blog post or status update to thousands of people with the click of a button!  Encourage your customers to write Yelp reviews and provide a small incentive for those who do.  It’s ok to ask for Yelp reviews! Edit: Thank you to reader Jane who informed me that providing incentives in exchage for Yelp posts is NOT allowed or looked highly upon by the community.  For more info, see her comment below.  Thank you Jane for pointing this out!
9. Consider starting a blog.  Blogs provide fresh content which makes search engines happy. Happy search engines means more visitors to your website, which equals more customers at your restaurant. Again, if you don’t think you have time to maintain a blog, hire someone to do this to stay consistent with your posting frequency. 
10. Add interactive media to your restaurant’s web site or blog.  For example, you could use short videos to introduce the chef and staff.  If you want to get really into it, show how the food is prepped or share a simple cooking technique.  You could get really creative with interactive media! Now your customers can “try before they buy,” a winning strategy for any busines!

Bonus Tip: When writing blog posts or copy for your website, incorporate relevant keywords.  For example: the name of your restaurant, the name of your town and/or neighborhood and other phrases that people put into Google searches. Incorporate these keyword phrases into the text as much as you can (without losing readability of course!).  Over time, this strategy will make it easy for locals to find you in Google searches.

So, in review…

Keep 3 things in mind when you use social media marketing for your local restaurant or small business: Know your customers,  care about your customers and evolve with your customers.

You’ve heard the statistics before…

Gen Y doesn’t trust advertisements; we trust the people in our social networks.  But overall, Gen Y doesn’t trust much at all.  If you’re a big company of any kind, you will have to work much harder to win over the 70 million Gen Y consumers living among us.

How Should Marketers gain Gen Y’s trust?

Well, besides Corporate Social Responsibility, you’ll need to prove your brand to us.  Let us touch it, try it and talk about it.  And let us hear about it and experience it from “real” people. In order to gain our trust, you’ll need to focus on experiential marketing.

Experiential marketing 2.0 means offering your product or service to the right people at the right time. A simple example is the nice lady at the grocery store who hands you a sample of fantastic cheese spread while you are exiting the cracker aisle.  Do that online. 

Technically, paid search campaigns attempt to reach the right customer at the right time. When I Google “smart phone” for example, paid ads for Sprint, Verizon, ATT, wirefly.com and Apple appear. There is one huge problem though:  a vast majority of Gen Y consumers will never look at, trust, or click on sponsored results.

Nor will most Gen Y’ers take the time to go through each of the companies’ websites.  We like instant gratification and that takes way too long. Plus, we’d much prefer to read a short aggregated review of the phones on a blog and buy based on a “real” person’s opinion anyways. 

Here are some ways that companies have used experiential marketing to catch me at the right moment and convert me into a customer.

• WalMart.com.  I thought hell would freeze over before I bought any furniture from Wal-Mart (and then blogged about it) but I did.  And I love my $99 kitchen table.  Why? Because I knew exactly what I was buying before I bought it. Walmart.com had great multi-view pictures, tons of honest reviews and they were willing to ship the product to my local Wal-Mart for free so I could see it before I brought it home.  
• Groupon.  Groupon is the best way to experience something that you never would have tried thanks to HUGE discounts on local products and services.  If I were a marketer, I’d make sure my stuff was on Groupon so people could experience it with for little risk, talk about it and experience it again.
• MattChevy.com. A long time ago I sent out a frustrated tweet saying “can anyone in the Chicago area help me with WordPress?!” Matt responded immediately with a friendly (and calm!) tweet saying he could help me.  He caught me in the right place, at the right time.  He gained my trust.  We are now close friends and I refer people to him all the time.
• Amazon.com: “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought” and “Best Value.”
• Ulta,  Hairuwear.com, YouTube demos, Ulta.  Worst hair cut of my life + obsession with Ulta + panic = temporary solution via J-Simp’s “Hair-Do.”

Readers, where have companies presented themselves to you at the right moment?

What’s the best example of experiential marketing you’ve seen?

What makes marketing financial institutions very different today than ten years ago?  Trust.

Ten years ago, trust was assumed.  The stock market was booming,successful dot-coms were popping up everywhere and jobs were plentiful. But then September 11^th happened.  And  the dot-com “burst.” And let’s not forget about the stock market crash, the fall of Lehman Brothers, government bailouts, the real estate market hitting an all-time low and the highest unemployment rate in decades. Today, trust is non-existent.

Marketers who focus on regaining trust will make it into the next era.  Companies- especially financial institutions- will start earning trust by reaching their customers exactly when and where they need something.

Simply put, that means better customer service.  But today’s definition of superb customer service goes beyond, “thank you for your business ma’am.”  Customers today expect instant gratification.  Customers want to be seen as individuals.  And today’s customers have bigger problems to solve and bigger voices than ever before.

Old Components of Great “Customer Service Marketing” for Financial Institutions

• A friendly smile and a thank you.
• A fancy lobby, suits & nylons.
• A call center.
• Great interest rates.
• Online banking, conveniently located ATM’s and longer hours of operation.

New Components of Great “Customer Service Marketing” for Financial Institutions

• A totally awesome iPhone app.
• A response from a real person when tweeting a complaint about the financial institution.
• Listening to the blogosphere and making adjustments.
• Creating financial products that offer value, rather than offer high interest rates.
• A customizable online banking interface that allows the customer to create a budget, track investments, create a plan to payoff debt, get financial education and earn rewards that are relevant to their situation.

My online marketing business card says, “get into your customers hands” (yes, it’s a sassy play on another common phrase). Today, customer service marketing is about getting in your customers hands-meaning getting into their iPhone, Blackberry, text messages, emails and social media networks-at the right moment.  It’s about paying attention to individual needs and providing ways to solve their financial problems.

It’s easy for consumers to blame large financial institutions for the economic downturn.  Smart financial marketers should accept this and turn their focus on regaining trust.  Financial institutions in particular should change their definition of “customer service marketing” and prove that they can once again be trusted by providing instant,  applicable and individualized customer service beyond high interest rates.

What do you wish your financial institutions would do differently?  Do you trust financial institutions?  What would make you trust them more?

Guest Post by, Jenny McCoy

They say it’s easier to get a job when you have a job, but I’m not so sure.

I launched my job search 2.0 last week with this site: SocialJenny.com.

Go ahead, check it out.

My reasons for creating this site were:

• I interviewed with a big NYC ad agency and they thought my resume was boring. I think this is a more palatable way of telling who I am, what I’ve done and what I’m looking for. And that damn cartoon is cute as hell.
• I live in Florida but I’m applying exclusively to NYC companies. They surely have countless local candidates, so I need something to make me stand out and show that I’m serious about relocating.
• It’s much easier to post a link on Facebook and other networks than it is to email my resume/cover letter to all of my contacts and I think this site represents me better anyway.
• In addition to a public listing on Monster and other sites, having a stand alone site gives me the ability to be “found” by potential employers.
• It shows initiative. One potential employer said she could tell I was a “self-starter” from this effort.
• I’m now using this site as a landing page for a Facebook ad campaign targeting NYC social media professionals (thanks to Nicole’s suggestion!)

The first week of my job search 2.0 went well. I landed two phone interviews with great companies, but I  was annoyed that because I was still employed my efforts had to be funneled through an anonymous Twitter account and DMs.

I wanted to openly announce my search and this site to my online network, but I couldn’t because unfortunately my coworkers were a part of the network I’d worked so hard to build. We’re Facebook friends, LinkedIn connections, Twitter buddies and a handful of them read my blog.

So I quit. I gave three weeks’ notice with just a couple bites of interest in order to fully utilize my networks.

This decision received mixed reviews, as has my site. For me, both the site and the decision to leave my job only increase my ability to land my dream job in the big city. But I’d like to hear your thoughts.

Do you think a 2.0 approach gives leverage to candidates, or do you think I wasted a little sushi money on a pretty site? Do you think candidates are always more attractive when they have a job? Or it understandable to quit in circumstances like mine?

* Site was written and conceived by me and designed by the talented Andrew Norcross.

You may have noticed that Matt Cheuvront of lifewithoutpants.com and I hang out a lot online.  It all started over a meeting about this very website.  Since then, our friendship has grown and so has our list of co-projects.

Today we are announcing our first official project- Social Media 101.  We will be hosting social media workshops in the Chicagoland area to educate small businesses, entrepreneurs and non-profits how to get more out of their marketing while spending less money.  Since we love the online space and have experienced serious growth because of it, we thought we should let others experience the same thing.

The workshop will be held on Saturday April 10 from 9am-1pm in Elgin, IL. We are offering the workshop for FREE because in this economy, small businesses need to stretch their dollar as much as they can.

Social Media can change a small business. Yet small business owners are usually the ones wearing so many hats that they don’t have time to think about learning social media basics too.  After leaving our workshop, attendees will be equipped with the confidence and knowledge to have the voice of a large company with the marketing budget of a small company.  We will provide new ideas that are crucial to today’s small business marketing strategy.

Don’t believe it? We know it sounds far fetched for those who are new to the space.  Therefore, Mari Luangrath of Foiled Cupcakes will be sharing how social media has played an instrumental role in her business.  It’s no accident that Foiled Cupcakes are Chicago’s most coveted cupcakes.  Not only are they delicious, but Mari has relied on social media and online marketing to create the buzz.  She’ll be sharing her story and answering all of your questions.

Also, Matt and I will are co-authoring a “Social Media 101″ e-book which will be 100% FREE for all attendees.   The e-book includes some of our best practices and case studies from small business owners. We’re not reinventing the wheel here, but are instead focusing on providing a tangible resource to all workshop attendees and anyone else interested in learning more about Social Media.

I’m pretty excited to give back to my hometown community by doing something I’m passionate about.  Plus, working with Matt Cheuvront is an honor.  Our meetings are just as fun as they are productive (and trust me they are really fun!).  I imagine the workshop will be the same way.  Matt knows his stuff, he has a knack for design, and he knows from experience what works and what doesn’t work when it comes to small business marketing.

For those of you who are in the Chicagoland area, please pass this info on to anyone you know who may benefit from our free workshop! You can register using the form below or here.