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Bing Facebook Partnership – Good or Bad?

Written by Jess
Thursday, 06 October 2011 17:34
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You may have heard of the search engine Bing partnering with the social networking site Facebook.  

The core of the idea is that your search results in Bing will be rated against the “Likes” and “Friends” of your Facebook Friends.  So if someone searches for awesome Thai cuisine, Bing will check Facebook to see if any of your Friends have Liked a Thai restaurant.  Or if you’re trying to find an old friend and search on “Mary Smith”, Bing will check Facebook connections to rank Mary Smiths higher that have a connection to one of your Friends. 

Yes, this is frightening on many levels.   But what does this mean for your business ?

Most small businesses have been told they need to have a Facebook page and get as many people as possible to Like it.  Now you know why.  The social engineering aspect is that many buying decisions are made upon the referral of a friend or associate.  So in essence, Bing and Facebook are automating Word Of Mouth advertising, the holy grail of any marketing plan.

Computer Wrangler provides network and computer services to small businesses in the North Metro area.  We also help our clients keep up with the technology of tomorrow.

Happy Computing!

 

SmartPhones = Efficiency & Marketing

Written by Jess
Thursday, 18 August 2011 19:55
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Smartphones change how you do business.  As I mentioned in the last post, you should have them help increase your bottom line! There are at least 4 major business functions that Smartphones can streamline.  Communication and Organization you read about here last week – the second two are Efficiency and Marketing:

Efficiency (Time)

  • Dr. Seuss’s “Oh! The places you’ll go.”  You’ve all read it I’m sure.  We’ll there’s a couple pages dedicated to something we’re all familiar with:  The Waiting Place.  Get familiar with turning that 15-20 minutes of waiting time into answering emails, sending directions or new ideas back to the home office.
  • Need to keep field technicians on schedule?  If your industry-specific software doesn’t have a mobile app, they soon will.  Meanwhile the built-in calendars and links to your mail server’s calendar keep the day flowing smoothly.
  • GPS.  Global Positioning System.  Use for example Google’s Navigator app in place of your GPS but also to calculate distances/time for travel to client meetings or jobs.  Can also help you provide more accurate estimates of job costs while in the field.
  • Use Bar Code and QR Code apps to quickly research or convey information about products, both yours and competitors.  You do have and use QR Codes, right ?

Marketing

  • Check out your own website on a Smartphone.  Does it look good and is it easy to navigate?  It should, because mobile lookups on your business are surging to the lead in all first impressions by potential clients.
  • Update your company Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. while onsite or in The Waiting Place.
  • Video or snap a pic of a job you just arrived at.  Upload to Youtube or PhotoBucket with a comment like “Jumpin’ horse feathers! Look at this!”  Keep recording at key points along the wayand then upload the finished product straight to your Social Media sites.
  • Invite your clients to participate and comment in the online “process” of your service.  It builds a sense of membership and loyalty.  Plus it can be kind of fun!

This is a lot, and it is only scratching the surface.  Give us a call if you have any questions or want to know more about your SmartPhone.  We are setting up workshops near you!