As more people use social media personally it makes sense that businesses are looking for ways to incorporate social media into their marketing and sales efforts.  Let’s face it!  There are a lot of choices out there and the feeling of not having the time or skill to implement social media efforts also exists.  Since there are so many choices such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, where do you start? 

The tools and their description below represent some of the more widely used social media opportunities.  Each requires some research and skill development and a commitment to making your social media efforts work. 

Facebook – Facebook offers you a chance to make a personal connection with future and existing customers.  It can be used to let them know what your business is doing in the community and how your services benefit your fans and as a way to share resources that are related to your business but aren’t necessarily yours so you become a full-service resource for your customers. 

32 Ways to use Facebook for Business

LinkedIn – LinkedIn can be used to gather information from peers, generate ideas and build relationships and expertise.  Discussion groups can be created to spark interest in what you are doing, give you the opportunity to showcase your expertise by starting a dialog and converse with your discussion group participants. Through LinkedIn you can share your expertise through comments and discussions and build relationships through your connections.

Join MicroKnowledge on June 14^th for a complimentary session called Using LinkedIn to Expand Your Business Network. 

Twitter- Twitter enables you to inform in the moment.  In 140 characters or less, you can share exciting information, videos, pictures or links to spark interest in your client base.  It is not uncommon to create a teaser on Twitter then include a link for more information.

How to use Twitter for Business

Pinterest- Pinterest is a fantastic way to showcase graphical data.  Pictures are pinned to public bulletin boards, and then other Pinterest enthusiasts re-pin your photos enlarging your audience. 

Pinterest for Business

Foursquare – Foursquare is used by the public to check into a variety of locations.  When users “check in” they can leave tips (such as, “Try the onion rings; they are the best in town!”) that other users can “do” when they check in to the same venue.  Additionally, Foursquare has a fee-based feature for businesses to give users discounts at check in. 

Foursquare 101

As you can see, there are quite a few social media tools that you can take advantage of to expand your business.  As you expand your tools, know that the tools interconnect.  A Twitter tweet can show up on Facebook or a LinkedIn post can become a tweet.  Here are a few more tools below:

You Tube

Google Plus

Flickr

Yammer

SharePoint

What tools would you recommend?

Author:  Lisa Ryan
lryan@microknowledge.com

Remember, if you are a MicroKnowledge customer and have a software question to ask, feel free to contact us at any time by using our Support link at the top of the site. Your question might be featured in our next blog entry!

Do you have a related tip to share? Leave a comment. We’d love to hear from you.

Category: Other Important Items , What's new in Technology

Last month I mentioned how using a few features in Outlook could increase your efficiency.  I hope you enjoyed the tips I shared.  Additionally, if you are an Excel user, there may be easier ways to get your data to look the way you want without reinventing it somewhere else.  Let’s talk about some Excel features that can be a key to efficiency. 

Excel seems to be our go to application when we want to work with lists of data.  For most data, it should be.  For example, if you have a list of products, locations, release dates, cost, etc. , you may want to see all of the products coming out of Albany.  Once that is done, perhaps you want to see the products coming out of Schenectady.  I have seen folks take those lists, manually copy the items from Albany somewhere else to represent the data differently, then do it all over again for Schenectady.  If you have a proper list (first row of your list contains column headings, rest of the rows contain data), you can organize large amounts of data in a matter of minutes.

Try these Excel features to increase your productivity when working with lists:

• Use the Sort feature to organize data by column.  The sort feature is available on both the Data tab and the Home tab.  To use, click anywhere in your list.  Click the Sort button.  If using Sort on the Data tab, use the dialog box to specify which fields to sort.
• Use the Subtotal feature to break your list into groups with summaries.  For example, to add the total costs for each location, sort your list by location.  Choose Subtotal on the Data tab.  Select the field you sorted on in the At each change in field then select Sum and choose the cost field as the summary. 
• Pivot Tables are a great way to summarize a large list.  A Pivot Table groups your data row and column fields when you select a field to summarize.  For example, you could quickly display how much each location has earned in product releases.  In a matter of minutes, you could have a large list sorted and categorized in an easy display.  Pivot Tables seem to be a well-kept secret in Excel.  They can cut hours of time and avoid duplication of data.
• Use the Group feature to quickly show or hide detail data for summaries.  It sure beats manually showing and hiding columns in your Excel list.
• Use macros to automate some of the features you use often to cut down on your repetitive tasks.

These are just a few of the list features available through Excel that will not only save you time but also increase your productivity.

Want to learn more? Join us for the Excel Intermediate course on Monday, April 23.  Working with lists is a primary topic, as is working with multiple files and charting. 

In the meantime, here are a few websites to help you with some of the features I mentioned above:

Sorting and Pivot Table tutorials

Top 10 Tips in Excel

Using the Subtotal feature

Author:  Lisa Ryan
lryan@microknowledge.com

Remember, if you are a MicroKnowledge customer and have a software question to ask, feel free to contact us at any time by using our Support link at the top of the site. Your question might be featured in our next blog entry!

Do you have a related tip to share? Leave a comment. We’d love to hear from you.

Category: What's new in Technology

You know the saying “knowledge is power.”  Whether that is true or not, it’s certain that knowledge is the key to efficiency.  Let’s discuss some Outlook features that can help you become more efficient.

 When you talk about not having enough time to get it all done, email certainly is a factor.  Many of us create to-do lists at the beginning of the day and then add quite a few more items to the list after reading email throughout the day.  Unfortunately, we find that we don’t get through much of our list, and that makes us feel as though we have achieved nothing.  Instead of your email program being a factor in the problem, why not make email part of the solution?  You can use Outlook to help you complete your list and become more productive.

Try these Outlook features to increase your productivity throughout the day:

• Set reminders using flags to remind you about email that requires action.
• Block out your time by using your calendar to schedule the time needed to accomplish the items on your list.
• Save time and reduce email conversations by using the calendar to schedule meetings at a time when it appears all participants are available.
• Turn off email prompts so you can focus on the task at hand without constant email interruptions.
• Use the assign task feature to delegate some of your to-do items.

These are just a few of the features built into Outlook that will not only save you time but also increase your productivity.

Want to learn more, join us at Professional Time Management Strategies Using Outlook on Tuesday, April 3. 

In the meantime, here are a few websites to help you along:

6 Ways to Streamline Your Tasks

Top 10 Tips in Outlook 2007

Author:  Lisa Ryan
lryan@microknowledge.com

Remember, if you are a MicroKnowledge customer and have a software question to ask, feel free to contact us at any time by using our Support link at the top of the site. Your question might be featured in our next blog entry!

Do you have a related tip to share? Leave a comment. We’d love to hear from you.

Category: What's new in Technology

These days we are working smarter and cheaper.  We are looking for tools that do what we need inexpensively.  In past blogs I mentioned free business tools, primarily software. You can’t get everything for free, but what you need doesn’t have to break the bank either.

Social Media

Nothing beats having your customers excited to sign up to take advantage of your expertise.  Join social media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn (okay, I’m starting with free tools) and share away.  Offer your knowledge, your area of expertise.  If you own a garage, give tips on seasonal car maintenance.  If you own a salon, give your list of drugstore beauty finds worth trying.  A realtor could share some free or low-cost ways to improving a home to make it ready for sale.  By providing something others need, you can gain a large following, which will lead to sales.  I take the idea that this is “free” back.  Social media is not completely free; your time is money and you need to invest time to make this work.

Having trouble keeping up?  Try a Social CRM (Contact Relationship Manager).  There are several available but one that has been gaining in popularity is Sproutsocial.  Sproutsocial is a tool that can manage your social media efforts such as scheduling messages to be sent, scanning social media sites for relevant information regarding your business and, perhaps, gathering analytics on your social media efforts.

Hardware

If you are a small business, investing in an all-in-one printer can be extremely cost effective.  A good all-in-one printer could cost up to $500.  If you do a lot of printing, you may choose to lease a commercial multi-functional printer that offers free maintenance and a per page cost.  To ensure you are getting the most for your money, calculate the per page cost based on how many pages the printer ink will print.

Want more?  Check out these links:

PC Magazine article on all-in-one printers

Cnet article on all-in-one printers

How to calculate cost per page

Author:  Lisa Ryan
lryan@microknowledge.com

Remember, if you are a MicroKnowledge customer and have a software question to ask, feel free to contact us at any time by using our Support link at the top of the site. Your question might be featured in our next blog entry!

Do you have a related tip to share? Leave a comment. We’d love to hear from you.

Category: What's new in Technology

Businesses have been on the paperless trend for years, investing in scanners and document storage space.  You see the call to “Go Green” on billboards and even in our daily emails. What about you?   Are you going paperless?  There are quite a few options to help you get away from paper. 

Ironically, email is often a primary source for using paper.  You might print out email so you’ll have the content with you when traveling.  Let’s face it, not only is this a paper burden, you may have misplaced a few emails here or there.   There is a simple solution: access your email through a web browser.  Then there is no need to print the email and you can refer to it as often as you need. 

What if you just need information?  Perhaps what you need is just a few notes from a document on your computer and possibly some other locations.  If so, Microsoft One Note is the tool for you.  Takes notes, copy files, draw work flow from a variety of tools and locations (such as your PC or iPad), and have them available in one spot via a web browser.

Read a lot of books?  Try the Kindle  or Nook.  You’ll have access to a large number of books without the weight and the cost (you can “borrow” books just as you can from a library).

Certainly technology today has made going paperless much simpler for individuals.  If you haven’t made a transition, try one of the options above to start.  Good luck on your paperless quest! 

Want to learn more?  Here are a few additional links to get you thinking about being green: 

Great Debate: Reflections on a paperless society

Boogie Board Tablet

iPad

iCloud

Author:  Lisa Ryan
lryan@microknowledge.com

Remember, if you are a MicroKnowledge customer and have a software question to ask, feel free to contact us at any time by using our Support link at the top of the site. Your question might be featured in our next blog entry!

Do you have a related tip to share? Leave a comment. We’d love to hear from you.

Category: What's new in Technology

Outlook is a popular program for email, calendaring and scheduling and is often used as a primitive contact management tool.  If you currently use outlook and need more features relating to contact management, then try Microsoft’s Business Contact Manager.  The Business Contact Manager can be downloaded if you own Office 2010 Professional Plus.

The Business Contact Manager can store and share contact information, manage sales leads and track opportunities and sales.  The 2010 version offers a customizable dashboard to quickly display business metrics.  It works well with Outlook and does not rely on the Microsoft Exchange server to share information.  It is a good starting point for contact management.

Read more about Business Contact Manager 2010 and 10 Reasons to Try Business Contact Manager. 

If you are interested in using the Business Contact Manager, give us a call.  MicroKnowledge can offer you a session customized on the features you need.

Author:  Lisa Ryan
lryan@microknowledge.com

Remember, if you are a MicroKnowledge customer and have a software question to ask, feel free to contact us at any time by using our Support link at the top of the site. Your question might be featured in our next blog entry!

Do you have a related tip to share? Leave a comment. We’d love to hear from you.

Category: What's new in Technology

As I have mentioned in a previous blog post, MicroKnowledge has been exploring quite a few free web-based tools.  Last November, we launched a new website and blog.  Both are powered by WordPress, a free blog and publishing tool. WordPress is written by volunteers and has enough add-ins to enhance your website with a variety of functionality. 

In addition to WordPress, other tools such as Drupal and Joomla are available to you.  All three tools are free, open source and completely customizable.  Sound complicated?  Not really.  Each tool offers a large number of pre-defined templates.  Add your content and you could have an incredible site with very little to no programming necessary. 

If you are considering using WordPress or Drupal in your business, MicroKnowledge offers classes for both.  Hope to see you!

Send me your favorite free business tools and I’ll post them in a later blog.

Author:  Lisa Ryan
lryan@microknowledge.com

Remember, if you are a MicroKnowledge customer and have a software question to ask, feel free to contact us at any time by using our Support link at the top of the site. Your question might be featured in our next blog entry!

Do you have a related tip to share? Leave a comment. We’d love to hear from you.

Category: What's new in Technology

Last month I introduced some free tools for business.  Throughout the year MicroKnowledge has been exploring quite a few free, web-based tools.  One tool in particular is Google Apps,  which contains tools for gathering information, email, calendaring and file sharing.  Available in the cloud, with Google Apps you have access to your information regardless of where your business takes you.  With many great tools to reduce costs and gain efficiency, all you need to get yourself started is a gmail account.

If you have a larger business, try Google Apps for Business, which allows for unlimited users for a minimal fee (Google Apps limits users to 10).  Review the benefits of Google Apps for Business.

Considering a switch?  You are not the only one.  Google boasts that more than 3 million customers have made the switch.  Read their stories: Business that have made the switch to Google Apps.

If you are considering using Google Apps in your business, MicroKnowledge offers a Google Apps class.  Hope to see you at an upcoming session!

Send me your favorite free business tools and I’ll post them in a later blog.

Author:  Lisa Ryan
lryan@microknowledge.com

Remember, if you are a MicroKnowledge customer and have a software question to ask, feel free to contact us at any time by using our Support link at the top of the site. Your question might be featured in our next blog entry!

Do you have a related tip to share? Leave a comment. We’d love to hear from you.

Category: What's new in Technology

Operating a business can be costly.  In an effort to reduce expenses companies are exploring alternative solutions.  This means finding a way to run their businesses more efficiently.  The good news is, you can consider business tools that are available as free resources (Open Source).  Open Source tools are intended to provide you with the freedom to use the base application and build on the application through programming or other application tools.

MicroKnowledge is exploring using cloud based surveys, organizational tools and website open source applications. 

Here are a few tools to get you started:  The Best Things in Life are Free;  Free Business Tools

Throughout the last quarter of the year I will be featuring more free tools.  Have you found a free resource helpful?  Why not share it.

Author:  Lisa Ryan
lryan@microknowledge.com

Remember, if you are a MicroKnowledge customer and have a software question to ask, feel free to contact us at any time by using our Support link at the top of the site. Your question might be featured in our next blog entry!

Do you have a related tip to share? Leave a comment. We’d love to hear from you.

Category: What's new in Technology

These days it’s easy to end up with a phone that is multi-functional.  Not only can it be a source of entertainment, but your phone also has some practical applications to keep you moving toward checking items off your to do list.

In addition to managing your email and calendar, there are a large number of smartphone applications to manage your business.  There are apps for expense tracking, social media, management of finances and mobile office. 

Have an iPad or iPhone?  Use USPS Mobile to find the zip code you are in or search for addresses or cities near where you are. 

Trying to walk or drive your way around a new city?  Review the GPS Smackdown article comparing GPS apps from popular cell phone carriers. 

Don’t have an iPhone?  There are apps for you too.  Look here:

Windows OS phone apps and Andriod phone apps

Is there something you need? Grab a cup of coffee and search the internet.  Chances are there’s an app for that.

Author:  Lisa Ryan
lryan@microknowledge.com

Remember, if you are a MicroKnowledge customer and have a software question to ask, feel free to contact us at any time by using our Support link at the top of the site. Your question might be featured in our next blog entry!

Do you have a related tip to share? Leave a comment. We’d love to hear from you.

Category: What's new in Technology