How much does your IT department cost you?

Have you ever thought how much time your IT department actually spends on doing what they were supposed to do rather than waste time on non productive matters? Or how much time is needed to build an IT team.

This article on ComputerWeekly actually calculated that you may be wasting up to 30% of your time!

What can be done to offset this? Well, if you are an IT firm, you are in for a conundrum! If you specialize in any other industry then you're in luck, Mentel can help you with this, our philosophy is simple, we think you should do what you do best and let us do the rest!

 

 

Is application development better in the cloud?

Very short and concise article that goes straight to the point and re-enforce my belief that indeed the cloud is the perfect platform to develop applications. Among the top benefits are the gain in development time and the ability to collaborate. You can read this compelling article at InfoWorld .

 

 

Top 10 Social Media Marketing Tips for 2013: Digital Marketing Secrets

Many social media sites started out as personal sites but social media marketing has become one of the most powerful online strategies for businesses, online and offline.


These social sites are continually growing, expanding and changing and it can sometimes be difficult to keep up with these changes. Below are the top ten tips to help your social media marketing in 2013.


1. Make your posts more relevant
When people first started using the social sites they were posting things like "Going shopping today with the kids. Wish me luck!" The social sites have grown and changed. You need to start posting more relevant information. Make it about your readers and followers, not about you. Post solutions, inspiration, and interesting facts that can be useful and helpful.

2. Utilize features and tools
Social sites are increasing the possibilities for your business with more tools and features than ever before. Take stock of all these tools and learn to use them for the benefit of your followers and your business.

3. Visual Marketing
Marketing is going visual and you need to do the same. Embed text and your business info in relevant graphics to post. Pinterest, using image sharing, has broken records with its growth. Pictures are also the mostly widely used and shared method of posting on Facebook. When people share your images you want them to see your website link or other relevant info.

4. Help Your Clients/Readers
No matter what business you are in, you cannot provide solutions to all your clients' needs. Be willing to post links, information and resources of other businesses that can help your clients where you cannot.

5. Use Your Analytics
Review your analytics regularly to see what is working and what isn't. Are people visiting one social site more than others? When are people visiting your pages? Find out everything you can from your results. You can learn a lot from your analytics but you must utilize them to reap the benefits.

6. Host Events
Hold regular events such as giveaways, seminars, chats, networking parties, promotions, etc. Facebook has recently updated their event feature so it is easier and more efficient.

7. Connections Not Sales
Use your social media pages to connect with your potential customers not for sales. You want to use social media to share information, respond to questions and comments and to showcase what your business is about. You don't want to continually bombard your social sites with sales pitches and ads. Help your followers find solutions, do not pitch to them.

8. Slideshare
Slideshare is predicted to be the fastest growing social site in 2013. Slideshare will allow you to share your presentations with millions. You can also share documents, PDFs and videos. The possibilities are endless with this Slideshare.

9. Google+
Google+ will be more important to your business. By being on Google+, you will be able to take full advantage of Google's many services and tools. It hasn't the social power of some of the other sites but it is a central part of Google and you should be a part of it.

10. Use Fewer Social Sites
Concentrating your marketing efforts to a few of the better producing sites is more effective than spreading yourself too thin over many of the social sites. The time it takes to successfully participate in social media is substantial so you need to build a strong presence on the sites that deliver rather than trying to dominate them all.

Social media marketing is expected to reach new and unequaled heights in 2013. Don't let your business be left behind. Become active with social media. Really get involved. Make new connections and post relevant visual items. Make it about your followers and clients, not about what cereal you had for breakfast!

 

 

 

27 Ways to Make Smarter Use of LinkedIn: Share any idea in comments that can be helpful to others

As a small business owner or entrepreneur, you no doubt incorporate social media into your overall online marketing strategy

So if you have a LinkedIn profile, but aren't sure what to do it with it, here are 27 ideas for making the most of your presence

1. Make sure your profile is filled in completely. Be sure to include a great photo

2. Publish your personalized LinkedIn URL everywhere, including: business cards, e-mail auto signatures, your website and/or blog, brochures, press releases, newsletters, etc

3. Join more industry and alumni groups.Create direct connections with members of each group.

4. Leverage free widgets that will automatically update your status across multiple social media sites.

5. Respond to questions that highlight your expertise. Provide a link to your blog or website where they can get more information.

6. Use LinkedIn's featured applications to share presentations, track what people are saying about your company, highlight your favorite books, and manage important files

7. Post job opportunities

8. Scan weekly updates from your connections. Respond to what others have posted by asking them a question, offering congratulatory remarks or sharing something helpful.

9. Locate subject matter experts and invite them to contribute to your blog, newsletter, podcasts, ezine, audio seminar series, etc.

10. Write recommendations for others. Ask others to write recommendations for you.

11. Make it a point to add at least five new connections per week. Ask others to introduce you to their contacts.

12. Start discussions in your groups.

13. Conduct market research using LinkedIn polls. Share the results. Or use the results to decide which new information products you should create.

14. Share recent examples of your work.

15. Create a group or fan page for your product, service or business.

16. Link to interesting articles or to articles you've published.

17. Update your status at least once per day during the workweek.

18. Ask for recommendations on vendors, contractors or joint venture partners.

19. Introduce people who you think would benefit from knowing one another.

20. Attract more potential clients or customers by editing your summary so that it addresses the reader's needs - not as though it's a boring summary from the top of a resume! (Hint: Give your summary a great headline.)

21. Send LinkedIn invites within 24 hours of a networking event. Include a personalized note reminding them who you are.

22. Purchase ads that promote your business.

23. Improve your Google PageRank. LinkedIn lets you to make your profile information available for search engines to index by creating a public profile and selecting "Full View." Since LinkedIn profiles receive a fairly high PageRank in Google, this is a good way to influence what people see when they search for you.

24. Publicize your events. You can promote them for free to your network (so the bigger the network the better.) Or you can pay to have them advertised via DirectAds.

25. Promote your blog using either the Blog Link or WordPress applications, which automatically show your blog postings to everyone else in your network who are also using the tool.

26. Use the Questions function to get advice on something you're not sure how to handle, or use it to learn more about your network so you can hone your marketing materials.

27. Find professional events, from conferences to local meet-ups, and discover what events your connections are attending. Use this information to decide things like which networking opportunities to personally attend or what trade shows you should exhibit at.