Win a Business Consultation with Mario Armstrong!

Want to know how to best take advantage of your smartphone or tablet? Have questions about branding or social media? Just want someone to bounce some business ideas off of? Mario Armstrong is here to answer your pressing questions. We’re giving away three 20-minute business consultations with Mario, and entering couldn’t be easier. Just follow these simple steps and you’re good to go!

  • Send us an email to editor@smallbizgomobile.com with the subject line CONSULTATION. Explain in no more than 5 sentences what your business is and how you could benefit from a meeting with Mario. Our team of writers will be evaluating these and picking the three most-promising small businesses to meet with Mario. Let us know why you stand out but also what you need help with!
  • Like Small Biz Go Mobile on Facebook. That way you can easily stay on top of our tech tips, app and devices reviews, and more!
  • Follow SmBizGoMobile on Twitter and retweet our message to let everyone know about our contest.

Thats it! The contest is open to anyone worldwide, excluding employees and family members of employees of Mario Armstrong Media, LLC. We’ll be running this contest until 5pm on Friday, July 22nd, so get the word out and get your application in!

ON24 Brings Social Media to Online Webcasting

You can tell from the minute you sign into an ON24 webcast that something different is going on. For one, the interface looks like the Mac operating system, with a dock-like area of icons at the bottom of the screen. This is the interface to ON24’s widgets, programs that run inside the webcasting application, including Twitter and Facebook apps. Currently, there are about 20 widgets available with ON24, with more being added each week.

Picture of ON24 Webcasting Demo Page

I had the chance to sit down and try out some of ON24’s features recently, and came away impressed. Whereas other webcasting solutions are often dull, with a single video pane or slideshow available, ON24 seamlessly combines video, slides, Twitter feeds, sharing buttons, LinkedIn, presenter questions and even group chat into a single interface. You can move windows around, hide windows you’re not interested in seeing, and share links live all from their easy-to-use interface.

The ON24 webcasting platform brings a rich feature set together as well, with multi-presenter webcam options and desktop sharing. They bill it as a solution for “one or few to many,” meaning that a single person or a small team can manage the webcast stream (handling different tasks within the platform, like video or fielding questions) that goes out to a much wider audience.

Because the entire platform is built on Adobe Flash technology, mobile users are already able to access ON24 webcasts with their Android phones or BlackBerry tablets.  Although iOS support is not possible with the current version of the product, I’ve been told that h.264 video streams are being added and that iPad and iPhone users should expect to be able to join ON24 webcasts by next release of the software, coming this summer.

To learn more, be sure to check out the ON24 Webcasting Platform 10.  If you’re interested in seeing how the technology works first-hand, there are live demos coming up tonight, Friday and next Monday.

Hashable App for iPhone and Android: Throw Away your Business Cards?

If you’re a heavy Twitter user and own an iPhone or Android device, chances are you meet enough people in the same boat that you could simply use the Hashable app to connect with people, trade contact information, and grow your network without having to hand out business cards like a robot.

After you’ve done your chit-chat/elevator pitch at an event, immediately following up via Twitter (“Hey, it was to good to meet up with @[Twitter handle] tonight at blankety-blank event”) a is the popular way to go. Sometimes finding a Twitter name, following them and/or sending out a tweet in the middle of a conversation can produce 50/50 results via your Twitter client of choice. Hashable looks to smooth out that process by letting you set up your profile ahead of time and trading information in just a couple of clicks. Hashable also includes several pre-defined hashtags (hence the name) that you can choose from to quickly send out a “guess who I just met” Tweet without all the fuss.

Once you’ve made the connection and added their contact information to your iOS or Android device, Hashable can help you grow your network by seeing who your friends are connecting with – There may also be a potential match there for you as well. If you feel that there’sa person in your network you think someone else should meet, you can “Send Intro Tweet” by picking the people you want to introduce, and adding a quick message. Bam! A Tweet will go out and @mention both parties. All this is done in the Hashable app without all the clutter or steps you would have to navigate through to handle the same task via your Twitter mobile client.

There is much more functionality in Hashable that I haven’t touched on, including a leader-board to see who is making the most connections, so you will have to download Hashable for the iPhone or Android and toss those business cards!

If you just love your business cards to death, you can add a QR Code to your business cards and make them interactive…but that’s another post for another day.

Tonya R. Taylor’s Report Answers Why Small Biz Owners Need to “Get Twitter”

I attended a local business networking event last night, and was amazed at the number of business owners who are NOT on Twitter.

After doing the typical networking “elevator pitch dance”, when I got around to asking people for their Twitter handle, there were various reasons as to why they didn’t use Twitter. Most of the time, folks really didn’t see how Twitter could help their business. So most of my time spent at the event was schooling folks on how I use Twitter for my business.

So while researching a small biz topic to write about (I’m a last minute type of guy) I decided to give you are quick breakdown of Tony R. Taylor’s FREE report “I Don’t Get Twitter” – 5 Answers To Getting Greater Results Using Twitter For Your Business.

In the report, Tonya explains how people typically view Twitter, goes over how people who are not on Twitter reach out to their audience, and of course, why small biz owners should be on Twitter.

The real “meat and potatoes” of the report is Tonya’s breakdown of how small biz owners can get the most out of Twitter by answering the top 5 questions of small biz owners interested in learning more about Twitter. Without giving TOO much of it away, here are her top 5 questions small biz owners have about Twitter:

#1 – What’s the biggest mistake Small Business Owners who don’t get Twitter make?

#2 – Where should Small Business Owners who don’t get Twitter focus most of their initial effort?

#3 – What have businesses done specifically that has been very successful?

#4 – Give Small Business Owners who don’t get Twitter 5 quick ways to use Twitter for business.

#5 – What’s the easiest thing Small Business Owners who don’t get Twitter can do right now to see results?

Tonya’s report goes in depth to answering the above questions (in a short, sweet, and to the point way) to give any small biz owner looking to: Rub elbows with other industry professionals; reach a larger market; create better relationships with customers/clients; AND MAKE MONEY (notice how I put that last) via Twitter. She also gives the fact, figures, and statistics about small biz owners who do successfully use Twitter and dishes out information about her Twitter Quick-Start Academy for professionals looking for even more information, and results, out of Twitter.

For more information about Tonya R. Taylor, her company Rising Star Ideas, and to get her FREE report “I Don’t Get Twitter!” – 5 Answers To Getting Greater Results Using Twitter For Your Business, follow @risingstarideas on Twitter

*Notice how I am forcing you to go on Twitter in order to get more information about Twitter*

Finding your social media ‘voice’

Social media has changed the way that small businesses connect with customers.  Whether on Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare or any of the other social media platforms businesses can share news about their products and promotions, seek feedback on their service or product, raise their visibility, address complaints and share compliments.    It has allowed small businesses to compete on a level playing field with the largest of organizations–something that would previously be unheard of.  But before you jump in some basics on finding your business’s voice:

1.  Know your voice.  As part of your business’s start-up you probably had a mission statement: a clear statement of your company’s aim and your approach in meeting that goal.  Having a confident grasp of your company’s ‘personality’ will help you form your voice on your communication strategy whether through paid advertising or with social media.  Really take the time to think about how humorous/ serious you want to be; how formal or casual; how chatty/reserved you want to be.  Why did you start this company?  Your communication strategy should get that message across with all of the messages you send out.

2.  Keep your professional / personal on-line lives separate.  While your business should reflect your talents, your values and your  personality–remember to keep some separation between your business and your personal lives.  Both your customers and your friends/ family will appreciate it!

3.  Social media isn’t just marketing.  It is about opening up a new line of communication:  one that is fast, reactive and informative.  Share news and insights but also listen to your customers.

4.  Be persistent.  Don’t jump in and out of the fast lane of social media.  Schedule it into your daily routine.  Don’t get discouraged and keep on connecting.

5.  Let your old school methods of communicating help you connect in the new school world of social media.  Add the magic words “Follow us on Twitter” and “Find us on Facebook” to all of your print advertising, on your website and in your emails.

Be willing to do more of what works and less of what falls flat.  Think of what intrigues you when you follow others and learn as you go.  Your voice will evolve as you get more confident, and your customers will be glad you spoke up!