10 of the Best Social Media Tools for Entrepreneurs (we use 7)

10 of the Best Social Media Tools for Entrepreneurs

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To Strive To Be The Best, We Learn From The Best- IBM CEO Story

http://www.forbes.com/2002/11/11/cx_ld_1112gerstner.html

Why High Tech Start-Ups Don't Go To Market

Why is it that most start-up tech companies don't figure out how to go to market before they create the "all singing, all dancing" solution?

Stephen Johnson

(Look who is # 2 for Social Networking In business) way cool!

(Look who is # 2 for Social Networking In business) way cool!

This is a response i did on a linked-in discussion and thought is was relevant enough for a blog post. Enjoy
Justin

Our society has a HUGE diss-connect among technical and non-technical people. This is ESPECIALLY bad for business. While twitter is the HOTTEST app ive seen in all my 10 years in Business and IT, I have FINALLY found something i am genuinely passionate about (yes I am an Entrepreneur) more than providing IT consulting services to businesses (quite frankly anyone’s brother or nephew can do that now and i got burnt out) so our current start-up is http://www.socialnetworkingsandiego.com/ in case you are wondering. Our site is a work is progress, BUT we are developing a large following from the business community, LISTENING to what they want, and we are putting out good content which helps. I have been in the social media consulting trenches now for 7 months and it is TOUGH work: Strategy, Market analysis, SWOT, IT, marketing, Sales, Computer science, working with programmers, designers... The list goes on.


What I CAN say is that we are addressing the REAL problem as Doug mentioned: 80% of company websites don't generate traffic. Because of my Business background and IT, i have been able to provide an all encompassing solution in a holistic manner with "systems" we have developed. We will see where things go, but so far off to a promising 3rd quarter. Any feedback for me? Agree/ Dis-agree? Great topic Again, JustinRFrench CEO Social Networking San Diego Follow Me on twitter if you’d like:
http://www.twitter.com/justinrfrench

Cheers,
Justin

Entrepreneurs Can Change The World Video

I found this GREAT Video about how entrepreneurs can change the world and i just had to post it on my personal entrepreneur blog. Yes we can!
Enjoy
Justin
p.s. If you are interested in being a part of my Entrepreneur Hour live talk show please follow this twitter account for details: https://twitter.com/entrepreneurhr and let me know if you'd like to be involved.

A message to Young Entrepreneurs from the creator of wordpress Matt Mullenweg

As you know, i am VERY passionate about entrepreneurship and social networking for business. I read that only 14% of people are entrepreneurs (the minority) but hard work, being relentless, and having the right people around you can mean big success. Listen to the founder of the blog site wordpress speak about keys to being a successful entrepreneur (very insightful)
Thanks
Justin



follow me on twitter here

Ballmer Speech at Stanford, Says Now is the Time for Entrepreneurs and I Couldnt agree more

It is my strong feeling that twitter has really created a new era of entrepreneurs. I hope to see more and more entrepreneurs solving today's biggest challenges and i am honored to be amongst this new movement in shaping our future for a better tomorrow. "Yes we can. Stop watching reality TV and create your own reality around your passions"

Here's the full video from Steve Ballmer CEO at Microsoft on the future of technology innovation and of course Entrepreneurship.

How To Build A Successful Business While Attending School

Lately I have been hearing many Internet marketers and Internet Entrepreneurs say education isn't necessary in today's society where you can learn everything on You Tube. That may be somewhat true, but I still think education is valuable and needed (especially foundational business practices and learning)

First, I cant say enough good things about the local education I have received. Going to school while running a business is no easy task but I would not of wanted it any other way. As I learned in school, I implemented certain aspects of classroom experiences into my company. Not everything was applicable (and I'm especially not one for numbers) but academia is definitely a lot different than "the real world." I will say the education complemented practical real world aspects in certain areas. Not to mention it kept my mind sharp.

The teachers that influenced my educational career (whom i will write about in another posting) made all the difference in providing me with quality and valuable education. Some are still in my circle of influence or social network

Here's a brief time line:

1. Oceanside High School- Graduated 1999- Won A Scholarship through the Business Academy Program (no longer exists- i should follow up on this)
2. Palomar College- Graduated in 2003- Microsoft Classes & Certification
3. Mira Costa College- Graduated in 2004- AA in Business and received my Cisco Certification CCNA
4. Cal State San Marcos- Graduate in May 2009- Bachelors of Science Degree Business High Tech Management
   

How did I Build A Successful Business Perfect Integration, Inc. and now current focus Social Networking For Business While Attending School? A constant juggling act while struggling to maintain sanity, social life, and family time. This was very difficult, but who said life was easy any way? To be successful takes hard work, dedication, perseverance, and being "relentless"as some of my friends describe me.

After going through some of my favorite website bookmarks (I have thousands by the way) I found this write up on me from Mira Costa College Here

I was very fortunate to have attended Mira Costa being that its only 3 streets up from my house (I even biked to school sometimes) and much more affordable pricing compared to Cal State San Marcos. Mira Costa even put a picture of me on the back of a public bus (see above). I feel very fortunate to have gained some exposure for my company and the running of my business while attending classes at Mira Costa. This helped me gain some local recognition and began to put my company on the map and for that I am forever grateful to them .

Tech Trends that Challenge and (Sometimes) Disturb You

To all Perfect Integration Existing and prospective clients: please consider reading this article- it was worth re-posting.

To summarize, it explains the importance of working with a TRUSTED IT vendor like perfect integration in San Diego because small business technology issues can be very complex issues and great challenges for small businesses trying to run a business AND focus on IT issues affecting them. We have seen an increase in business in these hard economic times due to our time efficient helpful approach to breaking down the IT reality and the REAL technology needs and cost effective strategies and solutions to a digital office. Thanks

Justin

Article written by: Anita Campbell

The widespread use of technology requires small business leaders to have more knowledge about how to use these tools -- and avoid their pitfalls -- than ever before.

Technology is a good thing. It helps you be productive and save money. But I’ve noticed two technology themes recently that, depending how you look at them, are not always such positives in business. First, the increasing availability of technology requires more knowledge by small business owners about technology and how to use it than ever before. Second, it’s a jungle out there and technology is being used as a weapon by some, requiring that you be forewarned -- and forearmed.

Let’s look at five technology trends that can place extra demands on business:

More browsers

Once upon a time there were two browsers, Netscape and Internet Explorer. Then the browser war ensued, and for a while there was one main browser. Fast forward a few years and it seems like everyone is getting into the browser act, with Microsoft, Apple, and Mozilla now offering browsers. Even Google recently jumped into the browser fray, releasing its brand spanking new Chrome browser. And business associates of mine swear by the Flock browser for social media activities. Wikipedia lists dozens of browsers, although market share resides in a handful.

The upshot: With today’s emphasis on software as a service, eventually you will run into online applications that don’t work properly on a given browser. That means you may need to have two or three browsers installed on your computer, so you have a backup if one doesn’t work. That also means two or three browsers you have to keep updated for new releases, keep your bookmarks and settings updated, etc. And if you are running a website or Web application, you now have more browsers to worry about testing for compatibility. Even a small design tweak can throw off how your site looks or operates in certain browsers.

Scraper sites

RSS feeds are wonderful, because they make it more convenient for you as the reader to monitor and read content. However, they have given birth to a particularly putrid form of parasite called the scraper site (sometimes affectionately known as a splog, or spam blog). Scraper sites “scrape” RSS feeds and put your content into their own site. Usually these sites attempt to make advertising revenue off of YOUR content.

The upshot: Trying to deal with scraper sites can make you feel like you are playing the carnival game “Whack a Mole.” As soon as you report one scraper site to Google and it goes away, another pops up. But don’t let that dissuade you from reporting them. Also, make sure you delete trackbacks from scraper sites (no sense sending traffic to them). You might also embed links back to your site in your RSS feed. With WordPress, for instance, the "RSS footer" plugin will insert the URL for each original article inside your feed, making it harder for some to scrape your feed without giving you credit.

Twitter spam and Facebook imposters

Even the social networking sites are attracting spammers, hackers, and other bad actors. Twitter accounts that consist of spam, XXX-rated content, and other offensive or unnecessary things are growing in number. Twitter and Facebook imposters are fairly common -- even Seth Godin says that the Twitter account under his name is not him. Facebook accounts have also gotten hacked or hijacked. For instance, a hacker managed to compromise a Facebook app and placed a highly offensive image on my Facebook profile. I could not block or delete the image. Eventually Facebook had to step in and delete it.

The upshot: Today you and your business increasingly have a presence on or through multiple social sites and applications. That’s good, because it spreads your brand. But it also brings the burden of monitoring your presence regularly, or you could end up “following” a XXX-rated thread or displaying on your profile a racially offensive image that could smear your reputation by association. And you should take preemptive action, going out to popular social media sites and signing up for the use of your name and/or business brand, to prevent imposters from profiting off of your hard work.

Hacking epidemics

Not long ago, I was checking out a friend’s blog and saw a strange homepage. Instead of a blog, the homepage now was a link farm. If you clicked on any links they took you to a Russian website. Turns out, an iframe code had been inserted in the blog, hijacking it. This sleazy tactic is just the latest in an all-out epidemic of hackings hitting small business blogs and other websites. It used to be that you didn’t need to worry much about hackings unless you had an ecommerce site or collected credit card or sensitive customer data. Now, informational websites and blogs are a target.

The upshot: Blogging and having a small business website have become more complex. And if you do not have outside tech help, it’s up to you to educate yourself about security issues and take steps to protect your site. (As if you needed one more thing on your plate.) For those of you using WordPress, I’ve written some tips for protecting your WordPress site.

Intrusive anti-malware apps

Anybody who doesn’t know by now that they should have anti-virus/firewall/Internet security software installed on their computers needs a bop on the head. There’s no excuse not to protect your computers -- and avoid inadvertently spreading malware. But sometimes good things go wrong, as this post pointed out about an Internet security program that in its efforts to protect you, interferes with your work, slows down your system, and forces you to do things its way rather than your way.

The upshot: Look for security programs that manage a balance between security and protecting you from malware. Read user reviews online specifically touching that issue.

Technology is a wonderful thing, but it WILL take more of your time and knowledge to be effective in an increasingly tech-centric world.

Anita Campbell is a writer, speaker and radio talk show host who closely follows trends in the small business market at her site, Small Business Trends.