Administrative Services

Four Tips for Choosing the Right Social Media Management Company

In today’s internet saturated business world, it is imperative that a company have a solid social media presence. Many businesses choose to hand this responsibility over to a management or consulting company that specializes in maintaining social media accounts for clients.

Not all consultants can deliver all the successful social media interaction they promise, so knowing what to look for when choosing the right company for you is very important. According to Social Media Management Mavens: “generally, a good social marketing agency is one who can give you a fresh approach, offer unmatched skill, and provide solid advice for your business as a whole.” Here are four qualities to consider when choosing the right social media management for you:

1. Professional Presentation: This company will be controlling your online presence and the way you are presented to the users of social media networks. Tim Parker of Intuit advises: “Make sure their [writing] voice matches your company’s style — and that they have a solid grasp of proper spelling and grammar…Typos do not come across as professional.” Your potential social media manager must have the same commitment to quality that you do.

2. Dedication: You want to get the best out of this service, so as Social Media Mavens recommend, evaluate the potential companies’ “enthusiasm.” To ensure that your social media campaign is managed correctly, the service provider must be as devoted to your company as you are. The Mavens advise: “The right social media agency will eat, sleep, and breathe your brand. They will be a team dedicated to make your business shine, and they will love what they do!”

3. Social Media Presence: Does the company maintain an effective social media presence for itself? Is it monitoring itself as it promises to look after your interests? It is important to consider questions like these asked at PRWeb: “What social media networks have they used to craft their own social media influence?” and “Are they active members of any professional social media focused organizations or blogging communities?” Your potential management company should have the social media presence you envision for your business.

4. References: Finally, as Tim Parker at Intuit suggests, ask for references! As with any service you pay for, be it plumbing or snowplowing, it is wise to not take the provider’s claims of expertise and success at face value. Parker advises: “working with an individual, [the person should] provide three to five professionals references…. working with an agency … ask to speak with previous small-business clients to make sure that you won’t be ignored in favor of larger accounts.” Consider the references and ask to see other pages the service manages. Conduct your own review.

In essence, it is vital when choosing a social media management company to consider the role that social media plays in your potential service provider’s business. Remember the importance of presentation, dedication, social media presence, and above all, references!

SOURCES:  http://www.socialmediamanagementmavens.com/how-to-choose-a-social-media-marketing-agency

http://blog.intuit.com/employees/10-tips-for-selecting-a-social-media-manager/

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/8/prweb11004538.htm

http://social-media-marketing-services-review.toptenreviews.com/

http://www.itworld.com/software/350457/how-choose-social-media-management-service

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Preparing to Meet Your Accountant by Toni Earls

A meeting with your accountant, whether it is an annual occurrence or the first time, will not be productive or helpful if you do not go to it fully prepared. Making sure that you have your documents in order will make the process go more smoothly and allow your accountant to do his or her job more efficiently. Doing as much work as possible before your meeting will help lessen the workload later and potentially negate the need for repeated meetings.

Accountingmatch.com recommends going into your meeting with clear expectations for yourself and your accountant. They assert: “…your accountant [should] have a clear understanding of what you expect to get and when you expect to get it. Just as important is for you to understand what your accountant needs and expects from you in the relationship.” This will work to your mutual benefit.

 Make yourself aware of your responsibilities as a client and what is reasonable to expect from your accountant. Spartina suggests that you: “…make a list of items that you want to discuss with your accountant. The fuzzy or complicated areas can include education expenses, membership dues, taxes you have paid, and Internet expenses.” Making yourself aware of potential problem areas will allow you to deal with them more effectively later in the process.

 This video prepared by AG Tax, encourages prospective clients to do the work ahead of time in order to streamline the process. Determine if your accountant or firm has templates or spreadsheets to guide you in preparing the necessary receipts and documents and take advantage of it. Asking for a checklist from your accountant or firm can ease stress and limit confusion when trying to gather the pertinent paperwork for a meeting.

 You don’t have to prepare completely on your own. Utilizing the tools available to you, including computer programs or apps which help you organize your financial documents, receipts, and statements, is an excellent way to begin.

Spartina recommends: “…using your accounting software (Quickbooks, Quicken, or other), print out a detailed P&L, and review all the expenses in the various categories. Make any changes now for items that may have been miscategorized.” You can avoid confusion when meeting with your accountant by catching mistakes before you hand over your information.

 Simple preparation before meeting with an accountant can streamline the process. Using software, guidelines from the accounting firm, or both will maximize your efficiency and minimize confusion. Don’t waste your time or your accountant’s. Go to your meeting confident that you have prepared thoroughly and expect meticulousness in return.

 SOURCES: http://www.accountingmatch.com/preparemeetaccountant.htm

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b_J3-DbvPo

 http://www.spartina.com/items/15895-tax-time-prepare-for-your-accountant

Clear Clutter and Streamline Your Thinking by Toni Earls

When running your own small business from an office or from your home, organization, both physical and mental, is always an important factor in your success. Not surprisingly, clutter has been found to be a significant factor contributing to stress and anxiety in your work environment.

According to Mikael Cho’s article, clutter can affect your productivity adversely. He mentions a study undertaken at Princeton University which gave participants the same task in an organized and a disorganized environment: “The results of the study showed that physical clutter in your surroundings competes for your attention, resulting in decreased performance and increased stress.”

Psychology Today echoes these findings with Sherrie Bourg Carter’s piece. She points out that although clutter poses a considerable threat to efficiency at home and productivity in a business environment, this fact often goes unacknowledged. “Messy homes and work spaces leave us feeling anxious, helpless, and overwhelmed. Yet, rarely is clutter recognized as a significant source of stress in our lives.”

 Carter suggests a day-to-day approach to cut down on clutter at your desk and increase productivity. She says that giving yourself a fresh start each day will be beneficial: “De-clutter your primary work space before you leave it… make a habit of cleaning off your work space before you go. Not only will this give you a sense of closure when you leave, it will also make you feel good when you return to a nice, clean space.”

One more point to consider is mentioned by Cho. He stresses that in our virtually connected business culture, clutter is not simply a pile of manila folders and un-filed papers on your desk. Electronic clutter can be just as debilitating: “Files on your computer, notifications from your Twitter and Facebook accounts, and anything that goes “ping” in the night competes for your attention. This creates a digital form of clutter that erodes your ability to focus and perform creative tasks.”

Scheduling time into your work day to devote to clearing out your digital clutter can help with this. By designating a particular time or multiple times every day to devote to dealing with business related emails and social media, you can train yourself not to jump every time a new message beeps, distracting you from the task at hand.

 SOURCES:

http://lifehacker.com/how-clutter-affects-your-brain-and-what-you-can-do-abo-662647035

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/high-octane-women/201203/why-mess-causes-stress-8-reasons-8-remedies

8 Easy Steps to Uploading an Excel Sheet to Facebook

Follow the following steps to upload your Excel Spreadsheet to Facebook:

 

Step 1

Open your spreadsheet within the Excel program.

Step 2

Right-click on the border of the spreadsheet — not directly on any of the cells — and select “Copy.”

Step 3

Open the MS Paint program and start a new file.

Step 4

Paste the image you copied from Excel into the Paint program.

Step 5

Select “File,” “Save As,” then “Save as Type” and select “JPG” as the file type extension. Give the file a name, then click “Save.” Your spreadsheet will now be saved as an image file.

Step 6

Log in to your Facebook account with your username and password.

Step 7

Click “Photo” from the top of the News Feed page, then select “Upload a Photo.”

Step 8

Click “Browse,” then select the image file you just saved from the files and folders on your computer. After the image is loaded to the uploader, click “Share” to share it on your Wall and among the Photos on your Page or Profile.

Do you have any other helpful hints on the subject? Please Comment Below. Don’t forget to check out our Archives for more useful tips and tricks!

April 2013 Client of the Month

This month’s Client of the Month is Nancy Whitehouse-Bain, Realtor with RE/MAX Property Promotions in Leominster, Ma. McClure Virtual Business Solutions assists Nancy on an ongoing basis with various administrative tasks. Nancy has been a full time broker for over 18 years and as s Top Producer she specializes in Single family homes, Multi-families, Condominiums, New Construction and Land listings.

Nancy’s accomplishments extend to her being a Certified Distressed Property Expert – CDPE, Certified Buyers Representative – CBR, Member of 100% Club – Top Producer, RE/MAX Hall of Fame, 2009 Platinum Producer and 2010 Gold Producer.

In addition to her accomplishments she is affiliated with the Northern Worcester County Board of Realtors, Massachusetts Association of Realtors, Gardner Chamber of Commerce, RE/MAX International.

She is married to a wonderful man named Scott, and has two children, Dean and Sabrina as well as two step-children, Ashleigh and Jordan. Nancy enjoys playing basketball and racquetball when she gets the chance. For more information on your local real estate market, contact Nancy at nancw@propertypromotions.net and don’t forget to check out her website for real estate tips and trends athttp://www.wykesandwhitehouse.com/.

6 Easy Steps to Uploading a Keynote Presentation with Video to a Website

This is one way to put a Keynote Presentation on your website.
1. Upload your presentation to iwork.com (Similar to Google Docs)
2. Properly format presentation
3. Click upload
4. Login to iworks again, click presentation, click play
5. In the sidebar  click public
6. Select show public link and then that link can be copied and pasted into a website you can also click and have it show embedded code for website.
(You can format your presentation to have timers between slides and also once on your website you can make the show a hyperlink to a clickable user managed version of the slideshow. This is done by choosing the object you want a hyperlink for  then going to Inspector – View – Show Inspector. Next, open hyperlink tab and setup as hyperlinks only.)
Please leave your questions, comments or helpful hints of your own! Stop by our Archives for more great info.

THE NEW CONVENTIONAL OFFICE by: Annette Bouchard

As a conventional employer your responsibilities vary from interviewing people, hiring them, training them and then sometimes firing them if they are not adequately suited for the position. All of this time is money to your business. The act of firing someone can land an employer in court fighting about unlawful termination or discrimination. Because of those things a lot of business professionals are turning to virtual assistants. With a VA you can avoid all that hassle. You hire the VA to do a job or project and if things go well, you continue to hire them. If it doesn’t work out then you move on and it’s that simple.

With a VA you are not bound to conventional office hours. Depending on the terms of your contract with your VA you can expect to hand over the work and have it completed by the agreed upon deadline. You wouldn’t dream of asking your Office Administrator to input data after 5:00pm, in order for it to be available before 9:00am the following day. A Virtual Assistant doesn’t close the office at 5. There are VA’s available during regular business hours but many are available to work nontraditional hours providing flexibility with no added expense. The virtual assistant is quickly becoming the more practical business solution.

The way we do business is evolving and traditional models don’t fit all businesses anymore. A VA is a great way to manage your business. The new conventional office allows a business owner the function of a full office with less responsibility and a lot more flexibility.

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MVBS March 2013 Client of the Month

The McClure Virtual Business Solutions Client Of The Month is Capt. Mike Hogan and the team at  Hogy Lure Company in Falmouth, Massachusetts. MVBS assists Mike and his team on a regular basis by providing ongoing administrative services. Capt. Mike founded Hogy Lure Company in 2004 when he left his Boston-based office job and moved back to Cape Cod to run inshore and offshore charters. During these fishing charters he became aware of the need for large-style soft baits that mimicked the larger live baits for specific situations of trophy class fishing. Capt. Mike began experimenting with soft plastics until he finally developed the special blend that the company uses today for their very effective and highly recommended lures.  The incredible success of the Hogy Lure led to their incorporation in 2005 and their 1st patent that was received in 2009.

Hogy Lure Company has grown significantly over the past few years and they have sold their unique lures to over 22 countries.  Their success has not affected the way they design their lures.  Hogy Lures are American made and only top grade plastics and their  hand poured method are used to create their soft bait lures.

For more information on Hogy Lure Company, their products and fishing in general visit their awesome website at www.hogylures.com. To check out their ongoing specials visit them on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100000808507450&sk=wall. Fish Big. Fish Hogy.Image

Making Twitter Work for You by: Britney Balg

There are so many options for promoting yourself or your business on the internet. Twitter has become a top choice for business professionals to network with minimal effort and time. However, just because it’s a top choice doesn’t mean it’s easy.  Just like other networking sites, there are certain rules and etiquette that must be followed to make your twitter account worth it. First thing to remember is that you have to post valuable tweets. Tweeting about how the office ordered Chinese food for lunch isn’t going to cut it. Post things that are meaningful and important to your business and its goals.

Links are the way to go when trying to get people to visit your company website. You should put links in your tweets so that when your potential customer reads that you have a new type of wood flooring they can just click on the link right in the tweet and it will redirect them to your website with a picture of that flooring. By getting them to your site, you have gotten one step closer to that person buying your product or telling a friend about it.

One other thing to remember about twitter is that it is all about who is following you and who you are following. If you don’t have a good ratio of followers to people being followed by you, twitter can actually delete your account. It also doesn’t look good to potential customers if you don’t have a lot of followers but you are following everyone under the sun that has anything to do with your business.  A good rule of thumb is that if you are going to follow someone they should follow you back. There are exceptions to that rule though, for example if you are following a tv show don’t expect them to follow you back.

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