1. Get To Know Your Devices To Know the Trends

2. Go Deep Into Content

3. Recognize that Social Networks Transcend Facebook and Twitter

Those who hold these positions possess a literacy in social media platforms and strategies. Rather than getting caught up in the arms race of the latest attention-grabbing technique on Facebook, you need to instead develop a deeper understanding of how these social networks are formed, and how they work. Technology is just the enabler. Fundamentally, social media is all about human interaction. So in 2012, even as you keep experimenting with those online platforms, you’ll develop skills in network analysis (how do you determine the true influencers in a group?), and maybe even revisit Psychology 101 (what motivates human beings?). Ultimately, successful engagement is less about the “what” people are doing on social networks, and more about why they’re there, and how they’re interacting with each other.

4. Go Deep into Data and Learn How to Ask the Right Questions

In that case, you’ll have to get comfortable with numbers and critical analysis. The smart use of massive date is massively important. Sure, there are tons of plug-and-play analytics tools out there, but you’ve got to get comfortable with research yourself. Learn to ask the right questions and draw informed conclusions from the data at hand. In the comical science fiction book, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the supercomputer Deep Thought spent 7.5 million years pondering “The Ultimate Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything?” It responded with a nonsensical “42.” In short, you won’t get the right answer if you don’t know how to ask the right question.

5. Behave Like a Media Entrepreneur, Innovator, Connector and Creator

1. Go small. You want customers to support the concept of small business, right? This means you should adopt a small business mindset at your own business too. Analyze your current vendors and service providers for opportunities to “downsize.” If you find any opportunities to support a small business instead, whether virtual or brick and mortar, aim to switch at least one vendor or supplier.
2. Go mobile. By 2015, more wprldwide Internet users will access the web through mobile devices than through PCs. On average, 15% of all searches on Google today are from a mobile device. How well are you catering to this mobile population? Make 2012 the year you optimize your search marketing, email marketing and website to focus on this growing mobile community.
3. Go local. These mobile users are constantly interacting with things and places that physically surround them. Microsoft reported that 53% of mobile searches on Bing have a local intent. The online world has become an essential place for businesses to connect with their local community. Make sure your business has a local listing on key search engines: Google Places, Bing maps, and Yahoo maps.
4. Learn how to delegate and do more of it. When you’re just starting out and times are tough, it’s natural to tighten the purse strings. However, consider what you could gain by handing over certain tasks to contractors, virtual assistants or full-time employees. By relinquishing control of administrative tasks or company blog updates, you’ll free up time for what’s ultimately going to keep you in business: bringing in revenue.
5. Invest in one new customer touch point. Whether it’s blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, mobile coupons or QR codes, new ways to connect with customers seem to pop up daily. As a small business owner, you don’t have to excel in every new technology or network that comes along, but you should try to be wherever your customers are. Ask your current customers where/how they’d like to connect with you, then spend some time in 2012 to make it happen.
6. Refresh your website. In the race to master new social media tools, don’t overlook your own website. After all, social media efforts like Twitter campaigns end up driving traffic somewhere, right? It doesn’t make any sense to build a beautiful and savvy Facebook presence that funnels people to a boring, inaccurate, and out-of-date website. Keep it current and engaging!
7. Protect your assets with any kind of company whether LLC, cooperation or others. While legal fine print may not be the most glamorous part of your business, forming an LLC or corporation can be critical to your business and personal financial health. These business structures protect your personal assets from any company liabilities. That is, if your business is sued or has bad debt, your personal property may be shielded from legal repercussions. Keep in mind that creditor judgments can last a total of 22 years, so you’re protecting not just what you own today, but whatever assets you’ll gain in the future.
8. Get your books ready for tax time early. Are you notorious for waiting until the last minute to organize and file your taxes? Do you find yourself wading through emails, or scrounging through your car to find stray business receipts? Don’t wait until April to start on your 2011 tax forms. Start fresh in 2012 by organizing your books from day one (even if that means outsourcing your accounting).
9. Social network in the real world. Whether the plumber recommends a carpenter or the web designer recommends a copywriter, business is driven by referrals and connections. In 2012, put some effort into networking by signing up for an industry conference or seeking out a local meetup group. These are invaluable ways to develop relationships and share advice with fellow entrepreneurs and small business owners.
10. Put time for you on the calendar. As an entrepreneur, remember that you’re solely responsible for your own motivation, productivity and well-being. There’s no boss to pat you on the back or give you a raise. It’s up to you to keep yourself motivated and inspired. In 2012 be sure to reward yourself for specific milestones like a big client win, meeting a tough deadline, or working “overtime” for multiple nights on end.

Sticking to some of those resolutions is a lofty goal for anyone. Follow the tips that ring true for your situation, and adjust as needed. Thats it for today and i wish you a merry merry christmas.

“The big benefit of working from these spaces instead of a hotel or a famous coffee shop is that you get to talk to locals, and they’re interested in meeting you,” says Loosecubes’ Captain Awesome Anthony Marinos. (And yes, in case you were wondering, Captain Awesome is, in fact, his official title.)

My pick: Buenos Aires’ colorful, airy, inviting Urban Station, a coworking space with desks available from $5 USD per day.

My Pick: The Hub Prague, where coworking for one day is free, and the space is beautiful.

My pick: The Courtyard By Marriott in Miami Beach. Because, well, it’s Miami Beach.

My Pick: JFK’s Terminal 5. Marinos loves it for the “great tablespaces to just set up and work while you’re waiting for your flight” as well as free Wi-Fi. And if you’re lucky, you might just catch a concert while waiting. Previous acts include Robyn and Taylor Swift.

My Pick: Seattle’s Central Library, whose Mixing Chamber could easily pass for a coworking space. Spaces are available to rent for meetings as well, starting at $50 for a half day. Not a bad option to consider if you find yourself in the area.

AngelList is an online community that matches startups with investors to streamline the fundraising process.

I do know a person who raised $1 million from AngelList for his startup, and had helped dozens of other startups raise $3 million more. I’ve referred more than 20 startups to AngelList, vouched for a dozen other investors.

Try a similar strategy by adhering to the following steps.

1. Make It Easy for Investors To Write Checks

Naval and Nivi, the founders of AngelList, took the very best social mechanics from Facebook, Twitter andLinkedIn to create a “social proof” that ultimately makes investors comfortable writing checks.

• Every startup, entrepreneur and investor has a profile similar to a Facebook profile.
• Your startup has followers like Twitter, and you can make introductions like on LinkedIn.
• Others can comment on your profile, similar to writing on a Facebook wall.
• You have a status like Twitter, and when you update it, a notification is sent to all of your followers.
• Facebook notifies you when a friend is tagged in a photo; AngelList notifies you when a new investor joins a startup that you follow.

2. Start with the Basics

Include numbers. Don’t say “100K,” say “100,000.” If you can name drop big customers, do that too — you want your profile to look impressive.

Focus on traction. How many customers have signed up to your service? How many have been active in the past 30 days? What is your viral coefficient?

Include screenshots of your product, a video walk-through and one or two charts that display traction or revenue. If you have a good video pitch, include that too.

Don’t focus on press. Nobody cares that you got covered in TechCrunch, or that The New York Times blog picked up your press release.

3. Find a Good Referrer

4. Shop It Around to People You Already Know

Be careful when listing an investor as an advisor. Most other investors will immediately wonder, “Why didn’t he invest?”

Ask all of the investors you already know to click and request an intro. A good target is to get up to 10 introductions. People are happy to do this — but you have to take the initiative first.

Ask investors and advisers you trust to leave a positive comment. I would focus on comments from investors, not necessarily other entrepreneurs. A good target is three comments.

Do not create fake intros. People will notice, and it will reflect poorly on you.

5. Use Your AngelList Profile as Your Executive Summary

You want investors to go to the AngelList profile instead of passing around your clunky PDF. The AngelList profile never gets stale because you’re able to constantly update the different fields, and your profile will update as new investors come on.

You want investors to go to your AngelList profile because it increases the likelihood that they will interact with it – they can follow you, add an intro or leave a comment. All of these actions increase counters that mark your profile as a hot or trending company. Bottom line, if you’re talking to investors, you want to “get credit for it” on your AngelList profile.

When you’re done fundraising, you have the option to “turn off” your profile. Most people won’t have saved their own copy. If you really want to be tight-lipped, lock down most of your profile and choose individuals to share with. Then, even if someone leaks your link, most information won’t display to others.

6. Be Responsive

Ready a form letter to personalize and send. Don’t make it sound like a form letter, however, but have your reply and supporting documents ready to go.

I use a service like Tout to manage my email templates for quickly replies. Here are some valuable templatesyou can use.

7. Look for Your Lead Investor

Many angel investors will be significantly more comfortable if they know another respected investor has blessed the deal. Also, most leads will have their own network of co-investors with whom they can share the deal, but make sure to ask that they share on AngelList too.

I’ve seen successful blasting work fine for more than one startup, but the best way to stack all the cards in your favor is to line up the lead first.

8. Fill Out the Round

Start by searching AngelList by market and geography. For example, search for investors who are interested in mobile and also are willing to invest in Austin, Texas. You’ll find 590 of them!

Also, request an intro with anyone who follows your investors, advisors or referrer.

If you don’t see the “request an intro” button for someone, ask investors you know to “share” the deal with them. It’s always best to meet someone through a trusted, third party.

As a last resort, reach out to them elsewhere. Try LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter. When you make contact,send them a link to your AngelList profile early on in the conversation.

The hottest and best startups get pushed out to all of the AngelList investors by the team that runs AngelList. The best way to get their attention is to follow the other steps I outline above. They will notice when your startup starts “trending,” gaining introductions and comments.

9. Keep Your Profile Active and Up-to-Date

Think of this as your investor communication. Update your status with Twitter-like short messages to announce progress. Also, update after raising money (like you would keep LinkedIn current, even when you’re not searching for a job). That way, when you’re looking to raise another round, your AngelList profile is ready to go with all of the social proof built in from your previous round.

How can companies effectively leverage Facebook to amplify new product launches? Here are some ideas that i got during speaking to some companies — large and small — that used Facebook to effectively introduce products to the marketplace.

Make a Splash with Creative Giveaways

In 2009, Little Debbie used the launch of the new Little Debbie Chocolate Cupcakes as a centerpiece of the brand’s entrance into Facebook. The product launch included:

• ♣ Share-A-Thon Giveaway. Fans could enter to win a new two-seater Smart Car (as featured in the Little Debbie TV ads) and other weekly and monthly prizes.
• ♣ Million Cupcake Giveaway. To celebrate National Cupcake Day, Little Debbie gave away 125,000 boxes of the new cupcakes — totaling 1 million cupcakes — to randomly selected fans who had entered the Share-A-Thon Giveaway.
• ♣ “Cupcake Cars” were driven across the United States, distributing samples and posting photo galleries to Facebook and Flickr.

The agency that helped Little Debbie develop and implement these campaigns, Facebook continues to be a major components of their product launch strategy. “With each launch, we feature the new products on Facebook, solicit fan feedback and offer occasional giveaways to encourage sampling. Since the cupcake launch, we’ve doubled the Facebook audience to more than 1 million Likes, thanks largely to giveaways and other promotions that help fans feel engaged with the brand.”

Companies want to get creative with giveaways, but as Kim notes, it’s important to stay true to the brand and use giveaways as a learning opportunity. “Everything we gave away was something we were already selling or planning to sell on sneakpeeq in terms of product/brands. We also used the launch on Facebook to educate consumers about what sneakpeeq is — a social shopping site with a twist.”

Solicit Feedback to Fine-Tune the Product

If a business has effectively built a Facebook following that resembles the target market, this network can be a major research and development asset. Ask for feedback, design input and functionality requests. If you’re launching a product with a beta testing period, ask the Facebook community for volunteers.

Create Clear Landing Pages & Calls to Action

In some cases, Facebook can function like a traditional website landing page. Transparent Corp, a software company that exclusively sells its products online, has used Facebook Page tabs to create “condensed and easily sharable versions of the landing pages for new software products,” according to Aaron Smyk, the company’s director of social media and marketing.

Smyk offers the following tips to create effective landing pages within Facebook:

• ♣ Account for design restrictions. The section of a Facebook page that you can control and design is a fixed width of 520 pixels. Additionally, if the design extends beyond 800 pixels in height, a horizontal scroll bar will be automatically inserted into the design, which can take away from the overall aesthetic and functionality. For a cleaner, smoother integration, plan on a height of 800 pixels or less.
• ♣ Keep navigation options extremely simple or rely on the existing left menu to navigate between pages. During the design process, remember that the custom part will be surrounded by Facebook’s existing navigational options.
• ♣ Include clear calls to action. What do you want the user to do when they land on your page? Make sure that’s abundantly clear for a user. Smyk suggested, “Include clear links on the landing page for your new product that allow users to move forward in learning more about your product, or purchasing it. You don’t want these pages to be dead ends. All the typical ‘call to action’ rules still apply here.”

Reward Existing Community Members

As Nike Golf launched a new golf ball during the Master’s Tournament, it offered a select number of limited edition green swoosh 20XI balls to Facebook fans in three time-based giveaways in the days leading up to the tournament. The giveaway occurred several weeks before the 20XI balls were available in retail stores, so the public did not yet have access to the product.

In addition to giving away a small number of golf balls, Nike Golf also offered a free shipping promotional code as a “consolation prize.” According to Brian Carter, digital marketing manager for Nike Golf, the launch doubled interaction rates and led to a significant increase in impressions. Most notably, the revenue generated from the campaign’s promotional code was six times the cost to run the campaign.

Build a Targeted Audience

To ensure that time spent online is time well spent, businesses must focus on building and cultivating a targeted audience. Start by defining your audience and developing a strategy to attract that demographic to the Facebook Page. A content strategy, social giveaways and Facebook ads can help companies reach the right people.

As sneakpeeq co-founder and president Henry Kim says, “We learned that if you get the right audience to share your product in the beginning — and getting this audience excited about your company is a giant step — you can do this with little money. Be creative. Where else can you get an instant audience for your company?”

A growing Facebook community is also an evolving community. Sheri Wallace, who works with Dandelion, seller of eco-friendly baby products, notes: “The community at 10,000 fans is not the same as it was at 2,000.” She adds that keeping in touch with the parents has been crucial to increased growth and to the success of newly launched products.

This credit card is our debt ceiling. We will hit the limit of our borrowing limit on August 2nd.
Now let’s continue further. We know we have some bills next month, and we also know that we have some cash coming in, but when we look at what we have coming in vs what we have to pay, we don’t have enough to cover it. Let’s just say we know we’ll be short by $100. So now we know ahead of time that we’ll be short, and we only have one real option: call the credit card company and ask them to raise our limit.
This is what the debt ceiling legislation is trying to do: raise our credit limit.

As you said, normally this happens all the time without issue. This time, some politicians decided to stand up and say: “Umm, long term this whole ‘borrow more money’ method may not work out.” So they are holding off on raising the debt ceiling until we can better align our “bills” and our “income”. There’s two ways to do this: either you lower your bills or you raise your income. Either you pay less money out, or you bring more money in.

This is where the argument happens. Democrats (traditionally) would prefer to bring more money in, so they’d like to “raise taxes”. Republicans (traditionally) would prefer to have lower bills, so they’d like to do “spending cuts”.
So the argument now is “How can we find a compromise where everyone is happy?” We haven’t (yet, hopefully) found that compromise.
If we don’t find the compromise, and we don’t raise the debt ceiling, then we’ll have a bunch of bills due and not enough money to pay them. At this point we’ll have to start prioritizing who gets the money we do have. Should it be seniors on Medicare? Should it be active duty military? Should it be people we owe interest to for a loan payment?
This is just like our credit card example if the credit card company doesn’t raise our limit. Do we pay our rent? Do we pay our car payment? Do we pay back a guy we borrowed $50 from?

And the repercussions are this: whoever we DON’T pay, how does that negatively affect us? Will we be able to get more loans? Will people lose trust in us and a government? Etc. So the outcomes could be nothing or they could be disastrous. No one knows for sure.

The goal isn’t to get money from a VC, just as the goal isn’t to get into Harvard.Those are just stepping stones and filters that some successful people have made their way through.
I don’t care so much how much money you raised, or who you raised it from. I care a lot about who your customers are and why (or if) they’re happy.It’s a premise that’s rather easy to agree with. Of course raising capital doesn’t equal success.Of course making (and keeping) customers happy is more crucial for any business.VC funding is just one or more professional investors betting on people, an idea, a business model they believe in, knowing full well that only a small fraction of their portfolio companies will provide them with decent returns in the foreseeable future.At the same time, I often congratulate entrepreneurs who contact me with information about their latest financing round, or with the recognizable name of his or her latest backer.
Perhaps it’s just become a habit, but then why did it become one?Not every startup looking for financing gets funded, and some even die trying. Still, we are not easily impressed when startups do convince investors to back them, because we realize it doesn’t usually make a lot difference for the company’s chances of survival anyway.I certainly appreciate entrepreneurs who approach problems in ways others never thought of.And yet, when we hear a startup got funding, we say: ‘congrats’ or ‘cool!’. I suspect that’s because we realize raising VC is not an easy thing to do for the large majority of entrepreneurs out there. No matter how you slice or dice it, raising capital consumes time, energy and resources that are often far better used for the startup’s business in question.
Maybe we should be encouraging them to genuinely try to change the world for good with the money they’ve just raised instead, and remind them that VC is indeed only one of many stepping stones they’ll need in order to make it to where they want to go.

In this graphical wonderland from Online MBA, we take a look at how corporations have dodged … er, optimized for lower taxes over the years. From setting up overseas subsidiaries to adventures in “creative” finance, huge companies such as GE have made an art form of lowering the amounts they pay to Uncle Sam year over year.

In fact, some of these companies even hire former IRS employees to find more (and more profitable) tax loopholes. Take a look at this infographic, and in the comments, don’t hold back — tell us how you really feel about corporate tax “minimization.” Click image to see full-size version.

[souce: OnlineMBA.com]

Welcome to Generation Wireless!

This increasing popularity of the smartphone is also coming up against another interesting trend. People are, in the words of a quotable television advertisement, migrating “to the Cloud!”

Look no further than Amazon and Apple for examples of this: Amazon is urging entertainment content fans to move their libraries to a remote digital locker. Just as Apple’s introduction of the iPod and the iTunes platform at the beginning of the past decade revolutionized the music and digital entertainment industries, Amazon’s cloud service could do the same for digital entertainment this decade. The popularity of Netflix, Hulu and Pandora also indicate a migration into the cloud.

Any producer on the web — whether they deal in general software, entertainment, news or any consumable content — needs to keep a few content principles in mind as this evolution continues.

Create Content Adaptable to All Devices With a Seamless Brand

Make Your Content Available in Every App Store …

… But Optimize Your Content for Each Platform

Make Your Content Configurable and Flexible

Brand Your Content, Not Your Code

Content is the heart of an effective web presence. Whether you’re a retailer, a media site or a social startup, it’s compelling, up-to-date and relevant content that attracts and engages users. If your content isn’t right, your customers simply won’t engage with it in the way you hope.

But branded web content is not without its problems. A focus on “search benefits” has led many brands to see content purely as a marketing tool, rather than a way to satisfy a specific user need. This has resulted in keyword-heavy “linkbait,” often of low quality, created for the search engine’s algorithms, and not the user.

If you want to maximize the value of content so that it engages and retains customers (and boosts your search rank), take note of these tried-and-true methods.

Be on the Side of the User

Start Platform-Agnostic

Make it Portable, Findable & Shareable

Release Early, Release Often

A lesson from the techies is an attitude that works for content as much as it works for startups and apps: Release early, release often. Develop a range of content ideas, get them out there and see how they go down with your users. Simple measurement tools and analysis will tell you what’s working and what isn’t so you can put more focus on the things that are successful. Things that work get more effort behind them. Learn and move on from things that don’t.

Stay Close to the Data

Ideally you should be doing this yourself, but if data makes your head hurt, talk to data analysts and social media analysts about what it might be telling you about your content. How is it being used and where might the opportunities be? If you see that a particular social community is picking up on your content, then it might be an opportunity to develop further assets with that audience or network in mind. If, on the other hand, your target audience is only engaging with certain aspects of your content, or worse, ignoring it completely, then it’s time to refine, optimize and retarget your efforts.

Be Prepared to Be Surprised