business

Facebook Pages For Business

by

We have a detailed article on using Facebook Pages to promote restaurants.  Hopefully it will see the light of day in a publication soon.  How did we come to write this article?

Well, Agile' has two restaurants as clients, and we set up and maintain their Facebook pages (along with maintaining their web sites).  As a result of that, we picked up a restaurant review site, CNYDining.com, as a client a few years back.  It languished for some time, but recently we renewed it's lease on life.

Friday night, we used FB's "Promotion" utility to get the name of the site out there.  Technically, what we were hunting for was "Likes" on the CNYDining Facebook Page.  As a by-product, we were hoping people would travel through to the actual web site.  We did this with the smallest of budgets – $5 per day.

Results: In less than 48 hours, we were well over 50 likes for the page, and the statistics for the main site show a steady increase in the number of visitors, which confirms that they've been coming through from the FB Page.  Miniscule numbers, right?  We also launched a Twitter account for them, and the first tweet just went live around midnight.

Our next step is to put together a give-away keyed to FB Page "Likes."  We're looking at a couple 2-for-1 dining coupon books.  Total cost (with shipping to the winners) should be around $50.  I'm planning to reach 250 likes that way.  And to get more, we'll do what I've been advocating all my clients do: ASK.  Ask them to suggest the site and the Page to their friends.

Learn & Practice The Basics

by

I’ll be 50 years old in a few months.  Next week, the karate school where I train – CNY Karate – is hosting masters from our home dojo in Okinawa City, Okinawa, Japan.  Some of these people have been training in karate longer than I’ve been alive.  As I was talking with one of the classes a couple nights ago, they asked me what the Okinawan karate-ka would be going over with us.  Advanced techniques?  Spinning jump kicks?  Breaking boards while flying through the air?

No.  They’ll be drilling us on the basics.  In karate, that’s a small handful of blocks, punches and kicks.  These basic building blocks can be put together in nearly endless combinations to achieve a martial artist’s goals.  These can range from simple protection, repelling an opponent, causing limited physical damage, serious damage, or even death.  Overall, the practice of the physical aspects of karate are really about learning to control your own body, mind and spirit.

Read more…

The FUFT Principle – You Read It Here First

by

You’re sitting around doing nothing, or maybe at the office having a conversation, when suddenly the best idea in the world strikes!  It doesn’t just happen to you, it happens to almost everyone, everywhere.  But why isn’t the world awash in free energy, anti-grav packs and time machines?

Lack of FUFT.

I really don’t like sports metaphors, but they really fit in this particular instance.  Let’s say you get invited to play golf.  You put your ball on the tee, pull the driver back over your shoulder, and. . . stand there.  Just stand there, with the club head pointed up in the air.  How far does the ball go?  It doesn’t.  You haven’t even attempted to swing at it.  Maybe you’re afraid you’ll flub the shot in front of your partners.  Whatever.  The point is, the ball can’t go anywhere because you haven’t put the effort into attempting to drive the ball.

Second scenario.  You pull the club back, and with a mighty swing you bring the club head down and. . . stop it as it hits the ball.  The ball pops off the tee and travels maybe 30 yards.  If you play the game taking swings like that – just hitting the ball, it’s going to take you all day to make it through nine holes, if the course is completely empty.  People who start out behind you will go around, or maybe drive across town to another course.

Third scenario.  You tee up on the first hole, swing the club through the ball and back up in the air on the other side.  It’s a monster drive!  The ball travels 270 yards, magically winding up on the green about 10 feet from the hole.  You place the driver back in your bag, pick it up and head back to your car, telling your friends you have to go pet your dog.

In each of the above examples, no FUFT.

Follow Up, Follow Through.  These four words are why good – maybe even mediocre – ideas come to pass.  Sure, a few great ones as well.  But it’s the people who apply the FUFT Principle – Follow Up and Follow Through – who get things accomplished.

Not everything is worth completing.  But that’s why you need to Follow Up.  Check to see if anyone else is working on the idea you just had.  Is there a need for your great new product or service?  Is someone already selling it?  Do customers like their version?  What can you do to make your version better?

And this is NOT strictly a business principle.  You’re sitting at a social event when you see someone and think, “I’d like to go on a date with that person.”  FUFT!  Go meet them, chat, get a number.  You’ve followed up, now follow through by calling them and actually meeting for a burger or movie.  FUFT is a principle that will serve you throughout your life.

But you can’t just “learn” it or “know” it – you need to apply it.  You’ll be amazed at what can actually happen the next time you have a light bulb go off over your head, and you apply the FUFT Principle.