[ad_1]

Selling things online can be a fantastic way to make an income, work from the luxury of your own home, be your own boss and improve your work/life balance, providing you’ve got the right product.

If you’re looking for an effective way to make a decent profit by selling items online, then look no further than using the dropshipping approach to ecommerce.

What is Dropshipping

Dropshipping is the name given to an ecommerce model which enables retailers to purchase products individually from wholesalers, who ship them directly to their customers. Rather than having to fork out hundreds of dollars of large amounts of inventory, retailers simply partner with a drop shipping supplier and list their products for sale.

Entrepreneurs can therefore sell items online without having to carry any inventory.

Naturally, some dropshipping products work better than others, and if you want to optimize the success of a dropshipping business, you’ll need to sell the right products.

Best Dropshipping Products

To give you a head start, take a look at the following ten best dropshipping products to sell online.

Athleisure

From sports bras to sweatpants, headbands to tank tops, athleisure is a genre of clothing consumers can’t seem to get enough of. As well as being high in demand, this popular type of leisure/sports wear provides dropshipping businesses with the opportunity to either start their own standalone athleisure store or sell these items alongside a broader fashion or sports ecommerce store.

Anti-Aging Cream

Nobody can cling on to eternally youthful looks but there is a wealth of products out there that promise to prolong the aging process. By selling anti-aging creams online directly from the wholesalers, you can capitalize on a market that is expected to surpass $330 billion in 2021.

Photos

Photos remain a top product to sell online, with a staggering 70 million photos, illustrations and vectors being sold on Shutterstock. Exploit the high demand for quality, unique and compelling photography and images by starting your own dropshipping photography business.

Phone Accessories

From cases to chargers, earphones to power banks, mobile phone accessories are almost as essential as mobile phones are in day-to-day life. The rapid increase in sales of mobile phone accessories and being able to purchase them from wholesalers and sell them on at an inflated price, means such products are one of the best items to dropship online.

Smoothie Blenders

As we become increasingly health conscious, products like smoothie blenders that promote healthy eating and living are in high demand. Buying these popular items directly from the wholesalers, presents an opportunity to make money selling them online.

Shapewear

By 2022, the shapewear market is expected to reach an incredible $5.6 billion In sales. Given the prolific demand for undergarments designed to temporarily alter the wearer’s shape, shapewear is a lucrative dropshipping product to sell online.

Travel Accessories

Traveler-focused gadgets and accessories are also in high demand with the likes of travel pillows, rucksacks, digital hanging luggage scales and passport covers being best-selling products on Amazon. Take advantage of growing ‘digital-nomad’ lifestyles and the rising demand for innovative and convenient travel accessories by selling dropshipping travel items online.

Posture Correction Belts

With more and more people working remotely from their own desks and a greater emphasis on creating a healthy lifestyle at work, posture correction belts have become a sought-after product and consequently are a good dropshipping product to sell. These popular items are inexpensive to buy from wholesalers meaning you make tidy profit selling them from your own ecommerce store.

Smartwatches

Approximately 1.2 billion watches are sold around the world each year, with high-tech, minimalist smartwatches being at the forefront in global watch sales. These small, light and highly sought-after products make a great choice of item to sell as a dropshipping merchant.

Teeth Whitening Kits

We all have teeth and most of us want white teeth, hence the demand for teeth whitening kits that significantly improve the appearance of our smiles. Research shows the global demand for teeth whitening products is expected to reach $7.4 billion by 2024, making it a great product to sell online.

Image: DepositPhotos.com

This article, “Best Dropshipping Products to Sell Online” was first published on Small Business Trends

[ad_2]

Source link

[ad_1]

I’m sure I’ve mentioned before that my wife is a teacher. And every year more or less around this time she starts up her class store.

It’s a good way to motivate the kids and teach them about money and saving. There’s a few good items — some LEGO minifigs, stickers, colored pens — but honestly most of the stuff is pretty cheap. It’s more about the experience than the actual items. And that prompted this cartoon.

This article, “This Small Business May Be Old School – But It Teaches a Valuable Lesson” was first published on Small Business Trends

[ad_2]

Source link

[ad_1]

Hiring hasn’t always gone smoothly for businesses. It remains difficult to find the candidates to best fit your specific job requirements and company culture. But SquarePeg Hires wants to make the process significantly easier. Find out how they’re working to improve hiring through technology in this week’s Small Business Spotlight.

What the Business Does

Uses technology to help businesses with hiring.

Founder and CEO Claire McTaggart told Small Business Trends this. “SquarePeg helps companies find, assess, and hire top non-tech talent based on fit, not just resumes.”

The company offers tens of thousands of passive candidates on its platform. These candidates get measured for personality fit. But they also get evaluated for environment fit. Other skills, experience, and other key metrics also figure in.

The company’s machine learning algorithm matches the top candidates for any role posted with SquarePeg. And the company sends curated pools of applicants to clients.

This saves time and improves quality of hire. As an SaaS company, SquarePeg can to do this at a much lower price point than a recruiting firm. That’s because the company uses data to generate top matches rather than searching piles of resumes. The data-driven approach also helps reduce biases. It helps the employers using SquarePeg to improve the diversity of their applicant pipeline.

Business Niche

Saving businesses time when hiring.

McTaggart says companies often come to SquarePeg when they’ve failed to find the right pipeline of candidates.

But clients also include businesses spending too much time trying to filter candidates. Some clients also don’t know what data they should be using to quantify what they need.

SquarePeg begins by identifying clients’ ideal hires. Say a detail-oriented and logical thinker who works well in fast-paced unstructured environments. Or perhaps a client needs an employee with a strong SEO background.

In days SquarePeg claims it will identify 10 top notch applicants interested in the role. These candidates will also fit the client’s desired salary range. The system requires far less ‘guess-work’ to understand why potential hires are a match.

In short, SquarePeg wants recruiters and hiring managers to spend less time posting, searching, and filtering. Clients instead detour directly to learning about their top prospects.

 

How the Business Got Started

After overseeing the hiring process for a Fortune 100 management consulting firm.

During that experience, McTaggart noticed that the best performing hires weren’t necessarily lining up with what her team was evaluating on a resume. So she started SquarePeg to help businesses find the most relevant information to improve the hiring process.

Biggest Win

Signing up a Fortune 100 client.

McTaggart adds, “It was a truly seamless experience where the client had read a feature article about SquarePeg’s technology in Fast Company, connected with the team’s mission and wanted to be a part of the experience. They involved the most senior leadership in their Talent and Recruiting functions, to really see the potential of what the platform could offer them. This has meant a lot for our team as we have been able to start engaging enterprise level clients at the highest level.”

Biggest Risk

Saying no to an early growth opportunity.

In the early, SquarePeg received interest from companies seeking to use its assessments only for existing applicants. So applicants would take an assessment only to apply for a job. They also would see the job description before taking the assessment.

SquarePeg worried this created bad candidate experience. It also made accurate measurement difficult.

So the company said no despite the revenue these opportunities offered and the potentially easier business model.

Instead, SquarePeg stuck with its mission. The company focused on solving the pain-point they’d identified from the beginning. This saved them from being just another player in a crowded field.

“Looking back, had we chosen short-term revenue growth early on, we would have been taken on multiple directions and not remained focused,” McTaggert says.

Lesson Learned

Prioritize great design.

McTaggart says, “Having the opportunity to do it all over again, we would likely pay a little more attention to the product’s design in the beginning. There’s a general thinking that design doesn’t really matter to your product early on, especially in HR tech where there is a proliferation of Craig’s-list style job boards that are highly profitable. But thinking back, a product that’s designed better speaks to the mission a bit more and enhances the customer’s experience – both on the candidate and employer side – adding a ton of value to your product. At our outset we were focused on the science and tech – and not user-centric beautiful design, which is something we are working hard on at the moment.”

How They’d Spend an Extra $100,000

Developing analytics and assessment techniques.

McTaggart says, “We would continue to improve our assessment measurement and matching techniques – improving the accuracy while reducing the time to participate in them – as well as develop a suite of analytics for both job seekers and employers. By developing the suite, we are equipping recruiters and hiringmanagers with actionable data that will allow them to really make strategic decisions that will affect their team and the businesses they work in. Adding integrations with applicant tracking systems at a faster pace would also allow us to provide a truly seamless experience for anyone hiring through SquarePeg.”

Company Culture

Wearing multiple hats.

McTaggart explains, “As a startup, every person on the team must wear a lot of hats and play multiple roles at once. We often joke that each person has their real job title – such as CTO, Head of Data Science or CEO, and then their internal job function – tech support, data entry associate, or admin assistant. We all spend a lot of time doing work that isn’t glamorous, but helps us save money or cut corners.”

* * * * *

Find out more about the Small Biz Spotlight program

Images: SquarePeg Hires; Top Image: Claire McTaggart, CEO; Dan Pupaza, CTO; Nitesh Surtani, Head of Data Science; Josh Hamaoui, Head of Business Development; Alisa Leshchenko, Operations

This article, “In the Spotlight: SquarePeg Hires Finds Applicants with a Better Fit” was first published on Small Business Trends

[ad_2]

Source link

[ad_1]

The Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB) is warning of a current really clever email scam.

How did the CBBB know about this email scam?

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) nearly fell for it.

Latest Email Scams

This latest scam pretends to be an alert from the project management software your company might be using. If you’re not careful or busy and preoccupied, there’s a good chance it will fool you. You’ll click on the email to respond to your manager, team project coordinator or another official sounding title the scam has used.

Once you open the email, you grant access to your computer or download malware.

Hackers can get personal details about employees, financial data, passwords, and even customer information if the data is stored on the same system.

Avoiding Workplace Scams

Avoiding workplace scams requires a comprehensive security policy across the entire organization with strict governance. Having a system in place to quickly report any suspicious activity and taking immediate action will mitigate serious damage to your business.

Because no matter how good the security system you have in place is, it will always fail if only one person doesn’t follow the protocols you have in place.

The BBB says always be suspicious of unsolicited emails. If you’re not sure about the email, confirm it by going directly to the website instead of clicking the email. Because once you click it, the damage is already done.

If you are at work and you receive an email to join any new groups, make sure you know it comes from within your company or another organization you know. Again, if you are not sure get in touch with the person who supposedly sent the invitation to verify it.

In addition to official invitations, scammers also use phony emails posing as messages from office scanners, printers, IT systems, and other software. With this approach, the scammers are looking to pass off a short email as harmless in the hopes you’ll click on it quickly without thinking.

Email Threats

The 2018 Data Breach Investigations Report from Verizon said almost half or 49% of malware in the workplace was installed through emails. According to the report, this is because workers couldn’t identify a phishing email.

In the report, Verizon warns, “Most attacks are opportunistic and target not the wealthy or famous, but the unprepared.”

If you are a small business owner, this warning is a wakeup call. Whether you are a sole operator or you have many employees, you have to increase awareness of the entire digital threat environment at all times. This includes knowing how to spot a phishing email.

What if you Fall for the Scam?

If you fall for the email scam and you open it, the BBB says don’t panic. According to the organization taking immediate action without thoroughly thinking it over is what the scammers want you to do.

The BBB says don’t give in to your fear, so thoroughly research what has taken place before you make any decision.

Consult your IT security expert if you have one. If you don’t have an in-house expert you can go to BBB.org/SmallBusiness for resources and advice.

While you are at it please report the scam and your experience at BBB.org/ScamTracker. This informs other small businesses about the scam so they won’t fall victim to it.

The ScamTracker is a great way to stay abreast of the latest scams being perpetrated by criminals across the country. If you want to learn more about scams you can go to the  BBB.org/ScamTips  and at BBB.org/PhishingScam.

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, “Don’t Be Fooled by the Latest Email Scam” was first published on Small Business Trends

[ad_2]

Source link

[ad_1]

Do you still have the same passion for your business as when you first started? A new study from Vistaprint has revealed 33% of small business owners in the US say they don’t have the same motivation as in those early days of their entrepreneurial journey.

In the study, more than a third or 36% said they experience this lack of motivation several times a year. The reason, of course, will vary from owner to owner, but Vistaprint says they can get their mojo back and get excited about what led them on this path in the first place.

For small business owners, the high level of stress which goes along with running a company is one of the biggest reasons for losing their enthusiasm. In the study, stress is identified as one of the primary contributors for losing one’s motivation.

In an emailed press release, Vistaprint Customer Strategy and Insights Director Simon Braier compared starting a business to starting a relationship. Braier said,  “There is the honeymoon phase that carries you through for a while, but long-lasting relationships and businesses both require a lot of work and can come with a few rough patches.”

And as anyone who has been in a relationship knows, you have to be on top of things if you want it to succeed. Braier added, “By consistently reminding yourself why you started your business and seizing new opportunities you can avoid slumps in motivation and keep the spark alive.”

Small Business Motivation Statistics

The study comes from a survey which was carried out in February 2019 with the participation of 365 small businesses owners with 0 to 10 employees.

The survey was also administered in Canada with 371 respondents, and the UK with 294 respondents.

In the US, the top reasons for losing motivation was high levels of stress at number one, followed by lack of regular/stable salary, and lack of work-life balance.

The respondents in the UK gave a lack of regular/stable salary as their number one cause followed by stress, and lower than expected potential. In Canada the lack of regular/stable salary was on top, followed by stress and lack of work-life balance.

The fact all three countries identify high levels of stress as the top two reason highlights the role stress plays in one’s motivation to continue to do what they are doing.

As to how they were able to identify their lack or loss of motivation, respondents in the US gave procrastinating on necessary business projects as their primary reason. The other reasons were not posting on social media and not updating the website as often.

Running a small business means staying on top and any procrastination will eventually be responsible for the downfall of the company. With more small business now online with e-commerce, not updating a website or posting on social media is also a recipe for failure.

Respondents in Canada and the UK also said procrastination was their top reason for identifying their lack of motivation.

Keeping the Passion Burning

In the survey, Vistaprint also asked the participants in all three countries how they keep their passion alive over the years and if they could offer some tips for small business owners.

The first tip is a great one. They said, “Remind yourself why you started your business in the first place.” You might think you will never forget why you started your business, but as the survey points out high-level stress and other issues can make you forget.

Some of the other tips are: seek new challenges and set new goals, refresh your brand, create partnerships with other businesses/brands, hit the “reset” button by taking time away from your business and more.

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, “33% of Small Business Owners Lack the Motivation They Had When Business Was New” was first published on Small Business Trends

[ad_2]

Source link

[ad_1]

Are you looking to give the presence of your Amazon store a jumpstart on social media? Are you tired of relying on Amazon search for new sales and want to establish a presence outside of the platform? Instagram is the perfect social media platform for eCommerce companies, giving them the ability to showcase their products, connect with their target audience, and develop a broader presence that keeps their brand top-of-mind with their ideal customers

Often, brands that sell on Amazon become too reliant on internal mechanisms to generate sales. Particularly brands that don’t operate a separate eCommerce property and rely on the platform for the majority of their sales. They too often focus on what they can do on Amazon, without putting enough thought into how they can grow their sales by promoting on outside channels and establishing brand credibility that differentiates their listings.

But identifying the right platform can be tough. There are so many social media platforms to choose from, and knowing where your demographic spends their time requires that you dig in and conduct some research. Even so — there are few platforms that perform as well as Instagram does for eCommerce companies and Amazon sellers. Instagram provides a visual medium, engaged audience, and a user-base with demographics that put them among the most frequent online shoppers.

But how do amazon sellers market their products on Instagram to build a real community without expensive ads? Vizns social media management is a new product that allows Amazon sellers the ability to target niche audience and then reach out to them using anti-fake follower technology. This allows brand to create a fanbase of real followers that convert to sales in an environment that is normally notorious for bot traffic. The best part is that their algorithms help boost you to the top of the explore page which repeatedly makes your posts viral. We will talk about e-commerce features shortly but first let’s talk about why Instagram is the best platform for these strategies.

Why Instagram for Amazon and Not Another Social Platform?

Instagram is often cited as the best platform for eCommerce companies to establish a presence. While Facebook and Twitter can be helpful and viable choices for eCommerce companies, Instagram typically stands heads and shoulders above the competition in terms of ROI produced.

First, it is important to understand that when you establish a presence on Instagram, you are securing your position on a rapidly growing platform.  After their acquisition by Facebook in 2012, the company has seen sustained growth each year and grew to more than 1 billion users worldwide in 2018.

Showing no signs of slowing down, we can expect to see more rapid growth from the platform in 2019. But the importance of Instagram as a network is about more than just the total number of users. Understanding who those users are and how they use the internet in their buying decisions helps to paint the picture of how useful Instagram can be to eCommerce companies.

Instagram’s Demographics Benefit eCommerce Companies

Instagram is used by more than 35% of all U.S. adults. Their users are very engaged, with more than 500 million (of the 1 billion total) using the platform on a daily basis. They are slightly more popular with women with 39% of online women using the platform vs. 30% of online men.

Their users skew young and engaged — very young. More than 70% of all 13-17 year olds are on the platform. But their young user-base doesn’t mean that they aren’t popular with the prime buying ages. A whopping 40% of U.S.-based 30-49 year olds use Instagram as well.

U.S. Instagram User Reach by Age

• 72 percent of 13-17 year olds.
• 64 percent of 18-29 year olds.
• 40 percent of 30-49 year olds.
• 21 percent of 50-64 year olds.
• 10 percent of 65+ year olds.

The upside of Instagram having the audience it does it that it can help eCommerce companies to reach a younger audience without missing out on individuals within the prime buying age bracket of 30-49.

Instagram users also tend to be educated, with 42 percent of adults who graduated college using the platform. They earn more than the user bases of other platforms. 32% of adults that make between $50,000-$74,999 use Instagram, and 42 percent of adults who make over $75,000 use the platform. In other words — Instagram users have money to spend.

Instagram has Embraced eCommerce with New Features

Beyond the fact that Instagram’s demographics closely align with what any eCommerce business would like to have access to, the platform is also a great choice for Amazon sellers because they have gone out of their way to embrace eCommerce companies using their platform to generate sales. Instagram recognizes how helpful their platform can be for both buyers and sellers and have provided numerous features and tools to facilitate both crowds.

The most prominent example of their commitment to eCommerce on their platform comes from their shopping on Instagram features. While it isn’t a requirement that you use Shopping on Instagram if you would like to promote your products on there, it certainly could be the right idea for some companies.

Shopping on Instagram allows you to tap into the more than 90 million people that engage with shopping posts to learn more about products on Instagram every month. It provides eCommerce companies with a visual way to provide more information about products contained within their posts to their followings, rather than simply linking to their store on the post. Using this system, companies can invite users to learn more on their website, show the prices of products in the image content and direct users to their product pages, and reach an audience of active shoppers.

These features represent an extension of the company’s first dabble in supporting eCommerce brands on the platform. In 2016, the company first launched their “Shop Now” button, allowing users to be redirected to outside websites. The button showed up right underneath Instagram posts and was immediately a big hit with eCommerce brands.

Instagram also announced in September 2018 that they were launching a new “Shopping” section in the “Explore” category on their app. This provided a huge boost to their “Shopping on Instagram” program because more than 200 million accounts visit the “Explore” section of the app on a daily basis. That’s a lot of exposure for Amazon sellers!

Instagram has also made it possible to tag products in Instagram Stories as well. Instagram Stories now features more than 400 million daily users — more than double that of Snapchat.

These features all taken together make one thing clear — Instagram understands the power that their platform has for driving eCommerce sales and appears to be wholly committed to furthering that bond in the coming years.

Now that we know how important Amazon is to eCommerce companies and Amazon sellers, now we’ll dive into why. What benefits does the platform bring to Amazon sellers to make it rise into such a powerful tool in the last ten years?

Benefits of Instagram to Amazon Sellers

Instagram can provide a number of benefits to Amazon sellers. 60 percent of users learn about new products through Instagram. More than 200 million users visit a business profile on the platform at least once per day. By creating a reliable presence on the platform, you position your products to be the one that Instagram users are learning about.

Some of the benefits that Amazon sellers will find in maintaining and growing a presence on Instagram include:

A Visual Platform

The fact that Instagram is a visual-first platform makes it ideal for Amazon sellers. You want to make sure that you are getting your products in front of interested parties, and nothing can do that better than a picture. Shoppers want to see what they are buying. They want to see the product image, and if you can, images that show how the product works to the benefit of your buyers, either in its usefulness or in the lifestyle that it helps to create.

Get Your Products In Front of Your Intended Audience

Instagram has become a giant in the social networking space. With more than one billion users, you can rest assured that a healthy portion of your audience uses the platform. Additionally, Instagram allows for unfettered access to audiences. Facebook compels companies to pay for their advertising services. They restrict the reach of organic business pages, pushing companies to pay for ads.

Instagram, on the other hand, doesn’t have those sorts of limitations in place. All of your followers will be able to fully access all of your posts. While Instagram does offer advertisement placements it is best to build an organic audience simultaneously.

Promote a Trusted Name

One benefit that Amazon sellers are keenly aware of is the fact that promoting products that are sold on Amazon are generally much easier than trying to promote products on your own website. Amazon is a name that packs a lot of built-in trust with any audience. The trust is inherent. That makes for fewer objections and more conversions on Instagram and other social traffic sources.

Stay Top-of-Mind

For Amazon sellers, it’s so important to stay top-of-mind with your audience. Amazon is a big site and users can quickly lose interest in your product, stumble across a competitor, or forgot to come back and buy after initially discovering your item. Instagram provides you with the ability to consistently drip-feed information about and images of your products to your audience.

Your ability to engage in real-world conversations and develop connections with your ideal customers and industry influencers can put you in a position to reach a wide cross-section of your audience, driving targeted traffic to your Amazon product pages regularly.

Instagram for Amazon Sellers Best Practices

Even though Instagram is often the right choice of social platform for Amazon sellers, it can still be a tough nut to crack. There are still best practices that must be followed to ensure that you are continually growing your presence and getting your posts in front of your intended audience.

As you start the journey of establishing your brand on Amazon and promoting your Amazon products, keep these best practices in mind:

Consistency is Key

Consistency matters when it comes to Instagram. You need to find the happy medium between posting often enough to stay on the radar of your intended audience without letting the quality of your posts dip. Brands see engagement rates that are 10x on Instagram than they are on Facebook. Instagram images in particular receive an average of 23 percent more engagement than Facebook images. But brands work hard to drive that engagement, with the average brand posting an average of 27+ times per month. Aim to post consistently but not sacrifice quality in the process.

Create Instagram Stories

Instagram Stories are perhaps the hottest feature on Instagram. With more than 400 million daily active Instagram Stories users, the video-centric feature produces high levels of engagement and helps you to stand out from the competition because Instagram Stories show up in a different section of the app than typical postings. Creating regular Instagram stories can be a great way to stay top-of-mind with your customers and grow awareness over time.

Additionally, Instagram stories help to create more reach for your standard posts as well. The more that a user interacts with your Instagram Stories, the more likely your posts are to show up on their feed.

Quality over Quantity

While it is important to ensure that you are posting enough to keep your audience engaged and aware of your presence, you do not want to sacrifice the quality of your posts in the process. Ultimately, the amount that your audience engages with your content affects how often your posts will show up in their feed. Accounts that generate higher levels of engagement have their posts show up more often than accounts that don’t.

Here are a few facts about the Instagram algorithm that all Amazon sellers need to know:

• The Instagram algorithm looks at total engagement when deciding what content will be displayed on your follower’s feeds. This means the total number of likes, comments, views, and profile click-throughs all have an effect on your overall score.
• Instagram doesn’t just look at overall engagement, they also look at how quickly your audience engaged with the posts as well. Posts that get a lot of comments and likes shortly after posting signal that you’ve posted quality content and Instagram places more priority on displaying it.
• The length that a user views your post also plays a role. This is why writing a good caption is so important. You want to give your audience every reason to continue interacting with the content that you share for as long as you possibly can.

Quality is more important than quantity when it comes to maximizing the reach of each post that you make.

Share User-Generated Content

Don’t just share product images with your audience! When your users share a picture of themselves with your product, reach out to them and ask if you can post it on your official page. You can even go a step farther and find ways to encourage your users to share user-generated content through contests or similar strategies.

Here’s an example from Wayfair, who invited their users to share pictures with their products only to find out that they’re shelving unit doubled as a pretty effective cat tree:

Optimize Your Profile

As an Amazon seller on Instagram, your goal is to increase awareness for your brand and direct Instagram users toward your Amazon product pages. If you don’t explain who you are and where they can find your products, you won’t be doing your brand much good. Make sure that you provide at least a link to your brand page, along with a short description of your company.

Engage Regularly with Followers

Conversations are a two-way street. One of the biggest mistakes that eCommerce brands continually make is treating their Instagram presence like it were a bullhorn. They constantly post new product images and updates but fail to consistently engage with their audience. The thing that they don’t understand is that engagement is the whole point of establishing a presence on Instagram or any social media property.

Talk to your fans. Jump into conversations. Answer questions that they might have. While it’s alright to automate a portion of your overall presence on a platform, you have to make sure that you are genuinely engaging and developing connections with your customers, or else you are diminishing the returns you receive for your efforts.

Seek Out Cross-Promotion Opportunities

Being mentioned by other accounts can expose your brand to new audiences. Working out deals with similar brands and Amazon sellers to cross-promote each other’s products will not only help you to secure more sales, but it will also help you to grow your following as well. This business development aspect of growing your social presence does require some effort and acuity to navigate but can pay off for brands of any size.

Consider Influencer Marketing

Sometimes eCommerce brands and Amazon sellers don’t have the time and patience to build an organic following on Instagram — but they do have the budget. Paying for mentions, posts, or stories from an influencer with an audience that closely matches your own can help to generate immediate sales and jumpstart awareness within your industry. Influencer marketing can be expensive, with influencers charging brands between $75 and $3,000 per post — but they do provide you with a shortcut to generating sales and awareness.

A Can’t-Miss Opportunity

For Amazon sellers, Instagram is an opportunity that you can’t let pass you by. It’s best to begin establishing a reliable presence on the platform now, while it is still experiencing rapid growth. Through consistent, high-quality updates, you’ll grow awareness within your industry, sell more products on Amazon, and develop close-knit connections with your customers and prospects.

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, “How to Drive Traffic to Your Amazon Business with Instagram” was first published on Small Business Trends

[ad_2]

Source link

[ad_1]

The budgeting you did at the end of last year for 2019 was really important work.

We, of course, assume you did some budgeting at some point before the start of this year. As we said, it’s really important work.

But new data that we got in this week suggests you may want to go back and look at your figures. Make sure you’re accounting for everything.

In one report from Neogrid, we learn that 90% of retail businesses are not accounting for lost sales when doing sales forecasts. If you’re not tracking your lost sales, you probably should. These could be sales lost online in abandoned carts or people who walked out the door without making a purchase.

You need to determine how lost sales apply to your business but then track them. When you’re doing sales projections for the upcoming year or any time period, consider those lost sales.

Another survey released this week shows how IT professionals say they’re limited in their abilities by a company’s budget. Namely, they’re talking about cyber security. About half the IT pros surveyed by BAE Systems Applied Intelligence say a company’s IT and cyber security budget limits the protections they can offer.

Check out what other stories were making headlines this week in our news and information roundup below:

Employment

AI Among Latest Trends in Employee Expense Reimbursements

Small Businesses implementing AI to make employee reimbursement decisions achieve 100 percent visibility, contrasting with 2-10 percent for businesses that don’t have this ability. Those are just two of the findings from AppZen’s,  “The State of AI in Business Spend” report.

Franchise

Can Dunkin Donuts Franchises Create Their Own Middle Class Economy?

The Daily Caller News Foundation Editor-in-Chief Chris Bedford appeared on “Making Money with Charles Payne” on Fox Business Thursday to discuss how Dunkin’ Donuts’s business model was more beneficial to business owners and the middle class. “If you look at the Dunkin’ Donuts model, that’s a franchise, Bedford said.

Social Media

Facebook’s Messenger, Instagram and Whatsapp Integration Isn’t Complicated, 8 Things to Know

If you haven’t heard, Facebook announced that it’s working to integrate three major chat platforms — Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp — in order to allow cross-communication for users. This is a huge development. Facebook acquired Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014, making this power move possible.

Startup

How to Deal with Seasonal Affective Disorder in Your Small Business

Do you feel happier in spring and summer times? For most people the answer is probably a definite yes. Asking that question in the middle of winter might be a bit harsh, but there is a good reason for it. According to a new infographic created by NowSourcing, and presented by BestHealthDegrees.

Only 1 in 10 Federal Employees Turn to Side Business During Government Shutdown

The last government shutdown showed how vulnerable we all can be when the paychecks we rely on to survive suddenly stop. For the hundreds of thousands of federal workers who didn’t have a paycheck during the shutdown, it meant finding an alternative source of income until it opened.

Technology Trends

39% of Businesses Use Texting to Talk to Customers – How Can Yours?

A new study from Zipwhip underlines the importance texts have on making your small business a success.  In fact, their 2019 State of Texting Report  says that 39% of businesses use some kind of texting to communicate with clients.

One Million New People Come Online Daily, Is Your Business Reaping the Benefits?

Did you know a staggering one million new people are online every day? Hootsuite and We Are Social’s Digital Trends 2019 Report uncovered this staggering statistic in analyses of digital trends and use of social media across 230 different countries and territories.

Image: DepositPhotos.com

This article, “In the News, 90% of Retail Businesses Fail to Account for Lost Sales” was first published on Small Business Trends

[ad_2]

Source link