The world of social media can sometimes be overwhelming for small to medium-sized businesses. We have found HootSuite to be an invaluable tool in organizing our involvement with social media. Once configured, it is a time-saving way to post to any social networks supported by HootSuite – including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Google Plus, and more!

Often small business proprietors complain about not always having time to post to social media. Using HootSuite, you are able to schedule posts in advance across your various social media platforms. So, whenever you might find time to post to social media, you can schedule posts to occur throughout set intervals. This helps make sure your social media feed is consistently giving your followers something to interact with, as well as reminding them about your services.

Starting at approximately $10 a month, you get all of the above functionality to help centralize and manage your social media presence. Additionally, Hootsuite offers reports on your social media sites. You can find out which sites are generating the most clicks via this reporting. This can help you further save time by realizing what type of posts are working, and which are less successful. To be able to get such worthwhile marketing feedback at such a low cost is yet another reason why it is hard to imagine not utilizing Hootsuite for your social media needs!

When it comes to growing your business, people often overlook their current customer base. Usually you hear businesses talking about how to generate new sales or how to market to new customers. Not to say that either of these two items should be neglected, but focusing on your current customers can often be a better long-term investment.

If a customer feels they are receiving service that makes them feel they are appreciated, they will be more likely to return. If you have a business that is more client-based, perhaps they will be more likely to seek you out for future projects. Perhaps the best factor here (particularly for a small business) is that current customers are much easier to market and sell to as opposed to trying to reach out to new potential clients. This effectively means that providing great customer service is your most efficient means to generating business.

This article from Entrepreneur lists several ways to show your current customers how much of a value they are to you. I particularly like some of the following tips:

• “Keep it personal. Voice mail and email make it easy to communicate, but the personal touch is lost. Don’t count these as legitimate follow-up. If you’re having trouble getting through, leave a voice mail message that you want to talk to the person directly or will stop by their office at a designated time.”
• “Establish support systems that give employees clear instructions for gaining and maintaining service superiority.”
• “Act on the knowledge that customers value attention, competence, promptness and dependability.”
• Ask for feedback. Survey your customers regularly to find out how you’re doing. Send postage-pad questionnaire cards or letters, call them by phone, and set up focus groups. Ask for suggestions, then fix the trouble areas revealed.

While all of the items in the Entrepreneur article might not apply to your particular business, it is definitely worth looking over. Maybe these are things already being enacted by your organization. Although, maybe there is an item or two in there to help push your business over the top. Read the full article here.

The long-lived Microsoft Internet Explorer is beginning its swan song. Beginning with Windows 10, Internet Explorer will be phased out. Of course, Microsoft will be still in the browser market. As of right now, the new browser project is currently named Project Spartan (cue a web-comic with IE being “Sparta-kicked” into a hole), but that name will likely change as the project develops. Also, Spartan will come with a Web assistant named Cortana (see: Halo), as well as some other added functionality.

There are several versions of this information around the Web. However, this NPR article is among the most informative pieces I have seen on the topic. It also includes a memorable line from AdWeek’s Kristina Monllos regarding the need for noticeable change from IE to Spartan: “They don’t want people to see it as if they’re just putting lipstick on the Internet Explorer pig.” While this is true (and is definitely a challenge for Microsoft to overcome), I am sure current IE users might not mind that lipstick-covered pig. So, the challenge becomes retaining current users and attracting back some of its former market share. I am curious to see what Microsoft brings to the table to try to achieve this end.