How social media can work for business
by Peter Pincetl
Social media for business—the greatest thing since sliced bread or just so much hype? Here are six articles to help executives address this question.
- Social Media: A Business Marketer’s Guide by Dan Morrison (iMedia Connection, March 30, 2007)
Marketing professionals should ask four key questions to determine whether social media will improve performance: (1) what portion of content is user generated, (2) is user generated content high quality, (3) will existing online campaigns work, and (4) how do sites help target demographics? - Smart Social Networking For Your Small Business by Frederic Paul (Forbes, June 5, 2009)
Here is a handy cheat sheet that shows how to use social networking in a small business. It covers where the networking takes place, different applications of it, some dos and don’ts, and other key points. - Four Ways Social Networking Can Build Business by Jake Swearingen (Bnet.com)
Profiles of four professionals who use social networking in the following ways: (1) unexpected collaborators, (2) a place to start building a global business, (3) finding talent, and (4) cheap viral marketing. Readers’ comments are encouraging and prove that these are viable options. - Are Social Networking Sites Useful for Business? by Karen E. Klein (BusinessWeek, August 6, 2008)
Social networking sites can be useful, but you should tool them to fit your business. Explore the different sites and select the ones that best fit your uses. Several different sites can be use with the effort, such as posting a video on YouTube and then publicizing it on Facebook and Twitter. Another plus side to joining social networks: a higher profile for your company on search engines. - Social Networking Goes Professional by Jessica E. Vascellaro (Wall Street Journal, August 28, 2007)
Professional social networking is growing, especially for information exchange and recruitment. A drawback is the ease with which new members can fraudulently identify themselves. Professional social networking sites are attempting to prevent this through referrals and credentials checks. - Social Media Good for Businesses by Richard Pachter (Miami Herald, June 8, 2009)
Social networking tools have evolved into near essentials in the business world. Three books help better understand the subject: The Social Media Bible: Tactics Tools and Strategies for Business Success by Lon Safko and David Brake; Facebook Me! by David Awl; and The Twitter Book by Sarah Milstein.
Share your ideas
Got ideas for incorporating social media with the Prialto community? Leave a comment; we would love to hear about it.
Peter Pincetl is the Prialto 2009 Social Media Intern.
What is the mark of a great service? Read on to find out…
Mr. Allen is planning a business trip to Los Angeles this weekend and has a very busy schedule, packed with back-to-back meetings with multiple clients located in different parts of the city. Included in his agenda is a dinner meeting with a client who selected the venue. This client sent him an email with the name of the restaurant where they would meet for dinner.My task was to include the appointment in his calendar so that he had the name and address of the restaurant. I did not stop there, however. As Mr. Allen’s schedule was pretty hectic, and I thought that it would help if he was familiar with the restaurant’s menu – one less thing to think about. So I called the restaurant and asked them to send me a copy of their menu.
As I was updating Mr. Allen on his agenda, I mentioned to him that I am sending him a copy of the restaurant’s menu so that he could get an idea of what he wanted to order. He was very pleased about it and mentioned that those are the types of things that he expects from our service.
This was an email from Bert Landa, one of our personal assistants. Bert was given kudos by the member who felt compelled to speak with one of Prialto’s managers to let him know how impressed he was with Bert.
We can’t say it too often: People are at the core of what we do here at Prialto. They are our most important resource. And when every single employee feels empowered, and when they care about what they do and the quality of work they produce, you get service that is, well, pretty great.
Prialto Voice – A Voice over IP Solution
You’ve probably heard buzzwords such as VoIP, IP PBX, and IP telephony, but what is it? How can you benefit from it? Doing all the necessary research to understand it all can be daunting. And after that, performing a cost-benefit analysis of going from a “Plain Old Telephone Service,” or POTS system, to a Voice over IP telephony system can be complicated. The inputs are so many, and some of them are not readily measurable in dollars. At Prialto, we’re using VoIP exclusively, and actually, our business wouldn’t be viable without VoIP – proof positive of its cost efficiency.
Now, how can VoIP save your organization money? Read on to find out more.
Reduce Your Phone Bill
Saving on phone bills is the most obvious benefit of using a VoIP phone system. Typically, the biggest savings can be realized if your organization has many branches or if you have people working from home or on the road. For companies who have employees traveling abroad, the cost savings can be substantial. Prialto can quickly help you analyze how VoIP could benefit your organization by simply looking at your monthly phone bill.
Less Infrastructure to Maintain, Simpler to Administer, and More Scalable
Because VoIP systems run on normal servers, it is typically less expensive to deploy VoIP than POTS equipment, and that’s even true when it comes to a small office of 1-5 people. And if additional offices need to be connected to the same “corporate” phone system, that can be done quickly and easily too, allowing companies to grow without incurring large expenses for infrastructure.
Another benefit is that because there are less specialized systems to maintain, there are fewer things that can go wrong and it reduces the need for system administrators at each site. Additionally, with fewer machines to maintain, the fewer maintenance contracts are needed.
Because VoIP phones run on the same type of network as regular computers, there’s no need for additional wiring for phones. Again, this means less infrastructure components to maintain and troubleshoot. Lastly, most things related to extensions or phones can be administered by the user, which reduces the need for IT staff.
Cut Costs Using Alternative Phones
A VoIP system allows users to make calls from their computers. These so-called “softphones” are cheaper and work just as well as a regular desk phone. However, if a person or organization prefers to use a standard desk phone, a nice VoIP phone is fairly inexpensive, starting around $100. The main difference from a user’s perspective between a VoIP phone and a POTS phone is that VoIP phones offer many more options and more flexibility. › Continue reading
A business owner’s tips on surviving the recession
I came across this article that I thought I’d share with you. Until such time when the economy starts turning around, businesses, especially small businesses, need to figure out ways on how to survive the recession. Here are some tips from CNNMoney:
- Negotiate with your vendors – they might be more willing than you think to work with you. Opportunities present themselves during recessions.
- Consider new media advertising – this may present a better return than traditional advertising.
- Check your inventory – you may have to sell your products at a discount. One can survive decreased profits if there’s cash flow, but the converse is not true – if cash flow takes a dive, you’re in trouble.
Click here to read article.
Zimbra Desktop: Achieve greater flexibility with your email
Local access to your Prialto/Zimbra email and calendar is moving closer to production release.
Zimbra Desktop is a desktop email client alternative to Outlook. One of the biggest benefits of Zimbra Desktop is that it runs on more than just Windows. Versions for Windows, Mac, and Linux are available, and the application looks exactly the same on all systems. Moreover, if you have been using the Prialto Collaboration Suite (Prialto CS) webmail, you will instantly recognize the layout and design in the Zimbra Desktop as it’s nearly identical, giving you the best of both worlds!
Zimbra Desktop is now out of Beta and will soon be released as General Availability. The latest version, 1.0 RC1, is a feature-complete product and is now available for download at Zimbra.com.
Zimbra Desktop benefits at a glance:
* Offline email access
* Write emails when offline and send as soon as you have an Internet connection
* Same great search capabilities as with the webmail version
* Gather external email accounts, such as Gmail, in the same place, and access them offline too
* Access your documents and briefcase while offline
Prialto’s corporate email solution, Prialto CS, is based on the Zimbra platform, which provides our members with the ability to manage their email and calendar from any computer or mobile device with its online capability. And now with the offline version, users will have the ability to access their email, calendar, contacts, and documents on their computer even when not connected to the Internet (e.g. during a flight) – creating even greater flexibility for our members.