Mile Marker 25

      Twenty miles east from famous Key West, FL you will find a small and beautiful key called Summerland.  This key begins at mile marker twenty-five and is located next to the home I recently stayed in.  On this key, there is a local family owned grocery store called Murray's Market.  They have a sign posted in their restroom telling folks to "Like" them on facebook and that they will be posting grilling, cooking tips, in-store specials, and more.

          I found it interesting that this small grocery store, in a key that is no longer than 2 miles would be online promoting themselves. This is a local grocery store for people on vacation staying in the area and local residents.  It fascinates me how social media is taking over...worldwide.  Murray's Market made my family and I very yummy subs for our boat trips and a delicious FSU print rice crispy treat.

         I believe businesses that have not joined the social media bandwagon are really missing out on this gigantic worldwide platform to market themself.  Social media does nothing but benefit the business, just like whocanihire does.  Huge successful corporations as far as Lays Potato Chips, Chevrolet, Jet Blue, Southwest Airlines, Marriot International Hotels, Carnival Cruise Line, Hertz, Home Depot, and so many more have official Twitter and Facebook accounts.  Businesses large and small have established a presence on social media sites employing community managers or in the case of many small businesses spending a few hours a week promoting themselves.  As an example, a New Orleans local pizza restaurant brought in 15% of its customers through a Twitter promotion.  Why would you not want to engage with potential new customers through social media?  All I can say is you better get to "tweeting" if you already haven't.

          Anyways, I could go on and on about the benefits of joining social media.  My family and I had a wonderful trip in Summerland Key and would recommend it to anyone looking for a beautiful, homey, relaxing area to stay when staying in the Florida Keys.  Of course we visited Key West and Duval Street. Just hearing the words Margaritaville, El Siboney (local cuban restraunt everyone should eat at at least once), Half Shell Raw Bar, The Flying Monkey Bar, and the famous Mallory Square Sunset Celebration takes me back to my week in paradise.  Murrays Market is a great example why social media is the right area to market your business!

@chanlerhaden

#textcode_from_above#

Making Your Idea - Make you Money!

It seems these days everywhere you turn wild and sometimes almost ridiculous ideas take over the world’s attention. Remember silly bands? Have you ever sat around with your friends, drinking beers considering crazy ideas to make big bucks?

I got my idea for this blog from Hannah Hart of "mydrunkkitchen" fame who thought it would be funny to make a cooking video on Youtube. Soon after posting she had a group of fans and followers asking for more. When people ask Hannah for tips on how to get famous through Youtube, Facebook, or other social media sites, she gives the following six steps that she has learned along the way. 

• Be a good friend so that people repost your video on other social media sites.
• Be patient (being in marketing for whocanihire.com, this is one virtue I have really learned). Building your site takes time and dedication. Make sure your site or whatever "your million dollar idea" may be, has potential and hold a purpose. Putting your idea out on these social media sites, you can be sure they will be seen.
• Get a second opinion and be open to multiple ideas.
• Don’t be afraid to work hard.
• Never post anything you’re not proud of.
• When posting comedy be sure it makes you laugh out loud

So with all that said, next time you’re sitting around with your buddies drinking a beer laughing about crazy ideas, and a good one comes along, you should run with it! Get it setup on Youtube, whocanihire, Facebook, or any other good social media sites you have in mind. See where your idea with dedication takes you.

--Chanler Haden, whocanihire

#textcode_from_above#

Social Media in the Coffee Shop

Lets face it, social media is the future of public relations and public sharing. With sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, Yelp, and many others allowing you to tell where you are located and what you like/dislike about a business, comes the realization that everyone has the power to impact their brand. For instance, I was in Best Buy just the other day and I tweeted out, “The customer service at Best Buy in Boynton Beach, Fl is very poor today." Within 5 minutes of tweeting this out on Twitter, I received a message from the competition telling me to personally stop in and how their customer satisfaction was 100% guaranteed. Now what if I sat down whatever I was purchasing from Best Buy, left the store, and went over to the competition? Social media would have then affected Best Buy. Needless to say, I was being a little lazy that day.

The guy sitting next to you in Starbucks with his iphone could be writing a Twitter, Facebook,Foursquare, Yelp update or review about your business, which will then be pushed out for followers to see and then affect the decision making of your customers. Crazy right? The average joe in Starbucks is then just as important as a millionaire walking into your store interested in what your business is all about. Yes folks, times have changed. It's not just big street bulletins, newspaper articles, telemarketing that effects your businesses sales, it's social media.

"Like" us on facebook .. http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1373237397&ref=ts#!/whocanihire?sk=app_106171216118819

#textcode_from_above#

'Tis the Season - Social Media and Hurricane Irene

It is the time of year in South Florida when most people become amateur weather persons.  This time is hurricane season.  And here we are on August 22, 2011 looking out to the Caribbean we have a hurricane named Irene.  It does look like we are going to get lucky and not be affected here in South Florida. The actual storm can be very scary and can claim lives and should never be taken less than serious. For most people the aftermath is the most daunting part of any hurricane.  So I was thinking about what can be done to get the clean up started sooner, and how small businesses can capitalize on helping their communities.

After Hurricane Wilma the power was off in most places for a week. Mind you, that is a pretty conservative number; I know there were large areas that didn’t have power for 30 days and even some places for months. Not only was the power lost but there was significant amount of damage in the South Florida area which needs to be cleaned up and fixed.   Now most people would have gone to the phonebook to look for a company but that was 6 years ago, times have changed. People look to the internet for services now.  Even with the power being out people will still have their phones.  And almost everyone has access to a car, and a car charger.  As you already know phones today have all of the social media applications, and, of course, access to the internet.  So as a company you still have access to your potential customers and your customers have access to find you. So here are a few ways you can reach people after a storm hits:

·         Tweet out right away what services you are providing.  If you are a landscaping, tree trimmer, roofer, Pool Company, whatever it is, get it out there so people will see it.  Don’t wait for them to find you.  You want expect that people will wait until the power is back on before they think they can get anything fixed. By doing this it lets them know you are ready to work and fix their problem.

·         Farm an area. Post on your Facebook and Twitter what neighborhoods your company is going to be in.  Also post from what time to what time and what services you are offering. This is a good way to get your face out there after the storm.  Not to mention it opens you up to residual business by getting your face out there.

·         Make sure you document what you did with pictures and post and tweets.  Obviously, this isn’t the best scenario to do business in, but it may create new business.  Showing how quickly your company can respond and how receptive to a market change will give you the leg up on your competition.  It also gives people a sense of community where someone can be ready to help in such a sort amount of time that makes people feel good.

Please feel free to contact us.  We are here to help you help your company.

#textcode_from_above#

Sample "Search Results" Page From whocanihire.com



The recently launched website whocanihire.com puts small and medium size businesses right in front of their target market using social media to promote at little or no cost.  Businesses and professionals can create a unique profile up to five pages with company logo, links to current website and many of the social media networks like twitter, yelp, facebook and LinkedIn.

whocanihire.com went through great effort to develop a clean, user friendly site to be utilized by both small business and consumer.  The site feature few banner ads and does not accept pop-up advertising.

"I was recently introduced to a new website called whocanihire.com and I'm convinced this site could change forever the way small business owners promote their companies on the Internet" said Patrick Gostley of TodaysBusiness.com.  Businesses and professionals listed within whocanihire.com can actively interact in real time with their customer base. 

An example of a typical "Search Results" page resulting from a search for "plumbing" within the whocanihire.com database.



#textcode_from_above#