Simply put, many businesses do not “talk” to their customers. Many failed (and are continually failing) to learn from their audience, more so listen to them at their level. There are some however, who have learned to leverage actual feedback from consumers—and these are some of the important points they shared:

1. Learn where your customers thrive. Where do they spend time online? What and who are they following on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other social media platforms? What products and services appeal to them? What posts and other content pique their interest or keep them interested? Starting a conversation with your own audience and seek out these information. The more you learn about customer intricacies, the more effective engagements will be.

2. Engage in active listening. Often, the best conversations start when you engage customers to tell you their thoughts and views. Put yourself in their shoes, would you not feel important when a company asks for your inputs? Let your on-boarding initiative be customer-centric. The moment you open your ears to their concerns and views, the more you can make them work to your business’ advantage.

3. Ask customers the reason for either liking or disliking your product, service or brand. Real insights always come from real-time feedback, from real people buying your brand. Talk to them directly and infuse the reasons behind their actions. Through that, you can gain more traction on your social media growth strategy.

4. Know what your customer needs. Even with good intentions in mind, what your own perception of what the customer needs may actually be not aligned with their views. So, consider asking them what specific improvements and other quirkiness they need. When you put those commendable points, you can immediately turn customers into brand ambassadors.

5. Engage your customers. Crowd-sourcing is the trend these days. So are the use of beta testing, round-table live discussions, hashtag conversation, and hangouts. Involve them in the process. Valuing your customers’ thoughts and opinions, particularly when crafting new products or business solutions, often boomerang in a positive way.

6. Learn your audience’s lingo. Sometimes, we get so caught up in our own industry’s jargon forgetting the fact that our customers may actually have their own language. Pay close attention to that. Often, miscommunication can put your brand-building efforts on digital media astray leading to its failure.

7. Don’t forget to give thanks to those who continually embrace your brand. Sincerity is a powerful thing. When they do not, it is also essential to ask the reason behind. Be open-minded and accept both positive and negative criticisms. In both instances, always show gratitude as both encourage growth to your brand.

Customers are, indeed, shaping up the minutiae of brand-building. Talk to your customers in a language they can understand. Dissect what they deep down need. Connect with them and be sincere at that. In doing so, you can finally strengthen your social brand and make big with your goals in mind.

This only means that your online presence speaks volume about your brand. Your website to your social media profiles, status messages, tweets, pictures, articles, and other stuffs posted online is a reflection of what your business represents, and its culture. While the Internet revolutionizes various aspects of business, this makes branding management even more challenging and arduous in this day and age. To give you competitive advantage, here are some ways to manage your brand without fail:

1. Begin brand-building with your profile in mind. Make your company profile—from account name to photo to cover image—deliver the very imagery that represents who you are, what you stand for, and what you wish to achieve. Be straight to the point in the “About” section. Let your brand ambassadors like employees handling customer service or admin of the page mirror the values of your brand.

2. Steer clear of controversial brand ambassadors. Yes, in this day and age when information overload is notoriously easy, the use of questionable entities will cause more harm than good to your business image. Whether employees or endorsers, it is important to ensure that impression given out must be always on the positive.

3. Policies must be in place particularly in the use of apps. This is to protect private and sensitive information of the business. Part of the policy must be proper venue of the download, data protection, and so on. If you may, consider blocking of free apps to prevent leakage of critical information.

4. Gear your digital team against online trolling. Cyber-bullying is also notorious online striking both individual and business pages. One wrong tweet, like political or sensational topic, can easily blow out of proportion leading to heavy trolling or posting of offensive comments. Do make sure appropriate action plan is in place to handle such situations.

5. Set clear social media guidelines for your team. This will help give your employees or brand ambassadors a clear mandate on what photos, posts, links, and messages to post. It will also help create standard form of replying to comments or reacting to negative comments. Make sure to discuss each item at length with your team to prevent double standards.

6. Be relevant and effective. Share content which are not only significant to your brand but also those that are timely. Keep social media profiles up-to-date and in-sync, too.

7. In everything else, be consistent. In the world of brand building and management, consistency is still the key to gaining the respect of online audience. It also helps to draw in more followers when you give up to date information, organize contests, give freebies, beta testers, and so on.

With the rate this whole Internet and tech-gadget dependency is going, your online reputation definitely precedes the overall aspects of your business. Keep your audience enthralled. Poke on their excitement and curiosity. By keeping them engaged, you may also turn them into your own set of brand ambassadors, like reliable word-of-mouth campaigners on the digital level.

Economic experts have fearlessly forecasted 2017 to be swelling with new ideas and opportunities. Various sectors on the global landscape will be enjoying a more “mature” entrepreneurial environment partly due to the growing population leading to more demands for goods and services from housing to food, clothes, technology, support, research, and much more. Add to that the global clout of the Internet made even more available by smart gadgets—and voila!

So, what businesses are showing huge promise in the upcoming year? Noting positive market trends, the following businesses will definitely rock in 2017:

From the Americas to the Far East, the shift in shopping behavior to online has become more prominent over the years. It is said to blow-up in 2017 as more and more countries open their firewalls for free trade. This will be the perfect time for your unique local goodies to be showcased to the world and get the standing ovation they so deserved.

With a robust market, businesses will be expanding at a steady pace in 2017—and this means a swell in employment. While having its own HR team to do just that, companies will be keener in finding the best candidates. What better way to do that than by tapping a third party headhunting firm. These specialized units will tap on the right candidates capable to handle the tasks enumerated by the hiring company. If you have human resource management skills, starting an online consultancy firm will definitely be promising next year.

Correlating to the robustness of the economy and the aggressiveness of real-time reporting due to social media’s growing presence, companies will be padding its customer relations department, too. This will give rise to the number of home-based BPOs. While this may seem a boon to third world nations, local representatives will be at the helm of this outsourcing initiatives. Start by creating a team of experts and see how fast your venture will grow in a year’s time.

With the e-commerce business in full swing, logistic services will also come handy. Both inbound and outbound services will be needed to keep up with the growing demand of an equally growing market. So, why not turn this into a good business opportunity for you?

With the rise of online shopping, mobile gadget development, and growing Internet dependency by consumers, most brick-and-mortar companies will be required to have an online presence to handle real-time management and marketing needs. This will drive them to look for reliable web design and development experts to handle such huge online requirements. Such will also open huge opportunities for you to make good use of your coding and programming skills. Build a team of experts to cohesively handle all the business needs for best results.

Indeed, 2017 is going to be a promising year for everyone. It is high time to rethink about your business portfolio and to come up with new strategies. One can never go wrong with such an exciting year ahead!

Timing is essential when it comes to posting content on social media. Add to that the type of platform being used, the target audience, type of content, and marketing goals in mind. But while there is no best time to post such contents, there are optimal times to post on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, SnapChat, and so on. Here are the recent guidelines on social media posting time for US audiences:

Millions of people nationwide are perpetually logged in to Facebook on their mobile devices than their desktop PCs. Though mostly used for personal networking, Facebook has also started becoming a must-have for businesses. When it comes to posting quality content that earns more clicks and shares, the best time is slated on Wednesdays at 3 PM, 12 PM to 1 PM on Saturdays and Sundays, and between 1 PM to 4 PM on Thursdays and Fridays. These time slots tend to deliver the highest clickthrough rates and traffic spikes. Do remember that Friday posts must either be upbeat or funny to match audience’s mood.

Twitter is another platform embraced by millions. The best times to post, however, are during weekdays between 12 PM to 3 PM and then, at 5 PM. Businesses make good use of Twitter postings from Mondays to Fridays with special engagement on Wednesdays and the weekends. Other tweets coming at 2 AM to 3 AM, 6 AM to 7 AM, and 9 PM to 10 PM are deemed successful. Basically, this platform is as varied as it can get to learn to experiment.

Being a network frequented by professionals, it goes to follow that LinkedIn engagement is always at its peak during workdays and preferably just before and just after working hours. The most optimized posts garner the best clickthroughs during midweek at around 5 PM to 6 PM. Tuesday is the top day-of-the-week contender garnering the most clicks and shares at around 730AM to 830AM and on 10 AM to 11 AM. Other days also enjoy the same time slot with the addition of 12 PM on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Steer clear of Mondays as well as the middle of the night posting though.

A female-dominated social media platform, posting on Pinterest tend to be more active during night time at around 8 PM to 11 PM including Saturdays. Optimize your posts for the rest of the week between 2 AM to 4 AM and 2 PM to 4 PM. On Fridays, go light and bubbly by posting feel-good posts at around 3 PM.

These platforms are largely developed for mobile-savvy social media users, who tend to engage during off-work hours when the fun begins. A favorite among the millennial crowd, it is crucial to get that when building a post concept. The best times to post on these platforms is any time with the exclusion of 3 PM to 4 PM. Other businesses have also seen a huge success in posting during these times—2AM and 5 PM on any day of the week as well as at 7 PM on Wednesdays. Video and photo posts, however, get the most hits between 9 PM till 8 AM, any day.

To conclude, social media platforms are definitely here to stay. These platforms will remain in demand as more and more people become hooked to these communication avenues for information and knowledge. To successfully engage with your audience, proper timing, appropriate content, and consistency must go together to help deliver your message across.

Here are online-based business startup ideas for less than $100:

Freelancing. From content writer to web design to social media manager, online freelancing is one lucrative business idea that continually pulls in more investors and successes. Arm with your talent, a computer, and a solid Wi-Fi connection, you can virtually start offering freelance services to clients looking for reliable third-party operatives.

Virtual Assistant. Simply called VA by many, this is the Internet’s version of personal assistant. Here you get to manage websites, social media posts, emails, phone calls, website content, accounting books, and other requirements a client wishes to pursue. Basically, it is akin to being someone’s personal secretary operating at a remote location.

Social Media Consultant. Maintaining multiple social media accounts can be tough to businesses. Timing and content aptitude require skills and efforts. When done right, you can get more clients and increase your business portfolio.

Vlogger or Blogger. You can either be a product or service blogger delivering fresh new contents like reviews, PRs, articles, and other written prose to market such. Or you may make good use of tech-savvy gadgets that easily captures or creates videos. Post such on YouTube, Vimeo, and other platforms to start gaining clickthroughs leading to profiting from ads.

Affiliate Marketing. For prolific and popular bloggers or vloggers, engaging in affiliate marketing can mean good business. Simply learn the secret on persuading people to click through those links or to make a purchase to earn incentives.

Web Design and Development. Arm with your skills in designing artistically powerful concept, you can build up a third party web design firm. All you need to do is to learn basic and advanced web design development and begin managing online interests for businesses. For a more in-depth and comprehensive web services, learning how to code or program websites will also help diversify your business portfolio.

Dropshipping. Basically, an online shop that bridges clients and suppliers, drop shipping gives consumers better pricing and access to wide array of products in the market. You will not maintain any physical store aside from one that will house your personal computer or laptop and online modem to begin this venture.

P2P Online Marketplace Host. Rent out one of your rooms, a detached part of your duplex, or any available space to people looking for budget-friendly accommodations. If you live in an area where vacationers flock to, this one will definitely deliver the passive income you need.

Product Reviewer. Be the first to test and deliver reviews for new products in the market. Like affiliate marketing, starting a business that delivers no-nonsense review will help give consumers more informed decision on what to buy.

Other online-based business startup ideas are resume writing services, instructional video creator, domain name buying, “flipping” websites, logo design, translator business, eBay seller, app developer, online content producer, sourcing services, and so on. The Internet is a thriving business market where consumerism thrives. Get a solid grip on your skills and talents and put them to good use. When done accordingly, you can guarantee to create a solid market base leading to success.

In 2017, technological innovations will pave for a faster and more reliable Internet connectivity allowing a more robust way of conducting business, gain knowledge and information, share such to friends and colleagues, and live more conveniently. This will bring a new wave of spending revolution leading consumers to rely greatly on online shopping as a way to acquire products or services. When thinking of starting on your own in 2017, consider the following online business ideas to shape-up your profit-savvy success goals.

Apparel Collection. Remember Jack Ma of Alibaba fame? Peg your e-commerce future with such grand dream. Start small by selling apparels online. From clothes to shoes, belts, berets, stockings and hosiery, and accessories, the fashion industry simply never goes out of style. It’s a vibrant industry, one that attracts money like sweet flies to pancakes. Look for reliable suppliers to ensure building good reputation.

Jewelry Shop. Today, people see pieces of jewelry as investments rather than as enhancers to physical aesthetics. Both men and women have become keen on wearing a necklace or a bracelet, multiple earrings, rings, and so on. Start by selling to your circle of family, friends and work colleagues via social media. Let online “word of mouth” give credence to your trustworthiness and make sure to be transparent in all transactions.

Social Media Solutions. Social media will continue to reign supreme in the year 2017. Businesses will become more focused on their social efforts opening a lucrative avenue for you to pursue. Monetize your social media skills and offer effective solutions. You can offer consultancy or third-party services as a business.

eBook Writing/Publishing. Lift your writing skills to a whole new level by writing and publishing e-books. Instructional and insightful books are quite the rage nowadays and this will continue to be so in the years to come. Do make sure that your ebooks are scalable in both online and mobile platforms as the thrust tend to point to smart gadgets in 2017.

Skills/Service-Oriented Businesses. There are many ways to sell services online. Consider promoting events by selling tickets and making reservations, rental services by offering access to real estate properties in various vacation points across the globe, grocery deliveries, professional online shoppers, virtual stylists and personal assistance, and so on. Online tutorial spanning the usual school subjects, second language, and the likes are also thriving. Make good use of your skills and showcase it by delivering topnotch performance all the time.

Indeed, the increasing necessity of the Internet will become even more prominent in 2017. This increased penetration and dependency on online resources will create high demands and lucrative returns for startups like you. With these online business ideas, you can finally start shaping your entrepreneurial aspirations and reach your success goals in no time.

When strengthening your business appeal, here are some noteworthy tips to remember:

1. Prepare the business “spirit of giving” all throughout the year. Yes! The most effective way of creating a culture of purposeful giving is done not just when the situation demands but each day of the year. Do not wait for the Christmas countdown or the beginning of the Yuletide season. Make it a habit to set the mood all the time to make your efforts constant and consistent.

2. Let your company vision include the sense of purposeful giving. Let it be part of your business advocacy to give back to your employees, to company stakeholders, and the community where your business is thriving. These efforts will lead to a mutually inclusive relationship leading to trust essential in building a sound reputation.

3. During the festivities, it is essential to not just focus on your business efforts in delivering a positive appeal for your business or brand. It is also essential to reflect such efforts in your company’s actions. So why not learn to export your Christmas gift-giving efforts to where it matters most—to the people serving round-the-clock. It may be doctors and nurses at a nearby hospital or senior caregiving facility, a subway toll-free collector who works even on Christmas Eve, or your own employees who had to be at the plant to meet store requirements on time.

4. When planning a Christmas lunch or dinner for the company, you may want to integrate your humanitarian efforts as well. Invite seniors from the home for the aged, the homeless, or orphaned children. Loneliness can be brutal to these people during what others call the “happiest time” of the year. Share the joy of your business to them even with a simple meal. This builds strong values for the business and for the people behind its success.

5. Give thanks to the people who have done service to the community all year round. Provide discounts to trash collectors, firemen, police, emergency servicemen, postal workers, and the like. If you are running a restaurant or café, consider offering free meals or free goodies.

6. Promote the essence of volunteerism in your company. Take time off to show care to the orphaned and the elderly by organizing a local visit, bringing fun and free meals with you. This will create a paradigm shift in your employees which will eventually raise a more aware and conscientious workforce.

7. Engage in a “Secret Santa” program. Survey families in need in the area and come up with the necessities, delivered to their doorstep without them knowing where these came from. Let employees do the deed to give them more hands-on experience and make them more aware on such endeavors.

Celebrate the season of giving with a pure vision in mind. Conscientious businesses do not just strengthen their business appeal with superficial action plans. Let it reverberate to your daily endeavors, to your employees psyche, and to the community’s awareness to make Christmas—and everyday of the year—worthwhile.

Style Maven. Think Rachel Johnson with all that oomph and charm. Becoming a fashion consultant is one of the most thriving industries today. You can start out by linking your fashion consultancy firm to an established retail business. Widening your network among friends and work colleagues will also be of great help. Build your brand and reputation in the market to open a huge following from celebrities and big-wig names in the industry where being not in fashion is a crime.

Designer Shop. With all the tools online nowadays, enhancing your penchant for style and inventiveness can be done in more ways than one. Let your creative prowess take center-stage by setting up a designer shop. You can have a brick and mortar shop catering to local fashion enthusiasts yearning for a new taste of glam and charm. Extend it with an online shop that caters to those off your grid.

Fashion Blogging. For those who have just “retired” from mainstream fashion industry but still want to be active in the field, this thriving business is the one for you. Set up a fashion blogging platform then, connect with active friends in fashion and clothing. Be their mouthpiece in the online arena and simply charge for your services.

Fashion School. You may also go the extra mile and open your very own fashion school, virtual or otherwise. Facilitate training on costume and fashion designing, makeup techniques, Cosplay designs, seasonal fashion, and so on. Be reminded though that this is a highly competitive business and will require astounding brand management to build-up your reputation.

Costume Rental Center. Do you have a collection of glamorous outfits, special occasion dresses, accessories, and other fashion items? Make good use of these design pieces by renting them out. This business allows you the opportunity to earn money from things that you no longer use but offers great aesthetic help to others.

Fashion Accessories Shop. Starting a fashion accessories shop is another rewarding opportunity this 2017 for womenpreneurs. You can have both brick-and-mortar store and online shop to cater to varied clienteles.

Beauty Salons. Train in some of the country’s top beauty schools. Learn the magic in creating your own mark in the business of hairstyling, makeup, nail art, and if you may, tattoo art. This has always been a thriving business, one that has no reason or season for abating. Hire certified personnel in the area and market your brand online.

These womenpreneur-focused business ventures will be rocking the New Year. Welcome 2017 with a bang by planning out the details as early as now! Do take note that a business coach can come handy at this time when you want to do it right.

Studies have revealed that recycling has proven time and again to be an excellent practice that needs to be embraced by small-scale enterprises. Apart from the cost saved from recycling, these efforts also help improve public image thereby, attracting a huge following from equally environmentally conscious consumers and advocates. Additionally, such efforts also help to boost employee morale creating a positive domino effect within and outside the organization.

1. Create a checklist to identify the recyclable materials in your office or store. All businesses, big or small, have an enormous basket for recyclable waste like paper, computer ink cartridges, electronics, packaging stuffs, plastic, Styrofoam materials, and many more. This checklist will be your guide in preparing appropriate collection units for storage prior to selling or delivering them to recycling plants.

2. Carefully craft an initial collection strategy. Here, you will need to set-up waste bins and storage in a manner that’s easy and convenient for employees to utilize. Depending on your organizational setup or size, areas of disposal must be carefully designated with waste bins or storage carefully labeled.

3. A disposal method must also be established. You can have it collected or picked by a waste management company or perhaps, sell them to a recycle plant. There are many ways of doing so however, costs must considered when choosing the right one for your own recycling initiatives. You may want to consult a local waste management service or get in touch with a nearby recycling plant, whichever case may apply for your business.

4. Consider collaborating with other local businesses in the area. Your bakery’s margarine or butter container can be another business’ storage solution. Those shredded paper materials can be made paper mache masks or building insulation. The list could go on. What could be your trash is some other business’ treasure.

5. To ensure sustainable success of your recycling initiative, it is also important to raise awareness and educate your employees. You cannot enjoy the fruits of your company’s recycling initiatives without the cooperation of everyone. Train them on the salient points of garbage disposal. Let them commit to the initiative.

Does your company have any unique recycling efforts you wish to share to the rest? Drop us a line HERE. It is high time to do our share in ensuring that environmentally conscious capitalism thrives.

With these in mind, the challenge to build a business with a sense of purpose requires utmost deliberation. To give you an idea, here is the second part of the Recycling Business Ideas which can make your 2017 foray to entrepreneurship a memorable one.

Computer Repair and Recycling. The technological world is evolving year after year. What could be top-grade today can easily go obsolete tomorrow leaving a huge gaping hole for you to enter and make business. Collect discarded computers and sell those which are beyond repair to firms who recycle them. Those which can still be repaired can be “reconditioned” and sold or donated to institutions championing education for the marginalized.

Garbage Recycling. Germany is one of the most admired nations in the world when it comes to garbage recycling. Sadly, not all countries recycle the way the Deutsch does. Today, you can make a huge difference to landfills by recycling garbage. You can provide necessary recycling materials like roll-on/roll-off trash bins and gain access to garbage recyclables. You may also offer recyclable collection and disposal services to your community.

Rubber Recycling. All prudent drivers know that tires need to be changed when they reach 50,000 to 60,000 miles depending on the terrain they continually expose them to. Aside from that, they must also look for any signs of weather cracking as well as sidewall integrity. With millions of vehicle owners plying the streets, you have an available source for a thriving market. Collect tires from private individuals or tap private firms like taxi, hauling or forwarding companies and then, sell them to recycling plants.

Sawdust, Woodchip and Shavings Recycling. If you are near industries which have sawdust, woodchips or shavings as part of their waste, you can create a collection system and collect such useful waste materials from them. You can then, sell these to furniture manufacturing companies.

Cooking Oil Filtration and Collection Services. Ever wonder how restaurants, diners, fastfood chains, hotels, and other food and hospitality businesses dispose of their cooking oil? These opportunities give you a window to recycling success. You may offer topnotch filtration machines or reliable used oil collection system. Sell them to recycling plants thereafter.

Waste Recycling and Disposal. Hospitals and construction companies are goldmines when it comes to waste materials. From needles to syringes in hospitals to construction scrap materials, these waste items can be collected by you and sold to recycling plants for cash.

Keep this second set of recycling business ideas to jumpstart the New Year. The world is filled with waste materials waiting for a mentally and emotionally aware entrepreneur to tap. The best way to do it is to start small and learn the ropes of the trade. Find a way to improve the system of collection and disposal, if you may. The key is to continually find treasure in someone else’s trash.