I’ve been asked many times before, “What’s your favorite social media platform for business?”

Many people think that if you’re in business, LinkedIn is the only place to be, and while LinkedIn has its many benefits and is a strong contender in my social media platform, my answer may be surprising to you.

My favorite social media platform, hands down, is Twitter.

I know. I know. I hear it all the time. You’re thinking “What? Twitter? I just don’t get all that tweeting stuff. All it is is stuff about what everyone had for breakfast!”

That’s where I’d jump up and down, pointing my finger at you and shouting “Wrong!” Well, maybe not so much jumping up and down… And probably not shouting. (It’s not my style.) I have no idea why I’d point a finger either…

But you’re definitely wrong. Sorry!

As simple as the site is, Twitter is the most powerful tool in my social media arsenal.

The Best Social Media Platform for Business

Source

When I found out in 2009 that I was soon to be unemployed, Twitter was where my job search took root. It was where I was first exposed to the power of hashtags to find and sort content being shared on the internet.

I was a bit nervous at first about using Twitter. Was everyone a scam artist?

Then, I came across Steve Keating ( @LeadToday ) on Twitter. For some reason, his simple reassurance in his bio that he wasn’t selling anything on Twitter, only giving back, set my heart at ease. I started engaging with him a bit, and enjoying his nonsensical animal trivia on Saturday mornings. It reminded me of a book my kids and I enjoyed called 365 Days of Nature and Discovery: Things to Do and Learn for the Whole Family .

Our shared interest in leadership topics led me to discover the Lead Change Group ( @leadchange and #leadchange ) shortly after their Leader UnPalooza in early 2010, which sounded like a lot of fun. I struck up a friendship with Mike Henry Sr. ( @mikehenrysr ), the founder of the group, which led me to discover and make connections with many of the founding members of the Lead Change Group.

I participated in the first Lead Change Round Table Mastermind group, which exposed me to other business owners who were crucial in helping me through the early hurdles of getting Aleweb Social Marketing established. Their support, encouragement, accountability, and love carried me through many bouts of fear, uncertainty and second-guessing.

Within my first year of using Twitter, I’d used it as a resource for:

• My job hunt
• Overcoming the isolation of unemployment
• Engaging with others around a shared passion (leadership)
• Establishing my business

Soon after, it became a means of establishing myself as a thought leader and speaker.

Then, I started to discover third-party tools that helped me even further. I’d already been a big fan of Hootsuite for a long time at that point. However, I started regularly using Bottlenose to find out what topics my extended network was currently discussing, and contributing there as appropriate. It’s “sonar-like” conversation mapping cut down my “listening” time immensely, allowing me to quickly and easily pinpoint the conversations I wanted to join. This was great for everyday conversation with the network or people I already knew and loved.

When I combined that with using InboxQ to find people asking questions in my areas of expertise, I was able to extend my network to individuals I didn’t know, but whom I could help.

Continuing conversations and participating in discussions that interested me “grew” my world, and helped me develop both personally and professionally.

One of my favorite talks that I give is called “ To Tweet or Not to Tweet .” It explores whether Twitter is a useful business tool or a devious distraction. Believe it or not, the answer has as much to do with your personality as it does with how well you know how to use the site.

I can trace specific instances where interactions on Twitter have led to:

• Support in times of need
• Great conversations
• Lending assistance where others requested it
• New business
• Speaking, writing and collaboration opportunities
• Participating in, and being the featured guest for, TweetChats
• Interviews with influential people
• Guest posting on other blogs
• Opportunities to review books that interest me
• Connections that have become deep and lasting friendships
• New employees
• The ability to help a friend when an accident resulted in astronomical medical bills

Of course, all of those opportunities could come from real world connections and other social networks as well, but the convenience and ready accessibility of Twitter made it a natural place for me to grow. As relationships developed on Twitter, I selectively extended them into the real world via phone calls, Skype sessions and email exchanges.

Twitter has always been my best news source as well, especially during emergencies. While there can be a lot of misleading early information, the facts start to take shape fairly quickly from eyewitness accounts. Living near the Sandy Hook community and having both of my children’s schools “locked down” that day, I wanted to know everything that was happening, as distressing as it was. Yet, the media really didn’t seem to know much. People talking on Twitter, sharing information they’d gotten from people at the scene or en route to the scene, provided a much clearer understanding of the impact and significance of the events that day than the media was able to do at the time.

So, if you’re wondering whether Twitter is a useful tool or not, let me share one last example with you. The Lead Change Group mentioned above started out as a conversation on Twitter. A few people engaged in a conversation about what could be done to improve leadership today.

That conversation led to the formation of the community that centered around the idea that we needed more character-based leaders; people encouraged to lead from who they are, rather than their position in an organization or community. Together, those early adopters created a LinkedIn group, a vibrant hashtag, a mastermind group, a membership website, an influential leadership blog, a regular guest spot on SmartBrief on Leadership, a non-profit organization, and then to top it all off, we wrote a book together!

There’s no doubt that Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are the three legs of the stool that supports my business and career. However, Twitter has yielded more friendships, business contacts and opportunities for me than the other sites combined, which makes it both personally and professionally satisfying to me.

If you’re interested in ideas on how you can use Twitter, or other social networks, similarly, check out my book The Plan that Launched a Thousand Books . It will help you get started!

How often do you turn to search engines like Google or Bing to find a product or service that you need? Have you ever clicked on anything on the 15th page of search results? Or the 50th? We didn’t think so. That’s why you need Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your small business. Ninety percent of all users click on the Top 10 search results on Google, which means that you are missing out on selling your product or service to 90% of your prospective customers. Sold yet?

It’s targeted

When your website shows up on the first page of search engines for relevant keywords and phrases, you are reaching your perfect audience. No one is going to look for “insurance company Chicago” if that isn’t something they are interested in finding. It gives you the opportunity to get in front of people who are actively seeking the product or service that you provide.

It lets you measure your results

Other traditional forms of advertising, like TV, newspaper, direct mail and radio, don’t allow you to track your results. When you utilize SEO, you are able to track exactly where your customers found you. The analytics will break down everything from referral sites to visitors, which will help you get a sense of how many people are finding you and how many people are converting to customers. This is huge, because who wants to spend money on advertising and marketing and not know whether it worked?

It will help you beat competitors

You might have an amazing website that many people would benefit from viewing, but if it is on the seventh page of popular searches, then you might as well not have a website at all. This is because most people don’t just type in URLs in the search bar – they go to a search engine and type in keywords of what are looking for. If you are on the first page, then this is a golden opportunity to scoop up the customers looking for your product or service.

It builds a good reputation for your brand

When you have a good-looking website and you are coming up on the first page of searches, this validates your credibility to current customers and helps you look relevant and trustworthy to prospective customers. It’s a win-win, and who doesn’t want to boost their reputation?

SEO is the optimal way to promote any type of business. No matter what you offer and where you are located, it’s guaranteed that someone is searching keywords that are relevant to your business. Everyone turns to search engines with questions, and you could be the answer! Most companies hire an agency to provide SEO services, since it can be difficult to accomplish on your own, but prices are very low in comparison to other advertising and marketing efforts, and best of all, the outcome is measurable.

 

AMERICAN farmers are promised a new cash crop with an annual value of several hundred million dollars, all because a machine has been invented which solves a problem more than 6,000 years old. It is hemp, a crop that will not compete with other American products. Instead, it will displace imports of raw material and manufactured products produced by underpaid coolie and peasant labor and it will provide thousands of jobs for American workers throughout the land. — Popular Mechanics, Feb. 1938

 

A mighty crop, banned from being grown in the United States for over 75 years, is making a comeback thanks to momentum in the cannabis law reform movement. Recent political advances in Colorado and Washington have led to attempts at industrial hemp legislation in several states; in fact, legislation was recently successful in the state of Kentucky.

Despite being banned, a large and growing hemp industry exists in the U.S. This is because hemp is legal to import from other countries; countries smarter than us when it comes to letting their farmers cultivate hemp. So, American companies are forced to pay other countries for their hemp, while U.S. farmers are cut out of the market.

One of those American companies is Forbidden Leaf Hemp Seed Oil, based in California. “If hemp were legal to grow in the U.S. — we would be creating more jobs here in the U.S. and generating more money for our own country instead of giving our money to other countries,” Dana Dwight, of Forbidden Leaf, told The 420 Times. “The high cost of shipping would be cut out of the equation and I could lower the prices of my products for my customers. In 1619 there were ‘must grow’ laws passed in America; if you were a farmer back then and you didn’t grow hemp you would have been jailed or kicked out of the country as a non-patriot. Our government has been so hypocritical over hemp. It just doesn’t make sense.”

It doesn’t make sense. Billions of dollars flowing out of the U.S. when it could be going to American farmers and creating more jobs in this country. A burgeoning industry lays in wait, ready for the day that is it unleashed.

Despite the handicaps, Dana has seen growth in the industry. “Since I started Forbidden Leaf I’ve seen tremendous growth,” she said, “more and more people are coming out of the so called ‘cannabis closet’ and banding together, the more people that come out to stand up for hemp the stronger our voice will be to be heard — strength in numbers — it’s only going to get stronger as more people come out.”

The prospect of legalization in the future means the hemp industry has unlimited potential. “If the federal government were to legalize hemp in the future the growth for employment would rise in so many different ways,” Dana told us, “it would be such a great economic advantage for our own country. As of now the U.S. is the biggest importer of hemp products in the world! Why not help our own country and grow it here and become more self-sufficient? It would benefit all of us in more ways than one!!”

But the companies that would face direct competition from legalized hemp have spent several decades and billions of dollars making sure that industrial hemp legalization doesn’t happen. But in this area, as it has been in many others, the Internet is a game-changer.

Brainwashing was easy when there were only a few TV networks and very little information on the radio. Now billions of people share information instantly and continuously around the world.

Convincing the masses that hemp is evil and harmful is quite impossible going forward.

Because of that, the future is bright for the industrial hemp industry in the U.S., since hemp law reform has great momentum and, most importantly, truth on its side.

As a small business owner, you may have discovered creating a good website is not an easy task. How can you design a website that differentiates your business? By considering what it should have: good design, interesting content, a blog that attracts followers, a way to gather customer information, and landing pages with calls to action. Here are the five most important elements of a successful business website.

Design

An effective website has a basic design, attractive colors and easy to read fonts. Resist the urge to add tons of videos and graphics. The busier your website is, the harder it is to find your products. Also, these add-ons can make your website harder to load if your customer doesn’t have a high-speed internet connection. So create a simple but attractive design that utilizes white space and graphic design elements.

Content

Is your content informative? For example, if you own a stationary business, does your website provide descriptions of your cards and suggested occasions they might be good for? Does the website provide clear instructions on how to order your products, and how long it will take to arrive? Make sure your content is relevant, up to date, and straight to the point.

Blog

You can give your website a personal touch through blogging. A good blog post helps solve your customers’ problems. You could give them tips about how to use your product to save money. Or even better, you can ask them in your blog what they would like to learn about. This has the added benefit of generating discussion, which gets more people actively following you.

Also, when you are writing your blog or updating content, don’t forget to create a realistic schedule. A well-written article once a month will generate more interest than poorly worded daily updates.

HTML Forms

A good website uses HTML forms to create mailing lists. If you own a photography studio, you could run a contest for a free portrait session. Interested customers provide you their email address to enter, and you gather this information through an HTML form. Then you can email the potential customers from the HTML forms by using using email marketing tools, like Constant Contact. HTML forms are also great for creating contact forms, event forms, and even employee application forms. Take advantage of these simple and intuitive HTML forms to help customers have the best experience possible

Landing Pages

A landing page is a great tool for short term promotions. You can tailor them quickly to generate business. Let’s say you own a golf course, and you have discounted summer rates. A customized landing page might offer a discount code to web customers.

If you use them well, these tools can change your website from basic advertising to a real marketing tool that brings sales into the door.

Never mind about the IRS shenanigans. Here’s what you should be watching in Washington.

Did you hear? The IRS targeted conservative groups that were seeking tax exempt status. Oh, puh-lease. If you’re running a small business then you’re used to the government being involved in your life. This is really nothing new at all.

IRS shenanigans aside, there are plenty of things being done right now in D.C. that will likely affect your business and mine over the next few years. The smart business owners I know are keeping a close eye on these activities.

Here’s what you should be watching, too:

An online sales tax. Just last week the Senate passed the Marketplace Fairness Act. Now the bill heads to the House where it’s in for a much tougher fight. This means that if you like to sell your products online, as millions of small businesses do, then you’re in for a shock. And I’m not talking about Internet porn either. The Marketplace Fairness Act, in its current form, will require you to take responsibility for collecting sales tax from each of your customers and remitting that tax to the appropriate jurisdiction. (I”m told there are thousands of these around the country.) Don’t you hate getting that nasty letter from some township in Michigan because you once sold a $10 accessory to someone who lived there and now that customer’s local board is demanding the tax owed it? If this law passes, get ready for a lot more of that.

The Affordable Care Act. Otherwise known as health care reform or, if you’re an opponent of the president and have absolutely no creativity: Obamacare. Health care reform was reality back in 2010 when the legislation initially passed. But it really kicks into gear later this year when the health care exchanges go live. (Exchanges are where individuals and in a couple of years small businesses will buy their health care insurance.) And on January 1, 2014 the mandate becomes law which will require all Americans to have health insurance or–if you have more than 50 full time equivalent employees– provide health insurance for full-time employees, or face penalties. Even if you’re a small business with fewer than 50 full-time equivalent people, you’ll still be subject to new reporting requirements and will have to figure out the exchanges. No one knows if this will control or explode health-care costs. But I do know that it’s giving a lot of business people angina.

Competing budgets. Do you prefer Senator Murray’s budget proposal that cuts spending by $837 trillion over 10 years but also asks for $923 billion in tax revenue, or the president’s plan which cuts spending by $1.2 trillion over the same period but only asks for $583 billion in new taxes? Or maybe you’re into something more draconian, like Representative Ryan’s plan, which proposes no tax increases but $5.7 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade. Decisions, decisions. Will the parties work things out and actually pass a federal budget for the first time in more than five years? Or will Paul Ryan just go back to working out (he’s pretty ripped). If they do, it could have a significant impact on the tax dollars you pay, the markets you serve, and how the government spends money. Then again, nothing may happen until the next debt ceiling battle, now scheduled for October, where the country could face a potential government shutdown and more sequestration. The deficit may be decreasing in the short term, but the national debt continues to increase and leaders in Washington are very much engaged in a budget battle that will affect you all.

Tax reform. This seems like a long shot, but politicians from both parties are quite interested in doing something about the country’s complicated and broken tax system. In fact, the chairmen of Congress’s tax-writing committees (Democrat Max Baucus in the Senate and Republican Dave Camp in the House) have launched a joint website that they hope will boost public support for tax reform. And as every small business owner knows, launching a web site means you’re damn serious. Tax reform may include higher rates for some businesses and owners, fewer credits for others, and greater limits on deductions for some. Hundreds of special exemptions, deductions, and favors for certain industries may be taken off the books. Long time but fluctuating rules like the Section 179 deduction where small companies can write off up to $500,000 of their capital purchases in a year instead of depreciating them, may actually become permanent.

The Federal Reserve. So far, so good. The Fed rescued the country from a huge financial downturn a few years ago but it had to do so by providing a ton of liquidity through several quantitative easing programs. And now that the economy is recovering and is (slowly, very slowly) growing its way back to normalcy, the Fed’s leaders are putting together a plan to bring the balance sheet of reserves (recently reported at a staggeringly high $3.2 trillion, as compared to $870 billion before the financial crisis) down to a more manageable level. The challenges: doing so without tanking the stock market, creating a spike in inflation, excessively raising interest rates, or bringing the Who out of retirement for one more world tour. And I thought raising three teenage kids was hard. If mistakes are made then your businesses may be forced to deal with rising interest and inflation costs, decreasing demand, and market uncertainty. The risks are high. The margin for error is narrow. And business owners are silently praying: go Ben, go!

Immigration reform. A bipartisan group in the Senate has crafted a new immigration reform bill that would put undocumented immigrants on a 13-year path to citizenship. Meanwhile, the House has a group of smaller bills that address guest workers and immigrant status. It’s possible that the country could have a law that the president signs before the end of next year. This law could make huge changes at your small business. You may have the ability to permanently hire people with special skills because they’re allowed to remain in the country rather than go home to China or the Middle East. Your costs of labor may go down. Or they may go up if you’ve been employing undocumented immigrants who now want their fair share of benefits. (Don’t even try to tell me this doesn’t happen, Mr. Landscaper OK?)

Crowdfunding. With crowdfunding, you can raise money from the public for doing stupid things like selling lemonade out of a WW2 Sherman tank, or firing a cheesecake into space. (Both ideas are sadly real.) You could also raise money for pretty cool things like funding the development of a 3D printer or finance a film project. Once this wonderful form of social-network financing started taking off, of course the government needed to get involved, and so in March 2012 legislation was passed that will enable small businesses to use the Internet to raise up to $1 million in small equity investments from lots of people. (This, of course, assumes that your IT guy shows up and fixes your router so you can get online.) But the hitch is that the rules were kicked over to the Securities and Exchange Commission for finalization. And then the SEC changed leadership. So there it sits. What will the rules ultimately be? When will they become live? No one knows yet, but rest assured, when the SEC finally acts there will be tons of money out there available to finance the many dreams, both excellent and ridiculous, of small business owners and entrepreneurs.

So stop worrying about that silly old thing about the IRS targeting political groups. You’re small business people. You’re used to the government being involved in your life.

We hear that Pinterest is a really only used by younger females – so let me introduce you to Dan Ashbach, who is a retired airline pilot, just to provide a different perspective. You might have read my article about how many boards should we have on Pinterest where I comment that Dan has just 38 boards (I wonder if that is a coincidence that he has been married for 38 years) that versus many accounts I see with well over 100 Pinterest boards.

Dan recently participated in a Google Plus Hangout with PinLeague and this is a recap of some of his ideas and perspectives about Pinterest as a super user with over 1.5 million followers. Yes I know you usually expect me to share tips about content marketing and social media for business, but I think you will find the ideas Dan shares provides an interesting insight into what a Pinterest super user thinks.

Dan started to see his Pinterest boards grow at a fast rate in 2012, building from a few thousand followers to over a million followers.

He commented that he initially started sharing his own photography which he cross posted from Flickr, but he soon realised his photographs were not repinned, commented on or liked, so he started to share other peoples content.

Dan stated that he avidly tracked the performance of his pins making a spread sheet to monitor which pins were getting the biggest response – of course we can now avail of Pinterest analytics if we have a business account directly from Pinterest and there are other independent Pinterest tools available such as the hosts of the Pinterest Google Plus Hangout PinLeague.

Dan’s biggest board in terms of numbers of followers is his gardening board (examples of the content are in the image on this page) which currently has over 1.46 million followers. Dan carefully manages his account and regularly ‘prunes’ his pins. He explained that he if his content does not get around 150 – 200 re-pins in the first 24 hours he will analyse if that is because his content did not hit the Pinterest feed at the right time. In some cases he re-pins his own content to give the pin another chance of being seen by his followers. However if his content is not responded to well, he will delete a pin.

He also made reference to the fact that he attracts about 1000 – 1500 new followers a day.

His success on Pinterest has attracted attention from some brands who have approached him to try new products and services – consider it ‘Pinterest Outreach’ just as you would refer to Blogger Outreach’ and influence marketing programmes.

Dan summarised his view of Pinterest as being like a magazine and had a healthy warning for brands as he does not want the site to be turned into a catalogue with just product shots. I am noticing some brands treating Instagram in the same way where all they post are products for sale, rather than being imaginative with their visual content marketing.

When asked how to grow your following on Pinterest, Dan commented – “Be objective, we all have our favourite things. If you want to be unique you need to have a niche”. He commented that we need to share content that is different and not what many people share.

Three Tips For Pinterest Business Accounts From A Super User

Dan is retired and therefore his personal use of Pinterest is not going to reflect how you would use the platform for your business, but here are three points worth considering that can apply if you are looking for advice on how to use Pinterest for business:

1. Do not just pin content that you think people will like – analyse what content is doing well and be prepared to ‘prune’ your boards and pin great images

2. Review the times that you post your pins – examine if your content reaching your followers when they are online, just as you plan your content on Facebook and Twitter to ensure you attract the maximum reach

3. Remember that people on Pinterest are not looking for a replication of your website or a catalogue of your products – develop a content plan for Pinterest but stay true to your brand and ensure that the Pinterest boards you create reflect what your business stands for. Some of the most progressive businesses on Pinterest seeing results from investing in the platform have a content policy where they also curate other peoples content.

Additional Resources To Help You With Your Pinterest Marketing

Access my the slides and notes from my recent webinar about how to get started using Pinterest for business plus access to additional resources.

Follow my Pinterest for business marketing tips board that I curate on Pinterest.

Check out my curated board of organisations on Pinterest to inspire you in how your business could use Pinterest in your content marketing plan or contact me about the content marketing training programmes I deliver – most of my open workshops include best practice guidance for using Pinterest.

Discover how to create eye catching content for your Pinterest boards in this training programme.

What have you found is working for you when looking to use Pinterest for your business?

Credit conditions and confidence improved for small businesses in the tri-state area in 2012, compared with the previous year, despite challenges posed by Superstorm Sandy, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said in a report on Monday. About 44% of small businesses received full funding on credit applications last year, up from 8% of applicants in 2011, according to the bi-annual Small Business Credit Survey.

The New York Fed said fewer businesses were “discouraged” by credit conditions: Among non-applicants, about 18% didn’t seek capital because they anticipated being denied, down from 29% of firms the previous year. “There’s a big push to increase small business lending at the banks,” said Ramit Arora, president and co-founder of online loan broker Biz2Credit. “Bank lending is trending up and that could even go higher this year.” Last year, the majority of businesses sought credit—usually $100,000 or less—for daily operating expenses, the survey showed. Experienced borrowers applied more often, and success rates were higher for firms with better sales and profits, said Claire Kramer, an officer in regional and community outreach for the New York Fed.

About half of profitable businesses received loans, compared with a quarter of firms that operated at a loss. “We’re seeing a little bit of a divided marketplace,” Ms. Kramer said. “Future credit demand is likely to come from returning borrowers.” More than half of businesses reported borrowing against residential and commercial real estate. Despite reporting better results, the majority of firms said access to capital was still their biggest growth concern. Other challenges included taxes, regulations, and “external events,” like Superstorm Sandy, the businesses said.

The New York Fed said 61% of businesses affected by Sandy had losses of $25,000 or less. Some firms reported losses of more than $100,000. Only a third of businesses had business disruption insurance at the time of the storm, while 8 percent had flood insurance. “For those businesses, access to capital is most important right now,” Mr. Arora said. The poll, which covers New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, yielded 812 responses. More than a quarter of the respondents were based in New York City.

Trying to build a competitor to Facebook is no easy task. Google took the challenge on a few years ago with Google+ and a lot has changed since. Google+ has been receiving a lot of press in the news lately for recent successes and impressive numbers. But in one of the most important areas for online marketing, business use and interaction, Google+ is trailing behind in a bad way.

The Latest on Businesses and Google+

Yesterday, reports came out concerning business usage on Google+. As Alexei Oreskovic writes for Reuters, Google+ “is struggling to win over the brands and businesses that have been its most loyal customers in the internet search market.” It appears that businesses – even those who have Google+ pages – are not taking the time to update their pages as compared to what they do on Facebook and Twitter.

For businesses and agencies, Facebook and Twitter’s recent changes have made using their service for advertising and reaching consumers a lot more attractive. One scary stat from Redorbit’s report on this Google+ news states that of the “seventy-two of the 100 most valuable global brands” on Google+ “approximately 40 percent have either never posted content on the website or had only done so infrequently.” That’s not a good sign for Google as they try to bring in more businesses.

Alexei reports that with Google+, Google’s goal appears to be “to prevent migration of internet users to Facebook and other social networks.” Google+ doesn’t have advertisements so that statement appears to hold true for now. Eventually, Google+ may start implementing ads, especially given some of the recent positive news from earlier this month.

Are Businesses Ignoring at Their Own Peril?

In May so far I’ve spent two mornings writing about some positive news and numbers for Google+. The social media platform has come a long way since its inception in 2011. First part of the good news was the dramatic growth Google+ has seen over the past year – enough growth to surpass Twitter! Then there was the news last week that Google+ numbers for time on site had increased almost 100% (although still very low compared to Facebook).

Businesses ignoring Google+ may be making a mistake. The numbers from the above two posts show that Google+ is gaining traction for users all over. As Google grows its other offerings, they will undoubtedly bring more people into the Google brand ecosystem and ultimately to Google+. If Google Glass is a huge hit, millions more people will be using Google+.

Then again, the ignorance may be intentional. Businesses could just be waiting for when the number of users and the time they spend engaging on Google+ reaches a certain point before they shift their limited social media resources to the platform. Still, it doesn’t take a lot of effort to simply include Google+ into your social media strategy. I think it’s best to use every tool you’ve got.

Are businesses doing the right thing by ignoring Google+? Should they be devoting more time and effort to the platform?

A healthy workforce is a hard-working work force. Here are some practical programs that have worked for other businesses.

You want a healthy workforce. Healthy employees miss less work, concentrate better when they are there, and cost you less in insurance fees. But, employees push back if you do things like CVS Pharmacies did–requiring employees to reveal personal health details or else pay extra towards their health insurance.

But, how to get people healthy? You have neither spare time nor spare money lying around. Here are some ideas that might help your business out.

Give people their weekends back. Healthcare consulting company Vynamic implemented a company policy that states: “To promote better balance, employees are to refrain from sending non-urgent emails to other employees between 10pm and 6am Monday through Friday, all day Saturday and Sunday, and all Vynamic holidays. In urgent matters, call or text is preferred over email.” While recognizing emergencies do exist, they also stopped the constant flow of requests and information that prevented their employees from relaxing.

Make lunchtime fitness practical and possible. At Bandwidth, a communications technology company, rather than allowing employees 30 minutes to grab a burger and fries, they encourages 90 minute lunches, so that employees actually have time to hit the gym. They further encourage physical activity by sponsoring sports teams.

Health food, even at 2:00 a.m. Scripps Hospitals knows that people working in a fast paced hospital environment often count on vending machines for their food. So, rather than removing the unhealthy vending machines and making their employees hungry, they installed self-service kiosks from FITzee Foods, stocked with healthy food, including complete meals. In order to make it a bit more affordable, they subsidized the cost of the food, making it an even more attractive option. The end result? Weight loss and reduced health care costs for their employees. Plus, something better than a candy bar available on the overnight shift.

Appeal to their sense of competition. Manufacturing company Ashcroft implemented a year long fitness program that focuses on friendly competition. Employees can form teams or compete one on one in programs put together by GlobalFit. The length of the program is more likely to result in real changes than a single 5k run or month long fitness challenge. At the one year mark, Ashcroft has 68 percent of their employees voluntarily participating.

Outsource your wellness. Printpack does packaging, not fitness, so they lacked the expertise to design and carry out fitness programs, even though they knew that a healthy workforce was beneficial to their bottom line. So, they found a company that could take care of it for them–TourdeFit. No more negotiating contracts with fitness centers, or trying to find resources for their employees across the globe. Employees can find what is best for them, which makes people more likely to get in shape.

What wellness programs have worked for your business?

Outsourcing and regulations could be to blame for the lack of domestic hiring.

While presenting this month’s Private Company Outlook report Tuesday, Sageworks chairman Brian Hamilton and Anish Rajparia, President of ADP Small Business Services, said that as the nation continues on its way to recovery, one vital component seems to be missing: jobs.

“The fact is that the overall economy, especially with private companies, is very strong, but they are not hiring,” insisted Brian Hamilton.

According to the report, private U.S. companies’ sales saw 10.2 percent growth during a six month period ending in March. Such growth within the private sector cannot be sustained without an uptick in hiring, explained Hamilton. He added, the lack of domestic employment by private companies could be caused by externalities such as outsourcing and regulations. Uncertainty due to regulations compliance could also affect hiring trends among small businesses, said Rajparia.

“Small businesses have not only been the most resilient, they have come back. That’s the only part of the economy that has employment similar to that of 2007,” he said, adding that it’s difficult to say what the next year or five years will look like for these businesses under Affordable Care Act.

Regulations:

According to ADP data, since 2001 there have been 4,680 changes made to the U.S. Tax Code. That’s more than one change per day. Currently, there are 17,000 more changes proposed in over 10,000 jurisdictions.

“How do you manage this as a small business?” Rajparia asked. While 44 percent of small businesses feel confident that they are in full complacence with laws currently in place, ADP reports that only 30 percent are actually in compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Compliance is the “force that’s fighting against the employment growth,” said Rajparia.

Outsourcing:

Rajparia noted that most of the U.S. jobs that have been gained back by small businesses are within the service sector since the service companies do not have the ability to outsource. “Certainly the goods producing companies have more leverage and the ability to [outsource], which is probably why the service companies are growing the [U.S.] employment the fastest,” he said.

At 10 percent growth, it’s not possible to have zero employment growth, he added. Consequently, companies are likely hiring overseas, are hiring temporary flexible labor or are lagging in their hiring while taking their profits today.