Is it a camera? Is it a TV? Is it a computer? Is it a game?

No it’s a mobile phone.

In fact, even the terminology is changing with “Smart Phone” or “Mobile Device” replacing mobile phone.

How well and easily phone calls are made is one of the last considerations of potential buyers in our “Move to Mobile”.

In a recent article on startupsmart.com, it is claimed that by 2015, smart phones, laptops and other portable devices will drive more than 87% of global mobile traffic.  In that same period, smart phones will replace laptops as the most common internet access device.

Australians will, on average, own 2.4 mobile devices each (56 Million devices) and annual growth in internet traffic will be 92%.

Yes read those numbers again – 56 Million mobile devices in Australia!

If you look at the marketing powerhouse that is the United States, the figures are mind blowing – just look at the infographic on left that Chris Brogan shared on his blog (Via: Online IT Degree team).

The increase in Mobile app downloads from 2009 to 2010 was a staggering 4.7 billion.

If you love stats, you’ll also love a larger graphic by Wilson Electronics (yes bigger than this one) on worldwide Mobile Phone usage over in a Mashable post here.

According to comScore’s Senior Vice President of Mobile, Mark Donovan, referencing their “The 2010 Mobile Year in Review” report, “2010 was a game-changing year for the mobile industry”.

“Smartphone adoption, 3G penetration and unlimited data plans drove a surge of mobile media consumption across geographies and deepened the integration of mobile devices into everyday life. And, the coming year has the potential to be even more exciting. As the mobile ecosystem continues to develop, including progress in mobile advertising and commerce, it’s clear that mobile is destined to become an increasingly important platform for digital marketers across all industries.”

You can download a free copy of The comScore 2010 Mobile Year in Review here:
http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Presentations_Whitepapers/2011/2010_Mobile_Year_in_Review

So why is all of this important to you?

Billions of messages, be they text or video, are delivered daily across the world. Billions of websites are accessed, and billions of videos viewed.

How do you keep up with this rapidly changing medium?

Is your website “smart phone” friendly?

What does it mean to your business?

How do you harness this exciting new technology to drive your business into the stratosphere?

Australians are known to be technocrats – the take up rate for technology is higher per capita than any other country. Many manufacturers release new products in Australia first for that very reason.

So you can’t afford to ignore it!

If you are on (or can get to) The Sunshine Coast, on the 23^rd of February, then The Creative Collective’s Web Wednesday event “The Move to Mobile” is going to help you make sense of all of this.

Don’t miss this opportunity to see what the mobile future holds. Click here to register for this event.

Zoe will be there, with iPhone in hand. So make sure you say hello or tweet her @zdeluca – that will get her attention for sure.

After all isn’t that what a mobile phone is for?

What do you mean you make calls on them???

Massive changes are happening to Facebook Pages.  I received this update from Facebook today:

Facebook pages are getting an updated layout and several new features to help you engage with your fans. Here’s some of what you’ll be getting:
# Notifications when fans interact with your page or posts
# A place to showcase photos along the top of your page
# A news feed for your page
# The ability to Like and post on other pages as your page

Preview your page and you’ll be given the option to upgrade early. All pages will automatically be upgraded on March 10.

Basically there is a change to the layout of Facebook Pages, to more closely mirror the recent “Profile” re-design AND there is now the choice to interact in Facebook AS a page admin not a profile owner.

I’m really liking some of the new features but also finding some a bit ‘challenging’ to navigate – so I have made a video tour of the new Facebook Page changes or ‘upgrade’ below:

Need more information?  There’s a great post over on Mashable.com “Facebook Launches Pages Redesign”

If you want the information straight from Facebook, their explanation post and updates can be found here:
“An Upgrade for Pages”

What do you think of the new changes/upgrades to Facebook Pages? Love them? Hate them? Putting off even trying the upgrade out?

Let us know in the comments below or over on our Facebook Page at www.Facebook.com/MarkandZoe

“Australian business executives are returning from the World Economic Forum reassured that the global economy is recovering solidly from the financial crisis but struck by how the social networking revolution will force them to hand more power to both their employees and customers.”¹

That statement, from ‘The Australian’ newspaper, alone shows just how powerful a sales medium Social Media has become.  The power shift has been significant – now the control is with the consumer rather than the marketer.  “People Power” is now the most effective form of marketing the world over.

In fact that same “People Power” can deliver far more than just great sales outcomes.  One has to look no further than the recent Floods in Australia, Cyclone Yasi and events  in Egypt, to see the unstoppable  force of Social Media.  Twitter and Facebook could not be silenced and the message was delivered even when, in the case of Egypt, the internet was shut down.

Traditional media turned to the public for updates, photos, videos and reports. “People Power” was informing, sharing, helping and alerting the World to events as they happened and, at times warning of events before they occurred.

So if the balance of power is shifting to the consumer, what does a business do to ensure that their products and services are receiving favourable reviews and comments? The answer is as simple as it is complex – talk to your customers via these wonderful new tools.

Ask their advice – what are you doing right and what are you doing wrong?  If you are doing it correctly – do more. If you are doing it all wrong – fix it.  What should you be doing more of?  Ask but ask via the mediums that your customers use to engage on a daily basis. Your customers will love you.

Happy customers are happy to refer you too.  There is no more compelling a recommendation than that of a friend – that is the fuel that drives the Social Media rocket.  And this rocket has long ago passed the moon and is heading for the sun.  More than ever, your business needs to be on board.

So how you can master the art of engaging your customers so they become your best sales people and your greatest advocates? Attend one our “Become a Social Media Super Hero” seminars.

We’re excited to announce Zoe will be travelling all over Australia and New Zealand with leading Social Media Trainers Wendy Moore and Yvette Adams, teaching you exactly how to use Social Media Marketing to explode your business  and “Become a Social Media Super Hero”

Complete details are on the Facebook Page (of course) here. Find out where and when you can learn how to propel your business into the Social Media Age – Your Customers are already there!

Mark Wyatt

^{1. The Australkian 31st January 2011}

Are you using Facebook Groups?  If so have you suddenly found your email inbox completely cluttered with notifications from your Facebook Groups?

I really like the improved Facebook Group functions but the problem is that the deafult settings email all the members of a group every time something new is posted. In a group with lots of members actively participating in discussions, the notification emails can flood your inbox very quickly.

This has turned lots of people off groups and the most common question I’m being asked about Facebook right now is “How do I stop all the emails from Facebook Groups?”

Thankfully the answer is simple and quick!

My video (below) shows you how to turn off emails completely or select which actions you want to recieve emails notifications about from your Facebook Groups.

Questions?  Ask in the comments here or over on our Facebook Page at http://www.Facebook.com/MarkandZoe

Please hit the “Tweet” and “Like” buttons at the top of this page and share this video with your friends to stop the email overload frustration for them as well

Cheers – Zoe

As I watched my home town drown in a sea of murky brown water this week, it was impossible not to become emotional. Watching story after story of sadness and hardship emerge has to take its’ toll on anybody that has an affinity with any of the affected areas.

This is not the first time I have seen Brisbane swallowed by water – as a teenager I watched the streets fill with water as they made their way inexorably towards Moreton Bay. This time, however, the enormity and scale of the disaster is much, much greater as 75% of my home state, Queensland, has been affected by flood over the past few weeks.

The feeling of helplessness takes over because, despite all mans’ cleverness and ingenuity, there is nothing you can do to stop the water. Nature will take its’ course and the water moves into streets, buildings, houses and lives. And all of them will never be the same again.

As the water rises, spirits fall. Watching a lifetime of work and possessions literally float away is a devastating event and I am fortunate enough to count myself amongst those who have never had to endure that devastation. However, watching friends and fellow Queenslanders suffer that fate, is heartbreaking. And for those who have lost loved ones as a result of this flood, one can only imagine the sadness they are enduring.

Then the water begins to recede and it is now that human spirit comes to the fore. Queenslanders have a very proud heritage of being resilient, ready to stare adversity in the face, roll up their sleeves and get on with the job at hand. News images today prove that nothing has changed.  As the cleanup starts, strangers suddenly become friends and appear out of thin air to help those that have been affected. Thousands of volunteers have arrived ready to work for no reason other than they want to help those less fortunate than themselves. It is the true definition of altruism – do something for someone else expecting nothing in return.

I am eternally grateful that these floods did no more than inconvenience me. My family, some of whom live in Brisbane, are all safe and dry and our home on the Sunshine Coast had no more than a small amount of water enter the garage. During this week, I have paused to realise how fortunate I really am.

We would like to help all those that have been affected and as such, Zoe is anchoring a live video feed bringing entrepreneurs from around Australia and the world in a training webinar fundraiser – “Returning from Adversity – Flood Relief Fundraiser for Entrepreneurs”. The training is online but the live feed will be anchored in Brisbane, and all proceeds raised will be donated to the Red Cross for distribution to those that need it most. This is a great opportunity to help out and participate in some great training. Go to http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=138372796223994 for details and we look forward to sharing a great day and helping those that have endured so much.

Apple iPad may have got the jump on the rest of the tablet world but Motorola, in conjunction with Google Honeycomb, have come up with something that may just give the Apple iPad a run for its’ money.

“This is really the next generation of tablets,” Motorola Mobility device team head Alain Mutricy said as he held a Xoom in one hand at the CES2011 awards ceremony in Las Vegas this week.

“Our partnership with Google has been very intense and has enabled some great technology.”

With a 10.1-inch (25.6-centimeter) screen, the Xoom is about the same size as Apple’s iPad, which hit stores in April and has other leading technology companies around the world scrambling to catch up.

After seeing the following video of the Motorola Xoom in action ‘we’re excited”!

What do you think? Would you buy one?

First of all “Happy New Year” to all of our wonderful clients, business partners, colleagues and readers.

Mark and I are looking forward to 2011 with a great deal of excitement – both for what we are planning in our own business and lives, and for how we can help you to grow your own businesses this year.

As many of you know, last year brought us new opportunities mixed with our fair share of challenges. While these, unfortunately, did impact on our projects with some of you, we have also learnt a huge amount from these as well.

When we sat down on New Year’s Eve to review 2010 and set our plans and goals for 2011, we realised that it has in fact been the things that didn’t go to plan that have resulted in the most positive changes. My Grandfather used to say that “Everything happens for a reason and whatever is, is best!”. I often repeat this mantra to our children but it was in the last few months that it has really rung true for us.

Let me explain what I mean and why this is important for you….

The last 12 months has seen massive growth in our business with new products, partnerships and clients. While this has been exciting and invigorating it also brought with it a new level of workload.

Sometimes as a business owner you get so focussed on building your business that you lose sight of your original goals with that business.

From the very start of our first home based business in 2003, our intention (and plan) has always been to build a business that allows us both financial and time freedom. In particular having both the time and money to chose where we worked and when, to travel extensively while running our business from our laptops, and to have the flexibility to spend time with our children (all 5 of them) and their extended families when we wanted to and, importantly, when they needed us the most.

In 2010, family, health and travel all collided with our business workload and commitments. As our business grew we were faced with the challenge of managing this growth while still delivering high customer satisfaction and quality service. The ability to successfully ‘scale up’ is a challenge for all growing businesses but particularly so when it’s only you, or the two of you (in our case) that are the business. When ill health or a family tragedy hit (or both as happened to us), then the juggling game can get over whelming. I wrote another blog post of our particular circumstances late last year and why it’s so important to plan for such occurrences here.

But, as Grandad said “Whatever is to be will be and whatever is, is best”, and we realised that we had two choices when the challenges struck – get over it or get out. Failure is not in our vocabulary and our business is too valuable to us –so we needed to get up and get over it.

Yes we did need to go into crisis management for a time. We did need to explain to our customers that our personal situation may impact their projects and, most importantly, we did need to learn some lessons and re-structure our business to prevent this type of impact in the future.

Out of the challenges we have a new business structure and a new excitement in our business that had disappeared some-what in the craziness of growth last year. This is where it gets exciting for all of you.

First and foremost, to the business owners amongst you, we hope you will learn from our experience and benefit from instigating some of the changes we are making into your own business model. Zoe will be posting more about the tools and systems we are using over the next few months with videos to help you use this technology.

Secondly, we have redesigned our business to allow for rapid growth this year while actually delivering more to our clients. We have already partnered with other companies to provide services and hired 3 new staff for our Social Media Services and Management Team. We are already implementing new technology to streamline our business processes to cut down on delivery times while maintaining our high levels of service but, most importantly, freeing Mark and I up to learn more, implement more and share more.

This will mean that I can focus on Seminars, speaking and training (where my true passion lies), and Mark can focus on packaging our products, quality control and project management – while we both have time to develop new skills.

Social Media Marketing is evolving and, by it’s very nature, requires us to be continually learning and adapting. We intend growing our team of specialised social media assistants throughout the year and training them in all that we learn.

Zoe will no longer be personally managing social media accounts for any clients (beyond the contracts we already have). All work will be under our watchful eyes, but we have discovered we can very effectively train staff to perform these tasks as well as Zoe can. In fact the new team members out type both of us so they are faster at this job and are able to deliver more tasks in the same amount of time. Truly a win-win situation for us and all of our clients.

We will be introducing you to your individual Social Media Assistant when you sign (or re-sign) with our Management services. For those of you that are still considering getting help with your Social Media Marketing, you can see the full range of services we now have available on our www.SocialMediaShortCut.com website.

On that note, we have exciting developments in the re-launch of the SocialMediaShortCut course as a live and recorded event, we will be travelling extensively to deliver Social Media and Internet Marketing trainings and Zoe is finalising arrangements for a 7 seminar series with two of Australia’s top Female Social Media Specialists! (Note from Zoe – Sooooo Awesome! Details to come very soon.)

So to all of you planning your next 12 months – remember to reflect on what was great about last year along with the things you would chose to do differently and do just that!

Make 2011 YOUR YEAR!

And if all this Goal Setting and New Year’s Resolutions talk is getting too much, take some time out and enjoy this song by @RhettandLink :

We’d love to hear your goals and dreams for this year along with the lessons you learnt from 2010 by either leaving a comment here or over on our Facebook Page:
http://www.Facebook.com/MarkandZoe and make sure to like the page if you haven’t already and share with your friends – thanks

Have an Awesome Year!

Awesome video by the team at Excentric on what the Nativity would have been like if it had taken place in today’s Social Media and technology based World.

This is not a religious comment by any means but a humorous look at how Social Media now infiltrates all aspects of our lives. As Excentric says – “Times change. Feelings remain the same”.

Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays however you chose to celebrate this time of year. Enjoy!

It’s been a little while since I’ve posted here. All excuses equal, we have had wonderful travel through the USA and returned home to some family issues that took priority over business.

On our way home from America, I sat on a QANTAS flight listening to another passenger abuse (and there’s no other term for it) the flight attendant for not providing the service he ‘expected’. In reality his complaint was that the type of red wine he preferred was not available.

He took it upon himself to educate the unbelievably patient crew member on how important he was, how important his business was to the airline and how, if this wasn’t recognised, he would take his business elsewhere.

How one does this at 40,000 feet I have no idea but by this point I’m assuming the flight attendant would have welcomed that action!

After a broken night of sleep, through a 14 hour flight, we drove for 90 minutes from the airport and returned home feeling jet lagged and tired. Mark had picked up a cough that had headed straight to his chest and we were feeling a bit sorry for ourselves to be honest.

I opened my email to find jobs unfinished and pressing deadlines with my VA having taken ill. For a time I forgot how much I love travel and how fortunate we were to have just spent two weeks in America with some of the top internet marketers and financial coaches in the World.

I just wanted everything to stop for while so I could go to sleep and catch up. Like the man on the plane, I was wallowing in thoughts of ‘didn’t the World know who I was???’ But then suddenly it did….

The phone rang and our middle daughter, Kathryn answered. Her face immediately fell.

You know ‘that’ look – shock, fear, sadness, disbelief, confusion. Her hand up in a stop signal told us to hold our questions – yet we continued to beg for details.

When she finally found the ability to speak through her tears, Kathryn told us there had been an accident, and our Son-in-Law’s twin Brother was dead.

The World Stopped.

We all looked at each other not knowing how to react or what to say. A young man, so full of life was gone – in an instant. The tears flowed as the reality kicked in of the wife and 2 babies (20 months and 3 months) he had left behind.

And just as suddenly, the jet lag lifted and the thoughts of entitlement disappeared. In the blink of an eye, things that had seemed so important and over whelming, simply didn’t matter any more.

We spent a couple of days in a fog supporting family, coming to terms with the loss and assisting where we could and as a result our business suffered.

I realised suddenly that I needed to let our customers know what was going on. With a single email I excused myself for my absence, explained we had had a family tragedy and apologised for any delays with projects.

In the wash up of this week, I learnt some valuable lessons about life, business and myself.

Firstly, I’m stopped sweating the ‘small stuff’. In comparison to facing Christmas without my Son, Brother, or Husband and Father of my two small children, the things I was stressing or complaining about really didn’t matter.

It’s easy as a business owner to let things overwhelm you when you are ‘everything’ to your business. I felt if I stopped then our business did too. This realisation has caused me to completely re-structure and re-engineer our business.

I’ve developed a system now where I have back up and have outsourced key tasks to a highly capable team (I’ll talk more about outsourcing in my next post). I’ve discovered this is not only important for our own sanity but also to deliver on time for our customers (they have their own priorities and pressures to work to as well).

I also discovered that in the last two years, we had attracted the most incredible, understanding, wonderful clients. Without fail every single one of them took the few lines in my email to them and understood. I appreciate them more than I could ever express in words.

So, the point of this post for all of you?

Yes there is a message of keeping things in perspective, thinking about what’s ‘really’ important and not ‘sweating the small things’ that really don’t matter. But there’s also the lesson in structuring your business the smart way.

If you are currently indispensable in your business, then it’s time to put an escape plan in place.

What happens if you get sick? Or need time to support family? Or are delayed in transit etc etc etc

Use this post as a push towards designing a business that works with or without you (at least for a period of time). A linchpin you may be but having your business dependent upon you is a dangerous model.

The upside is that our business is stronger as a result of what has occurred in the last few weeks. We have developed wonderful relationships and joint ventures with contractors, suppliers and staff members, that I probably never would have without circumstances demanding it.

We now have an expanding business, a support network to call upon and a growing team. Plus we value our clients like never before and are going out of our way to deliver at levels above and beyond what we have ever done.

And in recognising what really matters in life, we have discovered a lot that just really doesn’t. All that ‘small stuff’ that we get so caught up in that we really don’t need to stress about.

So this Festive Season, ‘don’t sweat the small stuff’, hold your family a little closer and tighter than usual, tell them how much you love them and focus on what truly matters.

Mark and I will have a red wine to toast all of you over the holidays and, I assure you, we won’t give a second thought to what variety it may be.

Merry Christmas

Get started (or re-started) in Social Media Marketing – THE RIGHT WAY!

Most of our regular readers will know that I (Zoe) am a Social Media Marketing Trainer, Manager and Speaker but, up until now, my full course has only been available online.  Well, you’ve asked (and asked) and I’m finally delivering live Social Media Marketing seminars.

To make this even more exciting (and rewarding) for you, I have partnered with Multi-Award Winning Business Owner Yvette Adams to present our “Social Media Super Hero” starter seminars.  Yvette not only owns “The Creative Collective” agency on the Sunshine Coast, but is also the Queensland finalist for the “Telstra Business Woman of the Year” awards in the “Commonwealth Bank Business Owner of the Year” category.

So…. we know we can teach you a thing or two about effectively using Social Media Marketing and efficiently using internet technology to grow your business.

“Social Media Super Hero” seminars are being held on The Sunshine Coast and Melbourne next week with more cities scheduled for early next year.  If you have a request for a specific city please let us know in the comments section below on on our Facebook page at http://www.Facebook.com/MarkandZoe

Read on for full details and booking links:

BECOME A SOCIAL MEDIA SUPER HERO

Social media is a really big deal right now. Find out WHY!!!

You know that Social Media is a really big deal right now. But we’d like to ask you one question:

“What if you could be shown in just a couple of hours EXACTLY how you can get started the RIGHT way online and positively FLOURISH from the word GO by using
1) Technology that will save you ENORMOUS amounts of time and money
2) Social Media to Build a HUGE database FAST
3) Tools that tie it all together so that you can monitor and manage it with ease, anywhere, any time??!”

Well guess what….here’s your big chance…..

Your Social Media Super Hero training includes:

The technology, tools & tricks you need to run your online business with ease, from ANYWHERE!!!

• What hardware and software you need online tools successful business owners and entrepreneurs use to start businesses, grow their businesses and run their businesses with maximum efficiency

• What EXACT tools successful business owners use to run the various areas of their business – from accounts software to HR, quoting to collaborating on documents, social media, email marketing and more and WHY
• How businesses are creating and using Applications (Apps) to their advantage
• Why you would be crazy not to explore the possibility of using these tools in your business to save enormous amounts of time and money

Online Reputation Management

- Why online reputation management is essential if you want to operate a business in an increasingly internet driven world

- How to find out the moment people are talking about you online – whether it is good, bad or indifferent

- What are ‘citations’ and why you need to encourage them

- The massive move towards ‘push marketing’

How to become a Social Media Super Hero

- What the top Social Media sites are and how to best utilize them

- How to identify appropriate usernames for your social networks
- Facebook Profile, Pages and Groups – What’s the difference? Which ones do you need and why – get this wrong and Facebook will shut down your account!
- How to interact on social networks to achieve maximum results
- How to build a huge list of targeted, valuable friends, fans, followers and subscribers QUICKLY
- How to personalise your Facebook Page for a professional business image

- What to post about and importantly, what NOT to share on Social Media

- Introduction to top tools, applications, sites and resources to get RESULTS FAST!
+ much more!

So who are your Super Hero Mentors?

Introducing you to two of Australia’s biggest **Online All Stars** but until recently just ‘quiet achievers’…

Zoe deLuca and Yvette Adams.

‘Who?’ you might say You may not have heard of them because they’ve both been busy living the ultimate lifestyle, basing themselves in sunny Queensland but running VERY successful home based businesses and earning BIG BUCKS around their commitments as mothers of broods of kids. How successful you might ask? Well read on…

Zoe de Luca

Zoe deLuca is Social Media Marketing Specialist, Speaker, Trainer, Business Mentor and Internet Entrepreneur, operating multiple businesses from her laptop while travelling the World.  With a Twitter following in excess of 33,000 to date and over 44,000 views of her training videos on YouTube and thousands of friends on Facebook & Linkedin it’s no wonder she was recently selected to attend the “10 for 10″ internet marketing training intensive in New York.

You may be surprised to learn that Zoe is a Marine Biologist by trade!! Zoe spent over 10 years working as an Environmental Consultant and Strategic Planner with Government before starting her first home based business in 2003 to allow for more flexibility to be Mum to her family of 5.

With a hunger for knowledge and a drive to grow her business while still being a full time Mum, Zoe started marketing through social media in early 2008.  She now creates social media training programs servicing clients in 7 countries around the globe.

So do you think it’s possible these two incredible women might actually be able to teach YOU a thing or two???

Come along to their power-packed 2.5 hour workshops being held in Melbourne and The Sunshine Coast this month – see dates below:

COST: Only $57 per person or $97 for 2 people

(save $20 if you bring a friend!)

Numbers ARE limited. Secure your ticket now!

SUNSHINE COAST – Tuesday 9th November, 2010

Morning Session: Function Room BCC Cinemas – Sunshine Plaza, Maroochydore
Doors open 9:00am for networking. 9:30am start – ends Midday
Details and booking here: Social Media Super Hero – Sunshine Coast AM

Evening Session: Sunshine Coast TAFE – Mooloolaba
Doors open 5:00pm for networking. 5:30pm start – ends 8:00pm
Details and booking here:  Social Media Super Hero – Sunshine Coast PM

MELBOURNE – Thursday 11th November, 2010
Victoria University – City Flinders Campus
Doors open 12:30PM for networking. 1:00pm start – ends 3.30pm
Details and Booking here:  Social Media Super Hero – Melbourne Seminar