Producing great content that appeals to people beyond your established audience is an increasingly vital part of the marketing mix. But contrary to what some might have you think, doing it successfully doesn’t have to be big budget and it doesn’t have to be massively time consuming.

Here are five ways small businesses can produce and promote great content.

1) Make the most of your meetings

Meetings of all kinds produce a wealth of interesting content which is often cast aside after it has been used for its original purpose. However, with just a little bit of re-purposing it can be given a new lease of life.

If someone makes a presentation on how they managed to generate a 30 per cent increase in organic traffic, why not take their slides, tweak them if need be, and then upload them to a service like Slideshare so other people can learn from your expertise?

Success stories of any kind always attract views and shares. You just have to decide how much you want to tell people.

2) Promote content via your existing network

A large part of a successful content marketing campaign is finding people who are willing to share what you have to offer. But most small businesses already have a network of contacts who only need a little encouragement to pass on your wisdom. It’s just a case of making it worth their while.

The best way to do this is flattery. To go back to our first example, if your SEO success was achieved with the help of a particular tool, let the company in question know about the slideshow you’ve created and that it mentions just how great their product is.

This means they’ll be more likely to share it with their audience, exponentially increasing the reach of your presentation.

If you can create valuable content that is relevant to your all your business partners, then you should make some big gains that are hard to beat.

3) Share your internal stories

Want international media coverage and thousands of websites linking to you? All you have to do is fall down a sinkhole and then have your wife write about it like the crew at Golf Manna.

Admittedly, that’s a little bit drastic but it goes to show you never know how interesting what happens in your company will be to other people.

Don’t expect everything you do to go viral, but what might seem like an insignificant event in your company’s day-to-day life can often be turned into something more interesting.

If you’re running a charity event, make sure you tell the local press about it. You might end up with some coverage (be sure to ask for a link back to your website if they run the story online) but you’ll also gain a valuable contact in the form of a local journalist who can promote your future successes.

You can also contact the charity you’re raising money for and offer to provide them with photos of the event so they can feature them on their site.

None of this may feel like marketing in the traditional sense, but it is a valuable way to increase awareness about your company.

4) Learn to love free tools

If you don’t have the budget to invest in monthly subscriptions for the leading content marketing tools, track down the free alternatives and make the most of them.

Buzzstream, a package which allows you to identify people who might be interested in publishing contact you’ve created and track your relationship with them, offers a wide selection of free tools which can be used to start a basic content marketing outreach programme.

The SEOMoz toolbar, which is also free, can be used to evaluate whether it is worth your time trying to get a site to link back to you. A guide on how to use the metrics you’ll see can be found on the SEOMoz site, as can a huge archive of valuable tips and how-tos.

These free tools can be used in a very basic way – to help you track down people who might be interested in promoting your content and to see how powerful their site is, both vital parts of content marketing.

5) Avoid shortcuts

Content marketing can be made easier, but it can never be made simple. There are a huge number of pitfalls awaiting the unwary small business taking its first steps into the world of content marketing.

Stay away from lost cost packages that promise cheap articles or a huge number of links – they’ll do you more harm than good. You should be proud of the content you create and promote and if you’re not then you shouldn’t expect other people to be interested in it.

Companies that have met with success on any scale have a lot of useful information to share and it’s this, rather than articles that cost a penny a word, that will help extend your reach as a business.

Guest post written by Will Stevens of 123-reg a provider of domain names and cloud hosting services.

AnyMeeting’s Web Conferencing Platform Further Empowers Small Businesses by Enabling Meetings Across Devices and Platforms

We’re excited to announce the release of new mobile apps for the iPad and Android.

The concept of “bring your own device” (BYOD) is an unstoppable trend especially in the small business space. It’s a winning combination as companies save on hardware and training costs while improving employee satisfaction. However to embrace the power of BYOD, businesses must ensure that they have adequate protections in place to counter the associated security risks.

The first step in enhancing your small business security posture with regards to BYOD is to lay out a clear policy. It should define access methods and mandate the use of company authorized applications and security tools for employee-owned devices that access company resources. Mobile device security is relatively limited today, but standard techniques such as VPN access, setting up a pin code to access the phone, installing a security application, and the ability to remotely erase data off a stolen device will be enough to deliver basic protection. Make sure any security and data protection steps you take conform to compliance mandates such as PCI DSS, HIPAA, or GLBA. These are often industry requirements.

Embrace BYOD with confidence to explore everything the new mobile world has to offer, and do it safely. To help, all AnyMeeting customers get free mobile phone security check-up free of charge delivered by 24/7 Techies. Send an email to AnyMeeting@247techies.com and schedule your session today or call toll free 1-888-294-7201 for assistance. 24/7 Techies delivers online tech support to small businesses and consumers nationwide. Support is delivered remotely by taking control of the customer’s computer or mobile device while the customer watches.

Note: This is a guest post from 24/7 Techies. To submit your ideas for guest posting on our blog, send email to press@anymeeting.com.

Marketing your small business can seem like a daunting task, and sometimes we just need a little guidance to set things in motion. Here are some tips that you can easily implement into your monthly routine to ensure that your brand is communicating properly with your target audience.  Follow these steps and you will be on your way to better engaging your audience and achieving better success!

1) Be personal and authentic in your communication – With social media at the forefront of marketing and communications today, it is imperative that you communicate on a personal level. People are more inclined to participate with your brand if they know there is a real live person behind the brand identity who cares about them. Newsletters are more appreciated if they’re written from a personal perspective, addressing the individual with expert advice that can help the audience reach their goals.

2) Leverage your Network – your friends, colleagues and social network are your biggest asset. Ask for referrals and testimonials from people you know or have done great work for. We are more likely to purchase a product if our friends have had a great experience with it. Create a “Friend Referral Program” or provide other incentives — like deals, discounts and rewards on your services – when people say good things about your company. Doing this consistently will greatly expand your network reach to a genuinely interested audience.

3) Google rankings – As we all know, getting to the top of Google can be an expensive and time-consuming endeavor. Have no fear: there are lots of ways to build your search engine rankings without blowing your budget. Our number one recommendations? Put your business on Google maps: this is a great way to get to the top of the list! Generate quality content that your target audience can learn from or be entertained by. Being consistently active on Twitter and Google Plus are fun, easy ways to increase your Google ranking, while adding shareable links to your Facebook, LinkedIn and Pinterest posts drive traffic to your website or blog. Today, the best way to rise to the top in search is to consistently produce content that is relevant (use your keywords here) and shareable.

4) Create your own TIPS – People like tips! A quick, fun list is a great way to provide useful information to your audience. If you want to kick it up a notch, create a video for them! Video is a great way to show the face behind the brand, creating an indelible personal connection.

5) Photos are king – People love to share inspirational, sarcastic and funny photos. Join the trend by putting together some current text and quotes that appeal to your crowd and the type of people you think would appreciate it. This is a great way to access your fans’ network without being “markety.” People will see who created the image and share it via the original source (you), creating brand visibility and adding a few likes along the way. Plus, you’ll probably make someone’s day!

6) Collaborate with the competition – Working with other like-minded business owners can help promote new ideas and products. Because your audience already exists on social media – and so does theirs – collaborating is a natural and friendly way to seek out social media users who are interested in learning more about the products or lifestyle you offer.

7) Create contest giveaways – People love to win things! Especially if those things are highly valuable, unusual or difficult to acquire. Make sure what you’re giving away is a conversation starter, something that people want to tell others about. Use Facebook ads to further promote your contest, as the ads employ a targeted tagging system to ensure you’re reaching the right people.

8) Knowledge is power – Know your audience and your competition. Follow the old corporate adage: don’t try to be something for everyone, aim to be everything to someone. Before you jump in the deep end, learn to understand whom it is you’re communicating to and what value your product or service can add to their lives.
To do: create online polls using Survey Monkey, pay attention to Google Analytics and Facebook Insights, and most importantly, listen carefully to responses. Offer an incentive for participating, like a free coffee or a gift card from Tim Horton’s. Speaking of listening, keep your ears open to what the competition is doing. Be bold and willing to stand out and strategize over the long-term!

9) Partner with a charitable organization – Choose a cause you love and partner up with an organization whose mission is similar to yours. Get your staff and team out there helping out with a soup kitchen, throw an event and split the proceeds, or host an auction. You’re already a good Samaritan, so why not share your social consciousness with others? This alone helps your brand stand out and become a valued part of your community.

10) Capture information – Almost every message you put out there should come with a call to action. Add a newsletter sign-up form to your website, make a database of loyal clientele, and reach out to them on a regular basis. Offering incentives – “Sign up to our newsletter and receive 10 tips to…” or “Share this contest for more chances to WIN..” – is the strongest way to get your audience to participate, and it lets you find out what works for different segments of your market niche. Show them that you are grateful: a simple reward goes a long way.

The above article is a guest post by Sari Gabbay, founder, president and visionary at U2R1, a branding, design and marketing agency. To submit your own blog post or article for consideration, learn more here.

Small business happens everywhere.  And meetings, webinars, and video conferences must be easy to attend from anywhere at anytime.  That’s why we are excited to announce that AnyMeeting has released a new free iPad app that is available for download in the iTunes App Store.  The app enables iPad users to easily attend a meeting, watch a screen share, and even broadcast their video.  Today, meeting attendees participating  from the iPad app, will be able to:

• View any presentations.
• Listen to any audio broadcast through your iPad speakers.
• Call in to participate through your phone.
• Broadcast video through either the front or back camera of your iPad.

For complete instructions on using the new AnyMeeting iPad app visit our support site.

Last Fall American Express launched the Small Business Saturday campaign to drive awareness and traffic to small businesses and locally owned and operated businesses. AnyMeeting joined the program as a proud supporter, offering discounts to members for #shoppingsmall during the 2nd to last weekend in November.

According to the Small Business Saturday Consumer Insights Survey, U.S. consumers who were aware of Small Business Saturday reported spending a total of $5.5 billion with independent merchants on the day of the promotion.

Learn more about the program here. If you’d like to be notified the next time, AnyMeeting offers a Small Biz promotional discount, tell us in the comments below, or sign-up for a Free Account and stay tuned to announcements in our monthly newsletter.

AnyMeeting users share thousands of presentations every month (literally) with nearly 20% of all meetings including a shared presentation. That is a lot of PowerPoint! And if you’re like most people, you’ve sat through a lot of PowerPoint presentations yourself. How many of them really rocked? And how many of them were just plain bad?

To help you rock your next presentation, tune-up your current one and shine like a star, check out these terrific tips:

The AnyMeeting product engineering team has been hard at work on a number of new enhancements and just released two updates designed to improve your overall web conferencing experience.

Screen Sharing Plug-in for Windows Users

In order to improve the screen sharing experience and eliminate occasional issues caused by Java, AnyMeeting has released a new Windows plug-in that makes screen sharing a snap! (Mac Users: Stay tuned, screen sharing improvements for you coming soon! Check out our tips for Mac Users here.) There are some significant benefits to using this new plug-in including:

• Increased security. The previous version of screen sharing relied upon Oracle’s Java programming language which has been widely reported recently to have exposed user computers to security vulnerabilities.
• Download once and you’re done. No need to continually keep your computer up to date with the latest browser and Java versions that often cause conflicts and affect application performance and behavior and frustrate users.
• Improved screen sharing speed and performance. Our plug-in uses native C++ code which is much faster than Java. This means that you’ll have slightly snappier performance when using the new screen sharing plugin.

To get the new Windows plug-in, log in to your account and follow the prompts in the account management screens.

(Note: Known Issue with Internet Explorer 64-bit Edition. Please visit our support site for more information on installing the plug-in and using it with this browser.)

Improved Meeting Recordings

In addition to the Screen Sharing for Windows plug-in, we’re pleased to announce the release of improved recordings for meetings and webinars. This exciting new feature has replaced our previous version of capturing and recording audio and video of webinars and meetings. As our previous recording format consisted of a number of large files, from various sources, our brand new version of the recording feature consists of one single file with all of the recording content from a meeting captured and played back as a single MP4 file. The benefits of this include:

• Consistent playback. One file means all elements are synched and will play back the same way every time.
• Better layout. When viewing the new version of recordings, you will notice that the Text Chat area has been removed. This allows us to maximize the video portion of the recording. This is perfect for slide presentations! You may also share yourself on webcam and screen share with a nice crisp large view of the video.
• Faster processing time. Your recordings should finish consistently faster than before.

If you have questions or need help, join our live daily Q&A or visit our support site.

New to AnyMeeting web conferencing for small business and need to launch a meeting fast? Check out our new Easy Reference Guide for Presenters. Download it and keep it handy for when you need to launch a meeting fast.

Key steps include:

• Choose the mode for attendees, either “Discussion Mode” (everyone can talk and be heard) or “Listen-Only Mode” (only presenters can be heard).
• Allow your mic and cam to broadcast
• Record your meeting by clicking the “Record” button.
• Share your screen, a YouTube video, or a presentation by clicking on one of the share options.

Download the Easy Reference Guide for Presenters: Starting a Quick Meeting Now.

Our Hackathon on January 26th was a terrific success, thanks to the support of Chapman University, the Ralph W. Leatherby Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Ethics, Chapman’s eVillage, and our two sponsors Influxis and TokBox.

The event drew teams of developers, entrepreneurs, product managers and designers who joined forces with members of the AnyMeeting product group to spend a day developing projects using WebRTC, which is short for “Web Real Time Communications”.

“Innovation is a critical component of everything we do at AnyMeeting and this event was a great opportunity to engage with the local community and connect with partners and technologists driven to evolve the current state of communications online,” Costin Tuculescu, AnyMeeting, founder and CEO said. “There was a really high level of excitement about being able to create video and audio applications so easily, and everyone was chomping at the bits to put together the next AnyMeeting or Google Hangouts. Interestingly enough though, the teams did quickly realize that while certain things like one-to-one video chat is now very easy, multi-way video conferencing and recording still remains a challenge.

The event opened with presentations from Costin, Chapman, Influxis and TokBox. We’ve captured them on video and will be sharing them on the AnyMeeting YouTube channel. Some highlights are embedded below:

The Hack session ended with presentations from the teams. The top projects were:

• An HTML5 WebSockets based signaling platform to synchronize any number of meeting attendees
• An online security system that feeds multiple security cameras into a central location, and allows recording
• A “Google Hangouts” like video chat platform

The consensus from the teams was that while this technology is very exciting, it’s still in its infancy. A number of the teams found that documentation from just a few weeks ago had already become outdated on the current version of Chrome, and other docs warned that certain features would be changing, so be prepared for that.

Regardless, as the major browser manufacturers continue to make progress on this spec, the industry will certainly keep up with this wave of disruption and AnyMeeting will be holding future Hackathons to ensure that our community keeps up with the innovation.

Stay tuned!