6.
Analytics and Key Performance indicators (KPI's)
KPI's give you knowledge and understanding of the business
process and thus enable you to know if there is anything wrong in order to fix it
right away, as well as to know what helps improve the business. KPI's have to be
closely related to what customers are looking for and should measure specific performance areas. They should be built based on customers’
feedback. In Sam’s case, the KPIs should not be formed by sitting in front
of a computer and copying and pasting from an online source. Sam must understand the
market and what the potential customers and employers are looking for so that her
KPI's follow the right direction.
KPI's must be measurable and actionable so that Sam knows if the
situation is good or bad and what to do in each scenario.
7.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Even though it might be hard for a small business to start with
CRM, from our own business perspective, good customer relationships can lead you
a long way. Sam can start small by building a database of all her customers.
From personal experience with a cosmetics business, having a customer database has helped my company by allowing me to get to know
customers better since each time a customer comes in or chats with me online I
can pull up the previous purchase so that my skincare advice will be more in
depth without wasting time repeating all the get-to-know you questions.
All customer facing employees in a company should be able to access the relevant information to a making a sale in a
database so that all customer contact points will have the same knowledge behind them and the same potential benefit.
Finally, use a database to actively reach out to customers
using a loyalty program, to send a birthday gift, etc.
8.
Consumer generated content
You’re more likely to get the high level of engagement you’re
looking for if you tap into your fan’s passions when asking for information. Moreover,
most of the time giving a little incentive goes a long way. For example, for my
business I started a small lucky draw giveaway for my customers who are willing
to write short reviews of my products on my page. This created a good review
database on the website for new customers later on, who want to learn more about
the product.
Sam can also amp up her consumer generated content with a campaign where a
small prize could be offered for anyone who enters or for anyone who adds some extra highlight information on her
website, blog, or social networks.
9.
Security - avoiding spam, digital attacks, and
other unwanted side effects of human and machine interaction
To increase digital security for Sam’s website, stored data,
file systems, and across-the-wire transfers all of those need to be encrypted.
Encryption is essential to protecting sensitive data and to help prevent data
loss due to theft or equipment loss.
Use a time-tested spam filter such as SpamAssassin to remove
unwanted email from entering your users' inboxes and junk folders. Teach your
users how to identify junk mail even if it's from a trusted source
Use firewalls, gateway antivirus, intrusion detection devices,
honey pots, and monitoring to screen for DoS attacks, virus signatures,
unauthorized intrusion, port scans, and other "over the network"
attacks and attempts at security breaches.
10.
Original content origins and management
In the long run Sam may consider making a long-term investment
in a digital engagement and web content management system. Similar to decisions
to use paid search or not, we believe using a content management system requires
calculation of future cost and return. For now, we think keeping this cost to
minimal is suitable for Sam.
