Author Archives: Lorraine Ball

About Lorraine Ball

Lorraine Ball twenty years in corporate America, before she came to her senses. Today, you can find her at Roundpeg, a small marketing firm, based in Carmel, Indiana. Along with an extraordinarily talented team (which includes Bonnie the dog and Clyde the cat) she shares what she knows about marketing, networking, pr, social media and business planning. Committed to contributing to a vibrant entrepreneurial economy in Central Indiana, Lorraine is focused on helping small businesses, become big businesses.

Social Media: A World of Possibilities for Small Business

Posted on by Lorraine Ball
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social media in business

Ten years ago, marketing options for small business owners were fairly limited.  Traditional media like radio, Tv and even most print advertising were just too expensive for small business. Then along came the internet.  Email marketing, social media, blogs and ad words offer small business owners a chance to get their message out. Suddenly, you could create the illusion, your company was much larger with the help of a great website and a strong social media program. But how are these companies really using these tools? Every year since 2010, … Continue reading →

Social Media Matures

Posted on by Lorraine Ball
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small business big impact

Sixty years ago as television was emerging on the scene, TV ads resembled radio ads. They consisted primarily of a pitchman standing in front of a camera,  describing a product, much the way he would on radio.  The only difference was that you could see him holding the product. As TV matured, so did the advertising. As marketers learned the power of the visual medium they created ads to engage emotions, some were funny, others were sweet or sentimental and some serious and thought provoking. While the average viewer is … Continue reading →

Social Media Survey Says: Owners Stepping Up

Posted on by Lorraine Ball
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owner

According to the 2011 Small Business Social Media Survey, business owners are taking social media more seriously than in year past.   In a survey conducted from May 1, 2011 – July 1, 2011 we asked243 small business owners ( companies with less than 50 employees) who was creating content for their social media accounts. Owners are taking charge From their responses, it was obvious owners are taking social media seriously as more than 65% indicated they are actively involved in creating content.    This percentage was fairly constant among different groups … Continue reading →

Survey Says: Time Spent on Social Media is Time Well Spent

Posted on by Lorraine Ball
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Sales-Blogindiana

On a regular basis small business owners ask us if Social Media is worth spending time on.  Based on the results of our 2011 Small Business Social Media Survey the answer to that question is YES!    In this follow-up survey, small businesses are defined as companies with 1-50 employees. It is important to note this survey did not attempt to measure the number of small businesses using social media, but rather how existing social business users are employing the tools. This survey was conducted entirely online from May 1 – … Continue reading →

Survey Says….

Posted on by Lorraine Ball
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time-on-site

Talking to small business owners about social media there seems to be a growing interest in the medium as they begin to shift marketing activities away from traditional to social media. Our preliminary results from our social media survey seem to indicate business owners, both men and women are spending more time on social media daily.  ( Men spending even more then women).  This is a dramatic shift from just one year ago when we did our first study. The red and brown lines reflect the results from our 2010 … Continue reading →

Has Small Biz Social Media Changed?

Posted on by Lorraine Ball
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social-media-small-business

Last summer we surveyed small business owners to understand how they were using social media.  The results were documented in a series of white papers. A lot has changed in the last year.  My perception is that more businesses then ever are engaged in social media, or at least testing the waters.  It that is the case, it seems like a good time to revisit the topic with another study. Here were some of the 2010 Small Business Social Media Study Results: If small business owners are using social media, they … Continue reading →