Get your Fishing License on your Smartphone!

How many of you have multiple tackle boxes? I know I do- I even have one box dedicated just to swimbaits! Every time I go fishing I just grab the boxes I need and go. I have a system that works but the one thing that always worried me was that I was going to forget my fishing license.

Thanks to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission I no longer worry about my fishing license! FWC offers a function on there smartphone app to download and display your Florida fishing license right on your screen! Now I never worry about remembering my license!

Take care and tight lines!

Dealing with Negative Social Media Comments

Negative reviews are a part of every successful business. No matter how much time or effort you put in you will receive negative reviews. Bottom line is you can't always make everyone happy. Plus there are people who will complain no matter what you do- I think we all know at least one person like this.

When dealing with negative reviews and comments social media can be your worst enemy or best friend. Consider the story of John and Steve...

John owns a auto body shop and while seeing the need to have social media accounts he doesn't have the time to actively monitor them. A customer then comes in, has a bad experience, finds their Facebook page and leaves a negative review. Because John doesn't monitor his social media the negative review just sits there for all potential customers to see. In this case social media is John's worst nightmare- who is going to give him business with unaddressed negative reviews and comments?

Steve owns an auto body shop across town, is on the same social media platforms but actively monitors them. When he received a negative comment he immediately responded, remedied the situation and left the customer happy. Now instead of a negative review Steve has a recommendation and a happy customer!

When you receive a negative social media comment the most important thing to do is to respond quickly- quicker the better. This response should be short and to the point. Something like "We are very sorry you had a bad experience and you are very important to us. We are looking into what happened and will get back to you soon". The purpose of this response is to let the customer know you care and are looking into their issue while buying you time to figure out a solution.

Your second response needs to come within 24-48 hours after receiving the complaint. Here you will address all their concerns, offer solutions, and thank them for their advice. Depending on the situation you may want to offer them incentives to remain your customer. This can be a free or discounted product or service or even a free t-shirt or other cool swag.

Social media gives your customers a voice and how you respond to negative reviews and comments can make or break your business.

Take care and tight lines!

Fishing License On Your Smartphone???

How many of you have multiple tackle boxes? I know I do- I even have one box dedicated to crankbaits! Every time I go fishing I just grab the boxes I need, leave the ones I don't and go. I have a systm that works but one thing that used to worry me was that I was going to forget my fishing license. I would always get the feeling I left my license in one of the boxes at home about halfway to the water. But thanks to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission as long as I have my iPhone I have my fishing license!

For about a year now, FWC offers a function within their smartphone app to download and display your fishing license.  Simply head over to the app store, download the app, enter your information and boom- your fishing license is now on your smartphone!

Take care and tight lines!

The 4 Pillars of Social Media Marketing

Social media is an art not a science- there's no magic formula for success.  Instead, social media success is dependent on knowledge, planning, dedication and time. While this may seem daunting I've identified 4 Pillars of Social Media Marketing for you to focus on. If you cover these four areas your campaign will be on its way to success!

First, find your volume. This is the number of posts or updates per day and while there is no magic number of updates/day there is definitely a sweet spot. You can easily post too much or not enough. Second, quality is and always will be king. Only post quality content and if you don't have any solid content to post, don't post. It's quality over quantity. Third, without consistency your campaign will crumble.  The #1 reason campaigns fail is they lose steam. Everyone is all systems go in the beginning but as time goes by so does interest. You start to post less frequently and the quality of the content drops. In order to suceed you must map out a plan and stick to it. Finally, while it is important to post across multiple platforms, syndication is bad. This is becasue platforms are very different. Why limit other platforms to 140 characters just because Twitter does? Do you talk to your mother and best friend the same way? Twitter and Facebook are two totally different social media beasts ans need to be treated so.

If you have any questions about the 4 Pillars of Social Media Marketing or anything social media or fishing related please do not hesitate to reach out to me.

Take care and tight lines!

#FollowFriday

Follow Friday or #FF is one of the great phenonenon of Twitter and is a great tool to help build your business or personal brand. If you're trying to grow your network you should be a fan of #FF but even it you're not here are a few quidelines to help make sure you're getting the most out of #FF.

When someone mentions you in a #FF they are giving you a shout out. They are telling all of their followers to also follow you so the first thing you should do is to show your thanks. Favorite and retweet the #FF tweet and tweet them a thanks. Finally, if you send out your own #FF tweet you should try to feature them in yours.  If someone takes the time to promote your business or brand you should thank them.  Show them that you appreciate their support.

Similarly, before you send your #FF tweet there are a few things to consider. Many people will start their tweet with #FF then just list as many handles as they can fit. While this is nice there are more effective ways of doing it. Even if it is only a few words give people a reason or motivation to follow them.

#FF is a fun way to add followers to your business or personal brand and to boost your reach and influence but be sure to follow these guidelines!!!

Take care and tight lines!

Quality is King

Businesses always have their eye on the prize and they should. Creating more revenue and getting the highest return on investment are goals that all companies share. Social media is no exception. The number one question people ask me is how do I get more friends/followers/likes/favorites/mentions? They're focused on the end result- got their eye on the prize.

The simple truth is there are no short cuts in improving your company's social media reach and influence. There is a lot of time and effort required to build a successful social media campaign. While there are many moving parts to a campaign, quality content is and always will be king.

Quality content is content that is either interesting or informative. Interesting content makes you "wow" while informative information makes you say " I didn't know that". Only post quality content and if you don't have anything solid to say, don't say it. It's truly quality over quantity.

If you have any questions about quality content, the other components of a successful social media campaign or anything else please leave a comment or shoot me an email!

Take care and tight lines.

Tarpon Jump!

Here's a quick video from our Islamorada, FL trip of one of our tarpons jumping!  120 pounder on 20# mono with my trusty Dunamis Rod!!!