It is no secret that social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are the best place to find out the latest and greatest of whats going on in the world around us.  But is there a way we can harness that sharing power for our businesses? Just understanding the psychology behind why and what we share seems like a logical start to us. So here is what we found:

As reported by Why do we share stories, new and information with others? on medicalxpress.com, emotion is the key to story sharing. “But interestingly, we found that while articles evoking more positive emotions were generally more viral, some negative emotions like anxiety and anger actually increased transmission while others like sadness decreased it,” states Jonah Berger, the Joseph G. Campbell Jr. Assistant Professor of Marketing at the University of Pennsylvania.

This seemed like a pretty obvious conclusion to us. So how do we use this to help our business? A: Make your content trigger emotion. Use some negative goings on in your industry and offer a solution (if you can) to that problem. Give as much information on the solution as you can without giving away the secret, and you can turn this content into an instant lead generation tool. Some words of caution: Naming the competitors that have the problem is never a good idea; Promising something you business cannot deliver (duh!) would be devastating to your business; Not staying true to your brand/business is a sure way ruin your reputation quickly.

Also, be creative with your content- we all know dancing babies is so outrageous it grabs out attention. There are plenty of ways out there that no one has thought of to market in your industry. Just commit to putting your thinking cap on and coming up with something thrilling.

We would enjoy reading some of our users creative content. Post it here and share your business website so all our user can check out what have to offer. (Don’t forget commenting on blogs can help SEO ranking if you use your name and website to respond. Participation on the internet community does count!) We look forward to hearing from everyone!

Read the rest of the medicalxpress article here: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-stories-news.html

Growing in popularity everyday, you can find qr codes on everything.

For those of you who are new to qr codes it is basically a barcode that can be scanned by a reader including your smartphone.  The qr code can contain a text, url, a google map location, a youtube video and more. Besides being so dynamic, it is easy for anyone to create and use. Head over to QRStuff.com and fill in the type of information that would like the code to contain. Then simple download the image the website creates for you and start using everywhere.

And then we stumbled across a great idea. A qr code sticker book! Although these sticker books from MOO can be used for just about anything, we think the idea of using them for qr codes is ingenious.  And to top it off they are very affordable starting at only $9.99 for for 90 stickers.

Is anyone else out there using qr codes? We would love to hear about your experiences with using qr codes.

Contact us for more information on qr codes: Valerie@JDaeDesigns.com or 208-861-9841

Did you know you maybe able to write off  your company holiday party on your taxes?
Did you know you maybe able to write off a portion of the moneys spent to purchase Christmas gifts for clients or employees?
We found this amazing article about ways you maybe able to use some Christmas business purchases as deductions on your taxes.  This great article is written by Roni Lynn Deutch, also known as The Tax Lady and is featured on WomenEntrepreneur.com.

Click here for the entire article.

As always, please advise your personal tax accountant.