(more photos at the bottom)
Local First Milwaukee is a “buy local” advocacy group that I belong to. LFM works real hard to educate Milwaukeeans about the great value that comes from supporting the local economy, through supporting locally-owned businesses! LFM does a lot of networking events – connecting member businesses with each other, and with the general public. Through their website, social media (Twitter and FBook), and special events, LFM keeps in the public view, always reminding people – “when you need to shop, think local first!” (see tons of photos here)
Last week, as part of our LFM’s “Move Your Money” campaign, they held a “Small Business Workshop”, hosted by member, The Equitable Bank. There were tasty treats from Tall Guy and a Grill, lots of chatting among the attendees, a short presentation on retirement savings from Equitable, and a talk about social media strategy from Molly Rasmussen, of Go Geddit.
Here are some of the notes I took during the talks…
RETIREMENT
+some of the biggest obstacles in determining how much is “enough” is in imagining what tax brackets you’ll be in, and what inflation will do to spending power, in the future
+Equitable Bank has a LOT of different retirement savings/investment products
+if you can’t save more than $5500/yr, stay with a regular IRA
+ideally, once retired, you won’t withdraw more than 4-5% per year from the account. If that’s the case, how much needs to be there to start with?
+ideally, 10% of your salary should be headed for savings
+ideally, you’ll depend on a mix of retirement incomes – Social Security, savings, stocks+bonds income
SOCIAL MEDIA
+Social media should be connected to all aspects of your marketing
+use the platform that best supports your work and aims
+use the platform that your desired clients are using – “be where your customers are”
+plan ahead, create a “content calendar” if possible
+anticipate what your customers may want to talk about
+include photos in your soc-med when you can – they get statistically higher responses
+keep it short and sweet
+always try to create content that will encourage engagement!
+utilize analytics, and have goals in mind; you need to be acting strategically
+in order to build a following, you have to be diligent, responsive, and attentive
+”the less clicking, the better!” Make it easy for your followers to get your message
