SOCIAL MEDIA
OPEN INSIGHT GUIDE
SERIES 2: SOCIAL MEDIA, GUIDE 5
Increase Your Financial IQ
Through Social Media
You may not have considered leveraging social media
for financial management advice and assistance, but
you can. From learning about the latest financial
tools and strategies to seeking guidance on how
to set your budget, social media is connecting
businesses through blogs, Twitter™, LinkedIn® and
other networking channels. This guide provides
techniques that can help you increase your financial
expertise, including:
•Tap Social Media for Financial Advice, pg. 1
•Help Improve Your Financial Picture, pg. 4
•Cardmember Profile: Alexis Miesen,
Blue Marble: Social Media Aids Ice Cream
Shop’s Effort to Make Non-Profit Project a
Reality, pg. 5
•Social Media Resources, pg. 7
•Glossary of Social Media Terms, pg. 8
TAP SOCIAL MEDIA FOR FINANCIAL ADVICE
As a business owner, you need to stay on top of
your company’s finances. In addition to effective
financial management practices, social media can
help you stay current on events in the financial
world so you can better manage your business.
Here are four areas in which social media can
help you improve your financial management skills:
1. Stay Informed Through Money
Management Channels
A wealth of financial resources is available
online offering objective and useful content. Here
are some popular social media outlets to consider
for financial information:
BAILARD, INC.
Member Since: 1992
Blogs and forums:
•Compare notes, ask questions and receive
advice from finance experts like Henry Blodget
(in the Money topic) and Jean Chatzky (in
the Lifestyle topic) on openforum.com, from
American Express OPEN. Learn from other
small businesses at The New York Times’ small
business blog (boss.blogs.nytimes.com), and The
Wall Street Journal’s small business community
(online.wsj.com/community/groups).
Learn more about social media at
openforum.com/socialmedia.
pg. 1
OPEN INSIGHT GUIDE
SERIES 2: SOCIAL MEDIA, GUIDE 5
from financial advisors and other professionals.
The Finance and Accounting category
(linkedin.com/answers?categoryHome=&ca
tegory=FIN) has subcategories ranging from
accounting to risk management.
•Ask for advice on client management,
invoicing and other topics through
communities on FreshBooks
(community.freshbooks.com/forums)
and Outright (community.outright.com).
•Yahoo!® Finance’s Facebook page
(facebook.com/yahoofinance) and Twitter
account (@twitter.com/YahooFinance)
feature money management tips.
3. Access New Sources of Financing
J.C. RESTORATION, INC
Warner Cruz
Member Since: 1982
Twitter:
•Receive investing assistance and real-time
stock market quotes from SmartMoney
magazine (@smartmoney). NASDAQ® also
offers real-time quotes through a partnership
with Stocktwits (@datajunkies).
•Access tax tips from the IRS (@IRSTaxTips)
and H&R Block® (@hrblock) and follow
Business.gov (@BusinessDotGov) for help on
taxes, loans and grants.
•Explore small business trends and help
improve your financial management
knowledge from Small Business Trends
(@smallbiztrends).
•Received insights about accounting and
financial management from small business
experts on OPEN Forum: @OPENForum
2. Manage Your Expenses
Many web sites and software applications are
available that can help you watch your company’s
finances. Consider these popular tools:
•LinkedIn Answers (linkedin.com/answers) lets
LinkedIn members pose specific questions to
the LinkedIn community and receive feedback
If you have ever reached out to venture capital
or angel investment firms, you know that personal
connections can be critical in getting a foot in the
door. Social media resources like these can help make
it easier to start and enrich these relationships.
•The Small Business Administration’s
Business.gov site has a Facebook account
(facebook.com/business.gov) with advice and
information on its low-interest loan programs
and how to get loans through private banks
and financial institutions. Its finance section
(sba.gov/financing) provides information on
SBA’s many funding programs.
•If you haven’t sought outside funding before,
you may want to look for advice on sites such
as BizSugar (bizsugar.com/RaisingCapital).
•Visit sites such as Angel Capital Association
(angelcapitalassociation.org) and Red Herring
(redherring.com/Home/26206) to identify
firms that invest in your type of business. Then
subscribe to their blogs and follow them on
Twitter so you can learn as much as you can
before starting a dialogue.
•Once you get a feel for the investors you want
to target, add comments to their posts. Follow
them on Twitter and retweet posts you find
valuable. If appropriate, add a link to their
blog from yours. This may spur them to learn
more about your business.
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SERIES 2: SOCIAL MEDIA, GUIDE 5
4. Track Legislative Issues
Another important aspect of financial
management is to stay attuned to the legislative
issues occurring in your industry:
•Watch videos of congressional hearings
on YouTube, including the small business
committees of the U.S. House of
Representatives — Democrats (youtube.
com/HouseSmallBizDems) and Republicans
(youtube.com/SmallBizRepublicans)
— and U.S. Senate (youtube.com/user/
SenateSmallBusiness).
•Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP)
(wipp.org), a valued Women’s Business
Initiative partner of American Express OPEN,
features legislative news, a blog, member
search and other resources.
•To help stay up to date on congressional votes
that may affect your company, follow the
National Federation of Independent Business
on Twitter (@NFIB).
JENNIFER’S HOMEMADE
Jennifer Behar
Member Since: 2005
Staying on top of the latest financial information
can be prudent for your business. As with all
financial advice, don’t rely on any one source and
make sure you read financial content regularly and
incorporate it into your daily routine. Because much
of what is written on blogs and other social media
sites is opinion, be sure to seek other opinions or
consult with your financial advisor before taking
any action that may affect your business. When
managing your own social media campaigns, be
aware that your tweets and social media posts are a
reflection of your business, so post wisely.
By staying on top of the right social media
channels for your business, you can build valuable
contacts and help improve your company’s outlook.
Just as important, social media can help you connect
with other businesses facing similar challenges. n
THE SOLUTIONS! GROUP
Kathleen Simon
Member Since: 1985
pg. 3
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SERIES 2: SOCIAL MEDIA, GUIDE 5
Help Improve Your Financial Picture
By Anita Campbell
Many people associate the business uses of social
media with marketing or customer service. But social
media can also help you pinpoint financial tools
and resources so you can run your business more
profitably and strengthen your financial success.
Consider these resources and advice to help
improve your financial picture:
Make the Right Tax Moves
Try the calculators and money-saving tools at
Turbo Tax® (turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools). The
TurboTax TaxCaster tool even comes in an app
that you can download and use on your smart
phone. Or go to YouTube and search for “tax tips”
to watch explanations of tax requirements and
tips on how to save on your taxes; even the IRS is
posting videos on YouTube. The comments section
on the videos may yield even more insight. You
can also receive tax tips from reading blogs like
TaxGirl® (http://www.taxgirl.com/about-taxgirl)
and downloading podcasts from sites like
Tax Mama’s TaxQuips (taxquips.com).
Find a Mentor/Advisor
Mentors, counselors and business coaches
can be located and hired online, where they may
blog or participate in social media. BizMore™
(bizmore.com) is a community where you can
connect with experienced professionals. You can
also receive expert help online at the SCORE®
web site and blogs (score.org).
Seek Expert Advice
If a formal mentor or coach is not your style,
you can seek answers to financial questions in the
community section of
one of the many questionand-answer sites available
today, such as Business.com® (answers.
business.com), Startups.com™ (startups.com) and
OnStartups.com (answers.onstartups.com).
Educate Yourself about Niche Topics
On certain topics — particularly niche industries
such as affiliate marketing or the latest tech news
— blogs, Twitter and discussion forums may have
the most up-to-date information. On user-generated
content sites, you may be able to find information
days, weeks or months before it hits the mainstream
media. Learn the “go to” sources in your industry on
whatever topics you follow closely and check them
regularly to help make smarter business moves.
Stay on Top of New Offerings
The trend toward software-as-a-service (SaaS)
applications means new or updated offerings can
debut all the time. SaaS is software that is deployed
over the Internet and is usually accessed through a
subscription or pay-as-you-go model. Monitoring the
Twitter, Facebook and blog accounts of key vendors
means you are likely to become more aware of the
tools and offerings they introduce. n
Anita Campbell is editor and founder of Small
Business Trends, LLC, which manages online communities
touching more than 300,000 small business owners and
managers each month. Her flagship web site is the awardwinning Small Business Trends (smallbiztrends.com). Anita
is also a featured expert for OPEN Forum®. Find more
insights from Anita at openforum.com/innovation.
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OPEN INSIGHT GUIDE
SERIES 2: SOCIAL MEDIA, GUIDE 5
Cardmember Profile:
Alexis Miesen, Blue Marble
Social Media Aids Ice Cream Shop’s Effort
To Make Non-Profit Project a Reality
Not many businesses use social media for
fundraising yet, but interest is growing — and a
few are succeeding at it. In fact, the owners of
Blue Marble Ice Cream in Brooklyn, NY, raised
nearly 60% of their fundraising goal to open a nonprofit initiative in Rwanda through social media,
email and other online initiatives. The power of
social media and positive word of mouth helped
them bring their dream to life in less than two years.
Alexis Miesen and Jennie Dundas, who own
Blue Marble, came up with the idea to open the
ice cream shop in Rwanda in 2008 after Dundas
met a Rwandan drummer and playwright at the
Sundance Institute in Utah. The campaign got
rolling when they entered the Members Project®,
an online initiative from American Express and
TakePart, that provides an opportunity for
those with a passion for philanthropy to make a
difference and receive funding for their favorite
charitable organizations.
Ultimately, the Rwandan project wasn’t selected,
but that didn’t stop Miesen and Dundas. In fact,
the viral aspect of their social media efforts kept
spreading to make more people aware of what they
hoped to do. “We would have never been able to
get this off the ground if it weren’t for our blog and
Facebook page, which helped us spread the word,
especially at the beginning,” Miesen says.
Here’s how they used social media to help gain
traction for their project:
1. Create Awareness
The Members Project urged consumers to vote
for charities they thought deserved financial support.
Organizations were encouraged to use social media
to spread their messages. Miesen and
Dundas entered the Members Project, wrote about
their initiative on their blog, created a Facebook page
to support their efforts and sent emails asking friends
and customers to vote for them.
The Blue Marble team has since added Twitter
to their social media mix, leaving them with six
social media channels: three promoting the ice
cream business and three highlighting Blue Marble
Dreams, the nonprofit arm of the company created
especially for the Rwanda project:
•Blog: bluemarbleicecream.com/thescoop
•Twitter: @bluemarblebk
•Facebook page: facebook.com/pages/BrooklynNY/Blue-Marble-Ice-Cream/415075860304
•Dreams blog: bluemarbledreams.wordpress.com/
•Dreams Twitter: @BlueMarbleDream
•Dreams Facebook page: facebook.com/pages/
Blue-Marble-Dreams/250201727082
Another staff member now updates the three
Blue Marble social media outlets, while they lined
up two local volunteers in Rwanda to help with the
store opening and update the Blue Marble Dreams
blog, Facebook and Twitter pages.
2. Build Momentum
Miesen and Dundas worked to spread the word
online, making a large number of people aware of
what they hoped to accomplish. “That was a huge
boost in helping us get the word out initially, and
then it just took on a life of its own. It just became
one of those viral things,” Miesen says, adding that
they received responses from people as far away as
Cuba and Germany.
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“It’s funny how this quirky idea became a
mandate,” Miesen says. “We started getting offers
of help, everything from PR to restaurant design to
legal help. People just heard about the project and
felt compelled to pitch in.”
3. Keep Interest Alive
Even more people will learn about the Rwanda
project once a documentary about it is released. The
shop owners can partially thank social media for
that, too. Details of their unique story spread, and
they started receiving requests from documentary
makers and photographers to tell their story.
“From the get-go, we thought if we can pull
this off, someone has to tell this story,” Miesen says.
“The first-ever ice cream shop run by this group of
amazing women. None of them, out of 126 women,
had ever even tasted ice cream. And to think,
this might not have happened if it weren’t for
social media.”
Proving that dreams really can come true,
Miesen and Dundas opened the Sweet Dreams ice
cream shop in Butare, Rwanda, in June 2010, less
than two years after they started the project. n
Connect with Blue Marble through the OPEN Forum’s
Connectodex® at openforum.com/bluemarble.
BLUE MARBLE DREAMS
bluemarbledreams.wordpress.com
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OPEN INSIGHT GUIDE
SERIES 2: SOCIAL MEDIA, GUIDE 5
Social Media Resources
Use these resources to help improve your financial IQ.
OPEN Forum® Financial Management Resource Center
openforum.com/financialmanagement
OPEN Forum’s Financial Management Resource Center offers articles and expert advice from
contributors Wise Bread, The Simple Dollar, The Business Insider and more.
OPEN Forum
openforum.com/money
Stay informed and receive insights from The Business Insider in OPEN Forum’s Money topic.
openforum.com/lifestyle
Ask questions and receive advice from personal finance expert Jean Chatzky in OPEN Forum’s
Lifestyle topic, presented by Courtyard® Hotels.
OPEN Forum on Twitter
twitter.com/openforum
Tap into the collective ingenuity of other business owners.
OPEN on Facebook
facebook.com/open
Discover insights, make connections and get exposure that can help your business grow.
OPEN Forum Pulse®
pulse.openforum.com
OPEN Forum Pulse is a tool that can help you find and follow small business thought leaders on
Twitter by aggregating and organizing their tweets in one place, where you can search by business
name or industry. This custom platform was designed for small business owners.
Business Insider War Room
businessinsider.com/warroom/strategy-and-tactics
Offers economic news and resources for small businesses.
FeedTheBull
feedthebull.com
Provides a community and news, videos and Q&As for users interested in financial news.
LinkedIn Group — Social Media and Web 2.0 in Banking and Financial Services
linkedin.com/groups?gid=1857754
A group for members to discuss the use of social media tools in financial services.
Money Management International
moneymanagement.org/Community
Community page offers ebooks, microsites, videos, podcasts and webinars on financial topics.
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OPEN INSIGHT GUIDE
SERIES 2: SOCIAL MEDIA, GUIDE 5
Social Media Resources, cont’d.
MoneyStrands™
money.strands.com
Helps you manage your money and keep track of your entire financial picture. The site also offers
mobile versions of its services.
Reddit Financial Planning
reddit.com/r/financialplanning
Covers financial planning issues and provides helpful insights from financial bloggers.
Wise Bread
wisebread.com
Glossary of Social Media Terms
To use social media effectively for your business, it’s important to understand the terminology.
Blog: A web site with regular entries that usually consists of news and commentary, graphics and
video on a particular subject area. Blogs typically enable readers to post responses.
Plug-in: A third-party application that connects to a main application to extend its functionality.
RSS Feed: An automated system for distributing frequently updated information from a site (e.g.,
blog posts, online articles). The user subscribes to an RSS feed in a feedreader program.
Retweet: To repeat someone else’s tweet and give them credit for it. This is generally a vote of
confidence for the original author. Retweets can help improve a Twitter account’s ranking.
Site Aggregator: Tools that bring together multiple social media “feeds” to save users time in
accessing relevant content.
Social Bookmarking: A method employed by Internet users to share, organize, search and manage
content. Some social bookmarking sites have a system that allows users to vote on what bookmarks
they found interesting. This saves users time in finding the information they need.
Social Media Integration: A site that allows users to communicate across multiple social media sites
through a single interface.
Social Recommendation Sites: Sites that allow users to rate service providers and to read customer
reviews. Businesses can use social recommendation sites as an inexpensive way to increase business.
Tweets: Short messages of up to 140 characters sent over the Twitter network.
Web Feed: A web feed (or news feed) is a format used to provide users with frequently updated
content. Content distributors syndicate a web feed, allowing users to subscribe to it. A web feed is
also called a syndicated feed.
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OPEN INSIGHT GUIDE
SERIES 2: SOCIAL MEDIA, GUIDE 5
VISIT OPEN FORUM®
For more OPEN Insight Guides on Social Media, visit openforum.com/socialmedia. You can find articles,
podcasts and videos on a broad range of other business topics on openforum.com, the online community
from American Express OPEN designed to give business owners information, insights and tools, including
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• Jean Chatzky, financial editor, journalist and best-selling author
• And more …
In addition to the articles and discussions on OPEN Forum, Cardmembers can create a profile and
connect with other business owners in the Connectodex®, giving them an opportunity to build exposure on
OPEN Forum.
OPEN SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS
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business grow.
• @openforum — Follow us on Twitter for the latest headlines from OPEN Forum.
• pulse.openforum.com — Nominate yourself for OPEN Forum PulseSM, which brings together the
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pg. 9