Recently I participated in a webinar on innovative marketing strategies and Facebook contests were discussed as a good way to increase interactivity on your social media pages. Contests can ramp up interest in your business and increase the number of folks that “Like” your page.

Here are a few creative contests that other businesses have found to be successful.

Share the love – Ask fans to complete the sentence “I love (your product, store, etc.) because…” Offer a prize to the best entry and acknowledge the winner on your Facebook page.

Picture caption contest – Post a fun or humorous photo on your page and ask fans to create a caption for the photo. Try to use a photo that subtly includes your store or product. Crown the winner and then you can use the photo with the caption in online and off-line marketing.

Refer your friends – One retailer had a great deal of success with a contest that awarded the fan who got the most friends to like the retailer’s page. The retailer offered a high-value prize so the contest got heated between two fans as they raced to get the most friends to like the retailer’s page. The business owner said it was a great way to increase their fan base.

First to check in – Use the new geo-positioning services, like Facebook Places, to hold contests for the first person to check in at your business. For example, hold the contest around a new product or new arrival to create excitement. Award the first customer to check in with a big discount or free gift.

Find the gnome – I recently read about the Downtown Ithaca Alliance in Ithaca, NY, that has a regular contest and hides a gnome somewhere in town. The first person to post the location of the gnome wins coffee and bagels for their entire office.

Visit the Facebook website to find apps that can help facilitate your contest. Click on Business and search “contests” for a helpful listing.

Do you ever think about what will happen to your business when you are either ready to retire or not able to work any more? If you do, you're certainly ahead of the curve.

A recent study by the World Retail Congress reported that only 17 percent of retailers have a succession plan, defined as a plan for someone to step in to your role in the event that you’re not able to work. Keeping up with the every day demands of growing a business is enough to fill each day, however it’s something worth thinking about and planning for now. Recent events in my family have got me thinking hard about this issue.

Here are my top tips for planning for a successor:

Keep your eyes open for potential successors
Whether it’s a family member that you want to pass your business on to or someone that you have hired, keep your eyes peeled for family or staff members that could take the helm in your absence. Discuss with them your desire to develop them to lead your business and gauge their willingness and desire.

Keep it simple
From what I’ve been reading, most experts agree that the best way to train a successor is by experience. Letting them experience the day-to-day operations, contemplate the big picture decisions and observe all that it takes to own and run a business is the best training program. Keep it simple and just bring them in closer to you and in time they will hopefully be able to run your business just as you would.

Keep it fluid
You may know when you plan to retire, but it’s unlikely that you know with certainty if there will be any event in your life, such as an ailing spouse or parent, that may preclude you from working your full schedule. Keep your succession plan fluid so that it can take effect at any time. Have your potential successors – whether short or long-term – ready to step in should life events change your ability to work.

Consider planning your succession now for the benefit of your family and your business.

I was having lunch at a local deli recently and snapped a couple pictures of a great spring promotion. All on one great little card stuck in an attractive spring flower pail, the shop is promoting menu specials, their Facebook page, and their new smartphone ordering app. Great idea!

In all of our lives there are times and events that cause us to reflect and make adjustments. I’ve been reminded recently of the importance of taking time to regularly recharge my batteries. Recharging your batteries doesn’t (only) mean taking a vacation once a year, it means carving out time on a daily basis to unwind and reflect. Studies show that those who make themselves available 24/7 to their work are less productive, less creative and more ill. Those that work 11 or 12 hour days increase their risk of coronary events by 56 percent!

As I have been inspired, I hope to inspire you to consider taking these three steps to being a more creative, healthier, more productive business person.

1. Create boundaries
Have the courage to carve out times of the day in which you refuse to be bombarded by the 24/7 world of emails, texts, tweets, phone calls, news feeds, etc. It may take some time, but practice the art of being unplugged and see what happens. It's a struggle for me to be unplugged, because I feel I’m being non-productive. What I have to do is repeat to myself over and over that “taking time for myself and my family is OK… doing this will help me be better at everything else I do today.” So, build that wall, create some boundaries!

2. Create a schedule
For me, having a schedule is of utmost importance. Whether it’s scheduling time to workout each day or making a personal rule to turn off email, phone etc. between certain hours or on certain days, try creating a schedule. I find that if I have a schedule it is empowering and makes it easier to support the boundaries I’ve created. Anytime someone makes a request of you, you can say “let me check my schedule.”

3. Learn the word “no” and gain respect
As business owners and entrepreneurs we may often feel that if we say “no” to someone or something (or miss a phone call or email) we will lose out on an opportunity or close a door. However, psychologists say that often the opposite is true. Saying “no,” politely of course, can garner more respect for you and your business. If you can say “no” in a confident manner and offer solutions such as, “no, I can’t speak with you at 10 tonight but I can put you on my schedule for tomorrow morning,” you are letting the other party know that you respect them and yourself.

Try recharging your batteries more frequently, see how it changes you, and let me know.

In a move that will offer your customers another way to pay for your products online, in-store and via mobile, I read a few days ago that AmEx will begin offering a new digital payment system, called Serve. It is basically a PayPal-like service with an AmEx card for offline purchases. Serve allows customers to send and receive digital payments online; and for offline purchases, customers will also have a Serve card that customers can load, much like loading a PayPal account, and use the card to pay for offline purchases. There are some minor differences with PayPal but many of the opinions I’ve read believe that the Serve card may help digital payments become more ubiquitous with the American Express name backing it up.

What does this mean for you? First, if you accept American Express cards you can accept the Serve card, too, and promoting your acceptance online may make online shoppers just that much more confident in buying from you online. Also, from what I’ve read, American Express says that merchant fees to accept Serve are less than those for traditional American Express cards.

You can check it out for yourself by visiting the website.

For all the time you spend posting tips, pictures, videos and answering messages on Facebook, how do you know it’s all worth it? By using Facebook Insights. Once you get 30 “Likes,” you get free access to Facebook’s powerful analytics tool that will help you easily see whether your Facebook page is attracting attention. Check it out and you'll see the link to “View Insights” right there on your main Facebook page. Here’s how it works:

Watch Active Users – Although having lots of “Likes” is great, the best barometer of a successful Facebook page is to have high numbers of active users. These are the folks that come to your page and interact with your content on any given day. Strive to keep the number of active users on the rise because it means that you’re keeping your business on the minds of potential shoppers.

Click-through to User information – When you click “see details” following “Users” you will see more valuable information about your visitors. You can view gender and age information as well as all of your comments and likes in one place. This information can help you target future posts. Also, pay special attention to which video, audio and photo files are getting viewed to help inspire future additions.

Click-through Interactions – When you click to “see details” of interactions you can view specifics on how many mentions, etc., your page is receiving. Keep an eye on “mentions.” Getting your fans to mention your business to their friends is a primary goal of social media marketing, so do what you can to boost this number. For example, have a contest with a prize so compelling that people will want their friends to know about it. Or, simply encourage your fans to pass your posts on to their friends when you post new product sneak peeks or special event invitations.

And there’s so much more! This post just grazes what I think are the top points for retailers. I’d encourage you take some time to browse around your Insights page and I’m sure you will learn some interesting lessons about the success of your Facebook presence and what your fans like to see. Hopefully what you learn will inspire some fresh ideas for your social media marketing!

You may have seen the ads on TV or heard about Best Buy’s buyback program, where they will give customers a percentage of the purchase price of an obsolete gadget toward its newer version. Although Best Buy’s program is more well known, more and more retailers are taking advantage of buyback programs to create good will among customers and keep them coming back to spend money on new items.

Retailers with buyback programs have now created a whole new revenue stream from selling those used goods online and in-store… it's called re-commerce. Could any of your store’s items be perfect for a buyback program? You don’t have to sell expensive electronics, but what about other expensive or rapidly obsolete products? Products such as jewelry, designer clothing and accessories would be perfect candidates, or fine china, housewares and kitchen appliances and gadgets? They could be a good reason for creating your own buyback program.

The way most buyback programs work is that the customer pays an upfront fee at purchase to be a part of the buyback program, and is then guaranteed a resale price depending on the product. Best Buy gives customers 10 to 50 percent of an item’s original price. Items also have to be sold back within two to four years. Best Buy then sells those items through its outlet centers or online.

Employee motivation is a very popular topic on my blog. After all, a highly motivated team is one the key ingredients to phenomenal customer service and subsequently, increased sales. To complement an upcoming free HR webinar we are hosting next week (see speaker and participation details below), I thought I’d offer a few HR tips of my own: 

Try some one-on-one face time
Good employees will ideally possess a healthy amount of self-motivation, so if their excitement seems to be lacking take the time to speak with them to see if you can determine why. Perhaps it’s due to feeling that they lack proper training, valuable feedback or are losing their sense of purpose within your organization. Most people have the genuine desire to succeed so if you take an interest in learning why they seem less motivated and address the issue, your efforts alone are likely to go a long way in increasing their enthusiasm and effectiveness at work.

Offer to give your people a purpose
Do you know how your employees would finish the statement “I work here because…"? If not, perhaps now is the time to ask. Spend time getting to the root of the purpose your organization plays in the lives of your employees. Then you will know how to motivate them. For example, if an employee glibly replies, “I work here because I need the paycheck,” then you’ll know that he or she is motivated by financial rewards. If another replies “I work here because I want to learn more about retailing” you can reward and motivate that person with further education to support them in learning and furthering their career. Remember that at the end of the day we all want to feel that what we’re doing with our days has some meaning, so help your employees achieve meaning with their job and you will have succeeded in motivating them.

Recognition goes a long way
Employees love to know that you, as their manager, see and appreciate their accomplishments. Recognition of their accomplishments doesn’t necessarily mean passing out expensive bonuses all the time, perhaps just a simple gift, as well as recognizing them among their peers by posting their name and photo in the break room or in your company e-newsletter.

Remember that the best managers avoid micro-management and focus on clearly defined outcomes rather than nit-picking and second-guessing employees. Also, do what you can to build relationships with your employees and keep fun in the workplace, all which costs little-to-nothing, but goes far in keeping great people motivated.

Next week we are offering a free webinar on Essential Human Resources Management Tips. This important webinar is being taught by the VP of Human Resources for American Kiosk Management, a giant in our industry. As HR Director for AKM, she oversees more than 1600 employees. We’d love to have you join us for this important seminar so you can avoid some of the most common mistakes in managing your team. Register today… it's free!

Ever since businesses started using Facebook to promote themselves there has been a push and pull over personal vs. professional in setting up a business page and using it. I’ve received more questions than I can count over how to balance personal vs. professional when using Facebook.

Earlier this year, Facebook announced some changes that make it easier to separate your personal presence from your professional presence. The greatest improvement is that you can now toggle between commenting, posting and interacting as your personal persona and your business one.

Here’s how to do it:

Set your posting preference by going to the Edit Page view from your business page and clicking on the link “Your Settings.” From there, you can set whether you want to primarily post as your personal or business persona.

Update email addresses – you can also change your email settings so activity on your business pages is emailed to your business email address.

Now you're able to toggle between posting as your business and personal personas by clicking on the “Account” drop down menu at the very top right of your business page and choosing the option “Use Facebook as Page."

Click here to view the Facebook Pages Manual for more detailed instructions.

Using tagging on your Facebook page is a great way to increase the interactivity and comments. Every time you tag someone in a post, photo or video, your name (or your business name, depending on which page you are tagging on behalf of) appears on the wall (and in front) of all the friends of the person you tagged. And most people love to see their names mentioned in the posts of others.

Here are some tips and ideas for tagging to increase traffic and interactivity to your Facebook page.

Tag people – You can easily tag them by putting an “@” before their name. For example, “@PatriciaNorins stopped by to preview our spring collection and got 10% off as a Facebook fan.” Their name will come up as you begin typing and just choose the correct person and your tag will also appear on their wall. You can also use the tag to get a quick marketing message in.

Tag photos – Make sure to tag customers in photos and videos that either they send you or that you take. Facebook is now using facial recognition software to make tagging easier and quicker.

Tag events – Anytime you host an event at your store, make sure to tag every Facebook fan that attends and tag the event. For example, "@PatriciaNorins just arrived for our @SpecialEvent." To tag events, also use the “@” symbol and make sure you’ve listed your event on your Facebook page. The event name will pop up when you begin typing and the “@” symbol will not appear in the finished post.

Tag winners – When you host a contest, use tagging to congratulate the winners in posts, photos and videos. If you have a contest where customers submit photos or videos, make sure to tag them so that all of their friends and loved ones will see the photo/video and see your Facebook page.

Try experimenting with more tagging today. When you go out to lunch or coffee, try tagging the folks you’re with and the retailer you visit and see what happens!