Your Facebook posts may only be seen by half of your fans that have “Liked” your page. Why? Facebook is constantly changing the way posts are presented to users. You can see evidence of this just by going to the News Feed on your personal page and looking at the top right column—you’ll see two choices: “Top News” and “Most Recent,” with “Top News” as the default. So how do you keep you posts running in the “Top News” of your fans? Here are a few tips:

Post regularly but not too much
Those that post consistently are more likely to appear in the Top News feed. The trick is to find the right balance between posting often (but not too much) and creating interesting posts so as to not bore or annoy your fans.

Know your audience
Launch your posts at days and times when your audience is most likely to be reading them. Go back and examine the days and times when your fans comment or post on your page. See if you can glean any trends and post during those ideal dates and times.

Shy away from social media dashboards
According to what I’ve been reading, Facebook has begun frowning upon content coming from dashboards like Hootsuite and Tweetdeck. I’ve used and suggested these tools in the past, but now the latest information is that content from these tools is less likely to appear in Top News—and is dumped to Most Recent.

Use photos and keep it short & sweet
Posts that include photos are more likely to appear on fans’ Top News feed, so include pictures when you can. Also, remember that shorter posts get more readership and interaction. The optimal post length is 80 characters or less.

Speaking of interaction
Do what you can to encourage fans to “Like” and comment on your posts. Post and posters that garner lots of interaction will appear in Top News more often.

For most independent retailers, inventory is likely your largest investment, and in challenging economic times, tighter inventory control becomes money in your pocket.

Here are a few of the most important inventory management pitfalls to avoid:

Carrying too much variety
We know that inadequate inventory and selection can mean lost sales, but too much selection can mean much needed funds tied up unnecessarily. Take a close look at your product selection to find opportunities to trim the width of your selection and keep more cash in your coffers.

Pushy vendors
Vendors want to clear out inventory and would prefer to push it down the supply chain to you. In many cases this could result in some favorable deals and perks, however, avoid the trap of ordering items or quantities that you don’t absolutely need. Push back on pushy vendors to avoid this mistake.

Ordering too infrequently
The closer you can get to just-in-time ordering, the better. Gone are the days of ordering and holding large inventories. To improve your cash flow, create a leaner inventory by ordering more often and improve your forecasting and budgeting capabilities.

Lack of planning
Lacking effective forecasting and budgeting will no doubt stymie your efforts at inventory management. You may need to upgrade your inventory management system, but the expense may be well worth it in the money you save.

While reading up on employee motivation recently, I ran across some interesting suggestions based on new research. I thought I’d share some of the top tips to help you put a renewed spring in your employees step.

Help them see the impact of their job on others Employees will work harder and smarter if they are directly connected to the impact they have on others. For example, a study showed that lifeguards that were told stories from people whose lives were saved by lifeguards were much more effective and motivated at work. As a retailer, make sure your employees are plugged in to the vision for your store that gets you out of bed each morning. Connect them with your passion. The next time one of your loyal customers visits the store, invite your customer to share what it is they love so much about their shopping experience, then share it with your employees at the next staff meeting.

Create environment where employees can connect personally with customers Recent studies show that when employees meet customers face-to-face and hear a personal story, they are more motivated to work harder for that customer. Train employees to personally engage customers during every visit. This will help your customers have a more welcoming visit, and they will spend more time and more money in your store. All of this will increase the motivation of your employees.

Sweat the small stuff Make sure you create an environment in your business that pays attention to the small stuff. What may be small to you may go a long way in motivating your employees to work harder and smarter. For example, I recently read about an hotelier that learned it could motivate housekeepers by making sure they had newer model, working vacuums. Imagine that! Encourage employees to share with you those small things that will help them do a better job and motivate them to be their best.

Here are three more suggestions to inspire your mid-year check-in:

Create greater efficiency. If you are feeling so mired in the day-to-day operations of your business that there is no time for goal-setting (let alone course-correcting), now is the time to create greater efficiency. Review the daily, weekly and/or monthly tasks that are holding you back and consider ridding yourself of unnecessary duties and streamline others with technology or changes in process. Creating greater efficiencies will open up space in your schedule to begin setting goals, innovating and growing your business.

Make sure changes are real and not superficial. If you plan to make course corrections, make sure the changes you make are real and transformative. Oftentimes as business owners we resist transformative change for fear of alienating core customers. Trust that your best customers will come along with you as you improve your products, customer experience or technology.

Consult with others outside your normal circle. If you and your business are feeling stuck, try venturing out from your inner circle of advisors and seek the advice of outside sources. Consider joining a professional organization where you can meet and speak with a whole new group of professionals. Try speaking with those outside of your industry to gain council and insight.

As we approach the mid-point of the year, it’s a great time to ask, “how is the year going?” How are you doing with the goals you set for yourself and your business this year? Are you still feeling motivated to achieve those goals or is it perhaps time to make some modifications? Here are some suggestions to get you back on track:

Remember your mission. When you began the year and set some goals for yourself, you perhaps had a mission for the year, whether to kick-up your marketing a notch or grow your business by opening a new location. Now is the time to revisit that mission and renew your commitment to it. If others of your staff are involved, revisit the mission with them as well and examine what it will take to achieve your goals and mission over the second half of the year.

Are your efforts working? If your efforts toward your goal make you feel like you’re swimming in quicksand and not getting anywhere, now is the time to reexamine why. If new marketing efforts seem not to be effective, or if a new product line is struggling, perhaps it’s time to refocus on what your customers or staff want. Take time to listen to others whether it be your advisors, employees or customers. Correct your course and see what happens over the next six months.

De-clutter for maximum gain. Now is a great time to examine your workload, products and even employees. Find all the activities, products and people that are bogging you and your business down (and demanding attention with no profit potential) — it’s time to eliminate them. Create space in your store and in your life and fill that new space with efforts, products and people that you know will add to your business success and work with you to achieve your goals.

Macy’s recently reported that sales for its online properties Macys.com and Bloomingdales.com grew by 50.3 percent compared to the same period last year. Much of the stellar sales jump is credited to Macy’s social media push on Facebook over the last year. Yes, we know Macy’s has much more marketing muscle and money than most of us—however, there’s much we can learn (and imitate) from Macy’s successful social media campaigns.

Lesson #1 – Run campaigns to gain new “Likes.”
Macy’s attracted 800,000 Likes this year for a total fan base of 1.8 million. The larger the number of fans you have, the greater the impact of your campaigns. So consider regularly running contests and drawings to continually grow your fan base. For example, Macy’s launched a contest to giveaway free style makeovers by a celebrity fashion expert where the winners were flown to New York for their makeover. The campaign garnered thousands of Likes per day.

Lesson #2 – Create goodwill marketing campaigns.
Macy’s created campaigns that drew traffic to their Facebook Page and website, but were what I’d call a soft sell. For example, one campaign was called “Thank a Mom.” The campaign raised over $400,000 for charity and created website traffic by offering Mother’s Day e-cards. Of course, while sending out their e-card, visitors to the website could also browse a listing of Mother’s Day gift ideas.

Lesson #3 – Link between Facebook Page and website.
Get the most from your marketing campaigns by promoting them across all of your available platforms. For example, Macy’s placed a Mother’s Day Gift Guide button on its Facebook page to drive traffic (and sales) to its website. In another successful campaign, Macy’s combined use of Foursquare, Twitter and outdoor advertising (on buses, etc.) to promote its Annual Flower Show. In kind, you can make sure the look and feel of your marketing is consistent between your website, Facebook page, e-newsletters, blog, etc.

If you’ve seen any of the financial news lately, it looks like we’re not quite out of the woods economically in this country. This fact has reminded me that I need to be ever vigilant with where my money is going.

Here are a few of the most common places retailers tend to spend funds unnecessarily:

Paying the wrong person for the job. As we all know, our staff’s salaries are a major expense. Take a look at what you’re paying people to do. Do you have the right folks in the right positions? Are you paying managers to do tasks that support-level people could do? Are you spending more than necessary outsourcing something that could be done in-house at a lower cost? Are your people trained to know how to do their job efficiently and independently?

Paying for more space than you need. Rent is also a major expense for most retailers. Now is the time to examine whether you need all the space that you have. Could you rent part of your space to a complimentary retailer or merge with another shop? Perhaps you could negotiate a better deal with your landlord? Yes, moving is expensive, however you may want to run the numbers and see if over the long-term it makes sense.

Keep an eye on the little things. Take a look at all of your ancillary expenses from items like office supplies to your phone and internet service. Shop around a bit and see if you can get some better deals. You may have features on your phone and internet plan that you don’t need, or those that you are using à la carte, but could be included in a bundle pricing deal. Remember that phone and internet are often negotiable so try and negotiate yourself a better deal.

Recently I read an article about a study on customer trust commissioned by Pitney Bowes Business Insight. Not surprisingly, the study reported that fostering customer trust leads to greater loyalty, one of the hallmarks of a successful retail business.

So, how do we foster greater trust among our customers? Here are some examples cited in the study:

Front-line employees
The study found that front-line employees are the most-considered factor among customers in whether they can trust your business. Hiring great people is critical to your business success and training those great people is just as important. Teach your people how to give customers a memorable, trustworthy experience when they visit your store.

Transparency
Increasing transparency in your policies and procedures is another way the study found to increase customer trust. Make sure your return policies, price adjustment policies and procedures for how customer complaints are handled are clear, explicit and well-communicated. Also, teach your employees to be transparent and honest with customers. When they don’t know something, teach them to say “I don’t know, but I will find out for you.”

Effective communications
How you communicate with customers also affects whether they trust you or not. Examine all the ways your business communicates with the customers and prospective and make sure that each communication opportunity reflects clarity, competence, and honesty.

Past experiences
Customers’ past experience with your business is also one of the top factors in whether they trust you or not, says the study. Thus, it’s imperative that each time your customer interacts with your business – from something simple like calling and ask your hours of operation to a more sensitive situation like solving a customer complaint – if it’s done in a competent, transparent, respectful and honest manner you will earn not only the trust, but also the loyalty of your customers.

If you’ve posted a job opening lately you’ve likely been flooded by more resumes, applications and eager candidates than in years past. So, how do you effectively wade through all the resumes, culling out those that are not ideal? Here are some tips to keep in mind while reading through that stack.

Attention to detail – Look for resumes that are in a proper, coherent format. With all the resume templates out there, it’s not hard for an eager, diligent individual to find a well-organized template appropriate for the job for which they are applying. Make sure the resume does not have spelling or major grammatical errors. Resumes free of obvious errors show an applicant that has attention to detail and cares about making a good first impression, both good qualities in an employee.

A path of advancement – Read each resume with an eye toward whether the individual has experienced a path of advancement in their lives and career. This type of candidate is more likely to approach their job with a desire to learn and grow. Look for advancing job titles, even if it seems there’s been some job hopping with varied companies. Try not to hold it against the candidate if they have moved to different companies (if it appears it has been in the name of advancing a career). You can ask for further details during the interview process. Remember that in this day and age it’s less likely for motivated individuals to stay with just one company.

Interesting backgrounds – Look for candidates with varied backgrounds, career paths, interests and hobbies that not only show some depth of character, but may bring some interesting capabilities and perspectives to your staff. Take inventory of your team and consider which candidates could add a new perspective to better your business and move them to the next step in your hiring process.

Other important items to look for are a well thought out cover letter that really sells you on why they want to join your retail team. Considering these tips should help you whittle down that stack of resumes to a smaller group of really great candidates.

Twitter recently announced that it will be rolling out a more automated system for small businesses to advertise using Promoted Tweets, Trends, and Accounts. This change is in response to the complaints of willing small business advertisers that have had trouble getting through to Twitter’s over-burdened sales staff. What does this mean for you? This means that once again social media will level the playing field and your business will be able to sponsor tweets, trends and accounts the same way major brands like Coke do. To make the news even better, you will be able to target your advertising to a geographical area making the system ideal for small businesses whose customers are primarily local.

Learn more about advertising on Twitter.