(Huffington Post) — Social media events — from live chats to product unveilings to webinars — are a fun way to engage customers. By leveraging social media, you can create an experience for your existing customers and connect with new customers as well.  But there are some best practices to ensure that you are hosting beneficial events that are worthwhile investments of time and resources for both you and your customers. Below are five tips for hosting an effective social media event:  Give it a reason to exist: If you are going to have an event, give your customers something really exciting to participate in that they care about. Maybe it’s a chat with your product designers or top executives. Maybe it’s a chance for them to give feedback and access to limited edition products. Maybe it’s information from a respected industry authority. There isn’t a secret formula, other than that it needs to be valuable and relevant to your customers. If you (or your competitors) host a lot of events, keep it fresh and change up the formula.

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(Entrepreneur) — Sooner or later, most businesses reshape their clientele for one of two reasons:

1. On the proactive side, businesses part with low-profit customers to focus on those who deliver greater bottom-line results.
2. On the reactive side, businesses sever relationships with customers whose demands abuse company policies and damage business profitability and morale.

Either way, parting requires effort and finesse.

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(Forbes) — Fire a Warning Shot:  Your contracts and invoices likely include language saying that past-due payments will accrue interest at some rate. If you’re like me, you’d rather work with your customers than play shylock, but at some point enough is enough. If six months go by and a customer still hasn’t paid, include with your next bill a letter reminding him that he agreed to the interest charges but that in good faith you haven’t enforced them. Then calculate the total interest thus far and say you will charge all of it unless payment arrives within two weeks. My firm has done this a half-dozen times, and it always works. One client, who owed about $15,000, stopped by and handed me 12 checks, each for $1,000, to be cashed the first day of each month in the coming year. Now, there is no assurance that the checks will be good, but at least he is making an honest attempt to pay me.

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