Social Media is not a “one fits all” approach

 Online Content, Online Marketing, Online Media, Social Media Tips  No Responses »
Jan 292013
 

Social media is the ‘buzz’ word of online marketing, however most businesses are oblivious to their social media efforts and activities.  Most people are under the impression that social media is a ‘one fits all’ approach when in actual fact nothing could be further from reality.  Having a Facebook page does not equal social engagement.  Those businesses that choose to adopt the ‘one fits all’ approach or treat all applications or platforms the same may damage their online creditability in the long run.  Not all platforms have the same interactions and applying them the same way means not being effective in social media.

What to do then?

Not all social media platforms will suit your business so it is essential to select your social media targeted to your business and its requirements.  The key is to choose the best social media platform for your business regardless of what other similar businesses are implementing.  This way you can make the most out of social media and engage with customers and potential ones.

So the key things to consider when choosing a social media platform include:

  • Who is your intended audience?
  • What do you want out of the communication? Brand awareness, demonstrate your expertise, data collection?
  • How much time are you willing to invest in social media?

Once you have decided the best platform to interact for your business, commit to a long term strategy for the best results.  There is no right or wrong just experimentation.  With some strategic thought you will go a long way to ensuring that you have a positive social media engagement.

 

Thanks for reading!

Feel free to ‘tweet’ or ‘repost’ this article or leave your comments….

 Posted by on 29 January, 2013 at 1:21 pm

Social Media ROI

 Online Marketing, SMEs, Social Media, Social Media in the Workplace, Social Media ROI, Social Media Tips  No Responses »
Nov 212012
 

As more organisations use social media they invest more time and money.  This may point to the fact that business will want to ensure there is some return on investment on their commitment of time and money.  To date, there is no clear formula that can be used to measure ROI.  And although social media ROI may be challenging it is not impossible.  Here are some tips:

Determine Costs:

At a very basic level, you can assess the costs of your social media strategy by determining how many hours are spent on social media activities and then multiplying these hours with the appropriate hourly dollar value of the person who is active on social media.

Soft Metrics:

Likes, comments, shares or followers are known as ‘soft metrics’ in social media.  They are easy to measure but they are not entirely accurate.  However, they shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand.  They can provide an general brand awareness evaluation that is difficult to quantify but has an effect on the social media platform.

Benchmarking:

Establish your goal/s with a starting point of data.  This can then be used to measure the effectiveness of the goals over a period of time.  Future data can be measured against this original data to measure the value of what has been achieved.

Know the Purpose of your Social Media Platform:

When you know what your social media platform is being used for, then you will have some idea of whether your purpose is being met.  For example, if you want to use the platform to provide customer service each problem solved is a tick in the ROI.  What do these ‘ticks’ mean.  Well what is the financial value of successfully solving a customer problem?

 None of these approaches are complete but are a starting point to use as business adapts to social media usage.

 

What do people think?

Thanks for reading!

Feel free to ‘tweet’ or ‘repost’ this article or leave your comments….

 

 Posted by on 21 November, 2012 at 11:57 am

Which Social Media Platform is Best for Your Business?

 Online Marketing, Online Media, Social Media, Social Media Tips, Social Network Sites  No Responses »
Oct 082012
 

Social media is literally everywhere these days.  Lots of businesses are using it to connect, market and communicate.  As a tool, social media has the potential to reach potential customers and to let everyone know about your business.  Investing time and money is crucial and choosing the ‘right’ platform is even more important.  However, with so many social media sites which is the best platform to use for your business?

Firstly, business doesn’t need to have multiple platform interaction.  Starting off with only one or two platforms is a better strategy than investing time and money in five.  Once you have achieved success with one, you can add more but only if it will provide value to the business.

Secondly, determine what you want to achieve.  What are your desired outcomes?  Consider the variety of advantages and disadvantages of each social media platform and weigh these up against your goals, costs and likely results.

Thirdly, social media needs to be part of an overall marketing and communication strategy.  Social media shouldn’t be the only tool to use.  Use it as part of a larger communication tool kit.  Too often businesses rush in without thinking about the long-term approach because everyone else is using it.  This will not bring success, only frustration.

These three points are crucial to determining what social media platform to utilise.  Spend time at the beginning to consider what goals social media will achieve for your business.  Have a well thought out approach and then commit for the long term.

Bear in mind the three following key words: consider, plan and commit.  This will likely bring the achievement you are looking for and keep you flexible enough in a dynamic environment.

Give it a try and see what happens!

 

What has worked for others?

 

Thanks for reading!

Feel free to ‘tweet’ or ‘repost’ this article or leave your comments….

 Posted by on 8 October, 2012 at 11:17 am

The Benefits of Social Media for Business

 Brand Awareness, Online Marketing, Social Media, Social Media Tips  No Responses »
Sep 172012
 

Social media continues to grow.  As such it offers many benefits to SMEs.  Although, there are a number of pros and cons related to social media platforms, not considering these platforms is possibly a negative for businesses.

Think of social media as an opportunity that needs to be part of a broader overall marketing strategy to maximise benefits.  If used consistently and strategically there are many possible advantages.

Here are some possible benefits to consider:

Increase your Visibility

When you participate in the network, there is greater potential that others see you and come to know you, extending your network and improving your chances of creating business opportunities.

Industry Conversation

Participating in a conversation that is relevant to your industry makes you visible.  Reporting on industry news and providing commentary promotes your expertise.

Improve Your Google Ranking

Social media platforms are ranked quite high up in a Google search.  Thus when people look you up via a search engine anyone can easily find you and connect with you.

Competitive Intelligence

Useful information can be gleamed by monitoring what your competitors are doing and saying.  This constructive information can be used for dynamic intelligence merely by scanning their content.

Brand Awareness

SMEs can keep their brand at the top of mind for people.  By easily linking to articles or content on your website, the brand name can be kept at the forefront.

Feedback Mechanism

Launching a new product or website?  Social media platforms allow instant reaction.  Not only is it free, the feedback is valuable as it is from your target audience.

What are people’s  experiences?

Thanks for reading!

Feel free to ‘tweet’ or ‘repost’ this article or leave your comments….

 Posted by on 17 September, 2012 at 11:00 am

Social Media in 5 Steps

 Online Marketing, Online Media, Social Media, Social Media Tips  No Responses »
Aug 272012
 

Social media is about communicating, connecting and building relationships.  For business, it is another tool to communicate with clients and partners.  Not engaging in this space means missing out on opportunities to explore an exciting environment.  Social media, although free to use, requires time and effort as well as strategic thinking and planning to obtain results.

The following 5 steps provide a straightforward approach that can enhance your business value over a period of time.

1. Plan: Have a social media strategy as part of overall marketing and business objectives.  A structured approach provides a focus, manages expectations and targets development.

2. Content: In order to get noticed by your target audience, share interesting and informative content.  Share news, opinions and articles relevant to your industry and provide different formats of content including text, clips, and graphics.

3. Consistency: Posting regularly is a good way to see opportunities come your way.  People get to know you and what you are about.  A publishing schedule can support the consistency needed.

4. Commitment: Before commencing to engage in social media make a commitment to persist for the long term.  Results will not be immediate so dedication is needed to keep participating, being enthusiastic and developing.

5. Listen: once you are engaging on social media, take the time to genuinely listen to what is being said by your audience.  Understand what their requirements are so that you are able to respond appropriately.

Social media is a long-term process.  Have an open mindset and a commitment to stick with the plan.  Be flexible even when results are not forthcoming.  Keep working towards the goals by being active, consistent and engaging.

Thanks for reading!

Feel free to ‘tweet’ or ‘repost’ this article or leave your comments….

 Posted by on 27 August, 2012 at 3:35 pm

How SMEs Can Utilise Facebook for Business

 Facebook, Online Content, Online Marketing, Small Business, SMEs, Social Media, Social Media Tips  No Responses »
Aug 062012
 

Although primarily a social platform, Facebook can be utilised effectively as a business tool.  Here are 4 key fundamentals that need to be put in place to support the process.

Have a Goal

Anyone who establishes a Facebook page for business purposes needs to have a goal for what they want their page to achieve.  By creating a clear objective, this can be used to assist in shaping online perceptions about your business.

Some examples of goals to aim for include:

o        Building community

o        Raising brand awareness

o        Enhancing customer service

Create a Publishing Schedule

Publishing content is time consuming and repetitive.  Content needs to be published regularly to have any impact.  However, posting too much may annoy your Fans.  A schedule allows you to track your activities and strike a balance in terms of content upload as well as consider topics of interest, research and creation of content in a strategic way.

Link your Facebook Profile

If you have other social media profiles, then link these to your Facebook page.  A blog, Twitter account or LinkedIn page should all be connected.  These interrelated platforms are a great way to promote your business across platforms and establish a presence.

Create a Resource

Use your Facebook page to “add value” to your customers.  Offer information, create contests, offer deals and provide solutions to customer issues.  Post questions on your ‘wall’ so that your Fans can respond and be interactive.  Get them to share insights, opinions and reward them for their feedback.

But more importantly have some fun!

Thanks for reading!

Feel free to ‘tweet’ or ‘repost’ this article or leave your comments….

 Posted by on 6 August, 2012 at 12:47 pm

Social Media and Managing Your Online Brand and Reputation

 Online Brand Reputation, Online Content, Online Marketing, Online Media, Online Reputation, Social Media, Social Media in the Workplace, Social Media Tips, Social Network Sites  No Responses »
Jul 162012
 

Social media is an important tool for business communications.  Despite the positive aspects it brings, the nature of social media means that someone airing their bad experience online does so, instantly and potentially to a massive audience.

As the online environment becomes more crucial to business, and more people are continuously online, increasingly they will comment on their experience with friends via Facebook, blogs, Twitter and so on.  This emerges as a risk that all businesses need to manage.  Any negative comments from disgruntled customers (or employees) can potentially be very damaging to a business image if it goes ‘viral’.

Here are 3 steps for SMEs to be proactive in managing their brand and reputation:

1. Audit

This is essential to assess your brand and reputation and see exactly what people think about your business.  These conversations are happening with or without your presence so there is plenty of information out there.  Therefore it is vital for business to be a part of the online community and monitor what is being said about them.

2. Positive Content

It is unlikely that you will be able to have every negative comment or image removed from its original source.  Content which is hosted on a third’s party’s site is content that will be challenging to remove.  If you have been unsuccessful in asking nicely to have it removed, be proactive and keep publishing constructive content.  This can diminish the negative content’s visibility to the lower end of an engine search.

3. Track & Monitor

Think about key words or phrases that you believe symbolise you, your company, and your brand.  These can be typed into a search engine to see what comes up.  Better still, to be more efficient set up ‘alerts’ (i.e Google Alert) with your key words so that you are notified each time there is a post or tweet that mentions your key words.

Be cautious about trying to have negative comments removed as this may cause more damage as it alerts individuals to the content and suggests you are trying to hide something!!  Accept that the online environment is something you can’t control and that negative comments will always be part of equation.  Business can only track, monitor, negate and correct factual information.

Thanks for reading!

Feel free to ‘tweet’ or ‘repost’ this article or leave your comments….

 Posted by on 16 July, 2012 at 10:59 am

Online Social Media Strategies to Move Your Buisness Forward

 Online Content, Online Marketing, Online Media, Small Business, SMEs, Social Media, Social Media Tips  No Responses »
Jul 102012
 

With social media changing daily it can be challenging to keep up especially when you are a sole business operator.  However, there are simple strategies that remain effective despite the fluid online environment.

To begin with choose one or two strategies discussed below and eventually work your way through all of them.  Implementing them this way facilitates more likely success as you are able to refine each strategy as you go instead of becoming overwhelmed with having too many!

1. Develop a Strategy

Having a social media strategy is vital and can’t be stressed enough.  It is essentially important to have a clear strategy around your reasons for using social media and the goals you hope to achieve.  The strategy needs to combine other business and marketing goals to be part of the overall marketing and communication strategy.  Therefore, everything is interconnected for maximum affect.

2. Social Media Means Being Social

One of the most common mistakes people make in respect to social media is that they treat it like traditional media – forcing a message in a one-way direction.  Social media is about building relationships and this takes time.  It requires consistent posting always engaging with others and learning to listen to what individuals are saying.  So the key is to be active, consistent and engaging.

3. Content is Still King

Content is king on the Internet.  Search engines love it and so does your target audience if you are providing them with information they require.  Static websites no longer work so add articles on a regular basis.  If you have a blog then update it regularly at least on a weekly basis and more if feasible.  Your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn platforms also need to be active and this can be done everyday with content such as quotes, clips or articles.

4. Make it Different

To stand out in social media there needs to be an element that is diverse.  There are a number of simple ways this can be achieved and here are some things to experiment with:

  • Use humour
  • Have a cleverly designed infographic
  • Use vibrant colours, easy to understand language
  • Use bold graphics, images, phrases, or titles

5. Use Video as Content

Video makes you visible and is a great tool to add to your marketing kit.  Potential customers may feel you to be more “trustworthy” or “real” when they see your face and hear you speak.  It is not as complicated as you think and once you have done it a few times it will be second nature and a great way to build relationships.

6. SEO is Important

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is essential and critical for online success.  It is not as intimidating as it sounds.  There are tech people that can support you with this.  However, you can learn about SEO and navigate simple techniques to begin with.  For example, starting your own blog if attached to your website is great for SEO.  As your rankings improve, targeted traffic will increase and hopefully generate more leads

So why not give one a go and see what happens? I look forward to hearing your feedback.

Thanks for reading!

Feel free to ‘tweet’ or ‘repost’ this article or leave your comments….

 Posted by on 10 July, 2012 at 11:35 am

Strengthening Your Social Media Profiles

 Facebook, Online Marketing, SMEs, Social Media, Social Media Tips, Social Network Sites, Uncategorized  No Responses »
Apr 192012
 

Given the amount of time people spend on their social network sites, building their connections and growing their network, it is surprising when their profiles don’t get as much attention as they should.  If the aim is to increase your brand’s visibility, both personal and business, then having a strong profile is key.  A profile that ranks highly in searches is important to improving online presence.

Here are 4 ways to strengthen your profile.

Maintain Your Identity

With so many social media platforms, each with its own uniqueness, it is important to create and maintain a consistent identity or brand.  Use the same tone throughout each profile, as this will ensure that your profile is delivering the same message throughout.  If a potential client searches for you online through Facebook and LinkedIn the profiles need to say the same thing otherwise the message is not clear.

Something else to consider with your identify, is your photo.  Make sure that the image you choose is consistent throughout all your profiles and enhances your credibility not detracts from it.  That means you need an update to date and professional image, not one from a party last week.

Content is Important

What you write about yourself is vital so consider your profile a CV summary.  Tell people about the services you offer and the skills your have.  Sell yourself in a few short sentences so be clear, brief and to the point.  People need to be able to understand what you do immediately and the message needs to be the same throughout all profiles.

Although the aim is to be professional, allow your personality to come out so that people can gain an insight into your individuality.

Keywords

Keywords are important in your profile as social media profiles are highly searchable and have greater chance of being at the top end of search engine results.

It is, therefore, important to think about what keywords best describe what you do.  Ask yourself what keywords you would use to search for your business.  It may also be useful to ask other people you know what keywords they would use.  Then incorporate a mixture of words that are both specific and general so that you can optimise connecting with your target audience.

Consistency

Google loves regularly updated content so to be successful in social media consistency is key.  This means being active and having a planned approach with postings everyday or least every couple of days.  This way you can engage with your fans, connections or followers and stay regularly in contact.

Having multiple accounts is very time consuming so it is better to have fewer platforms than more if you can’t regularly post in all of them.  Choose the ones that you believe will connect with your target audience and start there.  You can always increase the platforms once you find a structured approach that works for you.

Today, social media profiles are more important than ever.  So when you create a platform, know that you are creating an identity.  Hopefully it is one that people will want to connect with so that the benefits will flow.

What are your thoughts?

This article was published in Dynamic Business.

 

 Posted by on 19 April, 2012 at 2:31 pm

Approaching Social Media with the Right Mindset

 Internet, Online Marketing, SMEs, Social Media, Social Media Tips, Social Network Sites  No Responses »
Apr 052012
 

You can’t approach social media with a traditional media mindset, or you’ll never see a return on your investment in the medium. Here’s how social media users expect you to connect with them.

Technology is rapidly evolving and growing and history shows that as new technology emerges, old techniques are applied because this is all that is known.

Currently, this is happening with social media which means marketers are misinterpreting its purpose and the expectations of its users. This misunderstanding mainly comes down to looking at social media with traditional media mindset – and this needs to change.

Social media centres around the user, not the product, so the established method of pushing a message in a one-way direction just doesn’t work. Incentives, freebies and giveaways will succeed in the short term but in the longer term if the user isn’t being heard and acknowledged, these will no longer hit the mark.

The catch is that although technology changes rapidly, people change slowly and as a result, social media is being approached in the same way as traditional media. Instead, we need to think in terms of traditional and social mediums merging. How does traditional media support emerging social media tools and help it to develop and grow?  And vice versa – what can social media teach us that can be applied to traditional media outlets?

If you think in these terms, you’ll come to understand social media as simply another tool to support business objectives, be it in a different way.

Here are some tips for approaching social media in the right way:

  • Social media is about people: It’s the subtle building of relationships. As you create relationships online, you need to gain trust first and then marketing comes later, much later. This is one of the most common mistakes made by marketers and advertisers – they want to sell straight away and when they don’t succeed they blame the medium.
  • Integrate social media with other marketing forms: Very few brands do marketing in isolation. Marketing activities need to be unified across all channels, and so social media needs to be included in your overall strategy rather than be regarded as a separate entity. It needs to be seen as just another channel, as the best results will be achieved this way.
  • Experimentation, innovation and uniqueness: Social media is a switch from a monologue to a dialogue, therefore consumers expect to be listened to and answered. Businesses that best understand this will experiment and innovate by listening to their users and interacting with them and finding the right balance between their values and market feedback.

History shows that people eventually adapt to new technologies. Investing in social media is important, but it requires new skills and approaches to be a success. Those that don’t think outside the box and rely on traditional methods will have difficultly gaining traction and those who maintain control of the message won’t succeed in getting any message across.

Experiment until you find what suits your business requirements.

What do others think?

 Posted by on 5 April, 2012 at 8:10 am
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