Should Social Media be Allowed in the Workplace

 SMEs, Social Media, Social Media in the Workplace  No Responses »
Oct 012012
 

Social media is blurring the lines between personal and professional and is saturating our lives in many ways.  Statistics show that social media is growing fast.

Although there are risks with social media there are also positives.  Some employers are quick to ban it in the workplace as a means of trying to control these potential risks.  However, this doesn’t look at the bigger picture, and the fact that employers can’t social media.

As social media becomes a bigger part of the fabric of daily life, it needs to be managed not banned.  Employers need to be proactive and educate their employees around social media usage and expectations.  The benefits can be enormous and include:

o        Gain intelligence to benefit your business

o        Use it for networking and exploring

o        Build brand awareness

o        Collaboratively problem solve

o        Employees can sell the company message

Banning social media in the workplace is ineffective and basically futile as anyone who has access to an iPhone has access whenever they choose.  It is a reactive approach to a very modern issue.  Education is the key as is working collaboratively and positively.

 

What do people think?

Thanks for reading!

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

 Posted by on 1 October, 2012 at 10:42 am

Benefits of Using Twitter for SMEs

 Brand Awareness, SEO, Small Business, SMEs, Twitter  No Responses »
Aug 132012
 

Twitter is one of the fastest growing social network platforms in the online space with unbelievable growth.  As such it offers many benefits to SMEs.  It can be used for a number of purposes and if used consistently and strategically there are many possible advantages.

Here are 6 benefits in using Twitter for business:

Brand Awareness: Twitter allows SMEs to keep their brand at the top of mind for people.  By easily linking to articles or content, the brand name can be kept at the forefront.

Competitive Intelligence: useful information can be gleamed by monitoring what your competitors are doing and saying.  By scanning their tweets, profile and contacts valuable business intelligence can be gained.

Industry Conversation: participating in conversation makes you visible.  Reporting on industry news and providing commentary promotes your expertise.  Listening to the audience as they engage provides useful knowledge.

Twitter and Mobile: as Twitter is limited to 140 characters, its mobile interaction is effortless.  Receiving updates is easy via SMS and it becomes a transportable communication tool – very influential for modern day business communication.

SEO Increase: use Twitter to drive traffic to your website (or a preferred page), particularly if you have valuable content for you audience.  This may assist in enticing conversion.

Feedback:  Do you have specific questions that you want answered?  Use this mechanism to gain feedback by posting your queries on Twitter with instant and helpful comments.

Although these benefits can also apply to other social media platforms Twitter’s uniqueness of 140-character limit can be used to advantage.  Most individuals don’t want to read long pieces of information so short tweets providing valuable content which your target audience finds beneficial is priceless.  The future lies in mobile communication and Twitter is ideal for this interaction.

Thanks for reading!

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

 Posted by on 13 August, 2012 at 3:54 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

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

Measuring your Social Media Marketing

 Small Business, SMEs, Social Media, Social Media Tips  No Responses »
May 052012
 

Social media has entered a new phase – it’s no longer a novelty where business can simply experiment and hope for the best. As the social media space matures, businesses are demanding more value for money.

At present, social media measurement is still in its infancy and strategists can’t agree on an established framework to measure its success, however, there are some approaches that can be used to help establish a framework that will work for your business.

The following three steps are a good starting place:

1. Establish your Goal

Any good marketing plan begins with established goals and this is no different with social media. Before you can measure your efforts, you need to know what your goals are. What is it that you want to accomplish through social media? Some possibilities include: reach a specific demographic, get more reviews, increase brand awareness or sell more products.

Whatever the objective, the main point is that the goals need to be very specific and clear. For example, if you want to increase brand awareness, what do you hope this increased awareness will do for your business? Break it down until it’s tangible. If there are no clear goals, it will be impossible to effectively measure what you are doing.

2. Establish your Baselines

Baselines are benchmarks standards, which all metrics are measured against. In order to establish whether your goals have been achieved a starting point of information is needed that can be used to compare the data collected.

The goals will determine what you measure, and this is why set standard metrics are so challenging to determine. Each business will have different goals, and the metrics needed will be determined by the individual business using the information they have available to them.

Social media needs to be considered as a long-term prospect. Estimates suggest that you require three to six months to determine benchmarks – and skipping this stage to get to the next will leave you with flawed data.

3. Track your Efforts

Once you have established all the information you need, the most important aspect is to actually track your efforts. Although you can pay for these services, there are plenty of free tools available that can be used to track progress.

Most social media platforms have free internal features that can give some insight.  Here are some examples:

Facebook Insights: this tool can be accessed from the main menu when you edit any Facebook page. It can assist in tracking and analysing demographics, how users engage with specific content and much more.

WordPress Stats: if you use WordPress for your website or blog, there various plugins which can aid you to analyse your site.

Google: there are a number of tools Google provides which can be used to for analytical purposes over a range of things. Google Analytics, Google Webmaster Tools and Google Trends are just three available.

It’s also valuable to use more than one tool for tracking purposes, as using various tools can provide a more accurate representation of what’s happening. Also, remember to focus only on the data relevant to your goals otherwise there can be information overload.

Social media isn’t a destination, but a vehicle of communication tools. It’s important not to get overwhelmed by all the information and advice available, you need to trust your instincts, as you know your business better than any expert. A slow, methodical and disciplined approach is recommended with regular action and inroads will be made.

This article was published in Dynamic Business.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to ‘tweet’ or ‘repost’ this article or leave your comments….

 Posted by on 5 May, 2012 at 8:31 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

Social Media Essential for SMEs

 Small Business, SMEs, Social Media, Social Media Tips  No Responses »
Nov 022011
 

The June 2011 Sensis® eBusiness Report examines a number of attitudes and experiences of small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) in relation to e-business across a range of online technologies.  An interesting aspect of this report is that of the 95% who had an online presence only 16% reported that they had a digital strategy.  Further only 18% of SMEs use social media in their business.  Although this has grown 10% over the past twelve months this is still extremely low.

In this modern age of digital technologies, utilising social media is essential, as it has exploded over the past five years.  Social media is all about engagement and relationships and valuable information is available via social media presenting SMEs with an opportunity to listen, learn and engage with customers.

SMEs that utilise this platform with a planned and strategic approach will benefit.  Here are 3 reasons to connect with social media:

Wider Audience Exposure

There are millions of people using it representing an enormous pool of people that can be tapped into.  Individual businesses that research where their target audience is residing and where potential can come from will directly increase their exposure.

Build Relationships

By engaging with consumers, businesses can initiate discussion about their products, share information and build confidence in their business.  As consumers interact they see a different aspect of the business.  This interaction can build trust and in a globalised economy  these relationships are important and can drive customer loyalty.

Risk Management Strategy

One of the most important reasons every business should be engaged in social media is to protect their reputation.  Being online allows every business to have a proactive risk management strategy and hopefully minimise damage from negative comments.

So what do people think about social media for SMEs – a waste of time or a positive new approach?

Let me know what you think.

 Posted by on 2 November, 2011 at 3:45 pm
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