Archive for the ‘Social Media’ Category

It is how we communicate in today’s world, how we share news, develop friendships and ultimately create business.

Do you do any of the following?

• Receive incoming calls/enquiries every day
• Employ someone to make cold calls to promote your business
• Network regularly
• Entertain clients

Social Media allows you to do all of the above but in a more efficient manner, every day, globally without leaving your office.  By being part of social media you can help to:-

• Build your brand
• Your image
• Your reputation

With over millions of users you won’t find a larger audience.  Ask yourself – can you afford not to be involved?

If you need any help or guidance as to how to get started with your Social Media give me a ring on 01672 569092.

Enjoy Chris Slay, of Skills Provision Ltd guest blog post on social media and the success he has recently achieved.

I am forever being asked as to which marketing strategy will lead to better sales and having been in business for more years than I care to remember my bulk standard reply is to use as many marketing tactics as you can and to measure the results with perspective having given heed to your products/services and your target customer base.

So what does this mean in reality and where do you start?

Start with your product and service. Does demand truly exist? Are you sure? Have you done your research? Can you prove it to yourself?  OK so you think you can prove a demand but then comes the next challenge – how do you stand out from the crowd?

If yours is a niche product or service then you might not have much competition but also absolute demand will be lower. Contrast this to commodity products/services where there are many sellers chasing a small slice of a crowded market and it becomes very difficult to be noticed and attract new clients, unless you are constantly “on the go” and on your toes.

Social Media is a way of creating noise and if done right it will create opportunities to close business deals if your product and service is right. If your price/product/service is wrong then, whatever your activity level, conversion will be poor.

So this now leads on to knowing your target market and where and how they choose to shop your services/products and this is changing.

In parts of our business Social Media is useless because our target audience at present do not use Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin (the holy trinity of Social Networking) and we have to market to them differently.  However, SM enables us to have international reach far beyond the scale of our operations and has enabled us to find candidates for Saudi Arabia and Australia and on one occasion a Polish girl living in Denmark applied for a position in the UK via Twitter.

The inspiration for this blog entry is a story of a tweet picked up by Lesley-Anne of On The Go and referred to me for a local operation where I actually knew one of the non-executive directors but was oblivious to the opportunity. On checking it out I was sent a Facebook URL to the guy’s profile, saw he was under 35 and it clicked – here is a young decision maker, in a modern business, using today’s technology to reach out to the market place. There is no doubt this will increase over time.

As for SM strategy we’ve been at it longer than most. Initially we struggled but went back to the drawing board and redesigned our strategy which is a mix of little and often, a bit of humour, informational tips and links to articles to drive traffic towards our websites. SM is and will remain part of our marketing strategy but will create no opportunities unless our buyers want our services in the first place.

SM is a business tool, amongst others, in you marketing golf bag- use it wisely, well and sparingly. If you need to repeat messages/themes, then at least try and use a variety of words and to amuse your audience as at the end of the day SM is P to P (people to people) whether you are B2C or B2B and all those other awful acronyms used in modern marketing.

The market has changed. We need to think backwards from the future not forward from the past.

I have two teenage daughters who need to be surgically separated from “facebook and fone”.  Their generation will be the decision makers of tomorrow and  for them to be communicated with via social media you’d better get involved now while the SM market is young, immature and forgiving.

Adapt or die.

Having been involved with social media for some time now, it has been a mystery to me, as well as frustrating, to note on my Google Analytics reports that only the odd one or two show Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn stats out of the hundreds of posts circulated.

Having just read this article  Mistakes Marketers Make with Tracking Social Media it is frustrating to see that if anyone who clicks on a link you’ve posted from a desktop app, such as TweetDeck or HootSuite, or from a mobile device, which it’s highly probable most people will, the links will show up in Google Analytics as direct traffic!

However, you will be pleased to know that if you follow the guidelines in this article there is a way round it.  It will take time but it will certainly help give a clearer picture in the future of how your social media is working.

Social media platforms enable us to communicate, advertise, chat and promote ourselves to the world, yes that’s right the world – not just to our neighbours, friends or work colleagues.  These platforms package each and every one of us together as one person, one voice all echoing sentiments on a specific topic of the day adding our own views, thoughts and preferences.  When using a platform such as Tweetdeck or HootSuite you can see clearly who is following what topic of the day, who gets a response from their posts, what their sense of humour is like and which business category they fall into.  Does it make for interesting reading – only if you are interested in that topic.  By making full use of both Tweetdeck and HootSuite I can stream the people I follow – serious – nutty – funny – business – friends etc.  Depending on my mood I can choose which posts I am going to read – the choice is there.  That doesn’t mean I undervalue any of the people I follow it just means I can choose, at a glance if I am going to follow their topic of the day.

Do you have a set pattern every day; spend the same amount of time on social media morning, lunchtime and evening?  Or do you go with the flow and check out as and when?  Do you have a favourite site – Facebook or Twitter?  They both provide the same service the only difference being Facebook allows you to talk longer! Which do you prefer and why?

Nigel Morgan of Morgan PR featured me in his blog this morning having had a conversation with me first thing.  The reason for his call was to discuss MYSMB which has recently come on the market.  I felt it only appropriate to use my blog to respond as well as placing the context of this blog into his comments section.  Before you read on I would like to make it clear that I believe Nigel is extremely adept at what he does not only in the field of Social Media but also as a PR consultant.

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It was good to chat to you this morning Nigel – I didn’t realise I was going to be featured in your blog!  MYSMB appears to have got a few people in a spin judging by the various comments on blogs and social networks.  I will reiterate.  Although I have been involved in social media for over two years (thank you for the compliment – I think she was proficient in the first place!) as with anything to do with technology changes happen at an alarming rate. We are learning all the time, different ways to enhance what we already know, the changes we need to make, what we adapt and what we drop.  The training modules within MYSMB are excellent and I have gleaned information that may well be out there for free as Mike McGrail clearly states, I just hadn’t found it.

I believe this needs to be put in perspective.  MYSMB is a job opportunity that will provide an income for those keen to learn, for others it will enhance a service they already provide (as in my case) and unfortunately for the remainder who don’t realise they have actually got to work at it the opportunity will pass they by.

I don’t believe there are any experts in Social Media, there are people who have become involved originally through fascination, possibly intrigue as to how global it is,  realise they have a talent for it and eventually make it part of their business.  Some people are better at it than others but that doesn’t make them an expert.  Society will decide for themselves who they want to work with and who they want to represent them.  Where Social Media representatives, for another word, will come to the fore is how they produce the ever evasive ROI for their client.  We are a nation clamouring statistics.  Anyhow that is another comment for another blog no doubt.

Just to confirm I did pay for the branding package which will be integrated with my existing site, under development as I type my response.  Each person will choose how they want their site to look and no doubt will update it frequently as we do with our own sites so the few you have earmarked in your blog may well be working on them now.

MYSMB has provided me with the relevant information and support I expected it to.  It will give other people the opportunity to run their own business however large or small they want it to be and who are we to deny anyone that.  Should existing Social Media experts be concerned, well that will depend on how confident they are themselves on the packages and services they provide now.  As someone who provides this service already I wish every new MYSMB person lots of luck with their new venture.  I will be looking to see how they are marketing their business, just as I do with Virtual Assistants, competition is healthy.  Do I feel threatened, no.  It’s a very large world and I firmly believe there is room for everyone.  MYSMB is no different to any other business; it provides a profession and a service to the business community and each and every one of us has the right to choose which provider we use to fulfil that service.

As you rightly point out I am a member of Nigel Botterill’s Entrepreneur Circle and I appreciate his leadership.  As we discussed on the phone we all find someone we “follow”, “admire” and listen to – Nigel happens to be one along with quite a few others whose knowledge in their individual fields I respect highly.

Do you sometimes feel you are talking to four walls?  Does the constant stream of thoughts going through your head ever cease – unlikely – that’s where we create ideas, put together plans and then hopefully they come together to then action.  What do you do with those thoughts – keep them to yourself, write them down, give someone a call or do you put them out on social media?  Are you then disappointed because you don’t get a reply?  According to this article from Mashable “most tweets produce zero replies or re-tweets” - so are we  talking to four walls?  Possibly – but I like to think of Twitter as a sounding board, directory, communication tool that I can dip in and out of as and when. I have gained many friends, learnt about a lot of applications I didn’t know existed, gained interesting nuggets of information that I would never have come across and so the list goes on.  Does it matter if my posts get a reply or a re-tweet?  It’s nice when it happens but if not then that’s fine too.  It’s all about sharing and I am grateful to those who share and those who reciprocate.  How about you?

It’s hard to believe that it is only 12 years ago that Google came to us.  I know as we get older the years seem to fly by far too quickly, actually in my case and hopefully for some of you too, I am sure the year has been cut down to 6 months.  Like this year – here we are almost at the end of September and no doubt come the 1st October we will be listening to Christmas carols in the shops!

There’s nothing we can do about the passing of time but we can celebrate with Google their achievement in just 12 years.  Congratulations and long may your service continue to grow and assist all of us  - Happy Birthday!

No, I’m not being rude!  SHAG stands for Share, Hang Out, Attitude and Gossip.

I spend a lot of time both personally and as a service to my clients on Social Media sites interacting, learning, gaining useful information and soaking up as much knowledge as I can.  Each day I come across new sites, applications and news that I otherwise probably wouldn’t find.

So my question to you is this: Do you SHAG? i.e. Do you SHARE your knowledge? Just because you might think something is common knowledge I can assure you that there will be plenty of people who don’t know about what you do, the programmes you use that they might benefit from or expertise that you excel at that could help someone else.  My advice is that you should make a point of sharing at least one piece of information each day.

Do you HANG OUT on social sites at least once a day (at a minimum)? You should, because you will make on-line friends, pick up useful tips and find services that may be of use to you.

Also, make sure you have an ATTITUDE. Don’t be afraid to speak your mind, albeit in the nicest possible way.  Call me a prude if you want but personally I don’t like foul language or confrontation because I don’t think it benefits anyone. But having an attitude whereby you assist and encourage people can only be a good thing for everyone.

Finally GOSSIP – we all do it. Did you hear about “X”? How fantastic it was that “X” has secured a client – so grateful to “X” for their insight into “X” – as well as the odd bit of celebrity news that may be causing a stir!

So here’s the bottom line…

By sharing your knowledge with others not only does it help you qualify your own expertise but it helps other people too.

By hanging out and having an online presence on a daily basis means you are “open” for discussion – whether for business or for exchanging ideas.

By having the right attitude means you will become known for ‘meaning what you say’ and ‘saying what you mean’!

By taking part in Gossip means you are talking about someone or something – and that’s real life.  And gossip doesn’t have to be a bad or negative thing – someone talking about your business, or you personally, gives you and your business credibility.

So go on – I dare you! SHAG daily and enjoy!

In my previous blogs I have covered the benefits of using some of the leading social media sites, followed by the advantages of using social media management tools like Ping.fm and scheduling tools like Postlater.com.
I’d now like to move on and take a look at those businesses, large or small, that require a 24/7 presence on the web but don’t have the time to spare to remain quality focused, consistent and constant. Such businesses have my wholehearted support because I know how difficult it can be.

We all know just how important it is to build up a rapport with ones followers’ as well as keeping lines of communication open. The like – know – trust – strap line expresses succinctly the way relationships are built, the same as when we first meet someone face to face.  However, the reality is that when an advert is placed in a magazine there is no way of predicting who might look at it.  In other words you have had no personal interaction with the individuals who are attracted to the advert. Yet this doesn’t stop you from placing the advert and the magazine isn’t going to turn your advert down because you don’t know your target market.  So the key is to adopt the same strategy for your social media presence.  Simply place your posts and adverts linking to your website as you would in a magazine and thereby give your business the exposure it needs on the web.  You will soon start picking up followers, start to build up a rapport, find common interests, hopefully get to like them and eventually trust them.
 
Obviously it takes time to build up a “quality” list of followers on any network.  Don’t be tempted to subscribe to any application that promises to generate 100,000 of followers though – what is the point?  It is far better to have 50 genuine followers who are interested in you and your business than thousands of followers.

As a Virtual Assistant (VA) I look after clients who need a 24/7 presence on the web through the medium of social media.  By setting up their accounts, profiles and producing a continuous stream of posts I am able to give them the presence they require on the web thus giving them the space and time to focus on their day-to-day business.  I do, however, encourage them to spend a few minutes a day ‘personalising’ their posts so that it reflects their own personality and style. 
Sometimes though I am criticised for this approach to social media with comments like:
“You shouldn’t automate your tweets.”
“Don’t post the same information on every site.”
“Not everyone is on Twitter so don’t place an RT (re-tweet) message on LinkedIn, Facebook, FriendFeed etc.”
 
Most people involved with social media will be familiar with the most popular top sites.  Some of them are our preferred sites that we frequent daily, hourly, even every few minutes during a typical day.  Other sites we might just visit once a day or once a week. Occasionally, however, we find something of interest on what I refer to as the “dippers” and it’s often worth remaining with them, both from the perspective of finding interesting articles, potential new contacts and possibly items of general business interest. These may also open up new avenues to further promote your business.
 
In my view I don’t think anyone should say “do this” or “don’t do that”.  Each of us will try our own marketing strategies depending on what we feel comfortable with and I firmly believe that everyone has a right to experiment until they find what works best for them as individuals and as businesses. If you are in business and some of these issues resonate with you, then why not consider utilising the services of a professional VA to help you establish your own 24/7 presence? It might just be just what you need to start getting the phone to ring more often!

Don’t forget that if you want any further information on any of the above topics then please do get in touch. On The Go is already helping successful businesses implement their social networking strategies from helping them set up a consistent company profile through to scheduling their media messages giving them a 24/7 web presence.