Social Networking Sites

Can your prospective clients contact you?

Published December 6, 2010 | By admin

How easy do you make it for your prospective clients to contact you? Do you have a contact form on your website with direct email ? Are all your telephone numbers visible? If you are on Social Media do you have all the widgets in place connecting through? For a lot of us this seems standard practice but I have recently visited a fair few websites that don’t make it easy for me to contact them. Their telephone number is hiding in the bottom left hand corner of the page, an email address will be displayed but doesn’t link through and although they talk about following them on Twitter and Facebook again the URL doesn’t link me up. How frustrating is that?

Surprising isn’t it that so many companies have websites but omit the most crucial information.

Check your website and make sure that the following are in place:-

Telephone number is displayed clearly – best position top right hand corner, in my opinion, it’s where I always look first.
Have a separate tab on your site “Contact” which will have a pre-set email form where they can send you a message direct
If you don’t have this and only show your email address then make sure that is hyper linked
Ensure your Social Media Links actually link to the relevant sites

As I say, it might be common place for a lot of us but there are a lot of sites out there that just don’t want to be contacted – amazing! Why make it impossible for your prospective clients to contact you? What will they do? They’ll move on to the next provider they find on Google search. Now that is a missed opportunity.

Debra Ellis wrote about this recently too. Note: If you are not already registered on The Social Customer you will need to sign up to read the report – well worth it.

Take a moment now and check your website is working for you.

Do you work for love or money?

Published November 23, 2010 | By admin

I am an avid fan of Seth Godin – I look forward to reading his daily blogs. Without fail there is one every day! Some of them are a little obtuse for me, some go way over my head, but I check in every day to see what words of wisdom he has compiled for the day. Today his blog is Reasons to Work

Undoubtedly we all work to earn money – don’t we? If it wasn’t to earn money then surely that comes under the banner of being a “hobby”. How do you separate the two?

Here are my views on Seth’s 8 points – what are yours?

For the money - Most definitely
To be challenged - Running your own business is always going to be a challenge however with it being your own business you will only get out of it what you put in.
For the pleasure/calling of doing the work - I enjoy my work, I can choose what I want to do and what I don’t.
For the impact it makes on the world - I doubt anything I do has an impact on the world, but hopefully I do help others run their businesses a little smoother.
For the reputation you build in the community - I like to think I help build communities on social networks. Interacting with different people helps stimulate the brain. Different ideas, varying degrees of application enhance a stronger on line community.
To solve interesting problems - I do like solving problems, looking for applications that will make any business run smoother.
To be part of a group and to experience the mission - I have always worked on my own – however when I set up On The Go I had to go networking. In doing so became part of many groups and enjoy meeting people.
To be appreciated - If you work right then appreciation will come.

I am just reading The E Myth by Michael E Gerber. I have only just started it but already I can see where I have gone wrong over the past 3 years. That reminds me – it will be three years on the 5^th December when I set up On The Go – time flies!

Let me know your reasons – are they similar to mine?

MYSMB Causing A Stir

Published October 13, 2010 | By admin

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.

The power of social media – automating your presence on the web

Published March 13, 2010 | By admin

In my last two blogs we looked at some of the dominant social networking sites on the web and in particular Twitter, LinkedIn and TubeMogul. Choosing which social networking sites work best for you though, is a very personal decision based your own business needs and style of working.

In this blog therefore, I want to look at how you can both optimise and maximise your web presence regardless of which social media sites you prefer to use.

For those of you who need to have, or would like to have, a 24/7 presence on the web but don’t always have the time to manage the logistics Ping.fm might be just what you are looking for. Ping.fm is a site that enables you to connect to a large number of social media sites including Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed and LinkedIn (as well as 38 other popular sites!) You can view the major networks they are connected to here. Also, if you haven’t already set up some of these networks you can do so through Ping directly. The reason that Ping is such a useful tool is that by connecting all your networks from one place you only need to create one post on Ping which will then connect to all your other networking sites. This not only means a lot of saved time, but it also enables you to distribute your postings to a very wide audience should you wish to do so. In Ping’s own words “Ping.fm was created for the sole purpose of making it as easy as possible to share your posts with the world. Now you don’t have to fumble around the web in order to post anymore, you can just post once from wherever you want, and be done with it.”

Ping.fm has recently been acquired by Seesmic! which is very good news for all users. Seesmic! has the size and capability to not only improve Ping’s core services but also the technical capabilities to add new exciting features. If you haven’t already checked out Ping.fm then maybe you should! It’s free to sign up and easy to navigate.

Once you have successfully linked up all your social media sites you will then want to distribute a number of key messages regarding your business. A site called Postlater.com allows you to do just this by using a powerful scheduling engine. To quote: “It’s my centralized post scheduling cockpit, for services that natively support future-dating and those that don’t”. Postlater is not a free application but the cost far outweighs the time it saves you in the long term and, in my opinion, it’s well worth looking into.

My next blog will be covering the issues concerning ‘scheduled notifications’ and take note that I haven’t said ‘automated Tweets!’ (Twitter is just one very useful social media application remember, and there are thousands more out there) I am preparing myself for a barrage of comments as I know there are a lot of people who don’t agree with scheduling programmes, but equally there are many people who do need to have a presence and are strapped for time. This service is for you and I look forward to sharing my ideas soon.

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.

The power of social media – stop thinking 'campaigns' and start thinking 'conversations' – Part Two

Published February 23, 2010 | By admin

In my last blog I talked about why using social networking sites can be such powerful business tools and why thinking in terms of ‘conversations’ rather than ‘campaigns’ is so important. I also looked at some of the most influential social networking sites on the market today, in particular Twitter and LinkedIn.

In this blog I want to start building on these themes and explore two more important social network sites that should be considered as part of your overall business profile raising strategy. These are Facebook and Tube Mogul.

Facebook

The rise of Facebook has been phenomenal by any standard and despite some negative publicity relating to parental control and occasional misuse; the site owners have recently tightened up their act and made Facebook an extremely powerful tool. Incredibly, if Facebook were a country it would be the 8^th most populated in the world, just ahead of Japan with approximately five billion minutes spent by users on Facebook every day.

Until very recently I tended to view Facebook as purely a ‘social’ site, using it mainly as a way of keeping in touch with my son who is overseas, and the thought of using it for business purposes never occurred to me. However, Facebook is actually more versatile than you might think and there are some useful features for business and professional purposes that should be considered as part of any overall social networking strategy.

In essence a Facebook page should be viewed as a customisable presence for any business or organisation and therefore as another mechanism to raise awareness of a brand or service. The ‘Wall’ tab can be used as the central point for new information and new content where ‘fans’ can also contribute. ‘Fans’ in the business context are all potential advocates of your brand and should always be considered as such.

The tab structure of Facebook provides the facility to organise information in a structured way so topics like events, reviews and discussions can all be arranged in a way that is easy to navigate. Facebook, like other social networking sites, is all about creating a persona on the web, regardless of whether it is a ‘personal’ persona or a ‘business’ persona. One of the best ways to demonstrate your company’s personality is by using specific applications like the ‘extended info app’. This app allows you to create things like question and answer categories which can be created specifically for business purposes. The key to success is making the content topical, interesting, creative and accessible.

These ideas are only the tip of the iceberg, however. The key message is to think creatively of how Facebook can be used as a business tool to attract viewers to your products and services through a communication medium that is easy on the eye, easy to navigate and easy to understand

Tube Mogul

If you are looking for an application to distribute your videos across your various social media sites then ‘TubeMogul’ is definitely worth a visit. In order to reap the benefits of this site you will firstly need to set up accounts with all your existing video sources and then link them into Tube Mogul. Once you have done that you can use the facility of TubeMogul to distribute your videos. So what exactly is Tube Mogul?

Basically Tube Mogul claims to be the first online “video analytics and distribution company” serving publishers who need independent information about video performance on the Internet. It also provides an automated upload to the top video sharing sites currently on the web including: YouTube, Vimeo, Blip TV, DailyMotion and Viddler.

Tube Mogul’s web site states that its analytic technology aggregates video-viewing data from multiple sources to give publishers an improved understanding of when, where and how often their videos are watched. It also tracks and compares what’s hot and what’s not, measures the impact of marketing campaigns, gathers competitive intelligence, and enables the sharing of data with colleagues or friends.

In my next blog I’m going to take a look at two more useful social networking sites – Ping.fm and Postlater.com – until then, see you in cyberspace!

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.

The power of social media – stop thinking 'campaigns' and start thinking 'conversations'

Published February 10, 2010 | By admin

Sometimes even the experts get it completely wrong. In the same way that very few people managed to predict the phenomenal growth of the internet, today it is ‘social networking’ that is taking the on-line world by storm. Social networking is a catch all phrase for the way we use the internet to communicate socially and is one of the fastest growing trends in the computing industry.

Even a year or two ago social networking was still in its infancy and most of the websites that offered this facility were considered as nothing more than time wasters for teenagers. How things have changed! Today websites like “Facebook”, “My Space” and “You Tube” are considered to be mainstream applications and are only the tip of a rapidly growing iceberg that business is just waking up to.

So why exactly should businesses take an interest? The answer is simple if you take notice of the figures. Today two thirds of the global internet population visit social networks and it is the fourth most popular online activity, which incredibly, makes it more popular than email. In short, if your business is not operating in the social networking ‘space’ then it is not being seen. By utilising the power of social networking as an essential part of your marketing mix, and as part of a wider strategy, your business can be made accessible and visible across the globe 24/7. It can open doors to new customers and new sectors of the community and will also keep your business at the cutting edge of this revolution in communication.

Choosing which social networking sites to adopt is the first challenge. From humble beginnings the pioneers of social media have grown to staggering proportions but their dominance is now being challenged by new social media sites launching at the rate of approximately five per week. With this amount of new opportunity opening up it might seem difficult to know which sites to focus on so the best option is to start with some of the more established social networking sites. Let’s take a look at some of the market leaders.

Since its creation in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Twitter, more than any other social networking site is considered the front runner. So what exactly is ‘Twitter’? In essence it is an “instant” messaging channel that allows you to spread your message, whatever that might be, within the constraints of 140 characters (which can shortened by subscribing to http://bit.ly. The number of ‘tweets’ that are posted now average 27.3 million per day and rise significantly when a major news story unfolds. For example, when Michael Jackson died the explosion of tweets temporarily shut the Twitter site down with over 22% of all tweets related to the announcement of his death.

LinkedIn was founded in late 2002 by Reid Hoffman and has steadily grown in popularity reaching 55 million members in over 200 countries. It is more business focused than other social networking sites and is an excellent place to start if you want to create a business profile. It is a very easy site to navigate around, provides the opportunity to make recommendations and allows you to link up with friends and colleagues who you may have lost touch with.

So both Twitter and LinkedIn are social networking sites that are worth looking into as part of your overall marketing strategy but a word of warning first – don’t just jump in and start selling. It is a mistake that a huge number of businesses make and, believe me, nothing will turn people off as much as blatant sales chat. In the world of social media you need to stop thinking of the online community as prospective clients and be a little more creative. Instead, you need to learn from the experts – the people who are reaping enormous successes from using social media – by adopting a very important principle and it is this. Stop thinking ‘campaigns’ and start thing ‘conversations’. The online community is just that – a community, and communities are all about open and honest communication and interaction. The best way to raise your profile therefore is simply by raising interesting topics of conversation and posing questions. Don’t even consider ‘making a sale’ just be as interesting and engaging as possible. Getting people to listen to what you have to say is the key to success. The sales will follow naturally in time.

So the message is clear. Firstly, wake up and join the social networking revolution before your competitors beat you to it. Secondly, have a clear strategy so that you are clear about what you want to achieve and how you are going to achieve it. Thirdly, choose the social media that best meets your needs and fourthly – as the title of this blog makes clear – think ‘conversations’ rather than overt ‘campaigns’.

In the next blog we are going to cover some more important social networking sites and how they can be used to grow your business and grow your profile. So do come back soon!