Posts Tagged ‘Twitter’

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?

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?

In my profession as a Virtual Assistant one of the most common questions I get asked is “So what exactly is a Virtual Assistant, and what do they do?” For many people in business the concept of a Virtual Assistant (or ‘VA’) is well understood, but for other people I find that I need to carefully explain what services a Virtual Assistant can provide.

So in this blog I have decided to explain in simple terms exactly what a Virtual Assistant is and show how a VA can help businesses both large and small. In simple terms, a Virtual Assistant is an independent administrative assistant just like any other Assistant, Secretary or PA. The difference is that in this case a VA does not physically work within your office premises but works remotely using technology to service all your business needs and requirements.

Although no two VA’s are likely to provide identical offerings, most VA’s tend to focus on a number of core business services. Typically these would include secretarial type services like making phone calls and following them up, sending e-mails and physical mail, scheduling appointments, taking messages and even electronic filing. In addition, some VA’s will also maintain your web presence by managing your social media sites; Facebook, Linked-In and Twitter for example.

Some VA’s will also offer to maintain your business website or your blog, arrange mail-shot campaigns, arrange the distribution of company newsletters, write press releases and assist with general sales and marketing activities. For example, as part of my own business I look after a number of clients who need a 24/7 presence on the web through the medium of social media.   I am able to set up their accounts and profiles thus giving them the web presence they require.

The advantages of using the services of a Virtual Assistant are many, but crucially it can prove to be a very cost-effective way of working. By using a VA your business will not have to pay for office space, a PC or office equipment, Internet connection, printer, phone, filing cabinet or desk. Also, because your VA is not on the company payroll, you do not have the additional expenses of health insurance, national insurance, sick pay and holidays. Also, most VA’s already have prior experience of working in an office environment and therefore need very little training in order to start becoming productive.

If you are running a business that uses a Virtual Assistant you will often find that they become an integral part of your team, providing a number of key benefits. To make the most of the services of a VA however, it is worth taking the time to plan exactly how to utilise this important resource to best advantage. For example, think about which tasks can be delegated to a VA, structure these tasks into a priority order and then discuss with your VA how these tasks can best be scheduled. In many cases a VA will specialise in a particular aspect of business and it is worth taking advantage of this expertise if possible.

Realistically, taking on the services of a VA is not always as cheap as taking on a school leaver or part-time Administrative Assistant, but because of their professional experience and reliability it is often more cost effective to utilise the services of a good VA than risk putting your business relationships into the hands of inexperienced staff. Also, it is always advisable to find a VA who is able to offer a wide range of skills than to use the services of a number of different VA’s – because a good VA who understands your business and is able to operate using their own initiative is a much better option than farming work out to a number of different individuals – and then having to coordinate their efforts.

The bottom line is that a good VA can be worth their weight in gold because they free up your time to focus on the most important parts of your business, while you are secure in the knowledge that all your administrative duties are being taken care of by a professional that you can trust.

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 in many of the ways described above – as well as implementing their social networking strategies, helping them set up a consistent company profile and scheduling their media messages to give them a 24/7 web presence.

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 past couple of weeks have been interesting and frustrating!
 

Interesting because I did my first Podcast with Jules Addison of 4 Part Music Ltd All I had to do was provide plenty of coffee and cakes! I was very impressed with the set up and Jules and I have agreed to do further Podcasts on various topics as and when the mood takes us!  On The Go – Podcast 1  Also Chris Hatch of Zedoary put my blog on to my website so I now have to learn all about WordPress ……each and every day I learn something new!

Frustrating because I am literally “hacked off” with spammers and the like intruding my social media space.  Be warned if you get a pop-up menu from Windows System Suite do NOT take any notice of it. If you are unlucky and it has infected your machine then go to Remove Windows System Suite and follow the guidelines.  Likewise Twitter has been driving me mad with people popping up here, there and everywhere that I am not following.  Emails notifying a client that they need to change their password and then the link they provide not working, resulting in the account being out of action.  It never ceases to amaze me that there are people out there who obviously have nothing better to do than cause havoc!  Rant over – but seriously a lot of time has been wasted trying to sort out one social intrusion or another.

Most amusing day was last Thursday when I went to my first FSB meeting.  Well that wasn’t amusing – it was business – but afterwards Mike Palmer and Jules Addison came to join me after the meeting so Mike could take some photos of me.  Thanks to Chris Slay and Jules Addison there was plenty of laughter so some very natural photos were taken.