10 Top Tips To Get Social

Whether your business is just getting its social sea legs or already flying high in the digital world, there is a niche and opportunity for every brand on social media.

(this isn’t my picture so if its yours just let me know and I’ll take it down)

I have worked with many different businesses and brands from getting them started in social media or helping them recreate and tailor an improved strategy for a better ROI through their social media efforts. I have a true passion and social intelligence for all things social which I have successfully passed onto to many of my clients to get them to where they want. I ensure all of your social channels are leveraged and optimised to support traditional and digital solutions and more importantly there is company-wide buy in and understanding on what social can do for you.

Setting goals and making plans ahead of time is an important factor and can be the make or break of your success in the social sphere. Brands just starting out on social media should focus on acquisition and getting to know and be a part of communities that matter to them and want to be a part of. More savvy brands should look for engagement, awareness and advocacy.

Everyone should be listening, no matter what stage you are at.

I have put together 10 top tips to get you started or help kick start your social strategy:

1. Don’t be selfish or shy

If you’re planning a social campaign that’s not engaging, asking questions, finding out about your audience and communities, sharing useful content and information then what is the point in taking part?

Ensure you connect with the rest of your communications, marketing and media plans and it is all integrated. Traditional and digital media need to support an integrated campaign that has social media at its core.

2. Don’t be frightened. Social doesn’t bite!

Still so many brands are avoiding social media as they still don’t quite understand its capabilities and how it fits into their overall strategy. Brands need to be a part of it in order to connect to their audiences. Social gives brands more opportunity to connect with audiences they may have previously not had the chance to connect with, on the other side of the world. There is nothing more valuable than word of mouth and that is just ‘one’ of the many benefits of social. Show your audiences and customers what you can offer, what you are like and more importantly show off your happy customers.

3. Monitor, measure, adapt.

Social allows you to find out what is going on in the world, what people are saying about competitors, your industry and more importantly you. So make sure you monitor this. Measure it and if needed adapt your messages. More data is available than ever through social and the opportunity now is to connect through two-way communications with your customers across all media’s, and time your messages according to whom you are connecting to and where.

Your content should be your advertising. Is it strong enough to break through all the noise?

4. Listen

Social listening can and should impact planning, execution, optimization and results measurement. Automated tools and reliance upon technology is not enough.

True value from listening will come from your social champions or the one person who is managing all your channels. Ensure they have prioritized what you are listening for, how you are going to capture it and how you are going to share the results.

5. A picture says a thousand words…

Marketing is going visual and you need to do the same. Embed text and brand or product info in relevant graphics to post. Pictures are also the mostly widely used and shared method of posting on Facebook. When people share your images you want them to see your website link or other relevant info.

6. Borrow with pride

Why reinvent the wheel. Look to other successful campaigns and find out what and how they went about it. Adapt it to suit and fit around your brand and messages and borrow with pride. You know it works, so make it work for you.

7. Not another one?

There are so many social platforms to choose one, how do you really know which ones to be a part of and which ones to leave out? The answer is you won’t until you try. There are also some core staple platforms that you should try and be a part of because they offer more than you might thing. Google+ is an example of this. Google+ will be more important to your business and by being on Google+, you will be able to take full advantage of Google’s many services and tools. It hasn’t the social power of some of the other sites but it is a central part of Google and you should be a part of it.

8. Less is more

Nuances exist everywhere, so if you don’t understand how one of your platforms works and how your customers interact there, make sure you ask someone who does.

Also concentrating your marketing efforts to a few social platforms is more effective than spreading yourself too thin over many of the social sites. The time it takes to successfully participate in social media is substantial so you need to build a strong presence on the sites that deliver rather than trying to dominate them all. Some are audience targeted so use the ones that are tailored towards your audience.

9. Think about the future

Quick hits are good, but meaningful experiences drive long-term relationships and build advocacy for your brand. You need to have a guiding principle and long term goal that governs your efforts.

10.  Make it relevant

When people first started using the social sites they were posting things like “just having a cup of tea at my desk” Times have changed, people do not want or need to know this. This will also add no benefits to your social activity. You need to post relevant information to your audience. Make it about your readers and followers, not ‘all’ about you. Post solutions, inspiration, and interesting facts that can be useful and helpful.

Consider the consumer’s minds, brand health, net promoter score and measurements when generating content.

What is the best social media advice you have ever been given? Share your comments here.

 

 

Related articles

• The Most Basic Tips for Using Social Media Sites: (red-brand-media.com)
• Time To Reconsider How You Use Social Media (ministryofsearch.co.uk)
• 19 Things Successful People Do On Social Media (forbes.com)
• Social Media Can Keep Seniors In Touch With Friends And Family (lifefoneblog.com)

 

Top PR & Social Media Trends for 2013

Here are 6 big trends set to shape PR, marketing and brand communications in the year ahead.

1. Personalisation

If there’s one keyword for communications in 2013, it’s personalisation. This is not just about customisable product options or dialogue-driven social media streams but real one-to-one communications thanks to the mass generation of sophisticated measurable data that is now available.

What does this mean? that communications can offer relevant content delivered to the right target audience, increasingly in real time. It’s about being more precise with messaging off the back of greater understanding of who your consumers are, what they’re looking at, where they’re going and ultimately what they want.

A recent study by Accenture states that; 61% of shoppers say they’d swap privacy for personalisation, and this is the year to jump on that. Add other words like “mobile” and “context” and it’s a trend that feeds through all of the rest of this 2013 list too.

Burberry is an example of a brand already experimenting with personalisation. It sent personalised invitations to consumers for them to watch its spring/summer 2013 show, then embedded a panel of their Facebook friends alongside the live stream to encourage further sharing. Expect more of this to follow, but with greater focus on automation, behaviour triggers and ever-increasing real-time relevancy.

 

2. Social sophistication

In 2013 consumer engagement via the social space is likely to be more sophistacted than ever before.  The rise of sites like Pinterest and Instagram over the past year, not to mention Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn have all heavily impacted every industry. There are still some who are lagging behind, but there is no doubt those who are not engaging within the social space by the end of 2013 will be missing out.

It is expected that this will be the year that social media is met with greater consideration from the boardroom (if it’s not already), alongside the more experimental approach that’s often taken. That’s not to say spontaneity will be by any means irrelevant, but that content strategy will be fine-tuned across the platforms that actually achieve results.

For some that might mean streamlining social presence, for others it will be about treating each platform more distinctly. This will not only maximise scale but enable meaningful brand KPIs (key performance indicators). Either way, integration will be the keyword in this space as social gets increasingly weaved throughout the user experience, across web, email and mobile channels, as well as in-store. The result will see more effective campaigns with higher engagement and longer-term consumer loyalty.

3. Big data

Behind the increasing call for personalisation is of course the data that enables it. As insight and analysis becomes more cost-efficient, not to mention more sophisticated, companies are gaining deeper understanding of how their consumers engage across all touch points. No longer is the term “big data” just about volumes of numbers and statistics, but details that can actually be tied to individuals.

The amount of global digital information created and shared grew nine fold to nearly two zettabytes (that’s two trillion gigabytes) in the five years to 2011, according to market intelligence firm IDC. That figure is expected to be just shy of four zettabytes in 2013, and nearly eight zettabytes in 2015. 2013 looks set to be the year companies figure out what to actually do with the information, and accordingly place it more centrally in their communications strategies.

The focus therefore is on process and action, and due to newer technologies, on real-time responses too.

4. Real-time bidding

Data is also enabling greater audience targeting and automated (or programmatic) buying of online display ads. Known as real-time bidding (RTB). This is where ad impressions are bought and sold one at a time, based on the user and their browser, and within the time it takes to click on a page. The result creates an efficient and important way to create relevancy for consumers.

In other words, marketers such as Amazon and eBay (both big users of RTB already), are no longer just buying banners on specific sites but targeting consumers across the internet based on their profiles and behaviours. It’s about personalisation and scale again.

Backing from both media buyers and publishers (including Facebook with its new ad exchange, FBX), is leading to enormous growth. According to a report from eMarketer, RTB accounted for 13% of all US display advertising spend in 2013, more than triple that of 2010, and a 98% increase on 2011. Growth for

2013 is expected at 72.4%. By 2015, it will account for a quarter of the display market in the US. The inclusion of mobile and video in this space is also expected to significantly increase spend.

5. Pictures

The rise of infographics, photo sharing, and visual storytelling will push PR pros and their clients to deploy messages visually in order to compete in a crowded content market. All Things D reported that in August, smartphone users spent more time on Instagram than on Twitter for the first time since Instagram launched in 2010. This is indicative of a broader shift toward visual content in the digital space. As the old saying goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words”; more important, it might also be worth your customer’s attention.

6. Reputation and Crisis Management

As everything social grows, crisis management and online reputation management are key areas of focus for business. The past year was riddled with examples of organisations/businesses with no clue on how to conduct themselves during a crisis situation. Reputation and crisis management is not new, but with brands adopting social media as a large part of their communication with customers and audiences, corporate mishaps that could once be hidden or buried on the back pages of newspapers, can now trend as hashtags on Twitter.

A lack of preparedness and a propensity to outsource scheduled, canned social media posts can land a business/organisation in very hot water. Handle your brand with care. People expect businesses/brands to have a handle on the temperature of topics affecting popular culture. If high profile events have caused distress or irreparable harm, people do not want to see brands ignorant or unaware of current affairs. Nor do people want to see brands trying to capitalize on vulnerable parties. Empathy and sensitivity are proving essential for smart brands going the distance these days.

What about you?

Are any of these trends among your communications plans for 2013? Is your current website, blog or online store able to be viewed on mobile platforms?
Have you secured your Instragram name and account? Do you have a crisis communications plan?

Have you got any examples of brands already promoting their brand or service in a personalised way?
Are you still ignoring Twitter and hope it will go away?
What trend intrigues you and how can you tap into that in 2013 that grows your business?
Look forward to hearing your stories in the comments below.

3 Changes To Expect From Linkedin’s New Look Personal Pages

Have you seen LinkedIn’s new look company pages? Well they’ve also thrown in a new look for personal pages too. Over the next couple of months everyone should have a new look profile. I was particularly eager to make the change so requested to be placed on the waiting list for the roll out and loving my new look!

So, what’s new?

Well, the changes aren’t massive – arguably the profile components are the same, however the new profile is more organised, and put together in a slicker and simpler visual layout putting greater focus and emphasis on content and connections – two elements that are the basis of Linkedin’s overall success.

However, one thing I noticed straight away and missing already is the elimination of a link to your Blog. For me, LinkedIn was a really effective way of driving traffic to my blog. This doesn’t stop you updating your status with blog posts though and driving traffic this way.

Here are 3 changes you will notice to your profile:

#1 Telling Your Professional Story

The new design will helps you make a much more powerful first impression – which in business, on or offline is incredibly important.

The layout allows you to showcase your skills, accomplishments and current projects you are working on, as well as added endorsements from your connections in areas they find you most competent.

Including current projects adds a valuable dimension to your otherwise static page; allowing connections to really see what it is you ‘do’ and how you do it. This is not only vital for potential recruitment opportunities; but for the ultimate in networking and showing off not just your company, but your own skills and creating new business opportunities.

#2 Discovering and Finding New People and Opportunities

The new profile provides members with a stunning visual depiction of the people and companies in their network.  Gone are the days of combing through your connections to see if you have anything in common with the prospects that you are trying to reach. The new profile shows far more rich and visual insights on not only the people, but the companies in your network.

This not only will increase engagement with those in your network; but these insights make it easier and simpler to discover people outside of your network, quickly establishing a common ground to make more meaningful and profitable connections.

Finding this ‘common ground’ is a fantastic first step in building not only personal contacts; but professional ones too – heading in the right direction of making long term connections with mutual interests.

#3 Engaging with Your Network

Finally; the new Linkedin Page has increased opportunity to engage with your community, with recent activity displayed at the top of your profile allowing you to stay current with what everyone (company or contact) has been sharing or doing.

Edit your news feed with exactly what you want to see, and tailor stories and updates to your specific interests.

The newly redesigned profile page gives you much more ways to customize and showcase your professional identity.  The new Linkedin Profile is overall very well designed in providing an improved social networking experience all round.

Related articles

• Xactly Named One of the Best LinkedIn Company Pages of 2012 (prweb.com)
• Meet the New LinkedIn Profile: A Better Way to Connect and Build Relationships (linkedin.com)
• SocialMotus Social CRM tool Announces Integration With LinkedIn Groups and Company Pages (prweb.com)
• How to use LinkedIn (kapilchoudhary.com)
• LinkedIn Makes it Easy to Add Video in New Profile (gloriarand.me)
• New LinkedIn Profile Lets Users Visualize Relationships & Gain Better Insights (marketingland.com)
• New LinkedIn profiles take cues from Facebook (nbcnews.com)
• LinkedIn revamps profiles with personal branding in mind (zdnet.com)

5 reasons why you shouldn’t have a Facebook Personal Page for your Business

On its pages, Facebook clearly states that Facebook personal pages are meant only for the individual user, not for a group or business. Despite those stark clear words, people are still making the mistake of using a personal account instead of a business page. But why is it such a big mistake?

Here are 6 really good reasons why you should disassociate your personal profile and create a dedicated business page for your group or business:

1. You are breaking the rules! 

You may have set up a personal Facebook profile using the name of your business or your business branding. If you also have another Facebook page for your own personal use, you are in violation of Facebook rules and one or both accounts could be suspended. Section 4 of Facebook’s terms clearly states that you shouldn’t have two separate Facebook accounts and you should never use a personal Facebook profile for commercial gain. I have seen businesses have their accounts suspended altogether over this malpractice. You will then completely loose your Facebook presence.

2. Your Business won’t be seen

Facebook business pages can be optimised for search engines like Google, but personal Facebook profiles cannot. Profiles are not indexed by google. Surely you would like as many potential customers as possible to find your company online wouldn’t you? Using a personal page to promote your company is ruining your chances. The intrinsic features of a personal profile are to help individuals make connections at a personal level. People are unable to ‘Like’ your page and instead have to request you as a friend. Many will just look at your page and leave. Should they ‘like’ your page which is instant they will then receive regular updates on your group or business. Read my next point…

3. No-one will ‘Like’ your business

It will be much more difficult to gain ‘friends’ as a business if you’re using a personal Facebook profile because regardless of privacy settings (which confuse most Facebook users anyway), people will be reluctant to share personal information with a company, no matter how good that company is. I know I wouldn’t. A Facebook business page allows people to ‘Like’ your company without any privacy risks because your company cannot access their personal information.

4. You are missing out on some very useful statistics!

Insights are a large benefit that you will receive FREE as part of your Facebook business pages. Without ‘Insights’ how do you know if your Facebook campaign is working?

5. Your business could run out of Friends

Although it’s not easy to verify, many commentators say that Facebook will only allow a personal profile a maximum of 5000 friends. But your Facebook business page can be ‘Liked’ by a limitless number of people. Why limit your opportunities?

6. Your business will be one dimensional
Whilst you can only have ONE personal Facebook profile (if you’re obeying the rules) you can create more than one Facebook business page. So if your company has several sub-brands or specialities, you could consider creating a dedicated Facebook business page for those too.

It’s not rocket science. Facebook personal profiles are for people and Facebook business pages are for businesses. Of course you can still reflect your business in your personal Facebook updates, I do it all the time! But it’s simply not designed to enable a company to maximise the many benefits that social media offers.

UPDATE: Facebook has now developed a tool that will allow businesses that have made the mistake of setting up a personal profile rather than a Business page profile to migrate one to the other.

2Communicate are currently helping many of our clients who have made this mistake (you are not alone, lots have done it!) to successfully make the change and reap the many benefits of a Facebook Company Page.

So get in touch and make the change today email: sarah@2communicate.co.uk Tel: 07958 490263/ 01905 356778 

Related articles

• 7 Key Ways to Optimize Facebook Fan Page SEO (along with Mozinar Q&A) (seomoz.org)
• 18 Creative Examples of Facebook Timeline Covers for Brands (amsterdamprinting.com)
• Facebook Profiles can now be converted into Business (Fan) Pages (thecontentlab.icrossing.com)
• More Than Privacy Controls, Facebook Needs Our Trust To Keep Growing (techcrunch.com)
• How do I connect Facebook to business page instead of personal account? (ask.metafilter.com)
• Focus on Facebook: How to Market Your Business Through Social Networking | eLocal (elocalroofers.com)

Measure You Social Media Efforts

Businesses everywhere are still grappling with how to measure their social media efforts. So, 2Communicate have produced a short publication Measure Your Social Media Efforts to help businesses effectively measure their ROI and effectiveness of their social media efforts.

Overview 

Virtually every business today acknowledges how important social media is for business whether it be generating brand awareness, offering a customer service tool or keeping in touch with customers and particularly brand influencers. It is also all to familiar that many businesses acknowledge how difficult it is to measure its actual ROI and quantifying its effectiveness. According to a CMO survey in March 2012, social media spending by business is reaching new highs. As a matter of fact, in the next five years, marketers said they expect to spend almost 20% of their total budgets on social media. That’s triple the current level.  The business world understands it has to start to understand how to measure social media’s ROI and its effectiveness if it is to really embrace it as part of its Marketing strategy. With over 900 million users on Facebook, 100 million on Twitter, and LinkedIn approaching 120 million and Pinterest, became one of the top ten social media sites in less than a year. So looking at these stats businesses just can not afford to ignore the power of social media.

Use Social Media To Enhance Your Customer Service

 

More and more brands are using social media to provide another tool and method of communicating with their customers and offering customer support.

By the end of the 2012 it is predicted that 80% of companies will be using or planning to use social media for customer service. On the consumer side, 62% of customers have already used social media for customer service issues. We would love to hear from you if you have?

Gartner predicts one billion users will be on social networks by the end of 2012.

London Midland is an excellent example of a service using Social Media to develop a leading customer service experience via their twitter account @LondonMidland. 

The service regularly updates customers on what to expect, explains why there are delays and often answers questions before they are asked. The twitter profile itself is another excellent example of ‘what to expect’ the bio explains what the twitter account is for, and puts the people behind the service, with names of who manages the account.

This service enhancement has led to substantial changes in the way the company is viewed by its customers. Do you follow London Midland?

Seth Godin, author of Permission Marketing, strongly believes customer service is one of the best forms of marketing and I would have to agree. The adoption of social media by services and brands to better engage customers is a great way to start down this path.

A great response strategy can convert angry and upset customers into loyal, raving fans. The rule of thumb is that while unhappy customers talk to 5 people, formerly unhappy customers you win back talk to 10.

Here are some tips for brands to better use social media as customer service tool.

1. Integrate it

Integrate social media into your existing customer service function. Allow social media to influence all business functions to become a more responsive customer-centric business.

2. Be Human

Create humanised response models to engender and build customer loyalty and build relationships. Create a voice your audience can relate to and don’t be afraid to change your voice if one way isn’t working.

Honesty is the best policy.

3. Monitor

Monitor social interaction to spot issues and solve problems before they become crises. Social customer service delivery involves dealing with criticism and complaints from your public, often in front of an audience of millions. Negative comments always hang around a lot longer than positive ones. There are also several forums for many brands which are full of dis-gruntled customers but don’t feel tempted to start getting defensive on such forums.

If you’re going to prevent a small problem growing into something worse, you need to have a detailed understanding of what you need to respond to, a path to response, and escalation policies for resolution.

4. Social Media is two-way.

Give your customers/ fans the opportunity to tell you what they think. Social media is two -way so interact.

5. Have a handover book

Have a team who interact well with each other and are kept up to date with any developments within any of your social accounts.  Always highlight anything that needs attention, so it isn’t missed.

6. Never Delete

Resolve the issue online for all to see, and only delete if the post is inappropriate. Deleting messages could cause an uproar with the customer and potentially a PR crisis – which we all want to avoid!

So, fancy getting started? We would love to help!

Sarah Michelle Willis MCIPR, PR & Social Media Consultant at 2Communicate offers a full service social media management for you and your business.

At 2Communicate our goal is to help your company reach your social media goals using our tested and proven social media services. Whether you are looking to increase your online presence, drive more traffic to your website, or increase brand recognition, we are here to help you do just that!

Let us develop a social media strategy customised to your company, industry, and brand and let us build fans & followers, share useful and shareable content, determine optimal posting times, develop viral social media content, run successful Facebook Ad campaigns, run successful Facebook contests, and more.

Email us for more details: info@2communicate.co.uk / Sarah@2Communicate.co.uk

Talk to us: 07958 490263 / 01905 356778

​

Related articles

• New Study Shows 20% of People Turn to Social Media for Customer Service Complaints (prweb.com)
• Why Social Media Makes Customer Service Better (mashable.com)
• Social Media and Customer Service: How They Work Together (findyourtippingpoint.com)
• Black Box Social Media Releases Twitter Customer Service Tips (prweb.com)
• The 3 main expectations customers have for social companies (socialfresh.com)
• How Customer Service and Social Media can cost you Clients and Money (assistsocialmedia.com)
• How is Social Media Affecting Your Business? (elocal.com)
• Does Your Customer Service Strategy Include Social Media? (openforum.com)
• Social Media Resources for Business: Humor, Sales, and Facebook (sproutsocial.com)
• The Need for Social Customer Services (socialcubix.com)

 

How has Social Media helped find Megan Stammers and could it have prevented her disappearance in the first place?

 

You will not have been able to avoid the recent media coverage and constant appeals to help find 15 year old Megan Stammers, who went missing with her 30 year old Maths teacher, Jeremy Forrest last week.

Above: Megan Stammers & Jeremy Forrest

Today, they were both found and her maths teacher has been arrested on suspicion of child abduction after they were tracked down in Bordeaux. Jeremy Forrest and Megan Stammers were both found  after a continent-wide appeal for information led to a string of sightings. This was done through both traditional media and via a number of social media networks.

Police stated that the information which led to them being located came as a direct result of media coverage in France. However it is not yet confirmed that this was through a social media network.

Megan’s step dad, Martin Stammers, has been using Twitter all week to help spread he word and he immediately took to the site to express his relief after hearing she had been found today.

Mr Stammers Tweeted:

“Thank you everyone for everything, massive relief and thrilled to bits, more to follow later. #meganstammersfoundsafeandwell”

So now Megan has been found safe and well, how much has the use of social media helped in finding her and bringing her safely home? A trending hashtag campaign was launched #HelpFindMeganStammers and singers from girl group The Saturdays tweeted, urging Megan to contact her family. Francesca Sandford, from the band, tweeted: “Megan, on behalf of myself, Mollie, Vanessa, Una and Roch, please come home or call your mum. Everyone is so worried about you! Lots of love x”

I am left wondering whether without the use of social media, would there have still been the same level of awareness that she was missing?

Another question that should be asked is whether social media could have ‘prevented’ her going missing in the first place. Should the authorities or her school identified an inappropriate pupil/ teacher relationship online. Some sort of relationship between pupil and teacher was evident via both of their tweets to each other. Could this identification  have avoided them both fleeing the country, and was their plans to flee also not frighteningly obvious via their regular tweets on Twitter?

It has been reported that Megan was exchanging messages with her teacher on Twitter for at least six months. Each posted cryptic messages and song lyrics about being in love and many messages were trivial but many pointed towards each other.

I would ask how the school were not alerted of the ‘tweeting’ that was taking place between the pair and should this raise the issue among teachers and pupils being ‘freinds’ on social media sites. Surely this is crossing the line among a professional and ‘friendly’ relationship.

An example of some of Megan’s tweets are:

“probably just infatuated” before adding two days later: “Age is overrated.”

Mr Forrests tweets included

“only ever tweeted for one person”.

“Some things are worth fighting for …”

“I’ve been trying to make sense. I’ve been shouting under my breath. How’s any of this in my interest?”

In a message sent to Mr Forrest in March, Megan, refers to him online as Jeremy, wrote:

“Too many things keep me awake!!! Are you not sleeping either?!”

On one occasion, she repeatedly apologised to Mr Forrest for her behaviour the previous evening, stating that she was embarrassed and had a terrible headache, asking him if her hated her.

She also made frequent references to her love of maths, describing how she had run to school when she thought maths was the first class.

Many of Megan’s messages concern the trials and tribulations of a complicated romance and several include coded references to her age.

In late-June, Megan tweeted:

“I just want to runaway forever,”

Mr Forrest wrote:

“Me & you. Let’s just run away.”

Looking over these tweets now, perhaps Megan’s disappearance could have been avoided altogether.

On the other side of the world the Social Media has also been used in trying to bring home missing young woman Jill Meagher amongst causing controversy now with people sending messages over social media networks about her accused, possibly risking the trial.

Above: Jill Meagher.

Jill Meagher’s case has had Australia talking, particularly on social media. Jill Meagher went missing 500 yeards from her home and a national appeal to find her was held. Tragically Jill’s body was found dead days later.

Upon finding Jills body the tragedy was mentioned on social media sites Twitter and Facebook, every 11 seconds after her body was found. The CCTV footage which showed her walking on Sydney Road on the morning she disappeared was shared on the same platforms about 7500 times within two hours.

Kristen Boschma, the Head of social media at a large communications agency in Australia said that the level of social media engagement with the Meagher case was “unprecedented other than natural disasters in Australia”.

“It’s something that people are taking to with enormous passion and also what’s interesting is that the vast majority of the mentions are really about sympathy and that people are upset,” she said. ”Overnight, the sentiment was very much of grief and sadness and now this morning, anger is starting creep into what is being shared and re-shared.”

So as sentiment changed so did the nature of the social media messages which have started to raise alarm bells on what ‘can’ and ‘can’t’ be said online.

Boschma goes on to say, “With that anger comes responsibility to social media users, who become content publishers when they post. That may require knowledge of media law.”

Victoria Police warns its Facebook audience of its legal responsibilities. 

Victoria Police in Australia, posted a message on a Facebook page about the accused, warning users of their legal responsibilities in posting and reminding that “it is inappropriate to post speculation or comments about matters before the courts”.

Thomas Meagher, Jill’s husband has urged people to consider what they post on Twitter and Facebook.

”While I appreciate all the support, I would just like to mention that negative comments on social media may hurt legal  proceedings so please be mindful of that.”

In a statement, Jill Meagher’s uncle, Michael McKeon, acknowledged the role social media had played in the search for his niece.

“We believe that it has helped us in the search, but it’s not the outcome that we had hoped and prayed for. We thank the people around the world who have helped support us,” he said.

Boschma said the CCTV footage of Jill Meagher had been viewed millions of times on social media. She said this was a good example of “action-oriented” information sharing.

Cases like Jills demonstrate just why social media is so important in instances like this. It offers a sense of connection and community, and people want to feel connected to others who feel the same as them. People also feel that they can help in some way, and during the plight to find Jill, people felt they could do so. Jill’s name had appeared in more than 35 million Twitter feeds in the early stages her case and a lot of the sharing came from Australia and Ireland, where Jill is originally from.

Social media however has started to cause problems with the Facebook page originally created to help find Jill Meagher will now have to be carefully moderated to avoid comments about the accused risking the trail.

So it would seem in the tragic case of Jill Meagher, social media has played a very significant part in the search for her. However now, it seems social media is working against the Jill Meagher case.

Both the Megan Stammers and Jill Meagher stories will raise some much needed questions as to what policies need to be in place to monitor social media sites for safety and protection issues but also restricting and making people aware of the very serious risks that exist, particularly in a legal case, such as Jill Meaghers and particularly with regards to the threat of a trial on what can and can’t be said.

With the growing use of social media perhaps a nationwide government education campaign should to be rolled out for greater media literacy and understanding of the do’s and don’ts online. We all have our right to ‘free speech’ but do people know what can or can’t be said online at the risk of a legal trial or risk a defamation case against them?

Related articles

• ‘Trial by social media’ worry in Meagher case (theage.com.au)
• Tributes flow across social media (dailytelegraph.com.au)
• Missing Megan family ‘in pieces’ (bbc.co.uk)
• Jill Meagher case: Bolt, Twitter users warned on comment (crikey.com.au)
• Social media helped the hunt for the murderer of Jill Meagher (leaderswedeserve.wordpress.com)
• Accused killer of Jill Meagher appears in court (abc.net.au)
• Police seek help on missing woman (theage.com.au)
• Man charged with rape, murder of Jill Meagher (abc.net.au)
• Man charged with rape and murder of Irish woman Jill Meagher (independent.ie)
• Meagher family, friends pay tribute to Jill (abc.net.au)

 

Hootsuite or Tweetdeck

Both Hootsuite and Tweetdeck are regarded as two of the most popular social media management tools. My clients are constantly asking me which is the best one. I do have a favorite, but what works for one, doesn’t always work for another and I think you have to decide what you want your management tool to do for you.

Both offer excellent easy to use features, but in order to find out which might work best for you I thought it would be useful to identify the pro’s and cons of each management tool by going through some of their features.

Hootsuite

Hootsuite is a web-based application and a Social Media dashboard tool, which allows you to integrate various social networks including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Foursquare and WordPress.

Hootsuite has over 300 million users, boasting several awards including “Best Twitter app”.

Hootsuite offers free versions where users can manage up to 5 profiles and it doesn’t limit you to one account per network. Hootsuite also has a free mobile app which is very easy to use.

Tweetdeck

Tweetdeck is a Social Media dashboard tool, which allows you to integrate various  social networks. Tweetdeck is a software programme that you can download onto your desktop.

Tweetdeck is currently the most popular Twitter application. Tweetdeck also offers a free mobile app.

Cost

One of the benefits of social media is that’s its free, so bringing cost into the equation can often put many off. Social media management tools offer a helping hand in managing your accounts so if cost is the deciding factor over which one you choose its important to understand what cost is involved.

TweetDeck is completely free to use, whereas HootSuite offers both a free version and a paid pro version for just under £4.00 per month.  Both free versions offer almost identical benefits, whereas with HootSuite Pro the cost per month provides you with significantly more useful features including bulk scheduling, Google analytics and Facebook Insights.

Multiple Accounts  

Both TweetDeck and HootSuite will allow you to add multiple social media accounts so you can manage everything at once. TweetDeck combines all of your accounts into one window whereas HootSuite provides a tabbed interface with a tab for each account you add.

The special feature you will find with HootSuite is that you can also add multiple users because of it’s browser based interface, allowing you to create posts from multiple users and even allowing them to add a signature to each of their specific posts.  This is particularly beneficial if you are using social media as a customer service tool.

Scheduling

Having the ability to schedule update is a real advantage for anyone utilizing social media. It offers you the satisfaction that you are proviign your auidnece with regular updates and information, however you will not be answering any questions or comments.Scheduling is often one of the main reasons for people wanting to choose a social media management tool, and particularly something my clients often identify as something that would help them.

Both TweetDeck and HootSuite (free version) allow you to schedule posts in advance. HootSuite Pro (paidf version) allows you to bulk schedule updates using an imported CSV file (comma separated values). The bulk scheduler allows you to import 50 updates at once but is rather tricky to figure out how to use it.

Tip. Use the Ctrl+F/Replace function in Excel.

User Interface

User interface is one of the most important features for anyone when choosing a social media management tool. If you can’t use it and it’s not nice to look at, then you just won’t use it. Both Hootsuite and Tweetdeck are very easy to use platforms and both pleasing on the eye. Both take a bit of getting use too, but once you have familiarized yourself with the features you should be up and running in no time. TweetDeck allows you to see everything all in one window, but could prove a bit overwhelming. I personally think the interface could be better suited for personal use.

Hootsuite has a browser based interface downloadable for Mac, Smartphones and Tablets. Hootsuites Social media profiles are viewed in tabs, rather than all in one window, so you can. The tabbed interface might be more suited to a social media manager who is managing multiple accounts that would need them to be separated for organisational purposes.

Update Multiple Social Networks

Both Hootsuite and Tweetdeck allow you to update your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn profiles regardless of whether or not you are using the free or paid version.  However, HootSuite’s features allow you to update your Facebook Business and Brand Pages , Foursquare and WordPress.com accounts.

The verdict…..  

In my opinion,from a user ability perspective Tweetdeck is easier but the functionality offered by Hootsuite is better.

Having the ability to load Tweetdeck direct from your desktop is very appealing as is having everything all on one screen where you need it. However in my opinion Tweedeck is geared more towards personal use. If you are managing multiple accounts Tweetdeck just doesn’t seem to cut the mustard and offer that extra insight that I look for when managing my clients social media accounts and identifying their ROI.

Both versions of Hootsuite, have almost all the features that TweetDeck has. However Hootsuite offers some basic social analytics, to see the impact of your messages and Tweets and for me, this is a very powerful advantage when managing social media for business use. HootSuite Social Analytics provide you with a better view of your social spaces with  powerful analytics tools, more ways to measure, and customizable reports, all of which are designed to track campaign success and help you understand the return on your social media investment.

I don’t personally think one is better than the other and there are pros and cons for both, but I think depending on your preferences and needs one might be better than the other for you.

Do you use either of these apps and which do one do you use and why?

Sarah Michelle Willis 

Follow me on Twitter: @SarahMWillisPR 

 

 

Related articles

• RPM Announces Hootsuite Partnership (rpmgr.com)
• Twitter’s API Crackdown May Be Bad For Users, Even If They Never Notice (techcrunch.com)
• Hootsuite acquires Seesmic as Twitter shifts focus to the enterprise (zdnet.com)
• Seesmic has been acquired by HootSuite (seesmic.com)
• The Future Of Social Media : Contextualizing Tools, Campaigns And Mobile [Editorial] (thetechnologycafe.com)
• Twitter tools used by the world’s top brands (royal.pingdom.com)
• TweetDeck comes to the iPhone (reviews.cnet.com)
• How to Use Twitter Hashtags for Your Business (openforum.com)
• It’s All About The Money: Twitter Partners With HootSuite (programmableweb.com)
• 16 Desktop Apps to Help You Tweet (blogworld.com)

Why Social Media Can Improve Your Business

I am often asked by businesses both small, medium and large about the benefits and ROI of social media are. This article aims to identify why ‘every’ business should be either ‘considering’ using or ‘be’ using social media marketing. Taking part may be purely listening, researching or actively taking part with a few relevant identified networks to suit your business aiming at your target audience/ customer.

So how can social media marketing benefit business? 

-      It can build relationship and credibility with your prospects and customers

-      To monitor what people are talking about you and solve it. A great way to reduce customer support

-      It’s a cheap way to network with people and to get to know your customers better

-      To monitor what people are talking about you and solve it, great way to reduce customer support

-      To help you track the effectiveness of your campaign

-      To act as a customer service tool, answering people questions about your product and services in a social space

Feeling curious? Before anyone gets started with social media, I highly recommend that they begin by ‘listening’. This will in turn help you profile your audience/ customers.

Listen and Learn

Every business knows who their target audience/ customers are, and from that you can then determine what sort of social networks your target audience/ customers are ‘hanging out’. From this you can also identify ‘influencers’ of your brand.

Think of each social network as a community and begin by understanding who, what and where that community derive from. Listen in on conversations that take place within each of those communities. Think about how you might benefit that community by your own participation. Think about how you could strike a conversation with some of your customers in those communities. What could offer to that community that it might be missing?

It is also important to remember that many of your customers are more likely to have multiple social networking accounts which can help you to further profile your target audience/ customer. This is especially helpful if you use a CRM (Customer Relationships Management) system such as CRM SOS or Salesforce.

If your target audience are B2C (business-to-consumers) social consumers; these are people that are willing to share their personal information on social networks engaging in activities such as updating their Facebook status, displaying their locations on Foursquare, leaving travel reviews on TripAdvisor and leaving their product reviews on Amazon.

If you apply the Pareto principle or the 80/20 rule, you can expect the power users represent 20% of the users that’s generating 80% of the activities.

A study by Chadwick Martin Bailey demonstrates how your target audience are more likely to buy if you are taking part in social media networks. “consumers who are Facebook fans and Twitter followers of a brand are more likely to not only recommend, but they are also more likely to buy from those brands than they were before becoming fans/followers…The study also uncovered perceptions among consumers that those brands not engaging in social media are out of touch.”

Accountability and ROI

Now that you’ve got your audience/ customer profiles and social network/s identified, what’s next? For businesses serious about ROI (return on investment), it’s time to increase accountability of your marketing efforts.

You can do this by using existing data or the customer insights from your research (surveys, CRM, profiling) to create campaign projections and a realistic target or KPI that you can aim for.

Here are some simple questions to ask yourself to get your started on your social media marketing:

• Create a mix of financial and non-financial metrics that you need to measure, not what you can measure. This is to help you understand how your marketing activities impact the bottom line and how you can optimise them by doing more of what works and less of what doesn’t.
• Make sure you track your marketing cost as well as where the money is coming from to justify true ROI and conduct performance analysis.
• Can you compare the effectiveness of your marketing investments in direct marketing and affiliate marketing?
• Share Your Insights with the whole business. Share this valuable customer data with your customer service representatives, sales teams and anyone else that will benefit from them. If the sales team know what words or questions your target audience used most frequently when talking about your product, they can then tailor their sales pitch and answer customers questions before they even ask them.
• How much does it cost to run a local campaign vs. national campaign? Do you really need both?
• What results are you getting targeting men instead of women?
• Ultimately you want to have a holistic view of your customer data so not only do you know what they have purchased, but also what they think about your industry, how they talk about your brand, and why they react to your campaign a certain way.
• If you are unable to keep up then outsource part of your social media efforts to consultants or agencies.

Now that you have realised the benefit and ROI of social media for your business, the question is about whether or not this should be done by yourself or by using social media marketing services.

Why social media marketing services?

- social media take a lot of time and many businesses don’t have time to focus on that aspects effectively

- it’s less time consuming to leave an expert that know what their are doing to manage your brand

- it will increase in the long term your brand awareness and reputation if done in a well manner

- it’s the most cheaper and the most effective strategy for your marketing budget

Related articles

• 7 Ways to Save Time on Your Social Media Efforts (openforum.com)
• How is Social Media Affecting Your Business? (elocal.com)
• How Data Hype is Destroying Your Social Media ROI (socialmediaexplorer.com)
• ROI Remains a Tough Challenge for CRM, Social Enterprise (servicesangle.com)
• How to drive social media customer service within your company (usefulsocialmedia.com)
• Social Media – Road Map It! (damienschulze.com)
• Twitter Marketing Strategies: How Your Competitors Do It (aboutsocialmedia.com)
• Metrics That Matter in Social (digiday.com)
• Increasing the ROI of Social Media Marketing (sloanreview.mit.edu)
• 10 Reasons Why Your Social Media Marketing Efforts Aren’t Working–And What You Can Do About It (forbes.com)

How To Promote Your Business

Whether you are selling a service or a product, just by having your own website or shop alone won’t bring you customers and business through the door. You need to promote it.

Business promotion is an essential part of running any successful business. You should spend at least an hour a day on business promotion or planning how to promote your business (and more is better, if you can fit the time in.)

So where do you start?

There are potentially hundreds of different ways you could promote your new business but many can be timely and costly, so it’s a good idea to decide which ones will work best for you and achieve the desired results for your business. Marketing and Promotions is not a ‘one size fits all’ and what works well for one business, may not necessarily work effectively for yours.

This article aims to help you get started and help you grow your business/ service by deciding what might work best for you.

16 ways to promote your business: 

1. Have you got a website?

For those with no idea about websites, this suggestion might seem extremely daunting. However a website is one of the most fundamentally important tools you should have to promote your business. One thing you do need to remember though is that just by having a website, it doesn’t mean that everyone is going to start flooding through the door as you need to direct your target audience to your site. There are a number of ways you can do this via some of the further steps below.

Aim for a clean easy to navigate design that tells people what you are offering and emphasises your professionalism and skill. Give your potential clients as much information as you think they will need. Remember, this is most likely going to be your first point of contact with a potential client, and could determine right away whether or not the contract goes to you.

2. Tell everyone you know about it. 

Tell everyone you know about your business; what it does, what it offers and who it will benefit. I’m sure family, a few friends and friends of friends will also benefit in some way from your business. Is there anything you could offer them for free as an intial introduction? By offering this sort of introduction, word of mouth should then follow. Word of mouth is one of the most powerful ways of promoting any business. As long as its positive! If you have made a marked change to their lives or their own business somehow through your business, then they will definitely share this with their friends and family.

3. Buisness Cards, Leaflets, Brochures, Postcards…

Many may think business cards are a bit old hat now when we have so many different social media sites to choose from that we could promote our business through, but there is nothing more engaging and personal than meeting with a potential customer when out and about at a chance meeting and ending the conversation with ‘here take my card, if I can be of any help in the future, please get in touch.’ Far more professional than scribbling down your details on a piece of scrap paper that they kight just throw away in error when they get home. It also demonstrates how serious you are as a business and a professional.

Get your business cards into the hand of anyone who can help you in your search for new clients. Call your friends and relatives and tell them you about your business. Visit local business and community centres and leave a stack behind.

You could try and be original and creative with your business cards to. Offer them something a bit different to stand out from the crowd. Take a look at these Top 100 really creative business cards.

Leaflets and brochures are also still very much welcomed when providing an extra source of information to someone looking to find out more about a product or service. Customers are much more savvy these days before they buy and want to go away and think about whats on offer. If you have a leaflet, brochure or something that they can take away and look at that appealing and eye catching that they aren’t just going to throw away then you have an ample opportunity to tell your audience what your business can do for them. With any of your messages or communications, always think about the ‘whats in it for me’.

4. Social Media Networks

Facebook, Twitter, linkedIn, Instagram, PinInterest… the list goes on. But make sure your business is on at least one. They all offer different ways and different advantages to promoting your business. You will need to think about whether you want to sell things, offer a service, share ideas, and provide content or advice or whether you want to just update your customers on your business success.

Put videos of your product or service on YouTube and other video-sharing and slide-sharing sites.

Here are some great tips on getting started with Social Media networks and deciding what might work best for you.

5. Talk to all the vendors from whom you buy products or services.

Give them your business card, and ask if they can use your products or service, or if they know anyone who can. If they have bulletin boards where business cards are displayed (printers often do, and so do some supermarkets, hairdressers, etc.), ask if yours can be added to the board.

6. Attend meetings of professional groups

Attend groups such as the Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Clubs, or civic associations. Have business cards in a pocket where they are easily reachable. Don’t forget to ask what the people you speak with do, and to really listen to them. They’ll be flattered by your interest, and better remember you because of it.

7. Pay for membership in groups that attract your target customers/ join free groups on LinkedIn.

If the group has a website and publishes a list members on the site, make sure your name and website link get added. Once it is added double check to be sure your contact information is correct and your website link isn’t broken.

LinkedIn offers thousands, if not more, professional groups that you can get involved with and spread the word about your business and its service. You must get involved for them to be of any value, however don’t just ‘sell, sell, sell.’ Share a bit of your personality, what you do and provide guidance where you can. accredit yourself as a professional within your area. People buy from people, not business.

8. Look for something unusual about what you do, and publicise it. 

Send out press releases to local newspapers, radio stations, cable TV stations, magazines whose audiences are likely to be interested in buying what you sell. Be sure to post the press releases on one or more online press release services, too, being sure to include links to your website. To increase your chance of having the material published, send along a photo (but not to radio stations) with your press release.

9. Blog or write an article that demonstrates your expertise in your field.

Send it to newspapers, magazines, and websites in your field that accept submissions from experts. Be sure your name, business name, phone number, and a reference to your product or service is included at the end of the article. If the editor can use the article you get your name in print, and possibly get your contact information printed for free, too.

10. Publicise your publicity. 

Whenever you do get publicity, get permission from the publisher to reprint the article containing the publicity. Make photocopies and mail the copies out with sales letters or any other literature you use to market your product or service. The publicity clips lend credibility to the claims you make for your products or services.

11. Offer to be a speaker.

Industry conferences, volunteer organizations, libraries, and local business groups often need speakers for meetings. You’ll benefit from the name recognition, contacts and publicity.

12. Offer a free, no obligation consultation 

Show people what you can do before they buy to people you think could use your services. During such consultations offer some practical suggestions or ideas and before you leave ask for an “order” to implement the ideas.

13. Free gifts, otherwise known as merchandise 

This method does take a little investment to start with but can yield good results if it’s done properly and is correctly targeted. Invest in some branded sweets, pens, USB sticks, fridge magnets etc to promote your business. The advantage of these items over traditional business cards is that they are more likely to be kept, plus your contact/business information generally remains on open view, as opposed to being in a wallet, purse or filing system somewhere.

This will help get your company name and details out to your target audience, and will hopefully get your name and details seen by the right people.

14. Hold an open day or event

Can you hold an open house or event to promote your business? Invite some other local businesses along including press and journalists and tell them all about your business. Provide them with some entertainment and feed them and let them try your business if possible so they can see it for themselves. They will remember you for this and could be the start of a long term working relationship for future positive and ongoing PR opportunities.

15. Create your own app

This isn’t all that difficult to do and there are a number of companies out there already offering this service. You don’t necessarily have to offer an app that actually sells your service or product but perhaps uses it in some way to remind customers of it. An example could include a game which uses your product as part of that game.

16. Competitions 

A really age old, great way of promoting your business and giving something back to potential customers. It is also a great way of building up your customer database with their details, as with their permission you can then go on to send them future communications about further services or products.

These have only touched the surface on the many opportunities you can utilise to promote your business, but these aim to get you started and get your business out there into the big wide world.

Related articles

• How to Make Professional Business Cards (answers.com)
• Networking Tips for Business Owners: 5 Ideas for Promotional Products That Will Get You Noticed (amsterdamprinting.com)
• Why Business Card is Important to Every Business? (businesscardsizes.wordpress.com)
• Small Business Marketing Magic – 10 Ways to Use Customer Testimonials (amsterdamprinting.com)
• 5 Top Offline Marketing Tips for Online Businesses (firmology.com)
• The Advantages of Making Business Cards Online (ruralstops.blogspot.com)
• 3 Creative Ways to Market Yourself Without Social Media (thesocialschoolhouse.wordpress.com)
• 10 Commandments of Correct Business Card Marketing (printrunner.com)