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Tag Archive for social media

27 Sep 2012

Social Media – How to Conquer your Fears

Scared of Social Media?

I speak to business owners regularly, and many tell me that they have social media accounts (most commonly Facebook and Twitter) but they rarely update them either because they haven’t seen any results, or because they don’t have time/don’t know what to say. My response is that social media doesn’t produce overnight results. It’s just one part of a complete marketing strategy. Facebook and Twitter may not be appropriate for your business; have you looked at your target market? Finding things to say isn’t difficult at all when you use the right tools. As for the time problem, it’s perfectly possible to manage an adequate social media presence in just 15 minutes per day! If these concerns sound familiar to you, this article should go some way towards conquering your social media fears.

Dangers of Not Using Social Media

Many businesses are aware of the benefits of having a social media presence but are still wary of getting involved. There’s no point getting involved just for the sake of it or because everyone else is – but there are risks if you don’t.

Start Small

You don’t need to jump in at the deep end and set up on several networks immediately – always consider social media as part of your overall marketing strategy. You should know your target market and identify which networks they are likely to be active on, allowing you to design an appropriate social media plan. If you’re not sure how to go about this, advice and training might be of benefit.

Customer Service

It’s a dialogue between the business and its customers/clients. Social media offers an amazing opportunity to amplify this dialogue. If someone complains about your company on a social network and you’re not there to answer, just think what might happen. We know how rapidly news can spread via Twitter and Facebook. Similarly, if someone recommends you, you can ensure that the message is spread far and wide! Simply because of the sheer numbers of people using social networks daily, chances are someone is talking about you and you should be listening.

Sales and Leads

It’s now well known that potential customers research their purchases online – they will commonly ask their friends on Facebook or Twitter for opinions on products. Try “anyone recommend” as a search on Twitter if you don’t believe me! Most major brands feature reviews on their website – because they know that people value recommendations from their peers. You need to be where the conversation is.

Just for Young People?

This is a common misconception. Facebook is set to reach 1 billion worldwide users this year – more than half are over 35 and the largest growing sector is the over 55s! Social media is here to stay and it’s used by everyone.

Reputation Monitoring

This is one of the most important features of social media for businesses. You can track (via various tools) what’s being said about your company/brand and respond quickly if necessary.

Content Syndication

If your business has a blog (and it should), or produces articles regularly, social media offers a very simple way to reach a wider audience. Most blogs nowadays have social sharing links to enable readers to immediately share the content to their own networks. When you consider that the average Facebook user has 130 friends, and the average Twitter user around 100 followers, it’s easy to see how quickly good content can spread. You also have the opportunity to comment on other blogs, leaving a link back to your own – yet another way of raising your profile and sharing your content.

Two-Way Dialogue

We’ve reached the end of “business as usual” – we are no longer limited to 5 days a week, 9-5. There are now many ways of communication besides email and telephone and multiple devices (desktop PC, laptop, tablet, smartphone) Social media facilitates this new way of working.

How will you get started?

Forget your social media fears! Look out for my next post outlining a simple process for establishing and maintaining a strong social media presence for your business.

Need help getting started with social media for your business? I’d love to work with you, so go ahead, take the first step! Contact me on 01777 249075 or by email at info@naomijohnsonsocialmedia.co.uk

Image credit: fuzzbones / 123RF Stock Photo

Image credit: senkaya / 123RF Stock Photo

Naomi Jane Johnson | 4 comments | Tags: facebook, google, reputation monitoring, search engine rankings, seo, small business, social media, social media marketing, twitter

15 Sep 2012

facebook • google plus • linkedin • pinterest • social media • social networking • twitter

Social Media and SMBs – a study

SMBs and Social Media

Here’s a very informative study recently published by Vocus in conjunction with Duct Tape Marketing, showing how small and medium businesses (SMBs) are currently using social media. You can read the original article here. View the SlideShare presentation below.

Did any of the information surprise you? Do share your views in the comments

Need help implementing social media for your business? I’d love to work with you, so go ahead, take the first step! Contact me on 01777 249075 or by email at info@naomijohnsonsocialmedia.co.uk

Naomi Jane Johnson | No comments | Tags: digital marketing, facebook, google plus, linkedin, social media, social media management, twitter

06 Jun 2012

business growth • facebook • marketing • SEO • small business • social media • social networking • twitter

Social Media Gurus – Do They Exist?

Expert or Guru?

These days it seems there are scores of social media “experts”, “gurus”, “consultants”, “strategists” and almost any other word that describes someone who supposedly knows all there is to know about the topic. I get quite upset when I’m referred to as an expert or guru, because I am still, and will always be learning.

Many web designers, SEO specialists and internet marketers are reinventing themselves as social media experts because social media ties in with their other areas of expertise, but can they really keep all these balls in the air? Let’s look at a few Wikipedia definitions: GURU – a Sanskrit term for “teacher” or “master”, especially in Indian religions. In America, the meaning of “guru” can be used to cover anyone who acquires followers, especially by exploiting their naiveté, due to the inflationary use of the term in new religious movements. (Yikes – a definite no-no!) EXPERT - An expert is a person with extensive knowledge or ability based on research, experience, or occupation and in a particular area of study. (OK, but social media is still pretty new – how extensive is extensive??) CONSULTANT - A consultant (from Latin: consultare ”to discuss”) is a professional who provides professional or expert advice. (Yes, that’s a bit more like it) STRATEGIST - a person skilled in strategy (hmmm – quite – click the link to see the definition of strategy!) If you were looking for someone to help you with social media for your business, would you be impressed by the above handles?

If not, what should you look for?

How will you know who to add to your shortlist of social media ……….(insert word of choice here)?

Check their social media profiles. Are they updated on a regular basis and is there plenty of interaction with followers? Actual numbers of followers aren’t as important as good engagement and interaction. But if someone claims to give advice on Facebook management, but hasn’t updated their own page in months, it’s not terribly convincing……
What sort of things are they posting? At least 80% of the content should be useful information (blog articles, hints & tips etc) and/or interaction with followers. Be suspicious of anyone who never engages and only posts self-promotional updates.
Have a look at their followers – do they include a good proportion of businesses in the same niche, as well as varied types of local businesses? This is an indication of good content being shared by someone who is well respected locally.
On Twitter, are they on a good number of lists? Again this shows that the person is well thought of.
Check the website – is it up to date, is there a blog? Are there clear links to social media profiles and ways to share content easily?
Now it’s your turn – start a conversation with whoever you consider to be “walking the walk”. Ask for a free consultation – essential in order to find out whether social media will work for you.
Be suspicious if you’re recommended to use multiple social networks straight away – this is very unlikely to be necessary for more than a tiny minority of businesses. A good social media adviser will work closely with you to determine the most suitable network(s) for your business, and also show you how to integrate social media with your current marketing as well as your online and offline activities.

Have you had to search for help or advice with social media? How did you go about choosing the right person for the job? Share your experiences in the comments!

Need help using social media for your business? Take the first step! Contact me on 01777 249075 or by email at info@naomijohnsonsocialmedia.co.uk

Naomi Jane Johnson | 5 comments | Tags: blogging, business growth, seo, small business, social media, social media management, social media strategy, tweets, twitter

29 May 2012

facebook • social media • twitter • youtube

Ready for the Diamond Jubilee?

Get Involved on Social Media

Even if you’re not in the UK, it’s highly unlikely you’re not aware that we in the UK will be celebrating the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty Elizabeth II this coming weekend. Anti-royalists aside, we should be proud of our Royal Family and the great job they do of promoting Britain!

Your Chance to Gain Followers

What does this have to do with social media, you might ask? Well, social media is primarily about being social, and topical news always gets plenty of interest, so why not make the most of the opportunity? Don’t switch off your computers, tablets and smartphones this weekend – you have a whole 4 days to get involved with the social aspects of the Jubilee and who knows, you could gain new followers and maybe even pick up some business!

Watch out for the #diamondjubilee hashtag on Twitter and follow the conversation as the events of the weekend unfold. If you haven’t noticed already, social media activity goes hand in hand with popular TV programmes and live events – just take a look at the trending topics for Saturday evenings when programmes such as The Voice are aired! People do sit with smartphones and tablets to hand, commenting and sharing like crazy – surely you haven’t forgotten the huge social media excitement during last year’s Royal Wedding? Get creative and think about how you could relate this weekend’s events to your business.

In fact, the Royal Family is a shining example of how to use social media to its full potential. If you hadn’t already come across the accounts and websites of the British Monarchy, here are some of them (pictures link to the appropriate account/site):

And Finally…

If none of the above has spurred you into action, then I have one further suggestion, albeit slightly irreverent! If you haven’t come across the Queen’s personal Twitter account, then you don’t know what you’re missing

OK, of course it’s not really Her Majesty tweeting, but this is a brilliant parody account full of sarcastic swipes at the UK Government, the Duke of Edinburgh and other family members – not to mention the Queen’s supposed love of gin! Here’s a screenshot:

There is also a book “Gin o’Clock” available from Amazon – I haven’t read it yet but it’s definitely on my wish list!

Will you be getting involved with the Jubilee events on social media? Let me know in the comments what you’ll doing and saying related to your business!

Need help using social media for your business? Take the first step! Contact me on 01777 249075
or by email at info@naomijohnsonsocialmedia.co.uk

Naomi Jane Johnson | No comments | Tags: facebook, facebook pages, social media, tweets, twitter, youtube

30 Apr 2012

blogging • facebook • google plus • linkedin • social media • social networking • twitter

What to say on social media

Help – what do I say on social media?

This is a “frequently asked question” in my experience, and it seems that many business owners wonder what to say on social media. They are worried about saying the wrong thing, and/or they simply can’t think of enough different things, or indeed anything at all, to say to make social media activity worthwhile. A common misconception is that people only use social media to post about what they had for breakfast…

It’s not unusual for people to feel that they aren’t interesting, or they don’t want to sound like they’re bragging, and they know it’s not about what you had for breakfast……so their perception is that they don’t have anything useful to share on social media.

Newsflash…

…you don’t have to post about yourself or your business most of the time! Here’s the thing: there’s absolutely no need to continually produce original content to post on social media, in fact it’s far better not to. Sharing other people’s content is far more valuable and will go a long way towards building your social communities and generating interaction and engagement. A good rule of thumb would be to make at least 80% of your social media updates not directly related to your own business or products. However you can – and should – post links to your own blog articles whenever you produce them. If you don’t already have a blog for your business, you might want to read this article I wrote last year.

Ways to find shareable content

If you’ve just set up your social media accounts – we’ll assume you’ve chosen Facebook and Twitter to start with – I’d recommend not posting anything for the first week or two. Instead, just watch and learn from others. Run a few searches to find other businesses in your niche, follow them, then keep an eye on the type of things they post. Do you find any of it interesting? Chances are that you will – you might click a few links and find yet more useful information. Would your colleagues also find it interesting? Go ahead and share (on Facebook) or retweet (on Twitter). Congratulations, you’re learning what social media is all about!

To make sharing easier, try setting up a few lists in Twitter and in Facebook. This allows you to curate content from like-minded people or those in the same field of business as yourself, without having to trawl through updates from all of your followers. You can then simply visit your lists daily and quickly find anything of interest that you feel is worth sharing.

From my own viewpoint, I’d be lost without Google Reader. It has been a real goldmine of information for me and I spend time every day going through my list of blogs and sharing links on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google Plus. (I don’t share every link to all networks, I am selective about it). Take a look at my previous article on Google Reader to learn more – I highly recommend you set up an account if you’ve not already done so – it’s free

Interact with others

Once you’re feeling comfortable on your chosen social networks and are starting to build a community, you will want to start giving back to others, perhaps by recommending them. If you see a request for help and you know someone who offers that particular service, all you have to do is reply and tag / @mention your contact and guess what, everyone benefits and you might well gain a new follower and/or potential customer. And it goes without saying that if anyone recommends you, you should respond quickly and thank them. This is one reason why you do need to visit your social media accounts regularly, to check for messages and mentions so that you aren’t leaving someone waiting and wondering why they’ve not had a response to their question.

And finally…..

The burning question – YES! It is OK to mention yourself, your products and services occasionally. But try to keep the self-promotion as subtle as possible. For example, I might post something like “Need help using social media for your business?” with a link to my website.

Need help using social media for your business? Take the first step! Contact me on 01777 249075
or by email at info@naomijohnsonsocialmedia.co.uk

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Naomi Jane Johnson | 2 comments | Tags: blogging, facebook, google, google plus, linkedin, social media, tweets, twitter

01 Apr 2012

business growth • linkedin • relationship marketing • small business • social media • social networking • twitter

Networking – are you well connected?

Don’t be shy!

In my business it’s important to be an active networker, both on and offline. I meet a lot of people at networking events, collect business cards, and browse scores of websites and social media profiles. I’m often surprised at how “disconnected” many business people seem to be.

Look, if someone had told me a couple of years ago that in 2012 I’d be a member of several networking groups, on the management team of one, and quite happy to chat with strangers about business matters on a regular basis, I’d have said they were barking! But this is what has happened – I started networking seriously last summer and haven’t looked back – I really enjoy it and have made many valuable contacts.

If you want to be easily found online and offline (and why wouldn’t you, if you’re in business?) - then you need to integrate your communication channels. Here are a few tips to help with your networking.

Offline Connections

When you meet people at networking events, make a point of connecting with them on LinkedIn – always send a short personal message when you do this.
Connect on Twitter if the contact is active there (it’s very easy to recommend/refer on Twitter and is always appreciated).
Consider setting up a spreadsheet to keep track of your offline connections, and update it regularly.
Add your social network link URLs to adverts, business cards, brochures, posters, newsletters and any other literature you use to promote your business.

Online Connections

If you have social media accounts (please tell me you do?), make sure they’re updated regularly. Having an account and never updating is worse than not having the account at all.
Although it’s good to cross-reference occasionally, please don’t duplicate the same content across all your networks. Tweets sent to Facebook and LinkedIn are particularly disliked.
Automation tools have their place, but you still need to interact daily, in person, on all your networks. Your followers will soon realise if you’re never actually there.
Establish a routine & find your best times to update (monitor engagement at different times of day).
Make sure your profiles/bios are fully completed on all networks – give as much information as possible about your business, but do add a few personal touches too.
Brand your accounts – be consistent with your logo, colours, background images etc. as well as your “voice”.
Always include your social network links in email and forum signatures.

The takeaway message here is that you need to make yourself highly visible both off- and online. Are you ready to step into the spotlight?

Need help getting found online? Take the first step! Contact me on 01777 249075
or by email at info@naomijohnsonsocialmedia.co.uk

Naomi Jane Johnson | No comments | Tags: business development, business growth, linkedin, networking, social media, social profiles, tweets, twitter

16 Mar 2012

business growth • pinterest • SEO • small business • social media • social networking

Why you should use Pinterest for business

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last 3 months, you will be aware that Pinterest has been making headline news, and not just in the blogosphere (although I have to say I have never seen such a slew of blog posts on any topic in such a short space of time!). The BBC, as well as several national newspapers, have run articles on Pinterest recently. A high percentage of Pinterest users are women, and you know how good we are at spreading the word about anything! Pinterest recently became the fastest ever site to reach 10 million unique (US) monthly visitors

What is Pinterest?

Simply put, it’s an online pinboard (actually, a group of pinboards). You set up a number of boards based around particular niches or concepts, and then “pin” images (or videos) of your products/services. These are then “repinned” by other members. All images/videos link back to their site of origin. It’s especially good for creative businesses (web/graphic designers, photographers, interior designers, crafters, catering/restaurants etc). Images of clothes, shoes, food, hairstyles, exotic locations, beautiful interiors, handcrafted items abound. However, virtually any business can build a presence on Pinterest – if you use images in your blog posts (as you should) then these can be pinned and of course they link back to your site…….get the idea?

The compelling fact about using Pinterest for business is that it drives massive amounts of traffic – latest statistics place it above Twitter in the “traffic league table”. So, as a business, you really do need to take advantage of this and get pinning! I’ve only been on Pinterest since January and already (via Google Analytics) I’m seeing traffic referred from there.

“But”, I hear you cry, “I just don’t have the time to manage yet another social media account”……. Well, the good news is you don’t have to! Read on to find out how I can help you set up and manage your Pinterest account – all you’ll have to do is watch as traffic starts flowing to your website! Oh and please follow me on Pinterest too – link is on the right hand side of this page

The Pinterest Management Package – £60

Setup of Pinterest for your business
Creation of 10 boards related to your niche
Pinning your content/products/services on a regular basis
Repinning by me of the above
Promotion of your boards via other social media channels

As stated, the initial cost is £60 – I suggest we give it 6 weeks, by which time you should see some effect on your website traffic. If not, and you don’t want to continue, that’s absolutely fine – you still have the account to carry on yourself if you wish. If you do see an increase in traffic, and would like me to carry on managing your account, the monthly fee will be £75 or just £50 if I’m already managing other accounts for you..

Want to get started with Pinterest? Take the first step! Contact me on 01777 249075
or by email at info@naomijohnsonsocialmedia.co.uk

Naomi Jane Johnson | One comment | Tags: business growth, digital marketing, google, pinterest, seo, social media, twitter

01 Mar 2012

blogging • business growth • facebook • google plus • linkedin • social media • twitter

Content Syndication with Social Media

What is content syndication, anyway?

Let’s look at a couple of definitions:

The act of syndicating a news feature by publishing it in multiple newspapers etc simultaneously

Making information on a website available (preferably in digest form) for a wide range of uses, prime examples of which are RSS and Atom feeds. Syndication is a great way of making news updates, blog entries and podcasts immediately available to a Web audience.

Basically then, syndication is a way of sharing content across a number of platforms or publications simultaneously. I’m sure you’ll agree that it would be beneficial to your business to be able to share your latest product news, forthcoming events etc with hundreds or even thousands of interested viewers.

How could this happen? When you publish your blog post, or details of your event, you share it with various sites. These sites may then republish to other sites, and so the process becomes exponential. From one piece of content you get multiple shares, therefore reaching a huge number of people.

Let’s say you have a business blog and you write a new post each week. Do you write, publish and walk away, in the hope that visitors will mosey along to read it? Sorry, but that just won’t happen! You need to take a proactive approach and push that content out far and wide.

Get Started with Content Syndication

Here are 7 simple ways to get your content in front of more eyeballs than you ever thought possible……

If you haven’t already, set up a RSS (“really simple syndication”) feed for your blog. WordPress blogs have RSS built in, and for additional benefits, use a service such as Feedburner.
Add a link to your latest blog posts on your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ pages. Whether you also add them to your personal profiles on Facebook and Google+ is up to you (may not be appropriate for every post)
Add Facebook Like & Share, Google +1, and Tweet buttons to all your posts, newsletters, event listings and product pages. If you’re using WordPress it’s simple to do this via plugins (there are scores that do this job, but that’s a topic for another post!)
Use a service such as ping.fm to share your content to scores of online directories
Share your updates to Facebook and LinkedIn groups that you’re a member of – only if the content is appropriate for the group, of course.
Always encourage people to share, retweet, like, and +1 your content. This gets you in front of an increasingly wide audience.
Given the recent exponential growth of Pinterest, I’m also going to encourage you to “pin” your new content whenever appropriate. (If you haven’t signed up for a Pinterest account yet, seriously consider doing so!)

Benefits of Content Syndication

Aside from what we’ve already covered (getting your content in front of thousands of potential clients/customers), what are the main benefits of content to you and your business?

It’s a cheap way of reaching far more potentially interested people than you could ever hope to speak to individually or even collectively.
You’re boosting your online visibility by making use of social media, thus gaining massive SEO benefits. You’re already using Google+ aren’t you??
When people see you everywhere online, they get the subconscious message that you are an expert in your field – as a result they’re more likely (a) to come to you as a client and/or (b) to recommend you to others.

Do you use any other methods of content syndication and do they work well for you? Share below in the comments!

Need help with content syndication? Take the first step! Contact me on 01777 249075
or by email at info@naomijohnsonsocialmedia.co.uk

Naomi Jane Johnson | One comment | Tags: blogging, facebook, google plus, linkedin, seo, social media, social media marketing, twitter

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