Tag Archive for video

19 Oct 2011
facebook • facebook pages • google • linkedin • marketing • social media • twitter • youtube

How To Do Social Media in 10 Easy Steps

social media bandwagon

http://www.flickr.com/photos/liako/

How To Do Social Media??

I go to quite a few local networking meetings, where I naturally get involved in conversations about social media.  I can’t recall a meeting where someone hasn’t said to me “I’ve set up a Facebook and Twitter account, but I don’t really know what to do now”……..
Yesterday I attended a “Blogging for Business” seminar. The speaker recommended blogging about questions that people have asked, and the topic of this post – How To Do Social Media –  immediately came to me

So, how to “do” social media??

  1. Sit down with a coffee and decide what you want to achieve with social media.  More website visitors?  More sales?  Building a community?  Being seen as the local expert in your field? The answer will probably be a combination of all these things.
  2. Also think about how you will track the results from your social media campaigns.  Google analytics is free and very powerful.  There are also various tools for tracking particular social media channels. Facebook has its own Page Insights and this has just been upgraded to give even more information.
  3. Consider your branding.  It’s important to be consistent across all the social networks so that your business is instantly recognisable.  Your social media pages should have the same branding as your website and blog.  Ideally your username should be consistent across all platforms, too.
  4. Set up your accounts.  It might be wise to start with just one or two so that you can get a feel for how they work.  If you dive into multiple networks straight away,  you’re more likely to give up.  We’re back to the original complaint of “I don’t know what do do”….
  5. I’d recommend starting with Twitter.  Many people find it difficult to believe that it can be useful for business. But if you persevere and take time to understand this platform you will soon appreciate its power. The key is consistency.  You can’t afford to miss tweeting for more than a day or two. This can seem impossible at first!
  6. If you follow my advice and start with Twitter,  ”listen” first. Begin by following a few people in your niche (find them via a google search),  watch what they’re tweeting about.  Look at who they’re following and who their followers are.  You might also want to follow some of these.  Then start to engage –  comment on what’s been posted, mention that you found it useful etc.
  7. Look for people in your local area and follow them.  Many will be local businesses who might need your services in the future.  Perhaps you’ve already met them at networking meetings? It’s always good to meet “tweeps” in the flesh after a few weeks of virtual chat!
  8. Remember, be consistent!  And don’t be tempted to use software that automatically adds followers – this is a waste of time as followers added this way are unlikely to be interested in what you have to offer. You need quality, not quantity.  It’s far better to grow your followers organically, and after a while this will start to happen without any action from you. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t continue looking for followers.
  9. When you feel that you’re familiar with Twitter and are starting to see results,  get set up on one of the other networks – LinkedIn is a good choice as it is very powerful for B2B connections and there are many possibilities for “networking” within the platform.  LinkedIn is known as the professionals’ social  network.
  10. Rinse and repeat the above with Facebook and YouTube if you wish!  A Facebook page is a must-have for most B2C businesses and can also be very useful for B2B.  YouTube is great if you have a lot of visual content,  but basically any business can produce powerful marketing videos without too much effort.  Hmmm…….about time I started with video :)

Has this helped to answer your question “How to do social media”?
If you’re still struggling and need advice on setting up and using social media accounts, start by contacting me on 01777 249075
or by email at info@naomijohnsonsocialmedia.co.uk

 

Naomi | 6 comments | Tags: , , , , , , , ,
26 Aug 2011
facebook • marketing • SEO • social media

12 Simple Ways To Freshen Up Your Facebook Page

Is Your Page Looking Stale?

Create a Facebook Page

My recent post proved very popular, so here’s a follow-up on the subject of Facebook Pages…..

Although you’re probably posting regular updates on your Page, it can be difficult to maintain your community’s interest and get them interacting and participating in conversations.   While it’s good to keep content on your page mainly relevant to your industry or niche,  there’s no harm in going off-topic and posting something light-hearted now and then.  Here’s a few suggestions.

  1. Make sure you use every category of status update – text, links, photos and videos. (obviously not all at once!)
  2. Always remember to reply when someone comments; engage in conversation whenever possible.
  3. “Like” other pages (related to your business) as your page; mention and thank them if they return the favour.
  4. Always post “breaking news” updates relevant to your industry or niche; fans will return more often if they know your page is a good place to get up to date information.
  5. DON’T automate posting of your blog articles or tweets to Facebook. This can result in your updates being aggregated with others from the same automation tool so that they aren’t always visible in news feeds.
  6. Post updates that mention Facebook, especially if relevant to your business.  After all, Facebook is the most shareable topic on Facebook!
  7. Use albums to post photos, rather than posting individually – and remember that Facebook only displays up to 3 photos in a status update.
  8. Use the photo caption space to ask a question, e.g. “Where do you think this photo was taken?”
  9. Start a regular feature. e.g. a useful tip posted every Monday.
  10. Celebrate “this day in history” and post what happened on a specific day.  A google search will help out!
  11. Ask a question using Facebook’s Questions app.  This can be a simple yes/no, or why not ask your community “what’s your favourite TV show” – lots of options here!
  12. Include links in text status update and not the links box. The update will display the link as clickable in addition to the normal title, photo, and meta description of the link. At a minimum this allows an additional opportunity for a fan to click the link. These links stand out as different and can get clicked on more.
  13. Run a contest or publish a coupon (beware – Facebook has strict guidelines on doing this.
  14. Use your Page Insights to target specific demographic groups for relevant status updates (e.g. female fans only)
  15. Ask for Likes – tell fans to “click like” if they agree with a statement.

Need help with setting up a Facebook Page for your business? You can contact me on 01777 249075
or by email at info@naomijohnsonsocialmedia.co.uk

Naomi | 2 comments | Tags: , , , , , , ,
06 Jul 2011
blogging • business growth • facebook • google • marketing • SEO • social media • social networking • twitter • youtube

60 Seconds Online – Implications For Your Business

Infographics are very popular nowadays, and for good reason – they present a lot of useful information and statistics in an easy to understand format. This one from Dave Ansett at Truly Deeply is very enlightening – and thought-provoking!

60 Seconds on the Net

  • 98,000+ tweets per minute. Latest statistics show 20% of tweets relate to brands or products, that’s nearly 20,000 tweets every minute – are they talking about your brand? Do you know what they’re saying? If not, why aren’t they, and if they are, shouldn’t you be listening and interacting?
  • 13,000+ iPhone downloads. Is your brand/product one of the many without a brand app presence?
  • 25+ hours of YouTube video. YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world – do you have a channel for your brand?
  • 1,500+ blog posts per minute. Incredible! That’s a heck of a lot of people blogging daily. A major proportion of buying decisions are now made online – blogs are loved by google due to their frequently updated (we hope!) content, so there’s no excuse for your business not to have a blog. Your blog should be your “home base” on the web.
  • 695,000+ Facebook status updates per minute – there are now more Facebook posts than Google searches. Facebook has literally become its own communication channel – a brand without a Facebook strategy is somewhat like a business without a website would have been, 15 years ago.
  • 100+ new LinkedIn accounts per minute – can you afford not to be on LinkedIn, the premier social network for businesses?

Things are moving very fast in the world of Web 2.0 – now we have Google Plus, and shortly we’ll have Skype Integration with Facebook – are you keeping up? Is there anything you might need help with?

Naomi | No comments | Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
30 Jun 2011
business growth • facebook • google • SEO • social media • social networking • twitter • youtube

Social Media Revolution 2011

Recently I was very pleased to have an article I’d written on social media published in our local community magazine Retford Life. This also coincided with the launch of the magazine’s website as well as that of their publishing company Life Publications I had forgotten the exact date of the website launch so, until I saw it mentioned on Twitter, I was a bit puzzled as to why I’d had so many visits to my website on Tuesday of this week! Once again, proof of the amazing power of social media……. If you want to read my article, it’s on page 38.

I’m also including it here. (the video is an absolute must-watch!) Read the rest…

Naomi | One comment | Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
 

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