Thursday, July 28, 2011

Twitter Do's and Dont's

DONT
Use twitter before you know how to use it
Tweet too much
Tweet over personal information
Tweet drunk

DO
Be conscise
Credit all your sources
Be polite
Be positive
Don’t say something to somebody you wouldn’t say to their face!


Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Patience and longevity are key to your social media strategy

Regular engagement is essential for sustained channel growth. You must be active in each of your chosen channels and you must be able to measure your success so that you can keep record of what works and what doesn’t. Social media takes time and you need to know where to spend it wisely.

Take time to develop your own insight into your audience. Work out an appropriate strategy to work and build upon. Make sure you do a complete SWOT analysis of each social media tool that you are thinking of using and go for what works for you.

Longevity is the important. Any commitment to these types of activities should be for a period of one year minimum. This will give you time to set up your base of followers and for you to make meaningful monitoring and tracking insights.

A WORD OF WARNING
Stay ahead of the game, the next social media tool is just around the corner and you have to be able to adapt quickly – find recognised experts in your area and keep them close. They are your tomorrow!



Saturday, July 2, 2011

Listen before you leap

Want to get out there and bombard your audience with how great you are and how brilliant your products and services are? Or show off how much you know about a particular subject? hold it - hold it, reverse back and put the megaphone back in the box...you have to listen to the conversation before you jump in.

Analyse what people are saying about you before you comment. What is the trend, positive or negative? What age group are these people? Is it possible to find out? How are your competitors fairing out in the discussion. Plan what you want to say and make sure it is targeted at the right audience.

Different age groups respond to different messages. Younger audiences are naturally more competitive and will respond to online competitions whereas older audiences are looking for afformation that their opinion is important and that it adds to the dialogue.

Whatever your message is, make sure it is interesting and newsworthy, and of sufficient interest to others so that it will be passed on to other audiences through re-tweets etc. Remember, nobody likes a show-off, be friendly with a positive tone and interact with your audience. In order to be part of the conversation you must understand what the conversation is.

Social media and smartphones - location; location, location

With the report from ABI Research that 1.7 billion smartphones will be in circulation by 2016, location-based applications for social networking sites are set to rocket. What does this mean for your social media plan? Location-based social networking offers an opportunity to advertise and promote your business.

HOW DOES IT WORK?
Location-based applications allow users to add their location to their tweets, messages or photos due to "location aware" software. Users can send photos with exact coordinates of where they are, or "check-in" to a business or location which sends alerts to their network of contacts. Mashups allow for your location to be viewable on map applications such as google maps.

SO?
The opportunity starts with making sure that your business is listed in your geolocation area. Facebook Places allows you to claim your business location free of charge. You can manage your place’s address, contact information, business hours, profile picture, admins and other settings. Users can now "check in" to your location, transmitting this message to their network - 'John has checked in at Benetton, La Muette".

WHY WOULD THEY BOTHER?
This is where your markeing nouce comes in! Give them a reason to come to your branch and to check-in! For example, "1/2 price jeans at Benetton this afternoon only" - this is the type of incentive that will give users credibility with their network and they will be more than happy to share their location details with their social network peers. For the business it is a great way of building a rapport with customers. You can organise special deals and save these to your location. The beauty with this form of marketing is the viral nature of the message. Your network becomes stronger as you reach other users who will bring their networks along to yours.

Be visible, searchable and make your location known!