social signals

Facebook is changing

27th March 2015 by Alan Leave a Comment

Love it or hate it, Facebook is THE social media platform that the majority of us are hooked on. When we should be doing far more productive things – like working – we can be found sneaking our way on to the site, just to peek at who is doing what, with whom.

For businesses, it has been a fabulous platform for zoning in on customers and, on the flip side, for customers to zone in on us. There is engagement, comments, likes and shares abound with many being culturally and socially richer for it.

It has been a platform that has stood the test of time, with even is wobbles not really being a wobble, as such.

There is always a downside…

Apparently, 1 in 3 divorces in the UK mention some form of ‘Facebook factor’ as contributing to the demise of the relationship; maybe it is the photos, or the lists of ‘friends’, or maybe the interaction and the being caught somewhere where you shouldn’t be… proceed with caution, seems to be the tag line here.

However, putting aside all these aside, using Facebook in the way Mark Zuckerberg probably intended it to be used, can reap the rewards.

As a social platform, however, it is not standing still. It has improved and morphed time and time again, with some changes recently announced that could make it a far better place for businesses to be, providing that they harness of its power – and do it right.

F8 is…?

The recent Facebook developer conference held in the US that listed 7 important, upcoming changes to the product. There are 7 changes on the way…

Spherical videos – who can deny the excitement of 360 degree camera technology? Google Maps of course, has been using this for some time now but Facebook announcing that it soon will be able to support this technology within the news feed is rather exciting, especially from a product point of view. Google owned YouTube has also recently announced this technology will be available soon meaning that photos will be a given a real boost.
Track online purchases and communicate with businesses via messenger – we saw a headline recently that summed this up nicely “Now you are can argue with customer services via Facebook!” Messenger has, by tradition, always been for individual users, but Facebook announced at F8 that this app would now also be available for companies and businesses too. You can thank customers for orders, tell them it has been shipped etc. This will either be a very welcome addition to your Facebook business page or, it will be sending shudders down your spine.
Reply to messages using other apps – if you wanted to send messages using other apps, you would have to navigate and use it ‘the long way round’, e.g. by shutting messenger, copying and pasting etc. but now, the Facebook messenger app will let you do this within it; in other words, the development of messenger will now make it far more sophisticated.
Facebook videos can be embedded elsewhere – FB is all about creating and sharing, but in the past, you could only share a link to a video, not the video itself. In this sense, FB might be going head to head with YouTube with the addition that these videos can now be embedded from Facebook to other places on the web.
Comment on a story elsewhere on the web? It will show up on Facebook too – media companies love people commenting, sharing and engaging with the latest scandal, gossip or election debate and thus, by Facebook being everywhere, and linking comments elsewhere with your page, this engagement is broadened considerably.
The ‘Internet of Things’ – bit sketchy on the details but, developers build apps to do all kinds of things, from monitoring calorie intake to opening the garage door. Facebook, not surprisingly, have decided they want to be part of this but, didn’t quite give the detail.
App developers and analytics – again, for those technically minded among you, Facebook will offer a free dashboard to app developers so that they can be boggled by analytics of app usage.

What does all this mean for local, online businesses?

The 360 degree camera technology and the increased sophistication of Facebook messenger could be the aspects that you find most relevant. The ability to sell online, as well as to connect and engage with people takes effort, time and money; it could be that Facebook has just made it easier for you to do this via Facebook.

If nothing else, as this technology is rolled out across the network, it will rejuvenate interest in the social media platform, once again becoming a leader of its field.

Is your business on Facebook? How will these changes affect your business?

Going viral – what #TheDress taught us

11th March 2015 by Alan Leave a Comment

If you have not been on the Internet for the last few weeks (pfft! Who can live without it?), then you will have seen or even partaken in the #TheDress debate (take a look at the science behind the dress colour debate).

A poorly shot photograph shared on Instagram of a blue and black dress started an online debate, with everybody joining in, from Mavis at no. 32 to Kim Kardashian. Some saw a ‘white and gold’ dress and others saw ‘blue and black’.

Whether you joined in or not, unless you are not on any kind of social media, don’t watch TV and basically switch off from all society, then you cannot have failed to have heard about the #TheDress debate.

And this is our very point. The discussions, the engagement and the coverage of this dress and its colour combination, had the nation talking – and beyond – about the product, the company, the psychology and the inner workings of the eye ball.

Of course, Roman Originals, the company behind the dress are now reaping the rewards – and why not? Their website hits have shot up by 500% (yup, you read that right), their phone calls have significantly increased and their sales are doing very nicely indeed, thank you. Drill in to this analysis, and you will see that people are not buying only this particular dress, but all kinds of others products too.

All this got us thinking…

In pensive mood, we hunkered down with the kettle and the chocolate digestives, and took a moment to ponder the power of #TheDress. What ingredients make for a viral episode on social media?

We came up with 5 factors, including a sprinkling of magic fairy dust…

Use of photos

We have said it before and we’ll say it again, photos really make a difference. They can be the source of conversation, repulsion, attraction and confusion. Adding photos of your products and asking or inciting debate is a great way to get attention to your posts and products.

In this case, the original photo was unfiltered and used on Instagram; the comments that then ensued all questioned the original posting that said #TheDress was black and blue. Some say the dress as white and gold, thus the comments started rolling.

Good quality photos are always best, and this photo was not intentionally posted to provoke debate; in fact, the user was quite clear was the colour of the dress was…

Use of #hashtag

Once the momentum started to build around #TheDress and the ensuing debate, the hashtag came in to being. Every time someone commented and the various social media streams, the use of the hashtag ensured that the comment found its way in to the forum.

Get people talking, sharing and communicating

Social media is about making connections, creating discussion and sharing ideas. This online debate is a perfect example of this, but on a gargantuan, global scale. Simply because your viral debate does not measure up in the same reach and magnitude of #TheDress, does not mean it is not having an impact.

Some hashtags are in use for weeks, if not months and others are a mainstay of some of the groups that meet up on a regular basis on various social media platforms; there are various business groups, for example, who meet on Twitter and thus, any tweets that you want to be part of the stream of comments should contain this designated hashtag. Think of it as a call sign…

Magic fairy dust – the one comment, the stroke of luck

In this case, the photos posted on Instagram was a genuine one; it was posted with no more intention than a flash-in-the-pan photo of one of the many products sold at Roman Originals. But, there was a stroke a luck and sprinkling of fairy dust…

… there was one comment, by another Instagram user, that questioned the ‘blue and black’; they say, they saw white and gold… and then someone else joined in… and it started to roll and roll. Before you knew what others the dress came in, THE photo of #TheDress was bounced, shared and re-tweeted thousands and thousands of times.

There were comments and articles on the psychology of what people saw and why; there were debates on the street with the local junior reporter for the local TV catching their break by dangling a tablet in front of the eyes of many a Wednesday afternoon shopper, asking them what colours they saw… the debate was enormous. And, for a change, it was all good fun. We discussed it over our dinner table too; did you?

Cannot be contrived

And we think that this shows a fourth and important final point about the whole #TheDress thing. As hard as you try, some of the best viral exchanges cannot be contrived.

The photo was not posted to incite or excite comment; it was not posted to cogitate favour or stir ill-feeling. It was a photograph that was simply shared, then commented on… nothing more. Even though we try hard with the whole hashtag thing, photos and the like, sometimes something takes off.

Blessing… or curse?

The ‘taking off’ bit can be a blessing and a curse. Roman Originals are a company big enough to deal with the 500% jump in website visitors, the phone ringing off the hook (around 150 calls per hour in the days immediately following #TheDress explosion) and have enough staff to work the barricades and the tills.

For a small, online local business, this may not be the case but, should a social media campaign go viral – and this episode shows that it can, in a blink of an eye and when you least expect it – ride the crest of the wave, for it could be the making of you…

(And the dress…?

It is available in blue & black, and white & black, red & black, as well as pink and black… but not a white and gold option, just yet. But Roman Originals is planning to create one, allegedly.)

Return of Investment on content marketing – another useless exercise?

5th March 2015 by Alan Leave a Comment

Content Marketing, a ‘buzz phrase’ that umpteen blogs and articles are all talking about. Just when you think you have a handle on it, ‘they’ (the experts, unseen and anonymous) tell us we should be measuring the return of investment of content.

Yawn.

But, is there some mileage in it?

Always conscious of exploring new avenues and thinking outside of The Box within which we all function, we thought we take a closer look at this whole return of investment thing. Is it worth the hassle? And when/if we complete the exercise, what does it actually tell us? Is this information of any use?

Who invented Content Marketing?

You can and will be forgiven for thinking that content marketing is a relatively new and modern thing; in relation to the web, it is but it is a concept that has been around for far longer than this.

Those of you who live or work in agriculture will be familiar with John Deere. Deere, a manufacturing of all kinds of farming implements and machinery, including tractors is a name synonymous with farming and quality products.

And, it is also a company knowing within brand publishing circles. If we are to attribute content marketing as an invention of one person or company then many people have plumped for John Deere.

For over a century, John Deere has been producing The Furrow, a magazine stuffed full of jolly interesting stuff for the farmer, from 1895 to today. And, the return of investment on The Furrow is immense, especially when measures over the 100 years plus that it has been circulating.

There are all kinds of metrics and data against which your content marketing can be measured but, we are sure we have spouted this before – content is about a marathon, not a sprint. If you are expecting an immediate, 30 day return on your investment you may be disappointed. However, when your content does bear fruit, the results can be nothing short of incredible. And very, very welcome to local, online businesses.

The lesson remains the same…

…For now, at least with content marketing experts, including those at The Furrow, still saying that the value of content lies in its value to the consumer. This value, matched with effective distribution is perfection but, it may not be the language that executives speak.

Budgets are tight and business executives want to know what they are getting for their money; is all this money they seem to be sending on creating content, matched by the portion of marketing budget spent on Hootsuite, Buffer and subscription-type services for distribution of this content actually returning – how much money does each blog, post, tweet or pin bring in?

Is it all about money?

First things first, if you get stuck in the eternal spiral of making money, then you will not see all of the value in content marketing. It is not there simply as an avenue of cash. Being online with your business is not just about selling, it is about engaging with people.

Thus, your content needs to do 4 things:

Be attractive – people are the lynch pin of any business; without people, there are no customers and your content marketing should be people-centric. However, on the flip side of the coin are the all-powerful, all-seeing and all-seeking search engines. If they don’t like your website and your content, then you are, to use a technical term within content marketing, ‘a bit stuffed’.
Present ‘your’ personality – not your own personal one but your company/business/brand. Content is a two-way conversation, rather than a one-sided advert. Think about what you expect when you approach a company for help or advice; what do you think your customer expectations are when they talk to you?
Build loyalty & trust – where would be without those returning customers? For some businesses too, working with customers is not a one-off transaction; it is a relationships that grows and builds over time and thus, if you in this kind of industry your content must reflect this.
Authority – not the sergeant-major type of ‘listen to me, and to me only’, but rather a reflection of your knowledge. Content marketing should reflect high value information to your customers or clients.

“We do all those! Job done…”

Not quite. Whilst you can certainly bask in the golden light and ripples of applause for having all these factors in your content marketing, they are not measurable in the format above.

You need a bit more hard data than that.

Time – the enemy of so many, but with content marketing and its return of investment you simply must bear in mind that it can take search engines and people anything from a week to months to discover a piece of content.

The metrics that could be useful

Thus, we suggest 4 metrics that can be used as measuring sticks as to whether your content marketing is hitting the mark, or any mark at all. And, for those shy about digits and numbers, they are not too onerous…

Consumption metrics

Google Analytics, for example, show consumption metrics that include exciting things such as total visits to your website/pages, unique visits, downloads, time spent on site, cost per visitor and bounce rate.

What you are looking for – how is your data or content being consumed by visitors and, even better, it how they find it. For example, they may have read your blog, navigated to the ‘about page’, had a look at the ‘products pages’ and then sent you an enquiry is your contact form.

So what?

Well, actually, these statistics can show where people are landing on your website and what happens next. If they find your blog interesting, but then go to another page then navigate away, the content marketing is only performing part of its job. Don’t forget you website is a live, living and breathing ‘thing’, maybe it needs a tweak or two?

Lead-generation metrics

Now we are talking carrots, but no sticks approach to hooking leads – leads, in this sense, being potential customers.

If you have a contact form and this is central to your business, you need and want people to complete it and return to you. If you metrics show you have plenty of website visitors but not many leads, something is adrift.

If this is your kind of online business, how much do you annually spend on content marketing (a)? How much does it cost to promote and distribute it (b)? Add these two figures together. On average, on each lead how much does the customer spend (c)? Follow the math and you have the number of leads you need to break even…

(a + b) ÷ average value of c = number of break even ‘leads’ needed

So what?

You may find this breakeven figure a startling one, and one which unless monitored could mean that our business is falling short…

Sharing metrics

Social media likes, shares, pins etc. are far more difficult to quantify in terms of pound sterling BUT, they are useful vehicles for generating traffic to your website. We have talked in the past about social signals and these share metrics are about engagement, rather than the money they make you.

So what?

Sometimes, too much weight is attributed to share metrics so take care not to throw everything at your social media but, they can be a useful indicator of how people are finding and engaging with you.

Sales metrics

This is possibly the simplest statistic – is your content marketing turning people in to paying customers? If you set out with this as your primary aim of the content, then this is your primary metric to measure.

If, however, you use your content to increase referrals and engagement, then this becomes secondary.

So what?

If sales is what you are wanting from your content marketing then this metric will tell you, over time, what type of content is bringing paying customers to you… or not, as the case may be.

The bottom line

You do need some idea of what it, and what is not working when it comes to content marketing; after all, you wouldn’t knowingly keep throwing money after bad, would you?

How hard is your content marketing working for your business? Are you creating the ‘right’ stuff that attracts people and search engines? Is it worth it or do you need to change course…?

Social media, statistics and decisions – Part 2

13th February 2015 by Alan Leave a Comment

In part 1 of what statistics about social media usage can mean to us, as a business, we focused mainly on data and figures that related to Twitter. Knowing the group you and your followers could fall in, as well as when the best times to tweet are, can make your presence on this real time platform work a little harder for you.

In part 2, we carry on looking at social media platforms, identifying statistics for Facebook and a little nod to Pinterest.

And so, what do statistics on Facebook usage teach us?

The favourite, most crowded day of the week when it comes to posts is…. (drum roll please!)

FRIDAY!

Don’t we all love Friday?! The day where we can look back at the week, revel in our accomplishments and maybe plan the weekend… and this more relaxed approach on a Friday may actually mean that we feel more compelled to post a variety of statuses.

With over 225 billion posts analysed as part of this piece of research, we were quite impressed initially but then we looked at the statistics again and came to the same conclusion, but with an additional observation.

The research we came across was presented in a lovely bar graph and Friday was the busiest day for statuses, posts and the like BUT, but a gnat’s whisker. What we learnt from this research was that every day on Facebook was, to be honest, fairly crowded and so dropping a status onto the platform every now and then was probably going to be lost without a trace.

Our take on this statistic?

We always knew Facebook was busy, with statuses and posts having a seconds of air time before it is swamped by something else. Every day is busy and so if Facebook is one of your preferred social media then you need to be constant and consistent with your use of it. Friday, however, seemed the day where shares and likes peaked; some social media experts suggest keeping your better stuff until the end of the week. We think a little frivolity on a Friday never hurt anyone…

Photos work every time on Facebook…

…or so the statistics say. We already know that sharing appropriate visual content, linked with your brand or business is a great way of snagging some much needed eye ball time however, what did take us by surprise was the magnitude of photo-led content.

If you really truly want your posts and statuses shared and liked on this social media platform, then you need to include a photo… take a look at the stats:

In 2014, the most shared posts on Facebook across the globe looked like this…

87% shared had a photo attached to it
4% had a link
4% had an album
3% a video
2% was the just the status itself

Our take on this statistic?

We always knew that photos and graphics were powerful but were not aware of how powerful until we saw this chunk of data. What it doesn’t tell us, however, is how many of these shares are from personal or company accounts, and this may differ.

However, the fact that photos work cannot be avoided but always exercise caution, making sure the photo or image you are using is not only connected or related to your brand, but also appropriate for wider sharing. Coveting favour through controversy is probably best left to those with celebrity status and a team of lawyers on hand.

The social media platforms that drive the most ‘traffic’

We have all been coached over the years to think of social media sites as means of engaging customers and fans, thereby increasing the possibility of these people accessing and using a website.

With so many social media platforms out there, coupled with our desire to be the best, popular and successful, we can sometimes spread our brand a little too thin across everything, everywhere. However, from a bunch of statistics released by Shareaholic, it seems that social media driven traffic splits in to two categories: quantity and quality.

If quantity is what you are after, you need to get your brand on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter. Simple.

If however, you want a decent conversation or are looking to seriously engage new buyers or customers, then look at the lower performing sites. In terms of time on a website, pages per visit examined by a customer and bounce rate, YouTube, Google+ and LinkedIn won hands down every time.

Our take on this statistic?

Just like we have hinted at before, you need to be involved in the ‘right’ social media for you and your brand. Facebook and Twitter are the big hitters in terms of numbers, and think about joining Pinterest too. If, however, you are interested in more ‘quality’ targeted traffic then the other social media sites may suit you better.

Overall, a broad social media strategy is required… IF you have the time and means to pull it off (and there is lies the problem for so many small, online and local businesses).

Figure out what is good engagement

Time for some real number crunching!

Social media of all kind is about engagement; it is about people feeding back to you, you feeding back to them, having a conversation, posting reviews… you get the idea.

Many moons ago, when Facebook was at its highest peak, the standard for social engagement statistics (and what constituted success), was marked; but, as other social media sites have come along and our tastes have changed, experts on social media marketing and reach have spent some time scratching their heads, pondering what makes for successful engagement NOW.

If you chase statistics as part of your social media engagement and you really need to know the answer, then it depends on how many fans you have. Looking at Facebook, as an example…

If you have between 1 and 9,999 fans on Facebook, each post should have 28 interactions
10,000 to 99,999 fans, you should expect 118 interactions per post
And, with over 100,000 to half a million fans, there should be a minimum of 385 interactions per post

In other words, the bigger you are on social media and the more you grow, the busier your accounts should be.

Our take on this statistic?

Pretty useless really, but those who are very serious about the whole social media thing, growing their reach and engagement statistics etc., these statistics could be a useful bench mark. We suggest that engaging your buyers in meaningful, helpful and informative posts is more important reaching benchmarks that do very little…

Get pinning!

If you enjoy the visual aspect of engagement, then Pinterest is one social media platform that is becoming increasingly popular; if you haven’t used it or come across it yet, take a look at how to use it and what it could offer your business.

Like other platforms, there are certain days that seem to hold the key when it comes to ‘categories of engagement’; on Monday, Fitness seems to be popular (after the sludge of the weekend…?). Tuesday represents the day technology pins are popular, Wednesday pins are attached to inspirational quotes, Thursday is fashion day and Friday is humorous stuff (there’s what weekend link again!). The weekend pins are travel and food and crafts, all hobby and social based.

Our take on this statistic… and all the others?

This proves what we have been thinking for some time and that is that social media is a beast worth taming, but in a way that works for you and your business, and not because you think you should be on that platform. The ‘everyone else is doing it’ seems to no longer work.

Our take would be this;

Take a look at some of these statistics and discard what you think is irrelevant or not appropriate for your business. If you are heading for cult status, then get posting with images on Facebook and Twitter but, if you are growing your engagement, preparing for a marathon rather than a spring, then take a look at the less ‘mass media’ approach.

But, in all cases, you need to be confident in your use of the platform so our ‘advice’ is simple – start small, with one or two social media platforms at most, become an expert on these and stick to them, if they work…

5 ways to make your social media goals ‘sticky’

29th January 2015 by Alan Leave a Comment

Part 2 of 2

In this Locally mini-series, we will be looking at which social media platforms could be the best fit for small businesses, based on their industry and ‘type’. In Part 1, we looked at which social media platforms could work for your business, by identifying categories of business.

In this second part, we will be looking at how you can not only create goals for social media marketing but how to make them stick, so that your business gets the best exposure from social media that it can.

The story so far…

We have looked at the many differing kinds of social media platforms there are and how joining them all, could lead to disaster – after all, you have a business to run and you cannot be updating everything all of the time…

We also looked at some social platforms in relation to specific sectors of business and how they can be used to not only connect with customers, but advertise and market the business too.

But, we also suggested that some social media experts are suggesting that Facebook and Twitter are almost compulsory, but rather than just assume and sign on up, we suggested that this really was you choice – after all, if your customers are not there, why spend hours on it?

Have you made your choices?

By now, you may have decided which social platforms are the right vehicle for your business; for those local businesses with a more visual appeal, using Instagram for example would be a great start. For those with a younger audience, Snapchat could present an interesting forum and YouTube is also popular as ever.

So with choices made, and your business profile created, all you need to do is sit back and watch that popularity counter whizz up and up and up.

(Nothing happens. Carry on waiting)

Social media goals

Without having some form of clear idea or structure, your social media platform will either fizzle in to nonexistence or it’ll be so wrong, that you could actually damage your reputation.

The good news is twofold – this doesn’t have to take ages and they don’t need to be complicated but, to help you out here at 5 easy, simple steps to making your social media aims and objectives stick (and a sneaky step 6 too…)

Step 1: SEE your goals

This is a really useful tip that you can use beyond your social media platforms! We came across Lifetick, a fabulous app that helps you order your thoughts and then see your progress towards the goals you have.

But, don’t forget that your social media objectives should be SMART – specific, measureable, achievable, relevant and time bound. Setting a goal and being able to measure your progress towards them is essential.

Step 2: Pen and Paper

Even though we are surrounded by technology, sometimes a blank piece of paper and coloured pens are your best gadgets.

Having a social media presence is more than just ‘doing it because everyone else is’; you need to be able to compete with your competitors, gain custom and trade and create a buzz around your product, service and company.

Step 3: Create an action plan

This might take some more time, but it can also be the most fun part.

Example:

Social Platform: Twitter

This is your main social platform that you use to push your brand and company into the business eye, therefore your presence needs to a daily occurrence.

You may want to partake or even create your own #hashtag trend but, you also need to know how successful you Twitter presence is; there are various apps that can do this but one we quite like is Sumall. This app will show you all the analytics involved in your account, providing clear information on which posts worked best and when.

We suggest prioritising your social media presence too and which one is the driving force in your online campaign and presence.

Step 4: Deadlines

The problem with social media is that it is an open ended task… and the problem with open ended tasks is that they can bobble along for a long time… and the problem with is that we never feel like we have accomplished or finished anything.

For some people, this makes no difference to their working day; for others, it is a source of ongoing tension and the feeling of being on a treadmill of ‘finished one thing, straight on to start another’.

To stop this negativity eating away and then your social media objectives falling by the wayside, setting deadlines for which social media projects are reviewed/stopped/curtailed so that something new can start is the way of stopping the rot from setting in.

A deadline, after all, refines the mind and focuses the thinking.

Step 5: Throw in a really big goal

We can be too cautious. The thought of setting a goal and then thinking it may not come off can be a step too far; no one like or seeks failure. But, how about taking a chance? A manageable risk with one of your social media goals that if you don’t get there won’t cause the company to collapse or for you to throw yourself into exile…?

On Twitter, you will have followers… you may have 2,346 at the moment. How about doubling that in 2 months? Off you go…

(There are many examples of stretching goals but we won’t go on; you know the sort but stay away from those ‘dodgy’ followers that tell you for a fiver, they’ll get you a million likes or followers by midnight Tuesday)

And finally…

You have worked hard. You have researched which social media platforms are right for your business, you have created goals and an action plan and you have started your campaign.

You have a review date in your calendar and so, because we are Locally we are going to sneak in another step…

Step 6: Celebrate your success

We have loads of ideas… but we think you can think of something for yourself on this occasion!

Which social media platforms fit your business?

28th January 2015 by Alan Leave a Comment

Part 1 of 2

In this Locally mini-series, we will be looking at which social media platforms could be the best fit for small businesses, based on their industry and ‘type’. In Part 2, we then suggest looking at how you can not only create goals for social media marketing but how to make them stick, so that your business gets the best exposure from social media that it can.

We have talked about social media and its impact on your online business many times before. But, if you are still resisting Facebook and/or Twitter, then experts suggest you are resisting an evolution of social media.

Many customers use either of these social media platforms as a reference point for many companies and, with a new regime for businesses advertising on Facebook, these points could become more driven and focused than ever before.

And companies, realising this, are tidying up their act but, there has been an additional step in this process; many businesses here in the UK, as well as across the globe are using these platforms as a way of not just advertising their business to consumers, but hiring new employees too.

But Facebook and Twitter are not the only two social media platforms.

But, we think there is a problem looming on the horizon and it follows a pattern we have seen before, in other aspects of business – the state of trying to do too much, and not doing anything properly.

Social media could be the Achilles heel in your business; joining all these social media sites is one thing, keeping up with comments, likes, tweets, posts, pins etc. could not only send you into a deep space state of frazzleness, but also earn you black marks from the very people you are trying to impress – your customers.

Not responding to a social media comments, is the equivalent of ignoring the phone when it rings, or not bothering to post out the goods your customers have ordered.

Making the most of the right social media platforms your business

Rather than taking a scatter gun approach and signing up to everything, take some time to consider what it is you want your social media presence to do for your business, and then take some time to review which of the many sites suits your business.

To help you out, we have looked at social media sites and how they fit with sectors of business, making suggestions as to which social media vehicle could be best fit, but the final decision is YOURS!

Retail

Regardless of what you are selling, from scarves to jewellery, designer footwear, furniture, cushions or door stops, the photo is your friend.

Product photos are essential; the wordy description and catchy captions are great but if your consumer cannot see the type of shape or colour it actually is, then you have lost a sale.

Likewise, one of the many photographs you use per product can also be about suggesting to the consumer how your product can be used or what it’ll look when teamed with something else…

Instagram could be the way forward for you. Incredibly popular with retailers large and small, you will find that in terms of fighting for recognition, the smaller retailer will not face such an uphill battle against the ‘giants’.

Commentators have pointed out that Instagram users are a far more relaxed and tolerant lot; your photos do not have been a professional shoot each and every time, and so a shot taken on a mobile phone camera is just as acceptable. In fact, a little wonkiness and fuzziness can work in your favour…

Instagram have plans for 2015 too, that could benefit the smaller business; the site could become a lot more interactive, with all kinds of tools opening up allowing customers to tap on photos and lead themselves straight to you, as well as using video.

Manufacturing

Not so much a public face business, many companies and business to manufacture or create things tend to stay away from social media platforms as such, but there is still a need for you to making contacts and networking out there.

And we feel that networking is the key, which is why business-to-business social media platforms are the ones you should be looking at. We suggest LinkedIn may be the one where you can create the most contacts, depending on what you want to do.

However, don’t ignore your consumers entirely, even if there is another layer of business between you are them. Consumers are becoming increasingly savvy and informed when it comes to where their products come from and so, as you make your next product why not consider filming the process and starting your own YouTube channel?

Think no one will be interested? The popular TV show, How It’s Made is very popular, exploding common myths about how some things are created.

Entertainment

We like to think of our clients as a diverse bunch and so we struggled slightly with this heading, but we needed to include the awesome power of video, and real time video ‘snippets’.

Regardless of where you stand on pirate music sites, there is a silent but steady revolution within the media and entertainment sector; rather than fighting the fact that people have not only increasing access to media, but also to sharing it, we suggest you start to embrace it.

We are no experts of Snapchat but, it seems that every teenager and young person across the UK is ‘snapchatting’, as opposed to texting. And, some companies (although not too many yet) have taken up this mantel and have started to update fans and customers using this platform.

But, before you think this is just for those in the entertainment business, there has been successful examples of sports clubs and the like creating a following using Snapchat as well as other companies using small trailers as a means of advertising.

Regulated industries

However, there are some clients who are far more restricted in how they interact with customers and clients; companies and businesses within healthcare, financial sectors and the like are all industries that are regulated or governed by various rules or codes of conduct.

For those companies seeing to use social media, you will need to be aware of any restrictions that prevent you from using them to their full capacity but there are ways and means. Clearly, anonymising any information and not sharing photos without specific prior permission is a must but there are forums out there; we came across Connected Living, a website and social media platform that connects the ‘aging population’ with one another and other forums too, with the overall objective being to prevent isolation.

Technology

For those customers within the technology field, there is no fixed or one-platform-is-better-than-the-other argument, simply because technological businesses tend to lead the field by starting the whole social media platform off to a flying start…

And so, the bitesize lessons from part 1 of social media and business are thus:

Many people consider Facebook and Twitter as a ‘point of reference’ for many people and that joining these networks is essential; you can differ from this opinion
There are many other social platforms out there, some well-known some not-so-well-known
Some platforms are geared specifically towards certain kinds of businesses or industries, with specific objectives as to why they exist
Joining everything can lead to disaster, so do your research and choose the right platform for your business (and where your customers are at)