Got a little frustrated with the decision makers in a company for NOT allowing the Head Marketing Manager from doing her job. So, I decided to make a video about it and give 7 Reasons WHY you should be using Social Media!
Marketing isn’t what get you business, marketing gets you awareness,
It’s what you do with that awareness that then gets you the business!
Video is 11 minutes 10 seconds.
Let me know if this has happened or is currently happening to you by commenting below and telling us your thoughts, fears and frustrations with regards to not being allowed to implement new ideas and suggestions or just being told you haven’t got time or it simply won’t work.
The Director, Cindy-Michelle Waterfield of iwantaspeaker.com invited me to hold a #Blab Interview to talk about Integrated Marketing; what is integrated marketing, why it is important and how do you know if you are doing it right.
Here is a direct link – https://blab.im/iwantaspeaker-com-integrated-marketing-for-businesses-w-koogar
Or you can watch this #blab interview below. It is over an hour long (01:12:32), so go and grab a cuppa before pressing play.
How do you get more customers buying, sharing, retweeting, linking in with you, checking in, re-pinning, forwarding, referring and recommending.
Social media at the moment is the marketing technique that all businesses are grabbing with both hands. Everyone wants to know how to utilise it in the best way for their business to get all of the above.
Last year (2012), Koogar has wrote a proposal for a project worth £3,500 by just introducing ourselves on Twitter with 2 tweets, to a company who was being specific and looking for a service Koogar provides. And this is happening more and more often!
This particular company asked for a Web Design company with a certain background. So they were specific in their request and it just so happened that I had personally worked with these types of companies in the past during my career.
The time Koogar spends online is phenomenal. We might as well have a USB plugged into the back of our heads. But time is one of the most precious commodities we have. Once it’s spent we cannot get it back, so how do Koogar use it wisely?
“Money makes a man and that’s a crime… If we all were rich we’d spend more time” – Snoop Lion (No Guns Allowed)
The first thing in Marketing you need to know and consistenty work on is who your target audience is. We do not sell to “any body who…” we sell to a particular type of person and as a company we may have 2 or 3 different types of people we sell to depending on the product/service they want.
If you can understand your target audience, you can follow, watch, listen and learn from them and find out what their needs are as needs change on a regular basis.
Being on the right platform at the right time is the most important thing to do. So my question to you is “When and where is your target audience on Social Media?”. Let’s say you’re a catering company you might have two audiences:
Personal (Weddings/Christenings) – These people are going to be in work for most of the day and will check Social Media in the morning before work (730am-8am), lunch time (12pm-2pm) and when at home maybe after tea (6pm-9pm).
Businesses (Gala Dinners/Christmas Parties) – Business owners might well be on Social Media throughout the day or have a team member who looks after everything for them. They may have key times to check emails and updates. Let’s say 11am and 3pm.
Timing is important so think how you use Social Media on a daily basis; personally and for business and then think about how your target audience would use Social Media.
We cannot be relevant to all people all of the time so let’s use our time wisely.
Engagement is the buzz word around Social Media and should in all honesty be around all of your marketing. You want to make people feel and think about you, your company, product or service and to do that you need to engage the audience. You have to start a conversation that relates to them that will also spur them into action!
What action do you say? Well it’s whatever action you would like them to take. For example; When someone arrives on your website and finds what they were looking for, what is the next action they should take? Or when you meet a new contact at a network meeting or in a conference, what do you say to them that makes them want to ask you the next question?
Meaning of engagement; involve somebody. Become involved.
So how do you engage your audience with your business giving them an authentic experience of your brand, company personality and product or service?
#1: The quickest and easiest way to do this is to get to know them better!
What do they like and what don’t they like.
How do they see your product/ service?
Have you asked them if you can improve what you do in some way?
Engagement is about becoming involved with the people you want to buy your product or service. So how can you involve yourself or your brand with them. I’d like to hear about how you have engaged your audience.
#2: When you understand more about your target audience you then need to create the product or service that they want.
Now I can appreciate not everyone wants the same thing and at this point you can tailor the end result to their requirements, but before you do that you need to give them what they want.
#3:Develop a feedback and follow up strategy where you can get comments on how you are doing as a business.
How is the product/ service performing?
Without feedback you could keep doing things that they don’t want which in turn could lead them to someone or something that can.
#4:Act upon the feedback and show them that you are listening and taking note of what they are saying.
For example; Kodak made one change to a product by adding a mic jack to one of their HD Pocket Video Cameras (zi6) after they received feedback from Twitter. Kodak worked out the cost and how quickly they could do it, then did it! That product out-sold their competition by 10-1 from one tweet!
Take a look at these 4 suggestions and have a go. Let me know how you get on with them to see how much more engagement you get.
Number 3 can be done in many ways, get creative with it!
Remember; it’s not what you know, or who you know, it’s how well you know them.
I, along with thousands of others have been sent an email from LinkedIn. Informing us that we are in the Top 1%, 5% or 10% viewed profiles on LinkedIn in 2012 and as you may have seen I shared it on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. I thought to myself isn’t that nice… Getting a Thank you from such a large organisation for being part of their community.
Somebody mentioned on Twitter that “this is Spam and to be careful“.
After sleeping on it, I feel that this is Social Media.
Social Media is about engaging your audience, getting them involved, making them feel special and that is what LinkedIn has done for thousands of its connections.
Most Social Media is unsolicited, unasked for but we get it anyway. For example when your friend likes someone else status and you see it in your Ticker. You didn’t ask for it, but it was shown to you anyway. Otherwise known as “Social Spam”.
LinkedIn has used the power of its users to help get the word out. They want people to come back to LinkedIn, just like you want people to come back to your Facebook Pages, Websites and Twitter Accounts.
When asked what value being in the upper crust confers on its users, a LinkedIn rep replied that “The practical upside to being the top 1% or 5% is that we believe the more engaged you are on LinkedIn, the better you will be in the job that you currently have, and the better connected when you are seeking a new job.” LinkedIn began practice of congratulating top users for their elect status in March 2011, when it surpassed 100 million users. At that point, Co-Founder Reid Hoffman sent out emails thanking the networks’ first one million members.
So when was the last time you engaged so well with your audience, they shared a part of you or your company with other people?
When did you get them involved in the marketing of your company and most importantly when was the last time you made one of your clients feel special?
You may have heard me talk in my presentations about “the experience” and to get an experience online you need to make people feel, whether it’s good or bad.
LinkedIn has given its users the experience of feeling important and wanting them to be involved even more, which has then spurred the users on to share the news across the Social space.
So there may be sceptics out there with regards to the #LinkedInBlueRibbonGate but LinkedIn have managed to do what most companies cannot. Great Marketing!
Let me know what you think about #LinkedInBlueRibbonGate and if you got an email.
To my dismay I found myself watching a repeat of X Factor on Sunday and was shocked – not by some of the supposedly ‘talented’ performers as you may have at first presumed – but by the use of hashtags popping up on screen.
Not being an avid watcher of the programme I was unsure as to whether this was a relatively new thing, but regardless I was quite intrigued.
The uprising of Twitter as a social media platform was somewhat quick; it almost appeared overnight as did its swarm of supporters or, as they’re known nowadays, tweeters. What started off as a mere tool for fans to follow celebrities has now turned into one of the preferred ways for businesses to keep their clients updated with blogs, exciting new projects, new products and much more.
But what exactly has the # got to do with any of that?
Used before a relevant keyword or phrase, the hastag groups tweets with the same # so they show more easily in a Twitter search. The trending topic list down the side of your twitter page depicts real-time hot topics.
Many of you Tweeters will already have a good understanding of how to use Twitter and the terminology that goes with it, but do you truly understand how to get the most out of the hashtag on your tweets?
Quick do’s and don’ts of using the hashtag
You don’t have to use a hastag on every one of your tweets – only the ones that are relevant to the topic you want to hashtag about.
You should only use a maximum of two hashtags per tweet otherwise it looks like you might be #trying #to #spam #people.
You don’t need spaces in between the words in a #hashtaggedphrase.
Remember, if you have a public Twitter account everyone who searches for that hashtag may find your tweet.
You can create your own hashtag topic; you don’t need to join anyone else’s if you don’t want to.
So, how can you use the hashtag for your business Twitter account? Well, there are a number of ways the hashtag can be used to promote your business, service or products. For example, if you are running a competition you can create a hashtag to tie in with it such as #koogarcompetition
You can categorise your tweets. This is especially useful to those of us who tweet regularly. For example Koogar, as a Digital Marketing company often tweets about social media terms so we can benefit from grouping our tweets like this #facebook #linkedin #SME (for small-medium sized businesses) and so on.
You can also attend or even host your own Twitter conversations – Tweetchats. Put simply these are chats that take place at a designated time and are used for people to share a topic of interest and discuss it in detail. It is similar to a panel or forum for sharing insights and tips or asking questions and educating yourself on certain topics of interest.
So now that you know a little more on the infamous symbol what are you waiting for? Sign in to your Twitter accounts and get tweeting, but remember:
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. AcceptRejectRead More
Cookie Information
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are as essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
To my dismay I found myself watching a repeat of X Factor on Sunday and was shocked – not by some of the supposedly ‘talented’ performers as you may have at first presumed – but by the use of hashtags popping up on screen.