Social Media In Plain English

Sometimes we need to go back to some basics. Here's a way to look at social media for local business to use to get their message out and engage with customers.



This information is easy to understand and valuable.

Can you imagine having information about your product as easy to understand? Your online content - stories - are very important to getting the right message out to your customers.

Is it time to review your online communications?


Call me if you need some help.


Lindy Asimus
0403 365 855

A Visitor Reviews Newcastle NSW

Still wondering what role social media plays for business and promotion of a city? Check out this visitor video that was posted to YouTube and you'll begin to see how important online reviews and sharing can be.

The sharing can be of a good story - or a bad one. It's up to everyone to ensure they are on top of their game so that the stories that get shared make you look your best.




Have you given some thought to how your business or environment is showing up online?

And remember - you can add your content to the videos available for people to find.

Shopping Time In The 21st Century

Shopping Time In The Hunter

NBN TV presented a "news" piece on retail shopping, in the wake of the Click Frenzy technology problem.

They began with saying:

"In the wake of the last night’s Click Frenzy flop, retailers are reminding shoppers there’s plenty of pros when it comes to ‘face to face sales’.  While online may be the latest trend, there are those who say nothing can beat the full retail experience."

That the video accompanying this statement was less a news item than something that would earn a place on Media Watch, it is an interesting link. It shows that the traditional media, much as many local retailers, and even bigger players just still don't get this whole paradigm shift.

Online shopping isn't a case of internet Vs local business. Local businesses should be using the internet and making their merchandise available easily for those people who can't or prefer not to go to the store.

The move to online shopping isn't a fad. We aren't going to wake up next Monday and have bakers wearing aprons and corner stores in every neighbourhood or Mrs Smith running out to pick up the milk bottles from the front door.

The whole Click Frenzy thing struck me as highly odd - given that I hate crowds and shopping anyway, so translating the Christmas shopping madness to online is no thrilling idea to me, but it was also going to test the competencies of those running the show. As is not really surprising, they failed to provide adequate resources so that the technology was capable of doing the thing it was meant to do. That's not a failure of the concept of online shopping, it is a failure of humans to manage the business end. This is a good example of how business underestimates the spend required to resource this new sales channel, and the investment they need to make in understanding the online business sector.

There is a tendency it seems, for some to treat online experiences, including social media marketing, or as it really should be called (since it is) Inbound Marketing, as a fad or a game. It is neither. It is a business issue. Not a game issue.

Strangely, some might think, it is not even something new. It is the old chat in the pub, learning about stuff from friends and gossiping over the back fence coupled with social proof and peer influence.

If you're approaching business online as a game you'll fail. If you think getting your teen to set up a Facebook page is social marketing, you've missed the point.

If you want to be in the group of people whose businesses are growing then you'll be in the section where real attention and resources are going into developing this additional channel for additional sales and magnifying in store sales by means of online engagement and uplift.

Here's a blog that speaks to some of this issue, from Paul Wallbank on findings contained within "The Advantages of Digital Maturity", a paper recently released by researchers at the MIT Sloan School of Management, looked at how different businesses adopted technology and the effect this had on their profits.

http://www.smartcompany.com.au/business-tech-talk/its-time-to-grow-up-and-stop-playing-with-the-business-beginners.html

Finding 'Gardo', the movie

By Anthony Scully

What has happened to shopping in Newcastle over the past 30 years, why are big shopping centres offering 'experiences' in addition to staples such as bread, milk, socks and jocks, and what are the smaller town centres doing to adapt to this change?

Take a look back at how shopping has already changed in Newcastle. 

Social Media Traps For Business

Many businesses are starting to head online with social media without a clear strategy, poor education about the platforms and very little thought given to what they will do when they are in the firing line for some feedback they were not expecting. 

Like the home builder whose Facebook page is swamped with complaints from customers. 

Or the lawyer posting competitions to Facebook that contravene the Terms of Service. 

Or the retailer, like Target recently, with their Facebook page taken over with a barrage of political comments over the style of the children's wear that the company was promoting. 

Your online presence is just like opening a shop on Main Street, except more easily visible to people other than the usual suspects who might visit. 

How well constructed is your social media strategy and what decisions have you made about how you will handle issues that may come up in the future? 

Here are some questions, the answers to which you should already know ... 

How well do you understand the Terms of Service of the platforms that you are using? 

What search terms are people using to find you online and are these the key terms for which you most want to be found?

Who makes the decisions about the topics that you will post about online? What's your criterion?

What are the boundaries between what you post and what you won't post about online?

How do you treat complaints that are made online?

How do you monitor the web for complaints or criticisms that are made online but not on your pages?

What exactly is the reason why you need a blog and what to do with it to make it useful in promoting your business?

What's your backup plan when your Facebook page is deleted without notice?

How do you make the most of Twitter to communicate with your customers and new prospects?

How will you measure the effectiveness of your employees who are in charge of your online marketing?

What's your process for ensuring good quality images to share online?

Why is it important to be using images effectively online?

What's the critical factor in maintaining your own website and blog, for your social marketing?

How well is your blog updated regularly enough and what purpose does it serve?

How have you made the most of the opportunities presented by Linkedin for you professionally and for your business?

What is your procedure to ensure that you are not spamming your contacts?

What steps you taking to educate yourself on the Anti-Spam regulations and to keep within the terms of service on the various social platforms?

What methods do you have in place to encourage new connections online, from your shop or business premises offline?

How did you go? 

Did you know all the answers? 

Importantly, do your employees in charge of maintaining your business presence on social media understand these too? 

Your inbound marketing efforts - and that's what social media is about, needs a formal strategy that covers all of these issues and more.  Social media is not about Facebook, or Twitter, it is about presenting your business and marketing effectively. It is a business issue, not a game. 

How's your strategy looking?

Lindy Asimus 

0403 365 855

lindyasimus@gmail.com

Website

Show Us Your Business

We customers want to see who we are dealing with. We'll buy online but you need to put your best face on so we can feel like we know you and predict what kind of service we'll get from you.

For a local business this means you need good photographs, a story to tell and online places to show off your business so people can see you. That's where social media marketing can help to connect customers, with your great business offers. That's Inbound Marketing and you should be all over that!

Like to know more on how you can do that? Give me a call.
Lindy Asimus 0403 365 855

Myths And Truths About Social Media

This is an interesting article as it speaks to some of the regular myths and silly nonsense that I see all the time. Often from those purporting to be "social media gurus".  So instead of me writing more of the same, here's someone else with the 'good oil'.

Starting with the first myth... which reminds us again what social media marketing is. In case you have not considered this - it is Inbound Marketing.

Here are the top 5 myths that your supervisor, manager, or CEO likely believes about social media, along with some strategies to enlighten them.

1.    Myth:  Social Media Is Free, Right?  

This is the most common fantasy about social media out there – that it is free, just because there is no cost to set up an account on social media.  This is a huge myth!  Establishing your business on one or more social media networks takes an investment of financial and human capital.

Truth:  It is true that social media marketing aka inbound marketing, costs less per lead than traditional outbound marketing.  According to Hubspot, social media costs an average of 60% less than traditional outbound marketing.  In order to leverage your efforts, make sure to connect your marketing strategies, traditional and social. Use your other marketing efforts to promote your social presence, and use your social presence to promote your traditional marketing efforts.

You can read the other myths here
http://kimgarst.com/myths-your-boss-may-believe-about-social-media-how-break-truth-them

What do you know about social media that turned out to be a myth? What do you think you know about social media that might still be a myth? And how do you separate the myths from the truth of social media? There is some great news and it is true. Find out the difference.

There are a great many benefits to using social media to keep your business relevant and visible where customers are looking for products and services.  If you'd like some help with that, give me a call on 0403 365 855 - Lindy


Related posts:
Many hands make lighter work of social media for local businesses
Here's how to save time and get good content for your business online
Inbound marketing the new old fashioned way to do business
Financial planners: Social Marketing the key to keeping business on the books
Business writing not just on the social media wall
What every business should know about social media

Gary Vaynerchuk On The Thank You Economy

Gary Vaynerchuk is a wine merchant whose uptake of social media for marketing has been remarkable. Unlike so many, he is straight-up. no BS.

Here's what you need to really understand on how your business is going to be affected by this new economy. Get with it and learn how this works.

Honest Reviews Important Online For Business

Online reviews are becoming even more important when people are making decisions about where to stay, where to eat or just where to purchase goods in an easy and safe way.

TripAdvisor has been called out for fake reviews and action taken against them by one B&B in Scotland. You can read about it here where they deny they are subject to Scottish law.

So how do you deal with reviews of your business? Are you even monitoring what is being said about your business? Do you know how to monitor your business mentions online?

In planning a trip overseas, I am very aware of the attraction of finding good quality reviews to use to support the decisions that I am making when choosing places to stay. But I am also conscious that there are so many people gaming the system and paying for fake reviews that it does make it hard to sort the real reviews from the fake ones.


Some ways to build credibility online:

• Make your website, blog and Facebook consistent with your identity
• Make it easy to contact you.
• Have a physical address where possible 
• Respond to enquiries quickly
• Make it transparent when people are paying you money
• Ensure your emails (and service) is always in a friendly tone
•  Respond to negative comments and take the follow-up offline
• Thank people who comment on your website or blog or social media page.
• Use widgets on your website that show other local people who have Liked your page. This allows for "social proof" to work for you.
• Make sure that you have updated your Google+ Local entry online.
• Manage your reputation online at all times.
• Ask happy customers to recommend you online and make it easy to do.

 
All in all the best strategy for business is to provide as many ways as possible for customers who don't know us to get good insight into who we are, our good reputation and our stability in terms of being around to sort out any problems, and put would-be customers at peace that we are legitimate and real people who can be found  and trusted to deliver what we promise.

Lindy Asimus
0403 365 855

Businesses increase local sales with internet presence 

Accounting Firms and Social Media

"Accounting firms have no business being on social media" 

So ran the advice in this article in the Financial Review  No doubt this was meant to be provocative though it is possible that this is just another article by someone happy to offer an opinion without any knowledge of the subject.

The article does go on to say

"LinkedIn is emerging as another exception. It lets people harness the power of connections." 

In fact Linkedin has been doing this for years. It isn't emerging, it has been doing this for a long time, the only emergence, is that more people are coming out of the dark and  beginning to twig that the invitation to connect on Linkedin that they accepted and then never bothered to complete their profile or learn to use, is now pretty important.

Better late than never, perhaps.

 Another opinion in the article "You need something interesting and relevant to say, and there are only so many tweets on international financial reporting standards you can make interesting." shows clearly that the writer has fallen into the trap of thinking of Twitter and social media generally as being "all about me" and broadcasting a narrow range of self promotional pieces. The test for relevance is not about what is your core product it is about what the community that you are building online will find of interest.

Now it could be that the writer equates "Accountant" with big corporate firms. Yet most businesses will be using a suburban accountant who is a part of the local community and engaged in different ways with the people in their locale. This is where accountants have scope to do more for clients than just pass the work to junior staff and gouge clients with extortionate fees for a so-so service.

So how can an accounting firm or a single accountant use social media in a way that is effective?


Like any business it begins with understanding what purpose you want the social media to perform. Let me suggest that at the outset, by far the biggest advantage of this is to assist the accountant to be more visible, more credible and more aware of the world in which their clients operate too.

We are in a time of incredible change. Reports are on the news daily of more businesses closing and there has never been more need for business owners to be able to be flexible and adapt to compete in the new marketplace. Those who can are doing well, even now. Those who can't will fail. The evidence that there are skills they need to learn to adapt and change are often observed  by the accountant in the first instance.  That is, the accountant is in the prime position to see that, but they need to be paying attention and have the client's interests in mind. Business owners, rightly or wrongly, look to the accountant as the person who will give them a sign if there is something they need to know.  To remain in the dark about the changes that are happening across the marketplace that relate to social media and extend into changes in consumer spending habits, purchasing decisions, operational and customer service issues and more , is no service to your clients.


No Time

Now it may be true to say that many (probably most) accountants, just like their customers, are time poor and not tuned in to the new technology, and like many things that don't get done, if you don't know how to do it, it can be easier to just pretend that it isn't important. Marketing is something else that is often treated this way. Doing nothing is not going to make things go back the way they were. The marketplace has changed and this is the environment that now exists. Getting in touch with that and understanding it is crucial.
What strategy you adopt to deal with it, is another matter and one that needs to be considered after being fully informed and gaining some real understanding of the issues, the opportunities and the traps.

Get Active

How do you tell if your client is deep in need of help in this area? They are sending out newsletters by .pdf ... that's one simple but great indicator!

So let me say this another way. Accountants have no business being on social media without knowing what they are doing.

And you can learn. More easily than you might have thought.




 Lindy Asimus
0403 365 855


See also 
Part One: Your Business Blog
 
Part Three: Blogging For Business: Ideas
Part Two: How Do I Start Blogging For Business?