I decided recently, after reviewing other people that do what we do, that because they all mostly do blogs on the ‘how to’ and technical side of social media,… I’d like to blog to you about ideas, trends, industry updates, my thoughts about business, things that go wrong/right on the business journey, and the concepts of social media. After all, if you learn too much about the technical side, what’s going to happen to your knowledge if the platform disappears tomorrow? Our aim is to help you understand the practical side so that this ‘conceptual/practical knowledge’ can be applied to all platforms and business, and achieve maximum effectiveness. And, if you don’t want to do the technical, we can help you do that too.
All our blog posts are below and beyond. Feel free to leave a comment where something inspires you to do so!
So keeping in line with what I preach, I decided today that I would take off a half day and get out of the house. Which I duly did. It was an amazing weekend of firsts… first time on a stage with amazing speakers, first time using a wireless mic, first time speaking to room of 60+ people, first time doing videos of myself, first time using my new lense (results here), first time condensing 4 hours worth of content into 1 hour, first time being filmed at a conference while speaking and first goal of the year achieved. I’m also preparing myself for a TED Talks application, so this weekend was amazing practice for that.
So after such a weekend I woke up this morning absolutely knackered as you can imagine, and decided at the last minute to take half the day off and go for lunch in the beautiful Richmond. I sat at Giraffe, had a burger and rocky road ice cream and read the latest edition of WIRED Magazine. In this months edition, as usual, was loads of content and information and inspiring ideas (I never read this magazine at night in because then I dont get any sleep with my brain racing!) as well as an article about the founder of Tumblr.
Very interesting to note that he is now only 25 years old, started learning web programming at the age of 11, was home-schooled and then spent a year in Japan at 18. It’s also very interesting to note a few things about the company:
- they’re aiming to become product based like Apple as in his opinion ‘social networks don’t seem to last more than 10years‘. Goodbye Facebook?
- they had the ‘reblog’ button long before Twitter had the retweet button. There by starting to show that there is nothing new.. just a refresh of an old favourite.
- they are a colection of blogs, or a community, where people can share their own content or indeed re-post or add others content to their own space. Much like the new Pinterest.
Talking about Pinterest.. this is the new platform of the moment. A place where you can share linsk etc, but primarily it’s the photos that people upload that get the space. Many marketers are now starting to blog on how you can use it for business promotion, and I can see how it works for businesses that sell products or similar, but am still not entirely convinced of it’s value for service related companies. Time will tell. However, the world is abuzz with it at the moment, and I have joined the trend. I have various boards where I share photos related to different things ie. Things I Love board showcases the things I love… I have a board for my photography business too. And I have a board called 365 Days I Live. I started this as a personal challenge to see if I could take one photo every day for a year.
However, it’s starting to also become a life lesson for me. Each day because I’m having to make that photo upload, I’m really starting to consider what of the day has made the most impact on me.. and then gets a photo and a pin. It’s an interesting insight into how I spend my time, but also I will look back and those will be the moments captured for posterity.
What one scene or one moment of your day, if you had to take a photo of it, would summarise who you are, what you like and what you do. All in one image?
Insights is Facebook’s own analytics tool and you can use it to identify areas where you’re doing well and areas you need to focus on. Sounds great, right? Or intimidating? Don’t worry, it’s pretty straightforward.
Insights is broken into four areas:
Likes – details the likes your page has received by gender, age and location. So you can see if you’re appealing to the young or old, male or female, English or Brazilian, and tailor your approach to appeal to them more or to catch other demograhics.
Reach – tells you how you’re reaching your audience, whether it’s organic (from your page’s news feed or ticker), paid (from an ad or sponsored story) or viral (from a story posted by a friend). It also shows page views (how many unique people viewed your page), tab views (how many tabs those people clicked on) and external referrers (sites outside Facebook that are linking to your page). This section shows you how people are finding your page – which helps you decide whether to pay for ads, for instance – as well as how many times your fans are visiting and engaging with your page.
Talking About This – measures the following actions:
1.liking a page;
2.posting on the wall (comment, photo, video or link);
3.commenting on, liking or sharing content from your page;
4.answering a question;
5.RSVPing to an event;
6.tagging the page in a post;
7.tagging the page in a photo;
8.liking or sharing a check-in deal;
9.checking-in to a place.
Don’t be too alarmed by this number as it’s likely to be very low, and it’s not a good indicator as to what’s being said about your business. You’ll need to do some old-fashioned monitoring to understand this.
But Insights is a useful tool to add to your analytics arsenal and, as the only requirement is having thirty likes of your page, it will be ready for you to use soon after you set up your page.
Don’t post the same thing all the time; it’s very easy to switch off online, so keep your
content varied. Offer text alongside video, audio and photos
Keep it simple
Don’t confuse your fans; if you want them to do something, don’t hide your request in
words or content. Make it clear and easy to understand.
Keep it relevant
Don’t keep talking about shoes if your target audience likes socks. Know what your
audience likes and responds to and use that to your advantage.
Keep it understood
Use analytical tools to examine how your fans are engaging with your page. Facebook
Insights, GraphRank, PageLever, these tools can help you see what is working on your
Page and what isn’t. Make the most of them.
Keep it out there
Don’t wait for people to find your Page; find the people! Encourage and ask for the like.
Once you’ve got it, use your content to keep your fans.
I recently mentioned the story doing the rounds on Facebook about how a little girl wrote to Sainsbury’s about their so called tiger bread looking more like giraffe bread. The letter she received back from their customer sevices was not only wonderful and warming to read, it also was an excellent example of being human. Something most companies forget on social media as they hide behind their corporate exterior.
Since their reply and the mom posting it on her blog, it’s gone viral… was trending on Twitter before, then just this last week on Facebook. Now, due to public interest and demand, Sainsbury’s have announced that they will in fact be changing the name of the bread. This just goes to show that the power in marketing is in the hands of the consumer, facilitated by the company.
And in the same week… Waitrose fails in viral social media with this photo:
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