Being Honest with Your Social Media Marketing

Earlier this week, during a discussion about social media content, I asked the person across the table to really think hard about “why would anyone follow your social media channels?”

Amidst the rush and excitement of setting up different social media channels this is, without a doubt, the hardest thing to answer and address.

However, only by addressing it or at least attempting to do so, can you begin to create a social media strategy that might succeed.

Why would someone follow you on Facebook? Instagram? Twitter? Snapchat?

Honesty is the Best Policy

Take a step back, look around, and you’ll see that the business and marketing worlds are rife with people saying one thing and doing another.

“We need to push the hard sell in this campaign.”

“We need to cram as much information in as possible.”

“Those images are fine.”

If you audit the social media actions, and attention, of both yourself and your family and friends you’ll quickly see that we’re all incredibly selfish with our time.

If it doesn’t interest us, or capture our attention or imagination in one way or another, we’ll scroll past without skipping a beat.

Yet even though this is true for 99% of the population you constantly see social media channels filled with rubbish, with sales posts, with generic content and with zero offering or value.

Behind each of those accounts is a business owner, marketer or consultant wondering, “Why is nobody following along?”

It’s because nobody cares and the sooner we’re all honest about it, the better. The sooner we’re honest about asking and answering the key question above, the better! 

How to Improve Your Organic Social Media

Being honest is the first step but what’s next?

In order to develop social media channels that people actually care about and want to follow you have to tap into their wants and needs.

What’s going to make them stop and listen?

People follow brands, businesses and influencers for lots of different reasons.

For some it could be for education, inspiration or information/updates. For others it could be for escapism, desire, humour, entertainment or debate.

There are countless reasons out there and defining your target audience needs won’t happen instantly but take a piece of paper (or phone, laptop etc.) and begin the brainstorming session.

After that, pair your audience needs with the types of content you can create for each channel and get cracking. Testing and heightened awareness will be your friend from this point onwards…

Other Channels

You might’ve noticed that this blog, and message, focuses specifically on “social media”. There’s a reason for that.

I know it’s easy for everyone to lump social and digital together but other digital marketing channels behave differently and consumers are more or less receptive to different strategies within each.

In 2018 you can guarantee that the majority of your new email subscribers expect a sales pitch at some point or another. If you can make it good, and worthwhile, then go for it!

In PPC advertising the hard sell is also universally expected. In the case of search ads you’re catching someone right at the crucial moment of need, so if you can help them, sell away!

Podcast advertising, remarketing, influencer outreach, sponsored posts… There are so many options out there waiting to be utilised for the hard sell.

Organic social media just isn’t one of them…if you want to grow a following and succeed…

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If you’re unsure about what organic social media content is exactly, in 2018, then get in touch for a chat here.

What is a #Hashtag?

The hashtag (this symbol ---> #) celebrates its 10th Internet anniversary this year but if you’re still struggling to get to grips with it never fear, read on…

What is a Hashtag?

The hashtag is simply a short text-based link preceded by the pound symbol (#) and it was first used in 2007 initially by Twitter developers to group together topics, content or conversations.

Since its initial inception the hashtag has taken on a life of its own and can now be seen on most major social media channels including Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. You’ll also occasionally see hashtags on Facebook posts but they are less commonly used on the world’s biggest social platform. 

Why use Hashtags?

Put simply the correct use of hashtags can increase exposure and put your content in-front of people that would never otherwise come in contact with your brand, business or profile.

Not bad for a little symbol and a piece of text.

As a general rule of thumb social media channels, such as Twitter or Instagram, require users to follow your profile in order to see your tweets, text, image or video posts.

Hashtags allow you and users to bypass this.

When you post a piece of content using the hashtag #NorthernIreland people searching for anything #NorthernIreland related will get the chance to see your post even if they don’t follow your profile!

This is especially great when you’re just starting out, with zero or very few followers, or trying to build a following, as it puts your message and content in front of interested groups of people.

How to Use Hashtags?

For this section we’ll stick to Instagram and Twitter as they’re currently the biggest social media platforms when it comes to hashtag use.

To use hashtags you simply post your tweet (if you’re on Twitter) or image/video (if you’re on Instagram) and type to add hashtags within the text or caption sections of the post. Nothing more complicated than that!

It’s important to note that hashtags:

• Can’t include spaces (So you type #ManchesterUnited rather than #Manchester United)
• Can’t include punctuation
• Can’t include the @ symbol
• Can include numbers
• Can include upper and lower case letters (They don’t make a difference)

Those are literally the only limitations. After that your hashtag can be whatever you want it to be! So you can use #candles if you craft and sell candles or #Elvis if you want to discuss the King.

The possibilities are endless but the skill, when it comes to business use, is finding the right hashtags to increase your exposure and awareness…

Where to Use Hashtags? 

As previously stated you can use hashtags on Facebook, as the social media platform first introduced them in 2013, but in reality hashtags are biggest on Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest at the time of writing.

When considering which hashtags to use on Twitter you might want to look at the “Trends” section of the app which highlights popular, or widely used, hashtags specific to location.

When using hashtags on Instagram it’s well worth being aware that you can include up to 30 hashtags per post. This can give you the scope to tag everything including your product or service, industry, location and anything else related.

Which Hashtags Should I Use?

As said before hashtags can be anything and everything meaning each brand, business and industry could have completely different hashtags to the next.

To begin with it’s always best to keep things simple and simply hashtag whatever your content is about. So if you’re tweeting about surfing in Northern Ireland you might use #Surfing and #NorthCoast and so on.

When you want to discover more and begin researching which hashtags to use, take a look at competitors within your market to get some basic ideas. After that you might want to push the boat out further and experiment with popular hashtags that don’t necessarily directly match up with your business but could represent a great opportunity.

Should I Create My Own Hashtag?

People create their own hashtags all the time. It’s a daily occurrence worldwide and a quick look at Twitter or Instagram will reveal as much.  

Having said that, for businesses lacking the ever-present exposure of the world’s biggest brands (Apple, Coca Cola etc.) it may be better to focus on popular or regularly browsed hashtags rather than inventing new ones.

As ever it’s about experimenting with what works and what doesn’t. You could stumble across a hashtag your followers/customers love.

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This is just a brief overview and the best way to learn is to start doing! So get out there and hashtag until you’re an expert! 

New Year Marketing Ideas for Northern Ireland Businesses

Well then!

Are you bright-eyed and bushy-tailed or are you feeling the after-effects of too much partying during the holidays?

Either way it’s time to get back at it and although January is generally when everyone tries to hibernate it represents a great month to try out some creative new marketing ideas.

If you’re going to stand out and grab people’s attention during the most dreaded month of the year you’re going to have to get creative!

Fitness Buffs!

It’s only a cliché because it’s 100% true but every January you can guarantee gym attendance will double (at the very least!), diet information will be everywhere on social media and well-intentioned New Year resolutions will be heartily made.

With all that in mind, why not give your marketing a health and fitness twist for the first month of the year?

You could do a spoof Facebook Live broadcast that pokes fun at online workout videos (in a nice way J) while promoting your latest offers or services.

Just avoid the spandex…

Tryanuary

Besides health and fitness, January, and the beginning of the New Year, is usually viewed by everyone as a fresh start and a chance to try new things or get a better grip on the more serious things in life.

This “Tryanuary” approach has great marketing potential!

Tap into this by offering something different that either solves a problem or entices your potential new customer.

For example, if your business sells Insurance, why not promote a blog that details exactly why your insurance product will help a new customer become more fiscally responsible in 2017!

This mindset is also perfect for businesses selling classes or experiences so start getting your “try something different” message out there ASAP!

New Year Resolutions

New Year resolutions are everywhere at the minute and although most of them will fall by the wayside come February they represent a great opportunity to engage with your online community.

If you want to increase brand awareness and turn customers into followers why not embark on some resolutions together to create that bond?

Restaurants and cafes could try to create and taste a new dish every month with fans/customers following along at home via Snapchat and Instagram stories.

Car salesman could set a challenge of walking so many steps each day on the forecourt and ask followers to keep up or join in via Twitter or Facebook.

How can you tie things in to your business?

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These ideas might seem like a bit of fun, but during the dullest month of the year when everyone is energy-sapped by endless sales and the end of Christmas, they’ll stand out a mile!

Remember, attention is MORE than half the battle! 

Great Halloween Marketing Campaigns

Marketing is a constant, year round, process but a holiday like Halloween offers some great opportunities to have a bit more fun than usual.

Consumers will generally accept something slightly different if it fits in with the overall theme of Halloween so why not try something new?

To get the cogs turning we took a look at what some of the biggest brands have done over the last few years.

Pop Culture Vulture!

In 2013 Tide, the American detergent brand, decided to release a series of Vine clips spoofing new and classic Halloween films. In the first of the series we see a Tide bottle slowly being drenched in blood at prom in a direct reference to Carrie.

It might seem strange but it’s just a bit of fun and the takeaway here could be to use classic Halloween movies with your own business.

Since Vine is nowhere near as popular now, why not create some Snapchat stories in a similar vain?

Tell Me Why?

A few years ago Topshop launched a “Trick or Tweet” campaign to promote a new Halloween fashion collection.

The campaign allowed customers to tweet Topshop their best Halloween outfits and the best tweet each day won a gift card worth £100! Not bad for just a tweet or two!

Not every business can afford to giveaway £100 per day during even the smallest of campaigns but have a think about what’s in it for your customer to engage with you on social media.

Why would or should they get in touch?

Giving Value

Tesco’s 2015 Halloween “Spookermarket” campaign was a good example of keeping things light-hearted and fun at this time of year. The main video highlights the power of video content whilst the others show just how useful it can be to provide useful tips in your industry or sector.

What tips and tricks can you offer in your industry? If they don’t match up perfectly with Halloween why not open it up to the entire Autumn season?

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Let us know what you come up with this Halloween!

Social Media for Northern Ireland Businesses

Social media, in all its various shapes and sizes, has been around for at least a decade now but some Northern Ireland businesses still struggle to grasp the potential of these channels.

If this feels like you, don’t worry! It’s never too late to start and the reality is that the Internet, and subsequently social media, is still in its infancy so you haven’t missed the party.

Here we’ll briefly explain some of the positives of using social media and what it could mean for your business.

Exposure on a Budget

Everyone tries to pit digital media against traditional (local newspapers, leaflets etc.) but the reality is there is a time and a place for everything.

The one massive advantage social media has is scale. With channels like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat you can easily and quickly spread your message throughout Northern Ireland, the rest of the UK and Ireland and further afield if you want!

With £5, £10, £20 and so on you can access thousands of people AND you can target key demographics so you get to stretch that small business budget even further.

What’s not to like?

Opportunity

Nowadays your business is no longer confined to the high street or neighborhood you operate in.

If you use channels like Twitter and Instagram you can reach literally anyone with the right type of searching and intelligent use of hashtags.

Just imagine you sold men’s football boots and wanted to get your name out there but didn’t have much of a budget. Check out the image below! Twitter is free to download and use, and all the search cost was time, effort and thought!

View fullsize

Connection

Years ago many small businesses said they would have jumped at the chance to have the opportunity to connect with so many potential customers, to listen to their opinions and to constantly test things.

With social media we have all these options just waiting to be used yet so many businesses out there either ignore the opportunities, ignore their customers or both!

Each comment on social media from a customer, or potential customer, should be seen as an opportunity to reinforce a connection. Even an initially bad comment can turn into a PR coup with the right response.

On top of that channels like Snapchat and Instagram, with their “story” features, allows businesses the opportunity to give customers a real insight behind the scenes. Check out Irish fresh fruit and veg providers Nudie Foods (nudiefoods) for a great example of how to do it right.

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Are you using social media for your business? If not, why not?

How to Add Multiple Accounts on Twitter

Whether you’re a business owner, digital marketer, blogger or something completely left field you might get to a point where you have more than one Twitter account to take care of.

Luckily Twitter has included a handy little feature on their mobile app to help you switch seamlessly between the various accounts.

To get started you’ll have to add another account and here, we’ll give you a quick guide on how to do that.

First, open the Twitter app on your smartphone, go to the profile page and click on the little two-person icon in the upper right-hand corner. You should see a screen similar to the one below pop up. 

Next, click on “More Options” to see the following screen.

Here you might decide to “Create a New Account” but in this case we’re going to click on “Add an Existing Account” and see the next screen.

You’re almost there! Simply type in your other Twitter account details and hit “Log in” when you’re ready.

Have fun!

How to Set-Up a Twitter Business Account

Twitter has been around for a lifetime (in Internet terms anyway…) but if you’re a brand new business or have never used the social website and app before you might be wondering where to start.

With this short guide we’ll get you set-up with a brand new Twitter account for business.

To begin, visit Twitter.com and click on the “Sign Up” button.

The next step is to fill in your business name, email address and password. You can then skip the mobile phone stage, if you want, and head straight to the next section where you will pick your username. Make this your business name or something closely related.

Next, work through the various Twitter set-up stages where they ask about your Interests and other identifiers. You now have a fully fledged Twitter account for your business and you will be greeted with a screen similar to below. 

After that click “Edit Profile”, available via the drop-down menu on the upper right-hand side of the screen, at any time to edit your profile in any way. 

Remember to include your location, a short descriptive biography about your business, a link to your website and a great profile and cover photo!

Good luck tweeting! 

Simple Local SEO in Northern Ireland

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is crucial in the digital age.

Everyone uses Google, Bing, Facebook, Twitter and more to search for local products, services or information in their area. Northern Ireland is no different.

Are they finding you, or a competitor?

Local SEO is about providing the information local customers really want.

You need to make sure your information is present, correct and consistent on all of these channels.

Research has shown that up to 34% of desktop searches and 50% of local mobile searches result in a store visit within 24 hours.

Customers are looking for information that they will then act upon.

Basic Information is Key

Getting the basics right is key to local SEO success.

Think about what your customers want to know when they search for you online.

Generally, local people want to know to your address, opening hours, key products and services and contact information.

It’s that simple.

Depending on your business you could also add information regarding important upcoming events and special offers or discounts.

Google My Business

As we’ve mentioned before, in Northern Ireland, the rest of the UK and Europe, Google is king of the search world so this must be taken into consideration when looking at your local SEO.

To get the ball rolling, visit the “Google My Business” site to begin your optimisation journey.

After that it is worthwhile to revisit all of your social channels and ensure key business facts (address, opening hours etc.) are front and centre.

Want to take things a step further? Say hello.