Another great infographic from econsultancy. I am surprised that only 66% of businesses in this study state that “Social media is integral to business strategy”. Is any of the information surprising or particularly interesting to you?
A great infograhic from Social Media Today. A very interesting point it raises is regarding celebrity followers – did you know that 34% of Lady Gaga’s 28,839,110 followers are fake?!?
LinkedIn has very recently launched its new follow button, which enables users to follow LinkedIn company pages with a single click. What’s more, you can also install the LinkedIn company follow button onto your website with ease! Just follow these simple steps:
1. Visit https://developer.linkedin.com/plugins/follow-company
2. Enter your company name or ID
3. Decide how you want your button to look – you can include a follower count on your button
4. Click on the ‘Get Code’ button and copy and paste the code onto your website or blog. This part can confuse some people, so I thought I would explain how to add it to your WordPress blog in detail…
Enter your WordPress Dashboard and on the left sidebar, click Appearance and Widgets. Drag and drop the Text widget into the space you want the follower button to appear, and then paste the code into the text box. Navigate back to your homepage to see if the follower button is in the right place and make amendments as you see fit.
The great thing about the LinkedIn follower button is that when a user clicks the button, they will automatically follow your company page, without the need to navigate off your site and to LinkedIn. Receiving updates from your favourite companies has never been easier!
Remember that there is not much use of people following your LinkedIn company page unless you are using it effectively. Read my article “Tips on How to Use the New LinkedIn Company Page” HERE. As always, if you encounter any problems or have questions, feel free to leave a comment or contact me directly.
I am sure you have recently heard of the new social media platform that has sprung up, Pinterest. Its identity has come on leaps and bounds with over 11 million unique visits last month alone. Infact, it’s growth has been “faster then any standalone site – ever“ (Hubspot). But have you considered what this means to your business and how it could affect your social media and marketing activities? No? Then read on…
Firstly, to explain what Pinterest is and how it works, I have included a slideshow by Mike Litman, which so far is the most comprehensive thing I have seen written.
It has been reported that in January 2012, Pinterest “referred more traffic than Google Plus, YouTube and LinkedIn combined”. This has impacted businesses that rely on large numbers of website visitors by providing an incredible opportunity to dramatically increase their sales volume with little effort. In fact from what I have seen so far, just about any business that currently uses social media to complement or enhance their business, could benefit in some way from this new social network.
There has, however, been some negative press. The Metro reports that “like Facebook, Pinterest has attracted concern over the question of ownership.” If a user owns a picture and ‘pins it’ on Pinterest, they are effectively handing over ownership to the site. Andrew Murray, professor of law at the London School of Economics, has also stated that “Pinterest is acting at the margins of copyright legality’. Even with these concerns, I personally think that Pinterest will continue with the rapid growth is has shown and provide another platform for businesses to enhance and complement their services.
So… how can businesses effectively use this new social media platform? Here are some basic guidelines to get you started:
Audience Building
Pinterest works a little differently from the typical follower functionality of other social networks. There are two ‘follower options’ a user can take when someone likes their content: a user can follow a specific board or an account. The difference is when a user follows a board, they will only be notified of new content to that board, whereas if they follow an account, they will be notified any time the user pins any content to any board. I shall discuss strategies to increase followers at both levels in my next article*.
Marketing
Pinterest offers a range of activities to market your business to a new audience. Some of the main features it showcases includes: featuring visual contents, creating user-generated pinboards, creating video galleries, hosting a contest, featuring offline events, gathering business/brand insight, ability to add the pin-it button to your website and links in the descriptions of your pins and using hashtags. I shall explore particular Pinterest marketing strategies in my next article*.
Final Thoughts
If your company is serious about using social media to complement and enhance its business activities, then Pinterest can be a viable business option. Integration of another social media platform into your social media campaigns has business implications that require considering, but all the signs so far point towards an enhanced campaign if it is successfully understood and implemented. Feel free to contact me if you think I could help your business with social media, or with using Pinterest as a new channel of delivery. Are you using Pinterest to enhance your social media campaigns yet?
*In due time, I will write another article on the advanced use of Pinterest for business so stay tuned in for the next update. I bet you can’t wait!?
So your business has decided to voyage into the social media landscapes in search of additional channels of delivery and custom. Great decision! Although the barriers to entry are low, the barriers to success are high – this is already one aspect businesses seem to overlook. With such vast numbers being boasted by the social media domains, effectively utilising this space to meet your business objectives is becoming increasing more difficult. A simple comparison to use in demonstrating these difficulties is when a business relocates. There are new laws, codes of conduct, etiquette, morals and cultures.
As you begin to undertake your journey into social media, take note of my top 5 thoughts on the unwritten rules of social media and how they can affect your business:
1. Value: Creating valuable content, directed at your target audience, is key to achieving a successful social media strategy. Less can be more – it is all about quality. Make sure your business has recognised this importance or you could end up becoming uncompetitive or obsolete very quickly. With so much choice given to the huge amounts of traffic available, your content must really capture your customer’s attention and drive them to want more.
2. Self-promotion: Many businesses start their social media campaigns by continuously writing about themselves or their products. Ask yourself one question: “If I was following a Twitter account and all I saw were promotional statements, would they really keep my interest?” Some social media domains, such as Facebook, have underlying behavioural etiquette that must be addressed. Highlighting lots of branding messages on a customers personal Facebook stream would actually be detrimental to your business – the customer would get annoyed and stop following your company, in turn, telling their friends about your inconsiderate techniques. Be careful, it is easy to fall into routines that deter from your marketing objectives.
3. Reciprocation: A common mistake businesses make is to think that because they have shared a message, someone should share theirs. Users generally only share messages that offer value to them or their audience, so make sure you are designing your content around what your customer’s want or need. Strong customer analysis can shape your marketing activities, especially with content creation and content strategies. I think you would agree that it would be a waste of time writing about the latest sporting news if you are trying to sell a management consultancy service. Thinking your potential customers would reciprocate this type of message is a mistake.
4. Connecting: There is a general understanding on Twitter that if you follow a user and you appear to provide their account with value, they will follow you back (you might have also seen the #teamfollowback hashtag used to demonstrate that the account will follow anyone back who follows them). This does not mean that a channel has been opened to start direct selling or marketing, it merely means that a mutual understanding has been reached and that you may both benefit from the connection. This is a widely overlooked practice and one that in my opinion, is undertaken by people who are trying to take the short-cut and achieve quick sales or short-term traffic. If you use Twitter a lot, you would have come across people using auto-response software to promote their website or blog when you follow their account. I hate this and really think the conversion rate is too low to even consider. Couple this with the fact that the first impression and messages received from someone who you deemed as relevant and valuable to follow is a prewritten, generic message that promotes their products or sites, then I believe it has a negative overall impact. Use the short, sharp posts to create eye-catching and quality messages that will make the user want to know more about you or your business. Build lasting and meaningful relationships that can develop overtime and provide additional channels of opportunity.
5. Reaching the Verge: With most business practices, there is a drop-off point in the time spent on an activity and the quality of the results. The same can be true to an extent in social media, yet generally not enough time is spent on the right activities for the specific business. More activity of lesser quality is not as effective or successful as less activity of higher quality. Take the time to sample how much time needs to be allocated to particular sections of your social media strategy and how sustainable each activity is in meeting your marketing objectives.
I am aware that there are other unwritten rules of social media that can affect your business but these are most significant rules that you must understand and act accordingly to. If I get more great feedback for this post, I might even delve deeper into this topic!
Have you come across any situations where knowing about the unwritten rules of social media could have benefited you? What do you think is the most important rule for your business?
I have been asked a few times lately on how best to use LinkedIn to generate business leads. Although activities and functions may differ between different businesses and sectors, there is a general guideline that I can introduce to help you on your way. It should provide a framework that you can incorporate into your current social media activities and get you thinking about how best you want to undertake the various processes.
Get found
Initially, you want to take a good chunk of time to get your profile right. This can be a lot harder than you think and should be researched, with your potential customers always in mind. A step further is to actively participate across your network. This increases your exposure; posting in groups/answers section and updating your company page will ultimately put your content and business profile in front of more relevant people that may have an interest in your business.
Go find them
After you have sound content plans and strategies to fulfil my first guideline, you want to take it a step further and proactively search for your potential clients. LinkedIn has an extremely useful advanced search engine that allows you to find the exact people you will be looking for. Upgrading your LinkedIn account also means you can send InMails straight to targeted leads, instead of sending a connection request and waiting to hear back. If you want to invest money in wider business exposure on LinkedIn, the PPC function can be very targeted and easy to manage. You should always be trying to leverage your other networks, from other social media domains to mailing lists, so that everyone that has found your business or taken the time to contact you is knowledgeable of your LinkedIn profile. If they were interested in some way or another before, then that interest may reoccur with a little reminder. An undervalued approach to finding potential clients is manually monitoring different streams and sections of the site for business opportunities. With all the automation tools and fast-track approaches to social media, people tend to forget that taking the time to search the answers section, looking into all the groups they are members of and checking their connection updates can provide a wealth of opportunity.
Convert
After a business lead has been identified, the crucial step is to convert them into a business customer. There is no one-sentence explanation of how to do this as it is dependent on each business and each customer. There are, however, some general guidelines that could increase your conversion rate’s effectiveness. Always put yourself in your customer’s shoes and think about why they have communicated with you and what problems they seek to amend by using your product/service. I would always steer away from the hard sell and instead provide a clear explanation to how your business can provide value and why they should use your product/service instead of the competitions.
Analyse and repeat
The final step is probably the most overlooked of the four. After you have successfully converted a business lead into a customer, it is time to analyse how you undertook each component of the sales process and how you could increase the efficiency and effectiveness next time round… and there will be a next time!
Let me know if you are having problems with any aspect of your LinkedIn campaign and I will be happy to help. What do you think is the most important thing to remember when using LinkedIn to generate business leads?
The folks at LinkedIn have made some big changes to their company page section, with a clear move to try and cater more to businesses using the social media platform. This is good news for all you small business owners, creating a new dimension to your social media campaigns and LinkedIn efforts.
Your LinkedIn company page is no longer a static, boring and isolated page. The new updates mean that it is now possible to make your company page more attractive by using rich media content, such as: YouTube clips, images, hyperlinked banners and links to websites or blogs. In a nutshell, it is now possible to post business updates on your company page. This may not seem like a big deal, but believe me it is!
What this means for your business – You can now approach your LinkedIn company page as if it were another social media platform, creating strategies and schedules and building strong audiences to maximise your online presence and potential.
A few things to note – Spend time creating a really strong LinkedIn company page. Use a well-written and informative description of your company and make use of the products/services page, providing all necessary information that can add value to your business.
My Tips
How to build a strong audience for your company page – company followers
- Encourage existing employees to link with your page
- Follow other relevant company pages, such as: current customers, key industry figures/players, potential clients, related businesses and relevant established connections that you may be able to leverage.
- Send announcements – tell people you have a company page and why they should follow it
- Send call-to-actions to exiting audiences: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn connection, Email lists etc.
- Approach the new company page updates feature with direction – have a well rounded content strategy formulated, which may include:
- Business updates: current job openings, relevant breaking news etc.
- Customer focused: provide value-added updates, advice, tips etc.
- Lead and conversion generation: explain product/service benefits, use recommendations/case studies etc.
- Traffic generation: create new rich content, link to other social media platforms or blog posts, share or comment on other posts/articles etc.
- Actively communicate and engage – like I have stated many times in blogs and articles, social media is social. Take time to establish and develop business relationships. Monitor the company page update streams for business opportunities or for messages that provide a base to network. This can be a particular activity that is commonly overlooked or undervalued. Helping other businesses by sharing, commenting or recommending their content in their company update will increase your own business visibility and influence.
Remember: use different types of media, such as images or clips in your LinkedIn company page updates. Keep your social media approach consistent and in line with your business objectives.
How do you think these changes will affect your businesses approach to LinkedIn?
Do you have a company page on LinkedIn that has integrated these new changes into its social media strategies? If so feel free to share your page here!
I recently designed and implemented a social media campaign for a client that was heavily weighted towards LinkedIn as the main social media platform for activity. Throughout the project, I noticed many profiles that I came across that were getting so many things wrong. I wanted to share a couple of things I noticed and hope these are useful to you.
The ‘strap-line’ for 95% of profiles is the persons job title – when people search for you or your business, how are you going to stand out by stating your a CEO or Managing Director? Remember LinkedIn is made up solely of professionals and there are many people claiming the same job title.
Incomplete profiles – this was a big issue I found with most of the profiles I researched. You would not take the time to design a website and leave a few pages blank, so why would you do the same for your LinkedIn profile?
Lack of effort in proactive activities – the vast majority of the profiles I researched were present in many groups, some even managing their own, yet rarely created content or put in the effort to really use LinkedIn’s key features for business means. Some of the profiles didn’t even know the value in the ‘Answers’ section…
The final point I would make is the lack in leveraging existing connections and networks and by-passing value in developing business relationships. Most of the time this is due to KPI’s or particular measurements being set, that indicate value in reaching certain numbers, which in fact lower the value of your network. Quality connections over quantity all day long!
Let me know if this has been helpful. I might write more LinkedIn (or other domain) tips or provide insight into more mistakes I see if the feedback is good. I look forward to talking some more…
