by Francois Muscat | Mar 6, 2013 | Articles
I often meet people from around the globe who, like me have a keen interest in social media that they would like to share. Today we have a guest post from Daniela Baker, a social media advocate from Credit Donkey. Her areas of expertise are in new media and journalism. – Francois
When it comes to using social media to market your small business, setting goals and priorities can sometimes seem like an exercise in futility. If you feel this way, you’re definitely not alone. According to a 2011 study from Wildfire, one of the main problems marketers have with social media is measuring return on investment.
After all, how do you measure the ROI of relationships? While about 38% of marketers measure ROI through increased interaction, another 15% measure it through increased brand awareness. Though how you can reliably measure brand awareness is a little confusing.
The truth is that since social media is about being, well, social, it is difficult to set priorities and to measure progress. But as you’re building relationships with customers and potential customers, one thing to think about is building trust. Yes, it’s difficult to measure how much people trust your business, but increasing trust can eventually pay off in more customer loyalty, new customers, and increased sales.
So if you’re ready to create a real plan for building trust with your social media followers and fans, take these five steps to do it:
Become a thought leader
Too many companies who stumble around in social media marketing make it all about the marketing part and not about the social part. But here’s the thing: social media users are bombarded by advertisements every day. They can spot ads from a mile away. And if you’re spending all your time actively promoting your business in traditional ways, you’re going to lose fans and followers very quickly.
Instead of just bombarding people with information about your latest sale, focus on becoming a thought leader. A thought leader is a person or firm that is the go-to resource in the field. In the personal finance industry, people will listen to the finance-related advice of a thought leader. In the carpet cleaning industry, the thought leader will be a trusted resource on cleaning and maintaining carpets.
No matter what industry you’re in, you can establish thought leadership for your group of followers by simply being the expert that you already are. Sure, on a broader level thought leaders are usually CEOs of major firms. But you can still be a thought leader in your own niche by offering helpful tips, advice, and information to people who connect with you on social media.
Be transparent – from the top down
One of the best ways for a business to build trust with its audience is to be transparent all the way to the top. Many large corporations are taking this tack, as CEOs and CFOs and other people with important titles spend time on social media themselves, connecting directly with customers.
It says something great about a business when the busy, important people at the top are willing to connect with customers. In small companies, this often means that the owner has at least a part in the social media marketing plan. Larger companies may actually run multiple, connected social media accounts, so that the leader of the company has his or her own account to maintain.
Respond to customers as quickly as possible
Quick response times are essential in any form of customer service, but they’re perhaps more essential than ever when it comes to social media. We’re living in the world of right now, and your customers expect responses right now – especially since many of them are posting on your Facebook wall or Tweeting about you on the go from a mobile device!
So you need to set up some sort of plan for responding to customers within a timely manner – at least within twenty-four hours. Even on the weekends, it’s best to respond to customers that same day, if at all possible. This is doubly true if customers are writing in to complain about your business or an experience they had with your business. Simply answering a complaint, valid or not, in a courteous, timely manner will definitely win you points with your social media followers – whether or not you are actually able to make the complaining customer happy.
Show people your best customers
Showing off your best, happiest customers is a great way to build trust. People like human-interest stories, so things like case studies, which you can publish on your blog and then share on social media, are a great option here. Sharing real success stories from real customers is much more effective than traditional marketing, since it shows potential customers that there are people around there who really buy into your business and have benefited from it.
You can also take time to thank customers who leave compliments on your Facebook wall, or retweet appreciative comments on Twitter. Simply showing your appreciation for their appreciation goes a long way towards building better relationships – both with your already-happy customers and with your soon-to-be customers.
Have fun with it
One of the best ways to build trust and to engage a bigger audience is to simply be human. Even a business that seems boring on the surface really isn’t, since anything that involves people is interesting on some level. So have fun showing off what makes your business interesting – even if it’s pictures from a company party (just make sure they’re appropriate!) instead of a blog post about the benefits of your business. Share infographics, photos, and interesting pieces of info about your employees, and your social media following will grow more than ever.
Building trust, as you know from your own relationships, takes time. So don’t expect this process to work overnight. But spend time in the process, and work on connecting with your customers as much as possible. Over time, you’ll become the go-to company in your niche for information, questions, and, of course, your own wonderful products and services.
by Francois Muscat | Dec 1, 2012 | Articles
I guess you are wondering why I am writing about the Inky Shop in Fourways Mall.
Those of you who know me, know I’m always game for a challenge and the challenge I took on is to try and get this post to number one on Google.za for the keyword phrase “Inky Shop Fourways Mall”.
First Inky Shop
The first Inky Shop was opened in 2003 in Pietermaritzburg by Brett Porrit’s mother. Duncan Bouwer (one of the directors) just loved the idea and bought into the business.
Inky Shop Range of print cartridges
The Inky Shop offers a comprehensive range of printer cartridges and they cover most of the printer brands in the market today.
On offer are:
- Laser printer cartridges
- Ink jet printer cartridges
When I met Duncan this week I immediately saw his passion for the business and that developing a quality product was high on his list of priorities.
In fact the Inky Shop is so confident with the quality of their product that they offer a 100% money-back guarantee and they do this while providing unbeatable prices.
The Inky Shop moves to Fourways Crossing
The Inky shop in Fourways Mall has now moved to Fourways crossing to the following address: Shop G42A, Fourways Crossing, Cnr William Nicol & Sunrise Boulevard, Fourways
Inky Shop Google Results
If you Google “Inky shop Fourways Mall” you get this result as of the time of writing this post (16h10 on the 1 December 2012).
What I am hoping for is that after publishing this post, I will be able to get the first place position for the keyword phrase “Inky shop Fourways Mall”.
Let’s see what happens.
Well just 2 minutes after publishing we achieved this result. Not number one but above the Inky Shop. All I need to do now is create some inbound links
by Marelise da Silva | Nov 6, 2012 | Articles
It is tempting to fill your web site with as much information as possible, but simplicity is a key element of good web design. By keeping things simple, you make it easier for people visiting your site to find the information they are after. As a business owner, you may be tempted to fill your landing page with as much content as possible, after all your website is there to inform people about your products and services. The problem with this approach is that visitors to your site will be overwhelmed with all this information and instead of taking it in; they will probably leave your site frustrated.
The importance of space
Spacing is one of the elements that you can use to make the content on your website clear and easy to read. For example, the spacing between lines of text impacts on how readable this text is. Too little space makes the text appear cluttered, while also forcing people to strain their eyes in order to read it, while too much space around the text can cause the writing to get lost. Essentially, you want to balance your text and spacing in a way that makes the text stand out and be easy to read.
You should also use spacing to separate your text and images. This makes the images stand out, while also making the text easy to read. While there are exceptions to this rule, leaving a bit of space between different elements on a web page allows the eye to flow around the elements of the page. Ultimately this is what you want so that visitors to your web site can appreciate all your content.
Keeping it simple
In addition to using space to create easy to read website, you should keep you web design as simple as possible. The simpler the design, the easier it is for visitors to your web site to find the information they are looking for. This means sticking to some general guidelines. For example, most web sites have the company logo in the top left hand corner of the landing page. This means visitors to your site will be looking here for this information and putting it anywhere else will probably confuse them. You can also achieve simplicity by using accepted labels for your tabs, such as ‘contact us’, ‘services’ and ‘blog’.
Find out more about how simple web design can showcase your company’s products and services. Contact WSI OMS today.
by Marianna Muscat | Nov 5, 2012 | Articles
If you want to keep the interest of your reader, you have to speak their language. This makes tone an important part of skilful copywriting. If you are writing copy for your website’s blog, setting the right tone is especially important because you have to keep your reader engaged, or they will simply leave your site. There are hundreds of industry blogs online that are all competing for your reader’s interest and at any one time, the typical online reader also multiple tabs open on their screen.
Picking a conversational tone is a good way to engage with your online reader. This means addressing the reader directly and adopting an active voice instead of a passive voice. For example, instead of saying ‘Orders can be placed here’, you should say ‘Place your orders here’. Sentences written in the active voice are easier to understand and it also resembles spoken, or conversational, language.
In order to pick the right tone for your reader, you need to know who your reader is. This means doing some research into who your target market is. In the same way that you don’t speak to colleagues they way you would speak to your children, you shouldn’t write for business people in the same way that you write for teenagers. Some readers will expect a level of formality in your writing in order for them to take your business seriously.
Of course, tone is not just determined by who your reader is, but also by the context in which you are writing. The degree of friendliness and formality in your writing will also be determined by what you are writing about. This can also be compared to spoken conversation. People speak differently to friends when they are giving them advice, compared to when they are out socialising.
In the same way, you should adopt a different tone depending on the service that you are offering. For example, very friendly tone is appropriate for a wedding photographer writing to people that could choose to include him or her on their most special day. In comparison, someone looking for an financial advisor is likely to expect a more professional tone.
For helping getting contact that is engaging and speaks directly to your target market, contact WSI OMS to find out more about our copywriting services today!
by Francois Muscat | Nov 2, 2012 | Articles
People who work in social media marketing often rely on online tools that allow them to post content quickly and across many platforms. While these tools make it convenient for heavy social media users to post content quickly and efficiently, they can also cause problems because they don’t maximise exposure. Tailoring your posts to each social network will prove beneficial and it also allows you to take advantage of each site’s strengths and unique characteristics.
For example, Google+ pages present a challenge to social media marketers because not many social media posting tools are compatible with them. Hootsuite is one program that posts to Google+ pages, but all posts appear as links, even if it’s an image that you posted, and clickable links tend to generate far less interaction than actual images posted straight to a page. Facebook presents a problem because it “batches” images that are posted from the same social media tool if more than one is posted in a 24-hour period. For Facebook pages that have a high activity level this is very problematic because batched photos don’t give users the option to “like”, comment or share. A user must click through to the actual image in order to do any of those actions and they’re more likely to just keep on scrolling.
Tips and tricks to gain maximum exposure
- Prepare your post with similar social networks in mind. Twitter and Instagram, for example, are two social media sites that utilise hashtags. You don’t want to post hashtags on a site that doesn’t use them because you may come across as looking like a spammer. Since Instagram is image-driven, a post that contains a solid marketing image would be perfect to post to both Twitter and Instagram, since Twitter users can also see images in their feed. You don’t want to post hashtags on Facebook, for example, since the site does not use them.
- Create a post specifically for Tumblr. Tumblr gives social media marketers a wide variety of options when posting, including layout, photo size, photo appearance and you can even create a nice looking image gallery that will show up on your follower’s dashboards. Since Tumblr is an extremely visual tool with so many options it’s worth it to prepare specific posts and you can pre-set posts to automatically go out at selected times.
- Always post images if possible. As the tremendous rise of Instagram has shown us, images are more popular than content in most cases. If there is an appropriate and eye-catching image that can accompany your post, include it, and be sure that users can like it, share it, retweet it and comment on it because feedback is always important.
Need help with your social media marketing? Contact WSI OMS today!
by Francois Muscat | Oct 12, 2012 | Articles
A few months ago I posted a blog on Generation Y. As a baby boomer it is interesting to see how Generation Y is affecting how we do business as these individuals are the leaders of tomorrow.
Recently Matthew Pelletier from Compliance and Safety, in America, sent me this great infographic on Generation Y and the generation gaps in the workplace. The infographic covers the change in the workplace environment as more individuals from Generation Y enter the workforce.
