online marketing

Tips for the top social media platforms

Social Media IconsWe are often asked to speak at groups and events about social media.  Everyone wants to know how to use social media effectively. 

In some ways, the answer is simple – set up correctly, know and use your keywords and then engage with your audience by posting on your chosen social media platform(s) regularly.

However, the plethora of social media networks can be overwhelming.  If you don’t use them personally it can be very daunting to use an online system that you are not familiar with.  And even if you are a regular personal user of social media, crossing the boundaries into business social communication can be difficult.  Add to this that the news media keep telling us about the negatives of social media and protecting our privacy, it’s no wonder some people struggle.

For a small-medium business owner, there are 3 choices:

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Always Connected

Here is an interesting infographic that highlights how people are always “connected” these days.

We are all relying more and more on our phones for more than just chatting – for information, accessing the web, checking up on our social connections, keeping in touch.

This is a humorous take on our reliance on connectivity, but on the serious side, it’s more than a Trend of the younger generation but a Reality that impacts on how we do business today. To ignore it would be foolish.

View the full infographic created by Online Schools here…… Read More

Taking Your Networking Online

Social Media… Online Marketing… Facebook Marketing… Online Networking….

We are reading about it everywhere

Everyone is talking about it

Buzz words abound… connecting, engaging, interacting, Like, Fan, comment, Sharing, Posting, Viral …

This is new vocabulary to the local business person.

The world is changing and Yikes, how do we keep up?!

Stop, take a breath, “smell the roses” and let’s put this into perspective…

At the end of the day, business is about people and networking with people is what helps you personally and in business.   In the words of Rebecca Morris from Paradigm Shift “Character trumps Credentials every time… making it imperative to have the balance right in the online world”

So, yes we all know we have to get online with our business, but we can’t just do this and then sit back and hide behind our computer screens.  We also can’t just stay-still in this ever-changing world.

We have all heard the benefits of online social marketing…

  • Grow your brand awareness
  • Connect with your customers
  • Expand your networks
  • Increase your search engine rankings
  • Sell more,
  • etc,

There are many, many tools with which to do this.

Ultimately, this is what you need – here are the 7 key steps:… Read More

Using Video in your online marketing

Posting and sharing video on your website and social media platforms is a great way of connecting to your customers, whether its your own video or linking/embedding someone else’s.

We’ve all seen the viral video campaigns.   They range from cute to bizarre to emotional and more often than not gain media attention because of the amount of people who have viewed them and the impact this then has on the person concerned.  Case in point, in yesterday’s news the story of the boy who was bullied and fought back.

Here’s another, a video showing a babies’ reaction to his mother blowing her nose (!) that’s gathered well over 9 million views in just one week(!), proving that babies are always appealing…click here to view (embedding has now been disabled)
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