Sep 7, 2017 | Blog, News
Accepting LinkedIn connections
LinkedIn is the best social network for professionals. In Australia it is a platform that is used mainly for connecting to colleagues and other work related matters (and for recruiters to head hunt for talent!).
As a social media tool, LinkedIn is built around making connections; and has prompts to encourage you to grow the number of people you are connected to. But one question I’m often asked about is ‘Should you accept requests from people you don’t know?’ The short answer is: it depends. Below is the longer answer.
The next time that someone send an invitation in your LinkedIn account, think twice before accepting it. Not just because you don’t know the person but this is because it is part of LinkedIn’s official rule. This is under Section 8.2 wherein it states that members agree not to “invite people you do not know to join your network.” This is because LinkedIn’s purpose is to build connections that are appropriate and build genuine professional communities. But, and this is a big but, as long as you do your due diligence, it is ok to accept a connection from someone you do not know.
You might also consider these factors when it comes to accepting connections from LinkedIn.
- Check the profile photo. If there is no photo, I’d say no.
- Personal message. I’ve been impressed by those who have taken the time to craft a personal message before sending me a request.
- Other people they are connected to. If you have lots of mutual connections, then maybe this person is fine, and could add value to your network.
- Browse through their profile. The profile says a lot about that person so check interests, current job or past jobs and other important details. Knowing this will help you in deciding whether or not to accept the invitation.
Quality over quantity is key when connecting with other on LinkedIn. Remember, LinkedIn is designed to build connections to help you in your professional life so before accepting, always take a little time to think about it.
If you want help getting more out of your social media marketing, please download our free step by step guide today!
Sep 1, 2017 | Blog, News
Planning content with Buzzsumo
Social media content is a great way of communicating to and building relationships with your potential customers. One of the best ways to promote businesses of all sizes is through developing a strong content marketing strategy. The tool I love using when it comes to planning content is Buzzsumo.
However, you can’t simply fill in a website with all and any content that comes to mind and then expect it to bring potential clients. You need to have relevant content that will appeal to your target audience and will answer their questions. But what tool can help you in doing this? Buzzsumo is a great tool to find out what content performs best. This tool allows a user to find out what the content is popular by website or by topic.
With the use of Buzzsumo, it can help you identify key influencers based on keywords. But what can Buzzsumo do in your business?
- Buzzsumo allows you to identify which content is being shared the most and who shared it which is important. Thus, this gives you the details on who is the influencer and knowing who has the public’s trust and attention can give you the understanding on who you can follow for inspiration.
- Buzzsumo can provide you keyword alerts so you will be notified when content is posted or updated. Keeping up to date with trending content, and then sharing it across your own social platforms, can help increase reach into new audiences.
- Buzzsumo can give you an analysis on how your competitor is doing. Knowing and understanding what your competitors can do and what is working and what is not working for them can help inform what you do. This will give you insights on what works best for you and it will help you to avoid things that are not effective.
Writing content is a tough task and no matter how we allot a certain time to gather and think of new ideas, we rarely devote enough time to curating and creating good content. Buzzsumo, to my mind, has proven to be an effective tool when it comes to improving your content marketing strategy. Just always remember in using any kind of tool or system just like Buzzsumo will depend on what you want to achieve and where are you in terms of your own content marketing.
If you want help getting more out of your social media marketing, please download our free step by step guide today!
Aug 12, 2017 | Blog, News
Using hashtags to grow your audience
Everyone wants more Twitter and Instagram followers. Whether you’re trying to grow your personal or business account, it can be challenging to grow your audience. Trying to stand out on an application that has over 600 million users is not an easy task at all. One of the best (and often misused tools) is hashtags.
But before you use hashtags, let us have a quick look at what is hashtag and why do you need to use this. A hashtag is the pound sign (#) and in social media it is used to draw attention, to promote and to organise content around a particular topic. Instagram (and for the most part Twitter) is a medium where hashtags are required for content to be seen. The thing about hashtags is that using the right one can increase you visibility immediately and increase engagement with your audience. Just make sure that you use a hashtag that is in line with the content you are posting.
Instagram has been the popular social media platform in Australia. Australians love using Instagram, especially during weekends. Australian women dominate social media channels with a booming of 58% using Instagram videos and 66% using Instagram images (Datafication). The hashtags that they have used and become popular in just a matter of 24 hours were #australia #cute, #fun, #sydney, #love, #sydney, #lol, #fitness, #music, and #instagood.
Like any other social network there are ways how to use it (and importantly how not to) so let’s check how to use a hashtag and how can it help to grow your audience.
- Don’t forget to use the right hashtag. If you use the right hashtag on your content then you are more likely to reach and discover new users. It will be easier for your audience to notice your photo if you use a specific hashtag that is trending. Just remember to make it relevant or your will be shadowbanned.
- Timing of your Posts. Yes, you have outlined what you will post but consider also when the right time to post it. When is your target audience likely to be online?
- In addition to using branded hashtags (#yourbusinessname), try using industry specific hashtags, and even more general ones. If you wan to know what to use, do a quick serch in Instagram and see how many posts come up – that will tell you what is popular and what isn’t
- Share your daily activities. Want to catch the follower’s attention? You can give glimpses and tell what you’re actually doing. This is a great way to make your audience feeling inspired.
Instagram allows users to post up to 30 hashtags but it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to use all of them. It’s all about engagement and you need to publish when your audience is active. And don’t forget to measure your efforts so you can tweak your content. Always remember that using a hashtag is easy but you have to make sure that it is relevant and accurate in order for you to be noticed and in time, you will see that your audience is increasing.
If you want help getting more out of your social media marketing, please download our free step by step guide today!
Aug 5, 2017 | Blog, News
How Often Should You Email Your Database?
One of the strongest ways for companies to engage and to communicate with their customers is through email marketing. By using email, they can keep in touch with their clients and inform them about their services and new products. The use of email marketing can amplify a businesses’ marketing strategy through nurturing existing contacts.
So how often do you need to send out your emails to your clients?
Based on Australian research, one possible reason why customers unsubscribe is because you send too many emails with not enough valuable content. Some people consider these emails as spam. Companies should be careful in sending emails to avoid their accounts from being reported. In Australia, there are strict rules that need to be followed to comply with the Australian spam laws. The following are the three simple steps that will help you do responsible email marketing and abide with Australia’s legislation.
- Make sure that you ask for the person’s consent before you send this type of marketing. This is mostly done through Opt-in mailing lists.
- In any email marketing, you should always remember to identify the organisation which is responsible for the sent emails.
- The customers must have an option to unsubscribe with the emails sent to them.
Although there is really no hard and fast rule on how many times you should email your database because it depends on what you are trying to accomplish, you should always err on the side of caution. Regarding on how often you should send emails, there are some guidelines that you can follow in order to make sure that you’re still on track when it comes to updating your database.
- Send email a minimum of once per month. If you blog once a month, or have monthly offers for your customers, this is the perfect frequency for you. Make sure you commit to once a month, and no less, as you still want to remain front of mind for your database
- Send email a maximum of once per week. We recommend sending emails a maximum of once per week, unless you have breaking news or something urgent or compelling to say. When you send out emails in a daily manner, your customers will simply unsubscribe you or even report the emails as spam.
Clearly, there is really no perfect answer on how often you need to email your database. But one thing is for sure, whether how many times you send out, daily, weekly, or monthly, you have to remember that the content is the key to make your email marketing strategy effective. Always make it a point that your email provides quality, valuable content.
If you want help getting more out of your social media marketing, please download our free step by step guide today!
Jul 29, 2017 | Blog, News
Using Twitter lists for your business
A great way to organise, recognise and interact with different segments of your audience is by using Twitter lists. If you follow more than a few hundred people on Twitter, you might want to categorise those you follow into more easily digestible chunks. In Australia, there are more than 2.9 million Twitter accounts, so chances are you’re seeing a lot of content you may not want to read.
Twitter lists organise Twitter handle into separate groups that you choose. For example, you can create lists of influencers in your industry. They enable you to read and interact with tweets based on the various categories, which removes tweets you don’t want to read right now. But how do you create a twitter list? Simply follow these steps:
- Go to your Twitter avatar and click Lists
- Click on Create List
- Name your Twitter List and Add a Description, set the Privacy and then Save
- Search for people to add on your list
- Check the box of the Twitter list and the person has been added
- Go to your profile and click on “Lists” tab to view your list
Now that you know how to create your Twitter lists, let’s know how some ways you can use them in your business.
- Twitter lists can help you monitor your competitors. You can keep your competitors Twitter accounts on one list so that you can monitor what content they are producing, and how they are marketing their business
- Having a Twitter list is a smart way if you want to engage with media and popular bloggers. One way or another, you have a business and of course, you want to be known and be noticed.
- Twitter lists also strengthen your relationship with your customers. Why not create a VIP list of all your clients, where you can easily nurture you relationship with them.
- It can also give way in engaging with your employees.
- Having a Twitter list can also develop resources for your potential clients. You can create a list that includes opportunities and helpful ideas for your target audience.
Australian businesses also use Twitter in order to reach their target customers. Even the large corporation like Telstra uses Twitter alongside with small businesses like local cafes.
Twitter lists are a great way for you to keep your prospect clients organised. It can open up a whole new world of networking and engagement. Social media is about building and engaging communities and by creating a Twitter list, you build a community of people with the same interests and likes.
If you want help getting more out of your social media marketing, please download our free step by step guide today!
Jul 23, 2017 | Blog, News
How to use Youtube to grow your website traffic
There are a lot of ways to get people to visit your site even if they haven’t heard of you yet. One way to increase your audience and to drive traffic is through the use of video (if you’re not doing this already). Whether it is just a simple video blog, a how to video or just a product review, the best place to host your video this is Youtube.
Youtube is the second most used search engine in the world, after Google (which actually owns Youtube!). As it’s a free, and relatively easy platform to use, Youtube can help you reach new people, as long as you produce interesting content. Let’s see how to use this powerful video website to grow your website traffic:
- Add call to action. Once someone has watched your video, you want them to do something else. This is where having a strong call to action comes in. It can be something as simple as ‘Share this video with you friends’ or even ‘Click on the website below to find out more’. If you do use a call to action that involves taking your subscribers to your website, make sure the landing page is consistent with the messaging in the video, that way you keep your audience engaged.
- Make the most effective use of your video metadata. It is the underlying description about your video, so make sure to write the title and description for every video you post and include keywords that are appropriate on the video. Think about how your audience will be searching for the content you are creating, and develop your descriptions around these.
- Use Playlists. To achieve a higher visibility on the content of your channel, having a playlist is critical. Playlists organise your videos into groups based on the topic you have created. But always take note of having a description and keyword for your playlists, in addition to having them for each individual video. By doing this, the videos you have uploaded will drive traffic if you have a keyword rich descriptions in every group of videos you have.
Youtube is the bomb for getting brands noticed. If you’re still having some troubles driving more traffic in your website, consider using Youtube. But you have to remember that your goal is to build a community of followers so don’t forget that the most important factor to consider is creating a relevant content and valuable videos to attract the right viewers. Using Youtube is one of the great ways to drive traffic to your website just be sure that you set up your videos properly.
If you want help getting more out of your social media marketing, please download our free step by step guide today!
