Saturday 12 August 2017

Digital Strategy for SMEs (4): Social Media - your launch pad for interactive engagement

The famous snapshot of the social media universe
by Brian Solis & JESS3 - Creative Commons

Promoting your business with social media - whether it’s an article, news about an award or a prestigious contract, a blog post, a photo, a video showcasing your product or eye-catching infographics - is a crucial part of digital marketing. Think of it as a cost-effective way to raise awareness of your brand, get more traffic to your website and foster customers' loyalty, which all lead to increased sales. But which social media platform should you invest your time and resources in?

Just take a look at the colourful social media prism above, but don’t get cross-eyed or panicky about it. There is a multitude of names – some of which might have been replaced by newer platforms - the digital pace is relentless. For all this mind-boggling variety, there are six main social media platforms you need to get to grips with first: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Pinterest. The rest is only relevant for particular audiences, for instance snapchat is the platform to target younger generations. You also need to make decisions depending if you are B2B (business to business) or B2C (business to consumer)… Facebook is not used that much for B2B marketing. The stats mentioned below have been taken from the channels' corporate websites.

Nearly everybody knows Facebook, which was launched in 2004 as a network for recreational use. It has now been embraced by B2C businesses trying to ignite and boost engagements with their customers. With 1.28 billion daily users, you are bound to find your customers and engage them with samples, competitions, interactive discussions with prizes and even raise awareness of worthy causes you are supporting. Some extra stats (2017):
  • 1.94 billion monthly active users
  • Approximately 85.8% of daily active users are outside US and Canada.

How to use it
  • Create a Business Page (if required)
  • Promote events
  • Boost posts with advertising
  • Promote sales, promotions and offers
  • Get feedback
  • Ask questions 


Twitter
It has been around since 2007, has 313 million monthly active users and is available in over 35 languages. It’s defined as a micro-blogging platform because of its text restriction (up to 140 characters). You can easily set up a free account and tweet your content - links, photos, views, even ask a question - and follow online influencers, celebrities and reporters – news tend to break on LinkedIn first. Some extra stats (2016):
  • 82% of active users are on mobile
  • 79% of accounts are outside the U.S.

How to use it
  • Create a Twitter profile
  • Follow influencers, celebrities and media personalities
  • Build up your following by offering/retweeting links to good content
  • Broadcast blog links


Boasting over 467 million members, LinkedIn is the main platform of international professionals. It has been around since 2003 and is available in 24 languages. This is the network for finding professionals, recruiting staff and discussing industry topics and trends. It is perfect for the promotion of B2B products and services. Members are sharing insights and knowledge with status updates and in groups. The premium account offers benefits for audience segmentation and email marketing campaigns. Some extra stats (2017):
  • In over 200 countries
  • 67% of LinkedIn members are located outside the U.S.
  • Over 40 million students and college graduates
  • Over 10 million firms have Company Pages

How to use it
  • Create a company profile
  • Join groups and become involved in discussions in groups
  • Follow influencers and get involved in their updates
  • Connect with employers and clients
  • Ask/answer questions or give/ask for recommendations
  • Ask for introductions


YouTube 
It's the second largest search engine after Google. Launched in 2005, it currently boasts over 1 billion unique users each month. Online videos have moved from entertainment to education, including “How To” videos. It is used by media agencies to showcase TV adverts - a one-off, 30-second TV ad does not provide the same viral potential.
Some extra stats (2017):
  • Hundreds of millions of hours of videos watched every day
  • Localised in 88 countries
  • 76 different languages, covering 95% of the world’s internet population

How to use it
  • Create a series of videos 
  • Upload your videos and embed them on your website
  • Use keywords to categorise videos and place links on your website
  • Broadcast your videos through other social media channels


Last but not least, Pinterest and Instagram, two photo-sharing platforms that allow you to share visual content. They are fast-growing platforms launched in 2010, with Pinterest prevailing at first and now being challenged by mobile app Instagram.
Pinterest stats (2017):
  • Over 175 million users worldwide
  • 50% outside the US
  • 80% on mobile
Instagram stats (2017):
  • 600 million monthly active users
  • 400 million daily active users

How to use Pinterest
  • Gather photos, grouped in theme boards
  • Re-pin other users’ photos (the equivalent of a retweet)
  • Launch a competition and invite users to post their best photos

How to use Instagram
  • Post photos from your phone. You can edit photos in the app
  • There is a workaround trick to use Instagram on computers but it's not good enough; most users share photos from their phones
  • You can have competitions to build your audience
  • Bear in mind that it's a channel popular with celebrities and bloggers 

Once you have your social media accounts up and running, place a link on your website or a widget so visitors can follow your activity – this is a really basic thing to do, but it’s amazing how many businesses still don’t promote their social media presence on their website. 

Wednesday 9 August 2017

Digital Strategy for SMEs (3): Search Engine Optimization for SMEs

Pic: Tumisu

SEO is the process of improving the visibility of your website in search engines. Put it simply, you need to optimise to capitalise. But how?
  • High-ranking keywords: the step 1 of the first article of this series, 7 lucky steps to digital domination
  • Creating quality content: as explained in the second article of this series
  • Backlinks: trustworthy, quality websites willing to link to your website and/or guest posts in relevant popular blogs
  • Authority: gained through a consistent social media presence that informs while solving real problems.
Each of these practices breaks down in a variety of tasks. For instance, phrasal keywords can be deployed in visible copy (your website’s blurb and blog posts, page titles, picture captions…) and the invisible back end of your website (where the code is). 

A top ranking will make your website stand out from competitors and will address surfer’s fatigue. Internet users have a short attention span, so if your website is listed on page 1 of a search, it’s bound to be seen by a greater number of people. Dedicated surfers might make it to page three or four, but research shows that 91% (used to be 87% back in 2012) of web users do not venture past page one.

So far so good, except that the SEO landscape keeps changing as search engines make changes to their algorithms. If you want to see the latest updates, ravaging their way through dodgy websites, read this article on panda, penguin and hummingbird - and meet the possum, the new animal in the SEO ZOO.

But it’s not only about words, visual optimization still works, so it’s important to use good keywords in captions and post your photos on social media platforms - Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest allow you to share visual content with millions of users. Video and podcasts are a great too, although they can be costly as you might need to hire a professional cameraman or voiceover artist.

Once you get it right, you can’t rest on your laurels, though. You should constantly monitor digital trends and update your website and blog with fresh content. If it’s all too much for you and you’d rather leave it to the professionals, you can contact me (cheeky plug!). If I can’t help you, I can recommend someone who can.

Tuesday 8 August 2017

The SEO zoo...

This morning I read an article on SEW and there is a new animal in town... not really new as it's nearly one year old. Meet the possum, the update that deals with local search.

Pic: Max Pixel
I have not done much local SEO recently, so this animal sneaked into the zoo without me noticing. This cute critter is responsible for relevance and quality. Mind your fingers!