Showing posts with label LinkedIn. Show all posts
Wednesday, 15 May 2013
How to make a digital plan for your business
So I left my day Job a few weeks ago ready to set up and help business and brands get online,use the internet and Social Media to benefit their business. Part of this is setting up my new website that will be offering Social Media Training I wanted give you all a taste of what I am building as a thank you for reading.
How to make a digital plan for your business
What is a Digital plan?
A digital plan is the plan for your business online, it
should be the combined strategy for your business or Band incorporating Social
media and your Website.
It’s important to have a plan before you start trying to
market your brand online as if not it’s very easy to get lost in the sea of Social
Media and websites. Before taking the first steps online it’s important to
understand who your target audience is and where they are?
I will break down each step for you that I do with my
clients so you can understand you to make your own plan.
Overview
What is Web 2.0?
A Web 2.0 site may allow users to interact and collaborate
with each other in a social media dialogue as creators of user-generated content in a virtual community, in contrast to websites
where people are limited to the passive viewing of content. Examples of Web 2.0 include social networking sites, blogs, wikis, video sharing sites, hosted services, web applications, mashups and folksonomies.[3]
Web 2.0 changed the way we use the internet: Facebook,
Twitter and mobile phones have now changed how your customers interact with
your brand. When a customers now wants to buy a product they will google it and
read reviews or post on Social media and ask their friends for advice and
suggestion. Web 2.0 changed the experience to allow customer instant contact
with brands and gives them the ability to make more informed decision. This is
a big reason why it’s now very important to have a presence online so your
customers can find you.
What are the Digital Channels?
Website
A Website is your home on the internet and for some companies
this is there business, It’s important that you have your business online so
people can find you. There are many important factors on a websites but the
biggest 2 are the following
-
Easy to be found on google
-
Clear way to contact you
Email
Many people say the money is in the list, having a email
list of your customers is a very powerful tool in your digital toolkit. With
more users now with a smart phone your message goes directly to them where they
are. If you then combine both useful information that gives your customers
additional value and a sales message or product, this will leave you with a
engaged customers that is looking forward to your next email.
Social Media
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google +, LinkedIn and Pinterest are some of the biggest Social Media platforms. They all allow you to
communicate in different ways understanding these and where your customers are
is key to your plan.
Video
With smartphone and better internet speed getting your
message across in a video has never been easier. There are now many different
video sharing site as well, all the major social platforms allow you to upload
videos or share them.
Audio
Podcasts and audio clips are becoming more common with your
customers being able to take your content and listen to it on the go.
What type of media is used?
What is the main type of user on the channel?
So now we understand what the main channels are its now
important to understand who your customers and target audience are.
Who are your audience?
When you setup your brand did you have a target audience in
mind? Are you selling fashion or maybe baby accessories?
For the full report
From my own observations
Twitter is great for B2B and making connections while
driving traffic to blogs and sites.
Facebook is great for B2C and if you have a product to sell
to domestic customers is great.
Pinterest – Lots of women use this platform and is a visual
platform so if you have products add them here
LinkedIn – This is great for B2B talk business and answer questions and get involved in groups.
So once you know who your audience is then you can then
start to plan where to go to engage with them.
Spying on your Competitor
It’s more than likely that there will already be competitors
on the Internet and from them we can work out what is working best for them.
We need to pick out 2-3 competitors and answer the following
questions for each platform
Twitter
-
How many follower
-
When was the last tweet
-
Do they talk to anyone?
Facebook
-
How many fans
-
When was the last post
-
Do they talk to anyone
Pinterest
-
How many followers
-
How many boards
-
Do they get many comments?
-
Do they respond
Blogging
-
Do the blog?
-
How often?
-
Do they get many comments?
-
Do they get many shares?
Youtube
-
Do they have a channel?
-
Do they have many videos?
-
When did they upload the last one
-
Do they have many comments?
Email
-
Can you easily sign up to their mailing list?
-
What sort of email do you get back?
-
Was it any good?
You can keep going with different platforms and similar
questions. But once you have done this for 2-3 of your competitors then you
should also be able to see what is working for them. Social proof is one of the
best ways to understand what is working.
Then Score each platform 1-6 in order of results for
competitors Eg
Twitter – 5
Facebook – 2
Pinertrest -4
Blogging -3
Youtube – 6
Email – 1
Then simply add each platforms Scores together and this will
then show you which platforms are going to be the best for your business. Take
the top 3 from them and this is where we will start with making your plan.
Making the plan
We are going to start with the top 3 Channels that are
working well for our competition. It’s important that we now set SMART targets
as you want to know that the work put in is providing ROI.
What does SMART stand for?
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Time Bound
So if we take Twitter as the example Platform:
We set the following
We want to gain 500 followers in 1 month.
Specific - 500 Followers
Measurable – 500 followers is easy to measure
Attainable – Is it actually achievable, yes if correct methods
used
Relevant – Is this actually relevant – Yes as it’s important
to build a following to increase reach
Time Sensitive – 1 month gives us an amount of time to reach
this target.
So you need to set SMART targets for your top 3 platforms.
Then you need to break down those targets and decide how you
will achieve them.
So for twitter we need to get 16 new followers a day so how will
I achieve that.
I will Follow 30 People Each Day
I will do 5 Tweets and 10 RTs
I will do 2 #Hashtag networking events
Once you have all 3 of your platforms all you need to do is
to go and do it.
Keeping track of your Targets
Once you have set your SMART targets then it’s important
that you check on them, If you have set a 4 week target then check each week on
how you are doing, have you achieved 25% of your target? If that great, If not
then you need to ask some of the following questions
What worked?
What didn't work?
What else can I try?
Keep repeating this process every week and you will hit your
target.
This is example and of one of the module I am developing to help people understand and use Social Media along with a 60 day course that will break it down into easy chunks.
Has this helped you gain a better understanding on how to plan? If so leave me a comment and share it with other that might benefit
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Labels:
Facebook,
GooglePlus,
LinkedIn,
Pinterest,
Social Media,
Twitter
Tuesday, 7 May 2013
LinkedIn is not the free-for-all that other social media networks can be
While there is no doubt that LinkedIn is still a social network at its very core, it is very much a more
conservative and serious social network then Facebook, Twitter, or Google +.
This means that you’ll have to shift your interactions, uploads, information, and overall communication efforts to dovetail specifically with the folks that you are looking to communicate and reach on the LinkedIn platform. With just a little bit of practice and effort, as well as some good and sound common sense, you should have absolutely no trouble mastering the basics of communication and marketing on LinkedIn.
Run all of your updates, content, and communications through a handful of filters before you hit the send button
The last thing you’ll want to do is fire off a couple of off-the-cuff communications that haven’t been well thought out or preplanned on LinkedIn, especially if you’re trying to reach people that you’ve never spoken to or interacted with had of time.
This is in no way to suggest that you need to script out each and every one of your communications, just that you should take a few moments to pause and reread each and every detail of those messages before you hit the send button. Not only do you want to verify that you’re using the right tone and personality, but you should also make sure that your message is clear and brief – at least as much as humanly possible. We’re talking about interacting with people who are professionals and experts, the kind of folks that are busy and always looking to cut down on the trash and clutter that is bogging down their days.
Ensure that you keep things relatively casual – after all, this is not a job application but a social network – and try to avoid too much corporate speak or $15 words whenever possible.
Don’t be afraid of being persistent
This is especially true if you’re trying to communicate with real superstars on the LinkedIn platform. The chances are that the better the professional or expert that you’re trying to reach is, the higher their stature in their industry, and the more connections that they have, that they are going to be facing a deluge of communications on a regular basis.<
Don’t assume that because they were unable to respond to your first communication – or even your 15th communication – that they are just not interested in what you’re trying to offer. The fact of the matter might be that they just haven’t been able to carve out time to respond, and the overwhelming majority of the people on the platform appreciate and understand hustle in the power of persistence.
Now, this is obviously not a hard and fast rule – and if someone has already responded and you just didn’t like what they had to say you’ll want to slow down on the messaging – but by and large persistence will get you tremendous results on the LinkedIn platform.
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Labels:
LinkedIn,
Social Media
Friday, 26 April 2013
So What are the benefits of Being LinkedIn ?
As one of the few social media networks that enjoys a gigantic user base – just north of 150 million users as of last count – that is predominantly focused towards building business relationships and connecting professionals, there are a number of different ways you can use this social media network to increase your business effectively.
The web has become a powerful tool for communication, and once you’re able to step into a pool of talent, experts, and professionals that are looking to network and interface with other like-minded
people you’re going to literally have an endless amount of options in front of you. Here are a couple of the very best ways to use LinkedIn for your business.
You’ll be able to find the very best of the best new hires
While the hiring process in any major company is not exactly full proof – or anywhere near it – the
only way you’re going to ensure that you’ve been working with top applicants is if you seek them out all on your own. The last thing you’re going to want to do, especially in our current crippled economic condition with job seekers out there desperate to land any position at all, is to hope that these stellar superstars are going to somehow find their way to your doorstep.
With LinkedIn, you’ll be able to filter the results based on several significant criteria in an effort to find exactly the kind of professional that you’re looking for. Then you’ll be able to strike up a conversation and see where things are going without ever having to deal with the artificial pressures of a job search or application process, allowing you to really get to know the person behind the profile.
Then, after as many interactions as it takes to become comfortable with the decision that this is of the right person for you you’ll be able to instantly offer them the kind of opportunity that you have in mind.This is a win-win situation, because even if they are unable to take advantage of the specific chants in front of them, the odds are fantastic that they can’t recommend someone who is a perfect fit in the cycle can begin all over again.
You can boost your business to business efforts by targeting specific niche markets in LinkedIn
But even if you’re not looking to hire or take on new team members right away, you can still use the LinkedIn platform to boost your business and bottom line.
Specifically because of the nature of this social network, you’ll be interacting with and putting your
marketing and advertising in front of real decision-makers – people that you would have to fight with gatekeepers to have access to in the real world. This can shortcut your prospecting time dramatically, giving you the opportunity to market directly towards the people responsible for Implementing the products or services that you are offering, building real relationships with them, digging up critical research, and even testing different marketing strategies before you roll them out on a national or global scale.
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Labels:
LinkedIn,
Social Media
Friday, 19 April 2013
Are you LinkedIn? - Is this the true business network?
Are you LinkedIn? - Is this the true business network?
The first of the real niche social media networks – the social media networks that really drew a hard
line in the sand about what they wanted their user base to be and how they wanted to build their
community – LinkedIn has become the number one social media platform for serious business people, salesman, high level executives, marketing masters, and other entrepreneurs.
Becoming a called of networking and an effective tool for creating business connections in our growing global commerce community, LinkedIn has carved a perfect niche and now enjoys well over 150 million users. Using LinkedIn to boost your business – whether through attracting top level talent or connecting with businesses that could use your products and services – can have a very real and almost instant impact on your bottom line. Here are some details you’ll want to keep in mind.Even the highest paid earners in the world still love of free lunch
While LinkedIn was one of the first real mainstream social media networks to implement a paid offering and premium plan to go alongside of their free service, almost 91% of their users continue to use the free version of LinkedIn rather than the premium upgrade. This shows exactly how powerful a free offer is, even for the people who are making the most money out there even in our crippled economy.
It’s also interesting to note that only 50% of the user profiles across the LinkedIn platform are actually 100% complete based on the criteria provided by the framework itself, which goes to show that these people are more interested in seeking out relationships and connections across the social media service rather than telling the world about themselves. While there are no real hard and fast stats to really point towards the percentage of people who have mostly completed their profile, this detail is quite telling about how most users wish to interact with the service here it
You’ll have to get your message across as quickly as you possibly can
With over 70% of the user base logging into LinkedIn between zero and four hours a week, you’ll need to make sure that your message is tight and concise and perfectly aligned with the people who are using the platform. The odds are good that you’re not going to have too terribly many second chances to market directly to these people, which is why lead generation and acting as an intermediary are probably the most effective ways to leverage this platform.
The most used features include groups that folks set up, spending time looking for new connections both with people that you already know as well as complete strangers, and also looking into who is viewing your profile. Companies that are looking to focus on a is this to business marketing strategy are going to want to tailor their messages to these kinds of activities, whereas companies who are looking to poach or hire new team members through LinkedIn are going to face much less resistance for their advertisements.
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Labels:
LinkedIn,
Social Media
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