Canadian Small Business Women

Connection, Synergy, Community

Why small businesses NEED to tweet at events

Evelyn

I recently attended a networking event for small business owners in Toronto. The theme of the evening was digital marketing. Overall the event was well organized with informative speakers, good raffle prizes and a nice mix of marketers and small business owners.

But what surprised me was how few people were tweeting at the event. Perhaps it’s just that I’m used to going to events packed with social media managers and non-profit communicators, but I was a little disappointed by the lack of networking being done online.

For me, events are always played out on two fields: the action happening live in front of me and the commentary on that action online. Often I find this commentary as interesting, if not more so, then the speakers I’m there to see.

Live-tweeting events is a great way to give your business a boost online. Hashtags organize the conversations taking place, making it easy to follow the action. Plugging into hashtags makes new followers, mentions and retweets much more likely than your average day-to-day Twitter activity, especially if the event becomes popular and trends.

But there are a few things you need to do before you even arrive at the event to make sure that you get the most out of your live-tweeting experience.

Know the hashtag. This seems obvious to those more seasoned tweeters, but it’s important to mention anyways. The day of the event the organizers are probably promoting the event online. Visit their Twitter account to find out both the proper hashtag and their Twitter handle. Once you have that information do a search on Twitter and save the search so that you can access it easily later.

Follow the speakers. Find out who the speakers are going to be (event emails and websites usually have this information) and then find out if they are online. Make a note of their Twitter handles and be sure to follow them. Then at event time you won’t have to scramble to find them or worry about misspelling their names.

Prepare some tweets ahead of time. This is a great way to let people know that you will be at the event and gives them the opportunity to follow you. It also increases your visibility once the event starts. Tweet about your attendance on the day and days leading up to the event. Shout out to the speakers how much you are looking forward to their talks. On the day of you can prepare some tweets to be sent out during the event so that you have more time to actually enjoy it.

Know when to put the phone down. You need to balance the benefits of tweeting with real world networking. Send enough tweets and retweets to gain visibility and make a meaningful contribution to the conversation, but make sure that you also talk to people face-to-face. That’s the reason why you’re there!

Evelyn Senyi is the owner and chief marketer for Recurve Marketing, a Toronto-based digital marketing agency that offers creative, effective and affordable marketing strategies for Canadian small businesses and non-profit organizations. Follow Recurve on Twitter @recurve_ca and on Facebook www.facebook.com/recurvemarketing.ca.

Ingredients for a shareable social media image

Evelyn

Images rule the social media landscape. Photos are shared 128% more than even video. So if you’re not using images in your daily social media marketing, it’s time to start. Creating visual content for your Facebook page or Twitter feed can be tricky. You want to capture your audience’s attention, while staying true to your voice and message. You want to entertain your followers but still give them something of unique value. How do you do all of this, and make an image that is shareable? Here a few key ingredients you should include in your image design.

Choose a good photograph

This one seems obvious, but many people are not sure what constitutes a good image. Simple aesthetics, clean patterns, intense colors, landscapes and pictures with lots of depth and light all make for shareable photos. Good images should be clear and crisp, in focus and adhere to the rule of thirds. Avoid images that are cluttered, poor quality or too bright or dark.

Photos of human interaction and emotion can be powerful storytelling tools. Animals are also great, but be sure that they fit your brand and messaging. Don’t just use an image because it’s popular. Stay true to who you are – that’s what your followers are expecting!

Use clear, easy to read text

Quotes, advice, stats or statements on photos are a popular and highly shareable trend. If you use text on your image make sure that it can be read! Use easy to read fonts and ensure that the text stands out from the background using a contrasting colour, a grey box or a text shadow. Constant Contact’s blog has some great advice on this subject.

Make sure that the text you use is short. Too much text takes away from the image. Always be sure to spell-check and proof your work before you post. Errors can make your followers question your credibility.

Brand your image

Be sure that your images fit with the look and feel of your brand. Standard colours and fonts ensure that your marketing materials look alike across different platforms for easy brand recognition. Also don’t forget to add your logo!

Include a call to action

Images that have a call to action are more likely to get shared. Use your visuals to tell a story and also point your followers in a direction where they can take action. If the image is of a spring collection of products, make sure that you include a link to where they can buy these products. If you are launching a fundraising campaign make it clear what you want your followers to do: share the image, donate, volunteer, or all three. Always give your followers a way to become more involved.

Evelyn Senyi is the owner and chief marketer for Recurve Marketing, a Toronto-based digital marketing agency that offers creative, effective and affordable marketing strategies for Canadian small businesses and non-profit organizations. Follow Recurve on Twitter @recurve_ca and on Facebook www.facebook.com/recurvemarketing.ca.

Social media metrics demystified

Evelyn

 

Happy New Year! I hope that like me, you had a restful, enjoyable holiday and that you’re looking forward to the opportunities of the coming year.

It’s at the turn of the year that we often take some time to make new goals, check our progress on existing targets and discard those aims that no longer apply. So it’s during this season of goal-setting that I think it’s important to take a look at your social media numbers.

When marketers talk about social media metrics, most small business owners tend to get lost in the jargon. But all metrics mean are the numbers we attach to our impact of our social media accounts. This can be as simple as how many followers your Twitter account has or as complex as how many sales you made that can be linked to a specific social campaign.

But let’s keep it simple shall we.

First let’s talk about why you need these numbers. Social media metrics act as gauge for how well you’re doing online. If you’re putting out quality content, engaging in conversations and maintaining a consistent presence on your networks, then your numbers should reflect that. If not, you might need to revaluate the content, audience or platform you’re working with.

Metrics give marketers, or small business owners, a way to determine a return on investment (ROI) for the time and money spent on social media marketing. They’re a way to value impact, ensure you’re reaching the right audience and provide feedback on what you’re doing right and what you should change.

There are three main areas that you should look at when trying to determine your social media impact: number of followers, how many followers are seeing and interacting with your content and which content is most successful. Each social network has its own way of tracking these interactions, so it’s important to find out what metric works best for each platform. For the purpose of this article, I’ll be taking a look at Facebook and Twitter.

 

Count your followers

The most basic way to tell if anyone is seeing your content is by determining how many followers you have. In theory, this should be the number of people who are potentially seeing your content at any given time, however in practice, only a fraction of your followers see your content.

 

Reach and engagement

While the number of followers is important, more important is how many of these people are actually seeing your content. On Facebook your Reach determines this metric. Reach is calculated by Facebook’s internal algorithms, the quality of your content and if you purchase ads. For Twitter, this number is not as easily tracked and is determined by how many of your followers are online at any given time.

Because the reach of your content is often out of your control, an easier number to look at is your engagement. On Facebook this number is based on how many people view, click or interact with your content. On Twitter you can track your engagement by counting how many clicks your tweets have. Unfortunately this metric is usually only accessible through paid metrics services such as Sprout Social. Another way to look at this number is by counting your link clicks. You can sign up for a free service called bit.ly that tracks this number for you.

 

Content is king

The most important metric you can track is how many of your followers are actually interested in your content. On Facebook this can be tracked by counting the likes, shares and comments on individual posts. The number of likes or shares your content gets determines how interesting your followers find it. On Twitter you can gauge your follower’s engagement by calculating retweets and mentions. Both of these metrics can tell you if your content is having an impact on your followers.

 

Once you start taking a closer look at your social media numbers you will need to set some goals. This way you can see if your time online is actually bringing you the results you want. Keep the goals small at first and then increase them as your business grows. Record your social media metrics on a spreadsheet or document each month so you can track your growth as the year goes on. This will also help you make new goals for your social marketing activities next year.

 

Good luck and happy 2015!

Evelyn Senyi is the owner and chief marketer for Recurve Marketing, a Toronto-based digital marketing agency that offers creative, effective and affordable marketing strategies for Canadian small businesses and non-profit organizations. Follow Recurve on Twitter @recurve_ca and on Facebook www.facebook.com/recurvemarketing.ca.

How to unplug from social media for the holidays

Evelyn

The holidays are just around the corner and hopefully you’re planning some well deserved time off. Yet if you’re a small business owner it can be difficult to take the time you need to rest and rejuvenate for the New Year. Emails, phone calls and the ping of social media notifications can be hard to ignore. You also worry that your online presence might suffer from your absence. But it’s important to know how and when to unplug, without losing your spot on the social media hierarchy.

Schedule content ahead of time

If you’re not already using a social media dashboard such as Hootsuite or Buffer, now is the time to look into one. Dashboards make scheduling content easy and can act as an inbox for all those notifications. Schedule a tweet or post a day. That’s enough to stay alive online, but not so much that the responses become unmanageable.

Set a time limit

Set aside ten minutes a day to check the accounts; then shut it down and walk away. By setting a time limit you can reassure yourself that all is well, without taking up too much of your personal time. Check to make sure there are no emergencies but then shut off the notifications. If you use Hootsuite you can actually create “quiet time” where your notifications go silent. Better yet, turn off the phone.

Only answer urgent inquiries

Be smart about what you respond to. Is that question urgent? Is that issue an emergency? It’s easy to want to answer everything right away, but many of the queries you receive can wait a few days until you’re back at work. Only answer those questions that are truly urgent.

Allow yourself to let go

Too often we get caught up in the details. While one negative tweet might seem catastrophic at the time, in the overall big picture it’s not worth much worry. The same goes for checking the Facebook page and sending out that tweet. If you go silent for a few days, nothing terrible will happen. Your business will not fail and your customers will not desert you. In fact they’re probably not online either.

My past experience as a social media manager for a large charity taught me the importance of work-life balance when it comes to managing your online communications. While being online and listening is important, having the courage to turn it off and take time for yourself and your family is just as, if not more, important.

So this holiday, turn off the phone and enjoy the season. I promise your followers will still be there in January.

Happy Holidays.

 

Evelyn Senyi is the owner and chief marketer for Recurve Marketing, a Toronto-based digital marketing agency that offers creative, effective and affordable marketing strategies for Canadian small businesses and non-profit organizations. Follow Recurve on Twitter @recurve_ca and on Facebook www.facebook.com/recurvemarketing.ca.

What’s in a name? 6 tips for choosing the right company name

Evelyn Senyi

Choosing your organization’s name is probably one of the most important decisions you will make when starting your business. The identity you choose will be the public face of the company and your primary marketing tool. Choose correctly and your company will prosper. Choose incorrectly and you may lose valuable time and energy in your marketing efforts.

 

The name of your business should convey what you do or sell, the culture of the company and what makes it unique. With all this is mind, choosing the right name can be a daunting task.

 

30 years ago naming your business was as complicated as checking with your local business bureau to see if the name already existed and searching the federal trademark database. Now you have to take into consideration web domains, Twitter accounts and Facebook pages. There are millions of small businesses across the internet that you have to contend with for web addresses, search rankings and social media clout. It’s not easy to find unclaimed digital real estate.

 

To succeed in choosing the right name that is unique and available, you need to think outside the box.

 

  • Do your research – first, see what else is out there in your industry. What types of names do the industry leaders have? Are they fun, serious or quirky? This will let you know what is accepted and expected in your field. Second, make sure that you don’t choose something that is already taken or very popular. This will make securing a domain name and search rankings in Google difficult.

 

  • Keep it simple – creativity is great, but make sure that your potential customers can pronounce and spell your name. Using long words from languages other than that of our business can cause confusion and make you hard to find (for example Abrakebabra). Simple names are easy to market and easy to remember.

 

  • Stick to real words – with so few original names left out there, marketers have taken to creating their own words. While for some (Instagram) this has worked, chances are it will backfire for most. Stick to real, traditionally spelled words when thinking of your name. Names that have no meaning are difficult to market without a lot of paid advertising and are hard to search for.

 

  • Don’t limit yourself – if you own a cafe on St. Peter’s Street it might be tempting to call yourself St. Peter’s Cafe, but what if you move? Alternatively calling yourself Bob’s Door Repair might limit you if you were ever to expand your business to more than just door repair. Be sure to choose a name that can withstand change and growth.

 

  • Use keywords – using keywords makes your business easier to find and more marketable online. It also helps customers determine what it is that you offer. East Coffee Company clearly sells coffee or coffee products, so it will be easier for their name to pop up when customers search for “coffee”.
  • Get input – you might think your name is great but you may not have looked at it from every angle. Words that have one meaning for you might mean something very different to someone else. Take the word dog. To some it might mean that cute little puppy down the street. To others it might be a derogatory word for a person they don’t like. Talking to people about your name will allow you to test how it may be received by the general public.

Whatever name you choose, make sure that YOU like it because hopefully you will be using it for a very long time. Make sure to do your homework and check your local business registry to see if the name is already taken.

Evelyn Senyi is a Toronto-based freelance writer, blogger and digital marketer. Through her passion for technology, solid writing skills and creative flare, Evelyn helps individuals, small businesses and not-for-profits share their stories. Visit her website at www.evelynsenyi.com to learn more about her services or follow her on Twitter @evelynsenyi