Canadian Small Business Women

Connection, Synergy, Community

Social Media: 4 things to focus on other than follower count

If you have 10,000 followers, but no one is buying from you, then who cares if you have 10,000 followers? If you have 100 followers and 100 people are buying from you, doesn’t that seem better? It’s time for businesses to start prioritizing engagement over follower count when it comes to social media. Follower count is a vanity metric that really doesn’t do much to drive your business unless it is paired with high engagement.

We have to retrain our brains to think differently when it comes to social media. Here are four things to focus on instead of follower count.

#1: Quality of followers

High quality followers are highly engaged and even loyal customers. They will be the first to act as brand ambassadors because they know you and they believe in what you have to say. This will help to increase brand awareness so you are top of mind. Overall, focusing on building a community of high quality followers will lead to more meaningful and relevant interactions.

#2: Engagement metrics

Increased engagement usually means higher visibility and a more interactive social experience within your community. It is also indicative of how much your audience likes your content. A few of the engagement metrics you can track are likes, comments, shares/retweets, and saves. Certain platforms favour different metrics over others. For example, Instagram algorithms favour saves and shares. The key to tracking engagement is that you should identify your overall social media goals first so you can choose which metrics you want to focus on most. Your content strategy may vary based on different metrics.

#3: Content value

Everything you do should be centered around the needs of your audience. If you focus on providing value for your audience you will find that your connection becomes stronger. It will also increase overall engagement. You can provide value through various different content strategies. A few to try are:

  • Long captions: More information sharing, and encourages people to save/bookmark your posts
  • High impact visuals: This will increase sharing and help to draw people to your content
  • Giving away almost too much information for free: Especially good for professional services, it showcases your expertise and separates those that want to do DIY from those that would prefer to pay for a professional.
  • Video: Your audience is consuming more and more video online because it is easy to digest information.

Test what content resonates best with your audience or, better yet, ask them what they want to see. If you’re really listening, you will get some great insight into the types of content you should create.

#4: Timing

Timing is everything on social media. While many social media platforms have built in analytics to show you when your audience is online or when they are most active, it takes a bit a trial and error to find what works best for you. Plan ahead and track when you are posting so you can see what works best.

Stop looking at social media as a popularity contest and start getting more social with your strategy. The more emphasis you put on your relationship with your followers, the more successful your strategy will be.

Candace Huntly is Founding Partner at SongBird Marketing Communications, an award-winning agency working to take organizational and individual brands to the next level. With a passion for all things related to creativity and strategy, she specializes in business intelligence, marketing & branding, content strategy & development, media & influencer relations, and social media. Basically, if you need to put your brand, product, or cause in the public eye, she will find a way to do it, while making the approach unique to you.

Connect with Candace

Sign up for our free 20-minute consultation and we’ll help you figure things out.

A version of this article was originally posted to the SongBird Marketing Communications blog.

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The exact process we use to get clients social media success

When it comes to social media for business, most entrepreneurs fall into one of four categories:

  1. You know you need it, but you have no idea how to get started. Perhaps you got into social media a little late and you don’t have the base knowledge to know what will work best.
  2. You are already on it, but you aren’t seeing any growth or positive results and you’re not sure why. You’re spending time on putting content out there, but it’s going nowhere. You’re not even sure if anyone is reading it!
  3. You are already on it, but you can’t find the time to actually do anything with it. Running your own business is already hard enough. You realize the benefits social media can bring, but you just aren’t able to dedicate time to doing anything with it.
  4. You are an expert and you’ve mastered the art of engaging social media content.

If you fall into category 4, congratulations! If you fall into category 1, 2, or 3, don’t worry. You are not alone. It’s no secret that social media plays a major role in connecting with your audience, but, for many entrepreneurs, that’s where the frustration begins. Whether it’s a lack of knowledge or time, everyone has to start somewhere.

At SongBird one of the things I do is work with clients on their social media strategies. Sometimes it means building a strategy and executing it, and other times it is simply building a strategy and giving them the tools to execute it successfully on their own.

This is the 5-step process we go through with clients to help them achieve social media success:

Step 1: Social and competitor audit

This is an in depth look at what you are already doing on social media (if you’re on it!) to see what is working and what isn’t working. Then you take it a step further by looking at your competitors’ social media channels. Look for things like engagement, brand consistency, and content variety.

Step 2: Brand refresh

Make sure your brand messaging is aligned with your overall business goals and brand personality. You also need to take a good look at your audience and where they like to consume content to ensure you are using the right social media channels that will help you achieve your goals.

Step 3: Refine your strategy

You can start by ensuring your social profiles are consistent across platform when it comes to imagery, messaging, and brand story. Then you need to create a strong content strategy that will help you get your message across on all of your chosen social platforms. This means looking at appropriate posting timing, hashtag usage, types of content, and where the crossover content will be. Remember, you shouldn’t post the same content across all platforms. The idea is that you want people to follow you on all platforms, so you need to provide value in different ways to encourage this.

Step 4: Learn your tools

You need to make your social media implementation as easy as possible, so you can keep up with it. Tools like Hootsuite and Buffer will help with scheduling so you can schedule content one week at a time and not worry so much on a day-to-day basis. If you’re concerned about how your content looks, use a user-friendly design tool like Canva.

Step 5: Take it one day at a time

Only take on what you can handle, realizing that you can grow your strategy over time. As you start to see success, and your social presence becomes more consistent, you will find it easier to add to your strategy. It is also easier to track your success if you fully understand what you are doing. If you notice something isn’t working, try tweaking your strategy slightly. There will be trial and error in figuring it out on your own, so just embrace it rather than have it frustrate you. You can learn as much about your business, yourself, and your customers through things that don’t work as you can through your successes.

If you’re stuck, feel free to reach out and ask questions! You can also check out our Social Media Starter Kit!

Candace Huntly is Founder and Partner at SongBird Marketing Communications, an award-winning agency working to take organizational and individual brands to the next level. With a passion for all things related to creativity and strategy, she specializes in business intelligence, marketing & branding, content strategy & development, media & influencer relations, and social media. Basically, if you need to put your brand, product, or cause in the public eye, she will find a way to do it, while making the approach unique to you.

Connect with Candace

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Four ways to beat content marketing overwhelm

For many small business owners, trying to keep up with content marketing and social media as ways to grow business is a lesson in overwhelm that happens on a regular basis! It’s time for an intervention! There are a few simple steps you can take to break through the overwhelm and get content marketing working for you. Let’s look at a few (4) of those now:

Identify your goal

What are your goals for you content marketing? Having a goal of making more sales is way too broad and will lead to a sense of overwhelm. Instead, break that broad goal down into specific, measurable goals such as turning leads into customers or driving traffic to your website.

Get a strategy

It’s easy to fall into spending too many hours creating and posting content with no plan or strategy in place. For your content marketing to work well and to return the results you want and need, a solid strategy is required. Never create content for the sake of creating content – always have a strategy. Take the time to plan this important step.

Once you’ve identified who you are trying to reach, where they spend time online, what types of content they like and respond to and what you want them to do with it (like, share, join your mailing list, buy your product…) you’ll be able to design a strategy for meeting your marketing goals.

Make sure to gather leads

You’ve heard the one where social media has killed off email? Not so much. In fact, that’s simply not true.  Social media is great to build and strengthen relationships but aim to entice your followers to join your mailing list, as well. Not only does this make good business sense but it will also fight those feelings of overwhelm because your email list is an asset you own. Those frequent changes made by social media have no impact on your email list and nobody can take that away from you (as long as you regularly back up your data).

Outsource what you can

Before you think about outsourcing, it’s essential that you work out your strategy and goals beforehand. If you don’t you could end up paying someone to do work that has no benefit to your business. You can avoid this once you know exactly what needs to be done and how you’ll measure your results, you’ll find some tasks that would be better done by someone other than you. We know that overwhelm can be the result of too much work, but it can also come from trying to do work that isn’t using your strengths when you could be doing great work elsewhere.

Now take some time to look at your own content marketing – which areas could you work on to break through your sense of overwhelm?

 

Barbara Jemmott is the founder and business strategist at Your Entrepreneurial Spirit. Her 4-point YES to Customer Acquisition Program (C.A.P.) allows her to work her passion which is helping entrepreneurial women grow their audiences and income, online. She got here through her 20+ years of experience helping businesses understand and implement systems, strategies and procedures to increase productivity as well implement change and streamline operations. With experience and responsibilities to design, develop and deliver training for small to large technology training initiatives for Fortune 100 companies, she brings “Big Business” expertise to the small business space. Learn more about Your Entrepreneurial Spirit and the YES to Customer Acquisition Program at www.yourentrepreneurialspirit.com

5 simple and effective networking follow up strategies

You’ve attended a networking event, a conference. Now what? You have a pocket full of business cards and no idea what to do with them.

Timing is of the essence when following up with a contact you met at an event. By following up, you solidify the connection and start building your relationship with that person. Following up also gives you a chance to ask a particular question, get more information or arrange a time to call and meet one-on-one.

It’s best to follow up within 24 hours to 48 hours of meeting. Express your appreciation for their time and include details pertaining to the conversation you had. So let’s go over some simple strategies to help you maximize the initial interaction you had with someone.

 

5 simple and effective networking follow-up strategies

 

  1. Tell them how you will be following up

Will you call them in a few days? Will you send them an article? Will you call to set up a lunch date? When you tell them what to expect it makes it real for both of you. You will be more likely to follow up because you told them that you will and they are going to be more receptive to it. The best part is that they will often share the best way for you to follow up and will make it easier for you.

  1. Schedule a call and/or a meeting

Suggest a 15-minute phone call that will be of mutual benefit – although you’ll want to focus on how the call will help your new peer. Do some research so your contact knows you did your homework and are genuinely interested in seeing how you can help one another.  You can mention a conversation from the event or discuss products, services, trends; anything that might benefit your connection. A lunch or breakfast get-together can be just also be valuable.

  1. Share valuable content

Another great way to follow up is by sharing valuable content. Send an article that represents what you do and/or helps your new contact, not a sales brochure. Ask your contacts if they would like to subscribe to your company’s newsletter to learn more about your products and/or services. Share a resource with them, put them in touch with someone who can be of service to them. Show them that you can bring value. Remember, networking is about giving before getting.

  1. Touch base regularly

Be sure to remind yourself to reconnect with your contact each month. I suggest you create “reconnect files.” They are handy, color-coded reminders that you can schedule once a month. Include some information about how you met and what you’ve discussed in the notes. When that name pops up each month, reach out to catch up, maybe set up another meeting, or send something that might be valuable, like an invite to another event, a great article or an introduction. When you follow up regularly and share information of value after meeting someone you become someone they trust. You will naturally build a solid relationship and before you know it the cards on your desk will become your best clients and partners. Stay in touch, but don’t overdo it. Too much connecting can kill your efforts.

  1. Link in on LinkedIn

Since LinkedIn offers so many opportunities to keep your contacts front-of-mind for you (and you to them), what’s the harm in connecting and seeing them pop up in your email on their birthday, when they have a work anniversary, or get a new job? All these are occasions for follow-up.

What’s your plan for following up after your next networking event?

 

Women’s rights advocate and gender equality specialist, Darine BenAmara has dedicated her career to supporting other women. She is an international speaker, writer and advocate. Darine has significant international experience advancing women in leadership, leading global diversity and inclusion programs and advocating for women at work. Inspired by the many women she met, she designed “The Smart Woman”, an initiative helping women to overcome the challenges of networking and learn how to create smart connections to fulfill their career goals.

Connect with Darine on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. Don’t forget to subscribe to The Smart Woman newsletter for more networking tips.

Treat your Website like a Resume

What do you do when we want to “sell” yourself to a prospective employer? You build a resume that “upsells” your product (YOU!) in the best, most flattering way. It’s the same for a website. Your website tells a story about you, your product or service. Make it a good one.

I think we’ve talked about this before but it bears repeating.  There are just too many sad websites out there. Like a resume, your website should be very targeted. It’s easy to cast a wide net into the sea and hope to catch some fish. Problem is, you might snare an octopus or two along with the good fish. The octopus becomes a problem because, with all those sticky-legged tentacles, it takes up a great deal of your time just trying to get rid of it. Instead, “fish specifically” by creating a targeted, streamlined and well worded succinct website that only attracts the type of clients you desire.

 

It’s pretty simple:

  • Answer the “Who x 2?” question: Who are you and Who is your target audience? Identifying these right off the top will eliminate the suckerfish that draw attention away from your core business. If they aren’t buying from you anyway, why waste time talking to them?
  • Answer the “WHAT.” What do you do? Again be specific. Apply “K.I.S.S.” and Keep it short and simple!
  • WHERE and WHEN? Where do you offer your services and when do you offer them. If you promise 24hr turnaround to queries, make sure you deliver – if you don’t, don’t promise it. All people want to know is the where and when. If you’re not willing to drive to Pickering from Caledon for a service call – say so up front. Chances are someone local can do the job and you’ve just saved yourself a time waster of a phone call explaining why you can’t.
  • Lastly, address the WHY you do what you do and the HOW but again, keep it brief. Explaining your “why” – you passion for doing something, will appeal to the right-brained consumer who shops for services based in part on how they feel. That means your website should be just creative, colourful and engaging enough to attract their attention without being so overwhelming that your left-brained customer is annoyed by all the “bells and whistles.” Explaining your “how” will attract the left brained amongst us who seek out the details and want to be sure you really do “know your stuff.”

 

A website dances a fine line: balancing information vs. graphics, SEO words vs. pictures and allowing your personality to shine through vs. providing too much detail. Just like a resume. I think the key difference is that often, in the rush to establish an online presence, we secure a domain and “throw content up on the web” with the intent of cleaning it up after we’ve been open for a while. Problem is we get caught up in the minutiae of business and that clean up never happens. You wouldn’t send out a resume that wasn’t perfect, so don’t sell your business short either. Targeted marketing means making your website work just like you used to make your resume work when you were looking for work!

 

As Owner and Principal partner of “Writing Right For You” Sheralyn is a Communications Strategist – working together with entrepreneurs to maximize profit through effective use of the written word. Looking for web content that works, blog articles that engage or communications strategies that help you get noticed?  Contact Sheralyn today. Sheralyn is also the mother of two children now entering the “terrible and terrific teens” and spends her free time volunteering for several non-profit organizations.

Sheralyn Roman B.A., B.Ed.

Writing Right For You

Communications Strategies that help you GET TO THE POINT!

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30 blog topics for small businesses

 

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For many small business owners posting blogs frequently is important because it gives them a chance to stay connected with their audience. Unfortunately, over time, their blog sites become inactive due to soul fact of not having any new topics to blog about.

Here are 30 potential blog topics for small businesses looking for fresh and new ideas:

1)    Our business: a background story of how it all started.

2)    Ask your readers what they would like you to write about.

3)    Do a round up of last year’s most popular blog posts.

4)    Recap or update on a pervious blog post.

5)    Most frequently asked questions by customers.

6)    How did your company get its name?

7)    A day in the life of your company.

8)    How do you hire staff?

9)    Confess a weakness.

10)       What is a lesson you learned in the last year?

11)       The latest trends emerging in your industry.

12)       A profile piece on a staff member or a long time customer.

13)       The biggest challenge your company has had in the last year.

14)       Discuss upcoming/recent events within your business.

15)       Do a product review.

16)       Run a content.

17)       Share upcoming promotions.

18)       New products or services being launched.

19)       Tricks and tips for customers to make better use out of your products/services.

20)       Best suggestion given to you by a customer.

21)       What you love about being a business owner.

22)       The biggest challenge about owning a business.

23)       Do a video tour of your company’s building/office space.

24)       Hopes and plans for your businesses future.

25)       What do you hope to accomplish through your blogs?

26)       Review a book or magazine article relevant to your industry.

27)       Post a tutorial or how-to video or written piece.

28)       Expose scams within your industry.

29)       How to turn an unhappy customer into a happy customer.

30)       What do you love about your industry?

Dwania is the Founder and Executive Director of Canadian Small Business Women Contact Canadian Small Business Women:

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Facebook News Feed: How does it work?

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Have you ever wondered how Facebook’s news feed work? Or how Facebook decides what content to show in your news feed?  In this blog we are going to tell you how the news feed works and how you can create more visibility for your brand

 

  1. Facebook decides what to show you in your news feed based on other similar content that you browse.

For example  if you spend most of your day reading articles about animals, watching videos about animals, then you will see more content about pets and animals on your news feed.

How do you get your content to show on your fans news feeds?  You need to create content that engages your users, and keeps them around.  The longer users spend on your content, the more likely they are to see your updates in their feed.

There are a few ways to do this.  Don’t use deceptive headlines, this won’t win you any points with Facebook’s algorithm.  Make sure you have great content.  You want a catchy headline that will make people click on your link, video or instant article.

How much content is enough?  Don’t make content for web and mobile too long.  The majority of people have a very short attention span when interacting with online content, especially articles and videos. While the algorithm measures time on content, there is a maximum threshold.

 

  1. Content Diversity

Due to feedback from users, Facebook plans to implement some diversity in it’s news feeds.  Users have complained about seeing the same content, back to back, from the same publisher, pages or sources.  Facebook learned that users want to see wide-ranging content from different publishers.

Diversity can be harder nut to crack, but there is a very simple way.  Make sure you post your blog on multiple site, get friends pages to share it, if you have partners, ask them to share your info.  The more places that your content lives, the more likely it will appear in people’s news feeds.  I do however want to suggest caution, as having your content on too many sites can damage your google search rating.  It’s all about finding the right balance.

The other thing you can do is to re-purpose old content, and share that to your page via other links like from your blog, your LinkedIn page, employees pages.  You have more content to draw from and share than you realize.

 

  1. Facebook wants to show you the stories that it thinks will matter most to you

This is an easy on to achieve, create stories that matter to your audience.  Are you involved in the community? write a blog about it.  Do you help out with charity drives? write a blog about it.  Did an employee of yours win an award? write a blog about it.  Creating stories is easy because there are so many around you if you just take the time to really connect with your customers and employees.

 

  1. Shows you content based on the friends you have and pages you follow

I’m sure you’ve seen this in action.  You follow a new business page, and BAM, their content starts to show up in your news feed.  Pretty convenient right?

Well, here’s how you can start to take advantage of that for your business.  You have all these fans, maybe thousands, that like your page and have shown interest in what you do or what you offer.  Encourage your fans to share your content.  The more that they share, the more your content will appear on their friends news feeds.  Identify who your regulars are.  Who is always commenting, sharing and engaged with your content? Give them a shout out, recommend that other people follow them.

You can also start following other businesses, recommend other businesses who you have had successful partnerships with in the past.  All of this not only helps you gain more exposure to followers of these groups, but also helps to build your brand awareness and recognition.

 

  1. Types of content users interact with

This one is pretty straight forward, if users tend to watch more videos on Facebook, then their feed will tend to include more video content.  Same goes for text, photos and links.

To overcome this obstacle, be sure to have a wide variety of mediums for your content.  Have a good mix of text, video, pictures and links.

 

  1. Engagement can beat Recency

Lets talk about engagement first.  If a post has a lot of engagement with your audience, it will be more likely to show up compared to something posted recently.  For example, if someone posted content yesterday that got a lot of engagement and you decided to share that same content today, Facebook would prioritize the post with the highest engagement to show up on the news feed.

For recency, be sure you post everyday.  If you take a few days off from posting anything, then you will be less likely to show up in news feeds because your audience also follows pages who may post more often and therefore will have a higher chance of showing up.

So make sure that you post often and that you are getting engagement on the content you are posting.

 

  1. Users can control their news feed

While this is an option for all users, most people are unaware of this option.  Users can hide posts from friends and pages, while still remaining friends and fans of those same pages.  Users can also tell Facebook which pages they would like to see first in their news feed.

Make the assumption that most users don’t know about this option, then tell them how they can be sure to see your content first in their news feed.  Take a screen shot of your page with the instructions of “how to see us first”  Then pin it to the top of your page or make it a part of your cover photo.

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Companies like Facebook and Google are constantly changing how their algorithms work, so it can be a full time job staying on top of the changes and understanding what they mean for your business.  Keep up with the changes and adapt your content to meet those changes and you will see better results.

 

Teach Me Social owner Kelly Farrell has been helping empower Canadian Small Business owners through social media for over three years. Her team now offers services ranging from training sessions for small business owners and their teams, to full-service social media account management. Visit teachmesocial.ca to learn more about our service offerings or to contact us today for a no obligation consultation, including an audit of your existing social media channels.

Keeping it Consistent on Social Media

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With millions of people to reach online, spread over hundreds of Social Networks, how do you keep up engagement levels with your fan base for your small business? The simple answer is: consistency. The more consistent you are in posting, liking and commenting through your business profiles on social media, the easier it will be to break through all of the online noise with your message.

Finding Consistent Content

Quality content is the most important commodity in the online world today; it is also the most time consuming to create. Don’t worry – the good news is that you probably have more to share than you know of. Answer these questions to look for existing content in obvious places and as a starting point to help you to start thinking of what you can post, share and create:  

  • How many previous blogs, social media posts, videos or reviews can you repurpose?
  • Do you have daily/weekly sales or specials that you can share routinely?
  • Can you talk about any problems or concerns that your customers have that is relevant to your business?
  • Start thinking of your content as the voice of your business – What is your business passionate about?
  • If your business had an avatar, what would their personality be and how would their voice sound?

Posting Consistent Content

Once you have good content, it’s important to be posting it regularly. Social Networks function person-to-person, so be social! In order to be seen on busy social networks you have to be active, just like in real life. Posting content once a week just isn’t going to cut it. Ideally, brands need to be posting multiple things daily.

How does this work in practice? For example, if I have a daily special, then I might put a post about that special online each day at 8AM. If you publish a blog, make sure that you are posting that blog at the same time every week or month. Building around that single consistent daily post you can start to plan when (2-3x daily) and where (1-2 social networks) online you will share the rest of your content. Just don’t get so stuck on the plan that you don’t allow for any spontaneity in your posting!

Scheduling Consistent Content

Keeping up with this demand for visibility can be a huge challenge – content planning calendars are perfect for this. Using either a digital or paper planning calendar will help you to plan out what content you want to post, at what times and on what networks. It’s a good idea to stick to a basic posting schedule that allows for 2-3 posts daily.

Planning out 2-3 posts (or more) daily across multiple social networks can be a full-time job in itself (just ask me!), so busy businesses need to ensure they are not spending too much time each day thinking about planning their social media posts. You can save time by using apps like Buffer or Hootsuite to manage your social networking content calendars and pre-schedule posts for an entire week or month at a time. Additionally, there are many other Apps that work with specific platforms (ie. Tweetdeck for Twitter, Latergramme for Instagram, etc.) and Facebook has it’s own build in “schedule” for Facebook Business Pages. By pre-planning content, you can spend as little as 10 minutes a day online responding to comments and engaging with other brands.

The most important thing to remember is that an abandoned online presence is worse than no presence at all. You have real people waiting on the other end of “the internet” that want to hear what you are saying, so don’t let them down!

Teach Me Social owner Kelly Farrell has been helping empower Canadian Small Business owners through social media for over three years. Her team now offers services ranging from training sessions for small business owners and their teams, to full-service social media account management. Visit teachmesocial.ca to learn more about our service offerings or to contact us today for a no obligation consultation, including an audit of your existing social media channels.

Bridge Building 101

Sheralyn

Using bridges as an analogy for great communication is a pretty common theme for me and I believe it’s a message that occasionally bears repeating. Great communication is about building bridges between people.  Like a bridge that facilitates transportation between two geographical points, a communications bridge acts as your platform to transmit information. It requires a solid foundation, pillars of support and the actual bridge span that connects the two. The definition of communication is this: “The development of skills in three critical areas: Listening, Language and Writing.” Think of these three skills as your pillars, foundation and bridge span. Communication is about sending a message and ensuring that message is both received AND understood. When communication fails, it’s because the bridge was left unfinished or because it crumbled, not having been built on a solid enough foundation.

The bridge could be your website, a blog, a video about your business, perhaps it’s a sales call to discuss your product or it takes place while you’re conducting a seminar in front of an audience. Whatever your “bridge” it is based on the premise of creating a two-way flow of information. (It’s important to note however, even a one – lane bridge allows traffic to flow in both directions, we just have to take turns! Wouldn’t the world be a better place if we did?)

Here are a few simple tips on how to build a better bridge to your customers:

  • Keep your communication clear and concise. State your position (just the facts) using language that is precise and carefully chosen.
  • Avoid over reliance on industry specific jargon – not every one “gets” it.
  • Avoid excessive and unnecessary elaboration. Say more, with less.
  • Ensure understanding by soliciting feedback.
  • Encourage two-way dialogue by asking questions.
  • When creating content for your website follow the techniques we have blogged about before: Treat web content like it was a Resume and answer the basic “Who, What, Where, Why and How questions.
  • If you have a contact button on your website – RESPOND when people use it! Encourage the conversation. If you put a tollgate on your bridge, make sure it’s staffed otherwise no one is getting across and not answering a customer query means a lost business opportunity.

 

If communication is further defined as the ability to “express or exchange information” what else can you do in your business to ensure that exchange takes place? I would argue that listening is the single most important pillar of the communications bridge. In any relationship, business or personal, listening to the other person helps them to feel valued, that their opinion matters or that there concern has been addressed. By listening, I am referring to “listening to hear,” (to understand) not “listening to respond” (planning your comeback.) Listen to what your customer is asking for rather than trying to sell what you think he needs.

Just like a poorly built bridge, the stakes are high and the consequences long term.  Perhaps you read about the recent collapse of the Nipigon River Bridge, severing the Trans-Canada Highway, the only road linking Eastern and Western Canada. It’s not only an enormous and costly mistake for the bridge builders but has long term consequences for any business attempting to transport goods and services to its customers along this corridor. Similarly, what are some of the consequences of poor communications for your business?

  • Misunderstandings
  • Lost business opportunities
  • Angry employees or customers
  • Poor sales
  • Potential legal ramifications
  • Long-term damage to your reputation

You may have heard the old saying; “If it’s worth saying, say it right the first time!” or my personal motto “Say only what matters because it matters what you say!” Either promotes the same message – good communication needs a solid base to “bridge” the gap between your customer and your business, between fostering good relationships and repairing bad. Communications is a bridge that runs both ways and if it doesn’t, it leads to nowhere.

As Owner and Principal partner of “Writing Right For You” Sheralyn is a Communications Strategist – working together with entrepreneurs to maximize profit through effective use of the written word. Looking for web content that works, blog articles that engage or communications strategies that help you get noticed?  Contact Sheralyn today. Sheralyn is also the mother of two children now entering the “terrible and terrific teens” and spends her free time volunteering for several non-profit organizations.

Sheralyn Roman B.A., B.Ed.

Writing Right For You

Communications Strategies that help you GET TO THE POINT!

416-420-9415 Cell/Business

writingrightforyou@gmail.com

Just because I’m freelance doesn’t mean I’m free!

Sheralyn

In debating about a suitable topic for my December blog I happened across various poems and ramblings that I keep in an online journal.  I often “park” ideas that may prove useful at some future date in this journal and while most of them amount to nothing, occasionally I am inspired to explore one of these “parked” ideas further. Some of them end up posted in my blog “Random Rumblings from Suburbia.” Today, I share one here. The reason? This particular poem has to do with value.  How do you value yourself, your business and your service to others?

I won’t bore you with the whole poem although I do think it was quite clever. The essence had to do with providing writing services for free and how others perceive the value of that service. As I wrote, it also became a reflection of how I let others determine my value.  I choose to share this publicly today because I want you to know this more than anything else: Don’t ever let another person determine your value! The only person that should determine your value is you.

“I’m a freelance writer, self-employed but blue,

people think nothing of not paying you….

Create content they say, for the web or my blog

I can’t do it ‘cause my brains in a fog…..

 

Refrain….

Just because I’m freelance doesn’t mean I work for free

I have a mortgage and a family…..

 

But I’m busy they say, out hustling for money.

Finding customers to buy my organic buckwheat honey

and don’t have time to work on my website

Words are easy for you – you’ll do it right….

 

You do it at first because you want the exposure

But the only thing gained is a loss of composure

because your wallet is empty and bills need to be paid

and all you have for your labour is a jar of honey in trade…..”

You get the idea.  Your intentions were well-meaning and definitely self-serving to some degree.  You hoped doing various articles, blogs and website posts would earn you exposure and some “street cred.” After awhile though, you begin to realize that an expectation now exists that you will work for free. The value of your effort goes unnoticed and now you’re struggling to ascertain what that value should be. This leads to further turmoil when it comes to asking others to pay full value for the service you are providing. It becomes a vicious circle. Work for free, gain exposure but the exposure comes at a cost – you, undermining your true value.

In a long- drawn out way this is a reminder to all self-employed entrepreneurs, regardless of your product or service, to determine your value up front, own it, state it clearly to others at the start of any negotiation and then provide the best darn service you can – at a fair, openly stated and honestly earned price. Because let’s face it, when we get something at a discount we often think “well that’s all it was really worth to begin with. I’m just paying fair market value now.” Are you worth nothing? We all have value and don’t deserve to be discounted. If you are providing a service to others (and it isn’t a volunteer position) it shouldn’t be free, even if you’re a “free”lance writer!

 

As Owner and Principal partner of “Writing Right For You” Sheralyn is a Communications Strategist – working together with entrepreneurs to maximize profit through effective use of the written word. Looking for web content that works, blog articles that engage or communications strategies that help you get noticed?  Contact Sheralyn today. Sheralyn is also the mother of two children now entering the “terrible and terrific teens” and spends her free time volunteering for several non-profit organizations.

Sheralyn Roman B.A., B.Ed.

Writing Right For You

Communications Strategies that help you GET TO THE POINT!

416-420-9415 Cell/Business

writingrightforyou@gmail.com

If It Doesn't Spread, It's Dead

selfy photo

I recently attended a meetup at Ryerson University, in their Transmedia Zone.  It was a fantastic evening of discussion and debate about content, media, and how the platforms we are using to communicate – social media, Youtube, The Internet itself – are changing our ideas around production and consumption of content, and even ownership of media.

One idea that came up was the idea that media, or content (we were primarily discussing video but it could as easily have been a discussion of any kind of media), is no longer something that we just consume.  It is something that we produce and in fact, it is a way we communicate as much as anything else.

We express our identities, our thoughts, and our ideas in media, as media.  We speak “video”.  And for those who don’t create their own, from scratch, we share what others have produced, as a kind of shorthand for what we want to say.  When I share a captioned photo on Facebook, or content created by a brand like Coke or Red Bull, I am speaking volumes about who I am, what “tribe” I belong to.

Where does content marketing fit in?

I stared to think about what role content marketing plays in this content-sharing-as-communication ecosystem, and why it is so important for business.  To define what I mean by content marketing, have a read of this article, or download a handy infographic here.  Content Marketing is a system in which a business uses content, not advertising, to generate and nurture leads for their business, build trust with their customers, and get found online.

I encounter an objection again and again when I work with clients who are-shall we say-not digital natives, when we get around to a content marketing discussion.  The objection goes something like this: “I am a private person; I don’t want to put myself out there in social media, or by blogging…I’m sure no one wants to hear what I had for lunch.  Plus, I am not willing to give away all my secrets in a blog!  If people want to get my help, they’ll have to hire me!”

That is kind of like moving to France and refusing to speak French.   Digital Media is communication tool, and content is a language that, as a business, you can’t NOT speak.  The best way to get your brand out there is to use media – video, photography, blogging, graphics – to communicate with your customers, and in fact to use media that they will want to share.  To use what Henry Jenkins calls “spreadable media”.

Henry Jenkins: Spreadable Media

This video, titled Spreadable content makes the consumer king, is an episode from Pull: How Technology is Changing the Conversation.  IT was produced by TVO and Q Media and it is taken from  a discussion I had with Jenkins in 2013.

Spreadable media is the best reason I can think of to generate content marketing for your business.  It is how you leverage your existing customers and followers as marketers, giving them the media they need to spread your message for you.

Jenkins also speaks in this interview about the new digital divide, that he calls the participation gap.  He talks about kids in schools who may not have access to skills and opportunities, but it just as effectively applies to business people who don’t have the skills, the training or worse, the willingness to participate in this new language of identity and brands, the language of content.

As Jenkins says: if it doesn’t spread, its dead.  Creating high value, sharable content that your customers can use is the best way to close that participation gap.

Christine McGlade is a Business Analyst, Content Strategist, and Usability Consultant.  With over 25 years experience in the media business, Christine helps small business, social enterprise, and Not for Profits how to leverage the power of the Internet to grow their business.  Learn more about Christine at analyticalengine.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.

What the Heck is SEO and Why Does It Apply To Me?

Malene Jorgensen

 

If you are a business owner with a website, you may have heard the words “search engine optimization” or SEO. Chances are that you ignored the words when you heard them, because you wanted to focus on your business, your own product development and making sales. And I don’t blame you. But SEO is something you should focus on if your business operates primarily online. If you have an e-commerce store, for example, search engine optimization is a must.

So, what is SEO?

When a person opens a browser and starts searching for something, the person will use certain keywords to find what they are looking for. If you have taken SEO into account when crafting your content, chances are that your website may show up on page one in Google, Bing or Yahoo. SEO is a term that describes various techniques to optimize your content for search engines.

You can’t just create a website and expect to be on the first page of search results, when you search for your website’s name. Unfortunately, you are competing with thousands of other websites with similar names, content, articles and so forth. You have to make your website original, unique and optimized. There are four major areas you can start focusing on right now; value, bounce rate, keywords and back-links.

One thing that search engines put weight on is value. In other words, the content on the website in question must provide valuable information for the readers. Value can include an interesting story, a captivating piece of journalism or an e-commerce store with products for sale. Even your product descriptions add value.

If your website isn’t offering anything of value or interest, people will quickly click back to the search to find another relevant site. When these users quickly bounce away from your page, Google will register the time spent on the site and compare it to the total amount of visitors. This percentage is called the bounce rate. If you have a high bounce rate, search engines may believe that you are misleading readers with your website, claiming you are offering certain content when you are not. You can track your bounce rate on individual pages and articles using Google Analytics.

To improve your bounce rate, you should write valuable content. This is why integrating a blog is so important. It will help give you exposure in search engines, which is an excellent form of marketing. A blog will also give you an opportunity to share value in other ways than just your products or services.

One way to improve your bounce rate is to use keywords to improve your exposure. If you are writing a travel blog about Florida and have a lengthy article about hotels, you want the phrase “Florida Hotels” to be 4 to 6 percent of your overall article – or other relevant key-phrases depending on your article direction. Because this phrase is a higher percentage than other phrases you may have used to craft your article, Google will pick up on this and rank it accordingly. If someone is searching “Florida Hotels,” chances are your site will rank well. Keep this in mind when crafting blog articles.

Lastly, you want to build up some back links organically. This goes back to the concept of value. If another website finds your content to be useful or valuable, they will link to your articles from their sites or social media accounts. This link is called a back-link; it links back to your website. The more back-links you have, the more search engines will think that your content is useful and valuable to people.

Unless you are writing on a very specific topic, you will have to put in hours of work to rank well in search engines. You are competing with websites that have been in search engines for years. But don’t put all of your energy into search engine optimization.

Yes, search engine optimization is important, but don’t think that adding 1000 back-links will secure you a top spot in Google. Since the beginning of 2011, Google has released 25 different algorithm changes that have had some major impacts on traffic for major websites. Back-links may be important in one update, but less important in another.

To ensure a great spot in Google, it really comes down to your readers. Make sure you are giving them valuable and usable information that is worth reading and exploring. Only then will you see the results that you have worked so hard to get.

Malene Jorgensen is an entrepreneur, author and speaker. Jorgensen is passionate about online content, blogging, online business development and e-commerce. She owns an international media publishing company and a design studio. Jorgensen has written several books that are sold in over 50 countries. She is also obsessed with coffee and Twitter. You can reach Malene Jorgensen at Website | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram 

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