Canadian Small Business Women

Connection, Synergy, Community

Can a small business survive without social media?

Can your small business survive without social media? I would answer a verrry tentative maybe. While there are pros and cons to getting active on social media with your business, you need to make sure that you are making the right decision for you and what you want to accomplish in the long term. With over 4.2 Billion active social media users, this is a major marketing tool and a decision you shouldn’t take lightly.

Let’s talk about some of the good, the bad (… and the ugly?) about social media and whether you should use it as a tool for marketing your small business.

Pro: Solidify your brand presence

Having your customers and potential customers remember who you are when it comes time to make a purchase is half the battle in business. Maintaining a consistent social media presence helps to keep your brand top of mind. It also give you the opportunity to create brand consistency across multiple communication channels and create opportunities for more people to discover you – almost 90% of marketers agree! With the consistency and active online presence, it also helps to legitimize your business – no matter how big or small you are.

Pro: Makes it easy for your audience to connect with you – and find new customers

Social media is live and active 24/7. So it gives you the opportunity to connect with your audience outside of “traditional” office hours. You can connect with a broader audience anytime, from anywhere. And if you’re selling through social media, that means that people can buy from you 24/7 as well. Did you know that, for almost 75% of consumers, social media influences their ultimate purchase decision? Social media followers are constantly looking for high quality content from the brands they follow (not high quantity!!).

Pro: You can build better relationships with your customers

Once someone is a customer, you still have to work at keeping them as a customer. Social media helps you to engage with your community regularly. The nature of social media is to be social, so you there are plenty of opportunities for 2-way dialogue. You can even run your customer service channel through social media without using a fancy software installed on your website. Make sure that whatever conversations you’re having, you take the time to learn about your customers and what they want from you. It can actually lead to customers spending 40% more in the long run.

Pro: There is something for everyone, so you can tailor your strategy

There seems to be a steady stream of new social media platforms to choose from (hello, TikTok) – but it’s also OK to stick to the tried and tested ones that have been around for a “long” time (think Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc). Your audience likely isn’t active on all social media platforms, so you don’t need to be either. Pick and choose based on where your customers hang out and what you can handle. No point in biting off more than you can chew!

Pro: It’s easy to keep an eye on your competitors

You always need to be aware of what your competitors are up to – not so you can copy them, but it’s a great way to see what is working and not working in your industry.

Pro: It can help you stretch your marketing budget further

Remember, social media isn’t free. Time is money and you do need to invest time into content creation and engagement. HOWEVER… It is a lower cost marketing tactic than many others out there. In fact, it can allow you to stretch your marketing budget pretty far while competing with some of the larger brands in your industry.

Con: It’s not the only marketing out there, so you shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket

You should try to build a marketing strategy that has some variety and helps to connect you with your customers in different ways. Here are just a few suggestions:

  • Create a loyalty program
  • Start a referral program
  • Traditional PR
  • Conferences and events
  • Focus on creating content for other channels (dust off that blog!)
  • Email marketing
  • In-store promos (but keep in mind that even if you have a brick-and-mortar location over 90% of customers have visited because they saw you online.)

Con: People can be mean on social media

No explanation really needed, but we all know that a certain level of anonymity can attract the trolls.

Con: It can be easy to get sucked into hours on hours of scrolling

So many entrepreneurs I speak with say they don’t have time for social media – that they always end up spending multiple hours a day on each platform, which takes away from running other aspects of their business. If you are one of the 47% of business owners who say they manage their marketing on their own, then social media can seem daunting. While this can happen, it can be prevented with careful planning. There are so many scheduler platforms and other tools that can make your life easier. Also, it helps to schedule your social media time – and stick to it – to keep you on track during the day.

Con: It’s easy to get caught up in the wrong numbers

We’ve talked before about vanity metrics on social media. Remember that your success is NOT determined by how many followers you have. What matters is the quality of interactions you have with customers and potential customers. It’s all about shifting your perspective and building your strategy accordingly.

As you can see… I am very pro social media. Used in the right ways, it can be a very valuable resource for your business to help you grow. Of course, there will always be that one outlier where social media just doesn’t make sense… but you have to ask yourself what you want to accomplish with your business and whether or not social media can help you get there.

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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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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4 ways you might be getting too personal with your business social media

In an age of “authentic” marketing, it can be easy to see where brands might accidentally blur the lines between business and personal – especially if you’re a smaller business with a smaller team. When it comes to social media, because it’s supposed to be social and you are interacting with other humans, a personal touch is nice – but you have to remember you are still interacting as your brand and not you. You need to stick to your brand voice and your brand personality.

 

Here are four ways that you might be getting too personal with your business social media and why it might not work in your favour.

 

#1: Your brand is on a particular social media platform because you like it, not because your audience does

When you launch your business – and all of the decisions leading up to that moment – everything has to be about your customer. Your business can’t thrive if it doesn’t have customers. All of your marketing choices should be made based on your audience behaviour. If you are too focused on doing things just because you want to rather than listening to what they want, then you are likely missing the mark. If you have selected your social media platforms because you personally like them but you haven’t taken into account where your audience likes to hang out on social media, then you might be finding it hard to connect with them.

Perhaps you know how to use one specific social media platform but not the one you should actually be on. In that case, make sure you educate yourself or hire someone to do it for you!

#2: Every other photo on your brand account is of you, your friends, your baby, or your dog

It’s great to show the human side behind your brand, but if the majority of our content is TOO personal, then your audience won’t really get to know your brand. They will only get to know you as a person. People want to hear about your brand and what you have to offer, not what you did with your family on the weekend. You can absolutely do some behind the scenes shots of the day-to-day of your business, but make sure they are carefully curated and inserted into your content strategy.

#3: You use your business accounts to regularly post political rants

We live in a very politically charged climate. Politics are one of those things that is extremely polarizing, and this can have a negative effect on your brand if you are too focused on your political views and not enough on your business and what you have to offer. Its ok to take a stand for something, but it’s not ok to position your brand as that crazy person no one wants to be locked in a room with.

#4: Not everyone will think you’re funny

It’s great to have a sense of humour as a brand, but it’s not great to use it when it alienates your audience. Make sure that before you launch into your next joke you won’t be offending the people who would buy from you. If you’re the only one laughing, it’s going to make it tough to successfully reach your potential customers.

While you should have fun with your business social media – and be social – you also need to make sure that you aren’t crossing the line and becoming too personal with your strategy. You need to step back every-so-often and remind yourself that your business social media strategy is there to help you market your business.

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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8 Reasons why YOU should use video to promote your business

On any given day, the average person spends 40 minutes on YouTube watching videos. If that number doesn’t faze you then what about; on a daily average over 500 million hours of video is watched on YouTube.

With so many possibilities to share video across social media, there is a good chance your videos will end up being viewed as part of the 6 hours a day people watch videos on either Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and video streaming programs.

Here are eight reasons why you should be using video to promote your business.

  1. Video reaches millions of people within a short period of time. The cost to produce a video is very cost effective, in fact one video will probably pay for itself with just one customer. Another consideration is that video tracks reach or impressions, so you can measure the effectiveness of your video. When you consider the cost of a print ad; it is a one-time cost that doesn’t have the same share ability or the ability to determine reach. So from a cost perspective video is cheaper, and will give you a better ROI. But. most importantly customers love videos
  2. The use of sound and images elicit feelings and gives the viewer a better understanding, by allowing them to experience several emotions including laughter, sadness, and joy. Video can be educational, funny and sometimes even emotional. Watching a video requires less work than reading, but, most importantly videos retain people’s attention.
  3. Visitors spend 88% more time on a website that features a video. And from those statistics, 85% are more likely to make a purchase. A targeted audience; one that visits your website will remember what they saw and heard.
  4. Videos are cost effective. Whether you do them yourself or hire a production company, they are affordable when you consider their longevity, and reach. One video can be shared an infinite amount of times on the internet and may even experience virility.
  5. Audio visual helps a business win the trust of your audience because they know it takes time and effort to produce these videos. A video about you or your business helps to build creditability.
  6. Videos are a powerful medium, research shows that people who use the internet frequently watch videos. Think about how many videos you consumed a video today!
  7. Search engines tend to give videos a higher priority than pictures, text and audio files, this gives you a higher ranking to get your company noticed. When you consider that Google is the number one search engine followed by YouTube, you would be hard pressed to not have at least a couple of videos come up on the first page of a search. So consider that your customers are searching for you, having a video helps consumers make better decisions.
  8. Finally, videos last for years and will get more exposure because of the fact that they can be shared on all social media platforms. The longer they stay online, the more exposure over time.

 

Now that you have the eight reasons why you should use video to promote your business, what is holding you back?

 

RaDeana Montgomery is A MULTI-DIVERSE COMMUNICATOR with a specialty in: TELEVISION PRODUCTION, SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT, PUBLIC RELATIONS and WRITING

Montgomery, is the Creative Director of RAM Media Video and Social Media Management. She is a creative, highly organized business professional, who has acquired over 20 years’ experience in Journalism, Broadcast and Video Production, Public Relations as well as 10 years’ experience in Social Media Management.

You can find her on social on Facebook @rammediavideo.ca Instagram @ram_media_video Youtube www.youtube.com/ RAMMediaProductions1

Website www.rammediavideo.ca

5 Common Social Media Mistakes

While social media has become an important marketing tool, so many brands forget that it should be a social tool first and foremost. It’s a chance for brands to connect with their target audiences.

Low social media engagement can be frustrating. But, before you get too frustrated and throw in the towel, have a look at some of the most common mistakes brands make on social media to see if you can turn things around.

Here are 5 mistakes you might be making on social media.

#1: You’re too focused on the sale

If you are constantly talking about yourself through a continuous hard sell of your products/services, your target audience will quickly lose interest. It’s not very authentic – or interesting – if all you do is talk about yourself!

To avoid making this mistake, develop your content strategy with audience engagement in mind. If you set out to connect with people, you will find that your loyal brand community will grow. Two things to consider are:

  • User-generated content where you post content that your audience submits.
  • Curated content from third party sources acknowledges other viewpoints.

#2: Ignoring the comment section

In spite of the fact that studies show that 70% of people are more likely to stick with a brand if they respond on social media (and not with a copy and paste response!), brands ignore a staggering 89% of inquiries on social media. As a small business owner, you are probably trying to run your business and your marketing on your own. It can be easy to let things slip through the cracks, but you don’t want to lose customers.

Social media is all about connection and dialogue. Whether on purpose or not, you should never leave a comment unanswered. If you’re having trouble keeping on top of it, schedule 15 minutes every day to sit down with your online community and answer any questions or comments.

#3: Not providing value

If you are just posting for the sake of posting, you are likely just adding to the wall of noise that social media has become. It’s likely not going to attract the audience you had intended – if you attract anyone at all!

Remember, you are on social media for the benefit of your customers, which means you should be posting about things they want to hear about. Keep up on the trends within your industry and listen for questions that come up frequently about your products/services. You might even try asking your followers what they want to hear about.

#4: Focusing on size, not quality

The number of followers you have means nothing if they aren’t converting into customers and if your overall engagement is low. More isn’t always better. If your goal is merely to gain more followers on social media, you’re doing it wrong.

Instead, focus on building a community. If you have a highly engaged community on social media, it’s not going to matter as much if the number fluctuates a bit. You will notice an upward steady growth trend in your following, your engagement, and your revenues.

#5: Wrong place, wrong time

You set up your social media platforms based on their popularity and you are putting out content regularly, but the strategy just isn’t getting any traction… at all. Have you considered that your target audience doesn’t use the platforms you chose? If your target audience isn’t on a specific platform, why are you?

Do your research before starting any marketing strategy. In terms of your social media, figure out on which platforms your target audience uses.

As you are building or trouble-shooting your social media strategy, keep these common mistakes in the back of your mind. Remember that you should be having fun with your social media strategy because it is all about building a brand community of people.

 

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

Check out our Social Media Starter Kit to help you get started on Social Media!

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How To Get Over Your Fear of Social Media

As seen on MakinTheBacon.com

Get Over Your Fear of Social Media. STAT.

Social media is one of those things that is a necessary evil if you have a business. I had recently written a post about How To Fight Your Fear of Blogging. A lot of things mentioned in that post also ties into the fear of social media. Using social media can be considered a form of microblogging in that the posts are significantly shorter than a blog post. Comments are allowed and encouraged.

Believe it or not, I wasn’t really into social media until I started my blog back in 2012. Prior to that, I only had Facebook and LinkedIn, both of which I was barely active on. Even then with using social media, I was anonymous because I was anonymous with my blog.

It’s interesting that many people have a business and are social offline, but aren’t social on social media (For me, it’s the opposite – it must be the introvert in me, but I prefer one on one interactions vs large networking events). It is so easy to go down that rabbit hole of scrolling and thinking everyone’s life is better than yours (Yes, I have been there many times before). But you have to understand that we share what we want to share.

Ask yourself before you post something on social media:

Would this resonate with my audience?

Will there be any possible repercussions?

Your Business’ Reputation Is At Stake

Social media can be scary in that you need to be careful with what you say and post, but ask yourself this, will it help your reputation or will it potentially damage it?

It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently. –Warren Buffett

When referring to social media, it will take even less than five minutes to ruin it. Well, actually it can be ruined instantly.

But think about what COULD happen if you were more social on social media? If anything, you should look at what your competitors are doing/ sharing and the fact that they are constantly sharing stuff, so why aren’t you? Many products, events, businesses, services are found through social media.

Repeat After Me: Social Media Is NOT a Waste of Time

Another reason I believe there is so much fear and overwhelm because many people think that it’s a waste of time, but it really all depends on how you use it. Being social on social media for your business doesn’t mean always liking random pictures of ice cream and cats (unless your business is about ice cream and cats or your target market is people who are into ice cream and cats). It’s about explaining what you and your business are all about. It’s about finding and engaging with people who are in either in the same/similar industry as you or where your potential clients/customers might be.

When I say engaging with them, I’m referring to posting comments that don’t sound like something from a bot or a slew of emojis. “Great post” doesn’t cut it.

Taking It One Step At A Time

Having a fear of something often comes from fear of the unknown. I believe that the first step in getting over your fear is recognizing the many benefits it can have for your business.

The second step is taking the time to educate yourself on what platforms may be best suited for your business either through research on the internet (although this can possibly lead into another rabbit hole and then paralysis analysis), workshops, consulting services and courses. I strongly believe in social media education. There are so many platforms and there is a strategy for each of them. Updates and features are constantly being added. Algorithms are always changing.  Features of 3rd-party tools that are used in conjunction with the platforms themselves are constantly changing.

One has no choice (especially those who provide it as a service for other business owners), but to educate themselves on an ongoing basis. I recently attended Social Media Camp in Victoria, B.C beginning of last month and will be attending Social Media Week in LA next week. With anything that seems daunting at first, once you start to learn more about it and break it down into bite-sized pieces, you’ll realize that hey this is not so bad.

The third thing is to ignore all the bad stuff that you see on social media and focus more on the good. Yes, there is actually a lot of positive stuff on social media. Don’t be afraid to be part of the conversation. You may have some interesting insight and be able to help someone with your products and/or services!

 

Karen Swyszcz has over 6+ years of blogging experience and has written content on the blog for brands such as SupperWorks, Camp Tech and Meridian Credit Union. She is also the instructor at Sheridan College for the Blogging For Fun and Profit Course and Effective Strategies For Social Media Course.” 

Find her at makinthebacon.com

10 Great Resources To Find Blog Post Ideas

1. Your Social Media Feeds

If you’re mainly following specific people (i.e. influencers and competitors in your industry) and not just random people and your friends, then your feeds could be a serious goldmine for ideas. Participating in the existing conversations could spark more ideas (Would that be considered Idea Inception?).

What are they saying?

What are they predicting?

What are they sharing?

Recall that some of the reasons we share things on social media are to inform, inspire, educate – we find the content to be valuable and want to share with our networks.

Surely you must have an opinion on it.

2. The Intelligent Conversations You Have With Other People

Fellow business owners, leads and clients, whether it is in person over coffee/lunch or virtually. There have been countless times where I have said out loud during the conversation, that would be a great blog post topic! Really. Sometimes the idea will just come out of nowhere.Different people lead to different conversations.

3. Medium

It’s an online publishing platform (an alternative to starting your own blog) that has been around for awhile but hasn’t reached the point of saturation yet. You can find and follow many interesting people on Medium.

4. Facebook Groups

This is where I’m noticing conversations happening. People ask questions, ask for recommendations on Facebook, ask for advice. There are a ridiculous amount of Facebook Groups out there.  I clean house here and there just because the out of sight, out of mind works best.   So just like with social media feeds, I would hope that some of the Facebook Groups you follow are where you would find valuable business advice or find your potential clients.

5. Other business blogs in your industry

What are they writing about? Perhaps you should be writing about these things as well and educating your followers about them.

6. Quora

I feel this platform doesn’t get enough credit and is not as widely known. It’s similar to Reddit, but I think the quality of questions is better and the topics are geared to people who genuinely want to learn or get advice from an industry expert. Although I have seen some not so intelligent questions being asked.

While there are many generic questions i.e. such as how to start a blog, how to grow my blog, etc. I have come across questions and been asked questions that are more thought-provoking. This is especially useful if you are looking for that answer to your super specific question and Google just doesn’t cut it. You can also request certain people to answer your question if you are looking for their opinion in particular.

7. LinkedInGroups

While you may not experience the same level of conversation and engagement compared to Facebook Groups, I would suggest poking your head in every once in awhile to see what people are posting over there. You can’t really predict where ideas will come from. So it’s best to keep an open mind and have many options available.

8. Newsletters

Look through some of the newsletters you subscribe to. Sometimes the newsletter contains different information that isn’t found on the blog. Is there anything that could be pulled from them and used for a blog post? What about the newsletters you send out?

9. Podcasts

Another great reservoir for content. Sometimes just listening to OTHER peoples’ conversations can give you an A-HA moment – i.e. I never thought about it that way before.

10.  Industry Events and Conferences

The previous blog post is the final interview in a Social Media Series, we chatted about Social Media Camp, a Canadian Social Media Conference that I attended this past May for the first time. There was a lot of valuable information and insight. The same was for Social Media Week LA. I made the effort to chat with people more before the conference and during the breaks.

So with respect to new content that should be able to fill up some spaces with blog post ideas in your content calendar for the next few months.

 

 

Karen Swyszcz has over 6+ years of blogging experience and has written content on the blog for brands such as SupperWorks, Camp Tech and Meridian Credit Union. She is also the instructor at Sheridan College for the Blogging For Fun and Profit Course and Effective Strategies For Social Media Course.” 

Find her at makinthebacon.com

 

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

Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn/email/Website

Setting New Year’s Marketing Goals You Can Actually Accomplish

A new year means a fresh a start, right? When it comes to your business, December is a perfect time to strategize for the year ahead, especially for your marketing strategy. The problem is, it’s really hard to set marketing goals that make sense for your business while driving it forward to help you grow throughout the year.

Before you can strategize for the year ahead, it’s always best to look back to see what you have accomplished in the past year. Using simple metrics, you can track your progress. Reflect on what worked, what didn’t work, and what your best marketing moments were for the year. That will shape how you move forward in this process. You should always focus on whether your marketing strategy in the past year helped you reach your business objectives for the year. If it didn’t, then setting your goals for 2018 will be especially important.

To help you follow through, your marketing goals for 2018 should:

  • Reflect on your overall business objectives – you are building your business through marketing.
  • Be measurable – you won’t know if you have achieved your goal if you can’t measure it.

Here are a few goals to consider as you are preparing your 2018 marketing strategy.

Cut the fluff from your strategy

Build a solid strategic foundation by figuring out what’s working and what’s not. If something isn’t working, set it aside. You can always revisit a strategy later if the timing is better. By eliminating tactics that don’t work you’re freeing up resources (time and money) to invest in other tactics. Cutting things from your marketing strategy might be the easiest thing to accomplish because you are saving time and money rather than spending it!

Identify the time and budget resources you can allocate to other marketing projects throughout the year.

Engage daily on social media

Social media isn’t something you say you are going to do and then log in once per week. It takes commitment, but you should be engaging with your followers and potential follower on a daily basis. This is how you will build relationships with customers and potential customers online. If you can’t commit the time to social media (at least 15 minutes per day), consider hiring a third party to build your social media strategy. Your success depends largely on your ability to create dialogue among your community, and social media is a great way to connect with large numbers of people at once.

Make sure you track your increasing engagement through specific and measurable metrics such as brand mentions, retweets/shares, Likes, Review ratings, etc.

Drive traffic to your website

Your website should be an information hub for your brand, and if you are selling products on your website, then traffic is even more important. Customers should be able to navigate across your online channels easily, and all roads should lead back to your website. Post new content regularly to your social channels (ie. Blogs, product reviews) that links back to your website. If you are running a sale, change the link in your Instagram profile and drive people to that link in your promo posts.

Track metrics such as website traffic numbers and your click through rate.

Try something you haven’t tried before

It’s easy to get stuck in a marketing rut. Maybe you’re afraid of change, or perhaps you were just burnt out, but success usually lives outside of your comfort zone. Sometimes that means learning about something new or really getting to know what your audience likes. You will start to see business growth when you push your own personal boundaries as a business owner. This will also help to create new touchpoints for your customers to experience your brand. For example, if you have focused a lot of your energy on social media and digital marketing tactics, try something experiential to hit a targeted geographical group.

Make sure you choose metrics to measure the success of your new tactic. If it is successful, continue doing it, if not, there is no point in wasting the resources.

Your marketing goals for 2018 should make you feel a little uncomfortable, but they should also excite you. It is a good combination when you are building your strategy. Your audience will appreciate you taking the time to see your relationship with them through a fresh perspective and it gives you the opportunity to stay on your toes in business.

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

Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn/email/Website

How can entrepreneurs break through the media barrier?

There are 400 million entrepreneurs in the world. That’s a lot of people competing for attention, especially from the media. Whether you’re in the beginning launch stages of your small business, or you have been operating for some time and you’re looking for a brand awareness boost, getting media coverage in the right places can build some serious buzz around your brand. But how do you get the media to notice you among the sea of entrepreneurs?

The answer is simple: Give them something to be interested in.

The three areas to focus on to make sure you stand out among the thousands of media pitches from entrepreneurs are story, strategy, and execution.

1: Story

You need to be about so much more than just your business and what you have to offer. Look beyond the features of your business to see all of the benefits. Once you have identified the benefits, create a human-interest story that relates. Then you can have fun with showcasing the story.

A few ways to showcase your story are:

  • Social Media: Easily the most accessible means to tell your story to a wide-reaching audience, social media is something you generally have control over when it comes to the messaging. Create a content campaign and engage your audience on each platform.
  • Public Stunt: While public stunts often require a higher budget and a creative mind to plan something unique, they are meant to be memorable and shareable. Remember, anything that happens in real time can be shared on social media.
  • VIP Event: A great VIP event can double as a connector with your consumer audience as well as a targeted list of media. When planning your event, make sure the objectives are in line with the story you want to tell. For example, a circus theme might not necessarily create the best atmosphere for a sombre story.

2: Strategy

After your story has been developed, you need to figure out how to get in front of the media and to make yourself heard. Remember that depending on your media contact, they get hundreds of pitches daily. So, before you send that email, make sure you are ready to fight for your story.

Here are three things to consider:

  • Targeting: Build a smart media list. Your story won’t appeal to every outlet/reporter. Figure out what the best media targets are for you and focus on those. This will be the most important thing you can do to work towards media coverage success.
  • Timing: It’s always best to start early. You will have to work around their editorial requirements. For some print magazines, that means 6 months in advance! Do your research on individual outlet requirements.
  • Availability: Don’t pitch the media if you won’t be available for an interview. If you are planning a vacation in a couple of days, wait until you get back. You might be quite upset if your favourite morning show called to have you on air, but you weren’t available!

3: Execution

A great strategy can fall flat if you don’t follow through on it 100%. It might take some time. Keep in mind that the media hasn’t ever heard of you or your business before, so they will need to do some research before getting back to you. That means learning patience and knowing when to pressure and when to back off.

These three things will help you carry through on your strategic media objectives:

  • The Pitch: It’s important to get your pitch right the first time. Keep it short and to the point, focusing only on important details. And always find a way to tie your story into your contact’s work – that means reading articles they have done previously! If building a targeted list is the most important thing you can do, then this is the second-most important thing you can do. The media wants to know that you are paying attention to what they have to say.
  • Following up: Don’t be too aggressive with your follow ups, and unless you have a great relationship with your media contact (or you know they prefer otherwise), stick to email. After the initial pitch wait a couple of days before following up, then about a week if you still haven’t heard.
  • Moving on: While some media will respond to you either way, you may not hear back at all. It can be understandably frustrating, but there are a number of unknown factors you’re up against. You could have just pitched on a really busy day. It’s time to move on. You can regroup and try again with another story angle at a later date.

 

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

Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn/email/Website

 

Set it and forget it? Social Media and your business

I’m not sure who coined the phrase “set it and forget it” but it wasn’t me so I can’t take any credit. It’s an apt description however, for social media and how we use it.  Many are taking advantage of social media posting tools to schedule posts and that’s a good thing. Or, at least it can be, when used effectively. Certainly it keeps me busy in my business which involves working in communications and blogging and posting content for various businesses on a regular basis.  I am grateful for the work. What I am finding however, is that most of us are either spending too much, or too little, of our time on social media. In fact, very few of us are getting it “just right.” Of course, “just right” is also a debatable term since everyone has an opinion of what “just right” means. As a result, when it comes to social media, some of us forget all about it and have no online presence, or perhaps even worse, we unknowingly take the “set it and forget it” approach and have no social media presence at all.

Specifically, I refer to those amongst us, myself included, (not for clients of course, but my own business for sure!) who have adopted some of the technology around scheduling for social media but who are not using it properly. Perhaps you’re using Hootsuite, hootlet or buffer. Maybe you are even using the facebook scheduling tool. It might be that you have just enough knowledge to make you “dangerous” on social media because you start your work week by prescheduling a series of posts but then step away from the computer, never to return again. That’s the “set and forget” mindset and here’s why it’s worse than if you were never on social media at all.

  • You are setting up false expectations amongst your customer base.
  • You’ve built an online presence based on “interactions” but you never interact…leading to customer frustration.
  • Your customers come to expect your posts and possibly, they also actively seek to engage you but you never respond, frustration then leads to distrust.
  • Based on your social media behavior customers assume you won’t follow through, don’t care about your business or are lazy.
  • Customers may start to actively engage other potential customers on social media, ranking your business poorly.
  • Now you have missed sales opportunities and a bad reputation.
  • Reputation is everything and arguably, online is where it matters most.

That last point is particularly relevant. Social media moves at the speed of light, possibly faster. As soon as you hear about a new app and download it, another bigger, better, shinier app has taken its place. The same will be true for your online reputation. If you don’t work hard to engage your customers online and respond to queries quickly and efficiently, your online reputation will plummet and a different supplier will take your place.  It won’t matter how friendly you are at the “storefront” level – a bad reputation online can ruin your business.

The moral of the story is make good use of the social media tools that are available.  By all means, schedule your posts, deals of the week, blogs (or whatever it is you post) using one of the many scheduling tools available.  Just be sure you also schedule some follow up time, at various time throughout the week, to engage and interact with your online customer base because your online reputation is vital to supporting your real world business.

 

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

 

7 Easy Ways to Tap into the Power of Mobile Marketing

As a business owner, it’s your job to find ways to connect with your customers. We live in a mobile world where 73% of people have their phone on them at all times. If you are targeting Millennials, that number goes up to 87%! Are you doing enough to connect with your audience on the small screen?

A lot of business owners feel that mobile marketing is too complicated and too expensive. While there are some tactics that are more costly, there are a lot of things you can be doing as a small business owner to enhance your marketing strategy that is already in place. The reality is, your customers are likely multitasking with their phones throughout the day, so your marketing strategy should reflect that behaviour.

Here are 7 ways you can integrate mobile into your strategy while not breaking the budget.

  1. Have an event hashtag: While this might seem obvious, a lot of event organizers don’t use this in the best way. You need to make sure your hashtag is:
    • Unique: It’s hard to track the conversation if your hashtag is used for other things.
    • Not too long: Ease of sharing should be the goal and if your guests have to type in 14 characters each time they use it, it won’t get used as often as you’d like.
    • Clear: If your hashtag doesn’t make sense, you’ll likely see a lot of errors.
    • Active: Encourage the dialogue by assigning someone from your business to use it actively throughout the event.

And once you set it up, make sure you track it!

  1. Livestream content at an event: Who doesn’t want to see their name in lights? Set up screens around your event and show a stream of Tweets from attendees. It encourages more participation using your event hashtag.
  2. Post live from events: While you want your audience to engage with you, you also want to show that you are active. Posting to social throughout an industry or client event you are attending shows you are tapped into the latest trends in what you do.
  3. Run a social media contest: People are constantly on their phones and a contest encourages them to share content with you in mind. Either set up a photo contest or a scavenger hunt type of contest where users share a picture to their account and tag you in it and/or use a dedicated hashtag (see #1 for tips!).
  4. Have customers check in at your business or event: This one is great because it has a lasting impact when potential customers see how many people have checked in at your business. You can provide incentive in the form of a loyalty program or contest as well.
  5. Use text and other messenger apps: Text is a great way to communicate with your engaged customers by having them opt in to receive messages. Send special deals, new product information, announce contests, etc.
  6. Have a mobile-friendly site: this should be obvious by now, but many businesses don’t have a mobile-friendly site. Make it easy for your customers to browse using their smartphone.

As with any marketing strategy, you need to set out your objectives and goals before you choose what’s right for you.

Candace Huntly is the Founder and Principal 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

Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn/email/Website

8 Creative Ways to Build a Mailing List

Do you send a newsletter for your business? A newsletter can be an easy way to inform your customers and potential customers of a new product, a sale, an event or just another way to showcase your expertise. Here are 8 Creative ways to build your mailing list.

  1. Add it to your website or blog: Most mailing list generators (we use mail chimp) have a widget that you can easily add to your website. This has been the most popular way new visitors have subscribed to our mailing list.
  2. Host a giveaway or contest: Whether it’s online or at a trade show a giveaway or contest is a fun way to build your mailing list.
  3. Have a mailing list or guest book: At trade shows in particular have a mailing list or guest book in the corner of your table. Interested potential customers may add their name to learn more about you.
  4. Ask for it: While closing a sale ask the new customer for their email address. You can also use this to follow-up with your customer.
  5. Add it to your facebook page: An easy to use app can be added to your facebook fan pages.
  6. May I?: When a new customer inquires, it’s okay to ask them if you may add them to your mailing list.
  7. Post in on Facebook: Once in a while, pose the question on your facebook page – Have you subscribed to our mailing list (link)?
  8. Tweet about it: Tweet it – Have you subscribed to our mailing list (link)?

Jacqueline Hunter is the Director at Craftadian. In addition to hosting annual Craftadian Handmade Markets, Jacqueline is a resource for Handmade Business owners by offering online courses, work shops and support. She showcases, supports and promotes Canadian artists, artisans and designers.

Connect with Jacqueline

Website / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Email

Do’s and Don’t’s of Successful Event Promotion on Social Media

Kelly Farrell - Teach Me Social -headshot (2)

Gettings bums in seats at your next event can be a challenge and social media is a sure way to help get your message out there. Here are some important Dos and Donts when promoting your event on social media.

DO create a website for your event with pertinent information and registration instructions. While sites like Eventbrite are fantastic tools for creating online event registration portals, you should still have a dedicated website where all of your event details will be accessible for interested attendees.

DONT create a Facebook Event instead of a website. Rather, create a Facebook event that links to your website for more information.

DO write a press release and share it as a blog post. This should contain all of the relevant information about your event including a history of the event and details on the desired outcomes for attendees.

DONT expect people to look for information on your website. Use social media to share the press release and website link often.

DO use your social media sites to promote details about sponsors, vendors, presenters and more. In your posts, be sure to tag others and encourage them to like and share it to their own audience.

DONT ignore the importance of using paid advertising in addition to regular social media posting to draw attention to your event and your website. Make use of the power of custom audiences in Facebook Ads to target the right demographic for your event.

DO make use of your email list to send regular reminders about your event to both your regular mailing list as well as those who have registered. Keeping your event top-of-mind is a sure way to fill those seats.

DONT rely solely on social media. While you can implement many of the strategies listed in this blog, don’t neglect traditional forms of media or promotion. It’s important to create a press release and to list your event in as many online or print event listings as possible.

To learn more about how to maximise the effectiveness of your Facebook marketing efforts, schedule a complimentary consultation with Teach Me Social. Teach Me Social owner Kelly Farrell has been helping empower Canadian Small Businesses through social media since 2012. Teach Me Social offers effective social media services which include training sessions and consulting as well as full-service social media account management.

Is your business ready for 2017? 5 Social Media Predictions for the New Year

Kelly Farrell - Teach Me Social -headshot (2)

Wow! 2016 has flown past, and the changes in Social Media have been absolutely mind-blowing! Live video streaming has completely exploded, new apps have come and gone while Facebook has grown to over 1.7 Billion users worldwide and is now thinking far beyond the “like” with multiple “reactions” available now to respond to posts on your newsfeed.

Keeping an eye on the trends can really help us pinpoint where the world of social media marketing is headed as we get ready for 2017. Below are my top 5 things to keep in mind as you are planning out your social media strategy and budget for the next year.  

1. Video

Don’t ignore the rise of video as the world continues to get smaller, information is being consumed faster and in visual formats. Find new ways to engage your followers with exciting videos featuring behind-the scenes interviews or previews. Most video is watched without sound, so take the time to add captions to your videos (either yourself pre-upload, or using the built-in caption tools from Facebook or YouTube.

2. Private Messaging

Consumers want direct access to brands and they want it now! Keep an eye on evolving options on private messaging apps to help you business connect directly with your followers. Facebook Messenger is becoming increasingly popular with both customers and brands for on-demand customer services. Twitter and Instagram also have direct messaging features that allow followers to ask questions. Keep in mind that social media users expect a reply in less than an hour – so make sure you have someone on-call to answer those inquiries when they come in!

3. Mobile First

With over 76% of Canadians owning a smartphone and over 50% of Google searches happening on these devices, make sure your website and social media are mobile friendly! If you aren’t sure if your website is mobile-ready, you can run a quick check at https://search.google.com/search-console/mobile-friendly . For social media, you will want to make sure your links and images show up nicely on mobile phones. On mobile, videos are usually viewed without sound, so be sure to add captions!

4. Pay-to-Play

Advertising space online is limited, and organic reach on all social media platforms is decreasing daily. Be prepared to spend more $$ to get your products and services in front of the right audiences. Social networks are meant to be social, so it makes sense that promotional content needs to be paid for, just as it is on any media publication. Small businesses can still afford to pay-to-play on social though, providing enough time is spent to set up proper targeting and content for social ads.

5. Focus & Plan

Don’t try to do everything. Focus on where your target market is most likely to consume your content and engage with your brand. Spend your time developing content that reflects your brand message and adds value to the social network where you spend your time. If social media plays a large role in your marketing plans, it may make sense to outsource the community management or advertising on social to an expert that can achieve higher results in less time, thus leaving you with more time to do what you love!

To learn more about how to maximize the effectiveness of your Facebook marketing efforts, schedule a complimentary consultation with Teach Me Social. Teach Me Social owner Kelly Farrell has been helping empower Canadian Small Businesses through social media since 2012. Teach Me Social offers effective social media services which include training sessions and consulting as well as full-service social media account management.

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