social | | Canadian Small Business Women

Mar 21 2016

Keeping it Consistent on Social Media

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.

Aug 12 2015

Social Media Expertise Should Never Be Free

Social media today is more than just friends getting together with friends online. It is a redistribution of wealth through the spreading of information. Social media expertise which facilitates this is at the very core of capitalism. The only problem is that most social media experts have been giving away their expertise for free and now that has become the expectation.

It starts simple enough. First I get asked to have some coffee. Then we’ll have some small talk. It won’t be long until the questions about social media begin. I’ve even received emails from friends I haven’t seen nor spoken to in years asking for advice.

We take the “social” component of social media very seriously today. I propose we begin focusing on the “media” component a little more.

Social Media Expertise Is a Skill Which Must Be Developed

Let’s be honest: social media hasn’t been around for very long. If you really stretch out the definition of social media, then some might point to the AOL chat rooms of the mid-1990s as the beginning of social media, but that’s not really accurate. In just a few years, there have been a few people who have dedicated their time to studying this phenomenon to know how it ticks. It becomes their passion.

When we are passionate about something, we love to talk about it. I give out a lot of advice myself that can be executed elsewhere, often without meaning to do so. The bottom line is this: social media experts are practitioners, advisors, consultants… and professionals.

I will not go into details about my expertise, except that I have been in the industry for over 15 years and have been involved in launching and growing some of the largest accounts in the business. I am also a hands-on strategist with an on-going online presence.

The time of a social media expert is valuable. It is worth more than the price of a cup of coffee. $5 for gourmet coffee, that is.

Here’s the Industry’s Double Standard

If you called up the average lawyer to talk about a legal problem, would they offer their advice for free?

Or what if you had a medical emergency and instead of going to the hospital, you expected to go to the doctor’s home to receive treatment?

How many teachers will come to a home after school to tutor a child who is falling behind in class?

Maybe you don’t need a college degree to become a social media expert, but that doesn’t mean the expertise isn’t valuable. There are numerous financial and brand recognition gains that can be built up over time thanks to social media expertise that no other type of media can provide. You can build leads for just dollars per prospect on social media – what other platform can say the same thing?

Integrating social media into any business opportunity is important. Creative ideas, defined objectives, and strategic concepts are all part of the package that comes with social media expertise. Some organizations may feel like this is expertise that is only worth a cup of coffee, but now more than ever, one truth still remains: you get what you pay for right now.

Getting a tidbit of advice for a cup of coffee is great. Getting the full package of social media expertise will forever change a business. That’s why it is worth the investment. If you’d like to book some time to meet with me, feel free to visit my website RedDotDigital.net, send me an email to Karima (at) RedDotDigital (dot) net or follow me on Twitter.

Karima-Catherine is the co-founder of Red Dot Digital, a digital agency that strives to deliver top-notch solutions to various clients. Red Dot Digital drives real, meaningful, quantifiable business outcomes for companies. Karima-Catherine is also the co-moderator of #MMchat, a Twitter weekly forum which focuses on business, marketing and social media.

Connect with Karima-Catherine:

karima@reddotdigital.net

Website, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest

Oct 21 2014

Your Brand Values and Governance Model: Developing Your Content Strategy

Part 2 of a 6 part series on Content Strategy for Your Business

In the first post in this series, I outlined what a content strategy is and why it’s a critical part of your digital business model. Over the next 5 weeks of this series, we’ll go through a full content strategy, but where to start? Sometimes it’s best to start at the end.

Governance: Start Your Strategy at the End

When it comes to Content Strategy, A Governance model is perhaps the most important factor. Why? Because if you understand up front what it will take to create, measure and maintain your online business communications, you will be more realistic and strategic when you develop your content strategy. In this post I’ll outline what your governance model will include, and then go into some detail on the creation of the first piece of your content strategy and resulting governance model.

What do I need to Govern?

Online business communications are the basics on your website, which might include

Your Home page
An “About Us” page or section
A services Section and/or product pages
Your contact page
Campaign based landing pages

Depending on your business goals, it might expand to include content marketing such as

Email communications such as e-blasts or newsletters
Blogging or articles
Info graphics or tools

And depending on your customers and where they are in the sales funnel, it might include brand awareness tactics like

Social media: Twitter, Facebook, Linked IN, Instagram, and Pinterest…
Influencer marketing

Governance of your content strategy means managing these communications, and it is like running a second business, your digital business. It is part marketing, part sales, and part corporate communications. And like any business, you need a plan: that’s what Governance is.

Your Governance model brings together all of the pieces of your content strategy into a structured, executable plan of action. Putting a realistic and actionable governance model in place means being very clear about your brand values and goals, your customer needs, knowing which platforms your ideal customers are using, and which blend of content types will give your brand voice consistency and regularity, and then putting it all in a calendar.

A Governance Model Outline

Your governance model will be made up of:

1) A clear statement of your brand purpose. This can be in the form of a mission statement, or it can be in the form of a message map, elevator pitch, or Value proposition (also sometimes called a unique selling proposition or USP).

2) A customer avatar or persona that describes your ideal customer

3) A clear idea of the conversion funnel for your ideal customer and which content types, on which platforms are likely to reach them.

4) An editorial calendar outlining when and what you are going to create or curate and some handy tools to keep it all running smoothly.

These things need to be written down! Don’t keep it all in your head. I keep my governance model in front of me in the form of sticky notes and charts pinned to a large piece of foam core that serves as my content strategy whiteboard. Knowing that these are the building blocks of your content strategy governance model, you can sketch them out very high level, and over the next 5 weeks we’ll fill in the blanks, starting this week with Brand Values.

Your Brand Values: Let’s Clarify

What are your brand values, and what are your business goals? By getting this down very clearly you will have some good material for your About Us page and a guide that will help you with your future content, customer, and platform decisions. The problem with typical mission statements is that they are very high level and often include a lot of jargon. For this reason I prefer to create more tactical artefacts, such as a Message Map or Value proposition.

Build a Message Map

A message map is perhaps the most tactical artefact you can create. It is quick and relatively easy to put together and is a good guideline document if you need to write something quickly such as a product launch announcement, or if you need to give something to your employees so they know the talking points on a particular product, initiative, or your business generally. CEO’s or PR writers use message maps if they are preparing to do a media interview, for example, or write a press release.

Watch this video about message maps, or use this basic formula, starting with a Twitter-friendly headline. This means a short, maximum 140-character statement about your brand or product. Then, write down 3 key points about your brand or product, making sure they are short bullets. Finally, for each of those three points, come up with a few supporting facts, statistics, or stories that bring the point home.

Clarify Your Value Proposition

Creating a value proposition using this template from copyhackers will give you a little bit more range of options in terms of how you might talk about your brand as a whole. Copyhackers has an excellent suite of worksheets and tools for all aspects of content strategy and a great process for figuring out your value proposition, that has you think about your brand and your service(s) or product(s) by filling in this grid. In the left-most column, write down all of the statements you can come up with that describe the benefits or features of your brand, service(s) or product(s), then really ask yourself if that statement gets a “tick” in the boxes to the right. When you have a statement that ticks all the boxes, you have a great value proposition!

My favourite tool is taken from the book “Gamestorming” because it brings customer target into the mix, and it is visual and easy to fill in the blanks. Try to make a few of these until you find a combination that feels right.

Once you have a clear idea, or collection of ideas and statements on what you have to offer as a business, the next step is having a very clear picture of your customer: knowing what they want, and where they are going to find it.

Over the next 3 installations, we’ll cover

Your Customer: figuring out what your customers want, who they are, and where they are.
Social media strategy: we’ll answer the question: do I need a website AND do social media? (The answer is, yes!)
Editorial and Content types: we’ll look at creation vs curation and finding the right balance for your brand and your customers, and why you need a schedule. Regularity and consistency is key to building audience.

This sounds like a lot of work

I could spend all of my time on creating and maintaining content. But obviously then I wouldn’t be running my business. Every business owner has to be a sales and marketing pro these days, however, and much of that sales and marketing activity is contained within the governance model of your online content strategy. It’s important to find the right balance-or governance model-for your business.

For more resources and information on Content Strategy and to download a detailed description of what content strategy entails, go to analyticalengine.ca/resources or download a Content Strategy Info graphic at http://bit.ly/1qY9tYp.

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

Mar 23 2014

Corporate Social and Environmental Responsibility – Why It Matters

Most likely, your business doesn’t sell environmental products or services (only a small percentage do) but have you considered including an environmental and social ethos anyway?

Industry Canada says that integrating Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices and principles into your operations can help make your business more innovative, productive, and competitive. Who wouldn`t want that?

The definition of CSR says it is “a company’s environmental, social and economic performance and the impacts of the company on its internal and external stakeholders”. It is sometimes called corporate responsibility, corporate sustainability, triple bottom line, or referred to by its individual area of focus, e.g. environmental management or social responsibility. Whatever the moniker, it can give you an edge over your competitors.

For large corporations, especially multinationals who deal with big players as well as big back accounts, CSR probably includes clauses on anti-corruption and bribery. Yet any size business, whether it has employees or not, can benefit from adhering to and promoting transparency, inclusivity, an environmental conscience, and social or community engagement. You may already be doing this as part of your business but are you highlighting that fact in any of your communications or sales conversations?

Consumers today are more aware and wary of product labels, ingredients, product claims, and service promises. Sure, they’re looking for a good price, but increasingly consumers also want to choose a business with a big heart and a small environmental footprint. It can be a win-win-win situation for your customer, the business, and our shared environment.

Source of Graphic: Developmentcrossing.com

Weaving CSR into your daily business needn’t cost you more. It can start with simple things, like using only or mostly recycled office materials (printer paper, notepads, binders), if you have a physical business location using recycled, reusable, or second-hand materials as much as possible, keeping energy and water consumption low, and buying local products to reduce your ‘ecological footprint’ (i.e. your impact on the planet’s resources and climate). It can range from waste and pollution reduction to employees and/or business owners volunteering.

Implementing CSR

Identify a relevant issue or opportunity – either something you’re passionate about or that relates to the core nature of your business, e.g. if you drive a lot to get to your clients you may consider combining appointments to reduce the amount of driving, buy a smaller more energy-efficient vehicle, or off-set your carbon emissions through a legitimate company, for example contributing to tree planting or renewable energy projects (see David Suzuki Foundation, Purchasing Carbon Offsets, http://bit.ly/1nDNPHw).
Build your credibility. Which foundation or charity are you joining or donating to, and how much? Which volunteer community do you/your employees participate in?
Let your clients know. Talk about what you are doing; mention it on your website, social media, and in your handout materials
Reassess. Check that you’re actually impacting the issue you care about and are optimising your efforts. Are you using all the resources available? Do you have the right partnerships?

Including social and environmental responsibility into your small business needn’t be anything big or complicated; simply getting started and making it known to your customers is a good first step.

Sources:

AMEX Open Forum, How To Create A CSR Program For Your Small Business, http://amex.co/1gAgAuV
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR), www.cbsr.ca
David Suzuki Foundation, www.davidsuzuki.org
Industry Canada, http://bit.ly/1hxqm3n

Martina Rowley is the founder and operator of Beach Business Hub – THE co-working space east of the Don Valley. She combined her passion and experience in the environmental sector with her community engagement side to create a local work environment where space and resources are shared. She fosters and facilitates collaboration, networking, and learning for and with small business owners and new start-ups. Contact her at:http://www.beachbusinesshub.ca, on Facebook and on Twitter