Vary your mediums

Here is a simple demo of using different mediums for your social media:

Simple posts:

Start the marketing of any event of by making simple posts to present your message. Give as much information as possible trough to your users by just making posts. These posts can be accompanied by an external link to other relevant pages or websites. Anything that can give a post more information can be considered as more interactive.

Video:

Video is the future because of the lazy audience created by online media. People don’t like reading. Are you still reading this? This information even if it is not visual, can be presented so much better with a video. The good thing about video is that you can use text, visuals and sound to get your message across. Overall video is just more interesting. Videos can be uploaded though youtube or just as a video on most social media platforms using flash.

Voting pall:

People like to have their voice be heard without putting in too much effort. By choosing a light topic to which most listeners can respond, you can create a great participating and  responding audience. When for instance you own a blinds and curtains company, one can post a poll about the weirdest thing your followers have ever seen through a window.

Voice note:

This is especially great for short interviews of news related stories that you want to be published on your social media. A voice note can give a good description of some event that took place or a detailed description. Sound can be loaded onto hosts like Soundcloud and be shared via Social media.

The power of visual:

Visuals add character to a community post or to attract attention. Make sure pictures have your company’s look and feel so that the message can be spread more effectively. Visuals can explain an event, illustrate something or start a conversation. Visuals are very effective because most internet users will be attracted to graphical material than reading another text post in their feed.

Hashtags:

With hashtags on both Facebook and Twitter, you can now easily get more exposure for your messages by adding a relevant hashtag.

Vine is taking over

Some of you may have heard about the new social media application (app) available on the web called Vine. Here is some clarification about that you can do with the app and if it is needed for your businesses social media.

Vine is originally owned by Twitter and is a app that allows you to upload 7 minute videos to the web and share it via Twitter. The app opened in October 2012 and is starting to get more popular; so much so that it can be seen as a marketing tool.

Vine has 15 channels or categories in which you can submit or explore new videos.Vine is currently being used by big companies like Nissan and Honda and is on the forefront of viral marketing. Because so many consumers use their phones instead of  computers to access social media, this makes the mobile app a great marketing tool seeing that in South-Africa there are more people that have a cell phone than people what have a home. 

Organisations that visualize their marketing like to show what they are doing how something works or what a certain product can offer. In this case a video can be a very interactive way of advertising the company’s assets. If this company happens to have a Twitter account, it makes it easier to spread the video on social media to allow it to flourish.

Examples of companies that can use this as a marketing tool is: Extreme/outdoors businesses, inventions companies, Arts and entertainment companies, a theme parks or a lodge.

To learn more about this app or download it, go to https://blog.twitter.com/2013/vine-new-way-share-video and upload your videos. In the past week more than 20 Vine videos have gone viral, imagine what it could do for your business.

How to deal with Internet problems when running a social media page:

Good reception in this tree!

Living in Africa sometimes has challenges for a social media manager or blogger. The past mouth I found myself in a rural district, doing my internship at a tourism company, and found myself on a daily basis struggling with internet problems. Here is some of the ways I overcome those problems:

1.    Smartphones:

Lucky for you we live in a 21^st centaury, which allows you to make updates from your phone. When running a page always remember that a smart phone can help you to make updates on your social media, as well as post photos when at an event. Make sure that your page is set up while you’re in good reception to make the process easier when you don’t have perception.

2.    Work on your laptop by tethering on your phone

When you plug your phone into your computer, you can use your smart phone as a modem to go on to the internet. The tethering function allows you to do that. When plugged into your laptop your phone will give you the option or you can turn it on at your internet settings.

3.    Data bundles instead of minutes

Make sure that your airtime or minutes, is switched to data. This will help you save money with all the reconnecting due to bad perception. It will also allow you to estimate how many megabytes you have left on your airtime and how many you’re using uploading or downloading from the internet.

4.    Schedule your posts

Some social media allows you to schedule posts, which can help you ahead of time when you know you’ll be going somewhere that might not have internet. The only problem with this is that you have no control over the future and what may happen or change in it. This also means that you won’t be able to give feedback on the posts if you don’t have internet access.

Fighting bad reception, or isn’t that bad if you prepare for it, even if you have to climb into a tree to get reception. Good luck and may the reception be on your side. 

Ten mistakes made on Social media:

1)    The look and feel of the social media does not portray the corporate identity.

Brian Solis, @briansolisInconsistent branding on different social media sites. So many businesses have a corporate identity on their web site, but seem to forget about their Social media’s corporate visual message.  By customizing the page of all your social media like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn a professional profile can be obtained for your business. Some of the elements used in the website can also be reused on the social media pages but must be adapted according to the nature of the media.

2)    Assuming the audience knows what you are talking about

Often we find that posts are made from an internal point of view from the organisations side. As many organisations assume that the reader knows exactly what the post is about. Examples of this is:  “The winner is: Bob Stern!” Making posts without creating context lowers the professionalism and connectedness of the online community.

3)    Giving a humanly touch to your social media

The word social means interaction. Some organisations like to keep their social media formal in such a way that the business can be seen as serious. However this doesn’t always reach people on social media the way that it should. People like to talk to people, not machines, but there is a fine line between adding a human touch and being too informal. The trick is to maintain that balance throughout your social media. Replying on some non business related questions and statements is a good way of adding a humanly touch.

4)    Making small-talk.

Small talk is a good way to add a humanly touch to a page but is sometimes used too much on pages. Making a post about the weather is a way of associating with users but also a way of irritating them. Use small talk post to create a community but don’t combine it with a marketing post, or your community will lose interest and see you as a spammer.

5)    Spamming

A lot of companies often spam their users by posting the same or various messages on their social media at once. If building up a loyal audience is what you aim to do, this is not the best way to keep them coming back for more if you keep pushing it down their thoughts. Plan a posting schedule that will give your audience optimal reach. Rather try to change wording or send different messages derived from a main message, than to continuously send the same message.

6)    Trying to ride on free marketing.

According to Jayson @JaysonDeMers, most companies think that they won’t have to pay for marketing. To be effective, social media requires strategic planning and dedicated resources which means that you might have to consider boosting posts on your page or making use of the advertising available on social media.

7)    Having a page without using it.

Some businesses think that they should jump on the social media train just because most businesses are on social media. If the organisation doesn’t keep the social media updated by making frequent posts, they are wasting their time. It is better to not be on social media and focus more on other mediums like your website, than for the social media to be neglected.

8)    Not being interactive

The whole point of social media is to be interactive. Responses on questions, taking opinions of users in to account and giving users what they want is important. If you are not using social media for connections with users or other companies and just posting information like a bulletin board, you might as well send all your posts out in envelopes with a no return stamp.

9)    Thinking that all your users has seen a post

Most social media works on a basis that orders newsfeed so that the user’s friends or followers with whom they had the most interaction will appear more in their newsfeed. So your page’s post is not that likely to reach all your users according to Courtney Seiter, @marketingland. This is why the right timing can play an important role in making posts on your social media.

10) Long posts

Users have lazy scanning eyes and like to read short sentences that get right to the point. This is applicable in different ways depending on the social media. On Facebook for instance, some organisations think that if they post all the relevant information about a certain event that they will communicate effectively, where people will easily scroll down and read shorter posts. It is important to only tease the user to read more on your page or other form of communication. If they want to read more they can do so by choice, put a link in your post to get them to your to your website or blog.

Testing your ideas

Step 3: Implementation, trial and error.

Step 3 in your social media setup will be the implementation of all the ideas you had in mind for your social media comes to life. Remember, ideas aren't always as practical as you may think, so it’s important to be flexible in this stage and let some of your good ideas go.

Just a recap of Steps one two and tree that I Step 1: Defining your target market, Step 2: Social media Strategy and now step 3: Implementation of your social media strategy.

Implementing your strategy will be hard work, seeking your attention for the first month more than ever. Following the program of your Social Media Strategy alone will not be enough for your business to start building on a active base of users. For this period of time Laaik Us recommends that you use a strategic approach to making your page.

If you have a company logo, use it as a vantage point from where you can create graphic elements for your page like profile pictures and cover photos. Give short and sweet descriptions of your business with all the necessary information and contact details.

Start building up your business using twitter and linking it to other social media platforms like Facebook. By considering the social media guidelines I posted earlier, start following your social media plan. By analyzing the reaction of users, you can easily see what makes your crowd tick. Make sure that your posts are still relevant to your company and not just funny cat pictures.

Be sure to put in evaluating points in your social media strategy to check if it still correlates with the overall goal of your social media. Remember that your goal may change as the needs of your online fans change.

Always remember that you are going to learn continually about your page on how to control and manage it.

Creating a website

For those of you who are interested in creating your own website as well, here is a infograpic created by Laaik Us on how to create your own website. Websites can be made online at different hosting companies like Wix, Google, Weebly and Yola

Engaging with your users.

Corlia le Roux

You have started up your social media and are posting on regular basis, but what is going to make people have a demand to come to your page? Engagement. Engaging with your users can help build online relations that will make your relationship strong so that users will consider you as close as a friend or follower on their social media.

With help from Brian Solis’s guide for brands and businesses to build, cultivate and measure success on the web, called Engage I found a few pointers that might help explain the changing of marketing environment: A fundamental shift in our culture is underway and it’s creating a new landscape of influences  as well as changing how we define influence. The shift is made to conversations that build loyalty but ultimately have an global impact.

The most important part is understanding the role people play in the process and not only the reading of information but also the sharing of information. As I am doing now, the limit to information sharing is very particular and almost only stops when a person’s human rights are involved.

When making a post, in other words sharing information, your listener should engage in conversation to strengthen or debate your opinion. Ask a question that is: a) relevant to your field, b) interesting, c) newsworthy and d) engaging.

With posts this can be done by asking questions to which the user cannot reply yes or no. There doesn't always have to be a question but by simply making a statement engagement can be initiated. For example, if you have a fish business a relevant post about fish legislation can create the engagement you want for people to talk about your product and realize that you care for matters in your field.

 So if you post something like:   “New laws suggest that general fishing should be constricted to seasons.” This may or may not lead to conversation, depending on the closeness of the subject to your online stakeholder. The user may comment or reply with something like: “Finally! Fish species should be kept safe for the future of our children.”

Lessons of your users will also be learned easily trough analyzing their reply. Also be sure to engage with social media pages from the same type of field you’re in.  This is very important and will help you with ideas for your own page. Engaging and getting into conversations in your own field will help to conduct traffic to your page. If people see that you know what you’re talking about they probably would like to hear more of what you’re saying.

Follow me on Facebook at Laaik Us and twitter @LaaikUs to get recent updates about news in social media. You can also send me an e-mail to LaaikUs@gmail.com if you want me to discuss any particular toppic.