Is facebook only for consumers?

Is facebook only for consumers?

For something that is used almost daily by up to 2 billion people the capabilities of Facebook are often misunderstood. There are assumptions made about the platform which mean that the potential for B2B marketing is often overlooked.

People assume that Facebook is only for consumers. They assume the only market available on Facebook is for a business to sell to individuals. This means businesses are only seeing half the story.

Imagine having a washing machine and not realising it had a dryer built in as well. All this time you’ve been hanging your wet clothes on the washing line or a clothes horse when you could have been doing two jobs in one place.

When we stop the myth that Facebook is solely a consumer market and embrace the fact that businesses can use it sell to other business then we can improve our marketing (and profits!) dramatically.

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How do I avoid sounding like a robot when writing content for my social network or website?

How do I avoid sounding like a robot when writing content for my social network or website?

Your social media feed is an essential tool to your business. It provides the titbits of your daily life to your followers and potential customers. It is a regular opportunity to add your personality to your product or your service.

But doing this on a, sometimes, daily basis can be a strain. To always be the happy, positive person you want to portray when sometimes you’re actually feeling the opposite is a near impossible task. Maybe you lost a client or a good lead didn’t go anywhere. Maybe you just ran out of coffee.

This is where in-app scheduling or software like Hootsuite can be valuable because when you are that happy, positive person you can smash out loads of great posts.

There is another danger though. With social media posts needing to be so regular, it can be easy to lose your personality and become robotic. This can alienate your audience because they feel they are being talked at instead of being talked with.

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How do I promote my business on social media if I am an introvert?

How do I promote my business on social media if I am an introvert?

Very few people feel completely comfortable on social media. Whether we are conscious of it or not, what we choose to reveal to the online world is a very carefully managed affair.

This is also true of your business. You’re are trying to portray a certain image and a brand that, once you hit ‘Publish’, will be open to public scrutiny.

For some people the challenge and excitement this brings is what they thrive off. For others, the thought of putting your business on social media is enough to send you crawling under your desk. After all it’s become your world, right? It’s too precious to expose it to the ravages and savages online.

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When Should I Produce and Post Facebook Content?

When Should I Produce and Post Facebook Content?

Managing your time efficiently, especially if you’re a small business, is an ongoing challenge.

Regularly posting to your social channels should be something you have built in to your week, whilst also allowing for spontaneity with as-they-happen posts.

I’ve been asked if it is better to allocate an hour every day to post and create content, or if posting and production should be staged throughout the day.

Firstly, I would be allocating a set time each week, not day, to create content, say a few hours on a weekend or week night and utilise the many scheduling tools that exist to set them up to feature throughout the week.

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Feeling vulnerable when posting personal content on Social Media?

Feeling vulnerable when posting personal content on Social Media?

I’d like to address an excellent question which I’ve had a few times before: “Do you make yourself vulnerable, by posting both personal and business related content on your business social media pages?

I know that everyone has different levels of comfort with what they choose to share online, so to answer this questions you need to ask:

  1. What are you comfortable sharing?
  2. What is going to be of most interest or value to your audience?

My social channels help my audience understand more about my personality as I choose to share a mix of personal and business content. I want to show them who I am as a person, as a human being, because at the end of the day that’s who we do business with: other human beings.

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Google Shopping vs. Facebook Advertising

Google Shopping vs. Facebook Advertising

Knowing where and how to allocate your digital marketing budget can be daunting.

I’d like to address two different advertising platforms and their different roles and relevance for campaigns, in response to the question: “do you feel that Facebook can have a similar cost per conversion ratio as Google Shopping Ads or do you feel Facebook is high up the conversion funnel and is more of a branding tool?

This is effectively like comparing oranges with apples. You have two very distinct strategies here that need to be considered, based on what your objectives are.

To truly measure the two channels and how they could work for you, you’d need to run extensive split A/B testing with various campaigns. Instead, I’ll start by explaining the differences between using Google Shopping and Facebook Advertising to market your product or service.

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#3 Mistakes To Avoid When Using Hashtags

A small business owner recently asked me about hashtags on Instagram – should they be using them? Do they work? What are they for?

This is a great question, particularly because of the conjecture around it and the different approaches you may have seen.

Your objective on Instagram is to be listed in the top stories on the search page. Stories that are trending on Instagram are shown in keeping with your interests or your likes. By that I mean a trending story that is relevant to something you like on Instagram will show up in your feed more than another story that is unrelated.

You’ll see images from others that will capture your attention, from people that you may or may not be following. The ranking assigned to these stories stems from the use of hashtags: things that are relevant that you might be looking for, or acting on.

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Should I boost posts on Facebook?

One of the questions I’m asked quite frequently is whether there is any value in boosting posts on Facebook and whether it’s just about reaching more people?

Firstly, the purpose of boosting a post is to ensure it hits your target audience.There would be little value in boosting it if it weren’t going to increase the chances of the people you’re targeting seeing the post. Rather than taking a ‘more the merrier’ approach, look to increase engagement by targeting those with a vested interest in the content you’re sharing.

Facebook has provided us with an incredible platform to engage our audience, asking in return for only a small sum of money to ensure that your brand, messages, video and content are being seen.

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