Now that we’re beyond that moment of ignorance, lets tackle this topic. Exposure is the number one reason companies utilise social media networks. Social network channels such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Periscope, and Twitter allow direct contact to a company’s consumer base with a simple post. Now what is the perceived conundrum here with jumping into the deep end and signing up for one (or more) of these accounts?

You need a consumer base. Here is where the “efficiency” factor comes into play. Follow the guidelines below outlining how to effectively and “efficiently” generate a following thus creating the exposure desired.

Don’t post pictures of kittens…focus on valuable content

Yes, kittens are adorable. Will they create one million LOYAL followers? Arguably not. So what should you focus on when creating content? That, ladies and gentlemen, is the golden question. Perceived expertise, whether valid or not, is the number one factor in driving traffic to a social media account. Content quality is one crucial method for producing perceived expertise.

Quality content revolves around the customer. Before creating a post, ask yourself whether or not this is information desired by those interested in the industry. If not, go back to the drawing board and rehash the content.

Customer interaction leads to invaluable insights

How do you know what a customer desires? Interact with them! Online forums exist where people rant and rave over products, information quality, services, etc. Dive into the internet and discover what a consumer base needs. For instance, articles simply clarifying information can have a significant impact if it simplifies someone’s life. Additionally, consider posting relevant trends in your company’s particular industry. This demonstrates knowledge and command of the field.

Timing is everything

What time do most people go to work? What time do they typically have lunch? Ever thought about when they leave work or have dinner or go to bed? Human beings are naturally consistent people, each with their own individual routines. What is interesting is that society itself has general trends and routines as well. Why is this important?

Submitting a post in between particular hours of the day will generally prove beneficial by maximising viewing exposure or detrimental due to limited viewing exposure. Timing of each post is a critical component when attempting to generate the most exposure. Consider societal trends and determine what timeframe best works for your industry. Hint: don’t forget about time zones in other countries!

Quickly create exposure with flash promotions

Have you ever seen the advertisements saying something to the effect of “share this link and earn a chance to win X product”? That is a flash promotion. Activities such as these, with a well chosen prize, can generate quick (but TRANSIENT) exposure for any company. Ensure your social media account’s account has established quality content to review otherwise customers won’t be interested beyond the promotion.

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Though the gym will become less crowded within two months subsiding to its usual attendance level of dedicated weight lifters and many folks will become too busy to take a life changing holiday, this doesn’t mean a business shouldn’t adjust their goals and participate in the new year buzz. This is the moment to recognise upcoming opportunities and challenges in 2016 to grow its market share and truly personalise its consumer content. Below are a few trends to consider when tailoring your market strategy for the new year.

Messaging Platforms vs. Broadcast Social Media Networks

Gone are the simple days of blasting advertisements and promotional videos to a customer base via Facebook feed posts and Twitter handles. A growing trend in digital marketing is the desire for personalised one to one messaging content. Facebook has marked a significant decrease in the number of feed posts occurring daily while the growth of messaging platforms is expected to grow even further than the typical social media markets.

The difficulty with this trend arises in the form of balancing genuine ways to fit a company’s brand into a messaging platform strategy without becoming overbearing on the consumer base. It is a fine line to walk even more complicated by the fact that Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, the two largest western messaging platforms, don’t afford any options to advertise via their platforms.

Ad-blocking is gaining momentum

Nothing is more annoying than watching a video or reading an article when halfway through you’re interrupted by an advertisement. Recognising this frustration, Apple has recently joined the fight against disruptive advertisements by adding momentum to the ad-blocking movement. As a byproduct of this movement, ad-blocking software has increased significantly in an attempt to remedy the annoyance.

What does this mean for digital advertising? Simply pushing advertisements will most likely become a thing of the past. Instead, digital marketing strategies will need to consider a more finessed approach taking into consideration the consumer experience on that platform.

Integrated digital marketing strategies are critical

There are so many platforms to choose from when developing an online marketing strategy. YouTube. Facebook. Twitter. Instagram. Vine. Tumblr. Not only does a company need to decide on which platforms are appropriate for their use, arguably more importantly it needs to decide how the advertising will flow AMONGST each platform. Companies can no longer view each platform as a separate marketing niche, but instead needs to focus on an integrated approach.

Advertisements should flow from each platform easily without any compatibility issues which complicates the entire process. What starts as a formatted YouTube video will need to expand to Facebook and remain compatible for optimal effectiveness. A single video needs to traverse the social media platforms with ease to reach an optimum level of consumer base.

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Embracing the age of social media and using it to your benefit

Social media “sharing” is not only free advertising, but it is the best kind of free advertising—it is the digital form of word-of-mouth advertising. It has become so widely used for sharing information that it is often a significant disadvantage for a company to not integrate social media tools into their website as it makes it more difficult for existing and potential customers to share their experiences with your product or company.

When someone visits your website to learn about, say, a product or an upcoming event and they find the information they are seeking, if they were to “Like” the website on Facebook, anyone who is a friend of theirs is likely to see the “Like.” Since people trust product recommendations from their friends more than from paid advertising on television or radio, they are more likely to also visit your website to also learn about your product or service.

Twitter and Pinterest work similarly. If someone visits your page to review a product, they can then “Tweet” a link to your website along with a short message about what they learned or they can “Pin” it to their profile of interests so that all of their followers can see it.

Choosing the right platforms

With so many social media platforms available, which ones should you use? The platforms are not all born equal and the different features will benefit you in different ways.

It is worth experimenting with all of the available platforms, and deciding which two or three your company can use most effectively.

Facebook is appropriate for most companies and organisations because of how widely it is used and because of its versatility in sharing pictures, news articles, links, and company information. It is also easy for people to discuss the shared content in comment sections. However, recently there have been complaints from users about their content not reaching all of their followers unless they pay to ‘increase reach’, which is turning many companies off.

Twitter is a valuable platform for any company that either depends on or produces frequent news stories. It represents an efficient tool for sending and receiving news quickly. If your company wants to ‘join the conversation’, become an authority in the niche, or can benefit heavily from networking with other professionals, then Twitter is a good choice.

Pinterest allows your supporters to share their interest in your product and related products on a personalised profile. Your profile on Pinterest will be made up of ‘boards’ which you fill with images. This makes Pinterest a great tool for particularly visual companies, such as products brands or anything related to fashion and design.

LinkedIn is a great platform for professional networking and sharing information about events. Often B2B products and services benefit from having their content shared on Twitter.

And finally Instagram is becoming more and more popular with E-commerce stores and visual brands. You are only able to post images, and the platform is mobile based. You are able to use hashtags to get right in front of your target audience, so this platform is ideal for B2C businesses trying to build a visual identity.

Making your content shareable

In most cases, you will have the option—either through your website designer, or through your content management system—to incorporate prominently visible buttons on your webpage that allow visitors to instantly share content through one or more social media outlets.

It is essential to make these tools easy to find and use so that your loyal customers and supporters can share your products or messages with their networks.
You’ll find that in fact many people are looking for content to share to increase their own reputation and personal / company brand, so not getting the share buttons upfront and visible could turn out to be a big mistake on your part.

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However, many people are often frozen into inaction due to confusion on what should be done or fear of a Google penalty. While over-optimisation is certainly more than just an urban myth, doing nothing is even more dangerous. To help get your on-page on its way, implement the following tips today.

Improve SEO with Title Tags

This is perhaps the most important piece of optimisation that you’re going to do, so make sure you get it right straight off the bat. Don’t make it too long or convoluted – remember that users will see this as your listing title on Google. Instead, keep it short and to the point.

In terms of keywords, don’t stuff your title full of relevant terms. Put your main keyword in the title once, alongside additional text to make sure it ‘blends’ and doesn’t look too obvious.

Your Content

First of all, abide by the golden rule: Content Is King. If you want to rank on Google, make sure your content is relevant, focused, rich, and useful. Short and sweet has its place, but your content needs to be nice and juicy. Try and make it a page of authority, something that people will come back to again and again.

Sprinkle relevant long-tail keywords in your content, without making it look spammy. Write a piece that’s not just for robots, but will spur people to share it on social media platforms as well. Include images, videos, graphs, you name.

The URL

Your URL should be specified every single time. Don’t let your CMS (Content Management System) name your pages by default – otherwise, you’ll end up with URLs that look similar to: http://www.yoursite.com/2123.html. Naturally, this doesn’t tell Google anything about what the page is going to be about.

Once again, watch that you don’t stuff your keywords in there like a madman. Keep things simple and relevant, with proper category structures as well.

Links

It’s important that you interlink between pieces of content on your site. Think about Wikipedia and how they do it – each and every article has links to other places on the same website. The links are related to the piece, helping users find information.

You not only want to add internal links, but make sure you get some outbound links as well. After all, you’re part of an ecosystem and you should ensure you let Google know about it. Link to sites that are relevant in your field (but not competitors), letting Google know that your site knows what it’s talking about.

IMG Alt Tags and File Names

Your images should all have descriptions within the alt tags, while file names should also be related to the keyword you’re trying to rank for. Don’t just stuff your keyword all over the place, but instead find synonyms and other terms that are related.

Need More Help?

We understand that this article has gone into the nitty gritty – it may either be reaching the limits of your technical know-how, or you may have developed a bit of a headache already.

If this isn’t the kind of thing you want to be doing yourself, give us a call. We’re a leading Bristol SEO agency that’s ranked countless of keywords using the strategies described above, in addition to a wide range of advanced strategies.

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Twitter is an excellent platform to drive traffic to your website. It can help you get new customers with just a small amount of investment – in many cases, you’re simply sharing things you’re reading or doing anyway. It’s all about leveraging that power and ensuring you do it the right way. Here are 4 ways you can drive up followers easily and quickly.

Tweet Often on Twitter (But Not Junk!)

If you want your Twitter account to be a bonafide success, then you’re going to have to invest the time necessary to make that happen. Keeping on top of your account by making regular updates is your first port of call. Add hashtags where relevant so that your tweets come up in searches.

Of course, the key is to keep your tweets relevant and worth reading. No one wants to see what the office cat has had for lunch or that you’re happy the sun is shining. The minute users see irrelevant and annoying tweets coming up, they’ll not think twice about discarding you.

Use Tweets to Link to Useful Content

In addition to tweeting relevant pieces of information (i.e. not how your day is going!), it helps to use Twitter as a platform to link to your – or someone else’s – useful content.

Some Twitter accounts work fantastically well as resource aggregators. In other words, people will follow you because they know you have the finger on the pulse. Link to authoritative posts you have written on your website, or simply share a resource you’ve found elsewhere.

Interact

Twitter isn’t just about sending out your message, but about interacting. That’s the best way to get people to follow you. Get involved in conversations, reply to messages, and ask questions of people that operate in your field.

Look for accounts that share similar interests or operate in your field. If you focus on web development solutions, for example, get talking with other agencies that provide similar (but not identical) services.

Focus on Images, Not Videos

While we’re not saying you should give up on videos completely, stats do tell us that the Twitter faithful tweet more images – in fact, they are shared 361% more. Not only that, images get 128% more retweets as well.

Considering that videos take much longer (and a larger budget to boot) to publish, it’s a no-brainer that you should build your base on creating share-worthy images for your Twitter followers to share with others.

These 4 tips will get you more followers, guaranteed. However, we understand that managing your social media accounts isn’t always at the top of your priority list. After all, you have a business to take care of.

If you need tips or advice on how best to drive your social marketing campaigns forward, give us a call. As a leading Bristol SEO agency, we’d be happy to help your business.

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Some of the suggestions are specific products, while others are simply generic tools that have various solutions. We’ll push you in the right direction and you can make your decision based on price and specific requirements. If you need specific advice, you can always give our office a call.

Google Analytics

Despite it being free and heavily advertised by the biggest search engine on the market, most business owners still shockingly underuse it. And that’s a massive shame, as the amount of data this tool churns out is enough to replace an entire analysis team.

Google Analytics provides so much information that it’s beyond the scope of this article to give you a comprehensive list of everything it does. Let’s just say that there’s more than enough to keep you busy. From lead generation statistics to organic traffic numbers and even real-time figures, Analytics is the complete tracking tool.

Keyword Research Tool

Content marketing isn’t just about creating flowing words, engaging videos, and beautiful images/photography. In order to drive traffic, you also need to ensure that content has a good chance of ranking on Google. And you’ll never make that happen if your keyword research isn’t up to scratch.

The reason keyword research is so important is that it allows you to find ‘golden nuggets’ – keywords that have both high search numbers as well as low competition. Instead of going for obvious keyword (or worse, ones that don’t get search for at all), you can focus on phrases that are relevant and give you a good chance of converting. Popular keyword research tools include Market Samurai and Google’s very own Keyword Planner.

Cloud Storage

If you still rely on external hard drives or internal servers to back up your data, it’s time to creep out of your cave and join 2014. These days, the most effective way to store information is by using one of the many cloud storage solutions available. Best of all, many of them give you several gigabytes worth of storage 100% free.

Not only is this option much cheaper than investing in onsite IT infrastructure, it’s also much more secure. Instead of having all of your data in a single building, you’ve got carbon copies of your files on the cloud. Services such as DropBox are an excellent way to get started, but a simple Google search will return a myriad of options.

Social Media Management

Whether it’s Hootsuite, Buffer, or Sprout Local – you need a social media management tool for your business. It’s difficult to keep on top of the various profiles, status updates, and tweets without a central tool from which you can operate. These tools aren’t just limited to posting, but you can also target your campaigns, see details data that’s visualised for easy digestions, as well as a bunch of other uses that you won’t get from your standard accounts.

All four of these tools can be had for a combination of free and a small investment. And the return is both measurable as it is priceless. You’ll save time on your campaigns, your projects will be targeted for greater ROI, and you’ll also have the peace of mind in knowing that your data is secure.

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Nothing could be further from the truth. In this article, we’ll explore the reasons why hashtags make sense for your business. We’ll also give you 5 legitimate strategies that you can use to help drive your online presence forward.

#Why Use Them?

Let’s start with the obvious question first. Is it actually worth using hashtags, or is it just a waste of time? The statistics provide a clear answer: tweets that use hashtags get twice as much engagement as those that skip adding them. And that’s not all.

Hashtags also make it easier for existing (and new) users to find relevant information. If you have tweets on the same topic, a trail is simple to find. It’s also a great way of getting targeted leads, as people that land on your feed through hashtags are already interested in the topic you’re covering.

Finally, hashtags tend to improve the reputation of your profile. Visitors will instantly know that you’re legit, relevant, and a consistent source of good information. This will help gain new followers and the sceptics will also know you’re serious about what you publish online.

#5 Great Uses for Hashtags

Right, so we’ve already established that hashtags need to be part of your online presence. But using them effectively is another matter entirely. Use the following use cases as a platform for building your strategy:

1. Contests, promotions, sales, or special offers. Anything that has an incentive for the customers.
2. Educating your customers – when you Tweet or update your Facebook status, always make sure that you add value.
3. Events – Let visitors know of upcoming and past events and link them all via hashtags.
4. News – You’ve got the finger on the pulse, correct? When you publish the latest industry news, add a hashtags or two.
5. Advocacy – Whether you’re supporting a general cause or an industry-specific issue, don’t forget to insert relevant hashtags.

When you add your hashtags, spend some time thinking about them. Don’t just include anything that comes to mind – each and every character counts and customers won’t appreciate hashtags that make no sense. Here are some tips to create hashtags that will give your tweets traction:

• Relevant and Concise: Keep them short, sweet, and to the point.
• Conversational: You’re trying to get engagement, aren’t you? Make your hashtags conversational.
• Unique: Generic hashtags will never help. Yours should always be unique and focused, not general and common.

Getting your strategy right won’t happen overnight. It takes time and effort to tweak your updates for your specific industry. That’s why tracking is so important. Use purpose-built hashtag apps, analytics, and engagement figures to track your campaigns.

The conclusion is clear: hashtags are worth investing in. Not only will you get more engagement, but your customers will also find relevant information more easily and it will help you get targeted leads. Just make sure that you make your hashtags concise, focused, and not too convoluted.

The post #The Ins and Outs of Hashtags appeared first on Graphics & Website Design Portishead.

In fact, we often see business owners make a collection of grave errors when it comes to their Pages. To avoid calamity and instead drive more Likes to your business, implement the following 5 tips as part of your strategy.

Set Up a Proper URL

Many business owners overlook this one, and it’s not always directly obvious from the Facebook control panel. However, it’s essential that you use a customised URL that fits your organisation and marketplace. In other words, don’t leave your URL as the default random collection of letters and numbers.

A proper Facebook URL will not only give your hub a professional image, but it will also serve Google’s SEO crawlers. If your URL is relevant to a particular industry, it will show in the search engine results – this leads to increased traffic and potential leads.

Quality Posts ONLY

The mistake many people make with Facebook is what drives them mental when looking at their own friends’ feeds – and that’s incessant and never-ending random updates that are not worth the virtual paper they’re written on. Don’t be one of these business owners.

Instead, focus on writing quality updates that are relevant to your business and what your customers are interested in. That excludes how nice the weather is or what your cat had for breakfast. Remember to include plenty of rich media that’s engaging, such as videos and hi-res images.

Create Exclusive Content

Why should users interact and like your Facebook page if it’s just a carbon copy of your website? Answer: if that’s the case, they shouldn’t. There’s simply no added value.

That’s why you should post exclusive deals and promotions on your Facebook page. Give them that fuzzy special feeling by providing Facebook fans with unique content they won’t find anywhere else.

Constant Interaction

It’s easy to give your Facebook page a bucket load of attention in a short space of time – Mondays are ‘Facebook day’, but you ignore the platform the rest of the week. That’s a grave error, as it will drive down interaction in a real hurry.

When a member of your audience responds to one of your posts, make sure you show your appreciation by giving them a quick response back. You don’t have to jump on it like lightning, but be sure to post within hours rather than days. If people know you’re an active member, they’re more likely to interact in the future as well.

Review Your Facebook Performance

One of the most valuable sections of your Facebook page is what’s called ‘Page Insights’. This area gives you excellent information on the performance and reach of your posts. It’ll show you how many likes you’ve received and how many people are ‘engaged’ with your content.

Tracking performance is what separates an amateurish setup from a professional Facebook campaign. It’s important you constantly improve what you’re providing your fans, ensuring you drop what’s not performing and instead focus on what people want to see.

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Some marketing directors make the mistake of placing all focus on social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. While it’s certainly important to have a strong presence on these, it would be a massive mistake to leave LinkedIn by the wayside.

LinkedIn is not just about individual professional profiles. Since 2008, companies have been able to add company brand pages, similar to Facebook’s Pages. We’re going to give you four solid reasons why you should jump on this service and give your company a LinkedIn presence.

It’s Popular and Growing

LinkedIn is, plainly speaking, the biggest professional network in the world. It has over 250 million active users and is growing extremely quickly. The company claims it gains an additional two members every second.

In terms of overall popularity, studies have recently claimed that it even beats out social medial stalwart Twitter. While these can’t be considered 100% conclusive, it’s nevertheless safe to say that LinkedIn is absolutely huge and it’s only going to get bigger.

Get Targeted Leads that Convert

Google+, Facebook and Twitter are great platforms but they’re not very strong in driving targeted leads. LinkedIn, on the other hand, is all about giving people the business solutions they are looking for. Both individual and company profiles will have an abundance of links to others in the same space.

This means that if someone is already active or looking for something in a certain industry, it’s likely that your company will pop up as well as a related item. Users that land on your page will therefore be targeted, rather than completely random or accidental. Converting these users is much easier.

Build Relationships with Other Companies

It’s not all about creating buzz amongst potential customers. LinkedIn is also a very useful tool when it comes to enhancing business relationships with other companies. For example, it’s a great way to find new suppliers, distributors, consultants and freelancers. Building your network over time will give you a virtual Swiss army knife and it’s ready to go whenever you need it.

In addition to building up your contacts, people can also recommend and vouch for you. The more of these recommendations you build up, the more legitimate and trustworthy your company will seem. You can get plenty of leads this way, as people place a lot of trust in word of mouth.

Feed the Search Engines

Ranking your website organically on Google isn’t always the simplest thing to do. You may be up against some of the big hitters in the industry, especially when it comes to the profitable keywords.

LinkedIn can prove a powerful ally when it comes to your company’s online marketing strategy. The platform has plenty of clout in Google’s eyes, meaning that LinkedIn pages rank much more easily than your average local business website. You often won’t even need to do any search engine optimisation to get yourself some natural hits.

What does this mean? You can design your LinkedIn page to be a well-oiled funnelling machine, getting potential clients to find you via your profile. It can sometimes be even more effective than ranking your own website. So don’t delay, set up that profile today.

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