Social Media Marketing and Integrated Communications
More changes to Facebook
Apr 26th
We are starting to get used to the continuing changing face of Facebook. And today is another day of change…From April 26th, 2012, your profile picture, not your cover picture, has changed size. This may not seem like a biggie, but some companies have changed both images to integrate directly and the slight adjustment may totally change the look of your page. A great example of this is Ford …….see how the flag poles are all lined up….they may well not be now….
On the other side, if you have an independent image for you profile picture, like ours…..no changes are necessary…as long as the information you want to share is visible.
The profile picture on ALL fan pages will increase from 125x125px to 160x160px.
Facebook Timeline – 3 big changes that all marketers need to know
Mar 22nd
Last week changed the landscape of Facebook for Business. The introduction of the Timeline for Pages was not unexpected but the extent of the changes has surprised some. As with everything on the ever-changing landscape of social media, we will soon adjust and forget the old ‘Wall’ and the new ‘Timeline’ format will become second nature.
By introducing this new style for business pages, Facebook have done the equivalent of turning a diary into an online magazine with columns and features – all providing great opportunities for branding and storytelling.
If you wish to update your Page yourself, there are a lot of how-to articles available including a nice overview pdf from Facebook. But as with any social media platform the ‘set-up’ is always the easy part, it’s making the page work for your business that takes more time and effort.
So what do these changes mean for all the marketers out there? Broadly speaking Facebook now offers more diverse ways to enhance an authentic brand experience away from a base level of direct promotions and brand messaging.
True to the core values of Facebook, this ‘magazine’ format is designed to present engaging content and story-telling. This reflects the interests of the consumer – essentially people are not on Facebook to be sold to. They are there to engage with ideas and areas of interest and to interact socially – a great opportunity for any business that wants to differentiate themselves by sharing their brand personality and adding value to customer service. More >
Social Media Marketing– multiple platforms, one voice
Feb 18th
Social Media has been most talked about ‘must have’ tool for business marketing in years. Everyone is doing it and –with a target audience of more than 1 billion people interacting via social media globally – you can understand why. Social media users represent 70% of the total internet-using population on the planet.
But before we get too carried away, it’s worth remembering that social media is just another marketing tool. It sits alongside a whole raft of other channels that businesses use to communicate with their audiences.
And as with the other more ‘traditional’ marketing techniques, the key isn’t just doing them – it’s doing them right. Many businesses make the mistake of using social media platforms to communicate in an ad-hoc way without integrating them into the business’ overall marketing strategy. More >
Merry Christmas
Dec 20th
The team at SocialMediaMgr wishes you all a very merry Christmas with this fun video – have a laugh on us!
Seriously though… it has been an amazing journey over the last few months. We’ve welcomed two new members to the team, have launched Integrated Communications - a brand new division – and have a raft of exciting projects in the pipeline.
The world of Social Media continues to change and develop apace. Latest stats show that 70% of the global internet population are now using social media to connect with friends, family and businesses. The big social networks (Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter) are only going to gain more following in the next 12 months with brand awareness of Facebook now close to 100%.
The good news for businesses is that 50% of social media users are already connected to brands so the opportunity to connect, engage and interact with your customers is most definitely here and now.
Have a fun family holiday and we look forward to working with you in 2012!
The BLOG – the HUB of Social Media
Sep 22nd
The Blog is the Hub of a businesses’ communication and social media activity.
It is the space that you own (as opposed to 3rd party sites like Facebook) and that you can use to discuss anything related to your industry or of interest to your audience. In essence it is an online community.
“Blog” is still a relatively new concept in the business world of NZ. In fact 46% of major websites in NZ do not have a Blog on their website, despite the majority of them using them Facebook and Twitter as a marketing tool[1].
Where social media platforms can drive traffic to your website, the blog and its contents will keep them there and keep them coming back for more.
By building a Blog into your marketing strategy you will benefit from:
- Search engines like Google like fresh content and will reward your site with a high search ranking (especially if you use your keywords and post tags correctly)
- You can publish your own Content, when you wish and as you wish
- Your content is archived and always there (unlike a published article in print)
- The reader can interact directly with you by leaving comments and sharing the article on their networks
- Visitors can subscribe to your blog – and you will own that database More >
Always Connected
Sep 7th
Here is an interesting infographic that highlights how people are always “connected” these days.
We are all relying more and more on our phones for more than just chatting – for information, accessing the web, checking up on our social connections, keeping in touch.
This is a humorous take on our reliance on connectivity, but on the serious side, it’s more than a Trend of the younger generation but a Reality that impacts on how we do business today. To ignore it would be foolish.
View the full infographic created by Online Schools here… More >
Taking Your Networking Online
Jul 23rd
Social Media… Online Marketing… Facebook Marketing… Online Networking….
We are reading about it everywhere
Everyone is talking about it
Buzz words abound… connecting, engaging, interacting, Like, Fan, comment, Sharing, Posting, Viral …
This is new vocabulary to the local business person.
The world is changing and Yikes, how do we keep up?!
Stop, take a breath, “smell the roses” and let’s put this into perspective…
At the end of the day, business is about people and networking with people is what helps you personally and in business. In the words of Rebecca Morris from Paradigm Shift “Character trumps Credentials every time… making it imperative to have the balance right in the online world”
So, yes we all know we have to get online with our business, but we can’t just do this and then sit back and hide behind our computer screens. We also can’t just stay-still in this ever-changing world.
We have all heard the benefits of online social marketing…
- Grow your brand awareness
- Connect with your customers
- Expand your networks
- Increase your search engine rankings
- Sell more,
- etc,
There are many, many tools with which to do this.
Ultimately, this is what you need – here are the 7 key steps: More >
Facebook Facial Recognition
Jun 25th
Facebook Privacy is in the news again – this time with a new “feature” called Facial Recognition.
A couple of months ago I wrote a blog post on Facebook Privacy Settings as I felt strongly about the fact that many people still did not understand the settings, or know how to fully protect their privacy, or even why they should.
I regularly meet with small business owners who are willing to explore the benefits of social media for business and embrace this new way of marketing online. I absolutely admire them them for stepping outside their normal means of interacting with their customers, however the biggest concern I regularly hear expressed, is about privacy, ie. the need to protect personal privacy and keep it separate from business.
So the first thing I do is ensure their Facebook Personal Profile privacy settings (and those of their family, particularly their children) are set appropriately.
Meanwhile, Facebook is ever-changing and there’s been some recent talk in the online space over the rolling out of the Tag Suggestions which effectively means that faces are being scanned with facial recognition software. More >
Social Media Revolution 2011
Jun 9th
Erik Qualman is the man behind the SocialNomics and the Social Revolution videos. The previous version with its great choice of music was one of 2010′s most videos on YouTube (it has over 2.8million views) and was shared by many as the defining source of statistics in the social media industry.
Qualman is the author of Socialnomics: how social media transforms the way we live and do business.
Today he released his new video – 2011 version. There are so many great statistics in this short 2 minute video and beyound. Here are my Top 10 that I consider very powerful and relevant.
- Social Media is about People
- Over 50% of the world’s population is under 30 years old
- 93% of marketers use social media for business
- Kindergartens are learning on iPads, not chalkboards
- A new member joins LinkedIn every second More >
Facebook Marketing – Give your Customers More
Jun 7th
I notice that many companies use Facebook regularly and are saying all the right things – “engaging” their customers with personable comments, providing them with information about what’s happening (“Come on in We’re Open”) – but this sort of marketing message doesn’t quite “cut it” anymore in today’s information overload/cluttered marketplace.
Here’s where they are missing out – they are treating Facebook as a standalone marketing communication channel. They are treating this social media channel as marketing only and missing the bigger picture…
Sound familiar? then consider this:
Integrate and Link
You have the opportunity to integrate your social media channels into your business by providing a link back to your website (or better still, your Blog) to entice the reader to click through, visit your website and maybe even “share” that content with their friends.
Provide additional helpful information
Once your reader arrives at your website, you provide them with more… interesting and helpful content.
Engage your Customer and Sell
The result of this is extra traffic to your website, but even more than that, an interactive visit, thereby engaging your customer and adding value. Ultimately this leads to trust and that potential customer is on track to become a true customer
.
MARKETING MESSAGES and lost opportunities
Outlined below are some common Facebook posts, the consumer behaviour that can incur, leading to a lost opportunity to drive traffic to your OWN website, remembering that you do not “own” or control the Facebook platform (case in point AirNZ’s recent hiccups with a Facebook-only promotion) : More >
