Tag Archives: socialmediamarketing

Social Media in 2017: A guideline for entrepreneurs and small business owners

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Hello World!

Welcome back, once again, to my blog!

Carrying on from my previous post, I have decided to focus, again, on social media. BUT! This time we will be looking at the ways in which entrepreneurs, of all ages, and small business owners can use social media to the best of their advantage. #entrepreneursof2017

DISCLAIMER! These are my opinions only and are only meant as a useful guideline and not a How-to manual.

As of 2017, the amount of social media sites and apps as well as the use of them has increased. (image taken from http://www.smartinsights.com/social-media-marketing/social-media-strategy/new-global-social-media-research/)

This makes digital marketing one of the most popular forms of advertising as it is able to reach such large audiences. #everyoneandtheirmother

Apart from the “Discovery” tab of Snapchat, the sponsored ads of Instagram and the “Marketplace” of Facebook, entrepreneurs and small business can take advantage of the fact that creating pages on these sites or platforms is free.  When creating a business page (on any site) there are a few steps that need to be taken into consideration in order to get the ball rolling on your business;

  • Follow similar pages

If your business is in the fashion/ retail industry, companies like Vogue, Boohoo, Zara, Topshop etc. all have social media pages/ profiles as well as individual designers like Olivier Rousteing, Karl Lagerfeld etc. Following their pages will give you access to who they follow and allow you to keep up with current trends and possibly network with similar small businesses.

  • Hashtag! Hashtag! Hashtag!

I cannot STRESS enough just how important the hashtag in the 21st century. This sign # is effectively your key into the world of digital marketing. It allows you to find anything that has the same tag and, likewise, anyone can find your post/s if they search using the same tag as you. This means that people that weren’t even searching for your page could stumble across it and even become interested enough to follow you just by searching using the tag #england. Instagram is perfect for this as, by clicking on a tag, you are able to see more than one post at a time (all with visual aids! i.e. images and videos). “Instagram absolutely dominates when it comes to interactions per 1,000 followers” (Chaffey, 2017)http://www.smartinsights.com/social-media-marketing/social-media-strategy/new-global-social-media-research/.

  • Establish a customer base

Whether you are a student looking to make some extra money using your own skill set or graduate looking to get your business off the ground, social media can be used to help you build your customer base. However, in order to achieve larger coverage, you could also use word of mouth amongst your friends and social groups as well as creating some business cards and handing them out at events as a form of networking. (image taken from Instagram https://www.instagram.com/)

  • Advertise your business accounts on your social accounts

One might be private and the other public but the thing they have in common is YOU! The people that follow you socially might not know about your business and therefore you can attract more customers by posting updates about your business account on your social account.

  • Make use of YouTube!

If your business is fashion orientated, videos on YouTube showcasing your creative process or a catwalk of a model (could be one of your friends) wearing your clothes could help to boost traffic on all your social media platforms. Likewise, if you are a hairdresser or makeup artist, YouTube has proven to be the platform that beauty vloggers and bloggers get their start.

 

And that is pretty much it for today’s post – I hope some of you found it useful!

Here are some helpful links you:

11 Effective Ways to Use Social Media to Promote Your Content: http://www.curata.com/blog/11-effective-ways-to-use-social-media-to-promote-your-content/

The new hybrid element of the promotion mix: http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar_url?url=https://www.researchgate.net/profile/David_Faulds/publication/222415599_Social_media_The_new_hybrid_element_of_the_promotion_mix/links/00463532845a0100af000000.pdf&hl=en&sa=X&scisig=AAGBfm3TF1REnm-30akDzmkHnRjwJS8ThQ&nossl=1&oi=scholarr&ved=0ahUKEwi05_vQpanTAhVqI8AKHbzUCUgQgAMILygCMAA

Users unite!: http://michaelhaenlein.com/Publications/Kaplan,%20Andreas%20-%20Users%20of%20the%20world,%20unite.pdf

 

Till next time! x

Benefits and Risks of Advertising Using Social Media

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Hello World!

Welcome back to my blog!

Today’s post is going to be about the possible benefits and risks that accompany advertising on social media. You might be thinking, “Risks? What risks could there possibly be? Its free advertising!”. Trust me – there are quite a few.  But first! Let us take a look at the many advantages to using social media platforms to promote your business #advertisingin2017:

  • Most of them are free!

Creating a profile for your business and posting on your page daily is quick and easy to do; especially on sites such as Instagram and Twitter. The same can be said for Facebook however there is also the option to pay for advertising on Facebook and ‘sponsored’ Instagram videos (as these can be videos that appear on anyone’s timeline that Instagram thinks will find your page relevant to them – even if they do not ‘follow’ your profile or page). There is, however, an Instagram help page that gives you instructions on how to create these ads and you can find the link to it right here – https://help.instagram.com/537518769659039

  • Exposes your brand to bigger audiences

In addition to Facebook, Twitter has 313 million monthly active users, Instagram has 500 million, and Pinterest has about 1110 million. Although you don’t need to utilize every single platform, creating accounts on just one or two can give you exposure to millions of people around the world (WebpageFX, 2017). The ‘reach’ of the content that you post on your social media page can be demonstrated by looking at the Social Media Integration Theory Model as it shows how content can be shared virally through connections (Social Media Today, 2017).

You will not be the only one using social media to advertise! It gives you access to see how businesses similar to yours create and manage their online presence. As well as this, you use the platform to gain info on your customers and see how they feel about your business and what comments they make.

  • Encourages sharing

If the customers like your product and brand, they will be encouraged to ‘share’ your business profile or page to either privately to their friends or publicly on their timeline so that everyone can see their post.

  • You can deliver improved customer service and respond effectively to feedback

If a customer tweets about a problem with your product or service, you can do ‘damage control’ and respond with ways to improve. This will help show that your business cares about the opinion of customer and provides a personalised touch.

  • It helps to create brand loyalty

In addition to increasing the reach of your brand, social media also allows you to increase brand loyalty. And a study conducted by The Social Habit shows that 53% of Americans who follow brands on social media are more likely to remain loyal to those brands. (WebpageFX, 2017). Through social media you are able to communicate with your customers and vice versa. This allows you to build meaningful relationships with current and potential customers. This makes them more comfortable with your business and it encourages them to stick with your brand in the future.

 

This all sounds good but, “With great power comes great responsibility” – Uncle Ben (Spiderman)

 

Some of the risks that accompany this form of advertising are as follows:

  • You might need to hire someone to monitor your online presence

As coming up with posts and witty comments that engage with the public can take time, some businesses have to hire a person or people to create a team in charge of social media and this can be costly as you will have to pay these new employees. 

  • Users on these sites are free to post comments

And not all of these will be positive. Customers can post negative comments about products or services provided and this could damage the reputation of the business

  • Potential for embarrassment

It’s easy to get caught up in social media and post whatever comes to mind, which can have huge consequences for any business. Take, for example, when DiGiorno Pizza noticed that “#WhyIStayed” was trending on Twitter, and jumped on board with a tweet that read “#WhyIStayed You had pizza.” This doesn’t sound awful until you consider that the hashtag was being used to discuss why victims of domestic violence stay in abusive relationships. For companies with a large audience, mistakes like this don’t go unnoticed. Thanks to social media users’ quick reactions and tendency to share, the tweet was all over major media outlets within hours (WebpageFX, 2017).

  • Once on the internet, forever on the internet

As stated in the risk above, mistakes don’t go unnoticed for companies with big audiences and once it’s out there…

  • Social media accounts can be hacked!

 

I have only outlined SOME of the benefits and risks of advertising on social media but hopefully it provided some useful insight into this new age of advertising to all you young entrepreneurs out there!

Also, check out this useful blog that provides a How-to guide on how to start advertising on various social media platforms https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-advertising/

Till next time! x

 

 

 

References

Social Media Today (2017) Social Media Integration Theory Model [Online] < http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/social-media-integration-theory-model> [accessed Feb 2017]

WebpageFX (2017) Internet Marketing: The Advantages and Disadvantages of Social Media Marketing [Online] < http://www.webpagefx.com/internet-marketing/social-media-marketing-advantages-and-disadvantages.html> [accessed Feb 2017]