Social Media, a powerful new communication resource for Businesses

With rapid advances in modern technology, the question arises, should we email, call or text our clients or we should advance into the unknown waters of social media? With various communication innovations at our disposal, there is a need to research and weigh up the advantages and disadvantages carefully before incorporating them into your marketing plan and implementing them effectively. This is relevant whether building strategies to reach potential customers or simply increasing your brand awareness to consumers.

Google, the search engine monster, does however dictate what works and what does not. To become a top business in your location, the principal ingredient is whether future customers  can FIND your business. Digital marketing tools are essential; however they don’t replace the basic human need for personal interaction. To check on your progress, simply ‘Google’ your business, and take a look at the search results.

If you would like to dominate search engines in your local town or geographical area, you need to have multiple listings present on the internet. These include having your business listed on existing high ranking sites such as popular publications, directories, Facebook , Twitter  and Google Plus The latter being an absolute must and a necessity for anyone that is serious about their ranking and online presence on the internet.

Furthermore, social media is a vital customer connection tool and can help you inspire and connect with your audience. It provides customers with an alternative to calling you - messaging  via social media tends to be a time saver for them. By getting in front of your customers, the various social media platforms are a medium for you to provide value to your audience, and are ultimately an opportunity to turn your customers into your best brand evangelists. They will in turn use social media to share your content and recommend your services to their networks.

In closing, be sure to get professional advice or assistance when launching your social media. Online marketing has to be strategic and target market-specific in order to be successful. The buzz word today is digital. Don't make a critical mistake and continue using outdated marketing techniques. Be sure to keep up with the times and not be left behind. Help needed? Click here to contact us

New Strategy needed for Online Marketing in 2014

Welcome to a new year to all our readers and may 2014 be filled with new strategy, new goals and many new accomplishments!

Its always great to start a new chapter. Starting a new year is a great opportunity for us to review the past year and to build from here. Its important to look back and as I call it 'clip and trim' the hedges! Cut away what didn’t work too well to prevent falling into the trap of repeating old patterns, and then brainstorm with your in-house team how to develop more effective patterns.

Brainstorm, summarize, focus and implement! With exciting new developments as Google launches the new Hummingbird all companies need to adjust their online strategy to keep up with important changes. Search engine optimisation is going to be focusing on what they call contextual conversations taking place online. Social Media conversations will now more than ever impact your optimisation. If they are not present or you don’t yet have the various main social media sites set up, your ranking on Google will decline quickly. It's now more important than ever, not only to have your sites in tact and professionally branded, but to have a consistent good flow of daily content that generates engagement and conversations online. Blogging is no longer an option, its essential.

What I often ask my clients is to simply Google themselves and see what comes up in search results. If there is little content popping up when you Google your business name, it simply means work needs to be done online to boost your results in searches. 

One of the main search engine boosting technique is that of pumping out fresh content that is keyword rich via blog articles. Secondly, review your social media. Is there daily fresh content and do those sites show engagement such as 'likes, shares, re-tweets, comments' etc. If not, time to review and to raise the bar as far as quality and consistency is concerned. I like to say 'content is king' and engagement is definitely queen ;-) Make sure the royal house is in order and both are present!

To summarise, set new goals, review past strategies, if needed turn, the wheel and implement new ideas and actions. Help needed? Please ask, am very happy to advise or assist and can be contacted by clicking HERE  

If you're not sure on whether your online marketing strategies are up to scratch, I am offering a free analysis and report to all our readers for the month of January and February. Am waiting to hear from our readers out there! Wishing you each a wonderful and very successful new year.