HOW TO RESPOND TO A NEGATIVE COMMENT ON SOCIAL MEDIA SITES

Due to the competitive nature of business, companies place an important emphasis on delivering good customer service. Putting one’s best foot forward will ensure good feedback from customers,however there may well be an occasion where a complaint is made on one of your social media sites. Please note this is rare, but the point is it can happen.

The question is can we avoid this and if not, how do we deal with this if and when it happens? One needs to be aware that people come in all shapes and sizes, with different levels of maturity, professionalism and tact.There is also truth is saying, since their complaint would be public, people could use this fact as leverage to grab the attention of the company.

In my experience,people don’t tend to complain on social media sites first. The norm is they resort to that if they have not had their problems addressed when previously calling or emailing the company. Hence it is vital that each business has a water-tight system in place to deal with any possible complaints in the most effective and timeous way.

So what do you do when you meet up with such a person on a social networking site? First of all, the golden rule is never to ignore someone who is complaining. Their complaint has to be attended to and acknowledged quickly and promptly.

Secondly, if you respond with equal negativity to negative comments, you risk being viewed as unprofessional. It is vital to maintain a high level of professionalism when you respond, so the best advice is not to react instantly. This will avoid your response being emotionally based and not thought-out. If you are a small business owner, remember that anything you "say" on the social web is a reflection of your brand and your reputation.

Good advice is to acknowledge their complaint, apologise, and simply ask for their contact details, promising them that they will be contacted right away. It is then vital that there is immediate follow-through done by phone or email to prevent further negative remarks.

Less serious negative comments, are best replied to politely with a positive angle. Be sure that to fuel a heated debate in public or show visible irritation by their comments. Hold yourself back! Run round the block or beat the pillow on the couch first-then reply as politely as possible with a positive angle!

In the rare situation, where the person is abusive they can be removed and blocked from having further access to your social media sites. This should be done only in extreme cases. It is up to your social media management team to use their discretion and if necessary this measure should be applied.

In closing Social Media is a valuable tool to use in building your reputation in a positive manner. Please remember dealing with a negative comment is a rare occurrence. I am hoping the tips above will be of help in building good customer relationships online and offline.

Blogging with Success!

We most certainly have reached a new age in our world due to the tremendous growth of internet users and modern technology. Research tells us that the number of people reading blogs is growing and not only that-it is influencing purchasing decisions amongst consumers. This creates a great opportunity for businesses as they can write about their products and services and successfully reach large numbers of readers. Today's question is no longer 'should you have a blog?' it is more 'how often should you be posting to your blog?'

Here are some ways that Blogging can assist your business :

• Blogging can assist you to build your list of contacts in your target market through people subscribing to your blog
• Your list of readers could become clients
• Can establish you as a thought leader in your industry
• Expands your online presence
• Makes your website more interesting as there is a flow of new information
• Increases internet traffic to your website as blogging is a constant flow of new keywords onto your website. 
   

Besides being creative with articles and providing news, Search Engine Optimisation is the biggest advantage by far of having a Business Blog. Here are some tips to maximise SEO on your blog articles :

• Page Titles : these are very important and can help you rank higher if worded with the correct keywords. Try to keep the Title short, relevant and keyword rich
• Don't forget to add in your location if your products and services are dependant on a certain geographical area
• Use relevant keywords throughout the body of your blog article.
• Don't forget to add in the post tags onto the article in the backend of your blog
• Use hyperlinks when adding in your contact email address to that you are easily contactable
• Use links within your blog article to specific pages on your website!

On a final note, remember to add a good visual to your article-this just enhances the general appearance and makes it more appealing. Add in our social media sharing buttons to each article as this assists readers to share your content with their contacts. In closing, allow for public comments as this will boost engagement with consumers.

Enjoy the journey....and get blogging for search engine success!

What tasks should I allocate per day on Social Media?

Social Media sites seem to be mushrooming up everywhere and their popularity seems to be ever growing. The key is content! Social media only works if there is a consistent flow of information to the sites-this we all know! Marketers seem to be more and more confused as to how much time and what to do on the various Social Media platforms.

It's our suggestion that you focus on between 3 and 5 key social media sites. Once you have these set up for you professionally and they are beautifully branded-then its time for lift-off! Spending a huge amount of time on these sites daily, however can be unproductive. It's so important to have a clear strategy set in place and to stick to it!

Here are some basic guidelines to what a good day on social media, covering the minimum essential and required work, should look like :

Twitter

• Pop in and visit twice a day!
• Tweet valuable content. It is of great benefit to be informative and seen as a valuable resource to your followers.
• ReTweet your Target Market to capture their attention
• Check your messages-dont risk being seen as impolite-answer and respond to those who took the time to talk to you.

Facebook

• Post your content (1-2 times daily)
• Photos, Video's and Informative Links always perform the best!
• Content can be playful and humour is welcomed. Dont hide who you are-it will be to your advantage to add a little personality. Stick to the rules though-good manners and good language.
• Respond and answer any comments on your posts.
• Engage with your Target Market by liking their posts and commenting.

Linkedin

• Ah..a little more serious! Share your professional content here!
• Good tip : Share the content to your Company Page-and then share it across from there to your personal profile-hence always linking back to your business ;-)
• Got PDF's? Linkedin accepts these on all Company Pages so post those there!
• Golden Rule : check your messages and respond!
• Found any spam?? Delete those!

Pinterest

• Post photos and images with the link to your Website to your Pin Board.
• Comment and thank those who have re-pinned your pics!
• Build relationships by re-pinning pics from your Target Market's boards.

Google+

• Dont neglect this site. Although it needs less management. Post Links, Video's and Informative content to the Company Page. Check your settings and make sure the right circles have access to your post visibility.

The general idea is to work smarter and not harder. Dont feel overwhelmed, stick to a clear strategy and time allocation for Social Media each day.

Twitter : The Value of Tweeting

Twitter is a way for people to connect with their interests. Besides the important networking function, many Twitter  users worldwide simply use Twitter as a curated news feed of updates that reflect their passions.

Here are some great examples of how people value this great Social Media site :

•  Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker): I use Twitter for the knowledge, the news, the humour, the sport, the ability to eavesdrop on the great and the good, and above all, for the nonsense.
• Fearne Cotton (@FearneCotton): Twitter is my brain spilled out in text, mates I don’t know, a great way of spying on people I love & a wonderful form of procrastination. 
• Vincent Kompany (@VincentKompany): Tweet and you shall be heard.. Tweet loud enough and you will move mountains... 
• Jameela Jamil (@JameelaJamil): Twitter gave me the voice that helped me break out of my pigeon hole. It also opened my eyes to how funny/troubled/scary people truly are 
• Richard Branson (@Richardbranson): To me, Twitter means a way to communicate with people in real-time, highlight good causes and - above all – have fun! 
• Sarah Millican (@Sarahmillican75): It's always there. A link to the world. To tell me which celebs have died or show me a video of a monkey on a pig. Friends & fans alike. 
• Tinie Tempah (@TinieTempah): Twitter is a way I express myself to everyone who supports me & my music. It's every kind of News. It's pointless & precious information 
• Gabby Logan (@Gabby_Logan): A conversation shop that never shuts. Virtual friends I will never meet & real friends I don’t see enough. Makes you think. 
• Richard Hammond (@richardhammond): On TV I can talk to millions at once but on Twitter I can talk to them one at a time. It's fascinating, infuriating, joyful and ridiculous

Generally speaking, social media networks us into a worldwide community, making the world a smaller place. It's a tool linking us together to hear each other's voices, experience news, products and services. On the whole a powerful marketing tool waiting to be discovered!

THE MAGIC AND THE POWER OF THE FACEBOOK 'LIKE' BUTTON

The effectiveness of the Facebook 'Like' button is not clearly understood by many. Facebook has a unique mechanism built into its operating system. Simply clicking on the 'Like' button generates tremendous exposure for the post that is clicked on.

In simple terms, if you click 'Like' on one of our 'Sapphire Dawn' posts the result will be the following:

Our Post then appears automatically on the Newsfeed (Home Page of Facebook) of ALL the people on your friend list who are online during the next few hours.

This is how any post can go viral :-)

Say for example, one of your Facebook fans clicks 'Like' on your Business Post. This person may have 100 friends. The result is that all 100 friends of this fan who are online over the next few hours will see your Business post on their Facebook Home Page.

If in turn a second person clicks 'Like' on the same post then all the friends on their friend list get exposure to the post on the Facebook Home Page. Basically, a simple click with the mouse is powerful stuff! Clicking 'Like' is an advertising tool and it is very effective.

If you are a Business owner, bear in mind that your click is effective support for your Business. The same goes for clicking on 'the posts of your colleagues' or 'the posts of businesses owned by your friends'. Mutual support goes along way in social media and will be appreciated by the Business owners who are your friends and therefore is a good tool to use when nurturing and building relationships on social media.

Want to get the word out there and spread the news of your Business? Use that powerful click from now on! 

Tips for Social Media Marketing on Twitter

In today's busy world people tend to have little spare time for relaxing and browsing content. With the tremendous growth in the use of smart phones and ipads more people have access to the internet on their way to work travelling or in their lunch breaks. Twitter is short, fast and informative and hence is ideal for all us in our busy world of today.

The following are some basic guidelines for using Twitter successfully for Business.

1) Professional Visual Branding

Make sure your graphics are professional. People will 'get a feel' and make a judgement about your business should your profile have poor graphics. Your logo should be readable, no unclear images or cut off words. Professionally branded graphics will market the corporate image of your company. As we all know, perception goes a long way!

2) Personal Photo versus Logo

This is a tough question, however the best advice for marketing purposes is to use a personal photo, possibly that of a Director/CEO of the company in conjunction with the company logo.

The square profile pic, where possible, should preferably be that of a person.

Research shows us that more people are willing to engage 'with a human being' as opposed to a 'brand'.

3) Description

A concise keyword rich description of what you do or what services and products your company offers. Please do not leave out your location as this assists with search results when people in your area are browsing Twitter. By being passionate or by adding a humour here will make you more personable! Remember if people relate to you or like you-they are more inclined to follow you!

4) Contact details

Dont leave out your Website, Blog or email. Either of these make you contactable!

Without them...you are not!

5) What to Tweet!

• Always tweet as if you are speaking to someone. You would never yell out your products/services or prices bluntly when starting a conversation. Grace, politeness and non-pushy sales goes along way to develop relationships of trust with your followers.
  
  
  You want to avoid this :
  

• Be informative, offer insight, add humour! Never vent and try to steer away from negativity at all times.

• Indirect sales is the way to go as opposed to direct selling. If you are in the property industry, for example you may want to tweet about positive news or beautiful homes in the area. An interesting tweet can lead your followers to your website.

According to research the following Tweets get more responses :

• Tweets with photos and pics
• Tweets with Links (preferably to your website or blog)
• Tweets with video links!

Be sure to include all 3 of these in your marketing strategy! The good news is photos dont have to be professionally taken, spontaneous pics with your smart phone work perfectly.

6) Magic hash tags!

You may be wondering what on earth these are! Put simply, they are put in front of whatever your keyword is in your tweet. Hash tags help the Twitter search engines to find your Tweet when people in your target market are looking for what your business is offering.

There are no minimum or maximum amounts of hash tags allowed per tweet. Advisable is to use one or 2 per tweet.

7) How to grow your Followers

Add your Twitter link to all employees' outgoing email signatures

Add your Twitter icon to our website. Make sure its clearly visable. If not-its not going to be of use!

If preferred, add a live Twitter box of your tweets to your Website.

Re-tweet those in your target market to encourage them to follow you. This will ensure they notice you!

Add your Twitter link to all Company Business Cards, Brochures and Fliers

8) Who should you follow or not!

• Avoid following those who dont have an uploaded photo. These could be bots or spammers.
• Avoid following those who do not tweet and possibly have a low following, unless they are a new account there could be good reason for why no one is following them.
• Are you following with a strategy in mind? Follow your Target Market. Its important to connect with the right people and tweet with them!
• One needs to use discretion, but in most cases unless you have a mutual referral system it does not make sense to follow your competitors.
• Follow those talking about your business! These people are interested in your company services and are more than likely potential or existing clients.

9) Basic Twitter Ethics

• Never ignore your followers when they mention you. Always reply promptly and politely
• Thank each person that Re-Tweets for you. Ignoring this simply means they wont do it again and you will lose followers
• Dont just tweet at people-Tweet with them! Engage in their conversations too!
• Do use 'ice breakers' in a friendly manner and include humour.
• Be helpful-offer insight and assistance by replying to their tweets. Make sure this is authentic and not just a sales pitch!
• Be more interested in your customers than in yourself. Your manner is vital as people have intuition and will get a feel about you if you are too self-important and not interested in them.
• Be mindful how you tweet. You just want to add value and have no agenda to“making the sale,” yet you’re strategic. Remember Twitter is Relationship Marketing!
• Avoid using DM (Direct Message) to your followers. Why would you want to hide on Twitter? Its designed to maximise exposure. Always Tweet to them publically instead.

• If you by chance you are not getting any RT's or mentions on Twitter-then change your content strategy! If you are-it means people are interested in your content so keep going!

• Messed up? Received a complaint? Apologise and be transparent when doing so. Do not ignore! Always address any complaint received.

10) Twitter Marketing ideas

Twitter can be a powerful tool to 'make your business go viral' A good technique to use is to have give-aways or competitions where you reward followers for Re-Tweeting your Tweet. The Twitter jargon for a 'Re-Tweet is known as an RT' An example could be : 'Angels Media team helps business go viral in London! RT this to win Spa voucher #Social Media'

Another fun idea is to get your followers to Tweet their own pics to you to win a prize. 'Gorgeous homes in the area #London#Property' could be a good example. Best pic sent wins a prize.

Twitter approved Logo

Twitter has recently approved the plain Twitter Bird as its sole approved logo allowed to be used in association with the Twitter Brand. Please make sure that this logo is used on your websites, email signature etc.

For any questions or inquiries please do not hesitate to contact Chanel with questions ;-) To email her click HERE

Why should your Business set up Social Media?

The Benefits of Social Media for Business

Social Media is the fastest growing industry for Marketing and Advertising in present day. Here are some key points for how it can benefit any business.

1) BRANDING

Having your various social media sites set up furthers your Brand. It is essential, where ever one has an online presence, to make sure it is done professionally with high resolution images, good content and contact/product/service information. Our highly trained team will gladly assist with this.

2) SEO

Social Media sites such as Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook, amongst others, are highly optimised websites in themselves. Hence, placing your business on these sites, simply assists in your ranking and in being found should people be searching for your products and services.

3) BUILDING YOUR LIST

Having us install your social media buttons to your website is a clever method of 'building your list' of potential customers for your business. The social media buttons are cleverly designed, where at one click the person becomes a reachable contact and no longer is an anonymous visitor to your website.

4) VIRAL

Our Web Design Team will install various sharing buttons on your website. Social Media sharing buttons enable all visitors to your website to 'with one click' share your content with their contacts.

5) NETWORKING

Our team of experts will network your social media site to other groups/pages/companies that are in your target market. New potential business contacts will result from networking.

6) BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS

Social Media is one of the most powerful tools to build good and trustworthy relationships with consumers or other businesses in your target market. Through online engagement and generating conversations/feedback, with these we can develop trust and increase credibility for your brand.

7) LEADS

Daily posting of content and engaging with your target market will generate leads for your business that you can pass onto your Sales Team.

8) TIME SAVING

Social Media work is time consuming work. Most companies have limited additional available time. We can gladly assist you with all your Social Media needs, leaving you to concentrate on other responsibilities you may have ;-)