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Blog

Do I need Facebook for my business? It depends.

October 4, 2015 • By

Seems that everybody is on Facebook today. Both businesses and individual feel a little bit of peer pressure to be on social media all the time. It’s easy to think, “If everyone’s doing it so should I?”

If you went for a quick spin on the internet you might notice that currently a lot of businesses don’t have a Facebook page. Moreover, a lot os small and medium-sized business do, but don’t do much with it.

With that in mind: here’s our take — Probably one of the worst things for your business is to have a social media account an not use it. This is especially important for small businesses to recognize. Whether you are the local realtor, a delicatessen, or a retail shop in your market the worst thing you can do is ignore it and let cobwebs grow.

For example, if your last post was six months ago, chances are some of your potential customers will think you are no longer in business. Moreover, if you don’t post regularly on you FB timeline, your firm’s LinkedIn profile or on your Twitter account, these social media tools lose there effectiveness.

One of the great things about Facebook is that it is a tool that is both visual and content-rich. Some of the best social brands in the world –brands such as Shake Shack, Urban Outfitters and Oreo — use social media to build their brand by regularly interacting with people.

What we in social media like to call engagement is the constant and effort of a company or person on social media to post messages, pictures, video and written content consistently in a way that not only gets noticed, but compels others to respond. Better yet, Facebook provides an excellent platform from which your company can announce new products and services, sales, the acquisition of new employees and other news about you in a meaningful yet social way.

Surely, if your business is suited for Facebook their are many out there (like us!) who can do both the creative messaging and the grunt work for you.

But if FB just ain’t your bag, there are other ways to engage your audience with social media. Want just a little advice of a free consultation? Let’s talk.


Blog

I’m not a writer. Do I need a blog for my biz?

October 4, 2015 • By

Writing isn’t everyone’s thing. Some of us don’t have time to sit down and write. Others of us who are busy just doing life couldn’t be bothered to find the time to write. If you dislike writing and loathe the idea of putting aside even an half hour to write you’re not alone.

In fact, some of the world’s most famous and successful writers didn’t really like the process of writing. Even literary giants like James Joyce, Kurt Vonnegut and Virginia Woolf spoke of writing as something more of a chore than an adventure. Others, like Jaws author Peter Benchley, dreaded the anxiety that writing conjured up.

Business owners and entrepreneurs know that a digital presence is essential in todays world. That usually means a good website, some social media accounts, and most often some some of regularly broadcast content, such as a blog.

Why have a blog?

Most social media firms and ad agencies will tell you that having a blog on your company’s website is both important and helpful to your business. For example, Forbes magazine put out an article recently that details a couple of reasons you should have a blog attached to your business website. A few of these points stick out:

  1. Increasing SEO traffic. Not will you pop up in search engines. Existing blog pages build links from the web to you in a way that improves the performance of your website overall. Blogs = more bang for your buck.
  2. Humanizing your brand. Every business sells stuff. A weekly post starts a conversation with those interested in your business, but also can tell a story about who you are, creating a face-to-name kind of familiarity, reeling new customers.
  3. Building authority in your industry. Chances are you are pretty good at what you do. That’s why you’re in the biz you’re in. Posting periodic updates will position you as an expert to curious minds —  millions of them out there in Internet Land.

Cutting deeper, Social Media Today writes that blogging matters, for one, because Google said so:

“Google put an emphasis on keywords—which words that you were using to market your business and how often those words appeared on your website. As technology has evolved, Google (uses) advanced formulas that determine how frequently you post and update your website. … There is not a better way to add relevant content to your website on a regular basis than to utilize a blog.”

In short, blogging or adding something regular to your business website gets you recognized. Here’s another way to look at it.

Imagine you’re in a large bookstore like Barnes & Noble. There are books on tables by the front door, and books stuffed deep into far off shelves in the back of the store. Regularly updated content puts you, digitally speaking, right by the front door.

But I don’t like writing!

OK, you still hate writing. Or, you’re too busy. We got that.

Well, lucky for you there are people who do like to write and can put together written content on any subject, no matter what the industry sector, topic, or audience you need to reach. And believe it or not, it’s not that expensive.

For as little as $100 per month Shameless Social can update your website blog or news page with top quality written content. It’s all up to you what you want to say. We’d be glad to help.

 


Blog

Planning ahead: What’s a social media calendar?

October 4, 2015 • By

Nothing happens in business without a little bit of planning. Inventory, billing, payroll, filing taxes, and more all require planning. And, when it comes to planning your social media is no different.

A simple tool that many pros use for planning  social media is called the social media calendar. A social media calendar can be as simple as a spreadsheet as well as part of a comprehensive social media software suite. What a social media calendar allows you to do is plan  — a week, a month, or even a season at a time– ahead, so that you and your business not only will have a steady stream of meaningful marketing content but also content that is relevant to upcoming events.

Foreshadowing the future for customers
A lot of businesses have busy and slow periods. Other, more cyclical businesses depend on seasons or for cultivating sales. Take retailers for example. Retailers both big and small crater to customers needs throughout the year. At the same time, sales promotion efforts are often based seasonal needs as well as the next upcoming holiday. Each month provides an opportunity.

Moreover, it’s not just Christmas and the winter holidays that have retailers and their suppliers preparing. According to the National Retail Federation holidays like Halloween and the 4th of July are just as much worth planning as St. Patrick’s Day is for your local Irish pub.  By using a social media calendar to plan, you can plot out your every move on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or whatever channel you refer to use. In doing so, you give your customers a heads-up on every sale, every product or service you offer and more. The obvious question is what exactly do you post, pin, tweet or promote to your audience, and when?

Curating a conversation
One thing you might have heard a little bit about in the social media press is “curating” or the “curation of content” . What does that mean exactly?

Take a look at your favorite brands on social media. A lot of times you will them post news articles, blogs, and other content relevant to what they do. For example, a realtor such as The Nimick Team at Keller Williams (photo below) might post articles relevant to the interests of home buyers. Mixed in with articles about topics such as mortgage rates, new home prices or even how to decorate, a real estate business can start a conversation and keep it going —  stoking the interests of prospective buyers and curious social media users.

 

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Keeping the conversation going is an essential for realtors.

 

The best part about curating content is that in this day and age everything is sharable. By adding news stories and compelling photos and video to your company’s Facebook timeline you create reasons for your audience keep connected. Furthermore, consistent conversation keeps you –the expert in your respective market– in mind as much as possible.

 

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Curated content should be informative, as well as fun and engaging. 

Simple promotion, planning
Small and medium-sizes businesses (SMBs), depending on the industry and social audience, might need only to post once or twice a day on a Facebook. On a larger scale, big box retailers with millions of followers, like Target or Home Depot, tend to schedule posts every hour. Posts might consist of a mix of sales promotions, announcements, product reviews or even coupons, all crafted with compelling pictures, videos and graphics that are put together by an internal marketing department or a big ad agency. Meanwhile, news outlets like Rolling Stone or MTV also post hourly, curating a mix of their own entertainment news along with posts from other news outlets dabbling in the pop culture world.

 

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Social media calendars can be done simply and inexpensively. 

Hiring an expert, inexpensively

Whatever your scale, style, or the size of your customer audience, social media allows you to toot your own horn while talking directly with current and potential customers in a language they understand. The social media calendar, whether managed by a hired gun or by you yourself, is a powerful way to assemble your marketing messages in an organized, meaningful manner.

In bringing up the social media calendar, Shameless Social isn’t aiming to give you a homework assignment, or yet one more darn thing to do.

We know that business owners are busy. And, just like you hire an accountant to do book keeping or taxes, or use ADP to handle your payroll, rest assured there are professionals out there like us that can handle your social so that you can focus on what you do best.

Better yet, great social media marketing is probably much less expensive than you think. Tap our expertise. We’ll come up with a valuable, cost-effective plan to make your social media work.