Spotlight
Use Locally - Issue 6, October 2013
SOCIAL MEDIA..........YOUR STRATEGY FOR SUCCESS Do you facebook for pleasure? Do you facebook for business? How much of your marketing mix is wasted money? Are you already leafleting, networking or telemarketing? Where do you find new business and how do you consolidate current clients?
facebook, and if you aren’t connecting with them then you are missing out on vital customer relationship opportunities. Even complaints can be a useful exercise, clients are more likely to deal with a company that handles its problems well than one that ignores them.
Social media is another way of your clients finding you, and is often powerful as it’s considered a personal recommendation. Have you ever facebooked, “Help! need a plumber urgently”, and did you get an answer?
Attracting new clients and ensuring current clients remain is surely the highest priority of any business. It therefore stands to reason that all effective methods of reaching out to clients need to be explored and managed. (cont on pg 10)
So how can a business harness the huge beast that is the internet and social media? Well, before setting up accounts on all the social networks, Naomi Johnson of Purrfectly Social (so named as she also breeds, shows and judges cats) recommends taking time to research what suits your business best. If you are a recruitment consultant, then Linked In – a network of professionals – may be your thing, or if you are a personal trainer, you could find your clients are active on Facebook. It’s better to have fewer accounts that are well run than have a less professional status on many different sites. Did you know that 50% of the UK population now have personal FB accounts?, This means that almost every business has current clients using
Use Locally - Connecting business all over the NG24 Postcode Areas. 8
Log on to our website: www.uselocally.co.uk
Use Locally - Issue 6, October 2013
“Social Media... your strategy for success.”
• Social Media Training Have you set up accounts on multiple social media • Mentoring sites because everyone else • Full Service Social has done it, but your results Media Management to date are disappointing? • Effective Email Do you feel totally Marketing overwhelmed and • Blogging • Website Optimisation disillusioned by the whole social media scene?
You need social media training from a specialist.
naomi@purrfectlysocial.co.uk www.purrfectlysocial.co.uk 01777 249075 Aurora The Tax Planners Mobile 07917 356356 Twitter: Sue_TaxGuru
Please mention Use Locally when replying to adverts
9
Spotlight
Use Locally - Issue 6, October 2013
(Cont...) Maximising and managing productive time is taught at the Purrfectly Social training sessions, either on a 1:1 basis or as a group. Simply turning off alerts is a useful tool to prevent those untimely distractions. Crossover from personal to business accounts is another issue of concern, thank goodness for the delete button!, However they can be kept separate. As a rule of thumb, Naomi advises “ Don’t post anything you wouldn’t want your mother to see on the front page of the local magazine!” So you’ve got to grips with facebook.......... what next? The other 5 major networks, Twitter, FB, Google+, Pinterest, You Tube and Linked In are what next.... Twitter is very fast moving, very current and up to date, and can be alive with information even before it’s reported on the news, It’s impossible to keep up with all the Tweets on your feed, but hey, newsflash! Naomi says, don’t even try. Twitter is an incredibly powerful tool, and can be focused and targeted to your potential clients. What sets it apart is that you can speak to anyone via Twitter, not just your friend list. I can see you thinking that all this social media takes time, and you are right, however its not just an issue of time managemen. A business needs a social media strategy and that’s where Purrfectly Social comes into its own. Naomi was networking online before “social media” as we know it, came into being! She started off linking up with like minded cat people, searching forums for other cat lovers, breeders and judges, and this developed into a business opportunity as friends and other cat breeders began asking for advice as to how
10
to manage their online forums and presence. Using her passion for cats, Naomi was able to develop a hobby into a full time business. It’s a far cry from the biochemistry degree that Naomi made use of while working in the NHS for many years! So how to stay on top of the game? The internet is an ever changing and evolving environment, so it requires innovative strategies and not just keeping up with the technology and latest vogue, but being part of it. This is where Purrfectly Social steps in with feline grace.....Naomi will either train and mentor you through managing your own social networking strategy, or run and manage it on your behalf. Through consultation with Purrfectly Social, a business can find its way through this maze, and harness a valuable tool in the marketing mix. Purrfectly Social works with all levels of client from the start up SME to larger companies. This is one of its strengths as courses and plans can be adapted to a client’s needs, and fees are flexible from as little as £75 per month, right up to a full social media package. “ I recently attended a social media workshop that was hosted by Naomi and found it very useful and informative. Naomi is very knowledgeable in this area and did a great job of keeping the workshop flowing despite the differences in levels of knowledge of the participants. I would certainly recommend anyone wanting to improve their knowledge and use of social media to attend a course.” Marina Johnson, Balfour Beatty. One thing’s for sure, social media is here to stay and is fast becoming an essential part of the marketing toolkit. Contact Naomi Johnson at Purrfectly Social for further information, coffee and a chat. 01777 249075
To advertise contact us: 01529 469 526 / 07527 006737