Are you utilising social media marketing to promote your business?

Applications such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogging etc., are making it easier for businesses to build relationships with potential clients. Plus their marketing can how reach parts that traditional marketing simply couldn’t reach.

But blindly interacting through these applications without monitoring them is a bit like driving a Ferrari blind folded – your message is getting out there quickly but you could be about to hit a brick wall any second.

Once upon a time the only way you found out about a problem with your business was when you either received a letter of complaint or suddenly lost customers. By that time it was often too late to do anything about it. But with the advent of social media marketing you can now jump on problems and solve them before they get out of hand.

So why is monitoring a good idea?

• You can measure your effectiveness
• Find out what people are saying about you and your business
• Identify problems/opportunities and react quickly
• Discover who are the leaders in your industry and what they are saying

How to monitor what people are saying about you

I use two methods to find out what people are saying about me online.

Google Alerts

This is a great tool to find out what people are saying about you on the web. You can easily set these up to monitor any phrase – I use one on my name (Sally Ormond) and another on my business name (Briar Copywriting).

By simply completing the fields above, Google alerts will email you whenever your search terms are found on  the web. This is a brilliant way to find out who is talking about you and what they are saying. Then, should anything be derogatory, you can act immediately and make a potentially bad situation good.

Social Mention

Social mention offers you real time social media search and analysis. It’s a bit like Google Alerts but for social media. Basically if anyone mentions your sepcified search term within social media, you’ll receive an email alert. This will help you measure the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns, alert you to any comments being made about your brand or company or even about you.

Again, Social Mention is very easy to set up. Just complete the fields with the information you want to monitor and create your alerts.

Why do you need to know this?

If you are going to use social media marketing to boost your business, it pays to keep one eye open. Numerous large companies are utilising applications such as Twitter to find out what people are saying about them and their brand. As soon as someone uses twitter, forums, blogs etc to tell the world about the problem they have encountered, the company is alerted and can act immediately.

This proactiveness is what will make you stand out from the crowd and show your customers you really do care.

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Many companies are now beginning to find their feet with social media. They’re getting their heads around tweeting, Facebook. Google Wave and all the other weird and wonderful platforms out there. They are discovering which social media platform to use, they just don’t know how.

But for many, finding customers is still a big issue. Until they can qualify their time spent tweeting etc., with an increase in business they remain sceptical about its uses in the business world.

The key thing to remember is that just because you are using social media doesn’t mean customers will come flooding to your door. It doesn’t work like that. As a business you have to follow customers across the social web.

I came across a blog post the other day that will help you achieve this. Convince and Convert’s “4 Detective tricks to find your customer in social media” will help you understand how to use social media as part of your business.

Sally Ormond - freelance copywriter

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Social media marketing has revolutionised the way businesses interact with their customers.

In the good old days, new clients were found through cold calling, leaflet drops and word of mouth.

Today, you can use Twitter, blogs, Facebook, Google Wave and all manner of Web 2 properties to engage with your audience and win new customers. But all that social media activity can take over your time if you let it.

One of the biggest reasons some businesses don’t use social media is time. Granted, if you’re not organised you can waste an inordinate amount of time Tweeting and blogging. But, if you are disciplined, you can gain great results.

Make social media work for you

If you want to get the best out of social media, you must be strict with yourself and follow these simple rules.

1. It’s not your full time job

It is true that for social media to be effective you must do it regularly. This is because it is all about building relationships with people. The more you talk and engage with them, the more they will grow to trust you. But, never lose sight of the fact that this isn’t your full time job.

Social media is an enhancement to your marketing arsenal. Build it into your weekly work schedule and set aside a specific time for it. Getting into a routine like that will help you keep it under control.

2. Set a time limit

The most addictive and time consuming of all social media is Twitter. It is very easy to trawl through your followers’ tweets – and once you get engrossed in the stream, you may never find your way out again.

If you are going to tweet, make sure you specify a certain amount of time to it and don’t go over it. You can also automate tweets or funnel your blog RSS feed into your Twitter account so you are contributing to the Twitter world without actually being there.

3. Set goals

If you are going to utilise social media as a marketing tool, you must ensure you have specific goals in mind. If you know what you want to get out of it, you’re more likely to achieve results and you will be more likely to use it in a constructive way.

Every blog post and article that you write should have a purpose. They will be used to attract a certain audience, increase traffic to your website or boost your exposure as an expert in your field.

4. Prioritise

The key thing to remember is that your social media activities are secondary. Your primary aims should be your daily work. Therefore as a freelance copywriter my primary aim is to complete the website copywriting project,, brochure, case study or email for my client. Social media is my secondary objective so only when my primary goals have been completed do I make time for blogging, article writing and Twitter.

When using social media marketing always keep an eye on your results. Much of what you do will be measurable so make sure you check the effectiveness of all that you do.

The main thing is that you enjoy social media – it’s about engaging with people, talking to them and sharing information. It is the perfect way to display the human side of your business.

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There are millions of Twitter users out there, but how many of them are using it effectively?

How about you? Do you tweet, and if so, how do you tweet?

How do you get from being a solo tweeter, to a tweeter with a constantly growing number of followers?

Twitter = Conversation

That’s it really. Twitter is all about starting a conversation. It’s not about gathering as many followers as possible in the shortest time. It’s not about sending out constant sales messages.

What is it is about, is talking to people and engaging with them.

As a copywriter I use Twitter a lot and have put together a list of the top ten ways you can engage with people and become seen as an interesting person to follow.

1. Tips and facts

Don’t just send out a constant stream of 140 character adverts for your business. If you do, people won’t follow you.

Give out tips and facts that you think others will find useful. If you’re browsing the web and come across an interesting article, tweet about it and include the link.

2. Retweet and acknowledge

If someone you follow says something interesting or tweets a link you like, retweet it and add your own comment.

3. #FF

The Follow Friday hash tag has been around for a while but it’s still very useful. If you like someone #FF them. If people you follow have #FF someone, take a look at their profile and if you like what you read, follow them.

4. Respond

Always take the time to respond to tweets. Engaging and starting a conversation can lead to friendships or even a new client! If you can help with advice, give it – be generous with your knowledge.

5. Talk about a subject

If someone sends out a tweet about a subject you’re interested in, reply to them. Generate a conversation and encourage others to join in.

6. Introduce yourself

When you get a new follower, introduce yourself to them. You can set automatic responders to new followers but there’s no substitute for the human touch.

7. Pick their brains

Twitter is a gold mine of information just waiting to be tapped. If you have a problem ask for their help. You’ll be amazed at the response you get.

8. Say thank you

Such a simple thing to do and very effective. If someone retweets you or answers your plea for help, say thank you.

9. Ask a question

This is the best way to stimulate a conversation. Ask for opinions and respond to those who tweet back. After all, what’s the point in asking a question if you can’t be bothered to continue the conversation?

10. Put people in touch

If you are following someone who you know will be of interest to others, make an introduction. This way you’ll add value to your network and show yourself as a considerate tweeter.

Twitter can be such a powerful tool, everyone should be using it. Many people still ‘don’t get it’ but that could be down to their not using it properly.

Tweet about what you’re doing, feed your blogs into Twitter, talk about interesting facts, link to fascinating information and start a conversation.

Twitter helps you bring a human touch to your business, so use it.

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Social media marketing is something that every business should be doing. It doesn’t matter what size you are – SME or a large multinational – social media is the way to promote your business.

But it’s not just about PR, social media is also an effective way to monitor your brand and improve your customer service.

So why aren’t you out there doing it?

My time is precious

Although social media marketing isn’t expensive in the traditional sense – you don’t need to invest in large quantities of hardware or software – it is a drain on your time resources.

“I can’t afford to spend that amount of time playing with social media.”

That is the attitude of many businesses. But can you really call it ‘playing’ when you weight up the benefits it will bring your business?

How many other things offer you:

• Unlimited PR opportunities
• Direct contact with your customers to gain insightful feedback
• A way to constantly monitor your brand
• The opportunity to respond to negative feedback in an instant
• The chance to ‘talk’ directly with your customers at any time

But if you still think you don’t have the time to adopt or develop a social media marketing strategy, just think about how life in the office has changed over the years.

Once upon a time people could only phone you at the office, now they can get hold of you anytime thanks to mobile phones. At one time you would find yourself wading through a pile of mail every morning and dealing with all your clients via post. Then came along that new-fangled thing called email – now, you can’t function without it.

Social media marketing is simply the next stage in the communication development.

Embrace it and win

Learn to make time and your business will benefit hugely from this new technology – listen to me, ‘new technology’ – it’s hardly new anymore so why aren’t you doing it?

Work out what you need to do within your company. Which is going to be best for you? Blogging, Twitter, Facebook, article marketing? Probably a mixture.

Then plan who will be dealing with this. This is your opportunity to talk directly to your customers. And remember, the responsibility for your social media marketing strategy doesn’t have to fall solely on one pair of shoulders.

Although you may want just one person dealing with your Twitter account (continuity of voice helps to generate a strong bond with followers and potential clients), there is no reason why you can’t share the blogging responsibilities.

Many companies are tempted to ‘farm out’ this kind of work. As a copywriter I would be happy to help you, but remember that blogging is your opportunity to get your opinions out to your readers. You are trying to build a relationship with them, so using someone outside your company may make this difficult.

By all means use guest bloggers as this can often bring in fresh ideas which you could use to further develop your blog.

There are a huge number of posts out there about using social media, probably telling you similar things to this one. So why are you still ignoring them?

Don’t get left behind. Your competitors are using social media to keep ahead of the game – they know what their customers want (and don’t want) before you do, they know if there is any negative feedback about their business and can deal with it before you know about it. By using social media they will remain one step ahead of you so isn’t it about time you took the initiative to redress the balance.

Social media marketing will help you stay one step ahead of the game or at least remain on a par.

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What’s right for you?

A little while ago I wrote post about whether Facebook can help your business.

I set up my own fan page for my business as a freelance copywriter and I have to say that the jury is still out at the moment.

But whether Facebook is right for your business or not, you have to consider the best way to represent yourself.

Page or group?

With Facebook you have the option to set up a Page or a Group. But how do you know which is going to be right for you and your business?

A great place to start looking is this post I came across on Mashable – Facebook Pages Vs Facebook Groups: What’s the difference?

Howard Greenstein discusses the differences between pages and groups and their advantages and disadvantages to help you decide which road you should go down.

As with any social media marketing tool, Facebook will suit some businesses more than others. But the only real way to know whether it will work for you, is by trying it out.

Give it a go and let us know how you get on.

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Are you embracing the world of internet marketing?

It is one of the fastest ways to get your products and services out in front of your customers. But it also comes with a health warning:

It is powerful, it is wide reaching but it takes time, patience and a damn good writer.

Internet marketing and social media are incredibly powerful tools. Recently I have a talk about how I’ve used the power of social media to build my business. However I don’t profess to be an expert – I don’t think anyone can. It is a field that is constantly changing. Just as you think you’ve got a handle on it, something new is thrown into the mix.

But that doesn’t mean to say you shouldn’t use it within your business. In fact, there is no good reason why you shouldn’t.

I stumbled across this great post by Ian Lurie of Conversation Marketing entitled 25 Internet Marketing Facts. If you are thinking of using internet marketing or are using it already, you need to know these:

1. Internet marketing is hard. Really hard. It’s not something that easily succumbs to a ‘miracle system’. Guys like Shoemoney have it right – they have systems, but they don’t say it’s easy.
2. Internet marketing can’t be done by a computer.
3. You’re still marketing to human beings. That’s why #2 is true. As long as we’re selling to humans, we’re going to need humans to handle the marketing.
4. ‘Internet’ marketing is more of a medium than a method. Marketing is a method/technique. Internet where we now do it. Yes, the techniques have changed a little, but not as much as you might think.
5. It’s measurable. While you can’t automate internet marketing, you can measure it. If you aren’t measuring each click, sale, interaction and citation for you and your business, you’re losing a lot of data.
6. Data is gold. That data (see #5) is solid gold. It’s the stuff you interpret, in part, to develop a strategy. Without it, you’re doing seat-of-the-pants marketing, which isn’t bad, per se. It’s just not as targeted.
7. Data is turd, unless you interpret it. You have to use data to make it worth something. Leave it lying around and it’s untapped potential. Sort of like cow pies.
8. Internet marketing takes time. A lot of time. There are aspects of it that can feel like a real slog if you’re new to marketing.
9. Internet marketing is the fastest marketing. To those of us who started out in 19coughcoughmumble, internet marketing is the fast forward of marketing. You can change something and see a result in less than six months?!!!! Holy CRAP!!!…
10. It’s two-way. Duh. I won’t beat this one to death any more.
11. If you try to learn it all at once, your head will explode. I figured out that I’ve spent a hair under 30,000 hours in this profession. I still have huge gaps in my knowledge. If you’re planning to buy a book (even even this one) and learn it in a week, you’re in for a rude awakening.
12. Internet marketing is the most accessible form of marketing ever. You can reach more people, faster, for less money than in any other type of marketing.
13. Access does not imply expertise. Anyone can launch a web site and try to sell something. That doesn’t mean they’re qualified to do it, any more than my access to a sharp knife means I’m qualified as a medical examiner.
14. Your web site is a hub, not the universe. You’ve got a web site? Great! Now you need to attend to all the other stuff. The web site is just a landing place. All the conversations swirling around it in search engines, social media, etc. are where the real marketing happens.
15. Internet marketing is distracting as hell. Twitter. E-mail. The most recent person saying SEO is dead. You could spend all day just reading about the field, and never doing anything.
16. You need focus. Only the most focused succeed. If you let the distractions pull you away, you’ll be lucky to launch a MySpace page.
17. You can’t fire-and-forget. If you’re a CMO, or a small business owner, you can’t just hire an internet marketer and then forget the whole thing. It requires your input. You at least need to check in now and then. Otherwise, crappy results are as much your fault as your consultant’s.
18. User generated content is a blessing and a curse. Everyone’s babbling about user generated content now. Great. Did you know that the average American reads at a 7th grade level? What kind of content do you think you’re going to get? I’m not slamming anyone. I’m just saying you need to be aware of the limitations.
19. You are never an expert. I’m not an internet marketing expert. Every day, I’m learning something new. It never stops, and you’re never an expert.
20. Relationships make or break campaigns. Your relationships with clients, colleagues, bloggers and others will drive your marketing. Relationships lead to recommendations, retweets, blog posts and a thousand other subtle citations what make internet marketing work. Don’t neglect them.
21. Ego can kill you. Ego-driven internet marketing can ruin the best campaign. Don’t let it. Pick your SEO keywords based on your audience’s questions, not yours. Design your site for your visitors, not for your family.
22. Ego can save you. At the same time, understand you’ll spend a long time shouting in an empty room. Be confident that what you’re doing will work. Otherwise you’ll end up in the modification toilet bowl of death, making one change after another, and getting no results.
23. One-year plans are doomed. You can’t write a detailed step-by-step plan describing how you’ll be spending money from now until next year. Well, you can. Just be prepared to feed it into a shredder in a month. Your audience is too dynamic to fit that kind of plan.
24. Those who talk, fail. If all you do is meet, talk and plan, then you’re not doing any marketing. You’re going to fail. Probably before you even launch anything. Meet briefly, if at all. Work hard, in bursts, then talk to the team, then go again. Always be launching a new initiative.
25. You have to write. I know, you think a YouTube video or two will do the trick. Plus you can hire 30 people at $5/article to write all your content! Wrong. If there isn’t a really, really good writer behind your internet marketing campaign, it will be a big, fat fail. Even your YouTube video requires a description and a script. There are times when you just have to pay for good copy.

Wise words – heed them well and your internet marketing efforts will be rewarded.

Sally Ormond – freelance copywriter

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Social media is for the younger generation.

Hogwash!

No one is too old for social media so there is absolutely no excuse for you not using it to further your business (or to make new contacts).

There is no unwritten law that states you are not allowed to participate in social medial if you are over the age of, say, 35.

If there were, my business shouldn’t exist. Why? Because as a copywriter I have utilised social media to build my business.

There is no mystery

To many people even the name social media marketing send a shudder down their spine. It sounds technical and scary – well, it’s not. If I can do it, anyone can.

Blogging, article writing, Twitter, Squidoo, Facebook they are all simple to use and fun.

“I’m too old for it…I prefer talking to real people…I wasn’t brought with computers so I don’t understand it.”

Can you think of any more excuses?

You’re never too old to learn

I came across a great post the other day by Beth Dunn on Hubspot that addressed this issue. It’s called “Are you too old for social media?”

In it she shows how many ‘older’ people are utilising this highly effective way of marketing. As she points out, all you need is practice – as with everything in life.

None of us are born able to run, talk or write – we only learn those skills through practice and social media marketing is exactly the same.

So banish your hang ups about age or ability – dip your toes in the water and see what happens. I think you’ll be surprised at the results.

Sally Ormond – freelance copywriter

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As a freelance copywriter, I use social media to promote my company and the services I provide. Up to now that has been mainly through blogging, article marketing, bookmarking, Twitter, online forums and networking sites. But there was one outlet I hadn’t delved into – Facebook. I am on facebook in a personal capacity but had never considered it for business use – until now.

Can facebook really help businesses?

Before I go any further, I’m not an expert on using facebook fan pages – I’m still learning myself. But with the growing popularity of social media marketing I realised that it was something I was going to have to get to grips with sooner or later.

Facebook pages seem to becoming increasinglt the second home page for businesses online. As such, SEO is an important factor in the design of your page. So how do you squeeze the most SEO benefits out of your facebook page? Well here are a few pointers to kick you off:

1. Choose a great name and stick to it – your business name is ideal.
2. Pick the best URL possible. Now, if you have 25 fans or more, you can choose your own URL (mine is http://www.facebook.com/freelancecopywriting) in which yo ucan incorporate you keywords.
3. Make your About Us box count – this is prime realestate for your keywords so use it wisely.
4. The info tab should include http’s of related websites and specific information such as your keywords, geographical location etc.
5. Post direct links to your website from your page.
6. Use your facebook badge of your websites to show people you’re there.

Is it really worth it?

Well, here are 11 mindblowing reasons your business needs Facebook curtesy from Social Media Examiner:

1. There are over 350,000 million global users of facebook
2. There are 100,000 users in the US alone
3. The average facebook user spends a staggering 55 minutes on it every day
4. Nearly 80,000 sites use facebook connect
5. Facebook fan box is becoming pervasive
6. The average facebook user has 130 friends
7. The average facebook user “fans” 2 pages per month
8. Only 4% of pages have 10,000 or more fans
9. Wall posts do’t impact popularity so make use of video, photos and links
10. Customised news feeds
11. Real-time search ability changes the game completely

Beginning to see how it will help your business?

Get yourself a fan page today like mine – see how you get one with it. Why not come back here and tell us all about your experiences and any tips you have picked up along the way.

Briar Copywriting – Leading UK Freelance Copywriter

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Happy New Year!

This is it. The start of a new decade bla bla bla…

So, what are you going to do differently this year? Are you going to move your marketing up a level or will  you just be plodding along as usual?

With the noughties behind us and the teenies stretching before us, now’s the time to review your marketing messages on your website, brochures, newsletters, emails etc.

Don’t go stale

Picture this: Monday morning, you drag yourself out of bed and stagger down stairs. You open the bread bin only to find a hard, stale piece of bread which is slightly green around the edges.

Do you:

a) stick it in the toaster because no one’s ever died from mouldy, past its best bread (yet)

b) chuck it away and find some fresh bread to eat

I’m guessing you’ve gone for option b).

Why? Because the bread is out of date, stale and lifeless.

So if you thought that was a pretty obvious choice to make, why do you leave your website copy and brochures untouched for months, years and (God forbid) decades?

Keep up with the times

Your marketing message will become just as stale as that piece of bread.

The copywriting in your original message was undoubtedly strong and compelling, but even copywriting can’t stand the test of time. You move on, your customers move on, priorities and products change – so why hasn’t your copy?

If you don’t keep your copy updated and relevant you might as well not bother marketing – and we all know what a pickle that’ll get you in to. I wrote a post a while back called 4 Resons Why Copywriting Services Work in which I used a famous example to illustrate why your marketing should continue:

During the depression of 1929-33(ish) Kelloggs in the USA (whose cornflakes were a health food at the time) continued to promote as heavily with adverts, posters etc as they had been doing before that. By the time the depression was over there were no other breakfast cereals that anyone had heard of and Kelloggs achieved almost instant market domination, a position they’ve held ever since.

Time verses profit

I can hear you all now shouting that you don’t have the time to start reviewing and rewriting all your marketing materials. Well, for starters, you don’t have to do it all in one go. Prioritise – start on your website first if that’s the first contact potential clients have with your company.

If you don’t have time, invest in the services of a freelance copywriter – yes, it will cost you but you’ll save time because a) you don’t have to write it yourself and b) because you won’t have to rewrite it because it will work first time because copywriters know what they’re doing.

Using a professional will help you save money and make money – think of it as an investment. You hire new sales people to generate more leads so why not hire a copywriter to produce copy that will generate leads and convert them into buying customers?

Take a look at your website and borchures – ready for a makeover? Start 2010 the way you mean to go on – lean, mean and ready for action.

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