Posted on

10 Do’s and Don’ts of B2B Social Media

Are you struggling to craft an effective B2B social media strategy? B2B social media marketing can be tricky and difficult to get right if you’re unfamiliar with the key tactics. We’ve outlined some key do’s and don’ts of social media marketing so you can engage with your audience more effectively and grow your awareness organically. If you can get social media right, you’re already on the way to increasing your ROI!

DO #1

Do incorporate images and media into your posts. People engage with visual content that is eye-catching and adds value to posts. Whether you’re posting on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, add a video or image that illustrates your topic further. Adding imagery to social media posts also provides the opportunity get creative so you’re brand can convey it’s personality, whatever that may be.

DON’T #1

#Don’t #overuse #hashtags. Not only does it disrupt the flow of reading, but it won’t boost your post in any way. Hashtagging irrelevant words won’t increase your reach as people won’t be searching for that keyword. Only hashtag words that are of interest to your audience and that reflect your business, products or services.

DO #2

Do remember to include links to your website to increase traffic. If the post provides enough value for your audience, it is likely that they will then click through to your website, which means increased web visitors and conversions (providing your website is also up to scratch). If the post talks about a particular product or service, link it up to the relevant product page. That way, users will get straight to where they want to go, without the faff of navigation.

DON’T #2

Don’t post about irrelevant topics. These won’t be of any interest to your followers who follow you for your thought leadership content and information about your business. Use your initiative to work out what your audience is interested in or not. If you’re a cleaning company based in London, you’ll be attracting local clientele, thus there is room to post about local events and news. However, if you’re a software company in London, you’ll be selling your software to businesses all over the country, therefore London-based news will not be relevant to your audience.

DO #3

Do show brand personality. It is important that you remember that there are people looking at your content, not robots, so don’t act like a robot. Add an emoji here and there, use the odd exclamation mark, add subtle humour where appropriate and show enthusiasm! If a post is bland and repetitive, nobody is going to click ‘like’ or ‘share’. If you’re a new business and haven’t worked on your tone of voice yet, social media is a great place to start. All other marketing will follow suit.

DON’T #3

Don’t post too often. If you’re engagement is slipping a bit, it’s likely that your audience are seeing your posts pop up too often, decreasing value. Some businesses post on an hourly basis, which is highly ineffective. The chances of you posting new and engaging content with every post is very slim if you were to post that often, resulting in low engagement. For some businesses, one post per week is effective. For others, 3 posts per week is the optimum level. Find what works for you and keep track of your analytics in the process.

DO #4

Do engage with your audience. Start conversations with your followers, respond to content of the accounts you follow and do a poll or Q&A on Facebook. Even a short comment on an article or photograph humanises your brand. It also makes a change from just sending out posts, showing your audience that you’re putting time and effort into getting to know them, which improves your relationship.

DON’T #4

Don’t forget to include a call to action in your posts. If you’ve engaged your audience and provided value, you need to provide them with an action to carry out otherwise you won’t increase conversions. Directing them to your website or encouraging them to give you a call to enquire is a good place to start.

DO #5

Do put time into social media. This one is pretty straight forward – if you put time and effort in, you’ll get a lot out. If you send out one post per quarter and don’t update the pages, those all-important reach figures will remain low. Make sure your social media pages reflect the branding and information on your website, and post content regularly for the most benefit.

DON’T #5

Don’t do anything for the sake of it. Why? Your audience will detect that you’re churning out content for the sake of it and they will unfollow you. Make sure every post has a purpose, a message, and a desired action. Think about what you want your post to acheive and what you want your audience to do as a result of seeing that post.

Posted on

5 Reasons Why Social Media Is the Best Tool for Your Business

Are you still unconvinced about the benefits of social media for your business? We understand, times are changing and it’s hard to keep up. But it is important that your business maintains a presence on social media to avoid disconnecting with customers. Here’s why…

1. Increased Traffic

Businesses have survived without social media in the past so why do we need it now? Because technology and the internet have evolved, meaning most companies have at least one website for their customers because it is the quickest and easiest way to find information. Social media is an extension of the website, where users can quickly find contact details and message or tweet the company for urgent enquiries. Without social media, the only people visiting your website are people searching for your keywords. However, if you add social media into the mix, you can target content and network with a wider audience that you wouldn’t have otherwise reached. Directing your audience to the website with social media will increase click-throughs and those all-important unique visitors.

2. Increased Brand Awareness

An effective social media strategy will engage a wide audience through networking. Posting updates is great for telling your followers what you are up to, but networking with other businesses, publications, and initatives is a great way to increase organic followers and reach. Regularly engaging with people on social media and posting valuable content for your audience will increase your brand awareness. However, it is important to get it right. Posting too much or sharing the irrelevant content won’t get you the followers you want.

Contact us to find out about our social media management services.

3. Improved Search Engine Rankings

Social media, if done right, can contribute to your Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) strategy. Posting content that includes the keywords on your website will improve your business’ credibility on search engines, increasing the liklihood of appearing higher on the results page. If SEO is unfamiliar territory,

Digital Marketing agencies such as Function 28 implement SEO strategies and manage social media content, to take the stress off you.

4. Cost-effective

Social media is one of the most cost-effective Digital Marketing approaches, which means you can spend your marketing budget on other things. To run it yourself, it is free to set up and maintain. Any paid social media advertising is low cost compared to other methods such as Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising and banner advertising through an ad server. However, managing social media without knowledge or experience is a risky approach. It can be easy to send out plenty of posts that don’t get any engagement or miss messages from your customers. We advise speaking to a specialist before setting up your pages.

5. Improved Customer Satisfaction

Maintaining a strong presence on social media also keeps your customers happy. If you respond to messages, reviews, and comments quickly and politely, it shows how engaged you are as a company. You can use social media to show customers how much you care about them, and if you do it well, they will stay loyal to your brand.

Social media is also a great way to also showcase that you are human. People respond to people, not business-like robots. If you show your customers your own unique brand personality, they will engage by liking and sharing content. If content is robotic and repetitive, your customers will not engage with you.

If you need help managing your social media, give us a call on 01884 308091 to speak to a member of our team.

Posted on

Function 28 Limited acquires web development arm of Keyzo

From South West to North East – bridging the web development divide

Function 28 Limited, South West based Digital Marketing Agency, have expanded their operation to now work out of the North East taking on the digital media arm of Keyzo as they continue to expand into the software development market. Function 28 will be expanding their client base enormously and have been met with a very warm reception from the Keyzo clients.

F28 Managing Director Russ Murch commented “These are very exciting times for F28, we are delighted to have fought off some stiff competition from other companies more local to Keyzo and secure the transitional deal, which pays testament to how highly our team are thought of and demonstrates the high level of customer care and support we provide has not gone unnoticed.  With the expansion we can offer more employment opportunities which, given the current employment climate, is really great for us as a people focused company”.

Shane Spencer, MD of Keyzo said “The value in the media agency side of our business has been created through the support of  our customers, and so we have worked hard to ensure that the new service provider recognises that customer service, support and key processes are embedded in their underlying culture. Russ and the F28 team amplify all the points we were looking to ensure were in place and I am delighted, knowing our clients will be in good hands.”

 Function 28 provide dynamic websites, great website design, hosting and email services along with amazing customer service. So why not get in touch to see how we can help you , call us on 01884 308091 or 01472 485858 to see how we can help you!

 

Posted on

What do the Latest Social Media Algorithm Updates Mean for Small Businesses?

Social media has been a pivotal piece of successful marketing strategies for a decade now. The ability to share content, build a community of current and potential customers, and engage with an audience in real-time has forever changed how brands approach marketing.

Digital and social media have been particularly impactful for small businesses, who have used these platforms to help grow and scale their companies. Social networks present small companies, especially creative ones, an opportunity for “free” marketing and branding, which has proven to be invaluable for many organizations.

However, social networks have started to tweak and update their algorithms in a way that could have major implications for how companies approach social marketing strategies. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and most other major networks are always looking to increase on-site and on-app engagement, and it’s important for small businesses to know what this means going forward.

What Changed with these Social Media Algorithm Updates?

Over the last year or so, almost all social networks have suffered from content overload. With the idea of “fake news” and fake social media accounts becoming front-page headlines, social media platforms had to make changes in how users are presented content.

That’s not the only problem social networks wanted to address. Due to all this content, social media companies saw the amount of on-site engagement dropping. Their users were clicking on updates, posts, and tweets that brought them to an external website to consume content. This means less on-site engagement which can impact the amount of advertising revenue that’s brought in.

To combat both issues, social media companies – led by Facebook – decided to tweak their algorithms in a way that negatively impacted the visibility and searchability of updates that include external links.

This means that on-site and in-app content is favored within the algorithms which help determine which updates to show to users.

Needless to say, this has caused a lot of panic throughout the social and digital marketing world, as a growing number of businesses now rely on social networks to drive traffic back to their website. But should your small business really freak out over these changes?

Should Companies (Especially Small Businesses) Completely Alter Their Social Media Strategies?

These algorithm tweaks shouldn’t be too big of a surprise, as most social networks have been moving in this direction for some time. They don’t gain much value from a user clicking on a link, only to be taken away from Facebook or Twitter to view the content.

However, just because these changes are happening doesn’t mean small business owners and marketers should panic. In actuality, it presents a tremendous opportunity for creative marketers to differentiate themselves and build up a true best-in-class social media presence.

External content won’t completely disappear – it’s still too valuable to the users who sign-in to sites such as LinkedIn or Instagram. Because of this, small businesses shouldn’t shy away from sharing blog posts, YouTube videos, eBooks, and other content which guides people to your website or other company accounts.

The algorithms do mean, however, that small business marketers need to update and adapt their social media content strategies to play into these recent updates. Incorporating a healthy mix of on-site and off-site content will be crucial to maximizing the ROI from social media in 2018 and beyond.

What’s the Right Mix of On-Site and Off-Site Content to Share in 2018?

This will likely be one of the most asked social media questions this year. One answer that is particularly insightful comes from Rand Fishkin, the founder of the SEO company Moz.

Rand believes that while brands should incorporate on-site and in-app content, they should still lean more towards off-site content to get the most out of social media.

Driving traffic and potential new leads or clients to your website will always be a critical marketing objective, and social media can be an important facilitator for this goal. Accomplishing this objective requires sharing articles and content that get people to your site.

However, companies also need to take advantage of, and use, the tools offered from each social network to optimize the on-site experiences and engagement of your audience. Doing so will help strike a healthy balance in your overall content strategy. One such example is LinkedIn’s Publisher, which is essentially their own, on-site blogging platform.

An important thing to keep in mind is that these updates mean that now, more than ever, an emphasis needs to be placed on creating high-quality, educational and useful content that your audience will find informative and thought-provoking.

Brands and individuals who share low-quality content will have less engagement, which will significantly decrease the likelihood of their updates showing up on feeds and in search results. This means that marketing teams who focus on quality over quantity, and infuse a high-degree of creativity into their social media and content strategies, will truly gain from social networks in 2018.

Let Creative, Quality Content Help Your Brand Overcome These Social Network Updates

The key takeaway from these latest updates is that the platforms want users to be engaged while also staying on their sites and apps as much as possible. However, high-quality  external content will still rank high on social sites as people click, engage, and re-share.

This is why companies both big and small need to focus on creating great content which provides value to your target audience. Companies and brands who can do this effectively, while keeping up with any new or emerging social media trends, have a lot to gain by playing into these updates.

source https://www.socialmediatoday.com