There was a nice article from eConsultancy last week which highlighted some key steps to getting your LinkedIn profile working hard for you and your business. And of course, they were all points covered in our Social Media [...]]]> LinkedIn has evolved from a contact database to a very powerful business networking and promotion tool. It is now

There was a nice article from eConsultancy last week which highlighted some key steps to getting your LinkedIn profile working hard for you and your business. And of course, they were all points covered in our Social Media Workshop held yesterday, ranging from profile set up to LinkedIn ‘netiquette’!

If you need help and advice in getting started with LinkedIn and using it for business lead generation, give us a call today.

Facebook is now the most popular site on the web with both the most unique visitors and the most [...]]]> It was announced yesterday that Facebook has now reached 500M users (see BBC article), with 100M users been added in the last six months.

Facebook is now the most popular site on the web with both the most unique visitors and the most page views.

The instinctive reaction for many is to set up the profiles and immediately starting pushing out content. However the best way to engage and build your network of followers is to start by listening…….

Use Twitter tools [...]]]> More and more companies are now seeing the potential benefits of engaging with their markets and clients using the social media.

The instinctive reaction for many is to set up the profiles and immediately starting pushing out content. However the best way to engage and build your network of followers is to start by listening…….

Use Twitter tools such as Seesmic, Tweetdeck or Hootsuite to monitor keywords that will filter what people are saying about your business, your brand and your market. Then you can engage with those conversations and provide content of value.

There was a recent e-consultancy article which gave some interesting insights into the strategies to adopt and the types of keywords to use.

For advice and assistance in launching and running Twitter campaigns for your businesss, contact WSI today.

WSI is running two workshops in Chester on July 27th which are designed to answer those important questions.

We look at best practices, tools and resources [...]]]> Though the majority of companies are aware of the benefits associated with social media, many have not established a social media strategy. For most, this is because they do not know where and how to begin.

WSI is running two workshops in Chester on July 27th which are designed to answer those important questions.

We look at best practices, tools and resources for Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn, and how to use a company blog effectively.

The role of Social Media within a broader internet marketing and PR strategy will be explored

To complement the workshops and help you to launch a Social Media strategy for your business, each workshop delegate will receive a free copy of the WSI Social Media Strategy Kit. As well as the course materials, the kit contains guidance on staff training, policies and procedures plus additional templates, checklists and links to other useful social media resources.

Morning Workshop Topics (9:30-12:30) include:

• The Changing Internet – why Social Media is important to your business
• Where and How to get started with the Top 5 Social Portals (Blogging, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube)
• Making Social Media part of your business – policies, procedures and guidelines

Afternoon Workshop Topics (14:00-17:00) include:

• LinkedIn – building your profile and getting results from online business networking
• Setting up a custom Facebook Page for your business
• Monitoring Twitter and the Social Media – how to measure success and set performance indicators.
• Social Media and PR

Full details will be found at… http://conta.cc/workshop27july

Alternatively call us on 01928 787026.

The starting point is always to go back to basics and document some core objectives for that strategy if they are not already in place – i.e. why [...]]]> With all the hype about business use of social media, many organisations forget to put some simple measures in place to track the success of their social media strategy.

The starting point is always to go back to basics and document some core objectives for that strategy if they are not already in place – i.e. why are you investing that time and effort?

They could be to increase leads, improve profits, raise  brand awareness, increase traffic, improve customer interaction etc etc

These objectives will point to basic analytic measures which can be tracked over time as the campaign develops. Some will be basic business indicators such as lead counts, order volumes and sales. Others will be web-based measures such as web traffic monitoring, fan counts and interaction levels.

An article from econsultancy.com last year discusses this in some detail.

However, as with any marketing, it is important that measurement and analysis are implemented as part of any Social Media strategy.

Otherwise how do you know how well it is working? Or where it needs improving?

If you would like advice on launching and measuring the success of a social media strategy for your business, call WSI today on 01928 787026.

Good marketing encourages the right sort of conversations“…..Seth Godin.

The key to successful participation in any social media marketing is to do so genuinely, to value relationships and not to take goodwill for granted. So, what are some of the best social media marketing [...]]]> “Conversations among the members of your marketplace happen whether you like it or not.

Good marketing encourages the right sort of conversations“…..Seth Godin.

The key to successful participation in any social media marketing is to do so genuinely, to value relationships and not to take goodwill for granted. So, what are some of the best social media marketing techniques that can work for your business ?

Here is a short list of six top tips on using Social Media to promote your business.

1. Be There – Take Part

With over 400 million Facebook users and 1.5 million businesses with Facebook  Pages, your clients and prospects are already there!

Invest time in understanding how social media is being used in your marketplace by prospects, clients and competitors.

2. Look Good

First impressions count online.

Customise profiles etc to reflect corporate branding and useful professional profile images.

3. Give to Gain

The mantra of good business networking.

Contribute to Groups, answer questions, share knowledge. Will raise your credibility and visibility.

Give value, quality before quantity.

4. Build Quality Relationships

Build an online network you can rely upon – nurture contacts.

Don’t agree to every anonymous connection request.

Quality, not quantity.

5. Listen

Two eyes, one keyboard!

What are people saying about your brand, company, market? Then start a conversation.

6. Be Nice

Be helpful, positive, professional.

Be accountable.

Never forget, you are representing your business and yourself.

For testimonials to be displayed in your LinkedIn profile, they must be submitted by another LinkedIn members, and [...]]]> A personal testimonial or recommendation is one of the most powerful marketing tools for any business. One really effective way to gain maximum impact from your customer feedback is to use LinkedIn testimonials about you and your business.

For testimonials to be displayed in your LinkedIn profile, they must be submitted by another LinkedIn members, and remain linked to their LinkedIn profile. This traceability means they carry more weight and legitimacy.

LinkedIn testimonials are therefore much more powerful than the anonymised quotes from “Gordon B,”  or “JW, Chester”, for example seen on many business websites.

Once you have a number of testimonials on your LinkedIn profile, these can be included in proposals, CV etc , and you can link to them from your blog, Facebook and other Social Media sites when posting  relevant articles.

LinkedIn is a very powerful social network designed for business. If you would like to learn more about how your business can benefit from LinkedIn and using social media generally, contact WSI on 01928 787026.

The company also said that it has “drastically reduced the amount of information that is available to everyone.”

This is in direct response to the [...]]]> On Wednesday this week, Facebook announced that it has modified its user controls to make it easier to configure privacy settings and to retroactively control access to content that has already been posted.

The company also said that it has “drastically reduced the amount of information that is available to everyone.”

This is in direct response to the widespread criticism it received following its privacy updates in April.

The major highlights are:

New Privacy Control Centre – ‘one click’ control making it easier to limit access to friends, friends of friends or everyone. Your personal profile privacy settings are easier to understand with everything displayed in a single grid.

Less Mandatory Public Information – This was a major concern and has been largely addressed.

Turn-off Apps and Instant Personalisation - This effectively stops Facebook automatically sharing personal information with Applications within Facebook or external third party services, without explicit approval.

The user feedback to these changes has been largely positive, although some civil liberties groups would have liked them to go further.

The challenge for Facebook is that they still need to use user data to help monetise the service through advertising, but must be seen to do so without compromising individual’s privacy by sharing that data with third parties.

Seth is very good at asking those simple, awkward questions about our digital society.

Real world friends are hard to find and hard to change.

But virtual friends?

If your online friends aren’t egging you on…

If your online friends don’t [...]]]> There was a Nice ‘thought-provoking’ post from Seth Godin recently about online friends.

Seth is very good at asking those simple, awkward questions about our digital society.

Real world friends are hard to find and hard to change.

But virtual friends?

If your online friends aren’t egging you on…

If your online friends don’t spread the word about the work you’re doing…

If your online friends aren’t respectfully challenging your deeply held beliefs…

If your online friends don’t demand the best from you…

Then perhaps you need new online friends.

For those people that were unable to attend, a recording of the Facebook for Business webinar is available here.

And here is the Powerpoint presentation : FacebookWebinarPresentation0310

If you would like more information or assistance in building your Facebook presence [...]]]> The recent WSI webinar on Facebook Strategies for Business was very popular with over 900 people connecting for the event.

For those people that were unable to attend, a recording of the Facebook for Business webinar is available here.

And here is the Powerpoint presentation : FacebookWebinarPresentation0310

If you would like more information or assistance in building your Facebook presence and using to work hard for your business, call WSI Chester, the Social Media Specialists on 01928 787026.