Workplace by Facebook

Workplace by Facebook is a new collaborative platform for businesses who want to harness social media technology within the office environment.

Workplace can be used to communicate via groups, to chat with colleagues and offers the features of Facebook but in a business focused package. Workplace is designed to be easy and familiar to use so it looks very much like regular Facebook.

Workplace can effectively replace a firm’s intranet. The familiarity of the platform provides instant benefits in terms of user experience. Most people already know how to use Facebook. Since most employees can use the platform, businesses won’t have to spend as much time and resources on training people.

Workplace is completely separate from personal Facebook accounts, meaning information shared between employees is only accessible within the Workplace platform. Workplace is designed to work in a similar way to a corporate email account. Employees are issued with an account when they join the company and should they leave the firm, they will lose their account.

From a privacy perspective, employers can not use a Workplace account to access information on an employee's private Facebook profile. Networks are isolated and only company-wide, which means only co-workers can see the information other employees post in Workplace.

On the security front, Workplace relies on Facebook's own infrastructure and tools for threat detection to safeguard data. The system also follows third-party industry security standards.

Workplace features a News Feed that displays articles, updates or comments relevant to certain teams or, perhaps, to the entire company. A version of the Facebook Live service can be used to broadcast corporate communications, such as a presentation by the managing director.

Teams can communicate in real time using a version of Messenger. It is also possible to create private groups for brainstorms or discussions where users can share files, photographs, etc.

Facebook Live

With latest figures showing 1.79 billion monthly active users, Facebook is a social media platform that has immense potential for business users. However, as with any large target audience, getting your message right is key.

Facebook Live is a new video streaming service which enables users to livestream video broadcasts from their mobile phone or other device. While this idea in itself isn’t new, Facebook’s huge audience means many more people can potentially tap in to the videos that you post. In addition, Facebook Live offers features such as the ability to watch again (unlike platforms such as SnapChat).

Facebook Live is designed to be interactive and allows users to comment on videos and share them. For business users, there is great potential here - customers can ask direct questions about the products or services that you feature in your live video, and this allows you to resolve queries. It may also provide valuable insights into what your customers actually want.

The key benefit of Facebook Live is that it offers your business the chance to engage directly with users and offer interesting live footage. The live element means that you can now draw people in as your news is happening. For example, you could stream the live launch of a new product or service to your customers and potential customers around the world.

Using the service is very straightforward. Users go to their Facebook page and when they are ready to start filming simply tap on the live stream icon. As soon as this is done, followers will get a notification, which will immediately request them to engage with the content. You can also write a description of what you’re filming. An important point to remember is that all live videos are archived. This means that if a user misses the video, they can go back, view comments and watch it after you’ve stopped recording. This offers a further extension of the platform for users to share their experiences of your product / service and gives you additional (free) marketing opportunities.

Twitter Website Cards - Basics!

They say that “a picture paints a thousand words,” and Twitter’s recently unveiled “website cards” might just show that statement to be true.

Available on both desktop and mobile, Twitter cards allow marketers to add media to tweets – meaning businesses now have additional space to add content to. Users can attach photos, videos and media to Tweets that drive traffic to their website. Users simply have to add a few lines of HTML to their webpage, and those who Tweet links to that content will have a “Card” added to the Tweet that’s visible to all of their followers.

The website card allows users to easily discover interesting content while giving advertisers the ability to drive a higher volume of clicks since users are able to preview an image, related content, etc.

Website cards can be used to drive traffic to your website’s homepage, a product page or a specific landing page, perhaps giving your audience a little preview, or further information about what they will find when they click through.

Business users of website cards can use a range of targeting options based on signals including keywords or tailored market segments. The website cards can also be used in conjunction with conversion tracking to measure the end-to-end conversion from a Tweet engagement / Twitter campaign through to a user making a purchase or signing up to say, a newsletter.

The main reason these cards are useful is that they can be used to create a “call to action”. If you get your content and marketing message right, you should be able to improve your click-through rates to your website.

You will need an advertiser account on Twitter to start creating website cards. Twitter has now made its advertiser platform available for businesses in the UK, USA, Canada, Ireland, South Africa and a few other countries.  The website cards are pretty easy to create but it is worth noting that:

•               Maximum image size is 1 MB

•               Minimum required image height is 96 pixels

•               Minimum required image width is 240 pixels

•               Minimum of 5:2 aspect ratio required (An image of 640 pixels x 256 pixels). 

Hashtags - Getting More Exposure on Social Media

Hashtags were first created by an early Twitter user as a way to keep up with new abbreviations and trending phrases. While they were originally implemented into the Twitter platform, hashtags can now be used across a wide variety of social media sites. The proliferation of hashtags is truly incredible. What began on Twitter has now spread to Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Google search, and almost everywhere in between.

In short, a hashtag is a word or phrase that is preceded by a number sign, in the form of #keyword. Hashtags are commonly a single word, something like #marketing, but sometimes they can be comprised of an entire phrase, like KitKat's #HaveABreak.

When you're using hashtags in your content, you're identifying the most important and popular keywords to highlight. Users are able to search through social media, both on individual platforms and on third-party websites which scan many different news streams, and find you or your message by the hashtags you've associated with it.

Two types of hashtags

There are essentially two types of hashtags: those that consumers can identify with your brand, and hashtags that are currently trending.

Hashtags which represent your brand are the ones you should be focusing on in the long-term. These are phrases that should be highlighted on a regular basis in your posts and tweets, and will serve as the foundation of your hashtag marketing strategy.

Trending hashtags are phrases that are really popular on social media and have the possibility to bring you a lot of online profile in a short period of time. While Twitter provides the most popular hashtags directly on its site, other websites like Sprout and Trendsmap can make it easy to find out what words and phrases are trending across various different social media platforms. It's important to keep it relevant. Make sure your hashtag is related to your post content. Using one or two keywords and phrases in your posts is acceptable, but refrain from putting too many in there at once. Not only does this take away from the content you’re actually trying to promote, but it can also push consumers away who see the practice as unprofessional.

Which hashtags to use

Websites such as Hashtagify.me and Twellow.com are great tools which have lots of data you can use to analyse hashtags. These tools allow you to identify which are the most popular or relevant hashtags. When you type in a hashtag, these services will show you other hashtags to consider and will display how popular each hashtag is and how closely it correlates to the original. This information is invaluable to business people who want to promote their products and services over social media. By using keywords that are truly relevant to your product, service, or even just your target market, you can connect with a wide range of prospective customers.

Understanding Twitter Analytics To Get You Results

I f you want to improve, you have to measure your results to see what isn’t working and, more importantly, what is.

The good thing is, if you have a Twitter account set up, you can view your analytics for FREE.

‘Why do I need to see my analytics?’ you might be wondering. As with every other marketing strategy, you should be evaluating the results so you can prioritise your time on strategies that give you the results you want.

Image Source: PanoramaStock

And everything is displayed simply on your screen so you don’t have to be a marketing expert to understand what pieces of data to dig out.

Twitter shows you everything so you can really get to know your audience and see what they like. It’s no use just presuming what content they like from you.

It’s crucial that your audience appreciate your content or you’ll notice that nobody seems interested in your services.

Here’s how to access your analytics dashboard:

• Sign into your Twitter account
• Next, visit ads.twitter.com. It will automatically link your account to this page
• Across the top of your screen will be Campaigns, Creatives, Analytics and Tools.

You only need to focus on the Analytics section for the information that tells you everything you need to know.

From there, you can view:
• Followers
• Tweet activity

1. From the followers section, you can view your followers’ demographics, interests and gender.

Why is this important?

If all of your followers are from a location far away, then you know that they probably aren't going to be potential clients. (Instead, you can re-focus your content to talk about the industry.)

If this is the case, you may also want to target Twitter users who are from your location.

You can also evaluate the pace at which your account is growing (by that, I mean the rate at which you are getting more followers).

If you hover over each segment of the section called Your current follower audience size, you can see the speed at which your account is growing.

Followers increase is great news, but remember that the data only makes a difference if it is what
you want.

Check the analytics for the main language of your audience.

Check whether your audience are potential clients. If the analytics show that most of your followers spoke French(when your potential clients are English), you have to change the way you target users. 

2. Tweet activity

This part of the analytics is probably the most important. Your content is the core of your social media presence.

If your followers don’t like your content, then they probably won’t be interested in your services.

Just to break it down, here’s what Impressions and Engagements mean.
Impressions are the number of times users saw your tweet on their timeline.
Engagements are the total number of times a user has interacted with your tweet. For example, a retweet, favourite or reply.

Tweet with an image have more engagements than just text.

The goal is to have more engagement. If people just see your tweet and do nothing with it (i.e. retweet, reply or favourite it), you need to restructure your content strategy.

Let’s recap on the key points for maximising your Twitter presence.

Once a week, or every fortnight, look at your Twitter analytics to evaluate what is working. Rather than focussing on the bad, focus on what gets you results. And keep doing that.

Look at what types of tweets get more engagement. Do images perform better? Or text? And if text, what type of content? Informative? Jokes? Business advice?

Social media is forever evolving. So you may need to review your strategy every few Months.

How To Market Your Business On Facebook And Twitter!

There are so many social media channels available that it’s hard to keep up, but it’s important to be familiar with each platform at your disposal. And as you want to create brand awareness, you can’t afford to ignore what makes each one unique.

If you’ve found an interesting article you want to share with your ‘fanbase’, what platform do you upload it to? Facebook? Twitter? You probably think it doesn’t matter where you upload it: as long as it’s online, people might see it.

But it does matter. Each channel is unique. It has different resources, and there are different types of people there. You want to post your content to a platform where it will be appreciated and users will engage with it. 

92% of business owners indicated that social media is important to their business, according to Forbes. In other words, getting it right can significantly impact your growth.

People use social media to learn new information, discover people and companies, and keep updated with news and share stories.

FACEBOOK

Facebook has a community culture.  People use it to connect with people they know. Many of us don’t accept invitations from people we don’t know. What this means to you is that you don’t want to just post information about your industry.

A recent study by Boston University found that people use Facebook to fulfil their need to belong and the need for self-presentation. People upload family pictures and share personal information on Facebook because they want to let people in on their lives. Private people tend to not update their Facebook profile regularly because they aren’t comfortable letting people in. 
  

1. Share Your Feelings, Values And Thoughts 

Facebook is a space to express your private life. People should get to know you - not your business - by what you post. That means avoid over-promoting your website and contact information. If you’re wondering why your page is receiving few ‘Likes’, it’s probably because you’re doing just that.  Provide insight into who you are by creative posts that have personality.

2. Track Your Audience

Understand who is following you and post content they would find appealing. You can’t be selfish in social media. After all, you are posting content for other people to engage with.

3. Post Pictures More Than Text

 There has been a move to becoming more visual, because people are more likely to read your post if there is an image accompanying it. This     is because when people scroll       their timeline , images are more               eye-catching than text.

4. Add  Links To Relevant  Content 

You have a lot of room to write your status. The huge bonus to this channel is that people can share and ‘like’ posts they find interesting, so you show up on their friends’ news feed.

TWITTER

Twitter is the easiest social media platform to grow because you can connect with other users directly. With every tweet you upload, the ultimate goal is for people to
retweet it, and then their followers to retweet, though that of course takes time and dedication.

The benefit of Twitter is  that you can easily connect with people from all around the world.

1. Make Conversation 

People love sharing their thoughts on Twitter and expect companies to have a social media presence. Don’t just put a tweet out there and expect people to ‘do something with it’. Ask questions to get a conversation rolling. You could even hold a regular Twitter chat where you answer questions.

2. Don’t Put Lengthy Tweets 

It sounds crazy that you only have 140 characters and I’m telling you to not use all of them. But the idea of Twitter is that you can receive information quickly by scrolling through your timeline. If users see a lengthy post, they’re likely to skip it, especially as most people scroll through quickly before work, at dinner and in the evenings.

3. Use Text More Than Images 

Contrary to Facebook, text performs better than images, according to quicksprout.com. In addition, I encourage you to write tweets that contain a link - specifically to your website.  Share interesting articles and news you think your followers will be interested in too, even if it isn’t something from your website.

4. Use Quotes

 You are an expert; you know what people want to know. Post motivational quotes to show that you are passionate about your industry.

5. Add A Call To Action

 The best way to get someone to do something is to tell them. Post a link to your website with text    saying ‘click here for more info’. Put things like ‘RT if you are looking for an Accountant’ to get people to engage with you.

6. Tag Suitable People

 If you decide to tweet a link to an article, why not try to find the writer on Twitter and mention them in your tweet?  The person may see this in their notifications and retweet, so their followers see your account.

It’s essential that you post for the right platform to sustain a strong social media presence.  Always think what your followers would want to read and see, to keep you focussed.

PJ

☎ 020 89310165

☏ 07900537459

✉ pushkar.joshi@apjaccountancy.com

What is Experiential Marketing? 4 Simple Techniques to Implement it!

We often hear or read about experiential marketing in the business press. So, what is it and what is it all about?

What is Experiential Marketing?

Experiential marketing is a way of marketing in which the customer/consumer is made to experience the product rather than just seeing and hearing; includes as many other human senses as possible. It essentially involves the promotion of your business and brand in a way that allows both customers and prospects to connect and interact with you and have memorable experiences. Based upon such brand-related encounters, your customers may or may not accept your product or service offering.

4 Simple Techniques to Implement Experiential Marketing:

The success of an experiential marketing initiative depends upon the quality and impact of the techniques you incorporate into your campaigns in order to attract attention. Developments in the mobile world, social networking, and content marketing have ensured that the business environment today is set for experiential techniques.

1. Ensure that the marketing strategy is brand-related

There is no point in running a campaign if prospects are unable to identify your brand. The way in which you promote your brand should communicate that it impacts the lives of your target audience positively. They must be able to relate with your products or services in order for them to accept your brand.

2. Connect with customers digitally

You can reach out to your existing and potential customers via connected devices such as smartphones and tablets. In order to do this effectively, you will have to create content marketing and social media campaigns based upon the interests of your prospects. Focus on the things they are interested in, or that are important for them.

3. Build brand association

Do not forget emotional relevance. By using experiential marketing campaigns, you want buyers to gradually become connected emotionally to your brand and this is what will ultimately secure their loyalty. If they like your brand, what it represents and how it makes them feel, they will take proactive measures to gather purchase-related information. Ensure that your experiential campaign creates a customer experience that becomes synonymous with your brand in a positive way.

4. Be newsworthy

Make your business newsworthy in order to increase its reach and visibility among your target market. Experiential campaigns can do this very well, provided you implement the right strategies. When your existing customers cannot stop talking about the quality of your products or services, they will essentially be ambassadors for your brand.

Share your thoughts as comments below! or  

We're on Social Media too :)
  

Contact us for all your Business Building & Accountancy needs!
☎ 020 89310165 | ☏ 07900537459 | ✉ info@apjaccountancy.com

How To Have A Social Media Presence Without Being Present?

Running a social media strategy as well as being a business owner will only lead to stress and sleepless nights.  But everyone is on social media, right? Even the Pope.

You need to strike the balance between informative and annoying. Studies show the optimal postings for the two most popular networking sites are:

Twitter: 3 posts, daily
Facebook: 5 posts, weekly

Doesn’t require a lot of effort, does it? But finding free time is any business owner’s challenge, so you need a method of having active accounts, without it taking hours and feeling like a chore. 

Welcome to scheduling. It’s a strange thought that people can tweet without actually being behind the screen at the time, but it’s a time-saving approach to social media marketing.

Having a consistent online presence is a necessary part of marketing, but you don’t want to be doing it every day.

So which schedule tool should you use?

TWITTER

1. Tweetdeck

https://web.tweetdeck.com/

For Tweetdeck newbies, this is your new best friend when it comes to developing your Twitter presence.

You don’t have to create an account; just sign in with your Twitter logins and you’re off - no email confirmation required. And it’s free! Music to everyone’s ears.

You can plan posts into the far future. Ideal for those who have a lot to say. A huge pro is that Tweetdeck’s layout looks similar to Twitter (probably because Twitter bought it in 2011).

At any time, you can log back in and amend scheduled tweets or delete them. This is a great idea if something you have scheduled is no longer accurate or relevant. You can keep track of when your posts are, too, if you log in often.

HOW TO USE IT

1. Visit https://web.tweetdeck.com

2. Sign in using your Twitter login details

3. Click ‘New Tweet’

- Select your account

- Type your tweet you want scheduling

- Click ‘Schedule Tweet’

- Select the relevant date and time

- Once you’ve proofread, click ‘Tweet at…’-

TIPS

- Don’t be confused by all the columns. The beauty of Tweetdeck is that you can see your direct messages, timeline, notifications and messages all on one screen. Delete all the columns apart from ‘Scheduled’ to tidy up your dashboard.

- Scroll to the right of the page, so you can just focus on the Scheduled column. Here you will see all the tweets you have planned for the future.

- If you have multiple accounts, you can add them all. You can even post the same content across all accounts easily, by selecting all the accounts.

- Don’t forget to add an image with your text, too. Just select the ‘Add Image’ option, before submitting the tweet.

- Once you become an expert, utilise all the columns by monitoring what your followers are retweeting and your notifications.

FACEBOOK

1. Facebook

www.facebook.com

Even avid social media users don’t know you can use Facebook to schedule posts and many are paying for services that do no different.

Using Facebook to schedule is free and you can prepare a post using the same process as posting normally. You can only automate on a page, not a personal account. Again, you can see your scheduled posts and amend or delete them at any time.

HOW TO USE IT

1. Sign into your Facebook page.

2. Type the post you want scheduling. Do not click ‘Post’.

3. Click on the clock symbol.

4. Select the date from the calendar and choose the time you want the post scheduling.

5. Click on ‘Schedule’ once you’re happy with your post.

TIPS

- With a 63,000 character limit, utilise this space with detailed posts.

- You can schedule up to 6 months ahead, so plan time-relevant posts, such as Christmas.

- Be consistent with your postings. Aim for at least 5 a week.

- Avoid newsworthy content, because for the date you’ve scheduled it, it will no longer be news.

- Select your times wisely. People are more likely to see your post at 7am, when they are waking up, than 9pm on a Friday night. Target locations will also play a part. 

It’s tempting to rush scheduling, but your followers will notice if you’ve just posted anything. Interesting posts about the industry, links to your service and entertaining posts will vary your content and make your account interesting.

Be wary of posting at the same time and day across your accounts, because you want to mix it up a bit.

Scheduling makes life easier, but don’t neglect your accounts. Regularly checking notifications and interacting with your followers will further improve your social media marketing.

We're on Social Media too :)
  

Contact us for all your Business Building & Accountancy needs!
☎ 020 89310165 | ☏ 07900537459 | ✉ info@apjaccountancy.com