Growing your Business Through LinkedIn

by Steve OBrien | 23 Jan 2017 | Social media, Top tips

Reading Time: 3 minutes

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional social network. As a result, it offers a great opportunity to grow your business if you’re targeting other companies or working professionals.

Step 1

You will want to create a LinkedIn company page for your business and include details along with a company description. It’s also a good idea to ensure your own LinkedIn account is up to date so you can connect with customers and business associates and share updates. Many business opportunities come through networking and LinkedIn is a brilliant tool for this.

You can use LinkedIn to display recommendations for your products and services, gain introductions to business connections and allow potential customers to search for you. Individuals can search the platform for businesses within a certain industry as well as using keywords so make sure your profile page is searchable.

Step 2

Once your page is set up, connect with professionals you already know and join groups that are related to your business or trade.

In order to engage with your LinkedIn network, you’ll want to post regular updates. From a business point of view include information on what you’re working on, clients you’re working with and new launches. However, you don’t want all of your posts to be directly about your business. You should also include updates that would be of interest to your customers and business partners, this could include industry news, governmental policies that may affect businesses and challenges the sector is facing, for instance.

Step 3

Actively participating in discussions on the platform is an effective way to gain exposure and credibility. Pick topics that you know a lot about in the area your business operates in to help establish yourself as an expert in the field. While you want to promote your business it’s best to focus on the discussion, if you have something interesting and insightful to say people will likely click on your profile to learn more about the business. Simply focusing on self-promotion can lead to you being kicked out of a discussion and can harm your reputation.

If there’s an area of your business’ sector that you think would make for a good debate set up your own discussion. Pick a topic that will have lots of different opinions, ask questions or start a poll to get people engaged. By tying the discussion to relevant news and trends you also boost its popularity.

Step 4

LinkedIn also offer targeted advisements for B2B. The advertisement can be targeted based on job title, industry, company size and seniority allowing you to reach your desired audience. You can set your own budget for your campaign and there are no long-term contracts or commitments, making it a good choice for those that want to try out the service and measure outcomes.

Do:

Post regularly – Keep in touch with your network to increase your visibility on the site.
Update your page frequently – Be sure to keep your page updated with your latest projects or products.
Keep your contacts up to date – Connect with anyone you do business with, it means you can keep them up to date with company news.

Don’t:

Self-promote too much – LinkedIn is a business network but adding value through your expertise will be far more beneficial than several updates a day that are self-promotional.
Be too informal – While you don’t need to be really formal on LinkedIn, you need to be aware that the people you’re connecting with could become your business customers or partners.
Spam groups and discussions – Carefully select the discussions you join and only comment when you have something interesting to add.

Woya digital is a social media marketing agency in Chichester, that can assist companies of all sizes, anywhere, promote themselves through the internet. Our fixed price offering is straightforward and yields results! We are fantastic at social media management, website design and SEO, all paid monthly, with no upfront investment.

Add a New Administrator to your Facebook Page

by Steve OBrien | 22 Jan 2017 | Social media, Top tips

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Whether you are working with a social media agency like Woya Digital or empowering an employee with access to Facebook, at some stage you will want to add or change an administrator or other role to your Facebook business page.

Unlike Twitter, where anyone with a password can access the account, Facebook works by giving an existing Facebook user a permission based role on the business page (see end of blog).

Adding roles on a Facebook page

Adding a new Administrator to your Facebook business page is a fairly easy task that will take only a few minutes (make sure you have the Facebook login email of the person you want to add) and is one essential action needed before Woya Digital can start work on your social media.

Log in to Facebook
Go to your main business page and look for the settings link, under the blue Facebook bar, top right hand corner
Click Page Roles on the left hand side
Add the new administrator by adding their Facebook account email address
If you do not know their Facebook login email, you can use their username, but only if they are an existing friend or already like the page – To ensure that you add the right person we suggest using their Facebook login email
Click SAVE
Enter your Facebook password to confirm to amends

Add a New Administrator to your Facebook Page

Role types
Admin

Admins can manage all aspects of the page, including sending messages and posting as the page, creating adverts, seeing which admin created a post or comment, viewing insights and assigning other page roles.

Editor

Editors edit the page, send messages and post as the page, create adverts, see which admin created a post or comment, and view insights.

Moderator

A moderator can respond to and delete comments on the page, send messages as the page, see which admin created a post or comment, create adverts and view insights.

Advertiser

Advertisers see which admin created a post or comment, create adverts and view insights.

Analyst

Finally an analyst can just see which admin created a post or comment and view insights.

Woya digital is a social media marketing agency in Chichester, that can assist companies of all sizes, anywhere, promote themselves through the internet. Our fixed price offering is straightforward and yields results! We are fantastic at social media management, website design and SEO, all paid monthly, with no upfront investment.

Growing your Business Through Twitter

by Steve OBrien | 20 Jan 2017 | Social media, Top tips

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Twitter might limit your updates to just 140 characters but that doesn’t mean you can’t pack a lot into each and every one.

One of the things that makes Twitter an ideal marketing tool is that every tweet will feature on every followers’ feed so you can be sure your audience will have an opportunity to read it.

By following some simple steps and carefully crafting your tweets to suit your audience and brand, you can use Twitter to grow your business.

Step 1

Once you’ve set up an account, you want to gain followers. Make sure you let your audience know you’re now on Twitter with an update on your website and other social media platforms.

Step 2

Following other people and businesses is one way to grow your own followers but be selective. Start by following your customers, business partners, trade organisations in your industry and other businesses in your community. Journalists, bloggers, writers and thought leaders that focus on the sector your business operates in are also excellent people to follow.

Step 3

Knowing what to tweet can be tricky. You want to promote your business, but don’t go overboard by bombarding your followers with links to your website every time. Comment on subjects not directly related to your business and share photographs and videos too. You want to engage with your followers rather than every tweet being a sales pitch.

Step 4

The character count on Twitter means you need to keep your updates short and to the point. Consider the message you want to get across and think about the quickest way to do this. If you’re linking to a website you’ll want to use a URL shortener, such as Ow.ly, to use up less space.

Step 5

Twitter isn’t just about posting updates either, you want to create a two-way conversation where you can talk to your customers. If they tag you in a post respond and use questions to encourage them to talk about your brand and engage with you.

Step 6

Hashtags are a great way to widen your reach. Using trending topics with a relevant connection to your brand can help you reach new users. However, using too many hashtags can be a turn off – use them sparingly but effectively by seeking conversations where you can add value and expertise.

Step 7

You’ll need to assess how your business is doing on Twitter to continue getting the best out of the social media platform. Twitter Analytics is a great tool for monitoring your impact and seeing what is working. The dashboard will show you when the best time is to tweet and the type of content that is most engaging to your followers.

Do:

Follow a variety of people – Get engaged with your customers, thought leaders, other businesses and the media.
Keep an eye on trends – Look at trending topics and hashtags and see if you can make a connection with your brand.
Get your employees involved – Encourage your staff to follow and engage with the business Twitter account.

Don’t:

Forget to tweet – Make sure you tweet regularly and respond to all enquires directed at the business.
Make every tweet about you – Your followers will become bored of reading your tweets if they are all ‘salesy’ so be sure to include other types of content.

Don’t just use comments – Use videos, images and links to news articles or blogs that will entertain and interest your audience.

Woya digital is a social media marketing agency in Chichester, that can assist companies of all sizes, anywhere, promote themselves through the internet. Our fixed price offering is straightforward and yields results! We are fantastic at social media management, website design and SEO, all paid monthly, with no upfront investment.

Launching & Promoting Your Business With Social Media Marketing

by Steve OBrien | 17 Jan 2017 | Social media, Startup, Top tips

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Starting and promoting your business and getting your name out there can be a difficult and daunting process…

…but the good news is that the modern world of social media means you can reach a wide audience with a few clicks of the mouse, a good dollop of creativity and little more than a mobile phone or a tablet.

By asking yourself some key questions in promoting your business and following our top social media tips you can build up a social media following in no time – allowing you to promote your business and reach out to customers on platforms that suit them.

Decide which sites you’ll use

The first thing you need to consider is what platforms you will be using. Your choice will be dictated to a large extent by your target audience. If you’re a B2B service or product and want to talk to professionals about things related to their work, you might not gain much attention on Instagram but starting a LinkedIn discussion could draw your customers’ eye to your expertise. Likewise, a business that creates unique and personalised homewares will be better suited to a visual social media platform such as Pinterest or Instagram than LinkedIn.

Establish your company voice

As you’re going to be creating a lot of content, you need to think about the tone of voice you will use on social media. This should reflect your brand and be appropriate for the medium. If you’re a fun, lively brand aimed at young people then a less formal approach can make your business seem stylish and approachable. However, if you’re a business selling security solutions for instance, you’ll want to project a professional image – the language you use will need to reflect this.

If several people are going to be updating your social media accounts, it’s a good idea to draw up some guideline so that all of the updates are written in the same tone and style. Even if there is only one person controlling the platforms this can still be a useful practice to ensure continuity.

Make your posts count

Follow these three tips to get you started on promoting your business through social media platforms:

Social media users will be turned off if every update is a sales post with the aim of promoting your business. You need to link to valuable content that your audience will enjoy and find interesting too – they’re more likely to share this content so you’ll reach a bigger audience as well. This is called content curation.
Social media is a great way to create a two-way dialogue with your customers so don’t just post updates – ask questions, respond to enquiries and share interesting news.
Show off your expertise. If there’s a news story or viral video on the internet that’s related to your business, comment on it.

Review

Finally, continue to monitor the success of your social media engagements. Review whether you’re reaching the right audience, see what they are responding to and keep an eye out for new trends and platforms. Social media is always evolving and so should your social media strategy.

Woya digital is a social media marketing agency in Chichester, that can assist companies of all sizes, anywhere, promote themselves through the internet. Our fixed price offering is straightforward and yields results! We are fantastic at social media management, website design and SEO, all paid monthly, with no upfront investment.

6 Top Tips To Find a Name For Your Startup

by Steve OBrien | 11 Dec 2016 | Brand names, Startup, Top tips

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Your company or product name is almost as important as the service or product you are offering, especially when it comes to startup marketing.

It needs to capture the attention of your target audience while reflecting your brand and giving an idea of what it is you’re offering – that’s no easy task.

Before you begin brainstorming lots of different name ideas spend some time thinking about the type of name you want and how it will relate to your business offering. You might choose to make up a word that gives a fresh and fun vibe but if your business is aimed at professionals offering work related services this simply won’t work as it doesn’t show off what you’re doing. As a result, it is important to think about the wider image you want your brand to portray and your overall marketing strategy.

You should consider the name of your business as a cornerstone that will act as the foundation the rest of your brand can be built upon. So make sure the name you select is aligned with your business objectives and don’t limit yourself, for instance by using geographical locations, unless you plan to remain within a specific market or area.

There’s plenty of ways to come up with your business name and these options can be transferred to products too.

Using your name – Simply using your last name, or several last names if you’re operating a partnership, is easy and gives a clean, professional image. But it’s unlikely that the brand will stand out from crowd and you may want to rethink if you have an unusual surname.

Describe the startup business – Using plain, simple language that describes the business is one way to make sure people know what it is you do, for instance the company General Electrics does this. However, with so many businesses it’s likely that these names are already taken and they simply won’t be memorable unless you’re operating in a niche or emerging sector.

Creating a new word – You can be creative and make up your own word that you feel reflects your brand. Just be sure to think about how people who are reading it for the first time will pronounce it and whether or not it rolls off the tongue.

Combining two words – Melding together two words to create your business brand is a popular option. Many companies select two words that they believe reflect the business and combine the two. However, while the logic behind this works, it can result in some brand names that sound twisted, difficult to say or don’t look right on the page.

Acronyms – If you want to describe what your business does without sounding dull, an acronym could be a solution. Creating an acronym that results in a unique and relevant word could suit your business if you want your name to have a deeper meaning.

Everyday objects – Some brands simply use the names of everyday objects to create their name, such as global brand Apple. This can be a good choice if you can link the item to your offering and have an interesting backstory.

Woya digital is an online marketing agency in Chichester that can help all sizes of companies, anywhere, promote themselves through the internet. Our fixed price offering is fantastic and yields results!