Blog | Lead Generation, Online Marketing

How will the latest Facebook changes affect me?

browsing facebook Currently, most people’s Facebook feeds are a jumble of status updates, likes, photos and comments from those you’re most interested in.

But that’s all about to change…

Last month, Facebook announced that they are streamlining their news feed, claiming that it will ‘reduce clutter’ and ‘bring stories to life’ by creating a more visual home page. You can sign up for the new look here (the changes will be rolling out over several months).

The changes in summary….

Photo stories will be blown up to provide rich previews rather than small stories.
The Facebook home page becomes a wider screen
You’ll be able to choose from among several feeds dedicated to specific content, including music, friends, people and organisations you are following and photos.
The mobile and desktop user interface are becoming similar, indicating the growing prominence of mobile devices
Facebook ads will be made more prominent but there will be a new, easier-to-spot button to enable the user to hide the advert

Can you measure ROI with social media?

Danny BermantSocial media

Are you thinking about allocating some of your marketing budget and time to social media but are now questioning how you can justify such a decision?
Can you actually get or measure a ROI (Return on Investment) with social media?

It is commonly argued that there is no ROI on social media yet this is not actually true.

Effective social media campaigns do have an impact on your brand and subsequent sales but to measure the impact you need to decide, establish and set up ‘KPIs’ which you can measure your campaign against .
You can decide on a list of ‘Key Performance Indicators’ (KPIs) which best suit your business but below are a few examples of social media relevant KPIs which you may choose to use:

How many visitors/followers came from Facebook, Twitter or even LinkedIn to your company’s website?
How many of your Facebook posts were shared?
How many Twitter users interacted with you?
How many people recommended your company or product during topical discussions on LinkedIn?
How many people have bought your product/service as a result of seeing one/some of your social media posts or even post which talk about your product/service (posted by other people)?
How many blog references are made about your products and how many views have these blogs had?
How many product/service reviews appear on social media sites about your product/services including snippets where the main review is on an actual website?

Be wary of social media experts who tell you…

Danny BermantSocial media

Are you or your company looking to increase your social media presence and are now thinking that some expert help or advice might be just what you need? Do you know how much help or media presence you need? Can you spot the con men from the truly effective social media experts?

To get you started there are 5 key social media expert claims which you should be wary of:

“I’m an expert” – The most reliable person to judge whether someone is an expert is the client, not the consultant. Take steps to find out what others think, and how they view these self-claimed experts. Doing simple Google/social media searches can quite often give you some feedback about how people/companies are viewed. If nothing comes up in the searches then you should always ask for the details of a previous client so you can ascertain how effective and knowledgeable the consultant was.

Ensure you fill in your LinkedIn professional headline!

Danny BermantLinkedIn, Social media

This week’s video tutorial:

Ensure you complete your LinkedIn professional headline. Don’t just put in your job title. Explain to potential clients what you actually do and how you add value.

How to use Vine to engage with your audience

Danny BermantSocial media, Twitter

Have you heard of ‘Vine’?
Would you like to know how it can improve the relationship between you and your customers?

Vine was launced by Twitter in January, and is a video sharing medium which allows you to record and broadcast a video lasting no more than 6 seconds. The time limitation is intentional so that similarly to Twitters’ own 140 character limitation, you are forced to be brief, get to the point and ideally be more creative in your message. The creative nature of these videos can be inspiring and intriguing to the viewer, in turn encouraging them to interact or find out more about your brand. The videos are set up so that they loop and also initially the sound is muted which encourages both interactivity with the audience and also allows your video to be sent to more viewers without causing any noise problems. In fact, if promoted and made well, your Vine video could very quickly go viral, becoming the topic of conversation around more than just your normal brand’s audience.

What makes Vine extra popular is that is that it operates via a mobile phone app so can be recorded and broadcast on the move. It discourages too much planning and editing but at the same time makes you as a company really think about what elements of your product or brand appeal to your audience. The best way to appreciate this is to look at some examples for yourself.

How schools can use social media to fight cyber bullying

Danny BermantFacebook, Social media, Twitter

As well all know, bullying is no longer just something which occurs in the playground, classroom or on a child’s journey to and from school. With the widespread use and acceptability of social media into all aspects of our lives, a new type of bullying has also evolved – namely cyber bullying.

The official government guidelines define ‘Cyber bullying’ as
“the use of Information and communications technology, particularly mobile phones and the internet, deliberately to upset someone else".

The place where cyber bullying is most prominent is via social media. However, social media can also be used to educate against bullying as well as being used to monitor any potential incidents.

So what can a school do to reduce incidents of bullying via social media networks?

There are various, easy steps which schools can be take tackle bullying via social media:

Regularly check all the official school social media pages for any malicious or offensive comments. Such comments can then be removed quickly and before too much damage is caused. Ensure your administrator
Appoint a specific staff member within the school to be responsible for such monitoring and set up email notifications for each social media platform so they’re alerted when any posts are made. This means the school will be aware almost immediately when any unacceptable posts made on the school’s social media pages.

Do you monitor when customers talk about you on Twitter?

Danny BermantSocial media, Twitter

Are your customers having conversations about your product on twitter?
Are you monitoring these conversations and responding or joining in the discussions where appropriate?

To use twitter effectively you need to do more than just tweet about your company. You need to first identify those twitter users who might be interested in your producs or services.

So how do you find these sales leads? And how do you get them interested in your product?

Firstly monitor twitter users who are talking about your product area, industry, a competitor or even your own actual company/product. You can do this via the search or advance search facility in Twitter. Simply type in a keyword or hashtag and Twitter will filter the results with the relevant tweets. Or even better, use a tool called Hootsuite that enables you to create separate feeds, each one tracking up to three keywords or Hashtags.
Some comments and discussions will contain useful information whilst others should present an opportunity for you to subtly persuade people to look at and talk about your product. e.g. If you’re selling a product that cures back pain, you might track the keyphrase "my back is killing me". When people talk about their back problems, you can ask them whether they have tried any products to ease their pain and what the outcome has been.

Is it safe for schools to use social media?

Danny BermantSocial media

internet use The use of the internet is as popular and common in schools today as it is in other walks of life. Most children can not even remember a world without the internet. However, unlike in other fields, schools have an added responsibility to protect their pupils when both using the internet and when appearing on it (i.e. on the school’s website.)

Has your school taken steps to protect their students in relation to the internet and have your staff or colleagues been trained in what they should and should not post on the internet too?

Avoiding the internet because of safety concerns is also not the answer. So what should you been doing?

Internet Safety in General – Before posting anything on the internet at all, those tasked with the school’s internet presence should agree on what they actually want to share about the school on the internet.

Don’t ignore strangers on LinkedIn, they could be your next customer!

Danny BermantLinkedIn

I often meet clients, who tell me proudly that they never connect with strangers on LinkedIn. But what if that "stranger" wants to buy from you, or what if they have a referral? In this short video, I explain why you shouldn’t be so quick to ignore connection requests from strangers.

Help, what’s a Google Hangout?!!

Danny BermantGoogle

Register for our Google Hangout and FREE social media briefing on Thursday 28th February – we’ll contact you with instructions on how it works and how to join

So…what is Google Hangout? And why would I want to join it?

hangout Google Hangout is a free video chat / conferencing service from Google+ (now the world’s second largest social network) which allows 1-2-1 or group chats or even meetings for up to 10 people at a time. It can be used for business or social (i.e. catching up with family and friends.) What is unique and attractive about Google hangout is that you are literally chatting face to face as the screen shows the faces of all attendees to everyone with a bigger portion of screen held off for the person speaking.

On Google Hangout you can…

Host virtual meetings…doing this via Google hangout can increase your team’s productivity as well as saving time and money – allowing up to 10 people to participate. Google hangout have recently also added screen sharing and Google docs programmes to improve the effectiveness of such meetings.

Don’t ignore strangers on LinkedIn, they could be your next customer!

Help, what’s a Google Hangout?!!

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