Must you be Perfect or is Close Good Enough

So what do you think is more important for business? Speed to market or getting everything exactly right before taking action? I wouldn’t proclaim to have the absolute answer but it is something I run across a lot lately.

I do have an opinion. I think, to coin a very old phrase, the early bird catches the worm.  I have yet to find a perfect website, social media campaign or youtube video but so many still hit the spot and get a response and that’s what counts. If you spend so much time looking for the 100% right words or the perfect photo, you will lose time gaining business.

Being in the digital age means everything is manageable. If you aren’t happy with some of the copy, change it. That’s why God invented the CMS. I often tell my clients that 95% is pretty damn good when it comes to getting their new website ready. The rest can be updated as you go so get it out there. If the odd mistake is noticed, then thank the bearer of the news and make the change (you could say they won the prize for first spot). The fact that someone took the time to look at the website in the first place and notice the error means you’ve won. Another old adage – any publicity is good publicity.

I have also spotted many slip ups in Twitter and Facebook. That could be something as simple as sending out publicly what you thought was a DM or private message to just plain bad spelling (the curse of the predictive text – I have done my fair share of funny posts). Well there again the beauty and speed of social media channels means you get a second slice of the pie. You get the chance to update or do a second mea culpa message. You may get noticed but isn’t that really what you want?

There are a few things I do find hard to excuse such as using lower case ‘i’ when referring to yourself or apostrophes where they don’t belong. I slightly despair at what texting and social media has done to our grammar and spelling especially with younger people. I can understand how it happens but wish more care was taken or at least considered.

Overall, my advice is get out there and get selling yourself and your products or services. Spending a lot of time and money for perfection at the beginning of your journey is a luxury few SMEs can afford. There is plenty of time to update. Your website and marketing should be an ever-evolving thing.   

To Tweet or not To Tweet (but if you do, do it well)

Every now and again, I feel the need to update my twitter rules of engagement. I say ‘my’ because it isn’t official of course but as someone who has been tweeting for a very long time and tries to keep up with twitter trends, I hope I can inspire by my experience.

Twitter evolves and while some have predicted its demise for a long time, I don’t see it going anywhere anytime soon. In fact, I think it is still getting stronger.

So here is my 2015 twitter rules of engagement or ‘Think Jeannie’s Guide to Twitter’.

·       -  Short and sweet in the name of the game. If you want to get a RT, you need to leave room in those 140 characters for the letters ‘RT’ and for your twitter handle to show (so at least space for 19 extra characters for a RT)

·       -  Make sure your tweet content is a mix of things. Try some RTs of facts & figures or interesting research. Throw in some personal tweets (bad lunch, family time, my rubbish football team lost etc). Other tweeters want to know something about the person/people behind the account.

·        - Never be too ‘salesy’ on Twitter. It is not a selling channel. If your tweets are interesting enough, you’ll get someone to your website where you should be selling like hell.

·       -  Please don’t send a DM to thank someone for following. That’s a waste of a DM and not the purpose of it. Thank yous should be done in a public tweet. You want to let your followers know that ‘you & I’ are worthy of following each other. It is not a secret society.

·        - Do use a DM if you are a business who has a genuine ‘twitter’ offer for following. For instance, if I follow a restaurant, you are more than welcome to thank me in a DM by sending me a voucher for a free glass of wine or discount. If you do that, make it a genuine decent (but easy to fulfil) offer.

·        - Make sure your twitter profile is creative & short (max 160 characters). Also make sure your banner is the right size (you don’t want pixilation). Remember only a certain middle bit of that banner shows on mobiles & tablets.

·        - And your profile shot should be either a distinctive, clear logo or your picture.  It’s a very important part of your profile.

·        - Say thanks to someone who has retweeted one of your posts and do it publicly (not in a DM).

·        - Hashtags are powerful but don’t overuse them. They are great when tweeting about trends or for an event you are organizing (communicate ahead of time to attendees what the event hashtag will be).

·        - Hashtags are also good when complaining or moaning about service (mentioning the ‘offending’ business name in the hashtag). A good business or organization will be on top of those # and respond accordingly. You can right a wrong by being responsive. So check often & then let the tweeter know you’ve heard them (don’t force a DM conversation – the complainer has been public for a reason).

·        - Automate as little as possible. Genuine tweets = genuine followers.

·        - If you don’t have the time to tweet regularly, yes that means a couple of times most days, then don’t tweet! If you’re a business, Facebook & LinkedIn may just be a better avenue for your social media.

·        - Do not swear or be rude. Having a strong opinion is fine but you don’t have to insult someone and everyone’s intelligence by using expletives.

·        - Don’t carry on with too long a ‘private’ conversation or joke in the public eye. Switch to DMs where you can chat away. And don’t forget, phones and emails still exist!

·        - Quality not quantity is the name of the game for followers. Clean up your followers list often (try Justunfollow https://www.crowdfireapp.com/ ) and get rid of those who look like spammers or those who haven’t tweeted in ages but are still following you (like those who have automated – see #13).

·        - To get followers you have to follow too (‘if you build it, they just don’t automatically come’). Look at terms that are of interest to you & see which tweeters come up. Never hesitate to follow someone that strikes your fancy – shyness doesn’t exist on twitter. All businesses are created equal on twitter.

·        - Remember twitter is not private – you may think you are speaking to a closed audience of your followers but you are not. And you may just lose your job over it (HR people now regularly monitor employee twitter accounts). Don’t call a sickie then talk about the great party you went to last night. Not clever.

·        - Weekends and nights rule. I used to say you could do less tweets during that time. That wouldn’t be good advice now. People spend more quality time on twitter on the weekends and evenings (who really has the time during a busy working day).

It may only be 140 characters but it shows the person or business who you are so use the opportunity and time well. Twitter can be such a powerful tool!

It’s the Content, Stupid

10 February 2015

Remember that famous slogan from Bill Clinton’s Presidential campaign? Allegedly it was “It’s the economy, stupid”.  The gist being he could talk about all the issues you can imagine but in the end, people would decide who to vote for based on what he would do for their wallets.

It got me thinking that it’s similar with Social Media. You can be good at all the tips & tricks of the Social Media channels but in the end of the day, it’s simply what you are talking about that cuts through. When I do a Social Media strategy for a client, I definitely focus on content and keywords but probably not enough. I intend on doing more.

It may sound logical but I’ve come across so many people who struggle with what to say in their tweets and posts. While lots rely on pictures to do the talking, which do make for engaging posts, I believe it is what you say with those images and how you say it that really counts.

I’ve noticed in recent months on Facebook that my personal posts, with short and ‘nice’ or funny stories, get the most reaction. I don’t post with an image and I often think at the time they are too long but I am amazed at the reaction. Seems I’ve either tugged at someone’s heart strings or I’ve told a funny anecdote that others can relate to and that’s what gets a response.

As with email marketing, a headline can make or break you. Funny, ironic, sarcastic or a little bit rude (just a bit) works a treat in getting people’s attention. If you don’t require a title, then a short intro sentence using those sorts of tones should work too. Just think about how you might react if you are in the receiving line.  How many emails do you ignore every day and which ones get your attention.

In thinking about content, I tell clients who are stuck for ideas, start with a calendar. Use an A3 sheet of paper and split by the twelve months and plot the usual big holidays first e.g. Christmas, Easter, bank holidays etc. Then do a bit of research to find out some unusual holidays (e.g. ‘National Cheese Day’ ‘Dogs go to work with owners Day’ and similar) and stick those in the calendar. Then consider key dates specific to your industry. If you’re in travel and tourism, think about the high travel season or type of holiday relevant to the time of the year e.g. beach, skiing, day’s out. Or research all the main industry shows and events. FAQs make great content. Keep filling in your calendar and suddenly you have twelve months of content, without much effort, planned.

Do think laterally too in terms of content. Don’t just talk about your own industry or business – figure out how you can take advantage of a totally unrelated topic and turn it into something relevant for you and your business. The Chelsea Flower Show may not seem an obvious connection to an Osteopath but if you just think about all those gardeners bending down and making their displays, well sure you can imagine there might be some very sore backs. Suddenly, you’ve got an interesting story with a link. And you can be sure the Chelsea Flower Show will be trending all over social media (don’t forget to use those Hashtags!).

Finishing off, I remember another famous saying ‘Content is King’. I certainly think so – in fact it’s true royalty!