Visible and Memorable

Almost everyone is connected up via one online platform or another.  If you want to know something most people reach for their phone, tablet or computer, not for a book or magazine.  Information is freely available - and there's so much of it, it's impossible for anyone to keep up with everything.

We get so much information by email, social media, blogs and websites that very little actually sticks.  We're consumers and we scan and skip online - there simply isn't time to do anything more in depth - until we find the specific thing we're looking for.

Our brains are becoming wired differently.  Instead of reading and digesting, our eyes race down the text looking for specific words.  So, if I'm looking for 'widgets' and I'm faced with a page of writing on screen my brain and eyes will be programmed to skip over anything that doesn't say 'widgets'.

It's a bit like being in a room full of people all chatting away - if someone says your name on the other side of the room your brain will register that.  You won't hear the conversation, just that very familiar sound of your name.  It will stand out from all the other conversations going on around you.  It's the way our brains work and it's useful when you're searching for something specific - but from the other side of the coin, it means that people are not reading your message the way you'd like them to.

So how do you get people's attention long enough to get them to engage?

The first step is to be very clear about who your message is for.  The more specific you can be about your ideal audience, the better you'll be able to create the content they want to read.

So, step two is about knowing what is important to your ideal audience.  What are they keen to find out?  What are they really interested in?  What gets them excited?  What problems are they experiencing that you can solve?

Step three is to know where these people 'hang out'.  Which social media do they use?  Which forums are they active in?  What do they already read?

Step four is to put together your plan - what do you want to achieve?  What tools can you use to succeed?  It will include the answers to all the questions in the first three steps and then creating the content that will fit the profile you've created and then delivering it.

Using social media, blogs and other online tools is more than simply a means of connecting with a large network, it's about being visible - not just today, but every day, consistently and congruently.  If you deliver high value content regularly you'll not only be visible, but people will actively look for your posts.

Are you a slave to your social media?

I work with a lot of small business owners from one-person owners to companies with a handful of staff.  They all have the same challenge - they're time-poor.  There just aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done, let alone learning to do new stuff.

Most of them see social media as a big, greedy time-guzzler!  The perception that they need to spend hours (or even just one hour) daily keeping up with conversations, posting new content and more is just beyond their ability to manage.  However, it does depend on what they want to achieve.

Let's look at the main platforms:

Twitter

Twitter really is a case of making connections, it's like text messages on steroids.  That doesn't mean that you need to be connected to hundreds of thousands of people, it does mean that you should be looking at making good connections though.

People to get connected with:

• Your clients
• Your suppliers
• Your networking connections
• The people who write useful blogs that you read regularly (or would like to if you could remember to check if they've written anything lately)
• People who are connected with your target audience, but aren't competitors
• Your competitors (it's worth keeping an eye on what they're doing)

Of course, you'll find you get connected with a few random people too - don't be too precious, you never know who they know.

Input to keep your Twitter account alive:

Regular tips, suggestions, shares of useful information - these can be recycled over time and will include quotes from your blogs too.  This can be done easily using a social media management tool such as Hootsuite.

Replies to mentions and conversations you've responded to.  If you ignore people who mention you, you'll fall off their 'people who are worth talking to' list.  This shouldn't take long - a few minutes a day - try doing it after you've cleared your email.  Attaching a new habit to an existing one is a great way to set that in place.

Facebook

If you're selling direct to consumers a Facebook Page is a great way to be seen, but use a Page rather than your personal account.  Gifts, personal products and services and clothing all work well on Facebook.

Facebook likes images (they bought Instagram) so loading an image with a few words or comment is a great way to get people's attention.  You only need to post one 2-3 times a week.  

If you're posting product images try to put a few different ones in from time-to-time - that are relevant to your business.

If you visit your Page every couple of days and respond to comments, thank people for 'likes' and post today's image you shouldn't need to spend more than 15-20 minutes per visit.

Pinterest

If you're selling attractive items like homeware, gifts, clothes, shoes, bags, etc Pinterest is very effective.  As you have up 500 characters to write next to each image you load make the effort to write something tempting and ensure images are uploaded from your website, not from your computer so the links take people back there.

This should not take any longer than your Facebook uploads and can use the same or similar images.

Google+

Many people think this is a network of geeks who all talk about technology, but there are plenty of others on here and the Google Hangouts are really useful to get a group of people together.  

Google+ posts tend to be longer and commentate on an issue.  It's probably worth exploring a bit before jumping in.  You can have a company page here too and can post the same tips etc to it that you put into Twitter using Hootsuite, which keeps you visible.

LinkedIn

For business-to-business connections LinkedIn is invaluable.  However, this platform does require a fair bit of effort to make it really work well as a business generator.  Having said that, it can be a really effective way to generate business if you do invest the time.  It is much less effort than cold-calling and all that entails.

An hour a day on LinkedIn developing relevant connections so you have a tagged list of connections who are all in your 'ideal client' niches will pay dividends in the long term.

If you're posting tips to Twitter, Facebook and Google+, you might as well include LinkedIn too.  This ensures you maintain a high profile even when you're busy.

Apart from LinkedIn, which does require a bit of time and effort, you can run all this in around 15-20 minutes a day if you organise yourself properly.  Make sure you have a plan and you're in control and you won't be a slave to your social media - it will be a good servant and help you to build your reputation online.

Online marketing success strategies

Most of the people I talk to are busy running their businesses and, whilst they know it's important to do marketing, it's often the first thing to fall off the edge when time is tight.

The problem is that it's often seen as 'non-essential'.  If you skip marketing activities for a week or two the business won't grind to a halt.  That's true, but if you don't do consistent marketing you'll quickly find that business drops off and it becomes a struggle making ends meet and paying all the bills.  It's known as 'restuffing the sausage machine'!

This is particularly important if you're a small business as there may not be people to delegate marketing to so you really need a robust plan to ensure that, even when you're busy, marketing doesn't stop altogether.

Step one is to decide who your ideal client is.  If you have a very clear idea of this you'll find everything else gets easier.

For example: not 'professionals', not' lawyers', not 'family lawyers', but something really specific like 'family law firms with fewer than 4 partners based within 30 miles of Exeter'.

Obviously, you will need to tailor this to your business and target clients; the more specific you can be the easier it is to find the type of clients you want.

Step two is to identify where these ideal clients are found online - are they active in LinkedIn, do they tweet, do they chat on Facebook, are they posting content into Google+ or images on Pinterest?  Doing your research up front will ensure your messages are posted in the right places.

Step three is to have a plan of action - what content are you going to post to which platforms?E.g.

• Post to your blog twice a month (one sharing knowledge, one case study)
• Create a set of daily tips for posting in relevant social media - enough for a month (these can be reposted monthly
• A monthly newsletter to your list

Your plan may include articles, email marketing, webinars, YouTube videos and more, but always think about what you will do if time runs out.

Step four is to have tools that will help you with all this.  Things like:

• Hootsuite (www.hootsuite.com) to manage and schedule your posts will save you hours and maintain visibility
• sxc.hu for stock images that are free to use (never use Google images if you want to avoid big fees and fines for using copyrighted images unknowingly)
• Camtasia (or the free version Jing) to allow you make short videos for YouTube and then add to other social media and your website
• AnyMeeting, GoToMeeting or Webex for webinars or tutorial sessions

Step five is to have a plan showing who does what and when.

As a minimum you need to invest 5 minutes a week in posting your value-led social media, it's the easiest and quickest way of staying visible.  It's not a substitute for real-time engagement, but at least ensures you're still visible even if you're run off your feet and don't have time for anything else.

If things are really busy and look like being that way for a while then get help.  It's worth paying a professional to write your content for blogs, articles, email marketing and even some of your social media if you can earn more in the time it would take to do it yourself.

It takes about three months before you'll start to see real results - and the same applies if you stop marketing; it can be three months before you suddenly realise that business isn't going so well.  Don't get to that stage or you'll have another tough few months whilst you get everything up and running again.