photo: Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Start with an editorial calendar or blogging plan

One of the first places to start with when it comes to blogging is with a plan. A blog schedule should be part of your online marketing plan. An editorial or event calendar (blogging calendar) is like a roadmap for content creation, giving you a plan on what kind of content to create, what topics to cover, who to target, and how often to publish to best support your marketing plan.

1. Start with a Google calendar, spreadsheet or printed calendar
2. Plan 3 months or 6 mths in advance
3. Look at how much traffic, how many leads, and how many customers you are aiming to generate each month – businesses that blog 16 to 20 times per month get over 2x more traffic than those that blog fewer than four times per month
4. Highlight major holidays such as Christmas, Valentines, Halloween, or Mother’s Day and plan content that fits with the seasonal theme or if your business deals with travel or gardening for example, you can look at the weather seasons
5. Business to Business (B2B) marketers could note important industry trade shows they plan to attend
6. Put in dates for blogs
7. For each date, list the topic, the title of the piece, and the target audience – The goal is to create a good mix of content types, topics, and personas to make sure you’re covering all your segments
8. For each post – add SEO keywords, the stage of the buying cycle, the call-to-action, or other marketing goals that each piece of content must address

But I don’t have anything to say?

There are many types of blogs, so not every post has to be a carefully created masterpiece of writing. You could create a photo or video blog or do a question and answer interview for example. Here are some ideas you can think about for blog posts:

• Personal – casual and more emotional. It’s a good way to create a relationship with your readers as it allows you to use a language that directly addresses them. Or you could talk about what made you start your business or what experiences you have had.
• How to tutorials
• Q&A – question and answer blogs
• Top tips – eg top 10 recipes to use up leftover mash potato
• Reviews of products, places, apps, campaigns and so on
• Videos (vlog) – behind the scenes at work, events, webinars, interviews
• Audio – podcasts, interviews and so forth
• Photos or infographics especially for travel bloggers and photographers
• Interviews with experts or clients or people that inspire you
• Guest blog – ask someone to guest blog for you or do a reciprocal blog agreement
• News or events - for example Business to Business (B2B) marketers could note important industry trade shows they plan to attend, and schedule blog updates, recaps, photos or videos generated at the event
• Round up of top stories, blogs or tweets
• The publication of a case study could generate several weeks’ worth of blog posts that each share details or small sections of information from the complete report

Think about how you want to help people and try and focus your blog topics to help your audience. For example:

• You could teach something - offer knowledge and how to’s
• Write about the latest news and developments related to your business industry or topic
• Include humour in your blogs or funny pictures or videos as a way to present your expertise or ideas and thoughts
• Turn what was a challenge into something inspirational such as overcoming something difficult or a bad experience
• Pay attention to what you are sharing on social media as well such as those tweets that people retweet or what people are liking and commenting on on Facebook. Perhaps that could be the material you should be blogging about. Every time you share an article or tweet or retweet a link, you are essentially micro blogging, so why not expand on that and actually blog about it. That way you can post that blog to social media or share snippets of it as posts – we will go into more about how you use your blog content and promote it future blogs.
• Also be aware that there should be certain things that you should not really blog about such as your co-workers or family members or those who don’t want their privacy compromised – unless of course it is an interview or they want to be featured and you have their permission. Don’t be negative and slate the competition or make fun of a sensitive issue. Be careful when it comes to controversial subjects and politics and be prepared for backfire if you do write like this.

Yes, you can be a blogger too!

You are the expert in your field (yes you are!) and you can become the writer or the publisher! Think about the questions people ask you and answer those questions with your blog. Those people will be typing those questions into Google or other search engines and you want your blog posts to be found for those questions and then help answer them. For example “what colour should I paint my conservatory” or “what is the difference between a business coach and a business mentor” or “where is the best place in Oxford to get a mojito”. Whatever your business, try and answer those questions your clients or potentials customers are asking, as then you become a helpful and trusted source to go to or an expert in your field and people will be more likely to buy your products and services. 

So if you are not blogging for business, what is stopping you from blogging?

• I am no good at writing
• I don’t know what to blog about
• I don’t know what my customers questions are
• I don’t have the time to blog
• I don’t know how often should I blog
• I don’t know how to promote my blog

We would love to hear from you about what is stopping YOU from blogging – please leave your comments below and we will then be sure to cover this in our future blogs.

In our next blog:

We will continue on our blogging series where we will look at where to find content for your blogs, how to set up a blog, blog writing tips and how to promote your blog. If you missed our last blog take a look – we covered why your business should be blogging, the benefits of blogging, some blogging statistics and the top 10 reasons why your website and blog are more important than social media,

We would love to hear from you about how blogging has helped your small business or some good tools and tips you would love to share with us that we can include in our future blogs (with a mention and link back to your blog if we use it) – please leave your comments below.

photo: grafixtek

Blogging gives you the opportunity to answer your customers’ questions. If you can help someone by giving them the answers to their pain points, or give them valuable tips and advice, or point them in the right direction of people who can help, then they will trust you more as a “go to” resource. If you add related links to your articles and a sign up form or a call to action, then they could even turn into an email subscriber or maybe even a client!

The benefits of blogging

• You have more chance of being found online when people search for the answer to their questions if you have answered these in your blog
• Blogging adds fresh content to your website which helps with Search Engine Ranking (SEO or being found online)
• Blogging gives your company a human side, which builds trust with your potential prospects
• People are more likely to trust what they read in a blog over a sales message as long as you are transparent and offer value
• Blogging creates extra pages for your website and the more pages indexed, the higher the overall ranking a website has on search engine result pages
• Consistently blogging good content can establish you as an expert in your field, as people are always looking for expert advice and help and answers
• Blogging gives your company the chance to be the frontrunner of a new topic or trend. Being the first to cover something attracts readers and has the potential to go viral
• Blogs create a content hub of information which you can use to post out to your social media channels
• Posting your blog content to social media can help drive traffic back to your blog and website if people then click on those links

Some blogging statistics

• Small businesses that blog get 126% more lead generation* than small businesses that do not blog
• 57% of companies with a blog have acquired a customer from their blog
• 92% of companies who blogged multiple times a day acquired a customer through their blog
• B2B marketers who use blogs generate 67% more leads per month than those who do not
• B2C companies that blog generate 88% more leads per month than those that do not

*Lead generation is the process of creating enquiries which might convert into a sale.
Blogging Stats Sources: Hubspot, InsideView

Tips on writing content for your blog

• Speak in your own voice and try not to stuff your blog with too many keywords
• Write the blog in a way that people can understand what you are saying – not too much jargon
• Eliminate the marketing message from your content
• Use your blog as a place to educate your readers and answer all of the questions your prospects and clients ask
• Link to other content in your blog to offer further reading so your readers can find out more and stay on your site longer

Top 10 reasons why your website and blog are more important than social media

We are not saying here that you should not use other social media platforms, you must absolutely! Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Google+ and other social media platforms offer you an outlet to post your content and reach your audience and get awareness for your business. However the most important assets of your business are your website and your blog because you have control over them, you OWN the content, they have a longer shelf life and anyone and everyone can see you blog, unlike Facebook who decides who sees your updates. Also social media sites can come and go – look at what happened to MySpace and the many others that come and go or are the “in” thing one minute and then “old news” the next.

So if you are not blogging for business, what is stopping you from blogging?

• I am no good at writing
• I don’t know what to blog about
• I don’t know what my customers’ need answers for
• I don’t have the time to blog
• I don’t know how often should I blog
• I don’t know how to promote my blog

We would love to hear from you about what is stopping YOU from blogging – please leave your comments below and we will then be sure to cover this in our future blogs.

In our next blog:

We will continue on our blogging series where we will be looking at the different types of blogs you can have, where to find content for your blogs, blog writing tips and how to promote your blog.

We would love to hear from you about how blogging has helped your small business or some good tools and tips you would love to share with us that we can include in our future blogs (with a mention and link back to your blog if we use it) – please leave your comments below.

We spoke in last week’s blog about how social media marketing can help generate sales and that social media needs to be a key part of your marketing strategy. If it is not then you are losing out on essential and valuable exposure, brand awareness and lead generation opportunities. So how can you use social media effectively if you are in the travel and tourism industry?

Choose the right social media platform

It goes without saying that you should concentrate on using the platform that will give you the most exposure. Work out where your potential customers are hanging out and how best to engage with them.

Create a social media strategy

From the Norwegian.com UK facebook page – see below for more about tips on social media for travel from people in the travel industry

No plan, no gain. You have to set your objectives and work hard to achieve them. Most disillusionment with social media comes from not having a proper plan to begin with and then not following through. Your social media plan should tie in with your marketing plan. Here are just a few examples of what you could be doing:

• Sending out latest travel deals and specials to fans (without overdoing it and being too salesy)
• Creating, promoting and managing competitions (if done on Facebook there are rules and it needs to be done through an app)
• Sharing blog posts about unique experiences and offering helpful advice
• Encouraging followers to engage and share their experiences
• Posting travel articles, industry news and tips
• Posting engaging videos
• Using Twitter for latest real time news and customer service

Build and optimise your social media pages

For example if you are on Facebook, getting your Facebook Page set up correctly from the beginning is important and gives you a good foundation to start and then to develop. You also need to ensure you are optimised all your social platforms – take a look here to see how to set up and optimise your Twitter page.

Use “Killer” images

Many of the social networks are now very visually based. Out of focus and irrelevant images will hurt your brand image and your social media pages. Ensure that your cover images are refreshed regularly and that the images you post are of good quality and are catchy. What you post will be determined by your brand and strategy.

Make a commitment to social media

If you put in the time to understand, develop and manage your social media strategy, then you will get results. You have to put the time in. Another of the most common phrases used as an excuse for not using social media is “I just don’t have the time”. Well if you already have an outline plan done then you only need about 30 mins a day to implement and engage with people. Stagnant social media pages do your brand more harm than good – it would be like going to a party and no one talks to you, boooooring!

Integrate your social networks with your other marketing activities

Make sure that everyone knows about your social media pages. Include links on your website, blog, on other social sites, in your email signature, your business cards, email newsletters and so forth.

Measure your social media efforts and return on investment (ROI)

Start gauging your consumer demographic and behaviour. Once your social media pages are up and running, you need to track what is working and who is engaging, liking and sharing, and measure these against your goals – as an example take a look at how to set up goals and measure and work out the ROI for a twitter campaign and what tools you can use to monitor and measure your twitter activity. Facebook has an inbuilt free tool called insights, there are many tools to measure your twitter activity or various management, monitoring and reporting tools for social media. If you are driving people to your website ensure you have set up Google Analytics or another analytics system on your website so you can measure the traffic to lead conversion – if you are driving a lot of traffic to your website but you are getting a high bounce rate and no leads, then you need to look at WHY your website or landing page is not working.

Some examples of Social Media pages and campaigns

These are a mix of travel and non-travel related social media pages and campaigns just to give you some ideas and inspiration and get those creative juices flowing!

• Tourism Australia’s Facebook Page Photo App where fans like and upload their holiday photos and then choose ‘favourite fans pics’
• Explore Canada’s Facebook Page where they have integrated an Instagram app to encourage people to get involved.
• Costa Rican Vacations who use Facebook as a tool for generating testimonials – they were slow to adopt Facebook for its older, niche audience, but once the team found a way to take advantage of the platform, the network soon became integrated across its marketing strategy.
• 20 Cool Branded Twitter Pages
• Top 7 Pinterest Campaigns of 2012
• Social Media Examiner Top 10 Small Business Facebook Page 2012 Winners

It could be that some of the above strategies are on budgets that are out of your reach, so you have to adapt the strategy to your business.

What people in the travel industry are saying about using social media for travel

We asked some of our travel industry friends for their tips and feedback and what they recommend when using social media for travel. Here is some of the feedback we received:

Make sure your tweets and posts aren’t “selfish” – be prepared to share good news regarding your competitors. Make tweets and posts about praising your clients, they are more likely to want to share good news about themselves than they are about you! Seek out new customers by checking for associated likeminded products and interesting posts and weaving in a thread for your own product/brand before re-tweeting/re-posting/sharing. Most of all make your social media uplifting and aspirational. I AM convinced social media works for Travel!
Ailsa Tavares – http://twitter.com/TravelPromoters

I think the best tip of all is that it is effectively free advertising if used wisely, just enough to remind people what I do without being overly pushy. Not too many offers, it puts people off. Links are best because they are easier to ignore if people don’t want them in their face but easy to read if they are interested. The blogpost links work well as do photos and testimonials, I don’t have to blow my own trumpet as other people do it for me. I get a lot of work from Facebook and some from LinkedIn. I also often thank tour operators and hotels on Facebook and Twitter for looking after my clients. I have never had a job from Twitter however I do use it as a useful communication channel, often quicker and cheaper than phoning premium rate numbers, particularly useful for airlines and hotels. If I receive a business card I look them up on LinkedIn, easier to remember who they are and what they do and if they move on congratulate them on their new job and the communication channel is still open.
Cathie O’Dea – http://mytraveltoyou.wordpress.com/

Having spent the last year and a half building up the Norwegian.com Facebook page with very little in the way of budget, the key thing from my perspective in making posts successful is to keep things fun, light and yet within it all retaining brand integrity to make sure people know this is a seriously good product too. As an airline, I have always pushed the posts of our tourism partners from Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and more recently the Canaries, Algarve and Croatia. It gives far greater gravitas otherwise we’re generally pushing destinations that people have barely heard of (Alesund, Trondheim for example). The problem is always overkill of sales pitch, so too much, ‘have you booked your holiday yet, or do you want to go to’ rather than, share your tips, photos etc. People need to feel their input is valuable and responded to accordingly. It has been pretty tiring as you cant really take a break from it, but at the same time… it’s been very good fun. Has it increased sales for Norwegian.com? Well, it is not everything, but it does spread confidence about the product and Norwegian just celebrated their best ever first quarter…coincidence? Never.
Mitchell Hawes – http://www.facebook.com/norwegian.com

I think social media is a great way for travel companies to engage with existing and potential visitors. I switch off whenever I see companies just using it as another sales tool, bombarding customers with offers and forgetting that it’s SOCIAL media for a reason. You have to instigate discussion, comments, share but then also join in! It takes time to build up your profile and your following, it’s like customer service – if your social media followers feel welcome, they’ll come again. There needs to be a strategy with what you want to promote and the tone of the brand. I particularly love the Facebook page from Love Croatia – they do an amazing job to really showcase the destination with stunning imagery and asking tips on what to do/see/share their experiences. It’s now another Visit Britain and London based sites also do a great job of providing fun facts on what to see and do but also sharing quirky facts and experiences. I heard a brilliant case study where a company tried to integrate flight bookings on their FB page. The result of trying to push sales was this tiny, hard to navigate box (it looked ridiculous) which just put people off. So sharing links and  sharing partner info is the best way forward if sales are the objective.
Kristel Valaydon – http://twitter.com/KVComms

I think engagement is the key to Social Media. Consumers are bombarded with constant and transparent sales messages. One of my clients, Flamboyant Hotel in Grenada is a small 68 room property and they have close to 17,000 likes on their Facebook page and this is down to engagement – asking people what they think about the destination, and discussing the history and unique aspects of Grenada. In the midst of this of course there are marketing messages and notices about what is going on at the property but its incredibly well balanced and most importantly INTERESTING! I’m very proud of this small 3 star resort for leading the way. I am also currently involved in the following competition on Facebook.
Gemma Lewis – http://twitter.com/escapemarketing

So in conclusion, you can see how with a little creativity, a plan and consistency you can really make social media work for your travel product and create an impact. If you have any questions or other tips to share we would love to hear from you – please leave your comments below!

Should you or shouldn’t you get into social media? How much time should you expend on managing your channels? An industry contact recently raised an interesting point when they said that they would “not place too much dependency on social media as a direct sales route as traditional sales methods counted for the vast majority of tourism sales globally.” Social media as a direct sales route is still developing and will eventually mature. It was the finality of the comment that struck me more and is indicative of the scepticism of the travel industry with social media as a whole.

photo: kevin dooley

Marketing (Sales) is based on AIDA – four key elements:

• Attention – how are you getting the consumer’s attention
• Interest – what benefits do your product have for the consumer and how are they better than the competition
• Desire – Create a “must-have” mindset
• Action – Purchase my product

I see social media as essential part within all four elements. I will however concede that the take up in the Action phase is more complicated and needs time to mature. However social media is key to driving traffic, engagement, attention, interest and desire down to the bottom of the sales funnel and can influence the action – a sale.

The digital landscape is moving at an astonishing rate and if you have not invested something in social media then the divide between you and your competition will only broaden. A small investment now along with a social media marketing strategy will ensure that you are on the train and at least moving forward. Being active in social media also helps to foster a more open mindset in the adoption of new ideas, or indeed the development of new ideas.

I spoke with Hamish McMaster from Water by Nature and he says that they understand the need for having social media, and that it is hugely important in strengthening their brand and defining their digital footprint. In the old days people would land on your website and assume you’re were an expert, because you told them so. No longer. Consumers are much more savvy. They will look at your digital footprint, such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube and evaluate very quickly if you are “legit or full of shit”. If they like what they see and what other people are saying, they are more likely to come and book (in the traditional way!) So for Water By Nature, their Facebook Page and social media marketing is an important tool for exposure and brand strengthening that helps to drive and retain customers in the sales funnel. They also experiment with technology such as using a unique trip tracker on their website, which is a great way to see where their trips take place and as well as showing trip images.

I also spoke with John Berry of Zambezi Safaris who are very active on their Zambezi Facebook Page and Save Mana Facebook Page as well as their blog – but not yet on Twitter and YouTube. They have invested the right amount of time, about 20mins a day, and money for their company. John says that his experience tells him, that not to be involved would be fatal for his business, but he will not spend too much too early as it is hard to predict where it is all going. He tracks his pages and follows what his competitors are doing to keep ahead of the curve. When it comes to direct bookings he does concede that they get very few. But, they do get bookings. The importance of the social media channels to John and his business, is the re-marketing of the Zambezi Safari message. Every new and engaged fan is a potential brand ambassador. Give them the experiences to talk about and they will share with their friends, who in turn become potential brand ambassadors and customers. John also says that in some instances they would not have been able to launch new products if it wasn’t for social media. Fans have been engaged and have helped with awareness and exposure of the company. No company could ask for more in its sales funnel.

So the conclusion is:

photo: “Caveman Chuck” Coker

Social Media marketing helps generate sales.

Join us next week to find out how you can be using social media better to grow awareness, market your travel products and drive people into your sales funnel. We will also showcase some examples of those travel brands using social media in innovative and engaging ways.

photo: Darwin Bell

There are a lot of people connecting, sharing and generating new content.

So is social media a good commercial channel or not? People are hardwired to listen to advice from their friends and family. They trust this advice. And the modern way to share experiences, both good and bad, is on social networking channels.

Here are some quick social media facts and statistics:

Facebook

• 1.2 billion users
• 11% of world population
• 1 million websites are integrated with Facebook
• Average time spent on Facebook is 12.1 minutes
• More stats

YouTube

• More than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each month
• Over 4 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube
• 25% of global YouTube views come from mobile devices
• More stats

Twitter

• 200 million active users
• 60% of users access Twitter via mobile
• More stats

LinkedIn

• Over 200 million users
• More than 2.7 million companies have LinkedIn Company Pages
• More stats

Pinterest

• There are more than 200,000 active Pinterest users in the UK
• Pinterest is now the third most popular social network in the US in terms of traffic
• More stats

General social media stats:

• 30% of users follow brands, giving huge potential for companies to improve social engagement and get their brand out there
• 56% of Americans have a social media profile (55% of 45-54 year olds have a profile)
• 54% of Facebook members use their social networks via a phone

More statistics on social media, apps and services.

How Do You Attract Your Customers On The Social Networks?

There are a couple of things that people are focussed on, namely

1. Price
2. Experience
3. Exclusivity

It can be hard to deliver all of these at the same time but if you do, you have achieved something special and have created in the process, a dedicated brand ambassador. This brand ambassador will spread the good news about your product based on those three important points.

photo: pasukaru76

So where do we get this information? We can get some of this knowledge from friends and contacts by interacting with them on the social networks, by following what they are posting, tweeting and uploading.

Facebook’s new graph search is based on the social graph. This is essentially the connection between objects on Facebook. Objects are anything from people, posts, images, likes and comments. We can now check on friends who have images of a specific location. We can search mush more easily and thus get the answers we are looking for, much more easily.

If your business is selling a product, for example a holiday, you can be marketing these experiences to real people through the social networks. By optimising your profiles and using local social marketing you will be more easily found. By building your network and engaging in the right way you expand your reach. It has to be a two way conversation. Putting up static adverts is a bit old school. By ensuring that you acknowledge past customers, you will create positive relationships and help to nurture those all important brand ambassadors.

Too much focus on Direct ROI

At the moment many brand’s and companies place far too much focus on direct social media return on investment (ROI). This is not what it is about. How many bookings from how many fans. What is more important is the engagement and telling your fans/followers “why” and answering what is in it for them.

Why you do what you do is infinitely more important than what you do. If your customers buy into why you do what you do, then everything else will flow from that.

Social is not a layer of what you do. Social is a part of the fabric and strategy of the business. It is part of the core.

You have to use this new technology if only to make it all a bit more exciting.

The world is pretty well connected so your customers can be logging into systems that connect them to your reservations systems.

Where are these customers coming from? From another continent, around the corner or out of the sky? It does not matter. What matters is that you are visible on multiple devices, systems and networks ready to do business now. You need to be as close to the customer as possible.

Every connection you have with a customer gives you the potential to turn that customer into a brand ambassador. If you give the customer what they want then they will in turn let others know about it, so the path from customer to ambassador can be as easy as they want to do it, or it can be incentivised. “Like me” and you will get a discount off you next booking. Share your experience and we will give you a further discount. These “check-ins” “posts” and “comments” are live, and because of that, they are more believable.

Encouraging customers to engage is essential to this process. Reminding people to “check-in” on Facebook and post images is fine. Even better is giving them the amazing experiences that they will want to share. This co-creation of content is very important because it adds a credibility to the product that can be hard to achieve from internal sources. This co-creation of content is your customers becoming brand ambassadors and helps to build your future customer base.

With the advent of the web, blogging and social media, now everyone needs to become a publisher. Give your customers the experiences that they will want to publish and encourage them to share those experiences globally.

As product and activity owners you need to build a strategy around the co-creation model. Ask yourself what it is that you want your customers to co-create? What message are you trying to send out?

How do you define a customer experience?

• Customers strive for unique experiences
• They buy expectations
• Competitive advantage can only be obtained by providing experiences and creating added value.

The modern tourist is a E-Tourist and this means that you need to address these three issues

• Any where – they want to have options on destinations
• Any device – must work on desktop, laptop, tablet and mobile
• Any time – available 24 hours a day, even on a skydive

The operator in turn needs to manage the following

• Dreaming – This is where the customer has seen some co-created content and has the seed planted
• Planning – They are now engaged, looking at options. You want to have the added value to make yourself distinctive and stand out from the competition
• Booking – Make it easy
• On-site Experience – Make the holiday memorable. Create the perfect experiences.
• Sharing – Encourage further co-creation and sharing

Operators should go as far as to create a TO DO list that addresses the above process and divides it into three distinct areas:

• PRE-TRAVEL
• DURING TRAVEL
• POST TRAVEL

The key to the future is a digital vision and a plan that includes the use of technology to engage with your customers. It is no longer acceptable to only focus on traditional and outdated methods of marketing, booking and engagement. It is not the way that modern customers want to build a relationship.

• what are LinkedIn groups and why should I use groups
• which groups should I join on LinkedIn and how to choose them
• how to use groups and which groups are best
  

photo: nan palmero

What Are LinkedIn Groups and Why Use Them?

LinkedIn groups offer a way to connect with like-minded professionals related to your industry.

You can join or start a discussion, share insights, post articles, answer questions, create polls and more.

Groups are a fantastic way to generate awareness and leads and show your expertise or simply to do some market research or get an answer to a question.

You can start building relationships with clients and potentials customers, gain access to a targeted audience of professionals and position yourself as a thought leader.

Which Groups Should I Join on LinkedIn?

You can either search for a group from the top search bar if you know what you are looking for OR click on your home page in the menu at the top left of your page.

Then in the right column about half way down you should see a section called GROUPS YOU MAY LIKE.

If you click on “see more” you then get taken to a long list of group suggestions. These will be based on your profile, industry, connections or may relate to or be similar to groups you are already a part of.

If you are a member of the same group as another user, you can bypass the need to be a first-degree connection in order to message them. Also by joining a group that someone out of your network is a member of, you can break down a further barrier, making it easier to connect with them. So for this reason you can certainly join a number of groups to open your network.

However if you want to be more targeted in your approach then you need to look at who else in your network is part of the group, perhaps look at closed groups which will be a bit more targeted than open groups, or delve deeper into the analytics of the group to ensure they are part of your target market – see below.

How To Use Groups and Which Groups Are Best?

You can search group members and also search discussions and polls.

You can take a look at who are members of the group.

You can view promotions and jobs listed on the group.

But the menu you really want to be looking at is the MORE menu:

Here you can view and change Your Setttings – so choose to display the group logo on your profile, set the frequency of the emails you get from the group ie daily or weekly or none. This is also where you can leave the group if you wish.

You can look if there are any subgroups which may be more specific to your niche.

Take a look at the group profile for more information.

And last but certainly not lease is the Group Statistics and this is where you can really drill down into the analytics of the group. Take a look at the DEMOGRAPHICS to see if the people in the group are those you want to be connecting and engaging with – you can look at seniority (job title), function (job description or skill), location which is important for local marketing, and industry.

Then take a look at the ACTIVITY of the group – if the disparity between the blue and green on the graph is large ie there is way more green “discussion” and not many blue “comments” so they are not similar, then there may be a number of reasons – either the content being posted is too promotional or not engaging or there are not really many people engaging in the group so you need to work out if it will be worth your while spending a lot of time networking here. It is always worth giving it a try though as it is still going to increase you awareness and perhaps drive people to your blog een if people are not liking or commenting on the discusssions.

Related Articles You May be Interested In

Have you signed up to LinkedIn yet? No? Then sign up now – http://www.linkedin.com and visit our blog on reasons and benefits as to why you should be on LinkedIn. If you have already set up a profile on LinkedIn then you may want to take a look at how to optimise your personal profile on LinkedIn and also my previous blog on how to connect with people on LinkedIn.

Any other tips you have to share on LinkedIn Groups? Please share your comments below.

Copyright: http://icanhas.cheezburger.com/

Who else is getting annoyed with the constant changes to Facebook? My newsfeed is now clogged up with suggested pages to like, suggested friends, suggested posts and so on.

I friend people and follow companies on Facebook (Facebook Business Pages) because I want to see what they have to say and to engage with them.

Then if those I follow are posting too much or it’s really not of interest then I either hide them from the feed or I unlike the Facebook Page.

So tell me Facebook .. WHY do YOU decide what I should see and what I should not??

Why am I not seeing page posts in my newsfeed? Why are people not seeing mine? .. and I’m talking about those who want to see it (and yes they interact my page a lot – like and comment and share – so its not down to Facebook’s supposed EdgeRank!) .. also quite a few people mentioned quite a while back that they loved seeing our posts so I said to them “oh I had no idea because you don’t like the post or comment or share it” and they said they don’t necessarily like to always like or comment on posts – maybe for privacy reasons or perhaps because they don’t want people to see what they are liking or commenting on. So are they no longer seeing them because of the EdgeRank algorithm?

Did You Know?

It is estimated only 8% of your followers see you posts in their newsfeeds due to the Facebook filtering service and will this only get worse now that valuable space is being taken up by promoted posts and advertising?

So yes, you can obviously advertise or pay to promote a post so you can ensure people see them in their newsfeeds, but quite a lot of sentiment is that people don’t want to see those kind of posts clogging up their newsfeeds,  just like me, so the last thing I want is to have to pay to have my posts shoved in people’s newsfeeds.

What I want to see is Facebook delivering the best experience for the end user and I don’t think they are doing that. If they like what I say on personal posts or on my business page posts then great .. if not they can either hide all my feeds or certain types of posts or just unlike my page… SIMPLE!

Facebook and those promoting on their behalf have enticed businesses to be on there and almost make everyone feel like they need to be on there or they are missing out. So many small businesses have set up their business on there and are investing a lot of time and effort, but at what cost and for what return? Yes Facebook serves a great purpose for businesses on Facebook, depending on your goals of course and if you have a strategy. It can generate awareness, brand loyalty and be used as a customer relationship marketing tool and is even generating a lot of business for people. However if you are a small business with limited resources, you also have to look at the time invested (time is money too) versus the return and look at how effective Facebook is in delivering your ROI (return on investment).  Also you need to try and keep up with constant changes – profile photo size changes, posts size changes, what works well then doesn’t, and now with the new timeline (again), will that mean new image sizes, changing all tabs etc again? Will keep you posted.

So now that you are on there do you just keep plugging on and hope you get the return you want or start advertising and promoting posts to get noticed? Or do you just move to another network that will deliver a better return and focus on that instead?

Ok now it is your time to RANT or RAVE for Facebook! I would love to hear what you think.

In the Chinese Zodiac, 2013 is the year of the black water Snake and started on February 4th and the Chinese New Year is on February 10th.

What is in store for the year of the snake?

- steady progress and attention to detail
- the snake is enigmatic, intuitive, introspective, refined and collected – so focus and discipline will be necessary for you to achieve your goals
- Water snakes like to socialize and meet new people, are proud of their achievements, and thoughtful and considerate of others – so get out there and network in person and also via social media
- the black snake will bring unexpected change, instability, and changeability – so it is important to plan everything and evaluate before taking action
- Ancient Chinese wisdom says a snake in the house is a good omen because it means that your family will not starve!

So WHY am I writing about the year of the black water snake and what on earth triggered me to do so?

Well, when Robin (my business partner) skyped me and said “did you know 2013 is the year of the snake” (and we are Mamba Media – named after a snake), I thought great! I can go and find a nice funny picture of a snake and post it up on Facebook and say how this is going to be the year for Mamba Media!

But then I got reading more about the year of the snake and started to look at how we could relate this to our business. It not only inspired me to draw analogies with our own business identity and branding but to also show you how important branding is what you need to be thinking about for your business in the year ahead.

So I have focused on:
#1. Choosing a company name (snake)
#2. Choosing your company colours (black)
#3. Get your business flowing (water)
#4. What does the “year of the black water snake” mean for your business

I will use our company as an example… not because I want to promote what we do, but to help portray what I am talking about and to get you thinking about your name, branding and identity.

#1. Choosing a company name (SNAKE)

The name Mamba (pronounced mumba) comes from a snake.  Both Robin and I, the co-founders of Mamba Media, originate from Africa and therefore the name came from two of the snakes that are quite well know out there, the Black Mamba and the Green Mamba.

Why did we choose mamba over other names?

- the name related to our heritage so gave us an identity
- it was the most voted by everyone we knew as it rolled off the tongue easily and was easy to remember! (I know not a great branding strategy!)
- media relates to communication and portrays the services we offer from web to digital media
- the name is short and not as common as other names for what we do and was therefore easy for us to secure the name across most of the internet domains and social networks

What about the negative connotations of snakes?

- well there are positives and negatives in everything
- good does not exist without bad
- people succeed after having failed
- a negative can always be turned into a positive

How does the name and reference to a snake relate to what we do?

- mambas are known for their speed and agility (the black mamba is the fastest in the world) Even Kobe Bryant assigned himself the nickname of “Black Mamba”, citing a desire for his basketball skills to mimic the snake of that name’s ability to “strike with 99% accuracy at maximum speed, in rapid succession”

- the black mamba is longest venomous snake in Africa – so not only are we here for the long term, but we also want to establish long-term relationships with those we work with and for their business to succeed long into the future

- the black mamba has a reputation for being aggressive while the green mamba is very shy and generally not aggressive – so two sides of a coin, we aggressively make sure your business will succeed and stand out, but at the same time we are human and customer-service orientated so will ensure you get the best possible service

- although mambas are highly venomous, they tend to avoid confrontation and the biggest danger is when someone attempts to kill them because they will defend themselves to the maximum – so we don’t want to be put in a corner or put you in a corner and be stifled in creativity, we want you to stand out and be the best you can be

- snakes are often held in fear, respect and awe – yes we all want to be held in respect and awe for what we do for others but in fear? I have not quite figured out how to turn that into a positive

#2. Choosing your company colours (BLACK)

Why did we choose green and black for our branding colours? What do the colours black and green represent and mean to people who see it?

- the colours related to the black mamba and green mamba
- black is also the colour of power, elegance, modernity and luxury; it is classy and dramatic and has an edginess to it
- green is the colour of growth, freshness, eco and harmony; it represents stability… but inspires possibility!

All of which relate to our company ethos.

There are obviously negative connotations for these colours as well such as black being evil and secretive and green being the colour of envy or inexperience. But what is important is to align the colours with your brand and what you believe in and ensure the colours represent who and what you are.

There is also a whole psychology behind colour and how people perceive colour. They have the ability to affect our moods, buying habits and more. Take a look at our selection of infographics on branding and colour.

#3. Get your business flowing (WATER)

We work a lot with Lynne from Big Idea , who is an expert on colour and branding and she has certainly opened my eyes to how extremely important branding is: to have an identity, the right colours, brand personality and positioning and a brand strategy – as without this: who are you? what do you stand for? why should people buy from you? what makes you different? Without an identity how can you find your voice and therefore work out what to say?

Once you have your name and your branding in place then everything starts to flow, like water. You obviously still have other business considerations like website, marketing materials and you also need to put a marketing plan together, but it is going to be a lot easier if you have established your branding and identity and colours.

#4. What does the “year of the black water snake” mean for YOUR business?

Those born in the year of the snake

- appreciate beauty, are stylish and have great taste!
- are adventurers and risk-takers
- are intelligent and full of creative ideas
- turn a complicated situation around
- have an ambition for greatness that inspires you to be all you can be, and provide you with the follow through to actually achieve your goals
- water symbolises transformation, purification, reflection, renewal, motion and life

I am looking at this not just from the perspective of people who are born in the year of the snake, but also businesses who start up in 2013 “the year of the snake” AND even taking it one step further by relating it to current businesses who can re-invent themselves and take a fresh look at the way they are doing business in 2013.

If you are just starting up a business or are looking to give your business a bit of a shake up, then this may be the year for you!

Here is the article that inspired me to write this blog 

- suggestions of who to connect with on LinkedIn
- simple ways to find connections on LinkedIn
- the best way to invite people to connect with you on LinkedIn
- how to connect with people who are outside of your network on LinkedIn

Suggestions of who to connect with on LinkedIn

Click on your home page in the menu at the top left of your page.

In the right column are suggestions on people you may know that you could connect with.

Below that is listed the people who have viewed your profile, so you can then perhaps invite them to connect with you.

Once you have connected with people you will see their updates in the left column of the home page on LinkedIn. So now you can begin engaging with them by liking, commenting on or sharing their posts – start networking!

Searching for people or companies on LinkedIn

In the top right of your page you can choose what you want to search for so you can select people, groups, jobs, company and so on and then enter the name in the search box.

Suggestions will automatically pop up, however if you don’t find who or what you are looking for then hit ENTER and on the next page you can narrow down you search by companies, location, industry, groups and so forth.

The best way to connect with people on LinkedIn

Rather than just hitting connect using your phone or table app or the Connect button on the People You May Know page, go to the person’s profile and click on the Connect button.

You will then get the option to Invite the person to connect and you can choose from a number of options such as “we’ve done business together” or “groups” and so forth.

In the personal note, instead of sending the invite with the standard message, customise the message and make it personal and targeted, for example:

Dear …

It was lovely to meet you at … I would love to connect with you on LinkedIn …..

Kind regards ….

Connecting with people who are out of your network on LinkedIn

DID YOU KNOW: If you are a member of the same group as another user, you can bypass the need to be a first-degree connection in order to message them. Group members are also able to view the profiles of other members of the same group without being connected. So start joining more groups so you can connect with more people!

Your alternative for connecting with people that you don’t know or those people who are out of your network on LinkedIn, is to upgrade to the LinkedIn Premium Account.

What next?

Have you signed up to LinkedIn yet? No? Then sign up now – http://www.linkedin.com and visit our blog on reasons and benefits as to why you should be on LinkedIn. If you have already set up a profile on LinkedIn then you may want to take a look at our previous blog on how to optimise your personal profile on LinkedIn.

In future blogs in my LinkedIn series I will be focusing on generating leads, using groups, tips for networking on LinkedIn, company pages and more! So stay tuned and visit me again or sign up for email updates straight to your inbox!