Here I discuss how social media, content marketing and Search engine Optimisation link together. I also bring in how businesses should create a social media plan, and use two videos to assess the value of social media to businesses. This discussion is also supported by our Pinterest board, Linking it all together. In addition, this ‘Social versus search smackdown‘ video is entertaining and useful.

How everything links together

This is the kind of illustration I could stare at for hours. I just wish I had recorded where I had found this image, (I’m obviously not using Pinterest as well as I should be)! If anyone does know the source, please let me know so I can credit this. My favourite key points from this illustration are: Continue reading

There’s nothing like a case study to demonstrate how you can apply social media to your business. Take a look at these 12 social media case studies and be inspired by what others are doing. These videos range of large organisations like Ford, to smaller companies like James Whelan Butchers

Woolmark, fashion by feelings, 2:48

The Marmarati social media case study, 3:03

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YouTube
Video is becoming more and more important for businesses. Videos are great for Search Engine Optimisation and engagement. In addition, they help to close the communication gap via easy to digest information. See the Something Beckons ‘world of YouTube’ Pinterest board for an evolving board of YouTube for business infographics and tips.

Something Beckons world of YouTube Pinterest board

Pinterest
Here is a really cool video explaining what Pinterest is and a video on what marketeers think of Pinterest.  Pinterest is all about images and video. So what do you Pin? Use Pinterest to visually illustrate the following:

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Blogs
Here is a simple video introduction to blogs. Blogs should be the centre. Use blogs to easily create fresh and relevant content for your audience, via your website. The art is then to share the content via social media channels.

Blogging is great to:

• Position yourself as a thought leader
• Create valuable content, demonstrating your expertise
• Keep your website up to date with fresh content
• Improve Search Engine Optimisation and drive traffic to your website
• Help people and benefit from attraction marketing

See the Something Beckons ‘world of blogging’ Pinterest board for an evolving board of blogging for business infographics and tips.

Something Beckons ‘world of blogging’ Pinterest board

Facebook
Here is a simple video introduction to how Facebook can help business. Facebook Pages are great for B2C businesses, but do not underestimate how good they can be for B2B businesses too.  Here are some expertly crafted B2c and B2B Facebook Pages. Be inspired by the experts.

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Marketing, as we knew it, has changed. It’s time to delve a little deeper into inbound and outbound marketing.

Inbound marketing
Any activity that involves earning the interest and respect of your audience, rather than buying it. Inbound marketing is the act of creating free valuable content which you share through blogs, social media channels and ebooks, for example. This content does not sell or pitch. Instead it solves problems. It is useful. It is entertaining. Inbound marketing is also known as attraction marketing because it draws your audience to your organisation through appealing, useful and engaging content that they actually want to experience.

It’s the kind of content that your audience would want, feel good about, appreciate and thank you for. Valuable content positively influences your audience in favour of your message, brand or course. It helps organisations build relationships.

Hubspot describes this as lovable marketing. They have created a series of slides on lovable marketing from leading experts. View them here.

Outbound marketing
The stuff you have to buy to promote your business is called outbound marketing. You buy attention through marketing that involves radio and TV advertisements, cold calling and telemarketing for example. today, I find that most (not all) outbound marketing is unsolicited, unwanted, intrusive and irrelevant.

Is outbound marketing dead?

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The words used in these pictures are taken from extracts from the books Working the Crowd: Social Media Marketing for Business (by Eileen Brown) and Social Media ROI: Managing and Measuring Social Media Efforts in Your Organisation (by Olivier Blanchard). The pictures are sourced from various Pinterest boards which I made the mistake of not recording. If any of these images belong to you, let me know, as I’m happy to credit or remove them.

This is a short visual story about why social media is not going away, and why you should care.

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I have known this topic to cause a stir, and even an argument or two! But I wouldn’t be serving my purpose if I didn’t create discussion, introduce new ideas, help people to manage change, and encourage new ways of thinking. Whether or not people are brave enough to stop and listen, to join the conversation, and adapt if necessary, is up to them.

Part of an infographic by Kuhcoon

Traditional versus social media
To begin with I’ve taken a deeper look at the word ‘versus’. Historically it has meant things like ‘against’ or ‘turned against’. It is also associated with words like ‘change’, overthrow’ and ‘destroy’.  But a more contemporary understanding, and certainly my use of the word ‘versus’  in this case, is to denote a ‘comparison’, contrasting two things.

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So many people are talking about social media. But the truth is not many people, clearly understand it, or use it effectively. This ‘social media video 2013′ is a good place to start to gain an exciting overview and a better understanding about social media and its impact. It’s a four minute video.

Here’s a list of key points of interest from the video:

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When you’re in business for yourself, I think you need to be comfortable with everything you do. You need to satisfy all those little niggles to keep the passion for what you do alight. Sometimes good enough isn’t quite good enough, and you have to go the extra mile.

Recently, I experienced one of those horrible life episodes everyone dreads. I was running a full day workshop for a group of 25+ delegates. The presentation was very video, website and image heavy so I was reliant on the internet running smoothly. I knew I was taking a risk, and to that end I checked and double checked the venue could provide everything I needed. I was repeatedly reassured it could. But on the day, the venue and its facilities let me down. Neither the internet or sound worked. After two grueling hours of technical shenanigans and a change of room, we got internet access, albeit rather slow. And it was a pure stroke of luck that one of the delegates had speakers in their car.

I was ill prepared for technical failure but had no choice but to make the best of a bad situation. Supported by a group of very understanding delegates, I soldiered on. To tell the truth, the technological mishaps completely threw me off balance. And that affected the rest of the presentation because it messed with my confidence. Starting a workshop two hours late wreacked havoc with my already tight timetable. I had to speed through content and skip some things altogether.

The worst thing was that it affected my audience. Frankly, I really wanted to impress them. Instead everything got off to a bad start, and they had to suffer the consequences of a hideous stop start effect. The presentation just didn’t flow and my meticulously planned workshop fell rather flat. Despite everything, I got positive feedback. But then I can’t help but wonder how much more valuable the presentation would have been if everything had gone smoothly.

At this point, I could just walk away. The audience was understanding. I survived the day. I got paid.

But I felt I needed to do something extra to compensate for how things turned out. I felt I needed to go the extra mile. Driving home that day, feeling rather sorry for myself, I hatched a plan. In addition to an e-book and the presentation slides, every attendee has received an invitation to view this series of blogs, designed to clarify and provide key reference material to any points we missed, or had to zip through. At the same time, the blogs are valuable to other readers. I figured using the tools we talked about during the presentation made perfect sense.

Does anyone else have the ‘go the extra mile’ approach in business? Care to share an example or two of how you have gone the extra mile?

Here is the complete ‘Introduction to social media’ series:

1. An introduction to social media
2. Traditional media versus social media
3. Why social media won’t go away
4. Understanding inbound and outbound marketing
5. Overview of blogs, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
6. Overview of YouTube, Pinterest and Google+
7. 12 social media video case studies
8. Linking it all together; social media, Search Engine Optimisation and Return on Investment