Nadia and Lorraine started Love Restored as they both felt that modern furniture just didn't create the style and robustness that they needed in their homes. Having picked up some old vintage furniture they set about finding creative ways to make these pieces their own and to make them fit for contemporary living. This is where the passion for re-using old items started.  Having grown from painting in the garage, we proudly sit on our local High Street in Kirkcaldy, not only to share freely the secrets and benefits of the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, but also to provide you with lots of ideas, inspiration and importantly confidence for you to create your own furniture magic.

The team are now the top stockists for Annie Sloan in Scotland and have built an active following on their social channels. A great tip to take away from their online presence is the warm and genuine tone that comes across from all their posts. They immediately feel approachable – and they are! The engagement on their posts is high, filled with questions from customers asking for advice on their painting techniques and products. The Love Restored ladies are more than happy to help, responding to comments and messages quickly with expert advice.

On top of the tone they have adopted, they’ve mastered the art of mobile photography. Just check out their gallery! Experimenting with different angles and distance creates depth and allure in their photos to showcase their products. Lighting has also been key for their images to really stand out

The consistent and engaging content works well for Love Restored, they mix posts on furniture projects of their own with sales messages. But showing customers what they can do rather than telling them what to buy works fantastically for subtly selling their pieces and paints.

Powered by Kommand, visit loverestored.co.uk to buy Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, sign up to Workshops and find inspiration for your next furniture project.

Turn your hobby into a career with a beautiful website just like Love Restored, contact our team at suppport@kommand.me

With digital marketing being one of the fastest growing industries today among businesses, there is an urgent need for start-up businesses to get a marketing strategy in place that will ensure that they reach their goals.  For the companies out there that have yet to appreciate how important marketing is, here’s an article we published earlier this year that highlighted how it is an area of business that shouldn’t be overlooked.

For those of you out there that already appreciate this point, you might be wondering how you can see to it that your marketing budget is used in a way that will help your business now and in the foreseeable future. Below you will find four ways to make sure you’re getting the most out of your digital marketing budget.

1) Only Invest In Digital Marketing When You’re Ready To Scale Up

It’s no fact that digital marketing can have a very positive impact on business; otherwise, it wouldn’t be a billion dollar industry. In fact, many reports like this and others, are reporting that in 2017 digital advertising and marketing is expected to surpass that of marketing on TV.

With that being the case, before any money is spent on bringing in new business opportunities, it’s important to make sure that your business is ready to handle the growth the comes along with it. Far too often we hear of businesses and start-ups investing in digital marketing, sometimes millions of dollars, yet their products & services are not being offered or supported in a way that their target audience prefers or expects. That has been the root problem as to why that so many companies fail as a whole despite aggressive marketing campaigns.

2) Be Sure To Hire & Work With Experienced Digital Marketers With A Proven Track Record

Due to the fact that there is no industry accepted training or certification that is widely accepted and recognized as a standard for digital marketing professionals, literally anyone can claim to be a digital marketer. What that has resulted in is many companies hiring self-professed experts or outsourcing to digital marketing agencies that end up wasting valuable time and resources on digital marketing campaigns that do not positively impact the revenue that the said businesses are bringing in.

It is for that reason a company should ensure that their marketing budget is going to a digital marketing professional or vendor that has a proven track record. For example, think about a company that is looking to hire and build an in-house marketing team to help with a specific area of digital marketing; like Search Engine Optimization. Many of the most successful companies with that goal are investing in SEO consultation services, which is a rapidly growing business, to ensure their in-house team stays on the right marketing path. It greatly increases the chance that their investment in that form of marketing will succeed.

So whether you prefer to have an in-house marketing team, or you outsource to a digital marketing agency… it’s important that you protect and get the most out of your marketing dollars by ensuring you have the right experts to assist.

3) Ignore The Shiny Object Syndrome

With this being such a large industry with different marketing tactics available to put in place, to get the most out of digital marketing requires that a business understands which marketing channel is best suited for their industry and clientele.

Some business perform well with social media marketing, others see the most return on investment from content marketing, while others prefer and do well with the immediate returns that come from paid search engine marketing. Whatever you feel is best for your business, it’s best to research, strategize and implement a marketing strategy and stick with it.

With so many reports of companies rapidly switching one form of marketing to another hoping to see quick growth, it often results in a company not sticking with a certain type of marketing long enough to reap the benefits of doing so.

4) Develop A Marketing Strategy That Will Pay For Itself

Unfortunately, it’s a common practice for freelance digital marketers and some agencies to tell their clients that digital marketing has to take months or years before there can be any real ROI. Depending on how competitive a particular industry is within the realm of digital marketing, and how substantial the available budget is in comparison to some of the most successful companies… and experienced digital marketer can usually create and implement a strategy that will allow a business to reap financial benefits as a result of their investment within a matter of months.

If the priority is getting an ROI within a reasonable amount of time on the available marketing budget, be sure to hire and work with marketers that will keep that goal as an important aspect of the marketing campaign.

With That Said…

These are just four of the many ways you can get the most out of your digital marketing budget. If you’re at a place where you’re trying to make a decision on what aspect of digital marketing you should focus on or what your expected marketing budget should be, consider speaking with a digital marketing company like Adeogroup.co.uk. Their experienced web specialist can help with these and any other concerns you might have on succeeding with and properly using your digital marketing budget.

A Level Playing Field

The internet and social media have helped to level the playing field between big businesses and startups. However social media is still a minefield of different variables and unfortunately, there isn’t a set formula to follow to drive desired engagement. Instead, social media takes time, knowledge and effort to perfect.

Having said that, there are some standard areas you can check to aid in minimizing social media failure. Today’s post guides you on the areas you should review before launching a social media campaign.

Set Goals

Setting goals is important in every marketing effort your business undertakes, however it is often not given enough - or any - consideration. Think about what you want your social media campaign to achieve – is it a footfall? Website hits? Likes/followers on a social media page? Online sales? Or something completely different? Try and make whatever you chose time-specific (and realistic!) so you are able to distinguish between failure and success, and to help your business in the long-term.

Divide Up Responsibility

If you are a sole-trader, then of course this isn’t applicable. However if you have more than just yourself in the business, consider who should be doing what. Does one member of your team know a lot about your products or industry and could support content creation for a blog or social media post? Do you have an employee who has photography skills that could be used to improve your social media posts?

You should designate someone in charge of responding to social media comments and messages. These channels are, after all, social and lack of engagement is an easily avoidable occurrence.

Fill Out Your Profile(s)

Make sure you fill out your social media profile(s) with as much information as possible. The more information you provide the better you will help customers understand your business, particularly if you are new. Using the right keywords or appropriate hashtags in your posts and profile descriptions will help you show up for people looking for your services. Think about what information is useful. If you own a shop, update your map, opening and parking directions. Own a restaurant? Consider uploading your menu or any special offers.

Make sure your profile pictures and header banners are of a high quality and if possible consider having specific ones made for your business. You should also try to claim vanity URLs on Facebook and Google+.

Make Sure Your Website Tick the Boxes

For many social media campaigns run by small businesses the overall aim will be to drive online sales or visits to the website. If your website is confusing, slow to load or lacks conversion drivers you are missing out converting on potential customers. Review any landing pages and check you have a solid website design that works great on desktop, tablet and mobile to improve user experience for customers once they are on your website.

Looking for Help?

If you are looking for support in growing your small business or would like to move your website to a responsive, user-friendly design why not get in touch and find out how Kommand can help? Our websites are simple to set up and run, look professional and work on any device.

Speak to us today: support@kommand.me

Glasgow - Tel: 0141 345 2130

Middlesbrough - Tel: 01642 989 069

London - Tel: 0203 026 0730 

It is understandable that your business may be one of those adopting a relaxed outlook, however in adopting this approach you need to understand certain potential consequences that could potentially damage your business's reputation. 

Freedom and Responsibility

Allowing employees to be themselves at the workplace is great, but there still need to be boundaries. For those who run a small business you may pass on the responsibility of social media postings to one of your employees. Most (especially young) people spend a good amount of time on social media in their own time so it is understandable they may find it difficult to make a distinction between what they would post on their private accounts and on business accounts. 

Social media also needs to be taken into consideration for every employee, even if they are not running the business's accounts. What an employee posts about your business on their personal profile is also important to your business's reputation.

Is It Really Necessary to Have a Social Media Policy?

In short, yes. Without meaning to do so, employees can compromise the reputation of a brand or business by not understanding what they should or should not post. They may also change the voice and image of your business involuntarily.

If you are thinking of handing over the responsibility of social media posting to an employee, introducing a social media policy does three things;

1. It takes the guesswork out of what employees can post about the company they work for.
2. It also makes it clear to employees the possible consequences of what they say through these platforms, especially legal consequences.
3. It puts everyone on the same page so they are saying the same thing about the company or brand they work for. Social media platforms can be used to promote a brand and build brand loyalty.

Structuring a Social Media Policy

A social media policy is basically a set of rules and guidelines about how employees can use the different platforms and how they can't. A good policy will cover two main areas;

- How employees can use their personal social accounts.
- How employees can use business accounts.

Broadly speaking, a policy will state that an employee will not use their personal or business accounts on these platforms to damage the reputation of the company they work for or are associated with. This means they will desist from posting insults, criticism, confidential details or other negative content to an individual or person working for another company or associated with it.

Making It Official

It is important to formalize all company policies. They should be included in the contract or terms of service agreement given to an employee. This serves two purposes. First, putting it in writing gives an employee the chance to read the policy and understand it. They know what they are agreeing to when they sign it. Secondly, it absolves a company from liability if an employee goes against the policy; an employee is held accountable rather than the company they work for.

Still Free

It is important that employees are made to understand the purpose of the policy they sign. They should understand that it is not to curtail their freedom but to ensure they understand that with freedom comes responsibility. With that settled, a company can rest easy about what their employees say on social media and even more importantly, what they won't say.

Manage Your Small Business's Online Reputation

If you have not yet considered the potential consequences social media could have for your business, now is the time. Firstly you should make employees aware through formal company policies that posting about the company on private social media accounts is not permitted. Secondly, you should consider creating guidelines for your chosen social media manager. Some businesses create lists of words to avoid, or the general tone or image they want to portray. Giving your employee this will help them better understand what to post on the business's social channels.

You may not have fully pursued LinkedIn, dismissing it as a fancier, less-fun version of Facebook.

However LinkedIn is much more than an online CV and provides a great tool for your small business to add yet another axle in strengthening your business's social media strategy; improving lead generation and impacting conversion.

LinkedIn Isn't Just for Business Professionals

With over 360 million members LinkedIn has enjoyed exponential growth since its launch in 2003. Available in 24 languages the network has become the world’s number one business networking platform and has since developed its services including acquisition of Pulse, the popular web and mobile newsreader in 2013 helping LinkedIn evolve into a professional content platform.

Why Should You Use LinkedIn for Your Business?

LinkedIn can help your business in a number of ways including:

• Developing your status as an industry expert.
• Providing a professional platform to share company updates.
• Providing a way to network with B2B businesses and suppliers.
• Providing a way to improve employer branding and your company's recruitment strategy.
• Another way to advertise your business online.
• Another way to solidify your business's credibility.
• Another way to showcase your company's products or services.

In 2012, LinkedIn members conducted over 5.7 billion professionally-oriented searches on the platform. Showing up for these searches can help your business greatly. LinkedIn also has its own ad campaign tool which is debated to be a more effective online ad campaign tool for B2B (business to business) advertising than Facebook ads or Google ads. We'll cover more on LinkedIn ads at the end of this post.

But first, let's get your company profile up and running.

How to Set Up A LinkedIn Company Page

Step 1: Set up your profile(s)

The first step for using LinkedIn for your business is to set up an individual profile. Similar to Facebook you must have an individual account before you are able to create a company page. For some businesses an individual profile may suffice, for instance if you are self-employed. The decision of whether you have a separate page for your business is ultimately yours, however it is recommended you separate your own page from a company page to avoid confusion and ensure your business is in the correct section of the LinkedIn website; 'companies' as opposed to 'people'. This can also help if your business is wishing to recruit through the network in the future.

You should aim to completely fill out your profile, or as best you can.  People often make the mistake of thinking that their professional headline has to be their job title. This is not the case, your headline can be anything you like and it is often a good idea to use it to use it as piece of online real estate. Your professional headline will be the clickbait that people see when they conduct searches. It can also be helpful to use keywords to ensure you show up for relative searches and you should always use a professional profile picture. The process for setting up a LinkedIn profile is straightforward and the website will guide you through the areas you will need to fill out to complete your profile however here are some of the maximum character counts for important areas on LinkedIn:

Once you have set up your individual profile you can then set up your company page. To do this you will need to click on Companies from the Interests drop down, and then Create on the right hand panel.

You will then be presented with a page to add the company name and email address.

Step 2: Fill out company information and add images

After you click continue you can begin adding company information including products and services and a summary. You should aim to make your description eye-catching, keyword clever and unique to capture your audience.

Once this is complete you can add your company's logo and banner image. These two areas are very important. Think of your LinkedIn page as another way to sell your business so take time to pick images which are in tune with your business's branding and will make you stand out. Some business's use a shot of inside their office, others use it to promote services. This infographic from Going Social gives you the dimensions you will need for your images. If you are having difficulties you can read this post.

Step 3: Start posting

Once you have filled out your company's profile it is time to start posting. To take full advantage of your company's LinkedIn page you should avoid simply posting vacancies. Instead, you should use the platform to promote blog content, rich media, company updates and news relative to your sector. LinkedIn has moved on from simply being an online CV. Today, LinkedIn members use the platform to stay in touch with businesses and industries and see developments of new product launches.

When writing your company updates, you should aim to always include a clear call to action and where possible include a link or image. Posts with links can drive twice as much engagement, and posts with images or some other form of rich media generally result in a higher engagement rate. Videos can also be a great way of increasing share rate, and videos will play directly in the LinkedIn feed. 

As with all forms of social media you should set out your aims for the channel and set up an editorial calendar to schedule what updates you will post and when. You can also experiment with different balances of entertaining and insightful updates to see which drives shares, likes and discussions. However it is important to remember that LinkedIn is after all a professional network and this should be reflected in your chosen tone. Where possible avoid using the same message on Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn. Each is unique, you should tailor your message correctly.

Step 4: LinkedIn Ads

Once you are comfortable with LinkedIn and have found the optimal type of updates that appeal to your target market then you may consider using LinkedIn ads. Linkedin ads are described as a "self-service advertising product" similar to Facebook and Google ads. It is an often overlooked form of paid online advertising, however can be a highly target communication method. This is due to the extra information people provide compared with other social media networks giving you the ability to target your market more precisely. 

How to Start a LinkedIn Ads Campaign

CREATE

To create a LinkedIn ad campaign you will need to log into the LinkedIn ads login page and click the "Get Started" button.

From here you will be give the choice of which type of campaign you would like to create:

1. Create an ad or,

2. Sponsor content.

Click on 'create an ad' and then you will need to fill in the following page:

Name this campaign: This is the title of your campaign and should be an eye-catching piece of copy. It can often be effective to use a question in this section.

Language: The preferred language.

Ad destination: Where you want the ad to link to and can be an external page. You should think carefully about where you want the audience to go. It can be effective to link your ad to a relative landing page.

Headline and description: This is the main body of your ad. Be sure to include a clear call to action here.

You can also add an image and if necessary variations to create multiple versions of the ad.

TARGET

The next page you will be presented with is for targeting your ad. The options are similar to Twitter and Facebook (friends, company, age, etc.) however LinkedIn also lets you target people through their job title, industry, skills and interests. The targeting page has a lot of variables that you can adjust to correctly target your chosen market. 

BUDGET

There are two basic pricing models on LinkedIn ads: Cost per click (CPC) and cost per 1,000 impressions (cpm).

LinkedIn: the Alternate Social Media Channel

LinkedIn is a great and often under-utilised social media platform. When used correctly it can offer your business a unique way to target your audience and can help your business build connections and networks which could improve your business processes. 

Whilst LinkedIn ads cost more than Google and Facebook, due to their targeting it could be argued that they provide a better ROI. It has been argued that LinkedIn ads work best for highly targeted campaigns, so you should be aware of this when considering different online advertising methods.

With Kommand website builder you can integrate social media into your website with ease. Our blog function makes sharing blog posts easy as social media channels including LinkedIn easily pull images and content to create rich snippets. For more information on Kommand website builder please visit our website.

As the platform is image based you may have originally discounted it as a method in your business's digital marketing strategy. Perhaps you believed it is best used by businesses which sell products, and whilst this is true, many non-product based brands have also managed to use it effectively to share their brand stories and increase their engagement (see @charitywater and @natgeo as examples). What’s interesting about Instagram is the engagement that it offers. Forrester Research shown below illustrates how Instagram pushes ahead of both Facebook and Twitter in terms of user interaction with brands’ posts.

However with 2.5 Billion likes and has 70 Million photos uploaded daily, getting your business's profile and photos seen – especially as a small business - requires familiarity and expertise in navigating the platform, in addition to a well thought out plan and a solid marketing strategy.

Setting Up Your Profile

Although you can access Instagram through desktop you will need to set up your account via the mobile Instagram app. Once you have downloaded it you choose a username and password for your account. Make sure that you pick a username that is in-keeping with your business's other online profiles and recognisable. After you have created your account you will need to choose a profile picture, write a brief biography, and decide if you wish to link a website to your profile. These can all directly influence how effective your profile is in advertising your business.

• Profile picture: Although your profile picture appears as a small thumbnail on your page, an interesting profile picture, such as a strong company logo, can help entice users to your page.
• Bio: You only have 150 characters to play with, so make sure your bio is concise and informative as well as being slightly playful and creative.
• Link: On most personal accounts, the link feature tends to be used to advertise another social media profile. However, for a business, it is a great way to advertise the business's website and promote traffic to it. Instagram does not allow links in many places so this is a prime spot to add your business's website.

Hashtags

Hashtags are a simple way of categorising your posts. They allow people who are interested in the topic an easy way to find your post. A hashtag is a clickable link which allows you to browse all other posts that have used the same hashtag in a similar way to Twitter. Many businesses create their own hashtags relevant to their business.

Other Ways of Drawing Attention to Your Profile

Although hashtags are great for encouraging traffic to your profile, there are plenty of other ways that you can use to achieve this as well.

• Following: When you follow an account, they owner will be notified and, almost invariably, will look at your profile. This is why it is so important to make your profile eye-catching, as an intriguing profile will lead to a greater percentage of follow backs.
• Liking and Commenting: An account user will also be notified of your profile if you like or comment on one of their pictures. However in this instance, it is slightly less likely that they will go directly to your profile because of your engagement with theirs.
• Tagging: Another way to notify an account user of your presence is to tag them in one of your posts. You can utilise this feature either when a post directly refers to another account or when you think a specific account may be particularly interested in the content of your post.

Time to Get Started

Now it's time to get involved. However before you start posting you should consider the feel you want your Instagram profile to portray. Be smart and see what your competitors are doing. Identify the strengths and weaknesses of their accounts and use your research to create the most effective online social platform for your business that you can. Then it's time to create your profile and start posting, following, and #hashtagging. Good luck!

What is Google+ Local?

Previously known as Google Places, Google+ Local makes it possible for offline businesses to be more prominent in local search results. Putting up a Google+ page in local search results will give a browser the information they need such as the location of a business, operating hours and contact details. Google is always about giving browsers useful information and business listings that have it go up in search rankings. If a browser is searching for a company that offers a particular kind of product or service, those that have a Google+ Local page will be in the local search listings. They will also have greater prominence in the maps shown on the right side of the page.

This is because Google knows that 40% of mobile searchers are looking for local results. Also, three out of four mobile searchers trigger follow-up actions which may be a visit to a store, more research, a phone call, an actual purchase or sharing with friends and family. Also, 55% of conversions from mobile searches happen within the hour compared to 81% of those that happen within five hours.

What are the advantages of Google+ Local?

In addition to more exposure in local listings, there are other benefits of not just having SEO content but having it on Google+ business pages. A closer look at local search results will reveal that a good number of businesses have star ratings that are given based on customer reviews. Several studies have established the positive impact that customer reviews have on conversions. One report indicated that 77% of shoppers in UK look at customer reviews before buying online. This is another great benefit of turning up on local business listings.

Another advantage of Google+ business listings is that contact details are included. When there is an address or telephone contact, browsers are more likely to visit a store, shop or make a phone call to a business, perhaps to make an inquiry. This is particularly important for mobile searchers.

Apart from SEO, including a click-to-call button and also a link to directions that goes to Google Maps on a Google+ business listing is also very effective. Research done by Google found that 42% of smartphone owners have used click-to-call to carry out research and an overwhelming 94% have needed to make a call to a business directly when searching for information, regardless of click-to-call is available or not.

Desktop users should also be taken care of by ensuring they can access more information by hovering the local listings. This includes information like opening hours, photos of the business and more customer reviews. Images are also important for persuasion so putting up a number of photos is always a good idea. Businesses selling holiday destinations and spas for instance can do a lot of selling through photos.

What is the local Google Carousel?

Google's carousel displays listings in the form of a rotating interactive tool filled with images at the top of the screen. It appears in searches for entertainment such as for bands but no business listings are being displayed in this format yet. This may possibly mean that it is currently only available for US consumers but it is expected that will be availed in other markets in the near future.

How to set up a Google+ Local listing?

Step one is creating a personal Google+ account. From the profile page, select Pages from the drop down list on the left of the screen at the top. Then, click on the button with the instruction to create a page that will be on the next screen, top right.

The following should be kept in mind when creating a Google+ listing;

• Give as much information as possible or you will not see results.
  Pay attention to keywords when creating your SEO content.
  The 200 word description should be relevant.
  Include images to support your text; they will make a big difference.
  If you have more than one business location, include all of them. Set up a different Google+ Local Page for each one so that people in different locations doing local searches can find them. 

Good luck and enjoy!

Why does your business need a website?

Despite these figures many small businesses in the UK are yet to adjust their strategies in order to retain and improve these impressive growth rates. According to research findings published in the Guardian, 60% of small business in the UK do not have any online presence. The main reason for this is that a lot of small business owners see their businesses at an offline entity and thus stick to conventional marketing and promotion methods. This is a very risky strategy to take as more and more people are doing their shopping for all kinds of items online. No matter how well established a business is in terms of a customer base, online presence is becoming increasingly important.

What are the advantages of having a website?

There are several advantages of online presence. One is that a business remains accessible to existing and potential clients 24/7. Business that offer online shopping never close down. Customers are online way before stores open and after they close and aligning marketing and sales strategies with this reality makes a big difference to the bottom line. When customer's mind is not yet made up about a purchase, the information they find online may sway them towards putting an item in the cart.

Online presence also makes it possible for a business to create strong local presence. This is especially true for small businesses that rely on locals who buy from their shops. Such businesses mostly rely on word-of-mouth marketing for new or repeat customers. However, businesses that wish to launch out beyond local borders can use online presence to do so. Consumers tend to search for various products and services on search engines rather than walking around the town, so getting a brochure website might be a great strategic move if you would like to target wider customer base.

In addition to having a website, a small business can also make sure they are seen on local directories and other platforms that locals would go to search for particular businesses, products and shop locations. Businesses can also network with others for the mutual benefit of both.

How social media can help to promote your business?

Online presence also offers the advantage of sharing tools to promote themselves extensively. All social media tools have share buttons that make it possible to share information and products at the click of a button.

When you create a website with Kommand.me you can easily share the content from your website on social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+. This can do a lot for a local business as people generally tend to trust information from a friend or relative. A business can also use social media to get feedback about their products and services. This helps to improve the quality of their products or services and grow the business. It’s also easy to handle complains immediately and demonstrate that they care about the welfare of their customers.

How can we help you?

In conclusion, big impact cannot be achieved only through big budget marketing. Online presence is very affordable and easy to maintain. For example, Kommand.me offers SEO and user friendly websites from as little as £9 a month. We have designed a number of professional websites for a variety of businesses in UK including hotels, restaurants, health services, dental companies, hairdressers and cake bakers.

We really enjoy working with entrepreneurs from around the country and being able to help them achieve their business goals.

If you have a business or just a business idea contact our team and see how we can help you grow your business online.

Why reach out to social media influencers?

Engagement and reach are two key aspects when it comes to social media marketing. So find out who the social media influencers in your chosen industry are and what type of content interests them enough to share with others. In the process, you get to learn more about your chosen industry, which makes it another plus point.

How to interact with your audience on social media platforms?

Reach out to your audience by finding out what interests them and make a good engagement strategy. Share content which may perk up their interest. Adding videos or pictures makes the content more attractive to readers. If you are intending to share the content via Twitter, do leave some space for RTs in a tweet's character count. Keeping a calendar for the content you posted is a great way to keep track of what you posted. Organising the content you posted is important too.

Should you participate in relevant social media communities?

Participating in social media communities that are associated with your industry is important for engagement and reach. If you are in business or service, consider joining relevant groups on Linkedln and Google plus. You can easily find them by using the search features of Google plus and Linkedln. Joining and participating in casual talk via Quora and Reddit is another good move for gaining reach and engagement.

Why is it important to analyse social media marketing data?

To gauge the success of your social media marketing strategies, obtain the data related to your accounts in terms of engagement and reach. Analytical tools like SumAll and SocialBro might come in handy. Go through the engagement metrics. For your Twitter account, there are the retweets, retweet reach, mentions and mentions reach.

Let's say that there are the same number of tweets for the most recent week as the week before, but there has been remarkable gain in reach. This might mean some of your followers have been really busy. Find out who they are and interact with them more closely. By using SocialBro, you can find out the number of those who decided to un-follow you. There might be a good reason why they did so. Find out if you can make an improvement in your social media marketing strategies.

Would you like to find out more? Visit our blog regularly and find out the most recent news about digital marketing strategies and SEO.

1. Communication Is The Key - Start With The Introduction

When it comes to talking to your customers, there are two very important aspects to consider: first, you must address the customer by name, as calling the customer directly makes him feel more comfortable and makes you come off as friendly and genuine, and the second most important aspect is to introduce yourself. This way, you "humanise" your organization, and this can make a real difference between your company and your competition. These are basic communication rules that we do not think of in real life, as we naturally tend to do this, but on the Internet things are slightly different.

2. Take Responsibility and Pay Attention

After the introductions, it is important to know how to listen. The chances are that your customer will be very angry or upset about something - keep calm, acknowledge the problem and take full responsibility for it. It is important to reassure the customer that you are doing everything in your power to solve the problem quickly and with minimal stress on the behalf of the customer, as well as to apologize for the issue.

3. Keep Your Problems To Yourself - Avoid Giving Away Too Many Details

It is important to avoid over-sharing information, no matter if this is about yourself or your company. If your customer is complaining about a service that does not work properly, then you can give a brief explanation and tell the customer that things are being fixed as quickly as possible. Do not give too much away and avoid coming up with excuses that can render your company useless or chaotic.

4. Accept And Cherish Customer Feedback

One of the main benefits of social customer service is the fact that customer service teams can gather enormous amounts of feedback - feedback which, of course, is never entirely positive. It is crucial to embrace the feedback and to acknowledge every appreciation and every complaint, and to simply use it in order to improve the company's products and services. Feedback can come in handy for every digital marketing campaign!

Being an Investigator Never Seemed so Easy

To put a fun spin on things, think of Google Analytics as the most important tool in your arsenal; an "internet investigator". Implementing this tool allows you to monitor information about the visitors to your site, as well as the sources that drive them to the page. You have the ability to view which locations are accessing your website, enabling you to figure out whether or not you should have localized marketing plans in place.
You will also have access to an age report graph, gender reports, and general interests of your audience. With all of this information, you have everything you need to create an amazing marketing scheme. You have the opportunity to discover new markets and draw in different audiences - something that would be vastly difficult in years gone by. 

Become a Virtual Traffic Policeman 

One of the best ways to document the success of your website, is to use Google Analytics as a means of monitoring traffic flow. You will have the ability to see how many visitors leave your page immediately after landing on your homepage (bounce rate) and how many of them actually venture to your product pages, information pages or contact page. This information will allow you to tweak your homepage and make it more effective, if necessary.

The ability to track traffic over certain periods of time will enable you to predict future trends, thus allowing you to make pre-emptive changes. You also have the option of changing certain pages back to their previous states if you notice that activity has decreased over the last few months. Essentially, Google Analytics allows you to direct traffic on your website in the same way that highway patrolmen do in the physical world. 

Learn the Right Lingo

In a world where we are constantly trying to hook potential viewers into browsing our websites, the importance of keywords is paramount. Google Analytics is able to show you which keywords are most effective in guiding internet searchers to your site. At different times, according to popular trends, some keywords work better than others. By using this Google tool, you have the opportunity to see which keywords are trending on search engines across the globe.