MARCH 2011 |
www.opp.org.uk
OPP DIGITAL
been incredibly successful. A blog can make you the ‘go-to expert’ in your niche if done properly. The reach and power of blogs is
astounding. Blogs are a place to share information whilst still controlling the output (and comments) if you want to. You can create a niche which allows your clients or network to see how knowledgeable and approachable you are. We’ve posted over 200 blogs and had more than 700 comments ( not including comments on other social channels ... and we’ve had thousands of those!). All this was achieved in just over 12 months. We have also invited more than 35 guest writers to blog for us including, Sarah Beeny, Right Move, Money
“Social media creates opportunity, and that’s what we all look for as business owners … right? ”
Supermarket … to name a few. Blogging has given us a voice and the ability to connect in real life with those who we want to do business with. Having a blog is an immensely valuable asset. A popular blog can also be monetised with advertisements, sponsorship, paid for articles and links.
Another reason to start a blog is
that you can track the clear SEO benefi ts with the excellent free tool “Google Analytics.”
Each blog post becomes an extra indexed page for your website and gives your business the opportunity to rank for new keywords within your site. 10 Top Blog Tips 1. End each blog post with a question- this encourages people to want to supply the answer. 2. Write insightful or thought provoking posts- no better way to get someones attention. 3. Don’t be Scared to be controversial- controversial means higher chance of a comments/ engagement with you. 4. Reply to any comments people write to keep the conversation alive - VERY important. 5. Make it as easy as possible to comment-get the right tools for the
job, in my opinion Disqus is the best commenting system, and it’s FREE! 6. Comment on other top blogs- this again helps to get word out about you, and every comment allows you to put in your web/ email address, giving more free links back to you. 7. Create blogs around the top comments made - pretty obvious, if its popular do another on a similar subject, or expand on it. 8. Remember to ask for feedback on social media channels like Twitter-great way to get people to check it out and forward it to their networks. 9. Don’t make blogs too long- split posts over 500 words into a series, people are time limited, be aware of that and don’t bore them to tears. 10. Lists of items, powerful titles, and regular posting will make your blog popular. Older companies still think that being at the top of Google is the holy grail because its easier to track “return on investment” than it is “return on involvement.” But this approach is changing
rapidly, and it’s now as much about how they fi nd you as which search engine gets you hits.
The great thing about connecting on social media, is that you can take advantage of dead time between meetings and ask people in real time (on Twitter for example) if they would like to share a coffee with you and have a chat.
More connections mean potentially more business for you. You can’t do that on Google! 10 Things To Remember When Using Social media 1. Social media is not about follower numbers, its about the quality of those contacts. 2. Make an effort to meet those new contacts face to face. Business is done with people not avatars! 3. Don’t spam people with your sales message- they are interested in you initially not your business. 4. Be helpful, you will get lots of questions-business and non business related, help folks and they will return the favour. 5. Make it your strategy to be open about your business and yourself & you will get much more from social media.
SOCIAL MEDIA | 61
Hit return | and feel the love as new contacts and new business comes to you
6. Be targeted with your following in the beginning, you can always weed them out / change them later on. 7. Figure out who is infl uential in your niche, and make an effort to chat to them - chatting leads to business. 8. Be real and not over syrupy, people will see through that online and off. 9. Be careful using automatic messages, they are not chat, people see them as sales spam on Twitter in particular. 10. Have fun! Don’t talk business all the time-you will end up being like the crashing bore at a party. What newcomers to social media
tend to get frustrated by is the diffi culty in measuring their success or failure.
This is mainly down to us being taught for years that search engines, banner ads or offl ine advertising are all that work. The most important thing to
remember is that it is not a place for instant gratifi cation in monetary terms. You have to learn play the long
game and never forget, you simply cannot build a network overnight, just as you cannot build an apartment block in a day. It takes time, effort,
management, and lots of people and communication skills. And if you still don’t get it remember this: social media creates opportunity, and that’s what we all look for as business owners … right?
Online expertise here RGMD I G I T A L
OPP sources this information in partnership with RGM Digital. Please go to
www.rgmdigital.com if you would like to find out further details.
For digital services please email:
general@rgmdigital.com. If you would like to speak to our experts call Carol Mann on +44 (0) 20 8123 2910.
Carol’s mobile is +44 (0)7767 785 813 and her email address is:
carol.mann@
rgmdigital.com. Skype: carolvmann.
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