Tag: social marketing

Why Should Small Businesses Outsource Social Media?

Post author By Skynet Solutions
Post date March 10, 2017
No Comments on Why Should Small Businesses Outsource Social Media?

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There are many reasons why small businesses owners may wish to outsource the management of their social media accounts. As the list of social media platforms continues to grow, it is unlikely small business owners will be able to consistently account for all of their accounts. It can often take several hours monthly to efficiently handle a single small business social media platform according to this report. To accurately leverage the power of social media for your business there are several key factors that must be considered. Often, small business owners will utilize these factors to ensure their social media profiles are in good hands. The factors included in this process include:

Accountability

As a small business owner, you may not have a passion for social media. Outsourced social media managers will have an inherent passion for social media and genuine understanding of how each platform works. A great social media manager will have knowledge of the digital landscape as well as a drive to keep up with current trends to push your business forward.

Prior Experience

With outsourced social media management, small business owners will have a knowledgeable team that can help determine what works and what doesn’t, based on past experience. Whether you are interested in social media advertising or standard posting to drive engagement, it is important to have a team that can pull from previous experience. With an agency, small business owners can be sure they have all facets covered from conception to completion.

Reliability

Reliability is one of the key factors that must be considered when hiring a social media manager. Because consistency is key, it is important to utilize the services of an agency that plans ahead. For example, if your social media manager becomes ill, who will continue the content? With an agency, you will likely have several individuals capable of continuing the job if disaster strikes.

Conflict Resolution Experience

There are many “social media managers” available to small business owners. However, it is important to ensure that you are employing the services of an individual, or group of individuals with a degree or years of experience. In the best-case scenario, you will desire a person with a public relations or business administration background that can ensure conflicts are managed appropriately.

Cost

Nationally, a decent social media manager will likely cost around $50k to $70k annually. Gathering content and copy for campaigns or posts can take several hours to effectively express the views of your business.

When utilizing Skynet Solutions social media management services, you can be sure the ins and outs of social media are covered for less money. You can always call the experts at Skynet Solutions for help with your social media management or anything else you need to help make your business succeed. With our diverse range of skills and experience, we are sure to have the tools you need to make 2017 your business’ best year yet. You can fill out our contact form to get started today. You can also connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn!

Tags small business, social marketing, social media, socialmedia

Marketing

How to Drive Social Media Referrals

Post author By Skynet Solutions
Post date February 3, 2017
No Comments on How to Drive Social Media Referrals

One of the biggest FREE assets a small business owner has is the ability to promote their business or services on social media. As you may already know, real sales happen on your website, not your social media pages. For this reason, it is important to direct potential customers from your social media pages to your website. There are many different foolproof ways to drive traffic to your website using social media. It is important to remember that unless a potential customer has the incentive to visit your website, they likely won’t. Follow these steps to help drive your social media referrals.

Provide Value

Because so many businesses are competing for the attention of their audiences on social media, it only makes sense to provide something valuable that your competitors can’t or don’t. Value can easily be found when you know your target market and the type of information they are receptive to. Strive to meet the needs or desires of your target audience.

Use a Call to Action

It can be easy to forget to add a simple call to action in your social media posts. Without encouraging the customer to pursue the desired outcome, they likely won’t have the desire to. If you have more information on your site that isn’t included in the post, encourage readers to click through to read more.

Individualize Social Media Networks

What works for one social media network likely won’t be tailored for another. When writing your social media posts, write individual renditions on the same thing to meet the word count limitations and other network-specific requirements. This can ensure your content is optimized to be most effective. Be Direct Social media interaction is incredibly personalized. Don’t be afraid to target your potential customers by using words like “you” and “your”. This can help strengthen their need for your product or services and encourage them to seek more information.

You can always call the experts at Skynet Solutions for help with your business listing, website development, marketing or anything else you need to help make your business succeed. With our diverse range of skills and experience, we are sure to have the tools you need to make 2017 your business’ best year yet. You can fill out our contact form to get started today. You can also connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn!

Tags social marketing, social media, socialmedia

Marketing

Utilizing Social Media for PR Opportunities

Post author By Skynet Solutions
Post date January 6, 2017
No Comments on Utilizing Social Media for PR Opportunities

Concept of dices with letters forming words: Public Relations. Generic newspaper background with some blurred text on the bottom and paper stack in the back. Dices made from wood with natural imperfections.

In recent years, social media has created a definitive link to clients and customers for public relations managers. With the easy dissemination to target audiences available through various social media channels, getting your message out quickly has never been simpler. Here are a few ways you can utilize social media for your public relations strategy.

Social Sharing

Through the implementation of adding share buttons for various social media accounts, your press release can be shared with even more people than are available in just your follower base. This is also true when shared on a personal page through social media accounts as well. This quick buzz can help get your message out efficiently and effectively to provide immediate, positive results.

Real-time Releases

Getting your press release into the right hands can be a time-consuming and labor-intensive process. With the integration of social media into your public relations plan, breaking stories and information can be presented to your audience immediately. If you want to be the first to offer commentary or break important industry related news, you will likely be beaten by someone else if you wait for the traditional channels.

Enhance Branding

One big facet of public relations strategy is the enhancement and retainment of a successful brand. Social media platforms allow for individuals, companies and storefronts to expand their branding from their traditional website. This can help create staying power in the minds of customers while enhancing the current image of your brand.

Tags social marketing, social media, socialmedia

Marketing

Using a SWOT Analysis for Social Media

Post author By Skynet Solutions
Post date December 26, 2016
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If you have ever been involved in a marketing strategy meeting you have no doubt been exposed to the SWOT analysis. This process can help break down the individual needs of the company in question and focus on which direction the marketing strategy goes. We hope to explain what a SWOT analysis is and how it can impact your social media strategy.

Strengths

The strengths section of a SWOT analysis should be well thought out and may include company resources as well as unique engaged fans that can propel your company message. Your current reach and penetration may also be a strength if the numbers are good enough. Keep in mind that strengths can sometimes be considered weaknesses as well!

Weaknesses

Weaknesses can often be hard to complete because you have to look at your own business critically. This is often the hardest part of completing a SWOT analysis because you have to be very introspective. Unless you are honest, you can’t fully fix your problems. This section may include scaling issues or lack of analytic resources.

Opportunities

Opportunities can often be attributed to outlets that the company should or could be taking that currently aren’t being utilized. This could mean targeting new segments of customer or expanding your reach through new social media platforms. Opportunities can often be a response to a previously added weakness to build your marketing plan.

Threats

The final component of a SWOT analysis is a threats section. Threats often include competitor strategies and factors such as product sustainability or economic factors. Determining current and upcoming threats can help companies create a blueprint to react to these threats quickly to minimize risk. The threats section can usually improve a business’ chance at successfully implementing their social media plan. Once a SWOT analysis is completed, companies should then build their marketing plan with the results in mind. This creates a well-rounded and cohesive plan that ensures the most success possible. Remember, your competitors are most likely doing the same thing. Be as thorough as possible and get your social media marketing started!

Tags marketing, social marketing, social media, socialmedia

Marketing

Marketing Trends That Will Dominate 2017

Post author By Skynet Solutions
Post date December 12, 2016
No Comments on Marketing Trends That Will Dominate 2017

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In a recent blog post, we wrote about how the implementation of search functionality in Facebook will be a major focus in 2017. Though this will be an important transition for online marketing, many other trends are noticeably taking precedence. Adopting these trends now, or working them into your budget, can help prepare your business for 2017.

Increased Video Importance

With the arrival of live video streaming across several networks, notably Facebook Live, the already impressive video medium is finally branching out. As live video streaming becomes more refined, businesses will be able to promote their new services in real time or show consumers behind the scenes. Video has always been a powerful way to get your message across to consumers, visual reinforcement can demonstrate products much easier than words ever could.

Business App Prevalence

Google recently began indexing apps, making the viability of mobile apps for businesses much more likely. Dedicated apps for brand news, special perks and mobile shopping are becoming more and more prevalent each day. By giving consumers the option to be attached to your business on the go, the likelihood of sales conversions becomes much greater.

Focused Content

The collective consumer attention span has dwindled with the explosion of social media. Though current SEO practices sometimes require long walls of texts to meet indexability criteria, it’s likely this will eventually change with current trends. Most consumers will only skim through content or share a story just based on the title. Creating content that is easily read while focusing only on important information will cut down reading time and convey messages properly.

Augmented Reality and VR Capabilities

With the introduction of Pokémon GO and various affordable virtual reality headsets, it is expected that many different businesses will begin experimenting with augmented reality and VR capabilities. Though designing the content for these platforms is currently relatively expensive, new, cheaper ways to deliver content will be developed. With the current rise of 360° cameras, the ability to create your own VR experiences may be just around the corner.

Tags marketing, social marketing, social media

Digital Marketing News Marketing

How Search Functionality Will Impact Facebook in 2017

Post author By Skynet Solutions
Post date December 5, 2016
No Comments on How Search Functionality Will Impact Facebook in 2017

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During a Q2 announcement in 2015, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg explained that the social media platform was facilitating 1.5 billion searches each day. The numbers can vary from who is reporting them, but with an estimated average of 3.5 billion searches being performed each day on Google, Facebook’s search numbers looked very promising.

Tags digital marketing news, Facebook, Facebook Home, facebook phone, facebook phone app, social marketing, social media, socialmedia

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