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Social Media Impacts on Businesses

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Alushta, Russia - October 28, 2014: Woman holding a iPhone 6 Space Gray with social networking service Instagram on the screen. iPhone 6 was created and developed by the Apple inc.

Businesses can use social media to accomplish a wide variety of objectives within the organization. This powerful, constantly developing medium can help small businesses create a communication platform to efficient market their products and services and build relationships with customers to expand their reach. Large businesses can use social media as an effective means of intimate public relations and information dissemination. Building Customer Relationships Utilizing social media allows a business to strengthen its relationships with their consumer base. The greater the engagement a business sees, the greater the impact on sales. By having real-time contact opportunities available at any time, customers are able to express their opinions and needs to a company to allow more informed decisions. This can be used as a great tool for market research as well! Customer Retention If a social media user currently follows a brand, it would be likely they are prone to buying that brand’s products. By creating a positive façade on social media a company can create loyalty with their consumer base. This will also allow customers to share your company with their friends to further increase sales. Product Marketing Social media provides a free and real-time opportunity to expose potential customers to the products or services offered by a business. For every follower you have on a social media platform, you could potentially be receiving one imprint of that product with each. Public Relations For larger companies, dispersing information and having it be well-received by a media outlet is tricky. With social media platforms, you are in control of what information gets released and the exact timing. When dealing with corporate news timing can be crucial. Social media can be an effective outlet for sharing a unique message in the tone intended with the proper timing! If you are struggling with your social media content and outreach strategies, Skynet Solutions can help you succeed in this growing medium. Call our contact us through our online form to easily solidify your place in the social media realm!

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Marketing

It’s 2016 Do I Even Need a Website?

It’s 2016 Do I  Even Need a Website?   Many small businesses believe a Facebook page or other online profile is sufficient and there for no real reason exists to invest in an individual website. With all the misinformation and scam artist in the “Web” industry, it is easy to see how one would arrive at this conclusion. The reality is, that it is more important than ever for organizations, especially small business, to have their own website. Did you know that recent case studies have revealed a 20% reduction in the average adult attention span since the year 2000? Bear with me, in order to explain we need to create a little back story so the explanation makes since. Imagine that Sunshine Furniture is a local furniture store. Sunshine Furniture does not have a website instead they have a Facebook Business Page. The owner has reasoned that since they did not waste the money on a website they can in turn invest in regular updates/posts to their Facebook profile. Now that you understand Sunshine Furniture’s marketing tactics, let’s imagine that you happen to be in the market for a comfortable new rocking chair. While on Facebook looking at new photos recently posted by someone in the family you happen to notice a recent post announcing a, what looks to be, huge sale at Sunshine Furniture on their rocking chairs. We all know how quickly the Facebook feed updates so at that moment you have to make a choice, make a note to visit Sunshine Furniture or click on the post to find more information. Since how Sunshine Furniture does not have a website when you click on the post you are taken to a page within their Facebook profile. Now you are looking at the event page for the sale and receive a new notification “You are now eligible to move to the next level of Candy Crush”, remember the thing I mentioned earlier about reduced attention span… that’s right boom you’re off working hard to stay ahead of your friends on Candy Crush. At some point in the future you are going to remember you had seen an ad somewhere regarding rocking chairs on sale, even if you remember it was on Facebook the post is now long gone. If Sunshine Furniture had invested in a website the sale, would likely have been posted on the website. Then upon clicking on the Facebook post you would have been directed to their website allowing you to focus for just a few short minutes on exactly what was on sale and whether or not you needed to check out the sale in person. Since Sunshine Furniture controls the website they can in turn control the environment and rest assured that there will be no popup notifications within that few minutes and you will be able to receive the full message they are wanting to communicate.   Conclusion: there is no “silver bullet” when it comes to maximizing your online presence, instead there are many puzzle pieces that need to play together in order to maximize the desired result. A website is most definitely an important puzzle piece as it is the ONLY online asset where an organization can insure that there are as few distractions as possible while trying to communicate a message to their audience.

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Marketing

Helping Local Entrepreneurs Find Success

Small Business Week 2016 is over and we’re happy to announce that the SCORE Small Business Summit Tulsa 2016 was a huge success! We got great feedback from presenters and attendees and already have requests to bring the summit back next year! Skynet Solutions partnered with SCORE to collectively collaborate with multiple other local and state sponsors to offer Tulsa area small business and prospective small business owners an unprecedented networking and learning opportunity. This action packed small business summit was a great opportunity for small business owners and prospective small business owners from around the Tulsa area to network with and hear presentations from influential local business leaders and get personalized business consulting in a variety of areas. We had about 100 local entrepreneurs, small business owners and prospective small business owners who all came out to network with and hear presentations from speakers with The Small Business Administration, Constant Contact, Tulsa Economic Development Corporation, the Tulsa chapter of SCORE, Skynet Solutions and REI Women’s Business Center. These awesome speakers presented on a variety of topics including email marketing, small business taxes, bookkeeping for small businesses, social media marketing, how to create a business plan, small business structuring, search engine optimization principles and much, much more! The number one question most small business owners have is about marketing and how they can best utilize marketing principles to drive their business. This event brought together a variety of marketing experts and mentors to talk to small business owners about different marketing tactics and how they work so business owners can see what will be most successful for their business. The great part of this event was that it allowed entrepreneurs to talk directly with the people they need to know to get their business off the ground or take it to the next level. Unlike some other industry events we’ve been to which have so-called “experts” with no real world experience explaining how business owners should secure loans or incarnate to get the best tax benefits, the SCORE Small Business Summit was full of industry experts who could give sound advice to curious business owners. If someone wanted to know what documents they would need to secure a small business loan, there was a lender there for them to ask directly. If someone wanted to know what was the best use of their marketing budget, there were social media and email marketing experts there for them to consult with. National Small Business Week Every year since 1963, the President of the United States has issued a proclamation announcing National Small Business Week, which recognizes the critical contributions of America’s entrepreneurs and small business owners. Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy, creating about two-thirds of all the new jobs creating in the United States each year. About 50 percent of Americans in the workforce own or are employed by a small business. This year, National Small Business Week was from May 1-7 and as part of this, Tulsa SCORE organized a day full of discussion, networking and other opportunities that benefitted the local small business community. The event was designed by small business owners, for small business owners to equip them with the information and tools they need to make their small business as successful as possible. The Tulsa area has increasingly been recognized as one of the best places in the country to start a business. We want to continue to help foster this business-friendly environment by working together with the local business community to provide entrepreneurs with the resources they need to be successful. To learn more about the events that Skynet Solutions participates in and hosts, you can keep up with our blog, follow us on social media or give us a call. In the meantime, you can always get in touch with the experts at Skynet Solutions for help with your online 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 2016 your business’s best year yet. You can fill out our online contact formon our website to get started today. You can also connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+and LinkedIn!

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Marketing

How to Handle a Social Media Crisis

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Big or small, all companies on social media go through a crisis at some point. Whether it’s a problem with your company itself that ends up manifesting on social media or a careless employee posting a questionable tweet to what they thought was their personal account, few brands make it through completely unscathed in the digital age. When you’re confronted with a social media crisis, it’s important to act quickly and decisively to address the concerns of your customers so they don’t lose their trust in you. Here are the steps to take when confronted with a crisis so you can work it out in a way that is consistent with your brand: Identify the crisis and its source:before you act, you have to know what you’re up against. Was this something that went wrong internally (like that careless employee who intended to tweet to their work account but didn’t), or is this something external that is just now being brought up on social media (such as a major defect with your product that customers are noticing and taking to social media to discuss). Is this a crisis or not:everyone gets negative reviews on Facebook or has a mean tweet sent out about their business once-in-a-while. That does not a social media crisis make. It is a social media crisis if it is a departure from the norm (you usually get one or two negative Facebook reviews in a month and you’ve gotten 50 in the past hour) and it has the potential to impact whether or not people will use your business. Talk to your social media manager: hopefully they were the one who alerted you to this issue in the first place, otherwise you might need to start looking for someone new. Ask them how this issue came to their attention, how long it has been happening, if anything like this or with this customer has happened in the past and if/how they have responded to this incident. Then work together to develop an acknowledgement post, an internal investigation of the incident and an apology to your customers. Acknowledge that something happened: you don’t have to know all the facts or who was responsible to know that something went wrong and customers are upset. Create a post—on the platform where the issue originated—letting your customers and fans know that you are aware there has been a problem and you are looking into it. Figure out what happened: figure out what happened and quickly. Trace the problem back to its source, find out who or what (if anyone) was at fault and then decide what action needs to be taken internally (does someone need to be fired, do employees need some kind of additional training, does the method of manufacturing your product need to change) to make sure this never happens again. Be thorough, but also try to be quick. The longer customers go without hearing from you, the more rumors will start to circulate. To delete or not to delete: many social media crises are caused by inflammatory comments posted by disgruntled employees looking to embarrass a former boss or workplace or careless employees who think they’re posting to their personal account. It is up to you to decide whether or not to delete this post. But remember, by then someone will have already screenshotted it and there is no way to get rid of that. So don’t try and pretend like the post never happened. Say you’re sorry:and mean it. There’s not much the American public can’t forgive with a sincere apology. Explain how this problem came about, how it has been handled within the company and how you are taking steps internally to make sure nothing of this nature ever occurs again. Then immediately get to work putting those plans in place. Customers will forgive just about anything once. But if the same thing happens twice, it will be much harder to gain their trust back. In the meantime, you can always call the experts at Skynet Solutions for all of your social media and marketing needs. We have an expert team that can build you a social media strategy that will work on any platform or any combination of platforms that you choose for your business. Whether you’re targeting specific customers or just want to spread the word about your new business, we can handle it. We also have a talented development team who can build you anything from an e-Commerce website to custom software. With our diverse range of skills and experience, we are sure to have the tools you need to make 2016 your business’s best year yet. To get in touch with us, you can fill out the online contact form on our website. You can also connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedInfor more information about our services, updates from our blog and marketing tips and tricks.

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Marketing

5 Steps of Writing Evergreen Content

Evergreen Content Message, Evergreen Background and text Evergreen Content

It’s basically the Holy Grail of blogging—creating evergreen content that can drive traffic to your site continually and be just as relevant in six months as it was on the day you posted it. These articles move beyond what’s trending right now and speak to the constants in your industry whether that is marketing or agriculture or software design or interior decorating. While flashy, topical posts might bring in clicks here and there, it’s evergreen content that builds a loyal following behind your brand. Here are five steps to creating evergreen content for your company’s blog: What is Evergreen: you know your industry better than anyone, so start by thinking about what you read, the brands you admire and what sources you reference when you’re looking for information relevant to your industry. You gravitate to these for a reason and if you look closely you’ll probably find that they’re great examples or sources of evergreen content. Examine them closely for topic and content and periodically check back in to see if they are updated over time. This will give you a guide to work off of. After all, you have to know what evergreen is before you can write it. Already Evergreen: that being said, whether it was intentional or not, odds are you’ve already written some posts that would be considered evergreen. If you’ve written any kind of how to guide, glossary of industry phrases or index of industry resources or written anything entitled “7 steps to…” or something along those lines, you’ve created evergreen content. Congratulations! If you have some of these already, use them as a guide for future evergreen posts. If you haven’t written anything like this yet, consider these some starter ideas. Updatable or Timeless: as HubSpot points out, there are really two kinds of evergreen content. The first kind is content written on a subject that will truly never change. An example of this is, “Five Steps to Making the Perfect Grilled Cheese.” The second kind is content written on a topic that will likely always be relevant, but might need to be updated periodically. An example of this is “Why You Should Update to the Latest Version of Windows.” The first one will always be relevant; grilled cheese is grilled cheese and a good recipe will stand the test of time. The second one will continue to be relevant as long as it is updated each time a new version of Windows comes out. Maintain It: just because content is evergreen doesn’t mean it doesn’t need a little sprucing up every now and again. Every tree needs trimming to stay healthy. As we mentioned in the last point, some topics will always be relevant, they just need to be periodically updated so that they can be as relevant as possible. So make sure you’re periodically going back through articles and updating anything that has gotten a little behind the times. Once you’ve updated, repost these blogs so they appear at the top of your feed and re-share them on your social media accounts. Make it Long: one more thing that evergreen posts tend to have in common? They are often longer than other posts. While the ideal content length for a blog post is about 700 words, a good evergreen post can go well beyond that. Evergreen content is, by nature, explanatory and in depth. So, while your followers won’t thank you for writing a novel, don’t be afraid to really dive into a topic and save the surface-skimming posts for your quick-hit, fleeting topics. If you need any help keeping up with your blogging requirements or updating your content, call the content creation experts at Skynet Solutions. We can write interesting, fresh content for any industry or business, as well as handling your social media and other marketing needs. Whether you’re targeting specific customers or just want to get the word out about your new business, we can handle it. We also have a talented development team who can build you anything from a basic website to custom software. With our diverse range of skills and experience, we are sure to have the tools you need to make 2016 your business’s best year yet. You can fill out our online contact form on our website. You can also connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn!

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Marketing

Social Media Hacks: Getting Your Business on Pinterest

When it comes to marketing, Pinterest really has it all. While many people write it off as a virtual corkboard only used by teenage girls, the statistics prove it’s a social media heavyweight. Did you know one-third of all the existing Pinterest accounts belong to men? And unlike on other platforms, promoted pins actually perform just as well as, and often better than, organic pins. And pins with prices attached aren’t a turn off at all. In fact, they get 36 percent more likes than pins without prices. It really is a marketing paradise. So here’s how you get started: Strategize: like with any other social media platform—or any marketing strategy—you don’t want to go in shooting blindly. You need to design a comprehensive strategy, set tangible goals and figure out your target demographic. Side note: reading this blog post does not count as designing a comprehensive strategy, sorry. If you have other social media platforms, you have already done this before and can adapt it to fit your Pinterest account. When creating a strategy, take into account the product or service you are selling, the people you want to sell to and how you want them to come to you (do you want them to end up in your brick and mortar store, or do you only need them to go so far as your website). Sign up: you can sign specifically as a business and get special business tools only available to business accounts. You can also check out their “success stories” tab and look at the accounts of businesses that have been really successful on Pinterest. See what they’re doing and adapt it to fit your strategy—with social media, the best way to learn is often by example. Find people to follow: competitors, customers, suppliers, industry leaders…all these are great accounts to follow. And they apply no matter what industry you’re in—you definitely have competitors, customers, suppliers and industry leaders no matter your field. Also, make sure to follow some fun, funny stuff. Everybody likes a good cat meme now and then. So make sure to follow funny boards—even if they don’t relate to your business—and repin their pins from time-to-time. Trust us, your customers will love it. Create your first boards: you can make them about anything you want. Your boards can be funny or inspirational. They can feature your products, creative ways to use your products or tutorials. You can create boards about things that you are passionate about or about other things your business is involved with. Do you and your employees take time to volunteer at the humane society? Make a puppy board. Remember, this is a marketing tool, but it is also an opportunity to let customers interact with you and get to know you and your company. Use your Pinterest not only as a sales tool but as a way to humanize your brand. Start pinning and repining: there are lots of ways to make Pinterest easier on yourself. You can purchase promoted pins (similar to promoted Facebook posts or tweets) that will show up in pinners feeds even if they don’t follow you. They use a tailored algorithm to make sure your promoted pins show up in the feeds of customers who would be interested in your product. You can also install the pin it browser tool, which lets you pin things directly from a webpage, without having to save links and images and find them later. Also, make sure to install a “pin-it” tab on your website to let all your customers know you are now on Pinterest and enable them to pin material from your site to their boards. Make sure to repin—interacting with your customers and followers makes them more likely to continue to interact with you and use your business in the future. Start selling: as a side note—if you are a retail business, you can also sell products on Pinterest. Yes, you can redirect customers to your website from your Pinterest profile, but you run the risk of losing a buyer when you do that. If you let people buy your products in app, you will see increased sales. Check your analytics: since you signed up as a business, Pinterest will give you customized analytics reports about your account. Take advantage of this. These analytics reports make it much easier to track your account, new followers, repins and more and see if you’re hitting your goals set out in the first step.  In the meantime, you can always call the experts at Skynet Solutions for all of your social media and marketing needs. We have an expert team that can build you a social media strategy that will work on any platform or combination of platforms that you choose. Whether you’re targeting specific customers or just want to get the word out about your new business, we can handle it. We also have a talented development team who can build you anything from a basic website to custom software. With our diverse range of skills and experience, we are sure to have the tools you need to make 2016 your business’s best year yet. To get in touch with us, you can fill out the online contact form on our website. You can also connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn.

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