Why having a Strategy is Key for your Social Media Success

Social Media Strategy does not have much difference with any other strategy in your business life or personal life. If you want to achieve something you do not only have to work hard for it but you need a plan to get you there.

Despite the fact that most people know this, they often underestimate its importance to their long-term success. Not having a strategy will result in you losing valuable time on Social Media and with poor results and that is something you do not want to do.

So here are the most important things you need to know and act on today to get real results, much faster and be more productive at the same time!

      1)      Who are you: Who are you is vital to build your own Brand through Social Media. If you state clearly who you are then others will understand it easily and connect with you with no hesitations. Who you are must be the same across all the Social Media networks you use. It will state your proposition and expertise.

      2)      Who is your audience: Identifying your audience is crucial. By simply posting and hoping that someone will respond will simply waste your valuable time. Plan ahead who you want to reach by describing their demographics and psychographics. In this way you will make your life easier and be more targeted with your next steps.

   

      3)      How: How are you going to communicate with your audience? Are you using a Blog to write about what you know and share it? Are you using pictures with quotes or info graphics? Or are you utilizing the power of video to address to your audience? Whatever you choose must always coincide with what the audience likes. You may need to try various methods to communicate your messages until you find which has the most impact! 

      4)   What: What Social Media channels is your audience using? It is important to study carefully and identify which networks your audience uses most. If not, you may end up spending too much time on the wrong channel and miss all the opportunities. On the other hand it is also a mistake to believe that if you use all channels available you will get more exposure and results.

      5)      When: When is also important on Social Media and it refers to when shall I post? Well that is again something you need to pay attention too. When is your audience active? There is just too much information out there and it is easy for your message to get “lost”. You need to be sharing your posts when your audience is active and that might seem difficult especially if your audience is worldwide but remember there are many ways now to help you schedule your posts even when you are not online!

Social Media Fail : The Bank of Cyprus Facebook Page Launch

Social Media Fail : The Bank of Cyprus Facebook Page Launch 

Bank of Cyprus has recently launched its Facebook Page marking its entrance on the most popular Social Media network.  As far as we know it's probably the biggest failure ever on launching a Facebook page and it's coming from the biggest company in Cyprus! 

So why is the launching of their Facebook page a total bust? Well just take a look at their posts and you will find it hard to read any of the comments. Most of them or all of them have either been deleted or hidden for others to see. 

The reason? Simple enough. Bank of Cyprus being the largest bank on the island had to be bailed out a couple of years ago by taking a large sum of its depositors money due to a big exposure to Greek bonds. From there on the bank is trying hard to survive and all at the expense of its clients and the local economy. Now the bank, still under pressure due to high percentage of non performing loans, continues to give a hard time to its clients. 

It was thus imminent that people would react in any given way possible and Facebook is just the right platform for everyone to express their dissatisfaction and their opinion on any matter. Now imagine having the company you hate the most, available on Facebook! That is exactly what you expect the interaction to be! 

So what would the options be in this case for a business in this situation? 

a) Continue the effort to convince clients that you are a responsible caring business 

b) Face the reality and reply to comments giving your view on things 

c) Stop using Facebook 

In my opinion Bank of Cyprus will choose option A regardless of what people say and try over time to smooth things by not replying hoping that people will forgive and forget. This does not mean that I agree but this is what I think they will choose to do. 

There is though another dimension on this issue that we need to consider. Big companies in the past that have behaved irresponsibly have been exposed and criticized by the public on Social Media. Nestle and Mattel are 2 examples of Brands forced to change their policies and their way of doing business for the better. They were pressured by public outrage to change their suppliers because the ones they used were responsible for deforestation. 

This shows the raw power of Social Media and that people can actually push businesses with bad practices or low moral standards to improve themselves. I think that Bank of Cyprus is another case like Nestle and Mattel were people have the chance and power to shift things in a different way than they are now. 

Social Media for Businesses - Interview at Mega TV Cyprus

Personal Branding Tips for Social Media

Personal Branding Tips for Social Media

Branding yourself on  Social Media is not much different than branding yourself outside Social Media. Consistency and coherence play a key part for successful Branding.

The first and most important thing is to define exactly who you are and what you offer to the people you wish to attract and connect to. If you are still confused about you "identity" and your proposition then I suggest you take sometime to figure it out before proceeding to the next steps. 

Once you've got your identity right you need to communicate it across all your Social Media Channels. If you are using let's say Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram etc you need to show the same identity all over. Your profile pic, your description, your state of business, interests etc must all appear the same. Even if your pics are slightly different it must be easy to others to identify you and understand they have found the right person across the various S.M. channels. 

The third thing you need to consider is your content. This is again very important. Imagine if you show a professional image on LinkedIn by sharing business oriented content and then on Facebook you post all your intimate and personal views, pictures etc. This could ruin your online Brand because you show a contradictory image to prospects which will diminish your efforts to succeed without you even knowing why! 

The fourth thing you need to do to build and enhance your personal Brand is to create a sense of trust around your name. Trust is earned as they say, so you need to show professionalism and provide results. This may be through your daily interactions on Social Media, the way you respond or engage with your audience or your offline work which will attract people to connect with you on S.M. Trust oftens takes the form of endorsements, reviews and recommendations in the Social Media world so have a look how you are doing in this area.  

Finally you need to remember that your authenticity is what separates you from anyone else out there and builds you long term relationships. If you try to copy others or change tactics all the time then you will be undermining your efforts for Branding yourself.  You authenticity, which simply means, be who you really are, and offer your honest approach on the subjects you talk about, is vital for long term results.  

This article was originally presented on LinkedIn  

Why Videos should be a key part of your Brand promotion on Social Media

Why Videos should be a key part of your Brand promotion on Social Media 

Video is booming the past couple of years and it's becoming one of the key ingredients for marketers and Brands to pass on their message successfully to consumers.

On the other hand more and more people share their experiences by shooting and uploading videos on various channels like YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo and Instagram!

It is estimated that by 2017 74% of all internet traffic will be in video form! This is a clear sign to where things are heading and that you should seriously start thinking of incorporating videos in your strategy.

Now 33% of tablet users watch an average of 1 hour video every day while 65% of video viewers watch more than 3/4 of the video!

Videos are a favorite for marketers not only because they have a high conversion rate but a very good measure of ROI.

Videos attract attention easily and can pass a variety of messages you probably couldn't pass otherwise. That is why you should pay attention to create value driven content videos and eye-catchy at the same time.

From my experience with various Brands I have found that it is not always necessary to have professional videos but amateur ones can work as well. It always depends on 3 factors, 1) What's your message 2) How the customers will receive it 3) Does it fit your style as a Brand?

By following the above rules you can easily choose what's the right approach for your case and start preparing your video strategy.

How to build a successful Digital Media Strategy

How to build a successful Digital Media Strategy

Nowadays a Digital Media Strategy is probably the most important thing you need to have in order to Sell a product/service or Brand yourself and get noticed worldwide! 

Despite the fact that most companies and pros use many tools of Digital Media to get their message across they lack the knowledge to create and execute a complete Digital Media strategy thus having poor results over time. 

If there is something you cannot afford to lose it's "Time", otherwise you get slammed my competition!

Here are some of the most important factors you need to consider to build a successful Digital Media Strategy and I urge you to start implementing them as soon as possible if you want to increase your results!

1) Website - Either you have a website or Blog there are a few things to consider to increase your reach. Your website needs to be responsive so it can be easily readable in mobile and tablet. You also need to consider the languages you use. A multilingual website increases the customer experience and targets better your preferred audience. Check which audiences visit your website most and adjust. 

2) SEO - This is a very big chapter and becomes even more complicated as time goes by. To make things simple here is what you need to do. First thing is to check the google ranking of your website. If you are not ranking high enough then invest immediately on optimizing your page. If you are creating content then pay attention to the value of your content (be original) as well as the headlines and keywords you use. Second thing is to make sure you are active and sharing your content on Social Media to boost your searchability. 

3) Social Media - Here is where you need to spend most of the time on a daily basis to see the biggest results. Platforms you may not use much such as G+ provide a great opportunity to reach people and have better SEO results. Same thing goes with other Social Media you may be ignoring like YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest etc. Millions of potential customers maybe using them. Find a way to explore the potential.

4) Advertising - This is where you can really optimize your efforts if all other things are in place. Digital Advertising can be a very effective tool of your strategy if you are ready for it. Advertisements on Google or Yahoo for example can get you in the eyes of every potential client and that is precious. Advertising on Social Media is another great option especially on Facebook and YouTube. 

5) Digital PR - It's one thing to talk about yourself and it's another if you manage others to talk about you. If you can create content to be hosted on other websites in your industry then this will help you build credibility and promote your Brand to audiences you cannot imagine. 

6) Email - An email list may be difficult to build, if you already don't have one, but it will serve you well in the long term. Just think of it this way: "people are connected with you for a reason and this is a communication channel". So use your email database to communicate news and updates about your status and your offers. 

 If you follow the above steps you will be for sure in the right direction of reaching your goals. You need to know though that many details exist in each step that determine how good you are and how effective your message is. 

Are you starting a new Business? Don't Forget this 1 Important thing!!

Are you starting a new Business? Don't Forget this 1 Important thing!!

Are you planning to start you own business this season or trying to reorganize your existing one? 

If the answer is yes then pay attention because this might be exactly what you need to make it a success. 

I find that too many times business people with great ideas have the skills, passion and vision to bring to life a nice concept with all the potentials to succeed. Business people most often give their whole attention to built a great store, decorate it,  hire and train their stuff to give great service, give emphasis to provide a great product and service, purchase the equipment, handle the logistics and much more... 

Most of the times though great ideas don't work well because entrepreneurs fail to recognize and plan ahead for this 1 important thing... How to communicate their message the right way to the right audience! 

Yes that is often  one of the most important reasons why your idea may fail miserably! If you want to make sure you have customers to make the sales you need to survive and thrive then you need to pay attention well ahead. 

In today's world getting your message across to the right people is less complicated than before due to Social Media and Digital Marketing in general. Social Media Marketing and Digital Marketing is not something you just do. It is many times the most effective, direct and important aspect of your Marketing Mix. 

If you want to give your business the best chance to succeed, then plan ahead your resources and strategy to maximize your potential and gain customers from day one. If you leave this to the end it might be too late. 

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