by Francois Muscat | Jan 16, 2014 | Social Media Optimization, Social Networking
With literally dozens of photo-sharing sites available today, which ones will stand out in 2014 and offer you the best social media investment? With so many sites available, one only needs to look at the excitement among users online to determine the viability and popularity of the sites that stand out from the crowd.
There are many photo-sharing websites that are making a buzz online, so let’s look at the top photo-sharing social media sites that will take your business to new levels in 2014:
While this site is not exclusively a photo-sharing site but also acts as an online portfolio site, there are as many animators, illustrators, graphic designers and cartoonists on this site as there are photographers. It is a great online professional artist community designed to let users improve upon and profit from their art.
Flickr remains one of the original pioneers of the minimalist AJAX interfaces. Its GUI continues to be one of the simplest, cleanest and easiest web services of any type of photo-sharing site available today. Its user-friendliness and robust privacy controls continue to make it one of the photo-sharing social media sites to watch out for in 2014.
This site differs from other photo-sharing websites and services in that it places a far greater emphasis on sharing photos than curating it. It offers great tools for posting and reposting photos to other social networks, services and sites. This is a great site for social photographers and can be harnessed powerfully by business with the right strategy in place.
WSI OMS makes use of the social media conversation Prism where we use social media to drive transparency, vision and value for our customers. For an excellent partner in your social media campaigns, partner with WSI OMS.
by Francois Muscat | Jan 9, 2014 | Social Media Optimization, Social Networking
As the year draws to a close and millions of companies and employees wind down operations for the festive period, let’s have a look at 2014 social media trends and what to look forward to in the New Year. Many brands have come to understand the impact that social media can have on their companies. However there are still many who are dealing with the challenges that accompanies this reality.
Some of the challenges that these businesses face include:
- Demonstrating an ROI of their social media initiatives,
- Allocating sufficient human capital and financial resources,
- Reorganizing their corporate structures to deal with user-generated content and customer social media participation, to name a few.
Here are a few of the top social media trends that will impact the way you market your company online in 2014:
- Facebook is down, Twitter is up: For many years Facebook has dominated the social media scene, with many viewing Twitter as a distant runner up. However, times are changing. But don’t count Facebook’s 1.18 billion users out just yet. Yet Twitter, on the brink of becoming a public company will attract many latent users into becoming active users again.
- Snapchat Marketing: For those not familiar with Snapchat yet, this trendy and smart mobile app sends messages such as short video, photos and text, called snaps, that auto-destructs in a short amount of time. This can be anywhere between one t ten seconds, depending on the app’s settings. As of May 2013, more than 5 million Snapchat users were uploading more than 160 million photos per day.
- Google+: A recent study performed indicated that Google+ now has more than 540 million active users, which puts them worldwide just behind Facebook. This social media platform is still evolving and will be the platform to watch in 2014.
If you want to harness the power of social media in your company, contact WSI OMS to learn how social media can take your company into the future.
by Francois Muscat | Dec 17, 2013 | Social Media Marketing, Social Networking
When it comes to your company’s social media presence, it is important to remember that it is better to have a strong presence on one or two platforms than a weak presence on many. So, if you have any company social media networking accounts you never, or rarely, contribute to, rather cancel them.
The reason for this is that a lot of people are members of multiple social networks and if they come across a company page where nothing is happening on one of these platforms, they won’t feel inspired to respond to an invite from that company on another platform. In other words, a low activity page does more harm than good.
It’s always best to consult professionals like WSI OMS when it comes to your social media marketing strategy, because a ‘bad social media presence’ isn’t better than ‘no social media presence’. As a matter of fact, it’s the other way around.
Now, when it comes to posting content, there are a couple of rules you’d do well to adhere to. The first ones are probably obvious: Post regularly (between 1-3 times a day) and only post again after people have stopped commenting on your previous post.
The next one probably isn’t: For every 6 pieces of content you post, 4 should be from your influencer target and the content should, of course, be relevant to your followers. What this means is that 67% percent of the time you are sharing other people’s content and the people whose content you should be sharing are people with notable voices in your industry that have a large number of followers. This will show people that you keep up to date with the happenings in your industry, which inspires confidence. Also send these social influencers free content about you. This might inspire them to write about you which will give your company a greater online visibility.
Contact us today for more social media tips.
by Francois Muscat | Oct 7, 2013 | Social Networking
If you want to make the most of your social media campaign, you should definitely ensure that your company has a presence on as many social media platforms as possible. The most widely used of all of these platforms and therefore the most important, is Facebook. But how, exactly, do you implement a successful Facebook strategy?
Although, to ensure maximum impact, it’s best to consult experts like WSI before implementing a Facebook strategy, what follows are good basic rules to adhere to:
The most important thing to remember is to post regularly, but not too often. Only update your status after people have stopped commenting on your posts. Your posts should also be related to what your company does. Don’t engage in trivial conversations that have nothing to do with you or the products you are selling and/or service you provide. Since they are great attention grabbers, uploading pictures and videos is also a good idea. Again, just make sure they are about your products and /or services and make your own website the host site of your videos.
The next thing to remember is to engage with people on a personal level. If they post questions, answer them as quickly as possible. Give a basic answer and then refer them to your website for more info. This is a neat trick to get your conversion rates up. Also, if you think a comment is insightful or helpful, let the person who posted it know and thank him or her for bringing it to your attention.
In addition, Facebook advertising is something you should consider investing in. It is not that expensive and very target market orientated. It will draw people to your page and website.
Last but not least: Make sure that the person you put in charge of managing your Facebook page has the necessary skills to communicate with people effectively on this platform.
Contact us today for more expert advice concerning social media campaigns.
by Francois Muscat | Jul 18, 2013 | Social Networking
Social media started as a way for people to keep in touch with friends and family, but over the years it has evolved into a crucial marketing component for many companies. Now more than ever, customers use social media to ask questions, lodge complaints, seek assistance and find out more information about all kinds of companies and brands – and it’s vital that your company engages them.
Whether you receive questions, complaints or praise via social media, you should always respond. A company that has a Facebook page full of comments and questions from people that remain unanswered gives the impression that they either don’t care or aren’t monitoring their page; and in a world where customers expect responses in real-time, that simply isn’t good enough.
When it comes to your social media pages you should:
- Check them all at least once a day. It’s recommended to check your social media pages several times throughout the day, but if you don’t have the time to do that, check either first thing in the morning or around the end of business hours. There may be customers who have time-sensitive issues that they need addressed.
- Conduct searches for your company name. On a social media site like Twitter, searching for your company name is a great way to see what other people are saying about you.
- Respond to the positive, not just the negative. When someone leaves positive feedback on your page, make sure to thank them and let them know you appreciate their business.
Social media has evolved into an important customer service tool and companies who ignore it run a serious risk of loosing customers and giving the impression that they don’t care. Once your company’s social media presence is established, be sure that the pages are monitored and maintained on a daily basis. Contact WSI for more expert tips!
by Marelise da Silva | Feb 1, 2013 | Social Networking
Social networking has become a minefield for business owners who are not following the latest trends. Should you be on Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest? Then what about Instagram, Foursquare and the rest?
Developing a social media presence is important for business owners who want to engage with potential customers online, but many of them lack the knowledge to successfully engage with their online community.
If you feel a little lost this Infographic from Media Bistro may help. The data is based on Canada, but we feel it is just as fitting for South African small businesses.
Small Business & Social Media [Infographic]
Need help with your social media marketing strategy? Contact WSI OMS today!
