I was thrilled to welcome guest speakers from Urban Media www.urbanmedia.co.uk and Zebedee internet www.zebedeeim.co.uk yesterday to speak to local businesses and some of our commercial clients about the importance of web presence online. I am not the expert – you need to speak to them about that but there were some key lessons which I would share with you now. Simple things which might assist you in maximising your web-presence, engaging with your customers and boosting you towards the top of any google search.

Facebook isn’t just for the young herberts out there but is an incredibly useful tool (along with Twitter, Pintrest, Youtube etcetera…) for making your business accessible. If you are selling direct to consumers then it is a fantastic way of engaging with them in an informal manner and importantly gives them an instant platform with which to engage back with you.

Even if you sell business to business it is important to have this presence. Facebook likes, comments and shares, twitter re-tweets etcetera are amongst the most weighted factors in driving your business to the top of google. This has the potential to put you on top of your competitors. If I am searching for accountants for example ‘who will appear at the top?’ the Accountant who does social media or the one who doesn’t? It is also the case that only 2% of people searching will go to the second page of any google search so it is key to get on that first page.

Whatever social media platform you are using its important to make it interactive, to prompt that re-tweet or Facebook share. When using something like Facebook you might want to think about asking for feedback or offering reward for sharing a post i.e. ‘like this photo and we will enter you into a prize draw to win…..’ Twitter doesn’t quite work in the same way as it is a quick and fast way of getting snippets of information out there. To encourage people back towards your blog or website try using half finished information or an intriguing questions, a good example given during yesterday’s seminar was ‘look whose upset the applecart now’ which sparks a readers intrigue. Remember Twitter is limited to 140 characters but if you want people to re-tweet keep it to 120 so the end doesn’t get cut off.

One of the key points to come out of the seminar was that really if you plan content (content is king by the way) there is no reason why social media needs to take over your life. For example a few blog posts can be tweeted and facebook linked over a week and related photos or articles posted so one piece of work can then be used in different ways to generate traffic. Take this blog post for example – I have four potential Facbook posts. I could post the opening bit about holding the seminar and encouraging people to read the rest of the post. I could also then post a ‘daily social media tip’. It is all about content planning. Plan well and you will make social media work for you with minimal time spent on your part.

So there you are – I hope those snippets were useful. If you would like to know more please get in touch as we will probably be running similar seminars in the near future. Also you should definately check out the websites above to find out more.

Happy Socialising.

Alistair