As we trawl the Internet regularly we are always interested in new videos, or indeed videos that have caught our eye on You Tube.
In case you weren’t aware, video is still very much a growing market online with some pretty amazing stories that highlight its popularity with the main stream.
Since we started with video we have followed people who have gone from part-time video You Tube video posters to worldwide names (and faces) and not simply on a viral level either.
There is an entire world online that the ‘real’ world is generally not aware of – but perhaps if nothing else, this shows just how ‘out of touch’ some people have become with the Internet and what it really means to us as a society.
So, that ramble aside, we thought it would be a good idea to have a regular ‘video of the week’ that we have sought out on You Tube and maybe along the way, we’ll find what’s popular and what we think migth end up as a popular piece of media.
Enjoy today’s video – which has been a favourite this month with us – where old meets new in a really natural way….
Ever at the forefront of talking about things in a pretty honest way, our recent experience with a client falls well in to the category of ‘clients who know more about digital than you’ but who actually just don’t listen to sense.
Now, we love our clients – some of them (in fact most of them) are simply amazing and great to work with. We have long chats on the telephone about work but also ‘real’ things – which perhaps is why we enjoy working with them so much, but once in a while you encounter a client who doesn’t quite ‘get it’.
So today’s blog isn’t really a moan as such, more of a commentary on what we feel about it and what it really means to succeed within social media and what areas are almost certainly going to make someone fail again and again!
So, here’s the background – you meet a wonderful new client, you’re excited by the concept or business itself and you want to make it work. But, despite telling the said client that they need a strategy and in fact a ‘non planned’ approach just isn’t relevant, you will still get ‘isn’t it better to just follow anyone on Twitter?’. ‘Aren’t all followers relevant?’. Er… no actually they’re really not and if you try this approach you will never get that much value from your efforts.
Now, what we base this on is knowledge and experience of a field that we’ve been lucky enough to do well within. We don’t opt for a ‘PR’ approach for instance because on its own it just doesn’t work. And we don’t really want to opt for a ‘marketing’ approach as social media is so much more than simply trying to sell products.
We’ve opted for a full-on digital approach that encompasses a much broader arena when it comes to social media success.
Now we’re not theorists on this either – having worked with about 175-180 companies now on their social media we’ve seen the mistakes that can be made, we’ve seen the ‘dead Facebook’ accounts and generally we’ve figured out that a strong strategy is really important to the success of social media. However, that strategy is a combination of ideas, academia, practicality and experience! It’s not simply number of followers! If your followers don’t care about you why on earth would you expect them to follow you?
What’s more is we’ve proven it over and over again when we’ve been enlisted to revitalise a bad attempt at social media by some other company who don’t get it either but who just happen to be good at selling it as a service. We go in, evaluate, advise and turn things around because we want clients to do well!
So, returning back to the client who knows more than us apparently, there is nothing more disheartening than a suggestion based on knowledge that is simply rejected by the company you’re trying to help.
So, they enlist the services of a professional company yet almost asign themselves to failure because they actually don’t want any advice – and will proceed to ignore everything you suggest.
You really want to tell them that their website loading time is way too slow – something that as digital media specialists you need to understand and that they could really do with a blog as well for that matter, plus a host of other things that you know will improve their online efforts, but sadly will get tossed aside.
Social media has been heralded as a lot of things and to be absolutely frank we’ve heard the rubbish regurgitated in sales meetings and with companies who are easily taken down a path called ‘ripped off’, but how can we possibly educated people as to what they really should be embracing.
So here’s the answer – don’t follow be a leader! So expect a few more of these blogs in the coming weeks as we’re about to give the world some home truths!
Social media is a social platform in every single way. You can throw your marketing messages out through Twitter and update Facebook once a week with some piece of ‘news’ you’ve found on another digital blog, but isn’t it better to actually make a real difference with your social media? Something that actually has a real value?
Now, the next time you ask for help with your social media, try and listen to what you’re being told. To be honest, level one social media could be undertaken by a monkey so really doesn’t require a lot of knowledge, but if you want to be able to get your pages active and people interested in your social you need a strategy and plan based on experience of the digital arena – this is absolutely key.
We’re not rubbishing 0ther companies that offer a good service either – but we are saying that based on the many clients we work with we are well aware of how to do things on the social media playing field and that experience across a range of digital media platforms is the only way to really embrace the fast changing enviornment.
As a digital media agency we are always trying to improve our services to clients and have some really exciting things happening over the next few weeks and months.
Aside from the usual web design and development we do, we’re also really expanding our video content and ident work.
We’ve been very lucky working with a number of companies in Dorset and London, creating modern and highly relevant digital content that surpasses the basics of a web page and a few promotional photos.
We feel these days it’s important to really shine and stand out from the crowd as the Internet becomes more and more competitive and we see this as the only way to move forward with the times.
When blogging was for the geeky few, we were already well aware of it and writing regularly and it’s only now that we have started to see the service becoming part of the main stream with some of the larger digital agencies – but luckily we’ve moved on even further, so we’re still ahead of the game.
Equally, the social media work we’ve been doing for longer than a millsecond in Internet terms is only now being adopted as a service to clients with other agencies – but we’ve been there right from the beginning and have now worked with well over 180 companies in the UK and USA We’ve successfully turned around stagnant social media campaigns started by other online disciplines such as marketing and PR agencies who haven’t quite ‘got it’ and are always pleased to see credible followers on their pages.
Anyone can get followers, but getting them to engage and interact with your brand for real is a lot more difficult but we keep doing it so we know we’re doing something very right!
Video is the thing…
It is no surprise perhaps that video (that’s far more interesting than a corporate piece of advertising) is high on our agenda these days and we’ve been lucky enough to be working with some fantastic people – which will be evidenced over the coming weeks as we begin to feature our efforts.
Aside from the two virals we have planned for later this year, we’ve even got a short film piece being made, as well as a number of new idents and creative promotional videos.
While we still create idents to make things more interesting on your You Tube channels, it’s our creative endeavours that have really made a difference – with one social media client experiencing well over 70’000 hits since December of 2010 on their You Tube channel.
We are a bit sad as we get quite excited when things go well but maybe that’s why our strategies work. However, never let it be said that it’s an easy journey and it does take a specific type of client to benefit. The businesses who don’t quite get it usually want any old follower, because it’s the only way they can gauge whether something is successful or not. However, we’ve got the stats to prove that quality is always better than quantity.
As usual instinct plays a massive part within the digital arena and if you haven’t yet seen what’s happening on You Tube, then pop over and take a look.
Our biggest tip is to do a search for your industry – you may be very shocked at what comes up!
More details to follow very soon when we’ll be releasing our new video…
Here at SR Web Media we consistently get requests for Social Media creation and management – of which Facebook promotions are high on the agenda.
It is no secret that Facebook is a good place for raising brand awareness and generating interest in what you do as a business – but that said it isn’t easy.
There is a tendancy to believe that by simply being on Facebook that you’re going to automatically get people to follow you, engage with you and buy from you. Truth is this isn’t the case.
For those in the know, the best approach is a practical and realistic one, whereby you don’t expect miracles but work at achieving possibilities.
Promotions do work on Facebook and they do indeed generate traffic, sharing and interest in what you do – but you have to have a personality and something more than a Twitter feed to your wall to make it work.
So what are the top tips?
Make sure that you are clear about what you want to achieve. This is by far the most important aspect of your social media strategy.
Be realistic. No matter what people tell you – Facebook ISN’T going to change your business but it will assist you in growing your business if you spend the time on it.
Don’t forget about your current client base. Many people make this mistake when it comes to their social media strategy and miss out on so much opportunity when it comes to marketing themselves effectively. Remember, your clients already like you and buy or have bought from you – so make sure you connect with them socially and help them.
If you have a Facebook promotion planned, make sure that you follow Facebook’s competition rules. They are strict and will shut down a page if it violates their policy – so do not ignore it!
Once you’ve got your promotion consider how you can integrate that in to your traditional marketing activities and how you can make sure that it gets shared out everywhere.
Obviously there are a number of other things to consider when it comes to your Facebook promotions and if you have any questions, we’re always ready to answer them!
So as usual we’ve been busy putting things together and our latest creating is a sweet little Oscars tribute. It’s a frame by frame animation of our very own little Oscar, put together with the music of Wayne Newton and has seen a few shares of late online – so we’re really pleased.
Please remember to watch it in its full glory of 1080p High Definition – but forgive the intercutting with what is only 360px Oscars footage. You can’t have everything!
The mass media have condemned the role of social media in allowing destructive young looters to combine in a matter of hours during the events of the past few days; a feat speculators argue would not have been possible mere years ago.
However a more hopeful side of the story is also beginning to emerge, shining a much more positive light on the power of sites like Twitter and Facebook to unite people, this time in the name of good not evil.
It’s an incredibly telling sign on the forward-looking outlook of the nation that #riotcleanup ranks higher in the Twitter trend list this morning than the riots themselves, as British citizens rally behind their community against a small minority of wrongdoers.
All over the country, social media sites have been used to coordinate cleanup efforts in the wake of the devastation caused by the riots, with residents of the UK’s worst affected cities turning up in their droves, brooms at the ready. Some tweeters are even reporting that following the latest cleanup effort this morning, Picadilly gardens in Manchester is probably the cleanest they’ve ever seen it.
What’s most surprising, however, is the sheer speed with which the recovery efforts have been established, with police having to remind some over-eager helpers in London that they were standing on a crime scene which could not yet be disturbed.
Manchester riot cleanup efforts - Photo copyright The Guardian
Twitter and other social networks have also proved the most rapid means of conveying information in other ways concerning the riots. Police have used the service to send out up-to-the-minute coverage of any new developments, surely dissuading many would-be rioters with warnings of a strong police presence in certain areas. Manchester Police in particular deserve high commendation for their rapid response rates via Twitter.
News crews have no doubt also relied on scanning Twitter feeds for the latest updates on the situation, meaning we may now live in a world where the general public is aware of what’s going on before it even gets reported.
The role of the public in aiding the police has similarly been extended thanks to the use of social media, as the Police have set up a Flickr account of police footage and photographs of the rioters, urging the general population to identify participating criminals. Independent Facebook groups have also been set up by individuals asking their friends to upload any extra photographic evidence they may have in conjunction with these senseless crimes.
Perhaps the most quaint development on the social media scene is the emergence of Operation Cup of Tea; a tongue in cheek Facebook group demanding members upload pictures of themselves staying in for a brew instead of ransacking the streets. The popularity of this group, plus the multitude of Twitter updates bemoaning the appearance of Sky News reporter Kay Burley as the last thing a riot-struck Ealing needed, show the true British sense of humour prevailing in the face of a potential crisis.
The main message to take from the social networks this morning regarding the recent riots? Keep calm and carry on.
It would be very difficult to have missed the rioting that has been happening in Cities throughout the UK of recent days – organised by a mixture of social media channels (such as Facebook) and apparently Blackberry telephones. What is perhaps most interesting that social media itself has been used both as a way to incite riots, but also (and perhaps more importantly) to set up a number of clean up operations.
During the past two days we have been watching Twitter closely – only to see the News headlines come out in ‘real time’ and most definitely in advance of the main TV news channels and like many have been surprised and shocked at what we have seen. But the number of businesses and groups setting up the clean up operations in the aftermath has been just as surprising.
What is demonstrates is the sheer power of Twitter (in this instance) for getting people together to do something and it proved a major communication tool for a number of forces.
Most notably for us, the Greater Manchester Police @gmpolice on Twitter were absoultely amazing in communicating information to the General Public and in our opinion really know how to ‘tweet’ effectively. That is not of course to rubbish what other forces have done, but during the riots of Great Manchester we were amazed at the updates and their regularity and how the Greater Manchester Police have embraced social media in a really good way.
This proves without doubt that if you aren’t on Twitter in some way you probably should be as so much of the world uses it, but it also proves that ‘real time’ updates are far more swift than anything the news channesl can compete with.
We were working with a client based in Croydon (literally around the corner from the furniture store that was burned to the ground the other night) and the quickest way we could communicate what was going on was through their social media, which was received positively by their followers and was accordingly retweeted.
The good of social media really shows what people are capable of online and the bad of course, is the discourse and organising it allowed for the rioters who arranged the riots across the UK.
A thoroughly interesting story is of course still evolving but it makes us very proud to be working in this field – getting a real experience with people we only know from our online work and like all those who have arranged a unit in their communities and used Social Media to round up helpers is truly admirable and shows a real human spirit!
It’s not very often that you feel the need to tell people about new projects believe it or not! Usually there are reasons why you in fact can’t. However, here at SR Web Media we enjoy talking about it when we’re allowed and with no exception Cornelia James is one client we are really looking forward to working with.
As a web design and digital company in Dorset, we were delighted to be considered for Cornelia James’ new project, which we will reveal very soon. Cornelia James is a highly fashionable and sophisticated brand that not only supplies the Queen with her gloves, but who just happens to have had their gloves worn by pretty much every one you can think of!
In fact, as a proudly British designer, the brand of Cornelia James is about as fashionable as you can get. The likes of Madonna and Lady Ga Ga have all worn gloves made in Britain by Cornelia James and Genevieve James (Cornelia’s daughter) now holds the Royal Warrant as supplier of fine, handmade gloves to HRH Queen Elizabeth.
So, short but sweet this blog is, we can’t wait to get going on this one and having seen the quality of workmanship from Cornelia James, it’s easy to see why they are so popular!
An interesting conversation emerged today – based very much on how you can truly measure your ROI (return on investment) when it comes to social media.
For a successful business owner, it’s very easy to create a marketing campaign and measure very accurately how much you will get in return (or not) for your money. But when it comes to Social Media is it really possible?
The problem is; it is actually very, very difficult to be totally accurate when it comes to the figures. And why? Because if you’re looking at social media as an integrative strategy it’s not simply a ‘deliver and count’ project. It’s often long-term, includes things like PR, Marketing and SEO and you somehow need to combine and find a way to calculate how successful it has really been.
For a start – every business has a lot of needs. They don’t just want to sell either. They want to raise brand awareness, grow their communities and generally get the very best out of their efforts. In reality, you try and say this to a ‘traditional’ business person and they’ll still be looking for the answer.
Yes you can look at the efforts you put in and use things like Live Tracking to ascertain who is coming from where and whether they’re buying, but it’s still very difficult to say 100% that someone who is reading your Facebook updates on a daily basis will buy or has already bought!
In traditional marketing models you may get used to asking people how they found you or where they saw your advert or if they’re responding through an email. But when it comes to Social Media – even with the analytics and social media tools available, you still cannot accurately put a price on things. It’s a sad fact but it’s true.
We’ve been working within social media for some time now and we do know that there are ways to measure your success, but it’s a long haul game.
It is also true to say that if you deal with ONE campaign then you are much more likely to succeed when it comes to calculating your ROI.
If you add the man hours, additional technical requirements, PPC etc. etc. then you’ll know that if you’ve reached 500’000 people and suddenly the revenue is up by 25% – some of that revenue will be down to your Social Media work.
From here you can of course then minus off the traditional marketing and PR results (and whatever else you do to promote and grow your business) and eventually you’ll get a figure that is most likely to represent your actual ROI.
So, based on this, it’s not all bad news exactly, but it does bear thinking about if you’re considering the use of social media to reach new clients and ‘sell’ your products.
We have managed to establish a number of areas where we can measure Social Media and ROI relatively successfully – but you’ll note that we have not once mentioned numbers or followers. When it comes to social media – this bit is probably the least significant in some ways, because you’re ultimately trying to grow awareness – which will lead to purchases. It’s just a question of when and where.
Social Media is a ‘campaign tool’ but it is also a long-term branding tool amongst other things, so simply thinking that you can spend a £1000 and then convert that in to £5000 is misguided and a recipe for disaster!
Despite being around for quite a while, the world of social media is still largely an unknown for a lot of businesses.
Part of this is down to it constantly evolving. No sooner have you got yourself on to a social media platform like Facebook, Twitter or You Tube and suddenly everyone’s talking about Flickr and the multitude of micro-blogs that you can be on!
This is a real problem for the smaller business, but equally the larger, corporate business can have just as many difficulties.
So what are the best tips for navigating this ever changing landscape?
Social Media is not a standalone marketing tool. It is an integrative marketing platform that has relevance to your SEO, your branding, your communication with clients and customers, your marketing activity and while we’re at it, your PR activity too!
This is perhaps why it is difficult to understand fully because the approach is often wrong. Essentially, what you need to do is work out what you WANT to achieve for your business, what improvements you feel you can make with things like communication and THEN utilise the social media platforms you are part of to deliver it.
Always evaluate what you do regularly. The best approach is to get a professional social media strategy put together. This usually helps identify your target markets, the best ways of reaching them and the best way of putting a strategy together that you can work from.
In fact, with the wealth of ‘social media managers’ out there, you can save yourself quite a bit of time and effort if you invest in getting a full strategy drawn up. A good one in fact will allow you to implement a considerable amount of activity without the need for any management from an outsider whatsoever.
Of course there are times when this is essential as you may not have time to do a lot as a busy business owner, but it’s worth a thought.
Try to keep as up-to-date as you can with the new technologies and applications available online. Of course, this can be difficult to do as well, because there are additions to the landscape regularly. Again, this can be why a professional social media strategy can help you because it will tell you what’s happening, thus cutting out a lot of wasted time on platforms that aren’t going to do anything for you.
Don’t simply use your social media as another avenue to advertise your services. There are a wealth of spammers now who litter places like Twitter and Facebook and people are getting very wise to them. Try and set yourself apart from your competitors by doing things differently and make sure that you add value to a client or customer experience with your social media.
So many people waste time on this one, as they feel that they must simply talk about how great they are, repeat the offers that they’ve got on their website or generally offer nothing of value to their followers, that they soon end up with a pretty lame social media campaign.
Don’t forget your current database of clients or customers. These guys are often forgotten when it comes to social media and we are constantly asked about this. If you have an email list, use it to let people know where you are!
We’ve worked with national brands, small business owners, expanding businesses, retailers and pretty much every type of business you can possibly imagine and we’d be delighted to share what we know with you if it helps you achieve your goals.
Also look out for our next blog, which will give you a few more helpful tips on getting yourself on the social media landscape in the right way!
