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Social Media Marketing

The majority of businesses now understand the need for social media marketing.

Why Social Media Marketing Is So Important

Some people are still sceptical of social media’s importance. But this is mainly because they are looking at it from a personal perspective rather than as a business owner.

Similarly some people believe that social media is a waste of time. They don’t see the value in sharing their thoughts and pictures with the world.

You may have found that in the past social media hasn’t been effective for you. But have you been using it correctly?

Your Potential audience

Social Media Marketing, North East Social Media

Take Instagram for example. Instagram has over 1.386 billion active users. Furthermore it’s not going away anytime soon. If you’re not using social media to grow your business, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity.

Facebook have 2.853 billion active users!

It can be hard to get started and even harder to figure out how to use social media marketing tools like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Linkedin effectively.

That’s why it’s important to make sure you and your employees are properly trained when it comes to social media.

Social Media Training For Your Business

Social media users are everywhere. Moreover they’re on every device and in every country. It is the most powerful marketing tool available today for entrepreneurs looking to connect with potential customers or companies trying to engage with their past and current clients.

It might not seem like it, but those cute pictures that you post on Instagram or Facebook will give you a chance to engage with your customers and followers.

Take a look a our Facebook & Instagram  accounts. Meet Xena & Thor our furry employees! The more personal you are on these accounts the more engaging your audience are with your posts. And why post some personal content? Because you are introducing people to the person behind the business.

People Buy From People they Know, Like and Trust

Twain

Social Media Training Near Me

North East Social Media can help your business get the most out of popular platforms. We’ll create a custom strategy that fits with your goals and budget so you can see real results in no time. Businesses of all kinds and sizes can grow faster and generate more leads with the right social media strategy.

I have attended 3 online training sessions with Amanda on website CEO, social media and marketing plans. All 3 were excellent! Amanda has a wealth of knowledge and experience and I would highly recommend her.

Angela Rayne – Sunderland Enterprise Park Management

We provide a range of services that will help you get more out of your social media channels. From managing your accounts, content creation and training, we’ll take care of everything for you so you can concentrate on what’s important – your business!

North East Training

We’ve got you covered at North East Social Media. Book a session just for your business. Our 121 sessions are deilvered on Zoom. We log in to your accounts and fix them while teaching you! Nothing set up? Not a problem we can set your accounts up for your while we train you too.

For a 3 hour session we charge £295 + VAT and can create a training plan specifically for you. Everyone learns at a different speed. In different ways and we adapt so it can work for you.

Our 121 sessions can be for your whole team! Or you might want to keep all that knowledge to yourself! The choice is yours.

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Twitter

Twitter Image Size

Twitter Image Size 2021

In May 2021 the Twitter Image Size was updated. Twitter has been trying out a few changes over the previous months. Now it is being rolled out to all users, both on iOS and Android

Is it important to use the correct image size?

The simple answer to this is yes! It will make your Twitter account look more professional. Similarly, more engaging.

It avoids your image being stretched to “fit the box” on Twitter. You will find that having the correct images size means people will see exactly what you want them to see.

Creating Twitter Images

It’s not just the Twitter Image Size to think about. There are other things to consider when creating your images for Twitter. And for other social media images too.

Firstly, the best thing you can do is use your own images. They are always going to work best. If you do need to use stock photo’s make sure you have the right to use them.

In other words, don’t just go to Google and think because the image is online you can use it! Pick the wrong image and you may be sued!

Have you had a look at pixabay.com ? There are some great free images there.

Twitter Image Sizes

Use a platform like canva.com to resize your images. You’ll find the following sizes:

  • Header 1500 x 500 px
  • Post 1600 x 900 px
  • Ad 1600 x 900 px
  • Profile Picture – minimum 400 x 400 px
  • In stream photo’s 1600 x 1900 px
Twitter Image Size, post 1600 x 900 px
Twitter Image Size, post 1600 x 900 px
Twitter Image Size, Cover Photo
Cover Photo Size 1500 x 500
Twitter In-stream image size 1600 x 1900 px
In-stream image size 1600 x 1900 px

Finally it would be great to connect with you on Twitter. Please do feel free to follow me 🙂 I’m pretty good at following back!

If you would like training on Twitter please get in touch or keep an eye on my Twitter workshop page.

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Facebook LinkedIn Twitter

Social Media Strategy

Social Media Strategy

Do you have a Social Media Strategy or do you sit there everyday, looking at your screen, wondering about what to post today?

I’m delivering a Social Media Content and Strategy course tomorrow in North Shields for The Business Factory and so was just thinking about the content and thought, hey ho I’ll write a blog!

So here are a few steps that I think are absolutely essential when it comes to Social Media.  You know what they say – or at least what Alan Lakein says:- “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” … and oh is he right!

Social Media Strategy – Your Audience

Social Media Strategy, Target Audience

The first thing you need to think about is your target audience.

  • Who are they?
  • Where are they? And most importantly of all …..
  • What are they interested in?

It’s no good saying “My audience is everyone” or “Any woman of any age would buy my product” etc.

The more precise you are about your audience the easier it is going to be for you to connect with them – and engage with them. Think about your buying persona. Build a picture, a story, around that person. What does their day look like?  When are they most likely to want to see your posts?

Social Media Strategy – Platforms

Work out which Social Media platforms you are going to use based on where your target audience is rather than which ones you like using best.

And then, when you have decided which platforms, start to think about what is your purpose is for using that particular platform.

Social Media Strategy – Content

So, what are you going to talk about online? The last thing you want to do is post the same content on each platform.

For example it may be that you decide:-

Facebook will be your platform for engagement with your target audience

Twitter you are going to use to raise your profile, raise your social score and drive traffic to your website.

Instagram may be where you show people what’s happening behind the scenes in your business, maybe it’s a place for you to give people an insight in to you, the person behind the business.

LinkedIn is where you will show people how experienced you are in your field, by sharing relevant news and industry updates.

Create a Plan

If you clearly define which platforms you are going to use and what content you are going to share on each, then bring in to the  computation how often you are going to post on each of them, you are ready to create your plan. Your Social Media Strategy.

Here at North East Social Media that is EXACTLY what we doing, working from a Google Spreadsheet. We mark off each client as we post their content for them. This way we know who has posted for who and where.

  • No duplication of work
  • Double posting is no longer a thing!
  • Sitting for hours thinking about what to write – simply doesn’t happen.

Measure what you do

It is so important to keep a track of what you are doing. Use your insights to create reports. Measure your results so you know that your improvements are working! That having a Social Media Strategy is making a difference.

I promise you, if you put this thought in to it in the first instance, your social media marketing will flow.  You will save hours of times to be able to work on your business, rather than your marketing.

Please do let me know how you get on! If you are stuck I do offer 121 training either in person or via Zoom and would be happy to help.

I also have a Facebook Group you may find useful. I often posts tips on what to talk about on certain days.  Have a look. See if it’s the type of help you need. A gentle prompt.

If you’re looking for more than a gentle prompt, and ongoing training, check out our membership group. The Social Media Angels.

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Facebook LinkedIn Twitter

Live Video

Live Video

Are you using Live Video or any form of video in your social media marketing yet?

For the past 2 years I’ve been trying to encourage people to use video in a social media marketing. To bring video in to their marketing strategies.

When you’re posting on social media you’ve got a whole 1.3 seconds to capture somebody’s attention. Then they move on to the next post. 

Therefore it stands to reason the if you are using something that is going to catch somebody’s eye you have more chance of engagement and interaction and reach on that post.

Live Video Outperforms

https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=2131551680227762
Video by far outperforms all other types of post on social media particularly on Facebook LinkedIn and now Twitter.

The most effective post On Facebook is live stream video. Facebook will go out of their way to tell people that you are currently live on Facebook and encourage them to come and watch you, and then when you finished your live stream you publish it to your business page.

Basically you’re getting double whammy with a  Facebook live as first of all the Live is a priority post and then the second best post being uploaded MP4 video . So from your one Live you’re getting the maximum exposure possible as after you have streamed live you can add that video to your page.

Video and Stories

The other thing you need to look at is this the use of stories. Stories are growing in popularity on both Facebook and Instagram. Stories only stay within your story for 24 hours so is there is a need for you to update it could be your story, on a regular basis think of ways that you can bring that into your marketing strategy.

When you’re posting on your story and when you’re using video you need to think mobile. In fact everything you do online now you have to think mobile first. (The video I have embedded above is portrait as I used my desktop computer, but if you are using a mobile keep it vertical).

Live Video, Facebook Live Video, Vertical

How is somebody going to view what you are doing on their mobile device? People prefer to keep their mobile in a vertical position and therefore you need to think about vertical video. It has recently been mentioned the Instagram is going to support landscape video but people are getting more and more in to the habit of looking at their streams vertically.

https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fnortheastsocialmedia%2Fvideos%2F10150221628543104%2F&show_text=1&width=560I am often asked how long should the video be? To this there is no perfect answer. What we do know is that if you’re creating a video for advertising purposes you need to keep that video to under 15 seconds.

As for other video’s  it depends what you doing. If you’re giving people a demonstration on one of your products for example, or if you’re an artist and you’re creating something in front of people, your audience will watch for as along as the video keeps their attention and interests them. But do remember we live in a World where people like to do things and complete things very quickly!

What you must consider is adding subtitles to your video. It’s been found that when people are watching video on their news feed they are watching it with sound off (incidentally when I listening to it in a story they have sound on). Make sure you familiarise yourself with the publishing tools available to you within your Facebook page, so after you publish your video you can go in and add subtitles.

Live Video, Facebook Live, Subtitles

Have you tried the auto subtitles yet?  They may need a little editing but on the whole it pretty much gets the jest of what you are saying – and is so much better now than it was a few years ago.

Have a think about how you are going to continue to bring, or start to use, video in your marketing.

If you’re not using it you are missing out. You don’t have to create beautifully crafted professional looking videos . At the end of the day the reason people like to watch live video is that it’s raw. Live Video shows a true representation of the person behind the business.

So go on have a go. Don’t be shy! I promise you the more you try it = the more you get used to it = the more confident you will be.

Let me know how you get on! Please feel free to join my Group on Facebook

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Twitter

National and Awareness Days in July 2017

Hello there.  Can you believe how awful the weather turned at the back end of June – we’ve gone from one extreme to another haven’t we #BritishSummer has been flitted about Twitter quite a bit that’s for sure.  So once againI thought I would do a quick post about National and Awareness Days in July 2017 – I’m continually asked for advice on content and using these days, which will more than likely trend on Twitter, is definitely a good idea.

National and Awareness Days in July 2017

So here we go a selection of National and Awareness Days in July 2017 for you to use in your posts.

1st July is #InternationalReggaeDay  You can link to this website – www.visitjamaica.com for content for your tweets.  There are over 30 free stock images on Pixabay.com that represent Reggae and I am sure if you take a look at animated gif’s you’ll find plenty to amuse there too.  You could Google some facts about Bob Marley and tweet them too, using the hashtag #InternationalReggaeDay

3rd July brings the start of #SarcomaAwarenessWeek  You’ll find some information, explaining all about Saarcoma, on this excellent website www.sarcoma.org.uk  These awareness days are excellent, helping people to understand conditions and show them where they might find help and information.

4th July – well I think there will be one main topic trending on this day #IndependenceDay but there could well be more than one trending hashtag on the subject #HappyIndependenceDay #Happy4thJuly #IndependenceDayUSA etc

Awareness and National Days July 2017, Don't step on a bee day

You’ll love this one.  10th of July we’ll be celebrating #DontStepOnABeeDay  Why? To raise profiles and support bee keepers and also to ask that you get involved in the Great British Bee Count – yes I said Bee Count, not Bake Off!  Have a look here 

Friends of the Earth have even got a downloadable PDF to show you how to build a Bee Hotel – oh yes, a bee hotel.  Why not build it, photograph it, upload it to Twitter and use the hashtag #DontStepOnABeeDay

Build A Bee Hotel

Click on this link for some Honey Bee Facts you could use for your tweets.

11th July is #WorldPopulationDay  15th July will be World Youth Skills Day #SkillsForAll  and this year, for all you fishery people, National Fishing Month starts on the 22nd July until the 29th August – don’t forget to use the hashtag #NationalFishingMonth to show us what you’ve caught.

22nd July is National Marine Week #NationalMarineWeek  24th July is #SamaritansAwarenessDay 

National and Awareness Days July 2017, National Tequila Day

You can then expect it to get a bit messy as going to be #NationalTequilaDay on the 24th July – a whole day to celebrate Tequila.  It is at this point that I must reiterate the fact that you should NEVER drink and Tweet!

Do you know that in Mexico Tequila is drunk neat with no added lime or salt

Do you know that Tequila is made from the Agave plant which is actually in the lily family and is not a cactus

Did you know that worms are prohibited in Tequila bottles but may be present in Mezcal

The 29th July is the NSPCC Messathon day – wwwww.nspcc.org.uk/what-you-can-do/events/messathon/

And finally, the 30th July is #WorldFriendshipDay – what a fab day to end with!  Make sure you shout out to your friends on this day – all day