Author: admin

Social Sellers Are The Top Performers

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Why do large follower counts not always equate to increased sales? This came up in a conversation yesterday where some social media accounts have follower counts in the tens of thousands but little interaction and few post likes. That’s a red flag.

It can be difficult to establish why social followers are not converting into sales so it’s best to avoid common mistakes such as simply posting offers on your social accounts that are preventing you from turning posts into dedicated followers and then Raving Fans.

Social Selling is a process that plays the long game, it’s a process of ongoing communication and relationship building between the business and followers through social media posts. 80% of social sellers outsell peers who don’t use social media. The top performers in retail are all social sellers and I know a number of them.

This is a contemporary model for sales, where social networking, engagement and product education combine to bring people to your website who are more ready to buy from a brand they trust.

People who rate your business and trust your services and products also recommend you to others, if you see a customer recommending your product using social media, make an effort to connect with them too. You’ll be notified whenever you are ‘tagged’ in on a post.

The idea of this method is to ensure that your business is the first on a buyer’s mind when it comes to that product or service. That’s the amazing thing about the internet, once this would have been out of the question without investing a considerable amount of money, now the tools available, it’s democratised business and your small and nimble brand could move ahead of larger competition by interacting through social media.

Please contact me if you feel a Social Selling strategy would improve your business.

Social Networks

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Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, WhatsApp, Clubhouse, Pinterest, SnapChat, Tik Tok and more…. I found one link with 100 plus alternatives!

How could you possibly create original content and update all these at the desired frequency and cope with new entrants? That’s a fast track to an asylum! Here are just a few of the considerations;

Specific to the brand, you need to study who uses each platform to decide if this is where your ideal customer posts, comments and shares posts.

Concentrate on the top three platforms. These combine to build your brand and lead prospects towards your website landing page or Call To Action. *If they arrive at your website capture names, and contact details to utilise e-mail marketing and newsletters which is a whole other discipline.

Look at your demographic and ideal customer and note which hashtags they follow.

Be sensible with hashtags. For visibility and reach, research hashtags with 1M posts and use three to six, and less than 100K posts and use another three to six. Your post is more likely to show at the top of the listings (and clicked on) using the lesser used keywords.

Determine when and what to post and the frequency to be picked up by the platform’s algorithm.

Many of these have more than one element, regular posts, stories (often higher visibility than regular posts), short video, longer format video etc. One may carry greater weight and require more frequent posts.

Post appropriate to platform content that positively reflects your brand and values. Consistent appearance.

Track the likes and comments on posts, compare the stats of each metric ‘Likes’ ‘Comments’ ‘Click Throughs’ to determine which posts are most effective and at what time of the day. Rinse and repeat!

For example, Facebook Business has a fabulous amount of demographic data you can check against each post.

Contribute by commenting, liking and sharing content, on each chosen platform, preferably for 20 minutes prior to posting.

Now begin your working day!

Actually, this is why this is best subcontracted to specialists who study this all day every day, are aware of changes to the algorithm and leave you to build your business that you know far more about!

For an informal discussion about your Social Media strategy please contact me.

If Not Me, Who? If Not Now, When?

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I had in mind a different post this morning but inspired to publish this great quote after listening to a number of contributors in a superbly managed Clubhouse* club ‘Breakfast With Winners’ the room entitled ‘Winners Mindset vs Self Doubt’.

At some time or another, everybody suffers from self doubt or ‘Imposter Syndrome’, I learned that this is a precursor to the fight or flight reflex for when we feel threatened. Our inner voice is sending a warning and triggers the nerves and doubts that hold us back – ‘saving’ us from the scenario our brain wishes to remove us from. The key seems to be to recode our mind so that the scenario is no longer threatening, and affirmations and training are perfect for this.

A number of highly successful people running the club expressed examples when self doubt appeared and the tactics they employed to overcome. One admitted it was rare but went back to basics and read the numerous self-help and business books they have collected then RESET. But that takes time. Another quoted the Louise Hay book ‘Feel The Fear & Do It Anyway’ which mentioned that 90% of the time, the fear that is holding us back usually turns out to be only 10% of what we feared in reality. My own I learned from my daughter’s first employer a decade ago. If not me, Who? If not now, When? Think about that, take a deep breath or two and Just Do It! Okay, I lifted the last slogan!

Let me know of any strategies you use when self doubt holds you back.

* I have a number of Clubhouse invites if you would like to join, iPhone is required presently. Please DM

Social Currency

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Social Media Post 09/03/2021

Instead of trying to sell from your social media, build a following of people who trust in your business, products and philosophy. Build connections and relationships with people. Social Currency is far more valuable than a forgotten sale or two. A prospect who trusts you will inevitably come to you for a quote or advice when they are in the market for a product or service and recommend you too. Pop up in feeds, Like and Share in an authentic and genuine way and people will notice you and connect. Authenticity IS Social Currency.

This is the connection with today’s picture of the Black Eyed Peas. Away from music, Will-I-Am has built his trusted personal brand and interests in technology over more than a decade by sharing information and advice in a genuine and authentic way.

If you would like your business or personal brand represented online in a professional manner by someone enthusiastic about being the best and who will apply the very latest thinking to your content and social media posts then please contact me to say hi.

State Of The Art Is Here

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Social Media Post 08/03/2021

My mission is simple, to maximise the Return On Investment (ROI) from your online budget by applying the very latest thought to website content, SEO, and social media marketing.

My question for you today. Does your website landing page capture your enquirers contact details and source of enquiry? In other words are you maximising data and complying with current regulations?

Please contact me via Direct Message today for an informal discussion.

Icons

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Icon comes to us from the Greek word eikenai, meaning “to seem or to be like.” In certain religions, statues of religious figures are referred to as icons––because they are prayed to as if they were the thing they represent. Icon can also describe a person closely linked to an idea. Mahatma Gandhi is revered as an icon of peace and humanity – an ultimate Personal Brand!

The goal of my agency is to become the go-to person to improve your digital marketing Return On Investment (ROI) your ICON for Great Social Media & Digital Content.

My background is NEITHER agency nor stereotyped. The result of work I produce will be influenced by my diverse employed and self-employed management and sales experience. Be assured your money is my money. By the times I have won, and lost! Resilience is key by the way. Also my inquisitive and knowledge seeking nature where I am building and adding layers to my own knowledge of my passions on an hourly basis. I have been involved with digital since I began tele-selling a sales database in 1990, e-mailing on an Intranet in 1992, built and marketed my own website in 1999 using state of the art (for then) Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) – before Google! To the present with my own e-commerce art website where I use all social media and tools to drive traffic.

I’ve also noticed that many people involved in digital are online centric I have many years managing sales businesses with 100% completely satisfied customer service feedback. It’s vital that you are building trust with your evergreen and daily social posts. Social media is not an instant fix, but with regular, interesting and relevant content plus an effort to build relationships with followers will surely lead to an increase in your sales.

If you would like to discuss your business with an icon & how we can increase your sales please contact me today!

Clubhouse Crack

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If Sting were writing lyrics for The Police today instead of 1980 and coming up with ‘When the world is running down, you make the best of what’s still around’ he’d probably write ‘While the world is speeding up, you have to keep your feet on the ground’. OK that’s doesn’t quite scan, but you get my drift?

By 7am GMT today I’d been in Clubhouse an hour – the new currently ‘Invite Only’ to add an air of exclusivity Social Media In-Thing App. With thanks to an Instagram friend for the invite. Already I’d listened to a debate on the proliferation and development of Artificial Intelligence (AI), dropped into a Q&A with internationally famous artist and brand collaborator Takashi Murakami, then when he closed the room I was into Art Provocateur Kenny Schachter’s Instagram linked article on NFT (nifty) Art (non-fungible tokens, believe me, it’s B-I-G) and Nifty Gateway which, also being in the realm of data mining and Crypto Currency, is a parallel world. Art, Music & Tech, that’s all right up my street.

Taking all this detail onboard is what I’ve been doing ever since the Internet became the font of all knowledge and the proliferation of Apps like Clubhouse are supercharging our learning, particularly in the field of business and marketing. Yes, by all means continue to read self-help books, but in less than five hours listening in on my iPhone (iPhone only right now) to what may be described as 6x NY Times Best Selling International Marketing Rock Stars and many other mere mortals from the University of Life I’ve gleaned an immense amount of useful information around Social Marketing and Personal Branding for free. With the kind of people involved in some ways it’s a little like a live and interactive Linked-in but without the political sycophancy in replies that often annoys me.

Think back to the Industrial Revolution, most people were so poor they kept their worldly possessions in a purse tied to their belt and paid a penny to stand against a rope most nights to sleep undercover in a ‘Doss House’, the endeavours of Victorian Superstars such as Isambard Kingdom Brunel (what a name!) were a world away. It took a week to cross the Atlantic. The way steam engines work and smelting iron are also fairly easy to understand. Yesterday, I was in the comfort of my own home sharing an interactive electronic ‘stage’ using super-fast WiFi chatting tips and traps on a ‘telephone’ about how to work the platform with likeminded people of all ages from Atlanta, Los Angeles, Dublin, Manila, Melbourne and Delhi. And we don’t even think about that anymore!

Clubhouse or CH as it’s known shorthand, is best described as Interactive Podcasting. It’s an online space where ‘Clubs’ are created and ‘Rooms’ are opened within each club. So, for example you could have a Club titled Running a $10M Dollar Business and a Room in that club scheduled at 3pm EST could be about Personal Brand Building on Instagram created and run by a couple of industry expert moderators who share a ‘Stage’ with erudite speakers. If you’re in the room and raise your hand you may be invited to the stage to ask a question and enter the debate. It’s addictive. The upside, you can be anywhere, in any environment work, home, gym. You could be painting your lounge with it running alongside and ‘Chime In’ to comment at will, nobody will see the paint brush! The downside, since it’s all spoken word it’s invasive and if you really get into it, and you will, because you love learning stuff and can put up with some people ‘going on a bit’, it could begin to replace your time watching TV or listening to music. That’s a big thing for someone who plays vinyl records to listen to his HiFi 😉

It’s amusing that many of the moderators and recognisable ‘super-users’ appear to be around much of the time to the exclusion of everything else. Of course, they’re really working and have CH ‘on the side’ and can interact at will. But it reminded me that as a kid I never thought about the Sixties and Seventies pop and rock bands you saw on TV doing anything else than living together 24-7 in a big country house, in stage wear, makeup, and being chauffeured to Top Of The Pops or Juke Box Jury / Superstore etc. Now picture Kiss, Roxy Music or The Sweet in their Glam Rock pomp…..

Anyway, CH is here to stay and bar one or two obvious improvements (it’s in Beta at the moment) good to go. Quite what it will be like as v4.1 once the developers have tinkered too much with the algorithm and altered the functionality, like Twitter or Instagram for example, remains to be seen.

My point in flagging up our over-speeding world is a reminder for my fellow creatives and a mental health one. Take a step back, go walking, get some fresh air, read books, listen to music, chat to loved ones, because knowledge and it’s availability is high frequency and it’ll suck you in and spit you out if you don’t take care.  It will be there tomorrow.

As is custom to sign off in CH. “I’m Steve and I’m done talking”.

Bye for now.

Clubhouse @thestevecee