You know what they say about sales/comedy/business/life and just about anything else you can think of, it's all about timing.
The same is for Social Media. It's ALL about timing, well, okay not all, but it's pretty high on the list of things to get right!
I keep seeing people posting tweets/facebook updates at midnight and later. I might be seeing them, but there's not many other people who are as insomniac as me, and unless you're targeting the American Market, there's very little point having tweets etc going out that late. I would also think that it would be really obvious that they're auto tweets, which people naturally filter out when they're reading through any of the social media platforms.
So, what's the best time for you to be posting? Well, you need to think about a couple of things.
1. Who is your target Market?
2. Which is their most populated platform?
3. Where are your competition posting?
4. Are they getting successful engagement?
And the most important thing:
5. What time are they likely to be on social media?
Let's take an example target group. Stay at home mothers of school age children. Age bracket 30-40 years old.
Ok, so, they're more likely to be on facebook than twitter or google plus, and highly unlikely to be on LinkedIn.
If you're a parent, you know how manic mornings can be, you know that you hardly have a minute to breathe, let alone look at a computer/phone/ipad to check who's up to what before you've got them delivered to school.
Therefore, there's little point in posting a lot of content before 8.30am. If you were using twitter, I would suggest you post a couple of tweets between 6.30 and 8, but for Facebook, you need to be very careful how often you update your page, so I would wait until the time is right.
You could wait until about 11am when most people sit down for a coffee and if they're like me, a biscuit, or just before school kick out time, when they might be waiting in the car for the bell to ring. If you're using twitter, I would aim for a tweet to go out at all those times.
Then, in the evening, there's no point posting until around 7, when Mum is (hopefully for them) sat down with a glass of wine having a catch up on facebook.
My point is this. You have to put yourself in your target market's shoes. Think about their lifestyle, and when they are most likely to be having a look at their computer or phone. Have a look at what works, and what doesn't work for your competitors and you can capitalise on that.
**edit** Thanks to Kevin for sending me the link to www.tweriod.com, which is a fab tool that tells you what time your users are twitter!
What you actually post is a whole mother kettle of fish, and one we can talk about another time.
****If you have found this blog helpful, please leave a comment, and you may be interested to know that I will soon be selling a social media template to help you construct your own campaigns. please email info@adoresocialmedia.co.uk****
Showing posts with label hootsuite. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hootsuite. Show all posts
Thursday, 23 August 2012
Wednesday, 18 July 2012
Catching Big Fish
I've gone back on my word. It's not something I often do, but sometimes you have to listen to what a collective are saying, when they are saying similar things.
I want my Social Media Consultancy Business to move forward, and to make that happen, I want to start working with bigger companies. I am not ashamed of the fact that I am, at the moment, a one woman band, and as an SME, I have always believed that I should be visible as the person behind my social media. I still think that to a certain degree, but as more and more of my friends become twitter addicts, the level of chat (on twitter primarily) has got to a point where it outweighs my social media input/discussions.
So I've done what I never said I would do, I've set up a personal twitter account. I kind of hate myself for it, but taking advice from the excellent Simon Deacy who is a business consultant with Simway Business Solutions, I have come to understand that big companies I approach will most likely look at my social media streams, and if it's full of chat with my friends rather than social media tips tricks and advice, it misrepresents my level of professionalism.
That's not to say I'm not going to chat with people and get involved in silly discussions, my twitter stream isn't about to become a mass of hashtags with articles from Mashable, or other relevant websites. There might be a few that I think people will find helpful, but I'm not going to bombard you with them!
It is after all, still social media, and I still believe in my roots, that people buy from people, I just don't need potential clients seeing photos of my son necessarily (unless they're taken by other people and are super cute!) or seeing me check into the Lime Tree for a friday lunch etc.
I've always taken the attitude that I don't care what people think, but I want to present myself well, I am good at what I do, and I love it, and I don't want a silly tweet here and there to ruin that impression! Basically, if you want to catch the big fish, you can't behave like small fry.
What do you think? Does the way you behave on your business account reflect well on you professionally?
If you still want to hear my waffle you can follow me on @iSilverLining xx
I want my Social Media Consultancy Business to move forward, and to make that happen, I want to start working with bigger companies. I am not ashamed of the fact that I am, at the moment, a one woman band, and as an SME, I have always believed that I should be visible as the person behind my social media. I still think that to a certain degree, but as more and more of my friends become twitter addicts, the level of chat (on twitter primarily) has got to a point where it outweighs my social media input/discussions.
So I've done what I never said I would do, I've set up a personal twitter account. I kind of hate myself for it, but taking advice from the excellent Simon Deacy who is a business consultant with Simway Business Solutions, I have come to understand that big companies I approach will most likely look at my social media streams, and if it's full of chat with my friends rather than social media tips tricks and advice, it misrepresents my level of professionalism.
That's not to say I'm not going to chat with people and get involved in silly discussions, my twitter stream isn't about to become a mass of hashtags with articles from Mashable, or other relevant websites. There might be a few that I think people will find helpful, but I'm not going to bombard you with them!
It is after all, still social media, and I still believe in my roots, that people buy from people, I just don't need potential clients seeing photos of my son necessarily (unless they're taken by other people and are super cute!) or seeing me check into the Lime Tree for a friday lunch etc.
I've always taken the attitude that I don't care what people think, but I want to present myself well, I am good at what I do, and I love it, and I don't want a silly tweet here and there to ruin that impression! Basically, if you want to catch the big fish, you can't behave like small fry.
What do you think? Does the way you behave on your business account reflect well on you professionally?
If you still want to hear my waffle you can follow me on @iSilverLining xx
Friday, 18 May 2012
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly Social Media Apps
Everyone who knows me knows I'm a complete and total Apple Addict. Whilst I use my macbook for setting up client stuff and the likes, I run most of my social media through my iPhone or iPad.
My friend Maz Hawes of Light and Day Photography is the app queen, and always introduces me to new apps, especially when they concern social media. Seriously, this woman is an app machine, she refused to tell me how much she spends on apps a month, but needless to say, she's also addicted, but on another level to me!
It got me thinking.....there's loads and loads of apps for social media, but which ones are the best? Obviously this is totally subjective, and you may disagree, but these are the ones I love, wish were better, and I really really dislike!
The Good:
1. Tweetbot. (£1.99)
This is the one that got me thinking about the apps. It's beautiful. I've yet to learn enough about it, but its intuitiveness, its simplicity and its interface are just fantastic. It seems totally in tune with Apple products and I love it. I know it's £1.99, but just buy it, you'll soon see why, it's so lovely and beautiful, you will see why it's my number 1!
2. Flipboard (free)
I have mixed feelings about Flipboard. I really love the interface, I love the way it looks, but I just can't quite get to grips with it. It's not my go to app, it's more something I use to show other people the functionality of the iPad. Those that do get it rave about it, so I'm obviously missing something, which is why it's one of the good ones!
3. Lazy Unfollow (69p) and Unfollow (free)
They aren't very pretty, and it's a bit slow, but it's one of the most useful tools I use when it comes to sorting out my twitter follows. There is a warning involved though! Please please don't use the shoutout tool! Either you will swamp your stream with thanks to people, (I made this mistake, my followers weren't happy!) or by saying who unfollowed you, you basically are telling the whole of twitter you've been dumped, and they will wonder why they're following you too!
4. Foursquare. (free)
People ask me what 4square is all the time. Basically, it's a game, that harnesses my competitive nature and let's my twitter or Facebook followers/friends know where I am (which can be a bit weird but more of that later). The app itself is lovely, its beautifully made, and easy to navigate. I only wish it would know your twitter friends so tagging was easier.
5. Instagram
Apart from selling out to Facebook, do I really need to explain this one?!?!
The Bad:
1. Hootsuite (free for basic use)
I love love love hoot suite on my laptop. I love it, I wouldn't be without it. It helps me manage at least 20 accounts in various locations (twitter, Facebook, linkedin) it does all sorts of amazing things, and I couldn't be a bigger fan. I have been certified hootsuite professional for some time now, so I can share it's beauty with other people.
BUT!!!
The iPhone and iPad app is, in my opinion, rubbish. I much prefer the pre installed apps, and they manage all my accounts perfectly well. I really wish hoot suite would sort this out, as I miss it when I'm not near the laptop!
Having said that, Michelle Dalley of Creating Media loves it, but then, she says she won't try anything else because she doesn't like change! Maybe I'll shame her into it now!
2. LinkedIn (free)
Oh LinkedIn....I don't really like you at the best of times...I mean, you've got your place, and I know you're necessary, but the app just doesn't cut it IMO. I can do a few bits and pieces, and it looks reasonably smart, but it's slow and irritating. There's no intuitive feel to it, and as a creative person this makes me lose interest immediately. Cardmunch on the other hand, is fantastic! It saves me a lot of time and is the only reason I persevere with LinkedIn!
3. Facebook for Iphone (free)
Ugh! They just won't stop messing about with the app! I hate updating it, because you don't know what's going to go wrong on it when you do! You can't share statuses, photos or anything else, which is really irritating when you're out and about. It's slow, doesn't load my stream half the time, it's push notifications are rubbish, and when you're worth billions of dollars, there's no excuse! Sort it out! I don't bother with the messenger app, so if you do, I would love to hear your thoughts!
The Ugly
1. Google +
Google + I love you SO much, you will one day make LinkedIn obsolete, I wonder if Facebook are floating now because they recognise you've numbered their days. I know people are being slow to get to grips with you, and whilst we early adopters luxuriate in your oversubscribed but under used pool, one day you will dominate all. Your use of subscribers information to influence SEO will soon make people realise how important it is to be active on there.
HOWEVER!!!
Your app is rubbish!! Fair enough, the recent update made it a much more pleasant place to be, but oh my goodness, how many times do we have to ask for you to include business pages and the administration of???! Please please sort it out. Once you do that, we will all be a lot more active whilst we try to boost our business position on google rankings. Using the app on an iPad is completely pointless, so I'm not going to bother even talking about it, just please sort it out!
You're the only one on my list because I really need you to take notice, please please please google. sort it asap! Maybe it's because you're flawed that I love you so much. Maybe it's because it's where my friends hang out most. I don't know, but I know I need you to get the app sorted.
My friend Maz Hawes of Light and Day Photography is the app queen, and always introduces me to new apps, especially when they concern social media. Seriously, this woman is an app machine, she refused to tell me how much she spends on apps a month, but needless to say, she's also addicted, but on another level to me!
It got me thinking.....there's loads and loads of apps for social media, but which ones are the best? Obviously this is totally subjective, and you may disagree, but these are the ones I love, wish were better, and I really really dislike!
The Good:
1. Tweetbot. (£1.99)
This is the one that got me thinking about the apps. It's beautiful. I've yet to learn enough about it, but its intuitiveness, its simplicity and its interface are just fantastic. It seems totally in tune with Apple products and I love it. I know it's £1.99, but just buy it, you'll soon see why, it's so lovely and beautiful, you will see why it's my number 1!
2. Flipboard (free)
I have mixed feelings about Flipboard. I really love the interface, I love the way it looks, but I just can't quite get to grips with it. It's not my go to app, it's more something I use to show other people the functionality of the iPad. Those that do get it rave about it, so I'm obviously missing something, which is why it's one of the good ones!
3. Lazy Unfollow (69p) and Unfollow (free)
They aren't very pretty, and it's a bit slow, but it's one of the most useful tools I use when it comes to sorting out my twitter follows. There is a warning involved though! Please please don't use the shoutout tool! Either you will swamp your stream with thanks to people, (I made this mistake, my followers weren't happy!) or by saying who unfollowed you, you basically are telling the whole of twitter you've been dumped, and they will wonder why they're following you too!
4. Foursquare. (free)
People ask me what 4square is all the time. Basically, it's a game, that harnesses my competitive nature and let's my twitter or Facebook followers/friends know where I am (which can be a bit weird but more of that later). The app itself is lovely, its beautifully made, and easy to navigate. I only wish it would know your twitter friends so tagging was easier.
5. Instagram
Apart from selling out to Facebook, do I really need to explain this one?!?!
The Bad:
1. Hootsuite (free for basic use)
I love love love hoot suite on my laptop. I love it, I wouldn't be without it. It helps me manage at least 20 accounts in various locations (twitter, Facebook, linkedin) it does all sorts of amazing things, and I couldn't be a bigger fan. I have been certified hootsuite professional for some time now, so I can share it's beauty with other people.
BUT!!!
The iPhone and iPad app is, in my opinion, rubbish. I much prefer the pre installed apps, and they manage all my accounts perfectly well. I really wish hoot suite would sort this out, as I miss it when I'm not near the laptop!
Having said that, Michelle Dalley of Creating Media loves it, but then, she says she won't try anything else because she doesn't like change! Maybe I'll shame her into it now!
2. LinkedIn (free)
Oh LinkedIn....I don't really like you at the best of times...I mean, you've got your place, and I know you're necessary, but the app just doesn't cut it IMO. I can do a few bits and pieces, and it looks reasonably smart, but it's slow and irritating. There's no intuitive feel to it, and as a creative person this makes me lose interest immediately. Cardmunch on the other hand, is fantastic! It saves me a lot of time and is the only reason I persevere with LinkedIn!
3. Facebook for Iphone (free)
Ugh! They just won't stop messing about with the app! I hate updating it, because you don't know what's going to go wrong on it when you do! You can't share statuses, photos or anything else, which is really irritating when you're out and about. It's slow, doesn't load my stream half the time, it's push notifications are rubbish, and when you're worth billions of dollars, there's no excuse! Sort it out! I don't bother with the messenger app, so if you do, I would love to hear your thoughts!
The Ugly
1. Google +
Google + I love you SO much, you will one day make LinkedIn obsolete, I wonder if Facebook are floating now because they recognise you've numbered their days. I know people are being slow to get to grips with you, and whilst we early adopters luxuriate in your oversubscribed but under used pool, one day you will dominate all. Your use of subscribers information to influence SEO will soon make people realise how important it is to be active on there.
HOWEVER!!!
Your app is rubbish!! Fair enough, the recent update made it a much more pleasant place to be, but oh my goodness, how many times do we have to ask for you to include business pages and the administration of???! Please please sort it out. Once you do that, we will all be a lot more active whilst we try to boost our business position on google rankings. Using the app on an iPad is completely pointless, so I'm not going to bother even talking about it, just please sort it out!
You're the only one on my list because I really need you to take notice, please please please google. sort it asap! Maybe it's because you're flawed that I love you so much. Maybe it's because it's where my friends hang out most. I don't know, but I know I need you to get the app sorted.
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