Is the time right?

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****

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

My Top Tips for Running your Social Media.

I keep hearing from people that Social Media isn't working for them, that they're not getting enough business from it. So here are some of my top tips for making it work.

1. Listen

It's not all about you! On your personal profile on Facebook you are free to make it all about you. Rant, Rave, spill your guts and garnish as much sympathy as you want. 

DON'T DO THIS ON YOUR BUSINESS PAGE!!!

Listen to what you customers want. That's what social media is all about, listening. Use it to gauge a reaction, ask opinions, tell people you follow you're sorry if they're having a bad day. 

Moaning about having to stay up late to work, or telling your clients things have gone wrong, is not going to make them want to buy off you!

I do use Twitter to vent sometimes, but I never rant about my work, it's professional suicide!

2. Use a photo of you.

Nothing puts a follower off like an Egg or a Question Mark. Even a logo isn't a great option. If you are an SME, you need to identify with your followers. Your photo should be representative and appropriate. We all want the best possible photo, but you need to make sure it looks like you. 

None of this looking flirtatiously into the camera from below rubbish either! Trying to look sexy whilst representing your business is not only a bit gross, but it also sends totally the wrong message. In this case, sex doesn't sell, and your prospective clients will subconsciously be turned off. Especially if when they meet you, you don't look anything like the photo!

3. Don't Snipe.

We all have fallings out with people at times, it's part of life. But criticising them and their business might make them look bad for a while, but in the end it just makes you look bitter and twisted. If you have a problem with someone, go and confront the situation. If you have made a small situation worse you may end up having to publicly apologise, and in a worse case scenario, you could be done for libel! 

4. Say 'Thank You'

If someone retweets or follows you, be polite, say thank you! It's an opportunity to build relationships, and people like to be thanked! 

5. To sell, Don't sell. 

If you think you're going to make money the second you sign up to Twitter or Facebook, you're wrong. Just as it does in real life, in Social Media it takes time to build relationships with people. I sell an awful lot through both those platforms when I try, but I've taken the time to build relationships and customer loyalty, and even then I don't always get sales. 

But, I do have a presence, and what I do best out of now is referrals. I've had so many referrals the last couple of months it's been fantastic, but that has come with 2 years of Tweeting. It takes time! I'm still shocked when people think about it!

6. Be Happy!

I kind of covered this before with number 1 a little bit, but basically be upbeat, even if you're saying a negative try and find a positive. Everyone has bad days, but try not to moan about them too much for example saying 

'Rubbish day, really fed up with it all, don't know how much longer I can take this. :-('

Is a HUGE turn off compared to 

'Rubbish day, but glad to be home, now, where's the wine?'

Can you feel the difference when you read them both?

7. Don't Lie.

Liars always get caught, and they can never regain the damage they've done to their reputation. Don't do it. #thatisall

8. Don't Spam!

Nothing is more irritating than your feed getting filled up with auto tweets. One every three to four hours is enough if you really have to do it, but seriously, you need to make sure they have a personal touch. Don't just use them to sell! Remember, it's about personality too!

9. Don't Auto Dm. 

Just don't. Or use Twit Validate, unless you want to turn people off straight away!

10. Don't swear.

In real life I swear like a sailor (probably because I was engaged to one once!) but on twitter, you'll very very rarely see me swear, it'll usually be 'bloody' and at a push 'shit' if the 'f' word is ever implied it's 'effing', never the word itself. 

Seeing those words written down make them seem a lot more harsh because they leave a longer imprint, visually. It cheapens your brand, and is against all the rules!

So there you go, some of my top tips! I hope they help you feel a bit more in control of your Social Media, thanks for reading! 

xxx

Embarrassing moment!

I made a Social Media boo boo. It's quite embarrassing really, I'm supposed to be the expert right? Well I'm also human (which is why I don't auto DM or tweet) and I can make mistakes too.

What happened is this: I was showing a client around LinkedIn, when I accidentally clicked the mouse whilst hovering over the send button. This resulted in me sending off endorsement requests to about 50 people, most of whom haven't even laid eyes on me!

I immediately posted a status apologising for sending the message and got a few messages asking why they should endorse me having never met me. I wrote back explaining and apologising. What happened next stunned me....

People who had never met me, had never used my services, probably didn't need my services, and probably hadn't even realised we were connected replied saying 'Yes, what would you like me to say? Can you post one back for me?'

I was pretty shocked, it would never occur to me to write a false testimonial for someone, and wouldn't ask them to write one for me.

How can you trust what these people say? That's why mediums such as Twitter, Facebook and now Google + are so important. Facebook gives your customers a platform to thank you in a visible way, so your customers can see. It allows you to engage with your customers, and ask their opinions as well as hear what they are saying. Google + can work in much the same way, as well as pushing up your SEO rankings at the same time. Twitter is fantastic for instant referrals, for building relationships with potential customers, as well as 'competitors'.

It's vital that we are all on these mediums, whatever business you are in. I keep hearing people trying to argue that Social Media doesn't apply to their business, but even if you don't think you can sell directly through Twitter or Facebook (and I have yet to find a business that can't), you can listen to what people are saying about your company, whether good or bad, and take action, thanking them, or rectifying the situation.

Because, after all, Social Media is all about listening. You can learn an awful lot if you just listen.

Thanks for listening to me!