It was with more than a little sadness we heard on Wednesday of the decision to stop publishing The Gloucestershire Echo and Gloucester Citizen as daily newspapers and instead to publish them as a weekly paper. Now to put this into context I am of a generation that I still recall as a child rushing […]
The countdown is well and truly on for this year’s Gloucestershire Business Show on the 17th and 18th May at The Centaur, Cheltenham Racecourse – 9.30am-4pm each day. This has got to be the biggest and best business event in the county now in its third year – with over 140 exhibitors, a number of […]
In the ideal world, everything you ever do on the Marketing front will be a rip roaring success. But from time to time things can go wrong for even the best marketers – but then is the time for a calm head and to ask yourself some questions (or ask somebody like us), to help […]
Our top 10 tips for making sure you make the most out of your website and what it can do for your business. The chances are that if you are reading this and you either work in a business or run a business yourself, then that business will have a website. The possible exceptions might […]
As we approach 2017, here are our 12 predictions for the Marketing industry in 2017. 1. The percentage share of Marketing budgets devoted to some form of digital marketing will increase. 2. There will be a rush to make website https as Chrome rolls out its planned changes to mark non secure websites as insecure. […]
In a year of such major political events, it is all too easy to overlook some of the main events in the world of marketing. We list here a light hearted look at twelve marketing things that happened in 2016 – one for each month of the year. January John Cleese returned as Basil Fawlty […]
Here at Prestbury Marketing we have always been firm believers that businesses should play an active role in supporting their local communities. This belief is not just based upon a gut feel that it is the right thing to do, but more the fact that we believe that “doing good is good for business”. The […]
Social media isn’t just there to grow your brand and connect with old friends, when done correctly, the big platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Instagram can play a key role in creating new business leads and attracting new customers.
Let’s take a look at how Trumps triumphant yet surprising win in the USA presidency last week has been marked as ‘the first true social media election’ of all time. We know that social media is forever growing in users; since the USA election in 2012, Facebook now boasts more than 60% monthly active users along with Twitter’s influx of more than 185 million users. This substantial increase in active users made social media the obvious option for reaching voters and creating global conversation. The Wall Street Journal summed the situation up nicely when it said the “traditional media” and the Democratic and Republican parties have lost “dominance” of public opinion to the “digital revolution.”
Trump and Clinton succeeded by getting people to talk both about and with them. Both candidates had an on-going relay in campaign messaging, barely missing a day without updating Twitter. The power of social media has had a similarly positive impact on helping businesses create leads and reach new consumers, just like Trump and Clinton searching for voters. We see typically between 5% and 15% of our clients web traffic coming from social media to see whether you are achieving this you do of course have to monitor the evaluation tools of each form of social media and google analytics.
Some of the key features on social media can allow businesses to create free engaging content, set up paid for adverts, upload 360 degree imagery and post live footage in order to potentially reach thousands and thousands of people.
We’ve listed a few pointers to help your business shine on social media:
1. Keep content regular – It is important that you’re constantly posting on social media, we don’t mean every minute of everyday but enough to ensure your business is being seen and your content is fresh in users mind.
It can take a little while for you to build social media followers, it never happens in an instant but the more engaging content you upload the more interaction you are likely to receive thus driving website traffic and increasing likes, comments, click through’s and shares. Focus also on growing a relevant audience and not just chasing numbers for numbers sake.
What level of frequency should you aim for? We suggest you begin sharing up to two Facebook posts, 10 – 30 tweets and 3 – 5 Instagram posts a week.
2. Be engaging – The most engaging content on social media requires images, videos, links and graphics to be uploaded with your posts. This will increase the chances of your content being seen as users are more likely to interact and click play to watch short videos than they are to engage with words on there own.
3. Do your research – These days you’ll find the majority of businesses are using social media and moving their marketing budget towards digital and social media advertising but we are a big believers in doing research first, then testing and evaluating..
We recommend you distinguish where your audience is online, what platforms do they use? What is their daily routine, the times when they are online? Can you find key hashtags being used in your industry? Are there any popular conversations or weekly Twitter chats you can join in on?
4. Stay connected and honest – As well as posting your own content and driving traffic to your website, the key to creating new business leads on social media is to keep up to date with users in your industry, stay connected, follow competitors and find the top influencers that can help your content be seen by others.
Building an honest and positive brand reputation online is crucial. Once your live on social media pretty much all your content can be seen, reviews can be read and follower stats can be found. Consumers look at social media accounts when deciding on a purchase, make sure you are delivering content that says what’s exactly on the tin. Also finally, don’t forget the value and benefit of watching social media, it is not just enough to post and share, you need to respond to and interact with your customers.
We offer various levels of social media management as well as social media training, so if your social media marketing could do with a boost please get in touch.
Last month Chrome came out and announced that all websites that are not HTTPS, will from January next year start to be flagged by them as not secure if the sites either require passwords or take credit card details. The move has been designed to “encourage” firms with HTTP sites to turn them into HTTPS […]
When two mega brands like Unilever and Tesco clash, it is always going to be interesting and this week was no exception. Both brands hit the headlines this week, prompted by an attempt by Unilever to raise the wholesale prices it charges Tesco by about 10% of some of its household name brands (Hellmans Mayonnaise, Comfort and Marmite).
Somewhat ironically the Chief Executives of both brands had previously warned that the sharp drop in the pound post the Brexit vote would lead to price increases in the shops. But it seemed at one point that Tesco considered this week that it should not apply to them. Now I am sure that disagreements between suppliers and supermarkets are common but for these to become quite so public is not (apart from the very public Dairy Industry versus supermarket tug of war). Tesco tried to act tough, by seemingly withdrawing from sale (at least online) some Unilever brands that led to them showing as out of stock on their website.
Why did this attract quite so much media interest? A coming together of two things in our opinion – the insatiable appetite of the media for any signs of changes following the Brexit vote and product shortages (or complete unavailability). As for the latter you only have to look at how the media has handled petrol shortages in the past and their coverage of queues at petrol stations, by way of an example or the seemingly annual Prosecco supply “may run out” put out by that industry.
After a day or so, the situation was resolved, presumably with Tesco agreeing to some form of price increase, probably some way short of the 10% sought by Unilever. Was there a winner in this very public tug of war? Tesco would claim it was them, as they were portrayed as taking a tough stance with suppliers, trying to increase prices that they would then have to pass on to customers. Tesco’s mission statement includes the fact that they will “be a champion for customers” and their statement echoed this – “We always put our customers first and we’re pleased this situation has been resolved to our satisfaction”. The Tesco share price also climbed by 5% due no doubt in some part to the result of the battle.
Asda tried to jump on the same bandwagon with a statement about their own negotiations, but this attracted much less interest.
Unilever meanwhile were clear winners in terms of brand awareness, rarely if ever, has a number of household brands seen so much free coverage in the media. Now here at Prestbury marketing we do not necessarily subscribe to “all publicity is good publicity” but in this case the brands were clearly portrayed as household favourites, with any potential negativity being limited to Unilever (and arguably even they were portrayed as victims of the fall in the pound). A clever bit of opportunistic marketing by Iceland and a Daily Mail front page offer of a free jar of marmite right in the midst of this.
For what it is worth we would probably adjudge Marmite as the winners of this whole episode, but then we have always been very much in the “love it” camp (as opposed to the “hate it” one).
What is the marketing lesson from all of this? Firstly to try and anticipate any PR implications of major decisions before they are made and to have a plan for the most likely outcomes. Secondly, to monitor situations closely and ensure a speedy reaction as things develop. Lastly, if you want to be the next Iceland always be on the lookout for what is happening in your marketplace and consider how you can turn events into an advantage for you.
With over one billion users worldwide and continuous updates to its core features, LinkedIn remains the go-to platform for professionals looking to connect, learn, and grow their businesses. Long gone are the days when it was just a platform to find your next job. But with ever-evolving algorithm updates and shifts in user behaviour, making […]