Personal Parlance

I’ve got small business on the brain this week. Why? Well, it is National Small Business Week in the US, so my timelines are full of people talking about small businesses. I also run a small business and work with quite a few small businesses. As a result, I’m almost always thinking about small businesses. In fact, we all are whether we realise it or not because small businesses make up the majority of the business landscape. In fact, it was this frequently over-looked fact which led the US Small Business Administration (SBA) to launch National Small Business Week in the first place (way back in 1963).

They wanted to raise awareness of how crucial small businesses were to society – and their work goes on. The SBA points out that more than half of all Americans either own or work for small businesses! More than half! In the UK, the vast majority of businesses are small businesses – 99% of businesses and 60% of all private sector employment, in fact. So the healthier the small business landscape, the healthier the economy, no matter which side of the Atlantic you are on.

So, what can I offer the small businesses in my orbit to help them help the rest of us? Advice.

I’ve said previously that not every business needs social media for the same reasons – and dare I say, some might not need it at all. But social media does give small businesses a few advantages if used effectively, such as the ability to access a far larger potential audience than they would have without it, finding more ways to engage with that audience, gaining more direct insights into what people want and making it possible to earn their trust in ways that mega-corps cannot.

But let’s be honest – it can also be a real time killer.

Managing Your Socials

Your job is running your business, the whole business not just the social media accounts. How to make the process easier and less time consuming while still getting the benefits of a robust, effective social media presence? I’ve written about some ideas and resources that can help before (I’ve included those links below) and now I’ve collected a few more.

Keeping on top of one social media platform can be hard enough; trying to manage multiple channels on top of running your business might well cause most people throw up their hands and give up. You could outsource your social media management and if that idea appeals just get in touch. I’d be more than happy to discuss how Modern Parlance can help with that and add tons of value along the way. But if you’re not quite at that stage yet, you’ll want something like Hootsuite or Buffer. Both of these ‘all in ones management’ tools let you address multiple platforms via a single dashboard. No more jumping from tab to tab and site to site as you try to schedule, publish, and analyse posts across the social media landscape. Both offer a range of plans depending on how many social media channels you are using, how many people you want to grant access to and how many tools you wish to use. But their basic plans are free and give you a good way to see how they might well simplify your social media process. Their paid plans also offer free trials (7, 14, and 30 days depending on the plan).

Maybe it’s just the juggling of multiple Twitter accounts that seems to be eating up your day? You’ll want to look at Tweetdeck then. Your Tweetdeck dashboard shows you each account in its own column, meaning that in a single screen view – you see your Twitter feed, DMs, and mentions for multiple accounts. And it’s 100% free so you can try it without any worries that you will be locked into a long-term arrangement.

Be Trendy

Time is money and being timely on social media is hugely valuable. You want to be able to hop on a trend or news cycle before everyone else does so set up some Google Alerts. Google will send you updates (at a frequency you select) to see when and if your particular topic of interest is on an uptick. It’s a great way to keep track of your brand mentions and make sure anything that needs managing or responding to gets managed and responded to in good time. It’s also useful for inspiring content ideas.

Looks Matter

One picture is worth 1000 words, right? But who has time to hunt up images, design infographics and resize them for each social media platform? You have a business to run! That’s where something like Canva (web-based) or Stencil (which is downloaded on to your machine) can come in handy. Both are easy to use (I find Stencil is a bit quicker to navigate as the interface is more minimal – and that is by design). Which is not to say Canva is clunky. It isn’t. It has a very easy to use drag and drop interface and templates. Both offer both free and paid accounts depending on what features from their image and font libraries you want to use.

Be Aware of Awareness Days

Bookmark National Day Calendar and never miss an opportunity to link your business to whatever commemorative day is being hash-tagged and tweeted about. If you’re interested in a bespoke calendar of holiday hooks and commemorative dates, one designed to suit your business sector and audience, we can design one for you. Get in touch and we’ll tell you all about it.

Other Resources

Be sure to check out my other posts full of helpful tips and useful resources:

• 5 Tips for Content Marketing Newbies
• 5 (More) Tips for Content Creation
• Next Blog Post Written? Don’t Publish Until You Do These 5 Things!
• Searching Out Stock Photos

I think we can all agree that most businesses and organisations need to be paying actual attention social media and content marketing these days. It was fine to put it on the back burner early on; to see how this whole digital thing was all gonna shake out. But with the impact and effectiveness of digital now well and truly established, that will no longer suffice.

The time is now! If you haven’t already started flexing your digital reach or you want to expand it, make sure you read our earlier tips and then come back here for a few more tips for creating the best content you can.

Get reading.

To write great content, READ great content. You will start picking up patterns, ideas and rhythms that inform your own work.

Find YOUR voice.

Other writing is for inspiration and ideas, not mimicking. Authenticity in content marketing – and social media, for that matter – are crucial. Your audience can’t respond to you if ‘you’ are not there.

GRAB the reader.

There is a lot of content out there, a lot of sites to visit – all within one click’s reach. It’s far too easy for your audience to be elsewhere so hook them right away with a headline they can’t ignore.

Numbers, digits, lists, questions…

Looks matter.

Formatting makes reading easier and helps keep people engaged. People do not read online the same way they do on paper, so it is important to avoid long blocks of text and endless paragraphs. Here are some ways to do that:

• Sub-headers – like headlines – draw attention but also provide visual breathing room so use them to break up text you feel might be getting a bit lengthy.
• Lists are your friend so make use of bullet points
• Images boost engagement – use them liberally in social media and in content marketing of all kinds. They can be photos, illustrations, charts, diagrams, infographics, etc. But use them.

Quality Also Matters.

Edit, proofread and edit again. This does not mean using spellcheck. It means another set of eyes – belonging ideally to someone who didn’t write it – checking it over.

Now, a lot of this may sound like common sense to you – especially if you’ve already dipped your communications toes in the digital water. But – let’s be honest. It’s the kind of thing that can get missed or overlooked when content and social media are just one of many things you need to do while running your business.

If this is the year you’ve decided to get serious about social media and content marketing – to make it someone’s actual job, get in touch and let’s see if we can’t come up with a strategy and plan to get you and your target audience together.

I’ve always tried to explain digital and content marketing in ways that non-marketers can understand. Jargon makes people nervous and puts them off. It makes them feel like things are too complicated for them.  That isn’t the type of relationship I want you to have with your content marketing.

We’ve talked before about how small businesses can use digital and content marketing to meet – even exceed – customer expectations. I’ve also shared some digital marketing ideas for particular types of businesses. If my previous pieces made you comfortable enough with the idea that you’ve decided to give it a go – mazel tov! I’d love to know what you tried and how it went. Possibly as you look at your digital landscape for 2018, these tips will help you refine your efforts further. If you’re still on the fence about this whole content marketing thing – I hope these tips will give you some additional confidence to jump in with the rest of us.

1) Don’t Ignore SEO

SEO didn’t die when Google decided to crack down on cowboy tactics like keyword stuffing, content duplication, and invisible text. It grew up. It takes a bit more planning and time now but if you get it right – use original content, target the right keywords in the right places, be fussy about backlinks, optimize your anchor text – you will see results.

2) Don’t Forget the ‘Marketing’ in Content Marketing

Remember ‘Field of Dreams‘? Kevin Costner, baseball, and that voice whispering, ‘If you build it – they will come.‘ Good movie but not a marketing strategy. You can have the greatest content in the world but if no one knows it’s there – it’s useless. You can’t just build it – you must promote it as well.

• One tweet will get lost in the ongoing tidal wave that is social media today. Tweet and post more than once and at the optimal times. This means finding out what those times are and crafting alternate angles for promotion – different call to action, new headline, updates.
• A single platform may reach your intended audience – but will it hold their attention; can it deliver the whole message? You’ll need to think multiplatform – integrated with each other but still distinct.
• Cultivate relationships with influencers in your field/area – and remember, relationships take time and effort.

3) Headlines, Headlines, Headlines

No, I don’t mean clickbait. Clickbait is the internet equivalent of a tabloid headline – scare-mongering, misleading or sensationalist exaggerations designed to get you to ‘click through.’ And while you want your headline to attract attention and entice people to take action (again – click, read, buy, donate…) – you can do it without the hysteria and hyperbole of clickbait.

Focusing on who rather than why, a bit of alliteration, active/strong words, inclusion of numbers – all increase the effectiveness and impact of headlines. Buzzfeed figured all this out ages ago. We may all be tired of talking about listicles, but they haven’t gone away and they produce results.

4) Quality Over Quantity

Yes, effective content marketing requires consistency, an ongoing supply of content. But an ongoing supply of low-quality, badly-produced – or just downright dull – content will deliver the wrong message about you and your business. Here are a few ways to boost the quality of your content:

• Include visuals whenever and where ever possible. People are more likely to engage and share when visuals are involved. No budget for photos? No worries. There are lots of great free stock photos available these days – which I covered earlier in ‘Searching Out Stock Photos.’
• Get to the point. It’s too easy for people to take their eyes elsewhere. You have 5 seconds and (if they are searching for information) 2 clicks and 1 scroll before they click away.

• Oh, and please – check grammar and spelling. I’m not suggesting we must all be award-winning writers but take the time to proofread (note – I did not say spellcheck) your work. Content full of mistakes turns people off (not your goal) and makes you look slapdash and careless (not the message you want to convey).

5) Embrace Analytics

Sure, content marketing involves creativity – and there is an art to it. But it isn’t art for art’s sake. Content marketing is targeted at an audience; it is intended to motivate that audience to take some sort of action (click, read, buy, donate…). All the creativity in the world won’t tell you whether you’ve hit your target or moved them to action. Only analytics will do that.

Not sure where to start? Luckily getting started can be as easy as the free-to-use, built in Google and Twitter analytics tools. There are lots of other products and applications out there if you want more bells and whistles but if this is all new to you, these are a good way to go.

Bonus Tip: CCC (Commitment to Content Consistency)

Remember when I mentioned ‘consistency’? Did you know that websites and blogs that aren’t updated regularly don’t get included in Google’s indexing crawl? It’s true. You may have managed to get your page to the top of your targeted keyword search, but there’s no resting on your laurels in content marketing.

As always, I’m more than happy to chat about the content marketing possibilities out there and explore how I might help you and your business in more detail. Drop me a line and we’ll set something up.