Archive for the ‘web copywriting’ Category

Social media for smaller enterprises

Posted by daniel on November 24th, 2011 | No Comments »

A 5-step approach

Smaller enterprises stand to gain a lot from social media. The question is, how do we get engaged without making a lot of mistakes and losing valuable time? The following 5-step approach can be used as a guide to get your business quickly and safely involved in social media.

1.    Plan and measure

Every social media campaign starts with a plan; what are your goals, who do you want to reach and where do you find them, how much time and money are you willing to invest. By putting this carefully in writing and keeping track of everything, you create measurable goals. With the help of tools –some of which are available as ‘freeware’ on the web- you can measure the effect of your campaigns on a regular basis.

2.    Start small and be careful

Don’t start straight away with Facebook AND Twitter AND YouTube AND… Think carefully which medium fits your business. Find out what clients and competitors do. Develop a feel for one medium. Develop your profile, make sure the information about your business is complete as well as representative. Build from there and expand your network.

3.    Communication is not the same as promotion

Have you ever managed to get a new client by telling him how wonderful you are? Social media are not suitable for sales talk but meant for serious, honest communication. Listen, ask questions and respond to online comments. Especially to the negative ones! The main issue is to come across as authentic and reliable – just like your products.

4.    Give freely of your time and do it with passion

And I thought it didn’t take much time! Time which we haven’t got. Well, it’s not about spending a lot of time, it’s about spending time on social media consistently over a long time. Even if it’s only ten minutes a day. If you are not seriously and passionately engaged, you might as well forget it.

5.    Don’t do everything yourself

The classic pitfall of many a small business entrepreneur. Thinking that you need to do everything yourself, while there may be someone in your company who has a passion for social media. Make him or her responsible! And don’t hesitate to engage outside help, it will prevent you from making costly mistakes and losing valuable time.

Filed under online marketing, social media, Uncategorized, web copywriting | Tags: , , ,


Social Media for Municipalities – Part 2

Posted by daniel on November 7th, 2011 | No Comments »

Right, so as a municipality we have decided we want to get started with Social Media. And we have even taken the first tentative steps to get involved. But how can we get seriously going and in a controllable way? And how do we now if it works?

The answer is simple; by employing a well-founded strategy. Which describes what your goals are, who you want to reach, why and how you are going to do it. Some principles for building a solid strategy:
• Social Media are not exclusively the domain of marketeers and communication officers; all employees should be involved.
• Make sure you have a single, clear image of the municipality that you want to project.
• Distinguish carefully between the public and the private use of Social Media.

The fundaments of the Social Media Strategy
• Determine your goals. What do you want to achieve with Social Media? Better contact, more understanding, greater support for your policies etc. Make sure your goals are measurable.
• Perform a baseline measurement to determine how, where and by whom your municipality is being discussed and what your reputation is.
• Determine which media are suitable to get involved with en who will be responsible.
• Determine which subjects are suitable for discussion and in which Social Media.
• Schedule your activities on a daily or weekly basis.
• Monitor the activity of the target groups based on specific keywords and subjects.
• Measure! Use a clever tool which allows you to measure all activities and which delivers accurate reports.

A Social Media Policy
Before you embark on a major Social Media campaign it is wise to put together a Social Media Policy or Code of Conduct which deals with topics like:
• What types of messages you do or do not respond to.
• Who is allowed to say what on behalf of the municipality.
• How you address your target groups (respectfully).
• How you deal with confidential information (yours as well as that of others).
• How you deal with controversial issues.

This database contains lots of examples of Social Media policies.

Filed under online marketing, social media, web copywriting | Tags: , ,


Social media for municipalities

Posted by daniel on November 1st, 2011 | No Comments »

New research shows that less than 50% of European municipalities (towns and cities) make any use of social media. Yet over 390 million Europeans are involved in social networking and see Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs and other social media as primary means of communication. A missed opportunity if ever there was one. But why should municipalities employ social media? How can they benefit from them?

Many municipalities view social media as an inconvenient phenomenon. Yet a majority of civil servants, when not on duty, use social media on a daily basis to interact with friends, family and even to do business. So where is the catch? Apparently some of the municipalities’ regulations and habits with regards to communication with citizens stand in the way of embracing these new technologies, which causes municipalities to miss out on a unique opportunity to engage citizens.

Here are just a few of the ways in which municipalities can benefit from social media:

  • Find out more about what citizens want and care about
  • Make citizens more engaged with and understanding of municipal policies
  • Create more and better ways of involving citizens
  • Create wider support for municipal initiatives
  • Improve citizens’ knowledge of municipal facilities by making available online data
  • Improve quality of municipal initiatives through citizens’ and businesses’ contributions

A three (or thirty) step approach
OK, so as a municipality we can benefit from the use of social media. But how do we go about it? Just starting to tweet or setting up a blog will not do the trick, surely? No, as with every initiative, careful planning will help you to be succesful. On the web there are a great deal of plans available, some simple, some very elaborate. Have a look at http://www.slideshare.net/HeatherWhaling/social-media-for-municipalities-government.

Basically, it comes down to three steps:

  1. Listen carefully – what’s happening in the municipality, who is saying what and how about municipal issues, how does this affect us
  2. Facilitate citizens – make social media available to talk with and about the municipality, through dedicated Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, blogs and sites
  3. Take part in the conversation – listen, divulge and react – and keep it up!

In part 2 we will discuss social media strategies for municipalities.

Filed under online marketing, social media, Uncategorized, web copywriting | Tags: , , , , , ,


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