Afternoon all
Well April arrived with a blaze of sunshine! At least it wasn't entirely full of showers so that is something. Means we are to have a longish summer lets hope. As you may be aware I went to several conferences and large networking events this month and I took my trusty note pad and pen everywhere with me! I am happy to share what I have learnt with you. If you would like me to go through something specific, then please do just pop me an email and I will endeavour to answer any queries you may have in next months round up. Enjoy....
I got reading an article by Justin Pot earlier in the month called Unfriend, Unfollow, Unlike that got me thinking. I do this automatically with my newsfeed and at times recommend it to my clients but it is really something we should all do to be strategic and successful with our Facebook Business Pages. There is roughly 15,000 stories in our newsfeed at any one time we go to look at it. That poor algorithm has to have something to work with, may as well have quality post/stories. So remove the chaff from your wheat and get baked, quality bread...(??)
Larry Kim (@larrykim) brought a really interesting article to his Twitter account this month entitled Goodbye, Google+: Social Network Broken Into Streams and Photos Products. I think this could well mean a significant change happening in the coming months, but for now I personally will still continue to post and use my account as the results are skewed in favour of Google+ products in a Google search.
Andrea Vahl put up a blog post this month on How to Use Facebook Organic Post Targeting, I can vouch for the fact that most people don't even know this facility is available - visit her page and find out just how simple it is to do. This is a very comprehensive, analytical post but stick at it, it will make sense and be very useful.
I was at a talk with Noel Davidson of QED Training earlier this month and he mentioned a website that can help start up businesses get a website of their own up and running with valuable support. If you would be interested in getting help setting up a website please visit Getting Irish Business Online. I can also recommend checking out the Online Trading Voucher Scheme with your Local Enterprise Office. You need to meet certain criteria namely Export outside of Southern Ireland (so to Northern would suffice), or even import to Southern Ireland, trade online (e-commerce, shop) and only be trading for a year or more and be Tax Compliant. A full list of criteria can be found at the website.
Wicklow LEO will be closing their voucher scheme off on the 11th May, so you need to apply by 3pm on that day to stand a chance of getting up to €5,000 towards a website and Social Media Strategy support (I can help with that!). Where ever you are based in Ireland, there is a LEO, so visit yours and establish when they are doing the next round of vouchers and take advantage of this.
I was at the Smart Business Show at the RDS last week and and was introduced to this FREE online tool that can tell you if you qualify for any financial support from the State. It is from the Local Enterprise Office and be found here. There are over 80 agencies that can potentially help you, please check it out and I would love to hear how you get on. I will be repeating this each month as it is a VERY useful tool :)
Mari Smith, an authority in Facebook Marketing reported very recently about the changes that have had happened to the algorithm on Facebook. These changes will sadly mean even less organic reach for business pages! Find the Scoop here!
Katerina Petropoulou of Twittercounter.com posted a useful article two weeks ago entitled "7 Tools for Social Media Management...." well worth a read and useful to people who are relatively new to Twitter, so you won't be bamboozled by the jargon.
Do you know exactly what type of Followers you have on Twitter? A small percentage could be fake and inactive and there are several FREE 3rd party apps that you can slap your handle into and find out. Make sure you check the handles and confirm for yourself that are fake and remove! I use Fakers.StatusPeople.com every now and then, you might find it useful.
Marketer Urban Renstrom recently posted his latest blog Facebook Marketing 5 Steps and Turn Fans into Customers. A regular contributor to the my Round Up, thanks Urban :)
That's all for now, I hope you have found this information useful and look forward to sharing next month!
Working with clients Nationwide from base in Mullingar.
