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Tips on Tuesday

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Today’s Tip on Tuesday – and don’t they come around quickly – will be a generic tip that can be applied to all social media channels.

CustomerServicepic

In short the tip is Customer Service.  When you have an open social media profile you are immediately giving your customers, both potential and past, the chance to talk to you.  And whilst this is such a bonus for your business when they post glowing reviews, it can be a double-edged- sword when someone posts a less than positive message.

So my tip this week is simply to respond.  Respond to every message you get.  Whether your reply is a simple “thank you for your feedback” or an “I’m sorry you feel that way, how can we sort this out” people reading the situation playing out will appreciate that you are conversing with your customers.

I agree that there really is no such thing as bad publicity, even the…well….bad publicity if you deal with that publicity in a positive way and show your customers that they come first.

Tips on Tuesday

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Back again – just in time for today’s Tips on Tuesday.  And for today’s tip I’m going to be talking about generic social media marketing as opposed to a platform specific tip.

Unless you are a large business, your potential customers are unlikely to be spread across all social media platforms.  Therefore you need to find the channel where your potential customers congregate and be there!

Of course this will take research to work out where you should be devoting your social media time – but the research will pay off and you will find you’re able to direct your marketing, and therefore your time, more usefully.  A useful tool when you are spreading the word to all social media platforms is Hootsuite – which you can use to write multiple posts and send them at timed intervals, rather than visiting each site yourself to post.

Let me know what you think – how do you devote your social media time?

Tips on Tuesday

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Back just in time for our weekly slot, here’s today’s Tips on Tuesday.

For today’s tip I’m visiting Facebook and how to make your page pop and catch people’s eye. And the simple answer is use photographs.  Make sure your profile shot is brand specific – if you use other social media or have a website, make sure you use the same image across all platforms to ensure continuity – and that people will immediately recognise you.  Use a cover photograph – make sure the eye is drawn to the top of the Facebook page so people are encouraged to look further – especially for your contact information, after all your immediate aim is to encourage people not only to visit your site but to engage and interact!

 

Tips on Tuesday

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This week in Tips on Tuesday I will be dealing with the question of how personal you make your work social media profiles.

And the easy answer is there is no easy answer!  My own preference is to keep my personal and work social media accounts separate.  I like to be able to feel more relaxed on my personal accounts, be able to talk about inane things that wouldn’t be appropriate on the work accounts.

However, I do think that work social media accounts can have that personal touch.  They don’t need to be dry and completely without personality, but you do need to remember that everything you write on your work social media accounts immediately reflects on your company, however much you say “these view are personal” in your biography!

My tip would therefore be: – do what feels comfortable and natural.  Don’t separate your accounts if you don’t want to.  But be mindful and careful about what you post under your work accounts and avoid contentious issues!

Tips on Tuesday

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Welcome to our new regular Tips on Tuesday slot, where we will be sharing bitesize chunks of advice to help you get ahead on social media!

Today’s tip focuses on Twitter.

You have 140 characters.  USE them.  Shorten links you post and explain them.  Use up your character space with hashtags.  Have a look at hashtags that are currently in use and try and tie your post in with them.  It is immediate, free and effective filtering! With such a limited space for getting your point across, it is important to use every character you can!

Social Media for Children – friend or foe!

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A new year and I’m quite sure for many parents, their child has a new gadget. Social media is a fashion statement, a trend amongst young people and it is vital to understand, engage and learn how to allow your children to embrace social media, whilst keeping them safe. I am a parent with a highly tech-savvy child. Every parent understands their role is to protect their children – but how does this relate to a constantly moving technological era.

The first thing to understand is just what your child might be at risk from: –

1. Cyber-bullying.

The thing to remember about social media is that it allows the creation of a persona – that might be quite different from a real life one. Individuals may be encouraged to take part in online bullying because their identity can be hidden.

2. Cyber-stalking

This is harassment on the internet and usually falls into one of three categories: –
• The end of a relationship and one party being unwilling to cease contact
• A relationship that was started online and due to the sharing of personal information the victim has become vulnerable
• Random exploitation – usually of children

3. The viewing of inappropriate content

It is important to remember that although parental controls may be set on devices, these can be bypassed if items are shared by friends in a social network.

4. Online grooming

Possibly the one parents are most aware of and most fearful of. A situation where a person creates and uses a persona to make contact, create a relationship and gain trust with a view to actual physical meeting.

How can parents ensure safety on social media?

This is a question I’ve been asked on a number of occasions and I will share my tips: –

1. Perhaps the most obvious is adhering to age limits imposed by social media sites. For example the age limit on Facebook is 13, and in my opinion this is a reasonable age limit to apply to all social networking sites. If your child is under 13 and requests accounts explain to them the reason for the age limit – that it isn’t that you don’t trust them, but more they need to be wary of other people on the internet.

2. When your child opens an account use a free e-mail purely for signups that doesn’t include the child’s real name.

3. Open the account with your child and ensure the privacy settings on each account they open are at the highest possible settings. Make sure passwords are strong.

4. Discuss with your child the dangers of posting images – even amongst close friends – and that once an image has been posted it is incredibly difficult to get all copies removed. Certainly they should not be posting images they would be unhappy for you to see.

5. Make your child aware of the risk of posting items that may infringe copyright e.g. illegal downloads.

6. Explain how seriously the use of threats against persons – whether known or celebrity – is taken. There have been well documented cases of prosecution following abusive tweets directed at famous people.

7. Make sure your child is aware of the safety functions across all platforms they are using e.g. blocking.

8. Familiarise yourself with all the social networking sites. It is easier to keep aware of how your child is using these sites if you are aware of how they work.

9. Establish ground rules e.g.: –

9.1 Never give out personal details on social media sites
9.2 Don’t accept friend requests from people you don’t know personally
9.3 Never share passwords even amongst friends
9.4 Never meet anyone you meet online and tell parents of any such requests
9.5 To make you aware immediately of any bullying and to keep a record

The use of social media can seem daunting to many parents. The easiest way to ensure you know just what your child is doing is by talking. Encourage your children to be aware of the pitfalls, encourage them to report to you anything they see which is upsetting and offensive – and reassure them you won’t be angry at them for doing so.

Social media can be a lot of fun for young people; it can also be an uncomfortable experience. So help your children, trust your children and embrace their sensible use of such wonderful networking tools.