iCreate Solutions Helpful Guide To Social Media For Small Businesses

Social Media marketing can be daunting for many small business owners. With a growing number of networks with very different functionalities, guidelines and also followings, it can be confusing to find out which to incorporate into the online marketing strategy and how to do so efficiently.

With 91% of on-line adults regularly using social media, it is no longer something which any business can afford to ignore. Society is changing and with this growing online lifestyle comes new expectations of different things from companies and brands. We are getting smarter when it comes to the commercial world and with that comes a paradigm shift in marketing strategies. The focus is now more on connecting with clients on a social level and much less about the sales pitch. The easy fact is people don’t want to be sold to, so, just how do we use social media to sell, while not selling?

The Top Players In Social Media

Facebook

Facebook is usually the first thing that comes to mind when we think of social media, which is not surprising as it still holds the top spot with over 1 billion active users. With that much influence and reach, Facebook is an evident choice for any small business. Even land estate advertising firms are making its way to Facebook.

It is a common misconception that the majority of Facebook users are tenagers and people in their early 20's; however as of August 2012, the age group that experienced the best increase on Facebook was 25-34 year olds, meaning that now 67% of users are over 25. As social media is progressing and the ‘digital natives’ are getting older, a large part of your target market are regularly utilising social media.

The key to Facebook success is sharing content that is concise and consistent with the focus on the client, not the company. What you may share on Facebook must be interesting enough for followers to like, share and comment on it.

It is essential to time your posts very carefully, to find that balance between not posting enough and spamming your followers. One feature that Facebook provides for pages is the ability to schedule posts, enabling you to set up your posts for the day, week or month in advance and have them go out at the exact times that you pre-determine. Over time it will become clearer which posts and at what frequency are best for the business and following, however as a basic guideline, posts must be at least one per day and no more than one every three hours.

Twitter

Twitter is the second biggest social network and is completely different to any of the others. Traffic moves much more swiftly on Twitter and the articles are restricted to 140 characters or less. Twitter requires you to be a lot more active with posting tweets and connecting with other users than other networks. A fair frequency for posting on Twitter will be between eight and ten per day.

The important thing to remember when sending out tweets is that the content shared must provide value to the readers. You’re fighting for your follower’s awareness against the hundreds or thousands of other users that they are following. The traffic on the home page moves quickly, so in order to stand out a tweet needs to be as sharable as possible. Try thinking about a tweet like a headline, it should be concise, innovative and grab the reader’s eyes. Utilizing hashtags and including other users within your tweets will also help to enhance its sharability.

Using tools such as TweetDeck, Tweetspinner or even Hootsuit that help to schedule your Twitter activity is an excellent way to reduce the time you need to actually spend on Twitter. These tools work as a great assistant but you should still keep an eye on yours and others activity to make sure that everything runs smoothly and no opportunities are missed.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is known as the ‘professional network’, making it particularly useful for B2B marketing and networking. LinkedIn offers company pages, through which you can post present vacancies and share up-dates. A company page should be concise and professional with information about the business, what you do/sell, a link to the website and contact information.

While the firm page is a fantastic feature, the best way to maximise LinkedIn is through your personal, professional profile. Social media is creating a more personable business world and people are more inclined to connect with someone who works for the company, rather than with the company page. Bearing this in mind be sure to have a clear headshot as your profile picture, keep your status updates related to your professional life and industry and try to make sure your profile is 100% complete.

Google+

Google+ is usually overlooked as it is not really a ‘big player’ in the world of online social media, however Google+ provides great benefits for SEO and search engine traffic. Google+ is greatly integrated with Google’s other goods, such as Gmail, Google Docs, Google Maps and of course Google Search Engines.

Google+ Local Pages have also been introduced in place of Google Places and are being integrated to Google Search, Google Maps, and Google Mobile. This change means it’s now even more important for your business to have a verified Google+ page. More information about these changes and the actions that you may need to take can be found on Google’s support page for business owners.

Google have also recently launched a Social Search Engine called Search Plus Your World in the US, which is in Australia quickly.

Pinterest

Pinterest is now the third most popular network after Facebook and Twitter, having gained momentum quickly since its launch in March 2010. This social pin board allows users to share images in collections and categories.

Pinterest has recently announced, on November 14th 2012, that they now have separate Terms of Service for businesses, helping to guide business owners on how to use Pinterest. These new terms are in line with the intro of their new business accounts, which offer new features specified to business needs such as a ‘verification badge’ to confirm your website, new buttons as well as widgets to help integrate your Pinterest page with your website and access to forthcoming features yet to be announced.

Instagram

Instagram is an excellent tool for giving your business greater visibility online and better engaging with the community. This visual platform ties in well with both Facebook and also Twitter and is an excellent place to share photos of your items, what is happening behind the scenes, interactions with the community, sneak peeks and so forth. A lot of businesses have had great success using Instagram, due to its simplicity and popularity.

Which Networks Should I Utilize For My Business?

Which networks you decide to use in your business marketing strategy will depend on the type of business you are running. It’s important to look at your target audience and what networks they are engaging with, as this will enable you to decide which networks should be prioritised.

A Facebook page should be the foundation of any social marketing strategy, regardless of your business type people now turn to Facebook just as they do for Google to locate a local product or service provider.

Make it Work

Once you have chosen which networks to utilize and have set up your accounts, there are three simple ways to follow to improve the response your business profile receives…

Involve Your Followers - This is the golden rule of social media, to be social. Small businesses hold an advantage here, as they are capable of being more personable and connect straight with their followers on-line.

Have A Strategy - Social Media marketing is serious business and should be treated as such. Take the time to analyse how people do and will see your business and how certain messages will be received as well as interoperated.

Have Patience - Social media is not a quick fix. It takes time to see the results, but if you are patient and have a strong strategy in place, the results will be really worth the wait.

Do I Still Need A Website If My Business Uses Social Media?

A business website is an essential component of a strong and effective online presence. Your business website should be thought of as the online hub, central to all other social media, advertising and email marketing efforts. There are many clever ways that we can make your website integrate with all of your online requirements.
To learn more, see Icreate Solutions.

Five Useful Information To Manage A Good Design Agency

These days the term "design agency" often means a lot of things. From website creation to t-shirt graphics and advertisements including copy writing and marketing there is generally one thing in common: a strong emphasis on graphic design. Running a firm that has specialized in graphic design like Brisbane web design can be both challenging and satisfying. Here are some tips to help make your design agency operate as smoothly as you can for maximum ROI.

Firing Customers

As with any business your clients are your lifeblood. However several customers tend to be more trouble than they're really worth. If a customer is giving you or your group a difficult time and is being a general pain to work with it might be time to let them go. There is no sense in letting problem customers drag your business straight down. Here are some signs that identify a problem customer:

♥ They think they know more than you do about graphic design.
♥ They would like to micromanage you.
♥ They are very picky.
♥ They request constant revisions of your work for free.
♥ They do not pay the full price in advance.

Promoting Creativity Between Your Team

When managing a design agency you want to get as much out of your team as you possibly can and motivate them to take the initiative. However, you want to make certain they have the appropriate experience before doing this so they know where the line is and not to cross it. When a team member does something extremely creative or has a revolutionary idea be sure to reward them with a small bonus as a way of promoting that kind of decision making.

Eliminating The Unnecessary

This is important both on the financial and creative aspect. When talking about business expenses you need to eliminate as many as you can as quickly as possible for the best ROI. In the realm of graphic design you also want to avoid superfluous graphics and design elements to streamline your work.

Leaving Finances In The Right Hands

Just because you're an amazing graphic design artist, manager or administrator does not necessarily mean you are the right person to handle the financial side of your business. If you are struggling with this hire an accountant or other business professional as quickly as possible. A word of caution though, make certain the one you hire is trustworthy, you do not want someone screwing you over.

Exceptional Customer Service

When it comes to serving your clients you want to always over deliver; give them more than they pay money for. In addition to this also make sure you have a rewards system, discounts and other incentives in place to draw in new customers and keep current customers coming back to get more. Also make sure you have someone with a normally friendly attitude in charge of customer relations if you're unsuitable for that task yourself.

These tips should be useful if you are looking to take your design agency to the next level. Getting rid of problems such as bothersome clients, unnecessary business expenses and design elements that waste resources is a huge step in the right direction. Attracting new customers and creating repeat customers is also hugely significant. Overall running a good design agency is just like most other businesses, as long as you have you priorities straight it's simple to optimize you ROI within an efficient manner.

For more information check out: Icreate Solutions

What Software Is Used In A Graphic Design Firm

The definition of a graphic designer is somebody who makes use of and brings together images to make a piece of design work within the graphic arts industry. Most commonly if a designer is working for a graphic design agency they'll be using media, whether this is printed or electronic in order to create illustrations or web design. The role of a designer is a tough one, they have to always be coming up with fresh new ideas in a very competitive arena.

Not anyone can be a graphic designer, there are specific qualifications that you will need if this is the career path you would like to follow. Such that even a Google apps consultant would say this to most people. You should have some sort of industry experience prior to any agency employs you so you may have to do some voluntary work in order to build up your own portfolio. It is quite common for a design agency to ask to view your portfolio so they can get an understanding of the type of work you do. Graphic design is an art and you will realize that it is a very skilled branch of creativity.

There are several software programs that you will need to have quite a high level of proficiency at. Photoshop is the most widely used computer program amongst designers. It allows you, as the designer, to control images and play around with them in order to get the best finished outcome, you can even do this with photos of individuals. Photoshop is used in the media to improve photos of celebrities and other influential figures. In order for a designer to understand how their work will be viewed online they should equip themselves with a basic understanding of some basic web programming scripts including HTML. Graphic design is a diverse discipline and may require a designer to learn a great number of skills as there are so many branches. Printing is a great example of this simply because it is quite a complex process, meaning that you will need to have some background information before you jump straight in.

A designer has to remain flexible as it is a discipline that is continually changing. Graphic work is now predominantly done through digital media meaning instead of carrying a hard copy of a portfolio, it could be on a disk instead. This was not the case in previous years; if a designer was visiting or applying for a job at a graphic design agency then they would usually be asked to bring with them a printed portfolio. This was the best possible way to show off some of your work, it was placed in a large book or binder and displayed to people who showed an interest in your or your work.

For more information do see Icreate Solutions.

Factors In Website Designs

There are many ways to get a website on the internet and if you are in a budget crunch you can even get free website designs. A company or individual can also hire a company to design their own website and spend as much money as needed. So whether you are broke or have more money than you know what to do with - a big company or just a start-up, you can have a website presence on the web.

Professional Design Companies

If you choose an expert web design agency, be certain to see their portfolio. You may be spending a large sum of money so you want to at the very least see what some of the agency's past work looks like. See IT small business consultant for references. A good professional agency provides you with a professional design that is customized to meet your unique needs. Great agencies will also offer logo design, on-going maintenance, and registration of domain name. They will arrange for web hosting and also provide copywriting of all content. Some will even do your search engine optimization complete with monthly reports. These agencies that do it all might cost a great deal but are well worth the money.

You may have your concerns about one company that does both copywriting and SEO but it ensures they are dedicated to making certain the website is successful. Having the content professionally written as well as professionally optimized over time is worth every penny that you invest.

Factors Important To A Site

There are some aspects that a well-designed website should have. Load time is one of those elements since a well designed site that loads fast is not leaving visitors waiting.

Another vital element is "cross browser compatibility". This means that the site needs to look great in whatever browser a visitor is using. This is ensured by making any website design WC3 compliant and a good design agency will make that happen.

Additionally , it is important to make certain that the layout doesn't have text that is too small or too much. A website that is cluttered is almost painful to browse through. This means that the website should look balanced with just the right quantity of organizing features.

A Bad Impression

Everyone has always been taught that a first impression is the impression that is remembered. This is also true in websites. There are just some factors that leave a visitor with a terrible first impression. One of these factors is error messages. If a visitor is new and keeps getting error messages, they probably will not be back.

Another bad first impression is advertisements. Now all web users know that advertisements are a fact of life in the online world. But... they can leave a bad impression particularly if there are too many, are about the wrong subject or the ads are badly placed. In these cases - they can be a turn off for some site visitors.

Factors Of Great Websites

There are three ways to make the design of a website good. A really superb website has great content and it's content that also changes often , making the visitor keep coming back. Another factor of a fantastic website is one which has an extremely clever design which is easy to get around. Websites that are hard to navigate will lose visitors because they do not know where to go.

To further understand web design, check out Icreate Solutions.