Bold Text Media social media, SEO, internet marketing Geelong and Melbourne

Social Media for Financial Planners

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 05:37:00 +0000

Are you wondering how Social Media Marketing can help you, as a Financial Planner, to connect with your prospective customers and keep your clients engaged?

With over 80% of Australians now using the internet, and some 62% of these using social networking sites, Social Media marketing is now an essential part of B2B and B2C marketing mix.

With 36% of connected Australians using social networking at least every day, and 10% using it more than 5 times a day (Source: Yellow Social Media Report, June 2012, Sensis), it would be remiss of any business to exclude it from their marketing strategy.

How can Social Media help a Financial Planning firm? As a Financial Planner, your businesses is based on building trusted relationships with your clients. Social media enables you to engage your clients and cultivate your relationships even more effectively. If you are not connecting with your prospects and clients on-line, someone else soon will be. Social Media is the ultimate word-of-mouth platform, giving you access to referrals you may otherwise not have access to.

Are Facebook and Twitter really the platforms we should be focussing on? Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn are the most utilised Social Media platforms in Australia in 2012. As a starting point, it is recommended that a combination of these be used to market you business.

Additionally, Financial Planners can benefit greatly from regularly providing webinars, focusing on topics which will educate and generate interest in an information-hungry on-line audience. The provision of free information is a brilliant way to capture the attention of new prospects, and keep your business at the forefront of existing clients minds. Regular interactions with your Social Media audience, in order to gauge the response to topics, is an invaluable way to ensure you are providing a targeted webinar.

Webinars can be marketed using an email marketing campaign, specially designed with a call to action to preview the webinar introduction and register for participation. Using LinkedIn to market upcoming webinars is another way to build your prospective client database. Careful selection of the right groups on LinkedIn gives you a relevant audience to whom you can send webinar updates. YouTube is another brilliant platform for marketing your webinars. Uploading a short "teaser" video to your channel, detailing the page main theme and some.

Podcasts can be used to another way to compliment your webinar program. Pre or post webinar, these are a great way keep your audience engaged or build interest in future webinar events.

Last, but certainly not least, Social Media Marketing is a must for SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) purposes, particularly since the 2011 and 2012 Google algorithm updates (named Penguin and Panda). Social Media had leaped to prominence as an important factor in SEO. Making sure your social media channels are fully optimised with important links back to your website, and keeping your Social Media sites alive with fresh content and audience engagement, will maximise you chance of achieving and maintaining page one results.

Social Media for Architects; the road to success

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 05:11:00 +0000

Some architecture firms get it. They understand that the effective use of Social Media can bring in business. These firms have been committed to building their business online, and in a matter of three, two and even one year, they have reaped the rewards of their diligent work.

Gone are the days when Social Media was just a place for teens to hang out. Social Media has infiltrated the lives of all age groups in society, and is continuing to take up more and more of people's time each week. Over 80% of Australians use the internet, with some 62% of these using social networking sites. 36% of these use social networking at least every day, with 10% using it more than 5 times a day (Source: Yellow Social Media Report, June 2012, Sensis).

And it's not just a platform to share family photos and talk about the ins and outs of daily life. More and more Australians are using Social Media to research products and businesses, before visiting websites, making a call, or visiting bricks-and-mortar businesses. Three of the top ten reasons for using Social Media involve researching and connecting with brands or businesses.

I already have a website, isn't that enough?

Today’s business website should be the hub of all your business operations, and you should regularly “feed” that hub with fresh content from places. Your corporate blog, pod casts, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media channels.

Google gives weight to websites which are active in Social Media. The more active you are across the Social Media landscape, the more chance you will have to rank on page 1 in Google search. Your website and blog will indexed and qualified leads will have a way to find your website from valuable search terms, such as “Architects in Geelong”, "Architects in Melbourne" or "Architects in Australia".

People don’t know where to go to find architects other than the Yellow Pages. Architects need to be where their potential clients are; surfing the Internet, and on Social Media platforms.

Most architecture firms already have decent websites, and many even have Facebook pages. But innovative firms take their social media strategy much further, and reap the rewards in the form of more exposure, more leads and more clients.

How do Architects harness the power of Social Media to get more businesses?

Small or large, architectural firms can make progress in the social media world, and establish their firm as thought leaders. There are many firms out there now which consider Social Media an integral element of their overall marketing strategy. By blogging, pod casting, and interacting with the design community on-line, local architecture businesses can open up to the national market, expanding their audience without the need to open bricks and mortar offices in multiple locations. In this world word-of-mouth marketing and referral based marketing, traffic can be driven to your website, resulting in targeted, qualified leads.

Define your firm as a thought leader: Communicate & educate

Many architects concur that their responsibility extends not only to the places they create, but also to communicating and educating the community about issues that they are engaged or interested in. Facebook, Twitter, blogging and other platforms enable architects to educate and communicate with the general public, and others in the industry.

In addition to creating your own fresh content, sharing carefully selected information from various sources can be an important element to building relationships, and your reputation on-line.

Architecture firms which share carefully selected, relevant industry news, photos and articles are widely respected and followed on Social Media platforms. it takes time to build your own archive of content. While growing your own library of information, you can promote other websites and influencers. Once you have your own pod cast to share, you have already built an audience eager to hear what you have to say.

Get personal: It's all about building relationships

Whether or not you are successful Social Media Marketing, comes down to how you use it. If you are using the tools in the correct manner, you will be successful. Social Media is all about communicating and building relationships, not just broadcasting. If you understand that from day 1, you are already half way there.

A good Brand Strategy is the key to a solid Social Media foundation

Before you commence using the online world to spread the word about your business, it is imperative you have a solid brand strategy;

     Who is "insert your business name"?
   What do you stand for?
   Who are our target clients?

How do you reach your target clients?

What is your position in the marketplace and what makes you unique

Finding a unique way to position your brand allows you to stand out on crowded platforms.

Social Media platforms for Architects

There are several online marketing platforms which architecture firms can use to increase brand awareness and connect with their audience. At a basic level, the following "big 5" are recommended;

Twitter –You can find ways to add value to discussions. Start local then expand geographically. Share links to interesting content on other websites, gradually to build trust and credibility.

Facebook –Your Facebook page is a great place to post interesting articles. This is a platform on which you can build a reputation as a resource for the architecture and design community. By talking about the industry rather than self-promotion, you create an educational resource where people enjoy visiting as a resource. This keeps your name in the forefront of your community's mind, and creates a path for inbound rather than outbound marketing.

Linked in - A great platform for expanding your leads database, communicating with others in your industry and contributing to community discussions, leading to securing more clients.

Pod casts - Create your own branded series, talking about anything from tips for turning your home into an eco-friendly home, to holiday homes on a budget / on a luxury level. use your other Social Media platforms to promote your pod casts, and build a loyal following.

Blog - Architecture is a field driven by innovative ideas. Demonstrating that your firm is aware of new design tools and regulations, shows potential clients that you know your business well. Blogging about best practices learned at events and trade shows establishes trust and a professional image.

There are many other platforms and applications which are industry specific and can help your architecture firm succeed on-line.

How much time needs to be dedicated to Social Media?

Strategies and schedules can be created to suit any time or budget allocation. Do it all yourself, or supply a Social Media management firm with weekly content and let them post it for you in a optimized-for-web manner across multiple platforms. Using this approach requires from 1 hour per week to 3 hours work per week on your behalf, and frees up your time to focus on your core business.

Commitment to regular posting and interaction builds brand awareness

Setting up Facebook, Twitter and Linked In profiles, and using them to keep increase awareness of your business in your local community and industry, is a great way start to keeping clients informed, keeping the communication channels open, and increasing the likelihood of repeat business. Keep you posts regular, your content fresh, and talk about topics which are recent an relevant, and you will keep the channels of communication open with past clients, prospective clients, and others in your industry.

Yes, you still need to market off-line

Although inbound marketing can be exponentially more profitable than the traditional outbound marketing tactics that many of us have grown up utilizing, Social Media Marketing is one important element of a holistic marketing strategy. Your team members still need to network at live events. In-person networking is still a key to your accounting firm's success, but social media is a brilliant forum for pre in-person networking and post in-person networking. The fastest growing companies are employing both traditional and digital forms of marketing.

Are you using Social Media to market your Architecture Firm online? What platforms do you use, and where have you seen the most success?

Printed Direct Mail and Social Media integration gets results

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 06:34:00 +0000

In recent years, many small businesses have ceased direct mail outs to pursue online advertising and social media in attempt to reduce advertising costs.

Integrating Offline and Online Marketing

Nowadays, a considerable number of businesses are now finding that direct mail outs were, in fact, producing results (and are feeling the loss). There is no denying that there is still a place for printed direct mail outs in the marketing mix for many businesses, and, in fact employing a strategy which integrates social media and direct mail can more beneficial than a stand-alone solution. By combining the two mediums, businesses are able to catch prospects' attention and often generate far greater response rates.

More than 80% of Australians are online, and 62% of these are using social media. 36% of these use social media every day[i]. These are impressive numbers, however this means that 64% of Social Media users are are not on Social Media every day, and 20% of Australians are not using the internet at all. Using an offline medium can encourage these people, who may otherwise be missed, to find out more information about your business online, or to contact your business via phone.

Tips to maximise postcard marketing conversions:

- Email or call your clients the same day that receive your print postcard in the mail.

- Follow up contact via your website or phone by sending a postcard. In this day and age where emails are the norm, a clever tactic can be to use an element of surprise... aka snail mail!

- Add your Social Media URLs to your postcard. Your blog, Facebook, Linked Iin, Google+, Skype, and any others.

- Direct your recipients to a lead capturing landing page or to more content designed to furhter qualify or engage with your propects.

Although postcard marketing has seen a decline in the last few years, many marketing experts are now realising the opportunities afforded by integrating their offline and online marketing programs.

Affordable Postcard Marketing

Bold Text Media offers an integrated Social Media and affordable direct-mail printing for small businesses, to capture your target audience, online and offline. Contact us to explore how we can help your business with integrated postcard and social media marketing.

[i] Yellow Social Media Report, June 2012, Sensis

Food Photography Geelong and Melbourne

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 04:31:00 +0000

If you are marketing a kitchen product, food product or a restaurant, exceptional food photography is a key element in your branding and marketing mix. Many businesses get it wrong either they using stock photography which doesn’t represent their product or they use poorly lit photos, taken by an amateur.

The first part of the eating process is using our eyes. The image we see prepares our brain for what is to come. First impressions last, so using appetizing food photos to initiate consumer interest is the first base of consumer action, second base is getting consumers to seek further information and third, or course is the desired result of the marketing process, whether it be a product purchase or restaurant visit.

Once you have gained a new customer, ensuring your food imagery matches the actual product, bi product or experience is the key to keeping them happy.

Food Photography and Social Media

It is well-known that one of the best ways to increase engagement in social media platforms is by using quality photographs. If you are in a food related industry, this is an absolute joy, as food photography and social media go hand in hand. Food (and artful representations of food) otherwise known as “food porn” gets peoples sharing, commenting, asking about the recipes, and... salivating.

The importance of Food Styling

Food styling is the process of aesthetically preparing the food for the shoot. From selection for the props such as plates, fabrics, tables, cutlery, through to actually placement of the food and arrangement of garnishes. It also involves using techniques to keep food looking fresh and vibrant.

Concept Photography and Marketing your brand

Communicating the right message to your audience, involves having a solid understanding of your marketing strategy.

Each shoot should be based around one, or several concepts which are tailor made to target your audience. A successful concept shoot delivers a visual expression of a brand or product to the outside world, with powerful and emotive images that effectively portray the brand or product identity and brand or product positioning.

Food Photography Geelong and Melbourne

Bold Text Media provides exceptional food photography to Geelong, Melbourne, and surrounding regions.

What sets us apart from others, is that we are highly experienced and qualified marketers, spanning 17 years, so you can be assured that your photos are at one with your overall marketing strategy.

To effectively communicate the right message to your audience, your photographer needs to have an in depth understanding of your overall marketing strategy. Separating the two just doesn't make sense.

Check out our portfolio here.

Social Media for Business: Make it work for you

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 18:28:00 +0000

As Social Media has become such an important part of daily life for a huge percentage of the population, more and more businesses, large and small, are increasing their Social Media time and budget allocations each year.

These days, for the majority of businesses, Social Media is an integral and often their solitary way of listening to what people are saying about their products and brands. And in the past 2 – 3 years we have seen many businesses shifting their marketing budget allocations from print media to online media, and to engaging their customers and the community in on Social Media Platforms.

Social Media Influence

Ask anyone who is using Facebook, Twitter or another Social Media platform, and they will tell you just how easily they can be influenced by posts of their friends. A brand, product, movie, place or a restaurant recommended through social media, can quickly become “liked”, purchased, watched or frequented by their online friends. Conversely, one person’s complaint about a business through social media can result in their friends being less likely to become a customer of that business. What people communicate about you on social media can become a central factor in consumers buying decisions.

Nowadays, people are actively involved in sharing links, posts and information about your brand. This means that if you publish great information, or create something the community considers noteworthy and exciting, the potential that your brand or product will be talked about online is very real. Cross pollination across social media platforms is increasingly common and becoming more and more rapid making opportunities for social reach even greater.

Social Media for SEO

With Google’s latest algorithm, we have seen social media become a far greater influence in SEO. Like people, search engines are placing more and more importance on the numbers of tweets, mentions, shares, diggs, likes, +1′s. Social media is going to play a huge role in SEO and when it comes to ranking on Google, Google+ is going to emerge as a major player. Social media is integral to a solid online business strategy.

Social Media Strategy

If you are ready to embark on building your online brand presence, start creating your social media strategy by answering these questions;

1. Why are you employing Social Media in your marketing mix?
2. Who is your audience?
3. What is your goal
4. How will you achieve it? What tools, techniques and tactics will you use?
5. When will you launch, and when will you roll out on additional platforms?

Facebook for business

For steps 4 and 5, I recommend launching one platform first. I recommend Facebook be your starting point, Linked In your second for B2B, or Twitter for B2C. Once you have set these up and worked on growing your user base, progress to include StumbleUpon and Reddit, Digg and other such bookmarking sites. Facebook is has the largest user base of all the Social Media Platforms, in this year in Australia, 97% of Social Media Users are on Facebook. The second biggest user base is held by Linked In at 16% and the third, Twitter on 14% (The Sensis Yellow Social Media Report 2012, Sensis 2012), across the If you have an ecommerce website, build a blog and create a strategy to build traffic by getting your Social Media fans to flow to your website. Build your audience and regularly post great content, and you will have hundreds, thousands, or in some cases, millions of loyal brand ambassadors sharing your brand, service or product information online.

Getting the most out of Social Media for your business does take time. It’s like a garden, and needs to be tended so that it is in good order and the flowers can bloom. Small businesses without large marketing budgets can connect with and engage their online audience, and large businesses can outsource to experts to harness the ever changing and ever powerful Social Media movement, and use it to encourage loyal, engaged brand champions in the community.

Social Media Geelong: target your local market online

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 18:00:00 +0000

With Facebook about to hit it's 100 billion users mark, Twitter at 140 million and LinkedIn hosting a page for every Fortune 500 company, many business owners are feel like they are tiny mice trying to roar like lions. The masses are there, milling around, spending copious hours engaging with their online communities each week, but how do businesses make themselves heard, and how to the engage users and harness the power of social share? Start small by targeting nano-markets. What are nano-markets you may ask? A nano-market is like pointing laser at a niche marketing and pinpointing a group with specific interests within the niche market. Targeting highly motivated audiences, and having few competitors doing the same, can result in incredible ROI.

The introduction of hyper-local search combined with targeted social media strategies have made it easier than ever to reach these nano-niches.

Why Social Media Geelong?

Some businesses are global. They send goods world-wide or offer services to the world online, and for those businesses the internet has been an obvious choice since day one. Others deal with the domestic market, shipping goods interstate, and again, e-commerce a given as part of their marketing strategy. And what about businesses targeting local customers? It there really a need for local businesses to be online if their target market is living locally? If you can find ways to meet your target market where and when they choose to interact, you’ll get more chances to be their go-to provider. Considering the sheer numbers of people of all ages using social media, and the amount of time they are on social media sites each week, it would be remiss of businesses large or small, global or local, not to include social media in their marketing mix.

For businesses with a specifically local market, for example restaurants, bars, or local firms, or multiple branches or outlets in different geographic locations, geo-targeted social media marketing is essential. A marketing strategy which is not geo-targeted, in such circumstances, can be inefficient and ineffective. Putting valuable resources into a broad and non-targeted online marketing strategy can result in time and money being tipped into marketing your local Geelong restaurant to the world, rather than your local community. There is no sense in that.

Geo targeting and geo-marketing

Geo-targeting is determining the location of a website visitor and determining different content based on their location. Geo-marketing involves delivering digital content via geo-location software, to potential customers who you have targeted based on physical location and associated interests.

There are a number of free tools available, two of the most popular being Twitter Search and FourSquare.

One of the best ways to delve into location based searches on Twitter is by using the “Advanced” search option. This feature enables a search of users tweeting about topics in your industry, niche or nano-niche, and who are in a specific geographic location. And the greatest thing is, you can engage them immediately, following them, conversing with them, and converting them to followers of your business. Not only can you win follows directly, but if you can pinpoint influential bloggers in your specified location, you can win over influencers who in turn can champion your brand.

FourSquare, a Social Media Platform which requires users to "check in" to a place with their mobile phone and rewards the users with the highest numbers of check0ins, by crowning them Mayor. This can be used by local businesses to incentivise and reward local patrons to be frequent guests. It can also be used as a listening device monitor your local competitors, and market to their customer base. Provide special offers which will be visible to patrons when they check in to your business or business in your area.
Geo Marketing on Facebook

A valuable feature on Facebook is Geo marketing using your status update. To do this, enter your status update (make your update relevant and specific to the areas you are targeting). Just to the bottom of the right of the status field is a down arrow and the word “Public”. Click on this and select the option “Location/Language”, then you can enter your target country or language. For this example we are targeting based on location, so enter the desired country, and select either everywhere, state/province or city, and fill in the place names accordingly.

Use these tools to target your nano-market, stepping away from the online spaces saturated with the big brands. Targeting smaller groups with specific interests which gel well with your brand identity may well put you on the road to stunning results.

Customize your Facebook Brand Page Timeline to Build Brand Identity

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 01:19:00 +0000

Customizing your Facebook Brand Page Timeline

Without a doubt, you are more restricted in choosing the information you offer and how you present it on Facebook than on your own website. Despite this, there is still huge scope for adding your branding elements and structuring a page which will lead to high consumer engagement.

What many business owners don’t realize is the extent to which their Facebook pages can be customized to encourage visitors to become a fan, stick around, engage and return again and again. The work goes beyond visual elements, from different landing pages depending on the source page from which they arrive at your Facebook page, to different applications providing different user experiences tailored to you audience. Accompanied by a solid social media strategy, a well-designed Facebook page can increase consumer engagement, reduce marketing costs and open your eyes to the opportunities abound in online marketing.

Although much of the work does go beyond visual elements, with the introduction of Timeline in early 2012, the powers that be at Facebook have given it their all to ensure that brands do make their pages talk with images, as much as words. This, combined the personable communication style that Facebook users prefer, make “behind the scenes” style marketing a great was to get fans to connect with your brand. You should always ask yourself, “if my brand was a person, what type of person would it be?” And the answer to this should be central to every interaction across your Social Media platforms. Social media is all about making brands accessible, and giving your brand a “human touch”.

Facebook Cover Photo

With some studies showing that consumers pay far more attention to your page’s cover photo, than content on your wall, it is important that it tells the story of your brand and captures the viewers interest and even their heart as soon as they land on your page.
Milestones

When you start a page, go to the effort to create a Timeline of your brand, your business or whatever you are marketing. Milestones may include memorable moments, advances, product releases, community events – whatever has been important in your brand’s history. In doing this, visitors to your page can learn about your company and feel more connected to you.

Highlight and pin your best posts

Draw more attention your brand’s most important information by “highlighting” it. “Highlight” your favourite posts, dragging it across the width of your page and use large images to maximise impact. “Pin” your posts to the top of the page (they become unpinned after 1 week) to extend the life of the content. It not only becomes the first item within the Timeline itself, but this size is increased too.

Advertise on Facebook to increase reach

Reach Generator can expose fans to content increasing it by as much as over 75%, according to a study by AllFacebook in January.

Run Facebook Contests to Boost Engagement

Competitions create buzz. People love to win, whether high value items, or something as low cost as a t-shirt. What is important is that prizes be relevant to your brand, and to the target audience. Keep the rules simple to ensure lots of people enter, stick within Facebook Guidelines and run all promotions on apps.

The ultimate goals, when starting a Facebook page for your business, are getting relevant fans, getting them to stay on your page, and getting them to engage and share. Time and effort spent on customizing your page with beautiful images, attractive presentation, apps geared towards your audience and dialogue and events which engage your audience will help you create brand evangelists. Pages that have true meaningful value for consumers are the pages that are adopted. Turning a "Like" into an "Advocate" requires a visitor experience which surpasses expectations.