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To be Efficient, you have to do things Right. To be Effective, you have to do the Right things.

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How do I know if listing an online directory represents value for money?

Published on Monday, 4 March, 2013, by
Lovegorey.ie

LoveGorey Website

Recently we have been asked if getting a listing in a locally based Online Directory (In this case LoveGorey.ie) is worth doing as part of the companies Digital Marketing strategy.

The answer I gave is the same as I would give for any Online Marketing directory. As LoveGorey.ie is a directory for Gorey and the North Wexford area, the first thing you should do is type in “Gorey Wexford” into Google and see if the directory shows up on the first or at most, the second page.

If the directory does not appear on the first page of Google but other directories do, then you are probably better to go with the other directories.

The second thing I would ask LoveGorey.ie or any other local online directory, for is their up to date statistics and also their statistics for the last couple of years.

Remember there is a huge difference between Hits, Page Views and visitors. Then compare the price for listing divided by the number of visitors for each directory and that should give you a good idea as to which one to go for.

With all this new technology, it’s very easy to forget the basics when calculating return on investment, in reality a practical/common sense approach is always best.

If you want more information on Digital Marketing and Social Media just give us a call we would be more than happy to talk to you.

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Facebook Graph Search, What is it? and What will it mean for your business?

Yesterday Facebook announced Facebook Graph Search at one of the very few press conferences that the social media company holds. So what exactly is it and what are the implications for the average SME  business?

CaptureFacebook is the biggest Social Network with over a billion members and a massive databank made up of all the Photos, Posts, Likes, Comments and Shares of those members. That databank tells what our interests are, what type of music we like, where we hang out, what type of music we like  etc. That data is invaluable to advertisers who want to target products and services at the people who are most likely to buy them.

However there is a problem. Up to this point Facebook’s search facilities were appalling but with Facebook Graph Search they hope to dramatically improve those searches and in a similar way to Google Ads, provide targeted advertising products for companies.

So what about Privacy? Facebook has good privacy settings, so Facebook members can decide how much of their data shows up in searches. Does that mean that Facebook Graph Search is of limited use? Well, maybe. There is one group of users on Facebook who always want All their content available to everyone All of the time and they are Businesses with Facebook Pages.

So how does that affect your business? Well if you have a Facebook page , then the content on that page becomes much more important in enabling you to show up in searches. It will no longer be enough to have a Facebook page with lots of likes, what will be much more important is having a Facebook page that has consistent updates and lots of interaction with their followers. That means that you will have to invest more time and effort if you want to use Facebook to promote your business or you can outsource that function to another company. Either way, you would be well advised to learn as much as you can about the implications of Social Media/ Digital Marketing for your business.

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Just because it’s Social media doesn’t mean that Integrity doesn’t count.

Published on Monday, 7 January, 2013, by

Facekook Gaff

Here is a perfect example of how the misuse of social media can backfire badly.

If you are going to use Facebook or any other Social Media to promote your business, then call in some expertise to get you started or at the very least get some training.

It could save you a lot of embarrassment and money.

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2012-09-17

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From Zero to 86,000 Weekly Facebook Reach in Six Months.

Since November 2011 I have been involved in an Integrated Internet Marketing campaign to help promote a seaside holiday resort, Courtown Harbour, which had not seen much Internet Marketing since 2006. This meant that while we were not starting from scratch, we were starting from a very low base.

Courtown Harbour Facebook PageLast November there was a static website for Courtown that due to lack of funding had only been updated sporadically in the previous five years. While a Facebook Page and Twitter account had been created, they were essentially dormant with no entries, which meant there was no co-ordinated Social Media presence  for Courtown on the Internet.

The first thing that we did was decide  who the target audience was. It’s very difficult to meet the requirements of your audience if you don’t know who they are or you are trying to be all things to everyone. Extensive research was done to establish who was searching for Courtown on the web, what exactly were they searching for, when were the searching (people look for different things depending on the time of year) and where the people searching for Courtown were located.

Based on this research we decided to build the Social Media Campaign first rather than do a complete redesign of the web site. The reason for this was that a social media campaign is much quicker and easier to implement and such a campaign would give us more detailed information which would allow us to redesign the web site in a much more targeted and focused way. The Facebook Page and Twitter account were launched in January with a minimum of one post a day, but ideally as many posts as possible (only if posts are up-to-date, relevant or useful. No posts just for the sake of getting something up on the page.)

Each week the stats for Facebook and Twitter were reviewed in detail and we were gradually able to establish what worked and more importantly what didn’t work and in that way we were able to adapt and change the content to better meet the audiences needs. We were also able to see that specific events such as bank holiday weekends, school mid-term breaks, festivals, etc. had a major impact on usage statistics and that the campaign needed to be able to flexibly address these type of events.

CourtownHarbour.com Web SiteAfter several months and having reviewed the stats from the Social Media Campaign, we started to redesign the web site from scratch using a content management system that would allow us to adapt and change the site as required. Then, like with the social media, we conducted detailed weekly reviews to see which area of the site worked and which didn’t. We reviewed who was looking at the site, where they were located and how exactly were they finding the site.

We also asked for feedback on a regular basis and as a result things like interactive multimedia maps were added to the site , among other things. As we go into the autumn and winter the usage and demographics of the website and Facebook page are again changing. Now the profile of users has changed to more permanent residents of North Wexford and people who have holidayed or are thinking about holidaying in the area rather than people who are at present on holidays in Courtown.

Here are some of the statistics achieved after six months;

  • 86,000 Weekly Facebook Reach
  • 1,400 Talking About the Facebook Page Weekly
  • 2,400 Facebook Likes
  • 15,000 Monthly Visits to www.courtownharbour.com
  • Number 1 or 2 in Google for every search term related to Courtown

There are several things that we have learned over the course of this project;

  • It is absolutely critical that you sit down and decide what EXACTLY are the objectives of the Internet Marketing Campaign. If you don’t know where you are trying to get to, it’s very difficult to find your way.
  • Draw up an outline project plan with REALISTIC time scales. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither is a successful Internet Marketing Campaign. It will take a minimum of three to six months to see real results.
  • You must be consistent. Social media requires regular, up-to-date posts that engage your audience. You cannot do ten posts one day and then not post for two weeks and you must respond to all communications via social media in a timely fashion (within several hours, not days).
  • No matter how good your research and preparation, you will not get it right the first time, nor the second or third time for that matter. You must constantly review and adapt the various elements of the campaign, whether that is the website, the social media posts, the frequency of posts, the type of posts etc.
  • This is not like just building a web site and hoping that the hits and visits will roll in. This will ALWAYS be a work in progress because the Internet is changing all the time and so is the way people use the Internet, so if you don’t constantly adapt you will loose your audience very quickly.

Hope you found this interesting/useful and if want anymore information,  just give us a shout.

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September tech jobs report – 793 open positions

Published on Monday, 3 September, 2012, by

Interesting report from the Sunday Business Post on the type of IT jobs omen at the moment.

September tech jobs report – 793 open positions

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2012-09-03

Published on Monday, 3 September, 2012, by
  • 51% Of People Think Stormy Weather Affects 'Cloud Computing' – Says more about our ability to explain I think :( http://t.co/PNP7ZUvj #
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Can Cloud Computing really save Irish SME’s money?

Published on Friday, 31 August, 2012, by

I regularly get asked by small businesses, “Is cloud computing all it’s made up to be and can it really save me money?”. Well here is a very practical example that I have been working on recently.

Cloud Computing

A manufacturing/distribution company has approximately 15 email users using a very old Microsoft Exchange Server whose hardware and software is seven years out of date and badly needs to be upgraded. The quotation from their current supplier to upgrade the hardware and software was approximately €5,000 so I suggested that they  evaluated a Cloud Based Email Solution to evaluate if firstly,  it could provide better value for money and secondly, did it provide more flexibility for the users.

They evaluated Google Apps for Business as several users were familiar with Gmail and it was felt that there would not be a big learning curve. When costed out the annual subscription charges for Google Apps would be €600. That would mean that there is no big initial capital spend and it would take eight and a half years to equal the spend on a new Exchange Server. (The expected life of a server is approx five years)

In addition to the cost savings they also get the ability to use there email anywhere, on any device (Phones, iPads, etc.) and all the extra functionality that Google Apps provides. They also have the ability to scale up or down their subscriptions as and when required.

Whether it’s Google Apps or another cloud based email service, all small businesses should be evaluating if they could save money by moving to the Cloud.

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100 more social media statistics for 2012

Published on Monday, 27 August, 2012, by

Some very interesting statistics on the use of Social Media globally from The Social Skinny.

If you still think social media is not important for your business then you should thing again.

100 more social media statistics for 2012

Socia Media Statistics

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2012-08-27

Published on Monday, 27 August, 2012, by

Our weather forecast is from WP Wunderground