Category: Tip of the Week

For a new practice, doing the right things in a small area may or may not be enough. If you've got your social media running well, perhaps you're in the local newspaper, and you have info up in local shops etc. and it is bringing in clients but just not enough. Then you may have a great opportunity to double your business fairly easily.  If your local area can generate 10 clients a week but you need to see 20 then you can do all the same stuff that is working in your area in a nearby area and expect the same results. When I started, I worked in two towns 35 minutes apart. I didn't need a full time clinic in both, so I simply rented room space in…

A lot of people have been asking and commenting about how to implement some of the tips into a basic strategy for Facebook. So, here's a simple strategy I can recommend, based on experience and data analysis of the results. Don't think of posts as one thing. Give yourself three types of content: (Short) Short text or image post (Share) Sharing something useful from another source (Special) Long custom written content The short text or image post can be an inspiring quote, a meme, or some image with a message. These are everywhere on the internet and can be created in minutes. Sharing something useful from another source should be something that will be of interest to your clients, and ideally should offer some solutions or help to them. News…

The number one lesson most Social Media users need to learn is that simply being on social media is not enough. The election candidate I saw most from on social media, was the guy who came in last in his constituency. Yet he was very active on social media for months in the run up to voting.  Figures from SocialMediaExaminer.com this year, showed that Social Media gives increased exposure for 92% of business users, but the same research shows that it gives an increase in sales in only 50% of cases.  That, put simply, tells us that half of all people trying to grow their businesses on social media fail to increase sales! That's an astounding figure.  So, why is that? There are two big culprits:  Putting effort into the wrong social media…

You can compound the impact your message makes by doing a few simple things.  Refer to your media presence in your media presence. Your Facebook links to your Blog, your Blog has links to your Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter (if you're using it). Your Twitter points to your Blog, your LinkedIn points to your Blog. Drive traffic to your Blog on your website and everyone comes to where they can see what you do, where you do it, how much you charge (I recommend prices on your site – be honest, be open, be confident), and where they can find your full contact details. This greatly increases action by the client who needs your help.  Consistent look and feel: Same colour scheme, similar or same picture, and same font type…

Content Must Drive Action! This should always be in your mind when you decide to post on any social media. What is the objective that you want to achieve? Is it to have the audience book an appointment? Visit your website? Subscribe or Opt-in to something? Book a course place? These four questions will help you to achieve this: Does the content relate to the objective? Stay on topic and be clear. A cute puppy gets attention, but does it convey your message? Is it eye-catching or attention grabbing? High contrast images do better than low contrast. Is text clear? Is the piece well written and engaging? Does it mark you out as credible/expert/skilled? Show your value and always spell check. A silly mistake can ruin a chance to help…

How often do you do it? It's what everyone wants to know: Once a week, three to four times a week, daily? More??? What gets the best engagement in terms of frequency? It varies by industry and even by product, but some principles do hold. I recommend that you go with advice based on data. Everyone has their own opinion, but data is impartial. Start with the following guidelines and then pay attention to your results. The key is: Try (you must get stuff out there), Track (you must follow how it does), Tailor (you must adjust and improve based on these results).  So let's start with Facebook: - Coke averages a post every second day, - Red Bull averages a post daily, - iTunes averages about two posts a…

I got several questions after last week's tip on one way to use twitter. I strongly recommend a focus on Facebook for more immediate rewards but if you're keen to build both as you go, fair enough, but my main advice is only do so when you've got time left over after your Facebook efforts are done for the week! Tips for general use on Twitter: Be open and personal – say something on your profile that lets people connect to you as a person. If possible make that something unique to you. Fill in as much as you can on your profile page. Use a clear photo that will be recognisable at the small size it shows beside your tweets. In your Bio make it clear what you do…

I spoke last week about not using your social media as a one way loudspeaker. People often think Twitter might be like that, but it's the opposite. Trying to grow a base of followers is almost impossible if you just bombard them with sales messages. As a two way street it can be great.  For mass reach and getting your word out there, Facebook is much better especially for low cost and one off services. Twitter however, gives good opportunities for more personalised efforts as long as the time and effort involved is worth that investment.  Twitter is the listener's social media. One where you put in time to notice what other people are saying and then offer solutions. Let me give you an example: If you want to find…

Always go for engagement over numbers.  Most social media companies will want to push you to increase the number of 'likes' or to get more followers. This is easy to quantify - you see the numbers roll up - and they charge you for those figures.  My advice is never go for higher numbers of likes or followers. Always go for quality of engagement. Making a connection with people is what brings people to get the help they need.  For example, on Facebook, if you create an advert or promote a post with the goal of getting likes, it will be shown to people who have a history of liking stuff. The algorithm increases the amount of people who like lots of pages who see it. The kids with 5000…

I'm sometimes asked; why not just use my Facebook profile rather than set up a Facebook Business page?  The answer is a simple one. The level of tools available to see who liked your post, where the people who like your page live, what gender they are, what time they are online and so on make it much easier to reach them with your message of help.  Make it easy for the people who need your service to find you. Look at your Facebook Business Page 'insights' and use that info to make your life and their life easier.