21 Dec

Posted at 07:43h in Content Marketing, Thought Leadership

shutterstock_346762226

So you’ve written the perfect post, short story, comic, etc. You’ve marketed it successfully and garnered a number of hits in a matter of a few weeks after posting it. Now what? How do you maintain that post’s online presence? You want to maintain a conversation and keep news media interested, but how do you keep that news relevant? We’ll discuss that in this article.

Tip #1: Let Readers Share It

When your readers can easily tell others about your posts, it can quickly become free advertising for you. With most content management systems (CMS), it is relatively easy to add social media share links to your posts. The scenario here is; reader #1 shares your article, which leads to reader #2. They share it, which leads to Reader #3 and so on.

Tip # 2: Paid Promotions

Another option is to continue paying for ads or pay to have another brand promote your material on their site or YouTube channel. This option isn’t always favorable however, but it can get you some new readers. You will have to be careful about who you pay – always do your research and make sure whatever site or channel you’re paying to promote your material has its own steady stream of consumers.

Tip #3: Use Syndication

There are some critical advantages of syndication and guest blogging, which can give your content access to audiences who would otherwise be unaware of who you are and what you do. While there’s no direct SEO benefit from guest blogging/syndication, the opportunity to extend your influence is hard to pass up. The biggest downside of this approach is that you’ll have to decide which of your ‘creative crown jewels’ should be handed over to a third party (instead of running on your own site).

Tip #4: Plan for Reuse

Inbound marketing relies on trading access for someone’s content in exchange for permission to re-message those who seek access. Consequently, having an inventory of long-form, high-quality assets such as e-books is critical for inbound to work. But producing such works can mean a lot of effort. If you (or your team) is stretched in this area, you can cut e-book production time by planning each blog post to serve as an individual chapter in a longer work. Once the series of posts is completed, compile them into an e-book, add appropriate graphics, an intro and outro, and TOC, and you’re done.

While some social media uses of content are short-lived, content can last forever thanks to strong SEO. Even if you haven’t written the content with the idea that it is evergreen, you never know how it may rank down the road. A CMS that allows you to adapt navigation surrounding older content is a great way to reroute visitors to fresher, more relevant content.

I hope this article is found helpful. Content can truly live forever online; it just requires a healthy amount of upkeep to do so. If you can keep exposing new people to your content, it will never fade away.

20 Dec

Posted at 14:53h in Copywriting

Creative_Writer

As 2015 draws to an end, South Africans are looking forward to a month of celebration and relaxation. Well, except those brave souls that decided to rebel against December’s holiday rates, didn’t put in leave, and are now sitting in a desolate office staring at Facebook friends’ selfies at the sea…

For those who are fortunate enough to be on vacation, the 344 days of stress, strain, and over-utilising the brain suddenly seems worth it as mind-sets shift into reverse gear.

Apart from braving the crowded malls filled with I-can’t-believe-I-left-it-until-now shoppers, most of us will be ending the year with lazy days filled with lots of sleep, lots of food, and lots of socialising.

Have a break. Have an… outtake.

December isn’t only a month where we take a break – it is also a time where we reflect on the past year. Even brands are doing it – videos are popping up everywhere online, listing the ‘best of’, the ‘worst of’, and the ‘cutest of’. YouTube’s videos have become especially popular with its #YouTubeRewind concept, showcasing the most popular videos with compilations such as The 10 Trending Videos of 2015 and the Now Watch Me 2015.

Reflection is a good thing. It is how we change past experiences into lessons for the future. When it comes to copywriting, the same principle applies. So although traditionally December is a month for reflection, I’m going to do a little projection.

Here are some trends I think copywriters should look out for in the next year:

Respond to responsive platforms.

Copywriters should keep mobile in mind when writing copy for websites. Fortunately, similar principles apply for both platforms – copy should be broken up into bite-sized paragraphs, should be short and to the point, and the introductory copy should be captivating.

Don’t duplicate. Create.

Social media isn’t just social anymore. More and more businesses are launching social media platforms before they have websites. The problem is – many brands put a lot more thought into the purpose and maintenance of a website than they do for social media. Without a strategy, brands inevitably end up sharing content to keep their platforms ‘alive’, or they share things that don’t interest their audience.

Brands must create high-quality content that is original in 2016 if they want to stay relevant and engage followers.

What’s your point?

When it comes to digital, less is more. As attention spans grow shorter, content should as well. Copywriters must find the balance between being engaging and getting to the point as quickly as possible – without reverting to Twitterspeak.

Yes, that is actually a word and a recognised language.
#Twictionary.

Think ? instead of !

More and more people are searching Google by posing questions. This clearly shows that although people are bombarded with irrelevant information every day, they are still hungry for relevant information.

Instead of approaching an article with the goal of selling something, rather put yourself in the mind-set of your consumer by asking yourself: Which question/problem/issue can I solve with this article?

Cheers to great content.

At the end of the day (and the year), my golden rule is simply that I always try to write about topics in such a way that I would want to read it.

I hope that my advice assists copywriters out there to create great, impactful content for the next 365 days. A very merry festive season to everyone and cheers to the New Year!

 

08 Dec

Posted at 11:09h in Thought Leadership

Website design is fast becoming a crucial element in promoting your brand. You may already be aware that having a website could benefit your business but, you might not be fully convinced of the value it could mean for your brand and the impact it could have on your brand image.

The Difference Between a “Good” and “Bad” Website

Both (good and bad websites) are relatively easy to make. However, a website that one person believes is great, could be the exact opposite of what another perceives to be the opposite. Taking this fact to account, the best way to distinguish websites is to explain the difference in effectiveness between the two.

The Good, The Bad and The Improved

Conflicting Design Choices

You should strive to create a website that is easy to understand and has the same theme running throughout. This can be achieved though using standardising fonts, font sizing to differentiate headings and paragraphs and steering clear of using too many colours. It is also important to take note of the benefits of information hierarchy and how implementing this can allow for a better user experience, which could result in increased lead generation on the website.

Generally, a website will have more than one person working on the design, and all too often this is evident to anyone analysing the site. The site may lack consistency in the; font, image, and page layout decisions. There might sometimes be information that appears to be contradictory also.

The Bad – A great example of a site that could do with a bit help improving their design choices is PackRat. This website evidently has a wide product offering and thus there is a lot to work with. This can be used to benefit the company’s online success in today’s predominantly digital age.

The improvement – A good example of a website that has improved consistency is, House of Shibe. On this site, the layout, font, image and overall design consistency is evident. This leads to a great user experience – what you want to achieve.

Key Information

Important information should be included on the landing page of your website. This is to ensure that the person viewing the site knows exactly what the site is about and can decide if it answers the reason why they are there or not.

The Bad – If users find themselves having to scroll down a website page and search for information that is relevant to them, it may result in an undesirable response. The message should be clear right from the word “go”.

The Improvement – One way a website could make information (such as services they offer) clear is by using circle icons and a slider at the top of the webpage for additional information. An example of a site that successfully did this is 360 Deals. As seen below, they have represented the key info through a slider at the top of the website and they have used clear icons to represent products and services that the company offers.

Navigation aka The Menu

When designing your website, you need to keep in mind that you want the site to be as easy for an audience to understand as possible. If it is easy to navigate through, you are more likely to keep visitors on your site for longer periods of time, which will hence improve the success of the website. It is important to categorize the correct information under the correct pages. People don’t want to search for information.

The Bad – Too often you come across a website that has a menu navigation that is either confusing or not there at all. This leads to the viewer having to think about what they are doing when they are navigating through your site. This could result in frustration and the visitor might not be interested to find out more about the company.

An example of a site that has a navigation that is difficult to understand is the African Expedition site. At first glance, it is difficult to understand what the site is about, as seen in the image provided below. Once you try to interact with the website, you met with difficulties in the navigation.

The Improvement – A great example of a site that has been able to achieve fluid navigation is the Freckle Eyewear website. You can clearly see where everything is located. The main message (catalogue) of the site has also been highlighted because it is an it is an e-Commerce website.

Website colours

You ultimately want users to focus on your content, ideas and your company. Don’t allow them to focus on the design of your site over the message the design is meant to be highlighting. Therefore, make use of conventional and where possible, solid colours that highlight the content on your site.

The Bad – It is very easy to become excited about using exotic colours on your website which can make for a unique digital presence that could potentially lead to viewers wanting to take a second look. Unfortunately, the shock factor does not always allow for this. There is a small, however detrimental difference between what makes your page “pop” and what is distracting to visitors.

The Improvement – A good example would be that of the Actionaid Africa website. The contrast between the greys, red and white, highlight the content and the message is communicated well as a result of this. It also allows for the images to play a part in the composition of the site as well, as opposed to appearing too cluttered.

Low Quality Imagery/ Graphics and Unreadable Fonts

You don’t want to solely rely on imagery to communicate your message With that taken into consideration, the various forms of imagery and graphics that you place on your website should be high in quality. This must either be developed by a professional, or you could consider purchasing from a site such as Shutterstock.

The Bad : Some companies have very outdated websites that make use of clipart imagery or low quality images (such as those taken on phones that have substandard cameras). You also sometimes find that in addition to this, fonts are often hard to read or are not displayed as they should be by modern day browsers.  The website may also be unresponsive too. An example of a website that has used bad quality imagery that could definitely be improved is the Ukwazi Group website.

Although the overall concept of the site is plausible, the quality of the website can be improved with higher resolution imagery and better graphics in general. The current images on the site appear pixelated.

The Improvement – When analysing if you have made the right choice in your font selection, try putting yourself in the viewer’s positon and ask yourself, “If I was looking at this website, would understand straight away?”. You may just find that you are unable to understand what is being communicated. There are many sources where you can find web fonts that are best for your website such as Awwwards. A good example of a site that makes use of clear fonts and imagery that communicates the message of the firm well is the site for Vula Green Energy Incubator.

Choose The Right Design Team

Your website is ultimately your online representative and can be responsible for a substantial amount of leads being made (or fail to, as may be the case). It is therefore important that you don’t just let anyone design or work on it. Work with, or assign the job to a team of expert creative professionals who know how to get you the results you’re looking for.

19 Nov

Posted at 14:28h in Copywriting

BWD_Click_Blog

 

 

In a previous blog entry we shared some professional advice on how to get the attention of your target audience.  But even though getting it right is a major feat, it is only half the battle won. Because you don’t just want a click, you want a conversion.

A conversion takes places when a user of your website takes an action, such as make contact, download a file, make a purchase, or ask for more information. Simply put, your audience shouldn’t only click on your site; they should also click with you and start engaging immediately. Here are five simple tips that can help to improve your click to conversion rate significantly…

 

1. Don’t base your efforts on assumptions. Be sure to get your facts straight

Make sure the company that manages your website is exceptionally good at interpreting the data that can be obtained from Google analytics. You need to constantly check how many people visit your site, what they were searching for or what made them go to your website in the first place.

If they land on your site, but leave soon after, then maybe you weren’t targeting the right keywords or phrases. For example, perhaps you targeted the phrase “how to have a beautiful lawn” because you sell pesticides, but your users were hoping to find landscapers or instant lawn instead. In such an instance, you’d have to adapt your adwords and online campaign accordingly.

Also, understanding what drove traffic to your website – will help you to focus the majority of your efforts on those activities that yield the best results.

 

2. Always address the “what’s-in-it-for-me” first before talking about YOU.

Always drive straight to what it is that you can offer your target audience and how it can solve their needs or issues first. Only when they understand the benefit to them, will they be interested to know more about what makes yours different from similar offers out there – and why you are the go-to place for it. Keep it short, sweet, real and honest. And without exception, if you make a statement, you need to be able to substantiate it tangibly, with facts, figures, testimonials and outcomes.

 

3. Enter the battle for attention fully armed – by knowing your enemies.

Your website company should also be able to show you how you are faring against competitors who have a similar offering than yours. If you consistently get fewer hits than your competitors, you obviously need to rethink your own communication. You may have to conduct more frequent and more impactful campaigns or come up with creative ideas to make your offer more attractive.

 

4. If you don’t remain ahead of your game, you WILL eventually lose.

If you don’t remain in touch and attuned to the ever evolving needs of your target audiences, you risk becoming irrelevant in your market. Digital platforms create opportunities for direct input and feedback from target audiences – that are second to none. A consumer driven enterprise could for example gain significant benefit from a strategically planned social media plan, whilst a digital content sharing strategy will be more suited for business to business engagement.

 

5. It’s all about action, action, and more action.

Everyone needs a constant nudge in the right direction. Be sure to include strong calls-to-action on every single one of your website pages or to let it form an integral part of any digital campaign that you roll out.

17 Nov

Posted at 09:41h in Thought Leadership

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We’re not sure about you, but all of us at BWD are great fans of the glamorous SA TV and radio personality Pearl Modiadie. This is why were über excited to recently welcome her to our client stable. Take a look and the logo and website we created for her a few weeks ago and let us know what you think?

Doing what you love while making a difference in the greater scheme of things, is in our opinion – first prize. This is why we are privileged for the appointment to completely revamp the Magalies Water Board in Rustenburg’s website.

A key objective of this project will be to create awareness and educate the public about water as a critical resource – that needs to be preserved. Considering the drought that our country is currently experiencing, it is also a topic that is relevant for all of us.

Another cause that lies close to our hearts is education.

For this reason, I am honoured to have been one of the speakers at the Marketing Your School in the 21st Century Conference 2015. The programme featured gurus like Arthur Goldstuck and we all addressed forward-thinking topics to help schools understand how elements such as digital marketing and the social media landscape are relevant to them.

I specifically spoke about a rather exciting topic:  “Anatomy of Great Website Design That Google loves”. I am also thankful for great feedback from the event organisers.

 

Bongani 1

 

[dt_button link=”https://www.facebook.com/BreezeWebsiteDesigners/posts/1123392197672951″ target_blank=”true” size=”medium” color_mode=”custom” color=”#d83131″ icon_align=”right”]View Conference Images[/dt_button]

 

Some of the greatest people in business have realised that you can only succeed if you appoint people who are smarter than you are. We are proud to have specialists on board, like my colleague Lesedi, whose article about logo design was recently published in SACreatives.

By now, you may have realised that there is never a dull moment here at BWD. Entrepreneur Magazine in the meantime also conducted a photo-shoot and interview with me for their January 2016 edition. Do get yourself a copy if you’d like to find out what the word is on the street about me.

Some time ago, we mentioned to you that we’ve produced a promotional video for UJ, to help them grow their alumni member base. As a result, we can now officially say that we create award-winning work, as UJ scooped up a MACE (Marketing, Advancement & Communication in Education) award for this video.

Finally, I would just like to do a big shout out to some of our own. Our superstar Account Manager Jade; just celebrated her 1st year anniversary with BWD. And our champion animator Shivesh had his birthday last week as well. Congratulations to both of you. We’re lucky to have you on board and to share such moments with you.

Yours creatively,

10 Nov

Posted at 06:32h in Corporate Identity, Video Animation

The simple answer is… that there isn’t a simple answer.

 

There are generally two schools of thought on the answer to this question:

 

Option 1:

 

Producing a video is nothing more than pressing the record button on a camera, throwing the footage into a computer and out comes a finished video, upload it to YouTube then done!

 

Option 2:

 

It costs hundreds of thousands of Rands for a professionally produced corporate video, because we have to get Steven Spielberg, helicopter shots, catering, permits, actors, pay for locations, stunt drivers, etc.

 

The truth is Corporate Video can cost as much or as little or as your budget allows.

 

Here are some of the main factors that can influence the pricing:

 

 

Planning Phase

storyboard

Creative Concept / Script / Storyboard / Research

 

After an initial meeting with a client we gather all the information required for the creation of the production.

 

One of our qualified graphic designers will then develop a concept, script and storyboard that will serve as the blueprint for the video production. This gives the client a clear understanding of the expected outcome.

 

We consider information such as; the overall style of the video, the target audience, the mood, the goals, the budget, the script, storyboard, and locations, and then proceed to plan the production accordingly.

 

At this stage, preparations are also made in terms of project management. Any imminent deadlines will be discussed so that they can be incorporated into the project plan.

 

Pre-production

venue 

Locations / Graphics Design / Visualisations

 

This is where we plan the technical aspects of the production such as:

  • Where the filming will take place, what types/angles of shots we need to take, and what equipment will be needed to visually translate the message of the production across to the viewer.
  • Are there client logos or a corporate identity we need to incorporate into the production workflow? And if there aren’t any visuals, do we need to create custom graphics?

We need to take all this into consideration before we move to the production phase. It requires a substantial amount of time and travel to ensure that everything goes according to plan, at this stage.

Equipment

 

One of the major cost factors in a production is the equipment, below is a list of some of the basic equipment needed when filming a corporate video.

  • Camera: This is what sets the standard of quality for the production. A professional entry-level camera can cost a minimum of R50 000, and that’s without the lens. Bigger production companies have the money to afford better quality cameras such as the Canon C300, RED or Sony NEX-FS700RH Super 35 Camcorder which costs almost as much as a brand-new car in the R160 000 range, like a Nissan Micra.

camera

  • Lights: One of the most important necessities needed for a high quality production. You are looking at around R30 000 for a professional lighting kit, where as some lights can cost up to R140 000 a piece.

lights

  • Audio: In order to create a meaningful impact with your production, you need to have quality sound. Sound kits can easily cost around R15 000 consisting of items such as a Lapel mic, Boom mic, Headphones, 4-channel handheld recorder and Cabling. Although the price can increase exponentially depending on the sound rig you desire.

sound

  • Tripods: This is basically a mount for the camera to stand on, so you can get steady shots. A quality tripod stand with a fluid head’s starting prices is around R17 000

tripod

  • Storage (Pro compact flash memory card): The last thing you want to do, is run out of storage. Having a few CF cards on set can help speed up the recording process. A 64gb CF Card costs roughly R1 500 each.

chargersstorage

  • Batteries and Charger: Recording footage requires a few batteries so it is advised that you carry a few extras with you, a battery costs around R 450 and the charger cost R 700 each.

 

  • Lenses: This is where your costs can really escalate – camera lenses are one of the most expensive attachments – and one of the most crucial. Camera lenses ranges from R4 500 all the way up to R350 000.

lenses

 

Crew

 

Project-ManagerProject manager – R600 per hour

camera-man

Camera man – R500 per hour

boom-swinger

Boom Swinger (sound guy) – R500 per hour
video-editorVideo Editor – R650 per hour
Graphic-designerGraphics Designer – R500 per hour

copy-writerCopywriter – R550 per hour

Camera-crewaltogether that gives you a price of R3300 per hour for the whole crew.

Production

shooting
The number and nature of crew needed may vary depending on what we are filming, and whether we filming at a studio or on location.

 

We record the angles/shots agreed upon in the planning phase. We record as many good takes as possible, because when interviewing a CEO for example – who isn’t a professional actor – it could take up to 20 takes to get it right.

 

The number of cameras needed (and therefore camera people) will obviously have an impact on the budget. Our camera crew typically consists of 2-3 people. We generally have at least two camera angles (with one person for each camera) and a third person holding the boom mic for our backup sound. Or in some cases when we have a 2-man crew, where one person will handle both cameras and the second person will handle the sound.

Lighting can also impact the bottom line, depending on the requirements of the location.

 

It is clear that the number of days required for filming has a massive impact on the budget. Not only because of the costs associated per day, but also because this will impact upon the amount of footage to be looked at and cut for the edit.

 

Post Production

 production

 

The post-production stage is when all of the pieces are assembled to create a video that resembles the plan agreed in the planning phase, and the value of a professional approach is undeniable here.

 

We review all the footage recorded to make sure we choose the best shots. This is a time-consuming process, however if done correctly it makes the process efficient.

 

After editing the video into the chosen segments, we then proceed to place the scenes in the appropriate order decided upon from our initial storyboards.

 

We then grade the footage so it reflects the correct mood of the content it also adds more contrast and gives the footage a greater impact to the viewer.

 

Once the footage has been internally reviewed, then graphics, music, title sequence, special effects and animations are added to the production.

 

The last step would be to send the video for final mixing and rendering. The export format will then be discussed with the client and sent in their preferred format.

 

Post-production costs will be kept to budget if the pre-production and production phases have been conducted professionally.

The average price for an editing suite is around R11 404,37

Additional Costs

 

  • Language/translation – if you need your video to be translated, or need to have different versions in different languages, you are looking at additional costs.
  • Subtitles/closed captions – If you want the subtitles embedded in the actual video file, this needs to be budgeted for.
  • Licensing fees – Fees can apply to (actors, presenters, voice over artist and music)
  • Stock footage – if you require stock images or footage for your videos then these will also need to be sourced and paid for.
  • Insurance – If you own the above-mentioned equipment then you need to pay insurance for it.

 

Conclusion

 

So, what does a corporate video cost?

 

The answer is: There are so many variables that go into video production, and like our clients, each video we work on is unique. We will work with you and your budget to maximise the potential for your video production ideas.

A poor-quality video is only going to damage your businesses reputation, which is the last thing you as the client want.

 

Your business and company are reflected in the videos you post, so you need to make sure that your video reflects your brand. Of course, every production company’s price structure looks different, but this process above outlines how we at BWD determine the cost of a video production.

 

More information

 

If you need a professional corporate video don’t hesitate to contact BWD Advertising (BWD) for an obligation-free consultation on (011) 321 0193 or email info@bwdadvertising.co.za.

03 Nov

Posted at 08:42h in Video Animation

Video Transcript

Welcome to the first of many introductory videos of our employees here at Breeze Website Designers

 

https://youtu.be/GcjkCLlaRis

Hi there, welcome to the first of many of our introductory videos to our team. My name is Jade, and I am the account manager at Breeze Website Designers. To put it in simple terms, I manage all projects and communication between the clients and our team. I also ensure that you get into the media.

Another aspect of the agency that I focus on is sales meetings on a monthly basis. Essentially what my day involves is making everyone happy, and in order to make everyone happy, I have to communicate. Therefore, on a daily basis I am communicating via emails, phone calls or meetings. At BWD, we have a number of processes in place to ensure that we achieve great results. This would include processes such as providing clients with briefs, as well as requesting that all information are sent to us prior to the start of the project. We also ensure that a client is communicated with at every step so that they know exactly what is happening.

We also require that very extensive feedback is sent back to us that we ensure that we know exactly what the client is wanting. When people ask me why have I come to BWD or why should I go to BWD, I have a pretty standard answer that I do mention to quite a few clients and potential clients. This answer comes from actually physically working with the team on a daily basis. We have a young group of incredibly talented designers that put absolutely everything into what they do, and they basically make the projects their own baby, if you want to put it that way. So no matter what you are coming to BWD for, you are guaranteed to get 100% quality.

If you require a live footage explainer video such as this, please don’t hesitate to contact us

Audio transcription by Speechpad.com

21 Oct

Posted at 06:18h in Website Design

shutterstock_110595323-resize

 

 

Project management has become such a useful tool in all types of businesses. The main intent of project management is to help streamline employees and their jobs to make sure that the business runs smoothly. Project management has found itself to be quite useful in business because it makes things easier and helps remove the risk complications from someone not doing their job, or more than one person working on the same thing. Not only does project management help streamline your business but it also helps you to reduce costs. Project management is thus a crucial aspect of business.

So why is project planning crucial for website design? For the exact same reasons that it is great for your business: It will streamline the process and save you money in the long run. When it comes to website design, there is also the benefit of making sure everyone knows exactly what needs to be done, and this will make sure that your client will be absolutely happy with the completed product. If something is not to your customer’s satisfaction, then you can easily look to see who was responsible so that they can remedy the issue.

Project management helps set up timelines to show the duration and the process of the project. This will help with accountability to make sure that people understand what needs to be done and when it needs to be completed by. The project manager can use this information to let the client know how far along you are in the project. The clients can also monitor the website design process every step of the way to make sure everything is going well. Project management is great to help keep constant communication between the client and the website design staff to make sure everything is working well throughout the process.

To ensure that everything is running seamlessly, there are a few useful tips for you to keep in mind:

  • Prior to starting the website design project, the client will need to ensure that all of the content has been formulated. This is essential to make sure that the project will be completed on time.
  • All of the images that the client want, must be in high resolution and not pixelated, as this will improve the quality of the website’s design.
  • The client must be in constant communication with the project manager. This will help to make sure that all problems are resolved in a timely manner and to help keep the client informed of what’s going on.

As you can see, project planning is essential to website design. Project planning is great to help you make sure that your staff is doing everything that they need to do, while making sure that they complete the project by the stipulated deadlines. This is also something that will help you keep an open communication channel with your clients. If you want to help ensure customer satisfaction, you will turn to project planning to help things run more smoothly.

You may find that there are clients who wish to skip the planning and discovery phase, seeing it as a waste of time and resources. In such cases, it is vital that the project manager persuades the client to invest in a proper planning phase so as to clarify their intentions, content needs and strategy. If you cannot persuade the client to allow for a discovery and planning stage, then it may be worth reconsidering working on that project.

For more information on website design and project planning, feel free to call BWD Advertising (BWD) on (011) 321 0193 or email info@bwdadvertising.co.za.

15 Oct

Posted at 14:07h in Social Media, Thought Leadership

It is known that the first great step to making a sale is to understand the person you are selling to. Initially, this would have been achieved through physical interaction and research. However, social media has allowed us to progress and a lot about your target market can be found through various online platforms.

First of all, it would be best to kickstart this topic by explaining which platforms are best for promoting your product or service. The below diagrams found on Shopify that explain this well:

 

Screen Shot 2015-10-15 at 3.09.51 PM

Screen Shot 2015-10-15 at 3.09.09 PM

 

Although this diagram makes it seem as though Social Media is a winner, it is only responsible for 1% of direct sales, and only 1% of visitors from Social Media will purchase a product or service. Why is this you ask? Because most businesses are unsure of how to make use of social media to sell effectively.

So now the questions is: How can you use Social Media Effectively to generate sales?

 

Step 1: Determine The Best Way To Connect With Prospects

 

As we have mentioned, you can’t sell anything to anyone unless you sell it to those who want it, and sell it to them in a way that is suitable for their interests. This can be done through a bit of social media market research.

 

Ways in which you can achieve this is by checking out where your competitors are promoting, or by sending out a survey to a smaller group of people and getting a result from that.

 

Business to Consumer

 

Colleen Francis, a sales expert and president of Engage Selling says that “Facebook is one of the best arenas for business to consumer sales.” However, it is important to keep in mind that without an advertising budget, promoting on this platform can result in the opposite. Therefore, keep in mind that it is important to use other “free” platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest in combination with Facebook to gain the most exposure. Through this combination, you will be able to engage with your target market using interesting images and posts that appeal to people and interconnect between the different platforms to achieve the most exposure and hence attract sales.

 

Business to Business

 

LinkedIn is known for being the leading business-to-business online platform and can be assumed to be an appropriate platform to sell to other businesses as it is more of a professional networking environment.

 

General Selling

 

Twitter is a great platform for a variety of different sales. What is important to remember here is that people who can be found on Twitter are there to have problems heard and solved. Saying this, listen to what your market is saying and make use of Twitter to help solve problems. People will love you for it and you may just walk away with not only a few happy customers, but your wallet will be happier too.

 

Although there are so many different routes to sell through social media, It is best to focus on two or three, and ensure that these are operating well. From here, you can then dip your feet into other ponds such as blogs, live chats and comment sections. Again, on these, it is just as important to be a problem solver as it is on Twitter.

 

Moral of the story: Know where your market is and go there. People are always up for a good conversation.

 

Step 2: Join A Community And Create A “persona” For Your Brand

 

When customers, both existing and potential, interact with brands, they are essentially interacting with a “person” that is interesting and trustworthy. Exactly how you would interact with a friend or family member. Should you not be likable online, people are not going to want to do business with you, and you can kiss that filled wallet goodbye. Saying this, you also don’t want to try force or manipulate people to go to your website. This can be referred to a situation whereby you are trying to get your best friend to join “this amazing new pyramid scheme where you are bound to make thousands in just one month.” No, this won’t work.

 

So, be that likeable brand/person that people want to interacy with and don’t try hard sell from the word go. It is important to not abuse the easiness of social media.

 

Step3:: Connect With People

 

In this step, you want to connect with those who are, or could potentially match the profile of client you want to generate sales through.

 

Give social media platforms such as Social Mention a go. There you will be able to find people who are talking about your industry or various other related words. Once you have found them, interact through commenting, retweeting, answering questions or sharing things that they have mentioned. By doing so, you add value to the network and formulate healthy relationships. From here, they won’t mind if you follow them, and they may just give you a follow back.

 

Don’t think at this stage that it is perfect timing to bombard these potential buyers with purely sales pitches and product or service adverts. Keep it casual. They are all still human and we don’t want them thinking you aren’t the “person” you made out to be.

 

 

Now on to the real fancy stuff…

 

 

Video marketing has become one of the greatest tools for the online promotion of brands and has of course been a great initiator of good marketing feedback and sales.

 

Let’s pretend you have a substantial budget to spend on advertising and are looking at trying something different for a change. As seen in the diagrams above, video selling boasts an impressive response and sales rate and you want to give it a go. What do you do?

 

First of all, you need to have the video created by an experienced agency or individual with a great track record. Once this company or person has been found, they will guide you on what is needed to create the video. It is important to take note of the following:

 

• You have to be honest – just like what was mentioned above, you will only make “friends” if you are honest.

• Keep it consistent – yes it is nice to use one video to kickstart your video marketing campaign, but having a series of videos will keep your customers’ attention and convince/remind them that they need to purchase your product or service.

• Secure deals with demos – this will probably remind you of those ancient Verimark adverts. However, it doesn’t need to.  Change it up by making it interesting. As we mentioned before, you want to solve problems. Find the problem before it arises and show people how your product/service will save the day. No harm in banking on “what-ifs”.

• Get involved – people love being seen in the public. Use ideas such as video submissions and recommendations to your advantage. You may find out just how important word of mouth or “peer influence” really is.

 

Where To Put The Video

Ok, so now you have a beautifully made video/s that you are so proud of, and you now want to start making the “moolah”. Where do you put it?

 

Although there are quite a few different platform options to choose from, we will start with two of the largest options being Vimeo and YouTube . Bear in mind that at every step you want to generate sales off these platforms.

 

Vimeo

Vimeo offers high quality, high definition (HD) videos that surpass the quality found on YouTube. Your business will need to pay for an account to host videos. However, you are given the option to place your videos on other websites including your own.

 

Another benefit of Vimeo is that no advertising is allowed, so your viewers are assured of a great viewing experience. Remember, experience is everything. If your consumers have a great experience with your brand, you are bound to get great feedback.

 

YouTube

Looking at targeting huge audiences at a low cost? YouTube is definitely the option for you then. The only issue here is that you are going to have to compete with over a million advertisers trying to reach the users you are targeting too.

 

On the plus side, it is easy to use with Google AdWords integration so you will know exactly which and whose videos are performing well.

 

This article on “Vimeo Vs. YouTube: Which Is Best for Business?” can explain further.

 

 

The growth of social media marketing in today’s society has, and is, continuously growing at a rapid rate. Studies show that 70% of businesses generate leads on social media. It is therefore important to understand how to use it in order to ensure that you are able to make money off of it. Keep up to date with trends and stay on top of your marketing strategy, and you are bound to see great results.

 

Measure your success

There are many free tools to monitor your social media engagement but they don’t reveal whether people clicked through to go to your website. Google Analytics is a great tool for learning about your customers, plus you can see how many people have visited your website through social media. Learn what works for your audience and what doesn’t. By consuming this data, you can work to making your social media a triumph.

For more information on how to leverage social media to generate quality sales leads, feel free to contact BWD Advertising (BWD) on (011) 321 0193 or email info@bwdadvertising.co.za for an obligation-free consultation.

 

Reference :

https://www.shopify.com/blog/12731545-which-social-media-platforms-drive-the-most-sales-infographic