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Benefits of social media for business

11/08/202107/28/2020 by scmarketing

With constant change being the norm right now, businesses have a lot on their plate. Simply running your business from day to day, managing finances and keeping up to speed with government schemes to help out will certainly be taken up your time. That’s where marketing sometimes slips down the agenda, but it is a key activity to keep up so that you maintain your presence in the marketplace.

It’s worth remembering that social media is a way for you to reach your audience and build brand awareness. We know that time is of the essence and that you don’t want it impacting on your day. So, we’ve gathered together some top tips on what to do to refresh your social media profile and then some tips for 5-minute daily tasks to keep your presence out there.

Your profile

It may seem obvious but is your social media profile up to date and have you completed all sections available to you? Always makes sure you have your website address, email, telephone number visible. On many social channels such as Facebook you can add in your opening times.

Perhaps it’s also time to refresh the company bio. If you wrote it a while ago, does it still reflect the company you are today? Keep it simple and get across what you do.

If you’re revisiting social media for the first time in a while, then now is a good time to review whether you are on the right channels. You may already be on Facebook and Instagram but what about a LinkedIn company profile? Including this activity in your social media strategy will help you concentrate your efforts moving forward.

Conduct a little research with your customers to find out what channels are most popular and research which social media channels your competitors use.

Content marketing

With social media you are talking directly to your target audience so make sure that what you post is relevant to them. Ultimately, it’s about posting your own content. If you write blog posts for your website, then use this content in bite size chunks across a number of social posts. Re-purposing your content is a great time saver. But again, if you don’t have time right now then here’s some tips on some ways to start posting and encouraging engagement with your audience:

Re-sharing (retweet) articles of interest or social posts. Add a comment to it to place your own thoughts on the topic so you can be seen as a thought leader.
Is it a national or international day of interest relevant to your business and your audience? Adding the relevant hashtags will help extend reach.
Talk about company milestones.
Do you have any new products or services to talk about? And, remind people about what you do offer.
Run a special offer.
Tips, stats, insight – all great sources of information.

Whatever social platform or platforms your business is on you need to keep on sharing content on a regular basis to remind people about your business. Here’s our tips on daily activity to help keep your feed populated with interesting and varied types of content. It’s about letting your followers know you are thinking of them.

A one-off action is to create lists of favourite news feeds that you know always share interesting articles for your audience. Once you’ve done this, then each day dip into the lists and see if there is anything to share.
Check notifications, have you been mentioned, or any posts highlighted? This is another quick way to see if there is anything interesting to share. It’s also a time to make sure whether there is any comments you need to respond to.
A daily social media post about your services/products.
If you are involved in any virtual events or participating in the Eat Out To Help Out initiative then talk about it.

Marketing automation

For a small business, it can be difficult to manage with everything else you have to juggle. So, marketing automation tools such as Hubspot can help you manage when you send social media messages with its social media scheduling capability. It means you can spend a bulk of time scheduling a month of social posts in advance.

We’re a social media marketing agency and can help you formulate a social media campaign as part of your overall digital marketing strategy.

‘Eat out to help out’ marketing tips for Croydon establishments

11/03/202007/23/2020 by scmarketing

From 3 August, the government’s Eat Out To help Out scheme will get underway. Restaurants, bars, pubs cafes – an establishment that provides an eat on site offer for diners – will be able to sign up to take part in the scheme. It means that on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday up until 31 August, diners can benefit from up to 50% off when eating or drinking soft drinks in participating places.

So, Croydon restaurants have you signed up to the scheme? If not, here’s the link to the details of what to do: Register your establishment for the Eat Out to Help Out Scheme.

But, once you are signed up, it’s important to spread the word. The government has promotional items you can utilise here.

At the moment, it may be less about passing trade as many people will be making plans first before going out. Therefore, while traditional marketing like signage in your restaurant window is important, we’ve got a few more online marketing tips you can implement swiftly to help spread your reach.

Social media

If you’ve not been doing much social media up until now, then now is the time to ramp up your presence with your social network.

Make sure you’re taking some fantastic shots of your amazing dishes and share on your social channels. Instagram and Facebook are great for foodie places. With Instagram it’s all about the look and there’s nothing more appealing than a plate of tasty food.

Make sure you tell people in your posts that you are part of the scheme. Give them an insight into your menu, anything new, your most popular dishes and your specials. Be descriptive with your post though. While a good image does say a thousand words, there’s no point posting a picture of a burger on your ‘specials’ menu that day which gives no indication of what’s in it. While you want engagement with people, try and make it a little easier for them to understand what’s in the picture in the first instance. This will help prevent you answering unnecessary questions – which can be time consuming and if not replied to in a timely manner could affect how people perceive you.

Re-confirm your opening times and update your profile with any new details.

Extend reach of your post by adding hashtags. Here’s some general Croydon foodie hashtags you might want to consider as well as some standard ones you should always think about:

#Croydon #EastCroydonCool #Croydonbar #Croydonpub #Croydonrestaurants #Croydonfoodies #Croydonfood #Croydonrestaurantquarter #Instafood #lovefood #foodstagram #foodpic #foodie

Note: don’t forget to hashtag what your food is! So, if it’s burgers or pasta – well, I think you get the picture!

What’s the story?

Don’t forget to utilise the Story function on Instagram and Facebook. This is another way to be seen by your followers as it stands out at the top of the feed.

Encourage diners to share their visit on social media and take pictures of food. If you’re on social media have your social handle visible in your restaurant and tell diners about it.

When someone shares a post and tags you in, you can use the little arrow function just below the image. This allows you to share this to your stories and you can thank the customer for their visit.

To create a story from scratch just click on ‘your story’ upload an image, then use the text function ‘Aa’ and write a brief message. For this campaign you could say ‘Eat Out to Help Out. Book Now.’ Or perhaps describe what mouthwatering food is in your image.

Or a simple way to create a story is once you have added a post to your Instagram feed, just click that arrow below your post and you can share to you story.

You can also search for the Eat Out to Help Out gif to liven up your story post. When you’re in story mode just click the square face and explore.

Website updates

If you have a website, make sure that all your contact details and menus are up to date.

On the homepage make an update to say that you are part of the scheme and encourage people to make a booking with a bold call to action button.

If you have a blog, make sure you add content to that and do so regularly. This really helps with search engine optimisation and your business being found in search engines. Fresh content is great for ongoing organic rankings.

Google My Business

Do you have a Google My Business page? If not, get one set up – it’s free! If you do have a page already then make sure all details are up to date. The last thing you want is an incorrect telephone number.

You can also add offers and updates to this page. So, tell people you are part of the discount scheme.

Remember to add imagery to your business page, this is a great resource for restaurants to showcase their dishes.

Remind diners to leave a review. Testimonials are a great way to encourage potential and returning customers.

Our blog, ‘have you told search engines you exist’ has tips about setting up your Google My Business page.

Email marketing

If you have an email distribution list, then now is a great time to start an email marketing campaign and distribute to potential customers on your database. Remember to be clear in your message, include a call to action to book now and ensure you have contact details visible.

Look at our blog on what to check before you send your next email marketing campaign – this has a checklist of what to run through before you send your email including you have a visible unsubscribe link. You must make sure you are GDPR compliant.

Digital marketing Croydon

We’re a digital marketing agency in Croydon. We know the stomping ground and we’re here to support you. We’ve got some additional marketing resources you might want to take a look at which cover the different types of digital platforms and online advertising to help you form a digital marketing plan.

4 tips for successful website design and development

06/01/202107/21/2020 by scmarketing

Look at your online business in the same way you would a shop. Traditionally, as much as a physical bricks and mortar location needs a good foundation a website too needs to be built on a solid foundation and structure.

If you don’t invest in the initial infrastructure of the website, even though the design may be top notch, potential customers searching for your services may have difficulty finding you.

Here’s four points to be aware of when embarking on a new website design for your business. While there’s lots more to consider about the design and functionality, these are your vital starting points to build that robust foundation so that your website structure is optimised.

1. Sitemaps

A sitemap is basically as you will have thought – a list of pages of your website. This is in addition to your main visible menu designed for the website. Clients often ask us ‘why a website needs this specific site map’. The reason being is that it gives both users and search engines an understanding of the layout of your site.

The site map makes it easy to return pages in search engines as it has a clear understanding of where to find your content on your website. This is the start of you creating a solid foundation to build your website.

2. Bot accessibility

Make sure that search engines can find the content within your website and that it is not hidden from view.

Your structured list – your site map – is also meant for web crawlers. This is an important visitor that you want to attract to your website!

Make it easy for the web crawlers (bots) to access and move around your website. You want to do all you can to get your website seen by the search engines.

Our blog on link building for improved website optimisation will also give you some tips on driving traffic to your website.

3. URL structure

The URL name and structure are important to the success of your website. By naming the page closest to what the page is about and what you want to be found for will give the search engines the best chance to find you. Naming pages correctly and structuring the site accordingly is key to your SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) strategy.

4. Quality content

Content is key for the success of your website. Knowing your target audience means you can tailor the content for them including keywords that you want to be found for in search engines. Keep it simple, easy to read and insightful. Be the thought leader in your field.

Take a look at our blog with SEO tips to improve search ranking. It includes an overview of keywords, link building and local SEO which all fall under your content marketing strategy for improving SEO.

Web design Croydon

We’re a Croydon web design agency, with years of experience, building bespoke websites for accountants and local businesses which are mobile friendly and designed to attract, engage and convert prospects. 

Once we build a website clients can take advantage of our range of design services where we build a marketing campaign around your target audience. With a mix of digital marketing tactics such as pay per click advertising, social media marketing, email marketing, video or blogs, we build an ongoing content marketing strategy to attract good quality leads to your business.

If you’re looking for web design company to update your website or would like a brand new website developed, then get in touch with us for your free consultation.

If you’re unsure about the state of your website then why not take advantage of our FREE Website Review. This will highlight areas that may be impeding your website being successful in search engine rankings.

If you’re looking for a web design company in Croydon, we look forward to speaking with you soon.

‘New normal’ – 3 marketing tips for accounting firms

04/07/202107/17/2020 by scmarketing

With many accounting firms adapting to working remotely and conducting meetings virtually, now that lockdown is easing with some offices reopening for skeleton staff, it’s time to get on board with the ‘new normal’ and get your marketing focus back on track.

What’s key is ensuring that you continue to maintain the quality level of service for your existing clients as you start to ramp up your marketing activity. While looking for quality leads is important, maintaining a high level of service for your existing clients can reap rewards with additional service requests to help navigate the raft of grants available allows for cross sell opportunity.

So, how do you maintain your quality level of service for existing clients as you look to attract new clients?

Here’s our top 3 online marketing tips for accountants for ongoing engaging client liaison to keep customers and prospects well informed providing you with the opportunity for increasing revenue and growing your business.

1. Marketing automation

Is it time to consider implementing marketing automation into your accountancy practice? This can help free up valuable time as marketing automation can take on those vital but time-consuming and repetitive tasks.

You may be forgiven for one moment in thinking: ‘But does this not take the personal touch out of the equation when the aim is to offer a high level of client service?’

In short, no. One aspect of marketing automation is the ability to pre-set email sequences that cover a range of scenarios such as meeting a contact at a virtual networking session. You can then schedule to send the pre-written email when you’re back at your desk.

But by creating a sequence of let’s say three emails, you can plan to send the second one after a few days with some pertinent insight and then if you do not hear back after the second email, then a third is sent. If there is engagement at any point then this triggers a halt on the email chain so you can jump in to make the next response totally personal.

You can also automate your social media marketing so messages go out in a timely manner.

If you’ve managed with webinars and Zoom meetings, perhaps now is the time to delve a little deeper into the technology available to enhance your business and your client’s experience. This could be a game-changer for your accounting firm.

2. What’s your content marketing plan?

We’ve been through a roller coaster of government announcements these past few months. One thing that’s key with an accountancy practice is your knowledge and insight to navigate the financial landscape.

Let clients and prospects know about your expertise and your guidance. Your accountancy firm is not just about payroll, bookkeeping, corporate finance or VAT returns, you are an advisory service. Therefore, your expertise in understanding all the implications and potential benefits available is a huge help for businesses trying to simply get by, keep their customers and pay their staff. So, communicate this with your client base with updates on your website about the latest news and government announcements. You can also share this content via email marketing or social media with links back to the full blog on your website.

We recommend that you compile a content marketing plan adding key dates in so you know when you can write a blog post about a particular topic and send out timely communication that will help your clients.

For prospects, this continued sharing of information helps to build trust with your accounting practice over other firms. If you’re offering advice that is helping, then you have more chance of getting a call for a consultation.

Regular and new content on your website with keywords that you want to be found forms part of a search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy. Including this in your plan will really help give your website a boost in search results pages.

3. Review your target audience

Over this period have you discovered that you’ve been working in one or two sectors of industry more than others? Or perhaps you have had more enquiries about a certain service or from similar sized businesses. Now is the time to review these frequent enquiries and really understand who your target audience is. This will help so much with engagement and attracting quality leads because you can tailor your marketing communication specifically to their concerns. This positions you as the thought leaders in your area of expertise.

Here’s our advice on creating up an online persona (an imaginary person that is your typical target audience).

Digital marketing for accountants

We don’t know what the landscape will be in a few months-time but as it is, with your expertise and a little time exploring your marketing options, you can be a step ahead of the game.

We are a digital marketing agency in Croydon offering a specialism in digital marketing for accounting businesses. Why not take advantage of our free website audit so you can understand whether you need to make any updates to your website so that it is optimised for lead generation.