Social Media

Explore expert insights into social media trends with Croydon’s leading web design and digital marketing company. Tailored for SME business owners in South London and Surrey, our category page is the go-to resource for enhancing your digital presence and engagement

Website design and development

Marketing tips for November 2020

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With lockdown version 2.0 on the horizon, here’s some top digital marketing tips to help keep up awareness of your business going through this period.

Social media

Keep up that solid work you’ve done to build your social media followers. Now is the time to ramp up your presence further with your chosen social networks.

Keep your clients and prospects updated. If you need to change contact details, opening times and whether your services have changed, get your profile updated and share in social posts.

Update your social banner images to let people know you are still open for business even if that is remotely.

Don’t forget to add hashtags in your social posts or add other account handles. This helps to extend reach further.

Website updates

If you have a website, make sure that all your contact details, services and products are up to date. People will still be shopping and searching for services during lockdown.

On the homepage make an update to say that you are still open for business.

Content marketing

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

If you don’t have a blog, we would recommend that you get this added asap to your website. We can help you with that and we can also provide a website audit which will highlight any changes that can help with SEO.

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 with the correct contact details.

Add blog posts, offers, images to this page. It all helps with SEO and getting your website seen online.

Our blog, ‘have you told search engines you exist’ has tips about setting up your Google My Business page. Also take a look at our marketing minute videos we have a selection on Google My Business.

Pay Per Click advertising

You may be thinking why would you do advertising at this time. Now really is the time not to disappear. So, Pay Per Click or PPC can help give your website a boost in search engine results pages (SERPs). If people can find you they will discover your services.

Email marketing

If you have an email distribution list, then perhaps think about starting an email marketing campaign.

Distribute to potential and existing customers and existing on your database. Remember to be clear in your message, include a call to action and ensure you have contact details visible.

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

Digital marketing Croydon

We’re a digital marketing agency in Croydon and the team are all from Croydon so we have a real passion for the area to be successful, inspirational and attract new business and customers for us all to grow and support each other.

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.

Contact us for a free consultation if you want to chat further about the different digital options.

Using social media for inbound marketing

Stand out on social media

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The pandemic and lockdown have caused more people than ever to turn to social media platforms as a means of staying connected with loved ones, finding new ways to keep busy and to do business. With a global surge of new social media users which grew to 3.96 billion at the start of July 2020, we take a look at some of the latest trends in social media and how new functions could help or hinder your business.

Video and social

A trend, which has certainly been heightened since the popularity of TikTok, is using short and snappy videos to showcase your products or services. With 41% of Tik Tok users between 16 and 24 years old this is quite a specific target audience. It’s not for all businesses, but it’s an indication of the importance of video for reaching out to people.

In fact, 82% of twitter users watch video content. Video stands out in a social feed and can give you the edge of a competitor as more people are drawn to video.

Instagram has introduced a similar segment to Tik Tok called Reels. Think of them as quick insight into your main Instagram feed. This is a great social channel for really showcasing products as it’s totally image led. The stories function also allows you to add video content and this is quite prominently placed when followers scroll through their news feed.

Content marketing

But, video isn’t just about using it on a social media feed. Remember it’s another type of content. All your marketing activity is about generating leads and pushing prospects back to your website. So, when you share content on social media remember to add links back to your website.

Make sure your video content is showing on your website too. Adding them to your blog posts really help to liven up content. It makes for engaging content, builds brand awareness and trust, whilst helping to keep people on your website for longer. Placing a video above the fold towards the top of your page is the best position for it too.

Creating a social media marketing plan as part of your content marketing strategy will help to keep you on track so you don’t miss key dates and you can plan social media posts accordingly.

What social platform should you use for your business?

Unfortunately, the answer to which social media channels you should use for your business is not so easy – how long is a piece of string? Whilst you might think you are extending reach, not all social platforms are right for everyone’s business. Before you create a social account, look at your competitors to understand where they are placed and research what channels your target audience mainly uses.

Only give your time to social platforms which will make a difference to your business. For a professional services firm like an accountancy practice, TikTok isn’t the right channel, this is where LinkedIn, Twitter and even Facebook are much more fitting.

Your website hub

Your website should be the hub of all your activity. It enables you to link all your social platforms and digital marketing activity back to it. Regard it as your digital world. Including a link to your website in social posts is a great form of inbound marketing and perfect for lead generation.

Social media agency London

Get in touch for a free consultation. As a social media marketing company we can discuss social media strategies that could work for you, as well as how social media marketing can fit into an overall digital marketing plan for lead generation for your business.

Smart Cow is a digital marketing agency based in Croydon, South London.

What to consider when embarking on your social media strategy

Guide to LinkedIn for business

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LinkedIn, the social media platform that allows you to build and engage your professional network, has launched a comprehensive guide to LinkedIn for businesses. 

With over 30 million companies on LinkedIn and 675 million users, LinkedIn offers an influential social media platform for businesses to increase brand awareness with an interested audience.  

If you are a business that regularly engages on LinkedIn or you are looking to grow your network and enhance your lead generation strategy, this guide will help you get the most from the social media channel.   

The guide includes advice on how to tell your brand’s story on LinkedIn. It offers social media management tips, community management advice, information on paid social and ways on how you can drive business forward with your LinkedIn page.  

Understand your audience 

What’s key with using LinkedIn for your business, as with any marketing activity you embark on, it’s crucial that you know your target audience. This way you can create content that is relevant for them and ensures that your messaging will be of interest and ultimately lead to engagement.  

When using LinkedIn, it’s important to remember that it is a business focussed channel and to keep content tailored with this in mind. Thinking about how your business services or products will help your target audience will really help engagement and generation of quality leads.  

Now that many more people are working remotely and virtual events are the fashion for now, and probably for the foreseeable future, linking in with prospects is much more prevalent and somewhat expected.  

But you also need to remember that your employees are also on LinkedIn so encouraging them to share and like company content will help extend your reach. As the LinkedIn guide says: ‘your employees are your greatest asset and typically have 10x the reach of your LinkedIn page.’ 

Keep content fresh 

As we’ve mentioned before in our blog, by tailoring your content to your audience not only will this help position you as a thought leader in your field but also builds brand awareness and trust. But it’s not just about talking about your own products and services.  

The LinkedIn guide reminds readers to ‘mix up content’ and encourages platform users to follow a ‘4-1-1 rule.’ If you share one piece of content about your company/brand, then share ‘an update from another source and four pieces of content by others.’ This could be an interesting article from a publication, or a new report just launched. All of which should be relevant to your target audience and be from a credible source that has similar values to your brand or is perhaps a client, supplier or partner.  

Social media agency  

If you’ve been embarking on more digital marketing, including social media for your business, but need some guidance or support, we’re a social media agency in Croydon working with local businesses including accounting firms. We work closely with companies on their online lead generation which includes social media strategies.

So, if you’re looking to improve your social media presence as part of your overall marketing strategy book a FREE consultation with us. Let’s see what marketing avenues and social networks are right for your business and which tactics can help you reach potential clients and achieve business growth. Set up a time for a chat and let’s see if there’s anything we can do to support you with a social media campaign or other digital marketing services. 

Digital marketing for accountants

6 digital marketing tactics for accountancy firms

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With many of us now remote working and embedded in the virtual world, the importance of presence online has never been so important.

If you’re an accountancy practice looking to ramp up online marketing activity or need a little advice on where to start, here’s our lowdown on the digital marketing tactics to think about and incorporate into your marketing strategy.

Website optimisation  

We always start with a website review. Take a look at the content and check that it’s up to date. Then delve a little deeper and check whether all the information is on your website that you would except if you were a visitor to the site.

Don’t make it difficult for people to find things. Don’t be fancy. Make your menu and page content clear so that it’s easy for your website users to navigate. Be informative and professional, yet friendly and approachable.

When reading through your current website content, in the back of your mind always be thinking about what people search for when they are looking for accountancy services. These phrases should then become your keywords. Then make sure you have these keywords within content on your website.

Having keywords in your H1 and H2 headers will also help highlight what’s on that page to search engines.

On the backend make sure that you also have your meta descriptions and alt tags completed. This will also help with SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).

Read more about SEO with our blogs, Improve local SEO by creating local content and 6 SEO tips to improve search ranking.

Blogs

Don’t ever think that blogging isn’t for an accountancy practice. With the amount of regular updates for businesses from HMRC, and a lot more right now, there’s heaps of information to be talking about and informing your existing clients as well as your prospects. Be factual with content – offer tips, latest government updates, industry statistics and insight.

Writing blogs or having a news page is a great way to get fresh content onto your website which is what you need to help your accountancy practice be found in search engine results pages.

It’s a great way for you to add in those keywords you’ve researched too.

Google My Business

Make sure you’ve populated Google My Business with details of your firm. This is free to do and at the very least make sure you get the basic information up there about your company, such as website, telephone number, contact email and opening times. This all helps with SEO and it’s another place that you can be found in search.

You can have the chance to add updates too. So you can repurpose your blogs and add the content here as well. It adds quality links back to your website which is another thing that search engines look for to help understand the authority of your page.

Pay Per Click

Pay Per Click (PPC) is a great way to help increase traffic to your website. We recommend having a specific landing page created for a PPC campaign so that when people you are targeting click on an ad they will be taken to a relevant page. This helps reduce bounce rates and attracts quality leads.

A well targeted PPC campaign can help give you a real boost in search results and a way to reach your potential customers.

Social media marketing

A Facebook or Twitter account with up to date detail of your firm ensures you have visibility on two of the largest search engines. Whilst it may not lead to direct sales, they are great brand awareness platforms.

LinkedIn is a great channel for accountancy firms. With LinkedIn it’s worth remembering that you’re networking. It’s not about selling it’s about creating that business relationship.

So, if you’re not already regularly posting on a social media platform, perhaps now is the time to explore this for your accountancy practice. Look at your competitors and see what social networks they have presence. It makes sense to be in the same place.

Read our blog on the different social media platforms and how to use them for more insight.

Email marketing

A targeted email marketing campaign can have a significant impact on Return on Investment (ROI). What’s great about email is you can repurpose content you already have from blogs or it’s a great way to highlight updates to services.

But what’s key is that you make your email campaign personal. Really think about the person who has signed up to receive your emails and what they want to hear about. They are a target audience so think about how your email can benefit them. If it’s sharing news about latest legislation that they should be aware of or some interesting stats that can help their business planning or growth, then that’s of interest.

Our blog on email marketing benefits for your business has some further detail on the structure of your emails, through to the importance of mobile optimisation and analysis.

Digital marketing for accountants 

We provide digital marketing for accountants with bases in Croydon and London. 

Take advantage of our free website review and download our Beginner’s Guide to Inbound Marketing to help you on your digital marketing journey. Or book a free consultation to chat further about your goals for your accounting practice and we can tailor a proposal for you.

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