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

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Attract the right online enquiry to convert leads

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Maintaining good quality leads through your website is key to business growth. For a professional services firm, such as accounting, this is vital to continue business through the current COVID-19 situation and ongoing service to your existing clients.

But to get quality leads to your sales funnel in the first place is the trick. So, here we give a little overview of some of the digital marketing tactics you can employ to help with online lead generation. 

Download The Beginner’s Guide to Inbound Marketing to help you create your inbound marketing strategy to attract quality leads. Read on for a quick summary to get you started.

Quality content 

You’ll be hearing quality quite a lot from us. If you want quality leads then you need to attract clients with quality, tailored content.  

During this time of uncertainty, your content needs to be offering advice to your clients. Keep them informed of legislation, company changes and support through your blog, email marketing, social media channels and webinars.  

Email marketing  

Whilst you may feel that new business is not happening right now, maintaining presence is vital to be certain you will be remembered in the coming weeks when society picks up its pace to the next stage of ‘normal’. 

So, if you don’t already have a newsletter sign up box on the homepage of your website then add that. Capture email addresses and keep in touch with these people who have opted in with regular email marketing campaigns. They clearly want to hear from you so make the most of it.  

Just remember to be GDPR compliant and ensure that you tell people what they are signing up to and make it easy for them to opt out of communication.   

Get quality leads in your sales funnel  

But what should you do to attract the right type of enquiry? 

Make sure you have created a positioning statement about your company, your goals and target audience.  

Create an online persona of your target audience. This simple document will give background to a typical client of yours and provide answers to their challenges.  

Through targeted and relevant content you attract your audience to your website through blogs, optimised website (SEO), social media marketing and Pay Per Click (PPC) ads. It’s worth noting that 89% of online consumers use search engines when making a purchase decision. 

Once a visitor reaches your website, it’s about engaging with your target audience. From the initial landing page with bold calls to action or forms to download ebooks. To close the deal, it’s again about relevant emails and nurturing contacts through a well-managed CRM system.  

Reviews 

Once you have secured a contract with your new client, asking for a testimonial to add to your website or to your Google My Business page can help with gaining further quality leads. With 88% of consumers having read reviews to determine the quality of a local business, it makes sense to add this action into your marketing plan. 

Smart Cow is a digital marketing agency in Croydon. Whether you’re looking for a complete digital marketing strategy or standalone PPC campaign with Google adwords management book a free consultation and we can discuss our marketing services with you.

Digital marketing Croydon resources 

Using social media for inbound marketing

TikTok phenomenon and your business

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TikTok is a Chinese video sharing app which has taken the social media world by storm. It has replaced the empty space left by Vine after it was shut down in 2017, and has similarities to other platforms such as Instagram and Twitter with its use of hashtags, ability to engage with viewers, and the variety of ways you can market your business.

41% of users are between 16 and 24 years old. So, if that includes your target audience, all the more reason to create a profile for your company. However, now because of social distancing, more people will be looking for new ways to connect with friends, family, or to learn something new. 

TikTok brings the opportunity to bring your company more exposure and build your brand awareness. It also allows you to be more innovative in the ways you market your company. TikTok has over 800 million active users each month and beat Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, and Snapchat to be the most downloadable app, (Apple’s App Store), back in Q1 2019.

Ways to engage

It is still early days for advertising and marketing within TikTok which means there is room to try new strategies and techniques. According to the TikTok Ads page you can use hashtags to target specific audiences, there are also interactive polls to engage with your audience.

You can track your performance and maximise Return on Investment (ROI) to ensure you reach relevant audiences.

Like with any social media platform, spend some time navigating through the various pages, finding out what is trending, when the best time to post is. Ensure any accounts you follow are in some way relevant to your target audience and that of the social networking site. To help gain a following promote your TikTok account via other platforms.

Content marketing

This social media channel, like others will fall under your content marketing strategy. If it’s a new channel for you, practice making content; you can leave anything you don’t post in the draft section until you find the style which works for you and fits within your brand guidelines. When you do start sharing content through social media posts, be consistent and keep within your desired aesthetic.

Social media marketing

Learning how to manage your social media platforms is key to promoting your company and attracting new clients and engaging with prospects. It is also important to find out what techniques and social media channels are right for your business. When you create a social media marketing strategy for your business, it’s not a one size fits all approach. Not all channels are relevant for all businesses. A channel like Tik Tok is great for Business to Consumer.

For support on social media communication and other digital marketing services schedule a free consultation with Smart Cow Marketing. As a social media marketing agency, we can work with you to develop a tailored mix of digital marketing that is right for your business.

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Digital marketing tips to help your business during coronavirus

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Regardless of whether your business was already embracing the virtual world, or you were just starting out in the digital world, one this is for certain, these times have highlighted the need for online presence and maintaining it.  

So, we’ve gathered a few tips for you to action now to optimise your website to help improve your search engine rankings and online visibility.  

If you need a hand with any digital marketing activity just drop us a line as we offer free consultations and free website reviews. These can really highlight areas specific for you to implement.  

Website review  

Once a website is built, you’ve got to maintain it with up to date content. The hospitality industry has already had to change the way they do business quickly to offer takeaway and delivery services. Whatever your business, you and your customers are being impacted. So, take a few moments to see that you are offering the right advice on your website. Makes sure you’re being informative and a thought leader. Add a simple message to the homepage of your website about your opening hours, how to contact your team and ‘business as usual’ even though working remotely.   

Check your content details are up to date. The last thing you want is clients unable to get through to you when it may just mean a simple update of an out of office contact number. For most businesses, the use of VOIP phones mean no disruption when remote working. But it could be a simple overlook of not checking your website that could prevent business coming your way.  

Also make sure you have ease of navigation across your side. Internal link building can help the flow for a visitor. So, see where you can add links to other web pages on your site so that it’s easier to move from one page to another by just clicking a link.

Specific content marketing plan 

Review your content marketing plan, from blogs through to social media posts and offers. Make sure you’re answering your target audience’s specific challenges during this time.  

Think of the challenges and draw up a specific marketing plan for the next couple of months, if you haven’t already. Schedule planned content on specific themes to help your clients and prospects. With constant change in our everyday, revisit your plan regularly and adjust creating content accordingly. During these times you may find a ‘news jack’ offers timely advice as well as links to great resources. 

Search Engine Optimisation  

This is at the core of your content marketing plan and website updates. A Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) strategy is about getting your website seen. Now more than ever, you should make sure that you implement a few processes to continue moving forward.  

Get your technical backend SEO sorted and up to date. This includes Meta Descriptions, Alt Tags, Meta title tag (H1 and H2 headers). Do this now and continue to do so. This helps your website in search engine rankings and is particularly good for local search.  

Create at least a couple of blogs a month, if not more, to help with adding fresh content to your website. All the time think about what you want to be found for – those are your keywords you want to weave into your content. This keyword research will help with where you appear in the search engine result pages.

Social media marketing  

Keep on sharing posts on your social channels throughout this time. Keep communicating with your followers letting know any business changes, how you can help them.  

Take a moment to review of your channels. LinkedIn is great for networking but so often we’ve found that business profiles aren’t updated as best as they could. Add as much detail as you can about your business. Start following relevant hashtags and join groups. Start engaging. We’ve certainly noticed that engagement has increased as more and more people are reaching out as they find that the business world they were used to has changed.  

Be thoughtful of your content. Share articles you found interesting. And, use imagery to help your posts stand out.  

Video and webinars 

Talk directly to your audience. You can make videos efficiently, simply and at no extra cost on your mobile phone.  

Repurpose content from your blogs and make short and snappy videos to accompany them to bring your social posts to life and your web pages.   

Read our blog on using video for business for tips on setting up videos for your business for some useful dos and don’ts.  

Seek out local networking groups and see if you can create beneficial webinars for fellow members which can be hosted via channels such as Zoom.  

We’re a member of London Chamber and will soon, be hosting a webinar on How to grow your business through online lead generation on 20th May at 12:45. We’ll post details of how to register to join in due course.  

Free resources  

We’re a digital marketing agency in Croydon and we have the following resources you can draw on during this time. Get in touch with us today to talk through your requirements.

Free website review: Find out how to improve your website’s performance.  

Free digital marketing consultation: Our Free consultation should be between 15 and 30 minutes. The goal is to provide you with thoughts on how to start an effective marketing campaign and for us both to see if it would benefit your firm. No obligation at all, we just want the best for you. 

Using social media for inbound marketing

Maintain presence through social media

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As we start to adjust to our new ‘normal’ working from home, having meetings via video and keeping in doors to stave off coronavirus, now is a good time to take stock of your current social channels for your business and how it fits into your overall marketing strategy and search engine results. Make the most of your channels and continue to maintain presence over the next few months.   

In this blog, we’ll give you a few tips to help you with your social media presence as well as ideas for making your content more targeted.  

Who are you marketing too?  

It’s important to be targeted. You need to know and understand your audience. Now could be a good time to take a look at who your core customer is and really understand their needs as business owners. Once you’ve defined your audience, use this insight as the basis for creating a persona for them, read more about setting this up.  

By having the details of the persona to hand when you write social media posts, or any content for that matter, this will help you provide answers to their questions and help them overcome their challenges. Ultimately you want to build trust with your audience.      

Content marketing  

Build a social media strategy and tailor your social media posts to the platform, its users and your target audience – your potential clients. A chatty tone for Facebook or Instagram will differ to the messages you want to get across on LinkedIn.  

Whichever social network, remember to be a thought leader to your audience. You can do this by providing tips, advice and comments that your target audience will be interested to hear about and would want to share themselves.  

Right now, writing blogs, email marketing, or creating ad campaigns about the government’s coronavirus advice for businesses and access to grants is a great way for accounting firms to keep in touch with their clients to help give some reassurance to large and small businesses alike at this unprecedented time.  

It’s important to get the right tone of voice for the social platform you’re using. But, that’s the beauty of taking the time to research and create a persona. Now you know the right messages for your target audience. 

Avoid sales on social  

Ironically in order to drive sales you have to refrain from using textbook sales techniques on social media platforms. This is meant to be a social environment and people are generally not there to be sold to. Especially at this time, businesses are looking for advice, tips and how to guides to help them get through the challenging times.  

Have a think about what tips you can offer your target audience and create a blog and a few image led social posts centred around your helpful tips.  

Due to these unprecedented times, it’s less about lead generation and more about being helpful and supportive with your content marketing. Think of how you can support local businesses at this difficult time.

Review your social media channels  

Social media management for your company is key, however it is important to note there’s clear answer as to what the right social media platform for your business is to reach out to your client base. It’s worth remembering that one size does not fit all. Take the time to review what platforms are right for your business, brand and the prospective clients you want to reach out to. 

By maintaining presence through social media and new blogs on your website can help in the long term with your website ranking in search results.

For support on social media communications and other marketing services please schedule a free consultation with Smart Cow Marketing which is a social media agency in Croydon

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