Social Media Competitor Analysis

What is a social media competitor analysis and why is it important for your business?

It’s important to know what other companies in your sector are doing, and the aim of a social media competitor analysis is to learn from your competitors and identify any strategic opportunities.

Is a social media competitor analysis essential?

It should be a vital part of your company’s marketing plan. By undertaking a competitor analysis, you can benchmark your business, learn from your competitors’ strengths and take advantage of their weaknesses, establish the level of service that your target audience expects, what they engage with the most and determine a niche to set your company apart.

Investors and key stakeholders will be particularly interested in a competitor analysis; they want to know that you are both realistic about your positioning in the market and thinking strategically about what direction you need to be heading in to future proof your business.  Here is a useful article from Entrepreneur which also gives you an overview and contact us for details of how we can help.

How do you do it?

Firstly, you need to know who your competitors are; a minimum of three competitors should be identified at local level and at least one at national level.

You should then determine where each holds an online presence across the various social media platforms. On each platform, you should note:

• Are there core channels that each competitor is active on?
• How are your competitors using these core channels to meet their goals of sales, brand engagement and customer service?
• What is the frequency of updates? Are they taking a consistent approach, or is it an ad-hoc?
• What content is being used and how?  Do they use a mix of media content?
• What people/companies respond to the most/best?
• Are they creating tailored content for each channel?

Summary

Once you gather this information for each competitor you will be able to identify who are the leaders in each area, what they are doing best, what your target audience responds to the most, what everyone does well and what nobody does well.  Once you have this information, it will allow you to benchmark your social media marketing plan, by creating an easy to understand competitor matrix, rating each area on the above set of criteria. 

To compete in the world of business you must know your competitors!  For more information on the services BizWizUK offers please click here, call us on 0161 826 7181 or email info@bizwizuk.co.uk.

By Ann Davies, Director

Are you Open for Business?

Have you taken advantage of the new LinkedIn Open for Business feature yet?  They say that this feature allows small and medium business owners and professionals to network and connect with others who are looking for the services that you might offer.  Here’s a short video to explain in more detail.

So, what does this really mean for you?  When a LinkedIn member searches for a service provider with your area of expertise, your profile will appear in that search.  It is then up to your potential clients to get in touch if they are interested in your services.  However, you must remember to tick the box that allows LinkedIn members whom you’re not connected with to message you for free!

💡 If you haven’t downloaded the LinkedIn app, you’re missing a trick.  The app is free and connects you effortlessly to your account from your phone. I think it is very easy to use, with features constantly being updated.  It lets you check your enquiries and messages, invite people to connect, and review updates.

Of course, if you haven’t updated your profile in a while then I recommend you do the following; Choose a profile picture of yourself, not your company logo, add your work experience, include relevant work experience, add a summary – use this space to explain things such as why you started your business or role, experience and more. For more information about updating your profile click here.

Summary

Your LinkedIn connections are one of the best ways to help source experts who you trust, as well as building relationships with those key prospects.  By opting in to Open for Business, (which is free of charge), you will show up on any relevant search results (see video link above).

Help encourage new prospects to come to you, give Open for Business a try!

My LinkedIn in-house workshops are tailored specifically to your company’s aims and objectives, offering real, practical, intensive and hands-on training that works.

Whether you’re looking for a one to one or group workshop I can help. Prior to your workshop, we’ll discuss your objectives and your workshop will be tailored accordingly. All workshops include 8 weeks’ follow-up, mentoring and support to ensure you succeed as a result.

Get in touch with me at info@bizwizuk.co.uk or call me on 07752 539719 or via our contact page.

By Ann Davies, Director

Photo credit: LinkedIn.com

Time for an Autumn Review?

As we’ve entered last part of the year, and busy it will be too, it might also be a good time for an autumn review. Look over your social media platforms, profiles and website, to ensure everything is up to date and accurate.   Here’s some simple ideas to ensure you tick off any outstanding points on your social media “review” list:

Review your page and profile details

Scan your social media bios and see if they need updating, you might be surprised to see that they are out of date.  What about your individual LinkedIn profiles, have you looked to see if they have your correct contact information, company website links, does the headline need reviewing?  Would your LinkedIn profile benefit from any other aesthetic changes?  Watch out for any old or outdated banner images.  You may have had a rebrand but haven’t changed your social media logos and images?  Look to see if anything is off brand, this needs to be reviewed and changed accordingly.

Secure your accounts

Did you know that you can apply two-factor authentication to further secure your accounts and it is time to review your passwords?  Don’t forget to check your LinkedIn company page admins; do you have ex-members of staff on your LinkedIn company page as admins, this will need addressing ASAP!

Revive old LinkedIn conversations

Have you forgotten to reply to LinkedIn messages or conversations from the past?  It’s not too late, have a look at your LinkedIn inbox and check.  You just never know; it could be the difference between landing a business deal!

Review your website

Evaluate and update your content, is your services and blog out of date? Do you need to add more client testimonials and/or case studies and do you need more call to actions? Here, you’ll find some ideas to improve your website here.

Review your overall plan

Have a look at what is working and what isn’t and look at new ideas.  Would it help to incorporate a mix of media, encourage your whole team to engage in your posts?

BizWizUK can take your business to the next level by supporting your social media marketing plans. If you don’t have the in-house resource or expertise, we provide an outsourced tailored solution.  Get in touch with me at info@bizwizuk.co.uk or call on 0161 826 7181 or via our contact page.

By Ann Davies, Director

Back To Basics

Not every social media platform is right for every business and before you get started, let’s get back to basics, starting with the what, which and who:

What are your company’s goals for using social media?

Are you raising awareness, promoting your products and services, raising awareness of your culture, updates on projects, success stories, or engaging with stakeholders?

Which platforms are we going to prioritise?

Where is your audience/s and what platforms are your competitors using?

Who is going to take ownership?

Who in your company will take ownership for your social media strategy, or will this be a shared role?  Are you going to offer any training to support them, this needs to seamless because mistakes on social media will affect your company’s reputation, and how will you review and evaluate their effectiveness, always testing and measuring success?

Complete a competitor analysis

A competitor analysis in social media marketing is an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of your current and potential competitors. Your analysis should be able to identify opportunities and threats.  This doesn’t have to complicated, here’s our guide. 

What is your content strategy?

Your content strategy should relate to the planning, development, and management of content, whether this is written, video or other.  Consider the sources of your content, will your content come from reputable sources, will someone within your company write the content, such as blogs, commentary on latest industry news, case studies or success stories, or will it be outsourced?

Get the tools!

If you don’t have the right tools to help you manage your social media strategy, it will become all too overwhelming.  There’s a never ending array of tools, here are some ideas and recommendations for you to try, depending on your budget.

Evaluate

Over time, you will get to understand, what topics your followers like, and the imagery working alongside.  How many enquiries or call-to-actions (CTA’s) did you receive, or which posts had the most engagements?  You can set your company’s own key metrics depending on what you deem suitable. However, it is important to start at the beginning, back to the basics.

Leave it to us!

We pride ourselves on getting to know our clients’ business’, their products, services and audiences, tailoring solutions to suit.

If you’d like advice or to talk through your current social marketing plan and how we can help, whether it’s a training requirement or outsourced solution, please contact us or give me a call on 0161 826 7181 or connect with me on LinkedIn to discuss ways my team and I can support your business.  Alternatively, we have a whole host of complimentary fact sheets to help you on your own social media marketing journey, right here.

By Ann Davies, Director

Outsource Social Media?

Should I consider outsourcing our social media marketing?  This is a dilemma for small business owners as there be a temptation to try and do everything in-house and, in some instances, this can be a wise decision.  However, hiring experts to manage certain tasks can mean all the difference; knowing when to outsource can help reduce labour, increase efficiency, save time and money.

If you have a project requiring a high level of expertise, it would be time consuming for you to undertake this in-house meaning you’ll only put it off and the work will simply not get done.  By choosing to work with us, you can be assured that the project gets started quickly and is completed on time.

Small businesses outsource their social media marketing to us and we are in a position, having built solid relationships with other agencies over the years, to recommend various other aspects of digital marketing such as content marketing, website design, PR and graphic design, to these trusted agencies.  We keep up to date with changing marketing trends so our clients don’t have to, but bear in mind the following advice to make certain that outsourcing works for you:

Cost efficiency

One reason you might want to outsource is to reduce operational and labour costs while improving the bottom line.   This comes into question if your project is left in the wrong hands, so choose your expert carefully.

Your Business’ Reputation

It is vital that the highest possible standards are maintained when managing reputation; businesses live and die by their reputation.  Failing to take a business’ reputation into account when outsourcing may be the biggest mistake you could make.  Ensure your expert company has excellent processes in place; do not allow service levels to drop or your identity to be at risk.

Innovation

Internal constraints in businesses can stifle development projects.  For example, a software development company recently outsourced their marketing to us because internal team members were too close to the business to “think outside the box”.

Ultimately, outsourcing your areas of business to us means you can focus on what you should be doing: running and growing your business in the knowledge that your social media marketing activity is being expertly handled.

Take time to reap the rewards

Outsourcing is a key element for small businesses today and to dismiss it as an unnecessary function is short-sighted leaving companies at risk of being left behind by their competitors. Efficiency will be lost for those who attempt to manage all areas of their business in-house without external expert support.

Leave it to us!

We pride ourselves on getting to know our clients’ business’, their products, services and audiences, tailoring solutions to suit.

If you’d like advice or to talk through your current marketing plan and how we can help, please contact us or give me a call on 0161 826 7181 or connect with me on LinkedIn to discuss ways my team and I can support your business.  Alternatively, we have a whole host of complimentary fact sheets to help you on your own social media marketing journey, right here.

By Ann Davies, Director

What Your Franchise Should Know

LinkedIn is a great professional networking tool to communicate with existing and potential franchisees, connect to peers, monitor competitors, and find new talent for your franchise.

Many franchisors don’t realise the true power of LinkedIn and this is great news for those who do, as they can easily fill that void with a lesser amount of effort than on more crowded social channels.  Many have started leveraging LinkedIn to different ends – from monitoring their online reputation to developing and nurturing a loyal community and attracting franchisees.  Your franchise should be listening to your audience, responding and opening conversation, encouraging them to engage with your brand.

How are businesses using LinkedIn?

1. 94% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn to distribute content ^*
2. 80% of B2B leads come from LinkedIn ^*
3. LinkedIn has the highest visitor-to-lead conversion rate of all social media platforms at 2.74%, compared to Facebook at .77% and Twitter at .69% ^**
4. 46% of social media traffic to B2B sites comes from LinkedIn ^*
5. 79% of B2B marketers believe LinkedIn is an effective lead generation source^*

LinkedIn can have a big impact on your capability to generate franchise leads and opportunities and convert prospective buyers into new owners.  Here’s your snapshot of what you need to know:

Know Your Audience and Reach Out

Who are your prospective buyers on LinkedIn?  The better you understand and can answer this question, the easier it will be to engage, connect and position your franchise.  Search for people who fit your ideal franchisee or are based in areas where you’re recruiting. Reach out to them because even if they aren’t a good fit, they might know someone who is!

Competitors

Review your competitors’ LinkedIn company profiles, as well as a few personal profiles of employees.  This will help you to better understand how they’re positioning themselves toward their (and your) target audience. Take notes on what their profile and company page tell you about them and the franchise.  Can you do better, do prospective buyers really get what your franchise is all about?

Company Page

Post regular educational, informative and fun news about your franchise together with any team news and PR that your brand receives. Not only will this show the ‘human’ side of your brand but will increase the awareness of your brand, when people research their franchise opportunity.  Examples of content to post could include: video, mentions in the media, any market expansion, new location openings (newly signed up franchisees), awards and recognition, franchisee testimonials or case studies about their investment, and charitable activities.

Showcase

Develop a showcase page that focuses on your franchise opportunity.  Showcase Pages are extensions of your Company Page designed for highlighting a specific product or service. Create your Showcase Page for aspects of your franchise with its own content, to attract your target audience.

Share

Amplify your voice and encourage employees to share updates via their personal profiles, maximising your exposure and help keep your brand top of mind with employees’ friends, contacts and business connections: these types of connections are historically excellent at helping to make referrals and recommendations on your behalf.

Groups

Engage with any LinkedIn Groups relevant to your target audience.  Share your content relevant to keep top of mind with those people who may be a potential franchisee in time.

Sponsored Updates

Use sponsored updates to cost-effectively maximise a post’s visibility; target people based on parameters such as location, work experience, current job title, age, skills and educational background.

Upgrade Your Membership

LinkedIn has different Premium account options for those who want to get more out of LinkedIn. If you have a free account and want to upgrade, you can compare account types described here.

LinkedIn is an excellent platform for supporting your franchise development efforts.  If you’d like to chat about any LinkedIn training requirements, bespoke to your company either on a one to one or group basis, or ongoing management and support, please contact me on 07752 539719 or 0161 826 7181 or email info@bizwizuk.co.uk.

By Ann Davies, Director

* https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/blog/linkedin-b2b-marketing/2017/10-surprising-stats-you-didnt-know-about-marketing-on-linkedin

** https://bebusinessed.com/linkedin/linkedin-statistics-figures/

10 Fresh Social Media Ideas

One of the hardest parts of managing any kind of social media marketing campaign is coming up with new ideas.  If you’re expected to juggle numerous social media platforms and keep them up-to-date with fresh posts then I’ve put together some fresh ideas especially for you – enjoy!

1.Run a competition or giveaway

Everyone loves a freebie, and they’re a great way to encourage engagement.  However, it’s not as straightforward as you may think;

Is your giveaway going to be related to your brand?  Consider free products, free membership, free guides, free videos, free advice.  It’s not necessary to relate the giveaway directly to your brand but it can be useful to do so, especially if you do have branded freebies to give away.

Does your competition have terms and conditions, point of contact, contact details, etc?  You must include terms and conditions if anything goes amiss, plus it shows your competition in a legitimate light.

2.Create bite-size video

Video is necessary for brands but sadly many don’t see the investment worthwhile.  However, video gets loads more engagement than text alone and especially useful on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.  There are some great ideas from the @KrispyKreme feed here.

3.Re-purpose your content

For every piece of content created, either written or video think about ways to promote it beyond its original format.  For example, pull a client testimonial or quote and re-purpose it into an image via Canva (my team really like this platform).  Likewise, re-purpose your video content into bite-size previews of your longer video from your YouTube channel.

4.Tutorials and how-to’s

Free advice, and step-by-step guides and tutorials are a great way to educate your followers.  This can works especially well in the food and drink sectors for cocktail making and food recipes – think Jamie Oliver for one.  Consider short, to the point videos while still giving loads of free information.

5.Go live

There’s nothing more compelling than live video to capture your audience’s attention.  All social media platforms offer the opportunity to stream live.  Whether you’re vlogging from your kitchen table or conducting a Q & A session, responding to your followers in real-time establishes a more personal connection.  Don’t forget you can re-purpose and use again across your platforms.

6.Give your clients the spotlight

What better way to promote your brand than to ask your clients for a testimonial, here’s one that we made earlier.

Alternatively, you could show your clients how much you appreciate them by giving them a shout-out.  This goes beyond tweeting those who support your business with something much more powerful and special.

7.Take advantage of trending news

The best ideas come along when you least expect them to.  Trending news on Twitter and Facebook signify a way for your brand to capitalise on a window of opportunity for such content to be relevant.  Use Google Alerts for hot-off-the-press news and various industry-appropriate news channels as soon as it goes live.

8.Run a social-media exclusive deal

Adding a promotional code to any offer will help you to get the insights you need to know how many are buying from you and how much they are engaging.

9.Respond to your followers

Brand should always be willing to talk to their followers.  Time is precious and taking the time to respond, shows that you care.  Whether you’re praising, addressing a concern or question, or just saying hello, your response can represent your brand in a whole new light.  Think about combining customer service with a humorous twist, telling them how much you value your followers’ feedback.

10.Go behind the scenes

Show the people behind the brand because the core of any brand is their people.  “People buy people before they buy your services.”  Offer a “behind the scenes” snapshot of your people in the office, over a team lunch or team get-together.  It’s important to humanise a brand!

BizWizUK can take your business to the next level by supporting your social media marketing plans. If you don’t have the in-house resource or expertise, we provide an outsourced tailored solution.  Get in touch with me at info@bizwizuk.co.uk or call on 0161 826 7181 or via our contact page.

By Ann Davies, Director

Your Startup on Social Media

Getting your startup business on social media has never been as important and with 3.48 billion people now use social media, that’s an increase of 9% from last year¹. This means an astonishing 45% of the total world population are using social networks, and that is growing every day.

Check out my 5-step process to help your startup get started.

1. Set S.M.A.R.T Goals – Make sure your goals are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound.  For example, you may want 50 new followers in 30 days.  Use analytics platforms to track your online activity in real-time, we use and recommend Cyfe.
2. Competitors – Look at your competitors by conducting a competitive analysis that will help you to understand who your competitors are and spot any opportunities, strengths and take advantage of their weaknesses.  This is also a great way to draw on inspiration from other businesses that are great on social media, taking note on the different types of content they publish and how they engage with their audience.
3. Set up Accounts – Determine which platforms you are going to use, looking at those where your target audience lie.  Set up and optimise your accounts, completing all profile fields using your industry specific keywords and any hashtags, use branded images that correctly reflect your new start-up and are correctly sized for each individual platform.
4. Start a Social Media Calendar – Start creating a content schedule that lists the date, time and different types of content for each channel.  Use a social media management platform, which will help you to makes finding, scheduling, managing, and reporting on social media content much easier, we use and recommend Hootsuite.
5. Test, Measure and Test Again – Tracking your activity and data using one of the monitoring tools above will help you to see what works and what doesn’t.  Evaluate and test again until you see what works and what doesn’t.

Summary

Help to improve your startup’s brand loyalty, engage with your audience, and build stronger client relationships by getting on social media. This will set you apart from your competitors by showing your audience how your company is different and reinforcing that your business is the experts in their field.

Should you have any questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch, whether that’s for a bespoke LinkedIn workshop for you or your team, a face to face or a remote-based one to one workshop or ongoing, outsourced social media marketing support.

¹ Hootsuite

Exploring LinkedIn Pages

LinkedIn Pages are often overlooked so let’s explore how your employees can be more engaged and help support your marketing team. LinkedIn Pages are a platform where employees have an opportunity to share the latest news and achievements of your company and to show how much they are engaged.  Pages is also a place to highlight what day to day life is like at your company, whether you’re recruiting or offering potential clients a sense of what it’s like to do business.  This will not only show what dedicated employees your company has but it will also support your culture at the same time.  Use your Page to establish yourselves as leaders in your industry and build brand awareness.

There’s also LinkedIn Elevate, which is a paid-for product that helps companies find content for their employees to then share on the platform. Whatever your company’s aims, it’s important that everyone in your company helps to support the awareness of your brand on Pages by helping to share the news.

However, if you do not have a company Page, LinkedIn’s ‘how to’ instructions are here.

Here’s how you can support your company’s LinkedIn Page efforts from just 10 minutes a week:

• Actively engage and reply to Page updates, by:
  • Following your company’s Page
  • Liking an update
  • Commenting on an update if you feel appropriate (include your own point of view on an interesting update or statistic)
  • Sharing and commenting on an update to your connections (again, including your own point of view on an interesting update or statistic)
• Above all, ask yourself: What will my connection take away from the content I am sharing?  What will help them to click to read more?

Each month your marketing team will be looking at your LinkedIn Pages’ key metrics, and they’ll be looking for analytics such as:

• Page followers
• Post clicks
• Engagement
• Comments

Remember, from just 10 minutes a week your employees can support your Page and that’s great news for all involved!

I have a complimentary factsheet with lots of tips and ideas to support your LinkedIn marketing plan.  If you’d like a copy, please contact me.

Should you need any further assistance please don’t hesitate to get in touch, whether that’s for a bespoke LinkedIn workshop or ongoing, outsourced social media marketing support, to help ensure that your brand stays on top in 2019.

By Ann Davies, Director

Image courtesy of LinkedIn

Google My Business

The Importance of Google My Business

Having a solid presence in Google is key to a business’ success, not least because it is the most used search engine in the world.  In fact, as of December 2018, NetMarketShare reported that 73.62% of all searches were powered by Google.[1]

Considering this, how can businesses compete better in Google?

One way is to ensure that you have a detailed Google My Business listing set up which is a tool for businesses to create a presence for themselves in Google Maps.  When you search for a local service in Google, paid adverts are displayed at the top, 3 Maps results (Google My Business listings), known as the ‘Snack Pack,’ follow, and Google’s organic search results appear last.

Important Information to Include in a Google My Business Listing

1. Business name
2. Business type
3. Address/areas served
4. Opening Hours
5. Phone Number
6. Business Description
7. Google Reviews
8. Google Posts

What are Google Posts

Google posts can be used to promote your services and offers in Google.  They appear in your listing and last for 7 days, so it is important that you are making at least 1 post a week to make potential customers engage with your business.  In the example below, we have posted an explainer video and a link for people to book a web-demonstration of our customer reviews platform, but you can post about anything you like!

Local SEO Advantages with Google My Business

In November 2018, Moz published an article on the 2018 local search ranking factors survey which made clear that Google My Business signals account for 25.12% of your ranking in the Snack Pack which is a 32.14% increase from 2017.  Google reviews account for 15.44% and Google Posts account for 2.82% of your local Snack Pack ranking.[2]  Not only this, Google My Business signals, Google reviews, and Google Posts account for around 19% of your organic Google rankings so it is vital to a strong local SEO campaign.

Ensure that you fill in your business information in full, collect positive Google reviews, make regular posts about your work and offers because Google will reward you by returning your listing in the Snack Pack and in organic search more often than businesses with poorly filled out listings.  This increases the chances of people using your business when they are searching for a service or product that you offer locally.

BizWizUK partner with TRUSTist and not only do we use their services, we recommend them to our clients too!  We’re delighted that they have written a guest blog for January.  TRUSTist is the market leader in generating sales for “local” businesses, by optimising Google+ Local pages and generating a constant flow of high quality Ratings and Reviews on Google, resulting in greatly improved positions on Google Local Search results.

To find out how TRUSTist can help you with all of this and more, please feel free to book a free web-demonstration with me by following this link.

 

[1] https://moz.com/blog/2018-local-search-ranking-factors-survey

[2] https://netmarketshare.com/search-engine-market-share