Gone are the days of kids learning their typical alphabet at school …
Nowadays, it can almost be guaranteed that if you aren’t familiar with this new ‘alphabet’, then you’re seriously missing out! You’re left with two options: you can either return to the rock that you’ve been hiding under, or learn very quickly – I personally suggest the second option …
Analytics:
Don’t just watch your social efforts; track them! Analytics are a collection of data and statistics pulled from your website, social platforms, email campaigns, marketing campaigns etc, and are used to analyse and report on how successful you are at reaching your target market. You’re then able to calculate your ROI (Return On Investment); work out if it’s improved or declined from previous efforts; and where there’s room for further improvement.
Blogging:
An online ‘journal’ or web-log used by individuals or companies to write on anything they (or their target market) choose. The benefits of blogging are endless – but one of the core advantages is that it helps with your SEO ranking in search engines like Google. By using keyword optimisation in your articles, your target market is able to find you a lot quicker when they do Google searches as your chosen keywords will link to their searches and enable your blog posts (and therefore website) to be viewed in their results page. By blogging, a company is also able to establish themselves as a thought leader in their industry – and people tend to trust a company that knows what they’re talking about.
Customer Research:
You’re now able to learn about your customers at a much lower cost if you use the right social media resources and questions. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and others can be used to find out what content your customers are enjoying and sharing; and if you want to really get specific, you can use Twitter Search and LinkedIn Answers to find out what customers are asking. By using social network monitoring, you’re able to learn more about your target market and your competitors, adjust your strategies accordingly, and give them what they want. Need to find something out? You have the power to simply ask them or set up a poll to get the best responses and opinions.
Digital Marketing:
The promoting of brands, products and services has been taken one step further with the adoption of Digital Marketing. This form of marketing includes engaging with your existing and potential target market using television, radio, online and mobile channels in a timely, cost-effective, and more personal manner.
Entertain, educate and engage:
At the end of the day, you need to be doing one or all of the above if you want to have a big impact in the online world! Customer engagement is arguably the most important goal to achieve, and the higher your engagement with your community, the easier it is to understand them, and generate even more leads. Engagement is usually achieved through entertaining or educating them with blog posts, third-party content curation, and images or videos.
Facebook:
Where social all began! With over 640 million users, Facebook is the most popular social network and continues to rise. Companies can create Fan pages in order to connect with their fans and build closer relationships with them. The Page will be visible to the entire Facebook community and shares your mission, hours of operation, location, website, etc. Companies are then able to share information and blog posts to their personal feeds as well as improve their customer service!
Google+ :
A recent edition to social platforms and one that influences your Google ranking due to its affiliation with Google – obviously! It includes features like circles (groups of connections that share similarities); hangouts (live video chat rooms that can hold up to 10 users at a time, and is also a great way to share and discuss information within a group); status updates; photo and video features; and you can create a business page that will allow you to enhance your brand through building a community; educating followers; improving your customer service; and curating user-created content. You’re able to choose if you want to share information with specific groups or the general public, thereby allowing your content to be tailored specifically or of general interest.
Hashtag:
One or two hashtag symbols (maximum!) are used to tag short messages on platforms like Twitter and categorise them into specific topics. Those words or phrases can then be searched for by other users on Twitter in order to help the flow of information and online conversations. Hashtags allow your tweets to get in front of a wider audience for more exposure and can be used to promote your company, events, and offers.
Instagram:
A popular app (application) that is a combination of photo tools and social networking that has made photo editing and quick sharing beyond cool … and everyone a photography genius apparently!
With the pace that digital is going nowadays you may have a few of your own suggestions to add to this glossary so don’t be shy to share! And be sure to watch this space for the upcoming installations of this online alphabet …
