Business Partner Magazine

Tips and advice for entrepreneurs, start-ups and SMEs

The Ultimate Guide To Social Media Event Marketing

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No matter what kind of event your organization is holding, it needs people to be successful. Even an event with big-name guests, attractive branding or noteworthy activities will be a failure if people don’t attend. Fortunately for marketers and event organizers, it’s never been easier to get the word out about an event to a broad audience, thanks to the rise of social media. With social media, marketers and event planners can let millions of people know about their events with relative ease. What’s more, they have greater control over the message they want to deliver than they could with traditional marketing tools such as print advertising and radio spots.

Yet the sophistication of social media relative to traditional marketing methods means publicizing an event through social media channels is a bit more complicated. When used properly, social media can be an essential tool for featuring an event. However, if social media isn’t utilized the right way, it’s just as good as having no promotion.

For example, marketers must understand how to use the interactivity of social media to their advantage when promoting an event. Responding to people’s questions about the event promptly or sharing relevant content generated by others can go a long way to building awareness of the event — as well as loyalty to the brand. Marketers also must understand how to take advantage of social media’s built-in metrics to measure the reach and scope of their messaging and its impact on the intended audience.

Social media makes marketing an event easier and more effective than ever, but only if the marketing professionals involved use it correctly. The accompanying guide contains some important information about social media event marketing. Take a look to make sure your next event leverages social media to its full potential.

The Ultimate Guide To Social Media Event Marketing created by AttendStar

About the Author 

Gary Bradshaw is CEO and owner of AttendStar, an online event ticketing software company. He has 17 years of experience in the industry and focuses on blending ticketing with event marketing to help events be successful.

A Guide to Choosing the Best Digital Channel for Your Business

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The availability of digital channels is now more widespread than ever. From one standpoint, this phenomenon can make marketing services easier for marketers. It’s not only faster to deliver your message through digital marketing channels, but it’s also a convenient way to measure the results of your marketing campaigns through data analytics.

 On the other hand, having too many digital channels may also present challenges to your marketing team. It could get confusing and overwhelming to develop an integrated digital marketing plan, where you’re able to leverage every piece of digital marketing technology out there. Some companies, however, end up spreading themselves too thin in their earnest desire to establish a strong presence in the online marketing space.

While it’s important for your marketing strategy to include the use of digital channels, it’s equally crucial for you to identify where to focus your efforts and resources. Take note that digital marketing channels may use varied tools and systems on their platform. Therefore, you’ll need to have a thorough understanding of how each one works vis-à-vis the goals, budget, and desired results of your team to help you match the right platform for your business.

Use the accompanying infographic as your starting point.

Infographic by Connext Digital

5 Ways Your Small Business Can Grow Online In 2018

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  1. Make Your Site Mobile-Friendly

Everyone is on their mobiles these days – in fact, more than half of search engine queries come from a mobile browser and many people use their phones in place of a desktop or laptop. One way to make sure your small business will grow in 2018 is to have a fast-loading, mobile-optimised site. Potential customers or clients may be using their smartphone to access your site and they could be put off if they have a negative mobile experience. No user wants to struggle to see images or not be able to read content because it won’t load properly. The layout of your website should naturally adapt to a smartphone device and the site should be easy to navigate. Consider the design of your mobile site and make sure that it is engaging for visitors.

  1. Use Social Media Platforms

As a small business in the 21st century, it is not enough to just have a website that you use as a point of contact between you and clients. Social media is a great marketing tool and one way that you can continually engage with your customers and network to find new customers. Building a social media presence is an important way of growing your business and there are countless options when it comes to deciding what platforms you will use and how you will use them. For example, if you’re selling a product, particularly one that is visually or aesthetically pleasing like clothes, plants, healthy snacks or art, then a visual platform like Instagram is an ideal way to showcase your products to the right demographics. Facebook can be a great way to share funny, interesting or informative content that your followers can then share with their friends. Include links to your social media accounts on your website so that customers can find and access them easily. You can even integrate a social media feed onto your site so customers can see your latest status updates.

  1. Create High-Quality Content

Having high-quality content on your website and blog helps to engage visitors and encourage potential customers to return to your site in the future. Create informative and interesting content that relates to your business but that is also going to have relevance to your target audience. Make sure it reflects your business in terms of the tone and style and that you are always adding new content. Constantly producing useful content for your followers or customers helps to add to the credibility and respectability of your brand.

  1. List Your Business

By registering your small businesses on different online directories and Google Places, you will be more ‘searchable’ online. Signing up for these different directories is usually free and means that you become part of a database so potential customers looking for certain services can find you more easily. 

  1. Integrate Different Multimedia Into Your Website

Different types of multimedia and mediums used on your website and social media can help to enhance your online presence and grow your business. Videos are one way that you can attract audiences and engage your customers. Online videos are easy and cheap to produce and can give you great results. In this age, people are more likely to watch a quick video then they are to read a long article. When brainstorming content ideas, consider how you could convert a certain content idea into a video. For example, you might make an audience showing how your product can be used to help solve a problem your demographic might be experiencing. Another good video idea is to interview repeat clients or customers and create a video of testimonials that you can have on your website and share across your social media accounts. This gives you credibility and social proof is a factor customers value.

Infographics are another great way of articulating content ideas and they work well on social media where people are scrolling through their feed and don’t tend to stop to read a lot. Creating interesting infographics is one way to make your website more interesting and engaging and to get the attention of those who might not necessarily be part of your target audience.

In 2018, one of the best ways to ensure your business grows is to make sure that you are using the online world to its full potential. Ensure your website and social media accounts are engaging your customers and you should see your sales increase in no time!

About the Author

Laura Martins is a content manager for RateCity, where you can make smarter financial decisions and compare thousands of financial options. In her time away from RateCity, Laura loves reading about tech and spending time with her dogs.

How is ‘Social Shopping’ Reshaping Online Retail?

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The future of retail might seem pretty dismal. Malls are losing major anchor stores and everyone is asking, “where are all the shoppers?” The truth is, it is a tough time for retailers and fashion apparel brands across the world but retail is far from being obsolete. In fact, WWD reported that in 2017 restaurants and retailers were poised to grow anywhere between 4 to 4.5 percent as consumers continue to pour their shopping dollars in the “experience economy.” So how does social shopping fit into all of this?

What is ‘Social Shopping’?

A rising trend that integrates the power of social media into online and offline shopping. It’s currently revolutionizing the business world and shaking things up for retailers and consumers alike. Social shopping has completely transformed the average shopper’s behavior, which in part has changed the way retailers set up and sell their products. For retailers, social shopping is more than just about maintaining a physical brick-and-mortar store, it’s also about maintaining an online presence where consumers from all around the world can look, explore, and shop. Social shopping is where social networking and comparison shopping merge into one and it’s having a massive impact on the way consumers shop and the way retailers sell.

Giving Consumers the Upper Hand

Today’s shoppers are savvy and smart. They know that if they are willing to invest some of their time in researching a product before buying that they are going to get the right product at the right price. Consumers can now instantly consult friends, family, and followers about prospective purchases. Now that consumers can collaborate on purchases it allows for the consumer to have 100% control over their buying and shopping experiences. Now brands are forced to think about what they’re putting out and how their brand is being perceived by the consumer.

How to Be Successful in the Social Shopping Age

Now that consumers hold most, if not all, of the power, can retailers still be successful in the same ways they once were? The answer is yes. Yes, online retailers can and will continue to be successful in this digital age. However, online retailers need to remember that for every product option they offer, there are hundreds of thousands of other smaller retailers platform that offer the same thing. So how can these retailers set themselves apart from the rest in order to see success? First, easy to use website interfaces are key. A messy, hard to use website is the fastest way to get a consumer to leave your website and check someone else out. Bonus points for mobile friendly sites. Second, just because there is no face to face interactions happening doesn’t mean that your customer service shouldn’t be on point. Many online retailers are option for 24/7 instant chat. Why? Because when a consumer has a question, they don’t want to sit and wait for 2-5 business days until an email is answered. The world of shopping is happening so fast and instant chat helps online retailers avoid bouncing consumers. Finally, constantly updating your website and avoiding any broken links or out of stock items will ensure that customers can shop with confidence and continue to come back to your online store.

Social shopping is just one of the exciting ways that the face of retail is changing. Brands should look forward to all the different and new ways to connect and interact with consumers. Online shopping is so close to becoming a full experience in the same way brick-and-mortar retail shaped the offline shopping experience. Don’t be afraid to embrace the new frontier of retailer. Instead, dive in head first and you’ll see firsthand why social shopping is the wave of the future.

About the Author

Carolyn Clarke is a freelance writer and fashion enthusiast based in Los Angeles, CA. In addition to her full time job as a buying consultant for small boutiques, she also writes fashion advice blogs that have been published across a number of digital platforms. In her free time, she takes her dog running along the Malibu coastline.

Images by rawpixel.com on Unsplash

5 Tips to Ensure You Hire the Best Candidate

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Elegant businessman talking to intervieweeThe way things are right now, there’s no shortage of candidates for almost any position out there. So, if you’re running your own business, you’ll get to interview plenty of people before you find that perfect candidate for a position you need to fill. But how do you know a person is right for your company? Here are five tips that are guaranteed to help.

Look for a career-oriented candidate

One of the most important things you’ll have to do when interviewing a candidate is make sure they’re career-oriented. This is the case because such a person will be ready to stay with your company long-term and help it grow. On the other hand, if you hire a candidate who’s trying to juggle multiple careers or ha switched too many jobs in the past, chance are they won’t contribute to your business as much as you’d want them to. You want an employee who wants to grow as a professional and is willing to contribute to your company’s success in as many ways as possible.

Test every candidate

Another great way to step up your recruitment game is to find methodologies you can implement to gain a clearer picture of a candidate’s skillset. Looking at someone’s resume can give you a hint on what they’re able to do, but you can’t be sure they’ll perform the way you want them to unless you test them. Depending on what kind of work your company does, you should be able to give every candidate a chance to show they can do. With more and more people being untruthful when writing their resume, this can turn out to be a real lifesaver.

Perform background checks

The more you know about each candidate, the more likely you’ll be to hire that perfect employee for your business. So, once you’ve narrowed down your list to the candidates you like the best, you’ll probably want to perform background checks on each of them. This means talking to their previous employees and making sure everything they’ve stated on their resume is true. It’s also a good idea to get a police clearance for every candidate you like. That way, you won’t have to worry about hiring someone who’ll put you and your business at risk.

Determine what strengths you’re looking for

No matter which position you’re hiring for, you’ll always want your new employee to have certain strengths that’ll help your business move forward. And the strengths your new employee is supposed to have depend heavily on what kind of work they’ll be doing. For example, when hiring a customer service rep, you’ll probably need someone who’s extremely polite and talkative. On the other hand, when hiring someone who’ll be performing repetitive work, you’ll need an employee who can stay motivated even when performing the same actions over and over again. Therefore, do your best to identify each candidate’s strengths during their interviews.

Use social media

Let’s face it – social media has become an important part of our everyday life. Because of that, platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram could help you determine whether a person is a good fit for your company. Many business owners don’t feel comfortable asking personal questions and if this is the case with you, turning to social media can be the right solution. The platforms we’ve mentioned above can be useful for gauging cultural fit and learning more about a candidate’s interests. Just bear in mind that some people keep their profiles private so the amount of information you’ll be able to find can vary quite a lot.

With these five tips, finding that perfect candidate for a position at your company shouldn’t be too difficult. However, even once you hire someone, you’ll still want to keep an eye on them during their early days at your company and evaluate whether you’ve opted for the right person or not.

About the Author

Carolin Petterson is a businesswoman and content marketer with years of experience under her belt. She has had the opportunity to contribute to a number of popular business and marketing websites.

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