Generate Creative Has Moved (But Don’t Worry, We’re Still Offering Our Services All Over New Brunswick)

Generate Creative Has Moved (But Don't Worry, We're Still Offering Our Services All Over New Brunswick)

When I started at Radian6 nearly ten years ago, what immediately made me enjoy the work with social media, digital marketing and technology overall was the sense of community that I could see forming in our office and our online communities. The online space can feel very anonymous and distant to many people, so I can understand why that may sound a bit odd. However, the kind of marketing and technology use that I have built my business around focuses on not viewing the online space as a distant or anonymous landscape, but rather a place to build a community to help non-profit or small business efforts. I see Technology in that same light. Not something that overrules or gets rid of old ways of doing things or removes the hands-on human element, but can help improve business processes and make people’s lives easier. For me, my business the last three years has focused on building community, sharing creativity and providing advice on the right technology options that are available to accomplish these goals.

My work over the last three years has literally taken me all over the province and I’ve also worked remotely on some projects as well, which I has allowed me to make a personal choice that reinforces my love of a strong community by being able to move back to my hometown, St. Stephen, N.B. Personally, this is a move that gets me closer to my family and allows me to be part of a community I’ve always loved. Professionally, it doesn’t change too much for the business of Generate Creative. We will continue to service New Brunswick and the broader Atlantic Canadian landscape and hope to continue to make an impact in helping more businesses and non-profit find further success.

Digital Marketing is a Marathon, Not a Sprint

Viral. It’s not a word that even five years ago most of us would be using in our day to day speech except during cold and flu season. Now, it seems that every day we hear about someone trying to make something go viral, something that has gone viral or someone trying to sell you the ability to make you or your business go viral.

Yes, having a large, immediate and far-reaching impact on your business or campaign can have positive effects. We can’t deny that. When using digital media, you will generally have times when you see a spike in your average volume or activity. But here’s the thing about getting hung up on trying to make everything go viral, pardon the pun but you’ll probably end up making your business sick.

We are seeing more and more social media and digital marketing platforms change their algorithms and terms of service to try and prevent click bait, engagement bait or forms of quick-hit viral marketing that doesn’t focus on your overall business goals or the experience of your customers. What this means is while you are trying to come up with the flashiest, catchiest campaign and telling everyone you know to “Like and Share” what you are doing is damaging your brand reputation. You could be annoying a lot of your customers who care about your business and products instead of that cat video with your logo superimposed on it and connecting with people who are only interested in a $50 gift card and won’t ever do anything to make your business money.

So is there a place for viral marketing? Yes, but it is a very limited scope that shouldn’t be your overall goal as a business looking to use digital marketing. “Going viral” is not a business goal. Digital marketing is a marathon, not a sprint. It doesn’t happen overnight. It takes months and sometimes years to grow a strong, invested community online that helps your business objectives. And yes, it is a hard lesson to accept that if you want to see benefits from social media and online marketing that it will take work and time invested when everything out there tells you it’s all about instant gratification and overnight success. Keep in mind though; you aren’t trying to create a business that has one good day and then nothing for months at a time. You are trying to create and grow a business that over time builds a loyal, dedicated customer base that brings in other people to join them based on the positive customer experience they have with you, so why isn’t that also your goal with your social media and digital marketing?

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Social Media: Should I Pay For It?

The question, “Why Should I Pay For Social Media Help?” is one that I know is going through most people’s minds when I talk them about my services. While this question is definitely one I can’t say I don’t have an unbiased opinion towards, I’ll start by saying that this post isn’t meant to convince you why you should work with me or even other consultants. The main reason I am writing this post today is because I’m still seeing so many small or medium size businesses and organizations struggle with their online presence when they don’t need to.

It’s probably because social media has such a pop culture association that businesses still feel like they can have an intern, that younger person on their staff or just no one at all fully responsible for their online presence. Why pay someone who just plays on Facebook all day? Yes, social media is something used widely for personal interactions, but so isn’t a telephone and no business would question the use of a phone in the day-to-day operation of their work. So please, read through some of the reasons why you should consider paying someone to help you with your social media.

Your Business Needs Social Media

The online world and social media aren’t going away. In fact, they’re growing every single second, minute and hour of the day. Not having an online presence of some form whether it’s a website, social accounts or even just an email on your Yellow Pages listing can have major impacts on your bottom line. Your business needs to have someone who has experience with building all of that to help you.

Your Younger Staff Needs To Not Automatically Be In Charge of Social Media

Yup, we all we do it. We assume the youngest person in the room knows more about technology than us so we put them in charge of it. Sometimes we luck out and it’s their passion and area of expertise. Other times that younger individual feels forced into being the social media person, just because they’re the younger employee. If marketing or social media isn’t their thing, your younger staff desperately needs you to stop adding it as a responsibility just because of their age. Plus, think of it this way you wouldn’t make someone your accountant just because they have a calculator, so why are you making someone your social media specialist just because they can log on to Facebook? Business and personal use of social media is very different. You and your younger staff need to accept that difference.

You Need Less Stress Around Your Social Media

If you are small to medium size business and you don’t currently have the in-house resources or time to train someone, you’re probably stressing yourself out more than you need to about what’s happening on your social accounts. In fact, you may want to use social media, but you end up getting so frustrated that you tell yourself it’s just not worth it. Freeing up those couple of hours a week you spend wondering why that link just won’t show a picture when paste into that little box, but everyone can make a picture show so you get frustrated and give up, yeah those hours, your schedule could definitely use those back. It is worth it when you have the right support system in place.

So there it is, quick reasons why it makes sense to pay someone to manage your social media. It doesn’t matter if it’s me, another consultant or hiring someone with experience in the field. Just like anything else you would do for your business, you need to make sure that you are getting the best, most qualified individual for the job. Don’t think of it as paying someone to play on Facebook all day, because it’s not. It’s paying someone to make sure you’re well represented in the fastest growing marketplace there is.

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10 Brutally Honest Reasons Why Your Social Media Isn’t Working

10 Brutally Honest Reasons Why Your Social Media Isn''t Working

Social Media can be an amazing tool to reach your community of clients or users. It can also feel like you are spending all your time on social media and not seeing any results. If that’s the case for you, here are 10 brutally honest reasons why your social media isn’t working and some thoughts on how to fix it.

10. Your Pictures/Bio

Those short bio descriptions, square profile pictures and rectangular cover photos are the first elements that people who visit your social media profiles will judge you by. Make sure that the pictures are clear and well-formatted. Make sure your bio is short and informative.

9. Your Spelling & Grammar Mistake

That title will drive some people crazy! While we all can’t be perfect all the time in our writing, try to make sure that you double check everything you post. Correct misspellings, watch your grammar and capitalization.

8. Your Posts Are Too Long

Social Media is a quick medium for most. People are scrolling Facebook on breaks from work or checking out twitter on their phones. Save the longer posts for when you have something major to announce, otherwise keep your posts short.

7. You Don’t Post When People Are Around

If you are posting at 5:00 AM and none of the people connected to your account are online at that time, then the odds of them seeing or engaging with your content goes down. Make sure you use the built-in tools social networks offer to see when the best time is for you to post to your account.

6. You Just Aren’t Posting

Social Media thrives on engagement and you can’t have engagement unless there is something for people to engage with. Even if it’s just once a week, make sure that you are keeping fresh content on your accounts.

5. You’re On The Wrong Network

Social networks are a little bit like theme parties, sometimes you show up dressed as Batman when everyone else is in their best 80’s gear. It is possible to try to build a community on the wrong network for your business or organization. Do your research, make sure that your clients or users are actually on the network joining it.

4. You Don’t Respond to Anyone

If you aren’t ready to engage or respond to people on your social accounts, that’s completely okay. You will need to set that expectation by adding that information to your bio. Also, if you don’t respond, remember that you can’t expect as much of the engagement that social networks thrive on.

3. You Aren’t Actually Listening To Your Community

Another big piece of social media is not just acknowledging the comments and replies people make, but actually listening to what they are saying. There can be valuable insight provided by your community that you can take full advantage of.

2. You Aren’t Actually Building Your Community

Social media communities rarely just happen. If you aren’t seeing an increase in Likes, Followers or Connections it might be because you aren’t making connections yourself. Spend a little time every day following others, liking pages from yourself and growing your Linkedin network out by connecting with people you know.

1. Social Media Isn’t For Everyone

Social Media is just like any other marketing tool and just because it can bring valuable, it doesn’t mean it is always the #1 answer to everyone’s needs. If you are struggling with social media, but all of your other marketing efforts are successful, then don’t stress over perfecting a channel that just might not be ready for your business or your customers just yet.

If you are struggling with your social media and need some help, don’t wait! Reach out to us today.

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So, What If You Aren’t A Content Writer?

So What If You Aren't A Content Writer?

It’s Victoria Day (a National Canadian Holiday), so many people are out enjoying the sunshine, their families and maybe a few adult beverages. Some of you might be in your office today using it to catch up on work. You might also be avoiding the work of your social media or website content.

The online world can be a scary place if you aren’t as comfortable with the written word. Writing posts for social media, blog posts or even building out content for your webpages can be intimidating if the last time you wrote a public piece of writing was in an essay format.

The good news is that content creation doesn’t have to be that complicated or scary. Here are three quick tips to tackling your content creation.

Keep it Simple

Social Media is often times a quick medium where people will be looking at your posts on their phones or while they are on a break from work. That means it is 100% okay to keep your posts short and simple. Save the longer posts for big announcements.

Use Images, Videos and Links

Using Images, Videos and Links to articles whether your own or ones you find valuable, will help to make your content stand out more. There’s a sea of posts that happen every day so make yours jump out with a little added visual boost.

Write in Advance

The biggest piece of advice that anyone who works in social media and marketing will ever give you is to write everything in advance. Even if it’s just a few short posts for your Twitter and Facebook accounts, having things done ahead will take off all the unnecessary stress.

No matter how you choose to create your content, don’t forget that there are tons of consulting firms, like ours, that can help you if content creation just isn’t your thing. Enjoy the sunshine!

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Social Media Playbook

I was first introduced to the idea of a Social Media Playbook while working at Radian6. The idea of a business playbook isn’t anything new, it’s a place to house your strategy related to a particular business efforts. A Social Media Playbook does just this by housing all of your strategic goals that you would like to achieve with social media and helps to serve as a training guide for anyone new that is joining your team.

The big thing is with a Social Media playbook it doesn’t have to be just 1 document. Sure, it does help sometimes to have an overall table of contents, but if you have video files or multiple .pdfs that help explain your social efforts, there’s nothing that says your playbook can’t be a folder on your computer or google drive that everyone has access to. Make it work for you and your team so you can always access it and update it.

So what do you put in a social media playbook? Try breaking it down into sections of information:

Overall Social Media Objectives

Think of the first part of a social media playbook as your big picture view. It’s where you are setting your high level vision and also the many goals you are trying to achieve. This can include:

Company Social Media Vision
Social Media Mission
Social Media Objectives
Key Departments/Employees
Major Goals & KPI’s

Social Media Employee Policy

Having your guidelines for how you would like your employees to talk about your company or organization on social media can be a great resource even for small businesses. When setting down guidelines though, be wary of putting in too many “Do Not” statements. Try focusing on the ways you would like your employees involved through statements like “We would love to have you share our deals and discounts.”

Other things to include can be:
Etiquette for Employees
Sensitive Information
Encouraged Social Interactions
Contact Information for Social Media team

Social Media Listening & Engagement Scope

A fairly straight forward section, but you are basically making a record for yourself of what you will be listening for (i.e. searching or playing attention to) and what you will be engaging with (i.e. responding to) on social media. This is important because many times we start out only wanting to post and engage on our Facebook page, but slowly get pulled into so many other places to monitor and respond with comments. Keep yourself on target by having a clear focus.

Engagement Guidelines & Crisis Escalation

By knowing how you plan on engagement with people or dealing with problems that might arise, you will 100% more comfortable using your social channels.

Things to think about including are:

Hours of Operation
Standard Response Time
Answers to FAQ’s in short format
Brand Voice Style & Tone
Example Responses
Crisis Escalation Path

Administrative Information

We sometimes forgot about all the boring admin stuff that has to happen in order for us to even use our social accounts, so make sure you have a place to record that info!

Some things to include are:

Process for Updating Social Bio’s
Social Account Ownership & Access
Social Media Following & Liking Guidelines

Training Materials for Products Used

If you are like many people out there you may be using social media management tool or other software to help with your efforts. Make sure you keep all of your links, .pdf’s, video, etc. all in one place so it’s easily accessible when needed.

Appendices

Any other key information related to your social media efforts should be housed in this section.

No matter what you end up putting into your social media playbook or even what you end up calling it, taking the time to think about all the elements you need to consider when using social media for your business can help to make you feel more comfortable and confident when you use them.

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