social media Archives - iRespectOnline

August 26, 2016 By Fiona Lucas

Adobe Spark makes a few changes

Getting creative with Adobe Spark

One of our favourite freemium products is Adobe Spark. It’s wonderful for creating images and video quickly and effectively. Up until now although you could remove branding on images, you could not on video. Adobe Spark is now opening up the ability to remove branding and add your own. It’s free for now but eventually will be a paid service, so if you do accept their offer, be aware of that. They are rolling out the offers to active users, so if you don’t have it yet, it shouldn’t be far away.

The fantastic news however is that if you are already a subscriber to Adobe Creative then this is part of your subscription as long as your subscription is current! Yay for that.

This is great news for social media and content managers.

So if you haven’t jumped on board the Adobe Spark train, why not give it a try.

There is an app version of both Adobe Post (for images) and Spark Video too although at this stage the branding may still be on videos created via the app.

One of the best things about Spark is it’s ability to help you get inspired. With lots of shared content you can look at for ideas and a vast collection of images on hand (and of course you can upload your own images as well).

We created this little video on the topic of inspiration because like many working in the field of social media, sometimes we have to remember just to stop and breathe, and take in our day and inspiration and content ideas will come.

It also serves as a lovely example of how Spark helps you to create simple and memorable video.

We hope you enjoy. Please share your experiences with Adobe Spark with us in the comments

Inspiration is all around us

November 8, 2015 By Fiona Lucas

Are your social media strategies damaging your reputation?

Many businesses and individuals don’t actually have any strategy when posting online, others have a basic strategy but it is not not aligned to their goals and values. It is important to consider what you are trying to achieve by what you post and whether or not the content you post may in fact damage your brand and reputation.

Some branding experts will tell you to post content over and over (particularly in twitter) so that it gets seen often, but in our experience, it is really important to break up the content so that the same post doesn’t appear again and again in a row. As twitter has such a fast moving newsfeed, it can be really valuable to post content again, but it needs to be quality content and you need to have build up a reasonable following.

[ctt title=”It is even more important that what you post is adding value and not just self promotion” tweet=”It is even more important that what you post is adding value and not just self promotion” coverup=”i7aYb”]. Damaging to your reputation, and possibly leading people to mark you as a spammer or limit your content in their newsfeed is when the same content appears everywhere at the same time – your personal profiles, Linkedin, Facebook Pages, your website and blog, Instagram, twitter etc.

Are you involved in the development of your strategy or are you outsourcing to the lowest bidder? Generic posting schedules do little for engagement and can be a waste of money.

A good strategy will start with an analysis of your business and examination of the user profiles and behaviours, your customer avatars.

Personal Brand

[ctt title=”Your content is the voice of your business” tweet=”Your content is the voice of your business” coverup=”5o11D”] Often the first experience of a business by a customer is online, either via a website or through a social media platform. Think about what you are providing. Too many businesses still see social media as an advertising, one way push platform. It is not. Social media is two way, and the key word is SOCIAL.

Wanting to position yourself as an thought leader? Then make sure that you provide blog posts and comments that are from YOU! It is not a credible representation of your expertise when someone else writes for you. By all means engage a writer to improve the readability if you are not good with words, but provide the meat of the article yourself.

Take care when employing someone to blog for you and check out examples of their writing, including the engagement obtained from the posts, to ensure it is well researched and that the information within is correct and doesn’t breach copyright. We have seen businesses with blog content that has been stripped from the web. This could lead to nasty lawsuits if you did not have permission to use the content and then portray it as your own.

Be aware that everything that is posted online under your brand represents your brand, and reflects the values and ethics of the businesses (or individual if you are your brand). This includes the way that your staff engage online and the way customer complaints or enquiries made online are handled.

Integrity

The move to using automation and affiliate links to generate passive income has seen some businesses post content that has little value in the hopes of earning additional income or that involves the use of annoying pop ups on every page. Think about the user experience, less can be more :-). The first step before worrying about affiliate links is to make sure you understand (or you employ someone who does) your analytics. If you are not getting any traffic to your site, if there is no engagement on your social media platforms and your emails have a very low open rate, then the focus should be on improving that before worrying about affiliate links. Having too many links can also clutter a website up and distract visitors to your site away from your product or service to theirs. Would you rather get a new client, or earn $20 from a link? You have worked too hard in and on your business to let your focus be turned. If you are using affiliate links you must also let people know that they are links. You can have a generic statement on your website, but if you promote a product for which you have an affiliate, it is important that you let your prospects know.

Of course if you have used a product and really love it (because anything on your affiliate is really an endorsement of that product) and you are offered an affiliate link, that is fine, just make sure you stay focussed on your own business outcomes first.

All that said, we do not mean the automation of posting such as scheduling is not a good thing. Quite the contrary. To create a managable inhouse strategy and content plan, such tools are important. [ctt title=”The key is to make sure that responses are coming from your organisation, rather than a robot” tweet=”The key is to make sure that responses are coming from your organisation, rather than a robot” coverup=”ogdFm”]. There is nothing worse that receiving automated twitter responses which often are not aligned to the content. The same goes to automated responses that ask people to go and buy something. It just doesn’t cut it. If you do choose to use outsourced social media management, either provide the content yourself, or ensure that the content plan is aligned to a strategy. This helps you measure the ROI.

Ethics

Being honest and upfront is important in business to build trust. If you are a new business and still learning, then price yourself according to your expertise and experience, but don’t make claims which you can’t justify. Too often we see people start a new business from scratch, making claims to be the best, or the only specialist etc and they haven’t actually tested their own theories yet. We all have to start somewhere, but when it comes to social media, they should be experimenting with their own before they lay claim to yours.

We get quite distressed when we see businesses pouring out content and posting madly in various platforms or boosting facebook posts because some “guru” has told them they should do that, without having any developed a formal strategy (apart of perhaps a generic content plan) or obtained indepth knowledge of the business. Beware of only seeking free advice as you just can’t get the depth of a professional consultation over a cup of coffee. By all means have a cup of coffee as a means to see whether you are a good fit for a potential working engagement, but don’t try and put together a strategy for yourself based only on someone telling you of some amazing stat. What works for one business may not work for yours.

The other option is to do a lot of research yourself and be prepared to spend a lot of your time testing and reviewing what works. A good social media specialist is constantly learning and attending professional development to stay on top of the game. Let them spend the thousands to save you the time. We have seen some small business owners spending up to 4 or more hours of their day on social media, in attempts to follow some kind of “strategy” which in actual fact is a content plan that was perhaps was not well thought out in the beginning and not aligned to any outcomes.

TOP TIPS

Your content is the voice and tone of your business – make sure it reflects that

Avoid overposting the same content across platforms

Check any autoposting schedules you have set up and make sure you are not duplicating content into the same platform

Don’t just sell or self promote. Add value with your posts

Where possible keep your social media inhouse and invest in training for your staff. This ensures you maintain the voice and culture of your organisation.

To explore some more of the issues of ethics and integrity, you might like to read our article on reviews and testimonials

If you are interested in having a formal social media strategy and content plan prepared for your business please contact us at mail@irespectonline.com

iRespectOnline
We are your social media mirror

July 16, 2015 By Fiona Lucas

Control your Facebook News Feed!

Good news for iPhone users initially, but Android and desktop to come. Last week Facebook gave back some control over who we see first in our Facebook News Feed via the Facebook app. As I mentioned, at this stage its iPhone first, but the rest wont be far behind.

Your News Feed is built up as a personalised stream from the Pages and people you connect to on Facebook. The idea is that you see the stories that matter most to you based on Facebook’s algorithm which ranks your feed according to who you interact with most and the type of content you tend to like, comment or share.

You now have the ability to prioritise the content based on your favourites.

Here’s how to do it.

Open your Facebook app on your iPhone (make sure you have the latest version of the app though!). Click on MORE (the three little lines on the bottom right) and scroll all the way down to the SETTINGS section. There you will see NEWS FEED PREFERENCES.

Start with the Blue star to prioritise who you see first. (You will still get other content in your newsfeed but the latest posts of these priorities will show in your feed first). (Note my example is only for the purposes of this and you cant change the order which connections appear (I would have loved to be able to sort alphabetically!). You will see the words SEE FIRST appear under their names along with the blue star.

Note this is different from CLOSE friends settings. With Close friends you receive notifications when they post. With See First you see posts from these people in your feed when you first open your app.

You can choose to unfollow people to hide post, reconnect with anyone you have unfollowed (they wont know). Remember if you do this that you will need to go and look for their latest posts.

There is also an option to discover new pages. For me lots of very disconnected pages appeared but that might be because working in the field I do so many searches and research for clients that poor old Facebook probably can’t decide what I like!

That’s it. Simple and easy but giving you some control back.

Hope you have enjoyed this post.

We welcome your comments and warmly invite you to sign up to our newsletter (we only mail a few times a year) and please join our community on facebook at www.facebook.com/irespectonline

Much respect!

Have a great day whereever you are.

June 30, 2015 By Fiona Lucas

Protecting your facebook presence

(or How not to get shutdown on Facebook)

Many small business operators create a Facebook presence to help in the marketing and advertising of their business, but they often fail to seek expert advice when doing so. Unfortunately not understanding the complexity of Facebook rules has led to some businesses having their business pages shut down, or worse still even losing their personal profiles (generally for operating under a business or fake name). The heartbreak of losing a hard earned community and possibly a brand name is not an easy one for businesses to bear. But all is not lost. Read on to discover how you can help to protect your reputation and your facebook profiles and pages.

1. Know the difference between your profile and a page

For some people this might seem obvious, but for those new to Facebook, or to using Facebook as a platform for their business, it isn’t always so obvious.

Your “profile” is your personal account. You need to set this up first, before you create a page. You can keep it as private as you like. You need a profile in order to engage in groups, comment on your friends stories or photos, or engage as yourself on a page. Facebook also use your personal profile to verify your identity. So it’s smart to use your real name, because if you have to try and prove you own a page on facebook and you didn’t use your real name, it’s not going to be an easy process, and you may even fail. If you want to learn more about profiles and how you can use them, you can visit facebook help here.

2. Don’t force anyone to have to “like” or to “tag” themselves on your page in order to enter a competition

You can ask people to LIKE a COMMENT or a POST on your page as part of entry, but not to “Like” the page. You cannot ask people to tag themselves into an image which they are not actually pictured in. You can have the competition shut down, or sometimes even your whole page. You also can’t use personal profiles to collect entries (mainly because it’s unfair, there is no way you can track them). This means you can’t ask people to “Share” a post on their page as an entry or to “share” to friends for more entries.

Using a third party app or having a social media specialist set up a competition for you should help protect you and take some of the pain away, (but make sure they do know what they are doing, we have seen some pretty big brands run competitions in breach of the rules, and they risk a lot of damage to their brand in doing so). The terms and conditions for promotions are exact. You can find the guidelines here.

3. No Spam!

A sure way to have people report your page or your profile is by sending unsolicited direct messages to them via Facebook. Spamming is a violation of Facebook’s Community standards. Posting links and images to other people’s profiles and pages or using your personal profile to push your business onto people’s pages is considered spam. Other forms of spam include “clickjacking” where a button looks like it is for one thing, but clicking it actually has you liking something else; phishing and malicious software (often via video and “viral” posts) and “sharebaiting”. You often see sharebaiting where scammers create a fake competition for a big brand and people click and share thinking they are going to enter a competition. Also those videos and posts that say “you won’t believe what happens, what she does etc”. Be skeptical of such posts.

You can learn about spam here.

4. No third party advertising

This generally relates to people who attempt to charge you to advertise in their groups or on their pages. Under Facebook terms and conditions you cannot charge people to use their platform.

5. Make sure your page adheres to age limits depending on content

When you set up your page you can define the audience. If your page contains adult content, or products which have age limits you must adhere to the law. This relates to adult products, alcohol, tobacco or firearms. Protect your page and help look after our young people by limiting your page to age 18 and over.

6. Don’t tell lies!

If your page contains or promotes information which is false, deceptive, mislead or makes fraudulent claims, it will be shut down. In addition you may find yourself facing fines under consumer laws. Keep it real.

iRespectOnline and Communication Tree joined forces to create this infograph. Feel free to print it, pin it , share it to help others to understand how to protect their valuable media and reputation.

7. Keep it Nice

Facebook has a wide community of people from all walks of life, and it is very family orientated and friendly. Don’t post violent or sexualised images. Be respectful. Your community and Facebook will not tolerate bullying, harrasment or threats. Facebook gives your business such a huge opportunity to connect with existing clients and prospects and grow your business brand and reputation. Look after it well (including how you engage personally within groups and on posts).

Your turn:

Have you been guilty of any of these issues? Many people inadvertently have, particularly when it comes to promotions and competitions.

Do you have a specific question? Leave your comments below (and of course, be polite!)

(You can join our communities on Facebook at iRespectOnline and Communication Tree )

June 1, 2014 By Fiona Lucas

When the reviewer becomes the reviewed

Restaurants are finally getting a chance to even up the score. For years we as customers have been able to comment, praise and critique restaurants via various forums (ie Trip Advisor, Yelp, Urbanspoon etc. A recent article by Inga Ting on Goodfood.com.au outlines how Restaurants are now using social to gain insights into their customers and even give them ratings!

Now from what I can see it’s not a public viewing so no need to panic that your public reputation might be damaged, but certainly it does mean that we need to be more considerate when reviewing our experiences and make sure we are being fair.

I have some reservations in that if a customer does have a bad experience I would hope that the restaurant would make note of real issues and perhaps even place a note to make sure that the next time the customer is in, they have a truly positive experience. Marking a customer as a PIA (pain in arse!) is unfair where standards are not being met, but it is all relative. Most of us have come across someone who will complain just to try to get a free meal even when the service was great after all!

One area I noted was the comment that people stayed on the table after dessert, I guess it’s a sign of the times that restaurants want you to eat up and move on, but I’m of the old school type. If I am fine dining and I want to linger over coffee because I’ve had a great experience, then I don’t like to be pushed out. I understand in an era of line up and no reservations you do have to be mindful of the next sitting, that is just manners, but don’t book me at 8pm and expect my party to be out at 9pm – it’s not good for the digestion!

What I do like is that if you do have your likes and dislikes in your online profiles you just might find you get an even better restaurant experience. By posting your reviews and opinions a better picture of the experiences you like to have will be found. If a restaurant knows you are a foodie, avid instagram poster of food pics etc, then it is in their best interests to make your experience a great one – lots of free promotion for them! You can find out more about one of the new review sites Dimmi here.

It’s an interesting side to the picture and I will be interested to see what others think. Please add your comments and let’s get a conversation started!