How to use ChatGPT

In order to do anything with Chat GPT, you will need to actually know how to use AI. Follow these simple steps to start your ChatGPT journey:

• Visit chat.openai.com and log in (or sign up).
• Type your prompt in the message box on the homepage. This will tell ChatGPT what you want it to do.
• Once you receive a response, you can enter a new prompt, regenerate the response, copy it, or like/dislike it.

What can ChatGPT be used for?

You can use ChatGPT for a huge range of things. Plenty of people use Chat GPT on a daily basis, for small, personal tasks as well as larger professional ones. Here are just some of the uses of ChatGPT:

Explaining complicated topics

Sometimes, no matter how many times you re-read something or research it in different ways, things just do not make sense. If you’re struggling to understand a concept or a topic, you can use ChatGPT to get an easier-to-digest explanation.

You can simply give Chat GPT the prompt “explain x to me like I’m 5”, and it will provide you with an explanation much less convoluted than pages like Wikipedia. This can really useful for theoretical concepts, especially if you don’t want to pause reading a text or a brief but are stuck on one word. Rather than spend half an hour researching, simply ChatGPT it.

Solving maths problems with a step-by-step explanation

For people who simply cannot get on with maths equations, ChatGPT can help hugely. Not only will it answer your question, but it can break the answer down into a step-by-step of working out. It allows you to get an answer, but most importantly, it shows you how to do it yourself. This can be really helpful for revising students.

Creating a meal plan

Trying to decide what to eat each and every night can be exhausting. With the help of ChatGPT, however, that is a thing of the past! No more getting to 6 pm and ransacking the fridge to see what you can make – give it prompts about the kind of foods you want it to make.

For example, you could ask ChatGPT:

• “What are some high-protein meals that use red peppers, beans and cottage cheese?”
• “Can you suggest some low-fat dinner ideas that only take 20 minutes?”
• “What can I cook for someone who is gluten-free, vegetarian and lactose intolerant?”

Any of these will give you a handful of meal suggestions, allowing you to get your tasty evening meal without having to do too much thinking.

Suggesting things to do

If you’ve got a group of friends over, ChatGPT can be really helpful in picking something to keep you all busy. You could ask ChatGPT for ideas for card games, or questions to ask to break the ice, you could even try to ask it for a murder mystery game!

Using ChatGPT for business

Chat GPT has uses beyond just personal projects. You can also use it to help with a variety of business tasks. For example, it can help you to plan your time effectively, conduct market research or plan online content and social media posts.

Coming up with hashtags and keywords

Since ChatGPT can scour the internet, it can be really useful in finding social post hashtags for you to use in your marketing. Likewise, ChatGPT can be used to find keywords for you to use in your articles. All you will need is to type in a few of the keywords you already have and it will provide a list of related words.

Creating outlines for articles

Once you’ve got keywords and a title, you can ask ChatGPT to provide you with a list of subtitles and headings for a piece of content. It will keep them as closely related to the keyword that you’ve given as possible, and make sure that the article has as much information as possible.

You can then provide your writers with the outline to shape the content perfectly. Just make sure you give the outline a once over before you send it out, as sometimes it might include headings that don’t fit your content plan.

Creating business strategies and schedules

If you outline your target audience and goals, ChatGPT can help you to create a marketing strategy with content calendars and schedules. It can help you with processes, time management and workflows across many areas of your business, such as HR, sales and payroll. Within your industry, it can identify current trends and gather market research and insights. It can also carry out competitor analysis and suggest improvements. Even if it isn’t perfect, it provides a good base to work off!

When not to use ChatGPT

So if ChatGPT can do all of these things, surely you should use it for everything? It would make life easier – right?

Well, the short answer is no. Using it to create keywords, strategies, and outlines is fine. But beyond that, you run the risk of it harming your performance. Google’s algorithm, as it stands, can identify AI-generated content, and it will penalise pages accordingly. If you use ChatGPT to write content for your pages, you may find that the pages do not do as well as you’d like them to. No matter how many keywords it has or how much you promote the page. You may also find that some of the generated content has inaccuracies or irrelevant information, which can add to the spread of misinformation.

It is also important to consider that while ChatGPT can be used to craft content strategies, others may do the same. If your competitors are also using ChatGPT to create their strategies, you might be using the same strategy. That won’t work well for either of you.

Real humans still needed!

So, in summary, ChatGPT can be really useful for some things. It can reduce the number of hours you need to spend doing some things. Meaning you can get on with other things that you wouldn’t normally have time for. Or spend more time on special projects. And, of course, it is still learning. Future iterations will no doubt give even better solutions to the tasks detailed above.

However, what is clear is that using a real human being is still the way forward for other things! So, if you need help with your website, content creation, blogs, etc., we have real human writers and marketing experts. Get in touch to see what we can help you with.

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As we write this, the Coronavirus outbreak has taken over news channels, social media and conversations everywhere. Things are changing on an hourly basis, and the Government has issued advice not to travel outside the UK. This, of course, will have a huge and potentially long-lasting effect on the hospitality industry. We’ve collated some of the best advice for hotels, resorts and self-catering lodges during Coronavirus, and offer it up here to help our colleagues get through this time.

1. Communicate with your guests

We can’t emphasise enough how important communication with your customers is, now more than ever. If you are expecting arrivals, make sure they know exactly what is happening and what they should expect when they get to you. Create a Coronavirus Policy, and share this online (on your website, on social media). This should tell customers; The status of coronavirus in your area. Are you offering self-check in? Do you have hand sanitisers they should use? Where should they go for advice? How near is the closest hospital?

Please also don’t forget your future customers – those following you on social media. They will be watching carefully to see how you react. If you are able to tell them what precautions you are taking in your Coronavirus Policy and in individual posts. Be honest about any problems you have had to overcome, you will help build trust. For example, have you had to shut down any public areas in your hotel/resort? Are you spacing guests out in your restaurants? Are you still offering your regular dining? How are you keeping food, plates, rooms and public areas free from contamination if they stay?

Be proactive about contacting those who have booked and try to confirm / land a future date / exchange the stay to a gift voucher. Better to capture and keep the sale than wait to the last minute, once they have their mind set to cancel.

Use all channels available to communicate these messages. Newsletters, social media posts and your website key. And don’t try to share normal sales messages to stay in the next month. We can’t pretend this isn’t happening. But do keep marketing hard. Even if they won’t travel today, more people than ever are online at present, stuck at home and researching. Market to them for tomorrow.

Use social media to update your guests. Ask for their support to get you through this. Ask them to buy gift vouchers for a booking (tell them how much a booking ranges from and to). Advise that they can redeem this voucher for an extended period of 2 years.

2. Open your rates

You need money to keep coming in, so open your rates up until the end of 2021. Use your marketing to drive sales bookings for later this year and next year. For example, we can share messages with pictures of spring to brighten their days at home. If they can’t be with us now, encourage them to join us later in the year and next year. Tell them you need their help and tell them how you will reward them. This is an awful time, you need bookings. So keep abreast of government advice for hotels, self-catering and guesthouses during Coronavirus.

At Present (March 18^th 2020):

1. Travel is not banned: so share your Coronavirus Policy and make people feel comfortable to come and stay and self-isolate. Keep them posted on the outbreaks in your area and how your local hospitals are coping.
2. Offer to move stay dates/postpone stays free of charge should they book to stay in 2020 with you which is affected by coronavirus in anyway.
3. Tell them of your cancellation policy – do you charge or is this free.
4. Tell them what you will do to support them in your Coronavirus Policy should they fall unwell on their stay.
5. Push gift vouchers:
   • To those who have booked but may cancel
   • Mother’s day is just around the corner, but people can’t celebrate now and want non-contact gifts.

3. Where Can You Get Funding

The government have opened measures to support hospitality businesses. These have been put in place as a first step, and are guaranteed to all businesses in need. They have made £10,000 grants available for small businesses. £25,000 grants for medium hospitality businesses. Apply for this using the information below and build this into your costing/budgeting exercises as detailed further in this article:

Get business support online, or over the phone.

Find Business Support Scotland
Telephone: 0300 303 0660
Textphone: 0800 023 2071
Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5:30pm

Find out about call charges

Don’t forget to gather evidence of your cancellations and other negative impacts the virus has had on your business such. For example,  reduced hours/redundancies, cash flow issues/concerns and productivity. This will be crucial when it comes to making insurance claims and accessing gouvernment grants.

Also, contact your bank and lenders to increase your overdraft, lending and credit limits. All are looking to support customers through this short term crisis.

Look to gather in any owed or outstanding debts. Cashflow is king, so start to encourage debtors to pay their dues.

4. Cutting the Fat…

“Hope for the best but plan for the worst” is an apt saying here. We just don’t know what is going to happen day to day, so work out the worst-case scenario for your business then at least you can be prepared for anything. We are in a better position than other countries – we have some foresight to help us plan. Look at other countries further ahead with the virus. China was hit terribly hard, were unprepared, and unaware of timelines. They have been on shutdown for two months.

Our advice for hotels, self-catering and guesthouses during Coronavirus here is clear. Put an action plan in place for the coming two to six months. Two months of shut down (or almost in our case at present), two months of building confidence back up, two months of trying to reach some travel normality. These timelines may need to extend, but from what we have seen from China, this is the time frame we expect.

1. How can you cut your costs in the short term – don’t immediately make staff redundant, you will need them when times improve. Instead can you look to support staff as far as possible, whilst keeping your business afloat? Look at reducing hours or temporary pay holidays. Share advice and links with staff. They are entitled to relief at present. Reach out to your local Citizens Advice Bureau or see Citizens Advice Scotland for advice. More advice can be found from ACAS here. Tell them to contact their debtors for a payment holiday (most are offering free payment holidays at this time). Also, keep abreast of the government support schemes in place for employees due to lose work/pay. 3 months mortgage relief is being offered to all in difficulty – this includes staff up to business owners.

Many will be worried that they will lose out on pay if they self-isolate. Reassure them that they will, at the very least, be entitled to statutory sick pay. You can keep up with the latest guidance for employers from the UK Government here. Remember, your staff are your lifeblood and keeping them safe from harm is of utmost importance.

Look at all your outgoings – where can you trim fat, without hindering your business. Remember:

• Don’t drop your suppliers. Try to find an agreement with them to help them stay afloat whilst reducing your costs. You will need their businesses to be there for you when this turns around. E.g. if you can’t get hold of fresh produce for your kitchens or clean laundry for your bedrooms when business comes back, you won’t be able to open your doors when business floods back. And we do expect people to be desperate to travel when given the all clear.
• Maybe you and your suppliers can support your community and help each other in the next 12 weeks. Can your venue adapt into something else for the short term or have a dual focus. Click and collect, offer essentials you can get through your wholesale suppliers, if really empty can you become a testing centre / medical facility if this becomes needed? Can you offer a social setting whilst keeping people separate. Set up non-contact experiences such as hotel rooms converted in to a private dining room with no contact for you and your family. Games room bookings for an evening. Support businesses, Teachers and those needing self-isolated working spaces – could your rooms become this?  Anything you can do to keep people separate but offer something of benefit in this difficult time.
• You need to be selling and talking online as much as you possibly can. So don’t scrimp on marketing. This is the time you need to be fighting hardest to keep money coming in. if not now, in two to four months’ time when the government reopens the gates to travel. You need to be fighting as hard as you can for your share of the market.
• Focus on any systems costs – can these be paused? Sustenance costs. Travel costs. Or take a short term holiday. Centre Parks announced all of its parks will shut from Friday 20^th March until April 16. People who had booked to stay between those times would be able to rearrange their stay or claim a full refund. This sends a clear message to the public that they will be open for business again in 4 weeks. It offers some hope and cuts their costs for this period.

5. Be Prepared

And be prepared for the turn around to welcome guests. Some expect a flooding of the market upon travel restrictions, others think it may be slower. We just don’t know, but be prepared so you can capture as much revenue as possible when the market comes back. Be ready to run a minimal service in case your staff have to self-isolate too. Everyone will need to multitask, from chefs to chauffeurs. How can you keep your staff supportive of the situation? Communication is key.

Stay up to date with the latest news and how it will affect the tourism industry in Scotland. The Scottish Tourism Alliance are sending our regular email updates on this topic, and it is worth signing up for them now.

6.   Adapt Your Business

Look for ways to adapt during this time. If you run self-catering accommodation, they could be thought of as isolation pods. Are there ways you can use spare bedrooms for the greater good to support your local community? If you provide meals, can you offer a delivery/pickup service with minimal interaction (and high anti contamination procedures)? What can you do to keep revenue coming in and brand awareness strong through this time. The country needs knights in shining armour and your business could be a shining beacon through this. People, whilst scared and not traveling, do want some sense of normality. This need will only grow in the coming weeks.

Also look to social projects to support your community and keep your brand alive. Can you send out hampers / packs to those in need / older people who are more in need than most for example?

7.   Staff Training

Just as important as letting your guests know what’s happening is keeping your staff up to date with the latest news and your business strategy. You want everyone, from domestic staff right up to top management, singing from the same sheet. Everyone needs to follow the same protocols, including handwashing, social distancing and self-isolation. If they aren’t showing your customers the measures you have in place, customers will panic. Train your staff for these new times, and put your customers at ease now and in the future when business starts to return. Travel needs and expectations are going to be different, in the short term at least, after the lock down period. People want social spacing. They want the ability to sanitise regularly. They want minimal personal interaction and touching of their food, credit cards and personal items. But they do still want to travel and experience.

8.   Plan for the future

Now is a great time to take stock of your internal systems and processes. Make sure everything is working as effectively as possible. Do you have a particular revenue stream that is particularly successful at the moment? If so, then work hard on it. Cut back on anything non-essential.

This might also be a good time to generate social media content for the future. Videos, interviews, stories. Get it in the bank now when you have time to keep your online presence active over the next few months when you get busier and things start to pick up again.

Try to prepare for potential problems. People won’t want to touch things unnecessarily, so organise non-contact check-ins and restaurant service processes. Perhaps people would rather porters did not take their bags to their room. Be prepared for whatever the day throws at you and to be adaptable. And keep your Coronavirus Policies clear online, and in public areas and rooms etc so people feel safe and informed.

9. Stay focused

Now is not the time to drop prices and panic. You offer a quality service, so maintain your professionalism. Remember that people will always want to visit Scotland – this is a blip, not a dead end. Perhaps now is the time to focus on a more local market? And, as previously mentioned, can you do anything to help your local community at this time? If we all stick together and offer assistance wherever we can, we will pull through, and be all the stronger for it.

10. Moving forward

Hopefully our advice for hotels and self-catering during the Coronavirus outbreak will be useful, and help you to channel your thoughts and time productively. If you would like to speak to us about anything, remember we’re always only a phone call 0141 278 6702 or contact form away.

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If you want to stand out on social media these days, then you need to bring your A-game and, most of all, make sure your content is appealing. Luckily, this doesn’t require a million pound special effects budget because many of the best social media tools are free!

The hardest part is often finding social media content inspiration, but great places to look can be right in front of your nose, like magazines. Take a look at their images, headlines and story content to help you think about your own brand. In addition, think about your brand and sector. What sort of topics are being talked about in your field? And how can you then further capitalise with your own spin?

Inspiration can come from anywhere – always be on the lookout for great new ideas when you’re walking the dog, driving the car or even just sitting watching the telly.

Making Video Content

With the rise of smartphones has come a videocamera in everyone’s pocket. Most will shoot in high definition, which is more than enough for social media posts. Many phones come with a built-in editor, so you can edit as soon as you have taken your footage. There are, however, many others on offer in Google Play and the App Store. Just find the one that suits you best and the sky’s the limit!

For editing on your computer, iMovies offers a powerful and free editing tool to all Apple Mac users. This intuitive programme allows you to do a whole manner of clever things using special effects, soundtracks and even green screen. You can start editing on your iPhone or iPad and then finish off on your home computer. In short, it offers a great editing suite for users of all abilities.

Editing your movies on a PC can be done with, for instance, Movie Creator. This is a free programme with multiple video themes designed for beginners, so are customisable to suit your taste. It also has various transition effects between merged videos, so as a result you videos will look polished and great to look at.

Content creators can also enjoy Adobe Spark. This is a a design app where as well as designing your own social media graphics, you can also use their templates to create original content. It is a great tool for those just starting out with editing. This is because it does most of the heavy lifting for you, leaving a fantastic video for you to share.

Creating Easy Graphic Design Content

Eye-catching content is the ultimate aim when creating online posts. Make sure your social media graphics help promote your brand by using a dedicated tool to create them. Online options include, for example, befunky.com, canva.com and fotor.com. They all offer filters, templates and collages and so will help impress your followers. Similarly, GIMP is a popular downloadable graphic design tool that is free to use. It will feel familiar to users of Adobe Photoshop, and therefore means many people can jump straight in.

Finally, if you are struggling to come up with content, then why not recycle what you already have into something brilliant? Reusing content is a great way to get to grips with new software and produce fresh social media output.

So why not give it a go? Make a movie, design images and then get your social media content going viral with exciting new social media tools.

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Google+ has long been a contemptuous topic among social media marketers. When Google’s attempt at social media was launched it reached its first 100 million users quicker than Facebook and Twitter. This caused some to call it the next best thing to happen to social media. SEOers also got excited about the possibility of it increasing search rankings. Because Google loves it when you actively use its products, right?

But whether or not this channel adds any weight to your online marketing efforts, social or otherwise, has always been up for debate. Die hard Google+ promoters believe the platform boosts your SEO efforts, while others categorically deny it.

The trouble started with studies like the one conducted by searchmetrics in 2013. It claimed social signals counted for 7 out of the top 8 factors correlated with search results. The study went on to indicate Google +1s carry more weight than engagement factors of other social platforms. At the same time, Moz did some research too. They found that “after Page Authority, a URL’s number of Google +1s is more highly correlated with search rankings than any other factor.” The signs were clear and all roads indicated this was a worthy social platform contender. It also looked like it packed an impressive SEO punch.

From Bad To Worse

In the midst of marketers jumping on the Google+ bandwagon, a few key factors were overlooked. Firstly, how did it hit the 100 million user mark as quickly as it did? Well, it was because marketers helped drive the sign up. Google bullied people into completing their Google+ profiles before they could access their Gmail accounts. Which means we were actively pushing out content to disengaged, inactive users. Secondly, in 2015 we chose to ignore Google’s repeated attempts to tell us “social signals do not directly influence your ranking”.

As there is no logical reason to dispel searchmetrics and Moz’s findings – they have the data to support their findings after all. Social media marketers have been erring on the side of caution ever since. Arguments could be made for the value of building social links back to your website. Or the fact that a social platform is in fact a link to your website and therefore it needs to be authoritative. Google+ very well could have contributed to improved rankings at some point in time. Probably around the time searchmetrics and Moz carried out their studies. It may still. Which is why we do just enough to keep our presence on the site known, despite very little engagement in return.

But amidst the online world, a growing contempt for Google+ has been brewing. The belief that Google+ was dead was only spurred on when they revamped their entire platform to be more engaging and user-friendly and no one noticed. And yet we still clung to the platform in fear of failing search rankings. With so much contradictory information out there, our relationship with Google+ continues to be a love/hate one. So to help shed some light on this controversial issue, we decided to put Google+ to the test for ourselves.

Making A Case For Google+

In October 2016, we decided to increase our efforts on Google+ for one of our clients. We chose the Kingsmills Hotel in Inverness. To test the value of the platform as a social outlet, we created a number of Google+ Collections designed to streamline the content we shared.  We joined and actively contributed to Communities that shared common interests. We even started a Community of our own, and invited link-minded companies and individuals to join and contribute too.

To test the SEO value of the platform, we tracked where the Kingsmills Hotel ranked for key phrases at the start and end of the month.

Our Findings

In the entire month of October, we received one +1 from another die-hard Google+er trying to make the platform work.

Incidentally, they were also the only company to join our “Things to do in Inverness” Community.

After +1ing a photograph on a “Scotland photography” Community, the contributor reached out to us … on Facebook.

As for search results, the key Collections we created seemed to have little or no effect on search rankings. In fact, despite a big push for the term “things to do in Inverness” on Google+, we dropped 2 places in search rankings. The areas that did see improvements was the result of pages we refreshed and optimised on the website during October.

But the biggest indicator of Google+’s ineffectiveness for SEO? It was the massive decrease in social referral traffic we saw on Google Analytics in October. This was despite our increased Google+ efforts.

The Bottom Line

In conclusion, we can now say that despite our best efforts, Google+ had no impact on our search rankings, social engagement or referral traffic. But before ruling out the platform for good, we would need to test the impact of stopping activity on the channel altogether.

We also need to consider other factors that could cause a decline in social referral traffic. Until then, the jury is still out on whether or not Google+ has any impact on our online marketing efforts.

As for content creation, we will continue to do our best to create engaging content for Google +. But without an engaged audience to receive it, the non-existent performance of Google+ is not something we will not be losing sleep over.

The post The Google+ Problem appeared first on POSH Agency.

Why is this New Facebook Update Happening?

Fewer people are actively using Facebook. Younger people favour the likes of Instagram and Snapchat. And, Facebook users have complained about an increase in ads and ‘fake news’ dominating their news feeds. Keeping it personal for users, whilst making revenue from advertising is a big challenge. Facebook is always tinkering with its algorithms, striving to get that perfect balance. But, this is one of the more significant updates, with a big announcement made by the CEO.

As the update is rolled out over the next few months, users are likely to see fewer business posts in their news feed. Facebook will give less visibility to website links and videos, and priority to posts that spark conversations and engagement between friends.

So, what can you do to make your Business stand out?

If your business relies heavily on social media marketing, don’t panic! There are a few things you can do to ensure you stay visible on Facebook.

1. Encourage your likers and followers to select ‘see first’ on your page, under the ‘following’ tab. This will ensure that they see more of your posts near the top of their news feeds.
2. Think carefully about what you are posting. It’s better to publish fewer, more engaging posts, that will get people commenting and interacting with each other.
3. Share different types of content. Instead of posting photos, videos and links to your website, try asking engaging questions, creating events and broadcasting live video. All of these things are more interactive and will be given greater visibility.
4. Create a group on a relevant topic and link it to your page. You can also join existing groups to share content. Groups encourage interactions and discussion between members and will be prioritised with the new Facebook update.
5. Consider increasing the amount of paid advertising you do. As organic reach is reduced for business pages, sponsored posts and ads will become an even more important way to stay visible.

Keep your eye on the ball

Social media and digital marketing is a game that is constantly changing. And, good marketers know that embracing change is the only way to grow your business. As the new Facebook update is rolled out, we will get a better understanding of what works and what doesn’t. So, keep using Facebook and your other social channels. Post lots of different types of content and analyse what gets the most engagement for you.

Don’t forget, we are always on hand if you need some specialist help with social media. Check back here for more digital marketing tips and updates and stay ahead of the game. Like POSH Communication on Facebook and select ‘see first’ to make sure you keep seeing our posts.

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Fresh Content Vs. Re-sharing Content

In a world where content is king and duplicate content is a big no no, the idea of re-sharing content goes against the grain. But there is a big difference between creating fresh content and simply re-sharing content. That’s why creating a solid foundation of evergreen content that can be shared again and again should be a key part of any social media strategy. Fresh content is great for a website. Sharing, and re-sharing that content gets your content seen by more and more people. And the more people to engage with your content, the better it is for SEO. So to help you make the most of your content, we’ve put together 3 sure ways to re-use great content.

1. Spruce Up An Old Blog

Let’s face it. A lot happens in the social sphere every day. New content, new ways to engage with fans, and dare we say it, new followers. So writing blog posts that can be used again and again is one of the smartest, time-saving content marketing strategies out there. Simply check your analytics, find an old, popular blog and give it some TLC. Re-write the headline, update the links and images, update content and share it with new followers who wouldn’t have seen it when it was originally published.

2. Repackage Your Content

Spending hours and hours creating great content, only to find out that no one is clicking through to the content itself can be disheartening. That’s where repackaging content comes in. Give old blogs a new focus by rounding up similar blogs based on a theme. For example, “The Best of Christmas in Edinburgh” or “Halloween in the Scottish Highlands”. That way, you can encourage readers to stay longer on your website by housing all the content you’ve created around a certain topic in one place.

3. Avoid Spamming Your Audience

Social organic reach is dwindling. It is a truth universally acknowledged by social media marketers. So the chances of the same fan or follower seeing an old piece of content you shared two years ago is minimal. But if you do re-share old content word-for-word, without updating the content for a new audience, you run the risk of spamming your audience. So if you are going to re-share content, you have to do so responsibly. It is important to vary your content, as well as how you share it on social media. Try using a different image with a new headline. Then test to see which post got the most online engagement.

So there you have it. 3 ways to optimise your content marketing by re-sharing great content. To find out more about content marketing strategies, how to grow organic traffic or increasing social media reach, contact us today.

The post Effective Content Marketing: 3 Ways To Renew, Refresh and Recycle Content appeared first on POSH Agency.

While many businesses invest their time (and money) in social media marketing, few companies are reaping the sizeable rewards. But the ones who are have a few things in common.

They Entertain

Let’s face it. No one logs onto Facebook to shop for the latest doo-dahs and knick-knacks – that’s what Amazon is for. Twitter, Facebook, SnapChat, Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook all serve one primary purpose … to entertain. No matter how serious, posh or seemingly boring a brand or product is, the ones that are lighting up the social stratosphere all adopt a lighter tone on social media. They are unexpectedly funny. They speak to fans on a one-on-one basis. And they use humour to introduce their products and engage with audiences on a more intimate level from behind the scenes. In short, they humanise the brand.

They Customise Content

Snapping a few pics of your business or products from behind the scenes will always be well received. But if you really want to remain socially relevant, you need to leave your fans and followers hungry for more. You need to customise your content to your audience’s wants and needs. Which means you need to know what’s trending, what’s not and how to use it to your brand’s advantage.

They Engage

Arguably the most important thing you can do online is engage with your online audience. Creating and sharing great content without engaging with the online world is a bit like going to a party and dancing by yourself. Whether that means responding to a customer’s comment, “trolling” a certain person or hash tag, or entering into some light banter with a competitor, engaging in with the online world can help you reach a wider audience.

To find out more about building your social media presence through effective, profitable social media marketing, get in touch for a bit of social natter.

The post Social Media Marketing: Learning From The Best appeared first on POSH Agency.

Is A Picture Really Worth A Thousand Words?

But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Not any more anyway. Image-based posts almost always outperform link-based posts. So it comes as no surprise that social media platforms prioritise engagement over links every time. And to add fuel to a burning social issue, at least for SEOers anyway, new social algorithms have come into play to ensure just that. Which means driving traffic to your website via organic social media referrals is becoming harder and harder to do. And as much as SEOers hate to admit it, Instagram is still a valuable link to your website. The more engaging an Instagram account is, the more credible (and therefore valuable) the link.

Keeping Your Business In The Picture

So should you be using Instagram for business? Well, that depends on your social media strategy, what you hope social media will do for your business and just how much you are willing to invest to make it work. The very essence of Instagram is all about capturing and sharing moments. So getting Instagram right requires a fair bit of planning, imagination and dedication. But most of all, it requires time.

And as more and more businesses take to Instagram, Instagram is in turn taking business needs more seriously. The launch of their Business Tools has stopped SEOers running for the hills, and instead, forced them to re-look the value of the platform as one of the most effective brand-building tools at their disposal. So maybe the question you should be asking is not whether or not you should be using Instagram for business; but rather, if your customers are on Instagram, can your business really afford not to be there too?

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Why Google+? That’s a question we hear a lot. Usually right after, what is Google+? Simply put, Google+ is Google’s attempt at social media. And before you laughingly add that Google should leave social media to the professionals (yes, we’ve heard that before too), it is a platform all social marketers and content managers try to promote, even though most people don’t really use it. And once you understand a bit about SEO, it’s easy to see why.

Keeping Google Happy

Whether the platform is popular or not, Google loves it when you use their products. Spending some time on your www.doxycycline-buy.com Google+ business page can help improve your local search and visibility – something that is becoming increasingly important in the online world today. And like all Google products, Google+ adds weight in getting ranked and indexed by Google. In short, it’s great for SEO. It helps you rank higher, provides valuable links back to your website and keeps Google happy.

But the actual success of the platform is always up for debate. While some marketers rave about Google+ reaching 100 million users faster than Facebook and Twitter, it’s probably because we put them there. And if we didn’t, Google certainly did. Don’t you remember trying to log into your Gmail account and being asked to fill in your Google+ profile? I do. And I only completed my profile to get Google off my back. That’s right. Google bullied me into it. But it worked. And chances are, it worked for your target market too.

Google+ For SEO

So is it worth it? Well that depends on your online objective. If you want to increase your online ranking, you cannot afford not to invest in Google+ for SEO. Amidst speculation that the platform was dead, Google+ underwent a bit of an overhaul last year. What emerged was a cleaner, simpler look with Communities and Collections that are at the centre of driving meaningful engagement.

Like Pinterest, Communities and Collections are groups created around specific interests. They are easy to set up, easy to use and completely free. They can be public, private, open to every one or by invite only. They allow you to engage with other Google+ers directly, and contribute to other communities. Like Pinterest, Communities and Collections take time to set up and manage. And for them to add any value to your SEO, they need to tie into a smart content strategy and have content to link back to. In short, making Google+ work for your business is a full time job. But one that reaps significant SEO rewards.

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Ruffling a Few Feathers

But when it comes to using Twitter for business, this social platform is a tough nut to crack. Like Facebook, Twitter’s algorithmic timeline update earlier this year. It started prioritising certain tweets over others. This is an attempt to connect users with content Twitter believed to be relevant to them. Since the algorithmic update, we’ve found Twitter engagement take a nosedive. And no matter how good of an idea it was (so good in fact, Facebook is looking at trialling it too), being told “what you missed” on your Twitter timeline just isn’t in keeping with the essence of Twitter. In other words, real-time conversations happing in the moment all over the world.

But a hard-to-predict timeline isn’t the only thing giving social media marketers sleepless nights. Failing to attract new users, the platform is barely growing and investors are starting to panic. As market share and user growth slows, the platform is paving the way for other real-time social media platforms like Snapchat and Instagram to gain ground. In short, Twitter is making us nervous. Continuous Twitter community outreach and engagement with other users is vital. Without it, growing and keeping your Twitter following organically isn’t easy.

What The Tweet?

So why do we still bother? Should we still be using Twitter for business? At the end of the day Twitter is still the best platform to engage with people during an event (for now at least).

Whether it’s something big like #RIO2016, or something small and specific to your company like #OfficeAntics, trending hashtags make it easy for anyone to join in the conversation.

Twitter Cards allow marketers to create media rich tweets, and provide valuable links back to your company’s website. Its paid advertising capabilities hold a striking resemblance to Facebook’s. And a surprisingly easy to use dashboard (TweetDeck) allows you to manage multiple accounts with ease. All in all, Twitter is trying really hard to keep up to Facebook. And if you have enough time and money to invest in creating trending content, it’s a goldmine.

So we wouldn’t recommend abandoning Twitter just yet. But it is definitely a platform to keep your eye on.

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What We Like About Facebook

Facebook is undoubtedly the social media giant. With 1.23 billion monthly users, it is the online “place to be”. In fact, according to one survey, 90% of advertisers have a Facebook page and 62% are actively advertising on Facebook – that’s more than on Google, Twitter and LinkedIn combined. Which means marketing agencies around the world have identified Facebook as the online advertising platform of choice. And it is easy to see why.

Continuous innovation and sophisticated algorithms have allowed Facebook to cater to the needs of businesses while protecting the interest of their users. New features and capabilities like slideshows, carousels and canvas posts, combined with organic targeting enables companies to get the right message to the right person at the right time. While algorithm updates that prioritise social posts and block spammy clickbait tactics, protect users from being inundated with newsfeed fodder. Overall it is a social win-win.

Facing Off With Facebook

But as more and more companies take to the social platform, it’s getting harder and harder for businesses to compete organically. In fact, we’ve seen Facebook’s newsfeed algorithm drastically affect organic reach over the last three months. Which means we have to work www.genericpropeciabuyonline.com twice as hard to reach half the amount of people. Constant updates to their Business Manager platform also mean that technical issues crop up now and then. And if you’re not a Facebook Marketing Partner or you are not spending large sums of money advertising on the platform (and we mean LARGE sums), you could wait days for Facebook to fix an issue.

So why are so many companies and marketers turning to the platform for advertising? Well, it’s still one of the best ways to engage with new and existing customers. Creating valuable content (like blogs, product updates and upcoming events) promotes special offers, keeps your business top of mind and creates invaluable linkbacks to your website – which is great for SEO. While sharing company news, employee updates and “connecting” with customers through continuous engagement ensures your customers feel like part of the family.

Why You Can’t Afford Not To Be Here

All in all, your Facebook profile is pretty much one of your strongest brand advertising platforms for your business 24/7. And in addition to all the advertising and branding opportunities of Facebook, there’s one thing we can’t ignore. The world is becoming more and more digitalised. The way people search is changing. A company without a website is obsolete (and has been for some time). But a company without a website that doesn’t link to at least three or four social profiles is archaic, old-fashioned and out-dated. And your tech-savvy audience knows it.

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A

• Above the Fold: Basically, anything you can see on a web page without scrolling down.
• AdWords: Google’s paid search program and the first PPC provider, which allows you to outrank your competition – once you’ve paid a small fee of course.
• Affiliate Marketing: Another word for piggyback marketing whereby you partner with other websites or companies to send traffic to your site.
• Algorithms: Like KFC’s 11 herbs and spices, algorithms are secret formulas search engines and social platforms use to rank your website or determine how many people to deliver your post to.
• Analytics: Data gathered from a website and its users, which gives online marketers insight into the online road ahead.

B

• Backlinks: Links from other websites and platforms which link back to your website.
• Big Data: An evolving term that basically means analysing large volumes of data to identify trends and patterns.
• Black Hat Practices: Shady SEO and social marketing practices like link farming or buying likes.

C

• Click Through Rate (CTR): The number of times someone clicks on your ad, in relation to the number of times your ad is shown.
• Community Management: Taking care of your online audience by liking, sharing, commenting, re-tweeting and engaging with your fans.
• Content Management System (CMS): An insanely clever platform that allows you to make changes to a website without obtaining a technical degree first.
• Conversion Rate: A metric that tells you how many people have clicked on your ad and completed the desired objective.
• Cookie: An online tracker and complete invasion of user privacy, willingly consented to by a user.

D

• Delisting: When a page or website is removed from a search engine’s index – usually because some black hat practices has caused it to be banned.
• Domain Name: A website’s main address. For example, poshagency.com

E

• E-Commerce: Or etail, as it is sometimes called, is a snazzy name for selling stuff online.
• EdgeRank: The name of Facebook’s algorithm that ranks your page and decides which posts will appear in your fans’ Newsfeed.

F

• Facebook Retargeting: The ability to deliver a Facebook ad to someone who has visited a specific page(s) on your website.

G

• Geo Targeting: As the name suggests, this is a smart way of delivering an online ad to someone who lives in a specific location.

H

• HyperText Markup Language (HTML): The programming language of a website. Which is why it is important to have a developer that is fluent in HTML.
• Hyperlinks: Much like a virtual portal, hyperlinks allow users to navigate to other websites or pages.

I

• Impressions: The number of times someone views a page that shows your ad.
• Index: A bunch of information search engines have gathered to help users find what they’re looking for.
• Internet of Things (IoT): Pretty much any device that connects to the Internet – i.e. warables, drivables, flyables.

J

• JavaScript: Another programming language that improves user experience and functionality on websites.

K

• Keywords: These are words or phrases people type into a search engine. Using the right keywords can attract the right traffic to a website. Kind of like how typing “understanding technical jargon” has led you to this blog.
• Keyword Stuffing: Since search engines love keywords, some SEOers started plugging pages with high-ranking keywords in order to drive traffic to a site. Thankfully Google’s algorithms have wised up since the dark keyword stuffing days.

L

• Landing Page: The first page a user lands on when clicking a link to your site.
• Link Building: Just like LinkedIn allows like-minded professionals to connect with you, link building allows like-minded websites to link to yours.

M

• Metadata: Simply put, metadata is data about data. It describes who, what, when, where and how a particular set of data was created.

N

• Natural Listings: Another word for organic results. In other words, search engine results that haven’t been paid for.

O

• On-page Optimisation: Making a page more search-friendly by using the right www.ordergenericpropeciaonline.com keywords, images and links at the right time.
• Organic Results: See “Natural Listings”.

P

• PageRank: In other words, where your page ranks on Google.
• Paid Search: a.k.a. Paid Placement, ensures you rank on the first page of a search engine when a user types in a certain term or keyword.
• PPC: Since you have to pay for Paid Placements (which could cost a pretty penny), you can ask search engines to only charge you once someone clicks on your ad or link.
• Pop Ups: A sneak attack online marketers use to get people to sign up for news letters, follow you on Twitter or like you on Facebook. It can be very annoying or very effective – there’s no middle ground.

Q

• Quality Traffic: If you’re selling a luxury car, you try to generate leads from potential buyers who can afford your product, not someone straight out of Uni. It’s the same with online traffic. You want to attract people who want (and can afford) to do business with you now and in the future. This is what we like to call quality traffic.

R

• Real Simple Syndication (RSS): Technology that allows information to be shared easily on websites or with switched on users who have opted in.
• Results Page: What comes up when you search for something in Google. I.e. the results Google generates.

S

• Search Engines: Search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo etc.) are places people go to search for things. Much like an encyclopedia or the yellow pages or yesteryear, they connect people with what they are looking for quickly and easily.
• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO): A fancy way of saying you’re making your site search-engine-friendly.

T

• Targeting: Making sure your website or ad is only seen by the right target market. It’s one of the easiest ways to ensure you’re driving quality traffic to your site.
• Tracking Code: A piece of code that is added to the URL of a website or page in order to measure online performance.
• Tracking Pixel: Specific to Facebook, this little piece of code is online marketing gold. By placing a small amount of code onto your website, you can create ads that target people who have visited a particular page. Pretty impressive wouldn’t you say?

U

• Uniform Resource Locator (URL): A crafty name for the words, letters and symbols that make up a web page’s address. For example: http://poshagency.com/blog/understanding-technical-jargon/

V

• Vanity Metrics: These are things like the number of likes you have on Facebook, the number of followers you have on Twitter or the number of people who click through from your ad. The figures may look good in your quarterly report, but if they aren’t adding value to your bottom line, what value do they ad?
• Viral Marketing: Fashionably called “word of mouse”, this is a form of marketing whereby an ad you create or the content you share goes viral. Within hours, your brand could reach hundreds of thousands of people around the world.

W

• White Hat Practices: Online tactics that have been identified as “best practice”. Unlike the quick results you’ll see with Black Hat Practices, the results are slow and steady. You’re also unlikely to be banned on Google for them.
• WordPress: Is a smart, simple, intuitive Content Management System that allows you to update, edit and optimise your website.

X

• Extensible Markup Language (XML): is a simple, flexible text format. It doesn’t actually do anything, but it’s what content developers use to enable users to define elements and pull the data they want to receive at their own pace. It is also, conveniently, the only “x” term we could find for our Tech-ionary.

Y

• Yandex: Eastern Europe’s answer to Google, Yandex is primarily used in Russia and other countries formerly part of the Soviet Union. It’s the fastest growing search engine in the world and even has its own paid search program – Yandex Direct.

Z

• Z-index: A zinger of a technical term that will take a whole new Tech-ionary to explain. Our advise if it comes up in a conversation, smile and nod along. Sometimes even the best of us get stumped when it comes to understanding technical jargon.

So there you have it. A quick and easy guide to understanding technical jargon. While we’ve only scratched the techy surface, the POSH Tech-ionary should help you hold your own in almost any online-driven discussion.

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