social media for business - SaysSEZ

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Facebook hits nearly 500 million users – infographic

May 18, 2012 in Business Blog

Check out the new infographic about Facebook and it’s mobile users.

How often do you check Facebook on your mobile? Tell us in the comments below and you could win a social media design for your FB & Twitter page!

 

 

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Why aren’t you showing up on Google? – The Panda Update

May 7, 2012 in Business Blog

 

Have a look at how Google penalises thin and unworthy content. If you’re having a problem with Google not ranking your page, perhaps this is why/

 

 

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South Africa in Social Media

May 4, 2012 in Business Blog

Can we still afford to not use Social Media Marketing?

There are some fascinating statistics surrounding South Africans on Social Media for 2012. Why not take a look at this video and let us know what you think in the comments below.

Here’s a few highlights for those that don’t want to take a peek:

  • An astounding 91% of South African internet users have a Facebook account
  • There are over 4.8 million South African Facebook users
  • 50% of South African Facebook users use their mobile phones to interact
  • The average Facebook user spends 700 minutes a month on Facebook (and you still think you don’t need Social Media for your business?)
  • There are 1.1 million Twitter users in South Africa, however, only 405000 users are active
  • South African Twitter Users send 470,000 Tweets per month.
  • Johannesburg is the city in South Africa that is the most active on Twitter
  • There are more than 1.5 million Linkedin users in South Africa – Do you use LinkedIn? If so, what benefit do you find most important?
  • Only 29% of South African internet users have a Linkedin Account
  • South African YouTube users upload 48 hours of video every minute onto the website.
  • Surprisingly, there are already over 460,000 registered South African Google+ users. The majority of these people are technically gifted, artists, authors or journalists.

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SEO & Social Media Marketing

February 27, 2012 in Business Blog

One of the major problems that South African SMMEs (Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises) face is that they haven’t the infrastructure, resources or knowledge to build an effective website.

Many have one page website, with no links to alternative resources, any additional information, some even lack contact details, but the main problem that almost all of them face is that they’re not optimised for search engines (search engine optimisation).

What this means, is that your website was not built with what Google/Bing/Yahoo are looking for. They haven’t the foggiest what your site is about, as the clues they look for aren’t there.

Now, you know that we offer SEO services, which means we look at your website on an individualized way and restructure/rewrite and reformat in the correct way, working with meta-descriptions, robot.txt files and all those complicated aspects, but we know that you may not have the funds to invest in something like this as yet. So, when we came across an extraordinarily cheap book on SEO and Social Media Marketing, we decided we’d have to share it with you.

People are searching for your products and services, but can’t find your website. What this book describes is how to get traffic by either buying it, or attracting it, at next to no cost. Something we can all do, if we just spend a little time on it.

You BUY traffic using pay-per-click (PPC) paid advertising or banners and impression-based ad campaigns. You ATTRACT traffic organically using tactical onsite and off-site search engine optimization (SEO) techniques, and implementing a calculated social networking strategy.

Discover the tactics you’ll need to employ to transform your website into a powerful selling tool and lead generator. Click Here.

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SaysSEZ in Wholesale Business Magazine

February 21, 2012 in Business Blog

We recently had the honour of contributing to an article in Wholesale Business Magazine about Social Media, its impact and benefits.

We’re thoroughly impressed with the outcome and would like to share it with you. Wholesale Business/Supermarket.co.za have a rather nifty ‘flipbook‘ that allows you to flip through the magazine. It’s fast and takes almost no time to load, so try this first. Click here to go to the flipbook and, if you’re only interested in seeing the SaysSEZ article, put page 30 in the little white pages block at the top. However, the magazine makes an interesting read, so try browse around whilst you’re in there.

If the flipbook has little interest for you, click the image below to see the pdf of just the SaysSEZ article.

We’d like to extend a rather large thanks to Supermarket.co.za and Michel Mack, the journalist who wrote the article.

 

 

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Facebook Slider Plugin

February 10, 2012 in Business Blog

As you may or may not know, this website is based on a WordPress platform. I’m not embarrassed about it, quite the alternate. We’ve found that WordPress has the unique ability to be entirely customisable, whilst being extremely user-friendly and, let’s face it, even the experts like a bit of easy-to-use software every now and then.

So, while working in WordPress, we’ve found a few Plugins quite useful. Firstly, Yoast’s SEO Plugin was recommended to us from the word go. Without a doubt, this has to be one of the best Plugins we’ve found. It makes life so much easier and, again, is simple to use.

We’re still struggling to find the right Social Media Icon Plugin, but we’ll get there, although today I came across quite an innovative design for a Facebook Plugin for WordPress. I’m not sure what to make of it, but take a peek and let me know what you think. I love, but can see some setbacks. Perhaps you’ll find this on our site soon….Click Here!

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Facebook Advertising Guide

February 10, 2012 in Business Blog

You Want To Learn An Online Advertising System That Is More Targeted And Less Expensive Than Google AdWords?

The Facebook Advertising Guide will show you all you need to know how to create successful marketing and advertising campaigns right on Facebook.

 

You will learn how to avoid costly mistakes that can be crucial to your online marketing success. You will also learn how to create great Facebook Pages, Groups, Places, Social Plugins and how to use them to your advantage in your business marketing.

Click Here

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Mbeki comment on Twitter

February 9, 2012 in Business Blog

Watch Former President Thabo Mbeki comment on Twitter and the internet as media to spread knowledge for the betterment of society at the University of Stellenbosch Business School (USB) International Knowledge Conference on Monday, 16 January 2012.

 

*featured image, courtesy of timeslive.co.za
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How to increase Facebook Fans

November 24, 2011 in Business Blog

There are a few Dos & Don’ts in Social Media that we haven’t covered yet. One of the biggest questions companies pose is how to increase Facebook fans.

What’s the point of being on Social Media, if no one is seeing your posts, right?

South African SMMEs often find that once they’re up and running on Facebook, they haven’t the foggiest how to get fans. I often find that, when guiding them through this process, companies react with “but why should I get current clients to follow me, if I want social media to bring me new clientele?”

This may go without saying to those that are well in the know, but, to the average SMME, Facebook is a very confusing platform and it’s enough to ask them to get posting, never mind asking them to understand the anthropology behind it all; so, here’s a quick guide to understanding fans and how to increase them.

This is based on the premise that you already have your Facebook page up and running and that you’re about to start posting, or have already started.

1. Before you do anything, add Facebook and Twitter icons to your email signature, linking to your Facebook page and Twitter page.

This may seem like a moot point – why would you want to encourage fans in people already emailing you, as they’re obviously already interested in your services?

Here you need to remember that Facebook, more so than other Social Networking sites, is based mostly on peer recommendation.

If I ‘like’ a page, my ‘friends’ automatically assume I trust that company, I have used that company and I have found them to provide a good service/product. This is almost as good as your client sending all his colleagues and friends and email saying “Use Joe Soap’s Panel Beaters.”

2.  Include the same icons (consistency is key) in any marketing, mail drops or presentations you do. If it’s not electronic, put the link. These days, you don’t need the full URL, all you need to do is put your little icon and ‘/yourcompanyname’ next to it. Like so:

/SaysSEZ

People now know that that means go to www.facebook.com/SaysSEZ to follow us.

3. I’m still harping on about the icon thing, but please put the same icon and ‘/yourcompanyname’ on your business cards.

If someone may have the slightest interest in what you’re doing, they’ll follow you and from that moment on will receive all your updates. It’s consistent, constant and personal branding.

4. Interact with other companies and pages.

The ‘Networking’ in ‘Social Networking’ is there for a reason. If a page adds you (at least in the beginning) add them back. Share other companies’ posts – this will encourage them to share yours and thus market on your behalf to all their followers.

5. Inteact with your fans.

If they comment on a post, keep commenting until they stop. Keep the conversation going. The new Facebook ‘Ticker’ box will show all their friends that they’re commenting on your post, increasing your branding and reputation.

These are just a few tips to help you increase fans. Don’t forget, if you have any questions, I’ll gladly answer them for you.

Don’t forget to subscribe to our Social Media Blog (the Follow button at the bottom right hand corner) to receive a free Social Media e-book! And check out our Google+ Page to see what it’s all about!

 

 

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Google+ pages and why they work

November 11, 2011 in Business Blog

So by now we’ve all realised that Google just doesn’t stop launching pretty cool products. Monday showed the latest of innovations as Google+ launched the long awaited Google+ Pages.

I, for one, have been waiting with bated breath for this moment, as Google+ seems like the perfect platform for corporates, after all, it’s a sharing network, not just a social network. As companies, we’re looking less to interact on a personal/individual level, but rather to get our information out there and to reach as many people as possible. With Google+ this finally seems possible.

This is not to say that we should give up on Facebook, Twitter and other SNs, but rather to take advantage of  a much simpler medium, which I have little doubt will take the lead on corporate marketing.

For those that are on Google+, take a moment to visit our Google+ Page to see what it’s all about.

One of the things I love about Google+, is that it learns from others’ mistakes and has taken the best of each network and implemented them into one. A few of my favourite being:

Twitter:

  • The ability to share and interact with thousands of strangers. Yes, we can do this through other networks, but Twitter magnifies it and makes even the loneliest of souls feel like the popular jock.
  • Oh my goodness, we can actually use #hashtags!

Google Wave & Google Buzz:

  • They took note of why these networks failed on such a grand scale and created a network whose design rivals every current social network, with it’s clarity and ease of use. It looks pretty, but only  because of its simple structure.

Facebook (before trying to mimic Google+):

  • They noted how people communicated differently with various groups and how communication was limited when they couldn’t communicate with individual groups, but had to communicate with everyone. Cross-communication led to annoyance and Google+ took advantage of this by creating ‘circles’ – creating an easier way to communicate with friends, colleagues, strangers and whom ever else you please.
  • Like vs +1 – They’ve taken FB’s ‘like’ button and maximised it with the +1. Now, not only can you tell your friends you ‘like’ something, but that shows up on Google search and if you want to find out more about someone, you go to their G+ profile and click the +1 tab to see what they ‘like.*’

All networks:

  • They’ve amalgamated mentions, private messages, direct messages, inboxing, posting a status, posting links and almost every other form of communication into one box. You want to inbox someone? All you need do is share a ‘status’ with only that person. Chat to everyone? Make that status ‘public’.

I could go on for ages, but I’m sure you follow me. As you’ve seen here, Google+ is as simple as you can get, so I’m not going to walk you through creating a page. Trust me, you can do it yourself.

Don’t forget to subscribe to our Social Media Blog (the Follow button at the bottom right hand corner) to receive a free Social Media e-book! And check out our Google+ Page to see what it’s all about!

*Bet Facebook wishes they’d thought of that…

 

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