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Engaging Your Customers Through Social Media

The biggest challenges in using social media for your business is not getting followers but retaining and growing the numbers. This is why it is important to be in constant engagement with your customers. A website alone is not enough. You need to be accessible to your customers and interact with them. With an average user clocking close to 3 hours a day spent on social media, no business can do without utilising it as a platform to reach and engage with customers. Here are some tips to help you do just that.

Have a clear message

This helps to present a set of content and topics. This will allow your customers to consider if your business is a good fit for them. Don’t forget to make your content reader-friendly too.

Focus on Facebook

Facebook is the largest social media site in terms of active users. There are an estimated 900 million users on Facebook as of April 2015. Not only does it have a huge number of users but its users spend an average of about 40 minutes a day on it, according to Bloomberg. This presents a high potential for engagement with your customers.

Post photos and videos

Such visuals will certainly increase engagement with your customers. You might want to consider posting fun images of say the behind the scenes of your business, interviews with staff, recent events and functions or even photos of other customers using your products or services. You can even invite your customers to share their photos and videos on your website. In this way, you become more real to them and your business becomes more than just a website.

Ask questions to spark interest

Posts which invite your customers to discuss and allow them to share their opinions are valuable to the business. This will allow you to know your customers better as their discussions give you a better insight into understanding their needs and wants. This in turn will help you to improve your products or service to meet them.

 Show that you listen

Comment on your social profile. Whether the comments are positive or otherwise, your responses show how committed you are towards your customers and potential ones. When you are able to create and engage in a dialogue each time they comment, it shows customers that they are taken seriously.

There are certainly more ways to connect with your customers but hopefully, the tips give you inspiration on how to get started. Start engaging your customers on social media now!

 

 

The Most Persuasive Words in the English Language

There are some power words that are able to influence and persuade the masses but you would be surprised to know that they are actually very simple. Here are 3 of the most persuasive words in the English language.

Free

People love free things to the point that that will influence them into making different choices, even if the respective value of the service or product remains the same. However, beware that while offering something for free will attract more people, it is almost certain that there will be a large proportion of bargain hunters who are not likely to be the customers that will really grow your business.

 New

Novelty has an important role in the stimulating our brain’s reward centre. It is important to inject ‘newness’ into products as they expire quicker than experiential purchases such as a holiday. Customers get excited when they are told that products come with new features or are given a new look. More than just promising ‘new’, it is important that the product/service delivers in order to maintain the trust customers have in the business and brand.

 Instantly

In this age where delayed gratification is a skill, the word instantly fires up and triggers customers’ brains.  For those businesses with physical products or services businesses, letting your customers know that they will receive what they want quickly (or someone will contact them soon) goes a long way in persuading them to buy your product or service. When you promise ‘instantly’, stick by the golden rule: always deliver and where possible, over-deliver.

So there you go –three persuasive words that can help you win over customers. The next time you are looking for the right words to help you in a campaign, remember to include these simple but powerful persuasive words.

The English Language – To Communicate or Confuse?

A recent article on the Wall Street Journal recommends that we stop being particular about how we use English, forget about the technical rules in grammar and simply use what is easy and accessible to the masses. In essence, grammatical rules are merely “stylistic conventions” and we should not fuss over such technicalities.

In particular, the writer points to the constant evolution of language. The English language has changed much in the last millennia, as seen in the range of texts that have been written by Chaucer to Shakespeare to Dickens and contemporary writers of today. Language moves with the times and nowhere do we see it more than in the explosion of smart devices and social media. The use of devices and different means of communication such as text messaging and social media platforms have given rise to new styles of writing.

The use of outdated language and wordy texts found in documents such as legal contracts are now discouraged in favour of simple, clear English. This means being less fussy in grammatical structures and vocabulary but instead, to go straight to the point by making language as accessible as possible.

On the other hand, critics would argue that grammar is the logic of language. Without it, the language would make no sense and would not be understood. Grammar details are therefore, necessary in order for us to communicate so the rules dictate how it is to be done.

English has been the uniting language on the international platform. Being the bridging language in commerce, education, politics and even entertainment, it has brought people of all backgrounds and tongues together. It is necessary that rules of grammar and its usage be upheld so that the language remains accessible and universal.

The issue here is not so much about whether there is ‘proper English’ or otherwise. With the increasing numbers of non-native speakers of English, it is inevitable that the right grammar rules may not be always be applied as it is unfair to impose the rules on this group of people who do not speak it as their mother tongue. The bottom line remains that speakers of the English language need to be careful in how they use it and exercise care so as not to confuse others with their ‘improper English’.

Building the Voice of Your Business

Building a successful business is challenging, much less in a world where customers have unlimited options. Yet, it is worthwhile the effort when you start building a voice for your business. You will have the loyalty of your customers who keep coming back, strengthening your business’ reputation. So how do you go about building the voice of your business? Let’s have a look at some ways you can do that.

Hear and know your customers’ voice

By understanding your customers, you are in a better position to align your business in such a way that you are prevalent or present in their lives. This includes employing a listening strategy, such as researching the keywords people use most to search for your product/service. By knowing the details of your customer demographics (e.g. gender and age), it helps you to ensure that your content remains relevant.

Tailor to your customers

Your customers must be able to relate to your brand and product. That means having to be outstanding in the marketplace by ensuring customers know what your expertise/core product is and what you can do for them. In a competitive market, it is key to show that you are able to meet their needs better than anyone else. Gathering feedback from customers is important to helping the business fine-tune its products and services to ensure that they meet the customers’ needs.

Be a recognisable business with a personality

A great example of this is Apple. People are able to associate its logo with the brand and products. Is there something which your customers can immediately click or associate with your business? Employ social media to your advantage. Platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook are some of the best avenues to reach out to customers. Ensure that all contact information, profile pictures and descriptions of your business are consistent. This will help customers to associate certain pictures and keywords with your business.

By building the voice of your business, you will create a brand that your target customers can relate to while distinguishing your products or services from your competitors. Good luck!

Tips for a Great Speech

Sir Winston Churchill, Britain’s wartime Prime Minister during the Second World War, was known for his speeches not only for their magnetism but for their effect on public morale. Despite his personal style for using vocabulary that was considered old-fashioned in 1940, he knew that it was necessary to deploy that to create maximum impact on his audience. Today, his speeches still serve as some of the finest examples of oratorical discourse.

Here are 3 tips for a great speech based on Churchill’s style to make yours impactful:

  • Have a structure: Churchill’s speeches were based on clear structures. They had a path and a destination. Likewise, when preparing a speech, it is important to ensure that your audience know where you are going and why. This way, they are able to keep pace with you.
  • Keep language precise: When presented with a draft of a speech, Churchill drew a line across the sentence and simply told his staff that the word he was looking for was ‘crushed’. By going straight to the point, you avoid losing your audience’s patience. Keeping your language precise will also deliver greater impact in your speech.
  • Appeal to emotions: Churchill presented a picture of a powerless prostrate Europe should they fail to stand strong in resisting Nazi Germany. It instilled a sense of fear and doom. By appealing to your audience’s emotions, they will feel included and become more interested in what you have to say. This will compel the audience to even take action.

So remember the above tips for a great speech. But above all, you need to be yourself. To truly win the hearts and minds of your audience, adopt a style and structure that you are comfortable with. And keep your audience in mind!

A Dynamic Website: A Worthwhile Investment for Your Online Business

In a business environment that is highly dynamic, you cannot sustain your online presence with a static website. This is because it takes time to make a static website and when it comes to updating the contents, you have to do it by going to individual pages. In the present online scenario where time is money, you need a website that can be updated with new content and products within minimum time. Here the dynamic websites come to your rescue. Let’s see how.

Easy to update: In today’s highly competitive world, you have to keep pace with your competitors by frequently updating your site with new content and products. If you are using a static website, you have to maintain an experienced team that can do so in a timely and accurate fashion. This turns out to be an extra burden on your finances. A dynamic website, on the other hand, can be updated accurately even by a novice. This is because in case of dynamic sites all the data is stored in a database. To update new content all you need to do is export a datafeed file to your database. Thus, you can update hundreds of webpages without wasting any time.

Gives you more business: As your dynamic site remains fresh with new content, search engines give it better rankings. This is the biggest advantage that you can have in the highly competitive online world. The number of visitors increases significantly and so do the conversions. This in turn strengthens your market share and you become more competitive.

Gives you operational economy: Though you have to shell out more money for making a dynamic website, it proves to be more beneficial in the longer run. This is because you do not have to employ dedicated staff to maintain and update the website. This not only gives you operational agility, but also saves a lot of money.

If you want to sustain your business in the online world, opting for a dynamic website is a great idea. Initially, it might sound to be an expensive proposition, but in the long run its benefits outweigh the starting cost.

Punctuation, the neglected soul of language

If grammar is the backbone of language, then punctuation is its soul. Punctuation is a very important aspect of the written word yet it is almost always taken lightly. It is used to create clarity and sense in a sentence. It is very much like the pauses and changes in tones when speaking. The use of punctuation gives structure and organisation to writing.

In her book Eats, Shoots and Leaves, Lynne Truss laments the state of punctuation in the spheres where English is the first and dominant language. While it is peppered with humorous anecdotes of good and bad punctuation, Truss drives home the point the value of punctuation as an integral part of logic in language.

Have a look at this classic example:

Let’s eat Grandma.
Let’s eat, Grandma.

See how punctuation has made a huge difference in the intention and meaning of the sentence? In this case, punctuation saved Grandma’s life!

Even though punctuation may seem insignificant, those little dots and dashes can have tremendous impact on meaning. If we liken the slamming of a door to a punctuation mark, surely we want to be heard and understood as well in writing.

3 Steps to Write Right

George Orwell likened good writing to a clear piece of glass. It hides nothing, it is transparent and all who see it know exactly what they are getting out of it. However, good writing is not easily accomplished. In fact, the most brilliant writers experience writer’s block at some point or the other. The question is this: How can anyone be creative and be able to produce good writing all the time?

1) Read lots
There is a reason why reading is strongly encouraged. It feeds the mind and creativity. It allows one to benefit from the knowledge of a variety of cultures, ideas and gain insight into the complexity of human nature. Once the mind is fed as such, the thought process begins to flow easily and fluently. From there, creative and critical thinking become second nature. Writing then becomes the outward expression of those inward thoughts.

2) Review, Rewrite, Rephrase
No one’s first draft is ever perfect. (That’s why even professional authors have a whole editorial team behind their books.) The secret is in the many rounds of editing and reviewing to get that sentence sounding exactly the way it should. As James Michener said, “I am not a good writer, but I am an excellent rewriter.”

3) Practice makes perfect
Cliché but true. No writer started off being excellent at his craft. And as with just about everything else, the more your write, the better you will become. With more practice, expressing those thoughts and ideas can be clear and transparent like glass.

Create Powerful Copy for Your Ads

It is the lifelong wish of every ad guru that their ads sell like hot cakes in every medium. The role played by copy in a marketing communication like advertisement is unimaginably great. A good ad copy is attention-grabbing, inspiring, compelling, and moves you into action by arousing desire and interest.

So, how can you make sure that your ad copy really sells? Follow the simple steps below and see the transformations they bring:

* Know your customers
To start with, know the customers you want to target – their interests, needs, expectations, and the drivers behind their buying decisions. Only then you’ll be able to fashion a copy that is relevant to them. The advertising copy that you write for uptown professionals will be completely different from the one meant for housewives. Developing copies in the absence of adequate customer information can backfire.

* Focus on consumers
The focus of an ad copy should be on the consumers, not the product or service. Directly address your consumers in the second person. Tell them what your products and services can do for them. Talk to them and engage them. Tell them what actions they can take. Consumers want to be in control.

* Make it unique
Make your ad copy stand out in the crowd. Add something noticeable and focus on particular benefits that your competitors don’t offer, be it lower price or personalised services. Tell your consumers why they must choose your products and/or services over others’.

* Keep it simple
Make your copy do with few words; don’t overkill it. Brief but strong should be the guiding principle. Be upfront and cut down on complexities. Try to sound credible and offer a solution with clarity instead of telling a story. Consumers want ads to be informative, not baffling.

* Mind your language
If you’re targeting customers in selected regions, use a language that they’re comfortable with. This will make it easier for them to fully understand the products or services you offer. Try to get a little conversational in your promotions.

* Make honesty a policy
The truth is that you can’t fool your customers all the time. Marketing gimmicks overflowing with tall claims will not stand the scrutiny of well-informed, empowered and alert customers. Your copy should reflect the ethics of your company, and the amount of value you give to your customers.

Copy is the mirror image of your company. A suitable and meaningful ad copy makes your advertising campaigns a successful one. Choose your words carefully.

Keeping it short and simple – using plain English

Plain English is clear, straightforward and uses only enough words that are necessary. The purpose of using plain English in business communication is to ensure that the target audience understands the content. That means no big words, no convoluted sentences. Just effortless, readable and clear writing.

This seems to go against what we were taught in school and the vocabulary we learnt go to waste. However, it takes skill to know and choose the right words to string them into a concise sentence. All that without losing the intended meaning.

The use of plain English brings benefits to businesses. It enables clients and customers to understand what you are offering or selling to them. They will also trust you because your message is clear with nothing to hide.

In short, remember to K.I.S.S. – keep it short and simple.