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Use Social Media for your Holiday Campaign

October 24, 2017 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

Holiday Social Media Campaign

Plan your Holiday Social Media Campaign for Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday.

Kick-start Your Holiday Social Media Campaign on Facebook

A Facebook event is the perfect way to spread the word about your campaign.

First, create an event for your Black Friday sale, Cyber Monday sale and Small Business Saturday. The event feature in Facebook provides every tool you need to spread accurate information to your audience; time, location, and description of the promotion. Whether you are a historic bed and breakfast or trendy boutique you should create a catchy title.

Holiday Social Media Campaign

Attract attention with a Facebook contest.

Get your Facebook page exposure by getting it more likes, views, and interaction with a Facebook contest. Although they don't necessarily enhance a social media campaign they do, in fact, reinforce your campaign efforts because they bring your company to the attention of the public.

Small businesses rarely participate in Facebook contests. However, contrary to popular belief, they are straightforward and easy to manage. Click here, to learn more about contests.

Follow-Up with Twitter

Hashtags

Promote your Facebook event on Twitter and decide which hashtags to use throughout your holiday social media campaign. It is important that hashtags stay the same during campaign tweets. Also, keep in mind, "tweets with one hashtag are 69% more likely to be retweeted than those with two" according to Taylor Webster, of Postcron.

Poll on Twitter

Polls are easy for followers to participate in and encourage engagement. But remember to gear your query towards your social media campaign. Example: "What will you buy your Uncle for Christmas? A) Our Rabbit foot, B) Our Custom Salt/Pepper shakers, C) Our Brand Steering wheel cover."

Mentions and Memes

Obviously, the mention of a fellow business doubles your audience because their followers see the tweet as well. But, don't overdo it and be sure it is a business you have a relationship with.

On the other hand, memes can't be overdone. In fact, you can take comfort in the fact your audience appreciates the entertainment - unless you are posting dozens of memes daily. Who makes up the majority of your clientele? Use that as a guideline for humor.

Post on Instagram

Use Stories to entice shoppers during your campaign

Since your campaign information is out on Facebook and Twitter, use stories to grab the attention of your audience because it will further focus your audiences' attention. Whether your campaign is for a Black Friday sale, or Small Business Saturday shopping, Stories offer a sneak peek at the venue and goodies they have to look forward to.

Add a Poll

We talked about the 3 new social media updates to know about a few weeks ago and the Instagram poll feature, added to the Stories section, is one of those new updates. Every call-to-action method is just as important as the next. Therefore each available method should be utilized to maximize your campaign success and even though the poll is limited to a two-answer query, it is necessary.

Photo quality is key to a successful social media campaign

Instagram is essential to your holiday social media campaign, but it will do more harm than good if you do not share quality photos. Followers get a visual of your product that leaves a lasting impression. Therefore, if a photo is blurry or includes unkeen elements; dirt, holes, garbage, or random items, it is better to not post at all. Audiences understand that quality photos are taken of quality products. Consequently, it is a good idea to use appealing backdrops and props, sharp photography and a clear message when posting.

: Hotels and B&B’s

: Alcoholic Beverages

: Trinkets

: Clothing and Shoes

P.S. Unlike Twitter, Instagram users love hashtags so add as many as you'd like. Remember to keep them on topic with your campaign. Include the campaign hashtags you use on Twitter.

In conclusion, it is important to stay consistent while planning your holiday social media campaign. Therefore it is important to post frequently and stick with your theme! But, if you are having difficulties planning a campaign yourself, give us a call.

Shop local. Shop St. Augustine.

To support the shop local movement, we have created the Shop St. Augustine campaign. Whether you are a business owner or are shopping, eating, playing, or staying in St. Augustine, using #ShopStAugustine connects you with other businesses in town and helps show everyone that St. Augustine is open for business.

A slim and focused website beats a cluttered website every time. More is not always better. We have seen first-hand businesses make the mistake of including irrelevant information to their website. The website eventually loses its focus and ceases to be an effective marketing tool. You pay a lot of money in SEO and other marketing tools to get customers to your website - but there is little to no action from it. Remember you have a very brief window of opportunity to capture a customer. Your website’s visitor should immediately understand what your company does and how that benefits them. Failure to do this will simply result in the visitor going to your competitor. Take an honest look at your website. It may be time for a little de-cluttering and re-focusing. We can help!

Mission Statement

Our mission at Old City Web Services is to navigate the world of web design, web development, and advertising for our clients so that they can focus on what they do best – running their business! Our business intentions go beyond the metrics of graphics, coding, and SEO. Located on Florida’s First Coast, we run a personable home front service and consider our relationship with our clients as a partnership in their success. If you are looking to increase your business’ visibility give us a call at 904-867-4112 or contact us today.

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Photo credits: Old City Web Services

3 Social Media Updates to Know About

October 13, 2017 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

Social media platforms are essential to most marketing strategies. These three social media updates on Twitter, Instagram, and Hootsuite will easily connect you with customers, help you obtain feedback, and spread product awareness.

Instagram Adds Poll Feature

On October 3rd, Instagram added new stickers in the Stories section of the app that enable you to poll followers. The polls are limited to a two-answer query. But, there is a catch, the polls expire with your Story which lasts 24 hours.

Twitter also has a polling feature that many businesses use to collect feedback and essentially create happy customers. Social media updates made to Instagram, can be used in the same way and will give you a better idea of where you stand when it comes to the relevancy of your product or business. For example, if you are a bakery you can ask something like, "Do you like red velvet cake?" Based on the answers of your followers, you'll know whether to make dozens of red velvet cupcakes, or just a few!

Social Media Updates to Hootsuite

On October 10th, Hootsuite increased the number of posts a free user can schedule from ten to thirty! This is a game changer for businesses who utilize the social media management tool. Instead of buying an expensive package, they have access to schedule more posts in advance.

Hootsuite is constantly making social media updates. With their newest addition you can send more bulk messages, plan more campaigns, and keep your social media sites more organized. Instead of creating compelling messages on a day to day basis, spend your spare time interacting with followers by re-tweeting, re-posting, and liking or sharing posts.

Hootsuite, Social Media Upgrades

Hootsuite now alerts you to how many posts you have scheduled and available.

Twitter Updates Character Count

On September 26th, Twitter announced that a small group of users are experimenting with a larger character count per tweet. The social media platform believes users will appreciate the extra text room. If this is true, you can expect the limit to double from the current 140 characters to 280 characters.

As a business owner using media sites like Twitter is imperative for staying relevant and interacting with your customers. An increased character count means there is no need for sacrificing grammar or the integrity of a post. Basically, this social media update will allow businesses to better promote products, convey messages, and add more hashtags!

"...languages like Japanese, Korean, and Chinese you can convey about double the amount of information in one character as you can in many other languages, like English, Spanish, Portuguese, or French." - Aliza Rosen, Twitter Employee, Chart by Twitter

Businesses that use blogs or social media platforms to channel their audience should also utilize an editorial calendar. Editorial calendars allow you to organize your media strategy, manage projects, plan bulk campaigns, and stay relevant! A visual record of content is also very useful when comparing efforts that have been successful to those that have not. Don't know how to get started? No worries, we can help!

Our mission at Old City Web Services is to navigate the world of web design, web development, and advertising for our clients so they can focus on what they do best - running their business! Our business intentions go beyond the metrics of graphics, coding, and SEO. We run a personable home front service located on Florida's First Coast and consider our relationship with our clients as a partnership in their success. If you are looking to increase your business’ visibility give us a call at 904-867-4112 or contact us today.

10 Ways to Establish Your Business

September 26, 2016 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

Being a new business has its challenges, one of the biggest being establishing yourself in the community. A loyal client base and name recognition are vital to your success. Without the support of those around you, failure comes closer to becoming a reality than a fear. So, how do you make your startup stand out before it sinks?

Take advantage of free listings

This is a no brainer. Putting your company’s name out there as many ways as you can for free should be a top priority. Directory listings and community calendars are great resources for the community and an excellent way to get your name out there. This takes minimal time and effort and helps establish your business among other longstanding companies in the area.

Make sure you know your target market

Take a second to sit down and really think about who your target demographic is. Who are you marketing to and how are you doing so? Are they more likely to be on social media or flipping through the latest newspaper? Spending all the time and money in the world in marketing won't make a difference if your audience never sees it.

Utilize social media

Let’s face it. Everyone is on social media these days, and as a business, it is becoming an essential way to reach consumers. Luckily for you, social media is a free and effective way to interact with customers from all over. Depending on what your business is and the age group of people you are trying to reach, you can choose the best social media platforms to reach them.

Start a blog

Think that you shouldn’t start a blog because you’ll run out of things to talk about? What if you are a very specialized business? Not a problem. A company blog is a useful platform to produce content related to your industry. Relevant content will promote you as trusted resource for your trade. Example: Say you run a gym or are a personal trainer. You don’t have to use your blog just to talk about your services. Use your platform to talk about health advice, innovative exercises, and client transformations, etc.

Implement SEO into your website

Search engine optimization is the action of making your website rank for search keywords and phrases that pertain to your website/business. It is important to have the keywords and phrases viewers are searching for installed properly on your website. If done correctly, more people will view your website which will result in an increase in business. Search engines rank your website based on common search terms, the age of your site information, site links, and the relevance of your content.

Create your Google Business listing

Listing your business on Google will make sure your business appears easily when people are searching for you on Google. You can add pictures, and people can leave reviews which add to your credibility.

Take advantage of customer testimonials

When a customer has a good experience with you, don’t be afraid to ask what they thought of your service. Testimonials are one of the best ways to build credibility with potential clients.

Send out emails

Putting customers on an email list is a great way to reach out to them long after they've left your website or store. This gives you the opportunity to tell them about the variety of services you offer, updates from your company, and news in your industry.

Get involved in the community

How do you expect the community to know who you are if you don’t try to get to know the people in it? The more people see your name associated with the community, the more they will come to know you as a local establishment. Sponsor or participate in community events. Donate or give discounts for first-time clients. Give clients an initiative for referring customers. Give back to the community. Serving others is not only great for your staff but is also a wonderful way to get to know the locals.

Network as much as possible

Getting involved with different organizations within the community is essential. Some of your biggest allies in the business world are fellow business owners. The Chamber of Commerce should be at the top of your list for business networking. The St. Johns County Chamber of Commerce’s mission states they are dedicated to improving the business environment in St. Johns County by focusing on Economic Development, Business Advocacy, Member Education, and Business Promotion. Service organizations such as United Way or Rotary are also excellent ways to get involved in the community.

How We Can Help

Here at Old City Web Services, we are dedicated to helping businesses thrive. Don’t know where to start? We offer many services that can help you out.

We can:

Perfect your marketing strategy to reach your target audience
Tune up or revamp your website
Write content for your company’s blog
Assist you with SEO and Google listings
Assist with print design and much more.

Go to our website, call us, or schedule a consultation with our team to see how we can help you get settled and succeed today.

Do You Know the Different Ways to Connect with People on Social Media?

July 26, 2016 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

Connect with Fans, Followers or Friends?

With all the social media platforms out there it can be difficult to know all the ways to get your customers to connect to your business social media. Here are some guidelines to follow that might shed some light on all the confusion with connecting on social media.

Facebook-

On Facebook your potential customers will be able to see all of your post by "liking" the business page. When they hit the like button on the main profile page on the right upper hand side it will send you a notification to notify you about the new "like". Since someone has liked the business page they'll now be a fan meaning any future post you make on your business Facebook, the fan will be able to see on their timeline. They can also send you a message, comment on your post or share your post as well. Now if any one visits your business Facebook page they will also be able to see your post on your business profile as well, even if they are not a fan. Being a fan just means now they will get your updates and post on their timeline.

Here some hints to help you remember:

Facebook likes on profile = Fans
Fans= Followers who see your post on their timelines.
Clicking the like button on the business profile = Fan.

Twitter-

On Twitter customers can "follow" your Tweet which means they become a "follower" and will see all your tweets on their Twitter feed. They become a follower by going to your Twitter page and clicking the follow button on the right hand side. Once they have clicked the button you will be notified that someone is now "following" your Twitter page. Your follower now has the ability to retweet your tweets, like a tweet or even send you a message. If your client has not yet followed your Twitter page the only way they can see your tweets is by going to your business page or if some they already follow retweets your tweet.

Here are some helpful tips to remember:

Followers = Friends who can see all your tweets
Retweeting= sharing to other Twitter users
Hitting the follow button on profile = Follower.

Picking the Right Platform for Your Business

June 22, 2016 by anoadmin

With so many social media platforms out there how do decide on which one is best for your business. The guide below should help with some of the confusion you might have as a business owner. Let’s take a look at all the different platforms and how they interact with people.

Facebook- Is an open environment where you have the freedom to share and connect. You can upload images, message friends, write post, create events, and share other people’s post. Having a business on Facebook you receive a business profile where you can make a post, create events and post things about your business. You also have an “About” section and some nice tools to view how well you are doing on Facebook with your customers. Facebook is for making engaging post so your customers will get involved by liking, commenting or sharing.

Twitter- Is an environment where you can make quick short status post. Twitter only allows you to write something that is 140 characters, able to add hashtags and pictures. You can also “retweet” or like someone’s tweet. Instead of friends, like Facebook, you have followers who are able to see all your tweets.

Instagram- This platform you can only upload images, comment or like others images. On Instagram you can only use the app version, it does not allow you to use it on a desktop. This platform you have followers, like Twitter.

Pinterest- Allows users to visually share, and discover new interests by posting (known as 'pinning') images or videos to their own or others' boards and browsing what other users have pinned. This site is very popular with women.

LinkedIn- Is a network you can connect with other professionals. You create a personal profile and list all the place you have worked and connect with other people in varies professions. It’s kind of like a big resume connector. This platform’s focus is on the person and their professional experience rather than your business.

If you are still struggling with understanding or even with setting up a Social Media for your business, we are here to help. Get in contact today to get started!

Practical Social Media Tips

January 27, 2016 by anoadmin

Social Media can be both fun and good for business. It is a place to be a little more casual, and to let your clients - current and potential - learn a little more about you. There are things you need to know before you get started on social media though, to make sure that you make the most of the time you are spending on it, and to make the most of your customers' time.

Spend time on your profile – Don’t just open a social media account and go. Everything your business does is sending a message to your current and potential clients. Make sure your logo and branding are consistent, your message is consistent, and that you put thought into thoroughly setting up the details of each social media account.

Be useful - You want your account to speak to people. By investing yourself in new, significant content and linking to both your content and the content of other businesses in your niche that will be relevant to followers, you can expand your social media reach and establish a reputation.

Be restrained – Don’t post anything and everything that you see or hear about. If you post too often, you will become background noise instead of a relevant voice. Consider what you post and how often you post.

Add visuals – Photography and graphics attract attention, draw interest, and increase likelihood of your content being shared. Creating great visual content to go with your postings will do well for helping your social media presence as you establish yourself.

Interact/respond – If people are commenting and sharing your content, respond to them. Answer questions. Thank them for sharing your content. The more you establish yourself as a friendly, non-competitive member of the social media community, you will be treated and responded to as such and the relationships you build as a result will benefit everyone.

Promoting Your Website Part III: Social Media

August 19, 2015 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

In Part I of our series about promoting your website, we discussed the importance of SEO. In part II, we looked at branding. Today, in Part III we are going to look at how to use Social Media to promote your website.

Social media is a great outlet for driving traffic to your website and promoting your small business. Even if your social media presence doesn't lead to immediate direct sales, it is excellent for getting your name and brand out there to make it more familiar to potential consumers. Name and brand recognition are a huge part of promoting your business website, as we discussed last week.

Here are some tips for making the most of social media for promoting your website:

Diversify Your Social Media Presence: in addition to Twitter & Facebook, add an account with Pinterest, Instagram, or LinkedIn to give your business a more broad reach. Not only will you have a different audience, but these other channels will give you new opportunities to share things you might not on other Social Media outlets.

Connect Your Social Media Pages to your Website & Vice Versa: Make it easy for your website visitors to find your social media pages so they can follow them, and make it easy for people on social media to find your website from your social media account.

OldCity.com Website links to social media with buttons:

OldCity.com Facebook Page links to website:

Linking back and forth between website and social media accounts will drive traffic to both.

Build Relationships: The most important and fulfilling aspect of social media pages for your small business is to build relationships. Your social media pages are places for you to engage with your customers in a way you couldn't or wouldn't otherwise. Your social media profile makes you more of a person and less of a business entity - when you engage in conversation, answer questions, and offer services. Use this opportunity on social media to engage customers and drive them to your website for increased business.

At Old City Web Services, one of the services we offer is helping you to set up social media profiles to boost your business. Contact us at 829-2772 or email us today and let us help you get started on social media or improve your current social media presence.

Next week, we'll look at Promoting Your Website: Email. Be sure to check back!