Get social.....

If we said ‘social media’ to you – what would you immediately think? Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn?

You’d be right, these are traditionally known as the ‘big 3’ but there are many other platforms making nothing short of a meteoric rise in popularity.

Instagram has reportedly attracted 67 percent of the top brands in the world – taking it into the ‘big leagues’ of social media platforms.

With Pinterest also showing rising popularity – 48.7 million users (February 2013 figures) and Google + is quoting a figure of 135 million users whilst You Tube states it gets 800 million users each month.

These figures are just staggering aren’t they?

And do they leave you feeling a bit confused? Wondering which social media platform is right for you. Well here’s a brief guide to each of the platforms that we hope will cut through the figures and the hype and get you comfortable with being ‘social.’

Facebook has an incredible 1.11 billion active users so it is little surprise that Facebook has become the most widely recognized name in social media.

Facebook isn’t just about who’s dating who and who’s watching what on TV!

Facebook for business is highly credible and allows you to create a business page – a few minutes is all you need – and you can then invite people to join or like your page. We believe this is a must for any business!

Twitter has 200million monthly active users worldwide and is regularly referred to in the news – many stories break using Twitter (did you know the killing of Osama Bin Laden was first reported by a Tweet?)

There is no doubt that Twitter has caused a real buzz in the business world – in very simple terms Twitter is a free micro-blogging service that allows anyone to say anything to anybody in 140 characters or less!

LinkedIn has around 200million users worldwide and is said to be the largest network of business professionals in the world.

Very quickly LinkedIn can provide a host of business people with whom you can network with.

There is business to be won on LinkedIn, strategic alliances to be made and job opportunities for anyone looking for a promotion, a new career direction or just a change!

Here at One to Three we believe ALL businesses can find their place on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. ALL businesses have a product or service to sell, hints and tips and news to share.

Pinterest is a pinboard-style photo sharing website that allows users to create and manage theme-based image collections such as events, products, styles, interests and more. Users can browse other pinboards for inspiration, 're-pin' images from the web / their photo gallery to their own pinboards, and 'like' photos.

Pinterest is a fast-growing social media platform – launched in 2010, it’s a relative ‘new kid on the block.’

Instagram describes itself as “a fast, beautiful and fun way to share your photos with friends and family.”

Pictures taken on your smart phone or tablet can be filtered to transform their look – posting a picture to Instagram allows all of your followers to view and comment on the picture.

Pinterest and Instagram are particularly important if you are selling a product – particularly a lifestyle product. You can showcase your goods in an elegant and visually exciting way on these platforms.

YouTube is a video-sharing website, created in 2005, it allows users to upload, view and share videos. Now this is stating the obvious but YouTube is all about video content – ALL businesses can benefit from having a video made about them. Whether it is a ‘piece to camera’ a product demo, a tour of a facility – video is a powerful marketing tool and an important part of your online presence. Don’t forget YouTube videos can be shared on all of the other platforms above (with the exception of Instagram.)

If you still feel you need a helping hand before you leap in to the world of social media please drop us a line - info@onetothree.co.uk and we'll help to make your social media as easy as 1, 2, 3!! 

Time for a marketing 'spring-clean'?

Spring is most definitely in the air (really....despite the cold weather the daffodils are blooming and the baby lambs are skipping around the fields!)

So, why not give your own marketing a dust-off and a little “spring-clean”.

We are all so busy looking after our client requirements that we often
don’t have much time to invest in our own businesses.

So we thought we'd share a few free tools with you that might help
with your spring cleaning!

Everybody should have a free Google Account as you can then Make the
most of Google Places and Google Alerts. It's quick and easy to sign up at www.google.com

If you struggle to keep on top of your social media then use a free
social media management tool like Hootsuite to
schedule messages and plan your social media for the month ahead.

Finally, if you are sending any email communications then always use a
management system like Mailchimp or Campaign Monitor. This will allow
you to measure the success of every email campaign, from opens to
click throughs.

If you’d like to know more about the free tools that can help with
your marketing, then please drop Lisa a line lisa@onetothree.co.uk

PINTASTIC!!

Exciting times at One to Three HQ..... Claire has run her very first Pinterest tutorial!

If your business is about products then Pinterest is for you…here’s a little intro and if you want to find out more contact details are at the bottom…..Pintastic!

Pin…WHAT?

Pinterest is a pinboard-style photo sharing website that allows users to create and manage theme-based image collections such as events, products, styles, interests and more.

Users can browse other pinboards for inspiration, 're-pin' images from the web / their photo gallery to their own pinboards, and 'like' photos.

Pinterest is a fast-growing social media platform – launched in 2010, latest figures (January 2012) show that the site has 11.7 million users (and this figure is growing every day.)

Pinterest allows businesses to create pages aimed at promoting their businesses online. Such pages can serve as a "virtual storefront".

Like all social media marketing activity it is important to develop a strategy for your Pinterest boards. Here are some areas to take into consideration:

• Connect with clients
•  Use Pinterest as a branding tool
• Another opportunity for publicity
• Educate customers
• Great for launching new products
• Perfect for providing tips and advice – how to…
• Support others in your field
• Create community engagement
•  Drive more traffic to your website
• Increase sales!! 

To Pin or not to Pin?

Pinterest is all about images and videos so you may need to consider this a bit more when updating your website or writing your blog, think about creating pin-worthy images and videos.

It’s great if your pictures are “captioned” to include some of your messaging. You can also Pin your newsletters!

Interested in finding out more?

We are offering a Pinterest 1-hour tutorial for just £75.00

We will set you up, help you to get Pinning and provide a 1-month Pinning Plan for you and your business.

Contact Claire Fryer, 07970 403158, Claire@onetothree.co.uk to find out more

Three years young....

If five years ago someone had told us that in 2013 we would have set up our own business and be into our third year of helping companies across the South East of England to achieve their marketing potential….I think we would have thought ‘are you having a laugh?!’

But, here we are, celebrating our third anniversary and busier than ever.

From general marketing support for a funeral directors to PR and social media strategy for a veterinary group, kick-starting marketing for many new start-ups and lots of SEO and copywriting we are blessed with a diverse range of clients. (Our website lists all of the lovely companies we have worked with over the years. Our Clients....) 

Someone recently asked us how we found work.

Networking has been huge for our business. We are active members of the WIBN and attend their monthly meetings ….almost religiously! We have a great network of clients and colleagues thanks to WIBN, not only do our groups build our portfolio, they also ensure we can help clients in other ways. Need an accountant? We know one. After some HR advice – no problem!

Online networking has played its part too. LinkedIn is responsible for putting us in touch with one of our biggest clients, Companion Care Vets. Claire connected with an old colleague; they knew CCV were looking for some PR support and hey presto!

Twitter and Facebook have raised our profile amongst our own industry peers and we are able to share client case studies, testimonials and of course our blog!

Google searches have also come up trumps for us – we’ve been found by local companies looking for marketing – what a good sales pitch for the importance of optimizing your site!

Finally recommendations are one of the most important sources of new business for us. If we do a good job for someone, they invariably tell their colleagues and friends and we have been blessed with lovely projects thanks to the recommendations of others.  This is true with our larger clients on an internal basis too. We had worked on Companion Care’s PR for around 18 months before we started working on their Google reporting and social media and were recommended for this new role thanks to the results the PR team were seeing!

We would like to thank all of our clients and colleagues for their support over the past three years and we can’t wait to see what the next three years may bring!

Claire and Lisa

Ps - we celebrated in style on Saturday night....even had a little birthday cake!! 

x 

Take your business blinkers off!!

It’s been a month of meetings for team One to Three – some brand new clients and prospects and some catching up with old networking friends and colleagues.

Over a relaxed coffee with networking colleague, the lovely Lorraine Pascoe from Catch Telemarketing (www.catchtelemarketing.co.uk) we came up with a joint offering that could offer real value to both of our client bases.

It’s early days in our thought process so we won’t divulge too much detail now (we promise we will in the future!) but it got us thinking that you never know where the next business opportunity may come from. We’ve known Lorraine for over two years now and our ‘bright idea’ only just hit.  

So next time you are networking, or browsing LinkedIn or Twitter take a moment to remove those business blinkers and see what opportunities are out there. You never know what might be around the corner!