Tag: Referral

Social media: Let’s focus on engagement

Posted on by Richard Milton

How important is fan growth to you and your organisation. Is it still the top priority, the right priority and the key metric you report back on?

If you want your followers or like count to increase you can if you wish pretty much buy them. But you’re likely buying bulk likes from people who don’t even have any interest in your brand or product. So why bother?

At e-nexus we believe that fan growth doesn’t matter if your audience isn’t engaging with your content. You can have as many followers as you like but if what you post gets no engagement, your followers have very little value for you, your organisation or your brand.

Focus on engagement rather than the number of followers

Whatever your social media objective, engagement is a far more important and useful metric. For example the level of engagement influences the probability of and the numbers of your audience who will see (referred to as reach) your content in their news feeds.

One important example of engagement is shares. Shares influence how many people see your posts.  Recent changes to Facebook News Feeds prioritise content that comes from family and friends over content posted by fan pages. Therefore it is essential to create content that your audiences will want to share with their own networks.

Another critical but currently often neglected component is reactions. Facebook has updated its news feed algorithm again, this time with an emphasis on your audiences use of ‘reactions’. The social network now prioritises reactions over “likes” when ranking your News Feed. According to the company, a reaction is a stronger indicator that you want to see similar posts to ones you like.

Monitor others

Don’t forget to monitor the social media engagement that your competitors are gaining as this can provide a useful benchmark over your social posts performance. Don’t just look at the posts but aim to delve deeper by splitting the monitoring of both organic and paid posts. If your competitors out perform you on their organic posts then it would suggest that their content resonates well with their audiences thus boosting their reach for ‘free’.

For more ideas on how to transform your marketing visit our e-nexus blog at www.measure4success.wordpress.com or visit our website at www.e-nexus.co.uk

Data, what data?

Posted on by Richard Milton

The digital revolution means that you can now access more data and insight than ever before to understand the impact of your marketing. With so much being available for free and at a click of a button there are now real opportunities for you to better measure your marketing.

Through our day to day work we still support companies that feel they have no or very little data or insight. For many of these businesses we go on a journey of discovery, helping them to think about their needs. We work with them to identify what data and insight they actually have, what they need as well as how it can be captured and stored – and yes at times that includes uncovering all the data and insight stored in numerous note books, diaries, excel spreadsheets, business card holders and even their own heads.

So if you think you are marketing data and insight poor or want to better measure the performance of your marketing consider some of the following to build your knowledge and understanding:

• Website analytics – many websites have some form of analytics platform linked to them so you can understand where your visitors are coming from and how they interact with your site.

• Social media analytics – these will tell you a lot about the types and levels of engagement you are receiving from your posts. Platforms like Facebook will also give you some demographic data so you can be sure you are reaching the correct people.

• Email – platforms like Mailchimp will tell you how many people open your emails, how high or low your bounce rates are and your click through rate to your website. If you A/B test your emails you’ll also get a much clearer idea of what type of content or subject headlines work better with your audience.

• Voice of the customer – such things as feedback from your customers as well as interviews and survey ratings will give you a clear view of what they think of your product offering or service levels.

• Competitive intelligence – It’s important to monitor the performance of others. For example monitoring the social media engagement that your competitors are gaining can be a useful benchmark for the performance of your own social posts.

• Sales data – understanding what and how frequently your customers are buying from you is key. What channels are they reaching you to make that purchase – is it via your website, retail outlet or exhibition stand?

• Customer churn rate – establish how many customers are cutting ties with you over a given time. Monitoring your churn rate is the first step in understanding how good you are at retaining customers and identifying what actions might result in a higher retention rate.

• Your top customers – sounds simple but identify which customers drive the most profit your business. When you can look at a single list and see your main customers you have the power to identify the unique characteristics of this group and work on attracting more.

• Cost of acquisition – calculate how much you spend in acquiring leads and turning these leads into new clients. How does that differ using different channels? The key here is that the fees you charge need to at least cover your associate costs.

• And finally conversations with customers – always a great place to start

Need some help on where to start with your data and insight gathering?

At e-nexus we undertake marketing audits where we’ll work with you to identify your data and insight needs, what you already have access to and how you can begin to fill the gaps. Just email us at info@e-nexus.co.uk and we’ll organise a time to meet.

The Power of Referrals

Posted on by Steve Bicknell

We all love happy clients and there is nothing better than a client referring you to their business contacts.

We love referrals too, so don’t forget to tell your friends how Bournemouth Chamber of Trade and Commerce help businesses and charities in Bournemouth.

3 great referral tips

  1. Only refer people when you have first hand experience – so its someone you have done business with or have worked with – don’t refer people that you don’t know, its all about trust
  2. Be Specific – try to give examples of how the person/business you are referring have done a good job and why you are referring them now
  3. Don’t look for financial reward – referring people for a referral fee or other financial rewards starts to  make people wonder if you are referring in their best interests or your own.

What goes around, comes around. If you refer people and try to help people develop their businesses they will try to return the favour and recommend you to their contacts and friends.

How can you make yourself more likely to be referred?

  • Do a great job for your clients
  • Have a positive attitude
  • Refer your business connections and give recommendations
  • Have a product or service that is easy to explain and understand
  • Find out where your clients are and who knows them – in other words join the right networking group for example Bournemouth Chamber of Trade and Commerce
  • Integrity matters – be honest and if you promise to do something do it!

BCTC SJB