Category: Social Media

Stop, Look, and Listen: The Benefits of Active Listening

Friday, 15 February, 2013 15:08
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You may have heard of the expression, “in one ear and out the other,” and unfortunately, many times this old adage is true. While we apply active listening skills to many aspects of our lives from customer service and marketing strategies down to personal relationships, there are many times where words become lost. Many people may listen, but very few actively listen and consume the speaker’s words without scrambling to form our own opinions and responses before the conversation has even finished. At McCauley Marketing Services, we focus on listening to our clients’ needs and helping them provide exceptional customer service.

The Lost Art of ConversationOne of the most crucial business and communication skills is active listening. So what’s the difference between listening and active listening? Listening is almost as simple as hearing something. It comes almost naturally and what you retain from a conversation is dependent on what you want to remember. Active listening takes significant effort because you are clearing your mind, fully engaging in new ideas, and using critical skills to interpret the new information. As part of our marketing tips, McCauley Services reminds clients that communication can affect both customer relationships and a leader’s success in business.

By focusing on the conversation, people can ask more thorough questions and receive more useful information in return. Active listening provides you with new information and perspective, and it also shows others that you value their opinions, an important component in customer relationship management to nurture existing relationships and customer interaction. Not only should active listening take part in face-to-face interactions, but it is equally important for social media marketing to increase traffic and spread brand awareness. As technology use continues to emerge and users increase, examining your audience and providing quality content to fit their needs is important to developing your business.

As a full service Atlanta marketing company, McCauley Services can vouch for the importance of effectively listening to audience feedback. If you’d like more information about the marketing services we provide, please contact our office today. You can also connect with McCauley Advertising on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+ for more marketing news and tips.

Facebook Open Graph Feature Explored

Tuesday, 05 February, 2013 09:42
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At McCauley Marketing Services, we feel confident that you have heard of Facebook if you are not already an active user. Since its founding in 2004, Facebook has been leading the way in the social media sector and has more than a billion monthly active users as of December 2012. As we frequently mention in blogs and to our own clients, social media can help companies connect and engage with their audience and potential consumers.

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Social media is always changing and as we begin to shift to mobile devices, companies such as Facebook are looking for more intuitive ways to connect you with things you’re interested in.  Earlier this year, Facebook introduced Open Graph Search with the purpose of connecting you to personalized pages useful for your interests. For instance, you may already have apps on your phone that are used through your Facebook log-in including music, fitness, and food apps. With the new Graph Search feature, you can search for custom content, such as who else enjoys the same band as you. While perusing through their interests, you may even find a new band. As the Open Graph progresses businesses will also be able to take advantage of these new search features, connecting their brand with others interested in that topic whether it be medical, retail, services, etc.

One concern about this new search feature is online privacy. Facebook has stated it only shares the content that you already make public to others. Although, this Graph Search has the potential to change the way we search online, it is still in early development.

At McCauley Advertising, we look forward to seeing how people will use the Graph Search feature. If you are interested in social media management for your business or any other service we offer, please contact our office. Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest for the latest marketing news and information.

Putting the Best ‘Face’ Forward with Social Media Management

Monday, 31 December, 2012 11:31
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Social media is ever evolving, with multiple platforms focusing on status updates, group interactions, and one of the most popular features, photos. Video conferencing sites such as Skype® and social media sites like Instagram or Pinterest focus primarily on images or photos. Other sites like Facebook or Twitter feature profile pictures that basically define anyone’s first impression of a user. According to new research from Mindshare Worldwide, social media sites have been linked to an increase in cosmetic surgery. One of the most popular procedures is genioplasty (chin surgery), which soared with an increase of 71% last year. The report notes that many people wanted to change their appearance after seeing their images on a social media network.McCauley Marketing Services Atlanta GA

At McCauley Marketing Services, a large number of our clients are in the medical field. While some patients are unhappy with their physical appearance on social media, it is important to also consider your professional reputation on social media. According to the latest statistics from the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (AAFPRS), 42% of patients consulted social networking sites and blogs for advice before choosing a procedure. Blogs and social media generally provide accessible content for consumers to easily browse through and learn from.

Social media has quickly become a marketing tool since many people enjoy interacting with businesses and professionals as well as other consumers. With the use of multiple sites and interaction with large audiences, it is important especially for medical professionals to carefully manage their social media profiles. In regards to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), website content must be closely monitored and distributed in compliance with privacy regulations.

McCauley Marketing Services focuses on social media management to expand brand awareness, while also maintaining reputable content for our clients. To learn more about our services, continue to keep up with our blog and also connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ for the latest news in marketing and social media.

#Help with the Hashtags

Thursday, 18 October, 2012 09:21
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social media marketing atlantaWhen it comes to Twitter, the learning curve can prove quite steep with its language:  hashtags, @ mentions, RTs, and #phrasesthatlooklikethis. In this day and age where professionals and businesses are using social media to market their business and engage with clients, how can they navigate Twitter to better market themselves? There are many differences among Twitter and other social media outlets, and with many clients interested in creating a strong Twitter brand, McCauley Marketing Services offers the following tips to optimize your tweets.

One of the biggest components of Twitter is the hashtag. Designated by the pound symbol (#), a hashtag is a word or phrase with no spaces included to assign a category to your tweet. Hashtags allow your tweet to show up in searches or in aggregators, such as Google, that track trending topics. Clicking on the hashtag allows others to see tweets marked with that same keyword. By including hashtags in your tweets, not only can you engage with others who are talking about similar topics, but others can find your content as well.

So what is the point of a hashtag? The idea of Twitter is to reach prospects and spread your message.  Each tweet only allows 140 characters, so it’s important to make each one count. When a user clicks on a hashtag link, it goes to a streaming page of that topic.  Recently, Twitter introduced the “Discover” section that filters trending topics relevant to your localization and interests based on where and what you tweet about. Filling a tweet with random or overly generic hashtags can be ineffective because they are used so frequently that your communication might get lost with the thousands of other tweets on the subject. Hashtags can be effective when they’re tailored to your audience or originally created by you. The easiest way to find relevant or unique hashtags is to explore Twitter’s discover page; additionally, there are also sites specific to find popular trends and tags such as hashtags.org, Twubs, wefollow, and Twitterfall. As Twitter users view and follow your business, they may share or interact with you through hashtags in your category.

Now that we’ve hashed out the hashtag tool, here are a few more tips to becoming an effective tweeter:

  • RT, RT, RT: Retweet when content is relevant. The tweeter will be happy that you’re spreading their message and your followers will be exposed to new content.
  • Share new content: Write tweets with direct links to share blogs, resources, or websites to your followers. Companies can post from multiple platforms and track leads who visit their sites as a result.
  • Follow Back: Follow leaders in the industry or interesting individuals who post new content. Engage in conversations and stay up-to-date with companies and people. Your followers will be interested in who you follow.
  • Don’t over-tweet: Don’t flood followers’ streams by tweeting too frequently. By staggering tweets over the day, you can reach different audiences since everyone uses Twitter at different times of the day. Information will also remain fairly new and exciting to fellow followers.
  • Shorten links:  Instead of posting a lengthy URL, Hootsuite and Tweetdeck provide ow.ly and bit.ly where you can convert long URL links into a shortened version that easily fits into a tweet and still links to the original page.

    • For more information about Twitter and other social media marketing that McCauley Marketing Services provides, please contact us. Also, connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google+ for the latest tips and information.

Social Media: Timing Is Everything, Almost

Friday, 05 October, 2012 16:10
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deadline end of month conceptWhen using social media outlets to market your brand, do you focus on when you make posts or do you just post when it’s convenient for you? According to reports conducted by Buddy Media, timing of social media posts may matter more than we once thought. In separate reports, the group analyzed data collected from brand pages on Facebook and over 320 Twitter handles of the world’s biggest brands.

After Facebook made the switch to timeline for brand pages, Buddy Media collected data from brand pages for 2 months. The collected data was analyzed based on Like Rate, Comment Rate, Share Rate, and Interaction Rate. Like, Comment, and Share Rates were determined by the number of likes, shares, or comments divided by the number of impressions per post. Interaction Rate was determined by the number of likes plus comments plus shares divided by number of impressions. They used similar metrics to gather data in the report on effective tweets based on Twitter replies, retweets, and engagement.

Both reports showed higher interaction between brands and their audiences on Facebook and Twitter on the weekend, even though most brands make a majority of their posts during the week. On both outlets, certain industries had higher interaction rates on specific days of the week. Therefore, it’s important to review your updates and their responses to re-evaluate your strategy based on industry. However, they found that timing posts to engage the most users was different on Facebook and Twitter. Facebook users are more likely to interact between the hours of 8 p.m. and 7 a.m., while Twitter users are more engaged during the hours of 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. Luckily, Facebook recently added the ability to schedule posts, which makes it much easier to reach your target market and foster relationships after business hours.

Besides timing posts to better engage users, the reports users respond better to fewer Facebook posts as well as shorter posts. Brands on Facebook that posted 1 or 2 times per day had higher interaction rates than those that posted 3 or more times per day. Although the character limit on Twitter is 140, and there’s no limit on Facebook, Buddy Media’s report showed higher engagement for posts that were under 80 characters.

The fact that photo posts receive better interaction rates than other types of posts on Facebook is not new news. However, the fact that status updates containing only text receive higher interaction rates than Facebook posts with links or videos is not what some would assume. Conversely, Tweets containing links are more likely to be retweeted than those without links, but the report also showed that if you want this sort of interaction, just ask. Believe it or not, fans are more likely to “like” or retweet something if you ask them to, and the same goes for comments and sharing. Additionally, don’t be afraid to be expressive and use emoticons. Buddy Media’s report showed posts with emoticons had a 52% higher interaction rate than posts that don’t.

If you need help with your social media marketing strategy or marketing plan in general, contact us today. You can also connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google+ for marketing and public relations news.

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All data provided on mccauleyservices.com and mccauleyadvertising.com is for educational purposes only and should not be misconstrued as business advice. McCauley Marketing Services makes no representations as to accuracy, suitability, or validity of any information on this site and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use. Market research and marketing plans and only be compiled with a thorough business analysis and careful observation of each business. It is highly recommended that you seek the professional guidance of an advertising professional before implementing any of the described avenues.