Blog | Lead Generation, Online Marketing

Should pharma abandon social media?

Pharma Social media is still quite new, and there are many companies — and entire industries — which are still unsure how to use it, are afraid of it, and are concerned that the whole thing is a fad.

One great example is this blog about whether pharma should abandon social media, by Zoe Dunn, an American digital strategist. Ultimately, she concludes that yes, pharma can use social media, but only if they commit to the long-term and have a proper strategy in place — and who can disagree with that?

But she doesn’t sound convinced of her own case. Along the way, she airs deep concern about whether social media is a suitable platform for “serious” pharma, and whether it is a sustainable strategy.

Help! Has Google suddenly killed my online strategy?

Miriam ShavivGoogle, SEO, Social media

At the Digital Marketing Show in London yesterday, one question came up again and again:

How does Google’s new search algorithm, Hummingbird, change our business’s strategy online?

We know what you’re wondering. What’s a search algorithm, and is this really something I need to care about?

which option The answer is that every so often, Google changes the way it calculates which pages are most relevant when people search for a particular term. If you want your website to show up high on Google, you need to understand as much as possible about how Google decides pages are important. That’s the algorithm.

In recent years, it has prioritised pages which contain appropriate ‘key words’ – so if you search, say, for ‘tall potted plants’, it will return pages which include that exact phrase. As a result, when people built their websites, they tried to figure out what their target market might search for – and included them in their content.

Hummingbird, which was announced in September, changes all that. Google’s new emphasis is on trying to figure out why you are asking the question, and then deliver the most appropriate links.

Is Youtube free advertising? Join the debate!

Danny BermantSocial media

video It’s well known that YouTube is a powerful and cost effective way to engage with your audience and convert them into sales, witness the famous Dollar Shave Club ad. By posting your videos to Youtube, your sales messages can reach an audience of thousands or even millions. So isn’t YouTube basically a form of free advertising?

To answer this question, let’s consider the pros and cons…

Is Youtube free?

It doesn’t cost any money to set up a YouTube account
All you need are lots of great ideas for videos that will keep your audience hooked. If you can come up with engaging content, your audience will want to share it with their friends
You can film Youtube videos with the majority of smart phones. Some models such as the iphone can even film in HD format
Most video formats are accepted. Just upload directly from your phone
It’s the worlds second largest search engine so if you have the right keywords in your video title and description, thousands or even million of potential customers can find you

The 3 Biggest Mistakes That Schools Make on Social Media

Danny BermantSocial media

Here is a copy of a presentation I recently delivered at the Education Facilities Forum

When parents and students are choosing a new school, they’re as likely to go to your Facebook or Twitter page as they are to your website.

BUT… unlike your website, they can talk to other parents and students and find out what you’re really like – or at least the picture painted by others.

If your establishment doesn’t have a social media presence, it doesn’t have a voice.

Why your company needs a social media spokesperson

Danny BermantSocial media

I’m going to talk to you about why you need a Social Media spokesperson.

A spokesperson really is the public face of your company. You may for example have a Twitter page or a LinkedIn Company page but you need a person within the company who is the public face, who essentially gives the official statements of what is happening at the company, shows the companies values and views and also that person really needs to set the tone on how everyone else speaks on behalf of the company. You need to think about who is going to be fulfilling that role. Very often you will have a Managing Director filling that role or a senior person in the company; the head of PR or something. What you need to think about is who is actually going to be doing that on a day to day basis.

Is Facebook dying? And should we care?

Danny BermantFacebook

old lady There has been a lot in the media over the past few weeks about how teenagers are abandoning Facebook. An interesting piece in the New York Times wonders whether it is no longer exciting enough, and whether it provides enough for teenagers to ‘do’:

Nathan Jurgenson, a sociologist who studies the Internet and was recently hired as a researcher by Snapchat, a mobile messaging app that is rapidly growing in popularity… said mainstream sites had evolved into a kind of "decoy social media." In his view, it has become akin to a yearbook or yellow pages – a static home on the Web that offers proof of someone’s existence, and perhaps little else. That might explain in part the popularity of a wave of new services like his company, Snapchat, as well as Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest and even Vine. They have taken root, particularly among teenagers.

But does Facebook needs teens to survive? Let’s not forget they are the lowest spending socio-economic group.

Why your business needs a social media policy

Danny BermantSocial media

I’m going to talk to you about why your company needs a social media policy.

Regardless of what industry you are in or what business you are in you need to set up some clear, simple guidelines for your staff. They are going to be doing 2 things with your guidelines.

How to play the ‘we we’ game

Danny BermantSocial media, Youtube

Have you ever played the “We We” game? Don’t worry, it’s nothing rude!

The “We We” game is a very simple game that you can play to find out how much time you are spending on social media talking about yourself. A very common problem that marketers make is that they go on several Twitter accounts or even Facebook accounts and talk about ‘We’ or ‘Us’. No one is interested in you talking about yourself. You need to talk to your customers and talk to them about their problems.

Is Twitter free advertising? Join the debate!

Danny BermantTwitter

twitter feed Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Youtube are all free to set up and use. And if you know what you’re doing, your messages can reach an audience of thousands or even millions. So isn’t social media basically a form of free advertising?

To answer this question, we’ll be posting a series of blogs on the merits of each of the main social media platforms. Today we’re discussing Twitter.

Is Twitter free?

It doesn’t cost any money to set up a Twitter account
All you need are lots of good ideas for posts so that people will read them and respond to you
You can reach almost anyone on Twitter which is really valuable for sales. For example if you’re an accountant helping start up businesses, you can search for and connect with coaches and mentors who service start-ups and will promote you to their customers. No more cold calls!
Twitter can act as a giant periscope, enabling you to quickly spot sales opportunities. As nearly all conversations are public, you can monitor what potential customers are saying and identify where they might benefit from your services. In this case study, a sales rep used Twitter to identify an opportunity and get a customer signed up the same afternoon!
By following influential people and having the right conversations with them, you can reach a much wider audience who’ll be interested in your products. E.g. If you’ve launched a new software package and shared it with a tech blogger, they can then review it and tweet about it to their audience.

Is social media free advertising? Join the debate!

Danny BermantFacebook, Social media

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Youtube are all free to set up and use. And if you know what you’re doing, your messages can reach an audience of thousands or even millions. So isn’t social media basically a form of free advertising?

To answer this question, we’ll be posting a daily blog on the merits of each of the main social media platforms. Today we’ll be discussing Facebook.

Are Facebook pages free?

They doesn’t cost any money to set up
All you need are lots of good ideas for posts so that people will read them and respond to you
You can easily promote your page through your network of friends by (a) sharing your posts on your personal Facebook account (b) inviting all your friends to like your page (c) inviting all your email contacts to like you page

Is Facebook dying? And should we care?

Is Twitter free advertising? Join the debate!

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