Expo Scotland – 2015

Attendees included representatives from NFUS, Dumfries House and members James Campbell Butchers, Glasgow.

The biggest interest was in the seminars which covered Marketing / Selling / Presenting, Social Media, Business Issues and Networking. There were three new speakers every hour.

First speaker chosen to attend was Ross 'Teddy' Craig whose subject was “Reaching your market with Social media?”

Ross gave an overview of his thoughts based on his experiences. Ross was a stand up comedian for 16 years. Moved on to writing and then into copying writing and content strategist. Try to reach and connect with an audience.

Stand up gave:-
Scottish Comedian of Year awards, runner up twice.
Social media should be a long term relationship. Remember the Harrison Ford Test: in Star Wars commented you can type this but you cannot say it!

Remember whatever you write reaches someone at the other end. You should know your audience and may need reached in different ways. Content in video, photo, copy, which one depends on the channel. Know your audience to know your channel. Tempting to think that you should be everywhere but no point if your audience is not there. Spread yourself too thin loses impact.

Social media needs to build a community, creating a relationship for when people want your product. Familiarity breeds trust – you do not buy a tin of Coke when you don't trust the brand.

People like to be entertained by posts.
“Anyway they dropped the charges” used in job interview.
Entertainment leads to impact. When you need to say something, traditional management will decide not to say anything! Social media is the opportunity to demonstration your unique voice.
Everything you say is an opportunity. Yes it comes with risk but if you say nothing you lose the opportunity.

Scotcomfc Twitter account – football is the largest social currency. Brands fear references to football. National team are playing so send them a good luck message.

Brands differentiate from their competitors. Humour is likely to be retweeted and therefore extends you brand visibility. E.g Sunday, relaxing on a patio chair with a gin and tonic. The staff in B&Q seem unsure what to do about it.

Only two ways to reach people – with what they want or what they need, everything else is Spam! So what can you give them? Social media is about relationships so make posts relevant.

Periscope allows video content streamed on Twitter.

Advised do not schedule things. Risks involved since posts cannot be future proofed.

Liz Melville: 5 Surefire ways to build your Facebook page
Not on Facebook to be sold things. Most will say that they do not want promotional posts.
Research shows that bombarding with messages disengage people.

1 What do you want to achieve?
Have a plan otherwise you will not know if it is working. Make sure that it is measureable.
Build your community
2 Understand your customers
Tool helps to grass search for common ground, find out groups that your clients have joined
3 Create amazing content
80% of content should be for your ideal customer, 20% about you and your business. Use images to attract people to your website. Talk about what people are interested in and talking about. Ask advice from your audience. Link to other people's content. Fan only discounts. Seasonal posts. Thank customers, give personal insights – none of this needs to be about the business.
4 Post consistently
Find the frequency that works for your Facebook page. Mix the content type, videos, text and photos.
5 Use Facebook advertising
Can laser right in on target. Not expensive! Choose objective before you advertise. Need to have a call to action

Neil Simpson: Social Media Transformation Session
What would you like to leave with? What answers can I give you?
Increased engagement ideas.
Targeting different demographics
Generating leads
Increasing brand loyalty: 70% of Coca Cola drinkers drink Pepsi. Brand loyalty is a bit of a myth if it exists at all.

Make sure that brand is right and people listen to these brands.
A four step process to turn strangers into raving fans.
On Google you only search for particular things so it makes sense to create content that people seek. Everything must be useful. Web copy makes people act, includes a call to action. Journalists only report.

Believe in what you do and talk about it.
Most people find out about social media the hard way. Use it as a megaphone but if you are shouting about something the audience is not interested in then they will not be listening. Rather than use it as a megaphone use it as a funnel. Messages just for them, respond in their own words. Talk about how your things make your listeners life better. Capitalise on your mailing list.

Why bother with social media?
It is the new Word of mouth. If you have a bad holiday, you get on Tripadvisor.
Gary Vaynerchuk, his family sold wine and got people talking about wine in a real person way. In this way he made a fortune. People like to talk but they don't like businesses.

Social media is about the wizard rather than the wand.

Getting heard is the difficult part. Use Facebook to tell your customers stories. Burberry asked customers to share picture of their garments being worn by customers.

1. Have a social media plan.
2. Measure everything (what is working?)
3. Do the minimum to be effective. (Find out what works)
4. Be You (be people – people do not buy from business, they buy from people they like.
5. Be sticky
6. Use as many pictures and video as possible.

Turn attention into money
1. What problems do customers have?
2. What information do your customers need?
3. What resources do your customers need?
4. What do they want to know about you?
It is about building a relationship. People do business with friends. If not sure ask your customers.

Three steps to social media transformation
1. Customer Persona, know who you talk to. Do you know what keeps them awake at night?
If you know what people want, then you can sell them things. Find out their values, even knowing what kind of car they drive can be informative.
2. Know- Like – Trust – Buy, not everybody who knows you is going to like you. Not everybody who likes you is going to trust you and not everybody who trusts you is going to buy from you.
Know and Like is the social media part so don't put the Buy in that part.
A bit like wearing a wedding dress to a first date – looks a bit desperate! So make sure that if you want to sell make sure that you are in the right place.
3. Your Offer: change this often, you do not want the same message every month. Break year up then decide monthly offers. Everything you do is then pointed to that offer. Make sure you talk about the what. Want results not the journey to get there. 10% how, 90% what.

Sharon Callix: How to get clients from social media in just 30 days
Now all network and introductions are done online. More convenient and comfortable to be on social media. Need to be active to know what is going on.
One in three people check their phone before they get out of bed in the morning. How often do you look at your phone? 1500 times per week. The average person looks at phone at 7:31.
Reserve your name across all platforms.
Facebook, Pinterest account five times, Twitter three times per day. # only two maximum per tweets. Google +
Get your audience to trust you: share testimonials. Apple has a reputation that has everyone wanting an iPhone 7. So branding is very important, certain expectations represented by the logo. All down to trust. Stand out from your competitors and become the go to person in your niche. Position yourself as the expert so people only want to go to you. To be recognised it depends on good content, what others say about you. Difference and current in delivery is vital.
Social media is a marketing mix.

Ten things to do:-
1. Post great content – go to whatstrending.com
2. Write a professional bio on LinkedIn and website
3. Use hashtags
4. Place a widget on your blog
5. Engage with others – reach out to people you want to do business with
6. Create chargeable content
7. Re share others content

Needs to be a call to action
Blogging positions you on Google, there is an ability to get to top of ranking even if short time.
socialmention.com allows you to find out what everyone is talking about. People want information and expertise.

Opportunities on Twitter come only through tweets. Tweets do not always need to be about your business. Useful tools include:-
Twbs.com to register your own hashtag.
Tweinds
Widgets: Facebook, Twitter icons go to addsocial and embed.
Use the @ key
Add your social media icons to your email signature
Free website: kaywa allows you to create your own digital signature

Free software
Tweetdeck, Hootsuite, clickbank

On Facebook, boost is a waste of time – see Sharon's website.
Do spend £20 and send it to one of the options.

Think visual, no longer than two minutes. It has to be quick.

If you want results take action. Start by looking at Sharon Callix Facebook page!