Control
Where do you start ‘Control’ with marketing and analytics? As a first step, it is important to know how you use social media platforms and whether you understand the protocol. I’m in the process of redesigning my websites and how I use social media using expanding skills and my knowledge base, and thoroughly enjoying where it is leading me. Alongside this, part of my Business Management degree course studies Communication & Creative Design. This is also looking at Marketing, branding image, social media, etc.
I’m probably selling my soul with the endless ’email’ subscriptions to gain treasured knowledge (seems to be the trend in marketing tactics) but keep finding fascinating journeys. Yesterday, I joined yet another community… ‘Inbound.org‘, here I found an intriguing article.
‘We Looked At 137,052 Tweets & Found Out Hashtags Are Worthless’
Well, that headline certainly shouted out at me! And don’t worry, the link will follow. I don’t want you like me running off to grab a read before I finish talking!
So, taking that ‘control’ and ‘analytics’ are important, how do I best use Twitter to market Fine Print Secretarial Services and her successor ‘butterfly’ currently a snugly chrysalis?
Well, I have a Twitter account – personal for many years (February 2009). Not sure I ever really learned how to use it. It was hard enough to follow all the other social media platforms/forums and stay sane – but all my friends (business and other) were there. I like my words, and being limited to 140 characters to get my point across is challenging.
I linked my personal Twitter account to my business Facebook page, because it was handy to share my blog via a post on Facebook to Twitter. This wasn’t a great idea. My personal username in no way relates to my business. Nor did it then feel right to update to my personal audience on Twitter which could now include my business audience, I was being lazy.
I have now corrected that and have a new Twitter account (February 2017) – @FineSecretarial. You can follow me there if you’d like! I’m mostly quiet due to my undercover website revamp and completing my degree, but occasionally, I may surprise you. While you are at it, you can also like my Facebook Business Page, but I will take on board the advice in the article you will get to read, and vanity.
I never used hashtags. Call me stubborn as a mule, and possibly getting old, it felt uncomfortable, I didn’t know ‘why’ or ‘when’ I should use them – or the benefit I would gain? It felt like saying ‘LOL’ every five seconds just to fit in, and they were everywhere! I tried clicking on a few random ones and sadly, the ones I found led me up the garden path. Over the years I found it even more that way. Do people actually search up a tag and then put it next to their post? Where do I find the right tag to use when being creative? It can be frustrating if you want more information and find nothing exists. On the whole, I felt an outsider to this strange language.
I believe you gain real wisdom when you are open and challenge your set ways. Therefore, finding this article today based on research the writer had conducted gave me a better understanding. Use hashtags sparingly and meaningfully on the best platform intended. Engage with your audience.
I would be really happy to hear your comments and thoughts? Are you a wizard on Twitter? Do hashtags serve you well? How and when do you use them?
Articles for Reference:
Well, I will close with two articles I have read in relation to hashtags – I found both interesting. Firstly, the one I promised you, if you haven’t dashed away madly and Googled it by now:
We Looked At 137,052 Tweets & Found Out Hashtags Are Worthless by RYAN MCCREADY, AUG 24, 2016 found on: https://venngage.com [Accessed 25.03.2017]
Secondly, this: Should You Use Hashtags on Facebook? Here’s What the Research Says by Andrew Hutchinson June 19, 2016 found on https://www.socialmediatoday.com [Accessed 25.03.2017]. By the way, the second article goes well beyond Facebook and explores their use on all social media platforms.
Here, I am only just dipping my toes in the arena of ‘control’ and only one element of social media. I will be away soon to study my Google Analytics, AWStats, WordPress analytics and all the wonderful insights served up on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube (not yet but soon) – I’ll be ‘watching this space’, as I hope you will do too!
Thank you for reading.