Twitter Fleets and Why They Failed!

You may have noticed Twitter Fleets tiptoeing off quietly into the dead of the night early this month….or perhaps, you didn’t.

Twitter introduced its Fleet function, designed to be a version of Stories (content which disappears after 24 hours), back in November 2020. There was much fanfare to its launch and Twitter heavily pushed the feature over the following months.

Unfortunately, much like Sisyphus, the legendary King of Corinth, Twitters heroic pushing of Fleets, ultimately lead nowhere…

The platform quietly shelved the feature on 3rd August due to the lack of uptake in user activity.

The lesson we can learn from this is that it’s often best not to blindly jump on the bandwagon when it comes to communicating with our customers online. Sometimes it’s easy to give into the temptation of ‘keeping up with the Joneses’, or trying to change who we are to appeal to those who ultimately may not be our target audience.

So, before deciding where and how to promote your business online – ask yourself the following:

  1. Who are my target audience?
  2. Where do they hang out online?
  3. What type of content do they engage most with?
  4. Is my online profile/content a good reflection of the image I want to promote?

And finally, don’t try to be something you’re not…not everyone was made to be a TikTok sensation!

Karen Twomey works as a freelance Digital Marketing Consultant helping businesses to put together targeted and effective marketing strategies, as well as offering one-to-one and group training sessions in all things digital marketing. For more information see www.communicationshub.ie or email karen@communicationshub.ie

Social Media Training Sessions Cork

Time to improve your online skills?

I’m currently putting together a number of training sessions that can be delivered on a one-to-one or small group basis designed to help those in business to make the most of their online presence and marketing.

The courses focus on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn, which are the top four most used social media platforms in Ireland right now (By the way – Instagram is now the fastest growing social media platform in terms of accounts and usage in Ireland!).

Social Media Training Sessions Cork

Social Media Training Sessions Cork

While most businesses have an online presence of some description, the demand now tends to be for help with how best to manage that presence.  This can be anything from training on content creation, SEO and implementing targeted  social media campaigns.

As every business is different and will have different goals and targets online, these more personalised online training sessions tend to be the most effective for business owners in terms of practical tips and take home points – they also have the added advantage of being more time effective than longer courses too!

Communications Hub have delivered digital marketing courses and social media training to all different types of clients over the years including those in existing businesses, start-up businesses, community organisations and those in the public eye, such as politicians.

The type of online presence and content needed by clients may vary depending on the type of organisation involved but the skills needed don’t and no matter what your online capabilities are, we can put together a training session to suit your needs.

So what are you waiting for?  Make today the day you help move your business ahead online and future-proof your marketing!

Social Media Training Sessions Cork

For more information on Communications Hub’s digital marketing and social media training sessions please contact us or keep an eye on our website and social media accounts for regular updates!

 

Digital Marketing in 2019

It would be rude of me to start the first blog of 2019 without wishing you all a very Happy New Year!

Well here we are, on the 12 month countdown to 2020!  Maybe it’s just me, but it’s hard to believe we are almost 20 years into the new millennium.  So much has changed in terms of technology and communication and with it, society as a whole has also changed.

It would be nice to see those changes as ‘advancements’ and ‘enhancements’ to how we live and do business, but in truth the huge growth in technology has been a double-edged sword in many ways.  However, that’s a blog for another day and this blog is all about positivity for the year ahead!

The last few years have seen huge changes in how we do business and, in particular, how we market ourselves and communicate with our stakeholders.  Most businesses have embraced the online world in at least some way, be it a website, social media platform or email marketing.

Not every business is necessarily comfortable with being online, but they are savvy enough to understand that the wheel keeps turning and you have to roll with it.  After all, if you’re not moving forward…

Digital Marketing

For me, 2018 was a major year of change in how businesses went about their digital marketing and social media marketing.  It was the year that businesses started to understand that the best way to showcase online was by showing some personality.

Marketing is no longer about just selling goods and services, it’s about storytelling.

It’s about showing who you are and what’s important to you.  It’s about relationship building, and the only way to for a business to do that is to take responsibility for their online presence.

It’s not enough to just pay someone in-house or otherwise to ‘do your social’.  It has to be about more than that.  There has to be joined up thinking and contributions to what forms your online marketing plan.  The best social media content is when it’s real and authentic and, to achieve that, everybody in an organisation needs to be on board.

So, last year saw me delivering a huge amount of Digital Marketing training sessions all over the country to all different types of industries.  All of the businesses attending these sessions wanted to get a better understanding of how to manage their brands online.

They understood the importance of taking some control to help grow their business’ online presence.

Digital Marketing

We covered everything from Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Blogging, Organic SEO, Paid SEO, Email Marketing to the basics of content creation including picture and video editing, keywords and hashtags!  And they weren’t the only ones learning – along the way, I was too.

That’s the interesting thing about Digital Marketing – there’s no such thing as an expert.  It’s a constantly changing and evolving field of study and, in truth, it moves so fast that we’re always playing catch up.  

So, whatever your goals for 2019 might be, do yourself and your business a favour and get yourself online!  Do a course, do some YouTubing – just do something to improve your Digital Marketing skills!  I promise it will be worth it!

Digital Marketing

Karen Twomey is a Digital Marketing Consultant with Communications Hub  and specialises in providing Digital Marketing and Social Media Training for businesses.  For further information Tel: 087 7642576 or email: Karen@communicationshub.ie

 

Certificate in Digital Marketing for 2019?

New Year, New Skills?

The Certificate in Digital Marketing QQI L5 will kick off again  for 2019 on 28th January at Mallow Night School, which is part of Mallow College of Further Education.

The course runs on Monday nights from 6.30 to 9.30 for 12 weeks and includes digital marketing modules on:

  • Social Media for Business – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram & Snapchat
  • WordPress & Blogging
  • Creating Online Marketing Schedules
  • Creating text, photo and video content
  • Search Engine Optimisation
  • Google Analytics
  • Email Marketing Campaigns

The focus of the Certificate in Digital Marketing is to gain a sound knowledge of digital marketing for business and organisational use and learn some practical take-home skills to help you improve your marketing and communications online, as well as integrating digital marketing strategies with traditional marketing methods.

For further information on the course or to sign up online and receive a discount on fees, see NightSchool.ie

Digital Marketing

 

 

 

 

 

 

#Digitalmarketing  #NightClasses

Top Tips for Creating a Digital Marketing Plan!

Most of the social media training courses I do cover a section on how to put together a digital marketing plan.  You can spent hours posting online, but if you don’t have a strategic marketing plan, you may just be talking to yourself – and we all know that’s a sign of madness!

So, here are my top four tips  for creating a digital marketing plan for your business…

1. KNOW YOUR BUSINESS GOALS Digital Marketing

Define your company, its products or services.

What sets you apart from your competition?

What do you want to achieve from your digital marketing campaign – increased footfall to business, more purchases through online shop, increase use of an app, encourage customers to make a booking through an online system or by phone?

2.  KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER Digital Marketing

Profile your perspective customer in terms of age, gender, family composition, earnings, lifestyle and geographical location.

You may have different customers for different products/services and need to create digital marketing campaigns to appeal to different audiences at different times.

3.  DEVELOP A STRATEGY & TACTICSwww.communicationshub.ie

Which social media platforms?

What’s your call to action?

Type of content?

Frequency & time of posting?

Budget?

 4.  MONITORING & MEASURING Digital Marketing

What is the audience reach of your posts?

Are your target audience engaging with your campaign?

Did we achieve a ROI?

What lessons can we learn for future campaigns?

And there you have it – four easy steps to putting together a digital marketing campaign for your business.  Happy marketing!

Karen Twomey is a Digital Marketing Consultant with Communications Hub  and specialises in providing Social Media Training for businesses.  For further information Tel: 087 7642576 or email: Karen@communicationshub.ie