Unfortunately my site was hacked so I’m just doing a bit of a tidy up… I’m still here to offer freelance marketing services so please drop me an email: karen@freelancemarketingservices.co.uk if you have any marketing needs and would like to take on a highly skilled and efficient freelancer to do so!
I came across an article today in Brand Republic that has some useful facts and figs from Experian Hitwise about social networking today.
It monitored visits to 9,000 social networks including Facebook, LinkedIn and StumbleUpon, found they attracted a record number of visits from the UK – 2.4 billion during January.
Social networks accounted for 12.4% of all UK internet visits in January, with visits from the UK up 17% from the previous month.
The amount of time visitors are spending on social networking sites is increasing, with the average session being around 22 minutes.
While Facebook is the most popular social network, accounting for 56% of all traffic to social networks, visitors are rarely tied exclusively to one site, according to Experian.
One in every eight people leaving a social network will visit another one immediately afterwards, due to the connections that exist between the networks.
For example, almost a fifth of users leaving Twitter go on to visit another social network.
Social networks also account for 13% of traffic sent to other websites, but these tend to be content-based sites, rather than transactional ones that sell goods or services.
Robin Goad, research director at Experian Hitwise, said: “Transactional websites still rely primarily on search for their traffic, and therefore sales. Successful transactional websites will be those that learn to harness the power of social networks, driving traffic through to their own websites.”
So, The Apprentice has come to an end for another series, what will I do now on Wednesday night? Lord Alan Sugar would say, to win you, ‘Need to stand out from the crowd’ and there were certainly some characters this year that did exactly that, for better or for worse. I was pleased Stella won I think she was the right woman for the job even though her background isn’t particularly entrepreneurial she certainly demonstrated determination and the will to succeed and convinced Lord Alan that her skills were transferable. Being a stickler for planning and organisation myself I identified with her on that level whereas the likes of Stuart who apparently ‘keeps everything in his head’ made me see red! I think there are plenty of ideas in the world already and what we need are the people who can actually make them happen – like Stella.
Joanna was my second favourite (no not because she is a girl!) because she seemed to have a genuinely successful, honest business that she had set up on her own. I felt for Joanna in the interview process, she, unlike self-confessed ‘big fish’ Stuart, looked like a fish out of water, bless her. Although she really should have known what Lord Alan’s companies are called - that’s really a basic.
Can’t wait to see what turns up next year, although I think they’ll be hard pressed to beat ‘Stuart Baggs The Brand’ on the entertainment stakes.
1.Facebook
Although it hasn’t always been in the mainstream, in recent months Facebook has come head to head with Twitter. Facebook is more stable technically and offers many features that Twitter doesn’t.
2.Twitter
Twitter has received a lot of media coverage lately, however, it still has some work since it’s in its infancy. Luckily for avid users, the creators are continually working on new features and better functionality… much needed I think, as some of the basics are still not right, the other day for example I was trying to invite people via email from a Twitter account and it sent messages to some domains and not others – now I have no idea who received an invite from me and who didn’t.
3.LinkedIn
Many business professionals use LinkedIn. It’s a great resource for posting your CV and highlighting your business skills, plus the groups functionality is particularly good to help promote campaigns, issues and causes.
4.Myspace
Up until this last year or so, Myspace was easily the number one social network. However, Myspace is falling behind — some might say it’s been left in the dust. Although it’s in decline, Myspace still holds value for musicians and artists.
5. Ning
Although Ning has millions of users, it’s little known or used by most people. Ning has revolutionalised social media in a lot of ways in how it boasts thousands of niche networks within itself – it’s a great easy way to set up your own social network for no cost – apart from lots of time!
6.Bebo
One of the better known social network sites among the smaller sites, Bebo, like Myspace, gives users the option to customise their profile. Bebo has recently increased traffic because of new features that let users see their friends’ activity.
7.Orkut
Although less known in the U.K. Orkut is extremly popular in countries, including Brazil and India. Most suprisingly is that its owned and operated by Google.
8.Hi5
Hi5 has been floating around as a social network for a while, but has never been able to keep up with the competition of Facebook, Myspace and others. It has most of the same features as Myspace and Facebook, but is more popular in Central America
9. Friendster
Many people think that social networking began with Myspace, but it really originated with Friendster. It remains a top-notch social network similar to Myspace and Facebook, despite being overtaken by them a few years ago.
10. Xanga
Of the ten listed here, probably one of the lesser known, although its been around for more than 10 years. Xanga is different in how it focues on photo, video and weblogging.
1. Write a blog regularly in an accessible style to appeal to as broad an audience as possible - and make sure you have an RSS feed – people often feed directly to their web page
2. Do a top 12 list! This could be worst… best… mistakes…
3. Make it easy for people to social bookmark your site content – check out Delicious, Digg, StumbleUpon, Google Bookmarks…
4. Write a positive piece about a company or organisation who you’d like to link to your site, or appeal to people’s vanity and create a list of gurus – chances are if they like it, they’ll link to it
5. Write a press release and distribute through a newswire service such as www.prnewswire.com (costs can range from £120 – £500 depending on level of distribution)
6. Swap articles and links with other sites in your sector
7. List your website on as many relevant online directories as possible… there are lots of free ones but you’ll get the best response by paying as most people don’t. Make sure you select the best ones for your industry
8. PPC (pay per click) – if you have some budget for online marketing have a go at PPC campaigns on Google and Facebook – FaceBook is really well targeted to an individual’s profile – for example a friend of mine who is, shall we say, thinning on top, keeps getting targeted with hair replacement products!! TIP: go to a Google University (free at marketing/ad related tradeshow events) to learn more about PPC campaigns – you can teach yourself if you have the will
9. Run a free entry competition on your site – no rubbish prizes please
10. Offer to speak at industry events – the event will be promoted on the event website and via email and you will be included
11. Set up pages (and groups on relevant topics) on the main social media sites: LinkedIn, Twitter, MySpace, Facebook and Squido and invite people to your network and use these groups as a space to promote your blog and in turn you and your website
12. Join relevant online groups and answer questions with links back to your site
I think that contractors and freelancers have an opportunity to flourish over the coming months as companies cut back the permanent head count in favour of short-term high-value staff recourses.
In a recession companies opt for contractors and freelances over permanent staff because they want to save money and only pay for the work not the employee. Typically as the sales shrink the organisation will hang on to core staff e.g. the engineers who build the product, and let go what they see as less core functions – typically marketing, PR, administration and support roles. However once the product has been built the marketing still has to be done, so often those laid off workers will get a call from the same personal department that handed them their P45 only a few months before… for the company they get someone who is experienced in that exact role and for the employee it could be the opportunity to build a successful freelance career. So if you are laid off over the coming months, keep an open mind, stay positive, keep on good terms with everyone and try not to keep imaging your ex-employer coming to a fateful end!
Need marketing help but no budget to commit to employing a new permanent senior marketing person? Then consider taking on an experienced freelance marketer with expertise in subscriptions, membership and loyalty marketing. Ideal if you’re looking to build, grow and retain a database of profitable customers, subscribers or members in a timely, in-budget manner – this could range from working with you to plan and manage a one-off direct or digital marketing campaign through to researching, planning and budgeting the entire strategic marketing plan.
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