WINDOWS Magazine Autumn 2015 | Page 19

With 99 per cent of Australians now online, and 69 per cent using social media, the reasons for using social networking sites are on the rise. When, where and how we are using social media is also changing: • 46 per cent of social media users access one or more social networking sites at least once a day – 42 per cent say it’s the first thing they do in the morning and 48 per cent say it is the last thing they do before they go to bed at night. • 48 per cent of men and 49 per cent of women access social networking sites in the bedroom. • A third (31 per cent) of all users think they spend too much time on social networking sites. Blogging Blogs play a key role in educating prospects. They can be the most powerful influence to your brand as long as you stick to the topics your prospects and clients relate to. • Facebook continues to be the most popular platform, used by 95 per cent of social networkers, with users spending over eight and a half hours a week on the site on average. Blogs give your business a ‘human’ face, particularly when your senior members of staff are key contributors. Guest posts by thought leaders will help to raise your profile as well and provide you with a diversity on content. • Of the social networking sites that Australians stopped using, Twitter was the most mentioned. 1. Pick a domain name. • 71 per cent of social media users access social networking sites on their smartphones. • Of social media users, 39 per cent are logging in at work, 31 per cent on public transport, 30 per cent at restaurants and bars, and 26 per cent in the car. A growing number of users look for reviews, discounts and offers online before they make purchases from businesses, particularly from small and medium sized businesses. This is why we see a growing number of firms using social media to reach customers. The research shows they experience higher sales, better performance and profitability. Despite this, only 24 per cent of businesses using social media actually have a plan in place and a third do not know how much they have invested. Just 17 per cent of small businesses formally measure the return on their social media investment. 7 tips for a terrific blog post: Unless you have a good reason to target your blog audience within a particular country, I would advise you to use a .com, .net or .org name. (Only bloggers who need to focus their domain on a country should use an extension like .com.au) 4. Write strong headlines. This helps to grab the person’s attention and provides an incentive for them to share it with their network. 5. Make it topical. Relating blog content to current events will increase the relevancy of your posts. 6. Add to someone else’s thoughts. 2. Pick a web host. Web hosts provide the online storage that all blogs need. The host also allows visitors to access your blog. 3. Create your blog. Make a list. Things like ‘5 tips for a terrific blog post’, ‘25 things to remember when….’. The opinion of respected industry leaders not only provides interesting relevant content, it will also position your organisation as a thought leader. 7. Use statistics. Factual analysis and statistical data is always interesting to the reader – however, it must be relevant. Mak H]X\