Blog

Why you should embrace social media

Social media has become a worldwide phenomenon since the outburst of Web 2.0; it changed the way that people used the internet. Users now look online to share and connect with others around the world. Businesses may have been reluctant to this new wave of technology in the beginning; however, they are now jumping on the social media bandwagon and taking full advantage of the marketing opportunities it offers.

The list of benefits social media can offer goes on and on, so to make it easier for you, we have summed up just a few of the key advantages.

Increasing brand awareness –

Social media is one of the most cost-effective marketing methods that can be used by any brand, not only is it (mostly) free, but it gives you the opportunity to reach a wider audience and increase your brands visibility.

Engage with others, by simply ‘liking’ or ‘sharing’ content. This instantly gets your brand name recognised by others. Once they begin to share your content, you are opening up to a whole new network of potential clients. Your boundaries are limitless.

Engagement and building consumer loyalty –

One major beneficiary of social media, is the ability to engage with your consumers. When a brand is commenting, liking and sharing, it personifies the brand as consumers tend to prefer to communicate with people rather can businesses.

Developing a loyal customer base is a vital component for any business and by engaging with your consumers you are showing you care about customer service, which in turn generates loyalty.

Provide a better customer service experience –

Consumers now look to social media to find out information about a business and by having social media accounts for your brand, you are giving customers the opportunity to contact you instantly. People expect fast response times and social media enables you to respond to them 24/7.

#Hashtags –

With the world of social media, along came the hashtag. This can be one of the most useful tools to incorporate into your social media strategy, if used correctly. By providing a relevant hashtag to your post it will send your message further, it can be seen by thousands of people across the world in a matter of seconds.

Gain marketplace insight –

What better way to find out what your consumers want than by directly talking to them? Through social media you can communicate with your target audience and monitor their interests and opinions. All social media platforms give you the chance to see what is ‘trending’, allowing you to understand what people are currently interested in, how can you get involved and get a step ahead of your competitors.

Find out what your competitors are doing –

One quick and easy way to find out how your main competition is doing, is to check their social media. All businesses tend to share their latest venture on their social media site, giving you a heads-up on what is happening.

Drive traffic to your website –

All of your social media accounts link to your website, so anything you post can persuade a potential customer to view your site. If you are using social media to promote products/services, attach a link to the post so your followers can be directed to the website, making a better user experience overall.

by Zeus PR

Newsjacking – The ‘Copy-Cat’ Revolution

For those of you who work in the media, you’ll likely be aware of the term ‘Newsjacking’. If not you’ve probably been exposed to it.

‘Newsjacking’ is the process of taking advantage of a piece of news to increase awareness of your brand and/or product. It is an opportunity to increase brand awareness, at low cost. Newsjacking relies on the continued influence of social media, and the age that we live in. This digital forum is one of the most potent tools in increasing brand awareness.

This has been a fairly popular process, synonymous with increased sales and success since its popularity spike in the wake of the blackout at the 2013 Superbowl, in which Oreo jumped on the opportunity with this effort.

This initiative is not always effective and companies must be careful about how they approach it. There are many cases of ‘Newsjacking’ that have back-fired, for instance, this effort from ‘Spaghetti-O’s’.

The advert shows a virtual ‘O’ shaped character holding an American flag high in the air, the text above stating ‘Take a moment to remember #Pearlharbour with us’, which is not only inappropriate but completely disproportionate with the brand image.

Despite this, the practice of ‘Newsjacking’ is widely regarded as a ‘breakthrough’ in social media marketing, and here are three of our favourite examples on social media from the last five years.

MINI –

MINI may only produce small cars, but company employees have shown themselves to be ‘big-hitters’ when it comes to seizing news-based opportunities. Their quick-witted slogans appeal to the average consumer’s concentration time, as well as their humour. The use of a national scandal as an opportunity to light-heartedly advertise the new car was brilliant.

It came at a time when the Tesco horsemeat scandal was prominent in the media. Tesco was found to be labelling ‘meat of horses’ as beef mince, and there was an uproar at the eventuality.

Kit-Kat –

Upon the launch of the Iphone 6+, the people at Apple found themselves in a rather ‘fruity’ situation. Its new flagship phone was once again being talked about by almost everyone on the planet, but not for the reasons the company would have hoped. There were widespread reports of the device bending under pressure, something which isn’t sought after when consumers are spending upwards of £500 on it.

Whilst this was clearly a huge problem for Apple (not that huge, they were recently announced as the first company to be worth $800bn), it did present an opportunity to the social media gurus at KitKat. The brand’s catchphrase has for a long time been ‘Have a break. Have a KitKat.’ The bending iPhone pandemic gave the company a much-needed opportunity for a resurgence, allowing them to prey on the misfortune of a global giant, for a spike in sales. A recurring theme throughout all the examples shown is not only the simplicity of them but the irony they provide. KitKat takes the biscuit with this one.

 Dunkin’ Donuts –

Cast yourself back to the days of February 2015 and you’ll recall a certain stripy-dress sending the world into a frenzy of furious debate. Whether you were team #blueblack or #whitegold, you’ll no doubt remember the way ‘The Dress’ took over the world. Whatever your views on the debacle, there’s no doubting that this ‘colour anomaly’ was screaming out to be ‘jacked’. Dunkin’ Donuts took the opportunity and produced an effort that increased its twitter followers by 3% in 24 hours. All ‘newsjacking’ has the potential to be a disaster if done wrong, but DD ‘dressed’ it up well.

The continued progression of Newsjacking shows that this is an effective way of attracting brand support. The use of up-to-date stories is a successful tool in many PR campaigns, and the most popular ones are generally associated with humour and wit. There’s no doubt it’s becoming more popular, and we can’t wait to see the next ingenious attempt.

by Zeus PR

Graduates: How to Stand Out to PR Employers

Graduation season is upon us and that means one thing for employers; intelligent and enthusiastic individuals are about to make their way into the competitive world of work with refreshing and innovative ideas. There’s only one problem – there are thousands of graduates, which means sifting through countless CVs and dissecting numerous cover letters to determine who’s the right person for the company. The job market is more competitive than ever for graduates, and if public relations is your choice of industry, standing out is essential. Therefore, here at Zeus, we have rounded up our best tips to help graduates get noticed.

1. Be Relentless – When it comes to that initial after-graduation job search, you have to be persistent. Successful job searching is often about timing, so don’t expect to find your ideal opportunity immediately. Check job websites daily to ensure that you never miss an opening but remember that not all companies will advertise on these sites - use social media as a searching tool and research PR companies in your area (they often post vacancies on their websites), send across CVs and cover letters if possible. Job sites such as Indeed, Reed etc. are great but exploring other avenues will increase your chances of success.

2. Perfect that Cover Letter – Graduates often do their best to perfect their CV but then accompany it with a very generic cover letter that does nothing to sell themselves. Employers who ask for a cover letter are doing so because they want to know more about you and why you are interested in their company. The PR industry is about personality and creativity so don’t be afraid to show who you are. Also remember to always include a section focusing on the business you are applying to; why that company? Why that role? What can you bring to the table that they don’t already have? One of the worst mistakes made by graduates is sending the same CV and covering letter to hundreds of potential employers who can tell. They need to be personal.

3. Find your unique selling point and use it – When you leave university, you are in the same position as many others up and down the country. Find something unique and use it to sell yourself to potential employers. Are you an English graduate with incredible writing skills? Are you a marketing graduate with an extensive range of experience? Are you a journalism graduate with a portfolio of published work? Are you a blogger with a huge social media presence? Whatever your USP is, sell it!

4. Don’t Oversell Yourself – Following on from the previous point, selling yourself is essential but so is honesty. Don’t oversell yourself or your experience because the employer will know straight away. Instead talk truthfully about the things that you have done and express a desire to learn more – this will show ambition and a passion for the industry; two things employers love to see. Further to this, applying for the right level is essential. Unless you have exceptional circumstances, most graduates will only be considered for entry level positions and applying for jobs above your station is a waste of everyone’s time.

5. Experience speaks volumes – In order to stand out from the thousands of other job seekers who have also attained degrees, you need some relevant experience in the PR field. This is not always easy to come by and so, by having that experience, you have already showcased to potential employers that you are hard-working, determined and have a passion for the industry. Here at Zeus, we prioritise relevant experience above anything else when recruiting. In the PR industry, no relevant experience can often mean no interview.

6. Use social media carefully – Excellent knowledge of social media is essential in this industry because digital marketing is the future. However, the way in which you use social media will be checked by employers. Blogs are a fantastic way to show off your work, and having an online portfolio makes it easier for employers to see samples. Sites such as LinkedIn are also great for networking. However, your personal use of social media is often checked by your future boss who is looking to gain an accurate perspective on your character. Therefore, it is imperative to keep your social media free from anything that you would not want potential employers to see.

There is no use in pretending that making your way in this industry after university is easy; it’s not. It takes commitment, determination and a desire to succeed in public relations. But with this (and our top tips) there’s every chance you will be successful.

by Zeus PR

Social Media Healthcheck for B2B Businesses

Not many businesses today would doubt the value of a good social media strategy to developing their customer base. Offering a great opportunity to engage with potential, as well as existing customers, social feeds should be integral to any B2B PR & marketing strategy.

Well populated social media feeds are highly valuable for publishing and targeting specific content, building brand awareness and driving traffic to your website.

To assist you stay on track, we have listed below some pointers which we hope you will find useful:-

1. Firstly, identify who is your audience - who are you looking to speak to? Work with? Are they searching for advice? Or simply some relief from their heavy workload.
2. Which social feeds will your target audience be following / regularly engaged with? Unless you are a major B2B brand, the opportunities to grow your Facebook following are particularly limited - despite its seniority in the social hierarchy Facebook is still viewed as largely a personal network.   Twitter is maturing however is still growing its user numbers, a great tool for businesses, offering the opportunity to heighten brand awareness, boost your SEO, promote your content, and so forth. Looking at the value from a pure business network - LinkedIn, the main recruitment vehicle for the vast majority of recruiters, company page subscription is restricted, with person to person individual interaction taking by far the lions share of engagement - use this to your advantage, and encourage your motivated team members to engage, engage, engage!
3. Focus on the major B2B social feeds for the biggest impact - Twitter and LinkedIn- and save Instagram, Pinterest, What's App, etc for social use. Make the most out of LinkedIn Company Pages, and Twitter feeds  and also enlist your workforce in sharing on their own feeds your good news,  company insights, press coverage, surveys, industry comments, and include links back to your website where relevant.
4. As you work hard to build up your follower bases, ensure your social content isn't one way traffic or too promotional. No one likes being sold to, so gently does it. Mix up the content as much as your can whilst ensuring anything you post remains on message with your brand and taking care not to offend. Use images and infographs for added interest.
5.  Tag in and reference other brands / suppliers etc, to build your network, earning yourself as you go brownie points from other accounts with greater follower numbers - share and comment on their content and the likelihood is they will start to do the same for you. Being positive and supportive can develop for you a strong digital fanbase, who one day might need to contract or refer your services!
6.  Use social media as part of your competitor monitoring activity - who are they following and engaging with? Are they using their feeds to promote specific messages or promotional offers? This allows you at first hand to monitor their competitive strategy, and ensure you are ahead of the pack.
7. Finally extend your media reach - published articles editorial features or news pieces on your business, are a great form of secondary endorsement, however in today's increasingly hectic society, your target audience is not with the-best-will-in-the world going to be able to read every trade title or regional business title, so take time to share your press coverage as you go, generating excitement and again driving interest in your proposition and offering.
   We manage for many B2B clients a proactive, hard working social strategy, designed to support their business objectives, and are more than happy to offer a free consultation to businesses looking to enhance their social media and content marketing strategy.

by Zeus PR

Forging Brand Partnerships to Extend Your Reach

A great opportunity to grow your customer base lies in the value of brand partnerships. This involves linking up with brands in the same customer demographic space allowing you to share access and cross promote your products and services.

Of mutual benefit to both your brand and that of your chosen brand partner, you can then exchange social media sharing, instore or weblinks and even develop bespoke promotions.

For many Zeus clients from fashion to healthcare clients we employ this campaign tactic to great effect.

As well as the customer acquisition, brand exposure and digital optimisation benefits, it is highly cost effective so implemented wisely it will deliver considerable cost savings to your marketing budget - allowing you to cut back on advertising, PPC and so forth.

To cite examples of how this works in practice, we are midway through a 3 year NHS campaign running across Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester to promote their sexual health provision across the region - and by teaming up with sports, food and entertainment venues and colleges & universities, which are closely aligned to each of the key social demographics - we are rolling out the new gosh brand. Brand partners are displaying the gosh brand partner logo on their marketing materials, online on their social channels and in their facilities with gosh posters in toilets, and other public areas.

However this campaign tactic works equally well in a more commercial sense - for instance we have teamed up a high end luxury travel brand Just Resorts with Living Ventures - the premium restaurant group, to offer a holiday in return for significant data capture and in-venue brand exposure.

by Zeus PR

How to Enhance Your B2B Sales Drive

For B2B businesses, there is no better way to grow your credibility with potential customers then to be regularly referenced as 'an authority' in the very media that your business and trade customers read cover to cover every week.

As an agency focussed on working with clients to grow their sales pipeline, we use our vast media relations expertise  and contact base to generate significant profile in the print and digital media read by your customers.

On many occasions, we have had feedback from clients that they have been speaking to a B2B prospect, who references that they have seen them commenting on a salient industry issue, or read their news in one of the trade magazines - what great endorsement!

Even better still, is the feedback we receive from clients that they have had a number of inbound calls from potential customers who have read their feature and news articles in the trade press, and feel confident enough in their services or products that they have picked up the phone!

And often, as a much sought after by product, the digital magazines will give you a link directly to your website - just like having your very own gold dust when it comes to enhancing your Google visibility.

We work very successfully across numerous industry sectors (from food and drink industry providers and manufacturers to core B2B service firms) to deliver for clients significant reputation building profile through editorial feature placement and news flow creation.

If this is of interest to you and your business, we would be delighted to have an informal discussion on how we can support you in growing your trade media profile.

by Zeus PR