Writing Content for Social Media and Blogging with Derbhile Graham

On Tuesday 20th September

Dungarvan Enterprise Centre

will be running a workshop for 

Writing Content for Social Media and Blogging

Social media is a fantastic way of reaching your customers.  Creating quality social media content  is an even better way to develop a greater relationship with your customers.  By making a few adjustments to how you create, publish, and post your content, you can increase the likelihood that others will share it more often.  Being able to write compelling and engaging content on a consistent basis over time is the core.  In this workshop, we will show you how to create draft blogs and social media posts, and draw up a plan to help you develop that content further in the long term.

So what's involved the workshop?

The workshop will be based on the 5 W's of good Social Media content.

1. Why - why you want to write social media content in the first place
2. What - what you want to say in your social media content
3. Who - who you want to reach
4. Where - which blogging and social media platforms are the best fit for your business?
5. When - how frequently you are willing and able to post

From this you will then come up with a content plan based on your questions.  Then in the second half of the workshop, you will write a draft blog entry, and if time allows, a batch of five social media posts.  Sounds interesting doesn't it.

A little bit of info about your tutor.

Dearbhile Graham is a writer and editor based in the sunny south east of Tramore, Co. Waterford.  She holds a Masters in Journalism, is a former Toastmaster and is also the author of the novel, "The Pink Cage".  In 2009, she set up a copywriting service for small businesses called WriteWords Editorial, which aims to help businesses tell their stories.  She has written blog posts for Congratulations.ie, Market Lane Restaurant, The Virtual Office and nearForm.  She is an experienced workshop facilitator and has delivered content creation workshops for Tipperary Enterprise Board and Dungarvan Women in Business Group.

As mentioned earlier, the workshop takes place here in the Dungarvan Enterprise Centre on Tuesday 20th September from 9.30 am to 1 pm.  The cost of the workshop is just €30 per person.  

For more information, or to book your place, please call us here at the Dungarvan Enterprise Centre on 058 23598 or email dungarvanec@gmail.com. 

The Importance of Digital Marketing for your Business

The Importance of Digital Marketing for your Business

I found this great article that shows you how important digital marketing is for your business. There are tonnes of articles about digital marketing, but  I really like this article because it's based on research by the American businessman who is best known as the chairman and CEO of Starbucks and a former owner of the Seattle Supersonics.

Making the move towards digital technology and in particular communicating your brand through digital marketing is an important step for any business, large or small.

Digital marketing is nothing other than a conscious use of digital media for the purposes of communicating with customers 

Benefits for business:

• Increased sales
• Improved customer retention 
• Provision of more accurate information to the sales network
• Building the brand image of a company

If you are still wondering why Digital Marketing is important  for your business? 

• Potential on-line audience -  Everybody is using smartphones or tablets - according to the Eircom Household Sentiments Survey (EHHS) 61% of people in Ireland already own a smartphone and 40% have access to a tablet computer. These potential customers conduct their lives on-line and see digital technology as an integral part of their existence with 46% of 16-24 year old's capturing this attitude shift by admitting that they had been anxious about missing something on social media by not being on-line. This is where digital promotion techniques come into play – the importance of on-line marketing for businesses should not be underestimated.
• So easy to get started with digital marketing- It is very simple - you already started to use digital marketing when you created a Facebook,  Twitter, Pinterest,  Linkedin or other social media platform. The biggest trend in on-line marketing is to harness the power of social media – and this is a particularly accessible type of technology. Take some time to get familiar with the various platforms available and how to use them. 
• Content is king- Content marketing is based on establishing a dialogue between the company (institution) and the recipient of Content. In such media as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn users have the opportunity to establish a dialogue. They can like it, they can leave a comment on, and above all they can share articles, videos or topics posted on blogs, spreading them on the network. And also we get feedback, so that we know what they expect from us. In addition, we become a source of reliable knowledge, information and entertainment. The recent ALS ice bucket challenge is a perfect case study in how to do content marketing really well. This compelling concept rapidly went viral right around the globe. For those who haven’t seen it, people posted social media videos of themselves having buckets of ice cold water dumped on them with the objective of raising awareness and funds for the ALS Association. These principles could underpin any content marketing strategy and will seriously increase its chances of success.

Victor Kiam (Remington) says: 

“In business, the competition will bite you if you keep running, if you stand still, they will swallow you”

To read a whole article click here. 

We are delighted to bring DMI Professional Diploma in Dgital Marketing to Dungarvan this September. We will be hosting an open evening on Wed 2nd Sept to talk about the programme and its benefits for your business. For bookings contact dungarvanec@gmail.com 

  

Something very Pinterest(ing) at Dungarvan Enterprise Centre

                              PINTEREST

Hello, my names Tayler Auckland. I am a Commerce international student in University College Dublin. I am participating in work placement in Dungarvan Enterprise Centre over the summer of 2015. I have only been here a few days but have learned various amounts of new information.

On the 3rd of June 2015 a Connect Online workshop regarding Pinterest was held in the Enterprise Centre. I was lucky enough to obtain a place in the interesting lesson. As a young student I am familiar with many platforms of social media, however Pinterest is one that I have never used. As many may not have known (like myself) Pinterest has an enormous following and fan-base like Twitter, Youtube and Facebook.

My first question in the workshop was,
"What is Pinterest ?"
Well.... Pinterest is a free online, image based form of social media. Users can upload,save and store content known as pins. Pinterest is used by many individuals and also businesses to advertise their products, boost sales and even communicate with customers. Today's Workshop held by Cian Murphy was very insightful and gave those of us from Dungarvan Enterprise Centre an up-to-date presentation and demonstration of Pinterest.

The presentation began with some very neat and informative slides explaining the basics of Pinterest and how people can benefit from using it. It then became even more engaging when Cian explained Pinterest for Business. A few facts and some number crunching...
25% of Fortune Global 100 companies are on Pinterest and one Pinterest image can generate over a thousand business webpage views ! So it can be very useful for small or big businesses to attract consumers and hopefully drive sales.

We were guided step by step on how to set up a personal and business Pinterest account. A well differentiated group attended the workshop, each person having different backgrounds and working in differed businesses. It was impressive to see how the different people went about setting up a Pinterest page for their businesses. After the account was set up we started "pinning". I will do my best to explain the basics of this platform without causing boredom or an information overload.

A single post made by someone is called a Pin. It can be a picture (of anything), blog, testimonial, infographic or Product. It can be business related or personal and it may or may not contain a description. Other Pinterest users(pinners) can like this picture, save it or share it(Repin). Many people form folders of similar pins called "Boards".This simply allows for a neater more organised interface and ease of access for users. As it is a form of social media you can message and follow( not literally follow but keep up to date with updates) your friends or interests.

Finally Pinterest Analytic's were mentioned. A built in feature of Pinterest allows businesses to see how many people visit their webpage, on what devices, at what time and many other precise information. This could prove as excellent Research and Development for a business.

The workshop in Dungarvan Enterprise Centre was certainly fascinating as it involved key information, participation and good communication.

There is truly a lot on Pinterest. Things for Sale,
 new products, messaging or even nice pictures.
Either way... To say the least it was Pinteresting.

4 Awe-Inspiring Digital Marketing Specialists You Simply Must Follow

We found another good article written by Zara Burke of Digital Marketing Institute, she knows about digital marketing, social media, email, mobile and Analytics - so it is worth a read and she is definitely worth a follow - she's a font of knowledge :) 

In this article she is trying pushing us to be more curious, to tap into expertise in order make it easier to use all the tools that we need to be visible to other people online. 

The article has four stories, four experts, and four tools explained in a very clear way. All you have to do is study their success stories and get inspired. We will introduce two experts from the article to give you a taste of what's included.

Jon Morrow is an expert and a blogger extraordinaire, programmer, marketing strategist and expert speaker. He decided be a blogger after a traumatic car crash accident, interestingly most people who survive serious accidents start to think "what am I doing, life is too short ...'' and, realising their mortality they do something totally different then what they did before. Jon Morrow decided to be a blogger. He talks about how to lead a more fulfilling life. His style works because it is authentic, relevant and comes from the heart. He understands that great content starts with the customer and works back. 

Jeff Bullas is a social marketing blogger, keynote speaker and digital strategist, consultant and best selling author. 

Another good guy, and another inspiring story about turning a life around. His passion for social media marketing translated to a blog gave him many psychological benefits and, importantly, his passion resulted in a profitable business. If, like us here in Dungarvan Enterprise Centre, you are low on budget and dependent on affordable marketing tactics, Jeff's blog posts contain some truly unique ideas. 

In this article Zara Burke writes about two more experts with great back stories. One of them is SEO expert Rand Fishkin and the other is Analytics expert Avinash Kaushik.

If you want to know more 

click here and read whole article. 

The Top 6 Digital Marketing Blogs Every Business Should Bookmark

After reading an article "The Top 6 Digital Marketing Blogs Every Business Should Bookmark’’ written by Zara Burke, whose core passions are content creation and small business strategy, we decided to share this article because Digital Marketing is growing very fast and is at the heart of every business' marketing strategy. 

It can be difficult to distinguish between different blogs, which ones are useful for us and which are wasting our time to read them? Digital Marketing Institute recommends some of the most valuable blogs. 

1.  Digital Marketing News & Views: Marketing Land

This blog looks at why digital marketing is so important for business and what you can expect from it. All entrepreneurs know the most important business is generated by the client and demand, and not the product itself. That’s why information is the key to success. Marketing Land keeps you  up to date with important upcoming launches and digital marketing announcements and helps you to stay ahead of the competition. 

2. Content Marketing: Content Marketing Institute

Content Marketing is important primarily because it perfectly positions the page in SERP and drives more and more customers to your website in a quick and easy way. Content Marketing is good quality, valuable to the reader content that informs and attracts visitors to your site, and  can even convert them, so they will become your customers. After reading the text, from which the client will learn something about you and your product, or will learn how to solve his problem you can be sure that he will return just for your expertise. It is within your content that he found what he was looking for. And finally Content Marketing is the answer to the question how to find the top positions in the search engine and what's more - to keep it. 

3. Social Media: Social Media Examiner

We all know that without social media your business doesn't exist! Social Media Examiner shares information that gives a broad sense of the use of Internet and mobile technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogue. The popularity of social networking sites ranked among the leading marketers are of course Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Blog. Social Media Examiner gives the inside track on these tools - the strategy and case study blog posts are particularly useful for helping you to plan and create your own social media strategy and content calendars. 

In summary,there are some great blogs out there.Social Media, Digital Marketing, Content Marketing, all of these tools are very useful. Good blogs can help us to find the best way to success and if you write a good blog you can find more customers for your business. It is so important to be smart and stay ahead online. 

For more interesting Marketing tips plus the full article click here