Week #15 Wrapping Things Up & Looking Ahead

Social media definitely is not my strong point!  But I have learned some valuable information in this class.  I have learned that while it isn't my strong point it is vital for our business.  The many different social media sites can not only be time consuming but overwhelming.  I have learned not only how many different options out there, but also how to be a part of them.  For instance Twitter, something I knew nothing about and honestly never would of, or the possibilities of what a blog could do for our business.  While I have learned and even began these accounts, I still am not very comfortable with them.
The input from other students has been incredible helpful.  With many practical suggestions, especially the ones about establishing WordPress for our Website.  I would of never considered it because truthfully the company I work for has been told to redo our website because it is WordPress.  But I have been convinced that having a website that is able to be updated regularly instead of a "brochure" is very important in staying relevant and current with our customers.
I have also learned the amazing abilities of Analytics!  It is truly amazing to be able to see the amount of people that visit your site, or blog or Facebook page.  It is especially helpful to see when they leave, letting us know when we lost their interest or focus.
Facebook is a nice starting platform for me.  I was a little familiar with it personally, but not at all for our business.  It has actually brought some customers our way!  It is like a blow horn for word of mouth!  Which has been our primary source of advertisement since we started 18 years ago!  The business Facebook page has aloud friends to like our page, then their friends saw that the knew a contractor, which then circled them back to us!
Instagram was just something I thought was totally for fun!  Just another way to stay caught up with my teen and young adult children's lives.  Never ever considered it for our business.  But now that we are on Instagram, my daughters friend saw a post that my daughter liked and when her mom needed some work she suggested that her mom call Kaylee's dad!  So who would of thought with as little as I have used these venues they would have already produced a small trickle of referrals.
I believe once I get Gmail and our newsletter with Constant Contact going on a regular monthly basis that it too will bring us connections!

Week 14 - Future Strategy

The future strategy of social media for our company seems a bit over whelming so it really helps to just take it a month at a time.  I have gotten a lot of input suggesting that I research Wordpress.  So I am setting aside a week to make appointments and meet with people to work on our website.  While we begin to get it established I will be spending an hour each morning on learning more about Linkendin and getting connected with people and companies.  Then I will be spending and hour on Facebook, it is amazing how much time social media takes!  I want to be sure to schedule posts to go out weekly, but have learned that it isn't just about posting.  I need to be responding to comments and posts of other business owners.  I will also be working during those two hours on connecting my posts and linking everything to my facebook and website.  I will also be establishing posts on Instagram to link to our Facebook page.  We will be creating a monthly newsletter that we will designate 3 hours a month to.  I want to give enough time to the newsletter to make sure the information is new and informative.  So to wrap it up in a schedule, Monday to Friday I will be spending two hours a day on social media, I feel that will be enough time to get to each different site and yet not be too overwhelming.  I will be posting a scheduled Facebook post to come out every week and a monthly newsletter.

Week #14

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Week #14 Planning Future Strategy

Before starting this class we had a construction company that had been in business for 18 years.  We had just recently got a website up, but have it monitored by a company, so it is seldom updated.

I have learned a lot this semester, some of it quite overwhelming.  It takes a good amount of consistent time and planning to have a good social media presence.  With that being said, I feel for our company gmail, and google docs are very important.  It would allow me to have a email with access to both myself and my husband and the obvious need for a possible office person to help with social media.  It will also give a calendar that we can access to establish goals and dates for putting information out.  I like the ability to be able to write a post in a google doc that can be edited by all of us.

I feel we should start by focusing on increasing our business Facebook page, until this class we didn't have one and I have realized how beneficial it can be to our business.  We will need to increase our posts.  I feel constant contact with monthly newsletters that can be streamed into our Facebook page would enable our customers and possible customers to be familiarized with the different abilities and projects our company does.  I will also be increasing our presence on Linkedin, getting our name out there, and increasing our reach is important.

Once we get into the flow of keeping these two pages updated I feel it will be a little easier to add Instagram and Pinterest to our routine.  Then they could all be linked to feed into each other.

Week #13 Facebook Analytics

I am still working on receiving enough likes to be able to do my analytics.

Week #13 Google Analytics

Google Analytics can be very useful for our business.  Especially Build Your Audience, because your audience is who visits your site.  Know your Audience is extremely helpful in order for you to know who your visitors are, you need to understand the people who visit your site.  No two customers are alike each is different but this enables you to understand their similarities, which enables you to know who to focus your site too.
Trace The Customer Path allows you to know the Where about customers.  The Where about customers are can be as critical as who they are. Tools like Traffic Sources and Visitor Flow help you track the routes people take to reach you, and the devices they use to get there, so you can meet them where they are and improve the visitor experience. It also allows you to understand where you lost them when you are analyzing the flow of where they got stuck or where they exited your site.
With the tool In-Page Analytics you are able to see how visitors interact with your page.  You can learn what they are looking for and begin to streamline your social media marketing to begin to reach them and have the maximum impact.            
           

Week #12 coupon

While we don't actually have products to do a discount on, we could do discounts.  Say Free Estimates, or 10% off your estimate with the a signed contract of a referred customer.