Facebook is Doomed...Everyone under the age of 30 is leaving it… Bullshit

Facebook is doomed. Everyone under the age of 30 is leaving it…

This is a completely bullshit statement that some would have you believe. We’ve heard it all before; ‘Twitter is going to topple Facebook’, ‘Instagram is taking over’. Neither has happened yet, so I wish writers would calm down and refrain from these sensationalised statements until there is a major attack on the social media giant.

In the following article, social media expert (whom I greatly admire), Dave Kerpen explains that many younger Facebook users are dropping the social media platform to use other networks such as Snapchat & Vine. It seems that their parents and older family members are signing up and becoming very active on the platform… *Damn*

Dave's Article:

http://www.inc.com/Dave-Kerpen/teens-are-leaving-facebook-what-does-it-mean-for-your-business.html

The later part of this statement is true; an older demographic is beginning to take to the most powerful social media platform in the world. However, what has been missed out is that younger users are simply not engaging and sharing as much as they used to. The fact is that they are still, very much, present on Facebook. The statistics speak for themselves:

·         83% of 18-29 year old American internet users are on it.

·         73% of 30-49 year old American internet users are on it.

·         57% of 50-64 year old American internet users are on it.

The last time I checked, Facebook was more than just a platform to share pictures. A lot more.

It’s true that newer social media platforms such as Snapchat and Vine are on the ascendancy, but they have a long way to go before they will seriously affect Facebook. Right now they’re a pimple on the ass of Facebook, and Facebook have shown that they're pretty good at controlling these break outs.

Let’s take Vine for example:

Vine is the fastest growing social media app in the world. However, it currently only has 40 million registered users. They also haven’t announced the number of active users. All we know is that Vine activity dropped when, Facebook owned, Instagram announced its competing video service in June.

So, 40 million Vs 1 Billion… Facebook are hardly doomed. The truth of the matter is that by gaining 1 billion registered users, Facebook is well on its way to saturating the market.

There are 1.9 billion internet users in the world that have access to Facebook (China cannot access Facebook), so Facebook have captured 53% of the potential market. On top of that, Facebook saw a 2% growth between 2012 and 2013.

So, with the number people now on Facebook, of course growth has slowed down. It may even soon halt. But should this cause panic in the Facebook ranks? I’d say no.

Facebook, like Apple, have rocketed to the top and can almost touch the elusive glass ceiling. At this level any small attack at the foot of the market will have a small effect on usage and sales etc. There will always be others that will try to topple them from their throne. Unfortunately this is the life of a champion

.

I have every faith that Facebook will continue to stay agile and innovative for years to come, and will continue to cast there ever-seeing eye across the market.

  

To conclude:

As human beings, we are inquisitive and like to try new things. So we may drift between social media platforms, but for the time being that drift will always be between Facebook and another.

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Writers - Adam's Current Favourites

So as I sat reading in my red, leather rocking chair, I had a thought: "maybe people would like to know my, current, favourite writers...".

Now, you maybe don't give a shit... but you're getting them thrown at you anyway.

Each of these four men have very unique writing styles that I believe makes great reading for young, or new writers; you'll learn a lot. The connection between each writer is the subjects of business, productivity and lifestyle.

So without further ado: 

#1: John Romaniello 
John’s Blog: http://goo.gl/cH5qJr

 John is, in his own words, "an angel investor, author and ranks between journeyman and expert in fields ranging from fitness to writing to marketing. He is the author of hundreds of articles, dozens of e-products, and one New York Times bestselling book.” Definitely a guy I’d like to chat with over a pumpkin spiced late (the best winter coffee available at the moment, and I aint a Starbucks guy).

 If you enjoy reading personality spilled on to a page, give some of John's stuff a shot (unless you’re not a fan of profanity). He writes mainly about health and fitness, but often includes articles on lifestyle and business. All subjects that he is an expert in.

#2: Seth Godin
Seth’s Blog: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/

Seth Godin is an extremely illustrious author, with 17 best sellers all around the world. Books such as Linchpin, Tribes and Purple Cow are some of his better known.

He writes passionately about the ‘post industrial revolution’, where he believes we must get back to the way of creating and innovating, as opposed to being financially supported by one company for life.

The beauty and USP (unique selling point) of his books is their length; they are noticeably short. Seth’s writing style gets his points across quickly and effectively. This is also true for Seth’s blog, which is one of the most popular in the world (type the word ‘Seth’ into Google and see).

Seth is a maverick; a true original of recent times.

 #3: Tim Ferriss 
Tim’s Blog: http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/

Do I even need to introduce this guy…?

No actually, I don’t.

If you don’t know who Tim Ferriss is, I assume you can’t read and aren't interested in business, productivity or lifestyle changes. If this is in fact the case, I think you’re reading the wrong blog. See ya pal.

#4: Duncan Bannatyne 
Duncan’s Blog: Doesn't have one… He’s old school.

 Duncan Bannatyne is the no nonsense, straight talking Glaswegian who makes Dragon’s Den worth watching. I know this may seem like a very strange choice compared to the previous trio, but I started reading Duncan’s books because I greatly admire his journey to the top and opinions on business (for the most part).

Duncan is a hard-working millionaire (I won’t use the phrase self-made ever, as every successful person is self-made. Success takes hours and hours of hard work), who’s expertise lie in the service industry. His career journey is an extremely interesting one, which makes his writing very believable. This short video might encourage you to try reading one of his 5 business advice books.

His writing style: no nonsense, straight talking and Glaswegian, i.e. no bullshit.

So...

If you’ve read and enjoyed, or not enjoyed, the works of these 4 men, leave your thoughts below in the comments section. Better yet join the conversation on our Facebook page: facebook.com/DreamtheatreLtd

Now get back to work!

www.dreamtheatremarketing.co.uk

facebook.com/DreamtheatreLtd
twitter.com/DreamtheatreUK

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7 Social Media Time Savers

There’s no two ways about it, social media marketing is time consuming – if done properly. However, if you read and apply the seven tips I’ve provided in this article, you’ll feel like Dr. Who (apparently he’s the ‘Time Lord’).

The Excuses Reasons

Some excuses as to why people don’t have time to market their business through social media are entirely valid, but only some. The majority of excuses are, in fact, products of laziness and a lack of creativity. The good news is you’re about to get the answers to both sets of excuses.

I understand fully that some are trying to start/run a business along-side running a family or working a 9 till 5. Purely fitting in the time to service clients can be difficult, but it can be done. Pretty much all other excuses don’t merit a mention. Don’t be lazy is all I can say.

One health warning I’ll give straight off the bat is: rushed social media marketing can be detrimental to your business and reputation.

So to the 7 Tips

A few of these may seem like common sense to a lot of you, but guess what: common sense aint that common. Remember that.

1. Create a Post Planner

Your post planner should be linked to the decisions you made in your monthly strategy. This can be as simple as a spread sheet with the days of the week on it, and then under the days the types of posts you intend on creating that day. For example:

Monday: 1. Motivational video, 2. Post monthly offer.

Tuesday: 1. Engaging question, 2. Staff/location picture, 3. Upcoming events.

Wednesday: 1. Expert article – And so on…

You get the picture.

A good rule of thumb is 2 – 3 posts per day. You don’t want to flood your audience’s News Feed, and want to give each post time to be affective.

2. Use Scheduled Posts

Scheduled posts are awesome; purely and simply. It is a very simple tool that Facebook provides, and for other channels such as Twitter, I advise hootsuit.com.

Set your posts up for the day and they’ll be released at the times you have set. Bingo.

Facebook Scheduling

3. Use Pinterest or Evernote

Everyone should have somewhere to store inspiration at all times. As I carry my phone with me 90% of the day, I use Evernote – a great app that allows you to store notes, voice notes, web-links and images. Pinterest, if you don’t already know, is great for storing useful web-links etc.

This stored data can then be reviewed when it comes to creating content for your social media channels.

4. Time Block

Time blocking is simple, so I’ll keep this explanation short.

Block off a time period when you’ll work on a selected task, and turn off all distractions during this time (phones, internet etc.). You must only focus on this task and nothing can interfere with this time period.

Here is a useful link I posted on Facebook recently which explains time blocking perfectly:

http://www.wikihow.com/Time-Block

5. Link Facebook with Twitter with LinkedIn

By linking up your social media channels, anything you post on Facebook will be repeated on Twitter, and Twitter with LinkedIn etc.

I do warn you however, do not solely release content on one channel and neglect the others. This reeks of laziness. The types of content required for each channel varies. Treat Twitter like a bar, Facebook like your lounge and LinkedIn like a conference room.

6. Sleep Less

This can be nicely described using a famous quote by a hero of mine – Arnold Schwarzenegger:

“There’s 24 hours in a day. You sleep for 6 hours and you have 18 left. Some of you out there say ‘well, I sleep 8 hours or 9 hours’. Well then, just sleep faster!”

Due to my current business/life situation I have to get up at 6am every morning in order to get things done. And before a busy day it might be 5.30am; whatever it takes.

7. Stay Healthy & Exercise

A good diet coupled with regular exercise increases concentration and your ability to learn. With a poor diet and a lack of exercise, 1.You run the risk of feeling sluggish and 2. your brain will not work at its optimal performance.

For those who are interested this is why exercise helps your brain:

1. As you exercise, your muscles contract.

2. This releases chemicals, including a protein called IGF-1.

3. IGF-1 travels to the brain and stimulates the release of several chemicals, including brain derived neurotropic factor (BDNF).

4. Regular exercise increases levels of BDNF.

5. BDNF stimulates neurons (brain cells) to branch and connect in new ways.

6. New junctions between neurons are the basis of learning.

And that’s that.

To Wrap it Up

There is never really an excuse for why something can’t be done. Sometimes sacrifices have to be made in order to achieve a goal.

Hopefully this article has given you some actions to take away and add in to your daily routine. If there is anything you’d like to discuss further then leave a comment bellow, or on Facebook, Twitter, Google +… where ever suits you best. All of the links are below:

F: https://www.facebook.com/DreamtheatreLimited

T: https://twitter.com/DreamtheatreUK 

G: https://plus.google.com/u/0/103777485746000148812/posts

www.dreamtheatremarketing.com

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Don’t be Afraid to Ask

You’ve heard of the saying “It pays to be nice” yeh? Well I’m going to change that for the sake of this article to: ‘It pays to engage’. I suppose engaging is kind of being nice anyway…

There will come a time when every business needs the help of those around it.

An example of this is one of our clients, Future Fitness – a gym in the south side of Glasgow. They are currently trying to fight against a juggernaut, soulless gym chain opening up right beside them, as it could completely cripple their business. So, what are we doing about it?

Well many things… One being: gather the support of their totally awesome social media community! We’ve spent a lot of time and effort communicating successfully with their community, and created an effective monthly engagement plan. The result of this has been a 400% increase in weekly engagement. So with all this action on their social media channels they can afford to ask for some help and reciprocation, because everyone feels like they’re part of the soul of the gym.

I think an example of this type of request may help some people. So, here’s what we posted:

“Are you aware that a 24 Hour unmanned Gym is planned for the Shawlands Arcade?

As I'm sure you'll understand this will have a load of negative consequences for our gym and fight club.

* The Future of our gym could be jeopardised.
* Increased noise levels at night.
* Anti-social behaviour and safety.
* Car parking issues - planned 7000 targeted members.

We don't often ask, but we need your help...
We have a fantastic community at Future Fitness and The Griphouse Southside. So please help us win our fight and grow our gym!

Please show your support, and have your say on this proposed application, by letting the Strathbungo & Shawlands Community Council know your views, as well as your local Councillors. 
See the links below:

Facebook Strathbungo & Shawlands Community Council: 
https://www.facebook.com/groups/25227713255/?fref=ts

david.meikle@councillors.glasgow.gov.uk
hanif.raja@councillors.glasgow.gov.uk
norman.mcleod@councillors.glasgow.gov.uk

Thanks guys!! Please share this post.”

So what was the reaction?

The Future Fitness social media community have stood together like bare chested, blood thirsty Spartan warriors to fight against this potential attack to their beloved gym. People have been emailing councilors, commenting on the community council page etc. It’s amazing to see a team spirit such as this; the members will be dearly thanked and repaid for their support.

I hope this story can inspire others, either in their time of need, or to create a similar community spirit and loyalty with their followers.

For tips on how to create a loyal, supportive and engaging social media community follow us in the usual places:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DreamtheatreLimited

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DreamtheatreUK

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=256415385&trk=nav_responsive_tab_profile_pic

www.dreamtheatremarketing.com

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The Art of the Video Blog

So guys, welcome back to ‘the dream theatre’.  I’m sorry I’ve been away for so long and haven’t had a chance to post many articles; it’s been a busy time at Dreamtheatre with lots of exciting opportunities popping up. However, I now plan to repay you with an innumerable amount of awesome stuff that will have you overwhelmed with social media success!

To start with I’d like to talk to you about video blogging… 

What’s the Deal with Video Blogging?

You can build connections with your audience through video like no other format.

Contemplate this: You’ve been travelling for a while and you want to get in touch with your partner (obviously this isn’t always the case). Would you rather: read a letter they sent you, talk to them on the phone, or actually see and hear them on a video call or Skype?

It’s far easier to convey passion and excitement through video than by writing it down. These are two very important ingredients in the recipe for charisma, and as we’re all attracted to charisma (it’s human nature*) people are more likely to connect with a charismatic person.

*Studies have shown that people with higher levels of charisma tend to be noticed, listened to, respected, and followed.

Research, recently carried out by b2bmarketing.net, has indicated that video promotion is, in fact, six times more effective than print or online articles. Moreover, Dr. James McQuivey of Forrester Research says: “one minute of video is worth 1.8 million words”.

As true as I believe Dr. McQuivey’s statement is, I would whole-heartedly encourage you not to put the pen and paper down just yet. And definitely do not stop reading!

Reading is one of the most important things to regularly do in life. Reading makes you more intelligent, better at writing; it makes you a better thinker by focusing your concentration, and it makes you an interesting person.  To surmise, it makes you a more useful human being.

However, marketing is about variety in audience connection. Make sure you’re coming at your audience from all angles.

So, if you produce semi-regular video blogs and promotions; because people will feel more connected and loyal to you, they will be more likely to frequently read your blog articles. Win Win dudes!

A list of Pros

Now we’ve covered the phychology behind video blogging, I’ll introduce you to the full list of benefits it can have in your marketing campaign:

It’s Personal

As we’ve discussed; when you’re on video you can connect with an audience on a more personal level. As the audience can see and hear you – they feel like they know you.

 Project your feelings and emotions through video and you’ll create a loyal and zealous fan base.

Easiest Way to Engage

It takes less effort for people to watch a video than it does to read an article – people are getting god-damn lazy! Therefore you’ll engage with a more captive audience, as their interest can be held for longer. Undoubtedly they’ll come back for more (unless your information sucks).

It’s Useful

In a video you can hold up objects to talk about and show people how something’s done. "One look is worth a thousand words", Frederick R. Barnard*.

*This is, in fact, where the saying: ‘a picture is worth 1000 words’ comes from.

It’s Convenient

If you have thoughts in your mind it doesn’t take long to ‘blurt’ them out on camera. You can use your mobile phone now to film your thoughts and upload them to your site on the go - Your audience will love spontaneity. We all do.

Your Confidence Will Grow

Throwing yourself in front of a camera will do wonders for your confidence. Heck, it takes big balls to get on screen and start talking.

Confidence is one of the most important traits to attain for the following reasons:

1.  If you’re confident when talking about your chosen subject it projects that you’re competent in that subject.

2.  Confidence aids effective communication.

3.  We are more likely to trust someone who is confident.

4.  Confidence helps you get what you want out of life.

“If you know what you’re worth, then go out and get what you're worth”, Rocky Balboa.*

5.  Confidence is another key ingredient in charisma.

*We can learn a lot from Mr Balboa. Type ‘Rocky Speeches’ into YouTube and listen carefully.

My girlfriend has a serious antipathy for Rocky (Sylvester Stallone), so I have to frequently remind her that she’s wrong and should fix that opinion.

Let’s Wrap It Up

To bring the curtain down on this article I’d like to explain how simple a video blog can, and should, be.

There is no need to spend hours producing/editing videos with branding and a sound track etc. This stuff can be cool, but also kind of annoying… I would suggest it’s better kept for promotional videos. You should treat your video blog like a video diary- this will create a far better connection with your audience.

An example of someone who produces fantastic video blogs is John Romaniello. John is a strength coach, Angel Investor, model, and author; he has a fantastic blog on www.romanfitnesssystems.com/. Thousands of people from all over the world follow John and look how simple his video blogs are:

I’ll be recording a video blog soon, so in the comments section let me know if there are any topics you’d like me to talk about.

You can also post your suggestions on either:

https://www.facebook.com/DreamtheatreLimited

https://twitter.com/DreamtheatreUK

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Ignore Social Media and you’ll be nowhere on Google

There are still some that don’t buy in to social media as an effective marketing tool for their business. I know this sounds mad (it is mad), but it’s true. These people have “various reasons”, none of which are very well informed, and are usually due to a prehistoric mind-set. We’ve been over these reasons before, so I’ll not bore you by repeating them. 

So, what if I dropped this infobomb*: Your Google ranking also relies on your business having a social media presence? In fact, not just a presence; having an effective, high performing presence!

“Oh shit! Really?” 

So let’s discuss what needs to be done in order to be highly ranked in Google searches.

*I’m of the opinion that the creation of new words is clever… and cool.

Call to Action

The majority of business owners probably fall into one of the following two categories:

1.       They have bought into the importance and effectiveness of using social media to market their business, but don’t understand that it affects their Google ranking. They may have invested a significant amount of money into SEO using keyword optimisation, but don’t understand why they only topped Google’s search ranking for a few weeks and are now falling down the list.

2.       They don’t use social media at all. However, they invested in SEO using keyword optimisation and don’t understand why their website is sliding down Google’s search results page.

Now I’m not saying you should forget about your keywords and meta tags. These are still important factors in Google’s latest algorithm. However, unless you constantly update your website by adding valuable content (not just information about your company) this method alone will fail. 

So let’s introduce the key metrics that Google’s latest “Penguin” algorithm looks for, and hopefully after reading this article today you’ll have a list of things to do that will improve your online presence.

Penguins Love Social Media

Here are the 3 most meaningful metrics that you must consider in order to be highly ranked in Google searches:

1.   Build your keywords portfolio

Repeating the same keyword over and over is pointless. Google see this as spam, and Penguin was introduced in order to weed out these websites that offer no value.

You must write your website content using many keywords. Google have reported that over 20% of search queries are new, unique queries. So create real, valuable content that uses the keywords that explain your service, but also other words that are related to what you offer.

Take Away: Don’t forget the keywords that explain your service, but don’t flood your content with them either. Include many words and phrases that explain your service.

2.    Quality over quantity 

This title is actually true in almost every facet of life other than money and assets. No one gives a shit that you go on 3 holidays a year if they’re in Benidorm, Blackpool and Tenerife. I wanna to talk to the dude that saved for two years to travel through South America coast to coast!

That very random anecdote actually explains this point quite well. Google now measure the quality of your content using the following two metrics:

·         How unique the content or topic of your site is.

·         How resourceful and information rich it is (not thin content).

Take Away: Provide useful, interesting or unique content that will highlight your website as a valuable one.

3.    Social Media Promotion

Here it is ladies and gents. The biggy! You need to promote your business and website through social media platforms. Google’s wee Penguin loves businesses with social media!

“Social Signals” was accepted as a valid ranking factor that shows how valuable a business/website is. Google are looking for shares, likes, re-tweets, mentions and +1’s. So you must engage with your community through social media platforms. This means having a social media presence for businesses that don’t already.

Remember to include links to your website on your social media platforms, because the more people that link to your website through Facebook, Twitter, Google + etc. the higher up the rankings you’ll climb. The Penguin algorithm is weighted this way. 

Take Away:  Get active on social media!

As always folks It’s great to hear your opinions, so leave your comments under this article or join the Dreamtheatre community on Facebook, Twitter and Google +:

https://www.facebook.com/DreamtheatreLimited

https://twitter.com/DreamtheatreUK

https://plus.google.com/u/0/103777485746000148812/posts

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A Social Media Master – The Story of Ross Stewart

Let me introduce you to Ross Stewart:

Ross is small and loud… There you go. Done.

Come to think of it, that’s a pretty damn accurate way to describe why he’s been successful on social media! I can also say what I like about Ross, as he’s a very close friend of mine.

Ross has a coaching business, Ross Stewart Fitness & Nutrition, and has done for about two months. The reason I describe it as coaching business and not a personal training business is because they can be two very different things.

Ross was a personal trainer for three years. He provided personal training sessions in the gym he rented, and his training and diet advice was condensed into the hour long sessions you’d paid for. I’d say that’s an accurate description of the majority of personal training business out there.

Now I must add: Ross loves to witness huge improvements in clients. So to be fair to his old business, the service did go slightly further than the one hour long sessions. His clients could contact him at any time and he was fairly active on his personal Twitter account. He also keeps his knowledge of training techniques and nutritional findings up-to-date; he’s the kind of person that strives to improve himself on a daily basis.

However, after spending some time in Australia, Ross returned to start what is now his coaching business. The word coaching is used because he provides more than training sessions in a gym. Of course he is still a trainer and a nutritionist, but he is also an online coach, a motivator, a lifestyle coach, a businessman and a writer. He teaches people how to live a healthier, more active and enjoyable life.

LET THE SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN BEGIN

Now that I’ve given you an understanding of Ross’s business, I’ll explain how he has used social media to catapult him into a position where he’s at his upper limit of clients, both online and off. Also how in the space of two months he has accrued 643 Facebook fans, with an average of 9000 engagements per week, and 385 Twitter followers, all ready to validate Ross Stewart Fitness & Nutrition.

 1.  Ross believes what he preaches, and boy does he preach!

There is nothing more obvious than when someone doesn’t believe in their own product. It shines through in the lack of passion in their content. People respond to passion, but how can you be passionate if you don’t believe in your content? 

When you can project passion people will respond and thrive off you. So don’t douse that what you truly believe. Shout about it.

Now, not everyone will agree with what you say. However, this is a good thing. A little controversy creates discussion, and if this discussion is happening on your page then guess what? You’re hosting the party! There’s also an argument that for people to love you, some people must hate you… I don’t really buy into this. However, I do believe that in order to be at the top of the pile, and have very loyal followers/clients, you will have to accept that people will disagree with you and try to depose you.

The take away: No one listens to the guy sitting on the fence.

         2.  Ross online is the same Ross offline.

Ross’s blog articles, Facebook posts and Tweets are all filled with his, let’s say, colourful personality. I’m sure he’d prefer me to use the adjective charismatic, but that aint gona happen!

Ross sometimes uses ‘flowery’ language and isn’t scared to say if he thinks something is shit. He uses ‘words’ like “y’all” and “bro”… But who cares!? He isn’t auditing your accounts! He’s trying to motivate you, make you look and feel better. So he can get away with this style, because it portrays a young, energetic and passion filled business; a coach whom you’d like to spend time with.

Now, if you’re a Lawyer or an accountant, or even wish to advertise a more conservative/professional brand, then you would adjust your style of writing accordingly; there’s no need to completely suck the personality from your content though. You can still radiate passion and credibility, while projecting a personality that provokes people to do business with you.

The take away: Be yourself and project your personality.

3.  He tells you where to find him.

At the bottom of every single post Ross includes a link to his website – www.rossstewartfitness.com. In his Facebook about page and all over his Blog you can find links too. Forgive me if this seems like common sense, but it’s amazing how many people forget to include links to their website or links to where customers can by their product. It turns out that common sense isn’t that common.

Include links everywhere; in your Facebook posts, throughout blog articles… Don’t do the hard work of creating a loyal online community without providing easy access to your website or URL’s where transactions are made.

The take away: Provide accessible links.

         4.  Ross’s content is valuable.

People don’t follow Ross to find out what colour of Jack Wills sweatshirt he’s purchased that week (as important as shopping in Jack Wills is). They seek fitness and nutritional advice. They want to read his posts, tweets and articles and feel motivated.

 Here’s a good example of useful content from Ross’s Facebook page:

“If you're going to eat breakfast make it high in protein and add some fat. Good examples of this are meat and nuts or eggs cooked in butter/coconut oil. Coffee with butter/coconut/MCT oil is also a solid alternative for those who feel they have to have something but are pushed for time.”

This content is laced with knowledge and advice. It is valuable, as time has been spent researching it, and the implications of following the advice will have a direct effect on your life.

The take away: An easy way to lose followers and fans is to post useless content.  Offer value.

5.  Ross follows the ‘Rule of Thirds’.

The content that you publish should be shared (fairly) evenly between:

1.       Promoting your services and achievements.

2.       Publishing unique, useful content.

3.       Sharing content written or discovered by others in your field. 

You don’t need to follow this rule exactly, but it’s a good place to start. It turns out Ross adheres to this rule quite accidently, but the fact remains that there is variety in Ross’s publications.

Your social media content must have variety in order to hold your audiences interest. Don’t let your social media pages become stale.

The take away: Mix up your content using the ‘Rule of Thirds’

TO CONCLUDE

Using these techniques Ross has built a community - not purely fans of his Facebook page and followers on Twitter. He has a community of loyal clients and ambassadors that will market his business for him, free of charge. This form of marketing is called word of mouth marketing, and is the Holy Grail for businesses striving to grow.

If you’d like more information on how to create a loyal online community, like the Dreamtheatre Facebook Page  https://www.facebook.com/DreamtheatreLimited, or follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/DreamtheatreUK.

To find out more about Ross Stewart Fitness & Nutrition, the same actions apply:

https://www.facebook.com/RossStewartFitness

https://twitter.com/RossStewartPT

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Test Your Target Facebook Audience: Tester Ad’s

Facebook Targeting

It is widely publicised that Social Media Marketing offers the best return on investment out of any marketing form. However, as it can be so ‘cheap’, it is very easy to fall into the category of wasteful spenders by creating many poorly targeted campaigns. For example: cold targeting small business owners in Manchester for your shop fitting business, with a £20 daily budget running for 1 week… Now, this targeting strategy may turn out to be absolutely perfect and bring a lot of attention to your page, but it’s a gamble. By the end of the week you’ll have spent £140 and the campaign might have been a complete flop! This is why I want to introduce to you ‘Tester Ad’s’.

The ‘Tester Ad’ theory is to set up your target categories and run the Ad for 1 day, with a fairly low daily budget. If you set a daily budget of say £10 with a £1 CPC bid, you should expect to have spent your daily budget and gained at least 5 likes (50% success rate). If you don’t reach your set daily limit then it’s clear that this targeted audience is not right for what you’re trying to advertise. It’s at this point that you adjust your target categories and try again with a 1 day Tester Ad. When you’re Ad has successfully gained a 50% success rate, and reached your set daily limit, then you know it’s a goer! It is then time to release this Ad for a longer term with a higher daily budget and you can be confident of a good return on investment.

Give it a go and drop us a comment on the Dreamtheatre Ltd. Facebook page to tell us how you got on!

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Social Media for Small Business as well as Big

It amazes me, slightly annoys me, but does not surprise me that some small business owners have not yet conformed to the power of social media marketing only to continue to spend large sums of money on quarter page adverts in local newspapers, which reach a small fraction of their target audience. You could expect to spend in excess of £250 for this example of newspaper advertising, but has money been well invested?

Before answering that question let’s look at some of the reasons small business owners give for still using this form of advertising instead of social media marketing:

1.”We always have.” 2. “Its’ tried and tested.” 3. “Social media marketing only works for household brands.” 4. “Social media is just a fad.” And the best reason 5. “I don’t understand it…” Well, to me, each of these excuses sound like fear of change in its purest form. When something isn’t working or is inefficient, repeating the same process will not change the outcome. Nothing happens by accident. The most successful businesses are dynamic businesses. Change, in fact, interests customers.

Let me now answer the reasons for not trying social media marketing:

“We always have”- I’d be writing this on paper if this was everyone’s attitude.

“It’s tried and tested”- It wasn’t always tested.

“Social media marketing only works for household brands”- We will visit this later.

“Social media is just a fad”- Tell that to the 800 million users on Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg who operates Facebook with a $1.5 billion annual profit.

“I don’t understand it…”- When I started Dreamtheatre I didn’t understand financial forecasting, but I knew my business plan would benefit from it. I cared, so I learned. Get with the program or you’ll go under.

I’ll now try to explain how social media can work very well for small businesses using a simple example:

A client of Dreamtheatre owns a small coffee shop. One day 10 customers who are visiting this coffee shop show this on Facebook by using the ‘Check-in’ function. This then appears on the Facebook News Feed which is visible to all of their friends. Each of these customers has 300 Facebook friends. This means that potentially 3000 people have seen that this is the coffee shop their friend likes to visit… Everyone knows that there is no better form of marketing than friend recommendation. If you were a client of Dreamtheatre then this kind of daily exposure would cost as little as £145 per month. Now compare this with £250 for a newspaper ad that only appears for one day.

The most valuable ability Facebook marketing has is that it allows you to target your market; very precisely. An advert for the coffee shop in the previous example could be targeted at students from The University of Glasgow, living in the west end of Glasgow, between the ages of 18 and 21. This amazing ability cuts out wasteful spending and increases the chances that the advert will reach its intended target and be successful.

Now ask yourself; could social media marketing be useful for your small business?

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