I’m here to tell you why it is absolutely crucial that your business should be using and utilising social media and what the benefits are.

Here are my top 3 benefits as to why your business should be using social media:

1. Improved Customer Service

Social media allows for better engagement with your customers, allowing you to build lasting and meaningful customer relationships. As well as this, it allows you access to both a local and nationwide audience (perhaps even global). Social media will also allow you to gain customer feedback a lot quicker than other methods such as surveys or e-mails.

2. Improved Brand Awareness

Due to the number of social media platforms, utilising multiple platforms allows you to reach a larger audience, allowing you to create leads you may have missed on other platforms. Also, customers will trust a business more if they are transparent and have multiple social media accounts for their business. Ultimately, social media can be used as a gateway to your business site and vice versa.

3. Improved SEO

Being active on social media and producing high quality content that links to your business site can improve your SEO. What this means is that your business will appear higher on search engine listings, allowing your business to be the first thing potential customers see when searching for terms related to your service or product.

You might read the above benefits and think “Great but I don’t have the time to do this, I’m too busy”.

That’s where we can help you.  Get in touch for an informal chat about your requirements today.

Author: Haydn Crellin, Content Assistant at Ditzy Media.

The post Why Social Media Is Crucial For Your Business appeared first on Ditzy Media.

Vacancy for a Part-Time Content Assistant

Due to our expanding customer base, we are looking to recruit a new Content Assistant.

Salary: £15,392 (Full time equivalent) Pro Rata.

Initial Hours: 10 per week.  These will grow to meet the needs of the business.

Holiday: 5.6 weeks pro rata inclusive of all Public Holidays.

Based at our offices in the Enterprise Centre, Station Parade Eastbourne.

For information on how to apply, and the full Job Description and Person Specification, please contact us by email: mina.obrien@ditzymedia.com or please call 01323 720497.

Closing date for applications: Monday 28th May 2018

The post Job Opportunity: Join our team appeared first on Ditzy Media.

As a business owner, it can be tough to find the time to monitor your social media successes and failures on a regular basis.

You might be finding that your inbox is filling up with tips from Facebook, LinkedIn, or whatever other platforms you might use.

Don’t scream! It can be a little overwhelming to know where to start when it comes to taking in all of the advice available online.

The remedy is our Social Media Audit!  It is designed to take a detailed snapshot of your current use of social media and give you practical tips to improve your results.

So, what exactly is a social media audit and how will it benefit my business?

Social media audits are empowering. They allow you as the business owner to identify where you can make valuable improvements and inform a strong social media marketing strategy going forward.

Our audits are presented in a report which is detailed and thorough, and in plain English.

We are also on hand to discuss it in detail with you and your team after its completed if you have any questions.

Our audits cover:

• Expert insights –Creating valuable, thought provoking content is the fuel to the engine of your online marketing campaign.Receive expert feedback on your content can inform your marketing plan. Knowing your hashtags, for example, can help drive up engagement from your audience, which can ultimately convert into leads for your business.
• Competitor comparison –We look at how other businesses within your sector are using social media and we benchmark your business.
• Help you train your Social media savvy team –Our social media audit also provides you with valuable ‘best practice’ information that can be used to train your team.
• Know your growth – The information gathered from our social media audit can help to inform your monthly targets and Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) going forward. We help you understand the best way of using insights and analytics to measure your work.

If you’re looking to improve your use of social media marketing – book your business in for a social media audit with us today!

The post Is your business harnessing the power of Social Media? appeared first on Ditzy Media.

Delighted to share that we were last week awarded the accolade of ‘Sussex Digital Woman of the Year’ at the Business Women Excellence Awards – Sussex Edition.

The event was organised by Carrot Events  and was held at the Brighton Metropole Hotel.  It was a lovely evening celebrating fine business women of Sussex, with great food, entertainment, hosted by the lovely Lynsey Bartlett and with key speaker – Penina Shepherd of Acumen Business Law.

As you can imagine, the finalists were full of talented business women – so to have won our category is very humbling and truly an amazing feeling.

Well done to all finalists – you’re all amazing! And a massive mention to Faiza of Carrot Events for organising such a great evening.

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I have only effectively moved up the road from where I used to work but my life could not be more different.

I remember early doors, sitting in the sauna post gym workout on a weekday morning thinking “I guess this is my new life” – Hah! That didn’t last long.

Starting a business from scratch in a new profession is a challenge for anyone.  Getting the business to a stage where it starts to gather it’s own momentum and grow is quite something.

I have been super blessed to have had the support of so many people within the business community and in my personal life.  I truly believe this support has been invaluable and has kept me going on the days where I had lost my business mojo.

To anyone starting their business journey I say, Go for it! But get support.  There’s loads of it out there – some of it free!  Organisations like EDEAL and Business East Sussex are there to help you whatever stage of the journey you may be.

A business coach is truly essential.  Find one that suits you and understands your aims and objectives and they will truly take you to the next level and provide that 1-2-1 support that you need.

After 3 years, I leap out of bed in the mornings (Except Monday’s – I still don’t like Mondays?!) full of beans, excited to work with my team and my customers.

Thank you to everyone that’s been part of my journey so far – it’s been a blast!

The post 3 years of Ditzy Media! ? appeared first on Ditzy Media.

The Unit is situated on the first floor and will be fully operational on Wednesday 19^th April 2017.

The move will provide a dedicated Office space for our team, and also a small area for providing One to One and Small Group training for customers on Social Media.

Mina O’Brien said “This is a great opportunity to be at the heart of the retail and business community within Eastbourne town centre.  The unit is easy for customers to get to by train or car.  We will be able to welcome customers during the day – by appointment.

I have always loved the environment and buzz of the Enterprise Centre and am really looking forward to becoming part of the business community within it.”

The post A big move for Ditzy Media Ltd appeared first on Ditzy Media.

Ditzy Media is pleased to welcome Joe as our new Digital Marketing Assistant.

Ditzy Media is growing!  As such the business needed more resource to help look after the growing portfolio of managed account customers.

So I am delighted to announce my first Employee – Joe Stapleton – has joined the business as a Digital Marketing Assistant.

Joe has been undertaking content work as a freelance writer for a number of customers, and found Mina O’Brien – Owner of Ditzy Media on Instagram.

Mina said “It’s always a great start when someone wants to work for you, and finds out about your business on social media.  So delighted that Joe has joined the business – he has great writing and people skills – and a great rapport with our customers”.

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What is Content & why does it matter?

The term ‘content’ is a real buzz word in digital marketing today but what does it really mean?

Content in this context refers to written, visual and audio digital information that we publish on our websites and social media platforms as a means of communicating with our customers.

Content gives us various opportunities to communicate, engage and build relationships with potential customers, suppliers and partners and our wider community.

Types of Content for businesses

If you are struggling with what content to produce for your business then here is a list to get you thinking about what you can plan for 2017:

• Blogs: informative articles which give you the chance to showcase your knowledge or talk about industry specific matters
• Press Releases: Topical stories, ideally involving people, which draw attention to key events or milestones in your business
• Video posts / Blogs: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter as well as You Tube all give you the ability to publish video content, which is the most engaging way of communicating with your customers.
• Cross promotional posts – curating content from your key partners & suppliers to cross promote them in the context of your business relationship
• Content from your community – what’s going on around you & how can you use it?
• Charities or causes your business is passionate about – great opportunities to give support via social media.

Planning Your Content is Crucial

Creating a content plan or calendar can save you time.  Thinking about the above list, taking time to consider what is happening in your business or around you in the next 3 – 6 – 12 months can really help your content creation.

If you work with a team, having a plan or calendar gives a strong framework for everyone to work to – ensuring you make the most of all social media & digital marketing opportunities.

Scheduling to Optimise Your Content

Creating a content schedule also allows for you to optimise the amount of people seeing the content that you publish.

You can plan in advance and determine who in your team publishes what, when they publish it, and how often.

There are tools out there to help you!

Managing your social media can initially seem daunting.  Content scheduling tools such as Buffer.com, Hootsuite and others can help you manage the work flow.

Downloading apps to your devices such as Pages for Facebook can help you monitor and manage the engagement from your customers.

The time to think about your Content Marketing for 2017 is now

If you want advice or training on Content Marketing just get in touch.

My next workshop is being held with Business East Sussex on 23^rd January 2017.  For more information see: http://www.businesseastsussex.org.uk/event/business-east-sussex-social-media-workshop-3/

The post Why Content should be one of your top Social Media priorities in 2017 appeared first on Ditzy Media.

Staycations are back high on the list of buzz phrases for 2016 post Brexit.  The weakened pound has meant a lot of Britons are choosing the UK over going abroad.  The media are full of the best UK hotspots, places to stay, eat and enjoy the best that the UK has to offer.

Being situated on the Sussex Coast, our economy benefits greatly from our reputation as the Sunshine Coast.  April to September sees an influx of visitors from colder parts of the country own to enjoy our beautiful coast line and the great array of events for visitors and locals to enjoy.

How Social Media can help your business stand out online

If you are using social media to market your business, here are some top tips to ensure you make the most of the Staycation market.

1. Check out what other businesses are doing on social

You can use social media to see what other establishments are doing on social to attract and engage customers.  Keyword searches on Facebook and Twitter can help you such as ‘Hotels’ ‘Eastbourne’ can help you see what others are talking about.

2. Target your customers

On Facebook this invariably means paid for advertising.  If you know who your customer is i.e. age, gender, location and interests – a little bit of money on boosting posts can go a long way!

For Twitter & Instagram use hashtags in your posts to make sure your posts are seen e.g. #Eastbourne #Sussex – so people looking for conversations on twitter or posts on Instagram will see your content.

3. Use visuals and / or video

We live in a spectacularly gorgeous place.  A quick jump to the seafront on a sunny day to snap a photo for Social will go a long way, reinforcing why people should visit your town, and ultimately your hotel, restaurant etc.

4. Don’t forget to be social with locals

Your customers may come from afar, but your biggest brand ambassadors are on your doorstep.  Connecting with your local community on and offline will help you greatly in growing your online social profile and can lead to valuable relationships, which should lead to business in quieter times.

For more advice on making the most of social media for your business, get in touch!

The post The rise of the Staycation and how to make the most of this for your destination business in Sussex appeared first on Ditzy Media.

Pokémon Go launched last week, and in a short time has overtaken Twitter and Facebook for the number of active users engaged.

Augmented Reality is causing people of all ages to go out and hunt Pokémon.

So why would this be good for your business?

Pokestop situated at the Strand Hotel Hilton, Royal Parade, Eastbourne

The benefits for businesses and retailers

Businesses in the US have been quick to embrace the marketing advantages of being placed in Pokémon and are using the game to draw customers to them with great results.

It has been reported that a New York Pizza Parlour saw a 75% increase in customers as a result of unknowingly being a Pokémon stop, and another Pizza Parlour used the game to tempt Pokémon hunters to them by offering a free slice of Pizza to those on a certain level within the game – once the hunters are in the shop there is the obvious up selling of additional items.

In Eastbourne a taxi service has already created a service solely for the purposes of Pokémon hunting.  The driver has already achieved a high level within the game, and is able to benefit Pokémon hunters by taking them on a local searches.

Over the weekend Eastbourne Pier and a well known ice cream Parlour were hot spots for Pokémon Go.  Pictures are already circulating on Social Media showing crowds of people gathering to play the game at these locations and it looked like good news for the businesses situated there.  The combination of great weather and Pokémon hunters may well have been contributing factors to the long queue of customers.

If your business is a pre-determined Pokémon stop or is close to the sites of Pokémon you could potentially benefit from a steady stream of new visitors.

To unlock this new potential to make the most of this opportunity for your business or if you just want advice on reaping the benefits for Pokemon Go – Contact DitzyMedia.

As a Social Media marketing consultancy we are there to help your business make the most of digital marketing opportunities and help grow your Social Media presence.

The post Why as a Sussex Business you need to consider Pokémon Go for Marketing appeared first on Ditzy Media.