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!

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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.

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In 2012, I was fortunate to be part of a team of 7 people who undertook the 100km Walk from London to Brighton.

It was truly an amazing experience which did change me for the better.  The team I was part of consisted of people of all ages and abilities, and we had to train hard, as a team, to ensure we were fit enough to do the challenge.

Between us, we raised a lot of money for our respective Charities – my own fundraising efforts raised over £700 for MacMillan Cancer.

It is something I have been itching to do again and so in 2016, I am putting a team together to raise money for two superb local Charities that make a big difference to families and young people in our county – Families For Autism and Children’s Respite Trust.

When is the event? Who organises it?

The walk takes place on 28^th and 29^th May 2016 and starts in Richmond, finishing at Brighton Racecourse.

When I did the walk in 2012, it took me 29 hours and 5 minutes and it involves walking through the night.

Action Challenge are the event organisers, and they deliver Ultra Challenges not just in the UK but worldwide.  They ensure the event is well resourced with regular rest stops for water, electrolytes, snacks and food breaks every 25km.  Medical staff and physio’s are also on hand to address any issues that may arise during the walk.

I’m interested… where do I find out what’s involved?

For an informal chat, please contact me, but certainly have a look online too at the Participants area, where you will find information on how to prepare for the challenge.

Having the right kit, and making sure you stick to the training schedule is critical to complete the challenge.

You can also opt to do half the distance e.g. 44km from Turners Hill to Brighton.

Participants pay a fee of £69 to join the 100km walk and commit to raising £395 for the charity, this drops if you elect to do the half distance.

Training begins in earnest on 20^th February 2016

Journeys will be organised a few weeks in advance so everyone knows when and where to meet, how far they will be walking and where they will end up so journey’s home can be planned.

If you are inspired to undertake this challenge, please contact me for a chat on 07958 559600, or email: ditzymedia@gmail.com. You can also contact me on twitter @ditzymedia or Facebook

For information on the great work of Families For Autism and Children’s Respite Trust see: http://www.familiesforautism.com and  http://www.childrensrespitetrust.org.uk

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Interview with Andy Kybett, MD of Wyntercon

We are just over a month away from this amazing event, which takes place on Halloween weekend at the Winter Garden in Eastbourne.

I am proud to be involved with this unique event again for the second year, as the official Social Media partner for the event.

As the excitement to Wyntercon builds, I managed to track down Andy Kybett the MD, for an interview.

How did the idea for Wyntercon come about?

I am a geek and a gamer at heart. I saw a gap in the market for a convention to be held in Sussex, specifically Eastbourne for a number of reasons.

Firstly Eastbourne is normally perceived as being a retirement town and is not commonly associated with young alternative events. This was a great chance to put Eastbourne on the alternative map and acknowledge the growing scene within the town for sci-fi, cosplay, gaming and more.

Secondly, it was a chance to bring a convention closer to home and thus avoid the need to travel far and incur expenses that come with that to Conventions held in other areas – that’s not to say they are not worth it!

So what is Wyntercon? How would you define the event for someone who did not go in 2014?

Wyntercon is a collaboration of everything geeky, gamey and nerdy. It is a family friendly event and we encourage everyone to have fun and discover their inner nerd. In a nutshell if you love Dr Who, or Game of Thrones, or Star Wars etc you will LOVE Wyntercon.

What are the highlights for Wyntercon 2015?

We have so much going on this year it’s just awesome but some of our top attractions include the Replica Game of Thrones Throne, the 1989 Batmobile, a number of very special guests which can be seen on our website and include Norman Lovatt, Actor from Red Dwarf, Virginia Hey, Star of many sci-fi films, Horror Star – Emily Booth, Spencer Wilding Actor starring in The Green Lantern, The Wolfman and more.

We also feature a high number of East Sussex Artists, Authors, Businesses, and are proud to be sponsored by local business Chatfields Jewellers, Best Western Lansdowne Hotel, Online Ticket Seller, and Media Attention – all local Eastbourne businesses.

Our official charity for this year is the Eastbourne Branch of Starlight Childrens Foundation.

What next for Wyntercon?

Our goal is to continue to build on the event – we are already getting things together for 2016. We also want to look at regular activities for the local younger generation to encourage diversity and to promote another side of Eastbourne.

To see a full list of what will be on at Wyntercon 2015, including the build up events, and buy your tickets visit: www.wyntercon.com

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I had an interaction with a local business recently which really made me think about the messages businesses are receiving about the big Why. Why should a business be using social media if they have a consistent loyal customer base, or if other forms of traditional marketing work well for them.

Social Media is a time intensive investment and lots of businesses are rightly concerned about how to resource this online activity. So of course, it is very important to tackle the ‘Why’ in order to consider whether this is a business critical tool.

So we all know Social Media is a marketing, advertising and PR tool. We also know it is a social networking tool enabling us to have conversations and build relationships with other businesses and the wider community.

Let’s see the world through the eyes of our potential customers and imagine their decision to purchase journey.

A search query for a type of business or service will begin on a search engine, and bring up a number of listings and websites. A customer will of course look at a few websites and may then try to establish more qualitative information about why they should buy from a particular business.

A good responsive website will have social media links to various accounts from which a customer can then find out more personable information.

If you have not looked in your online mirror recently to see what your business looks like – now is the time to.

A few business critical areas to look at are:
• Is your website responsive for mobile devices?
• Are your social media links prominent on your website, email and other customer contact points?
• Is your information current online? Do you post blogs, special offers, new products and services, share information & advice?
• Is the quality of your visual brand reflecting your business values?
• Is your brand visually consistent across your website, social media, email marketing?
• If you have social media accounts, do you monitor them for engagement and post qualitative, relevant content consistently?

Social Media forms part of a businesses online real estate. If you have a Facebook page, does it look like a page you can be proud of? Or is it desolate, soulless and unkempt?

Another important point is increasingly the customer expectation IS to contact businesses via social media. Why would a customer wish to hang on to a call centre of leave an answerphone message, when a tweet is highly likely to trigger a faster response?
Social Media is fast becoming an extension of how customers communicate with businesses, local authorities and other organisations.

If we as business owners do not embrace this change, this will affect how our potential customers view us and ultimately whether they decide to buy from us.

How can I help?
I have a suite of training to go over both technical and qualitative content marketing coming up on 6th October. See: http://ditzymedia.com/social-media-training-courses/

I also offer one to one training, and social media consultations, designed to meet the objectives of individual businesses, charities and community organisations.

You can contact me by phone, email, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest if you need my services.

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Hampered by a now rather well known torn calf muscle injury, I welcomed October unable to do much but work. I was blessed to have very understanding and supportive customers who accommodated my injury and thankfully this meant the injury was more of a nuisance than a hinderance.

October started with my supporting Stephen Lloyd MP to embrace Twitter and send his first Tweet. He clearly paved the way for the Queen to join in later in the month.

It was also my first Social Media Marketing workshop, which oversold out. I was delighted at the response I got from my first delegates who left enthused and confident about tackling the various platforms.

Injury aside, I made sure I attended the key business events, which included #EBTweetup early in the month, #Best4Biz which was an excellent event hosted by East Sussex County Council, the Alliance of Chambers in East Sussex and Recruitment South East Ltd, and the brilliant Let’s Do Business Hastings event. All of which were very worthwhile and enjoyable.

I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to promote #Wyntercon which was the first Sci-Fi, Alternative, Fantasy event to be held in Eastbourne. This fantastic event took place Halloween weekend and attracted huge numbers of people from all over. I had a fabulous time covering this amazing event. Some of my highlights are below.

Hopefully my next blogpost will be before the end of November, until then – don’t be ditzy about social media J

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The month began with the Relaunch of the #EBTweetup, which included the launch of EastbourneHour or #EBHour and also my launch.

Me with Stephen Lloyd MP at #EBTweetup by @Avantphoto

The event was very well attended by the local community and businesses and we were very lucky to have Mr Stephen Lloyd MP and Katy Bourne, Sussex Police Crime Commissioner as speakers, as well as my good self talking about my new business, and not forgetting the marvelous David Ruddle, thebestof Eastbourne hosting the event.

And then #EBHour began! It has now been running for 3 weeks and we are averaging just shy of 50 contributors which is brilliant and underlines what an active community Eastbourne is on Twitter.

I was then fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to take over #SussexHour from Carole Manley who has hosted the chat hour since it began in March 2013.

Hosting #EBHour and #SussexHour concurrently is serious fun and hard work too, but hard work that you enjoy is not really hard work!

Another highlight this month was launching a partnership with Families For Autism www.familiesforautism.com This is a great local charity doing some fabulous work in supporting families of children and young people with Autism in Eastbourne and East Sussex.

October looks to be another exciting and busy month, with my first Social Media Marketing workshop booked for 21 October. I have trained lots of small businesses on getting started on social media previously but it’s a great feeling to be doing this as Ditzy Media.

Keep in touch with me via Twitter, Facebook etc – just look for the links at the top of this page.

FYI…

#EBHour is every Thursday 7.30 – 8.30pm follow @EastbourneHour on Twitter

#SussexHour is every Thursday 8.30 – 9.30pm follow @SussexHourUK

Families For Autism are on Twitter @FFAeastsussex and on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Families-For-Autism/706780012736864

thebestof Eastbourne website: http://www.thebestof.co.uk/local/eastbourne

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Scheduled to run from 8.00 – 9.00pm, 45 local businesses / contributors joined in the conversation which was hosted by me.

So 45 contributors resulted in 444 tweets being sent during #EBHour which led to a reach of over 67,000 and 806,000+ timeline deliveries – not bad for the first night!

#EBHour has been set up to provide the Eastbourne community with a weekly online forum, for businesses and individuals that want to network online. Chat Hours are supportive forums designed to encourage relationships to build online which hopefully become meaningful and beneficial offline.

Continued promotion through established business and community networks should ensure it’s growth and success. If you missed the first night be sure not to miss it again.

#SussexHour
The original chat hour for the Sussex region, #SussexHour, has been going since March 2013 and has been hosted since it’s inception by Carole Manley.

Carole has done a fabulous job of growing and religiously hosting #SussexHour which has become a powerful broadcast and online networking hour for the region.

#SussexHour runs every Thursday night 8.30-9.30

After a long time at the helm, Carole is handing over the hosting of #SussexHour to me. Quite an honour and responsibility but I am delighted to have this opportunity and only hope I can follow in Carole’s outstanding footsteps to continue to foster a positive and dynamic network which benefits so many across Sussex.

Double hosting means a tweak to the schedule for #EBHour!
As I quickly learnt last night, hosting 45 contributors and then having a further 100 join in at 8.30 was quite an experience – and that was with Carole hosting #SussexHour! For this reason, #EBHour will move to begin at 7.30pm from next week 18/9/14

Please note the new time. #SussexHour remains at 8.30 as always. Hope to see you there!

FYI The next #EBTweetup will be on Wednesday 1st October at the Afton Hotel, Eastbourne 5-7pm

The post Eastbourne’s very own Chat Hour arrives on Twitter #EBHour appeared first on Ditzy Media.

When I first made the decision to work for myself, I had a chance conversation with David, which led to our establishing a working partnership for the Best of Eastbourne.

I have known David for a number of years professionally and knew about the aims of the Best of Eastbourne. With my desire to launch a social media marketing consultancy it was a natural meeting of minds.

Both myself and David are passionate about supporting local small businesses, and community organisations.

This is the backbone of the work that we have done and continue to do.

David himself has been an invaluable support to me in my first few months in business. Working for yourself can be a daunting experience, particularly if you are used to working in a team. Having the support of someone you trust in those early days is a blessing.

The Best of Eastbourne itself enables me to promote my business to my local community, and importantly acquire and publish testimonials from customers, which will hopefully help me establish a proven track record of quality and high customer service.

So this has all led to this week’s launch, which takes place this Friday. It’s the relaunch of a longstanding community event – #EBTweetup, established by David to encourage users of social media to come together, get to know each other offline, and share / learn more about social media.

It is also the launch of #EBHour, a new chat hour for the Eastbourne area, timed to coincide with #SussexHour taking place every Thursday evenings.

And of course, it’s my launch of Ditzy Media. An opportunity for me to showcase the services I will be offering to support small businesses to market themselves effectively.

To find out more about the Bestof Eastbourne please see: http://www.thebestof.co.uk/local/eastbourne

It’s FREE to attend the launch event! Please see
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ebtweetup-its-the-relaunch-and-launch-of-other-launches-launch-tickets-12558413553

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Chat Hours can be locality or subject based. If you are a business & want to search and find chat hours that may be useful to your business please see: http://chatsalad.com

#SussexHour is the chat hour for #Sussex & takes place every Thursday 8.30-9.30pm

For the ladies there is also at the same time every week #Twittersisters

For #Eastbourne and nearby towns, next week will be the official launch of #EBHour which will take place every Thursday from 8.00 – 9.00pm

If you would like to attend the FREE launch of #EBHour which will be part of the #EBTweetup , please see to register:
http://bit.ly/1qCwYEu

In all instances use the search function on Twitter to see the conversations and use the Hashtags to join in

If you need any help with Chat Hours, please get in touch

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