Most common mistakes businesses are making on Blogging

Over the weeks, I have been monitoring the social media tools businesses use and how they communicate their messages across. I have previously looked into Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube to see how they carry out their communication strategies in order to accomplish their objectives. This week I have concentrated on blogging with my latest blog post about ‘Ways to use a Blog for business’.

Ways to use a Blog for business

I have been blogging for about 3 years now, only in the past few months I have been putting more emphasis into producing blog posts for people to read on a weekly basis. My recent blogs have been about how businesses can benefit from using social media tools and I have seen an increase in blog views as well as comments and followers.

Most common mistakes businesses are making on YouTube

Here I am again, this time I am going point of the most common mistakes businesses are making on YouTube so you do not follow them. It maybe a visual form of sending messages across but it often lets people watch what you are doing rather than reading about it. Yes, YouTube is about videos but there is so much more you can do to improve how to handle your account as a business.

I have identified some mistakes businesses are making on YouTube and you can learn from these so called mistakes that you can avoid.

1. The channel has no theme
Do not post random videos which does not relate to your business. Create videos that relate to your business and industry. Some business channels lack a structure in their videos and people visit your channel to find more information about the business. It will make it easier for others to understand what your channel and videos are about.

2. The videos are not optimised
YouTube is a webpage, therefore it follows all of the same rules as a webpage when it comes to SEO (Search Engine Optimization). It is vital to include titles, tags and description in comparison to the videos you are creating. Using quality keywords in the tags and make sure the description explains what the video is about.

3. Not including FULL URL
To direct the traffic to your website, please include your full URL in the description. It is a link that points to your site from a very popular site.

4. Not including links to other social media
A lot of businesses are not putting their other social media links in the description. Show that you are on other networking sites and people will start to connect with you even more.

5. No Watermark
This can be overlooked at times, having a subtle image in your video of a logo for branding or just your website URL and other social media sites (Twitter or Facebook) works wonders.

6. No call for direction
I think this a mistake that can be avoided and should be always looked up on. Nothing saying, click the link below for more information, or visit my website or even comment about this video and let me know your thoughts. Have a specific call to action in your video or no one will take action. You should gently lead people by hand and tell exactly what to do.

7. Video quality (Sound and visual)
I know when you are out and about you have your mobile phones and digital cameras but sometimes the video quality can be off putting to watch depending on where you are recording. Also, if you are recording your opinions and thoughts, make sure you are in a quite environment to avoid sound issues. If you can, try to film in HD.

8. Video structure
I have noticed businesses making videos and trying to fit everything under a time limit. Make your videos short so that you can make more videos about other issues surrounding your business and industry. Have a video for one topic.

9. No Comments
Disabling the function to not allow people to comment is a big no, no. YouTube is a place where people come to watch videos and share their thoughts. Allow people to comment and give their opinions too. If you do not interact with your users, then you are not fulfilling the use of YouTube.

10. Favouriting videos
There is no harming for you to favourite your videos that can relate to your business and industry. It shows you are not only thinking about yourself but sharing what competitions and industry experts are doing.

I hope you all enjoyed reading these most common mistakes businesses make on YouTube and avoid to make them yourself. If you would like me to research more about other social media tools businesses can use, please feel free to comment and leave your thoughts.

Entering the 2nd Half of the season

I am a Man Utd fan and I love the game they play. As a fan, I have a lot to say about the team and sometimes during games I get into the manager’s shoes and think I could make changes and evaluated some of the players on the field. But this season has been a rollercoaster and here I am writing what could be done to possibly win the competitions Man Utd are currently in the running for.

Blog direction in 2012

2011 saw my blog get a lot of views and I started writing more blog posts on a weekly basis. It has been a journey that has allowed me to write what I think from the research I conduct for you to read.  I want to keep on blogging but I am still trying to figure which direction I should go with it.

My New Year’s Resolutions 2012

It’s been a long time since I’ve done this, as far back as I can remember it must have been in Primary School where I had to jot down 3 or 5 New Year’s resolutions to accomplish throughout the year. Over the years, I haven’t taken this challenge seriously and take each individual challenge one by one.

In the last 6 years, after leaving Secondary School, my emphasis was on education, I had set targets to achieve educational goals on a yearly basis. Especially, realising what is important to me. When I was in College, my aim was to get into University by studying my A-Levels and by doing so, I had gained 4 A-Levels in Media Studies, Film Studies and Business Studies Applied Double Award. This allowed me to go to University. Before going University, I had planned to do the best I can and learn more about Media Studies as I wanted to build up more knowledge about the industry having previously studied it as a GCSE and A-Level qualification. Each year at University was getting tougher and after the 3 years, I have now got a BA Hons next to my name! This was a proud moment for me as well as my family, something that proves my accomplishment which no one can take away from me.

So here is the list of my resolutions for 2012;
1. Find a job related to the degree I studied (Media Studies)
2 Purchase a smartphone to communicate with others
3. Join a gym to keep fit
4. Start to play football injury-free (I’ve had an ankle problem for some time)
5. Be a better people’s person to every one
6. Blog once a week so people can read my views (include photos and videos too)
7. Keep my social media tools (Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn) active and reach followers on Twitter
8. Grow in network by connecting with people from media industries
9. Enjoy every moment with friends and family by being more sociable
10. Get some of my friends to start writing a blog

And lastly, KEEP EVERYONE SMILING!!!

Let’s see how I get along with these resolutions by the end of next year and see if I have reached my goals!

Another Thank You message for y’all!

As you may know Christmas is only 4 days away and to get into the festive mood, I (@Krazykis14) decided to get a tweet RT’d over a 100 times over the past weekend (17^th-18^th Dec).

So here is the tweet that I wanted RT’d; ‘If ‘twittername’ could RT this, @VeeksP will dress up as an Elf for Xmas! #Xmas #Elf #JokeTing #Over100RTs #FestiveTime’.

The challenge was set and if it was reached, @VeeksP would have to dress up as an Elf to join in with the Christmas festivities.

After asking people to get it RT’d, here are the following fabulous people on Twitter who did so.

@TEAMSTRANGER
@TawnyHeath
@grimedaily
@gemcairn
@anishavarsani
@Bubbadooki
@harika_parmar
@alisonmjackson
@dhruparmar
@Raxstar
@SereseWorld
@Emma_Singh
@BlingPR
@TindyGrewal
@SadiaOfficial
@nishasahdev
@mistajam
@mannisandhu
@__Kamm__
@SunnyandShay
@Modestep
@AmnKaur
@SuperstarSelah
@Ashaa_K
@Shreeya_26
@FraizerCampbell
@TashaTah
@offlicencemusic
@LuckyBhogal
@__annu
@Ajay5Patel
@Luke_Bingham
@ThisIsArtful
@DJBigKid
@metzntrix
@KEEARTIST
@VeeksP

This brings the amount of RT’s to 39! I didn’t reach my goal but it was worth a go! Once again, Thank You to all you wonderful people for RT’ing and supporting this cause. I know you’ll be up for fun and games in the future and can count on you fab people!

Thank You all, superstars!!!!

Ways to use YouTube for Business

YouTube is not about individuals posting videos of their personal lives to the world. It can also be used as a highly effective business tool. You can see it for a number of reasons to show off your expertise, share your knowledge, market your products and connect with customers and others. It is another way of communicating with the customers in the world of social media. Not only can it be beneficial to see videos, it can simulate user activity with your business rather than seeing writing.

Most common mistakes businesses are making on LinkedIn

With my previous post about ‘Ways to use LinkedIn for business’, I have now identified the most common mistakes businesses are making whilst using the social media tool. If you use LinkedIn correctly, it can be a marketing blessing. You can form relationships with hundreds of potential customers and solidify your brand/product, without spending at of money which is cost effective.

Thank You All!!!!

I (@Krazykish14) could not write this on Twitter so I choose to write this….

On Friday night I (@Krazykish14) was thinking, what can I use Twitter for, like in a challenging way. I thought ‘why not get more followers’, ‘start a game’ or get something trending. Then light bulb, I thought let’s get something funny RT’d! So as usual with my banter with @VeeksP, I keep on annoying him about when is he going India? Everyone knows when someone is going India, they are either looking to get married or getting married! It had got to a point when the banter was about ‘when are you going to find a wife from India and when is the big wedding day’.