Social media means business
Newbury company Apple Print talks on marketing through social media
How do you reach a target audience of a quarter of a million quickly, successfully and cost effectively?
The answer is simple: social media.
Even if you weren’t born part of the generation brought up on Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, YouTube and Pinterest, there is no escaping the fact that it is an increasingly popular method of communication.
More importantly, social data is emerging as an essential in business: many departments in many organisations – from HR to PR – are finding social media is playing a major role in building a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system.
Little wonder, then, that the marketing team at Apple Print & Creative have made it their business to keep on top of all the latest social media platforms, not just for themselves but for their clients too.
Apple Print & Creative is reaping the rewards of recruiting social media manager Caroline Digby.
Not only does she run the social media side of Apple Print, but she also manages social media marketing for a number of clients – from large-scale IT companies to small start-up businesses.
So what is it that clients want to achieve through social media? As Caroline has discovered, the most important objective to the majority is to increase brand awareness and/or enhance their reputation.
Everyone wants a return on their investment – and rightly so.
Part of Caroline’s role is finding the most relevant channel for each client, the most valuable in terms of appeal to their customers.
In this data-driven world where strategies become ever-more advanced, it can be a minefield, and Caroline is genius at making sure each client sets off on their social media journey on the right foot.
From there, Apple Print can build a social strategy, based on the needs of the business – and the budget. One of the first things it establishes is how to use a chosen channel to engage existing and potential new customers in innovative ways.
As Caroline says: “The best social media marketing outcomes are the result of teamwork with the people who know their customers best – the client – combined with social media expertise from a trained specialist.
“I have the confidence to admit that the most powerful of any marketing tools is rarely born out of a one-man, or even one-woman, show.
“And those ideas need to be kept constantly fresh; reaching a mass market today has a whole new meaning to even last year, and will be different again this time next year, so it pays to pay the experts to keep on top of how your customers interact and search using the latest digital techniques.”
By building a better understanding of their customers with a successful CRM system, businesses can create better predictive models and provide more accurate benchmarking that benefits the decision-making process.
An effective measuring technique is an essential part of the strategy; little point collecting all-encompassing data if you don’t filter it down into something useable – and keep revitalising that information to see how your social market is changing.
Successful businesses of the future will be those focussing on the best tools for the job, utilising the skills of experts with a passion to think differently and deliver a truly memorable campaign.
Apple Print & Creative increased one client’s YouTube views from small fry to 10,000 in four days. But that’s just one of its most recent success stories.
Why not see how Apple Print & Creative can help you? www.appleprint.co.uk, email sales@appleprint.co.uk, call (01635) 521654, or pop in in and see them at The Orchard, Abex Road, Newbury, RG14 5EY.
