Many people think you need something really “out there”, maybe something a bit risque, or you just need to be lucky.
This is not the case at all. You can only have a post go viral once you have established a decent relationship with your fans. It is only once you have developed a rapport with your Facebook fans by talking to them (posting things they like to see and read), listening to what they say through their comments, seeing which posts the like, which posts and images they share and comment on, that you get to know with a large degree of certainty, which posts and images will be very popular and should go viral.
The image below comes from my Labradorworld facebook page. I have had this fan page up for just over three months now, so I really do know which buttons to press with this audience. I have experimented quite a lot with these fans and done a lot of testing but very little marketing. In fact, I am only now starting to do a bit of marketing. I have a rule of only posting a marketing link in every 10 posts, and then I put that link on an image I am fairly certain this group of fans will respond to.
Hi this is John Currie from hangoutlocal.com and tonight we have Lindsay Grobler from She's Connected SA a dedicated women's business directory South Africa.
Lindsay, can you give us a little background to your expertise. How did you get into this business?
Women wear so many hats at the various stages of both her personal and professional life – sometimes at the same time. They are mothers, wives, business owners, employees, grandmothers, daughters, friends, sisters, aunts, nieces, brides-to-be, mom’s-to-be ……women!!! The majority of which spend a lot of their time online searching for tools and resources to simplify and streamline their busy lifestyles – whether they are looking for service providers, products, articles, events, information – they are all in one place, yet all over the place…online, on the millions of different sites at our disposal.
Being a single mom and entrepreneur I know the importance of time management but could not find one single site that combined what I needed online, be it for the professional or personal side of my life. So I thought, how could I provide busy women like me with access to a community of women that had the best tools the web has to offer?
At the same time, being in business for myself I realised that there exists a need for entrepreneurs to have a community that could enable them to showcase and market their business online to o\women at the various stages of their personal and professional lives. So I came up with ShesConnected.co.za – the platform to connect the 2.
Below Is A Live Video Interview with Lindsay Grobler of She's Connected SA
As this is a competitive market, what do you do to make your services so appealing to your clients?
It is EXTREMELY competitive as everywhere you turn there are online directories advertising products/services which means in order to succeed one has to do something different whilst at the same time offering the same i
f not more benefits to your potential customers. I believe I have structured my offering in such a way as to benefit both the advertisers as well as end users. I started by asking myself the most important question that both a potential advertiser and user would ask……
What makes our business directory different from other directories on the web?
We limit the number of advertisers per region
The reason for this is that we know you do not have the time to scroll through and contact hundreds of businesses looking for something.
You want quick, in your area, quality and affordable products and services.....
and that's why we've provided only 5 services providers in each region (except nationwide who have a few more listings per category).
Saves you time, saves you money and keeps you happy and organised.
Exclusive does not have to mean expensive!!
She’s Connected SA is well aware how precious our time is and has therefore made it relatively quick, easy and hassle-free to find a service provider in your area by following this simple philosophy for our business directory: keep it quick, minimal and affordable...hence the limit on the number of advertisers in each category/region
Each province as well as nationwide listings are listed on the top menu
Hover over your province and a drop-down will appear with the various categories
Click on the category you wish to use and voila find products/services in your area to suit your requirements.
*** IF YOU CANNOT FIND A CATEGORY YOU ARE LOOKING FOR OR IF YOUR AREA IS NOT LISTED IT SIMPLY MEANS WE HAVE NO BUSINESSES TO LIST THERE YET BUT KEEP CHECKING BACK AS WE ARE GETTING LISTINGS ALL THE TIME AND OUR SITE IS UPDATED DAILY***
We are the ONLY directory that provides a unique listing method on our social media platforms
Pop on over to our Facebook page and be sure to like the page so as not to miss any notifications or posts
In the albums on our page you will find each service provider listed in their region/category listed with their logo and contact details as well as the tag to their page
So if you're out and about with no access to the web but still need something relatively urgently, you know that you can find it on our FB page
Tell us what makes you stand out as such a success as a marketer?
First off thanks for the compliment, I think my success lies in the fact that I listen to people – every single person is a potential customer either by way of advertising their business with us or using my directory to find a supplier. I know I cannot use every single thing I hear or suggestion that is made to me and that I cannot keep everyone happy, but I listen to what they want, how they want it and I formulate my strategy around that. My philosophy is simple – if you give people what they want, what they have been asking for or striving to achieve in their business, you will succeed
Tell us about one of your specialties
I attempt to cater to both my advertisers and users’ needs at the same time.
For my advertisers, I provide individual exposure via our social media platforms as well as limit the number of listings in our directory – thereby giving them the opportunity to become the preferred supplier of choice to my users.
For the users of our website I always bear in mind that TIME is of the utmost importance and when they are searching for something online – they don’t want hundreds of choices as this is time consuming and usually bears no fruit but rather frustration and irritation. By limiting the number of advertisers I am cutting down on their time-consuming struggle to find what they are looking for, when they are looking for it and at the right price and quality.
What’s the biggest thing you have learned about building a successful business over the years of being in business?
Have a strategy – your own step by step guide to achieving what you want. Set your goals and put the steps and strategies in place to achieve that goal. “A goal without a plan is just a wish.”
Work hard, play hard and never give up! Just as you think it’s over something or someone will come along and make you realise all your hard work was worth the effort
The wedding cake is definitely the centerpiece at a wedding and you want a cake that not only looks fantastic but tastes terrific as well.
It should also be in the style of the wedding and this is our aim at Baking Habits.
We would certainly advise arranging a time to discuss the cake in depth from cake flavour, filling, finish of the cake to most importantly the decoration.
The vital aspect for us though is that you have fun with selecting your cake as well as eating it on your big day.
Because all of our cakes are unique, we do not have a standard price for the cakes.
John Currie from Currie Enterprises discusses the difference between a Facebook 'Like" and a Facebook "connect". Most people believe that a Facebook like is all they need and so they chase Facebook likes all over the place.
A Facebook like will not drive clients to your business. It merely a click of a button when someone saw your Facebook page.
If you do not have any applications installed on your fanpage to collect likes and emails, the likes you get are pretty useless actually.
The problem is that designing and installing a Facebook application is something that is beyond the scope of most people unless they are actually programmers and as a result, they are missing out on the most powerful and inexpensive lead generation system available in 2013.
Ig you would like to see hoe inexpensive it is to get up and running with Facebook, to be able to offer competitions, sweepstakes, scratch and win competitions etc. give us a call on 079 300 2850 or 011 869 0059.
To buy printers in johannesburg visit streamline print or email Gary at gary@streamlineprint.co.za or buy printers online
Streamline Office Technologies is based in the Southern Suburbs of Johannesburg. We operate in the greater Gauteng area and are able to offer service nationally as a result of our dealer association. Our journey in the industry started in 2002 with the Nashua brand, however service demands by a diverse customer base enforced a change to a multi brand vendor in 2010.
The combined management team of Streamline Office Technologies have over 55 years of business experience and are focused on achieving excellence through teamwork and dedication to our customers.
To buy copiers in johannesburg, contact Gary Welthagen at gary@streamlineprint.co.za - 10% discount offered on all deals through this link.
Give us a little background to your expertise. How did you get into this business?
I have been in the industry for 8 years and kind of fell into it by accident because right off the bat in matric when all my other classmates were talking about varsity or world travel I didn't have a cooking clue on what I wanted to do so, towards the end of my school life I decided rather than go and study something for the sake of studying I applied for jobs with different recruitment agencies and landed up getting a position at Nashua so I left school on Friday and started working on Monday while at Nashua it didn't take me long to realize this was what I loved doing. Later on in my career I joined the ITEC Group as a special accounts consultant and really enjoyed being there and once that bug caught me and I had learned enough I knew I had to have my own company doing what I love and I then started a Toshiba franchise called Streamline Toshiba.
Tell us what makes you stand out as such a success as the Sales director for Streamline Toshiba?
I would say because I do what is in the best interest of my clients even if that means turning them away rather than just make a sale! My industry has a very high failure rate and it's because consultants are not trying to build long term relationships with their clients but are purely trying to sell equipment for a quick commission cheque and I think the quality advice and service I give is what has earned me a number of loyal clients.
Selling copiers in Johannesburg is a competitive market, what do you do to make your services so appealing to your clients?
Well as a company we strive to get it right first time, everytime and on time and we do not tolerate non-performance so neither should our clients and because of that we don't lock clients into long term service agreements if we drop the ball as a company and the client gives us notice we will release them from that contract at no cost to them so it is in our interest to provide the best service.
Please give us a few tips local viewers would appreciate about buying Office Automation?
I would say and I am sure I will get into a little trouble but a copier is a copier they are all made in the same place most of the time so the brand is just a personal choice but buy from the person that is willing to provide the service and put his or her money where their mouth is because service is really what you are buying and that doesn't always mean the cheapest is the best.
What's the biggest thing you have learned about building a successful business over your last 8 years being in the business?
Be serious about what you do and be the best you can be for your clients because without them you are just a number and always remember the only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.
Conclusion
Thanks Gary for a great interview anything else to add for our viewers?
Thank you it's been great to be here and I would like to add anybody that would like to get in touch with me so I may be of service can e-mail me on gary@streamlineprint.co.za for a free assessment of their print management environment.
Streamline Office Technologies is based in the Southern Suburbs of Johannesburg. We operate in the greater Gauteng area and are able to offer service nationally as a result of our dealer association. Our journey in the industry started in 2002 with the Nashua brand, however service demands by a diverse customer base enforced a change to a multi brand vendor in 2010.
The combined management team of Streamline Office Technologies have over 55 years of business experience and are focused on achieving excellence through teamwork and dedication to our customers.
Streamline Office Technologies has an active product range that's supported by global brands. We offer our clients and end users the security of onsite service with monitored volume, service and toner consumption reports.
I have been in the industry for 8 years and kind of fell into it by accident because right off the bat in matric when all my other classmates were talking about varsity or world travel I didn't have a cooking clue on what I wanted to do so, towards the end of my school life I decided rather than go and study something for the sake of studying I applied for jobs with different recruitment agencies and landed up getting a position at Nashua so I left school on Friday and started working on
Monday while at Nashua it didn't take me long to realize this was what I loved doing. Later on in my career I joined the ITEC Group as a special accounts consultant and really enjoyed being there and once that bug caught me and I had learned enough I knew I had to have my own company doing what I love and I then started a Toshiba franchise called Streamline Toshiba.
Tell us what makes you stand out as such a success as the Sales director for Streamline Toshiba?
I would say because I do what is in the best interest of my clients even if that means turning them away rather than just make a sale! My industry has a very high failure rate and it's because consultants are not trying to build long term relationships with their clients but are purely trying to sell equipment for a quick commission cheque and I think the quality advice and service I give is what has earned me a number of loyal clients.
As this is a competitive market, what do you do to make your services so appealing to your clients?
Well as a company we strive to get it right first time, everytime and on time and we do not tolerate non-performance so neither should our clients and because of that we don't lock clients into long term service agreements if we drop the ball as a company and the client gives us notice we will release them from that contract at no cost to them so it is in our interest to provide the best service.
Carta Blanca specialise in tablet pc specials Johannesburg and supplying great value tech items to business such as tablet pc's & smart phones with a level of support that is impossible to find at traditional retailers. Without doubt the deals that we find for our clients which can be 50% off retail, combined with the time that we save them due to the fact that we come to you! As this is a competitive market, what do you do to make your Carta Blanca so appealing to your clients? A combination of cost & time saving however I believe that the support that we give clients is just as important. We literally give a complete in person tutorial for the product(s) purchased. Below is and incredible deal... Only R2350 for a fully functional, very powerful laptop computer powered by Android.
JJ has bee in this business for over 13 years and has stayed on the cutting edge of technology in his work as head of social for a large digital marketing agency in the UK.
"Social media is in a state of constant evolution and you need to make sure that you are always on the look out for new strategies and tactics which will help you achieve your goals. This is my passion and I like to think I am on the cutting edge of technology and through years of experience testing what works and what doesn't work have found the happy medium. "
