5 Big Mistakes Companies Make on Twitter

August 1, 2021

Twitter is all about 140-character messages that allow businesses to have one-to-one conversations with their customers, send out updates around new products or services and share industry insight.

In the world of recruitment, it can be a great way to promote your jobs, offer advice on job hunting and tips on the application process. However, there are some businesses out there that use Twitter as a platform to push out never ending messages that simply plug their latest product or event.

To get the most out of Twitter, and to ensure that you are always projecting the right impression for your business, you need to avoid some of the common mistakes businesses are making.

Here are three of the most common mistakes to avoid on Twitter:

Auto-Tweeting: If you have your tweets linked up to your website so that every time you update something on your site such as a blog or job post, cancel this now. You are missing out on opportunities to tag usernames, use hashtags, and using a more human approach. People are more likely to follow a Twitter account if they can see it’s not just a robot. Add some personal responses and show off a bit of brand personality!
Too Many Hashtags: There’s nothing worse than a tweet just stuffed full of hashtags. Particularly if the hashtags bear no relevance to the tweet, or aren’t actually that useful. Here at Fifteen Ten we have a strict rule where we only use hashtags if they are useful to the reader; so are based around an event, a hot topic or a piece of breaking news. Using too many hashtags can seem a bit desperate, and let’s face it, they don’t look pretty!
Tweeting in Bursts: Logging into Twitter and doing a few tweets when you remember to isn’t going to build up a lively following. You must be consistent, and aim to tweet daily otherwise you won’t look like an attractive account to follow, that’s updated in a regular fashion.
Not Replying to Customers: You should always be monitoring your Notifications in Twitter. If anyone follows you, tweets you, or favourites a tweet this is the place to find out. It’s important to respond to any tweets you receive from customers, especially any negative ones. This is the best way of demonstrating your excellent customer care and quick response times. If you receive some positive comments, be sure to thank the user and perhaps direct them to another part of your website which might of interest such as another product or your blog.
Not Monitoring Brand Mentions: Some customers will be talking about your brand without tagging you in the message. You can keep an eye on talk around your brand, or related terms by using the search bar at the top of Twitter. By replying to these messages, you have a great opportunity to let them know you are using Twitter and encourage them to follow you. If they are saying negative things, then try to resolve them.

If you have any future questions or want to chat about how Fifteen Ten could help, then don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Written by:

Mike Wedge

Director

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Meta What? Meta Tags Explained

August 1, 2021

Meta… What?

Meta keywords, meta description, meta tags and title – all you hear is YOU MUST UPDATE THESE! But what are they, how useful are they REALLY and what should you be doing with them?

Well let me explain…

Pretty much the undisputed authority on web definitions is the w3schools website – if you’re interested to find out more about web programming and the like, it’s a treasure trove of useful information.

Here you will find meta tags defined thus:

“Thetag provides metadata about the HTML document. Metadata will not be displayed on the page, but will be machine parsable. Meta elements are typically used to specify page description, keywords, author of the document, last modified, and other metadata. The metadata can be used by browsers (how to display content or reload page), search engines (keywords), or other web services.”

Source: http://www.w3schools.com/tags/tag_meta.asp

Essentially the key thing to remember with meta data in websites is that it can impact your search engine optimisation, and the likelihood your websites will offer a more attractive/relevant proposition to any active internet-searcher.

Most respectable content management systems focus on 3 key meta tags, the ‘title’, ‘description’ and ‘keywords’ tag – so that’s what we’ll focus on here.

Meta Title

Quite literally this field defines the title of the web document. These are most commonly found listed in search engines as the big blue underlined link text – mega important when it comes to attracting visitors.

Key considerations:

1. Title tags should be 50-60 characters long max – no longer else you risk penalisation by search engines – just under half a tweet in lengths please folks!
2. Suggested format – Primary Term, Secondary Term, Brand Name. At Fifteen Ten Ltd we like using ‘|’ as a separator given it’s appearance in search engine results. So for a roast chicken recipe by Fifteen Ten – you might have:

Delicious Roast Chicken Recipe | Sunday Roasts | Fifteen Ten

Why Meta Titles are important?

1. It’s commonly known that your meta title is a big deal for search engine rankings. Make it concise, make it relevant to your page, make it logical – you’re onto a winner.
2. It appears in the actual browser tab – this is simply a user friendly feature, to encourage understanding of your page content and make it easier to find in the computing interface, easier to find = more likely to gain clicks and interaction!
3. Automated link features such as that found when you post a link to somewhere like Linkedin or Facebook will use the meta title as their title of the page – so it is key that this is punchy and relevant to your content.

Meta Description

First myth debunked – meta descriptions do not literally help your search engine rankings – so please do not stuff them with keywords thinking you’re onto a winner! Google announced that search engine rankings are not impacted by the meta description or meta keywords back in 2009, check it out: http://bit.ly/1kUnTWw

What is the meta description useful for then?

It is useful for hinting and your web page content to search engine users – how many people will find your site. See that grey bit of text under the blue title? Your meta description. This needs to be enticing and relevant to your page content.

Key considerations:

Needs to be no more than 150-160 characters long to avoid being penalised
Make sure you do not duplicate – this looks messy in Google and will likely one day be added to the ‘penalised’ list for lazy content editing.

Looking for more info on how to create a sharp meta description? hear it straight from Google here – http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.co.uk/2007/09/improve-snippets-with-meta-description.html

Meta Keywords

Regarding the meta keywords – it would seem that this feature is becoming increasingly a thing of the past. Manipulated by those looking for a quick fix, cast aside by Google as a result, the old sure-fire SEO hack has since been discovered and abandoned in the woods.

That’s not to say they are to be completely ignored necessarily, you can still add 10-15 terms to your page document (separated by commas) to bolster the informative content about your page to any wandering search engine spider. However, this blog recommends that you might be better off fine-tuning your meta-title, or giving an extra minute or two finding that all important thumbnail picture to ensure your page is as enticing as it can be.

Written by:

Mike Wedge

Director

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Winning at LinkedIn Personal Branding

July 1, 2021

LinkedIn is the de facto boss of professional networking. If you want to expand your network, meet new potential clients, show off to potential employers, or connect with cunning candidates for your roles, there ain’t no better place to do it. Your profile is now that first ‘introduction’ these people have to you. They can find you through a simple Google search, and make all sorts of snap judgments about you, with a few clicks of a button, without having even met you, and without you even knowing. Creepy right? So it’s up to you. You have to make sure your profile nails it, so that you’re all setup and ready to rock and roll for the people you want to impress. Below are some super important points to get you started:

Your Profile Photo

Your profile photo is representative of how you would dress at a job interview, how you would arrive at a new sales meeting. Your potential clients or employers will make a snap judgment about you (as grim and modern-era as it is) about how you look, and it’s a grim feature of reality that you can use to your advantage. Would you turn up to an interview in a t shirt and toasting a beer? Unlikely… Your photo needs to be demonstrative of your physical self when in an important meeting or interview, generally smart casual with an inoffensive expression and not-controversial background; you can even use the new LinkedIn Photo Filters if you wish.

Your Profile Headline

Guess what? Your headline doesn’t have to just be your job title. It is in fact the most prominent area for you to emotively describe your unique selling point. What is it that you want people to know about you first and foremost? What are the key skills you have that you think will be of interest to a profile viewer? Get them in the headline so they’re out and proud for the world to see.

Profile Branding

Similar to Facebook (who many think that LinkedIn is trying to emulate in order to achieve the same mammoth cash injection through advertising revenue) LinkedIn now allows you to add personalised graphics to your profile page. This means you can add branded banners to your page, helping to communicate your business brand or personalise your profile to better reflect your character. Need some photography? Google UnSplash for a treasure trove of royalty free imagery.

Endorsements & Recommendations

Remember to endorse and recommend those people you work with who truly deserve it. You may be prompted to do so, or you may decide to do so based on your own experiences, but know that if truly deserved, a recommendation can go far in cementing what must already be a positive working relationship. Likewise endorsements, fire them out to people when deserved, and thou shalt receive under similar circumstances too. Nervous about gaining those first one or two recommendations – just ask your clients and assuming you’re good at what you do, they will often oblige!

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Above are a handful of LinkedIn 101 lessons for how to get started on setting up your profile. If you’d like expert assistance in branding your profile, writing copy to successfully demonstrate your skills or experience, or double checking your profile photo, just drop us a line on info@fifteenten.co.uk.

Written by:

Mike Wedge

Director

Connect on LinkedIn

Email Marketing Tips

September 1, 2020

Email marketing is an oft-untapped resource of networking and sales, and it’s correct application can have an immediate and measurable impact on the bottom line of any organisation.

As soon as you think email marketing most people cringe and think of spam – ‘BEST DEALS’ – ‘SPECIAL OFFERS!’ and the like, making you simultaneously wretch and search wildly for the delete button.

We’re talking about something else. The use of targeted emails, with concise and informative content. You likely possess some knowledge that your clients (both existing and potential) would like to have, here is the time to give it to them, and reap the rewards in return.

So, you’ve got your list of people to email, or you have a ‘subscribe to our newsletter’ box added to your website that has been rigorously promoted and you’ve got a handful of contacts that is growing steadily over time. What now? Here are some starter tips for your email marketing campaign.

1. Include content your recipients will want

Sounds obvious right? This bit is so commonly overlooked, but SO IMPORTANT. Do your clients want to read about how well your business is doing? Let’s be honest. Probably not. Do they want to read about a new piece of technology, a new technique or some new legislation that might impact their business? Almost certainly.

2. Clean and easily-scannable design

The design is also incredibly important (of course we would say that). But seriously – if your email template is cluttered, crowded, or uninspiring – it simply will not be read. If the design is incomprehensible, in many cases it doesn’t even matter what you write. Services such as Mailchimp or InfusionSoft can help you create decipherable mail templates. Or we can do it for you of course! Just contact us –> info@fifteenten.co.uk

3. Technology and testing

Creating an eshot is not like creating a website. For a website there are a handful of browsers across a handful of devices. For email display there are LOADS! Around a hundred variations or more in wide circulation. In short this limits what can be done with email design, and requires significant testing. Check out Emails on Acid, or Mailchimps email testing service.

4. Get spam law savvy

Get familiar with the CAN-SPAM act to wise yourself up on the details. Roughly speaking:

You’re only allowed to email people who have specifically asked to be on your mailing list
You must include an obvious unsubscribe link
You must tell subscribers how they joined your list

5. Check the results!

As with anything online, it’s always best to monitor responses, opens, forwards, and any click activity. Then future mail shots can be optimised for improved engagement and your marketing activity will get better and better.

Written by:

Mike Wedge

Director

Connect on LinkedIn

How Recruiters Can Advertise on Facebook

August 1, 2020

There are over 34 million Facebook users in the UK, so it’s a great choice of social network for recruitment companies to speak to job hunters in their catchment areas and spread awareness of their current positions.

However, the Facebook Newsfeed has become a competitive space and businesses are seeing their posting activity reach less people, due to the sheer volume of other companies using the network.

Facebook offers some very interesting advertising options, where your sponsored content sits within the Facebook Newsfeed of a target audience that you have selected. You have probably seen these in your own Newsfeed; a subtle grey label indicates them with the word ‘Sponsored’. You can use Facebook advertising to achieve a number of business objectives; to increase website traffic, to encourage onsite job applications, to increase Facebook Page likes or just likes and comments on a particular post.

Choosing your audience

Your target audience, which you choose to serve the advertisements to, could be based on any piece of information, which a user has chosen to include in their profile on Facebook. Information such as location, demographic, job title, and industry are all available.

Facebook is adding more targeting all the time, so you can begin to get more creative with the options available to you. You could target users who like popular recruitment sites such as Monster and Reed, as this means they are likely to be job hunting. You could also target people who work at a specific company (if the company is large enough).

In the example, we targeted people living in Birmingham and the 20km radius, aged between 20 and 50 who years old who work in Management, Sales, Retail or Temporary and Seasonal industries, who also like Jobsite or Monster. The size of the target group who fit this demographic on Facebook is 3,200 people.

Designing your adverts

The adverts are straightforward to setup and are completely designed by you. You can choose the image and copy that go with the advert, so whether you are looking to advertise a specific position, or just general spread awareness of your company and services, you can decide the best creative to accompany your promotion.

The Facebook advertisement example from Smarta, a business advice service, shows that bright colours and images with people in them are eye-catching and can generate clicks.

How much does it cost?

The great part about Facebook advertising is that you completely control the budget yourself. You can choose to spend £20 or perhaps a larger budget of £2,500 – it’s up to you. Obviously the more money you spend, the more chance your adverts will be shown to a larger amount of people in your target audience, and you will see much better results. We suggest you start off with at least £200 to really see some results and gather some learnings around who tends to click.

We offer advice on social media advertising, and have run successful Facebook advertising campaigns on behalf of our clients before. Get in touch for more information on how Fifteen Ten could help you.

Written by:

Mike Wedge

Director

Connect on LinkedIn

Visitor Tracking – What’s the Point?

August 1, 2020

This comes down to a single argument, analysis vs assumption.

Do you presume to know exactly how your customer base are likely to use your website? Or are you making assumptions based on guess work?

Most savvy business owners know their customer habits well, they know what the like and what they don’t, whether they’re into modern dynamic sites with all the bells and whistles, or if they want you to get to the point with concise content, no-frills, and no BS.

This knowledge permeates through their business operations, of course it does – however the variance in online behaviour is vast, and make assumptions about other’s understanding of your website at your peril.

What we’re talking about of course is ‘User Experience’, or UX for those in the know; and how that correlates to trends of behaviour within your website. Essentially, some things might seem obvious to you (‘they’ll just click there….’ or ‘they’ll read that…’), but in reality the user can find things to be very different!

Check out some of these user experience statistics for example:

1. 40% of people will abandon a web page if it takes more than three seconds to load.
2. 46% of mobile users report having difficulty interacting with a page, with 44% complaining that navigation was difficult
3. 48% of users say that if they arrive on a business site that isn’t working well on a mobile, they believe the business simply does not care
4. 62% of companies that designed a website specifically for mobile had increased sales

Sources: Econsultancy, Keynote & MarginMedia

To ensure you’re addressing the needs of your users, and not basing your website on your own assumptions, there must be time spent on examining visitor trends. This can be achieved through the use of Google Analytics, or we can implement more in-depth reporting tools and conduct an analysis on your behalf.

Sound like a waste of time? Consider that user trends are dynamic, therefore your understanding of visitor activity on your site must be an on-going process. Investing in a website then leaving it untouched is not always advisable, given the lightning pace of change in the digital market – there are online trends that can be exploited and you don’t want to miss out.

This user analysis can tell you why people aren’t reaching the payment page of your ecommerce site, why people are struggling to find your ‘submit your CV’ page, or how you can improve job applications through your recruitment website. We now integrate user analysis as a key feature of any new project, ensuring that it is the website visitor activity that underpins the design structure, ensuring the greatest possible success of the website according to the business goals.

If you want to find out more about our comprehensive reporting methods, or to find out how your website could benefit from an in depth user analysis, simply get in touch.

Written by:

Mike Wedge

Director

Connect on LinkedIn

Want Fantastic Content that Sells?

August 1, 2020

Want content that sells? Here’s how you can get it from Fifteen Ten.

Roll up, roll up. Get your content here.

That’s right. Now we can give you great design and the finest copy in town. Visionary design can transform your brand. With the words that go out to work for you. The words count towards the heavy lifting of selling your product, your business and your place in the world. Words. It makes sense to look after them.

We have assembled a crack team of proven copywriters. Our mission? To bring clout to your content.

But hang on. Why do you need great content?

It’s true what they say. The pen is mightier than the sword. The right words will help you slash through the clutter and stand out in a world that has become awfully noisy. Thousands upon thousands of business – including your competitors – are creating content. Web copy. Blog posts. Email newsletters. Trouble is, most businesses aren’t very good at it.

Our copywriters are pros who will make your copy sing and the cash till ring. They wear the battle-scars of agency life and have earned their stripes writing for some of the biggest names out there. Like Actimel, Timberland and The London Eye. It means we can promise you syrupy-sticky content that will engage your audience and show them that you’re better than the other guys.

Remember: From the moment a hot new lead finds you to the final sale, it’s your words that sell.

Can’t you just write your own copy and save money?

If you want to make a real impression with your audience, we can help. And it needn’t bust your budget.

Here are some of the things we can take care of…

We write copy that resonates with your reader. Suited and booted or racy and playful. Straight-laced or irreverent. We give you whatever you need.

Web copy
Content strategy
Landing pages
Blog posts
Email newsletters
Brochures
Sales letters
Press releases
POS copy
Packaging

Ting! That’s the sound of your content chiming.

Hungry to make waves online? Now we have design, front-end development and content covered. Get in touch to discuss how to make your mark in the digital world.

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Google Chrome Security Updates

August 1, 2020

As part of it’s righteous mission to make the internet a safer and more secure place for everyone, Google is continually updating it’s flagship browser ‘Google Chrome’ to encourage enhanced security the world over.

The Google team have started to display an ‘i’ icon next to the website URL to provide information about the page being viewed.

In the past few months this has been developed to include a ‘Secure’ message and the conventional green padlock icon, demonstrating that a site is ‘SSL registered’.

SSL registration means that data sent through that website domain is subject to additional levels of encryption, providing added assurance for any website visitor submitting their information. This can be seen where a website URL starts with https:// rather than http://.

Websites without SSL registration that accept credit card or password information, are now being labelled as ‘Non-Secure’, as a means to encourage business awareness of the importance of encryption and data protection.

In due course this labelling system will be expanded to include websites with any contact form (which is the vast majority of websites!), and then ultimately ALL websites without SSL registration being labelled as ‘Not-Secure’.

This has massive implications for user confidence, as your website visitors may be nervous about submitting information to any site labelled as ‘Not Secure’ by the world’s most popular web browser.

Given the increasing prevalence of high profile hacking cases involving a huge variety of businesses and organisations, website security is a greater priority than ever; and we implore our clients, contacts and associates alike to treat their own website security with the upmost importance. Especially if they’re in the business of handling personal information about their clients, candidates or contacts.

We offer SSL registration assistance for sites we host starting at £10/month + vat, please contact us should you require any further information on this subject.

Written by:

Mike Wedge

Director

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3 Terrible Mistakes in Recruitment Web Design

August 1, 2019

When considering a redesign of your recruitment website, be careful that your company site doesn’t become a tired, recruitment cliche. It’s easy to do and we understand how it happens; you have a nose around your competitors’ websites to get an idea of what you like and dislike in a website and after looking at recruiter after recruiter you start to see a pattern emerging in their design. Before you know it, that pattern has become a checklist you hand to your designer because if almost everyone else is doing it, you should be too, right? Wrong.

Below we’ve listed the three most common mistakes recruitment companies make when it comes to their websites and we guarantee you’ll set yourself apart by simply avoiding them.

1. Forgetting the Target Audience

The information that a client wants to read compared to a candidate is vastly different, yet you’d be surprised how many recruitment websites lump everything altogether. Decide what content on your website is best suited to different segments of your target audience and separate them on your site so that a visitor can easily identify with one or the other. Ensure that your layout is geared toward encouraging the visitor to get to the pages you want them to see. This could be a free download or simply just the contact page; make it obvious what you want them to do and they’ll be more likely do it

Visitors to your website need to identify themselves as being the type of person that you specialise in helping, so that they don’t immediately click away from your website. Don’t be afraid to highlight the most common problems that candidates or clients face and be as explicit as you can in how you can help them to solve those issues. Once you think you’ve done this, simplify the message so that it is even more succinct.

2. Using Stock Images of REALLY Happy Business People

We’re not sure how this one became a trend because we’re yet to find anyone who is convinced by the extreme levels of happiness portrayed in a stock photo, but they’re easy to get hold of, they’re inoffensive and they fill a gap on your website. What they don’t do, however, is contribute anything to your website in terms of helping to convey a message, giving it an authentic touch, or simply being any different to the last recruitment website your potential client or candidate just visited.

Always use any space on your website wisely and never resort to sticking a stock image on a page just because you can’t think of anything else to fill it. A well-thought out design should mean that every aspect of your website helps the user to reach your goals in some way. Try using the image space to highlight an important message that you want your audience to notice straight away. You can also use images as calls-to-action that lead a user to a more important page where they input their details or get in touch with you directly.

3. Information Overload

Similar to using stock images to fill a space on your website, it’s common for websites (recruitment ones in particular) to let their keyboard run away with them and fill every inch of the page with text. It’s great to be informative and even more fantastic that you have so much content that you want to share, but is it really working most effectively by sitting on one page? Will a client who’s just doing some initial research on recruitment companies even read it?

Before you design your website, think about the content you want to feature. Then consider at what point a user might want to view that information when they visit your website. By doing this you’ll start to decipher what content is best suited to your homepage and what would work well on your blog. You can even start thinking about collating large chunks of related information in a free download that your clients and candidates can download and read at their leisure (plus, you can ask for their name and email address in exchange for the content – win, win!).

Written by:

Mike Wedge

Director

Connect on LinkedIn

Twitter! #whatsthepoint?

August 1, 2019

OK so you’re running a business, or maybe just working for a small to medium sized business, you feel like you should be on Twitter but you don’t really know why? Here’s some info to help you get started.

I don’t want to list too many obvious factors, if you’ve found your way to this blog then it’s likely you’re savvy in some elements of social media or online content. But Twitter is a great place for any business:

there’s a huge potential market of clients and customers
it allows Twitter users to engage with you as a business through a medium they feel comfortable with
you can network with clients, potential business partners and suppliers all at once
you can learn new things through a carefully selected list of profiles to follow

I could go on about the benefits for ages – but if you find the title of this article interesting, I’m going to assume that the notion that you’re ‘missing out’ by not being on Twitter along with the above four points are sufficiently enticing to encourage you to give it a go.

So, what now?

Here are some tips to get you started on how to make the most out of Twitter, and rather than it being a pointless waste of time, make it a fantastic benefit to your business networking and marketing.

1. Be frugal with the people you follow

Don’t follow everyone in the whole world. Follow the people who will inspire you, who you admire, and who are related to your business. This will mean you end up with a dynamic feed of information that is closely linked to your interests and relevant to your business goals, rather than a load of rubbish about what someone had for dinner.

2. Get your profile out there!

People who use Twitter, like to follow people they know on Twitter. So start telling people you’ve got an account. Got a website? get some icons or even a Twitter feed on there. Got an email signature? or a Linkedin account? I bet every corporate chap has a Linkedin account somewhere, particularly all those recruitment consultants we speak to on a daily basis – get your profile linked, synced, and advertised anywhere you can think of. An @ before a profile name is a honeypot to any local Twitter bee.

3. Be informative, but don’t lose your personality

Imagine when you’re tweeting that you’re speaking directly to your customers, face to face. Is what you’re saying interesting and will they want to know more? Is it funny? Does it have a visual aid? Is it something they’ll want to retell to their friends? If the answer to all of these is no – you’ve got to think of something better to say!

4. Credit people with stuff they’ve said

Learn the ropes in RT (retweeting) MT (modified tweeting) and ‘via’. Someone says something you like and you want to broadcast it? do so – it’s a compliment. But make sure you do it right. Tweet something someone else has said without the correct credit and you might get someone’s back up. Social media faux pas can be easy to make and they can be deadly to your social media strategy.

5. #chilloutman don’t use hashtags for everything!

Be concise with your choice of subject per tweet. Sure people search by hashtag so you want to get one or two in there. But add too many and you look like somebody celebrating their sweet 16 birthday with their #mates #bffs #friendsforever #cantwait #partytime. Leave it to one or two hash tags and you’re done. Lovely bubbly.

The best thing to do is join Twitter, get yourself a branded profile setup, follow some people you find interesting, and who you think might find you interesting, start advertising your profile, think of some interesting stuff to say and say it. You never know, you might end up enjoying it!

If you want more information on how Twitter can help your business, don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Written by:

Mike Wedge

Director

Connect on LinkedIn

0117 427 1510

info@fifteenten.co.uk

Hamilton House, 80 Stokes Croft, Bristol, BS1 3QY

Fifteen Ten Ltd is a Limited Company in England and Wales. Registered Company Number 8016262. Registered Address Hamilton House, 80 Stokes Croft, Bristol, BS1 3QY. VAT registration number 170 2018 53.