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Crowdfunding, social media, world records and the Great British Bake Off

Status Social is helping to break a world record!

We’ve been supporting the Twitter activities of the Triton Project, an attempt by Derby-based Rolls-Royce engineers to go the furthest distance travelled by a pedal-powered boat in 24 hours.

Continue reading “Crowdfunding, social media, world records and the Great British Bake Off”

Free social media training – how our Charity of the Year generated £90,000 in funding

Status Social’s 2016 Charity of the Year says it has generated £90,000 in funding and has doubled its social media reach thanks to our support.
Eating disorder charity, First Steps, has been given more than £5,000 of social media consultation and support after being named Charity of the Year in December last year. Now we are looking for our 2017 Charity of the Year.
Founder and CEO of First Steps, Cathy Cleary, says our support was one of the key factors in the success of one particular bid, helping it land funding for a member of staff for three years.

“The support from Status Social has been fantastic, so apply! The application process is quite easy and you won’t regret it!” – Cathy Cleary, Founder and CEO, First Steps.

First Steps’ social media reach has on average doubled since we began working with it. Lauren Gordon runs First Steps’ Emotional Eating support project and has been through the social media strategy and training workshops run for her and her colleagues.
In this video she explains the huge impact of our training:

 

£150,000 deal thanks to digging around on LinkedIn

A relocation firm says it generated £150,000-worth of sales after being shown how to strategically use social media.

Portixol Relocations got to work with one of the world’s top motor manufacturers after using LinkedIn to reach decision makers.

“When I first joined Portixol, I wanted to reach out to Derby organisations that operated internationally,” explained former managing director Mark Averill. “We know from research that these companies carry a big employee count, along with recruiting people from all over the world. With global recruitment comes people relocating from or to overseas.”
And that’s where Bombardier came in. Like Portixol, the train maker has its UK base in Derby and Mark wondered whether there were any opportunities there. Using the skills learned during his LinkedIn workshop, he contacted a head of HR at Bombardier.
“The funny thing is that I originally wanted to see how our local train maker Bombardier moved employees but it led to something even bigger,” explained Mark. “The head of HR very kindly responded and told me that a global relocation company looked after all their moves and that would be a good place to start.”

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Portixol’s Mark Averill being interviewed by Status Social’s Mark Saxby at a business event.

Mark then hunted through LinkedIn for the head of, or supply chain manager, at the global relocation company and found someone who appeared to be the best person to speak to. After sending a personalised message and having an introductory conversation, the Portixol team were invited to their head office in London. They were told that although Bombardier relocations was not on offer, would they be interested in doing the relocations for an international car manufacturer in the West Midlands instead?

More opportunities

Portixol became the preferred relocation specialist for the car maker and the global relocation company, looking after all new recruits coming from overseas.
Portixol director, Carl Bridge, said Mark’s LinkedIn approach led to even more opportunities.
“Since winning this work in the West Midlands, Portixol has worked with the motor manufacturer in other parts of the country,” he said. “This led to talks with internal investment organisations, major banks and relocation programmes across the UK.”
portixol-one-1-768x512Mark says the impact the deal had on Portixol Relocations has been enormous:
“This has meant growth for us here at Portixol, taking on three new recruits in the past few months. It all started with a bit of digging around on LinkedIn, finding the right connection and asking for a short introduction.”
Find out more how Status Social can help you use LinkedIn to generate leads through our LinkedIn training or LinkedIn management.
This article was originally published in May 2016 and brought right up to date in March 2019.

How Marketing Derby got to number one on Twitter

How do you sell a city? Getting businesses to set up in your location, bringing investment and jobs, can be a tough ask. With so many locations to choose from, companies can have their pick and social media can be a powerful weapon when it comes to promoting your city.
So when Marketing Derby was named as the top Twitter users in the field of inward investment in a recent report, it was a vital sign of social media success.
The Breeze UK Inward Investment Social Media Index looked back over 2013 and concluded Marketing Derby’s use of Twitter was the best they had seen:
“Marketing Derby achieved top place thanks to their very high scores across all metrics; good use of retweets, mentions and hashtags; use of pictures and videos in tweets; and the way that they adopt a good balance between informality and professionalism.”
Social Media Tip 4
 
 
Status Social began working with Marketing Derby in early 2012, training the team in how to be effective on social media. Digital marketing executive Robbie Jones ran Marketing Derby’s accounts:
Twitter Marketing Derby“Status Social introduced us to different techniques on Twitter which has increased followers and engagement levels. Tweeting images and videos, as well as questions has really boosted our Twitter standing and is something we wouldn’t have done if it wasn’t for Status Social’s ideas.”
75 regional and local investment teams were investigated for the Breeze report, focusing on their use of Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. As well as coming number one on Twitter, Marketing Derby were named third overall for social media use.
Robbie Jones says the key to the success was trying out new things.
“Taking on Status Social’s points, we’ve experimented on all our social media accounts. Trying out different words and phrases, times of posts and post topics – it’s important to keep finding ways of improving your accounts and the learning never stops.”
LinkedIn Marketing DerbyThe Breeze report used a number of metrics when deciding the best Twitter user, including quality of account design, number of followers (weighted against population size), number of followers from the inward investment community, frequency of tweets and amount of engagement.
But what about quantifiable success in bringing in investment for Derby? Robbie Jones says that Marketing Derby are seeing promising signs.
“During our Derby Property Summit in May last year, we worked out the gross audience that saw our tweets topped 2.3 million. In the business we are in, it could take 2-3 years before we see the benefit of doing the show let alone the social media around it!
“As long as we keep spreading the positive vibe about Derby, investment and/or companies will come to the city. Social media has become one of our most vital tools in promoting the city of Derby and telling people just what a good city they live in!”
If you want to know how Status Social can help you with your social media call us on 01332 776910 or email us.
 

How to use LinkedIn to attract big business

So what do you do? It’s a common question in the world of business and I used to struggle to give an answer that summarised my job. “I do social media”, I used to reply, but it never seemed a very satisfactory answer. So now my answer isn’t what I do for a job, it’s what I can do for the person asking.
I was asked this question at an event in Derby recently. My answer: “I help businesses make money from social media.” The person who asked the question was one of the top people in sport in the East Midlands and he looked surprised. “Can you really make money from social media?” he asked.
Social Media Tip 1You can, but social media often works best is where it’s mixed with events outside social media. Sometimes I identify a business I really want to work with and social media becomes part of my strategy to get that opportunity. LinkedIn is one of the strongest networks for doing this.
There was one particular organisation that we identified early on as being significant for the growth of Status Social. They are well known in Derby, have influence amongst other businesses, and they have an ethos of enthusing about others – so I targeted them.
I had met the top man of the organisation a year or so earlier at an event so I sent him a LinkedIn connection request, pointing out I’d looked at his social media and I could see room for development. I had no idea whether he even remembered me.
starbucks-frappuccinoHe replied within a few days. He was interested in what I had to say and invited me for a coffee in Starbucks. But in the meantime, he said, can we continue this conversation away from LinkedIn because he was more comfortable using email? Fair enough.
I met him for coffee, I sent him a proposal and he hired us to train him and his staff how to use social media to achieve his business objectives. Two years later that training session has led to us working with a variety of organisations, including a city university and tourist board.
So how did that contract come about? Event. LinkedIn. Email. Starbucks. Proposal. Booking. A real mix of strategic social media use and real life. When it comes to achieving your business goals, ask yourself, where does social media fit into the chain?
One of our clients is the Derby Conference Centre. Its sales manager Mark Averill has really embraced social media. He recognised how using LinkedIn alongside information available away from social media could lead to a great opportunity with clothes retailer TK Maxx…

Want to know more about how we can help you attract big business through LinkedIn? Then check out our LinkedIn training.

Is there a direct link between social media and sales?

“We picked up a five figure new contract through LinkedIn within a week of Status Social’s training.”
The words of Don Powell from Certax Accounting in Derby. Yet is there really a direct link between social media and increased sales? What did Don do that was so powerful and effective?
This article appears in the latest issue of Agenda magazine.
Don followed our advice and rewrote his LinkedIn profile to make it findable on Google – and a potential client found him.
Sometimes social media marketing can be as simple as optimising your social media presence and then knowing how to respond when people get in contact with you. But there are many ways to use social media to drive sales.
Blogging can be one of the most effective social media tools available – our blog about the use of social media by the Williams Formula 1 team generated 600 hits in just 24 hours. The following day we had an enquiry from a Formula 1 sports management team in California asking for social media training.
Getting past the gatekeeper
The ability to get past gatekeepers is another way social media can be powerful. One of our clients in the insurance sector was repeatedly fobbed off by a potential customer’s personal assistant. So instead he turned to LinkedIn, contacted the director directly, and got his business that way.
Visit Cleethorpes social mediaStatus Social runs the social media for the Visit Cleethorpes brand, primarily using Facebook, Twitter and blogging. The tourist trade in the resort has recorded increased trade through the social media campaign – hotels have seen new bookings and more people have turned up for events.
As one fan tweeted: “If it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t have known about the Sea View Street Christmas shopping nights despite living two blocks away!”
How to be successful
Director of Status Social Kerry Saxby says the success stories have one thing in common – a knowledge of how to use social media well.
“If you want to be successful with your social media, getting training is vital. We believe that for most businesses, they can run their own social media effectively if they have the knowledge.
“There are some who want to outsource but if you do that, make sure there is a strong strategy with your target audience at the heart of everything you do.
“Do we believe there a direct link between social media and increased sales? Absolutely!”
Want help ensuring your social media is bringing in leads and sales then email us or call us on 01332 776910