4 Benefits Of Social Media Marketing For Small Businesses

4 benefits of social media marketing for small businesses

These days it’s very hard to find a holistic marketing strategy that doesn’t involve social media.

However that being said, what actually are the benefits of having social media channels for your small business? Building a social media presence for a brand certainly isn’t a quick and easy job – in fact it demands a lot of time and a whole lot of effort. So in the end, is it really worth it?

The short answer: yes. There are one hundred and one benefits of social media marketing for small businesses. To sum it up, here are 4 main benefits of social media marketing for a small business that are sure to get you thinking.

1. Social media increases brand awareness and customer loyalty.

Having social media channels for your brand gives you more opportunity to give your brand a voice and personality. When you develop and humanize your brand in this way, it makes you much more accessible to customers and unveils the opportunity for connections and customer loyalty. After all, people like doing business with other people, not necessarily companies. Additionally, having your brand’s presence across multiple social media channels makes you more familiar and recognizable. A customer may be better acquainted with your brand after seeing your social media presence. For example, you might create a high-quality piece of content that will be shared by your followers for others to see, who may not have otherwise known about your brand.

2. Social media can help increase website traffic and enhance SEO rankings.

This point really speaks for itself – without social media, traffic to your site is limited to those already familiar with your brand and individuals searching for the keywords you currently rank for. So without it, it can be difficult for potential customers to find you and become familiar with your brand. Each of your social media channels are a new path leading back to your website – and that is why it is so important to produce quality content on your channels as opposed to just having it for the sake of it. The more social media shares you receive as a result of producing quality content, the higher your search ranking will be.

Social signals now factor as an indicator in search rankings, and so being active on social media, engaging and producing quality content indicates to search engines that your brand is credible.

3. Social media allows you to get to know your customers.

Using social media gives you the opportunity to gain valuable insights about your audience and potential customers. Being able to see this behaviour is extremely valuable information to have as a brand. You will be able to monitor things such as comments to see what people think directly. Also, using tools such as Facebook Insights and Twitter Analytics (see here for a few more) for example, gives you the opportunity to see what type of content you are producing generates the most interest. In turn, this gives you the chance to strategically plan your content as per this behaviour.

4. Social media allows you to do all of the above with little to no budget.

Building brand awareness and increasing traffic to your website while producing quality content and engaging with your customers can be achieved at very little to no cost with the help of social media marketing. The key is to start small and not feel overwhelmed with the likes of advertising through Facebook and Twitter (which is relatively cheap). Once you get the hang of it, you can increase your budget how and when you like – so you’ll never have to worry about overspending. And in correspondence, you’ll see an increase on your conversion rates.

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Airline Baggage Comparison

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Everyone loves going on a  holiday but we’ll guarantee that absolutely NO ONE enjoys the hassle of luggage.

Whether it’s packing luggage, booking your luggage, carrying luggage, checking in luggage or waiting anxiously for it to arrive on the baggage carousel – there’s nothing fun about luggage.

The worst part, however, is the confusion that it causes. When it comes to luggage, no two airlines have the same regulations. Allowances vary greatly from airline to airline, as do check-in prices and those dreaded excess baggage fees.

The task of booking a holiday – which should be a fun and exciting one – is easily soured when you’re faced with the prospect of organising your luggage.

Airline Baggage Comparison by My Baggage

So, enter luggage shipping company My Baggage!

My Baggage has come to the rescue of all stressed out travellers and holiday makers by providing a useful and easily digestible airline baggage guide.

My Baggage provides key details from all the major airlines on weight allowances, checked baggage fees and excess baggage charges.

Searching for these details online can be a bit of a minefield, so My Baggage has solved the problem by outlining only the important details – the stuff you NEED to know before booking luggage on a flight.

You can access My Baggage’s Airline Baggage Guide by clicking this link.

Or go directly to each airline page by clicking the links below

 

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NI Parcels Christmas Closing Dates And Contact Information

Opening Hours and Contact Details

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from everyone at NI Parcels!

We just wanted to give you some information about our Christmas closing dates, as well as some contact details for the couriers, should you need them.

NI Parcels Christmas Closing Dates

Below you’ll find all the information regarding our opening hours during the holiday period. You can also see on which days collection and delivery will be taking place. 

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PLEASE NOTE: You can still place a booking on our website on ANY of these dates.

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Contact information:

You can contact our office from 9am – 6pm on any of the days we are open, listed above. However, if you need to get in touch when our offices are closed, please find direct contact details for our couriers below:

NI Parcels Express/ Economy: Please call 0844 248 0844 and have your Collection Request number at hand. This number is accessed by logging into My Orders and selecting ‘track’.

Parcelforce: Click this link and use your postcode to find the number for your local depot. Have your tracking number to hand. This can be found in your emails from NI Parcels. It begins with two letters, followed by seven numbers.

DPD: Click here to find the number for your local depot. Have your CR 101 number to hand. This can be found by logging into your account and clicking ‘track’.

Captain Courier: Please call 028 9043 9333 and provide your address details.

City Air Express: Please call 028 9078 1878 and provide your reference number, which begins with NIP and can be found in your emails or by logging into your account.

We hope you’ve had a great year. Thank you so much for using NI Parcels and we hope we can help again in 2016.

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Revealed – How Much Do Northern Irish People Spend On Christmas Presents?

northern ireland christmas

A few weeks ago, NI Parcels carried out some research among our customers and followers to determine how much Northern Irish people spend on Christmas presents.

And here are the results…

The research revealed that Northern Irish people will collectively spend £4.8 million on Christmas presents this year.

We found that a Northern Irish person will spend on average £433 on Christmas gifts for approximately nine people.

The results highlighted the generous spirit of locals, as 94% of respondents said that they would rather give presents than receive.

However, despite the benevolent nature of NI, 33% of those with friends and relatives abroad said they would not be sending Christmas presents overseas for their loved ones this year.

Our Managing Director at NI Parcels, Paul Stewart, explained that although this figure is noticeably high, it’s unsurprising.

He said: “Expensive international delivery rates and slow delivery times often deter individuals from sending presents abroad.

“This is unfortunate as most people have loved ones living in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, America or elsewhere and simply can’t afford to send parcels across the world by traditional means and wait weeks for them to arrive.”

This year, however, NI Parcels are hoping to solve this problem. Paul continues: “NI Parcels is offering low international shipping rates and express delivery times to over 200 countries worldwide.

“We’re hoping this gives people the opportunity to send presents abroad in time for Christmas and help them save a considerable amount in doing so.”

Click here to find out more about our Christmas Delivery Cut Off Dates.

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Find out more about us…

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NI Parcels Supports Cash For Kids – Mission Christmas

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This Christmas, NI Parcels is supporting the charity Cash For Kids by offering free collection and delivery on donations made to them.

Cash For Kids charity launched ‘Mission Christmas’  earlier this December- asking people to buy an extra present this year to donate to a young person, living in poverty.

Here at NI Parcels, we want to make it as easy as possible for you to donate, so if you have a present you would like to send, we will collect and deliver it for FREE.

We are offering free collection and delivery all this week. Book as early as possible to ensure we can collect your donation.

In the UK, 1 in 3 children are living in poverty. This is your chance to make their Christmas a little brighter. Cash For Kids are looking for unwrapped gifts for young people aged 0-18. These gifts can be of any value.

If you’d like to donate, all you need to do is complete the two following steps.

Step One: Simply fill in the form below.

Step Two: Click the link below the form to download your label. Print this label and attach it to your item.

We will then collect your gift from your home or business address in Northern Ireland and deliver it to Cash For Kids, completely free of charge.

Please ensure that your present is no heavier than 20kg and no longer than 1m in length.

Thank you for helping make a difference and if you have any questions, please email us on [email protected] or call us on 028 9503 0115.

Get more information about Cash For Kids – Mission Christmas here.

Step One:

Step Two: CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR LABELS

 

 

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Power of PR

Back in September last year My Baggage which is NI Parcels sister company launched a service called VIF. My Baggage is a student shipping company.

Uni Baggage offered students the opportunity to travel to University in style, via private jet, rolls royce and may more options.

You can read more about the My Baggage VIF service here.

The Power of PR

 

My Baggage decided to take the opportunity of launching this new service to tell the world about the VIF service and also the normal My Baggage student shipping service. They issued a press release and got coverage in almost every national press outlet in the UK.

A few of the news outlets that picked it up:

Traffic to the My Baggage website went though the roof as did sales of the normal My Baggage shipping service.

This simple campaign goes to show that traditional PR is still a very powerful medium to use in your marketing tool box (if you get it right). It can be used by both small and large businesses. My Baggage and NI Parcels both use PR nationally and locally to raise awareness of its brands.

Resources:

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Competition: Win A Christmas Hamper!

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Enter our competition to win a MASSIVE care package for someone you love, this Christmas!

To enter, visit this post on our Facebook page and  LIKE, SHARE and TAG the person you would send it to in the comments section!

If you have friends or family members living abroad, this is the perfect Christmas present to let them know you’re thinking about them and give them a little reminder of home – as it’s filled with loads of Northern Irish goodies!

A winner will be chosen at random and announced on our Facebook page on Monday 30th November and we will send the care package ANYWHERE in the world for them.

Good luck and get entering!

If you need to send a parcel this Christmas, NI Parcels can help! Find out more.

Christmas Parcel Delivery Dates (1)


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NI Parcels – Refer A Friend

Refer a friend to get £20 added to your NI Parcels account…

Simply enter your friend’s details below and once they’ve made three orders with us, we’ll notify you via email and add £20 to your account with NI Parcels.

Fill out my online form.
Online contact and registration forms from Wufoo.

Thank You!

 

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NI Parcels – Christmas Present Survey

gift santa

People of Northern Ireland – we need your opinion…

We want to know how you feel about Christmas presents!

Just answer the quick questions below and you’ll be automatically entered into a draw to win a £25 Amazon gift voucher. The winner will be notified via email on Wednesday 18th November.

Thank you!

 

If you’re having trouble completing the form, please click here.

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Christmas Parcel Delivery Cut Off Dates

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Do you have a special delivery this Christmas?

If so, please take note of our Christmas delivery cut off dates, to ensure that your parcel arrives on time.

Sending Parcels This Christmas

When sending a parcel in December, we recommend booking early and allowing for one extra day to prevent any delays which may occur.

Delays are very rare; the vast majority of our parcels arrive on their expected dates. However, as you can imagine, Christmas is a very busy period for the delivery drivers and as they are snowed under (pardon the pun) with shipments this can increase the chance of a delay.

Christmas Send By Dates

Below are our recommended send by dates, to ensure that your parcel arrives in time for Christmas. You may send a parcel after these dates, right up until 23rd December, however we can not guarantee that it will arrive before the big day.

Express/Economy Services

Next Day Services   – 18th Dec

48 hr / 2 day services – 17th Dec

2 – 3 day services – 16th Dec

3 – 5 day services – 15th Dec

Timed Services

Express 12.00 Service – 22nd Dec

Each of our couriers do have their own individual cut off dates. You can find more information on their own websites. Parcelforce.com, DPD.co.uk, Fedex.com, Captaincourier.co.uk, Cityairexpress.com  

 International Parcel Delivery This Christmas

You can send parcels within Northern Ireland, to ROI, mainland UK and worldwide with us this Christmas. If you’d like to send a parcel abroad this December, you can read our information on international Christmas deliveries.

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Learn more:

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