WHAT TO IMPROVE IN 2015? EMAIL, SOCIAL MEDIA AND DIGITAL PLATFORMS!

The New Year tends to represent change and new opportunities; starting fresh. This week, our three favourite communications and PR tips and stories all revolve around ideas and suggestions you can use going into 2015. From ways to improve the usage of your social media platforms, to debunking email myths and 2015 digital trends, it’s all waiting for you below!

Social Media:

As 2014 comes to an end it’s always a good idea to see what needs to be changed or improved upon for the next year; this includes social media. Here are five ways to improve your social media platforms for 2015.

1. Be smarter with your posting.

• Don’t rush to update your Facebook page or Twitter account; it’s important to think your posts through.

2. Don’t cross-post from Facebook to Twitter or vice versa.

• It’s not a good idea to cross-post from Twitter to Facebook because it shows you don’t care about your audience, your message or even your brand.

3. Don’t be so “salesy.”

• A smart business strategy involves posts that speak to fans, not ones that sell to them.

4. Take the time to understand your audience.

• Don’t look at followers as numbers. View everyone as a prospect.

5. Plan ahead.

• A posting plan is something that brand managers and organizations should have.

“5 ways to handle social media better in 2015” (PR Daily)

Email Myths:

Matthew Bellows, CEO of email tracking software company Yesware says most of us spend more than a quarter of our workday sending and receiving messages. Instead of struggling to keep up he says we should be using it more efficiently. Bellows tested the top five myths against an analysis of 500,000 emails to figure out what’s true and what’s false:

1. The best day of the week to send an email is Monday or Tuesday: False

• There is no best day of the workweek to send an email.
• The trick is to send emails on a Saturday or Sunday, when there is less competition in the inbox.

2. The best time of day to send an email is early morning: Partially True

• Best time to send an email is between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. or after 8 p.m.; more likely to get a response.
• The smallest number of replies is received between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., but that’s when the majority of emails are sent out.

3. Email subject lines should be brief: False

• The length of your subject line has no correlation to the chance of it being opened or replied to.

4. Adding multiple recipients in the “to” field will increase your chance of receiving a response: True

• Your email should have one recipient in the “To” field and one recipient in the “CC” field; puts social pressure on the ‘To’ person.

5. If you don’t hear back, wait a few days: False

• The study found that 99% of emails that receive responses are replied to within one day of being received.
• Send a follow-up email the next day; it gives you an additional 21% chance of getting a reply.

“5 Email Myths You Should Stop Believing” (Fast Company)

Digital Trends:

The New Year is around the corner, so Bell Pottinger Digital (a full service international communications company) analyzed the most talked about digital trends of 2014. They ranked them in order of percentage increase throughout the year. You can look through the infographic provided in the link below to get an idea of what technologies are expected to make the most impact in 2015.

“Infographic: 15 Digital Trends to Watch in 2015” (PR News)

Thought of the week:

“It’s hard to fail, but worse never to have tried to succeed.” – Theodore Roosevelt

From the whole CASACOM team we want to wish everyone a very Happy Holiday season and a prosperous New Year!