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10 Things Your Business Can Learn From Star Wars

By Zaf Sedat

USING THE FORCE

Every year on the 4th of May, fans worldwide celebrate Star Wars Day, with the pun ‘May the fourth be with you’ coming from the successful catchphrase from the series.

You may have never considered it, but business and Star Wars are similar in many ways.

If you think about it, you can see the Rebel Alliance as a small business in a world where the larger corporations rule. The Empire has power and resources while the Alliance has to depend on other things. As we start a new business most of us have only ourselves to depend on and we don’t have a lot of resources or power.

Here are some of the things start-ups and companies can learn from the Star Wars universe.

Believe in yourself

Star Wars fans out there will remember when Luke Skywalker was in the murky swamp with Yoda and he struggled with accepting that he had the Force within him. As long as he didn’t truly believe in himself, he couldn’t succeed.

The same goes for you and your start-up. You have to believe you have the Force, the power to start a business and to make a difference.

Luke was raised by kind people, but he didn’t know who he was and what his potential was and the same goes for a lot of us. We meander about in life not knowing truly who we are and what we are able to achieve.

But when we start believing in ourselves great things can happen. As with Luke when he lifted the X-Wing out of the swamp.

Know your strengths and weaknesses

Luke Skywalker is emotional but “the force is strong.”

The Emperor was clever but didn’t understand the power of paternal love.

Princess Leia is clever but sometimes reckless.

When we start a business, it is wise to evaluate where your strengths lie. Sometimes it might take a while to truly understand yourself but when we do it will help us in our start-ups or new business by teaching us how to avoid mistakes. The Galactic Empire saw only their own strengths and not their weaknesses and, in the end, they were defeated.

Don’t join the dark side

Celebrate uniqueness

Customers, clients and employees bring their own skill to the business. To grow a business, we need to accept and celebrate this.

Don’t build a Death Star!!

It’s vital to be flexible and adaptable to changing circumstances. You should always consider alternatives to your course of action and develop multiple plans for achieving particular goals in case your plans don’t pan out. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. If an approach doesn’t seem to work, change direction.

Accept failure and learn from your mistakes

What did everybody learn from Darth Vader’s punishment of Admiral Ozzel? No one will ever give any suggestions and will be afraid of telling the leader anything for fear of making a mistake. And also, that if your superior fails, you will be promoted.

Have clear vision for your goal

If you know what your goal is, you will be able to inspire others to join you. The goals of the Rebel Alliance were simple, powerful and straightforward: Bring down the Galactic Empire, restore the Republic, and give people back their individual freedoms. How clear are yours?

Just do it!

Yoda says it better than anyone. “Do. Or do not. There is no Try.”

We often say; I will try. But as Yoda says maybe there is no try. Maybe we should just do it or not do it. Instead of using energy for countless tries we should just go ahead and do it, regardless of whether we are sure we are capable. Sometimes, I get the feeling we use the expression “I will try” as an excuse to not do our best. When we just go ahead and do it, we will have the opportunity to either succeed or fail. If we succeed, we will be joyous and if we fail, we will learn from our mistakes.

Use the Force

Believe all humans carry a Force inside. This Force is what keeps us going when things are tough. To start a new business is not easy and you will have more than one moment when you wonder if this ever will work. You will have moments when you consider quitting what you have started.

When you feel like this, you should reach inside yourself and use your Force to keep going.

6 reasons you need social media marketing for your hospitality business

You’re aware that many businesses in your sector have jumped on the social media marketing bandwagon and are using it as part of their marketing strategy. You see them posting pretty photos of their guests, food, and facilities. You’ve probably set up your own Facebook page which you half-heartedly post to every few weeks, but you’re still not convinced that it could trump traditional advertising you’ve been using for years and should be taken seriously. You’re scratching your head as to why you should bother investing any time and resources in it.

If you’re not taking social media marketing for your hospitality business seriously, here’s why you should:

1. More visibility

Daily active social media use continues to grow. 75% of male internet users and 83% of females internet users are on Facebook and 81% of millennials check Twitter daily. Fewer people are watching television and reading print media. Social media is not just a place where you can watch cute cat videos or upload your latest meal. It has become a part of our day-to-day lives with people turning to social media for entertainment, education, breaking news, connecting with people and researching products and services. Social media channels allow you to be visible and to reach people using more dynamic content like video, live streaming, and Instant Messenger.

Source: http://lillianjamescreative.com/top-four-2017-social-media-trends/

ThinkWithGoogle reports that 49% of all hotel searches take place on a mobile device. Make sure that you can be found when customers search. Make sure not only that you can be found, but that the content you put out is current, informative and engaging

2. You’re reaching customers where they are

By 2020, it is estimated that there will be 5.7 billion mobile subscribers, representing a mobile phone penetration rate of 73%. Think about how many times a day you take your mobile phone out and all the things you use it for throughout the day, including checking your social media. Whether you’re home or on the move, your mobile device is pretty much by your side constantly. Chances are that you are reading this on a mobile device. Our mobile phones are an extension of ourselves, so why not make sure that your business can be found there. Not only should your website be mobile-friendly, but your social media pages should be up-to-date, engaging and entertaining.

Come and talk to us about your hospitality business' social media marketing at Restauran Tech Live. Click the banner for your FREE ticket. — Come and talk to us about your hospitality business’ social media marketing at Restaurant Tech Live. Click the banner for your FREE ticket.

3. People trust online reviews

‘’Hotels that responded to more than 50% of social reviews grew occupancy rates by 6.4%, more than twice the rate of properties that largely ignored social media reviews. ‘’ (source: http://www.hotelsmag.com/)

Reviews play an important part in helping people decide whether to book a table at your restaurant or a session at your spa. Review sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor are becoming people’s go-to before they make that final decision.

Many hospitality businesses shy away from review sites, fearing that any negative or maliciously false reviews in the public domain may harm the business, however, careful damage control and smart handling of complaints and less than complimentary reviews could actually count in your favour Ignoring negative reviews reviews before booking their table, room, flight or holiday

4. Convenience

Where before, a person would pick up the phone or visit a travel agent to book a dinner reservation, a hotel room or a holiday, nowadays, people want the convenience of booking with one click while they’re on the go, without the hassle of being passed around from one department to another or being made to wait in a call waiting queue. More than ever, people are using their devices to make bookings.

5. More direct, personalised targeting

Think about how much information the average person shares on social media, not only through what they post, but what pages they like and interact with. Users share where they live, what type of job they have and work, how many children they have, what their hobbies are what kind of restaurants and holidays they enjoy. Facebook and Google metrics allow you to go after your target audience based on their behaviour online.

Social media provides an opportunity to provide a more personalised by communicating through a mobile device which is an extension of a person.

Come and talk to us about your hospitality business' social media marketing at Restaurant Tech Live. Click the banner for your FREE ticket. — Come and talk to us about your hospitality business’ social media marketing at Restaurant Tech Live. Click the banner for your FREE ticket.

6. It’s Instant

Social media allows you to respond instantly and directly to queries. Not only that, you could probably have a look at the customer’s profile quickly to find out a little more about them before responding. Artifical Intelligence can play a part in how you respond to customers. Facebook has introduced bots for Instant messaging which could revolutionise

7. Bonus reason….Your competitors are on it!

Need we say more?

How mc square can help

Find out how you’re doing. Sign up for a FREE social media health check and we’ll let you know how well you’re doing and give you tips and feedback on how you could do even better.

It’s not enough to get the youngest chef in your restaurant or bar to do it because they know their way around Instagram and Snapchat. Social media involves research, knowledge of how algorithms and Facebook advertising works, analytical expertise and strategic marketing skills. Contact mc square marketing to find out how we can help you manage your channels, so you can concentrate on running your business.

If you prefer to do your social media management in-house, we’re happy to sit down with you and devise a training program for your staff so they learn to do it correctly. We also keep up to date with new trends and developments in the fast-paced world of social media marketing, so you’re always ahead of your competition. Contact us to find out more about how we can help you do social media marketing for your hospitality business correctly.

Facebook Video Marketing Done Right

Unless you’ve been living off the grid these last few years, you will have noticed that videos are all over social media. Whether it’s friends posting a Facebook live rant, your favourite food blogger sharing a ‘how to make…’ tutorial or your teenager uploading Snaps or Insta stories all day, you can’t deny that video is everywhere!

Facebook users rack up 100 million hours of daily video watch time with experts predicting that by the end of this year, 74% of all internet of all internet traffic will come from video. Cisco predicts that video will make up 82% of the content we consume online by the year 2020.

What this tells us is that social video and Facebook video marketing in particular, should (if it’s not already) be part of your social media marketing startegy.

Here are a few tips to make sure it’s done right:

Content is king

Remember that people are constantly scrolling through their timelines looking for something that might interest or entertain them. In order to catch their eye use compelling visuals and make sure your video is entertaining.

If Content is King, Search is Queen

There are millions of users putting out video content daily. How do you make sure yours does not get lost in the noise? Optimise your video for search using relevant keywords for your content in your video tags, script, title, description and thumbnail. Make sure your titles are catchy and original and that your thumbnails stand out.

Hook ’em

People generally tend to give a video 3 – 7 seconds before deciding whether to continue watching or not. Make those 3 -7 seconds count. Get your message in early or use those first few seconds on something compelling that will make them want to keep going.

Short and Sweet

Keep your video under 60 seconds. With so much entertaining content to choose from, people’s attention spans are getting shorter and shorter.

Tell a story

People respond best to a story where you start off showing a struggle followed by some sort of triumph. Make sure your videos tell a story. Find out what your target market’s pain points are and show how you can help them overcome those.

Shhh…keep it quiet!

Remember that your audience are probably checking their social media at work, on a crowded train or anywhere else public where they watching on mute might preferable. In fact, research shows that 85% of Facebook videos are watched without sound. Make sure your videos are easy to watch and easy to understand without sound. If your videos have speech, use Facebook’s own closed captions tool when uploading your video.

Re-use & recycle

Cross post your video to your other platforms including your website. Instagram and Snapchat stories are also a great source of content that can be shared to other platforms. Just save them to your smart phone and repurpose them onto another platform.

Pay to Play

Proud of your video? Why not show it off to an even larger audience through paid promotion. Boost the video or use Facebook Ad Manager. Remember though that Facebook Video ads work best for collecting viewer date for retargeting in future campaigns, rather than for conversion goals or for driving traffic to a landing page. This is because you would be splitting activity between clicking to watch the video and clicking through to the landing page. Very important to keep in mind!

We’ll be sharing more tips soon on how you can boost your views for Facebook Live video. Scroll down and sign up to get notified when we share new tips and articles to help you grow your business.

Learn how to harness the power of Referral Marketing to grow your business at our next workshop.

mc square work hard, play hard in Malta!

MC SQUARE WORK HARD, PLAY HARD IN MALTA!

We’ve been dropping cheeky hints to Michael our MD, for ages about moving mc square headquarters to his country of birth Malta. This year, he finally took us up on our challenge by surprising our team with a week’s work trip to the beautiful Mediterranean Island. This was not only going to be a team building exercise, but an opportunity to brainstorm ideas and new strategies to develop and take mc square marketing to the next level.

We stayed in the beautifully charming village of Naxxar at Malta Haven, Michael and Mari’s lovely 3-bedroom holiday apartment. The terrace views were to die for and perfect for out door entertaining, oops working!

Mornings started early, like any other work day with a run or yoga followed by breakfast and then work on client’s social media accounts.

Lunch was a lovely, light Mediterranean spread of “Gbejniet” traditional Maltese cheeses and crusty bread, cold meats, fresh vegetables & fruit, olives and a traditional Maltese spread called “Bigilla” (drooling just thinking about it) that we absolutely fell in love with!

The afternoons were our time to enjoy the best of Maltese sunshine and sit on the roof terrace to work on mc square. This was our time to collectively come up with ideas on how to take the business forward and how to enhance our existing service, experience and product offer for our clients. Michael started the week by sharing his learnings from his recent trips to the USA, particularly his business development programme with Asentiv. He also took the time to find out from each member of staff what our personal and career objectives are and how he, Mari and the company could help each of us achieve these over time. This was a wonderful way to bond as a team as well as contribute to the future and growth of the company.

We also invited Keno Ogbo, our expert Web Developer on our trip, which helped us understand how we can further integrate our online / digital strategies for our clients. This included developing our Sales Funnel processes and creating Landing Pages that convert into leads from our Facebook Advertising we manage for our clients.

We’re glad to say we’ve come away having achieved a hell of a lot, including setting out the following:

– improved and more efficient ways of working to be bale to give even more for our clients

– new services and packages for that are going to help existing and new clients work achieve the results they want. This included a greater focus on Social Media Coaching and for Michael Cuschieri to develop his public speaking and Referral Marketing Training programme

– ways in which each team member can utilise their individual talents to successfully grow mc square and help our clients grow their businesses

– a clearer VISION for mc square and ways of achieving our goals

We would like to thank Mari and Michael for planning and organising this fabulous mc square Malta experience. It was an AMAZING experience, one that we will never forget and one that we will always cherish. We thoroughly encourage business owners or employees, to ask your boss to take time to work “ON the business, not just IN the business”! We’re now waiting to hear dates of our next trip!

Of course, we couldn’t visit Malta and leave without seeing the best of what the island had to offer, and Michael and Mari were wonderful hosts and tour guides.

Here are some photographs from our week in Malta!

Enjoy!

Tadiwa & Shirin

Taking a break from work in the beautiful town of Valetta

These Maltese pastries were worth the extra pounds of weight gained

A beautiful view of Naxxar at night form the Malta Haven roof top

We couldn’t leave without posing to take a photo with our hero Einstein

Talking mc square strategy on the beach. Not a bad office view…

So…is your Marketing working? Do you need help? Contact us and let’s work together to get you the results you need.

What’s hot in Social Media Marketing? #SMMW16

Social Media Marketing World 2016
San Diego

WOW – yet another amazing SMMW conference hearing from the experts and meeting like-minded professionals in the digital and social media industry.

Following a long flight to San Diego courtesy or Virgin Atlantic and Delta Airways the learning soon began with pre conference workshops on Sunday afternoon. I chose to attend a session on “How to create videos on your mobile device that your audience will watch and share”. Some great tips on how to capture better filming, use of light and depth of focus. Introduced me to the Filmic app which helps you shoot better films too. Now need to practice!

The official conference then kicked off in true social media style with a networking event on the USS Midway with over 3000 (only 42 from the UK!!!) delegates enjoying the food, drink, entertainment, including flight simulators and tours of the ship itself. For those not used to networking the Networking Bingo Card game was a great way and opportunity to meet lots of new people and sharing experience and knowledge.

The conference then kicked off the following morning with Mike Stelzner from Social Media Examiner sharing his findings from a recent survey they carried out. Some of these I have highlighted in my overview paper for you to download. Next we hit the road running with the streams of workshop sessions, 10 running at any one time!!!! This is where decisions had to be made as to which to attend. My plan was to focus on what I believed would benefit our clients to ensure we continue to add value and get them results.

The topics we chose were also in line with what I believed were the key MKT’s – Must Know Takeaways from the whole of the conference:

– Live Video is the answer to success
– Snapchat is here
– You have to Pay to Play – Social Advertising
– Content Marketing is still alive

Throughout the conference we were lucky to hear from some amazing experts including Mari Smith, Gary Vaynerchuk, Kim Garst, Mark Schaefer, Jon Loomer, Rick Mulready, Ian Cleary…. To name just a few. We were also delighted to have managed to get one of the Keynote Speakers, Mark Schaefer do a LIVE BLAB with us back to the UK and my business coach Denyse Whilier. Once again thank you Mark for your valuable time and contribution. If you missed this, look out for our video recording due to be uploaded soon or go and see him live in Dublin in May – Book here

So if you asked me what my 4 MKTs were, they would be:

1 – LIVE VIDEO
This was by far the biggest message that was consistently projected or touched upon in most sessions. Last year it was about “Native Videos” on Facebook this year it was about the power of using “Live Video” to engage with your following or to use it to grow your “tribe”. It’s about “Video in real time, at the right time”

As Kim Garst put it “LIVE VIDEO plays a big part in the know like trust factor”. It’s all about building relationships and showing your real self and not worrying about the actual broadcast itself but the content and messages you are sharing.

Whilst Facebook Live is probably the biggest player in this arena so far, we are also seeing growth in use of BLAB too and of course Periscope is still alive and kicking, unlike our little Meerkat who has left the social playing field. Look out too for YouTube who are already trialling their “Live streaming” offer.

2 – SNAPCHAT
Well until the conference I was not 1 of the 100 million users already snapping away on this social media channel!

With the number of daily video views going from 2 Billion to 8 Billion in less than a year, we need to jump on this opportunity. The time is right to join now and start building your following. As Gary Vaynerchuk said “you need to go to where the attention is at its highest” and Snapchat is where it is for him at the moment. Other big brands are using this channel through having key influencers like SHonduras, ShaunAyala and celebrities like DJKhaled endorse or promote their products.

Whilst 77% of users are 18+ it’s not just for millennials and one thing we should not forget is that they will also grow to potentially become your future customers. We are also living in the moment and want to know what is happening now and Snapchat gives us a network for story telling on mobile device. Short quick visuals, video and messages that are live for only 24 hours

3 – SOCIAL ADVERTISING
Have you noticed that organic traffic on and to your website from Facebook, is down?

This could be due to Content over load, Bad content, Poor tracking or simply Facebook Algorithms. This is because we are now in a PAY TO PLAY arena.

Again here the focus was on Facebook advertising and video advertising and little mention of Twitter. The message was also about not just placing ads or boosting posts but about how to integrate it into your sales funnel process and trigger for Re targeting marketing. No surprise either, that Facebook Video Ads are also performing and delivering results for clients. Being clear on the objective of your advert and including great relevant video content that adds value to the viewer is key.

4 – CONTENT MARKETING
Mark Schaefer, Michael Stelzner and Mitch Joel discussed at length whether there was a future for Content Marketing and Mark rightly stated that we have to adapt, so what was marketing content 2 years ago is dead, but it has now been replaced with different type of content marketing or channels to put your content on.

I totally agree with the team and what was also highlighted was that it’s not just about the numbers but also having the right people in that audience you are talking to. With organic reach falling it is also clear that our audiences are shrinking so engaging with key influencers is growing in importance, together with having a clear content marketing plan in the first place. Then you can decide on the appropriate channels to communicate through.

Mark Shaefer’s final keynote session to close the conference was likewise focused on both ROI of Social media and content marketing. I particularly liked his comment saying that “Content is the starting line not the finishing line” and can totally relate to the fact that “85% of people say reading content that other people share helps them understand and process brand information and events”. We really do value our friends’ opinions and continue to base buying decisions on this.

His final point to close the conference was all about what do we need to do to stand out in this noisy world?

He put it simply to “Be more human! It will create the awareness and gain loyalty”

A fantastic way to end 3 full on days of learning from the experts and now our goal is to put this into action for our social media management clients. You too can find out more about the key learnings by downloading my detailed white paper, full of notes from the sessions attended at the conference. Simply click here for access.

We will also be sharing more of our MKTs, top tips and ideas on our “Einstein’s Formulas to Success” group on Facebook so come along and join Einstein’s tribe. We’ll keep you up to date with the latest news and tips to help with marketing your business or organisation with guest speakers appearing and sharing their knowledge too. Join here

We met back up with people from last year’s conference and made some more new amazing friends too. Even met up with a fellow BNI member from Vermont, friends from Australia, Toronto, New Jersey, New Zealand, to name a few and a people from the UK too.