An amazing TED Talk interview with Gwynne Shotwell President and COO of Space X talking about reaching Mars within the next decade and using the Big Rocket Falcon for people to travel point to point around the world within 30 minutes, again this will be a reality within a decade.

Other than the increase in numbers on every platform, Netflix saw a huge increase from the 2017 numbers, reflecting the ongoing search for "great content" to capture the attention of customers 60 seconds at a time.

Also note the increase in Voice first devices being shipped by Amazon. This will continue to increase rapidly.

Thanks to the creators of this infographic - @LoriLewis and @OfficiallyChadd 

Image credit: Visual Capitalist

 ​I am often asked, "Jo, how do you work with people and companies?" It is a great   question. - Click Here to read my reply

If your business has customers that live in Europe and you interact with them digitally then you need to be aware of your responsibilities with the GDPR - General Data Protection Regulation which comes into enforcement on May 25 2018.  This applies to any company any where in the world and non compliance could result in heavy fines.

Here are some helpful links with more information on the GDPR and what you need to know

Official GDPR Portal 

Facebook - What is the General Data Protection Regulation?

Forbes - Here are the 8 things every business needs to do now to get GDPR ready by Bernard Marr

The Verge - Google offers an unusually clear view of how it manages user data ahead of GDPR

Countdown: Preparing for GDPR - Microsoft 

​

I am often asked, "Jo, how do you work with people and companies?" It is a great question. - Click Here to read my reply 

Wow! a huge move in the Voice and conversational commerce this week as Google launches a Google AI digital assistant at Google I/O this week. I have been to Google I/O before and it is an incredible experience where the latest inventions are all released for the year.

So in the demonstration that showed a video of a Google digital Assistant calls to book a hair appointment & dinner reservation. Google Duplex - text to speech. Google Duplex can make calls for you. 

The amazing thing is the AI Assistant can have a full conversation with a human and sound human and inserts umm's and tones that we all use in conversations of this kind, meaning the AI was indectable as being AI.  

Did you know that over *60% of people access social media at least once a day in New Zealand?  Using social to start a conversation with your customers makes good business sense, but if you don’t know where to start it can all be a bit daunting. 

In the last decade Jo pioneered Social Media for Air New Zealand, establishing the Social Media channels from zero fans through to the 1.5 million community size with a Klout score of 89+. Air New Zealand was the lead brand in social media for the 7 years she led it as Global Digital & Social Media Manager.  
Next up was Westpac where as Head of Digital & Social Media she spent 3 years unleashing digital and social media opportunities for both Westpac, it's customers and partners.  You can read some wonderful testimonials about her career over on the About Jo page.
​
Choosing the right channel
Over * 80% of our online population visit Facebook at least once a month- that’s on average, 2.5M kiwis!  Setting up a Facebook page for your business is easy, and you can even set up a shop to sell products through Facebook.   The great thing about Facebook is that any activity from posts to paid advertising is measurable so you’ll always get a pulse on your audience, providing valuable insights. 
With over 500M active accounts, Instagram is part of the Facebook group.  Think visual inspiration – a way to tell your story using images and short videos.  Instagram for businesshave great tips and ideas, and if you want to advertise using this channel there are some creative possibilities to really engage your audience. 
If you want to share some great news, promotion or post a live update from an event, then you can “tweet” it.  A tweet is a message that has a maximum of 140 characters.  82% of the 313M monthly users use a mobile device to access Twitter.  The Twitter Small Business Blog is full of inspirational pieces to help you use this channel to its full potential and Twitter Ads could be another way for you to use paid promotion on social media. 

Are there any tips and tricks you would like to share?
I use Canva.com - where you can easily create eye catching designs using drag and drop features, pre-made professional layouts and perfectly sized social media graphics for Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.  Video is growing in popularity and you could use Adobe Spark Video or Adobe Spark Post to produce short video content or animated images. 

How often is too often?
When it comes to posting content it’s a case of quality over quantity – a customer would respond more to a well written post or an eye catching video, rather than a flood of posts that had little to no information that was relevant to them.  Posting once a day on each channel and making sure that this is useful and engaging would drive positive results. 

What is a good starting point for SME’s who want to drive their business through social channels?
For starters, identifying clear goals around what you want to achieve on a digital platform is vital.  A good place to find inspiration for this is by reading a range of case studies, based on real businesses just like yours.  That way you can see examples of what was achieved through different channels, whether it is driving more people to your website, increasing sales or developing brand awareness. 

How can a business owner learn how to use social media effectively and drive it themselves?
80% of kiwis on Facebook discover products and brands on the platform, so it would really make sense to start there.  Facebook Blueprint Global Training Program is an E-learning tool and is designed to help businesses tailor a social media strategy to reach their own goals.  Another resource that is just a plethora of information are the Webinars for Facebook and Instagram.  They cover a wide range of topics from finding the ideal audience to creative storytelling – all with the goal of helping you drive sales and build your brand.

Thanks for your time Jo- it’s clear that social is a great way to market your business, and these seem like very practical, straightforward steps in the right direction. 
*2015 Sensis Survey 

Originally posted on RedNews

​