Interview with Ingenious Britain

Ingenious Britain : Helping UK startups and SME's

Last week, our founder - Jake Tipper had an interview with Ingenious Britain and here it is!

Interview – Jake Tipper, Total Socials

Social media is fast-becoming an absolutely vital part of a small business’ marketing repertoire. But, at points, it can be a nightmare trying to find the social media output for a particular business. Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a Yellow Pages-style directory with everything on it?

Look no further. Launching very soon is Total Socials, the world’s FIRST social media directory for businesses – and we liked the idea so much, we’ve decided to become a founder member of it! 

We spoke to founder, Jake Tipper, about the idea for the business, why it’s essential in the modern world to have everything in one place, and some of his tips for great social media use for SMEs: 

Hi Jake, a pleasure to meet you. It’s about time the world heard about Total Socials – so, in essence, what is it?

Total Socials is the world’s first social media directory, we will allow you to ‘search for social’ and find the business you need, and where you need it.

And just why is it essential in this modern day to have a ‘social media directory’?

It is important because we feel that there is a major issue when searching on social media, you will find that a search will often bring up unnecessary content from people that have the keywords you enter in their bio or profile. With our search you will only be searching businesses, giving you the content you need.

How did the idea for the business materialise? What was the ‘light bulb moment’?

When I was working in marketing I was trying to connect with potential clients and other businesses in the industry, I found this extremely difficult; it took me weeks to do a job that can now be completed on total socials in minutes. The light bulb moment occurred when I tried to find a website which could do this for me, and there is none.

What will the website consist of?

The website will consist of a main search bar, which will allow you to search for an industry or keyword, along with an area In the UK and the social media site you want to search. This will then bring up the results you are looking for in seconds, you can then scroll through the list and connect with who you wish.

Ingenious Britain are delighted to be named as one of your founding members; who else is getting involved, and what has the reception been like thus far?

We have numerous founder members that have been hand picked by ourselves, the reason for this is that we want to show other businesses that we are here to stay. We have selected them using a particular criteria, looking for businesses that we feel are making the most of social media and have a good following. Our founder members range from accountants, to marketing agencies, all the way through to national car rental companies so we cover a large proportion of the market.

What have you found the most challenging part of getting the business to launch?

The website itself. It has been challenging to keep the project moving through testing to make sure it works efficiently for launch, the last thing we want is to find we are inundated with issues when it launched and it crashes, we want to get it right first time.  

Have you experienced any particular triumphs so far?

The sheer amount of interest has been a massive triumph, we have amassed hundreds of emails and conversations about the website across numerous sites and people just cant wait to get involved. I know that people can see the potential of the site for their business and are eager to get listed with us!

Social media is obviously becoming a vital medium through which businesses can interact with customers, increase exposure and generate sales – for a relatively cheap cost. Could you give us three tips for good social media practice for businesses?

My first tip would be to get out there, use as many social media sites as you can and not just the obvious ones. Its important to use a good mix of social media sites, for example some text rich sites such as LinkedIn and Twitter, and Some image rich sites such as Instagram or Interest.

Second tip would be to create good content, make a blog that’s rich in content and make sure you post regularly on all of your social media accounts. Rich content attracts people, simple.

Finally, I would recommend that you invest time into social media, don’t just spend 5 minutes a day on it and expect results, if you put the time into it, you will see the benefits. Don’t get me wrong, you haven’t got to spend all day every day on social media, but don’t expect to get thousands of followers on twitter from one tweet a day.

What are the future plans for the business?

The future plans for the business is to expand across the world, we will shortly be in America but we also have plans across the Middle East and all over Europe, all I’m saying is watch this space.

And finally – if you could be ONE social network, which would you be – and why?

No Doubt – Twitter. One of the greatest social media sites ever, I think the possibilities with Twitter are huge and the benefits of its use are obvious. I think its a must for any business looking to get social.

- See more at: http://www.ingeniousbritain.biz/weekly-news/reader-stories/interview-jake-tipper-total-socials/1014/100138#sthash.OaUEfYEB.dpuf