by Marketing Manager | Marketing Tips, Online ads, Social Media
Who would have thought that a global pandemic would rock 2020? Just four short months ago, life was plugging along as usual, and businesses were implementing their 2020 marketing strategy to reach their yearly goals. But then, all of a sudden, COVID-19 had us hunkered down in our homes, just trying to figure out how to keep business afloat amidst so much uncertainty. In this article, we’re going to discuss some of the latest, COVID-era-induced marketing trends that deserve your consideration. Hopefully, you’ll find some tips for pivoting your marketing strategy to reach both old and new customers in new ways. #1 Create Featured Snippets Even if you’re unfamiliar with the term, “featured snippets,” you’ve undoubtedly encountered them — most likely daily — when you’ve typed a question into Google Search. When I searched, “What is a Featured Snippet?,” I got — you guessed it! — a featured snippet or short “answer box” at the top of my Google search results. Check it out below! For virtually any question you ask, Google will provide an answer at the top of your results page. So, what do featured snippets have to do with marketing? Well, they have an 8% click-through rate, which means an increase in traffic to your website. If you want your snippets to be featured, simply create content that answers the specific questions that your audience may have. Your goal is to get Google to choose your featured snippet when people ask questions related to your field. #2 Offer Online Purchases E-commerce is where it’s at. Why? Because in-store shopping is not (at least for...
by Marketing Manager | Blog, Facebook, Photography, Social Media, Twitter
The world of social media marketing is noisy these days. Getting your content to the people who are most likely to buy your products or use your services is akin to trying to flag down a car going 90 miles an hour on a six-lane highway — when you’re in a building on the side of the road. It’s tough going. The only way to succeed is to make sure that your social media posts stand out in a crowded playing field. You need to create content that’s compelling and irresistible if you want to grab attention from your competitors — or, let’s face it, from your followers’ friends and family. Here are some things that can help your Facebook posts and Tweets stand out in 2021. Up Your Emoji Game You might not think of emoji as professional but the bottom line is that internet users love them. Incorporating them into your social media content can help your posts stand out. Go to GetEmoji.com and you’ll find a huge bank of emoji you can copy and paste into your posts. It’s important not to overdo it. Using one to three emoji per post is the right range. A word to the wise: make sure you know what an emoji means before you use it. I’ve seen more than one example of the “tears of laughter” emoji being used to express sorrow. If you don’t know what it means, don’t use it. Add Images to Tweets While it’s common to see photographs and graphics attached to Facebook posts, visual imagery is...
by Marketing Manager | Marketing, Marketing Tips, Social Media
Are you feeling intimidated by the idea of streaming live video on social media? You’re not alone. The idea of showing your face and talking to your audience without the benefit of editing is a bit daunting to many. But going live has many benefits, from “beating” the algorithm to higher engagement to the shorter time investment than other forms of content marketing. If you’re ready to dive in, here are some tips to help your livestreams be successful and valuable to your audience. Where to Go Live The platform you choose for your livestreams will depend on where your audience is. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube are all popular options, but don’t use YouTube if that’s not where your ideal customer is spending time! A major benefit to streaming live on Instagram over other platforms is that live streams appear at the very top of the Instagram feed for your followers, in the “first position” of Instagram Stories. This makes your live stream highly visible, and lets you get around the sometimes unforgiving algorithm. Your Instagram followers will also get a notification when you go live, even if they’re not currently using the app. On Facebook, live videos will usually be presented to your followers at the top of their newsfeed — another way to beat the algorithm. Viewers can also navigate to the Watch page, and then click Live to access a wide variety of live videos. Live streams on Facebook result in 6x as many interactions as pre-recorded videos, and get 10x more comments. With such high engagement and a spot...
by Stefanie Blackburn | Social Media
A robust social media following is fantastic — if it’s driving results. But if you have 100,000 social followers who will never buy anything from you, then you’re wasting a lot of time and not making any money. That’s why you should always be thinking about what you can do to bring more leads into your online social circle, and how you can turn those leads into paying customers. So I’m going to show you five simple steps you can take on your social media profiles to bring in more leads, and get more conversions. 1. Link to a lead magnet A social media user that checks out your feed once and then disappears is no good to you. Even if they follow one of your social accounts, it’s very possible that the dreaded algorithms will hide your content from a large portion of your followers. But if you had an email address for that person, you’d be able to reach them anytime you want, building that relationship and encouraging them to work with you in the future. To get that valuable contact info, link to a freebie in your social bios. This could be an ebook, white paper, webinar — something that would be attractive to one of your future customers. And all they have to do to get it is hand over that email address. 2. Use the right keywords Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn bios and posts are all searchable. So make sure to pepper in relevant keywords in your industry. To figure out the right keywords, you’ll have to do a little keyword research. Just like...
by Stefanie Blackburn | Marketing, Social Media
As was widely reported a short time ago with much fanfare, Instagram has started hiding likes as a test to see if doing so will make the app more enjoyable for users. The test started in Canada but has now been rolled out to six additional countries – Ireland, Italy, Japan, Brazil, Australia, and New Zealand. We Bet It’s Here To Stay Our bet is that this change isn’t temporary. There has been so much written about the negative toll that a focus on likes is having on people’s mental health, that we believe that Instagram has pretty much already made up their mind about this move. The fact that they rolled it out in seven major markets makes us confident in saying so as well. And we think this is a good thing for everyone, including your business. Here’s Why Hiding Likes Is Good For Your Business Here are three reasons why we think Instagram hiding like counts is good for your business: 1. You’ll start tracking metrics that matter Likes are a false currency. You can’t take them to the bank, and you can’t pay your bills with them. So there is no great reason to make them the focus of your Instagram strategy. But that’s exactly what’s happened. It’s time to start tracking the metrics that actually matter, like reach, engagement, saves, 2. You’ll start sharing content that’s more authentic Admit it, at one point or another, you’ve held back on something you wanted to post because you didn’t think the Instagram community would like it enough. Everyone that markets on Instagram have done that! But...
by Stefanie Blackburn | Social Media
For a small business, gaining steam on social media is undeniably an uphill battle. You have to contend with algorithms that make it nearly impossible to get discovered until you achieve a certain level of visibility. This situation puts you in a catch-22: you can’t get anyone to view your content until you get engagement, which requires views! Nevermind the fact that social media overwhelmingly prefers silly or opinionated content—two things that really don’t gel with the average business’s branding. Sure, you can gain thousands of shares by posting ridiculous cat videos, but there’s a slim chance all that attention will aid your business goals. Despite all these challenges, putting your business out there on social media isn’t just worth it; it’s necessary. According to research from Stone Temple, 63 percent of all web traffic in 2017 came from mobile devices. In the U.S., 87 percent of mobile internet time is spent in apps. What are the most common apps? Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat, to name a few. Following this logic, people on the internet spend the majority of their time looking at social media apps on their phone. While Google Search is another top app—meaning SEO is also critical for businesses—social media is by far the most common way people discover content. Consider that two thirds of U.S. adults say they get their news from social media. Put simply: if you aren’t on social media, you will have an incredibly hard time gaining brand recognition for your business. You will also have a tough time getting attention for your laboriously crafted content. So how can you climb...
