by Stefanie Blackburn | Dec 11, 2017 | Social Media
Running social media marketing becomes infinitely easier when you find the right tech tools to do most of the work for you. There are countless platforms out there designed to help you save time while adding more power and control. We sifted through the absolute best of these social media tools to bring you our top recommendations. Use them to open your social media profiles up to become more diverse and creative. You will also end the frustration of struggling through complex workflow to complete tasks. We tried to avoid any platforms that require a significant buy-in. As a result, most of the following tools are free or have a low-cost option for business owners. We’re also leaving out the big total management tools like Buffer, HootSuite, SproutSocial, AgoraPulse and others. The following 21 best apps and browser-based platforms fit our criteria and can improve your social media marketing success in 2018 and beyond. Bitly Bitly does two amazing things for you: 1) Shortens links to make post text cleaner and better looking 2) Provides a custom redirect so that you can track CTR on your shared links and possible behavior after the click. The free version of Bitly is indispensable for any social media page that wants to share links. Without it, you have no reliable way to track engagement. Backly Backly lets you share links while providing on-page reminders to go back to your branded site or social account later. The tool provides a pop-up frame on content pages you share, keeping audiences thinking about your brand even as they browse outside your owned pages. Use Backly...
by Stefanie Blackburn | Jul 23, 2017 | Social Media, tools
Monitor Your Social Media Presence with Social Media Monitoring Tools Social Media is a tool that MUST be part of your marketing strategy. It not only helps you connect and engage with current and future customers but also helps create more visibility for your business. It is critical however if you are using Social Media you need to be monitoring your presence. Your Social Media presence needs to be monitored so that you know if you are being seen, if you are being seen by the right people and if your message is engaging to your audience. Once you monitor y our social media presence and understand your results you will be able to adjust as needed to ensure that your message is being received by the right people and they are taking action. Monitoring your social media presence will allow you to make adjustments if you are not hitting your targets. In order to monitor your Social Media presence there are several tools that you can use that will be helpful. Here are some that we have found very useful. Social Media Monitoring Tools Hootsuite – We consider Hooutsuite to be more than a monitoring tool since it is also a great scheduling tool, however it does have some great reporting tools to allow you to monitor several items about your social media including followers, likes and reach and more. Social Mention – Social Mention is a great tool for helping you track and see where your business is being mentioned by others on Social Media Google Analytics – Google Analytics is a very powerful tool to use for...
by Stefanie Blackburn | Jul 14, 2017 | Social Media
Why Companies should really Outsource Their Social Media Marketing Social Media Marketing is an art and unfortunately it only takes one misunderstood post to potentially damage a business. A post that you think is great unfortunately if done incorrectly has the potential to upset your customers. If you work with a Social Media Consultant or firm they are experts and can typically help you avoid items that can cause issues for your brand. Social media managers appreciate the nuances of the social world, so they are generally very careful about avoiding posts that could paint your small business in a bad light. Social Media Marketing Experts can Forecast the Unpredictable There will always be things that are unpredictable in the marketing world, but having a professional on board can lower these surprises. The fact of the matter is that social media marketers spend their time navigating the complex marketing world that is social media. They can predict general trends, understand what makes content successful and grasp the nuances between different platforms. They get paid to do this, so they very likely do it better than you. Social Media Marketing Experts Can Grant You Time Back Aspiring entrepreneurs sometimes think they can run a productive social media marketing campaign with just a few posts from time to time. This simply is not the case. Social media needs regular engagement, and if you do this yourself, you have essentially lost the time you would otherwise use to make your company a success. Effective social media marketing requires a large time commitment, and if you outsource, that commitment won’t cut into your...
by Stefanie Blackburn | Jun 28, 2017 | Social Media
Facebook Group Marketing Any local business owner who hasn’t recognized the marketing potential of Facebook is simply not paying attention. As it turns out, though, the promotional capabilities of the social media giant go far beyond pages and ads. Facebook Group Marketing is quickly gaining steam, and since there were over 620 million groups at last count – which was seven years ago – the targeted potential is limitless. Know the Rules for Facebook Group Marketing Before marketing in Facebook groups, it’s important to know each group’s rules. Some don’t allow direct promotion, and some admins will get upset if something is posted more than a certain amount each day. These rules should be followed to avoid getting banned from a group. Diversify your Facebook Group Portfolio For promotions to work in Facebook Groups, it’s essential to not advertise in just a single group. It’s important to join a variety of groups that are directly related to a business (ie. mechanics can join all local auto groups), but it also helps to join groups that are indirectly related. Someone with a curio store, for instance, could join groups focused on antiques, alternative religions, and creepy content. Promotional posts can then be targeted based on the tastes of each specific group. Promote Events One of the best ways to utilize Facebook Groups as a marketing tool is to promote events on them. These events can be anything from local sports games that a business is sponsoring to grand opening sales. If the people in a specific group are likely to show interest in a certain event, it makes sense to post about it...
by Stefanie Blackburn | Feb 28, 2017 | Social Media
Why You Need a Facebook Fan Page for your Business As you begin using Social Networking and Social Media tools to market your business and connect to your customers and prospects you need to include a FaceBook Fan page into this mix. A Facebook Fan Page will allow you to engage your target market on Facebook and reach out to them to share more information on your business as well as connect with them. Reasons You Need to have a Facebook Fan Page Here are several reasons that you need to create a FaceBook Fan Page and begin connecting with your target market via this tool: Facebook Fan Pages are free – Facebook allows you to create and maintain a fan page for free Search Engine Optimization or Link Love – Google and the other search engines like Bing love Facebook because it is one of the top visited sites. Having a fan page will allow you to obtain another link in the search engines back to your business Instant Mailing List – You can communicate with all of your fans with one message, it provides you with an instant mailing list You can have an unlimited number of fans – Facebook doesn’t limit the number of fans you have Community – a Fan page allows you to build a community with your fans and engage them. Often fans will contribute content and provide information so that you can determine their needs and provide them. Exposure – A fan page will allow for more exposure for your business Viral Marketing – Fan pages are a viral tool because often people will...
by Stefanie Blackburn | Sep 23, 2016 | Social Media
3 Approaches to Grow Your Brand via Instagram Facebook is obviously the go-to platform for those who have a social media marketing strategy. This doesn’t mean, however, that other platforms won’t be as useful. Instagram, for instance, boasts 500 million users who upload 60 million photos everyday. Sadly, many budding entrepreneurs do not recognize the opportunity here. By utilizing the following recommendations, though, you can seriously build your brand via Instagram. Get Inventive with Images At its heart, Instagram is a social media site devoted to images. While you might get some interaction by posting images of products, though, you will need to be considerably more creative with posts to the site. FedEx, for instance, simply includes their delivery trucks into interesting or popular locales. This strategy obviously won’t work for every business. If you can upload creative images that are somehow linked to your company or industry, though, they are much more likely to get noticed and let people know what kind of brand you are. Keep Branding Dependable Across Platforms Different social media platforms will certainly need different strategies. A link share on Facebook, for example, wouldn’t really work out well on Instagram. One thing that should stay consistent across all platforms, though, is your branding. If possible, your Instagram user name needs to be the same as your names on other sites. Additionally, pick a profile image that represents your brand, even if it is just the logo, and stick with it. Communicate with Followers Most local business owners know that reaching followers on Facebook is vital. Far fewer recognize, however, that this is true on...
