by Amber Miller | Aug 25, 2016 | Blog, Social Media
Let’s be honest here… Using Facebook to market and grow your business has become incredibly challenging over the past couple of years. Most of the time, if you don’t pay to boost your posts, only those who like or engage with your content on daily basis will see posts going forward. Facebook has done an excellent job at cutting out a lot of business socialization on the timeline. Bleh.
But alas, there are still a number of things you can do on Facebook to ensure growth and engagement in a multitude of ways. Here are five to start…
Use your header image as a virtual billboard!
Many people think the header image is there to showcase your company… Why not use it to showcase your sales, products, and promotions? You can update your header as often as you like – use it. Just make sure you use a professional graphic designer or use a Facebook header image template so you don’t block any important content with your profile image or contact tabs!
Completely fill out that about section you lazy bum!
When you set up a business page on Facebook, you’re given a lot of opportunities to add A LOT of information about your business. Take the time and actually fill it out! This means writing up a great summary of your business, adding your phone number, address, website, setting up your custom URL (don’t stick with what Facebook gives you!), etc! Not only will this information help customers learn more about you, but you will show up in searches more often.
Don’t post boring stuff about your company or products all the time!
Do you follow a company that posts nothing but information on their products and services? Get’s kinda boring doesn’t it? Yeah… Make sure to have a healthy mix of quality information on your products, services, industry news, inspirational quotes, and more! You need a good joke every once in a while right? So do your customers.
Don’t rely JUST on Facebook to grow followers!
Did you know it’s super easy to add Facebook widgets and apps to your website? These widgets allow customers to follow you directly from your own website AND share your business with the world – all with just the click of a button.
Spend a lil’ money and increase engagement!
One of the best ways to spread the word about your business on Facebook is by using Paid Ads. They are a great way to showcase new products, services, industry news, and can also be used to build email marketing list and direct customers to landing pages.
Now that you know how to take advantage of Facebook, get on out there and get social! And never forget, if you need any help getting started or just need some advice on what you’re already doing, shoot us an email. We love talking to people about social media management. 🙂
by Amber Miller | Aug 3, 2016 | Blog, Social Media
Instagram is fast becoming a mecca for businesses to gain new subscribers and build awareness for their brand. As of April 2016, there are a recorded 400 million users on Instagram across the globe! That’s a huge group of potential customers; right at the tip of your fingers! So… how do you create a strong brand image amongst all those other businesses trying to compete for the same 400 million people? Below are four tips and tricks to get you started…
Create compelling content that is worthy of sharing (don’t forget the video!)
We all know the saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words”… It’s true and you always need to make sure your brand is conveying the right ones! Be CLEAR about your brand and create content that your customers want to see. Not sure what to post? Take a look at what your competitors are posting, check out niche blogs and other websites to see what popular topics consumers are talking about, and take advantage of the many tools already available to you on social media i.e. insights and analytics. Always double check your work to see what’s working and what’s not!
Don’t forget the video. Instagram offers up to 15 seconds of video recording… All the time you need to get your point across 🙂 Here are some quick tips and ideas on how to utilize videos on Instagram:
- Answer FAQs
- Showcase Your Company Culture and Style (Get employees involved!)
- Use videos to engage followers to submit videos for contests, events, and more! (Don’t forget the hashtags)
- Create a video portfolio of your work
- Showcase special offers and sales
Use your Instagram bio to convert followers into subscribers
Unfortunately, you only have one opportunity to have a clickable link on Instagram… and that’s in your bio. Use this opportunity to link to targeted pages or your company website. Since there’s no cap on how often you can update your bio, you can use this link for targeted marketing campaigns to sell products or grow your subscription list. Don’t be pushy; make sure to create a bio that’s interesting, unique from other bios, keyword optimized, and includes your company name and what you do.
Balance fun images with pictures from your business
Your followers really don’t want to sift through your images and see nothing but self-promoting, salesy product images. ZzzzZzZZzzzZz Share other items like quotes, facts about materials or ingredients you use, cute puppies (if your niche calls for it lol), whatever… don’t always share pictures of your company and products.
Follow your followers back (sometimes)
You’ve got some die hard fans? You should absolutely follow those people back… maybe. While it’s important to show your biggest customers just how much you care by reaching out to them on social media, their presence might not always be beneficial to you. Make sure to stick with users who post content that is appropriate and relevant to your business (for the most part). In addition, make sure to follow other people who share relevant information and interest you, partners and business associates, and others in your industry who use Instagram and learn from them (watch what they do, what works, what doesn’t?). Get yourself out there and engage with others – that’s the only way you’ll be heard!
Oh, and one more tip for the road…. HASHTAGS! HASHTAGS! HASHTAGS! You are allowed to use 30 hashtags on Instagram, take total advantage of it. (Click here to download a FREE infographic on how to post on Instagram)
While these four tips and tricks will definitely give you a strong starting point; there are countless other ways businesses can utilize Instagram to make the most out of the social network. Contact us if you would like to talk about a customized approach for your business and how we can help you make it happen.
by Amber Miller | May 13, 2016 | Social Media
If your small business hasn’t taken the social media plunge and started a social media marketing campaign, now is the best time to jump in. Marketing is all about engaging in conversations with customers, problem solving, promotion of your products or services and educating your customers. Social media can help you generate new leads as well as establish a client base that encourages them to purchase from you again and again. What better way to engage your customers than through social media outlets?
Here is a short list of reasons to take that social media plunge:
- Create a “buzz” about your products or services. Buzz marketing allows a business to increase awareness about their product by growing online traffic. Get consumers talking about your products, services or company by utilizing social media marketing campaigns. Create an event to promote your products or services then have customers share experiences or engage in conversations. Examples of this would be to start contests on Facebook or Twitter that give followers a chance to win prizes. You can also ask consumers to follow you on Twitter and re-tweet a specific tweet to be eligible for a contest.
- Build your brand. Social media makes it easy to build your brands identity and increase brand awareness. You can successfully establish your brand and make it relatable to a specific demographic.
- Social networking with current clients and prospects. Personal conversations can be held with customers by using social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.
- Create traffic. A study by Balihoo indicates that, “91% of local searches use Facebook to find local businesses online.” Being active on social media will help you increase the quantity of traffic that your website receives. Successful social media campaigns will likely improve the amount of traffic referrals your website receives, playing a role in business sales.
- Communicate with customers. Social media gives a business the opportunity to interact with and receive valuable information from customers. In addition to a customer service email or phone number, social media is another way to monitor and be part of the dialogue about your product or service. This platform makes it possible for a business to provide tips and solutions in real time. In other words, social media gives small businesses an opportunity to host the conversation about their product or service and gives them the power to mediate and correct issues that may occur.
- Move up in search engines. Social media’s importance in a website’s SEO ranking continues to increase with the current popularity of social media. If you company is being talked about on social media, chances are Google will consider your website to be authentic, helping your SEO ranking. It is important to use high-quality content and links on your website. This information is evaluated and used as part of an algorithm by Google, contributing to your site’s ranking in the search engine chain.
- Social media helps increase trust in your business or brand. Customers can become overwhelmed by the number of choices they have for certain products and services. Customers want some type of indication that your business is authentic before making that first contact. Having an active social media presence helps fill an impending trust that indicates you care about your customers and that you can easily be contacted.
- Target a specific niche. Your business can use social media advertising to target by specific demographics, zip code, keyword, demographics, etc. Twitter is an excellent site to start reaching your niche market. Hash tags and lists are used to help you generate leads. Linkedin and Facebook also offer ways to connect to people with the same or similar interest groups.
Developing successful social media marketing campaigns has become an important tool for small businesses, and it should be utilized for all of its benefits. It provides a cost-effective way to build a community, that can potentially enhance the experience for both client and business owner. The trend of social media is still going strong and there is no indication that it will be halting in existence any time soon. Is your business missing out on this incredible opportunity?
If you and your staff are too busy or uncomfortable with the process of social media marketing, you can hire us to be your social media expert!
Sources
Pingler. Creating A Buzz With Social Media. July 9, 2011. Retrieved from https://pingler.com/blog/creating-a-buzz-with-social-media/ on September 15, 2015.
Forbes. Jacquelyn Smith. How to Use Social Media to Make Sales. January 10, 2014. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2014/01/10/how-to-use-social-media-to-make-sales-2014/ on September 15, 2015.
by Amber Miller | Jan 2, 2016 | Blog, Blogging, Social Media
The American Dialect Society Declared “hashtag” (#, or hash) as the 2012 word of the year. Now that’s a social media force! This modest little symbol gives the user the ability to connect their conversations on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumbler, Pinterest and Google+. Hashtags allow social media users to “tag” key words or topics and make them into a searchable link. Hashtags present an extraordinary opportunity for business owners to identify relevant social media conversations and allows their content to be delivered to their desired audience.
What Is A Hashtag And How Do You Use Them?
Hashtags originated on Internet chat networks before they became popular on microblogging sites such as Twitter.
A hashtag contains a word or phrase followed by the “#” symbol. When a social media user uses hashtags to find particular words or topics, they will be able to view all the posts that contain that same word or topic. Creating your own hashtag can be a very powerful marketing tool. Your goal is to create a hashtag that will start trending among your followers and send a reminder of your business. So, how can you utilize hashtags to benefit your brand?
1. Strive for business –specific conversations. Take advantage of Twitters’s news, advice and business variety resources. Look to #smallbiz for small business advice, as this type of hashtag can provide a large number of results and the information it contains could inspire your next marketing tactic.
2. Consistency and Simplicity are best practice. When creating your own hashtags, it is important to consider keeping your tags simple and direct. Do not create long or complex hashtags. They are not search-friendly. You also need to keep in mind that weighing you tweets down with excessive hashtags will only make you look desperate to your followers. Keep it simple by using 1-2 hashtags per tweet.
3. Create your own hashtag. Hashtags are the perfect way to create buzz around your marketing campaign. Events are a great way to create conversation around a hashtag. So, get creative and develop your own business-specific hashtags.
4. Use hashtags to cross social media channels. Connect your different social media outlets and reach more people by using the same hashtag in each of these platforms. Imagine the number of people you can reach by using ALL of these platforms.
Things To Consider
- Don’t use more than two hashtags per post.
- Anyone can search and view your hashtag links if you use a public account.
- Never send spam with hashtags.
- Use relevant hashtags.
- Monitor hashtags to see how much activity it receive before you use them in your post.
- Don’t use spaces, commas, periods, apostrophes, question marks, exclamation points or any other special characters.
- Create a unique hashtag for your business.
- Follow trends and make use of them.
- Generate a buzz by offering a promotion or contest to get people talking about your brand. Users are more likely to retweet hashtags if you offer prizes to do so.
Which Social Media Platforms Support Hashtags?
1. Twitter: Twitter has been called the “birthplace of modern hashtag usage”. Hashtags via Twitter are generally used to represent specific topics of conversation. You can find an item called “Trends” on the Twitter sidebar that generates a list o f suggested hashtags based on your tweets.
2. Facebook: Facebook has supported hashtags for a couple years. Popularity on this site is not as prominent as on Twitter. Clicking on a Facebook hashtag will take you to a list of posts that contain the same hashtag. The results you see come from people you know, as well as those users you do not.
3. Instagram: Instagram hashtags are used to complement photographs. This also helps you to discover new accounts and may lead to you picking up additional followers. Instagram has also created specific hashtags to encourage certain photo posts. #ThrowbackThursday is used to encourage users to post old or “retro” photos.
4. Tumblr: Hashtags on Tumblr are not links when they are used within the body of the post but, instead posts have a “Tag” section that you enter your tags. Tags will function like those in Twitter and be organized by topic. The “#” will be inserted automatically.
5. Google+: Google gives you an option to search within Facebook and Twitter for specific tags. Clicking on a hashtag in Google+ will generate a list of search results that include the original hashtag and other posts that have related tags and keywords.
6. Pinterest: Pinterest hashtags are placed in a pin’s description allowing users to click on the link and be taken to a list of pins that may contain that hashtag. Keep in mind that not all hashtags are indexed. Pinterest can be a great social media marketing tool if you know how to optimize your pins. Use key words in your pin’s description. The pin should also come from a URL that has the keyword in it. Keywords should also be included in the picture’s file name.
The Hashtag, a once lonely keyboard character, is swiftly becoming the most powerful punctuation mark in human history. Harness the mighty marketing power of a Hashtag and watch your social media base flourish. You will be hashtagging like a pro in no time!
References
5 Brilliant Ways to Use #Hashtags in Social Media Marketing. by Uri Bar-Joseph. Retrieved October 1, 2015 from: http://searchenginewatch.com/sew/how-to/2327748/5-brilliant-ways-to-use-hashtags-in-social-media-marketing
How to Use Hashtags on Every Social Media Network. Michael Patterson. Retrieved October 1, 2015 from: http://sproutsocial.com/insights/how-to-use-hashtags/
The Beginners Guide to the Hashtag. by Rebecca Hiscott. Retrieved October 1, 2015 from: http://mashable.com/2013/10/08/what-is-hashtag/#HB7807Cbwu
by Amber Miller | May 16, 2015 | Featured, Marketing, SEO, Social Media
Everyone knows that they need to track their marketing efforts. If you didn’t track your marketing you would not know what’s working and what isn’t. Now I know tracking and analytics isn’t really sexy and exciting, but it is a necessary evil that we have to do to determine if our marketing is paying off.
If you don’t already have Google Analytics set up on your website then that is going to be your first step. Google Analytics does a great job at tracking your visitors as they move from page to page on your website. But if you don’t know what you are looking at, Google Analytics can be very confusing and overwhelming.
The good news is that there are some free tools that can help simplify Google Analytics so you can understand the data that comes from this form of tracking.
Below are 3 free tools that will help simplify Google Analytics for you.
Need to know helps you find out what you need to know when it comes to Google Analytics.
So what does it do?
Need to know is relatively new and is definitely worth checking out.
N2K gives you a one-page overview of your Google Analytics data. This report will highlight your key information over the last month. It takes all of the complicated Google Analytics and presents it to you in a compressed format.
It is incredibly easy to use while still giving you a very detailed easy to read report.
What story will your data tell you?
Quill is another fairly new free service that will take the data that is gathered from Google Analytics and transforms it into an easy to read and understand report. Quill gives you the option to receive a weekly or monthly email that is written in plain English.
Take a look at this example report from Quill Engage
Why is Quill Engage Useful?
Quill Engage will literally take all of the data you get from Google Analytics and convert them to an easy to read, easy to understand report. This will allow you to take action on the data that is being collected.
Tracking webpages just got easier.
What does PadiTrack do?
Just like the other two tools shared before, PadiTrack connects directly to your Google Analytics account and displays the data in an easier to understand format. This tool especially works well when it comes to tracking sales funnels.
How is PadiTrack useful?
One cool thing that Paditrack shows you is the conversions for each and every step of your sales funnel. This allows you to quickly pinpoint “problem areas” in your conversion process.
PadiTrack also allows you to see how well your sales funnels are doing against specific segments. For example you could create a segment of users from a new email campaign, traffic driven from a specific keyword or from new visitors to your website who found you through Google search.
PadiTrack offers a ton of other great reports and comes with a free version and makes a great “add-on” to your analytics toolbox.
These 3 tools are just a few tools to check out that will assist in making those hard to read Google Analytic reports a breeze to understand and read. Smart to Finish offers website analytic tracking support that will help give you a leg up on your competition.
by Amber Miller | Jan 1, 2015 | Blog, Blogging, Marketing, Social Media
In an effort to cater to Facebook users Facebook has a major change coming that will affect millions of businesses that use Facebook to drive traffic for sales and conversions.
In November Facebook made an announcement that stated that it is going to change how your news feed posts that are used for the purpose of:
1. Posts that solely push people to buy a product or install an app
2. Posts that push people to enter promotions and sweepstakes with no real context.
3. Posts that reuse the same content from ads
A couple examples of the type of ads they are describing:
Per Facebook’s changes the problem with this ad is the part directing people to purchase their Season 1 DVD set.
Per Facebook’s changes the problem with this ad is the part directing people to purchase and install the app.
These changes are going to force businesses to purchase more ads from Facebook if you want to promote any type of the above ads. This does two things 1) increases revenue for Facebook and their shareholders 2) allows Facebook to have control over what “advertisement” content users are seeing. Basically Facebook is forcing business to “pay to play”.
Per Facebook’s statement the reason behind this is:
“One of the main reasons people come to Facebook is to see what’s happening in their News Feeds. Our goal with News Feed has always been to show people the things they want to see. That’s why we often look to people on Facebook to tell us how we can improve. As part of an ongoing survey we asked hundreds of thousands of people how they feel about the content in their News Feeds. People told us they wanted to see more stories from friends and Pages they care about, and less promotional content.
We dug further into the data to better understand this feedback. What we discovered is that a lot of the content people see as too promotional is posts from Pages they like, rather than ads. This may seem counterintuitive but it actually makes sense: News Feed has controls for the number of ads a person sees and for the quality of those ads (based on engagement, hiding ads, etc.), but those same controls haven’t been as closely monitored for promotional Page posts. Now we’re bringing new volume and content controls for promotional posts, so people see more of what they want from Pages.”
Moving into 2015 Facebook is still the #1 place to go for businesses to advertise their products or services. Even with this major change Facebook still has the most highly targeted advertising capabilities and the largest diverse audience you will find anywhere. In the 3rd quarter of 2014 Facebook had reported that is has 1.35 Billion active users on Facebook and this number continues to climb.
Facebook continues to be a great avenue to market on with a little training or by hiring the right company to assist you; you will be able to use this powerful platform to reach millions of people when promoting your business.
Written by Skye Hawk, Smart To Finish Diva
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