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How to Digital Market your Start-up to Success by @the_mom_store

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by Surbhi Bhatia | Featured Contributor

Planning to start-up a new business but not sure how to market it and acquire your first customers? While the initial few months can be challenging to build customer trust, brand value and go operational, social media can be a great tool to help you jumpstart your initial customer acquisition journey.

 

Go Live on Social Media Even Before the Launch

I love to call this ‘Product-less Marketing’ because you start subtle marketing even before the launch and this can be a real game changer. Set up your Instagram handle and start doing ‘Teaser’ posts. Give hints on what your product/service is about and introduce a few guessing games to increase interaction and build suspense. Have a countdown to the launch to get people excited. Also, start following influencers from your TG (target group). Understand their behavior, interaction and engagement tools they use as well as start following their followers. By the time you reach your launch date, you would have a solid set of followers who would be following and eager for your launch

 

Be Close to your First Customers and Get Them to Share their Stories on Social Media

After your launch, personally interact with your first customers, and incentivise them with gift cards and freebies to share their social media stories through their personal handles. This will have a double impact- they would come back to buy from your store again with the gift card or share it with a friend or relative which would lead to a subsequent purchase. In addition, the stories shared by them will attract their followers, and can easily be reposted by you to share positive testimonials. You could also post these testimonials on your website and request customers to write a blog to review the product too!

 

Try Out Network Marketing

Many great companies have used this tried and tested technique to gain more customers. Simply reach out to your existing customers and ask them to refer 10 (or any number appropriate) more customers using a customized discount link or coupon code that would get them store credits for every conversion. Many businesses like Uber, Yelp, Avon etc. have acquired customers through such referrals. This will also let you know who your biggest cheerleaders are!

 

Get Some Influencers on Board

Start with Influencers in the range of 10k-30k followers on Facebook, Instagram and similar portals who are willing to do a post for you in return for a ‘barter collaboration’. This basically means that they will promote for your product for free on their feeds, do a story and a post listing out its features. This is a very popular method to gain eyeballs today and ‘Influencing’ is a full time job for many social media enthusiasts who have garnered thousands of followers through continuous engagement and activity.

 

Be Present Everywhere on Social Media Channels

Create your profile on every leading social media channel- Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest and Youtube. However, ensure that the users on each of these platforms differ distinctly and even consume the information differently. Hence, make sure that you are adding unique, differentiated and relevant content on each of these channels.

 

Do SEO right from Day 1

Search Engine Optimization or SEO is critical to start ranking on search engines and increase the organic traffic to your website. While this will take painstaking efforts and time to develop, make sure you make your website SEO friendly from day 1. Use Alt-texts for all images, create good and useful content, market your website through blogs etc. Usually companies start focusing on it after a few months when they exhaust the initial marketing capital, but getting it right from day 1 can be a real game changer and show results when you need them!

 

Social Media Ads and Promotions

The best way to build brand awareness digitally is running sponsored ads on social media portals like Facebook. Since Facebook now owns Instagram, just one sponsored ad on Facebook can have your product placement across channels- Facebook Story, Facebook Feed, Facebook Messenger, Instagram posts and Instagram Stories. This can be a very useful brand building exercise introducing customers to your brand and getting them familiar as well as draw traffic to your website which could result in potential sale. One thing to be very careful while running these ads is to choose your audience carefully. Facebook allows you to not just choose the demographics, but also interests, and thus you should be aware of what interests your TG are likely to have to run a successful ads campaign.

 

When I started out my entrepreneurial journey at The Mom Store, we were able to acquire customers quickly through an aggressive presence on social media (both paid and organic) and our continuous efforts to provide a great experience to our customers. Even today, one year on, 50% of our website traffic comes through social media of which 70% is organic traffic leading from our posts about our products or our customer stories!

5 Ways Brands Can Make the Most Out of Instagram Stories by @lucyrk78

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by Lucy Render-Kaplan | Featured Contributor 

Instagram stories can be gold for marketers looking to reach a higher number of people on one of the fastest-growing social platforms. Stories keep viewers on the platform longer, meaning that brands have the opportunity to keep a captive audience on their page longer. Not only that, but Stories beat the dreaded Instagram algorithm! This is because they appear on feeds in chronological order. Engagement rates are higher and are seen by more people than photos and videos posted to your Instagram feed, so you’re missing out if you’re not already creating Stories.

Here are some of our tips on how to best take advantage of Instagram Stories:

  1. Polls

Users can add interactive polls to their Stories. This is a great way to get your audience more engaged and hear their thoughts on any topic. Do you want to launch a new product? Or are you looking at choosing between two possible flavors for an existing product? Throw up a poll and get your target audience to weigh in.

  1. Instagram Takeovers

These are great for growing your following quickly. You can either take over another Instagrammer’s account, or have an influencer take over your account for a short period of time. (we recommend under 24 hours). This is a great way to work with another influencer where you both can benefit and expand both of your audiences. Make sure to choose your influencer carefully – align with someone that works in your niche and will help contribute to your overall marketing goals. Done well, it will build authenticity and connect you to a whole new set of followers who then will engage with your brand.

  1. User Generated Content

Along the same lines of Instagram takeovers, you can increase engagement and followers by utilizing UGC (user generated content). When people mention your brand, you can hit “Add to your story” and post their content in your Stories. This way you can mention your followers and make them feel part of your brand story. People like to be acknowledged and a simple tag of their profile in your story can go a long way.

  1. Repurpose Your Blog

The best thing about blogs is that you can find ways to share the same content in a myriad of ways. Instagram Stories offer you a great opportunity to utilize blog posts and turn them into little mini articles. The most obvious examples here would be how-to articles and recipes. You can break them down into a few slides that you can visually display with voiceover or text layover in your stories.

This is easy to do.

First, choose your topic. Then use Canva or another graphic design app to create the images to accompany your Story. Then, upload the images in sequence and your story is created! Don’t forget to include a call to action at the end, to truly engage your audience. It’s always important to let people know what you would like them to do next. Perhaps it’s visiting your website – utilize the swipe up feature to take viewers there directly once they’ve watched your Story.

  1. Create Exclusive Offers

If you are looking for sales, Instagram Stories can move consumers through the purchasing funnel quickly. Here’s our secret tip: Create a story that has a special offer. Add photos or videos clearly showing what the offer is and let viewers know that in 24 hours, when this story disappears, so does the offer. When people feel that they have to act fast to get something, it intrinsically increases the value of the offer. Add a CTA (call-to-action) within the story letting people know to visit the link in your bio to claim the offer or you can have viewers swipe up to a landing page where they will claim the offer.

 

There are as many ways that brands and marketers can use Instagram Stories to their advantage as there are people using them. These are just the tip of the iceberg to get your creative juices flowing! How likely are YOU to interact with or be motivated by other’s Stories? Do you check for new Stories regularly? What brands have you seen making the most of Stories?

Leadership’s Many Flavors by @SBSLEducSoltns

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Leading from the Front with Four

 

Ground Floor : Leadership & Management

 

It’s nearing mid summer in the northern hemisphere; recently, we celebrated national Ice Cream Day! Many have favorite flavors of this delish dessert; this holds true for leadership, too.

 

Paraphrasing a Supreme Court justice: ‘We know leadership when we see it.” , yet we all don’t ‘see’ the same thing, since we view business through our own experiences, lenses, & mindset.

 

Further, let’s push a related theme up for thoughtful discussion:

 

Leadership & management are NOT differing flavors; instead, they are two landmasses, separated by a gigantic ocean. We realize this while standing on the ground floor; now, let’s climb up a metaphorical ziggurat for a panoramic view.

 

Position, power, experience, credentials …?

On level 1 & 2 of our ziggurat, we start separating the wheat from the chaff; this act drives big answers , bringing us closer to leading from the front.

 

Q> Are any of the below characteristics necessary for organic leadership?

 

  • Seniority / experience

  • Credentials

  • Power \ Authority

  • Position

  • Perks /privileges

 

A> None are truly required. For a positional leader, they might bring benefit in a company’s hierarchy; however, in a free enterprise entrepreneurial business, they’d likely delay professional development.

 

Q>> Does leadership necessitate a certain type of business structure?

 

A>> No. Most structures ‘tell‘ us that an established business has an uneven field; you’ve built a ladder for your staff to climb up a pyramidal hierarchy, &/or you’ve not empowered them to address deep issues, like customer service, in your workplace, putting a collar on their ability to organically lead.

 

Bottom Up > Top down ; front > back

 

Leading is most impactful from the bottom up if there is a structure; Why? Easy. Those people are most aware of the day to day matters impacting your business’s success.

 

Take note, founders:  if you’re one, put yourself out front, clearing roadblocks so your staff can be most effective in building a better workplace for the betterment of all.

 

“People ask the difference between a leader & a boss. The leader leads & the boss drives.“

— Theodore Roosevelt

 

Q >>> What to do in situations where staff engagement, customer service, &/or client retention are below par?

 

A >>> Leverage this call to action using a ‘Test of 3’

 

 

First of 4 Flavors : Thought

 

Your climb up our ziggurat continues! Any of 4 could be next, as we aren’t building a rigid hierarchy; instead, you’re encouraged to visually sketch out this post’s content to better grasp these principles.

 

A thought leader leads from the front by sharing learned wisdom, stories, & a vision for the future with her staff, fellow entrepreneurs, & her tribe.

 

She might call herself a futurist, a disrupter, or an innovator. No matter the lingo, she oft comes up with fresh ways to address persistent business problems.

 

Second of Four : Replicative

 

Often, an entrepreneur, especially a family business owner,, recognizes replicative leadership as = succession planning; it could be, yes.

 

I thoughtfully ask you to expand your mind, furthering the case that this ‘flavor’ is imperative for all types of businesses, regardless of size, industry, or age.

 

A replicative leader seeks to replace herself; no longer is she indispensable; she’s begun, or accelerated her ability, to work ON her business & no longer IN it, becoming dispensable.

 

Systems thinking, soft skills [ e.g., humility & adaptability, ] & a focus on a self directed education all enable the above.

 

Third of 4 : Servant

 

When we serve, we win = Truth.

 

Yet, sole proprietors & entrepreneurs with staff, especially those who’ve come from corporate backgrounds, each have big adjustments in unlearning positional leadership & replacing w/ servant leadership’s unwavering principles.

 

Allow yourself to challenge assumptions, dismissing nostalgia & past credentials earned, as you realize that serving first gives you rich tools to lead from the front, flipping hierarchy upside down.

 

Fourth of Four : Conscious

 

Leadership done well is often a lonely path. Engaging mind, soul, & spirit is far stronger than merely one. Thus, being conscious about leading yourself & others enables infinitely more progress in your business culture, while concurrently helping you buck societal winds regarding capitalism.

 

Rarely are we taught that free enterprise & capitalism are very different concepts. Those who become conscious leaders better grasp this truism & cultivate a business that embraces the former.

 

Organizations dedicated to this flavor of bottom-up leadership often hold gatherings in your local area; seek them out & turn their events into networking opportunities.

 

Suggested Social Follows :

 

SR Thought Leader

Angela Montgomery

Waters Center

SLI Lead

Greenleaf 

Conscious Leadership

 

Dig for more gold — it’s 1849 all over again!

 

This blog is a drop of water into a deep sea. Be a modern day gold prospector & start a new rush!

 

How to Become …

6 Steps …

Don’t Let the … 

Rela Leadership

The Serving Leader

5 Ways to … 

Practicing the 15 …

 

In short :

 

  • Ground floor
  • Characteristics of leadership
  • Test of 3 – CTA
  • Thought & Replicative
  • Servant & Conscious
  • Social follows
  • There’s a vast universe to explore

 

Thank YOU for reading!

____________________________________________

3 Simple Instagram Mistakes that Will Kill Your Engagement and Growth by @LeahLatini

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Photo by Lisa Fotios from Pexels

by Leah Latini

Most business owners and solo entrepreneurs would agree that having a strong Instagram presence can be a game-changer in terms of growing their audience. However, many businesses we consult with, struggle to find their groove when it comes to creating content that engages their audience in an authentic and sustainable way.

Engagement directly influences the reach your content receives on Instagram and builds upon itself over time. So, it’s incredibly important to ensure you’re encouraging maximum engagement with every post. Especially now with the latest Instagram update, engagement rates can make or break your content strategy and determine whether you continue to grow on the platform or stagnate and decline.

The following list includes the most common mistakes that can cripple your growth on Instagram, even if you have a healthy following.

1) Yeah, but what IS that? – No Context
How many times have you been browsing your Insta feed only to come across an intriguing photo that stops you from scrolling, but then ultimately confuses you? For instance, you see a food pic that looks delicious, but when you stop to learn more about this mouth-watering post, you find that there’s zero information about what it actually is or what restaurant it came from.

Many content creators would argue that a post like this can stand on its own, and people will like it regardless of the caption. The biggest problem with this argument is that it promotes a superficial engagement. It’s easy to get a quick “like” on a post based on aesthetic beauty or visceral reaction. But now, Instagram wants to reward content creators that go the extra mile to create conversations and deeper connections with their audience.

This means that if you leave out the basics of who, what, where, and when you are cutting out a massive portion of your audience that might have otherwise engaged. Give them details about what they’re looking at, and a reason to comment, question, and save your content!

2) Wordplay Overwhelm
While the story behind a photo or video is essential to building a deeper relationship with your audience, many entrepreneurs take editorial content to an extreme and overwhelm their audience with novel-length posts.

I know what you’re thinking, “But you just said that people wouldn’t engage with my content if I don’t include enough detail!”

Oddly enough, both of these concepts are true!

You have to find your audience’s sweet spot or your “Goldilocks Content-Length”. It’s the post length that’s just right and allows you to include a sufficient amount of factual detail but is brief enough that you don’t lose the majority of readers halfway through your post.

Identifying this ideal post length can be a process of trial and error to find what your audience responds to the most. However, a general rule of thumb is to limit the editorial content to under 150 words and save larger pieces for other platforms. If you’d like to create longer narratives on Instagram, consider doing so in video format and experiment with features like Instagram TV. These features are relatively new to the platform and allow you to get a boost in reach just by using them regularly.

3) Too Glossy
The third most common mistake I see with Instagram content strategies is an overuse of stock photos and graphics that are over-worked. By over-worked I mean too corporate-looking or slick.

There is a trend toward the more organic and authentic in the social media space in general. Meaning, we don’t want to be sold to and treated like just another number on a sales list.

So, while it is still important to build an Instagram feed that is aesthetically coherent and cohesive, don’t overdo it on the stock imagery and graphics. Focus on building your look and voice on the platform in an authentic, and sometimes imperfect way. Your audience will connect with your imperfections and trust you more because of them.

Many larger corporations spend a lot of time and resources, figuring out how to “look authentic” to their audiences. In a sense, how to fake small business authenticity while still operating as a mega-global corporation. This alone illustrates the power of personal connection with your audience.

For entrepreneurs, the ability to “be real” is inherent in who we are. Embrace your imperfections and don’t be afraid to add a little grit to your content strategy!

Best Apps for Video Editing by @DONNAAMOS

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best videoo apps for editing

by Donna Amos | Featured Contributor 

Video is THE number one component in marketing that catches and keeps users’ attention, whether it be on your website or social media posts. And video editing apps are getting better all the time, with new releases coming all the time. Here are some suggested video editing apps for your Apple or Android smartphone for video marketing on the go!

Explore the options with each of these video editing apps, and find a link to YouTube video tutorials to show you the basics at the end of each section. Enjoy!

Enlight Videoleap – Mobile Video Editing App

http://videoleapapp.com/

Create & edit video clips on your iPhone with Enlight Videoleap! This was the App Store’s 2017 App of the Year. Discover how easy it is to get creative with video! Whether you want to make artistic Hollywood-level films or simply share memories and moments with friends, Videoleap video editor is the breakthrough video editing app just for you.

Pros will take advantage of powerful high-end editing features, while amateurs will have fun cutting and combining video clips simply, intuitively – from whenever, wherever! Users can utilize creative compositing, mix videos and images together to create double exposures and artistic looks, and choose layer-based editing – adding videos, effects, text and images. You can also customize video layers with transformation, masking, and blending modes.

YouTube Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vabPQVdtZiE&feature=youtu.be

PhotoFox

http://www.photofoxapp.com/

The PhotoFox video editing app was awarded the prestigious Apple Design Award at the 2017 WWDC and Apple’s App of the Year for 2015 in numerous countries. Photofox introduces a new layers system that pushes the boundaries of artistic photo manipulation and redefines expectations from mobile creativity tools. Photofox brings new tools and enhances previously loved features with a layer-centric flow that gives immense power to aspiring creatives on the go.

The latest app from Lightricks strikes a balance between powerful functionality and streamlined design, creating a seamless user experience within the world’s most advanced mobile creativity software. The new application has been tailored to captivate today’s growing mobile creative community, empowering them with the tools to generate amazing visual art.

YouTube Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uA9qmfOg5eg&feature=youtu.be

Snapseed App

https://snapseed.online/

Snapseed is a free photo editing app. It’s more powerful than Instagram, and if you have room on your smartphone or tablet, you should download Snapseed right now, even if you are a professional photographer. Snapseed is a free app available for both Android and iOS mobile devices. Take pictures on your mobile device, apply Snapseed’s filters, and share them on social media platforms.

Snapseed is a Google acquisition acquired to beef up Google’s photo capabilities. Now it’s a Google app with powerful photo-editing filters you can use on your smartphone or tablet. Some see Snapseed as a response to Instagram, but it is intended to be part of a continuing effort by Google to improve its photo-editing and to share software in general. Snapseed isn’t a desktop version of Photoshop.

Snapseed is an artist’s tool with advanced features and recommended for serious photographers, but its easy-to-use controls make it suitable for everyone who likes to play around with their images. For the pros, it’s the app you use when you want to take a while to make an advanced image.

YouTube Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEdQmqAG24Q&feature=youtu.be

Swish Social Video App

https://www.swishvideoapp.com/

Swish is a video maker app that gives you the ability to create and customize your own video ads in under 3 minutes. Endless combinations of specially crafted templates, stock options, color schemes and music yield high-quality results that are polished and professional. Now you can get noticed online without that expensive price tag.

Easy-to-Use Templates

Customize the template to make it your own: change the text and write your own message, pick a font and a color palette that matches your brand best, add your logo, and choose appropriate music from our extensive music library.

Quick Video Editor

Whether you choose your own clip or find a perfect match from our stock, select your favorite part of the clip and fit it to the frame within Swish – no other video editing app required!

DIY Social Media Marketing

Learn which templates work best for you, and customize them: with plenty of templates, professional color schemes and fonts to choose from, you’ll never run out of ways to make great clips. Video ads are the future – don’t get left behind.

YouTube Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3WJi_9HHow&feature=youtu.be

Stop Motion Studio App

https://www.cateater.com/

Stop Motion Studio. Let’s Make a Movie.

Want to create movies like Wallace and Gromit or those groovy Lego shorts on YouTube? Stop Motion Studio helps you to create terrific stop action movies with a whole host of unique features. Like the frame-by-frame editor, the never get lost timeline and the sound editor.

Capture the perfect picture.

Capturing images has never been easier before. No matter if you choose automatic or full manual control of camera settings such as focus, exposure, ISO and white balance. Capture images in 4K or use a live green screen effect. You can also use a second device as remote camera to get a new perspective.

Use your digital camera.

Stop Motion Studio supports digital cameras from all the most popular camera makers, including Canon, Nikon and Sony. Use live view to easily control objects and movements. Control shutter speed, ISO and aperture directly from the app and take advantage of the full-size camera quality.

Desktop-class movie editing.

The unique frame-by-frame view shows you all the images you took in chronological order, much like the single frames of a movie. Cut, copy, paste, delete and insert frames at any position. Zoom in and out on the timeline view so you never get lost, even if you have hundreds of frames. Add audio clips, title, credits and filter effects. Create the movie the way you want it.

YouTube Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jLkl8AQIhA&feature=youtu.be

Enlight Pixaloop

https://www.pixaloopapp.com/

Your photos will never be the same! Join the living photo revolution & animate your images into mesmerizing masterpieces in seconds with Enlight Pixaloop! Enlight Pixaloop living photo creator is FREE to download, with the option to go Pro to unlock additional photo editing tools and creative features.

Enlight Pixaloop empowers you to get your photos moving for a new and mesmerizing kind of photo art! Choose any component of your photo that YOU want to come alive and capture a forever moment! Make interiors dance, be back at the beach with the sea breezes in your hair, or tease nature — reversing the direction of water to defy gravity. Pick from a lush menu of cool overlays like flames, light effects & raindrops to add mood — all in a few taps.

It creates animated photos that can bring your art to life. Any photo element: strands of hair, waves, clouds, or clothing can be animated. Pixaloop tools give you precise animation control so you can perfect your idea. Choose the speed of movement you want to create moving masterpieces: from the subtle flicker of a candle flame to Marilyn’s iconic billowing white dress to cascading waterfalls to two-way escalators.

YouTube Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0oYWuFcZCE&feature=youtu.be

Which of these video editing apps do you like the best? Do you have any tips for using them? Share your ideas and comments with our readers in the comment section below.

 

Social Selling: How to Generate Leads and Sales by @DONNAAMOS

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social selling

by Donna Amos | Featured Contributor 

Leads are life to your business. Leads are potential customers who have expressed some interest in your product or company and have provided contact information you can use to follow up with more information.

When thinking about how to generate leads on social media, consider that 76% of buyers are ready to have a conversation on social media.

Perhaps the greatest benefit of lead generation using social media specifically is the ability to focus on highly qualified leads through advanced targeting. Targeted leads are much more likely to respond to your sales pitch because the are already qualified and interested. That’s what I like to call “low hanging fruit.”

Useful Tactics for Generating Leads Through Social Media

So how do you go about using social media for lead generation? Here are some of the best ways to start filling your sales funnel with qualified leads.

Offer Links to Gated Content

Gated content is content hidden behind a virtual gate. If the content is valuable enough, interested readers will be willing to provide some basic contact information in exchange for access.

When using social media for lead generation, you can promote gated content by sharing a link to a landing page where potential readers provide their information before gaining access to the content.

Some people who click through to the landing page will click away without accessing your content—maybe they were mildly interested in the information but not so interested that they feel it’s worth sharing their contact details.

But those who are truly interested and understand that they will gain significant value are willing to overcome this minor hurdle, qualifying themselves as more than casual readers in the process. These are great qualified leads.

Run Contests

With contests, the prize has to fulfill two important criteria. First, it has to be valuable enough that people will actually be interested in entering the contest. But second, it has to be valuable specifically to the people who have the highest potential to become your customers, and not much value to anyone else.

If the prize is not valuable enough, no one will enter your contest. But if it’s so generically valuable that everyone who sees the contest will want to enter, you’ll gather loads of contact information but no qualified leads.

So, what should you offer as your contest prize? An extended trial of your product could be a good option, or an upgrade to a higher tier of your service. After all, those prizes only have value to people who are genuinely interested in using your product. If you sell physical products, you could give away some of the products themselves.

Pay-to-Play Social Media Advertising

While organic social media posts can be targeted to some extent, social media advertising takes targeting—and therefore the ability to collect leads from laser-focused groups of potential customers—to a whole new level.

Using highly specific target audiences to promote gated content is a great way to keep advertising costs low while ensuring the leads you collect meet certain desirable criteria.

Here are a few good places to begin:

Facebook lead ads

This specialized ad format offers a low-commitment, low-barrier way for potential customers to connect with your business without leaving Facebook. As with a gated content offer, the potential customer provides information in exchange for something of value. That something of value can be either digital—like a newsletter, white paper, or coupon—or something that’s delivered in real life—like a product demonstration at a brick and mortar store or a test drive.

One great advantage of Facebook lead ads over a regular gated content offer is that Facebook automatically populates the lead form with the user’s contact information, so it can take as few as two clicks or taps for a potential customer to connect. You choose how much information you need, so you can get enough information for the lead to be useful, but not ask for so much that it scares the user away.

Instagram lead ads

Since Facebook owns Instagram, Facebook lead ads can also appear on Instagram, as long as the ads meet Instagram’s design requirements. However, lead ads behave a little differently on Instagram.

Instagram can only pre-populate the lead form with email, full name, phone number, and gender. If you want to collect additional information, the user will have to type it in.

Since Instagram lead ads only appear on mobile, and it takes 40 percent longer to fill out a form on a mobile device than on a desktop, you should only request additional information if it is critical for your initial sales efforts.

LinkedIn lead gen forms

LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms also make it very easy for potential customers to share their information, since they are pre-populated with details from the user’s LinkedIn profile.

Since LinkedIn is primarily a professional networking site, the pre-populated information can include work details like job title, company, and seniority, as well as education details, giving you an extremely rich set of data about each lead.

Like Facebook lead ads, LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms require no typing at all to complete, making them easy to complete even on mobile devices.

Host a Virtual Hangout, Webinar, or Live Video

There are two approaches to generating leads with live video, hangouts, and webinars. The first option is to present the video as gated content, requiring interested viewers to register in advance by providing their contact information.

The second approach is to open the video up to a wide audience and generate leads from that audience in one of two ways:

  • During the video, direct viewers to offers, contests, or other social media lead generation tools on another platform, such as a landing page on your website or a custom tab on your Facebook page.
  • Encourage live interaction by offering a reward for participation, then be sure to follow up with those who leave comments. The follow up could be as simple as directing people to resources related to their comments (including gated content), or you could encourage them to reach out to your team on social media with any further questions.

Keep in mind that the more specialized or niche your video, the fewer leads you will likely generate, but the more targeted the leads.

Better Leads Mean More Sales

Of course, the more top-quality leads you can acquire, the better your chances of making more sales. The world is on social media. If your business plans to market itself to the world, and especially to target a select audience in that world, social media is a great place to start.

How are your results with social selling? Do you depend on totally organic results or do you spend dollars on social media ads? Share your experiences with us in the comments below.

 

How To Leverage The Power Of Video For Your Business by @XLConsultingGro

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by Elaine Slatter | Featured Contributor

Nothing says it better than a picture…..well yes there is something better, the power of video for your business.  All the popular social media platforms are emphasizing video content.  How can you get started and use video marketing and leverage the power of video?   Here are some tips to help you.

Get Started By Using The Video App On Your Smartphone Camera

Taking a video with a smartphoneThis is the easiest way to get off the ground.  People like authenticity and nothing beats being you, talking about things that you are passionate about.  Keep the videos short and sweet, one message per video and around 1-2 minutes are ideal.   These types of videos are great for Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.  If you are not sure how to take good videos with your smartphone, check you this YouTube how to video.

Other things to consider are, a smartphone tripod or selfie stick, lighting options, either natural light or professional lighting kits, remote button and a lapel mic.  All these items can be purchased at a reasonable price from Amazon.

Professional Video Shoots Have Their Purpose

Professional video shootIf you are launching a book or a prestigious event, or a product, then consider a professional video shoot.  Video shoots should tell a story.  Add an emotional element that appeals to your target audience and it will pull them in and prompt your followers to share your video.

Start A YouTube Channel

YouTube is the #1 place people go to learn “how to” _____________ .  Yes, fill in the blank here.  It could be how to apply makeup, how to cook different foods, exercises to eliminate “muffin top”,  how to use Canva etc.  Once you have created your channel, you can work on building an audience and over time, monetizing your YouTube channel.  Currently, channels will require 4,000 hours of watch time within a 12 month period and at least 1,000 subscribers before you can get ad revenue.

Even if you aren’t interested in monetizing your YouTube channel, you can direct your audience to subscribe to your feed for all the new and interesting things you are creating to support your audience.  Subscribers will be automatically updated on new videos you have launched.  To encourage subscribers to your channel you can use Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to talk about your channel.  You can even have a ‘giveaway’ incentive for YouTube channel subscribers to help build your channel.

When posting your video don’t forget to categorize it, tag it and put any links to websites (including your own) in the description.

Show Up Live On Facebook And Instagram

Facebook groups and Instagram TV are great venues for live video.  It’s always a great idea to invite people ahead of time to watch your “lives”.  If you schedule them on the same day and time each week, you are more likely to get your tribe to tune in to hear what you are going to say.

Conduct Video Interviews With Interesting Guests

Using the Zoom technology (free for one on one recordings) you can split the screen, invite a guest and record the session for posting on any of your social media channels

Post video on the home page of your website

Nothing helps visitors to your website understand your business than the power of video.  To produce a video about how your company serves its clients you can record a video on Lumen 5 free of charge or use software such as Powtoon to make an animated video.

Post Testimonials On Your Website

The best videos to post on your homepage are short and snappy testimonial videos.  Instant referrals from people who love your work.  Yes, you can film them with your smartphone.     They can be filmed at your location, your client’s location or just about anywhere without a distracting background.

How to Make Your Videos More Professional?

Make sure you edit them and add some snap with a bit of music and branding intros and outros.  If you are a little tech savvy then you can do it yourself using these tools:

Editing on iPhone or iPad: iMovie, Voice recording on iPhone or iPad: Voice Memos, Editing on Android: 10 best free apps. Voice recording on Android: Voice Recorder.

If you don’t feel confident and have a small budget, Fiverr is a great platform to find a video editor/producer.  Look for a 5* review with around 100+ reviews and you will have a few choices to pick from.

Have you tried the power of video for your business?  What channels are the best for you for audience engagement?

Entrepreneurs: How to Not Get ‘Owned’ by Social Media by @thedriftingdesk

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by Lisa Jordie

We all know unplugging from social media every so often is important for our sanity, but what happens if using social media is part of your job? Social media marketing was all fun and games until the platforms started being villainized. And, in some ways, rightfully so.

Many sociologists, academics and scientists are quick to point out the need to ‘unplug’ from social media to reconnect with humans, free up your time and stop contributing to the seemingly insidious nature of these tools.

Sure, unplugging may mean you miss a cute Snap of your adorable nephew wearing virtual bunny ears, but what if your job requires using social media? There’s no way to simply delete your accounts for many entrepreneurs who utilize the platforms to:

  • Find and connect with clients
  • Promote and market their brand via ads
  • Answer questions from customers
  • Countless other opportunities

In his book, Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked, author Adam Atler says of social media platforms,

“They’re distracting because they remind us of the world beyond the immediate conversation…”

So, say you agree that you’d like to spend less time on your phone and on social media, but you are still an entrepreneur who needs to use these tools for your business. Here are some sure-fire ways to not get owned by social media:

Disable App Notifications

Do you really need to get a notification that your old boss loved a picture you posted last year? Or that that dude you met once at a baseball game just checked into an airport in Missouri?

These are all notifications you can look at once you open these apps on your own time.

Since we already know these social media platforms are psychologically and strategically designed to keep reminding us that they exist, disabling app notifications goes a long way!

Remove Apps From Your Phone

If the temptation to use social media apps is still too great even without constant and real-time notifications, consider removing the apps all together.

Although you can access the apps on your computer for business-related tasks, some platforms just don’t function the same on desktops. Trying installing the apps on a tablet and using this instead of your phone.

Using a tablet for social media apps is also a great way to be able to separate business and personal accounts as well. Say goodbye to constantly logging in and out of separate accounts!

Create Separate Accounts

This. Is. Pivotal.

Switching gears quickly is part of the game if you are an entrepreneur, but it can be mentally straining to go from responding to a message with pictures the bounty of sweet Aunt Sandra’s vegetable garden to responding to message from a confused client who needs clarification on one of your business processes.

This may mean making a quirky name for your personal account and your ‘real’ name for your business account. So be it. Separating your personal and business social media accounts will also make it easier to stay organized with your business.

Set a Schedule

Instead of being available on social media all of the time, set a schedule with specific times during the day when you check in to and publish on these apps. Using a Social Media Manager tool is incredibly helpful to auto-schedule posts as well (and is a huge productivity booster).

Live

Get out and live your life:

  • Take a painting class.
  • Hike with your dog.
  • Knit a boho-style macrame plant hanger.
  • Whatever. Just live.

Most importantly, give yourself time away not just from social media, but from your job.
This is why you’ve worked so hard. To live a fulfilling life. So go enjoy it..away from electronic devices..even if it’s in small doses.

How do you set boundaries with social media as an entrepreneur?

 

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Lisa Jordie has been a blogger and freelance writer for hire since 2014 when she ditched her cubicle for a more flexible lifestyle. She offers work from home, blogging and freelancing tips at TheDriftingDesk.com.

How to Build a Thriving Online Community by @AnnaMcAfee

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Photo by Tim Marshall on Unsplash

by Anna McAfee | Featured Contributor

Online communities are all around us, and changing the way we work and live.  As humans we seek connection and often find ourselves participating in and contributing to online communities.  Not just for humans but for brands and businesses its an ever increasing need to create a following and engagement with your end user.  As online networking evolves these online communities become integral to that way in which we connect to one another in the digital world. 

In 2017 I intentionally created an offline community in my local area called #LinkedInLocal.  Shortly after I unintentionally co-founded a movement with the same hashtag created an online community of hosts.  We were and continue to be a tribe of LinkedIn users looking to follow the core idea and share the value and experiences among setting up local groups across the globe.  This has continued to grow to over 1000 host members globally, with 15-20 new hosts being added each week.  Along the way I learned some valuable lessons on what makes online communities thrive. 

Whatever you medium is for creating an online community, be it a Facebook group, Slack, or a LinkedIn group, here are some tips in order to get your community growing and thriving. 

Create a space for shared values where people can hang-out

When it comes to shared values private online groups can create a sense of belonging for users.  United by an idea or a cause, they are great opportunity for digital users to network.  Online communities should foster the sharing of ideas so in order to do this the community needs some shared values or themes.  It could be working moms, industry or location-based entrepreneurs, or hobby-based tribes, but this should be clear in both name and description. 

Say hello and value new members

New members help spread the message and continue the spread of ideas in a thriving online community.  They are integral to its success.  Its important to welcome new members to foster an environment where they feel valued.  We are all member of so many online groups, the ones in which we feel significantly more welcome will really help engagement.  This can happen in the form of a welcome message, and opportunity to introduce themselves, and communicated values around a welcoming environment. 

Facebook has a great tag within groups call New Member  for the first two weeks upon joining.  This helps identify those who are new and need more support, and well as context on their questions.  Slack also provides the ability to set up bots that welcome members as they join the community.  In the words of Maya Angelou, “its not about what you say, its how you make them feel”, so appreciation will go a long way.

Make the space safe

Privacy is an issue for everyone, so showing that your community values and respects that will help members feel safe.  Make the group rules on bullying and worrying discussions very clear and stick to them.  Protection from spammers is another matter you need to deal with.  Be strict on the pitching rules in the group and remove anyone who continues to not comply.  People often use closed online communities to open up and share thoughts on matters they don’t want those close to them to know about.  Ensure your online space has that in mind. 

Be consistent and show up

No one feels valued or engaged in a community that lacks consistent content, questions or the sharing of ideas.  Have certain days for types of content and schedule these, for example the

Ability to share instagram handles or offers in a Thursday thread.  Keep members up to date about what’s going on and create content that will either help add to their businesses or help them learn.  Use scheduling tools to make things easier but make sure the content is engaging, and not just external links or sales messages.  Content should be engaging and consistency related to the shared values and message of the group.

Its not just about creating content, but also answering questions. If necessary appoint some community ambassadors or champions to moderate and answer messages.  This will help ensure everyone is getting the information they need at the right time. 

Be organised

Within any community there are common questions that come up time and time again.  Seek to create resources that help answer these questions and add them as pinned posts, or even share as a mailer if you have a list to support your online community.   Use the files section in order to add regular documents.  Use learning features to put together modules or units from content in the group, such as previous live videos.  Online events are another way to foster community for connection, the sharing of ideas, and help facilitate connection.

Reward your best community members

Facebook now have some incredible tools to help you really make your community members and followers feel valued.  Slack and other providers do have recognition emojis, but LinkedIn groups have a lot to learn from Facebook’s badge system.  They’ve done their research and these badges are adding a lot of value to communities. These can be switched off but here are some of the great badges that help community moderators and members feel truly valued.

Facebook Group Badges

  • Group Anniversary: Celebrates the time a member has invested in your group, appearing on their anniversary day of becoming a group member
  • Conversation Starter: Recognizes members who start meaningful group discussions. This badge will appear for members whose posts receive the most likes and comments in the past month.
  • Founding Member: Acknowledges early members who have helped grow your group.
  • Conversation Booster: Recognizes people who frequently generate meaningful discussions can encourage other group members to contribute more
  • Visual Storyteller: Recognizes members for unique contributions to the community can help spark conversation within the community. It will appear for members who share photos or videos that group members find valuable.
  • Greeter: Provides new members with information and support upon joining can help them feel welcomed. The greeter badge will appear for members who frequently respond to new members’ posts and comments.
  • Link Curator: Recognizing members who help bring topic-relevant news to the group, the link curator badge will appear to members who share quality, external content with their group that receives good engagement
  • Rising Star: Recognizing new members within their first month with the group that contribute to the community


Facebook groups also offer a section of members with things in common, such as common friends or liked pages.  This provides a great conversation starter and a way to connect.  Facebook Pages offer the ability to add Top Fan badges and Valued Commenter.  The “Valued Commenter” badge is awarded when someone comments frequently on a Page, and the “Top Fan” badge is acquired when a fan is one of the most active.

4 Keys To Better Social Media Engagement by @XLConsultingGro

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by Elaine Slatter | Featured Contributor

Would you like to get more social media engagement?  Of course, you would, and so do millions of businesses.  The social media space is getting more and more crowded every day.  We can’t be all things to all people because that just doesn’t work for engagement.   So, what are the four key tips to help you with social media engagement?

Community

Your community will help with your social media engagement if they become loyal followers of you and your company’s brand.  Take your time to develop your own community.  How do you do this?  Map out your ‘why’.  The reason your company does what it does.

For example, Toms is not just a shoe company, it is a movement.

Its mantra: “With every TOMS purchase, you stand with us on issues that matter.”  That’s ‘why’ they are in business.

People who purchase Toms shoes care as much about issues that matter as they do about buying shoes.  They can buy shoes from anywhere but no other company is committed to helping others like Toms.  Toms supporters are a very committed community of buyers.

Our XL Consulting community, under the Fabulous Fempreneurship brand is made up of women entrepreneurs who want to help develop the women leaders of tomorrow in the business community.  It’s ‘why’ we are in business. Who is your community?

Curating

Once you have found your community, the next step is to curate content.  Finding content is much easier when you know who you want to engage with.  Not all the content you develop has to be your own.  Find other thought leaders who share the same community as you and follow them on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

The next step is to engage with these thought leaders and curate their best content and share with your community on a consistent basis.  This is the “give” aspect of social media. By promoting  their curated content these thought leaders will engage with you and share YOUR content.

Content

While you are curating content from influencers in your market space, don’t forget to create your own content!

This is pretty easy to do once you are following leaders in your industry.  You can take a topic that your community wants to hear about and spin it many different ways on multiple platforms.  Just don’t be lazy! It may seem easy to connect your platforms together ie Facebook/Instagram, but that is just duplicating content and the audiences on different platforms do not always share the same interests.

For example, the audience demographic on Facebook is not the same as Instagram.  The younger community who hang out on Instagram definitely do not have a Facebook profile.  They have no interest at all in Facebook.  If you have a teen to early 20’s community, they are more likely to have a Twitter account than a Facebook profile.

If your community is B2B or leaders in the business community, then producing content to post on LinkedIn is important.  Content for this platform is not the same as the material you necessarily post on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.  It is a Business platform so leave out the very personal stuff, it doesn’t fit this platform.

How do you produce your own content for a variety of platforms without sucking up all your valuable time?  One of the best ways is to create a content calendar for the month for each platform.  This could be in the form of 4 blog posts that can be geared to twitter and facebook audiences, plus 3 videos for IGTV, & 4 videos on YouTube.  Add in a couple of podcasts to share on LinkedIn and you have a variety of material that can produce a month’s worth of content.  And, let’s not forget photos.    Video and photo content can be produced easily on your smartphone because your community will enjoy the personal side of your content as much as the professionally edited content you produce.  It will be more real for your community and show your brand personality.

You can show the raw side of ‘you’ by hosting Facebook lives, or Instagram lives. There are a variety of ways to engage your community.

If you aren’t sure what kind of content to develop, search platforms such as Buzz Sumo or Quora or Google keywords.  These sites will give you ideas of what a community like yours is interested in learning about and the trending topics.   If you have a Facebook group you can poll the group to find out what they need help with the most.

Once you have developed your content you can schedule it to disperse, rinse and repeat many times over with a scheduling tool.  My favorite is PromoRepublic, a cross between Canva and Hootesuite. I can use their content suggestions, alter it, select one of the graphics and schedule across multiple platforms all at the same time.

You can always update historic content by adding more relevant news, videos, quotes, and photos to make it new again.  If you devote one hour a month to updating existing content, you have created brand new content in a matter of minutes that will help boost your Google ranking.

Connecting

Once you have posted your content on a regular basis, don’t forget the most important part which is connecting.  Respond to your community by engaging with their content, answering their comments and taking note of what your community is adding or responding to. This is the listening part of social media engagement.  The comments and concerns of your community will help you with increased engagement

Don’t forget to SHARE posts from your community of followers on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.  This will show you care and at the same time increase your followers.

Social media engagement is your online marketing strategy, which combined with in person, traditional marketing, will boost your brand awareness and lay the foundation for selling products.