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COVID-19 and Effective Social Marketing Strategies by @DONNAAMOS

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by Donna Amos | Featured Contributor

Social Networks, Marketing and a Global Pandemic

The world is nothing like it used to be at this moment in time. The global COVID-19 pandemic has changed everything everywhere for the time being. The reality is, too, that things may never go back to the way they used to be. This influences all aspects of day-to-day existence as well. It has even had a massive effect on how businesses approach digital marketing. If you want to master social media marketing for the pandemic and beyond, then you should look into these strategies as soon as possible. You should approach marketing on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn nowadays with all of the caution and smarts in the world.

  1. Focus on Audience Targeting

If you want to track down leads and strengthen engagement in a big way, then you should take the time to focus on audience targeting. It can help to turn to devices such as the Facebook ads manager. If you utilize this, then you’ll be able to track down an audience that’s practically tailored to your specific preferences and wishes. If you want to figure out who exactly needs to see your latest advertisements, then you need to make in-depth targeting one of your top aims.

  1. Help Social Network Users Get Breaks From the Harsh Realities of Life Nowadays

There is no disputing that life nowadays is difficult and unpredictable for so many people all around the globe. That’s the reason that it can be such a good idea for businesses to help social media users get welcome breaks from all sorts of difficulties. People more than ever need pleasant distractions that can put genuine smiles on their faces. It can be an intelligent idea to integrate joy into news pieces. If you want to post a relevant story for your audience members, then you should think about possibly implementing fascinating video clips. You should think about possibly introducing them to other things that may pique their interest levels as well. Virtual tours of intriguing destinations may just do the trick.

  1. Zero in on Context

It’s critical to zero in on context. There’s no arguing that this pandemic has influenced people all around the planet. There’s also no disputing that its effects in many cases hit close to home. That’s the reason that the smartest businesses out there should study up on how it has affected cities, towns and communities all over the map. If you want to avoid doing anything insensitive unintentionally, then you should make a point to study up on regional matters that may change how you approach your social network “voice” during the pandemic. If you hear about a small town close to you that has experienced particularly significant job loss as a result of the pandemic, then you may want to reconsider how you handle your posts that are relevant to all of its locals.

  1. Evaluate Things Over and Over Again

Nonstop reevaluations can do wonders for businesses that want to approach pandemic social network use intelligently and sensitively. Markets are evolving more rapidly than ever these days. That’s why you need to go above and beyond to reevaluate matters with significant frequency. You should reevaluate your marketing campaigns. You should reevaluate your rules as well. Things that you implemented a month ago may no longer be pertinent or appropriate. You should realize that the only thing that you can actually predict is that situations will never be the same. Reevaluate how you move forward with blog posting times, video clips, response times and beyond. Something that may have been acceptable or perhaps even beneficial half a year ago may be completely out of touch nowadays.

  1. Analyze All of Your Creative Choices at Length

It’s critical to meticulously analyze your creative choices that involve social networks. Think about the tone you use any time you caption Facebook or Instagram posts of any kind. Think about your keyword selection. Think about your blog subjects. It can even help to think about the images you choose to adorn your sites. It may not be fitting to take things too lightly at this moment in time. If you want to approach social network use sensitively, then you may want to limit your jokes for a while. People aren’t exactly in the mood to be rolling around on the ground laughing. Although you shouldn’t rule out humor entirely, you should make a point to approach it both delicately and sensitively.

Consider human contact as well. You may want to stay away from any and all references to excessive touch. Showing images of people embracing passionately may not be something you want to do for quite a while.

  1. Concentrate on Expanding Your Social Networking Accounts

If you want to approach social networking intelligently during the pandemic, then you should concentrate on account expansion. You shouldn’t concentrate on conversions. Your digital marketing style should not revolve around motivating audience members to complete sales. It should revolve around expanding your audience in a considerable and meaningful way. Don’t forget that your audience members do not have a lot of cash to spare right now. They can usually only set aside funds for the basics. If you want to come out on top when all is said and done, then you should put a lot of energy and time into making your Internet following a lot more rock-solid for the future. Aim to release content that offers tangible value to people. Aim to give people access to content that’s actually vital. It can be smart to give your followers suggestions regarding all of the things that they can do to look after themselves while in confinement. It can be smart to give them suggestions that relate to getting more done while working remotely as well. Practicality is of the essence these days.

  1. Team Up With Influential Figures in Your Field or Industry

It can be highly intelligent to network with people in your industry or field who are particularly influential. You may want to join forces with widely known “influencers.” Ask an influencer if you can pen a guest blog for him or her. Ask an influencer if he or she may want to pen a guest blog for your official website. If you do this, then you may be able to gain the interest of brand new consumers. Teaming up with influencers can be a speedy and effective way for businesses nowadays to up their social network marketing strategies. It can be a win-win situation as well. That’s because you may be able to help influencers strengthen their already robust Internet followings.

  1. Get Deeply Acquainted With Your Target Audience Members

People have more time on their hands in recent times. That’s why it may be a terrific opportunity for businesses to get even more acquainted with their target audience members. It may be a fantastic idea to conduct surveys of your audience members. Take the time to discover all of the things that truly make them tick. Zero in on your audience members’ deepest emotions, too. Ask them about the things that give them fear. Ask them about the things that may give them hope for brighter tomorrows. The more “in the loop” you are with your audience members, the simpler it will be for you to please them at later times.

  1. Be Selfless

Businesses that are intelligent should aim to come across as being selfless. If you want to come across that way, then you should start by actually being that way. Do not fixate as much on your business and its aspirations. Concentrate on your audience members above all else.

  1. Test Brand New Concepts Out Right Now

Businesses in this day and age should be more fearless and bold than ever. The COVID-19 pandemic is a terrific “excuse” for businesses to test out fresh new concepts as well. It may be brilliant to test out concepts that are totally unfamiliar to you. You may want to play around with social media posting times. You may want to try new avenues such as giveaways, competitions and contests in general. Things aren’t the way they used to be. That’s why it can be a pretty safe time to do things that make you feel a bit uncertain. You should test out things that involve image selection, video clips and more.

How to Get your Facebook Ads to Massively Convert Quickly by @XLConsultingGro

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by Elaine Slatter | Featured Contributor

How to Get Facebook Ads to Massively Convert

If you are not getting your facebook ads to massively convert, then there are few things to check out in your ads manager set up.   You might be surprised to learn that you need a very BIG target audience for your facebook ads to massively convert.  We can help you find that large audience.

But first, let’s go through the important parts of facebook ads manager that you may be missing when setting up your facebook ads.

From your business page ads manager page there are three options for your campaign depending on your marketing objectives.   The 3 choices are:  Awareness, Consideration, CONVERSION.

Make sure you pick CONVERSION

 

How to Select Your Audience

You can select your warm audience by choosing from the option

Optimization for Ad Delivery

Warm audience (those who already have visited your website.   These can be tracked through a facebook pixel you have installed on your website.

Warmer audience (a look-alike audience to the one who has already visited your website)

These two options are for people who already have a lot of visitors to their website and who are also facebook users.

Next you can pick your audience by

Location

Age

Gender

The larger your set of criteria, the larger the number of people targeted.   If you are a local business, your target audience will be relatively small.  Your audience would  consist of only the cities that you service and the age group/gender who are likely to buy your products.

If you are a company that offers a digital service, you can select a much larger location because it doesn’t matter if they live in California, Alaska or anywhere else in North America.

 

What is “Detailed Targeting”?

Next you can get more specific with your targeting by selecting the “Detailed Targeting” section.  This is your COLD audience. If you are new to business or do not have a facebook pixel on your website or a lot of facebook friends for your business page, you may only have a cold audience. That’s ok!

Your audience can consist of

Demographics

Interests

For a cold audience you can look at facebook suggestions or type in a name of someone who has an alignment to the same interests.  For example, if you are promoting yoga training, you might want to pick an audience that includes Brene Brown or Meditation because people who are interested in yoga are also interested in Brene Brown or Meditation.  Or you might want to pick the specific types of yoga such as Hot Yogo or Hatha Yoga.

Targeting Ad spend

The reach of your ad and the conversion rate suggestions from Facebook depend on your ad spend.

In the example of “Yoga” for a Yoga training ad, we have selected a daily spend of $20 x 7 days a week = $140/week.

This is the resulting reach of this ad spend using a location of United States, Gender = female and the age group of 25-45.  It is based on a “cold” audience only.   Your results would be much better if you had a “warm” audience and a “look alike audience”.

 

 

What does Facebook Say About Your Potential Ad?

The audience reach is how many people will see this ad based on the ad spend budget

Conversion rate = the number of people who are likely to purchase the product in your ad given your selection criteria and your ad spend.  When you are setting up your facebook ad, you can play with the different criteria to see what happens to the conversion rate

As you can see to get your facebook ads to massively convert quickly your target audience needs to be very big and your budget has to be around the $140/week especially if you have a cold audience.

If you have the facebook pixel installed and you have a warm and a lookalike audience, the results will be much different because the conversion rate will be a lot higher.

To get your facebook ads to massively convert think of these two things. Not only do you need to have a great offer, but you will need to play around with your target audience in Facebook Ad Manager.  One good thing…..playing in Ad Manager is free!  Spend your time devising a converting audience as well as designing the ad itself.

If you like this article, you may like other articles we have written for She Owns It, or on the blog posts for XL Consulting Group.

Strategize your social plans: How can starts-ups maintain a steady social media presence? by @AlmaCausey

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Strategize your social plans: How can starts-ups maintain a steady social media presence?

“Hello, all! I am so excited for our weekend plans!” Annie exclaimed as she barged in after work.

To her dismay, no one responded. Tania was angrily sending voice notes to someone. Mike appeared like he would shatter the screen with his furious typing. And Ben, as usual, was lying on the couch with earphones on. Disappointed, Annie went to her room, stumped on the bed, and began scrolling her Instagram.

Does this scenario ring a bell?

Pretty much, every home these days has turned into a media hotspot. From adults to kids, as young as five years, are a part of the target market for many businesses. Be it leisure, apparel, accessories, and firms specializing in designer footwear or academic applications.

Leaving the debate of its pros and cons for another day, let’s discuss it from a corporate perspective. Social media has become the central focus of business entities. It started as an entertainment tool, but now it is one of the most sophisticated marketing tools for entrepreneurs. Marketers spent over $89 billion on social media advertising and marketing in 2019.

The stats only convince them to spend more. Currently, more than 42% of the world’s population has a social media account. That is over 3.2 billion users!

Clearly, marketing on social media is worth the effort. Platforms like Facebook and Instagram have become indispensable parts of customer acquisition, brand awareness, content distribution, and lead generation. All of it becomes even more essential if you are a start-up. Strategize your social media presence to maintain a steady standing in the digital community.

Clueless on how to tread here? Let us spell it out for you.

Step one: Craft a Plan that Works

First things first, you must set some attainable goals. The best way to do that is to ensure they are SMART. Below, we have the image to decipher such objectives:

Source

It is good to expand your social network. However, unless you figure out what you want to achieve via expansion, you can’t expect successful outcomes. Following are a few goals a start-up usually looks forward to pursuing:

  • Generate new leads
  • Improve brand awareness
  • Enhance web traffic
  • Increase sales

Step two: Choose a suitable platform

Once you know your goals, it is time to find which platform caters to your needs. This depends on the niche you are working in. For example, if you are in tech, LinkedIn would be a better option than Instagram.

Note that not all social media channels have the same purpose. The target audience for each is different. Given the variation, you must pick a channel where you can connect with the right people at the right time.

Source

As a start-up, you can’t afford the luxury of failing often. You need to ensure your advertising budget works hard for you. Keep it minimum, but make sure your strategies are relevant. For instance, if you are a B2B, go to LinkedIn. If you are an e-commerce agency, work on Instagram.

There are a few ways you can go about finding where your audience is hanging out.

  • A straightforward approach is to carry out the customer survey. Ask questions like which social platform they use the most, which influencers they follow the most, and from where they get their online info.
  • Another method is to deploy social media sites. Platforms like Facebook allow you to estimate the size of the audience.
  • Also, you can research the demographics of each social site through the Pew Research Center for the Internet and Technology.

Next, follow what Patrick Ward from High-Speed Experts believes, that once you’ve identified where your customer resides, you can be consistent and valuable to master your chosen social platform truly. This will definitely make a strong impact!

Step three: Analyze competitor’s social presence

As soon as you have set up your social media profiles, it’s time to do some stalking. Snoop into your competitor’s social media profiles and check what the devil they are up to. Being the newbie in the industry, you have to spot the competing parties first. You should monitor the social media presence of mid-sized and even larger corporations.

Experts recommend using third-party tools to have a closer look at competitor’s social media performance. Websites like Keyhole, SEMRush, and RivalIQ can help you audit the social media of competitors. You can study the metrics and evaluate the content they are producing.

Here are a few things you should pay attention to:

  • Posting frequency
  • Content quality
  • Comments/likes details
  • Number of followers

Step four: Design a content marketing strategy

Your content marketing strategy, in its essence, is the outline of your start-up. It contains a detailed plan that you can use to address your audience. Bear in mind; there is no general content marketing strategy template. Each business has to design its own.

Allow your creative genies to join heads and come up with a plan meant to boost brand awareness. It is not always about crafting blog posts. It includes videos, infographics, case studies, research outcomes, graphics, animations, and much more. Filter out the type of content that will allow you to reach your audience in the best possible ways.

Source

When promoting content on social media, you must go both ways: paid and organic. For the latter, you can use third-party distributors or influencers to promote your content. It will assist you in reaching out to different sources and add your content to their social channels or websites. Besides, you must anticipate the frequency of posts your audience requires. A social media scheduling tool will allow you to keep up with the pace.

Step five: Build relationships and find leads

As a start-up, your ultimate success lies in the relationships you build. Use your social channels to interact with the audience, respond to their queries, and offer free or discounted items. Take their feedback when necessary and enlighten them about your long-term plans.

Summing Up

At the outset, building a social media presence may sound simple. Yet as you advance, you’ll understand it’s a bit tacky.

Don’t fret when this realization hits you!

Many entities made it big, and you can do it too. All you need is professional knowledge and a couple of experts up your sleeve.

Initiate your journey and share with us how it goes. Good Luck!

 

A Reliable Guide for Making Money on Instagram by @Shane_Barker

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A Reliable Guide for Making Money on Instagram

by Shane Barker

Want to make money on Instagram?

You need to know how to attract followers and keep them engaged. Your ability to build a following and boost your influence play a major role in generating income on Instagram.

But building a profitable account from nothing is not child’s play.

Getting Started…

First things first, you should look at your follower base. While you don’t need millions of your followers to monetize your account, the higher the number, the better.

To grow your account organically, you need to create engaging content.

Start by understanding your audience — their likes, dislikes, and pain points. Then, try to come up with ways in which you can solve their problems, or add value to their lives.

It’s also a good idea to maintain a consistent posting schedule. Narrow down on a frequency that works best for your page, and stick to that.

Also, leverage online tools to come up with the right hashtags. This can work wonders in improving the outreach of your Instagram content.

How to Make Money Using Instagram?

Once you have over a thousand followers in your niche, you can consider monetizing your page.

Here is how you can get started:

1. Sponsored Posts

Sponsored posts can include shoutouts, detailed reviews, as well as how-to videos. If you have a good sway over your audience, you can boost a brand’s sales.

What’s in it for you?

Typically, before a campaign begins, brands negotiate a flat fee for a post or a series of posts.

2. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing can help brands generate leads and eventually, increase sales.

If you go down this road, you’ll receive a fixed amount of money every time a purchase is made. For affiliate posts, you need to promote a product using a custom link or a coupon code.

3. Product Placement Videos

With the rise of video content, this monetizing technique has come into the limelight.

It involves brands paying influencers to feature their product in videos. The product placement could either be subtle or obvious.

4. Promote Your Own Goods

If you have your own brand or even just a side hustle, you can leverage Instagram to sell your products to your audience.

While this is a lot of work, it can be really lucrative!

If you’re new to making money through Instagram, you may encounter hiccups. However, you can lighten the load by using the right Instagram marketing tools.

Not aware of any?

Check out ShaneBarker.com to find the right tool.

If you want to learn more about monetizing your Instagram, check out the infographic given below.

How-to-Monetize-Instagram-to-Earn-a-Fortune-infographic

Image Courtesy: shanebarker.com

 

Public Relations in A Covid-19 World by @lucyrk78

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by Lucy Render-Kaplan | Featured Contributor 

Public Relations is most often the team quickest to respond to (unexpected) situations clients may find themselves in. Because of this, PR is often looked at as the quickest-to-respond communications department. Brands will be remembered for a long time depending on how they act during this crisis and how they are perceived. People are seeking answers and help and brands that can provide this in a sincere and well-informed manner will be the ones that come out of this the strongest.

You do not want to be remembered as the brand that is sending out sales newsletters for luxury vacations no one can take or hash jacking the #Covid19 tag just to garner higher opening rates. Leading with empathy and acknowledging that most people have lost their jobs or may be about to, should be your guiding principle.

It is nearly impossible to tune out of the constant news cycle covering the Corona Virus. The news is dominated by it and analysis, speculation and rumors are rampant on social media. As more states this week extended their stay at home order for another month, both brands and members of the media need to begin to plan for a longer “abnormal” time.

So, what does this mean for brands that rely on news mentions? Or for reporters and outlets that do not want to ignore the pandemic, but also still have deadlines on news outside of Covid-19? Editors know that while they are still the first line for conveying what the public needs to know, they also recognize that readers’ focuses are changing, and now  they are looking for entertaining and uplifting stories more than ever before. The media is looking for stories that give readers even a slight respite from the stress of all of this, and it’s up to us, as PR professionals, to provide those stories.

You may have better luck with local news. Stories about neighbors helping neighbors, food pantries available for those who cannot shop or have lost work, even shout outs to small businesses offering new services – deliveries, masks…think local when looking at what you are looking to pitch.

Keep in mind – no matter how much research you have done to deeply understand your current and potential audience, consumers’ priorities are changing rapidly to try to get a handle on their new normal. People are stuck at home for the foreseeable future and social activities that once filled families’ calendars are now blank spaces. There is an incredible amount of lost work, and daily we are given lists of festivals, sports events and cultural events that are being cancelled. While PR pros are certainly in a scramble to try their best at moving as many of these events online, the reality is most will be cancelled for the remainder of 2020.

What this means, is that more traditional events become more meaningful. Birthdays, Mother’s Day, and events as such will need to be planned as they never have before. This gives PR pros the opportunity to get creative and showcase how these events do not need to be sad days, but new ways of coming together for celebration.

 

Here are some tips to help guide your PR efforts during this time of crisis:

HELP. Then Help More.

No matter your situation, you still have the capability to help others. Yes, some of your clients may provide products or services that in no way can be made relevant to help during this epidemic.

That does not mean your clients cannot be of assistance to others. Depending on your industry, the ways to help will differ.

Perhaps you can organize team members to wear company shirts and help deliver meals to seniors (while always maintaining social distance and protection). You may be able to donate a percentage of profits to a charity assisting in Covid-19 care or research. Maybe you can utilize your platforms to offer tips on making working from home, homeschooling, or ways to stay healthy is something your audience would appreciate seeing you offer.

Yes, some of these ideas will not bring in revenue right away. However, the more trust you can build, the more consumers will think of your brand in a positive light when they are ready to make a purchase.

Strengthen Your Thought Leadership

While this is an ongoing goal for all public relations pros, now is an even better time to focus on employees you can offer as experts in their field. This helps your brand stay in the public eye despite any cancellations or postponements of scheduled launches or announces.

Look at having your clients write blogs on their websites, find guest blogging opportunities to grow a new audience or consider placing professionally written op-ed pieces that your clients have written on news sites. People have more time to read longer content than they may have had before so do not worry about TLDR.

Social Media is Better Than Ever

Marketers have been rejoicing (and complaining less about tricky algorithms!) as people are spending much more time on their computers and smartphones. Fear, feelings of isolation and craving to connect has elevated the use and importance of social media. It is a great time to engage with your customers where they are; learning how their needs and wants may have changed, finding out what questions they aren’t finding answers to that your brand can provide and ensuring you’re spending more time on producing content they want to see, over what your brand would like to get across. This will mean less posts about any new funding or showcasing people using your brand in ways and in locations they will not be able to replicate for the foreseeable future.

Now is the absolute time to rethink your messaging. We would recommend pausing pre-scheduled social media posts. Take the time to review each one and evaluate if it is appropriate or helpful considering our current situation. That is not to say you must scrap all the work you have done. Perhaps it just means putting certain content on hold. Before every post, we recommend asking yourself:

  • Is this necessary currently? Relevant?
  • Is this helpful?
  • Is this empathetic, inclusive and kind?

Where some brands have struggled with being transparent and 100% honest on social media, for fear of looking weak, or nerves or just not feeling comfortable with being “themselves” on social, it’s of utmost importance now. It may just take reframing your thinking – it has never been easy to be forced to layoff people because of COVID-19. The public is seeking information on how brands are internally responding to difficulties. You will find your brand earns respect with honestly and publicly addressing your brand’s struggles. Have you had to close an office? Reduce your workforce? Cancel orders? The faster you can honestly communicate this information to customers, the more they will respect you for being open and transparent.

The worst thing you can do is ignore the crisis and pretend you are conducting business as usual. This comes across as tone-deaf.

We all pray this COVID-19 pandemic ends quickly, but it is how your brand responds now that will determine how they fare in the future. Remember – brands are human. Customers are human. Everyone has new fears and stress and will benefit the most from thoughtful and helpful communication.

 

5 Things You Need to Know About Making Money Through Instagram

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Photo credit: @virtuallydone Instagram

by Jemma Broadstock

With marketing budgets increasingly being spent on digital marketing, you aren’t alone if you’re running around like a headless chicken trying to understand the ins and outs of using Instagram for your business.

So if you have no idea how to make money through your Instagram, here’s are 5 key things to bare in mind:

 

1. Consistency is Key

If you think posting an image every now and again is going to do it, you’re wrong. You need to be showing up consistently, not only on your feed, but on your stories too.

The message in your captions, stories, bio and hashtags all needs to make sense. If the content isn’t consistently sharing the same message or your content isn’t consistently being shared, people won’t become familiar with you as a brand.

You want to get to the point where people see a quote graphic you created pop up on their feed and they know it’s you before they’ve seen your name because the message, fonts and colours are all consistent with what they have seen from you before.

In an ideal world, people should be seeing something from you daily. This doesn’t mean you have to post something new and exciting every day, instead you can show up on your stories. Share an insight into your day, or upload your to do list – people love behind the scenes content, and this will keep your engagement up on the days you don’t post.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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2. Make sales easy⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

This might seem like an obvious point, but it’s a mistake I see way too often.

The average consumer attention span is 8 seconds. Someone should be able to click onto your profile and know within those 8 seconds who you are, what you do, and who your product or service is for. Your biography should explain this clearly and concisely, with a specific call to action and a link for people to click if they want to learn more.

“Mystical goddess helping millennial women do amazing things” might sound cool to you, but no one will know what that means. Who are you? What do you do? Who do you help? If you don’t answer these questions, they will not take the time to DM and ask you, they’ll simply click off your profile.

Your copy doesn’t need to be complex; it just needs to be simple and easy to understand.

 

3. Creating connections is everything

People often talk about the dreaded ‘algorithm’ which underlies some of the curious things Instagram does such as showing or not showing our account to other people.

Don’t let this scare you! Instagram is based on connection. If you engage with your target audience, and by engage, I mean follow, DM, comment and like, Instagram will connect you with more of those types of people.

This doesn’t mean you should be downloading ‘engagement’ apps or joining ‘engagement pods’. Instagram is clever and will punish you for any unnatural or fake engagement. Instead, each day spend some time genuinely connecting with people within your network. Vote on their story polls and send them a DM if you love what they are doing. This really is the secret to success on Instagram!

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4. Being vulnerable works

You might feel that everything on your Instagram has to remain 10/10 professional at all times BUT this stops connections from being made.

As we all know, people buy from people, and to build that like, know and trust factor, you need to show your human side. You can do this by uploading pictures of yourself, running mini trainings on your stories, or writing captions that give an insight into your life.

Sharing video content has become huge on Instagram lately and with 4 in 5 consumers admitting they would rather learn about a product through a video, it’s no wonder why!

By being vulnerable and sharing the person behind the business, people feel more connected to you. Whatever your story, share an insight into your life and it will make a huge difference to the way your followers engage with you.

On the flip side, if you make your life look perfect, people can’t relate. Instead, show the ups and downs of your business. Talk about your insecurities. Share your journey. You’ll be amazed how many people DM you and tell you they can relate.

Miss the last post and panicking? Share it!

Spilt coffee down your shirt before a big meeting? Share it!

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5. Good things take time

It might not be what you want to hear, but you won’t get 10k followers overnight or get clients with your first Instagram post. A successful social media profile takes months of hard work and good content to build up.

Be patient and it will pay off.

 

 

 

Jemma Broadstock is a Virtual Assistant and Social Media Manager specialising in using Instagram for online businesses. As well as working as a Virtual Assistant and Social Media Manager, Jemma also runs Virtually Done, an online platform for those wanting to learn how to be VAs.

Connect with Jemma on Instagram.

Learn more about her services here.

 

Do the Pros of Influencer Marketing Outweigh Its Cons? BY @Shane_Barker

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The influencer marketing wave is taking the business world by storm. It’s clear that influencer marketing is here to stay.

But nothing is ever completely black or white.

Well, influencer marketing is no exception.

So, before hopping on to the influencer marketing bandwagon, you need to know its disadvantages as well.

Want to assess its viability for your brand?

Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of influencer marketing.

Pros of Influencer Marketing

Businesses around the world are investing in influencer marketing. It’s bound to have some advantages.

Let’s list out the pros of collaborating with influencers:

Influencers Can Help You Boost Your Reach and Engagement

Influencers are social media personalities with a sizable social media audience. What’s more, influencers work hard to engage their audience and build their credibility.

By partnering with these influencers, your brand can reach out to their loyal followers. This way, you can broaden your reach quickly. Additionally, they can help

You Can Save Time

Content creation is a time-consuming process, to say the least.

From strategizing to publishing and measuring results, it requires a whole lot of resources and commitment.

With influencer marketing, you can ward off these worries.

Influencers create content regularly. That’s why they know what kind of content resonates with their followers.

With their help, you can create good quality content without spending too much time on it.

Cons of Influencer Marketing

But it’s not all sunshine and roses. Here are some of the drawbacks of influencer marketing that you should be aware of:

There’s No Foolproof Method of Doing It Right

Influencer marketing is a relatively new strategy.

While several businesses have reported mind-blowing results, this isn’t to say that things couldn’t go wrong.

For instance, the fear of partnering with the wrong influencer is omnipresent. Perhaps, the content won’t resonate with your audience.

Moreover, it is essential to look beyond the number of followers. Of course, followers matter, but the real deal is their engagement rates.

If you partner with an influencer with a high follower count but a low engagement rate, chances are, they have fake followers. In such a case, your brand reputation can suffer.

Analyzing Results May Be Difficult

How do you know if your influencer marketing campaign was successful?

While chalking out your campaign, you need to determine the KPIs and metrics that you’d want to assess.

When brands miss out on this step, measuring campaign success can be hard.

However, despite the cons, there is no doubt that influencers can offer a range of benefits. All you need to do is take it one step at a time and tread with caution.

To learn more about the pros and cons of influencer marketing, check out this post on shanebarker.com.

The Pros and Cons of Using Influencer Marketing for Your Brand

Image Courtesy: shanebarker.com

 

Social Media Trends to Watch in 2020 by @DONNAAMOS

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by Donna Amos | Featured Contributor 

There are trends that are occurring in social media that business owners can take advantage of to help them grow their businesses. As changes take place on platforms, it may benefit business owners to stay current on the changes so that you don’t use outdated practices that no longer work on social networking sites.

Growth of Tik Tok

This site has gained popularity as a social networking site for business owners. Tik Tok is a social networking site that has become very popular with Generation Z.

Individuals who are micro-influencers have gained popularity on this social networking video app. Influencers are aware that using the site to promote video can benefit small businesses because it’s not geared towards traditional sales. The lack of hard sales on the site is popular with users. By connecting with followers through good video content, it will help small businesses expand and provide opportunities to sell products. It’s expected that one of the social media trends for 2020 will include the expansion of Tik Tok to allow platform users to shop online like other social networking channels.

Increase in social shopping

Entrepreneurs can benefit from using social shopping on their company sites because of the growth of e-commerce. During the past decade, social networking sites have contributed to the growth of e-commerce. It’s now the norm for social shopping to occur on social networking channels. Customers enjoy connecting with brands and building relationships with them on social networking sites. Consumers enjoy having access to brands without leaving platforms to purchase products and services. Entrepreneurs can look to expand social shopping on their social channels.

The rise of small business owners as influencers

Small businesses can benefit from the increase in popularity that they have experienced as influencers. Users on various social platforms desire to connect with small businesses rather than huge companies. The ability to connect with an audience on a small-scale is something that small business owners can take advantage of because they have a unique following.

The use of social media to develop consumer confidence

Small business owners can benefit from using their social platforms to develop a relationship with followers that are based on trust. Followers can develop relationships based on the quality of content that is promoted that informs followers about the value that a business brings into the market. By having real conversations with followers and connecting on a human level, companies establish relationships on a much richer level because of the connection that is made by showing the company as a place where real people work.

Use of LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a powerful social platform because the site is geared toward business professionals. Business owners can reach decision-makers on LinkedIn to grow their businesses. If a company has products and services to sell and its budget is limited, being active on the platform can help generate sales and gain the attention of decision-makers.

Fewer boundaries between personal and professional lives

Social media trends include witnessing fewer boundaries between the professional and personal lives of business owners. Small business owners can grow their online audience by interacting with followers and showing them aspects of the personal and professional lives. Sharing unique content that shows followers portions of the daily lives allows followers to connect with business owners on a genuine level.

An increase in the number of brief posts

Businesses are posting new content that is online for a short amount of time, and this will continue to increase in 2020. These posts occur on sites such as Instagram, Facebook, and Tikk Tok. The time-limited posts are primarily videos and allow businesses to share content that may be more personal and allows business owners to share special offers of their products and services.

Increase focus on customer interaction

Brands are working to focus more on customer responses in 2020. By responding to customer service issues that arise, businesses can learn what is necessary to meet the needs of their customers. Small businesses can gain attention from their followers by working to connect with followers and meeting the needs they address about the products and services they desire to purchase.

Expansion of the use of storytelling

Companies have increased their use of storytelling on social media sites using different types of media such as video and written content. By sharing what a company represents, it allows businesses to reach followers and potential customers. Business owners can engage with their audience telling stories on different social platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

Increase in video content

There is an increase expected in the amount of video content that brands produce in 2020 on social networking sites. Small businesses can increase their number of customers and followers by producing content that is appealing to followers. Business owners can determine which platforms work best for their followers and provide content that is based on what works best for their audience.

More social messenger apps

Small business owners can benefit from using social messenger apps to connect with their customers. The top messenger apps are used primarily by millennials. The top messenger apps include the following.

• Messenger
• WeChat
• Viber

There are over 2 billion messages sent on Messenger each month from businesses. The app is on over 1.2 billion phones. The potential exists for greater customer experiences to occur because of the growth of the social messaging service. Messaging apps that were developed using artificial intelligence have improved customer engagement. It’s expected that the customer experience will continue to improve because of the unique way that companies can improve the artificial intelligence they use to have more unique engagement with customers using social messaging services.

The use of messenger apps outranks the top social networking sites which include the following.

• Instagram
• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn

Small business owners can work to expand their businesses by using social networking sites and social messaging services. By working to create personalized experiences with customers and potential customers, businesses can expand and provide their customers with good experiences. Having an awareness of what their customers desire will help small businesses grow and effectively market to customers of all ages.

Instagram Influencer Marketing and Consumer Conversations in 2020 by @shane_barker

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by Shane Barker

How can an influencer help you with brand promotions?

The key to successful marketing lies in understanding buyers’ psychology. People are always looking up to other people for recommendations and reviews about products and services.

Many people also trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations from friends and family. However, people have become warier of online reviews as brands often create fake positive reviews to improve credibility.

Consumers today don’t trust online reviews blindly. They take the time to look for more information about a brand, product, or service before taking the plunge. One place that they look for information is their favorite influencers’ feeds.

Instagram influencers often give people a way to get honest and authentic reviews. People can easily get the information they seek and can trust.

That’s because influencers are real people who like to have personal interactions with their followers. They are usually experts and really passionate about their niches and they make a business out of educating their followers.

Instagram influencers can effectively endorse a brand in their domain. They can help you:

Drive Engagement Through Conversations

Instagram influencers are experts in engaging their followers through relevant content. When they post something about a brand or product, the idea is to get people to ask questions about it.

When an influencer starts a conversation, it is up to them to keep the ball rolling. However, sometimes a single post isn’t enough. This is the reason why many brands leverage Instagram Stories to drive engagement through their influencer marketing campaigns.

Stories enable users to interact with the content and help influencers increase a brand’s visibility without being pushy about it. Stories also make it easier for influencers to create awareness about a new product launch or a new update.

While the main goal of influencer marketing is to get exposure and generate leads, you need to get more conversations using relevant Instagram hashtags flowing to make this happen. 

For this, it’s important to get a better understanding of not only the needs of your customers but their desires as well. Understanding their emotions can allow you to expand your market.

And influencers are pro at understanding their audiences in and out.

Therefore, partnering with an influencer can help you build genuine relationships with their audiences and develop brand loyalty.

You should choose the right influencers for your brand. In fact, we would like to add that it is easier to work with micro-influencers as they have smaller yet engaged followings.

Want to know more about influencer collaborations? Check out the infographic below, created by Fourstarzz Media to learn more about Instagram influencer marketing in 2020.

Instagram Influencer Marketing In 2020: What You Need to Know

Image Courtesy: Fourstarzz Media