VE Digital

Tag: Social Media

  • Advantages of Social Media Marketing for Small Business

    Advantages of Social Media Marketing for Small Business

    Advantages of Social Media Marketing for Small Business

    90% of marketers claimed that using social media for their businesses have generated multiple advantages for their company’s exposure, brand recognition, website traffic, and sales. Social networks are now essential for every marketing plan and strategy, and the advantages of social media marketing for small business are great that anyone who is still not doing this is seriously missing out. 

    With how our world is today, it’s easy to see how social media is a key element for success in any marketing plan. And many have already embraced and implemented social media in their strategy. However, there are still many others who are uncertain about its benefits and effectiveness. If you are one of those people, this post will help diminish your confusion and explain the benefits and advantages of social media marketing for your business.

    It Increases Brand Awareness

    Using social media is the easiest and most cost-effective digital marketing method when you want to get your brand across your target audience. Social media can increase your brand visibility and recognition greatly since you can engage with a broader audience compared to traditional marketing. 

    Create social media profiles for your brand or business and interact with other people who you think are into your niche. Spread your pages to your employees and business partners and get them to like and share them with their friends. Having people engage with your page and its content will increase brand awareness and begin building your business’ reputation. 

    Invest a few hours a week to improve your social networks to increase their exposure. With regular use, it can generate a wide audience for your business over time.

    Drive More Traffic To Your Website

    Without social media, your inbound traffic will only be from people who are familiar and already know about your business. If you are not using social media, it will be more difficult for you to reach other people outside your loyal customer circle. 

    Social media posts provide an opportunity for people to find your website’s new content. Every social media profile you have will be a gateway to your website, and every new content you post is another opportunity to acquire new customers. 

    Social media has a lot of varied users from different backgrounds, behaviors, and needs. By marketing your business on social media, you can open your company to a wider variety of audiences all around the world.

    Helps You Understand Your Audience Better

    Social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter are effective marketing tools because you get to interact with your customer base. Seeing their posts and reading their tweets will gain you insights into what their daily lives and consumer behaviors look like. You’ll know the products they are buying, the hobbies they have, the kinds of posts they like to share, and the website they frequent.

    This information is marketing benefits. Understanding your customers will help you create better content which will lead to more traffic, sale conversions, and even refine your product strategy.

    Advantages of Social Media Marketing for Small Business

     

    Boost and Improve your Search Engine Rankings

    SEO is very important when you want to achieve higher page rankings and gain more traffic to your website. While social media does not increase your search engine rankings directly, using social media will improve it over time.

    Everyone today uses Google to solve and find information for their problems. If your website is not at the top of the page, you need to work on your SEO strategy. To get the best chance of ranking better through the use of social media, make relevant and compelling content that integrates your targeted keywords. Having these high-quality pieces of content will make your social media profiles credible and your followers will highly likely to share and like your posts.

    Have Better Customer Satisfaction

    Social media is all about networking and connecting with other people. Through these platforms, your company will have a voice and that is important in personalizing and humanizing your brand. Consumers appreciate it when they know that they receive personalized responses from the comments they send rather than getting automated messages. Acknowledging the comments you get will show that you care about your audience and that you aim to provide them with the best consumer experience.

    Higher Conversion Rates

    With the increased visibility thanks to social media, your brand or business will be able to gain more opportunities to convert viewers into customers. With every blog post, photo, or video you post, you can lead viewers to your website and increase your traffic. 

    When brands are interactive through sharing new content, commenting, and posting updates on their social media platforms, it personifies their business. And people very much prefer to do business with other people, rather than a faceless company. Taking time to build a relationship with customers will highly show a positive result in sales. 

     

    Builds and Improves Brand Loyalty

    In business, it is necessary to develop a loyal customer base. As customer satisfaction and brand loyalty go hand in hand, it’s essential to regularly engage and interact with your customers to develop a bond with them. With social media, you can build your brand’s rapport when you communicate and engage with your audience. 

    Establishes your Authority in the Industry

    Social media will help you demonstrate your expertise in the field and establish your authority in your industry. When consumers see your brand posting original content on social media and replying to customers, it will increase your company’s credibility. By answering questions and sharing relevant information, you can show your leadership in your field.

    Satisfies customers are eager to spread the word about their experience with a brand and social media is the platform they turn to express their thoughts. To be mentioned by customers will be adding value and authority to your brand. This will help your business gain more in terms of relevance and value.

    This Marketing Method is Cost-Effective

    One of the many advantages of social media marketing is its cost-effectivity. As part of your advertising strategy, you will probably decide to boost some social media posts. By boosting the right ones, you can bring in a great amount of traffic at a fraction of a cost compared to Google ads. Any paid promotions on social media are relatively low compared to other marketing tactics. If you decide to use paid ads, start small. Experiment with the parameters of your promotion. As you get to know more about your audience, you can fine-tune your strategy and increase your budget gradually. 

     

    Today, no other marketing tool plays a bigger role in influencing your brand perception than social media. If your business doesn’t have one already, it’s time to get on the bandwagon. Build your community and regularly interact with your audience. Improve your brand’s image and give your brand the recognition it deserves. With consistency and the right social media marketing strategies, your business will have increased traffic, better search engine page rankings, improved brand loyalty, and more!

  • 30 Digital Marketing Quotes To Inspire You Today

    30 Digital Marketing Quotes To Inspire You Today

    30 Digital Marketing Quotes To Inspire You Today

    The top priority of marketing has always been about reaching and selling to a specified audience. As the practice has now branched out digitally as the technology evolves and improves, it has changed the scope of where you can find that audience.

    Check out the quotes below:

    Digital marketers are always looking for innovative solutions to improve their systems and strategies. There’s an infinite supply of legit wisdom about digital marketing on the internet. In our post for today, we are sharing motivational digital marketing quotes to inspire you to keep reaching for your goals.

    1. “Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories you tell.” – Seth Godin, Bestselling Author and Blogger
    2. “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.” – Simon Sinek, Bestselling Author, Motivational Speaker and Marketing Consultant
    3. “You can’t sell anything if you can’t tell anything.” – Beth Comstock, Vice Chair of General Electric
    4. “Stop selling. Start helping.” – Zig Ziglar, Author and Motivational Speaker
    5. “It’s hard to find things that won’t sell online.” – Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon
    6. Don’t say anything that you wouldn’t want plastered on a billboard with your face on it. – Erin Bury, CEO of Willful
    7. “Google only loves you when everyone else loves you first.” – Wendy Piersall, Author, Blogger and Artist
    8. “Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing about.” – Benjamin Franklin
    9. “Content builds relationships. Relationships are built on trust. Trust drives revenue.”– Andrew Davis, Bestselling Author and Keynote Speaker
    10. “Content marketing is a commitment, not a campaign.” – Jon Buscall, Chief Executive Officer of Moondog Marketing
    11. “One of the best ways to sabotage your content is to not tie it to your goals. Know why you’re creating content.” – Ellen Gomes, Senior Content Marketing Manager at Marketo
    12. “Innovation needs to be part of your culture. Consumers are transforming faster than we are, and if we don’t catch up, we’re in trouble.” – Ian Schafer
    13. “How can you squander even one more day not taking advantage of the greatest shifts of our generation? How dare you settle for less when the world has made it easy for you to be remarkable?” – Seth Godin
      30 Digital Marketing Quotes To Inspire You Today
    14. “Mobile is no longer about what you can do on your cell phone. Mobile is all about doing more, all of the time.” – Mitch Joel
    15. “A marketing person should always ask one key question when beginning to develop a social media strategy: How much chaos can this organization handle? – Gary Stein
    16. “If content is king, then conversion is queen.” – John Munsell
    17. “Our head of social media is the customer.” – McDonald’s
    18. “‘Build it, and they will come’ only works in the movies. Social media is a ‘build it, nurture it, engage them, and they may come and stay.’” – Seth Godin
    19. “The best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing.” – Tom Fishburne
    20. “The consumer is not a moron; she is your wife.” – David Ogilvy, the Father of Advertising, Founder of Ogilvy & Mather
    21. “When people ask me what’s the ROI of Social, I ask them… what’s the ROI of Trust, and what’s the ROI of Loyalty. The answer, when used to build relationships the results will be… longer lifetime value of a customer, larger average order value, and increased frequency of purchase. All measurable and all lead to increased sales and profits.” – Ted Rubin
    22. “Inspiration is the most important part of our digital strategy.” – Paull Young
    23. “Think about what the user is going to type” – Matt Cutts
    24. “New marketing is about the relationships, not the medium.” – Ben Grossman
    25. “SEO is not something you do anymore, it’s what happens when you do everything else right” – Chad Pollitt
    26. “You can’t fool all the people, not even most of the time. And people once unfooled, talk about the experience.” – Seth Godin
    27. “Social media is about sociology and psychology more than technology.” – Brian Polis
    28. “Marketers need to build digital relationships and reputation before closing a sale.” – Chris Brogan
    29. “You have to understand as a marketer that consumers are functioning in the age of efficiency.” – Mitch Joel
    30. “Quit counting fans, followers, and blog subscribers like bottle caps. Think instead about what you’re hoping to achieve with and through the community that actually cares about what you’re doing.” – Amber Naslund

    These digital marketing quotes are here to serve as a guide and as an inspiration for people who want to excel in this field. Take these words of wisdom, reflect on them and apply them to your work. 

    In need of digital marketing solutions? VE Digital offers copywriting, SEO, social media marketing, and more.

  • Social Media Marketing Basics You Need To Know

    Social Media Marketing Basics You Need To Know

    Social media marketing basics is a part of a digital marketer’s know-how and in this article, we will talk about the basics that you didn’t think you need to know. From content creation to gaining new subscribers to engaging with your audience, there’s plenty for you to do in social media marketing and it requires a variety of strategies and skills.

     

    What is social media marketing?

    Social media marketing is basically using a number of social media platforms to reach out and advertise to your target audience to achieve your goals for your business. These goals may include increasing your brand awareness, interacting with more people, generating leads, and even getting more sales.

    Social media management is the term used to refer to the action of putting together a social media marketing strategy and implementing that plan into action. These strategies can include free, organic, and paid advertising tactics.

    How much does it cost to advertise on social media?

    There is no single answer for this query because the cost of social media depends on what you do. You can allot as much budget as you can to run social media ads, although some platforms have some minimum spend requirements to it will vary.

    If you are hesitating in spending money on ads, you can start with an organic social media strategy.

     

    Being Up-To-Date with Social Media

    Social media is ever-evolving. There are always changes in it once in a while, new features and upgrades, and sometimes new apps enter the game and some old ones rest in peace.

    Because of its ever-changing nature, learning will never stop once you dabble in this field. That’s why keeping up with the trends and latest news is crucial so you can stay on top of things.

    There’s a lot going on in the social media world and for this article, we are going to break down the information into 3 parts: before posting, when posting, and after posting.

    Social Media Marketing Basics You Need To Know

     

     

    Before Posting on Social Media

    When you don’t have a plan before you post on your social media, it’s like you’re walking in a stranger’s house with the lights off with no one to guide you inside. It’s scary, it’s not ideal, and you’ll surely bump on some obstacles along the way.

    There are 3 social media marketing basics you need to know before posting anything on any of your platforms: who you want to reach, what your goals are, and your brand voice and style.

    Social Media Marketing Basics #1: Your Target Market

    Knowing who your audience is is the biggest thing you need to learn early on in the social media game if you want to succeed in marketing your business. Your content needs to satisfy and interest other people so that they will more likely interact and follow you. When you know who your audience is, you’ll know what type of content you should put out.

    When you decide to create social media ads, knowing who to target is incredibly crucial because you don’t want to waste your resources targeting the wrong people. By properly advertising to your target market, you’ll have a successful campaign that will then earn you a positive return on investment.

    Social Media Marketing Basics #2: Your Goals

    Your goals are like your destination and your plans are your stepping stones to reach your goals. If you don’t follow along with your plans, you may never reach the destination you’re planning to land on.

    That said, your plans should align with the goals you have so you don’t go off course. Just like what we said in our previous article: How to Create a Digital Marketing Plan, Goal + Plan = Strategy.

    Social Media Marketing Basics #3: Your Brand Voice and Style

    Find your tone of voice and style before you decide to post anything on your socials. Are you formal? Playful? Serious? Humorous? Friendly?

    What style do you think will suit your brand best? How do you see your brand visually? Do you have a brand color, font, or catchphrase? Determine your branding and follow them through to have consistency.

    Read: Personalizing Your Brand | The Power of A Personal Brand

    Aside from these 3 social media marketing basics, don’t forget to make time to research and review your competitors on social media. To gather knowledge and inspiration, look into the trending hashtags and topics that your audience is looking at and talking about. 

     

    When You’re Ready to Post on Social Media

    When you have already determined your goals, settled your plans, know who your audience is, and determined your brand voice and style, you can now start planning your social media calendar. This is basically just the guide and outline of what content you are going to put out on each platform at a certain period of time. You can make it however you like, though mostly this is done with spreadsheets.

    You can repurpose content from your other content efforts such as blog posts, case studies, infographics, videos, and other forms of content you already have. Social media is important in establishing your authority and building trust with your potential clients. That’s why you need to make sure that your content is relevant and can be useful for your followers.

    Don’t forget your goals and always be on-brand while making your content calendar. Make your content relevant and helpful for your audience. If you can provide solutions to their problems, post about that. Speak to your followers and engage with them. Use your social media platforms like they do to connect with them.

    Also, don’t be pressured to be on all platforms. Just use the ones where the majority of your audiences are. There’s no use being active on everything because you’re just going to spread yourself thin, which is not a good thing. 

     

    After Posting on Social Media

    Now that you’ve scheduled your posts, you just don’t leave it and do not care about what happens next.

    After implementing your social media strategy, you have to regularly check on your posts and how they are performing. Track your analytics and analyze what they mean. See which post works better and structure your strategy based on these analytics you got.

    Don’t ignore your audience because they are your lifeline. If your content appeals to your viewers, you’ll definitely get likes, shares, and comments. Pay attention to these things so that you can incorporate this information to improve your strategy.

     

    Wrap Up

    And those are the social media marketing basics you need to know. It’s not much but it’s the general things you have to keep in mind because this whole cycle repeats all over. When you run the social media marketing strategy for your business, don’t forget to keep up with the trends and your industry’s news, because this will help you make your strategy better.

    For more articles like this, do visit our blog.

  • How To Create Engaging Social Media Content

    How To Create Engaging Social Media Content

     

    How To Create Engaging Social Media Content

    Do you want to upgrade your social media content creation skills and reap the rewards from it but don’t exactly know how to? Does it feel like you don’t have enough time of the day for creating social media content that’s engaging enough and finding it tedious? Are you worried that you’re not doing enough social media for your brand and business? Stop your worries because, in this post, we will be talking about how to create engaging social media content. A plethora of ideas awaits you.

    The Types of Content Categories:

    Offering a variety of content types and sources of social media content is good for your business. It will keep your followers eager for what you have to post next. Basically, there are three types of content categories that you should be implementing in your social media strategy. 

    1. Content that you have created – blog posts, articles, videos, promotional offers, personal ideas, image banners, etc.
    2. Content from others you shared – can be found through natural search and automation
    3. Content created for engagement – replies, likes, mentions, questions, etc

    The most engaging social media content that is created by you should be short and sweet, like images and videos, a variety of formats, and direct links. 

    Content Created by You

    There are so many contents that you can create and share on social media. Here are some ideas to get you started, don’t forget to jot down your favorites!

    Branded Image

    This first type of content is a crowd favorite. You can post anything, from funny or inspirational message to an image with your logo or website URL on it. It’s a great way to get noticed! Just post a branded image like the one below, and it’s going to be great content for your social media.

    Engaging Social Media Content

    Product Photos

    Posting product photos can be great for your social media content. Show off your products and make them eye-catching so it can drive people to buy your products directly.

    Behind-the-scenes Photos

    #candid – that’s what most people put in their description boxes when they post BTS (or behind-the-scenes) photos. Post candid shots of yourself, your office, your employees. It’s a great idea to show your followers how your brand really looks like behind the perfect photos. This content is interesting and fun to see, and it helps humanize your brand.

    Behind-the-scenes Product Shots

    You can also show behind the scenes of your products. This type of content works best on Instagram or Pinterest. Show how your photos were taken. Think of a great angle to show the bigger picture. 

    Ask for input from your followers

    You can ask for input on new products from your fans and followers. Ask your followers what they think about your products. Not only will your followers interact with your brand, but they will also feel valued. Your followers will love giving their thoughts on how you can improve your products.

    Photos that have nothing to do with your products or business

    You don’t always have to talk about your business. Once in a while, post something completely unrelated to your products and your business. Show your human side, your personality. Post a fun photo, or something humorous, because that’s what makes an engaging social media content.

    Link to your most popular blog post

    Do you have a blog? Why not share a link to your most popular blog post? Post a brief intro to that post and tell your followers why it’s your most read and shared post. You can even pin them to the top of your news feed.

    Share pictures from a recent industry event

    Have you recently been to an industry event? This is a perfect opportunity to create original content from photos and quotes taken from the event. Use the event hashtag for maximum exposure.

    Take a trip down memory lane

    It’s fun to take your audience down memory lane with you. Have you heard of #ThrowbackThursday? These types of posts are so much fun to see. Share photos of your old logos, old websites, or even your very first product.

    Use your website analytics to find content ideas

    Take a quick look through your analytics to find out which topics generate the most interest from your audience. From that, you’ll get an idea of what content to create to post on your socials.

    Link to a guest post

    Have you ever written a guest post before? Why not share that? Don’t just do it once, repost it every now and again. This will increase traffic to your post and will keep your host blog happy.

    Share random tips

    As a business or brand, you want to be seen as an industry leader and stay at the top of your game. Why not share random tips for your niche? You can make it into an image or an infographic, and you’ll stand out even more.

    Answer a question from Quora

    Have you heard of Quora? It’s a website where people ask questions and other people answer them. Find a relevant question in your niche on Quora and answer it on your social media. Answering something that people in your industry are looking answers for will validate your authority and will establish you as an industry leader. Search for the most popular question and create a social media post to answer it. Don’t forget to hashtag the keyword for maximum exposure.

    Random posts that show you’re a real person

    Putting a face to a name will humanize your brand. Show people that you are a real person. Post a photo of your dinner or what book you are currently reading. Share your plans for the weekend, or even post stories about your pet. These things will show you most authentically.

    Promote your products or services

    There’s a time and place for self-promotion, but first and foremost, use social media to build relationships, establish trust, and build your reputation as an industry expert. Use the 80-20 rule. 20% promotion and 80% value. Make sure you’re providing as much value as you can and only promoting once in a while so you won’t annoy your followers.

    Content Shared by You

    Social media is not always about creating your own content, most times, it’s about sharing and celebrating other people’s work, too. 

    New and Relevant Industry data and statistics

    This type of content performs greatly in terms of retweets and shares. Data can help you influence your audience to engage with your business and buy your product or service. Remember to look out for reports that provide these data so you can share them with your audience.

    Infographics

    Infographics are visually pleasing graphics to share on social media. Find an infographic that your followers would appreciate. You could check out Pinterest or the daily infographic for ideas and share it with your audience.

    Recommend a tool

    You can also share a tool (preferably a free one) or a resource that you think your followers will find useful. Take a look at your business and notice what tools you’re already using. You can recommend those to your fans and followers.

    Share popular Reddit topic

    Have you ever been to Reddit? It’s a website where everything can be found. Visit Reddit’s trending subreddit page to find popular and trending topics to post and share about.

    Share a trending Twitter topic

    You could also use Twitter’s trending content to find popular and trending content and share it on Facebook, Pinterest, or Linkedin. Just because it’s a trending topic on Twitter, doesn’t mean you can’t share it on other social media platforms.

    Share breaking industry news

    You should definitely stay on top of what’s going on in your industry by using google alerts. If you haven’t done this already, go to this link and start creating alerts that are related to your niche. With this, you could be the first to let your audience know about breaking news in your niche and be seen as an industry leader.

    Promote someone else’s sale

    Again, social media is not always being about you, most of the time, it’s celebrating others. So why not share a link to a coupon or sale from a complementary business? Just make sure they’re not your competition.

    Content that engages

    In this portion, we are going to talk about creating content that will generate engagement with your followers.

    Quotes

    This type of content can create great engagement because quotes are very relatable no matter what people do for a living. It doesn’t necessarily have to be an image, even a plain text quote will do. Just remember to tag the person you’re quoting if you can.

    Fill-in-the-blank posts

    Fill in the blank posts are so much fun. It can potentially generate a huge amount of replies, retweets, and likes. It’s important to make it easy to fill in though, don’t go asking your followers to solve a difficult math problem.

    Run Polls

    You can run polls to create engagement. Both Facebook and Twitter have their in-built poll, but you can also create polls on an external website and link it to your social media post.

    Ask for testimonials or reviews

    Obtaining reviews from followers is one of the best ways to get testimonials you can use as social proof on your website.

    Provide a recommendation

    Share the love by recommending a business you’ve worked with successfully in the past.

    Ask for advice

    Another great way to create engagement is to pose a hypothetical question and ask your followers what they would do in a certain situation.

    Recommend someone else to follow on social media

    Spread the love. Share a link to someone else’s social media profile and encourage your fans to like or follow them.

    “Caption This”

    Post a photo and ask fans to come up with creative captions. I personally partake in these!

    Ask for questions

    #AskMeAnything – This is when you allow your fans and followers to ask you anything for a specific amount of time, say an hour or so. A quick tip: Make sure that you are a known industry leader or expert in your field before attempting to do this, or that you have a lot of followers that really do engage with you because if you’re not in that position, you might not get as much engagement and you might be disappointed.

    Start a conversation with an industry leader

    You can also tag or mention an expert or an industry leader in a post. This is a great way to gain a really good quality following. Build relationships with people that influence your industry, but don’t expect them to reply all the time. Be clever about how you approach them. Never be sleazy or be disrespectful of other people’s time and never demand an answer. Always leave the question open-ended because people don’t like to be pushed into a conversation that they didn’t ask to be a part of. 

    Answer an FAQ

    Do you have a question that you get asked a lot again and again? Instead of answering it only for one person, why not answer it on social media? Or even better, you can link the FAQ page on your website to drive more traffic.

    Time Saving Strategies

    Social media platforms are free and easy to use, but many businesses have trouble finding the time and managing their schedule effectively for social media. It takes a great deal of regular work, so here are some tips for effective time management.

    1. Monitor your Time. Try to keep a detailed record of exactly how you use your time on each platform.
    2. Schedule your social media time. Decide when during the day you are going to spend on your social media. Create time slots according to your audience’s peak times.
    3. Write your posts in bulk. Create posts beforehand to save time and schedule them. You can sit down for an afternoon and create a stock of posts for each social media channel.
    4. Create an ideas file. When you get an idea or something that you like to create, save it to an ideas file. This can be very useful, as sometimes we tend to get inspiration from anything we encounter in our day. This will be great when the “writer’s block” happens. At least you’ll have an ideas file ready so you can just go over it to have something to create.

    Creating engaging social media content is not as hard as you think, but it can be time-consuming and requires regular work. But if you develop a technique and keep the things above in mind, you will have a steady flow of ideas. And I’m sure you’ll be creating engaging social media content easily, like a pro!

  • 10 Tips to Increase Your Facebook Page Engagement

    10 Tips to Increase Your Facebook Page Engagement

    Since the start of 2017, Facebook page engagement has fallen by 20% according to BuzzSumo. But with over 2.5 million active users monthly, Facebook is still the number one social networking site, and this means that your time, efforts, and investment in building and marketing your brand on this platform are still worth it.

    In this post, we will share tips to increase your Facebook page engagement that has been proven to work, and all without spending a dime.

    Post Less and Focus on Quality over Quantity

    Facebook’s algorithm has focused on posts that “spark conversations and interactions”, so just posting a photo with a simple caption every day is not going to be enough. 

    Don’t just post for the sake of posting. You can instead post less and focus on the quality of the content that you put out. The more you post, the more likely it is for you to run out of good ideas and high-quality content. Reduce your posting to every other day or even thrice a week to give yourself more time to create strong and relevant content.

    Upload Posts at the Right Time

    Post when your audience and followers are most active as this instantly increases the likelihood of your posts getting more likes and comments. The key is to not just post at random times and expect to get engagements. Look at your page Insights and make time to assess your audience’s behavior. Understand the data to find out the best times to post on your Facebook page.

    Level up Your Photography Game

    We all know how important visual content is on social media today. A post without a photo is highly going to be ignored and so, photos are what make up the majority of the content on Facebook. This is why if you want to increase your Facebook page engagement, always go for visual content.

    However, in the process of creating visual content, one must keep in mind that the type of images you post will have a difference in terms of performance. Many businesses rely solely on stock photos rather than creating their own. Although this is acceptable, brands should strive to show their business’s personality. Images are powerful tools to get people’s attention to stop their scrolling and actually look at your post. You will never go wrong in a well-composed photograph.

    Use Videos

    Videos tend to be the highest performers in terms of reach and engagement in social media feeds. Look at your page Insights and analyze how your audience reacts to video posts. If appropriate, you can prioritize video marketing on your page. 

    Post videos directly to your Facebook Page to make it easy for your audience to watch and engage in them. Videos that are natively posted on Facebook automatically play as people scrolls through their feed making it easier to catch their attention. Linking a YouTube video is not recommended because if the user needs to click on a link before viewing the content, they are less likely to watch and interact with your post. 

    Keep your video short, relevant, and engaging. Be sure to include a caption that’s related to the video because 85% of Facebook videos are watched without sound. 

    Go on a Live

    Live videos have become popular in the past year, and it’s a great way to boost your page’s engagement. When your page goes live, all your engaged followers are notified and your live video gets pushed to the top of the newsfeed. This will highly get you more reactions, likes, and comments. After your broadcast, your video will stay on your feed allowing your viewers to further engage in it. According to 99Firms, Facebook Live videos get 10 times more comments than regular videos and produce 6 times as many interactions as traditional videos.

     

    10 Tips to Increase Your Facebook Page Engagement

     

    Make Use of Facebook Insights

    Facebook Insights is free to use, and it gives you a lot of relevant analytics information for you to use on your content planning. Analyze the information it gives you regarding your reach, comments, and reactions to each of your posts. You can use this information on creating your future content strategy. What type of content receives the most engagement? Assess what type of post gets the most engagements with your audience. Maybe videos get better engagements than photos, or maybe your posts with links to relevant articles get more love than just a plain text post. 

    Understanding how your audience interacts with your content will make it easier for you to create more content that will increase your Facebook page engagement.

    Interact and Engage Back

    There’s an expression that goes “You get what you give”, and this applies to social media as well. When your audience takes the time to engage in your post, it’s just basic conduct to engage back with them. 

    People want to interact with brands, and so this is the reason why businesses that reply to their audience’s comments gain more interaction and engagement. 

    Whenever you get comments and messages, make sure to respond. Thank your audience when they write your brand praises and provide guidance when people ask you questions. 

    Ask a Question

    One of the best ways to get people to comment on your post is by asking them a question. Kick off a comment thread by asking an interesting question that can generate a conversation. Keep the topic relevant to your brand and engage with the comments you get so that users will feel motivated to interact with you the next time you do this type of post again.

    Make Use of User-Generated Content

    When your brand or business is tagged or mentioned, it can automatically be made into a Facebook post. Quote the reviews you get and link them to your Facebook page. Got tagged in a great photo on Instagram? Thank the user and ask for their permission to use their photo on your social media channels. 

    You can encourage people to make more user-generated content by hosting a giveaway or contest that requires a photo or video submissions related to your brand. You’ll have awesome engagements in no time!

    Use Facebook Groups

    In recent years, Facebook Groups have grown in popularity. Consider creating a community via a Facebook Group for your loyal fans and followers where they can engage, interact, and connect with each other.

    You can make use of this group to share exclusive content through your Facebook page and spark meaningful conversations that will increase your engagement with your loyal audiences.

    Use these tips, experiment, and observe what works the best for you, though keep in mind that it might take a while for results to show. There are more ways to increase your Facebook page engagement, but at the end of the day, what matters most is staying true to your brand. 

    Do you have tactics you’ve tried and tested to improve your Facebook page engagement? What are some tips that you’d like to try from the ones mentioned above? Comment them down below!

  • 7 Helpful Apps to Have a More Successful Instagram

    7 Helpful Apps to Have a More Successful Instagram

    7 Helpful Apps to Have a More Successful Instagram

    Looking for helpful apps to have a more successful Instagram account? You’re in luck ‘cause that’s what we’re getting at today! 

    There are three types of applications to level up your Instagram game namely shooting, editing, and analytics. 

    Whistle Cam

    The first app we are going to explore is the Whistle Cam. People who use Instagram wants to create great content, but sometimes, they won’t always have someone to help them take their photos. When we do ask for help from others to take our photos, some people wouldn’t really care about the angles and how the output looks. One great app that can help you out is the Whistle Cam.

    Instead of using self-timers where you have to always go back and forth to your phone to check it and click the shutter, you can take a picture by simply whistling. You can set the app to take your photo automatically or have a two-second delay after you whistle. You don’t have to press anything to take a photo, just whistle and the phone will pick it up and take a photo.

    7 Helpful Apps to Have a More Successful Instagram

    Snapseed

    Snapseed is a great app to edit and refine your photo, to make it crisper, clearer, and brighter. You can also add a filter to it to make it really pop out. But what makes Snapseed special from any other photo editing apps? What makes Snapseed stand out from others is how user-friendly it is. You can add definition, provide clarity, heighten its ambiance, and have different filter options for your photo.

    If you want to tune an image, you can control the brightness. You can also control its saturation, temperature, shadows, and highlights. Snapseed can be daunting at first, but after a little exploring, you’ll learn how easy it is to use. 

    Always edit your photos before posting them on any social media platform, especially Instagram. Never just take a photo and post it raw. Slap on a filter, adjust its brightness, or whatever, just refine it. 

    Also, Snapseed is purely for editing photos. 

    Videoshop

    If you are looking for a simple mobile video editor, Videoshop is a great option. It makes combining and syncing multiple videos a breeze. If you are one of those people who feels like they’re not good at editing videos like me, this app will simplify things for you.

    Aside from joining multiple videos, this app also allows you to add texts and background music to spice up your output. You don’t have to be an expert to edit videos, you don’t have to feel overwhelmed or scared. Videoshop is very easy to use, and you’ll learn in no time!

    Repost App

    Another useful app is the Repost app, which is used to re-post other people’s content to your own feed. Reposting was mentioned in our previous blog, and it can actually increase your engagements as well as the original content creators. 

    Basically, the Repost app allows you to save another person’s content, and then, you can post that on your Instagram as your own content. Just make sure you tag them as the original video provider to give proper credits.

    Hashem

    Hashtags are very useful to get your content out to your target audience, but how do you get those unique hashtags to post under your captions? That’s where the app Hashem comes in. With this app, you can literally just post about anything and it will come up with all kinds of hashtags that are related to your keyword. Let’s say you enter the word “reading”. Hashem will then give you other hashtags related to ‘reading’ that you can use on your photo. 

    WhenToPost

    When you are trying to grow your Instagram, one of the many worries you might have is when to upload and post. Thankfully, there’s a literal app that you can use to figure out the best time you should post on your Instagram. 

    Knowing when the right time to post is to get your photo out when your followers and viewers are active online so that you’ll get to have more likes, attention, and engagement. This app will determine your best day/s of the week and the best time of the day to post. 

    Social Blade

    There are a lot of apps today that will show you your Instagram stats, like who your highest follower is, who is the most followed among your followers, and even who’s engaging on your account the most. The app called Social Blade is a great one to look at and track your analytics. If you turn your Instagram into a business account, the app will provide you with your analytics which can be very helpful in planning for content. 

    Social Blade shows you how many followers you’re getting per week and how many you’re losing along the way. It also gives you a rank or grade on your social media growth. It will give you very helpful information you can use to tailor how you play your Instagram game.

     

    Wrap Up

    With the help of these apps, you’ll be on your way to having a more successful Instagram page. 

    Social media changing and ever-evolving, so you must remember to always get on with trends. These helpful apps to have a more successful Instagram are merely tools to help you on your social media journey, the rest is then up to you and your effort.

    Good luck!

  • 7 Social Media Marketing Tips Good for Small Businesses

    7 Social Media Marketing Tips Good for Small Businesses

    7 Social Media Marketing Tips Good for Small Businesses

    It’s no surprise today how social media has impacted the way we connect and interact with each other. Over the years, it has influenced consumers’ actions changing the marketing strategies of businesses. With over 3 billion people having social media accounts, it just makes sense that businesses have also taken up their marketing strategies into these digital platforms. If you are a small business and you are looking to widen your reach, bringing your marketing efforts to social media is the right step to do. In this post, we will talk about social media marketing tips for small businesses. If this perks up your interest, then keep on reading!

    Why Use Social Media for Marketing?

    The power of social media has peaked and now customers rely on what they see and read online before buying anything. Consumers seek out information about a product or service on their favorite social media channels, as well as keep an eye on what the influencers have to say about it. Advertising and marketing your business on social media can boost your company’s reputation and market reach. 

    Social media for small businesses is important, but 2020 has made it essential. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, small business owners have experienced financial hardships. Business owners resolved to create their online presence to reach out to their customers and keep their business afloat. 

    You can use social media to get your brand personality across your audience. You can also get to know your customers better here and answer their questions regarding your products and services while growing your business at the same time.     

    7 Social Media Marketing Tips for Small Businesses

    For a small business with a limited budget and resources, marketing in social media can be a little daunting, but with these tips, we are going to share, this feat shouldn’t have to be. 

    Here are seven tips to help you get started.

    Know your objectives and let them lead you

    What are your top 3 marketing objectives? Evaluate them and find out how social media can aid you in achieving these objectives. Instead of chasing trends, start thinking of social media as a means to help you reach your objectives because if you don’t, you’ll just end up wasting your precious time. Social media is not just a “megaphone” for your business, it can be used as a tool to reach your marketing goals. 

    Know Your Target Audience

    One reason why using social media for small businesses is very effective is that you can micro-target your audience. But before this, you have to know who your target audience is.

    The best thing about social media is that most platforms give you access to your analytics and market data for free. This will help you learn who your customers are and how they behave on social media. Relevant social media metrics enable you to perform audits on your existing social media marketing approach. You can then turn these insights into actionable steps to shape your social media marketing efforts to reach your objectives. 

     

    Social Media Marketing Tips

     

    Decide and Choose the Right Platforms For You

    When you know your target audience, you’ll be able to deduce which social media platforms are the best for your business. This is important so you can direct your marketing efforts and budget to these specific platforms where they will be most effective. Take, for example, if your ideal audience is Gen Z and millennials, TikTok and Instagram will be the best platforms to spend your resources. Don’t forget to factor in the type of business you are running. If you are selling beauty products and clothing, Instagram will be definitely the place for you because they rely heavily on visuals. 

    Share Eye-Catching and Compelling Visuals

    Posting great visuals is a prerequisite now when you venture into the world of social media, and this doesn’t only apply to Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok. You should also have high-quality images on all platforms because these visuals influence your followers’ and viewers’ purchasing decisions, especially when your business leans to the fashion industry. If your content does not capture the viewer’s attention, they won’t stop scrolling to read your post. Even tweets benefit from a good graphic. Adding an image or a GIF is the simplest thing you can do so your tweet gets attention. Every business can tell its story through photos and videos, so showcase your brand through appealing visuals.

    It’s Always Quality Over Quantity

    The number of social media platforms can be overwhelming when you are just formulating out your marketing strategy, but keep in mind that quality content is always the key. Focus on your key platforms and create high-quality content that comes through to your audience as authentic and valuable. Social media marketing is all about connecting to your audience and building relationships. Be human, make your posts genuine and honest, and your audience will respond accordingly. 

    Show Appreciation

    Know that social media is not just about you. It is not a monologue where you just talk about yourself and what your company is about. Social media is an opportunity for you to connect with other people and a chance for you to connect with people who have helped and supported you in business. You can use social media to show your thanks and appreciation to these people. You can give them thanks by recognizing their posts, whether liking or sharing them. Your gestures will be appreciated and your audience will continue to support you.

    Schedule Your Content To Have More Time For Engagement

    Create a social content calendar to keep you ahead of the game. You can use publishing tools to schedule your posts, and this will automate your social media work. This will save you so much time that instead of accessing your social media multiple times a day, you’ll only have to check it once a day. By automating your social media posting, you’ll have more time to actually grow and develop your business and focus on your revenue. You can outsource and hire a social media manager if you have the budget to handle these tasks for you. 

    Bonus tip: Track and Refine your Performance

    As you execute your social media marketing strategy, keep track of what and what doesn’t work. Refine your efforts and performance so you can improve the results. Make use of the analytics tools to track the metrics that matter most to you. When you know how your strategy is working, look for more ways to improve. You can make small changes to boost your success gradually. 

    Being a small business doesn’t mean that you are limited to just doing what you are currently doing. Make use of these social media marketing tips to connect better with your audience, reach new potential customers, and increase your brand awareness. It can seem overwhelming at first, but you can always start small. With these tips, you can build your social media marketing efforts over time and grow your business. 

     

  • 5 Tools to Create Stunning Social Media Graphics and Photos

    5 Tools to Create Stunning Social Media Graphics and Photos

    5 Tools to Create Stunning Social Media Graphics and Photos

    As a business and brand, you will need to have a strong social media presence. Are you using graphics on your posts and editing your photos right? Are you using the best apps for your visual content? I have curated 5 great tools to create stunning social media graphics and photos. Read on!

    Having the right graphics will show your company’s story, strengthen your brand’s impact, and optimize the customer experience.

    You might have felt intimidated with graphic and image creation in the past, feeling like it might be complicated. You are in for a treat because today, even without graphic designing backgrounds, you can create and produce visually pleasing images using these free apps!

    Upgrade your social media visuals with these tools:

    Canva

    One of my overused apps (both on the phone and the PC) is Canva, an impressive social media graphics tool for small business owners and entrepreneurs – both beginners and amateurs. Do you need to edit something and don’t know how to use Photoshop? This is the tool for you.

    Hundreds of pre-designed templates are available here made for different dimensions – Twitter, Facebook, YouTube Thumbnails, Pinterest, Instagram, and more. Canva is easy to use, complete with drag, and drop customization that will allow you to seamlessly create a great graphic you can show off to the world.

     

    5 Tools to Create Stunning Social Media Graphics and Photos

    Over

    Over is a photo-editing mobile app available on both Android and iPhone. It’s similar to Canva, with a lot of templates to choose from that you can easily use to make your edits pop.

    You can opt to use it for free but there will be limitations, You can choose to go premium and the price is worth it.

    Not only can you edit images for your social media here, but you can also make posters, flyers, and more. Over, you can easily add texts, backgrounds, and font styles to your images, and directly share them to your socials.

    You can stop posting those generic quotes you found online to your Instagram and Facebook. Make use of Over to make your social media eye-catching and visually appealing.

    Nichi 

    Nichi is an app dedicated solely to Instagram Story Templates. You can spice up your boring IG stories and create an aesthetic look that will surely delight your viewers.

    This app has a plethora of cute and dainty stickers.

    Although Nichi is only made for IG Stories, you don’t have to limit yourself to that in using this app. With enough creativity, you can use your edits for your Instagram posts and other social media by simply cropping them into the dimension you need.

    Nichi is available on Google Play and App Store.

    Picsart

    When you feel uninspired, browse through the Picsart feed to see the creative works of other users. You can do a lot of things on this app. You can make collages and add texts, filters, stickers, and masks to your images. Picsart also has a collection of templates that you can use for your socials.

    Your creativity is the limit!

    Photo

    Photo is a free mobile app that will let you add texts to your images. With over 200 fonts to choose from, you can make your quote images stand out and pop. All the features in this app are free to use.

     

    Your company’s visual content is important if you want to improve your reach, brand identity, and virtual marketing efforts. A great image is a bridge to attract potential customers. The apps listed above are great tools to create stunning social media graphics, even when you have zero graphic design and editing background.  Tools to Create Stunning Social Media Graphics

    For more social media and digital marketing tips, be sure to check out our blog.

  • 8 Tips to Improve Your Instagram Marketing Strategy

    8 Tips to Improve Your Instagram Marketing Strategy

    Today, visual media is more useful for engaging audiences rather than other traditional marketing channels, and so Instagram has become one of the best advertising platforms in digital marketing. It offers a variety of tools and interesting opportunities for marketers since it shares the same advertising interface as Facebook. There are many options to tweak and optimize your campaigns and in this article, we are sharing with you some tips you can use to improve your Instagram marketing strategy.

    Why Choose to Advertise on Instagram?

    Instagram is an established social networking app and is one of the most powerful tools in the market. It has over 250 million active users daily. If your brand’s target audience is between 19-34 years old, this is the place to be. 

    While organic social media strategies seem cost-effective, they are time-consuming and rely on a lot of trial and error. With the ever-changing social media algorithms, it’s important to focus your strategy on doing both organic and paid advertising tactics. As a visual platform, Instagram is a great way to show off your products and services to your target market. 

    Instagram is a popular network among influencers, celebrities, and brands, and its advertising platform is very versatile, which will allow you to adapt your campaigns according to your objectives and target audience.

    Switch your Account into a Business Profile Account

    Before you start strategizing and making your Instagram marketing plan, switch your personal account into an Instagram Business Account. Head over to your settings and click “Switch to Business Profile” to get it done.

    There are benefits to having a business profile. One is that your followers will be able to click on your contact button on your profile so they can quickly get in touch with you. Two, a business profile will allow you to publish Instagram ads without having to use Facebook. You can also use Instagram’s “Insights”, its free analytics tools that can help you track your metrics and understand your audience.

    Use your Insights

    This free Instagram tool will let you view your statistics, such as your post’s impressions and engagement data. You can also view a breakdown of your followers’ demographics, which includes age, gender, and location. The more you know about your followers and how they interact with your posts, the better you can adjust your content to boost engagement. This can really help level up your Instagram marketing strategy.

    Post Product Teasers

    Product teasers are a simple way to get your follower’s attention and talk about your product without being too pushy or trying hard. When you tease people with products they are interested in, you don’t push them into buying anything. Instead, they will be more likely to get curious, eat the bait, and actually buy something. Otherwise, they will still likely engage with your post or share it with their friends.

    Create Videos

    We all know that Instagram has been mainly for photos. However, when it was updated to accommodate short videos and IGTV, the platform has become even more interesting than it ever was. Videos can resonate with users much more than just a photo can, and it captures their interest in just a few seconds. While a still image can already be highly engaging, using videos will allow you to share your brand’s story to your followers even more.

    Instagram Marketing Strategy

    Use Instagram Stories

    Instagram stories can help you generate leads. These stories are displayed at the top of the timeline where users look daily. You can create highly engaging and pleasing stories that will entertain your followers, such as behind-the-scenes videos, polls, and questions. There is an array of features you can use in creating your stories like photos, live videos, rewind videos, or Boomerangs. You can also tag other accounts if you are collaborating with an influencer or another brand. And there are filters, GIFs, stickers, and texts you can use to make your stories even more visually pleasing. The content you can make with IG stories are endless!

    Partner up with Influencers

    If you want to widen up your reach, one great thing you can do is partner up with an influencer who has a relevant following. People nowadays are buying products and services from what they see on their timelines from the influential people they are following. If you work with a relevant influencer in your niche, you can quickly get your brand out across a wider audience. Find the right influencer, build a relationship with them, and you’ll build lasting brand awareness with a new audience. 

    Post at the Right Times

    Do not over-post on Instagram or else it will discourage your followers and they will be clicking the unfollow button faster than you can say “hey there!”. What you want to do is post consistently so that you will be appearing in their feed regularly. Make a schedule and post only on peak days and hours when your followers are online. Based on studies, the hours between 8-9 AM are the best time to post, while Mondays and Thursdays are the best days to upload new posts. You can also find out when your followers are most active through Instagram Insights. Research also shows that you can post up to two times per day and no more than that. 

    Create Sponsored Ads

    Instagram ads have become popular over time, and the best thing about it is that you can set a budget to control exactly how much you are willing to spend for them. you can make use of the carousel feature to showcase multiple ads. With sponsored posts, you can promote your brand to anyone who fits your target audience, which will increase your reach further than ever.

    Create ad content that’s both engaging and appealing to your target market. You can post a photo, video, carousel, or story. 

    Instagram is one of the social media platforms that has dominated the digital world. With over 800 million monthly users, this app is guaranteed to be one of the social media apps that are installed on an average person’s smartphone. This makes it an ideal platform to do some marketing and advertising. Learn the ins and outs and get to promoting. With these tips, your Instagram marketing strategy will surely improve.

  • How to Leverage Social Media for your ECommerce Business in 2021

    How to Leverage Social Media for your ECommerce Business in 2021

    Leverage Social Media

    It’s no question that social media has a large impact on marketing and advertising your business. Since its advent, having profiles on chosen social media platforms are considered a must if you want to reach a wider and more diverse audience. Perhaps it’s because one of the best advantages of using social media marketing is its cost-effectiveness compared to other forms of traditional marketing.

    According to statistics, 54% of internet users use social media to research product reviews and recommendations. And this is why having a notable online presence is essential on several social media platforms.

    There are still many businesses that haven’t embraced the advantages of the digital age, and those businesses are seriously missing out on the opportunities they can get from having a strong presence in the Leverage Social Media scene.

     

    How to Leverage Social Media for your ECommerce Business

    Every day, more people are creating accounts and getting into social media. As an ECommerce business owner, driving traffic to your website is one of your main goals to attract new customers. This is where you can make good use of social media. As this is not something new anymore, you have a bigger competition out there so the question is, how do you stay on top of the game?

    Here are ways you can leverage social media for your ECommerce business.

     

     

     

    How to Leverage Social Media for your ECommerce Business in 2021

    Interact and connect with customers

    Most consumers that have used your products or experienced your services won’t always write and share their opinions about it. But that doesn’t mean that they didn’t have a good experience with you. It’s just that for some customers, it’s not a priority to reach out to businesses to let them know what they think about your product. That’s why you have to be the one to make the first move to thank them for their purchase and to ask them for their feedback.

    Emailing your customers for their feedback is a great idea. You can include clickable links of your socials so that all they have to do is browse on them and click follow if they want to. Who knows, aside from leaving their comments, maybe they’ll also share your social media pages with their friends and family.

    You can also encourage your customers to upload a photo of their purchase and tag you on their social accounts. This can be a really great way to reach more audiences.

    Learn About Your Personas

    With an eCommerce business, knowing who your audience is always the goal. Using social media, you will get to learn more about your target markets and your buyer personas. Each platform has a different demographic user base so you’ll get to gain insights from every group and how to market your products or services to them.

    Think about this: 25% of TikTok’s users are aged 10-19, 32.1% of Instagram users are between 25-34, and about 77% of US adults who use Facebook are between 30-49 years old. If you are a clothing brand, you’ll gravitate towards Leverage Social Media using Instagram more to market your products to these millennials. If your target market is older adults, you’ll gravitate to using Facebook to advertise your business Leverage Social Media.

    With the use of social media, you’ll gain valuable insights that will help you create a solid marketing strategy to better your digital marketing campaigns.

     

    Let your customers get to know you

    Your social media platforms are the best place to show off your brand’s story and personality. It is where you can directly speak to your audience and let them get to know you better. When users know a brand, trust will grow, and you’ll be able to turn them into loyal customers with a little more push.

    Social media is all about visual content and this is a great and easy way to tell stories. Marketing isn’t just about showcasing your products and services all the time. It’s also about creating an impact, a lifestyle that will inspire and empower your viewers. Use social media to share wonderful stories that will reflect your brand mission and values.

    Provide Customer Support

    Customers tend to flock more to brands that they believe have an outstanding rapport on customer service. The use of social media allows companies to provide this in various ways. With Twitter, you can respond to customer complaints. With Facebook Messenger, you can address them by chatting directly with your customers. Leverage Social Media 

    Moreover, you can respond to any customer questions using your social media accounts. You can also share helpful tips and solutions for any issues. Customers appreciate transparency and social media is a great platform to disseminate public information.

     

    Optimize Social Media Posts Leverage Social Media 

    The trends in social media are ever-evolving and you will always have to keep up with them if you want to stay relevant. Share posts that will fit in the platform you’re using, this will help your brand attract relevant users that will actually appreciate your offers and content.

    Take advantage of the features provided on each platform and stay up-to-date with the platform’s updates so you don’t miss out on any opportunities to reach out to more audiences.

    Don’t forget to include relevant keywords in your descriptions when you post images and videos. Also, make use of hashtags, those are very useful. Leverage Social Media 

     

    Social media is a huge part of businesses, particularly when you are in the eCommerce section. It’s one of the best ways to spread brand awareness, generate leads, nurture followers, and generate sales. Utilize the tips stated above to leverage social media for your eCommerce business to achieve your goals – whether that’s driving traffic, earning awareness, or even converting sales.

    Visit our blog for more articles like this.