Eager to post a Instagram Story? Read below to gain a comprehensive understanding of the social media platform’s most popular feature!
According to Social Media Today, 400 million daily users interact with Instagram’s Story feature. Due to this feature’s high popularity, the story-sharing platform is expected to surpass the traditional News Feed before the end of 2019. Even though Instagram Stories are unfamiliar territory to some, brands and individuals must learn how to properly master the feature.
Before becoming proficient, an individual must have a complete understanding of what an Instagram Story is. Instagram Stories allow users to share a variety of content, photos and videos for 24 hours. Once the 24-hour time period surpasses content will disappear, unless the page utilizes the Highlight feature. Within Highlights, old Instagram Stories can be reviewed, even after the 24-hour time frame. For more information on Highlights, click here.
Within the world of fashion, beauty, and lifestyle influencers, Highlights allow content to be organized, consistent, and engaging.
Besides Highlights, brands and individuals are able to utilize alternative features to create engaging content. If you are eager to boost your social media platforms, follow these tips!
The Swipe-Up Feature: For pages with more than 10,000 followers, the swipe-up feature is available. When viewing your story, followers can immediately swipe-up and become directed to a link. For pages eager to sell product or increase web page visits, the swipe-up feature becomes the perfect solution.
The swipe-up feature in action to provide product sales.
Mentions: Just like tagging an individual or brand in an Instagram post, the same can be accomplished in a Story. While this is a simple tactic, it allows for engagement amongst individuals and brands. By mentioning a popular brand, one’s Story could potentially be reposted, therefore, generating more views and activity.
Gaining Feedback: Eager to gain your followers’ opinions? Instagram Stories allow for polls, swipe meters, and question stickers. By being able to customize questions and answers, brands gain an insightful view of their follower’s opinions. While not only are these feedback features helpful, they add an aesthetic element to Stories.
Instagram Stories allow for engagement, through the use of polls.
Still eager to learn more? Check out this link to further your Instagram Story knowledge.
If the average person receives 90 emails per day, how can you make yours stand out? The answer lies in your subject line. The email subject line is your first and most important impression on readers. In many cases, your subject line is just as significant as the information in the email. Crafting email subject lines have become an art. They must be simple yet complex but also informative yet compelling enough to make the reader want to open the email and learn more. Check out these different styles you can incorporate into your next email subject lines in order to improve your open, read and click rate.
1. Timeliness
Many times when people subscribe to an email list, they are looking to stay in the loop. Email subject lines can do just that by including important details that will lead to the reader clicking to learn more. This technique can be executed by using terms such as “today”, “tomorrow”, “tonight”, etc in the headline.
2. Short and Sweet
Remember, subject lines are meant to grab the reader’s attention. They are not meant to display every single detail. Simple enough.
3. Emojis
Whether you know it or not, emojis are here to stay. In fact, emoji usage in campaigns has increased by 609%. These fun little characters differ from traditional text and add an unexpected special touch to the reader’s inbox. They can be used to emphasize an idea, convey an emotion, or even tell a story. Be careful to not overuse emojis or else they can backfire and deter readers from opening the email.
A screenshot of a recent email that includes an emoji in the subject to emphasize the campaign message.
4. Offers
Offering something free, discounted or exclusive? Let your audience know in the subject line. Everyone loves a good deal. This will give your audience an extra reason to read what you have to say.
Next time you are writing an email blast, incorporate these styles into your subject line to improve engagement with your readers.
Display ads are great for businesses to gain awareness and ultimately encourage consumers to buy their product or service. They can be in the form of a print ad like a banner you see on the side of the road or a digital ad that pops up on the sidebar of your computer.
As time evolves, display ads continue to adapt and advance. While targeting opportunities are becoming more advanced every day, display ads can be a great resource for businesses looking for unique target approaches.
Retargeting in the Digital Marketing World:
Retargeting
From a business perspective, retargeting has become a massive tool for paid ads. From a consumer point of view, you have probably experienced retargeting without even realizing it. It is everywhere. Ever go surf the web for a new product and notice that the product you recently searched now follows you on every social media channel, encouraging you to just buy it? The purpose of this to try and suck you back in, and believe it or not it works on most people. That just means you are being retargeted.
About every social media network, like Instagram and Facebook, offer to retarget on their platform as a powerful targeting approach. For digital marketing beginners, having a retargeting program as a staple to your business is something every company should highly consider.
Three Words – Search Engine Optimization (SEO):
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is considered one of the most profitable and efficient digital channels that digital marketing beginners should also highly consider in their digital marketing strategy. For those of you who are unaware of SEO and how it works, it’s simple. Basically, it makes life easier for all internet browsers and consumers out there who trust in an organic search rather than the constant flow of paid ads. Google plays a major role in SEO, allowing high-quality content to be shown as most relevant in the search results based on what keywords the consumer is typing into the search engine.
Search Engine Optimization
However, from a business perspective, you must consider a couple of things: high-quality content and indexing. For the digital marketing beginners out there, Indexing is the most technical to understand, but it is also very important. Google needs to crawl through all throughout your website in order to digest the content you are placing. It’s important to get your pages indexed for keywords if you want to reach your intended target audience.
Content is simpler for digital marketers to understand, but also very important. It is vital that your keywords are matching up with the keywords your target audience is typing in the search engine. Social media is a great tool to use when connecting SEO and marketing to target your consumers. It is a useful way for your business to engage with your customers meanwhile communicating with them online to build awareness. Some channels that are helpful to lean on are Facebook, Instagram, Twitters, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Google+. For beginners, social media is something you should familiarize yourself with as a digital marketer. These social media ads are great tools for targeting any specific audience that may be interested in your product or service you have to offer. Consider investing in SEO because it is a credible agency that understands the importance of making your business relevant to those searching the web.
A good thing about digital marketing is that Google provides a free analytics platform, so you can easily see where your traffic, revenue, and leads are coming from. This allows you to evaluate your options whether you want to invest your money into other resources throughout the different social media platforms.
For more information on SEO and how it works click here
The first and certainly most important, mistake people make is not creating a professional profile. A professional profile includes a clear headshot, a current headline, and a well-informed summary. Your headshot does not need to be professionally taken, however, you should look professional and clearly show your face. Your headline should always be up-to-date and accurately represent where you are currently. It doesn’t have to be your job title but it should represent your personal brand. Your summary is a great way to show your professional accolades in a personal format. What are your capabilities and why are they important to you? Make sure these three items are taken care of and you’ll be ahead of the curve in no time.
Fear of Elaboration
LinkedIn offers a great variety of additional profile sections… so use them! Don’t be afraid to showcase your skills, accomplishments, and, if you have them, recommendations. You’re kicking your self by not expanding your profile beyond the regular resume requirements – that’s what a resume is for, not LinkedIn. Of course, it’s important to include that crucial information, but in order to reap the full benefits LinkedIn has to offer, you must make sure to utilize all of its capabilities.
And the point is…
Like everything else we do in life, your LinkedIn account must have a clear purpose. What are you hoping to get out of being on LinkedIn? There needs to be a direction your profile is heading towards and make it clear that’s where you want to be. What do you want to do? Do you want to meet more people who have similar career interests? Are you looking for a job? There are so many different ways to go on LinkedIn, so it is important to make sure you have a clear and direct path laid out so other’s who visit your profile understand what you’re all about.
Connect-Activity
After you’ve created a social media account what do you do? Post content, follow others, interact with other accounts. Right? Right. Well, LinkedIn should be the same. Don’t be afraid to post content or write an article. By posting regularly you remain relevant. The following rules are different on LinkedIn. It’s crucial to be constantly adding to your network and reaching out to people you do know or would like to know – building up your network is crucial. Now that you have your posts and network, the next step is to make sure you’re interacting with both. Like other people’s posts, comment and relay relevant information or feedback. By consistently interacting on all fronts you’ll ensure others will do the same for you, therefore keeping yourself relevant across the board.
For more information on how to build a professional LinkedIn profile, click here.
Now seen as the #1 priority for marketing and communications, good content OFFICIALLY matters in both of our worlds (that’s right, time to get good at this). Prior research tells us how curating content that is important and relevant, yet fun and entertaining, creates engagement from target audiences. Let’s put it this way, the cause of your good content tactics produce the most significant engagement with audiences. Shocked yet?
where is your content?
Stories, articles, videos, podcasts, images, whitepapers, and more (I could go on, and on and on) is where your content lies.
Consumers view your content wherever you decide to put it, which could be newsletters, various social media platforms, or even stranger, the newspaper (but, nobody uses traditional channels, so probably not the best idea). Engaging your audiences is done by driving their interest and motivating your desired response.
So, what makes content particularly good? Here’s the deal, if you produce specific content of interest that truly aims to cause your publics to think and act, you’re doing it right. It doesn’t involve magic, it just takes work. The key is knowing that what you put into it, is what you get out.
For instance, Pōk, the fast and casual, delicious poke restaurant in the local West Village neighborhood uses a weekly newsletter to grasp their customers attention with certain food or drink items they’re interested in.
The CBD drink is obviously a want from their audiences. They know this from their audience’s respondes and overall product sale. But, what makes this content even better is posting this pretty drink on social platforms, such as Instagram to seek more audience attention.
The bottom line is to focus on your content’s consistency to mitigate audience confusion, but also to motivate them to WANT to go purchase your product! Only, this may be difficult to achieve if you don’t know who your working with….
hello target audience, my name’s madison! … who are you?
This part is similar to opening up a mystery dum dum (seriously, tell me already) — you don’t know what you’re gonna get, but you end up enjoying it until the last lick. Understanding your audience is absolutely crucial in curating your content.
Do yourself a favor and follow these small steps to help guide you to recognize what segment of the population you are working with, and then delve even deeper to explore their characteristics. Ideally, by the end of your research we want to create a mental picture of your typical target member.
You at first must define demographics. Know this is just the start, but also sometimes it’s all we have to work with.
Needs and wants change accordingly based on age. It’s important to identify the range of age your brand targets best. It could be wide in scope, or very limited.
Next, discover their gender. Are you dealing with more females than males, or vice versa? It’s obvious that certain brands are directed towards one sex. So, pick one or all.
Factoring the average income level determines whether or not people buy certain products. If your product consist of high costs, it would make sense that people who have higher incomes pay for it, and so it goes.
Now, think about certain factors that may influence your public’s interest in your product, like race, religion, and ethnicity. Distinguish the key components and pick up on certain trends.
Close your eyes. I bet you are able to mentally visualize your target, right? But, in order to truly dig deeper and produce the most efficient results, we must understand their psychographics. Be aware, more times than often these can lead to faulty stereotype inferences, which as professionals, we must immediately recognize and ignore. Obtain these characteristics by interviewing existing audiences, observing them, or reviewing interal data analytics.
Investigating particular habits
Recognizing traits
Knowing underlying attitudes
Distinguishing opinions
Observing general behavior patterns
The two data sets collected above gave you tremendous insight to the WHO (thanks to demographics) your audience is and the WHY (thanks to psychographics) your audience is into your product. By excluding one verse the other, you are risking the success of your content, and fail to move your audience to act on it.
a MUST
Answering the WHO of content marketing requires advanced thinking.
think of it in triangle form.
top point = time # of shopping visits or length of visits
left side = cost convenience and perceived quality
right side = quality
one more thing…
Audience. Priority. Trick. This tactic is used efficiently in advertising, marketing and PR. It’s fast and easy. You have your target audiences, correct? Now, prioritize by ranking them 0-10 by asking two questions.
In the world of social media, where businesses often rely on Instagram to promote products, connect with shareholders and build their brand, the number of likes and followers on an organization’s page have become increasingly important. Instagram’s algorithm uses engagement as the most important metric to determine popularity, and as success and credibility increasingly become associated with numbers on Instagram, different apps have emerged that allow users to “buy” likes and followers for their page. These apps work either by selling bulk quantities of likes from fake accounts, or selling you a bot that will like and follow other accounts with the expectation that these accounts will follow you back and like your posts. While these methods may give you higher initial engagement, they pose long-term threats to your branding strategy.
The most “traditional” method of buying likes from fake accounts in bulk quantities allows users to choose how many likes they get on specific posts. While you may think that more likes = better engagement and more popularity on Instagram, these likes are a hollow effort to game Instagram’s system. If your goal is to engage with stakeholders, promote products and build a brand, organically acquired likes are the most valuable Instagram commodity. Buying fake likes runs the risk of alienating your existing followers by appearing as insincere, shady and unethical. A telltale sign of fake likes is a skewed like-to-comment ratio as well as profiles without profile photos or original posts of their own. As Instagram’s user base continues to become savvier, accounts buying fake likes are easy to spot.
Apps like Likegrowers and Instazood sell you a bot that will follow accounts and like posts based on certain hashtags that you feed it. With this bot, you are inadvertently paying for likes on your page due to the expectation that the accounts you like and follow will follow you back and like your posts. The danger with giving a bot control over what your account likes is that it cannot detect what is an inappropriate post to like. For example, certain hashtags could be misconstrued to mean things that do not align with your organization’s values or represent content that could be offensive to your followers. While it can be tempting to take a short cut to grow your Instagram presence, the best thing you can do for you organization is to be authentic and charismatic across all of your social media platforms.
The world has begun to shift entirely towards working digitally, forcing all companies to emphasize their social media presence now more than ever. Through digital platforms, brands build their platform for recognition. This makes it essential for their social media strategy to appeal to all generations. It drives traffic to a company’s Instagram profile which then leads to website traffic or people to look at the Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest page. Not sure how to do this? Follow these three guidelines to kick start a strategy to build a social media presence for any organization.
#1: Create a universal hashtag
Create a hashtag that can be used across all social media platforms. It must be creative and catchy, but also sound smart at the same time. It can be two, maybe three words that gives other users insight on what the organization does or the personality of the organization. Alliteration is most commonly used to give users a catchy phrase to think of when it comes to the organization and their social media presence. It gives users something to recognize when looking through different platforms. This hashtag must be used across all platforms. By changing it for each platform, it confuses the users as to which hashtag goes for which platform. It creates consistency and a tagline for others recognize when thinking of the organization.
#2: Create a pre-set filter for all photos
This is a tip taken directly from all successful Instagram influencers. One single filter that can be applied to all photos creates a signature aesthetic to all pictures posted on each social media platform. If there’s anything an influencer is an expert at, it’s creating a signature look to each Instagram page. Influencers such as Disco Daydream, Hunt for Styles, and Happily Grey all use a single pre-set filter which creates the aesthetic for their page. Especially when looking at an organization’s Instagram page, it looks messy when each photo is edited using a different filter. It creates a confusing and unorganized look to the page. This goes for Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter pictures as well. Users and potential clients want to see consistency. By creating that consistency through the images posted by the organization, it leads clients to be more attracted to the company.
#3: Utilize all live features
Utilize Facebook Live, Instagram Live, and Instagram stories. These features engage users and potential clients in real time. They can follow alongside the organization and see inside the company more than they can with basic posts. It also allows individuals within the organization to do “take over’s” and showcase the personality within the individuals who work there. These live features and stories are only posted for 24 hours, making them perfect for those personality-type photos that are less permanent. They are interactive and engage the viewers through more candid and lifestyle photos and videos. These videos can then be saved and posted to other platforms, such as Twitter, to drive more traffic to the company’s pages.
These three tips allow social media users to be driven to an organization’s page to see a clean and well promoted profile. Follow them and it will engage the intended audience and therefore drive the necessary traffic to the website and the company in general. They are the perfect starting point for any organization to create a following and through consistency with these three tips, a strong social media presence will establish itself.
Social media is key to professional communication in 2019. The ever-changing, always trendy realm of digital communication requires attention to achieve a successful digital marketing strategy. Strategizing is key to ensuring social media posts are relevant, high quality, informative, and engaging for your followers. When used correctly, social media is a vital tool for organizational communication. Keep reading for tips and tricks to utilize social media and serve your followers premium content.
Give the People What They Want
Part of great communication is listening. You must be aware of the type of information your followers want to receive through social media. Take the time to research and pinpoint the type of information followers look for on your social media outlets. Make them enjoy following you and add value to their social media viewing experience by providing information they want. Interact with your followers when they express support and complaints. Remaining active and engaged with followers will keep them engaged with your channels. Stay active by posting content frequently and responding to comments or messages in a timely manner.
Content is Key
Provide followers with relevant content that is meaningful to their lives. Give them something that is educational and interesting. Videos are great for grabbing your audience’s attention. They enjoy watching to gain information quickly without having to read. Videos are great for engagement and easily sharable content. Viewers can easily tag friends or directly send video content. Stories are another trend essential to social media communication. Followers enjoy seeing into the daily activities of accounts they follow, and gaining information and insight in real time. Ensure that the content is genuine for your audience to form a connection.
Influencer Power
Influencer marketing is a strong trend in 2019. Individuals have gained power in the digital marketing world by mastering social media strategy and promoting products to their large following. Influencers and micro-influencers dedicate time and energy to running the best social media platforms. They are on top of trends and often create new trend waves. Choose personalities and platforms that align with your brand’s service or product. Established influencers are essential tools to connecting with followers. Digital tools help connect organizations to digital media masters. Check out some of these sites and see what they can do for your digital communication.
The inevitable “Sunday scaries” have hit. As you plan your week, you know that each day your team has countless project deadlines, both large and small. Each project relies on efficient communication and coordination in order to be completed in a timely manner. This is not always an easy task. Luckily, countless applications have been developed to organize and divide work between colleagues. But the real question is “which one is best for my team?” We know that you don’t have time to test out each new program, so that’s why we are sharing the most effective project management tools.
Asana
If you need a new task-manager in your life, check out Asana. Your first step is to establish your team. Next, you can create new projects from templates in order to start delegating tasks to members. After setting task deadlines, the dashboard will feature a timeline view of each task and who it is assigned to. Asana’s straightforward visualization of each step will give you everything you need to reach your goals.
Asana features a timeline that displays daily tasks to keep your team on track.
Google Docs
Collaboration is key to any team project. Google Docs is a platform that allows you and your teammates to simultaneously access, create and edit your documents at any time. Free to anyone, Google Docs lets users use all programs including Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms.
Box
Imagine one place that everyone can access any document without unnecessary duplicates. Box is a cloud storing service that simplifies project management by allowing you and your team to share any and every type of file. For as little as $5 a month, your entire team can sync any project information into a secure, organized database.
Slack
Perhaps you’ve heard of this multibillion-dollar messaging app. Why is Slack so popular? The app makes project management and day to day workforce communication simpler than ever before through the use of channels. As a result, company teams can cross-collaborate on a singular platform. Making it even more streamlined- Slack integrates all of the tools above into your channels!
Access Slack on both your phone and computer.
Whether or not you are on the look out for new organization tools, there are always new opportunities to improve the way your team manages their projects.
Perfecting Instagram is a necessary component to successful social media strategies. Follow these tips for ways to improve your organization’s Instagram account.
What even is an Instagram? Created in 2010, it has become one of the most prominent social media networks on the globe and has only continued to grow in popularity since is foundation. With over one billion users, its ability to influence large groups at any given time makes it one of, if not the most, important social media network that any successful organization must utilize.
If you aren’t quite sure how to tackle such an impressive network, fear not! Follow these tips and tricks to both engage and build your Instagram following to aid the success of your organization.
1. Utilize the story feature!
Instagram recently released a feature called “Insta-stories” in order to compete with Snapchat. With this feature, you have the ability to upload a multitude of photos that remain visible to followers for 24 hours. Additionally, these stories can be pinned at the top of the page so they can be viewed after the 24 hour expiration date.
Story highlights stay pinned at the top of the profile.
Highlight important information that you want to project to your following so they can easily recognize and access it on your Instagram page.
For example, if you are doing giveaways, highlight them at the stop of the screen so followers can look back on old contests and winners.
Depending on your organization, you can get really creative with this feature! If you have offices in a multiple of cities, they all should have access to the account and when they post stories of things relevant to that city, it can be highlighted at the top of the page.
Another interesting part of this Instagram feature is that the user can choose the cover photo for the highlight. It can be an actual photo or a user generated graphic, so get creative!
2. Encourage user interaction!
Engage, Engage, Engage! Encourage followers to interact with posts. One easy tip is to caption the photo by saying “tag a friend.” Not only will this generate interaction with your followers and the post, it will also attract people who may not already follow the account. This helps get the word out about your organization.
Responding to user comments is another great way to generate interaction. Commenting back and tagging others is a great way to create a forum for discussion amongst users and increase your following.
Another great tip is to use Insta-stories to ask your followers questions. This makes them feel like their opinion is valued. Followers must feel as though their voice is heard and this is a great way to get their feedback.
You can also find out a lot about what their interests are and therefore what you should post about. This is easy and free research, take advantage!
3. Visual appeal!
Visual appeal is an extremely important part of a successful Instagram! Followers want to see eye-catching and interesting photos. Make sure you are putting your best foot forward as Instagram is the easiest way to show them what you’re really about.
These photos should be high-quality! Use a professional camera or photographer to grasp the important moments you want to share. After all, Instagram is about capturing one moment in time and sharing it with others. The more visually appealing the photo, the more likely people will be drawn to your account.
These are some easy tips on how to improve your Instagram account. Take advantage of the free advertising and get your followers engaged!
Eager to transform your social media presence in 2019? Start 2019 with the intention of elevating your social media presence. Unsure of where to start? Here are the top five social media trends for 2019.
Getting Personal with your Audience: First and foremost, the best way to capture a loyal following is by letting your authenticity shine through. Whether you are creating content for a company’s page or for personal purposes, a human voice amplifies videos and photos. By using social media platforms for storytelling, your audience begins to truly visualize your individual brand.
Vertical Video: Whether it be a scenic sunset or a concert performance, video content enhances one’s brand. However, when posting video content on social media, horizontal footage is frowned upon. With the continuous popularity of Snapchat and the rise of Instagram TV, vertical video is better for mobile devices.
Influencer Marketing: Over the past few years, influencer marketing has helped connect potential buyers to companies, products, and destinations. Instagram’s biggest influencers promote their favorite products and purchases on their platform, while allowing to access items and make purchases immediately. Influencer marketing has completely transformed the world of Instagram – products and brand are promoted through colorful, aesthetically-pleasing content. Click here to read more about the world of influencer marketing.
Chiara Ferragni, one of Instagram’s biggest influencers.
Quality > Quantity: A key to a successful social media presence is beautiful, creative content. While it is important to remain active on social platforms, quality triumphs quantity. Followers prefer to see one quality post per day, instead of five mediocre photos or videos. Creative, thoughtful content allows individuals and companies to stand apart from their competitors.
Utilizing the “Story” Feature: Move over Snapchat – Instagram and Facebook are now allowing users to post images and video to personal stories. Stories allow for quick, current content that is engaging, interactive, and personalized. While traditional stories disappear in 24 hours, new features allow for stories to remain pinned at the top of a user’s profile. To learn everything you’ll need to know (and more) about Instagram stories, check out this link.
Conquering the world of social media is no easy task, but make 2019 the year of engaging, eye-catching content. By following 2019’s trends, an engaging social media presence is achievable.
Why kiss a bunch of frogs before finding your prince charming when you could simply swipe left instead?
What’s more romantic than being asked to “Netflix and Chill” by a guy you’ve been casually conversing with via social media? Let’s face it, there is absolutely nothing romantic about it. Do you ever find yourself wondering what caused the evolution of dating in the 21st century? This question can be answered in two words — social media.
Evolution of Dating and Courtship: Then vs. Now
Dating, aided by the use of social media and digital communication, has changed. The way people approach dating now compared to how people dated in the past is like night and day. It was fairly common for our grandparents to be asked on dates or to go steady whereas nowadays being asked on a date is a rare occasion.
Humans rely on social networks to make initial connections with each other. Some believe it is more convenient and way less stressful. When making the first move, rejection is a common fear. No one wants to be rejected. Nevertheless, asking someone such a vulnerable question via social media avoids such rejection. Hence, the reason it is preferred by a large percent of the population.
The Dating Game: How Dating Has Shifted
Social media, a blessing and a curse, has cultivated an environment were the pressure of face-to-face initial interaction is less intimidating. It also serves as a way to privately communicate with multiple romantic partners at the same time. Dating more than one person has been made easier when you have the ability to snapchat one girl while simultaneously direct messaging another one.
The evolution of dating shifted in the 21st century when individuals had the ability to instantly access a person’s information online. Before social media, dating was similar to being courted. You asked someone on a first date to establish an initial meeting. People were also committed and invested in connecting with one person at a time. Due to social media, this is no longer the case.
Why Social Media is the Catalyze for the Evolution of Dating
Digital dating apps such as Tinder, give users the power to engage or to disengage by swiping left or right. This requires:
No face-to-face interaction
Lacks intention and intimacy
Less commitment
Social media and dating apps take away from the natural human experience of a first date. There is now an obsession with wanting to know everything about a person before you meet them. Rather than engaging in simple conversation, people turn to social media for answers instead.
Using Social Media in Moderation
There is a fine line between the benefits and harm of social media when it comes to dating. Living in the digital age has its perks, but it also stimulates a negative dating culture. Balancing the use of social media while dating can ensure that you are approaching relationships as your true, authentic self. It aids in allowing you to be 100% present while dismissing external forces that could impede on your relationship.
In an age of instant gratification, it is perfectly okay to spend a little extra time finding your Mr. or Mrs. Right. Kiss a few frogs while you’re at it.
As a brand, it is important to map out and determine what you want the brand to look like. The biggest question to ask is “How do you want the brand to be identified and what do you want others to think about the brand?” Once you have a better understanding of how you want the brand to be created, then you can begin creating a social media plan that will work as a nest around the brand.
1 Tip: Export and thoroughly review any social media content that was published over the past year.
Discover what your audience did not resonate with and what content they engaged with by analyzing data from all social media platforms. Keep in mind that you should be focusing on themes within the social media posts and rely on these successes for planning future content. A great way to avoid mistakes is to create a monthly social media calendar that will keep postings on track in the future.
2 Tip: Content is Everything
Unlike some social media platforms, video content can also be very useful. A lot of brands will rely on this tool to help promote their brand or a new product launch through social media. Because your audience is looking for instant gratification, video content can help to enrich your brand. In this current era, there are so many great tools and resources to use that will help edit your content. For example, it is simple to record content on a smartphone and edit with an app called Splice. This will make your video appear more professional to your audience.
3 Tip: Take Advantage of Influencers:
Influencers are considered one of the most powerful tools for building brand awareness. Influencers can be anyone who has a large social media following to a loyal customer who truly believes in the brand and is willing to share with others. How do influencers work? When you want to reach a larger target audience, support from influencers can help achieve that goal by exposing your brand to those who might not have been exposed to. For example, you can send a direct message on Instagram asking them to represent your brand or product. Keep in mind that it is important to be strategic in whom you trust to represent your brand.
Finishing Touches Since the digital world is constantly changing, the social media planner is required to stay proactive and alert to any new technological advancements and trends that may occur in the future. Building this plan will help create a solid foundation for all social media platforms. However, having flexibility when making any changes is also a great skill to have. In addition, staying organized throughout this process will ensure the ideal execution of your strategic plan. There are so many organizational tools that can help boost your social media platforms. You can utilize some tool listed here:
Sprout Social
Sprout Social: A social media management solution that manages multiple social media profiles, provides social listening, and tracks using analytics.
Hootsuite
Hootsuite: A social media management dashboard that helps manage multiple social media profiles and provides analytics to track them.
Ultimately, staying in touch with the latest trends and updates will help you stay on track. Keep your platforms relevant and aesthetically appealing to your audience will go a long way.
In this post, I’m going to give five ways on how to boost your social media presence. These tips are applicable to both personal and professional accounts as well as across all forms of social media. Let’s start with number one…
Using the right channels
Making sure you’re using the right channels is key to creating a thriving social media presence. Where does your content get the most responses? Are they the types of responses you’re looking for? Knowing what type of audience you want and where to find them is crucial in the world of social media.
For more help on figuring out which channel is right for you, click here.
Daily Activity
In order to engage with your audience you must be active on social media every day. Whether that’s posting, commenting, or following new accounts, there should always be some sort of engagement surrounding your account.
Captivating Headlines
One of the best things about social media is the ability to grasp a reader’s attention by one simple headline or photo. Its all about those first few words when trying to gain the attention of a potential reader. Posting on Instagram? A picture is worth a thousand words, find the right one and let it speak for itself. It’s important to know what you want to say and making sure that your post is captured in that first look.
Know Your Competition
Being aware of what’s going on in the social media world is important in order to remain relevant. Daily trends pass by, but they can be utilized to your benefit if you can incorporate that day’s top trend into your daily post. Be ahead of the curve, not behind it.
Negative Comments: How to respond
If you haven’t already, go ahead and accept the fact that negative comments are inevitable in the world of social media. As frustrating as they may be, it’s important to realize that you only have control over how you respond and not what others say. First off, choose your battles wisely. If you don’t have a pro-active response, then wait until you do. Secondly, when you choose to respond, make sure it’s honest and open. You want to avoid escalation when responding to any negative comment so keep it brief but sincere.
February 14th can mean a lot of different things to people. Valentine’s Day- a day most millennials dread for the exuberant expression of “love”. Hundreds of dollars are spent on trivial gifts to prove to one’s significant other that their relationship is perfect and stable.
This was the first year I had someone to call my Valentine.
It was an interesting perspective as I have never had someone to share this particular day with. I spent my Cupid day watching the faces of others to see if they were as happy I was. Surprisingly, I saw a lot of frustration. The night of, I observed stressed out men in button downs, sweating through their cotton sleeves. I encountered girlfriends that were disappointed and unamused by their significant other’s gifts and presence. On a day that was supposed to feel happy and light-hearted, I could feel the unsettled emotions of high expectations for this frivolous holiday.
As someone who didn’t know what to expect for Valentine’s Day,
I am happy to say having no expectations is the best way to approach this day. I enjoyed this Valentine’s Day for the first time in my life, not only because I wasn’t single, sitting on my couch over a bottle of pinot noir and the Bachelor, but because I was able to go into the holiday unaware of what the day would hold. Maybe, that is the best way to approach life in general – no expectations, and with gratitude. Walking out, into the empty parking lot, after our yummy Italian dinner at Penne Pomodoro, I said thank you to my man – I genuinely was thankful.
Valentine’s Day should be a day,
whether you’re single or in a relationship, to thank the people you love and care about. While the pink flowers and the $5 Hallmark cards that sing L-O-V-E might provide a temporary sense of security in one’s relationship, what people should be more concerned about are the little things you can do on a day to day basis that can better your relationship. I challenge everyone next year for Valentine’s Day to do something intentional for someone you care about rather than sticking to the status quo and purchasing a gift for the sake of having one.
Do you ever feel stuck in a puddle of mud trying to handle all your assigned social platforms? I’m going to start this article by saying WE’VE BEEN THERE TOO.
Managing and “keeping up” with all channels of your client or brand’s social media is time consuming and exhausting to try and perfect. I can’t even begin to think of the wasted minutes I’ve spent scrolling through databases of unexbiroating pictures I didn’t even consider using for content, WORTHLESS. This doesn’t include the minutes distracted by Kylie Jenner’s absurd Instagram page. Only, the worst feeling of them all is failing to do your number one job, engaging your targeted audiences and voicing a brand featuring their best light. SO, if you’re trying to stay focused, on task, and on target to better your social platforms, keep reading to discover five trends that will help you better your social platforms in no time!
say hello to the most effective process, the digital spectrum 👋
Don’t get too excited, but we do have a process for you to follow that our team has greatly benefited from. I’d like to introduce you to our three letter worded best friend, the “ Digital Spectrum Process.” Steve Lee, one of my favorite professors at SMU, is the creator of this marvelous process. Hold the applause, please. His plan educates, manages expectations, such as measurable objectives and clearly defined roles, maintains focus, and involves discipline.
You need to know that the Digital Spectrum Process doesn’t mean you can just follow an easy step-by-step guide, blah, blah, blah. No. In order for the process to execute most success, we suggest you get your feet wet and truly tackle each element. Your social platforms will improve and look so much better in no time! Let us begin, ay?
#1 preparation: embracing the art of research 🙌
The first step of the process is “preparation,” which means it’s time to get technical. By applying your management’s goals, you can then begin researching your key publics, attitude, behaviors, and overall engagement on media platforms. If that doesn’t do much for you, cut the informal sh*$ and move onto profiling your audience by defining their demographics and psychographics. This should give you better insights as to who you’re working with.
Now knowing more of your audience than you did before, you may move on to defining messages proposed on media channels. Easier said than done. It’s in your hands to truly grasp the attention of your publics by demonstrating your ability to understand their language style (tone and voice). Even more so, you must make sure you highlight what is most relevant to that public. It’s like matching 21 year-olds to drinking, of course they’re interested! Except, I hate tequila, ew.
#2 planning: the basics (boring step)
So, you did the research, now we can begin planning by conducting five primarily tasks.
Situation Analysis – ask yourself what’s changed in the market and competition? What tactics of yours are now working? Whichever don’t, MOVE ON.
Goals and Objectives – draw upon your platform’s main goals, then perform them by creating objectives (self explanatory).
Publics – since we already defined the key publics, add new ones if possible.
Activites – ask yourself what tactics must be done to achieve objectives? I prefer placing a detailed timeline on these — it’ll help in the long run.
Monitoring – wait until you see the next step, but obviously you need help in this.
Budget – costs matter. Estimate them accurately.
#3 content management: tips and techniques for curating
We have the organization’s messages from step #1, right? Keep them close, don’t let them go. Next, we have to understand when to specifically use them in regards to channels and timing. Determine which channels will be used and prioritize them meaningful. This means, matching the tone of each channel with its publics and determining the appropriate time of that post.
You may also be interested in blog writing as well. Constructing a blog illustrates a more personal relationship to your publics. Blogs can generate a funny, serious or even informing, story. You may even want to bring in interesting speakers, authors, or other bloggers you think will be most relevant and appealing. OR, perhaps bring selective stories to life and use interviews to create interaction with your audience. I mean why not interview the chef of your client’s restaurant to go behind the scenes? They’re interesting and can really help improve the intimacy between the audience’s relationships with the specific brand. Don’t be afraid to be creative with it! It’s more fun to step out of your comfort zone here.
Choosing your content may be challenging. Remember use RELEVANT information and capitalize on this. If one of your social media platforms is Instagram, use more appealing, high quality and professional pictures to attract your publics. Generating a flow may help! Besides, nobody likes lurking on boring Insta pages, boo. Also, be consistent throughout various platforms. It’s a let down when platforms distributie different kinds of information over the place. My brain can’t take in that info all at once, in plus it’s highly distracting.
These steps go hand in hand. As social media directors or specialists (whatever you like to call yourselves), we know how important monitoring our social media platforms is. Recognizing feedback, followers, measuring evaluations, and tracking analytics is a real science. While it is important to really take on these duties in appropriate matters, I have a tool you may want to consider using. It’s called Later, the #1 Marketing Platform for Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Victory is for once in our hands.
Talk about platform consistency? This software allows you to create the same posts that can automatically be posted to each individual platform, AT THE SAME TIME. It also allows us to visualize our content calendar in advance and provides the feature to track the analysis of each platform.
Thanks to technology, we don’t have to do the hard work. Interpreting these measurements allows us communicators to discover meaningful answers and then incorporating that change to better our platforms. Really dig deep here, if you can find tremendous amounts of new knowledge for your platform.
the, end.
There you have it folks — the 5 key trends to better your social platforms. I advise you to really take action and put this plan to use. It’s faster, more efficient, and WORKS. In no time, you will see better engagement, consistency, and content. Use them and thank me later.
Celebrity baby announcements, aided with the help of social media, have changed the way celebrities announce their upcoming bundles of joy, and rule the trending themes pages of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for days to come. The fascination with the celebrity lifestyle extends beyond the celebrity themselves, the public becomes obsessed with famous people’s whole lives, including their children and the sheer amount of time and information spent attempting to confirm a pregnancy is evident on many social media platforms. In a world of publicity and obtaining the world’s attention, celebrities have a myriad of ways their lives can become public fodder, but pregnancy might be the largest one.
In 2017, theaters everywhere were seemingly hit with an increase in superhero and dystopian movies. These movies explored deep themes on humanity and overall mortality. 2018 has already proven itself to be a big year for cinema, but the underlying question connecting these movies is: Is this a world worth saving?
Born from 1998 to 2018, the oldest members of Gen Z are 20-years-old and quickly approaching the workforce. Who exactly is this generation and how are they different from Millennials? Here are the top differences between Millennials and Gen-Z. Continue reading →
What are you doing at 9 p.m. tonight? A good guess might be HQ Trivia, the trivia game app. Created in October 2017 by the former founder of Vine, Rus Yusupov, the success of HQ Trivia immediately took the world by storm and broke records.
