A successful social media marketing campaign is one of the most effective ways that a business can increase a customer or audience base. However, social media is overrun with an unbelievable amount of different brands and companies, all vying for the attention of a potential consumer. So how, exactly, can you make your social media images get noticed from the thousands of other ones online? With a little bit of hard work and these tips and tricks, you’ll be able to create attention-grabbing images on all of your social media accounts.
Lighting Is Key: The secret to almost any great picture is lighting. Well-lit pictures are more aesthetically pleasing and better display your content. The right lighting can completely change the mood of your content and tell a narrative through the images. Social media images with good lighting are much more likely to be noticed than content with poor lighting.
Keep Your Feed Consistent: Rather than radically shift the style of your pictures with every new post, keeping the atmosphere of your feed similar is an effective strategy to improve social media images’ performance. Keep color schemes and contrast at similar levels from post to post, in order to create a cohesive brand image online. Therefore, if you enjoy pastel tones and low contrast in your images, try to consistently use similar levels in other posts as well.
Know Your Audience: It’s important to keep careful track of your social media image’s audience and demographics. Ensuring that your content suits your target audience is an essential step in receiving more online engagement. Determine what performs well with potential customers and try to post similar content. However, good balance is key. Simply following current trends will make your pictures seem repetitive. Instead, take inspiration from well-performing posts but try to add your own, unique twist to truly capture attention from viewers.
Visual Balance: Visually balanced pictures capture attention and garner more genuine interaction with viewers than unbalanced pictures. Pay careful attention to how lines, text, and colors interact in your social media images. A good rule of thumb is to center the most important content to increase interest and convey essential information about your brand or product. Overall, a social media image should not be overwhelming, but merely intrigue viewers to explore more.
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With just a few simple changes and a heightened awareness of style and design, it’s easy to completely boost your brand’s online presence. By following these easy tips, your social media images are much more likely to be noticed than before and truly make a significant impact on your company’s success on social media platforms.
If you are not using paid social advertising then you are not reaching people where they are at. If you look around, you’ll notice everyone’s got their head stuck in their phone. So how do you reach them? The answer is, paid social advertising. Here are the top ways to reach your audience through paid social advertising.
Facebook/Instagram
This one is a no brainer. There are 1 billion people on Facebook and Instagram. Facebook and Instagram are a great way to advertise because, within the platform, there are different ways to display your ad. Your ad can be shown in people’s timeline. So, if they fit your target demographic then as they are scrolling through their feed your offer appears right in front of them. Your ads can also be shown in Stories. Facebook also has a place for your ads in the sidebar when users are accessing the platform on their desktop. If you are trying to reach people through paid social advertising then Facebook and Instagram are the number one way.
Twitter
Twitter is the next big platform on the block when it comes to paid social advertising. Twitter works pretty much the same way Facebook works. You pay for a certain amount of ad spend and you target a certain demographic. While they scroll through their feed their eyes will come across your advertisement. If it’s appealing enough you get clicks and hopefully, that click will lead to conversion.
LinkedIn
Instead of advertising to consumers, you are advertising to professionals and businesses. It’s the perfect place to use social for a B2B (business to business) offer. So, if you are selling software or professional services this is the platform for you. LinkedIn pretty much works the same way as the other platforms. You set up a target audience by professional skills, location, industry, etc. and the folks who match those skills see the ad in their feed and also in the sidebar.
So those are the top 3 ways to reach your audience through paid social advertising. Most of the time, when your target market matches the user demographics of a social platform, social advertising can provide huge increases in your conversions and sales. If you need guidance on this, contact a digital marketing expert today!
Paid social media campaigns are important to make an impact on your audience. Organic posting is no longer enough for businesses to be seen.Social Media still feels like the wave of the future. However, understanding how to use it to grow your business is essential in reaching your maximum audience. The amount of people using social media is increasing daily, and trying to keep up with every new app can be difficult for companies to tap into. Does this mean you have to do this alone? Of course not, hiring a company to manage and run your social media accounts allows your company to really reap the benefits of being social media savvy.
Measuring success, is translating into likes, views, and conversation, for example cable companies used to judge shows based on ratings. Since streaming channels have become the source of entertainment, and measuring ratings has become difficult, cable companies now judge a show’s success on how many people are talking about it on social media. Similarly, small businesses can really find success in social media campaigns, gaining the publics interest and trust outside of personal interaction, is online. Customers love to rant and rave about their experiences to their friends and families, and the fastest way to do so is on social media. So, why not start the conversation?
Starting a paid social media campaign can seem scary. You might ask yourself where do I start, and how different can it really be from an average campaign? Well, what is interesting about all of these social media outlets is their drive to help companies reach a larger audience. Sites like Facebook, and Snap chat really thrive on business interest. More importantly, it is cost-effective, and flexible to any budget. Campaigns can become really creative, with all of the technology at the disposal of social media. Sites are realizing the strong interest and are making themselves more accessible, for companies to expand their brand.
As cost-effective as paid social media campaigns can be, simply paying $5 on Facebook to reach x amount of people isn’t enough to make an impact. Paid social media campaigns take time, and social media allows companies to be flexible in the sense that they get direct feedback from consumers and adjust accordingly. It comes down to the measurements, sure you paid so much money, but if it doesn’t translate into an increase of views, likes, and conversation then you haven’t really maximized consumer interest. At the same time if you aren’t spending some money then you are not exhausting the full potential your company can have. As blogger Justin Lambert said, “Brands have an ultimatum: pay to play or forfeit the game.”
Take your social media to the next level and invest in your first paid social media campaign
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Social media is THE most popular activity online right now. So it makes sense that businesses, (both national and local) want to take advantage of this. But simply opening up a Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn account isn’t enough anymore. By avoiding some basic mistakes, many businesses can have the ability to increase return on investment, and create more opportunities from social media accounts.
Missteps to Avoid
#1. Not having a game plan
Social media users are bombarded with information and messages every minute of every day via social media. Businesses that don’t have a social media strategy often get lost in all the clutter and fail in reaching their target audience. Creating a game plan for social media includes having distinct goals, developing a clear voice online, and planning out content with a goal in mind. Without a clearly defined game plan you can have the best content on the web, but receive little engagement.
#2. Integrate everything
Social media should be used as a part to a whole. Not only should you link your social media accounts to each other, but they should be directly tied to your website, email, and paid search campaigns. Not taking advantage of connecting these accounts drastically reduces your potential audience reach.
#3. Use IMAGES!
Think about how you use social media. Doesn’t a post with a vibrant image capture your attention better and longer? While an image might not be appropriate for every post, include one whenever possible to help draw attention to your message.
#4. HASHTAGS
Hashtags are a great way to join conversations and trending topics. Using hashtags strategically can help you find your target audience and reach non-followers in large numbers. Just make sure that it makes sense for your business to use the hashtag and that it flows with the current conversation.
#5. Make sure to Interact
Social media is meant to be interactive. Not every comment needs a response but responding to your “fans” adds to “humanizing” your business and builds trust between the brand and your consumers.
#6. MONITOR
Don’t assume that just because you are posting content good things will come to you. You need to ensure that you are constantly monitoring and gauging what is and is not working on social media. This ensures you are on your toes and can make changes quickly when something isn’t working. Overall your business should work towards creating your own social media voice and community. Social media has the ability to be a cost effective way to reach out to your potential customers and help increase sales.
Are you looking for ways to increase your presence in the market without having to increase the size of your marketing budget? One great way to do this is to create a strategic marketing partnership.
What exactly is a strategic marketing partnership?
Simply put, it is a partnership you create with another business with the goal of helping you both achieve your goals. In the case of a strategic marketing partnership, it is a simple and effective way for brands to expand their audience.
Why would you want a strategic marketing partnership for your business?
The real question is, why wouldn’t you want one? This type of relationship is one that can be mutually beneficial to both companies involved, because it allows you access to twice as many customers, contacts, and other businesses that could potentially be partnerships as well. By partnering with another company, you double your exposure, because while you are promoting them to your customers and contacts, they are doing the same for you. In addition to being beneficial for you, it is beneficial for your customers as well. They get access to a larger pool of referrals from someone they already trust.
How do you choose a strategic marketing partner?
1. Make a list of products or services that compliment what your business does or sells. What is it that your customers need in addition to your products? Make sure you choose things that are not in direct competition with your business.
2. Find 15-20 businesses that provide the products or services you identified in step one. You can find these businesses through your own personal knowledge or by talking to your customers.
3. Contact these businesses. You know that you hate getting cold calls from people that are trying to “sell” you something, so keep that in mind when contacting them. Try writing a letter instead that outlines what you are trying to do, what the value of it is to you as well as them, and how it will benefit both of your customers.
4. Review the responses you receive back, and determine which business best fits with your company and your marketing needs.
5. Sit down with them and figure out how you can work together and what you both need to do.
What can you do for each other to make this strategic marketing partnership work?
- Share posts on social media.
- Provide content for a newsletter.
- Write a featured blog.
- Make mentions of your partner on social media.
- Create a freebie to give to your customers that features both business.
- Provide coupons/discounts as a way to introduce your partnership to your customers.
- Make a referral to your partner whenever possible and relevant.
- Host an event that features your partner. Make sure it is interesting for your customers.
It may take a bit of work up front, but in the long run a strategic marketing partnership can be beneficial to everyone involved.
Are Your Business’ Social Media Outlets Ready For the Holidays?
Christmas is a week away, and that means that businesses all over are trying to keep up with the holiday rush! Regardless of the rush, as a business you need to ensure you are publicly presenting an image of festive cheer in addition to being there to help your customers who have gifts to buy, meals to plan and family to take care of in order to get everything done on time! According to Mashable, 65% of shoppers turn to social media to find the perfect gift, and, when they do, you need to make sure that you are there to help them out.
So if you haven’t turned your attention to your company’s holiday social media plan, here are 5 tips to help you get started!
1. Decorate your social media
Nothing says holiday cheer like the right decorations, so make sure you get your social media accounts decked out too! Change your cover photo to something that reflects the holiday season. You can go all out or simply give your logo a festive twist.
2. Create holiday engagement
The holidays are a great time to get people talking about your products and your business. Encourage comments and shares from your fans by posting holiday related content.
For example, post an image of your company’s Christmas tree. Then ask fans to share an image of their tree.
3. Think visual
Do you have seasonal products? Make sure you post them on your social media sites, and ensure you add call to action! Make sure you post them with seasonal sentiment, as this will help make them more engaging. A call to action will help bring your company’s name to the forefront of your customers’ minds during this busy time.
4. Holiday competitions
People love businesses that give back, and the holiday season is one of the best times of the year to show your giving side. Holiday competitions give you a great way to get your business noticed and show your customers you understand the spirit of giving.
For example, give away gift cards to help customers plan their holiday meals or buy their stocking stuffers. You can ask them to share their favorite recipe or a picture of a holiday tradition.
5. Check out what’s trending
The holiday season is the most high-stakes time of the year for businesses. Make sure you get the most exposure possible by checking what’s currently trending on social media, so you can tailor your message accordingly. Just make sure you jump on a trending topic that makes sense for your business. Your message should be relevant and fit in organically with the conversation going on.
Overall, the holiday season is a busy time for both customers and businesses, so make sure you have a strong social media strategy to increase the chances of reaching your customers. In addition, customers are turning to social media to ask questions and report problems, so make sure you are dealing with all the inquires in a timely matter. Don’t forget making customers happy at this time of the year is a top festive priority.
