12 Social Media Tips
Facebook continues to be at the top of the social media platforms with its 2.9 billion active users. Instagram has almost 1.4 billion and LinkedIn with 690 million.
How will you utilize this fact with your digital marketing strategies?
Here are 12 social media tips you should be using.
1. Spell Check & 2. Grammar Check
If you aren’t already using a spellchecker or Grammarly, you may be making lots of errors in your social media posts. Be sure to add the extensions to your browsers which will help you avoid mistakes. It also doesn’t hurt to have another set of eyes review your posts before hitting that button.
3. Use the right hashtags
Surely everyone knows what hashtags are these days, and some people have a lot of fun with them. But it’s also important to use relevant hashtags. They should reflect what the content is trying to convey in one-to-two-word snippets. Your potential new customers may be looking for you and a hashtag may help them get to you. #usethosehashtags
4. Make it sparkle or go home
We’re not talking Bella or Edward sparkle; we mean making your content shine. Make it catch your customer’s eye. They’ll be scrolling through their feed and need that extra little sparkle to make them stop in their tracks. The use of color, images, moving emojis will be sure to catch their attention.
5. Be unique
What’s unique about your brand? What do you offer that your competitors don’t? Do you offer a bedazzled or monogrammed bandana with that puppy shampoo? Let your customers know!
6. Provide useful content
When your customer comes to your website, they are looking to fulfill a need. They are asking a question. They are looking for something to solve their problem. Provide them with useful information that lets them know, “Hey! We have your answer!” Make them want to seek out more information from your website and be sure to link to it.
7. Be interesting
Semrush has some great tips for engaging content. And suggests that constant innovation is necessary to create ideas that bring in new customers. Provide FAQs, Use Surveys, have a contest.
8. Be relevant
Things move quickly. What was popular last week is already old news this week, especially with millennials and Gen Zs. See what’s trending on TikTok or Twitter. Keep up with the latest information in whatever technology or type of business you are in. Subscribe to eNewletters, feeds, or blogs that are relevant to your industry. Share that information with your followers.
9. Imitate excellence
We all have favorites, and they’re favorites for a reason. They’ve mastered their talents and know-how to attract the right audience for their particular niche. You can too. If it works, imitate it!
10. Don’t yell
YOU PROBABLY KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS. All caps in the online world is yelling. Don’t all capitalize unless it’s relevant to the or part of a brand identity.
11. Be Opinionated
Everyone has an opinion- yours may be highly informed and interesting. Opinions can be interesting, though. Especially if it’s different or contains new ideas. Feel free to share an opinion about the topic you are fully educated in especially as it relates to your business and shows that you have expertise.
12. HAVE FUN!
(Yes, I’m loudly telling you to have some fun!)
Seem like too much to manage? Need an expert team driving this all for you? That is what we do. Contact us for a consultation.
Google’s New Core Vitals Web Site Requirements
With Google’s announcement to greatly increase speed requirements in May of 2021, there was a rumble of concern amongst digital agencies, developers and advertisers. Meeting the aggressive requirements of Google’s Core Vitals program is no laughing matter, or easy to accomplish. We have addressed this requirement with a couple of key strategies, first a reminder about Google’s history of announcing major shifts and how they come around to enforcing them:
Google’s History
Google tends to talk big and deliver slowly on enforcing new requirements of web sites hoping to rank highly on their famous and giant search engine. The requirements are aggressive (your home page needs to load in less than 2 seconds, for example), but it’s a journey of technology and revamping to get there. They announce and gradually enforce the new requirements – so don’t panic if you need six more months to comply with the speed and other Core Vitals requirements.
Strategy 1
Upgrade your WordPress theme to a lighter, tighter theme. We chose Elementor. Being a WordPress shop, it was an easy choice. We avoid plugins by building some of the new sites manually. It’s tedious but worth it for SEO benefits.
Strategy 2
Educate yourself or your client as to what it will take to transition and properly inform them that it will not maintain the exact look and feel of their previous site. Reality is you can’t have a more limber, lighter site without some content lay out and design compromises. (Don’t shoot the messenger aka your agency rep or consultant, it’s not our requirement!) Promise about an 80% likeness and give your client choices on the changes. Communication and setting expectations is key here.
The good news is that under 10% of the sites out there comply with the new Core Vitals standards, so if you are still rewriting, reducing image size and coding your lighter site, no worries. It’s September and it may be winter before Google enforces the requirements. Look to your agency or consultant to stay up to date on the enforcements and how it will affect your organic and paid rankings on Google.
Have questions or need to talk about a new site? Send a message, let’s chat. Happy to help. #seo #strategy #google #digital #design #building #marketing
Facebook Advertising and You
Facebook advertising is a powerful means of hyper targeting your business advertising. It can be very effective for small businesses with limited ad budget. Unfortunately, it can be very complicated and time consuming to set up and work with on an ongoing basis. Facebook is a huge start up in many ways. Their policies, interface and procedures are constantly changing.
Beyond Brand Collective Can Help
That is where we come in. We configure your Facebook Business account, set up your ads with custom copy, graphics and imagery, run the ad and report results! We do our best to keep you in compliance with Facebook, and when issues arise that are out of our control, we contact you. Since Facebook owns Instagram, you can also choose to run the same ads as we design for Facebook, on Instagram. We report on both.
B2C and B2B
Both Business to Consumer and Business to Business clients can succeed with Facebook advertising. Every client is different, and your strategy and marketing mix will vary based on your marketing goals. Some clients want brand awareness only – a sharpened online brand. Some clients need leads. Social media posting and advertising can work for both but budgets and effort levels vary based on testing and what works for your company.
Learning Your Business
Sometimes we can only learn that by trying different approaches on your behalf. We are happy to do this and get results for many clients after testing a variety of online marketing methods, Facebook advertising included!
About Photography
It is best if we have access to both stock photography and organic photography for ads. Research shows organic are most successful at gaining engagement and ad response! So take fun office photos – of the new client, of your employees, or the celebrations. This type of imagery succeeds because it is you in your real life – as a real person. This builds trust with your audience.
Your Facebook Advertising Budget
Facebook Credit Card Charges
Your budget for Facebook advertising is split 2 ways. What you pay us for the management services, and what you pay Facebook to cover the advertising. Facebook delivers impressions, or views of your ads to a combination of their predetermined and your selected audience. The Facebook ad fee requires that we set up your credit card with Facebook and you will see ad charges monthly. We decide together what your Facebook budget needs to be to reach your results. We never bill your credit card without your permission and you knowing what the budget is we are working towards.
Our management fee is billed monthly with your regular invoice. We recommend you test Facebook ads for at least 6 months to see what will be successful for you. It takes time to optimize the ads to the approach that works best for your business.
Here’s wishing you success in your Facebook Advertising! Let us know what questions you have on this type of outreach to your potential clients.
Your Prospects Are On YouTube: Here’s How to Reach Them
YouTube
People are where their eyeballs are. And right now, most people are watching YouTube at some point in their day. It’s no longer just about ‘Charlie bit me’ or puppy videos. YouTube is part television and part search engine. This entry is about how to effectively use YouTube to reach your current clients and find new ones. Your Prospects Are On YouTube: Here’s How to Reach Them.
The first strategic thought is that YouTube is both an entertainment site as well as a search engine. People will search YouTube for products and services just as they would any other search engine. You want to make sure that your videos pop up every time someone in your market area searches for your category. So how do you do that? Glad you asked…
First, design your YouTube channel in a way you would design a Facebook page. Use your logo as the profile picture and provide links to where people can do business with you. People will feel comfortable seeing your logo on YouTube and then seeing the same general format on a Facebook or Twitter page. Make sure your profile has all the information they could need to take the next step. Creating a playlist of all your videos can also keep their attention for a while.
Pre-plan stories you want to tell, problems you want to solve. Be as specific as possible when it comes to titling your video. If your title sounds generic, see if you can add extra details to stand out from the crowd. These tips will specifically draw YouTube’s search algorithm towards your videos. Make sure your title is specific and your description is compelling. Telling your companies history or profiling staff is an excellent source of content.
When adding tags, use words relevant to your subject. Try to get into your audience’s mind and use entries that you think people will click on to see. Just like we have become used to doing with search engine optimization, give some thought to how people may be looking for you.
In the description, write a brief summary of what the video contains. Be sure to include links to whatever other websites you use. Here is where the sales funnel starts to close down. Your description will compel viewers to watch and more importantly, take the next step to go to your website.
Have your thumbnail be something that can catch someone else’s eye. If you have a product, show it. If your video is just one person talking, you may consider creating a graphic that will be an exciting way to present the video’s title.
Add closed captions to your video so people with hearing problems can enjoy your video. This also helps people who may be watching your video without the sound on. Be sure to read through and double-check the closed captions for accuracy. We all know how auto-correct can cause problems…the same is true of auto-closed captions. Plus, the captions will help your SEO.
Share YouTube videos on other social media platforms. This makes your content “sticky”. When search engines have interconnectedness between platforms, it increases the likelihood of your content popping up. Similarly, comment on videos made by similar YouTube channels, but don’t promote your channel WITH that content.
Bottom line – upload videos on a regular schedule! YouTube is an amazing way to increase top-of-mind awareness with your current clients as well as creating new clients. And with your sparkling personality, people will get to know you, what you stand for, and see what an awesome person you would be to work with.
And after they have decided you are the person that gets their business…they can move onto cat videos.
That is what I call a ‘Win/ Win!’
Five Steps to Upgrade Your Online Presence
Do you have a bit of time on your hands while at home staying safe from the pandemic? Are you looking for your online presence to gain you an edge over your competition? Here is a list of five things you can do to sharpen your online brand and draw more traffic and leads your way.
- Sharpen your social media platform presence.
Make sure your logo, header files, and staff images are current and attractive. Update your hours and operation policies as COVID updates and keep your customer informed during the Pandemic of your business happenings and updates. Most importantly, freshen the images with new photography – and look at your social media from the perspective of all of your customer types. Make sure you have content that entices all of your audiences. - Facebook Advertising
Consider Facebook advertising - Facebook, and most other social platforms are now operating on a cost model - in other words, not much is free. Share on XThere are organic ways to engage and gain traction on the social platforms, but Facebook targeting is too powerful to pass up. For a reasonable budget, you can direct new eye balls to your brand. Check it out. - Review Your Web Site
A blog is a mandatory part of a functional web site – it is necessary to keep up to date to gain search engine rankings. Update the photography with images from business and personal happenings. People want to get to know YOU, and not just look at your logo and brand images. Can they trust you? Do they have shared interests? In summary, make sure your site projects what you do and a bit about who you are! - Launch an Email Newsletter
If you have not taken advantage of email communication, the pandemic is a great reason to start. Provide value add content like how-tos, useful articles and industry trends. Brand the newsletter with your logo and brand messages. Make sure your list is up to date – this is a good time to clean it up. You can set up an opt-in email asking people again to re-subscribe to make sure you are sending email to people who really want to hear from you. This keeps you legal and compliant and also helps your open and click rates to stay high. Compose a “2020 in Review” email to get started and tell people the positive happenings and challenges of the year. What strategies worked to overcome obstacles? What didn’t? If you need tool recommendations, ask us, or check out Constant Contact, MailChimp, and Emma. - Google Business Manager
Make sure your Google Business Manager account is up to date and fully populated. Share on X This is so crucial in letting Google know you are in the market and open for business. Update the hours to reflect your COVID operations and create a COVID post to let people know any changes to your business because of COVID. Finally, if you haven’t verified your business yet, do so right away so Google can begin sending your site traffic.
Though the pandemic has brought tremendous struggle to many businesses, it can also be used as a time to sharpen your brand and advertise – in preparation for the return of business once the pandemic is over. Don’t waste the time stewing, put it to good use! When you are busy again you won’t have time, so take advantage of this chance to make things the best they can be online for your business.