The Worst Facebook Page In The World: Responding to Positive and Negative Reviews

18Apr

Facebook, Local Marketing, Marketing, Social Media, Social networking

In my last post in our series about The Worst Facebook Page In The World, we discussed the importance of customer reviews on a Facebook page, along with reminding you that details on your page should be accurate and up-to-date.

This time, I’m going to talk about how a business should interact with users on Facebook whether the customer has something positive or negative to say.

Should You Respond to Facebook Page Reviews?

The golden rule when it comes to comments and reviews is that with a few exceptions: you should respond to everybody.

First, think of it this way. If somebody has taken the time out of their day to write you something, it’s just basic good manners to respond to them. The only thing it will cost you is a moment of your time.

Not responding could give off the impression that you don’t care. Not just to the person that left the comment, but anybody that sees the review on your Facebook page.

Responding to Positive Facebook Page Reviews

A brewery near our agency shows the power of replying because they reply to every. Single. Review.

It does help that they have a lot of positive reviews. But they also understand that this is:

A chance to interact again with previous customers to leave a good impression.
An opportunity to show potential customers how nice they are.

While I wouldn’t go as far as to say that responding to reviews will increase a business’s revenue, I would say that it leaves a good impression which is never a bad thing.As I mentioned in my last post, many business owners forget that the customer experience doesn’t start when somebody enters the physical location. It starts online when someone looks at your website or Facebook page. So you need to make your Facebook page show that the actual customer experience will be a good one.

But more than that, by creating a social media presence that people want to engage with, you’ll keep your business in the mind of old customers to build their loyalty.

Even the best businesses can’t keep everybody happy all of the time though. Eventually, everybody gets something everybody fears: The Negative Review!

Responding to Negative Facebook Page Reviews

Getting a negative review, especially one where your business wasn’t at fault, can be infuriating. It can make you feel angry and annoyed. You may even be tempted to set the customer straight.

A word of advice: No matter how bad a review makes you feel, NEVER TAKE THE BAIT!

By responding to a negative review with anger, you’ll only hurt your business.

The best case scenario is that a potential customer sees you responding negatively to a customer and decides they’d rather go elsewhere.

The worst case scenario is your negative review could snowball into a full on social media witch-hunt leading to a boycott of your business. (It happens!)

Now, as I mentioned earlier in this post, you should always respond to your reviews, even the negative ones. So how do you respond to a negative review?

First put on your best customer service hat. You need to act professional, empathize with the customer and also apologize. Here’s a perfect example from a nearby hotel:

Disagreeing with the customer isn’t needed. Simply an apology and being open to the customer to let them (and everybody else) knows that their negative experience is something important.

The original Hooters in Clearwater also offers a good example of replying to negative reviews on its Yelp page.

Again, it’s a simple apology followed by an offer to open up a dialogue with the customer.

In both cases the business wants to bring the dialogue off the public Facebook page and into a more private setting, so no more damage can be done on social media, but also so that they can make it up to the customer in a private setting.

By replying to negative reviews, potential customers will see that your business cares. Although you can do little about the black mark on your social media, you can play it to your advantage in how you respond to it.

Of course, the best way to tackle negative reviews has nothing to do with social media. It’s to ensure your customers all have a positive experience when they visit you, so they don’t feel the need to leave negative reviews in the first place.

However, you can use your social media reviews to take a note of where your business can improve and what needs to change in future. While also giving yourself some credit for what you customers tell you you’re doing right.

What Can $5 of Facebook Engagement Get You?

By Christopher Tompkins

18Apr

Advertising, Facebook, Social Media

One of the key lessons we took from our improv session a few weeks ago was that we should roll with other people’s ideas.

We shouldn’t just tell them, “Good job.” We should join in. Add to their idea. Collaborate.

The Battle of the Beards was one of those ideas:

“Our Copywriter, Mike has a beard. Hey, so does our Social Media Executive, Bill. Why don’t we have them face off on social media in a beard battle!”

That was it, the whole idea. A beard battle. Just a silly update on social media. But as tends to happen in a creative environment, the idea soon snowballed.

The Idea Grows

Mike and Bill loved the idea. Maybe a little too much. They’d possibly been waiting for the day when they could one-up another man’s beard. Glancing at each other across the office thinking, “My beard is so much better than his. If only I had an opportunity to prove it.”

Luckily for them, they now had the chance.

Soon the silly suggestion was becoming a ridiculous reality. Mike and Bill both agreed to pose for some photos. But not before they each hired an entourage of beard stylists to ensure they looked delightful.

We had them face-off in the conference room, and soon the smack-talk started. “You call that a beard? I’ve got more hair than that on my big toe!”

To sort out the argument once and for all, we decided a post on Facebook where people could vote for the best beard through reactions would work.

But we feared that nobody would see the post. Facebook has started to change its algorithm so that it’s getting ever harder to get something onto other people’s feeds.

We tried to get Don King in to promote our post, but for some reason, he wouldn’t return our calls. Instead, we promoted the post through Facebook instead. We didn’t want to spend too much so decided $5 would do.

How we promoted our post with $5

Although our beard battle was a bit of fun, it’s still an excellent case study on how to run a Facebook Ad. We had a goal, a set budget ($5) and something fun to promote, now we just needed to create our ad.Since our goal was to increase the engagement on our ad, it seemed to be a no-brainer to use the Engagement ad type on Facebook.

The Engagement ad type allows you to optimize your ad campaign to gain more post engagement (reactions or comments), page likes or responses to your events.

Choosing a Facebook Audience

The first thing you do when creating an ad is to select an audience. In this case, since our post was about beards, we decided to hit an audience that was interested in beards.Fortunately, Facebook Ads tracks the interests of its users, and we were surprised to learn that there were plenty of groups for beards:

We further narrowed the audience down to 18 to 30-year-olds as we felt they’d be more open to the silliness of the post and voting in it.

This gave us an audience size of 88,000 which was more than enough for what we needed.

Budgeting and Scheduling our Facebook Ad

For the rest of our ad, we mostly stuck to Facebook’s default settings. We only wanted the beard battle to run for a day, so we set a lifetime budget for the ad of $5 and set it to run for 24 hours.We had the ad show up on Facebook (excluding Instagram) on mobile to keep costs down but also to ensure that anybody that saw the ad was in the position to react to it.

Creating the Post

Last up we needed to create our Battle of the Beards post. Thankfully our bearded men were happy to pose for photos. The post itself was based on an NFL Instagram post we’d stumbled upon:

Here’s our version:

Ad Results

After a week of excitement, the post (and ad) finally went up and almost immediately we started to get some reactions, although it seemed most of them were from Mike’s family.

Soon people not related to the contestants began to react. Our ads were working. In the end, we got great results both from our ads and organically. There was plenty of engagement:

Our ad results weren’t too bad either.

We reached 317 people with our ad, 44 of which reacted to the post. Just over 1/6 of people that the post reached engaged with it which was a good result and each engagement cost 9 cents.

What does this show or prove? Well first of all that our audience – people that like beards, were happy to engage in a post about beards! (Actually, after looking at the profiles of most of the voters, I could see that almost all of them had their own beards!)

But deeper than that, it proves that you don’t need to spend a lot of money on Facebook to get somebody to engage with your business. You simply need to find something that your target audience is interested in and go from there.

If our business sold cosmetics products for beards, this would have been a perfect opportunity to get potential customers interested in our business and our $5 of ads could have easily brought in a good return on our investment.

Especially because, as I mentioned, much of the engagement came from men with beards.

As it is, we don’t sell anything related to facial hair. But we succeeded in our own goal: to have some fun. Not just for us, but for the people that engaged with our post.Since the win, we’re happy to report that Mike hasn’t retired to the Bahamas. But he has been strutting around the office and stroking his beard more than usual.

Bill, on the other hand, has vowed to grow his beard twice as long for a rematch.

At the Drawing Board: Deciding on a Marketing Strategy

By Christopher Tompkins

12Apr

Facebook, Facebook Advertising, Marketing

In our last post in the At the Drawing Board series, I discussed the very first stages of one of our marketing campaigns. Myself, Chris (our CEO) and Dale (our VP) met to discuss a goal for our campaign. In the end, we decided we wanted to promote our Facebook Ads service as we believe it’s something we excel at.

During the meeting, I took down all of our ideas and later tried to form them into a concrete plan.

To do this, I first wrote down:

The goal for our campaign. What we wanted from it. This we settled on as bringing more clients in for Facebook Ads Consultancy.
Who our campaign was going to be targeted to. In this case, local businesses seemed a good starting point as they would most benefit from using Facebook Ads.
How people would find out about our campaign. Such as on social media, through our emails or (mainly) through running Facebook Ads.
What options we had for turning potential clients into actual clients. Our blog, social media, email marketing and customer service.

Once these were written down, we could easily form a small funnel to visualize the bare bones of our campaign.

At the top of our funnel, people would become aware of us and our services. From there they would become a prospective client, which would eventually turn into a consultation.

Creating this diagram allowed us to think more about how we would turn people aware of our service into clients.

We already knew our first step, where we made people aware of our service would be done through the use of Facebook Ads. But how would we turn people that had seen our ads into clients?

Possible options were:

Create a drip fed email marketing campaign that would send emails automatically to people on a mailing list to build their trust, before pitching our services to them in an email.
Capture phone numbers of potential customers and call them up to work out whether they could use our services.
Pass people on to our website or social media in the hope they’ll start to follow us and eventually decide to use our services.
Capture physical addresses and send them marketing materials through the mail.

Chris and I decided a drip fed email campaign would be the best option, as it would mostly run itself once set up, it would keep us in contact with people in our sales funnel and allow us to market to them. This allowed us to change our diagram:

With this diagram in place, we had a strategy that we could work on, and our campaign was starting to take shape. This gave us some tasks that we would need to do next:

Think up a Facebook Ads campaign that allowed us to collect the email address of people interested in our service.
Write and create an email marketing campaign based around our theme of Facebook Ads consultation.
Plan a timeline for our campaign showing us when it would start and when the content would need to be created for.

In my next post, I’ll discuss the first stage of our funnel, the Facebook Ads campaign. How we expanded on our ideas to create something more substantial. Meeting with our Copywriters and Social Media Managers for input to create a campaign map.

The Worst Facebook Page in the World: Reviews and Information

By Christopher Tompkins

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11Apr

Facebook, Local Marketing, Marketing

In my last post, I introduced you all to The Worst Facebook Page in the World. A fake Facebook page created by yours truly. I showed how important a first impression is for customers. Teaching you how to select a profile photo and cover image that will illustrate what your business does.

In this post, I’m going to discuss customer reviews and the importance of keeping your social media page up-to-date.

Now I’m going to reveal what the business actually does because it might not be apparent: it’s a restaurant.

The Importance of Facebook Reviews

I should probably say right now that I am a major food snob. For me, every meal has to be an occasion. So before I eat anywhere, I have to make sure I’ll be having a great experience. It’s not unheard of for me to scour Yelp or Facebook for 30 minutes or more looking for somewhere to eat.

One of my unwritten rules is that I will always check a restaurant’s online reviews and rating before I eat there. Let’s have a look at the rating for this restaurant:

1.5 stars. That doesn’t exactly fill you with confidence, does it? If this were a real restaurant, I’d never eat there unless I had no other option. That’s the power of an online rating.

After the terrible photos and the awful rating, I’d wager the majority of customers would decide to go elsewhere. But still, I’m going to plunge deeper.

Let’s have a look at the actual reviews:

No matter the business, there will always be dissatisfied customers. With social media, all those people that are too polite to complain in person, suddenly have a way to voice their frustrations.For a business owner, there’s little to be done here. But if you offer consistently good service, a hundred happy voices will drown out the few annoyed ones. If your service is terrible, your social media will show it.

Negative Facebook Reviews

How businesses react to negative reviews is important. Talking back to customers or looking for a fight are never good ideas. They just ensure the customer really will never come back, but it also makes the decision for potential customers too. Everybody will wonder, “If this is how they treat their customers online, I wonder how they treat them in person.”

Owning the mistake and apologizing is the best way to go. Even ignoring the review would be better than starting an argument.

Here’s another review for what’s turning out to be the world’s worst restaurant:

Laughing at the customer’s misfortune is one thing. But if we delve a little deeper, there are other issues at work here. Let’s take a look at their Facebook page again:

It’s unsurprising that the customer couldn’t find it. The location of the business is shown as being in the center of a lake! The hours are clearly stated as being open til 11pm, so the customer has a good right to be frustrated.

Keep Your Facebook Page Up-To-Date

Many business owners seem to underestimate just how many people use Facebook or Google to get information about their business. So it’s essential that the information is accurate. If something changes for the business, the website and social media accounts need to reflect that.

That means checking your social media regularly to ensure nothing is out of date. In this case, the link to their website is incorrect. Nobody has noticed because nobody checked it! Do yourself a favor today and check over your Facebook page, it’s something that even the largest businesses can forget about.

I can see why business owners don’t choose to think of these things as important. In their minds, they think of their business as their physical location – with the customer’s experience starting from the moment they come through the door.

But the truth is, the customer experience starts from the moment a search is done on Facebook or Google. A Facebook page is now the first part of the customer experience.

By now, for the Worst Facebook Page In The World, all of their potential customers would be long gone.

Next week I’ll discuss what they can do right when it comes to reviews, both negative and positive.

Until then, you can sign up to our mailing list below.

5 Simple Steps For Attracting A Crowd On Twitter

By Christopher Tompkins

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11Apr

Copywriting, Pinterest, Snapchat, Twitter

Twitter finds itself in the news a lot thanks to its reach and popularity. It seems anyone and everyone has an account and sends out ideas, opinions, sales, and visuals. From pop star celebrities to law firms, everyone has a place on Twitter.

But what about your company? Are you reaching new customers through Twitter?

How does your business use Twitter? What content does it tweet? When does it send out content? All of these questions are essential to your marketing strategy. Are you unable to answer any of these questions? Then we have some work to do.

Twitter is both a tool for content marketing and customer communication. How can your brand use it to reach new audiences and a broader reach? Follows these simple five steps that the biggest companies are already using.

1. Offer open communication

Twitter is a great way to deliver top-notch customer service in a quick and convenient fashion. If someone sends a message or mentions your brand, you need to respond and quickly. Some businesses even have a specific Twitter account just for “support” communication, which is a great service to offer your customers.

2. Promotions

Have a BOGO deal you want to tell people about? Maybe a holiday special? Get people talking about your business with the most traditional advertising content available – the good old sale. Twitter recently explained that “discount by the percentage” is the best way to push a sale on their site. We couldn’t agree more — it’s compact, simple, and gets people to take action quickly. “25% off all Easter supplies!” gets the message across in as little characters as possible, so change your promotions strategy accordingly.

3. Start the conversation

Let’s face it — Twitter is all about people talking. Turn your Twitter page into a social gathering by giving people a reason to begin a conversation. Ask your audience what their favorite product is, ask for feedback about a new service, or even offer a Q&A.

4. Freebies

Marketers can never overestimate the power of “free.” There are multiple ways to give your followers something free. The two most effective ways are giveaways and free downloads.

To enter a giveaway, most companies ask customers to follow and retweet the post so their reach will expand in the process. A free download is usually an ebook or another form of informational media. Don’t think your industry is “ebook” worthy? Challenge accepted! Any industry can benefit from having an ebook in their marketing arsenal no matter their industry. Offering some good, free info is an excellent opportunity to gain your customers’ trust.

5. Go Live

As predicted, 2017 is turning out to be the year of live video. Twitter is no exception. But what does your brand have to show off on live video? Broadcast live feed to your followers and offer a behind-the-scenes look at your business, offer industry-related advice through a unique version of a Q&A, or even incorporate some of the above ideas like freebies and reveal the winner of a giveaway. Many businesses are already making live video a regular addition to their Twitter content.

Twitter is easy to learn, but it takes time to master. With over 320 million people flying around the platform, your ideal audience is already there, waiting for your awesome content.

Get started on Twitter today by contacting us! Our team of social media experts is here to help your business soar.

At The Drawing Board: A New Facebook Ads Campaign

By Christopher Tompkins

Copy of Go! Blog Image Templates (900x350) (20)

5Apr

Advertising, Facebook, Social Media

Here at The Go! Agency, we’re experts in digital marketing. But the ironic thing is, we don’t do nearly enough marketing for ourselves.

I know, shocker.

We’ve got a good reputation with our clients, so new business arrives via word of mouth. Many people love us, so much that they want to share us with their friends and business connections! So far it’s been working out perfect for us.

Yet, we know how powerful Facebook Advertising can be, so we’d be crazy not to use it ourselves. Which is what we plan to do soon.

“Okay, why exactly are you telling me this?” is probably what you’re now thinking.

Well, we thought this would be a great opportunity for us to illustrate to our customers just what we do for them. While also helping those of you out there who are just starting out in Facebook Advertising make sense of the confusing landscape.

For that reason, we’ve decided to give you a “behind the scenes” look into our Facebook Ads Campaign. Taking you from our first meeting, where we set goals for the campaign. Through brainstorming different copy and ad ideas. To finally showing how our campaigns are created and implemented.

Before we get started though, I’d first like to introduce myself. My name is Daniel, and I’m the Marketing Assistant here at The Go! Agency. I help our CEO (Christopher) to implement our marketing strategy. Something you’ll find out about in the next section.

Our Monthly Marketing Meeting

Each month, on the 15th of the month, myself (Dan, the Marketing Assistant) Christopher (our CEO and Marketing Director) and Dale (our VP and Networking Maestro) meet up to discuss our marketing goals for the next month as well as how we’ve progressed from the previous month.

The meeting is important because each of us can give input from our point of view:

Christopher, as our Head of Marketing, has over 15 years of experience in digital marketing and has the expertise needed to help shape our marketing campaigns. At the same time, he is involved with most of our clients on setting up their projects, so knows what works and what doesn’t.
Dale, on the other hand, as our VP has an insight into our entire business as a whole. He can see where holes might form in our marketing processes and what might prevent them from being successful. He connects to our potential customers on a daily basis so knows what makes them tick.
Then there’s me, Dan. As the Marketing Assistant, I help to pull together all the brilliant ideas we have and try to make them a reality. I organize and create our marketing materials, working with other members of our agency to create content and ensure the content all works together.

Setting Goals

To begin our monthly marketing meeting, we go through our analytics from the previous month. This allows us to see what areas need improvement as well as giving us a chance to pat ourselves on the back for things we’ve done well.

This feeds into the next section of our meeting where we choose goals for the next month along with discussing where we’d like our marketing efforts to be focused.

If we’re not bringing in enough leads, do we need to create a campaign that will create more for us? If we’re offering a new service, should we focus on bringing in more business for that? Or do we think it’s worthwhile focusing the next month on driving specific types of business towards us?

Only through experience of the business and its direction can those questions be answered, which is why Dale and Chris’ presence at the meeting is so important. From their day to day running of the business, they already have a holistic view of everything, so have in mind what needs improvement.

Choosing a Focus

In March’s meeting, we decided we wanted to focus our attention for the next month on offering Facebook Ads as a full service. In the past, much of the focus of our agency has been on social media with Facebook Ads as an addendum to that. However many new clients are interested in what Facebook Ads can do for them.

But with Facebook Ads getting more popular, we want to build it up as another service option for clients and of course, potential clients too! (If you’re interested in finding out more about our Facebook Ads services, click here.)

With a goal decided on for the next month, we then spent the rest of the meeting discussing potential options for meeting our goal. Including how we would create a campaign around that goal using our various channels (social media, Facebook Ads, email marketing, our podcast, etc.)

This is basically a bit of a brainstorm session where I note down every idea we have, so I can later create a more coherent plan from them.

The most important thing we take away from our meeting is a goal. The meeting is just the first step for us in forming a marketing campaign.

In my next behind-the-scenes post, I’ll discuss our next step. Where Christopher and I pin down what exactly we want from our campaign and how we plan to implement it.

Yes And: The Go! Agency’s Improv Experience

By Christopher Tompkins

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5Apr

The Go! Agency

What are we doing when we aren’t creating and implementing social media marketing strategies for our clients? On March 23rd, actor Ricky Wayne and staff from The American Stage in St. Petersburg, FL came by to introduce our team to the world of improv comedy in a great teambuilding experience. Needless to say, it was a wild time – but we also learned a ton about each other as a team.

As anyone from the world of improv knows, you can discover a lot about yourself and your fellow performers quite quickly. We learned about how we approach our work at The Go! Agency and came up with great strategies to improve collaboration and teamwork.

When Ricky and the team began, we started with an ice breaker. Each Go! Agent said one true fact and two false facts, and the rest of us had to decide which was the true statement. We learned that Kaylee, our Social Media Manager Lead, used to be a lifeguard. Bill, our new Social Media Executive, explained that he ran several marathons when he lived in New York. Finally, some employees were surprised to find out that our CEO Christopher was a classically-trained pianist.

After our icebreaker activities, we dove into one of improv’s most famous exercises, “Yes And.” The classic activity helped us perform skits successfully and improve our teamwork. This emphasized positivity, arguably the most important element of improv. Instead of changing someone’s idea to conform to your own, we worked with what we were given, and the performance is all the better for the collaboration. For example, Alyssa and Jamie created a fun beach scene scenario by utilizing each other’s strengths and talking points.

In the next exercise, we experienced the impact negativity had on our improv skits. Instead of bouncing off each other’s plot points, we shot down ideas and left our partners scrambling. As a result, we had less-entertaining performances and a lot of embarrassment. It was clear to see how this lesson can be translated into our work – positivity works even in tense situations!

Another enlightening aspect of our time with Ricky Wayne and American Stage was when we went into smaller groups and saw just how far communication could go with teamwork. For example, our Marketing Assistant Dan started off a conversation about the warm weather that’s coming to Florida, and by the end, we all learned what we all like to do on our days off and even about our morning commutes to the office.

Not only was improv a gateway into interesting conversations and a tool to better know our fellow Go! Agents, but it was a way to improve work ethic and productivity.

As we are all working on social media strategies and content, we’re keeping in mind the upbeat attitude and perseverance that improv teaches!

The Worst Facebook Page In The World: Cover and Profile Pictures

By Christopher Tompkins

4Apr

Facebook, Local Marketing, Marketing, Social Media

Today I’m going to introduce you to The Worst Facebook Page In The World. If you’re sitting there right now thinking, “Uh oh, I hope it’s not my page” then don’t worry. I made this page myself just to illustrate some social media failings.

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to go through The Worst Facebook Page In The World, section by section, to show you common social media mistakes and how to overcome them by using the correct practices.

This week, I’m going to focus on the profile photo and cover image.

Let’s take a look:

Now you know what they say; you only get one chance to make a first impression and straight away my first impression of the page is, “BLEURGH”.

Facebook Profile Pictures

When any new person comes to a Facebook page, the first thing that they’ll see is your cover image and profile picture. So if they stink, your whole page stinks! Immediately we can see the issue with the page.

For starters, their profile photo has nothing to do with the business. (We can’t even tell if they are a business!) It’s a blurry, out of focus shot of somebody’s face. Maybe it’s the owner? Who knows.

The quality of the photo is an issue, but even more of an issue is the content. A business can live or die based on its branding, and it seems this business has no logo. Or an owner that didn’t think to place their logo on their website.

What about some good examples, though? Well, what do you know! The Go! Agency has a perfect profile picture.

We’ve chosen to use our logo as it pops out on the page and is well connected to our brand. The great thing about using your logo as a profile picture is that it will get peppered around your page, but also on other pages when you leave a comment, or somebody shares one of your posts. A good logo will pop out from the page and be instantly recognizable.

Facebook Cover Images

Next up we have the cover image.

Having a branded, clear cover image is important just for the simple fact that it takes up 1/3rd of a visitor’s screen. Think of it as a virtual store front.

In this case, the owner has decided to put up a random photo of feet and hands, which tells us nothing. It doesn’t inform visitors of what the business is, it doesn’t stir any emotions and worst of all, the photo is blurry and bad quality. Going back to that idea of the store front – how would a customer react in real life if this was plastered over the store window? Probably with bewilderment.

By this point, I’d imagine a good amount of visitors would have left the Facebook page. Two terrible photos are all it takes sometimes. We’re often told to “Never judge a book by its cover, ” but we all do it.

In this case, most people would judge that this business doesn’t care too much about their Facebook page, which kind of leads us to assume they don’t care about their business either. It doesn’t make you believe in them as a legitimate business.

The most annoying thing about this is that this first impression relayed no information about the business at all. None. Can you tell me what the business even does? It’s impossible to tell at first glance, which is how new visitors would feel.

Now here’s a cover image used by one of our clients:

It hits the mark well because it instantly tells the visitor what this business does, where it’s located and also features a relevant photo that puts forward positive emotions. Most important of all though, it looks good. (Probably because we had our graphic designer make it…)

You’re probably thinking, “Well duh! We’re not that stupid.” But we’ve seen these basic rules broken time and again. Sometimes you just don’t know what you don’t know!

In my next post about the World’s Worst Facebook Page, I’ll be showing you why it’s important to keep your page up-to-date and some good practices for dealing with negative reviews.

Until then, you can sign up for our newsletter below!

6 Ways Marketers Gather Feedback On Social Media

By Christopher Tompkins

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29Mar

Marketing, Social Media

“We value your opinion!” We’ve all heard that one before. Sometimes, we just don’t have time to bother with providing feedback to companies. Thankfully, social media allows some convenient and even fun ways for consumers to give their opinion. Check out these ways you can gather tons of info to analyze.

1. Polls. There’s no easier way to get the feedback your team is looking for than to ask for it! Whether the options in the poll are “Yes,” “No,” “Maybe” or options “A,” “B,” or “C,” many marketers feel this is one of the most efficient routes.

2. Contests. Of course, incentives go a long way. You can ask for some feedback, and in turn, they are entering for a chance to win a prize. The prize doesn’t even need to be extravagant, but perhaps one of your products or gift cards to a service your company provides.

3. Inquiries. Once your following starts to grow, you can publish posts that will drum up conversations. After all, we are trying to create engagement, and someone needs to break the ice first!

4. Announcements. As always, there is always the ever-popular comment section. When you make an announcement, whether it’s a new product or change in policy, check out people’s reactions through comments, likes, rants, cheers, emojis, etc.

5. Live Video Q & A’s. Lately, businesses have been getting a lot of feedback by hosting Q&A sections via live video services such as Facebook Live, Periscope, and YouTube Live. As your broadcast goes on, you can read what everyone is saying in the comment section.

6. Custom Hashtags. Hashtags are still an excellent way to hone in on specific information. People will use hashtags for everything they’re talking about even if it’s in a negative light. If you want people to talk about your product, provide a hashtag that corresponds with your brand.

People love to talk on social media. Whether it’s about a positive or negative experience, Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms have become a sounding board for opinions, thoughts, and feedback. Use this to your business’s advantage!

Top 5 Blogging Blunders To Avoid

By Christopher Tompkins

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29Mar

Advertising, Content Creation, Facebook, LinkedIn, Marketing, Social Media, Social networking

Look at your online marketing as a multi-layer, albeit unified machine. Your website, email blasts, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and even your Angie’s List page should all work together. But there’s something missing. A blog.

This handy tool will help you speak your mind in a unique and customizable way. Hundreds of millions of writers already found a home on the internet as bloggers, but not everyone has perfected this art form. In fact, there are some downright awful blogs out there.

Does your company have a blog? It should! But before you sign up and start fooling around with your layout, be wary of these 5 BIG mistakes even the most experienced bloggers may find themselves making:

1. Going in blind. One of the greatest sins in the world of blogging is leaving massive gaps of time between posts. It’s the best way to lose all your followers. The most common reason for this is a lack of strategy. You just don’t know what else to write! While that’s understandable, it’s not acceptable. Before you publish that first blog, get a calendar and plot out a few weeks to a month’s worth of content. Don’t run out!

2. Isolating your blog. Remember what I said about your brand’s online marketing being a multi-layer, albeit unified machine? Don’t forget to promote your blog on your other avenues. Post about your new blogs on Facebook and Twitter, have a link on your website and spread the word via email blasts.

3. Being a copycat. Yes, everyone needs a spark of inspiration at times and tends to find it by reading other people’s work. But do NOT plagiarize their info. It’s a good way to get into a whole mess of trouble. If you need to reference another’s article, do so in a courteous and professional fashion.

4. Sloppy writing. I’m not just talking about typos or grammatical errors. (although you should definitely check your work. Have you tried Grammarly yet?) Before you hit the keyboard, get your thoughts straight. Stick to a solid plan, get your point across, and keep your thoughts in order.

5. Readers won’t learn anything. After reading a blog or article, a person should have taken away something from the experience. Whether it’s a new tip or a grudge against the reader’s opinions, your blogs should have an impact. Share knowledge, tips, tricks, and facts. Data always dominates (but make sure it’s correct). Whether people realize it or not, a blog tends to have an educational element at its core.

Are you ready to start blogging? It’s an integral part to a company’s online presence. Not a big fan of writing? No worries! The Go! Agency’s experience copywriters create powerful and knowledgeable articles for our clients every single day!

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