Putting “Live” Back into Conversations

8Jun

Advertising, Facebook, Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn, Marketing, Periscope, Pinterest, Social Media, Social networking, Uncategorized, Video

In social media, an “instant response” is a highly sought after concept for businesses. On Facebook, pages will be rated on how quickly their response time is to a message. We’re told to reply to everything if possible. The pressure is on to be quicker, more precise, and we need to have a smile while doing it. There are new ways to communicate being produced all the time, but not all of them are necessarily conducive to proper business tactics. Right now, the internet is at an interesting transition period. The old days of instant messaging companies like AIM and ICQ are long gone. Yet audiences are craving ways to simulate a real face-to-face, live conversation. How can we have the types of conversations we crave while still integrating progressive technology? Social media now has answers.

Videos are in demand more and more. However, just because we post a video, it doesn’t make it any deeper of a form of communication than text or images. These videos were uploaded after the actors have left the stage. It’s a snippet of the past. After all, it’s not like we can necessarily communicate with a video, right? Well, new apps are starting to change all that. They’ve integrated live video feeds for users to watch and even interact with via text or emojis. This is the start of a brand new way to communicate both for business and personal uses.

Periscope, proudly owned by Twitter, is one of these apps. When you sign up for this new service, you can integrate all your Twitter contacts that are already periscoping and see what they’re up to. There’s already a large following on this app and you’ll be able to join a live broadcast any time of the day. Once you find one that’s interesting, just tune-in and you’ve become an audience member to a LIVE show. This doesn’t mean they can see you, but those running the show are being broadcasted onto your smartphone in real time. You can see what’s happening exactly as it happens.

Now, since they don’t see you, you have the opportunity to send a question via text onto the constantly moving chat board that streams below the video feed. This is a great avenue for those who want to do a Q&A or unveil a product.

Facebook has recently adapted this idea and have now created a sister site called Facebook Live. Not exactly as original of a name as Periscope, but it’ll do. It has the same essential features Periscope has with a few added bonuses like drawing on the screen and other fun ways to reach out to those hosting the broadcast.

Yet one of the most important sides of these new apps is that while watching these people LIVE is the selling point, you can always go back and watch the reruns. Your feeds will be catalogued and available for all to see.

As you can see, there is still room for real life conversations in social media. This is only the beginning of this movement, and we predict that there will be an explosion of new video-centric innovations to the social media frontier in the coming months and years.

Have you used these two apps yet? What are your thoughts?

3 Easy Ways to Stay with the Times

By Christopher Tompkins

7Jun

Advertising, Facebook, Instagram, Marketing, Social Media, Uncategorized

There’s a good reason journalists have flocked to social media, it’s always current. For its success, it has to be always updated and fresh. The same applies for its users. With things so connected now, news gets older quickly. What’s happening today will be old news by tomorrow because people have access to things as they happen. That’s why news stations and their employees utilize these tools so much—it’s perfect for their jobs.

Some of us, however, aren’t as lucky to be in an industry as contemporary and “easily updated” as journalism. Some of us work in industries that are pretty set in stone. So, how exactly can these people keep instilling relevant content into their social media posts? No doubt, it can be a daunting task. However, these easy tips will help anyone stay trending.

• Hashtags- Not enough can be said about hashtags. These handy little tools aren’t just to describe what your post is about. It’s like shooting a flair up in the middle of the night. By using popular hashtags, you have the opportunity to be on people’s radar who are searching for the subject matter. Tags as simple as #recipes can work great for broader requests. Complicated tags like #NationalDonutDay2016 will narrow your reach, however you may be able to get better quality results. A big question we get asked is, how can you can tell what hashtags are popular today? It’s a good question. Follow some of the most popular twitter accounts and you can see some of the biggest hashtags in action. From celebrities to relevant companies, you’ll be able to analyze what others are doing. What if you don’t find any hashtags that are right for you? You need to spin your content in a way that will make it relevant. Even if you get to use broad tags like #TGIF or #ManicMondays, pretty universally relatable ones, you need to use something. This brings us to the next point…

• Don’t Only Post Sales- Let’s face it- nobody likes the equivalent of a used car salesman online. If your news feeds are only promotional posts, you’re not going to get much engagement, which is what it’s all about. You need to post relevant topics, but interesting ones as well. You’re supposed to post things that are eye-catching, fun, contemporary, or shocking. Controversial may or may not work for you, depending on your field, but you don’t want to start an online brawl while trying to seek attention. It’s not really recommended to post your own political commentary while writing on behalf of your business. You can also post things just for laughs. Keeping things light hearted can be good.

• Explore Your Field- You may be surprised by just how up-to-date your industry is. Sure, you can spotlight different aspects of your business in different posts and blogs, but look at the social media accounts of your fellow colleagues. From the big names to your local competitors, there are new changes in rules, equipment, policies, and customer requirements that you’ll benefit from reading yourself!

As you can see, there is no excuse your social media content can’t be relevant. These top ideas are just the tip of the iceberg. You’ll find great ways to generate your own creations as you dive in!

Do you have other ways of being relevant in your field? Let us know!

The Domination of Social Media

By Christopher Tompkins

6Jun

Advertising, Email Marketing, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Marketing, Pinterest, Social Media, Twitter, Uncategorized

It seems that we have an interesting relationship with social media. Sure, we get our news, connections, entertainment, and business advertisements through these intuitive websites, but in the same breath we’ll complain how our lives are being dominated by technology. Maybe people are addicted to these websites and the screens we view them on. Yet our culture has created a need to be constantly connected to the web we’ve created. Because of this, viewers are being fed a large quantity of content everyday.

It may be expected that complaints about social media and “technology addiction” would be from an older generation that weren’t always used to it. However, we’ve seen younger people have similar thoughts. The only thing about them, though, is that they keep using it. Some Millennials may have strayed from the traditional and uber-popular Facebook, and now flock to platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, and Snapchat. But social media is social media. In fact, speaking of generations, older users are increasing on many fronts. So, even those who complain are still using them!

There is no doubt that we use this medium more than we have with television and radio. This is because, frankly, we’re able to. Social media is on our phones, desktops, even on some people’s Smart TVs. Even if we try to avoid screens by going out, we see those iconic logos everywhere as businesses try to promote their pages. We’ve even seen this Presidential Election being molded by tweets and followers. Let’s face it…it’s everywhere.

Businesses are at a special advantage with this. Since it’s being used so much, you have ample opportunity to grow your customer base in a short amount of time if implemented correctly. Yet, since social media never turns off, how can you, as a business person keep up with the demand? Certain applications will allow you to schedule posts so you don’t always have to be online. If you get a message from a follower, you can schedule auto-replies when you’re out of the office, even when your office is a smartphone. You can view analytics to see key times when people are online so you know exactly when to send your word out.

The point is, even though social media is demanding and everywhere, you can be successful when sending out your message, especially since your audience is always present. Many of us use these platforms as news sources and sole means of communications with family and friends. We’ve invested a lot into these accounts and ended up connecting many, many aspects of our lives into them. As a result, these tools have become constants, even more so than previous tools. As a result, we can use this to our advantage and get important messages and branding out.

What do you think about social media’s impact? Let us know below!

New Tools of Trade

By Christopher Tompkins

5Jun

Advertising, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Social Media, Uncategorized

Okay, so say you’ve finally decided to sign up for social media and you have some fresh accounts. For starters, you’ll most likely have a Facebook page, Twitter account, and maybe a LinkedIn account. You might start the first few weeks strong, one to two posts a day, sending out really engaging content to the internet. However, maybe you take a day off and you start to falter, or your work day was too busy to post. Now you’re two days behind, three days, four… soon this whole social media marketing thing seems to be too much than its worth and you give up. If done incorrectly, social media can be a slippery slope to internet anonymity. The pressure to post on a constant basis can be daunting for many, if you’re doing it alone. So, how can you stop this from happening?

Software developers aren’t oblivious to the digital world around them. There’s tons of helpful third party apps, programs, and websites that can help you tackle the social media landscape with ease.

Hootsuite – We’ve mentioned this big helper before, but it’s definitely worth talking about twice. Hootsuite offers multiple features to make you a social media pro. Their Streams feature lets you view multiple news feeds of content at once. You can post from any social media account, or schedule them for the future. Hootsuite is, in a word, irreplaceable.

Notifier– Yet as awesome as Hootsuite is, it is not a one stop shop. Notifier does something few other programs can. It analyses your content for references to other companies and does research so you can tag the appropriate accounts to get a little extra publicity. Most social media managers try to tag other users if possible, but Notifier is an excellent tool to utilize.

Crate– One of the most important tactics a social media pro uses is to analyze trending topics. Crate is here to help you figure out the hot topics that are relevant to your brand and interests. It’s primarily aimed towards Twitter users so they can hone their content to get the most views and followers.

Canva- The above tools are great for text content, but what about visual? After all, social media success requires a nice balance between pictures and text. Canva is a great tool to help users make stunning imagery. While graphic designers are always amazing resources, websites like Canva can be quick alternatives that can make your posts look amazing.

Tagboard- Hashtags may seem to be a mystery to novice users. But in reality, they’re cornerstones to popular posts. Tagboard is a resource that offers you lists of the most used hashtags in present day. This is a great way to keep relevant.

As you can see, these five tools go above and beyond and will help your content do the same.

Have you tried any of these tools? Did we miss any great ones you’d like to share? Comment below!

Social Media Around the World

By Christopher Tompkins

4Jun

Social Media

The point of social media is to connect the world’s many citizens. Through this technologically based revolution, we’ve kept in contact with people that would never be possible otherwise. Thanks to international phone charges, we would never be able to hear our loved one’s voices if it wasn’t for some of these platforms. However, are we as connected as we’d like to think? Just because we’re all using social media, it doesn’t mean we’re on the same platform. All over the globe, there are numerous popular social media websites that claim hundreds of millions of users, ones that Americans most likely never heard of. You’d be surprised just how varied the international waters of social media are.

It’s no surprise Facebook reigns supreme in North America and many other countries. It has approximately a whopping 1.5 billion members, just for its core website. They also have their Messenger and Live services, which are both growing exponentially. It’s safe to say that Americans think of Mark Zuckerberg’s brainchild when the term social media comes up in conversations. Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn all have millions upon millions of users and help countless businesses every single day. Our beloved social media websites stretch beyond our waters and we see many of them being used internationally, but they have much more competition out there. So, enough about the social media companies we all know about and let’s meet their contenders.

One of China’s largest social media websites, Baidu Tieba, also doubles as a highly developed search engine. Just think if Google and Google + combined, then decided to add a ton of awesome features. It has approximately 300 million users. Baidu Tieba’s websites proves it goes beyond a traditional social media design with it’s multi-facet functionality. It offers forums called bars, similar to Reddit’s subreddits, a news page that allows you to research many niche topics, gaming, and even more. It’s a one stop shop for China’s internet users.

Yet taking China’s size into consideration, Baidu Tieba can’t be the only social media platform that its citizens flock to. Sina Weibo, or just Weibo, is another extremely popular website that offers services similar to Tumblr. Microblogging has been around since Live Journal’s popular run. Some cultures and subcultures appreciate this kind of social networking more than others and Weibo’s success just shows how vibrant blogging still is. Steven Hawking made a social media account, one of the few Westerners that have, and he received over 1 million friend requests in 24 hours.

Most of us have seen WhatsApp. While it isn’t as intuitive as Facebook and Weibo, it certainly solves a social problem. That being said, WhatsApp has its work cut out itself in the global front. With Skype, Line, Yy, WeChat and more, the concept of free texting, calling, and video chatting is wide spread and each one covers its own multitudes of users. KakaoTalk dominates South Korea’s messaging services, but also doubles as a more traditional social media platform, offering profiles, pics, videos, and news feeds. KakaoTalk is attempting to have a global reach, but mostly has a large following in Asia.

Now, a question you might be having as a businessperson is, how do I sign up for all these platforms, sending my reach to global heights? That’s one of the down sides. Many social media platforms are limited to your specific region and, depending on your country’s laws, you might not be able to access all these sites. Even Facebook, despite its international reach, is not accessible in all countries.

Social media is a global phenomenal, whether it is traditional social networking, communication lines, or blogging. This shows just how important it is to get yourself established in the social media platforms you have available. You should also be willing to try out websites that aren’t as popular in the US.

Do you have any experience in any of these internationally renowned social media sites? Comment below!

Marketing Faux-Pas to Learn from

By Christopher Tompkins

2Jun

Advertising, Email Marketing, Marketing, Social Media, Uncategorized

There’s no doubt about it, we live in a society where one slip up can cost you an untold amount of money and a whole customer base. Even if an advertisement was never in any way meant to be offensive, an accidental negative message can crush a company’s image. Marketing can make or break you. How can you stay politically correct without ever intending for a political statement in the first place? Of course, people have the tendency to twist things and distort messages in a light that was never meant to be. However, the best way to protect yourself is to ignore the mistakes of the past. Here are some ads that backfired for their brand:

Gap received hard criticism for using an image that contained a Caucasian girl leaning her propped arm on an African American girl’s head. People were furious over this imagery and Gap had to apologize quickly.
Bud Light made a big mistake by using “The perfect beer for removing “no” from your vocabulary for the night. #UpForWhatever” on their packaging. People mistook it for promoting not only reckless behavior, but sexual assault. Bud Light’s VP apologized personally, but a large chunk of damage was done.
In an attempt to bash their competitor, Sprint asked a Caucasian woman what she’s reminded of when thinking about T-Mobile. She said it’s ghetto, which raised a firestorm around Sprint, saying they were insinuating racist and classist thinking.
Perhaps the most recent marketing blunder goes to Cheerios. They posted an image saying “Rest in Peace” meant to pay tribute to Prince. They replaced the i’s dot with a piece of their round cereal and people said they were using the music icon’s passing as a way to promote their product. Oops!

Talk about controversy, right? All these mistakes show that a message can be taken the wrong way without the creator ever intending anything. It can seem like you’re walking on eggshells, but try to put yourself in other’s shoes. When crafting posts, it is important to realize that EVERYBODY can see what you write and with that, comes a lot of subjective interpretation. Try your best to see your image from any angle possible and get a colleague to play devil’s advocate.

For more advertising errors, check out Entrepreneur’s article here: http://ow.ly/4nqLms

Do you have any other examples or personal experiences in advertising backfires? Share with us below!

Hootsuite: Your Social Media Sidekick

By Christopher Tompkins

31May

Facebook, Marketing, Social Media, Twitter, Uncategorized

When you start getting more involved with social media, you’ll find that it’s a little bit like chess: easy to learn, hard to master. This is especially true when you manage multiple pages on multiple platforms. How can somebody keep up with it all? Introducing Hootsuite!

Hootsuite is a great way to manage the social media frontier. Not only can you post to all your accounts and pages from a single browser window, you can also view a ton of content at one time. Their “Streams” feature allows you to view how certain hashtags, keywords, and trending subjects are doing in cyberspace. Streams will help you get inspiration by seeing a stream of similar content that you want to post. You’ll also be able to do a quick search if you don’t feel like investing a whole column to a particular subject, or if you just want to see if a topic is still relevant. After all, things quickly change in the social media world, and you could use a hand to keep up with it all.

Consider Hootsuite your social media HUB. This is true for content, but also for posting your own original work. Hootsuite lets you post directly from its dashboard, but you can also schedule your posts so you don’t have to be glued to a screen all the time. While you’re out enjoying life, you can tell Hootsuite to keep your pages freshly supplied with content.

One of its more recent additions is a widget called Hootlet. This will help you make a post on the fly with the right account, a shortened URL, and it can even keep track of character count for Twitter. It’s a great way to be able to stay on the page you’re reading while getting it ready for sharing.

There are many wonderful features Hootsuite has to offer in both free and premium versions. You’ll wonder how you managed without it!

What do you think of Hootsuite? Comment below!

How Musicians Can Rock Social Media

By Christopher Tompkins

30May

Social Media

Every business has a place on social media and every industry has unique rules when engaging with their audience. Each field has different tones, terminology, and demographics that can only make sense to those involved in that world. This also pertains to the music frontier. Musicians, at no matter what stage in their career, thrive on publicity and visibility. How else are they going to get their tunes out there? It can help all those aspiring music legends to listen to these tips from Hypebot that can really get your social media accounts rocking:

– Pick your crowd. It’s important to be sure your messages aren’t falling on deaf ears or the wrong ears. This is essential for any online communication, especially on the business aspect. As Hypebot says, Google analytics can be really helpful to figure out who to target. This tool will work great for musicians who want to reach out to those who listen to their particular musical style.

– Once you found out who your audience is, figure out what they like to see in their news feed. Is it music videos? Tour dates? Perhaps merchandise giveaways? Figure out what they prefer and you’ll have an advantage.

-Hashtags are always important when constructing social media posts. If you’re having a concert in a particular area, you may want to consider using local hashtags like #NewYork or #StPete. If using Snapchat, their Geofilter feature is always a fun way to show local pride.

– All that being said, be sure to stick true to the brand you’ve created. Be sure to have consistent logos, voice, and marketing.

– Be sure to answer your fans and feedback, both positive and negative.

As you can see, the above rules can be adapted to any type of business, but for musicians, it is particularly helpful to stick to these rules and strive for social media consistency and effectively.

For more info, check out Hypebot’s article here: http://ow.ly/W8z4300pxZl

What do you think of these rules? Comment below!

The New Age of Silent Films is On Facebook

By Christopher Tompkins

29May

Facebook, Social Media, Video

Have you ever watched a video on Facebook? Chances are you have. Did you watch it with your sound turned on? According to a Digiday article, chances are you haven’t. The article states that an overwhelming 85% of Facebook videos are watched on mute. It seems a little odd to watch videos, meant to be listened to, without the volume cranked up. However, Facebook users, and apparently a lot of them, make it work.

This seems particularly helpful for those checking their Facebook timeline at work or places where sound would be inappropriate. Sometimes you just have to get a few cat videos or recipe “how to’s” in while at the water cooler. Yet how can they get any enjoyment out of it? Digiday explains that through subtitles and a strong lean towards the visual as opposed to audio, filmmakers are starting to work around this challenge. We’re seeing big bold captions on the top or bottom of videos lately. Some will add text commentary as well. These videos need to hold a viewer’s attention for a minimum of three seconds for it to count as a view, so they better have something stimulating on the screen right away. This is even more true with Facebook’s app and how all the videos on one’s newsfeed comes right after the other like a television channel. This means that there are lots of things to skip, which makes it as important than ever to be eye catching. Since viewers are watching and not listening, marketers and businesses need to take this into consideration. Yet you don’t need to be Spielberg to succeed. Making videos accessible to those who won’t or can’t have their speakers cranked up is a simple step in sending out your videos.

For more info, check out Digiday’s article here: http://ow.ly/xfx7300pGPF

How do you think videos fare when they’re on mute? Let us know your thoughts on this subject!

Facebook’s Advertising Firepower

By Christopher Tompkins

28May

Advertising, Facebook, Marketing, Social Media, Uncategorized

Social media is a great tool to reach out to peers, clients, and potential customers. But where would it be without the websites and its advertising features? Whether it’s a good or bad thing, there isn’t a single website that drives the industry, no SocialMedia.com that every user has to use. In fact, that domain redirects to Living Social, which isn’t even a social media platform! That being said, social media tends to be synonymous with its biggest facilitator, Facebook. Most people know the name by now, but not many understand how powerful it can be for business. Turns out its advertising can make your brand go viral!

Originally, Facebook was only intended for college students. Now, their target demographic is… well, everybody. It has an estimated 1.65 billion users every month and is considered the easiest platform to establish a business page with. With that many users, you have ample opportunity to reach out to exactly who you want as a customer and Facebook’s advertising power can set your page up for success.

One thing that Facebook was always proud of was the lack of a price tag for its users. Yet they still make quite a profit by the amount of people that invest in advertising on their website. However, it’s worth every penny. Facebook has made it so your ads are targeted towards exactly the right person based on their likes and hobbies, but also for what they search for and post themselves. Have you ever searched for something and then you got hit with a barrage of advertisements about it later? That’s not a coincidence. They’ve worked tirelessly on the system and it really is effective. Their advertising has the strength to bring attention by doing the best thing Facebook knows how, putting it right in your customer’s line of sight.

Facebook has been around since 2004 and doesn’t seem to be fading any time soon. While many social media platforms have faded and others have risen, Zuckerberg’s creation continues to stand tall in the constantly changing winds of the internet. Because of this, it has become a staple for any business. They’ve provided resources for people to thrive using their pages, and their advertising is undoubtedly the most effective.

What do you think of Facebook advertising? Share your thoughts below!

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