13 Daily Duties Of Social Media Marketers

10Sep

When you’re working on the internet every day as social media marketers do, you need two essential qualities – the ability to focus and capacity to multitask. Focus is required so we can execute our intricate, multi-faceted jobs without a hitch, despite distractions. After all, we’re dealing with the internet, and funny videos and news stories are all around to slow down progress. You need multitasking because of all the steps needed to have a successful day of online networking. Every account needs daily attention. However, marketers who aren’t internet-savvy may be unaware of everything that needs to be done. Here are thirteen tasks that should be on any marketer’s to-do list:

Address any critical issues outstanding on your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. as soon as possible.
Reply to all comments, mentions, emails, shares, complaints etc.
Accept connections and friend requests. Follow back when applicable.
Make sure your scheduled posts were published successfully.
Check what’s trending and utilize these topics in fresh content while conforming it to your brand.
Begin writing next week’s content.
Add a healthy variety to your writing plan. Keep it alive and exciting!
Create long forms or blogs that reflect your knowledge of the industry.
Retweet, Quote Tweet, share, and comment multiple times a day.
Analyse previously-published posts and their engagement rates.
Study the activity of your boosted posts, advertisements, and your overall budgets.
Adhere to your strategy, but be flexible to what your audience demands.
Don’t forget to add a healthy dose of fun to your marketing!

These are just a few of many responsibilities social media managers and marketers need to accomplish on a daily basis. Even when you clock out, things are compiling and ready for you when the next day begins. Having a hard time juggling all this? Let us help!

What other responsibility can you think of? Comment below!

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Why Social Media Marketers Need To Go Native

By Christopher Tompkins

7Sep

Social Media

Sometimes, social media platforms’ algorithms present wonderful opportunities for marketers. Other times, they create challenges. The need for native content is a bit of both. Facebook, among other platforms, realized that they are better off when users stay inside their walls. They want people to stay on Facebook as long and often as possible. That’s why native content has become so important and given priority. How can marketers jump on board? Here are the three main ways to take advantage of native content benefits:

Auto-Play. One of the most significant ways for a company to reap the rewards of native content is video. If you upload original videos to Facebook itself as opposed to linking it from YouTube, your content will be featured in their auto-play stream. When mobile Facebook users watch one video, it starts a constant stream instantly playing videos that are on their feed. If your video has been uploaded to Facebook, it’s a part of your followers’ streams, raising your chances of views and engagement. That’s the whole point of the game!

Instant Articles. Recently, Facebook unrolled Instant Articles in their armory of mobile-exclusive benefits. This service also caters to the native content system because writers will publish a whole article on Facebook instead of sharing it through links. Blogs, rants, articles, and long forms appear quicker and, thanks to Facebook’s equations, more prominently on news feeds. Because the article will actually live on the social media giant as opposed to a blog or website, there are several benefits.

Images. When creating an update, you should always upload an image that you have created. Additionally, if you are sharing a web page, you may want to consider “killing the preview” and uploading relevant imagery to Facebook itself.

Now, obviously, sometimes this is impossible. You can’t copy someone else’s news article and share it via Instant Articles, nor can you upload parts of your website and showcase them. Native content can, and should, only go so far. For this reason, a company’s social media schedule should have a hearty mix of native and curated content. Keep in mind that while creating original work and uploading it onto your social media site of choice will take longer than simply sharing a link, these updates will give your accounts hefty spikes in views and engagement opportunities. Additionally, boosting native content with advertising will skyrocket that post to new heights.

How do you use native content? Share below!

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YouTube’s Iron Fist: What It Says About Social Media

By Christopher Tompkins

4Sep

Social Media, YouTube

Ever since people realized that they could say whatever they want on the internet, there have been people trying to figure out rules, restrictions, and ultimately, censoring. Obviously, once “censor” starts to be thrown around, all content creators’ ears perk up. Many creative individuals, whether they are in a business role or not, have found a home on the wild wild web. Whenever a new law or chunk of fine print puts this freedom into question, people become restless. Right now, YouTube has started a new content-related quarrel.

The social media platform and video hosting site, YouTube, and its owner, Google, may have started something they weren’t entirely ready for. Since its founding in 2005, YouTube has not only attracted a massive gathering but also many vloggers or, video bloggers, now earn a living by creating channels of content. YouTube hit one of its stars, Philip DeFranco, right where it hurts, advertising. They warned that certain videos of his breached their rules, and would take away their monetization and advertising features. No ads mean no revenue for Youtubers. Why is all this happening? In YouTube’s fine print, they mention that all content must be “advertiser-friendly.” As you could imagine, this means no excessive vulgarity, nudity, drug use, etc. Understandable, right? But YouTube’s recent crackdown targeted videos that were hardly offensive at all.

DeFranco wasn’t the only popular filmmaker to receive one of these notices. However, YouTube reps clearly stated that this is not a new rule, but rather a crackdown on previously existing conditions. As you could imagine, tensions are a little high in the YouTube world. Beyond who’s wrong or right, there are a few things social media marketers can take away from this:

Advertising is (still) king. If ads were pointless, this conflict would never happen because there would be no professional YouTubers. In fact, YouTube itself would most likely be a sliver of its current size if there were no revenue pumping through the ad channels. Social media marketers – take note! If you ever wonder if your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and even YouTube ads matter, think about this impending struggle between YouTube and YouTuber, which is bound to escalate if this censoring – or “stern enforcement of policies”, if you don’t like that term – continues.
Content creators underestimate platforms. As professionals that utilize the world’s most popular sites on a daily basis, social media professionals may view excessive rules and regulations as obstacles rather than guidelines. That being said, we need to realize that there are real rules with real reciprocations for a variety of reasons and we need to follow them. So, keep your content classy and professional, don’t spam or scam followers in any way, and try to avoid copyrighted material that you don’t own.
Platforms underestimate content creators. There was a time when YouTube was the only option. There were no other video-hosting websites, just as there were very few social media sites. Now, things are different. If DeFranco and other YouTube stars feel so inclined, they could pull out of YouTube and focus on Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, and many other sites. This would not go well for Google. I’m not saying that platforms should cater to every whim of the user, or vice versa, but platforms need to know they are actually replaceable by the next best thing.

It will be interesting to see just what happens in this swelling conflict. YouTube may have to loosen the leash. Vloggers may have to dial down the content (which is unlikely to happen). Either way, the internet, as always, is alive and well and full of changes, which professionals need to be ready to adapt to.

What do you think of this new conflict? Comment below!

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Evergreen Content VS Dated Content: What’s The Big Difference?

By Christopher Tompkins

3Sep

Advertising, Business, Email Marketing, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Marketing, Periscope, Pinterest, Reddit, Snapchat, Social Media, Social networking, Twitter, Uncategorized, YouTube

Did you know that Apple is going to reveal iPhone 7 soon? That may be news at the time of this article’s publication, but in maybe a month or just a few weeks, that sentence will have dated this whole article. In a year, we’ll be getting ready for iPhone 7S, or whatever version Apple is planning next. (Rumors say it’s a big one since it will be the iPhone’s 10th birthday, but I digress) When that happens, that sentence will look like a relic in the eyes of the internet. This type of situation is something all social media marketers need to be attentive to!

Our sentence above is one of the defining factors of dated, or time-sensitive content.This isn’t to say that news updates are bad for social media. Much like weekends, they may not last forever, but they sure are important to our lives. Yet your social media content cannot entirely consist of these fleeting moments. A company’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other accounts need some non-perishables in the mix. Content that will never expire, or evergreen content, is crucial for high engagement rates and legitimacy to your brand. We’re not just talking about stone-cold facts from textbooks (although those would definitely count as evergreen content). This type of content simply needs to stand the test of time. A mission statement, code of ethics, tried and true details about your industry, promotional materials, etc.

Now, why would a business’ social media page need both? Because that’s how the internet works. It’s a constant flow of fleeting and forever content. We see it every day without even realizing it. Trending items deliver a powerful boost to your social media marketing, while evergreen content is your core. Without one or the other, your content strategy will be incomplete.

Time-sensitive content will show that your company is updated, adaptable, and aware of contemporary business practices. Evergreen content expresses your industry knowledge, experience, and professionalism. It’s plain to see why you would want to have both, right?

At The Go! Agency, we take extra efforts to strike just the right balance of these two categories of content. Our clients deserve to have every reward social media has to offer, and it’s the marketer’s duty to accomplish that.

How does your business utilize both these types of content? Share your story below!

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How Marketers Can Win At Social Media Imagery

By Christopher Tompkins

How-to-WIN-At-Social-Media-Visuals-200x300

1Sep

Graphic Design, Social Media

Social media marketers always say “Content is King.” But what content truly holds the crown? When all is said and done, visuals rule over all. Strong imagery can fire up a social media marketing campaign to new heights. But what if a company’s marketers aren’t photographers, graphic designers, or filmmakers? Even worse, what if the industry isn’t visually appealing? Have no fear! Here are solutions that can make any business’ social media profile look brilliant:

Slideshows – Video is blowing up on social media! We can thank innovations such as Snapchat, Instagram, and live streaming apps. Even if a business doesn’t have a film crew, it can still reap the rewards of video via animated slideshows. Transitions, music, and graphics could be incorporated to make a spectacular show.
Collages – Whether the photos are of happy employees, satisfied customers, or a product showcase, collages allow social media marketers to share several images in one hit. Many programs out there to help with this project, just a quick Google or App Store search will produce results.
Stock imagery – Pictures are worth a thousand words, but what if a business’ pictures are saying all the wrong things? Stock photos are familiar, but beneficial solutions to a lack of, or low-quality native visuals. Just a few pictures could assist companies in achieving a professional look in a flash.
Photo and graphic editors – A company needs powerful and unique imagery to stand out on the internet. There’s an expansive catalog of programs that can help marketers make eye-catching content, ranging from free to premium choices. Marketers can create beautiful logos, banners, flyers and more for their social media marketing.

In any form, marketing requires creativity for successful brand promotion. Social media gurus understand that their field of expertise is no exception. Companies have the opportunity to make even the blandest and mundane of companies look spectacular on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and more!

What other ways do you incorporate imagery and visuals in your social media? Comment below!

Is Your Social Media Marketing Falling On Deaf Ears? Focus Your Reach!

By Christopher Tompkins

31Aug

Advertising, Social Media

Social media marketing is about spreading your word as far and wide as possible, right? What if we told you that your business would actually benefit from a more focused audience? There’s something to be said about quality over quantity in the world of social media marketing.

Think about a simple social media post, whether on Facebook, Twitter, etc. Obviously, you want a lot of people to read this content. But in reality, if you make the update too broad, your content will fall on a lot of deaf ears. If you don’t make it focused and narrowed to cater to your target audience (which is actually your target customers), the wrong people may read it. Sure, the more the merrier, but uninterested people probably will just keep scrolling through their news feed and forget all about that post or advertisement.

How do you really sharpen your scope? There are several different approaches to making sure the right people are reading your marketing masterpieces.

If using Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, always be sure to use hashtags. These are essentially digital homing beacons that will attract people looking for material centered around its subject. Even if your platform of choice doesn’t allow hashtags, (i.e. LinkedIn, Pinterest) you can still write your updates in a way that clearly designates the demographic you’re trying to reach.

Successful social media marketers also understand the importance of content curation. Share relevant news stories and web content that pertain to the interest of your target demographic. This can be an industry update or even something lighthearted. Either way, make sure your followers will want to read it.

Advertising is another way you can be sure the right people are reading your content. Facebook and other platforms offer a wide variety of options so your advertisements, boosted posts, and sponsored content land on the screens of the people who would enjoy the ad instead of thinking it’s a nuisance.

Unsure of who exactly should read your social media content? You better go back to your business’ mission statement. Who is your product or service aimed towards? Every business has a target audience, even if you don’t know it. When it comes down to it, ask yourself who buys your products? When you have the answer, you will also have the same people you should market towards via social media.

Yes, it’s important to spread your brand to as many people as possible. However, if you aren’t focusing on your target audience, there’s no point!

How do you focus your social media marketing content? Comment below!

8 Steps To Conquer Social Media Writer’s Block

By Christopher Tompkins

28Aug

Copywriting, Social Media

Social media marketing requires a large amount of creative juices and sometimes, the well runs dry. It’s okay, it happens to the best of us. Unfortunately, the internet isn’t going to wait for inspiration to strike once more. You need to jumpstart your imagination so you can make fresh, engaging content for your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn and send it out to the content-hungry masses on a daily basis. How is this possible?

Making content for social media is another form of creative writing, which means there is a bit of subjectivity to it. As any writer can attest, crafting the right message isn’t always easy. You constantly have to figure out attractive content that will draw people to your business. How do you find that much-needed spark? Here are the top 8 tips that will help:

Look into your analytics. You may have the answer lying in your previously published posts. Have videos been getting a lot of attention? Maybe it’s a sale? Try to tap into what already has been working. Additionally, just reading what you’ve already made can be enough to get the gears turning.
Look at competitors. Perhaps your quest for inspiration will land you on a competitor’s social media page. Studying how they approach Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other platforms could help you see social media in a new light. That being said, don’t plagiarize!
Stick to a schedule. You will be surprised how sticking to a specific schedule will help you stay creative. Perhaps you feel like you can write better in the morning, or maybe it’s the afternoon. Either way, a schedule can give a subconscious spark of creativity.
Check out what’s trending. There’s no time like the present and that should also be the case for social media marketing. Check out what’s trending on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Somewhere amongst the headlines and hashtags, you may be able to spin a topic to your company’s advantage.
Stay organized. Write down any and all ideas, even if you don’t have room for them at the moment. Trust us, a time will come when you need an extra idea or two. In addition to writing things down, keep the ideas organized and at a convenient spot.
Review your company’s mission. Don’t forget who you’re writing for. Head to your company’s website and review the “About” or “Our Mission” sections. Get pumped up to be a part of such a great company! You can always take a step back and watch your other employees and see if their work will inspire you.
Take the first step – Just start writing! I know, easier said than done right? Trust us! Even if you begin with just random words on the page, a bit of creative gibberish will be a great exercise for the mind.
Take a step back. Go for a walk! Staring at a blank screen doesn’t help. Come back after you try some of these other steps and start with a fresh.

Social media marketing thrives on intriguing stories, engaging content, and compelling writing. It’s the core of the message you’re trying to convey. If you ever feel stuck, try out these tips to get your writing!
What other brainstorming ideas do you have? Share below!

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Facebook Tries To Be A Cool Kid With Lifestage

By Christopher Tompkins

27Aug

Facebook, Social Media

When Mark Zuckerberg first released Facebook into the world, its original purpose was meant to help college students to connect. In fact, you couldn’t even sign up if you didn’t have a .edu email address. Obviously, all that has changed. Now, everyone and their grandma (literally) has a Facebook page. This year, the primordial idea of student exclusivity is resurfacing in a new app called Lifestage. However, Lifestage’s demographic is quite a bit younger than Facebook’s original goals.

This new app is quite a unique platform. Its target demographic is teenagers and aims to connect fellow students from the same school. In fact, you can’t sign up for this “Facebook Jr.” if you’re over 21 years old! Perhaps, this is a way to protect the young internet surfers, but the app itself actually has no privacy features in an attempt to be as transparent as possible.

It should come to no surprise to anyone that Snapchat’s design heavily influences the rest of the app. Lifestage offers entertaining filters to decorate the videos much like the popular platform already does. Yet unlike Snapchat, posts are always visible. A surprising feature of this app is that it only allows video content. The teenage users can easily peruse through emoji-clad profiles like a Facebook profile, but there will be no static pictures. It seems like video’s reign is changing even the selfie.

Despite Lifestage technically being a new social media profile, marketers shouldn’t get too excited for new advertising possibilities. Users’ reach can only go so far and there doesn’t seem to be any advertising options (yet). What this app does show is how much video is influencing social media in 2016, as predicted by many of the experts. Additionally, this is the second attempt from Facebook to create a “Snapchat clone”, the first being Instagram Stories. Snapchat has begun to show its potential as Millennials (and younger) are being gravitated towards the platform. It offers a certain sense of instant gratification that people crave. As such, video, smaller bodies of text, and interactive apps are shifting the way we approach marketing.

My first question would be what happens if hypothetically Lifestage takes off, and these users outgrow the 21-year-old age limit? Will they be denied access to their favorite platform and all the videos they’ve accumulated during their childhood? Perhaps Facebook should integrate a “Grown Up” button, which will convert an account into a fully grown Facebook profile when the time comes.

It’s unclear just how effective Lifestream will be. Facebook has a long list of failed children. From Paper to Slingshot, there are several apps that Zuckerberg’s team has created that just didn’t take off and now only reside in the history books. At the time of this blog post, Lifestream only has a 2.5 out of 5-star rating. Still, their attempt to prime the next generation for a video-dominant social media landscape speaks volumes about just how much Facebook not only likes but needs video to be on their side.

What do you think of Lifestage? Comment below!

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5 Steps To Start Social Media With A Bang!

By Christopher Tompkins

24Aug

Social Media

It seems there’s a certain window of time for people to establish themselves on new platforms. For example, famous “YouTubers” have been on the site for years now, and it can be tough to break into that industry since there are so many others trying to do the same thing. The same applies to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Now, Snapchat is getting filled with big names quickly. What’s a newcomer to do? When you click that Sign Up button, you have a lot of catching up to do. However, it’s absolutely possible to shine online at any point. These 5 steps will give your baby social media accounts a kick start:

Optimization. Starting from scratch is tedious, but it can be done. Whether you have a Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn page, be sure to fill out every blank field as best you can. Just because your account is new, doesn’t mean it has to be empty.
Tap into your contact list. When signing up, most social media platforms will have you utilize your email contacts so you can be reunited with your favorite people online. If you don’t use this tool, try and find your business partners, friends, family, etc. and ask them to begin liking your page and content.
Promote your pages to your customers. You’ve seen them in many small businesses, those signs proudly promoting their Facebook, Twitter, or likewise. This is important and actually works! Make sure your regulars know about this new opportunity to connect, and be sure to ask them for a nice 5-star rating.
Backdate new content. This tip is a Facebook exclusive. It’s intimidating for social media users to like a page that has no content. Be sure to post, post, post! But a big batch of posts from the past 24 hours won’t look so good either. Luckily, deep in its publishing tools, Facebook offers the power to “backdate” a post so it looks like you’ve been around for a while. The whole point of this is to make you look established and involved in the online community, which is one of the primary goals of social media in its essence.
Advertise! If you are new to social media, you may not yet understand the power of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn advertising. You will! These advertising opportunities provide an extremely beneficial boost to your content so you will get noticed fast! There’s quite a variety to the promotional options available. From driving website to your website to sponsored content, you will be able to find one that fits your budget and works for your company.

As you can see, the words “new to social media” doesn’t need to be a death sentence. You can steadily grow your social media marketing with these tips and of course, with the help of professionals.

What do you think of these steps? Comment below!

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Scandalous Social Media! How To Stay Away From Controversy

By Christopher Tompkins

23Aug

Copywriting, Politics, Social Media

There’s no doubt about it – people love gossip, controversy, and scandal. It’s these spicy little tidbits that keep the internet alive and thriving. Whenever a celebrity or politician says something wrong, we eat it up as quickly as possible. While this is entirely true, it could be a road block for social media marketers.

While the best social media content taps into current events, it’s best to ignore certain red flag headlines completely. Trying to figure out which topics to integrate into your marketing can be a delicate situation and requires a good amount of discernment from your team.

This is imperative to keep in mind as we get even deeper into this election year. Everyone has their opinions about the Presidential candidates, but should your business have one? Sure, if you want to alienate or offend those customers who disagree. It isn’t a business’ role to provide commentary about politics, religion, or other sensitive subjects. We are all human, we all have beliefs and stances, but when someone represents a business, they become a part of a larger brand. If your company’s marketing team makes this mistake, you will surely get the wrong type of attention. “Any publicity is good publicity” isn’t the case when you join in a controversy.

So, how exactly can you tell the difference between controversial issues and positive current events? When in doubt, stay positive! From light-hearted holidays to positive news like a local team winning the big game, there are plenty of news stories to incorporate into social media content.

Additionally, focus on industry-relevant news that will attract the right people. Once again, though, be careful. As you could imagine, there are controversial subjects in every field of work. Medical professionals, stay away from malpractice stories. Auto Repair shops, steer clear of drunk driver headlines. Retail stores, don’t create a controversy by badmouthing your competitors.

It’s simple, really. Provide informative, educational information, that’s relevant to what’s happening now, but there’s no need to explore heavy subjects. As we have seen in the past, a controversy can spread very quickly, and social media is all about communication. As always, act professionally, courteously, and stick to your business!

How do you stay relevant, but not controversial? Share your thoughts below!

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Tag : facebook marketing