The Ultimate Social Media Questionnaire

13Jan

Are you ready to market your brand on social media? Before you set up your first profile, you need to ask yourself some questions. Social media marketing is more than just spreading the word: it’s about connecting with your customers. You must carefully consider your approach We’ve gathered the top twenty questions you need to answer before your brand’s social media debut.

Part I. Your Brand
1. What is the tone of your brand?
2. What products or services are you trying to promote?
3. What products or services form the core of your brand?

Part II. Your Customers
4. Who are your ideal customers?
5. What problems do your ideal customers face?
6. How does your company help solve those problems?
7. Where are your customers geographically?

Part III. Your Social Media Presence
8. What are your ultimate goals for social media?
9. Which social media platforms work best for your company?
10. How can you incorporate compelling content into your brand’s message?
11. What are the most important keywords for your industry?
12. How does your online presence compare to that of your competitors?
13. How much time can you invest into social media?
14. How often should you post during the week? During the day?
15. Which scheduling software is right for you?

Part IV. Your Content
16. When is the best time to post your content?
17. What content do your customers find most appealing?
18. Who are your industry’s top social media and online influencers?
19. What types of original content can you create?
20. What visuals should you incorporate into your content?

Do you have all of the answers? If not, it’s time to get to work!

The Go! Agency team can help you answer these questions and get started with one of the most effective avenues of marketing available today! We are dedicated to spreading your message and have worked with clients from a wide variety of industries, customizing and optimizing hundreds of social media campaigns.

Schedule a free consultation today to learn how we can help your business level up!

You Can’t Do It Alone: Building the Ideal Team

By Christopher Tompkins

8Jul

Business

When it comes to sorting out your social media marketing campaign, working with a knowledgable marketing strategist is an absolute must. They should be experienced and well-versed enough to provide you with the inside track on what you need to be doing, so that you can efficiently execute your plans and quickly achieve your goals.

Or will you?

One of the downsides of getting a robust and forward-thinking plan from an expert is that you still need a certain level of skill in order to execute that plan. I know, it seems like a catch-22: you get a plan from an expert because you are not an expert, but expert plans are best executed by experts. Even with the perfect plan there are hundreds of pitfalls that need to be avoided.

In my experience, I find companies that use a team to execute their social media marketing strategies tend to be the most successful. I have trained teams ranging from 100 to 2, and the common factor to success is simple: each team member knows the roles and knows who will be in charge of that role’s duties.

Don’t worry about getting new staff for each role: one person can be in charge of multiple roles, as long as that one person is skilled in each. Not everything is trainable, especially on the fly. Social media marketing is an investment into your online future, so you want to make sure that you trust the leaders of your team. Your reputation will be on the line. Here are the six main roles that you should be thinking about when you are getting ready to execute your social media marketing strategy.

Project Manager: This person is key, as they will be in charge of, well, managing the project itself. Project Managers ensure that team members meet all objectives and hold everyone accountable to deadlines and budgets.
Copywriter: What is social media all about? Content! If you do not have the time or the skills to create quality content, you need to enlist a copywriter. Grammar, punctuation, and attention to detail are a must.
Graphic Designer: How do you make sure that your brand looks consistent across the board? Visuals, my friend. Whether your visuals consist of images, videos, slideshows, or channel branding, you’ll need a pro (if only to ensure that your graphics don’t look like they were designed by an intern).
Advertising Specialist: Do you know how to utilize social media advertising platforms? If you don’t then you need to hire someone who does. Of course, you could always wing it and risk losing tons of time and money with little to no results.
Analytics Specialist: Are you successful? What is working for your brand and what isn’t? If you have no idea, then you need someone who revels in tracking data. This role should extend beyond social media and into your website itself!
Website Designer: If you hired a website designer to create the perfect website (perhaps at a substantial investment) without making arrangements for ongoing maintenance, you’ve made a mistake. Having a support person on hand is necessary in today’s digitally-driven world! This is especially true if your objectives are sales, conversions, email signups, and similar goals via your company website. If your website isn’t working, then neither will your marketing efforts on social media, or anywhere else, for that matter.

So there you go! These roles will form the basis of a nice, well-rounded team. Although I have seen all of these roles filled by as few as two people, most teams will need more. This goes back to what I said earlier: you must make sure that anyone filling any of these roles–especially employees who fill two or more roles–is qualified, professional, and actually has the time! Remember: you are only as strong as your team!

3 Ways to Refresh Your Restaurant’s Digital Marketing

By Christopher Tompkins

22Apr

Local Marketing

Making it as a restaurateur is never easy, but it’s especially challenging when you’re not using digital marketing best practices. Two things that should never be stale? Your food and your marketing strategy!

Don’t worry if you’re not sure how to revamp your restaurant’s digital marketing. That’s what I’m for! My agency has helped a lot of restaurants over the years, and here are the 3 big tips that you need to know.

1. Stop With the Basic Photos
At the start, every restaurant posts nothing but pictures of their menus and their dishes. And I get the logic, “Look how good our food looks! Don’t you want to eat this?” But if you’re focusing that heavily on posting pictures of your entrees on Instagram, you’re missing even better opportunities.

Why not show off your restaurant instead? Or your staff, or your promotions, or anything else that’s more interesting than making your followers stare at a souffle?

When you show off your restaurant (instead of the food), you’re showing people what the atmosphere is like. That means they’ll be able to imagine an actual meal at your location, which in turn makes them more likely to want to visit.

Sharing photos of your staff or kitchen area can also give your audience a “behind the scenes” feeling that makes them more interested in your brand. Social platforms are where people go to connect, so help them connect with your restaurant!

With all of that said, there are still times when it’s a good idea to post pictures of your menu or entrees: when there are changes. If you’re rolling out a new menu item, showcase it! Did you recently redesign your menu? Show your customers! But don’t make those things the basis of your digital marketing content. The only goal you’ll accomplish is boring your customers to tears.

2. Update Your Listings
If you’re running a successful restaurant, then you’ve probably been in business for a few years. When was the last time you updated the visuals on those listings? Don’t think I just mean your website, either. This includes every social media page you’re on and your Google My Business profile.

Even if you haven’t had your entire restaurant redone, take a new photo! Camera quality can determine how good an image is, and I’ll bet that your current phone has a better camera than the one you used to take restaurant photos 7 years ago. For this reason, even if you make no changes whatsoever, I’d say to update your listing photos every 3 years at the extreme minimum.

What changes call for new photos? Basically all of them. If you repainted a wall, take a photo! If you got new tables, take a photo! You get the idea. If customers are going to see the best possible version of your restaurant, then they need to see your latest upgrades. Don’t let laziness drive your customers away!

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3. Add Bios On Every Site
As a marketer, the best thing you can do is talk about yourself! Well, your business, anyway.

People want to know the story of your restaurant, and you should tell them! What makes you unique? What sets you apart from competitors? If you can’t answer those questions (and demonstrate the answers to your audience), you’ll lose business! Here are all the places where you should have a bio for your business:

Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
Instagram
Your Website
Google My Business

Obviously a Twitter bio doesn’t have enough space for your restaurant’s full story, but be sure to add your website link so people can learn more about you. Don’t think that you can copy and paste, either! What people want to read on Facebook, LinkedIn, Google My Business, etc. is going to be different. Cater the copy to each site if you want to really engage with that platform’s users!

Don’t Slack
You didn’t get a successful restaurant by taking the easy way, so don’t start now! Take the time and make sure you’re doing your digital marketing correctly, because your competitors will be. You’ve got the tools, so there’s no excuse not to use these digital marketing tips for your restaurant!

If this all sounds like too much, don’t worry. I’ll help you sort it out during your free consultation with The Go! Agency!

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How to Optimize Your Google My Business Listing

By Christopher Tompkins

17Apr

Social Media

Local businesses can’t succeed online without optimized Google My Business (GMB) listings. First impressions are everything, and your GMB profile is the first thing that a lot of your potential customers will see. Why not make it impressive?

The number one reason I hear that local businesses don’t use GMB is that they’re not sure what they’re supposed to do. You fill in your business’ name, address, and…then what? I’m going to walk you through how to optimize your GMB listing so you can catch up to your local competitors!

Add a Business Description
Let people know who you are! Whether your local business’ name is something obscure like “Vulture Inc.” or it’s super clear like “Jim’s Pants Shack,” not having a business description is a missed opportunity.

No matter how you write it, it’s going to give your brand a distinct voice. If you do it well, a business description can give your brand a more human aspect for people to connect with. If I’m looking for a jeweler and find “Stefano’s Luxury Diamonds” then I’ve got some idea of who they are, but when I read a description describing their “60 years of jeweler experience to provide customers with unparalleled service and expertise that blah blah blah,” I get a better sense for who they are and if they’re who I want to buy from.

Never treat a business description as optional. You need it, and just as importantly, it needs to be clear, on-brand, and error free!

Fix Any Inconsistencies
Your listings need to have the same information across all platforms. No duh, right? But think of the areas you might be overlooking. Are your hours EXACTLY the same? I can’t tell you how often I see local businesses listed as open 9:00am-5:30pm on one site and 9:00am-4:30pm on another, and trust me, that’s going to matter to your customers. If you don’t know your own hours, why should they come by and hope you’re open?

The same rule applies to spelling your business’ name, your address, etc. But it doesn’t stop with information issues! Your style needs to be the same across platforms. So if your Twitter bio says you work on, “Planes, trains, and automobiles!” then your GMB listing can’t say you’ll handle “Planes, trains and automobiles!” Believe it or not, commas matter!

Take a good chunk of time to check this. You don’t want to post a listing and find a mistake three months later!

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Check On Your Customers
If you haven’t heard; a LOT of people use Google. When a potential customer looks you up on Google and they have a question, they’re going to ask on your GMB page. And if you don’t answer, you can kiss their business goodbye.

82% of customers expect immediate responses, so don’t think you can get away with checking your GMB listing every other day. You need to have alerts set for customer questions and be actively monitoring the page to make sure you haven’t missed anything.

You should also set up messaging so that customers can reach your cell phone directly. This way you’ll be able to answer any questions as they arise and earn the confidence of your local customers!

If it sounds like a lot of work, it is! But the alternative is losing local business, so think of it as a necessary evil.

Post Updates
While you don’t need daily updates like on Facebook or Twitter, GMB is a great place to share details about your latest sale, event, or blog post. You already know that your local audiences are going to see your GMB listing, and these features are crucial in drawing them in!

Posts stay live for seven days after posting them, so bear this in mind when you’re scheduling your GMB content. Old posts are still visible on your listing, but they’ll be pushed down by newer GMB updates. Bear this in mind when building a content mix and recycling old content!

Don’t Think Small
Optimizing your GMB listing isn’t as simple as filling out a box or checking on things twice a month. You need to be engaged, proactive, and present with your listing. Take this advice and make some big changes to your GMB listing if you want to succeed!

Does this all sound like a lot to handle? Let’s talk about your business’ GMB listing during your free consultation with The Go! Agency!

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3 Things You Should Be Doing on LinkedIn But Aren’t

By Christopher Tompkins

15Apr

LinkedIn, Social Media

The reason that so many otherwise great local businesses fail on LinkedIn is that they’re not really sure what to do. They look at Google publishing white papers and Wal-Mart rolling out national promotional campaigns, and they’re not really sure what their role is on the platform. Lucky for you, I’ve got the answer.

I’m going to cover what your local business should be posting on LinkedIn and how you should be posting it. Let’s catch you up on the LinkedIn strategies you’ve been missing!

Say Something Meaningful
As a local business, you don’t have the reach or the bottomless resources of a Fortune 500 company. But what you do have (hopefully) is a point of view. You’re working in your industry every day—use that knowledge to offer insight that only you can provide!

One tactic that The Go! Agency uses for our clients is to curate content then share it with something meaningful attached. So if you were a fashion boutique, you might share a post about a runway in Paris with your thoughts about the styles.

“But Christopher!” You say, “I don’t want people to care about that fashion show in Paris, I want them to care about my local business!”

Think bigger picture. Sure, the article isn’t about how great your business is, but it shows that you know what you’re talking about when it comes to fashion. It establishes you as an authority, so that when people in your area are looking at your LinkedIn page, they’re impressed and interested in your brand.

There’s more to succeeding on LinkedIn than just having a point of view, though. You need to say it before people get bored.

Make It Quick
On every social media platform, users are scrolling through their feeds, paying (at most) half attention to what they’re looking at. That means you have to spit it out!

No matter how good your insight is, I promise you that nobody wants to read an essay before they even get to the article you’re sharing. Keep your LinkedIn posts to two short sentences AT THE MOST. If you can manage it, fewer than 100 characters is ideal.

While this does limit the nuance you can give in your posts, it also makes it easier for people to see what you’re talking about. That means more engagements, more connections, and more business opportunities going forward. Save the long-form content for the blogs and make sure that your LinkedIn updates will actually get read!

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Join Relevant Groups
If you’re not joining LinkedIn groups, you’re missing a great opportunity to connect with people who would engage with your business. If you’re a salon, join some beauty groups! If you’re a restaurant, join a group for foodies! Whatever industry you’re in, there is going to be a LinkedIn group for your business.

Once you get in these groups, don’t be silent. Strike up some conversations! The key word here is “conversations,” though. You can’t just post constantly in the same group and hope that people will engage with you. Not only is that ineffective, but it’s a great way to get banned by a moderator for spamming the group.

Instead, like and comment on other people’s posts in the group. If you’re engaging with their content, they’re likely to reciprocate and send some attention your way. Just be sure to do the same when someone likes or comments on one of your posts!

Use This Advice ASAP
I’ve seen countless small businesses fail to use these best practices on LinkedIn—don’t be one of them! Starting today means you’re late, so hop on this train before you miss your chance for your small business to succeed on LinkedIn.

Could you use some more advice on how to succeed on LinkedIn? Schedule your free consultation with The Go! Agency!

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Senior Care: Make the Most of Social Media During the Holidays

By Christopher Tompkins

100318 Senior Care_ Make the Most of Your Social Media During the Holidays

3Oct

Business, Content Creation, Local Marketing

Yuletide is all but upon us and for a lot of people, that means thinking about their families. When people consider holidays in assisted living or with a home health company, it’s common to imagine frigid nursing homes with poorly-lit trees and public domain Christmas carols playing in the background.

Obviously, that is not a good look for your brand! This holiday season, you need to be showing how well-cared-for your residents and care recipients are, and I have some ideas that can help!

Below is a checklist of content that you should be publishing throughout the holiday season. Nothing gets more attention than real caregiving photos and stories, so get that camera ready!

Must-Have Senior Care Posts This Holiday Season

Decorations: Your staff probably spent a lot of time decorating the community, so show it off! Families want to see how their loved one can feel at-home during the holidays. Start with photos of your team members hanging up lights and decorating trees, then show what those decorations look like when they’re finished and seniors are enjoying them.

Food: This time of year, you’ve probably already planned to have at least one (if not several) holiday-themed meals. Quality of food can be a big concern for people looking at your community, so promote the delicious meals that your residents get to enjoy!

Activities: The most important thing for people to know is that their loved one is going to be happy in your community. Showing real seniors engaged in holiday activities tells families that they’re being cared for on a personal level. Some easy go-tos are showing seniors singing Christmas carols, decorating cookies, or otherwise taking part in some seasonal merriment!

Visitors: Organize a visit from a local school! A choir class would love to visit and perform for some seniors, and a video like that would go a long way toward building a connection with your audience!

Presents: We all want the holidays to focus on love and positivity, but it’s at least 50 percent about gifts! Show your seniors opening their presents! Family members who can’t be there in person will appreciate you catching their loved one’s surprise on Christmas morning!

Personal Stories: People love a personal connection! With the approval of the senior and their family, post a photo of them along with one of their favorite holiday stories. This shows that you’re taking an interest in the lives of your seniors, which will make people more sympathetic toward your business.

Family Time: Undoubtedly, some of your seniors will have family visiting for the holidays. Get everyone’s permission, then snap a photo of them all huddled together in front of the tree. Your audience will see how happy that family is, and they’ll want that kind of happiness for themselves! No ad campaign will be more effective than showing a family and their overjoyed senior!

Winter Wonderland: No matter where your seniors are located, you can get some holiday-appropriate photos of them outdoors! In colder climates, photos of seniors bundled up and enjoying a white Christmas are nothing short of social media gold. If it’s warmer, don’t hesitate to brag about how your seniors don’t need coats in the winter. Take the environment you have and make it a feature!

And that is how you seamlessly work the holidays into your assisted living or home care social media posts! Take the strategies that work for you the rest of the year and adapt them into something new and charming for the holiday season. Follow this checklist to make sure your audience is attentive and engaged during the most wonderful time of the year!

Do you need a hand with managing your social media this holiday season? The Go! Agency has the expertise to help! Contact us today for a free consultation!

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GoTV Episode 4

By Christopher Tompkins

28Sep

GoTV, Marketing, Social Media

Welcome back to GoTV! We’re dedicated to bringing you the most important social media news. Let’s go!

Note: Sources are linked in the descriptions.

Instagram

Instagram Adds New Shopping Options to Boost Revenue Potential
Instagram first launched its Shopping Tags in Stories to a limited group of business profiles back in June. These tags will now be available in 46 countries, a significant expansion of the option. As the popularity of Instagram Stories continues to rise, the expansion of Shopping Tags at this stage makes a lot of sense. Additionally, this feature could help to form habitual behaviors.

Social Media Today

Snapchat

Snapchat Launches New Program Enabling Publishers to Source UGC
Snap has announced that it will debut Curated Our Stories, a new feature that is an extension of the platform’s Our Stories feature. Curated Our Stories will allow publishers to gather user-generated content (UGC) and combine different UGC into stories involving live events, breaking news, etc. Publishers will then be able to share these stories in Snapchat Discover, or embed them on the publisher’s site or app. This feature will include ads, with the revenue split between Snap and the story’s publisher (no revenue will be diverted to the content creators). Besides benefiting from the inherent connection between UGC and user engagement, Curated Our Stories will not include any fees for publishers.

Digiday

Twitter

Twitter Will Soon Allow Users to Switch over to a Reverse Chronological Timeline
Hooray! Twitter just announced that it will soon enable users to return to the reverse chronological timeline. On the platform’s official support handle, Twitter stated

Our goal with the timeline is to balance showing you the most recent Tweets with the best Tweets you’re likely to care about, but we don’t always get this balance right. So we’re working on providing you with an easily accessible way to switch between a timeline of Tweets that are most relevant for you and a timeline of the latest Tweets.

This move has been praised by hordes of users–and generated some great PR for the social media giant. The potential effect on user engagement is not yet clear, however.

Social Media Today
Twitter Thread

That’s it for this week’s episode of GoTV! Don’t forget to check out our next episode! If you enjoyed GoTV, you’ll love our podcast and our blog!

Do you want more Go? You can also find us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Your Metrics System: How to Track Results

By Christopher Tompkins

26Sep

Advertising, Social Media

You’ve done it! You created and survived your holiday marketing campaign! While it would be nice to revel in the feeling of accomplishment, you’re not done yet.

“But the campaign was a success!” You say, “we earned so much money! What’s left to do?”

Nothing much . . . only determining if your campaign was actually worth the time, money, and energy you spent on it.

I hear this sentiment all the time from business owners. After they’ve dipped their toes in the marketing world for the holiday season, they decide to leave the pool until the next fall.

“Why would I ever need to know all those marketing stats?” They ask.

This attitude will doom your chances of long-term success. These metrics affect your business, your brand, and your bottom line.

Those “marketing stats” will help you in a myriad of ways. They

are necessary for calculating your return on investment (ROI);
give you valuable demographic information;
help you determine your upcoming budget; and
give you insight into and ideas for your future marketing initiatives.

Here are a few metrics you should consider measuring at the end of your holiday marketing campaign.

Impressions are the number of times an individual person sees a piece of content (ads, tweets, updates, blogs, etc.). This is an awareness metric. Although impressions are important, it can be a vanity metric. Focus on the quality or the effect of the impressions. How many times did a person see your ad before taking an action?

Reach refers to the number of people who saw your ad. I’ve already discussed how important it is to target the right audience, and this metric lets you see if you hit your target! Did the social media network, website, and/or publication you chose for ads live up to your hopes? Did you get the customers you expected, or did you see a boost in traffic from an unexpected demographic? For instance, video games are marketed to teenagers, but parents are usually the people who actually buy them.

Engagement is, essentially, interaction. It shows that your audience actively participated in your content. Likes, clicks, shares, comments–all of these are ways your audience engages with your brand. Think of engagement as the active result of reach and impressions!

Click Through Rate (also known as CTR) is found by dividing the number of individuals who clicked a link or ad on your webpage by the total number of users who viewed the page. If your page was viewed by 380 people, and 7 of those people clicked the link to your storefront, then the click through rate would be 1.84 percent. That CTR isn’t horribly low, by the way. According to Hubspot, search ads average a CTR of 1.91 percent and display ads have around .35 percent.

Conversions are actions taken by visitors. These actions can include completing a purchase, filling out a survey, or subscribing to an email newsletter. Tracking conversions enables you to retarget consumers. In retargeting, you present ads to consumers who visited your page but did not complete an action (e.g., added items to the digital shopping cart, but never paid).

All of these metrics will vary according to your goals. Too many novice marketers make the mistake of only analyzing these metrics after the holidays or another big campaign, but that is asking for trouble. You need to do this throughout the year! Take stock of where you are so that you can get to where you want to go!

Voilà! I’ve told you everything you need to know about running your holiday marketing campaign! If you have additional tips (or cautionary tales), share with us in the comments below. Don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you have any questions about digital marketing, seasonal campaigns, or one of my many Christmas cookie recipes!

Do you need more help with your holiday marketing campaign? Don’t wait for a Festivus miracle! Contact The Go! Agency today for your free consultation!

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Creating Your Timeline for Holiday Marketing

By Christopher Tompkins

24Sep

Business, Facebook Advertising, Local Marketing, Marketing

The holiday season is just a few weeks away! So far, I’ve told you what you need for your holiday campaign, how to target your audience, and where you should focus your budget, among other tips from my years as a marketer. Now I want to address the schedule.

Your holiday marketing campaign isn’t a high school project: you can’t expect to reach your goals if put everything off until the last minute. You need deadlines! I’ve found that there are three pillars for a good deadline. Good deadlines must be . . .

1. Good for Your Budget: The deadline must fit within the confines of your budget. Will you have enough money to run ads for a given amount of time? Will you have enough in the budget to cover your personnel needs until a specified date? These are the questions you’ll need to consider.

2. Good for Your Bandwidth: Speaking of personnel, you must give your team deadlines that are reasonable. Don’t assume that your staff will be able to pull off a Christmas miracle! Factor in human error and human nature by giving yourself and your staff a buffer. Never set deadlines at the last possible minute!

3. Good for Your Campaign’s Effectiveness: Will this deadline further your goals? In other words, are you spinning your wheels? Determine which actions are priorities, and which actions can be postponed.

Let’s start with a list of everything you need to accomplish or complete for your campaign. You’ll notice that some of these lead into the next item (i.e., you cannot complete Y until X is done). Generally, holiday campaigns include:

Final Strategy: When will you have your final plan? This is the blueprint that you’ll be sticking to for the entire campaign; so while you can (and should) be flexible, your campaign plan should be complete.
Budget: When will you have your budget ready? Do you need to hire any contractors or agencies to take on extra work of the campaign? It might sound silly to include deadlines for strategy and budget, but it will help you keep an analytical perspective toward your campaign.
Creative/Visuals: When do you need your final designs? This aspect includes layouts for ads and any new website or landing page visuals. Do you use a contractor for design work? Remember that contractors might book up quickly for the holiday rush!
Copy: When do you need all of your campaign’s written content? This should include landing page copy along with advertisements, posts, and blogs. You’ll need to account for editing content in addition to the approval process for ads.
Advertising: There are a few aspects to keep in mind here. The first is practical: what is the deadline for submitting ads for a given publication, website, or platform? The second aspect to consider is when will your ads have the greatest impact? For example, you can’t expect a lot of engagement from a Cyber Monday sale ad if won’t be approved until Tuesday morning.
Website Landing Page: You could generalize this to your entire website, but focus on the landing page for your holiday promotion or campaign. When will you need to have it up and running? If you use a contractor or another third party entity for your web design, what is their turn-around time? Will the holidays affect their schedule and availability?

Finally, you should consider the timing of your overall campaign. The timeline for a campaign that peaks on Black Friday is drastically different from a timeline for a campaign that peaks during the week of Christmas.

Armed with my advice, creating your campaign timeline should be a breeze! I mentioned this already, but it’s important enough to repeat: keep your plans firm, but allow for some wiggle room! Life happens. You realize that your copywriter will be out of town for Hanukkah. Your social media manager is hosting a horde of relatives and cannot work any overtime. Your IT guru will be on PTO all of Thanksgiving weekend–and you approved her request back in March.

This guide should help you create the optimal timeline for your holiday marketing campaign! Now let’s go!

The holidays are coming in fast–is your marketing strategy ready? The Go! Agency can help you get results! For a free consultation, contact us today!

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GoTV Episode 3

By Christopher Tompkins

21Sep

GoTV, Marketing, Social Media

Thanks for stopping by Go! TV! We’re glad to have you for our exploration of the biggest news throughout the world of social media.

Facebook

Facebook is fact-checking images and videos.
Facebook has been using fact-checkers for articles since 2016, but that service is being expanded to images and videos. This comes in response to users sharing emotionally-charged content that lacks the factual backing to be considered “news.” Since Facebook’s News Feed algorithm places a high value on engagement (and inflammatory stories usually receive more attention than their milder counterparts) the change is expected to have a major impact on how content ranks.

Facebook Newsroom
Social Media Today

Facebook unveils new ad options for the holidays.
As the holiday season approaches, Facebook is rolling out new options to improve ad performance. Collection ads will feature the option to redirect users from the ad to a new Instant Storefront template, which will allow advertisers to customize their ad content and improve conversion rates. Advertisers can also skip creating their own videos for collection ads, as the updated Instant Storefront will offer a video based on previously-uploaded images.

The social media giant will also be expanding its ad overlays to include holiday-specific frames. These will help advertisers build a more dynamic image that feels appropriate for the occasion. Additionally, Facebook’s video creation kit will feature holiday-themed templates to help brand the seasonal advertisements

Facebook Business
Social Media Today

YouTube

YouTube offers new vertical ad space.
YouTube’s latest update makes the platform more vertical-video-friendly. According to Social Media Today, mobile videos will now be optimized for vertical viewing and better fill the user’s screen. The Drum reports that YouTube will also allow brands to purchase ad space in a user’s home feed. This will place individualized ads with Youtube’s Recommended Videos section, an area which generates substantial viewership for the platform.

The Drum
Social Media Today

If you enjoyed this social media roundup, check out our latest episode of the Social Media Marketing Academy!

Be sure to like and subscribe for more of the latest social media news, and share your thoughts on these topics in the comments below!