Tag : Instagram Advertising

Black Friday or Cyber Monday: Which Should You Choose?

Black Friday or Cyber Monday_ Which Should You Choose_
21Oct

In 2018, there was a staggering $13.9 billion on Black Friday and Cyber Monday alone! It’s tempting to dive in and say you’ll make marketing campaigns for each of them, but promoting your business for both of these high-traffic days is just going to set you up to fail. Every business owner knows that trying to do everything usually means you end up doing nothing (successfully, at least).

You’re going to have to commit to one of these sales, and that’s why we’re here today. I’m going to break down who should be marketing for each of these days. From there, you’ll be able to plan your marketing strategy and get a piece of the holiday sales pie!

Who Should Promote Black Friday?
What does Black Friday entail (other than crazed shoppers with huge carts and no remorse)? At its core, the only thing required for Black Friday is to slash your prices for a day. You’ll want to promote it, of course, but the process of preparing for Black Friday is going to be far easier than doing the same for Cyber Monday.

You see, in the best-case scenario, Cyber Monday will mean you need a solidified shipping plan, which can be difficult if you’re solely a brick and mortar store. Add in the hassle of shipping everything and tracking orders all over the country, it’s a headache that can be debilitating unless you have the staff to support it. For this reason, Black Friday has always been the go-to for small-to-mid-sized local businesses.

A sale, of course, is no good for your business if your customers don’t know about it. Black Friday is also ideal for local businesses because you have a much smaller audience to inform. Where Cyber Monday would require you to broadcast your message to a national (or international) audience, local stores only need to connect with people in the immediate area. This is going to be a godsend if your marketing budget isn’t the biggest, because holiday ads aren’t cheap.

The short version? Unless you’ve got a large team and the capital to handle a national ad campaign, dive headfirst into Black Friday and don’t look back!

Who Should Promote Cyber Monday?
While Black Friday is easier to handle, Cyber Monday offers substantial incentives to companies with the resources to pursue it. For one thing, you’re not going to be limited to the X-thousand people in your city. While Black Friday has stayed fairly consistent from year to year, Cyber Monday sales saw a huge increase last year, and are expected to see another bump this November.

If you’re a larger, national business, particularly if you’re used to a lot of online sales throughout the year, Cyber Monday shouldn’t be as jarring for you. You’ll likely already have solidified shipping processes in place, and your social media following should be large and engaged enough to help maximize your ROI for holiday ad spend.

The final sign that Cyber Monday is right for your business? You’re ready to start preparing now. The national competition for ad space means that the right time to finalize your marketing plan was yesterday. A local business only has to compete with its neighbors, but you’ve got to tackle the world! Remember that great risk often means great reward, though, and don’t shy away from Cyber Monday if you can reasonably hold your own in the upcoming marketing battle.

Go Forth and Sell, Sell, Sell!
These are two of the biggest sales days of the year, so pick your target and take the shot. Decide if you want a localized Black Friday campaign or are going to get the word out about your upcoming Cyber Monday sale, then get going! Thanksgiving will be done and gone before you know it, and your business has a lot of work to do before then!

Think your Black Friday or Cyber Monday strategy could use some expert input? Set up your free consultation with The Go! Agency!

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GoTV Episode 9

Go!TV Episode 9
2Nov

Thanks for coming back for this week’s Go!TV recap! This week we’re focusing on Instagram and giving you all the information you need to market on this visual platform!

Instagram

How to Create Instagram Advertisements
Instagram’s ads work within a targeted system. What does that mean? Well, your ads will be sent to a specific demographic that you specify. This saves a lot of wasted time and effort marketing to people who would never want your product! This guide shares how to optimize your Instagram ads across posts, stories, and all other forms of visual communication!

Business 2 Community

Video Marketing on Instagram
Whether you’re creating branding, product, or tutorial videos, you absolutely have to know what you’re doing to get anywhere on Instagram. Instagram has a lot of users and other marketers flooding it with content, which means your video has to stand out if it’s going to help you reach your marketing goals. Check out this guide and see how you can create different types of Instagram videos that your audience will love!

AdEspresso

Thanks so much for stopping by this week’s Go!TV recap! The Instagram market is as lucrative as it is saturated with ads and marketers, so it’s important that you know how to stand out. If you want to learn more about social media marketing, come visit our podcast and blog!

Want to see what other marketing advice we dish out? Check us out across social media: FacebookInstagramTwitter!

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The Best Instagram Tools You’re Not Using

Go! Blog Image Templates (900x350)
19Jul

Instagram has cemented itself as the premier social media platform of 2018. Less confrontational than Twitter, less esoteric than Tumblr, and more careful with your information than Facebook, Instagram is attracting users in droves. It is no longer just a collection of latte art, food porn, and bathroom-mirror-selfies: Instagram has risen to the top of the pack for social media marketing opportunities. 

Unfortunately, some brands aren’t taking advantage of all Instagram has to offer. Are you getting the most out of your Instagram account? Today we’ll discuss the features that you should be using (but probably aren’t).

Feed

• Following hashtags: Just like on Twitter or Tumblr, you can follow hashtags on Instagram. This will allow you to keep track of trends, influencers, and even your own brand’s hashtags!

• Muting users: Muting allows you to hide people from your feed without actually unfollowing them. This feature is a boon to anyone who is tired of seeing post after post of a friend’s baby (scientific fact: All newborns look like Yoda, no matter what filter you use), but can be equally beneficial to marketers who want to grow their brands! You can follow back without being bombarded with unwanted content.

Stories

• Archiving: Instagram Stories are fun yet fleeting–like the bloom of the Arizona’s Queen of the Night cactus, or a Twitter feud. You post a topical, silly, or fascinating video, and it disappears forever after twenty-four hours. Not anymore! Now you can choose to archive Stories, preserving them forever in your profile. Just go to your Insights to find them all. Note: only account owners will be able to see archived Stories.

• Highlighting: Basically, these are curated collections of your archived Stories. Archiving Stories just keeps them in the back end of the app. If you want users to be able to see these Stories again or if you want to organize them into channels, you can create a Highlight channel. Each Highlight contains Stories grouped by theme. Technically, you can decide to group your highlights by any way you see fit (“Stories Featuring a Mike,” “Stories Featuring Mike’s Right Thumb,” e.g.), but theme is your safest bet.

Posts

• Descriptions: It is almost ludicrous how many Instagram users waste the opportunity for content marketing. Including hashtags and mentions in descriptions will help users–i.e., potential customers–find you.  

• Filtering Comments: Trolls happen, so do bots, spammers, and lonely Russian singles who would love to chat with you. All of these miscreants will create new accounts as fast as you can block them. Thankfully, you can filter comments on Instagram! Filter according to keywords, phrases, or hashtags. This filter works on the “set it and forget it” principle: these comments are removed automatically.

• Hashtagging: Sometimes 30 tags just won’t cut it. What’s an enterprising user to do? You can repost content using all-new hashtags! Just delete the comment with the old hashtags and post a comment with fresh hashtags.

Overall

• Instagram Tutorials: Instagram wants to help you have the best possible experience on its platform. Topics range from improving your profile to building a community. Find these in the Business Settings on the app.

• Utilizing hashtags to build communities: Social media is all about connection, and Instagram is no different. Communities center around common hashtags. These hashtags range from hobbies (#NaNoWriMo#inktober), to interests (#caturday#yogaeverydamnday), to social causes (#PuberMe#bodypositive).

When clients ask us what they’re doing wrong, we often respond that the problem is what they’re not doing. A tool can’t benefit you if you don’t use it to its full potential. Instagram has many more innovative and attractive features at your disposal — all you have to do is use them!

Do you want to get the most out of your social media marketing strategy? That’s why we’re here! We can help you streamline your social media channels, create a cohesive message, and attract your ideal customer. Contact us today for your free consultation!

 

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Coming Up Next In The Social Media Marketing World

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25Aug

Social media reflects the wants and needs of the people who use it. Because of that, it’s growth patterns are organic. Trends grow and fade, features are added and taken away. Some of these are very easy to predict while others come as a shock. For the rest of 2016 and early 2017, here’s what we’re expecting social media to give us:

Brace yourselves, holidays are coming – It’s about this time that you should start to consider how your business is going to tackle the holiday season. Obviously, this is the time many companies are at their busiest and marketing is needed. Social media has become a cornerstone element in spreading the word about Black Friday specials, holiday wishes, and everything in between. Prepare your content and make it unique. There are going to be tons of Santas flying around on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, so make sure yours stand out.

Brace yourselves even more, elections are coming – As if we haven’t had enough of election-related news already, it will only get more common until we hit that Tuesday in November. But it won’t stop there. No matter who gets the Presidency, the social media floodgates will burst with cheers, jeers, and a whole lot of controversy. As a business, tread lightly. Don’t show personal bias for any candidate.

Videos will continue to grow – Instagram proved just how much video matters when they unveiled Instagram Stories, which is reflective of Snapchat’s Story service. Videos aren’t going anywhere but up in popularity. It’s eye-catching content that is prominent on people’s newsfeeds. Try to devise a way to utilize videos in your social media. Not a filmmaker? No problem! There are tons of apps and programs that allow you to make creative slideshows based on pictures. You can be a Spielberg in no time!

More diverse advertising options – Recently, we’ve seen Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, and even Reddit tweak their advertising structures. They understand that this is their bread and butter and are making more options for marketers to utilize their services. Don’t miss out! Advertising can be inexpensive and will deliver you surprisingly large spikes of engagement. 

LinkedIn upgrades – Microsoft acquired LinkedIn recently and as such, we should expect some things to change for the social media platform for professionals. It’s doubtful Microsoft will completely change LinkedIn’s structure, but we should see at least a little bit of their presence.

Even more mobile accessibility – Apple and Android are preparing for another mobile war. The next line of iPhones will be released in the next month or so, and Samsung has already showcased their snazzy new Note 7, Galaxy 7, and Edge. With new technology comes new innovations for app developers. 3-D touch, new camera usage, and third-party accessibility will also improve social media platforms as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and others are forced to adapt to what the people want. 

More algorithms and updates –  This one should come as no surprise. One of these days, Twitter will finally roll out the coding that separates links from the 140 character limit. We should also see new Facebook and Facebook Live features being rolled out and some of them may not be free. 

Only time will tell what else is next for social media marketing, but professionals know how to adapt and take advantage of upgrades. The right social media manager will be able to handle the incoming transitions without a hiccup or delay in content publishing. Get ready to move onwards and upwards in the realm of social media. We couldn’t be more excited!

What other changes do you expect to come? Comment below!

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Bulletproof Marketer