The Most Common Design And Visual Mistakes Social Media Marketers Make

4Apr

In our previous blog, we discussed five techniques to incorporate into your social media marketing strategy when you are creating visuals. We promoted these so you can avoid big mistakes that many brands (even major ones) often make. With that in mind, you might be asking about the biggest foul-ups you should avoid. That’s why we created this list.

These are the biggest branding blunders you can make on social media. As you read, you may find yourself itching to log into Facebook, Twitter, or even Pinterest and fix these mistakes immediately. Don’t panic, however. Even the biggest brands make mistakes– that’s the beauty of social media marketing, there’s always room for improvement.

1. Controversial imagery. A few years ago, major clothing retailer Gap made a major faux-pas by creating an ad that was perceived as racist. They took down the ad and withdrew it from all their channels, but the damage was done. Dove, Peta, Pepsi, and Sony have all made similar huge mistakes by not thinking their imagery all the way through. The results ended up offending a group of people and backfiring on their brand considerably. Do yourself a favor and look at your marketing from ALL angles.You can cause a firestorm if you’re smart.

2. Poor quality imagery. You would be surprised at how many brands don’t see a problem incorporating blurry, pixelated or poor quality imagery– especially when designing a cover image for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or another platform. Make sure your images are at least 300 dpi and used in its more optimal form. Of course, there are other mistakes that could be made. Typos in superimposed texts, content that doesn’t match your branding, off-subject content, and more.

3. Cut off imagery. You spent hours designing that cover image. You uploaded it and it looks great. So why is your VP of Sales calling you saying it looks all wonky on her iPhone? When you’re designing your imagery, you need to accommodate for all screens and platform specifications. While it is possible, it can be quite challenging without a team of designers helping you. Even more frustrating, they have changed these dimensions before and continue to do so, so your team must be ready to adapt their catalog of files at a moment’s notice.

Take a moment and do a quick Google search for marketing mistakes. You will find countless examples of big brands that have made these errors and in some cases, continue to do so. Make sure you get the right kind of publicity and market appropriately.

To learn how our team of designers can improve your company’s online branding, click here: http://ow.ly/aMtS30jdZHM

Click Here to Subscribe

The 5 Secrets To Improving Your Social Media Imagery

By Christopher Tompkins

2Apr

Graphic Design, Social Media

Let’s say you’re looking at a house online. Sure, knowing the dimensions, numbers of rooms, and statistics are all vital factors to learning about the property. But what you really want is a large album of photos to check out. Even though they were angled and staged by a professional photographer, we prefer to have a visual of the real deal. It’s the photos that make you want to contact the realtor. Without great pictures, you would never even consider visiting the home.

Your social media marketing should abide by the same laws.

Take a look at some of the most recent updates your brand has published on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other platforms. What do the images look like? Is it the content you want to represent your brand? Are your proud of it? The truth is, social media is quickly becoming the first piece of content many consumers see when experiencing a brand for the first time. The last thing you want is to present your brand with shoddy images.

Since it’s spring time, you might want to consider some spring cleaning on your social media images. These five techniques are used by professional content marketers when they are creating quality work. Are you ready to get creative?

1. Crisp, clean, and quality photos. Photos that capture certain elements of your company are effective on social media due to their originality and human nature. However, you want to make sure that these photos are high-quality. If a quality camera isn’t in the budget, most smartphones come with a decent camera of at least 12 megapixels. This will allow you to take a clear photo and minimize blurriness. When deciding on your subject manner, make sure it is in the center of the photo and is self-explanatory. No one wants to try and decipher what the subject of your photo is. Photos can be action shots of your employees helping customers, snapshots of your latest products, or even pictures of your organization’s location. All of these are great ways to add a bit of originality to your strategy.

2. Stock photos. If you’re not ready for the camera, you might want to consider high-resolution stock photos. These files should be large in size and as clear as day. One thing worth noting– if you’re going the stock photo route, keep in mind that because of the number of people that use these purchased images, they may come off as inorganic. Some of these photos have cheesy actors or props in obviously fake scenarios. Weed through the stock photo sites such as iStock and find ones that don’t look staged. Another good rule of thumb is to avoid clear cut face shots of the actors. It’s all about capturing a certain element of your business, not identifying a person to represent your business specifically.

3. Logos. For some businesses, this one is fairly simple. Others may have to go back to the drawing board. When creating a social media page for your business, you should have your logo as your profile image. This should be the latest version of your logo and be as high-quality as possible. If you have this logo in vector form (.AI, .EPS, and smart .PDFs), that would be best since you will need multiple different files with dimensions that meet platform image specifications. In other words, the image you use for Facebook may be cut off on Twitter, or vice versa, depending on the platform’s current standards (which often change).

4. Branded images. Combine steps 1-3 for this step. Harness the power of graphic design and create images with your branding superimposed upon relevant images. Whether you just add your logo or further graphics that match your tone, colors, and style, this is an important part of a your content rollout. One of the best ways to create this is through Canva. The team at Canva has created a world-class platform in which you can generate and share truly original designs that are sized to each platform’s specifications.

5. Videos. Ask any professional in the social media marketing world what the most crucial part of an image strategy is, and they will say video. This medium must be incorporated into your monthly content calendar because of its effectiveness but also because of how it takes priority in the current platform algorithms. Incorporate production-quality videos showing demonstrations of your products or services, Q&As, behind the scenes, announcements, interviews, and much more. Camera shy? No worries. A collection of pictures can be morphed into a slideshow that matches your branding.

It’s time to jazz up your imagery. With the above 5 techniques in mind, how does your current content stack up? If you’re starting to see room for improvement, that’s a good thing. You’re taking your first steps into a better understanding of quality content. But here’s the issue many face– each one of the above requires a team with both skilled creatives and analytical managers. That’s where The Go! Agency can step in. Every day, we create a variety of quality imagery for our clients so they look their very best online!

Click here to learn more: http://ow.ly/G0qq30jdWkf

Click Here to Subscribe

Setting The Tone: Writing My Business’s Social Media Bio

By Christopher Tompkins

28Mar

Copywriting, Social Media

We recently published a blog about the general structure of a social media bio for your business. Perhaps you sat down with all those tips handy to write your new bio and still came up blank. No worries! We’ve only begun to skim the surface.

To create a spectacular bio, you need to pack a punch with your copy. As we’ve said, you already have a very limited space to formulate your message. As a result, every word needs to count. But if you do this right, your bio will increase your online visibility and drive more traffic to your business.

Here are five tips for creating an engaging and effective bio that you can use across all your social media accounts:

1. Cut out as many “stop words” as possible. In the world of SEO, experts refer to words that would not ever be searched for, such as “the” “a” “an” or “us” as stop words. While it’s impossible to write legible copy without these important words, you should prioritize searchable keywords that define your industry, location, demographics, and business as a whole.

2. Be passionate. You want to be as professional as possible, but if your bio puts your readers to sleep, you’re not setting a very good tone for your business and team. Write your bio to exhibit that you are proud of your mission, your team, and that you deliver exceptional quality that exceeds your competitors.

3. Be human. The whole point of social media marketing is to appeal to your audience in a human way. Do not use phrasing that is over the top or full of industry-exclusive jargon. Instead, focus on vocabulary that is casual and understandable.

4. Don’t oversell. One of the biggest issues we see with many companies’ bios is that they over deliver. “The best in New York.” “Sure to offer an amazing experience.” “The most effective product you will ever use.” This isn’t the place to over promise and under deliver. Instead, use your passion and tone to show that your business offers benefits based in reality. Then, your customers will be able to see that you’re amazing on their own.

5. Be personal. At the very end of your bio, directly address your audience. Include “you” or “your” so they feel like they are being directly addressed. It might sound a bit cheesy, but there is a lot of psychology at play here. If they feel as if they are being spoken to instead of being spoken at, they will feel more comfortable with your brand and more inclined to respond to your call to action.

As you can see, you’re going to need a bit of a creative spark to truly make an outstanding business bio. The good news is that as long as you’re excited about your business and have a drive to appeal to your customers, you shouldn’t have a problem. But just in case writing isn’t your thing, The Go! Agency has a proven track record in creating outstanding bios and maximizing profiles!

Click here to learn more: http://ow.ly/9jOD30jaiOo

Click Here to Subscribe

Writing An Amazing Bio For Social Media Marketing

By Christopher Tompkins

26Mar

Copywriting, Social Media

If you had to sum up what your brand represents in a brief statement, would you be able to do it? You would think that it’s a simple task, but many business owners and marketers alike find themselves fumbling in an attempt to narrow down their mission into just a brief paragraph.

When it comes to crafting a perfect social media biography, you need to think about short, effective, and keyword-driven copy. You’re competing against your audience’s attention span and the platform’s limited space, so you really need to make every word count. With this concept in mind, let’s jump right into it.

Here is a great bio to look at for reference:

Oak Meadow Assisted Living Community is located in the heart of Tuscon, AZ and has been improving residents’ lives since 1977. We specialize in Memory Care, Personal Care, Independent Living, and Respite Care. If your aging loved one needs help with day to day tasks or suffers from a form of dementia, contact us today to discover how can help. Call 555-343-2766 to learn more or visit our site to learn more: www.samplesite.com.

Here are the steps to take when writing your company’s bio online:

1. Revisit your mission statement. You’ve most likely written a mission statement in the early days of conceptualizing your business. Mission statements serve as a great resource when you’re writing a bio for social media. In fact, this is where you may find a lot of inspiration. Ask yourself this question — “What would I need to know to understand this business as an outsider?” Your answer should be the driving force behind your biography.

2. Searchable keywords. Since space is an issue, make sure all nouns are important keywords people would use to search for a business like yours. Your goal is to establish what your business is, the services you offer, and who would actually need what you’re offering. You can see above that Oak Meadow’s bio does all that in a very small space. You really wouldn’t need much more to understand Oak Meadow’s operations.

3. Add a call to action. This is important, particularly for Instagram since you can’t add links to your posts. This is a vital call to action that a surprising amount of people forgo. Don’t forget, one of the main goals of social media is to invite your audience to further delve into your brand. A call to action should always be accessible. For Instagram, you can end your promo posts’ copy with [LINK IN BIO] so your audience doesn’t have to look far for your website. Additionally, as Oak Meadow put, you should add a phone number so everyone using their smartphones on social media (over 200 million daily) can just tap your number and the conversation can begin!

4. Make it consistent. Finally, don’t forget that your bio is a major part of your branding and as a result, you need to ensure it is consistent across all your accounts on the variety of platforms. Your bio on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and the other social media sites must be the same. This is why it’s important to keep it short, simple, and relatable.

If you are trying to craft a compelling bio for your business, you may be at the very beginning of your social media marketing journey. Or perhaps you already have a bio and it seems a little flat. Either way, the above steps will help you create an effective biography that will benefit your overall strategy. Keep an eye out later this week for our about the content structure and copy’s tone so you can be sure your bio is punchy and memorable.

To learn how The Go! Agency can optimize your biography and your social media accounts as a whole, click here: http://ow.ly/iFhh30j9O8a

Click Here to Subscribe

Turn That Social Media Silence Into Chatter With These 4 Steps

By Dale Griffen

12Feb

Snapchat, Social Media

There are 800 million people on Instagram, nearly one billion on Twitter, and two billion on Facebook. How then is it possible that your awesome content—the writing and visuals you’d spent hours perfecting—got only one or two likes? You thought social media marketing (SMM) was supposed to be a surefire way to generate new leads and build a strong customer base. What went wrong?

The truth is that social media marketing can do all that, but no one said it was easy. If you’re experiencing problems as you try to create a strong following on social media, you’re not alone. In fact, 55% of business owners that begin social media marketing campaigns as part of their New Year resolutions become disheartened by mid-February, sending out less and less content. Soon enough, these business owners find themselves with a dead Facebook page or Twitter account—and anxiety at the mere thought of logging back in to either.

But successful social media marketing takes persistence and flexibility. Instead of giving up on your dream of a vast and engaged online audience, you need to adapt your strategy.

At The Go! Agency, we often work with clients who come to us at a loss. Their social media pages just aren’t getting any attention. After reviewing their current strategy, we often find room for improvement—and more often than not, they have very common, fixable issues.

Here are a few techniques that may breathe new life into your social media marketing:

1. Focus on content, not promotions.

When it comes to social media marketing, there is a common misconception that every piece of content is supposed to generate leads. However, the right SMM approach will be much more subtle. The point of social media is to build customer-brand relationships. The best way to do that is to offer content they will actually want. So whether you want to create an information-packed blog or share how-to videos, creating and distributing content that your customers actually want to consume will do wonders for your engagement.

2. Study your performance.

If you experienced a significant slump in numbers, you can gain valuable information from your previous attempts. It might be time to head to your old data and try and decipher what worked before. Did engagement change when you deviated from a successful formula for content? If that’s the case, then you may have to go back and incorporate some older ideas. Did your formula remain the same, but your audience drift away? That probably means that you’ve saturated (and bored) your audience, so you’ll need to shake up your strategy. Change things up at the content and audience level. See what works, and go with it.

3. Spend money to make money.

Here’s the hard truth: you get what you pay for, every time. You should budget for social media advertising, whether it is on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. The good news is that you can quickly see the advertising’s impact on engagement. You may be tempted to go it alone and use “word of mouth” to spread your message organically, but you will soon see that promoted content has the potential to reach a vastly larger number of prospective customers.

4. Reassess Your Conversion Funnels.

Like any marketing professional, your ultimate goal will be getting those customers to complete transactions. But what would be the customer’s next logical step for such a wonderful thing to take place? Clicking a link, of course. But where are you sending your audience? To your home page, your blog, anywhere at all? You need to figure out where your desired traffic is going and what they’re doing when they get there. Install Facebook tracking onto your site to see if customers are moving onto the next level of engagement: liking, sharing, commenting, or focusing on your site. This will be a big help to see if the landing page (the page to which your links direct traffic) is giving you the results you want.

Social media is an amazing opportunity for brands to present themselves to a wide array of potential customers in an attractive light. However, sometimes you need a serious shake up to get results. That’s where a team like ours at The Go! Agency can help. Our team of marketers will help you every step of the way, no matter what. There’s no denying that social media marketing can be a roller coaster, but with the right team of professionals at your side, the ride isn’t quite so scary.

Click Here to Subscribe

Why You Can’t Postpone Social Media Marketing Any Longer

By Dale Griffen

3Oct

Social Media

Autumn is such a great season. The air gets a tad cooler, football season has kicked off, and of course, pumpkin spice lattes have returned. (If you’re into that!) Yet for marketers, the coming of fall means Q4 is here, and the pressure is on in a big way.

You should have spent your summer ramping up and strategizing for the upcoming busy season. If you spent a little too much time at the beach and failed to prepare, don’t panic. You still have just enough to get started.

You may be asking why is it so important to act now? Social media isn’t going anywhere, right? Here are just a few reasons why you can’t postpone social media marketing any longer.

Your budget depends on it.

For many companies, the end of the year means restructuring budgets. Did your marketing team spend less than originally projected? Those leftover funds may cost you that same amount in 2019’s budget, thereby losing out on your chance to make your mark online in the future. To put it simply, if you don’t use it, you may lose it. On the other hand, if you’re planning your 2019 budget – have you included a social media budget? Do you know what that figure should be?

You might be wondering what exactly there is to pay for when it comes to social media marketing. After all, signing up and creating a page is free. Well because of social media’s effectivity and potential to reach your ideal audience, over 50 million other companies are already using these sites for marketing purposes. As you could imagine, some of those may be your competitors. Paid advertising options exist so you can have an advantage. Rising above in the sea of other companies on Facebook, Twitter, and other sites is essential to the success of your social media.

Additionally, your marketing efforts won’t get you very far without exceptional content. You will need stunning visuals, compelling copy, innovative video, and much more. As you can imagine, there is a cost for making the kind of content that stops your readers in their tracks and gets them interested in your brand. Whether you are spending money on material or outsourcing to a team of pros, your content deserves attention.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

The research is in. People flock to social media from mid-October to the end of January more than any other time of the year. Whether they are hunting for the best Black Friday deals or sending out their holiday wishes to friends and family, they are using the same location – social media platforms. This is why it is paramount that your business has a presence on these sites and your content is tailored to the right audience. Social media marketing can help you stand in the spotlight during this special season no matter if your target audience is down the road or all across the globe.

Get exactly what you asked for.

Every company makes their money in different ways. For example, some depend on website clicks while others require customers to visit their physical location. This is one of the most significant reasons as to why social media marketing works. Your strategy should be customized to meet exactly what your company needs. This is particularly helpful when the holiday season hits and you have sales your customers need to know about, or you have a new e-commerce site that is ready for things like the Cyber Monday rush, but you need to raise awareness. It’s up to you to choose how social media works.

End 2018 strong and begin 2019 with a bang!

I have talked to many business owners who say that a majority of their returning customers found them during the holiday rush. It may be thanks to a Black Friday doorbuster, a Small Business Saturday sale (yes, that exists, and social media has made it huge!), or a gift from a loved one that brought their attention to the brand, a lot of customers choose new companies to stick with for the new year. This is why raising brand awareness and online visibility cannot be overlooked during these following months.

Are you ready?

Social media marketing will help legitimize your brand and get people talking about your business online. There’s never a better time for it than the busiest season. Everyone is buzzing about, make sure your company isn’t left in the stone age!

Who Is On Your Social Media Marketing Team?

By Christopher Tompkins

Copy of Go! Blog Image Templates (900x350) (23)

25Jul

Social Media

When you are trying to market your business online, you are going to need some help. If you are reading this, you probably already know that. But in this instance, I do not necessarily mean advice on how to strategize or formulate your content. Instead, I am talking about members of your team.

A well-equipped social media marketing has a wide range of technically-minded workers and creatives that contribute to the overall goal of brand awareness, branding excellence, and online recognition. The following professionals should be members of your marketing team. You may find that some people will be able to don multiple hats and handle more than one of these responsibilities. However, I would not recommend only one employee handling all of this alone. As you will see, there’s quite a lot to do.

1. Manager. A social media manager is the heart and soul of a marketing campaign. These professionals post content at the appropriate time, watch current trends and guide creatives towards the right angle, and ensures everything is running smoothly. They optimize a company’s profiles on the separate platforms and does their best to raise engagement levels as high as possible.

2. Copywriter. The copywriters are in charge of the written portion of content creation. They write social media posts, blogs, Facebook notes, advertisement copy, and much more. These writers have a responsibility to keep the company’s voice consistent and to utilize visibility tools such as SEO, hashtags, Twitter handles, and more to ensure that they spread the word.

3. Graphic Designer. A graphic designer or visual artist is essential so all pictures, videos, GIFs, logos, cover images, and all forms of non-verbal branding is professional and consistent. You need to have a recognizable and unique look that speaks volumes about your company’s culture, message, work, and mission. A designer will be able to create original content on a regular basis and make sure it’s quality meets the expectation of your customer base.

4. Customer Service Representative. Speaking of customers, you will need a friendly, knowledgeable, and professional representative to speak to your followers. Whether they send you a message via Facebook’s Messenger app or shout at your brand through a tweet or two, they deserve a well-planned response. Customer service and communication are huge aspects of social media marketing, as more and more people are using these platform as avenues to get their queries answered.

5. Analyst. What is working and what isn’t? What content really struck a chord with your online audience? What advertisements are working? What demographics should you focus on? All of these questions and many, many more can be answered by an experienced social media analyst. This is where all-important data comes into play and can steer your other employees in the right direction.

6. Spy. Of course you don’t have an actual secret agent on your social media marketing team (although it would be pretty cool if you did). But you need someone to see what your competition is doing online. Do they have a larger following than you do? Is their content better? Or are you winning? Chances are, this essential responsibility will fall on your analyst or manager.

Who is on your social media team? Are they trained in the ways of social media and ready to take on anything the internet can throw at them?

5 Simple Steps For Attracting A Crowd On Twitter

By Christopher Tompkins

Copy of Go! Blog Image Templates (900x350) (22)

11Apr

Copywriting, Pinterest, Snapchat, Twitter

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

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

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

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

1. Offer open communication

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

2. Promotions

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

3. Start the conversation

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

4. Freebies

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

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

5. Go Live

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

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

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

At The Drawing Board: A New Facebook Ads Campaign

By Christopher Tompkins

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

5Apr

Advertising, Facebook, Social Media

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

I know, shocker.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Our Monthly Marketing Meeting

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

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

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

Setting Goals

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

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

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

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

Choosing a Focus

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yes And: The Go! Agency’s Improv Experience

By Christopher Tompkins

Copy of Go! Blog Image Templates (900x350) (21)

5Apr

The Go! Agency

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tag : instagram for business