Tag : instagram

How to Market Your Local Restaurant on Instagram

How to Market Your Local Restaurant on Instagram (4)
13Mar

We all know the stereotype about people posting pictures of their food on Instagram. But how do you make sure people are sharing photos of your food? Word of mouth is worth a lot, and you’ll need a plan if you’re going to make people care about your restaurant.

I’m tired of seeing restaurants flounder around on Instagram, so I’m stepping in to tell you how you can succeed on this visual platform. Let’s talk about what you should be doing!

Do Some #Research
Before you even think about posting anything, figure out what hashtags perform well in your industry/area. How do you do it? There are a few different places you can go to research hashtags, but a couple of my team’s favorites are Hashtagify and RiteTag. Use these to see what kinds of hashtags are popular in your industry! If you’re not sure what to look up, try spying on your competitors and seeing what they’re hashtagging.

For local businesses, location-based hashtags are going to be incredibly important. You can only sell to people near you, so make sure they’re seeing your posts! Don’t think just one tag is going to do it, either. You’ll want to include your city (with every possible variation in spelling), your county, and probably any surrounding neighborhoods.

Put Hashtags in the Right Place
Please, for me, stop loading your post with 10,000 hashtags. It’s unreadable. At the same time, don’t post something on Instagram with one hashtag and expect to get any sort of attention. In your post itself, limit yourself to 2-3 hashtags, and if you can, work them naturally into the copy.

So how do you add in all the extra hashtags? Load up 20-25(ish) hashtags that are based on your industry, location, branded hashtags, etc. Post that comment immediately after you’ve posted the photo, and your photo will be listed under those hashtags. This way you’re not assaulting your audience with too many hashtags in the post, but you’re also making sure that people will actually see your photo.

Click Here to Subscribe

Get Social
There’s a popular misconception that because people like to focus on themselves on social media, brands can do the same. You can’t.

You need to be liking other people’s posts, commenting, and generally doing anything to get your name out there. This is where location-based hashtags become important. Look up users in your area and talk to them! Engaging with them can get them thinking about your brand, and it’s a great way to get people interested in your restaurant.

When someone comments on your posts, acknowledge them! Like their comment at the very least, and respond with a thoughtful comment if at all possible. A thumbs up does NOT qualify as a thoughtful response!

Highlight the Behind-the-Scenes Moments
You can only post filtered photos of entrees for so long. Don’t be afraid to show your customers a side of the restaurant they don’t normally get to see! Spotlight your employees (with written consent), show how clean your kitchen is, just do something to keep things fresh and show a human side to your restaurant.

No matter how great your food is, I can promise you that there are other places people can go to get their dinner. That personal aspect is what matters on Instagram, and that’s what you need to highlight. Talk about the quality of your food, of course, but don’t forget that you need to be charming and likable or nobody’s going to care about your delicious meals at low, low prices.

Get Started
The sooner you start, the sooner you’ll have a backlog of great pictures that your customers can look through. It can take time to build up a social media presence, so don’t wait around and strategize for too long. Use this advice to skip some of the most common Instagram pitfalls for restaurants, and I know you’ll be fine!

Could you use some more personalized Instagram advice for your restaurant? We’ll discuss it in your free consultation with The Go! Agency!

Click Here to Subscribe

Read More

The Essential Guide to Engaging With Your Audience

The Essential Guide to Engaging With Your Audience
21Nov

You’ve got great ideas for new content and ads, but how do you know who to target? It’s safe to say that your new boat engine isn’t going to be a hit among lower-income twenty-somethings, which is why you’ll need to speak to the right audience.

But first, you’ll have to find them!

Identifying Your Audience
A tried and true method of finding the right audience is to craft a buyer persona. A buyer persona is an imaginary representation of who you’re selling to, and it makes sure your content is appealing to the right person. Here are some questions to help you create yours:

  • Where do they shop?
  • What social media platforms do they use?
  • What do they wear?
  • Where do they work?
  • Are they married?
  • Do they have kids? How many?
  • What’s their family situation?
  • Where do they live? (Think city, but also house, apartment, etc.)
  • What’s their financial situation?
  • What do they spend money on?
  • What’s their name? (This can help you remember that your audience has real people!)

Get as specific as you can! Once you’ve identified exactly who’s buying, you can figure out how to engage with them!

It’s important to remember that engagement best practices will vary from platform to platform, so it’s best to optimize your strategy for each social network.

Facebook
Fair warning: Facebook is one of the most difficult sites for engaging your audience. You want to have genuine, organic conversations, but Facebook’s algorithms tend to prioritize paid content. However, there are some workarounds!

Creating a Facebook group for your business is a great way to foster natural engagement. It will provide a space for your audience to interact directly with your brand, and it isn’t subject to the same algorithms that are at play in the news feed.

When people like your posts, invite them to like your page! They’ve shown that they’re interested in what you have to say, so encourage them to take that final step!

To draw in your audience, you’ll need to create Facebook ads. When writing, keep a clear idea of your buyer persona and what they expect from your brand!

Twitter
When looking for new people to engage with, search by hashtags that your buyer persona would use. It’s all about meeting your audience where they are, not trying to change them!

Another great tactic is to look at who’s following your competitors. If they like what a similar business is selling, they’ll probably like you, too!

Once you’ve found your target audience, what do you do? Like their posts, reply to them, just show them that you’re sincerely interested in what they have to say! Retweeting and quote tweeting are also some great platform-specific tools you should use!

Instagram
The strategies for finding people on Instagram are almost identical to Twitter’s plan: search hashtags and find who’s following your competitors. However, Instagram has one key advantage: location. If you have a brick and mortar store, go after people in your area!

You’ll want to like and comment on posts as always, but don’t stop there. Ask for permission to share a potential customer’s post! Decide whether it would fit best as a post or a story, then show that user you value them by sharing their visual!

LinkedIn
Join groups to find people! These are especially great because you’ll have a common interest to start a conversation. Additionally, you can search for people based on their job title and location. If someone has a job title that usually sends you referrals, then you should connect with them ASAP!

For B2B brands, consider what businesses you want to work with and search for their employees. If you were able to connect with someone, why not go ahead and send invitations to the people they work with?

Of course, there are two very different paths on LinkedIn. A company account can be a great boost for SEO, but it’s irrelevant when you’re trying to engage your audience. If you’re looking to form connections, decide who in your company will be the human face that’s attracting attention on LinkedIn.

Some Guiding Rules
There are certain principles that will serve you well on any platform. These include:

  • Don’t make a sale on someone else’s post.
  • Make comments meaningful! Don’t just reply with a thumbs up.
  • Respond to positive and negative interactions, whether that be via comments or messages!

And there you have it! You have everything you need to find and engage with your audience in a way that’s effective and works toward your marketing goals!

Could your visual content use some help? Schedule your free consultation with The Go! Agency!

Click Here to Subscribe

Read More

The Essential Guide to Social Media Metrics

The Essential Guide to Social Media Metrics
14Nov

If you’re new to tracking the success of a social media campaign, all of the jargon can get confusing. Still, it’s important to look at these metrics to determine how you can adjust and optimize your strategy.

I’m going to walk you through the metrics that will be worth watching for you and your campaign. Of course, all of that begins with establishing a goal!

Choosing a Goal
It’s impossible to say, “Always track these metrics,” because the key performance indicators (the metrics that are relevant to your campaign, also known as KPI) will change depending on your goal. The first step in identifying your goal is to look at what you need.

Let’s say you want to see some additional revenue from your social media marketing strategy. You’re looking to increase sales, so you should focus on the metrics:

  • Conversions: When customers take a specific action as determined by your campaign. This can be downloading an ebook, signing up for your newsletter, making a purchase, etc. For a sales goal, tracking the number of people who click on your ad and make a purchase is absolutely vital!
  • Clicks: Exactly what they sound like! The number of clicks you get on ads and posts can increase your web traffic, which means more people are browsing your site and considering making purchases.

Measuring these KPIs lets you see how to improve the number of sales that your strategy generates. If you find that your posts/ads aren’t being clicked on, then you know it’s time to change things up and restructure your posts to be more inviting to your audience.

Or maybe you’re a new business. You’ve got a good product and a great team, but not many people know about you yet. For your campaign, I’d suggest tracking:

  • Reach: The number of people who see your post or ad. Focusing on reach will get the word out about your business and help build your follower count.
  • Brand Awareness: How aware the public is of your business. Can they recognize your name and logo? Brand awareness is key to developing a following for your growing business!

It can take a long time, but nobody can buy from you if they don’t know who you are! A bigger audience will also make you more credible. If a potential customer is weighing between your product and a competitor’s, the side that has a larger following will seem more trustworthy.

What about once you’ve got a large audience? Well, then it’s time to focus on quality. What good are 10,000 page likes if nobody is interacting with your posts? As you work on getting more interaction, you’ll be following this KPI:

  • Engagement: The number of likes/comments/shares/interactions your posts generate. A horde of followers is great to have, but a smaller audience of people who are interacting with your content and your brand is usually going to be more important.

When evaluating the quality of your audience, engagement should be a major factor. Not only does the increased interaction on your posts make your brand look better, but it shows that users are getting value from your content marketing strategy. That’s a great sign, and when you’re noticing low engagement, it may be time to reexamine how you’re appealing to your audience!

Choose Wisely
Everyone wants to have a better social media marketing strategy, but not everyone wants to put the work into finding ways to improve. You need to find the right KPIs that align with your goals and keep a close eye on them. Once you’ve identified the trends across your chosen metric, you’ll be ready to make an actionable plan to craft an even better campaign!

Do you want to talk strategy with experienced marketing experts? Set up your free consultation with The Go! Agency!

Click Here to Subscribe

Read More

Go!TV Episode 10

GOTV Episode 10 (3)
9Nov

Welcome back to another Go!TV episode recap! We’re bringing you the information you need to have a successful social media campaign!

Social Media Management Tools
Managing your business’ social media is going to be all but impossible without some extra help. Between graphic design, writing content, and scheduling your final posts, it’s just too much for one person to handle!

That’s why we’re sharing the social media management tools that you absolutely need to use. We look at scheduling softwares to let you plan an effective content posting strategy, design tools to make sure your visuals are drawing in your audience, and writing tools so you’re not wasting hours trying to come up with new ideas for content!

The Go! Agency

And that is the end of another Go!TV episode recap! As a marketer, you need to use your time as efficiently as possible! Take the initiative and check out our podcast and blog for even more useful social media guidance!

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

Read More

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!

Read More

GoTV Episode 6

Go TV Episode 6
12Oct

Welcome back to Go!TV! We’re glad to have you as we take a look at this week’s breaking news in social media. Here’s the marketing news that you need to know!

Facebook

Expect Facebook Stories Ads Soon
After months of preliminary testing, Facebook is now encouraging its Marketing Partners to prepare for Stories Ads. In the coming months, Facebook Stories are expected to become the place to be for digital marketers. While Stories are only viewed by 150 million people, a comparatively small portion of the Facebook audience, experts anticipate that Stories Ads will be hyper effective since users won’t already feel inundated with ads through the new medium.

Marketing Land

Facebook Pages Can Join Groups to Build Engagement
Most marketers are still less-than-pleased with Facebook since their recent algorithm shifts have made it harder for brands to engage with their audiences. That sentiment may shift a bit now that Facebook pages will be able to join groups to directly engage with potential customers. Ideally, this development will let advertisers recoup some losses by interacting with their target demographics and generating more conversions.

Social Media Today

Pinterest

Third Parties Gain New Access to Pinterest’s API
In a boon to advertisers everywhere, Pinterest has announced that it will make its API available to third-party platforms. This means that brands advertising on Pinterest will be able to track important metrics like views, impressions, and click-through rates. Because engagement is already so high on the site, marketers in relevant industries should seriously consider the advantages of expanding campaigns to include this DIY giant.

Marketing Dive

That’s it for this week’s episode of Go!TV! Thanks so much for joining us, and if you liked this episode, come visit our podcast and blog for even more social media news and know-how!

Want more Go? Here are the other places you can follow us: FacebookInstagramTwitter!

Read More

GoTV Episode 5

On Episode 5 of GoTV Christopher Tompkins, The Go! Agency's CEO, talks about Instagram's hidden hashtags, Facebook's smart device, and Twitter ads.
5Oct

Thanks for stopping by Go!TV! As always, we’re thrilled to be your source for the latest news in the world of social media advertising. Let’s see what’s happening this week!

Instagram

Instagram Tests a New Feature Allowing Hidden Hashtags
Don’t you hate the look of 30 hashtags clogging up the space after a well-thought-out Instagram post? Well, that may be a struggle of the past. Instagram is tinkering with a new option that would allow you to add hashtags in a separate, hidden space that would preserve the aesthetic integrity of your original post. It’s worth noting that this feature may not be implemented, but it’s a promising sign that Instagram is looking into less obstructive ways for users to hashtag their posts.

Jane Manchun Wong
Social Media Today

Facebook

Facebook May Launch its Smart Home Device Next Week
Rumors are circulating that Facebook is about to launch its new smart speaker, “Portal,” next week. Cheddar reported that Portal will be functionally similar to Amazon’s Echo Show and, most interestingly, Facebook’s new smart home device will be able to interface with Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant. If true, this would hint at a possible exchange between the two giants wherein Portal has access to Amazon and Amazon devices may be Facebook-connectable.

While these are undeniably exciting prospects, brand trust for Facebook is notably low amid allegations of user data misuse. For this reason, it’s expected that Facebook’s face-recognizing camera will have a feature that allows users to cover the wide-angle lens when their Portal isn’t in use.

Cheddar
Social Media Today

Twitter

Twitter Test Expands Ads to Include Timelines on Third-Party Sites
Twitter may finally expand its advertising options! Their new test allows advertisers to include their promoted content within timelines embedded on third-party websites. While it’s not expected to be a game-changer in the world of Twitter advertisements, this expansion would offer creative businesses another opportunity to get their content in front of the right audience.

Marketing Land
Social Media Today

And that wraps up this week’s Go!TV episode! We can’t wait to see you next week! If you enjoyed this episode, you’re going to get a lot out of our podcast and our blog!

Like and subscribe to make sure you don’t miss anything! Here are all the places you can find your favorite marketing experts: FacebookInstagramTwitter

Read More

GoTV Episode 4

928918 GoTV Episode 4
28Sep

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 FacebookInstagram, and Twitter.

Read More

GoTV Episode 3

GoTV Episode 3 Blog
21Sep

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! 

Read More

GoTV Episode 2

GoTV Episode 2 Blog
14Sep

Welcome to Go! TV, your weekly look at the world of social media!

Instagram

Instagram might enable users to tag videos.
Instagram is currently testing a feature that enables users to tag video posts. User tagging is great for encouraging engagement, as users are notified when someone tags them in other content. Although users can tag others in the comments section of a video, this option is a more organic method. Additionally, the in-video tags allow comments sections to (hopefully) focus on discussion. This feature is currently testing.

Social Media Today
Tech Crunch

Facebook

Universal Pictures teams with Facebook and Messenger for first integrated AR experience.
To promote the DVD release of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Universal pictures joined forces with Facebook to create an integrated augmented reality (AR) experience for Facebook Messenger app users. This is proof of AR’s growing popularity among major platforms, as social media networks and apps continue to compete for users and engagement.

Mobile Marketer
Cision PR Newswire

What do you think about brands moving into AR? Would you be more swayed to see the movie based on this ad? 

Facebook’s Canvas ads get a new name and new features. 
Facebook is revamping its Canvas ads, advertisements that acted as a site-within-a-site on Facebook’s mobile app. Renamed “Instant Experience,” these ads will continue to offer an immersive experience in addition to new features and options. The updated ads also have improved performance and load times. Facebook Pixel will now automatically be included in the Instant Experience ads if the advertiser’s website also uses Facebook Pixel.

Social Media Today
Facebook Business 

Twitter

Twitter debuts audio-only live streams.
The microblogging leviathan is now dabbling in audio. The platform announced recently that it will enable iOS users (soon to be joined by Android users) to live stream audio-only content. Periscope engineer Richard Plom explains,

“Broadcasting with audio only in Periscope is something the community has been asking for, and have been doing already by covering the camera lens. Sometimes people are not comfortable being on camera, but they still want to broadcast and interact with others via Periscope’s powerful chatroom feature.” 

If you thought that this innovation sounds an awfully lot like a podcast, you are not wrong! It’s essentially podcasting live. Given the popularity of podcasting in America, this is not surprising. Over a quarter of all Americans listen to at least one podcast per month, with 17% of Americans tuning in weekly to their favorite podcasts. (Source: Podcast Insights)

Social Media Today
Medium
Podcast Insights

Speaking of great podcasts, we have a new episode of Success to Go! Check it out here.

Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share your thoughts below!

Read More
x
Bulletproof Marketer