New Tools of Trade

5Jun

Advertising, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Social Media, Uncategorized

Okay, so say you’ve finally decided to sign up for social media and you have some fresh accounts. For starters, you’ll most likely have a Facebook page, Twitter account, and maybe a LinkedIn account. You might start the first few weeks strong, one to two posts a day, sending out really engaging content to the internet. However, maybe you take a day off and you start to falter, or your work day was too busy to post. Now you’re two days behind, three days, four… soon this whole social media marketing thing seems to be too much than its worth and you give up. If done incorrectly, social media can be a slippery slope to internet anonymity. The pressure to post on a constant basis can be daunting for many, if you’re doing it alone. So, how can you stop this from happening?

Software developers aren’t oblivious to the digital world around them. There’s tons of helpful third party apps, programs, and websites that can help you tackle the social media landscape with ease.

Hootsuite – We’ve mentioned this big helper before, but it’s definitely worth talking about twice. Hootsuite offers multiple features to make you a social media pro. Their Streams feature lets you view multiple news feeds of content at once. You can post from any social media account, or schedule them for the future. Hootsuite is, in a word, irreplaceable.

Notifier– Yet as awesome as Hootsuite is, it is not a one stop shop. Notifier does something few other programs can. It analyses your content for references to other companies and does research so you can tag the appropriate accounts to get a little extra publicity. Most social media managers try to tag other users if possible, but Notifier is an excellent tool to utilize.

Crate– One of the most important tactics a social media pro uses is to analyze trending topics. Crate is here to help you figure out the hot topics that are relevant to your brand and interests. It’s primarily aimed towards Twitter users so they can hone their content to get the most views and followers.

Canva- The above tools are great for text content, but what about visual? After all, social media success requires a nice balance between pictures and text. Canva is a great tool to help users make stunning imagery. While graphic designers are always amazing resources, websites like Canva can be quick alternatives that can make your posts look amazing.

Tagboard- Hashtags may seem to be a mystery to novice users. But in reality, they’re cornerstones to popular posts. Tagboard is a resource that offers you lists of the most used hashtags in present day. This is a great way to keep relevant.

As you can see, these five tools go above and beyond and will help your content do the same.

Have you tried any of these tools? Did we miss any great ones you’d like to share? Comment below!

Social Media Around the World

By Christopher Tompkins

4Jun

Social Media

The point of social media is to connect the world’s many citizens. Through this technologically based revolution, we’ve kept in contact with people that would never be possible otherwise. Thanks to international phone charges, we would never be able to hear our loved one’s voices if it wasn’t for some of these platforms. However, are we as connected as we’d like to think? Just because we’re all using social media, it doesn’t mean we’re on the same platform. All over the globe, there are numerous popular social media websites that claim hundreds of millions of users, ones that Americans most likely never heard of. You’d be surprised just how varied the international waters of social media are.

It’s no surprise Facebook reigns supreme in North America and many other countries. It has approximately a whopping 1.5 billion members, just for its core website. They also have their Messenger and Live services, which are both growing exponentially. It’s safe to say that Americans think of Mark Zuckerberg’s brainchild when the term social media comes up in conversations. Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn all have millions upon millions of users and help countless businesses every single day. Our beloved social media websites stretch beyond our waters and we see many of them being used internationally, but they have much more competition out there. So, enough about the social media companies we all know about and let’s meet their contenders.

One of China’s largest social media websites, Baidu Tieba, also doubles as a highly developed search engine. Just think if Google and Google + combined, then decided to add a ton of awesome features. It has approximately 300 million users. Baidu Tieba’s websites proves it goes beyond a traditional social media design with it’s multi-facet functionality. It offers forums called bars, similar to Reddit’s subreddits, a news page that allows you to research many niche topics, gaming, and even more. It’s a one stop shop for China’s internet users.

Yet taking China’s size into consideration, Baidu Tieba can’t be the only social media platform that its citizens flock to. Sina Weibo, or just Weibo, is another extremely popular website that offers services similar to Tumblr. Microblogging has been around since Live Journal’s popular run. Some cultures and subcultures appreciate this kind of social networking more than others and Weibo’s success just shows how vibrant blogging still is. Steven Hawking made a social media account, one of the few Westerners that have, and he received over 1 million friend requests in 24 hours.

Most of us have seen WhatsApp. While it isn’t as intuitive as Facebook and Weibo, it certainly solves a social problem. That being said, WhatsApp has its work cut out itself in the global front. With Skype, Line, Yy, WeChat and more, the concept of free texting, calling, and video chatting is wide spread and each one covers its own multitudes of users. KakaoTalk dominates South Korea’s messaging services, but also doubles as a more traditional social media platform, offering profiles, pics, videos, and news feeds. KakaoTalk is attempting to have a global reach, but mostly has a large following in Asia.

Now, a question you might be having as a businessperson is, how do I sign up for all these platforms, sending my reach to global heights? That’s one of the down sides. Many social media platforms are limited to your specific region and, depending on your country’s laws, you might not be able to access all these sites. Even Facebook, despite its international reach, is not accessible in all countries.

Social media is a global phenomenal, whether it is traditional social networking, communication lines, or blogging. This shows just how important it is to get yourself established in the social media platforms you have available. You should also be willing to try out websites that aren’t as popular in the US.

Do you have any experience in any of these internationally renowned social media sites? Comment below!

Marketing Faux-Pas to Learn from

By Christopher Tompkins

2Jun

Advertising, Email Marketing, Marketing, Social Media, Uncategorized

There’s no doubt about it, we live in a society where one slip up can cost you an untold amount of money and a whole customer base. Even if an advertisement was never in any way meant to be offensive, an accidental negative message can crush a company’s image. Marketing can make or break you. How can you stay politically correct without ever intending for a political statement in the first place? Of course, people have the tendency to twist things and distort messages in a light that was never meant to be. However, the best way to protect yourself is to ignore the mistakes of the past. Here are some ads that backfired for their brand:

Gap received hard criticism for using an image that contained a Caucasian girl leaning her propped arm on an African American girl’s head. People were furious over this imagery and Gap had to apologize quickly.
Bud Light made a big mistake by using “The perfect beer for removing “no” from your vocabulary for the night. #UpForWhatever” on their packaging. People mistook it for promoting not only reckless behavior, but sexual assault. Bud Light’s VP apologized personally, but a large chunk of damage was done.
In an attempt to bash their competitor, Sprint asked a Caucasian woman what she’s reminded of when thinking about T-Mobile. She said it’s ghetto, which raised a firestorm around Sprint, saying they were insinuating racist and classist thinking.
Perhaps the most recent marketing blunder goes to Cheerios. They posted an image saying “Rest in Peace” meant to pay tribute to Prince. They replaced the i’s dot with a piece of their round cereal and people said they were using the music icon’s passing as a way to promote their product. Oops!

Talk about controversy, right? All these mistakes show that a message can be taken the wrong way without the creator ever intending anything. It can seem like you’re walking on eggshells, but try to put yourself in other’s shoes. When crafting posts, it is important to realize that EVERYBODY can see what you write and with that, comes a lot of subjective interpretation. Try your best to see your image from any angle possible and get a colleague to play devil’s advocate.

For more advertising errors, check out Entrepreneur’s article here: http://ow.ly/4nqLms

Do you have any other examples or personal experiences in advertising backfires? Share with us below!

Hootsuite: Your Social Media Sidekick

By Christopher Tompkins

31May

Facebook, Marketing, Social Media, Twitter, Uncategorized

When you start getting more involved with social media, you’ll find that it’s a little bit like chess: easy to learn, hard to master. This is especially true when you manage multiple pages on multiple platforms. How can somebody keep up with it all? Introducing Hootsuite!

Hootsuite is a great way to manage the social media frontier. Not only can you post to all your accounts and pages from a single browser window, you can also view a ton of content at one time. Their “Streams” feature allows you to view how certain hashtags, keywords, and trending subjects are doing in cyberspace. Streams will help you get inspiration by seeing a stream of similar content that you want to post. You’ll also be able to do a quick search if you don’t feel like investing a whole column to a particular subject, or if you just want to see if a topic is still relevant. After all, things quickly change in the social media world, and you could use a hand to keep up with it all.

Consider Hootsuite your social media HUB. This is true for content, but also for posting your own original work. Hootsuite lets you post directly from its dashboard, but you can also schedule your posts so you don’t have to be glued to a screen all the time. While you’re out enjoying life, you can tell Hootsuite to keep your pages freshly supplied with content.

One of its more recent additions is a widget called Hootlet. This will help you make a post on the fly with the right account, a shortened URL, and it can even keep track of character count for Twitter. It’s a great way to be able to stay on the page you’re reading while getting it ready for sharing.

There are many wonderful features Hootsuite has to offer in both free and premium versions. You’ll wonder how you managed without it!

What do you think of Hootsuite? Comment below!

How Musicians Can Rock Social Media

By Christopher Tompkins

30May

Social Media

Every business has a place on social media and every industry has unique rules when engaging with their audience. Each field has different tones, terminology, and demographics that can only make sense to those involved in that world. This also pertains to the music frontier. Musicians, at no matter what stage in their career, thrive on publicity and visibility. How else are they going to get their tunes out there? It can help all those aspiring music legends to listen to these tips from Hypebot that can really get your social media accounts rocking:

– Pick your crowd. It’s important to be sure your messages aren’t falling on deaf ears or the wrong ears. This is essential for any online communication, especially on the business aspect. As Hypebot says, Google analytics can be really helpful to figure out who to target. This tool will work great for musicians who want to reach out to those who listen to their particular musical style.

– Once you found out who your audience is, figure out what they like to see in their news feed. Is it music videos? Tour dates? Perhaps merchandise giveaways? Figure out what they prefer and you’ll have an advantage.

-Hashtags are always important when constructing social media posts. If you’re having a concert in a particular area, you may want to consider using local hashtags like #NewYork or #StPete. If using Snapchat, their Geofilter feature is always a fun way to show local pride.

– All that being said, be sure to stick true to the brand you’ve created. Be sure to have consistent logos, voice, and marketing.

– Be sure to answer your fans and feedback, both positive and negative.

As you can see, the above rules can be adapted to any type of business, but for musicians, it is particularly helpful to stick to these rules and strive for social media consistency and effectively.

For more info, check out Hypebot’s article here: http://ow.ly/W8z4300pxZl

What do you think of these rules? Comment below!

The New Age of Silent Films is On Facebook

By Christopher Tompkins

29May

Facebook, Social Media, Video

Have you ever watched a video on Facebook? Chances are you have. Did you watch it with your sound turned on? According to a Digiday article, chances are you haven’t. The article states that an overwhelming 85% of Facebook videos are watched on mute. It seems a little odd to watch videos, meant to be listened to, without the volume cranked up. However, Facebook users, and apparently a lot of them, make it work.

This seems particularly helpful for those checking their Facebook timeline at work or places where sound would be inappropriate. Sometimes you just have to get a few cat videos or recipe “how to’s” in while at the water cooler. Yet how can they get any enjoyment out of it? Digiday explains that through subtitles and a strong lean towards the visual as opposed to audio, filmmakers are starting to work around this challenge. We’re seeing big bold captions on the top or bottom of videos lately. Some will add text commentary as well. These videos need to hold a viewer’s attention for a minimum of three seconds for it to count as a view, so they better have something stimulating on the screen right away. This is even more true with Facebook’s app and how all the videos on one’s newsfeed comes right after the other like a television channel. This means that there are lots of things to skip, which makes it as important than ever to be eye catching. Since viewers are watching and not listening, marketers and businesses need to take this into consideration. Yet you don’t need to be Spielberg to succeed. Making videos accessible to those who won’t or can’t have their speakers cranked up is a simple step in sending out your videos.

For more info, check out Digiday’s article here: http://ow.ly/xfx7300pGPF

How do you think videos fare when they’re on mute? Let us know your thoughts on this subject!

Facebook’s Advertising Firepower

By Christopher Tompkins

28May

Advertising, Facebook, Marketing, Social Media, Uncategorized

Social media is a great tool to reach out to peers, clients, and potential customers. But where would it be without the websites and its advertising features? Whether it’s a good or bad thing, there isn’t a single website that drives the industry, no SocialMedia.com that every user has to use. In fact, that domain redirects to Living Social, which isn’t even a social media platform! That being said, social media tends to be synonymous with its biggest facilitator, Facebook. Most people know the name by now, but not many understand how powerful it can be for business. Turns out its advertising can make your brand go viral!

Originally, Facebook was only intended for college students. Now, their target demographic is… well, everybody. It has an estimated 1.65 billion users every month and is considered the easiest platform to establish a business page with. With that many users, you have ample opportunity to reach out to exactly who you want as a customer and Facebook’s advertising power can set your page up for success.

One thing that Facebook was always proud of was the lack of a price tag for its users. Yet they still make quite a profit by the amount of people that invest in advertising on their website. However, it’s worth every penny. Facebook has made it so your ads are targeted towards exactly the right person based on their likes and hobbies, but also for what they search for and post themselves. Have you ever searched for something and then you got hit with a barrage of advertisements about it later? That’s not a coincidence. They’ve worked tirelessly on the system and it really is effective. Their advertising has the strength to bring attention by doing the best thing Facebook knows how, putting it right in your customer’s line of sight.

Facebook has been around since 2004 and doesn’t seem to be fading any time soon. While many social media platforms have faded and others have risen, Zuckerberg’s creation continues to stand tall in the constantly changing winds of the internet. Because of this, it has become a staple for any business. They’ve provided resources for people to thrive using their pages, and their advertising is undoubtedly the most effective.

What do you think of Facebook advertising? Share your thoughts below!

Free Bird: Twitter Changes the Rules

By Christopher Tompkins

25May

Social Media, Twitter, Uncategorized

Twitter allows many forms of communication and often times opens up a whole new world for its users. Many of us couldn’t go a day without expressing ourselves on the intuitive platform. However, it doesn’t allow you to write a long-winded novel of a post. For the most part, this is a great thing. Unless you just wrote an amazing post, utilizing all 140 characters, and then your heart drops when you forgot to add a link. Changing a whole post in order to conform to Twitter’s limits can make a writer go back to the drawing board. Even with Hootsuite, Google, and Twitter itself shortening links to 23 characters, that 140 character limit can be a real hassle at times. Well, chirping Twitter seems to be allowing for some longer bird calls with their new update, which will no longer count images and links as part of that 140.

For the most part, it seems to be a great idea. www.UNLESS-OF-COURSE-PEOPLE-START-DOING-THIS-TO-TAKE-ADVANTAGE-OF-TWITTERS-NEW-FOUND-FREEDOM.com As with most things in life, people tend to take advantage of a little leeway. It’ll be interesting to see how Twitter stops that from muddying up their currently clean and sleek layout.

According to an article from Bloomberg, this update can be implemented as quickly as the next few weeks. CEO Jack Dorsey says they’re trying to give users more flexibility on the site. This is certainly a positive step forward, adapting to the times when people can literally write a book on their smartphone of choice, as opposed to the early 2000’s when we were confined to 140 character texts with the assistance of T-9. Those were dark, dark days, but things are looking up in the technological and social media frontiers everyday. Businesses will benefit from this because now they’ll have even more room to express a message to their followers and attract potential clients and customers.

For more information, check out Bloomberg’s article here: http://ow.ly/tlfM300puSv

Do you think this update will do some good? www.OR-DO-YOU-THINK-IT-WILL-BACKFIRE.com? Let us know your thoughts!

Budgeting for Social Media

By Christopher Tompkins

24May

Facebook, LinkedIn, Marketing, Social Media, Twitter, Uncategorized

We’ve finally reached a point where big companies are recognizing social media and as such, a big question is raised. Just how much of a marketing budget should go towards social media prospects? For the casual social media user, cost is never usually an issue. However, businesses need to take cost into consideration, whether it pertains to social media managers, Facebook advertising, or boosted posts. Turns out social media success can cost a bit. According to The Next Web, a study from Duke University found that businesses spend an average of 9.4% of their marketing budget on social media and it’s predicted to only rise from there. The article projects that, at this time, 10% is the best amount to spend on social media campaigns. It might not seem like much, but it can be just enough to utilize the premium tools the popular platforms offer.

You might be wondering to yourself what exactly is there to pay for? After all, Facebook proudly proclaims that it’s free, as is Twitter, LinkedIn and even Google +. However, as we see with many online services, while the base is free, businesses can really shine when investing into things like Facebook advertising and boosted posts. We’ve seen these kind of tools make or break a social media campaign. These features allow you to maximize your “reachability”, which means you can be on more people’s screens and in their line of sight. You’ll have an advantage to those who don’t want to fork out the funding. It can require an investment, however it can be worth every penny if done correctly. You’ll find that when you really enter the professional side of social media, it might not be free. However, your money will not be wasted. Instead, it’ll be used toward this progressive marketing method.

For more info, check out The Next Web’s article here: http://ow.ly/9UoJ300pB6h

Does your business have room in the budget for social media? Should it be more or less? Share your thoughts!

Social Games: The Secret to Online Traffic?

By Christopher Tompkins

18Apr

Facebook, Social Media, Uncategorized

An interesting way to get people to visit your social media page, and return often, is to host contests. Now, these do not have to be extravagant tournaments or even have magnificent prizes. It just has to be enough to engage your followers and to participate in the community you’re trying to tap into. Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are great platforms for this type of outreach, but LinkedIn, and GooglePlus have the potential to engage the audience in such a way as well. The best part of a contest is that you’ll have pretty much all positive feedback (unless they find out you rigged it) with little cost to your company, as long as you promote an enticing, but fairly inexpensive prize.

There’s tons of different ways to work the “Like/Share/Retweet” systems to turn it into a contest. One of the biggest question is how will your followers be eligible for the prize.

Here’s some common and simple ideas:

Have the followers like or retweet the post to be entered into the contest. This way is best if you want a random winner.

If your contest has a theme, have them comment with a related story for them to be eligible for the prize. You can choose your favorite to be the winner, in this case.

Upload a certain picture, video, or item to be considered for the prize.

Share the contest with three friends to be eligible. This one may be more time consuming for the customer, so its good to be sure the prize is worth it on this one.

As far as prizes go, you can chose one of your new products, a gift card to your company, or something related to your field. For instance, if you’re a garden shop, you can have a gift basket full of garden supplies.

You also want to make sure the contest sounds legitimate. You’re going to throw a pebble of truth into a sea of scams, so make sure it seems real and not too good to be true.

The contest method is an interactive way to really bring attention to your page, and with the promise of more contests to come, it could have people checking for more opportunities to win, as well as making so your posts come before all others so they’re ready for their next chance.

Do you have any contest ideas you’d like to share? Comment below!

Tag : online marketing