The Best Brands Use This Content. Does Yours?

11Oct

Advertising, Email Marketing, Facebook, Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn, Live Video, Local Marketing, Marketing, Snapchat, Social Media, Social networking, Tailwind, Twitter, Uncategorized, YouTube

Think of the various categories of your social media content as gadgets in your “social media utility belt”. Each one is unique but serves the ultimate purpose – brand engagement and increased brand awareness. But to get to those goals, you need to learn which tools work and which don’t.

Diversity is absolutely essential for a successful social media marketing campaign. To achieve the right mix, try the following types of updates:

– Interviews. Whether The New Yorker just interviewed the owner of your company or you want to spotlight a new employee, interviews will bring a face to your brand. This humanizes your business and strengthens your approachability.

– Professional Material. Has your company created ebooks, blogs, online courses, etc.? Promote it! Sharing your material through your Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter is a surefire way to put your brand in a professional light. Are you looking to make some professional material? The Go! Agency has your back!

– FAQ samples. Do you notice some questions many customers ask quite often? Address the issue in the form of a social media post.

– Q&As- Hosting an open question and answer session can open the floodgates of questions to your brand. Get your answers ready and be quick about it! Despite them being fast paced, Q&A sessions are marketing gold.

– Preparation Steps – Helping your customers prepare for an important process can be very helpful and will show the caring side of your brand. Senior living facilities can post about moving in processes or Medicare applications. Mechanics can give tips on how to winterize your vehicle. You get the picture. It’s free advice that shows you want your customers to succeed, be safe, and stay informed.

Get ready! These five types of content will bring humanity and better communication to your brand. Consider adding these ideas to your strategy!

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The Top Mistakes That Kill LinkedIn Accounts

By Christopher Tompkins

1Oct

LinkedIn, Social Media

Social media marketing isn’t simple. Wait, let me rephrase that. GOOD social media marketing isn’t simple. It’s easy to click “Sign Up” and send a tidal wave of garbage out to the cyber masses. But to be truly effective, you need to think and realize where exactly you’re posting. The phrase “When in Rome do as the Romans do” applies in a big way online. LinkedIn is perhaps the platform with the most etiquette to abide by. Are you acting appropriately on the social media site for professionals? If you’re doing one of the following, you definitely aren’t.

1. Thinking LinkedIn is Facebook. Sure, we all love memes, cat videos, and long-winded rants about personal opinions. But LinkedIn isn’t the place for that. Keep all the “personal-type content” on Facebook and Instagram.

2. Inappropriate or absent profile picture. Do yourself a favor and remember this mantra – “Selfies are not for LinkedIn!” I can’t tell you how many people use blurry, revealing, or simply unprofessional profile photos. You don’t need to hire a photographer to make a decent headshot. A little bit of effort will go a long way. And, with EVERY social media account, personal or professional, stay away from pics of you drinking, or in any situation, you wouldn’t want a superior to see.

3. More spamming than social. Sure, you can – and should – network on LinkedIn. But this isn’t a place for heavy promotions. Craft your writing to be organic and personable. Don’t use the default connection requests or congratulatory messages. Show you care!

4. Picking a fight. Speak the truth, but if you have a gripe with someone, perhaps not the whole truth. Negative comments are the bane of social media marketers’ existence, but in reality, it makes the writer look like a bit of a bully.

5. Hashtags. Now, hashtags are a BIG gray area for LinkedIn. At the time of this article’s posting, the long-banished hashtags have begun their return to the platform. However, they are only in the app. Soon enough, the Microsoft-owned social media platform will most definitely welcome hashtag functionality back to the desktop version. Then, go hashtag crazy. Until then, be wary of this tool.

LinkedIn is the world’s largest internet networking event. It’s not another Facebook or Twitter or Instagram, and it shouldn’t be treated like that. LinkedIn has become a huge opportunity for marketers and business owners to connect to right people. Be sure to do it right!

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5 Steps To Start Social Media With A Bang!

By Christopher Tompkins

24Aug

Social Media

It seems there’s a certain window of time for people to establish themselves on new platforms. For example, famous “YouTubers” have been on the site for years now, and it can be tough to break into that industry since there are so many others trying to do the same thing. The same applies to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Now, Snapchat is getting filled with big names quickly. What’s a newcomer to do? When you click that Sign Up button, you have a lot of catching up to do. However, it’s absolutely possible to shine online at any point. These 5 steps will give your baby social media accounts a kick start:

Optimization. Starting from scratch is tedious, but it can be done. Whether you have a Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn page, be sure to fill out every blank field as best you can. Just because your account is new, doesn’t mean it has to be empty.
Tap into your contact list. When signing up, most social media platforms will have you utilize your email contacts so you can be reunited with your favorite people online. If you don’t use this tool, try and find your business partners, friends, family, etc. and ask them to begin liking your page and content.
Promote your pages to your customers. You’ve seen them in many small businesses, those signs proudly promoting their Facebook, Twitter, or likewise. This is important and actually works! Make sure your regulars know about this new opportunity to connect, and be sure to ask them for a nice 5-star rating.
Backdate new content. This tip is a Facebook exclusive. It’s intimidating for social media users to like a page that has no content. Be sure to post, post, post! But a big batch of posts from the past 24 hours won’t look so good either. Luckily, deep in its publishing tools, Facebook offers the power to “backdate” a post so it looks like you’ve been around for a while. The whole point of this is to make you look established and involved in the online community, which is one of the primary goals of social media in its essence.
Advertise! If you are new to social media, you may not yet understand the power of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn advertising. You will! These advertising opportunities provide an extremely beneficial boost to your content so you will get noticed fast! There’s quite a variety to the promotional options available. From driving website to your website to sponsored content, you will be able to find one that fits your budget and works for your company.

As you can see, the words “new to social media” doesn’t need to be a death sentence. You can steadily grow your social media marketing with these tips and of course, with the help of professionals.

What do you think of these steps? Comment below!

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Why Reddit Is About To Make Marketers Smile

By Christopher Tompkins

3Aug

Reddit, Social Media

From its inception, Reddit seemed to be the exception to many social media rules. Yes, you talked to people, but not people you knew in real life. You could like (or upvote) content, but you could also downvote it to internet oblivion. As popular as it is, Reddit always seemed to be an alternative to mainstream tactics. Well, one major change is in the works for the website, and marketers are sure to smile.

Reddit announced a new plan to feature sponsored posts online. This is a significant change for the platform, as it tried to keep advertising to a minimum. Unsurprisingly, like everything else with Reddit, this update is just slightly different than Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. This marketing effort will do something truly unique, which will allow brands to sponsor user generated content. This means that if a company sees a post that puts their product in a positive light or is relevant to their industry, they can work with Reddit administrators to sponsor that post. Reddit will then ask the post’s creator for permission, and if everyone is on the same page, magic will happen. The user will be compensated with gold. No, not real gold, but rather Reddit Gold which is their premium service.

As you could imagine, this is something untested. Since “Redditors” have an aggressive stance on any corporate advertising, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman hopes this will be a natural and non-intrusive way to make revenue. By actually helping content instead of being a distraction, the reception may have a better light than previous attempts.

One thing Reddit and its future sponsors should be wary of is reposts. Like all other social media platforms, users tend to repost pieces of content that were not originally theirs. At times, Redditors will acknowledge this, while others are simply taking trying to get some internet glory through another’s work. Perhaps a simple reverse image search could solve some situations, but deeper digging may be beneficial to the company.

If advertising is implemented correctly, Reddit may be able to gain some steady income which will result in better upgrades for the site and it’s all uphill from there. This update shows just how important advertising is for social media platforms and marketers need to take advantage of this need. Because of this, they will deliver extensive benefits to brands and companies. Reddit’s new service is scheduled to launch August 4th.

What do you think of Reddit’s new advertising venture? Comment below!

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Don’t Wait To Make Your Social Media Marketing Plan

By Christopher Tompkins

Dont-Wait-To-Mkae-Your-Social-Media-Plan-200x300

2Aug

Advertising, Local Marketing, Marketing, Snapchat, Social Media, Social networking, Uncategorized

The world of social media is not the place to be unprepared. Yes, the time may come when you have to publish a post on the fly as a situation unfolds, but for the most part, you should have a solid strategy at your content’s core. Planning is what separates success stories and failures when marketers try to tackle the internet.

In the first part of this series, we emphasized the importance of tweaking your approach and assessing what works for your brand. The same ideas apply when trying to devise a plan, only now we are applying them. Here are the six major steps you need to complete.

Think of strategizing like a treasure map to your goal. What is the bounty lying under the X that marks the spot? Better customer relations? A wider audience? The ability to promote our company’s events? All of the above? You will need to keep your goals in mind with every step you take.
Know your target market. Who is your ideal customer? Every product, whether the seller wants to admit it or not, caters to a particular type of person. To take an advantage of this step, you should create buyer profiles. Who is your ideal customer? A female in her mid 30s, middle class, who enjoys cycling? Perhaps it’s a senior male who just retired from a long and lucrative banking career? It might seem unnecessary to add the small details, but trust us, these buyer profiles will help you sharpen your content.
It’s suggested to have your posts ready to go for the upcoming week. Even if you want to post about subjects that are happening “in the moment”, you can add more in later.
Study the calendar. Plan out holiday greetings and upcoming events such as Motivational Monday, Wisdom Wednesday, Friday Feeling, and other daily and trending topics. This all should be supplemented with hashtags or keywords. With this in mind, keep an eye out for fads, pop culture happenings, and news events. Be sure to stay relevant!
O.A.R. What is OAR? Observe, Analyse, and Research! After your posts hit the Wild Wild Web, take time out to see how each post performed. Did people click the link? How many comments did it receive? Was it a total dud? You can use analytic tools such as Hootsuite to figure out what your audience is being more receptive to at this time. Be sure to do this on a regimented schedule, because we often see patterns change.
There’s nothing wrong with a little spying. Check out what your competitors are doing online. What type of posts is work for them? Obviously, you should never just copy someone’s content, yet you may be struck with inspiration when you see what other professionals share.Now, it’s time to plan! Gather up your social media team and lay out the groundwork for an effective strategy. Stay goal-oriented, knowledgeable about current events, and study which posts work and which didn’t. There are many accounts at the brink of failing that were able to recover by preparing. Alternatively, there have also been successful social media accounts who plummeted due to poor management. As you can see, preparation is key to reaping social media’s rewards.

How do you plan social media planning? Comment below! Be sure to watch out for the third part in this series about how to effectively succeed at social media marketing and what to avoid!

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Why Your Social Media Content Is Flopping

By Christopher Tompkins

2Aug

Copywriting, Social Media

Is social media an artform? We would certainly like to think so. Sure, we may not be dealing with paint or pottery, but it is a very creative industry. Whether you agree with that statement or not, it undoubtedly shares the subjectivity of the art world and like paintings, music, and sculptures, there will be some mistakes made. This ambiguity is why practicing, and tweaking your method is essential to becoming a social media master!

Certain tactics work amazingly well for some users, while the same will flop for others’ business pages. Additionally, a particular type of post could produce substantial engagement once, and it could gain little to no attention at another point in time. Like all marketing, social media campaigns require time, effort, and critical analysis to succeed.

For those just getting started in social media, well, welcome to the 21st century! Yet regardless if you are just starting out or trying to fine tune your content, this type of marketing can be daunting. Social media trends are reflective of users’ wants, concerns, and current interests. Because of this, strategizing can be intimidating, albeit necessary. It’s time to experiment a little bit, see what hits home to your audience. You need to generate creative, bold, and attractive content that is going to get your page noticed. After all, practice makes perfect, and nobody is going to visit your page if it’s empty.

To get the most out of social media, you should ask yourself these three questions:

What is the message I want to send out?
Who do I want to read it?
How do I want to convey it?

You need to be able to answer these questions without breaking a sweat. Your content, whether they are news articles, promotions, quizzes, or blogs, should abide by your goals. You are going to need some PR tactics to score big on social media, which means you will have to spin content in your favor.

Once you assess your content using these three questions, ask yourself three more:

Which types of posts are the most engaging?

Where do you see the most response? (Facebook? Twitter? Instagram?)

When are people reading your posts? (Sunday mornings? Tuesday nights?)

Your content should never contradict any of the answers to these questions, and the answers should never contradict your business’ mission statement. These are the elements of social media marketing that will either make or break a company’s online presence. Many companies don’t understand the importance of crafting a thought out strategy. Some will just continuously spit out the same type of content carelessly. Others will just use their Facebook, Twitter, or other profiles as sounding boards for sales and only sales. As you might guess, people aren’t going to flock to an “ad only” page. There are many pitfalls to avoid when trying to create quality posts.

So, why are your posts flopping? It might be time to sit down and reassess your approach. By answering these six questions and understanding where your social media posts stand, you may find the source of the problem. During your journey of internet introspection, specifically look out for inconsistencies of tone, irregular posting times, grammar errors, typos, and irrelevant content. Once you straighten out the kinks in your plan, stick to it and be patient! Social media is not typically an overnight success, so you need to keep on top of things and observe your growth attentively. Like the great artist of history, social media marketers should step back and stare at their canvas to formulate a detail-oriented plan. This was the first in a series about how to effectively succeed at social media marketing and what to avoid. Be sure to watch out for more to follow!

Share your thoughts below about how you approach social media!

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