How To Heat Up Your Hashtag Game

11Aug

Advertising, Business, Facebook, Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn, Local Marketing, Marketing, Periscope, Social Media, Social networking, Twitter, Uncategorized

One of the most important elements of social media marketing is to spread your content as far as possible. To achieve this goal, we have hashtags as handy tools. These little guys allow our posts to appear when someone searches for that hashtag. They’re basically the advanced version of a keyword. Simple, right? Hashtags are easy to learn, but can take some finesse to master. Here are the best ways to make the famous internet tool work for you!

Know your platform’s limits. Do you think all the social media platforms are the same? Think again. The way each site uses hashtags is completely different. You should not use more than three for Facebook. There isn’t a limit for Twitter, but you still have that 140 character limit hanging over your head. LinkedIn and Pinterest don’t use hashtags at all, rather utilize keywords. Instagram, on the other hand, is the king of hashtags. Be professional, but 10-15 hashtags max is recommended.

Do your research. A hashtag will only do its job if someone is actually looking for it. You need to figure out what is trending. Luckily, you have tools. Ritetag and Hashtagify are both third party websites that allow you to see what the market is talking about. Facebook and Twitter both have trending sections that allow you to see what all the buzz is about at the time.

Don’t be too specific. #FacebookSocialMediaMarketing may not get as many hits as #Facebook, #SocialMedia, #SocialMediaMarketing and #Marketing. You want to make sure that people are searching that exact phrase, otherwise your content won’t come up.

Don’t be too broad. On the opposite side of things, you want to make sure your hashtag isn’t going to drown in a sea of the same. #California may work, but if you are trying to get San Diego residents to pay attention, #SanDiego will work better. Otherwise, people who are looking for things pertaining to San Francisco may also see your post and it will be a waste.

You need a little bit of imagination, research, and common sense to master hashtags. The symbol that used to be called the pound symbol is now your best friend in the social media world, but you need to know how to use them!

How do you use hashtags? Share below!

Click Here to Subscribe to Our Free Newsletter

4 Social Media Marketing Misconceptions

By Christopher Tompkins

25Jun

Social Media

There has been a lot said about our industry. Social media marketing is gaining speed and now even the tech-illiterate know a little bit about it, or so they think. We have dealt with various communication platforms since the Internet started taking flight, and we are finally seeing its effectivity everywhere!. It’s always interesting to see what people who aren’t heavily involved think about social media. One of our favorite stories is about a friend’s grandmother who thought that Facebook was only for gossip, since she was only exposed to people talking about others on the popular website. Like everything else in our lives, there are preconceived notions about social media. The marketing side of things is no different. Eager entrepreneurs and business owners see the reach that the internet offers and want to jump right in. Often times, however, they may not fully understand what they are getting into. So, let’s set some things straight.

Social Media Marketing Isn’t Free. Sure, signing up for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram is free, but once you are ready to dig a little deeper, it will cost you. These platforms and all others like them thrive on advertising revenue, and they sure know how to make their money. Less and less is becoming free, so be sure to save at least 9% of your marketing budget for tools such as Facebook advertising and Twitter Cards.

Don’t expect immediate ROI. It is a businessperson’s instinct to try to analyze a marketing technique’s return on investment. Social media marketing doesn’t work like that. It is more about communication with one’s customer base as well as showing an interest in the global community. Yes, it will most definitely bring life to your business and customers will notice you more than ever, but not in a traditional sense. There is a large subjective element to this type of marketing.

You will not go viral overnight. Social media marketing takes time. Users do not typically soar to Internet stardom extremely quickly. Your internet presence needs to build up over time. You need to be patient and consistent.

Social Media is not a “once and done” type thing. Social media takes effort. You do not just create a page and let things alone. You need to post often- at least once a day for Facebook, and multiple times for Twitter. Social media marketing is an investment in time as well as assets. However, it is absolutely worth it.

As you can see, this new marketing strategy takes some time and effort that social media managers work at great lengths to perfect. However, if you have patience and determination, you will see wonderful rewards.

What other misconceptions do you know about? Comment below!

Click Here to Subscribe to Our Free Newsletter

Are Your Images Social Media Ready?

By Christopher Tompkins

20Jun

Graphic Design, Social Media

With social media platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, and Snapchat rising in popularity, we see visual content becoming increasingly essential. After all, who wants to read anymore? Social media requires a nice balance of eye-capturing imagery and engaging copy. That being said, you can’t just pick a random picture, throw it onto your timeline, and expect gold. There are certain requirements each platform administers. So let us see just how ready your photo library is for social media, shall we?

Those who run the big social media companies know full well that images are key to a successful post. These people have a job to do, which is controlling the stream of content that goes through their platforms and to ensure it doesn’t turn into chaos. As a result, dimensions for imagery have been created and must be adhered to. Since these images are on the web, they are measured in pixels. Here are the rules:

Facebook:
– Cover photo- 851px x 315px

– Profile photo- 180px x 180px

– Images in updates- 1200px x 630px

Twitter:

– Header photo- 1500px x 500px

– Profile photo- 400px x 400px

– Pictures embedded in tweets- 440px x 220px

Instagram:

-Profile photo- 110px x 110px

-Thumbnail photos- 161px x 161px

-Posted images- 640px x 640px

LinkedIn:

– Cover photo- 974px x 300px

– Profile photo- 400px x 400px

– Banner image- 646px x 220px

If you decide to go against these rules, you’ll find yourself with an image that has been inappropriately cropped or a pixelated mess. Consult with your graphic designer, photographer, or social media manager to be sure that your pics are perfect.

Share your thoughts with us below!

Click Here to Subscribe to Our Free Newsletter

4 Steps to Keep ALL Your Social Media Accounts Consistent

By Christopher Tompkins

11Jun

Facebook, Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn, Marketing, Periscope, Social Media, Social networking, Twitter, Uncategorized

To really make it in the social media universe, you need to establish yourself on the most popular platforms. Becoming a user of many accounts is a great idea, but easier said than done. To truly take care of social media, your business will need one of the following:

– Facebook

– Twitter

– LinkedIn

– Instagram

– Twitter

– YouTube

Google+, Snapchat, Periscope, and more are helpful additions, but when you’re starting out, I’d try to tackle social media’s “Big 6” first. Take our word for it- it’ll be more work than you think. At first glance, you’ll want each of these accounts to be as unique as a snowflake. Well, first of all, you’ll turn social media into a round-the-clock gig if you do that. Second of all, your branding will become an absolute mess. While you want each post to be consistent, you don’t want each account to be unrecognizable from each other. Here are some of the best ways to keep your many profiles consistent with branding.

Pictures– Even if you have a large portfolio of headshots, and many versions of your logo, you need to stick with one for your profiles. You don’t want people guessing if it really is you. They want something familiar when trying to follow you!

Adapted Updates- When you’re writing your posts, you’ll typically want to make two versions. One will be for your Facebook, Google+, etc. The second one will be to conform to Twitter’s 140 character limit. For the Twitter version, you’ll also be able to mention other Twitter accounts with their twitter handle. For example, you can say “Congrats @JasonTodd for closing on your new house!”

Long Forms- When you’ve written an article based around your profession, you can share it on Facebook’s Notes feature, LinkedIn, and of course post it to your own blog. Social media is an exception to the “duplicate content” rule for websites. People who use social media tend to understand that these posts are yours and you should spread it through all avenues.

Keeping Info Straight- Have multiple website domains? What about phone numbers? Social media isn’t the place for inconsistencies. You want to keep things clear and concise for your followers. Don’t make it so they have to guess what phone number to call.

You want your social media to be unique, but you don’t want it to be a “mishmash” of content. Keep things correct, clear, and constant so your customers and followers will know what they’re dealing with!

What are your thoughts on keeping things straight? Comment below!

Click Here to Subscribe to Our Free Newsletter

Social Media 101: Where Do I Start?

By Christopher Tompkins

9Jan

Social Media, Uncategorized

As someone who specializes in the online marketing arena, I meet and chat with people everyday who are interested in using social media to market their business. Not a big surprise right? But what you might be surprised to learn, is many of these medium-to-large firms have a major problem: they don’t know how to start.

While social media marketing advice can be found on every corner of the internet, most of it doesn’t address this problem or offer ways to enhance or “reinvigorate” an existing campaign.

So in this article I want to push aside the “Go Get ‘Em Tiger”s and technical mumbo jumbo and provide you with a fool proof step-by-step 101 list to get your social media marketing campaign underway in no time flat!

Let’s dive right in:

Step 1: Write Down Your Objectives

The first thing you’ll want to do is really identify what you are trying to achieve through using social media to market your company. Keep in mind that more leads is not your only goal. Think about possible objectives such as; engaging your current customers/clients, offering better customer service, building brand recognition, getting more local exposure….these are the types of objectives that you should be looking at.

Step 2: Know Who Your Target Market Is

A social media marketing campaign that is laser focused has the ability to reap better results than a broad shoot campaign. You don’t want to waste time here wading through unqualified leads….you want the real deal. Make a list of 5-10 target markets that you want to hit and keep it handy throughout your campaign. Having this list will help you keep your “eye on the prize”.

Step 3: Look at What Your Competition is Doing on Social Media

Many of us do a competitive analysis when we put together our marketing plan….so why don’t we do one when we are developing our social media marketing strategy? Usually the easiest way to begin this exercise is to go to their website and follow their social media links from there. If you can’t find the links there, login to sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter and search for their company name. When you find them, see what they are doing and if it is successful. Are they getting lots of comments? Do they use lots of graphics and design elements? Are they posting often? Taking a look at these items can even give you good solid ideas of what you need to do…and what you don’t need to.

Step 4: What Are You Going to Say?

This is one of the trickiest things to come by as many organizations don’t have a wealth of available info to share. If your company does – the battle is nearly over! If not, it has just begun. Make sure that you are able to come up with content that is timely, engaging, entertaining, thought provoking and educational…or one of those 5. Also, think out of the box! If I was a healthcare organization, I would go to the website for the medical association that is within my niche and share some of their updates and tips, as they would be relevant and interesting to my audience. Sharing is caring….not stealing! But content is king folks.

Step 5: Choose Your Sites

Once Steps 1 thru 5 are complete, it is time to choose the social media sites you want to start using in your marketing campaign. Every business is different and some will find success quicker on one site than the next. There isn’t a hard/fast rule on this (while many say there is). All of the sites are constantly evolving and making it easier for businesses to get involved everyday. The playing field has changed greatly over the past years (and even months!) and there is a spot for everyone on all of the social media sites out there.

Step 6: Find a Good Support Site

Search and find a site to help you manage your accounts. There are free sites out there such as HootSuite, TweetDeck, SocialOomph and others that allow you to track, search and even schedule profile updates on the fly. When you create your plan, these sites will make it a little easier for you to manage your overall campaign.

Step 7: Create a Daily Plan to Ensure Consistency

Plans save time and money and ensure consistency, which is key in a successful social media marketing campaign. Your daily plan should contain a combination of Steps 1-6 and have daily time constraints attached. Also make sure that you identify who will be the touchpoint for the communications that you get as a result of the campaign. For example if you have a marketing team of 5, decide beforehand who will be in charge of delegation and qualification of the leads, information requests, comments, etc.

Step 8: Create a Form of Measurement

This is tricky, so I would suggest waiting until after your first month of social media marketing. At this point you will be able to see what sorts of results come in: website hits, likes, comments, messages, leads, etc. Once you get a handle on this, you will begin to understand what gives you the best results. Create a quick spreadsheet and track these measures on a weekly basis. As all of the sites have wonderful archives, it makes it a cinch to go back through the week’s activity to find what you need. If you are going to use your website to track effectiveness, make sure that you have an analytics program installed that can monitor where your traffic comes from. If you don’t, Google Analytics is a free and easy option to use (and the results are tracked wonderfully).

And you are on your way! The best part about social media marketing is that it is an organic process that can change from time to time. Don’t forget to audit your campaign monthly to see if any of your measures or activities need changing or updating. Staying consistent, organized and informed will help you not only launch effectively, but promote your brand successfully.