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Reasons Why You Should Be Using Storytelling To Sell More on Social Media

Using storytelling for social media sales

The Greatness Blog

Reasons Why You Should Be Using Storytelling To Sell More on Social Media

In this article, we’ll learn how incorporating storytelling into your social media strategy can help you build deeper connections with your audience and increase sales!
Using storytelling for social media sales

If you’re tired of putting a lot of effort to post on social media, but you’re not getting engagement, chances are, you’re considering giving up. So, before you quit social media marketing, we encourage you implement a storytelling strategy. This might be what you’ve been missing!

 

What is storytelling marketing?

 

Storytelling marketing is a way for your brand to create content that incorporates a narrative. Stories are the way we perceive and remember our lives. Storytelling gives your brand character, appeal and relatability that facts and stats simply can’t.

 

Storytelling has long been a staple of marketing and advertising, but in the age of social media, it has taken on a whole new level of importance.

 

Storytelling marketing can be your next best strategy. Here’s why

 

In a nutshell, instead of broadcasting messages, your social channels will have a well-oiled set of stories that will take your users into a journey.

 

Storytelling marketing isn’t a new concept. In fact, it’s been used by powerful brands like Disney, to build a deeper connection with their audience.

 

Let’s check out some of the benefits of storytelling marketing:

  1. It helps you connect with your audience

One of the biggest advantages of social media is that it allows you to connect with your audience in a much more personal and intimate way. And what better way to do that than through storytelling? By sharing stories about your brand, your products, and your customers, you can create a sense of connection and emotional resonance with your audience that will make them more likely to engage with your content and ultimately make a purchase.

  1. It adds depth and meaning to your marketing message

In today’s fast-paced and attention-deficit world, it’s all too easy for marketing messages to get lost in the noise. But with storytelling, you can add depth and meaning to your message that will help it stand out and stay in the minds of your audience. By sharing real-life stories that illustrate the benefits of your product or service, you can create a deeper connection with your audience and help them understand why your brand matters.

  1. It makes your content more shareable

Social media is all about sharing, and if you can create content that is both interesting and emotionally resonant, it is much more likely to be shared by your audience. And when your content gets shared, it has the potential to reach a much wider audience, which can help you grow your brand and increase sales.

  1. It helps you build a strong brand identity

Storytelling is a powerful way to build a strong brand identity and differentiate yourself from your competitors. By sharing stories about your brand’s history, values, and mission, you can create a distinct and memorable brand image that will help you stand out in a crowded marketplace.

  1. It’s easy and cost-effective

Unlike traditional marketing methods, using storytelling on social media is easy and cost-effective. With a few clicks, you can create and share stories that will engage and inspire your audience, all without breaking the bank.

I Gained 20,000 TikTok Followers Quickly Using Storytelling

As a marketer, I always try to stay on top of the latest social media trends and techniques. But despite my best efforts, I felt like my account had reached a plateau. My Instagram followers weren’t growing, and my engagement was stagnant. I knew I needed to try something new to break through the noise.

That’s when I decided to give TikTok a try. I had heard a lot of buzz about the platform and how it was a great place for businesses to connect with their audience through storytelling. So, I decided to give it a shot.

I started by creating short, engaging videos that told a story about my brand. I focused on showcasing the personality behind my business and the unique challenges I had to overcome, as a mom of 4 and a businesswoman. I didn’t follow dancing trends or even trending sounds. I did “story time” videos.

To my surprise, my TikTok account started to take off. Within a month, I had gained over 10,000 followers, and my engagement was through the roof. People were commenting, sharing, and even reaching out to me to learn more about my brand.

Now, just a few months later, my TikTok account has over 20,000 followers, and it’s still growing. I can’t believe the impact that storytelling has had on my social media presence. It’s a powerful tool that has helped me connect with my audience in a whole new way and drive real results for my business. If you’re feeling stuck on social media, I highly recommend giving storytelling a try. It just might be the boost your brand needs to reach new heights.

 

Storytelling vs Educational Content

As a social media manager, I love doing audits for my clients. It’s a great way to get a fresh perspective on their accounts and identify areas for improvement. So when I was asked to do an audit for a coach, I was excited to dive in and see what I could find.

Upon first glance, the coach’s account seemed to be doing well. She had a good number of followers and a decent level of engagement. But as I dug deeper, I noticed that her account wasn’t reaching any new people. And when I analyzed her content, I saw that it was mostly educational in nature. While education is important, I knew that it wasn’t the only type of content that would resonate with her audience.

That’s when I suggested incorporating storytelling into her content strategy. I knew that stories had the power to connect with people on an emotional level and really drive home a message. So we started experimenting with different types of storytelling, from personal anecdotes to case studies.

The results were amazing. Within just a few weeks, we saw a significant increase in engagement and a return of lost followers. People were responding to the stories we were sharing and connecting with the coach on a deeper level. And as a result, her account began to reach new people again.

It was a great reminder of the power of storytelling in social media.

How To Find Storytelling Content Ideas?

Finding storytelling content ideas can seem intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. Here are a few tips to help you get started:

  1. Look to your customers for inspiration: Your customers are a goldmine of storytelling content ideas. Consider sharing stories about how your products or services have made a difference in their lives. This can be especially powerful if you can find a way to showcase the emotions behind the story.

  2. Share behind-the-scenes stories: People love getting a glimpse into the inner workings of a business. Consider sharing stories about your team, your processes, or even your struggles and successes. This type of content can help humanize your brand and make it more relatable to your audience.

  3. Share personal stories: If you’re comfortable doing so, sharing personal stories can be a great way to connect with your audience. Consider sharing stories about your own experiences or challenges that relate to your business or brand. This can help people see you as a real person and build a stronger connection with your brand.

  4. Use customer reviews or testimonials: Customer reviews and testimonials can be a great source of storytelling content ideas. Consider sharing stories from customers that highlight the benefits of your products or services in a compelling way.

  5. Look to your brand’s history: If your brand has a long history, consider sharing stories about its evolution or key milestones. This can help people understand the values and mission behind your brand and make it more memorable.

There’s a good chance that you’ve been looking for trends as ways to generate your content. I say, ditch that! You want to take a deeper look at your brand, and your message, and explore where is the gap in the market. 

 

Don’t be a trend follower. Be a trendsetter.

How to create relatable storytelling content?

Creating relatable storytelling content is important for a number of reasons. Firstly, it helps you connect with your audience on a deeper level. By sharing stories that are relevant and relatable to your audience, you can create a sense of connection and emotional resonance that will make them more likely to engage with your content and ultimately make a purchase.

Secondly, it helps you stand out in a crowded marketplace. With so much content being shared on social media, it can be difficult to get noticed. But by creating relatable storytelling content, you can differentiate yourself from your competitors and create a distinct and memorable brand image.

Finally, it helps you build trust and credibility with your audience. By sharing real-life stories and experiences, you can help people see you as a real person and build a stronger connection with your brand. This can help you earn the trust and credibility you need to drive sales and grow your business.

Tips to create relatable storytelling content

Creating relatable storytelling content is all about finding ways to connect with your audience on a personal level. Here are a few tips to help you create content that resonates:

  1. Use real-life examples: Rather than just talking about your products or services in abstract terms, use real-life examples to illustrate their benefits. This can help people see how your products or services can fit into their lives and make them feel more relatable.

  2. Share personal stories: Sharing personal stories can be a great way to connect with your audience. Consider sharing stories about your own experiences or challenges that relate to your business or brand. This can help people see you as a real person and build a stronger connection with your brand.

  3. Show vulnerability: Nobody’s perfect, and people appreciate honesty and authenticity. Consider sharing stories about your mistakes or challenges and how you overcame them. This can help people feel like they can relate to you and your brand.

  4. Use relatable language: Use language that is relatable and easy to understand. Avoid using jargon or technical terms that people may not be familiar with.

  5. Share stories from your customers: Customer stories can be a powerful way to connect with your audience. Consider sharing stories from customers that highlight the benefits of your products or services in a compelling way.

 Mistakes To Avoid While Creating Storytelling Content 

Creating relatable storytelling content is all about finding ways to connect with your audience on a personal level. But there are a few mistakes you’ll want to avoid if you want to create content that truly resonates:

  1. Focusing too much on the product or service: While it’s important to highlight the benefits of your products or services, you don’t want to make that the sole focus of your storytelling content. Instead, focus on the emotions and experiences that your products or services create.

  2. Being too salesy: While you want your storytelling content to drive sales, you don’t want to come across as too pushy or salesy. Focus on creating content that is helpful, informative, and engaging, rather than just trying to sell, sell, sell.

  3. Being too preachy: Being too preachy on social media is a big mistake because it can turn people off and damage your brand reputation. Nobody likes being lectured, and if you come across as preachy or judgmental, it can be a turn-off for your audience. They may see you as being arrogant or out of touch and be less likely to engage with your content or make a purchase.

  4. Not showing vulnerability: As mentioned above, people appreciate honesty and authenticity. Consider sharing stories about your mistakes or challenges and how you overcame them. This can help people feel like they can relate to you and your brand.

  5. Being too self-centered: Your storytelling content should be about your audience, not just about you. Focus on creating content that resonates with your audience and addresses their needs and interests.

How to track results from social media?

Tracking your content on social media is crucial for understanding how much revenue it is driving for your business. Here are a few tips to help you track your content and see how it’s performing:

  1. Use social media analytics: Most social media platforms offer built-in analytics tools that allow you to see how your content is performing. These tools can help you understand things like how many people are seeing your content, how many are engaging with it, and where your traffic is coming from.

  2. Use Google Analytics: If you have a website or blog, Google Analytics is a powerful tool for tracking your content’s performance. It allows you to see things like how much traffic your content is driving to your site and where that traffic is coming from.

  3. Use tracking links: If you want to get more granular data on how your content is performing, consider using tracking links. These are special links that allow you to see how many people are clicking on them and where they are coming from.

  4. Use conversion tracking: If you have an e-commerce store or are selling products or services online, consider using conversion tracking to see how your content is driving sales. This will allow you to see how many people are making purchases after interacting with your content.

By using these tools and techniques, you’ll be able to track your content’s performance and get a better understanding of how it’s driving revenue for your business.

 

In Conclusion

 

Using storytelling on social media is a powerful and effective way to connect with your audience, drive engagement, and ultimately increase revenue for your business. But it’s important to do it right. By avoiding common mistakes and using the right tools and techniques, you can create relatable and engaging storytelling content that resonates with your audience and drives real results for your business.

If you’re struggling to create compelling storytelling content or want to boost your social media presence, we can help. As experienced social media experts, we have the skills and expertise to help you craft powerful stories that connect with your audience and drive real results for your business. Contact us today to learn more and see how we can help you take your social media presence to the next level.

 
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Does Branding Come Before Marketing?

The Greatness Blog

Does Branding Come Before Marketing?

Wondering if you should build a brand or build a business or both? How does that look like? Advice from a Brand Marketing Agency.

When it comes to your product launch strategy, it will require the right blend of approaches. I compare a brand success with a plane. Ever wonder how does a plane fly? It flies because of four forces. The four forces are lift, thrust, drag, and weight. 

 

Let’s take these four forces and relate it to your product launch. First, you have to have a great product. This is what I consider the “lift” force. Your product has to be able to take off and fly on its own. You can have the greatest marketing strategy in the world, but if your product stinks, it will never get off the ground. 

 

Second, you need the “thrust” force. This is your go-to market strategy. It’s how you’re going to generate demand for your product. 

 

Third, you need to consider the “drag” force. This is all of the things that can slow down or hinder your product from taking off. 

 

Fourth and finally, you need to consider the “weight” force. This is your overall business strategy. How much money are you willing to invest in this product? Is it a cash cow or a loss leader? 

 

These are all important factors to consider when launching your product. 

 

With a great marketing campaign can help create a successful product launch. But then what? How do you make a sustainable business outside of that one great launch? This is where a conversation about how to become a successful and sustainable brand comes handy.

 

Let’s dive in. 

 

If you’re about to launch a product, you might want to consider launching your brand first. And we’re not talking about waiting years until having an amazing brand. Building a successful brand can be done in less than six months. In some cases, depending on the level of influence of the people behind it, it can be even quicker.

So what is a brand, anyway?

 

Since brand and branding are two of the most misused concepts, let’s clarify what do we mean by brand, so we can be on the same page.

 

When we say that you need a brand, we’re not talking about your logo, colors, and website. That’s branding. A graphic designer will take care of that part. However, that alone won’t share the story of your business. 

 

As Jeff Bezos famously said, “Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.” And this isn’t different, whether you are building a personal brand or a business brand.

 

You didn’t start a business without a reason, right? So what it is? What’s the story? What’s the problem you want to solve? Is the impact in people’s lives worth sharing? 

 

Pro tip: Successful branding begins with a well-defined story that is RELATABLE to your market. 

Some of the benefits of building a brand before launching a product include:

 

1) You gain customer loyalty

By building a strong brand, you create loyalty among your customers. They’re more likely to continue using your products and recommend them to others.

 

2) You build a connection that keeps users coming for more

A strong brand connection means customers are more likely to come back for more. They’ll also be more likely to try new products from your company, as they know they can trust your brand.

 

3) It gives your team a sense of direction and motivation

Launching a product can be a daunting task. By having a clear brand identity, you can give your team a sense of direction and purpose. This will make them more motivated to work on the product and see it through to launch.

 

4) You can grow a bigger digital footprint

A strong brand presence online can help you reach more potential customers. It can also help with search engine optimization, as potential customers are more likely to find your product if they know your brand.

 

5) It can help with reputation management 

In today’s digital age, it’s important to have a good reputation online. By launching your brand first, you can start to build a positive reputation before your product even launches. This can help ensure that customers have a positive experience with your product and are more likely to recommend it to others.

How do you share a brand story?

Now that you’re inspired to consider taking some time and resources to build your company brand, let’s go over some brand stories, starting with Tesla.

 

So how does Tesla do it? 

 

How has Tesla become one of the most valuable car companies in the world without spending a dime on advertising? It all comes down to storytelling. Tesla tells its story through its product. Every Tesla is designed to be the safest, quickest, and most pleasurable car to drive. They are constantly innovating and pushing the limits of what’s possible with electric vehicles. As a result, Tesla has built a strong emotional connection with its customers. And when you have a strong emotional connection with your customers, they will do your marketing for you. 

 

Pro tip: When you build a strong emotional connection with your customers, they will do your marketing for you.

 

As you might have noticed, Facebook rebranded recently and changed its name from Facebook to Meta.

Why did Facebook change its name to Meta?

Zuckerberg said it was time to turn the page on a new chapter. Meta’s name is directly related to metaverse, a new world built in virtual reality.

 

In reality, Facebook’s move was smart. The social platform had been under fire for spreading misinformation and other issues, so rebranding gave them a chance to give the media a new story.

 

You would figure that this time, Meta needed to come up strong, from the get-go. And they did. One of my favorite examples of how they’re sharing Meta’s brand story is their magical gate at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS), transforming one of the terminal’s gate areas and adding 120 fantastical new air service destinations to the airport. 

 

When you’re at Meta’s imaginary gate, you’ll see their imaginary destinations. Smart move! A great way to generate stories – at the emotional level! 

 

Do you see a pattern here?

 

A great brand story tells the narrative of your brand, including where you’ve come from and where you are going. A great brand story must be true, authentic, and honest. It cannot be made up or derived; consumers sniff out inauthenticity in a heartbeat and will punish you for it.

 

Launching a product without first building a brand can be risky. Customers may not know who you are or what you stand for, and they may not be as likely to take a chance on your product. By launching your brand first, you can create awareness and build trust with potential customers before you even launch your product.

Great brands have great brand marketing

 

Brand marketing is promoting a brand’s products or services in a way that elevates the brand as a whole. It involves creating and maintaining brand-consumer relationships and marketing brand attributes—the traits that people think of when they picture a particular brand.

In Conclusion

 

Building a brand is essential to the success of any business, whether you’re just starting out or have been in the game for years. It’s what sets you apart from your competition and allows you to create a connection with your consumers.

 

Do you think you have a story worth sharing and you want to leverage it and monetize it? Let’s chat! Schedule a complimentary branding consultation with our experts.

 

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Building A Brand Community | MFG

The Greatness Blog

Building A Brand Community | MFG

If you’re looking to grow foot traffic to your retail store or service-based business, implementing location-based marketing will help.

Intro

 

Building a community around your brand can be really important for a number of reasons.

First of all, it can help you to build loyalty and encourage repeat customers. When people feel like they belong to a community, they’re more likely to stick with your brand instead of trying out competitors.

Secondly, a community can act as a powerful marketing tool. People are more likely to buy from brands that they feel connected to, and they’re also more likely to recommend products to their friends and family.

Finally, building a community can help you to gather feedback and learn from your customers. You can use this feedback to improve your products and services, making your brand even stronger.

So there’s no doubt that building a community is important for brands.

The question is, how do you go about doing it?

We are going to discuss all about these things in this detailed article. So let us begin!

Importance of Community Building for Brands

Community building is a key player in understanding and running business-related tasks efficiently. The community of a brand is a direct measure of its popularity and needs in a particular region in most cases. For example, established brands like Nike, Addidas, and Puma all have extensive communities. 
  1. Community building helps transfer the power of their brand into the hands of the people rather than focusing on traditional advertising only.
  2. It focuses on changing the focus from transactions to storytelling to create a more personal bond.
  3. The trend helps with authenticating information from brands which is highly popular in today’s Gen Z.

Community Building and Brand Visibility

There are several reasons why building a strong community is a must for better brand visibility. Some of these reasons include that people do not rely on traditional adverts nowadays. Instead, online reviews, first-hand experiences, and customer-generated content all play a vital role in creating and maintaining a brand’s image. Let us discuss some examples of these online communities for better understanding. 

Following are some benefits that these community-building tactics and increased foot traffic can help you reap:

  1. Gain access to customers
  2. Get to know customers better
  3. Create better experiences
  4. Influence brand conversations
  5. Impact user-generated content
  6. Affordable and less costly market research
  7. Improve awareness and sentiments about your brand, and display it as more than a brand.
  8. Get rich insights using simple and effective matters.
  9. Co-create with customers and improve services, processes, and products.
  10. Reduce support and marketing costs.
  11. Improve customer participation in your brand

Examples of Community Building and Brand Visibility

Following are some examples where brands improved their visibility, recognition, and existence using community building methods.
 

LEGO Ideas

LEGO ideas are an optimal example of a well-branded company. It has over 1.8 million users who stay connected online for their love towards LEGO products. They have increased their members to an additional half a million since March of last year. However, the community first began with adult customers found in the industry.
 
However, the group now welcomes everyone regardless of their age. However, you need parental permission and love for LEGO products to become a part of the brand community.
 
LEGO Ideas has taken the idea of a community much further and is now using a different approach. They encourage members to discuss new additions or changes in existing products to help the brand grow.
 
There are three main sections on the site that the users can choose from. These include the following:
  1. Activities: are fun exercises for members to enhance their creative skills. 
  2. Contests: compete with other LEGO for rare items and prizes 
  3. Product Ideas: Users become LEGO Fan Designers by submitting their ideas and plans to the brand.

Beauty Insider Community (Sephora)

Sephora is a dedicated space for makeup enthusiasts and people who wish to make a difference in the industry. People can come together, post their concerns, questions and take photos of things they like for learning and growth. 
 
Even though it might seem very small, the Sephora group has hugely impacted the industry. It has also helped brands and makeup companies adopt the feedback from the customers for better products and necessary changes. People are also using the platform to test out new looks and experiment with what is available.
 
The best part is that you do not have to be a makeup expert to join it. Instead, it is more of a learning opportunity for everyone. 
 

How can you start a brand community for your business?

Creating a brand community can be a great way to build loyalty and create advocates for your business. But how do you get started?

The first step is to identify where your potential customers are congregating online. This could be a specific social media platform, an online forum, or even a blog or website.

Once you’ve found your audience, start engaging with them. Comment on their posts, answer their questions, and share their content.
 
You should also create your own content that is relevant to your brand and share it with the community.
 
As you build relationships with members of the community, you’ll start to establish yourself as a trusted authority on your brand.
 
And as the community grows, you’ll have a built-in group of loyal customers and promoters.
 
 

Community and Foot Traffic Trends to Follow 

We understand that community building and improving foot traffic is a long process and requires time. However, there are some trends that we recommend exploring in 2022!
 

Talk to Your Audience Like They Are Your Friend

Try to answer your audience’s problems like they are your own, and the community will start prioritizing you.
 

Don’t Sell Products but Value

Try to share valuable suggestions and advice instead of selling your products and boosting your business. 
 

Encourage Your Team Members To Be Social

Hold social events and interactive opportunities for community members.
 

Add Entertainment And Humor

Ensure you entertain your audience with good humor and entertainment suggestions.
 

Use Short Videos

We suggest adding brand-related short videos for more interaction with users.
 

Leverage Real-Time Social Media

You can use real-time Instagram and Facebook options to market your products and create better communities for users. 
 

Join Virtual Groups: Facebook And Linkedin

Creating and joining virtual groups on Facebook and Linkedin can help get a better view of the audience’s wants.
 

Be Sure That Your Website Reflects Your Values 

Try to make your site content as relatable and valuable as possible. Always design your about us page most interestingly.
 

Be Consistent

Do not rush things and give the community to adapt to new changes you make for growth.
 

Collaborate

Do not shy away from other brands or users that wish to work with you. It will be an additional marketing section for your business too.
 

Bottom Line

Foot traffic and community building go hand in hand to a great extent. Improving your community can help you reap better benefits for your other projects in the future. It may take some time, but following an honest/transparent attitude, providing engagement with values and sentiment, staying active through the community pages, are all simple yet effective tools for better foot traffic and community building.
 
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Tiktok Marketing Trends | MFG

The Greatness Blog

Tiktok Marketing Trends | MFG

TikTok is a social media platform that presents 15-60 second short videos. Learn all about its marketing trends in this detailed article.

Tik Tok: The Revolution in Social Media Marketing

 

TikTok has recently grown into one of the most successful social media platforms for users worldwide. But, many people do not understand why this is the case? Let us talk about TikTok marketing and why it matters for companies looking for social media marketing trends.

TikTok has had over 1 billion users ever since its launch back in 2016. What’s more interesting is that TikTok claims that it has over another billion active users on the platform. This is an extraordinary number, and the kind of exposure creators can get is quite promising. Many people think getting into the platform is difficult, but that is not the case.

Many people wish to become a part of TikTok because they understand what it means to have huge exposure to their marketing tactics. TikTok is large enough to have an audience right away. This makes it the perfect time for TikTok marketing trends ad adoption. We suggest you stop waiting because the time is now. You can use the platform to understand why it is here to stay.

Why is TikTok different than any other social media?

 

People are also talking about how TikTok is different from other mainstream social media platforms that you will come across. Following are some of the pointers that make it unique compared to other social media sources you can find:

  1. Increased creative opportunities
  2. Exposure to audience
  3. Content creation ease and options
  4. Different from the rest
  5. Does not have an age boundary

Tik Tok and Creator Investment

TikTok is also focusing on improving things for content creators on the platform. This includes everything from setting a budget to adding easier follower gaining options on the platform. We will add some examples and explain how TikTok is focusing on empowering its content creators.
 
A great example of this act is The Reeses Guy, where TikTok invested a lot of money to help him create more content. The profile owner had a unique style, entertained audiences, and loved trying new things to keep things interactive.
 
Similarly, TikTok has other plentiful options too. For instance, a brand can tap into highly creative user-generated content! A good example is Oreo’s official TikTok Account. He currently has 55.3K Followers and stands as one of the fastest-growing profiles on TikTok.
 

Understanding the Tik Tok Audience

 
Users need to understand the TikTok audience to be successful on the platform. Here’s a full breakdown of the user and their stats on TikTok:
 
  1. 25% of TikTok’s active user accounts in the U.S. are people aged 10-19.
  2. 22.4% of TikTok’s active user accounts in the U.S. are 20-29.
  3. 21.7% of TikTok’s active user accounts in the U.S. are 30-39.
  4. 20.3% of TikTok’s active user accounts in the U.S. are 40-49.
  5. 11% of TikTok’s active user accounts in the U.S. are 50+.
  6. 53% of TikTok users in the USA are between ages 30 and over.
 
However, this application is no longer for children either, as you will find leading brands competing for exposure on TikTok.
 

Marketing Trends on Tik Tok 

 
While Tik Tok offers plenty of content marketing strategies and options, it also becomes difficult for most businesses to stay ahead of the competition. While no one can say what kind of content usually becomes viral,  some indicators can be helpful.
 
These indicators represent what makes good content on Tik Tok. You can also think of it as a formula to create content that most audience groups will like. Incorporating these elements into your Tik Tok content will help you have better online reach and visibility. Some of these include:
 

Trendy Audio 

 
The biggest reason for Tik Tok videos to get viral is over their track. While these tracks have no particular genre; they can help you viral your content and increase your profile marketing. Some popular tracks on Tik Tok include Stay- by Justin Bieber. Similarly, Ameno (commonly known as the Dorime track) is another popular option for humorous Tik Tok videos. 
 
There are other songs and track collections for dancing videos and similar entertainment content. Therefore, picking the right track for your Tik Tok videos can help you maximize your response and followers on your account. Notice that these tracks won’t get viral immediately, but they may happen to you if you are lucky enough.
 

Seamless Transitions

 
Transition videos are another popular Tik Tok content option that most creators like. These transitions include everything from Turn on the T.V., Turn off the T.V., Slip, Scroll, Horizon, Vertical, Rotate, Circle, etc. These seamless transitions are relatively difficult to make but look visually appealing. 
 
Additionally, it is important to note that these transitions should have some interesting changes, rather than just scenery changes. Coupling these kinds of videos will a beat-drop track also works well.
 

Vulnerable Stories

 
While social media accounts focus on making creators’ lives look perfect and awe-filled, showing vulnerable stories is another popular mode of videos on the platform. People love to see short videos of people who have gone through trauma or pain in the past. This can include anyone from celebrities to non-specialists. 
 
Most people show great support for these videos because they have an empathetic theme. The most common examples are abuse stories, theft, heartbreaks, etc. People are also doing glow-up videos after a tragic event to show that life goes on and things get better over time.
 

Behind the Scenes

 
Audiences love taking a dip into the content-making process. For this, they love seeing bloopers and additional behind the scene footage. These kinds of videos are very simple to make, as it just consists of the video-making processes. A good place to start for videos like these is the @SmilesquadComedyChannel, known for its short skits.
 

A Day in Your Life

 
A big portion of the Tiktok videos also consists of the “A day in your life” theme, which revolves around experiencing a famous content creator’s life from their POV. This usually includes their schedule, diet, daily activities, likes, dislikes, etc. 
 
Celeb fans love this kind of content as it lets them have a closer look at their favorite creator’s personal life. You may also see these kinds of content creators doing something good to send a social message and give back to the community at the same time. 
 
However, we suggest that you create this kind of content only when you have many followers or have something special to share.
 

Bottom Line

 
The content marketing trends on Tik Tok also keep changing like other social media platforms. However, basic steps like choosing the right track, targeting your audience correctly, adding behind-the-scenes footage, and adding vulnerable content will help you improve your Tik Tok followers.
 
It is alright if you do not get the response you desire right away because it takes time for these things to happen. If you need more tips, suggestions, and advice for your Tik Tok account marketing, feel free to contact us.
 
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When paying it forward goes right! – Spectrum Reach Exclusive

Spectrum Reach | Pay it Forward | Marketing for Greatness

The Greatness Blog

When paying it forward goes right! – Spectrum Reach Exclusive

Spectrum Reach, Charter Communications’ advertising sales unit, has launched a national campaign committing $50 million in media, resources, and creative services to help businesses reach and engage multicultural audiences. Marketing For Greatness was selected as the official partner of the “Pay it Forward” program and we are proud to announce the lucky winners!
Spectrum Reach | Pay it Forward | Marketing for Greatness

If you’re looking for a great place to start a business, you can’t go wrong with Austin. The city has a thriving startup scene, and it just got a little bit more supportive. Spectrum Reach, Charter Communications’ advertising sales unit, has launched a national campaign committing $50 million in media, resources, and creative services to help businesses reach and engage multicultural audiences. Marketing For Greatness was selected as the official partner of the “Pay it Forward” program and we are proud to announce the lucky winners! 

 

To learn more about the Pay it Forward Campaign click here. 

 

Austin Professionals & Entrepreneurs Applied To Win $15,000 in Marketing Grants

 

As the leader of the Austin Professionals & Entrepreneurs Network – Austin’s fastest growing happy hour for business owners- I was thrilled to share this opportunity and make a bigger impact in our community. I know that givers gain and nothing fuels me more than seeing hard-working business owners getting a bit of help to promote their business. Plus, who doesn’t love a generous marketing grant?

 

Spectrum Reach

 

Our members are amazing and I feel grateful to be able to connect them with resources that will help them grow their businesses. 

 

How To Win Spectrum’s Pay It Forward Marketing Grant

 

When it comes to making a difference in the community, small businesses are the unsung heroes. They are the backbone of the local economy, providing much-needed goods and services while also supporting the community through their involvement. However, they often don’t have the same platform as larger businesses and organizations, making it difficult for their voices to be heard.

 

This initiative was created with small business owners in mind. 

 

It provides them with an opportunity to amplify their voices and share their stories. The grant application had questions about their impact, such as how their business would benefit from this program and any examples of community involvement. Winners were selected based on their story and mission; not on their size.

 

Who Won Spectrum’s Pay It Forward Award This Year?

 

As the saying goes, everything is bigger in Texas. And that was certainly the case when Spectrum held its latest round of grant giveaways. We had expected to award a single $15,000 grant to one business in the state. But when the dust settled, we were surprised to find that there were multiple award winners! The winners were:

 

Austin Breast Imaging– recipient of a $15K advertising grant!

 

Austin Breast Imaging is a breast-health facility in Austin. They give patients peace of mind with dedicated breast radiologists, state-of-the-art technology, and a peaceful spa-like environment to create a less stressful experience. Their sole focus is the breast health of their community!

 

Spectrum Reach - Pay it forward

 

Crescent House – recipient of a $15K advertising grant!

 

Crescent House is a locally owned and operated furniture store that offers quality pieces for every home.  From the moment you walk into their location, you will see and feel the difference. They believe in upcycling, reusing, and repurposing as much as possible. as well as supporting USA-based furniture artisans. Crescent House is an active member of our community and giving back is important to them as a company. As a company, they support several local charities and organizations. 

 

Bright SpOT Pediatric Therapy – recipient of a $15K advertising grant!

 

Bright SpOT Pediatric Therapy is a mobile outpatient pediatric therapy practice. It’s mission is to provide occupational and speech therapy services to children from 0-21 years of age. They love making connections with people and proudly serve children within their community!

 

Spectrum Reach - Pay it forward

 

Vincent’s On The Lake– recipient of a $15K advertising grant!

 

Vincent’s On The Lake is a waterfront restaurant, bar, and live music venue, located at the beautiful Emerald Point Marina. They love to bring joy to their local community by hosting events and providing entertainment!

 

Spectrum Reach - Pay it forward

 

EP Concrete & Construction – recipient of a $15K advertising grant!

 

EP Concrete & Construction is a locally owned and operated company that offers a one stop shop for all your commercial and residential concrete needs. Their driving force is customer satisfaction and they are dedicated to giving back to their local community.

 

Spectrum Reach - Pay it forward

 

Taylored Eye Photography– recipient of a $10K advertising grant!

 

Taylored Eye Photography is a locally owned and individually run photography studio, specializing in weddings, engagements, and family portraits. They believe in giving back to their community by offering photoshoots for local organizations such as the Austin Lions Club. They love to help families in the community create memories while showing off their true selves!

 

Spectrum Reach - Pay it forward

 

Texas Garage Gym Builders– recipient of a $10K advertising grant!

 

Texas Garage Gym Builders is a locally-owned fitness outfitter, specializing in residential, commercial, and outdoor gyms in Texas. They sell equipment and design, install, and transform spaces into the health and fitness havens at their clients’ homes or offices. They are passionate about the community and strive to help improve their client’s quality of life!

 

Spectrum Reach - Pay it forward

 

Ethereal Gift Collective – recipient of a $10K advertising grant!

 

Ethereal Gift Collective is a female-led collective made up of 16 local makers, located near the Arboretum. They hold workshops, new mother support in the form of Doula partnerships, art and jewelry classes, candle-making classes, and more. They hold clothing swaps to assist with upcycling and saving money within the community. They LOVE to make a difference in the community in any way they can!

 

Spectrum Reach - Pay it forward

 

VETTED Kitchens– recipient of a $10K advertising grant!

 

VETTED Kitchens is a catering company specializing in custom menus for any occasion. They help with local faith-based communities, veteran service organizations, and they provide food and quality hospitality to corporate events. VETTED Kitchens believes in building local communities by bringing resources and families together through collaboration, as well as, working to inspire and create fellowship within their community.

 

Spectrum Reach - Pay it forward

 

Fall in line Construction– recipient of a $10K advertising grant!

 

Fall in line Construction is a veteran-owned business, specializing in roofing. They believe in supporting veteran-owned companies,  conducting highway cleanups, offering veteran discounts, and offering resources to those in need. They love to serve their clients personally and pride themselves in quality over quantity.

 

We can’t wait to see what they do with their new commercials! Thanks to Spectrum, the saying “Everything’s bigger in Texas” has never been more true!

 

Celebrating The Winners

 

The Pay it Forward campaign ended with a big celebration where business owners came together for a happy hour and were able to celebrate the winners.

Each business will get a free commercial, three months of air time, access to marketing experts, and exclusive resources from Spectrum Reach.

 

About Marketing For Greatness | MFG-SEO Agency

 

We believe that the landscape of online marketing has changed tremendously after the pandemic. Businesses need to find out-of-the-box ways to reach potential buyers. Winning customers is not too much about winning their money; but winning their loyalty. Consumers want to support -not just a product- but a purpose-driven cause. Businesses should humanize their brands and lead with stories that can make them relatable. We encourage all business owners to level up, both, digital and local footprint.

 

Marketing For Greatness | MFG-SEO Agency

 

Let’s Get You Connected

 

Find our Austin Networking Group on Facebook. Click here.

If you are looking to hire a great marketing agency in Austin, let’s chat!

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The LinkedIn Marketing Trends You Need To Know Today

The Greatness Blog

The LinkedIn Marketing Trends You Need To Know Today

Brands are prioritizing LinkedIn more than ever. As Facebook (now Meta) rolled up their announcements for their main social media channels: Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, users felt overwhelmed by the rapid changes. …

LinkedIn is a platform that focuses more on the professional industry. While most social media sites focus on personal communication and causal interactions, LinkedIn highlights various businesses’ professional opportunities and learning aspects. 

The target audience of LinkedIn is completely different. You will find two primary groups of audiences on the site. One is the hustlers, who started operating in the professional world and are looking for growth opportunities. The second group consists of successful content creators looking for new talents and individuals to become a part of their business. 

The site is currently very popular, with over 800 million users globally. It started operating as early as 2002 and quickly became one of the most in-demand sites for professionals. Most people looking for professional openings, connections, and interactions look towards LinkedIn to provide the exposure they need to grow. 

Linkedin’s Environment

The one thing that sets LinkedIn apart from all other social media accounts is its objective and environment. While most of the social media apps focus more on showing the personal aspect of users and helping them communicate, LinkedIn works differently. 

You will not find a plethora of selfies, long captions, or personal rants of people about their lives. Instead, the platforms allow users to interact professionally, showcase their skills and achievements, and provide feedback about their experience with businesses. 

People are now using the platform to maintain their brand recognition, apply for job openings, hire more individuals, expand business value, etc. The “Connect” feature on the site also lets professionals from similar or different industries interact and connect. 

You may even find businesses reaching out to professionals with robust opportunities and growth. Brand building is a great tool that most professional advertising, marketing, and insurance agencies use on-site. 

Linkedin Is Priority 

Brands are prioritizing LinkedIn more than ever. As Facebook (now Meta) rolled up their announcements for their main social media channels: Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, users felt overwhelmed by the rapid changes.

LinkedIn leaders have shared some important insights that truly matter when crafting a LinkedIn strategy for 2022. 

“There was a time when B2B marketers could tap into B2C lookalike approaches to drive campaign success, but those days are over. Marketers must re-imagine everything, from the products they use, to how they reach their audiences, to what campaign success means. 

This is uncharted territory. The brands that win — that redefine the future of B2B digital advertising — will be the ones that are nimble and quick to test and iterate. 

Tomorrow’s successful marketers will never look back and plow forward, knowing that, although the future will never look the same, it will look much more successful than ever. 

The future is built on privacy, understanding buying groups, and mining the insights to effectively evaluate the buying signals to drive effective B2B marketing campaigns.”

We are excited to see LinkedIn putting so much stress on their groups. They probably understand that large-scale audience interaction is the best way to market on LinkedIn and can result in more profits, a better fan base, and improved overall results. 

Organic Growth 

LinkedIn offers an additional element to the content you create and post on the platform. This allows the crawler to easily locate your content and rank it much higher in results than other LinkedIn profiles and information listed on the platform.

Brands can still do the same using a blog, but that is quite expensive for most businesses. Therefore, they need to stick to basics to keep things streamlined. Users can also utilize LinkedIn articles, as they are good for building brand reputation, awareness, and creating brand recognition.

Linkedin Videos 

Linkedin Videos are becoming increasingly popular because of the increased demand and marketing benefits that LinkedIn recognizes. These videos offer better audience engagement, marketing results, and overall improved business ventures. It is why other social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram also started creating video content through reels in 2020. TikTok, on the other hand, is a full video marketing platform with millions of users.

For instance, statistics reveal that using video and audio content on LinkedIn pages is important to 85% of the users on the platform. 

Similarly, people have watched over 16 hours worth of long videos on the platform in recent times. Experts indicate that this number could soon increase drastically. 

Even YouTube claims that users watch nearly one billion videos daily, which will increase over time. 

Wyzowl’s 2020 report has also declared Linked In as one of the most powerful platforms for video content marketing. 

Stats:

 Several statistics also indicate the similar importance of this video content online.

  • For example, 90% of the users believe that a video featuring a product helps meet the requirements of nearly all major businesses.

  • Similarly, nearly 84% of the consumers are okay with investing in a product or service after watching its video. 

  • Even professional marketers recognize the impact of video content and claim that it has helped boost their site traffic up to an 83%.

  • However, a wide majority of the users are also picky with the kind of video marketing they see. For instance, nearly 73% of the users prefer “entertaining” videos over traditional marketing videos.

LinkedIn Stories: Why they failed

As mentioned before, LinkedIn is a different platform compared to other conventional social media sites. LinkedIn tried to add stories into its accounts to make it more like the other apps and add features. 

While this feature worked for most social media apps, LinkedIn did not experience the same. The main reason was that the audiences did not use the feature enough, taking up unnecessary space. People prefer adding professional, and quality content on their LinkedIn accounts only instead of posting medium-quality content. 

The idea of adding Video stories on top of the platform made it feel alienated and did not get the response it expected. Therefore, the story trend did not fit with the LinkedIn account.

However, LinkedIn is working on alternative features that allow a more interactive environment for the users and keep their businesses running. 

What Are They Working On?

LinkedIn is now experimenting with new potential features to add more value to its site. While the site has good response rates, they need something new to keep the organic traffic engaged. Many brands and companies are talking about a Club House feature, including Instagram, Facebook, Slack, Spotify, etc. 

Similarly, according to recent statements, LinkedIn is working on its audio networking feature. LinkedIn will stick to Beta Testing for now, but we expect this feature to appear for other users soon. Like another platform, LinkedIn’s version of the feature will probably include the stage of the speaker’s front, a center, and a list of people in the audience lower down the screen.

It is now introducing other features like New Creator Mode, a Club House-like feature, which is a natural fit. 

Additionally, there are several powerful tools on the platform that most professionals miss out on. These features include the following:

  • Restricting your connection visibility

  • Private mode profile view

  • Showcase pages to segment your audience

  • Save searches

  • Sending messages without connecting

  • Meeting and interview scheduling, etc.

Bottom Line

LinkedIn is a powerful professional tool which can unlock a plethora of opportunities for aspiring professionals in their relevant industries. Several developments and new trends in the application can help you improve your organic traffic and get professional growth easily. We suggest you reach out to us for more information on LinkedIn Marketing trends for your profile today.

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The Instagram Marketing Trends You Need To Know Today

The Greatness Blog

The Instagram Marketing Trends You Need To Know Today

Instagram has made some serious changes in its operations in everything from the newsfeed, to the SEO enhancements on-site. These changes could maximize Instagram’s popularity, help the site get more views, followers, and overall users.

Instagram is a popular social media platform that has billions of users from around the world. It is currently the sixth most used social media site in the world. It is also the 10th most visited site in the US, with over 0.9 Billion visits in January 2021 alone. The social media platform was also the 5th most downloaded app in the App Store back in 2020, which all means that Instagram is here to stay. 

Like other social media accounts, Instagram is making some serious changes to its algorithm. The good news! Instagram has shed some light on how their algorithm works and which changes are coming up. 

 

These instructions and guides can help you better grasp what changes you can expect from future Instagram trends. As these trends evolve, we’ll be updating this content so you can always get the most relevant changes!

So let us begin. 

 

Videos: The Future of Instagram in 2022

 

In a word, it’s VIDEOS! Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, recently shared his vision related to Instagram. He claims that Instagram will consolidate all its content around videos and reels. They removed the IGTV brand to replace them with longer videos. However, users need to tap on these videos to watch them properly.

The platform also plans to introduce more monetization tools into the system to support and motivate content creators to produce more changes. Furthermore, the head believes they will focus more on their messaging app and provide more options to users.

Let us have a look at these changes on Instagram ahead.

 

Changes for Creators

 

Instagram plans to introduce several monetization tools including a Partnerships messaging folder. This is a dedicated folder to help creators keep a closer look at their sponsored opportunities, and communicate with brand marketers.

We may also see the application introduce a subscription option on the platform to boost the monetization process for content creators online. Some of these monetization tools also include the following:

Storefront Option: This will apply to creators that are a part of an affiliate program, which would allow them to create their products.

Photo App Update: The photo app is testing new branded content added to boost monetize the platform.

Sponsored Mark: Branded content tag ads will have a sponsored mark on them, rather than a paid partnership tag.

Subscriptions: The subscriptions options allow content creators several benefits including subscriber lives, stories, and badges. However, these additional options are only available for selected profiles and accounts. 

Messenger

Messenger is getting revamped this year! 

There are plenty of useful tools and additions on the messenger app. It includes special features like swipe to reply to messages, reacting with any emoji, chatting with friends who use Facebook, etc. The best part is that users can do all of this without leaving the Instagram app at all.

How to know if you have the latest messenger features on Instagram?

Users who want to check if they have the latest messenger features on Instagram should check out this page.

 

 

Reels Feed 

 

As the platform shifts from image-only to mostly videos, we are seeing how Instagram is focusing on enhancing its Reels features. 

 

They have announced that all their videos will have Reels features. For instance, regular videos have features like “Remix,” so that others can open their camera and share a video reaction.

 

Video reactions are generating plenty of engagement, which is another recent update.

 

Since the algorithm favors those accounts that use their new features, we highly recommend staying on top of Reels trends, to get the most out of your Instagram Marketing.

Redesigned Home feed

Instagram has confirmed three new feed options will soon be available in the app. These include: 

Home, 
Favorites, 
Chronological Following feed. 

TikTok has been using this model since it went mainstream in 2018, and it works. It helps make surfing the app much easier and allows users to jump between pages with a single tap. However, one of the best features we believe is the following feed. Now, users can view their following feeds in chronological order so that they don’t miss out on the latest buzz in their profiles.

Veredict

When apps are shifting, it will bring a never-ending list of updates that you’ll need to keep up. Stay focused on your big picture! Remember that social channels are simply your distribution channels. If you don’t have a close community, this is your sign to create it! I predict that Facebook Groups will gain more popularity for businesses and creators this year! 

Instagram’s Most Impactful Changes So Far (Trends)

Instagram has achieved several milestones regarding these focuses that we mentioned earlier. Interestingly, these changes helped create new trends for Instagram in 2022, and we believe that they are here to stay for the upcoming future.

Following are the most interesting changes and trends that Instagram experienced in recent times. 

Story Swipe Up

Instagram removed the swipe-up link in the Instagram stories in August of 2021. The popular addition helped high-profile creators to direct their Story’s viewers to a website; for more info on a product, or to read an article. It also allowed users to sign up for a service or promote other things that the creators wanted.

However, accounts with 10,000 followers or more could enjoy this feature. However, this restriction doesn’t exist anymore and now all accounts have a link sticker. They can use it to add links to their profile stories.

 “Tap the link” is the new call to action for these accounts, and honestly, people love it. The link sticker is customizable too. This allows users to change the old swipe-up call to action button as they want. For example, you can alter it for a specific and branded call to action. All you need to do is edit the URL 

How do you Swipe Up?

The short answer is you do not because the feature has changed on Instagram. 

Reels Get More Organic Reach

Reels have become a key frontier for organic reach on the app. The increased reach of Reels seems to have a knock-on effect of boosting your overall engagement, too.

 

Keep in mind that not all Reels are created equal. The performance of one Reel is by no means a predictor of the next.

The best thing you can do is to keep the consistency. 

 

How can you get more views on Reels?

There seems to be a few different factors at play here:

 

Timing and hashtags are likely still important for dictating the performance of Reels, but not as important as the quality and relevancy of the content. 

New Reels users of those who haven’t posted in a while may experience some ‘newbie’ gains ie. 

The Reels algorithm seems to work in a similar way to TikTok, where how your video performs in the first hour seems to affect how many people your video will ultimately reach.

Entertainment content works best!

 

SEO Enhancement

Instagram started optimizing its search bar for SEO requirements. It is because Instagram result ranking also matters in the long run. The platform introduced several new additions to make the site SEO friendly. 

For example, keywords are now displayed in the search bar, which allows users to choose relevant content, filter out unwanted creators and content and maximize the effectiveness of creation. This has also helped new creators introduce more content frequently for maximum reach and output. 

The explore page is not only displaying hashtag-based content, as it focuses on the broader content available on-site, rather than just what is trending. Moreover, the algorithm is using ALT features and artificial intelligence to recognize the content, beyond hashtags.

Virtual Reality Filters

Platforms like Snapchat gained popularity from their virtual reality filters that allow users to create content using these filters in the environment. Instagram has already announced that they will keep enhancing their VR filters.

B2B marketing

Instagram is a fantastic platform for B2B marketers. It provides a space for making new connections in almost any industry, at almost any stage in their development. For B2B marketing, Instagram works great to showcase your brand values, company culture, recognize your team, and humanize the brand. We expect the B2B marketing to improve quickly on Instagram.

Bottom Line

Instagram has made some serious changes in its operations in everything from the newsfeed, to the SEO enhancements on-site. These changes could maximize Instagram’s popularity, help the site get more views, followers, and overall users.

Instagram users should keep these algorithm changes and trends in mind while creating content in 2022 and ahead. For more tips and information about Instagram marketing, you can always reach out to us. We also suggest you check out our trend tips for other platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Tiktok, etc.

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The Facebook Marketing Trends You Need To Know Today

The Greatness Blog

The Facebook Marketing Trends You Need To Know Today

Facebook is one of the longest-running social media platforms for personal and business users. There are several trends incoming from Facebook that could revolutionize how the platform operates. We expect Facebook groups to come back, and new advancements like the Metaverse could maximize the potential.

The pandemic has accelerated the shift towards a more digital world and there is no turning back. But what does it mean for business owners and marketers? 

The short answer: opportunity.

Americans spent on average 82 minutes per day on social media in 2020, a seven-minute jump from 2019 and a large upward revision from eMarketer’s original forecast. Social media has become more embedded in our lives than ever, and the increased reliance we’ve developed in the last year is likely here to stay.

Want our take on the state of social media marketing in 2022? 

Let’s roll!

Experts believe that the number of social media followers may reach 4.4 billion by 2025. It is because these social media platforms have not only helped people stay connected, but have also helped them maximize business requirements too. 

We are now stepping into the ultimate digital age, where things like multi-platform online payments are no problem and people are expanding their businesses in the online world.

For small business owners and solopreneurs, social media marketing means “a lot of work”. It is because the online market is robust, and requires consistent work. Especially the content creation part.

Let’s cut to the chase. Social media marketing can be a rabbithole if it’s not managed strategically. You log in just to catch up with some people, and the next thing you know you’ve spent 3 hours. 

Which social media platform is best in 2022?


Facebook, Instagram and Meta

Mark Zuckerberg has been clear about their vision and their focus. And the new name for Facebook gives us a clue! Metaverse! Zuckerberg has been dropping hints about it as early as 2015. In his words:

“You can plant a lot of seeds, not be committed to any particular one of them, but just see what grows. And this isn’t how we’ve approached this. We go mission-first, then focus on the pieces we need and go deep on them, and be committed to them.”

Over the last few years, Zuckerberg has been making big moves to acquire companies like Instagram and Whatsapp. All of those acquisitions had a purpose. And we can see it now.  

Facebook’s mission has always been to “Connect People” it is what has helped Facebook grow into one of the most successful companies globally. It is not only because it helps individuals, but business too.

Facebook Marketing Trends 2022

Facebook, now Meta, is still the biggest social channel. As a business owner, you can’t just ignore this channel. However, you can’t treat Facebook the same way you treat Instagram or LinkedIn. 

Facebook Groups

Facebook Groups are trending in 2022. As users want to be able to build meaningful connections, Facebook Groups simply make sense.

If you don’t manage a group yet, we highly encourage you to start by joining an active community so you can experience how is like to be part of a Facebook group.

 These groups can also help several other industries and areas because of the following perks they offer:

Support Their Local Community

Facebook groups primarily operate for the local community and allow more exposure to smaller, nearby businesses. This support can go a long way in terms of moral and financial support. There are over 3 billion businesses that advertise their business on Facebook.

Support Their Customers 

It provides support to the customers in case of a dealing issue, FAQ, or any other kind of support customers need. Customers can look for reviews, honest opinions, product updates, service center information, and much more through these social media groups.

Engage In Deeper Conversations

People can use the Facebook groups to engage in deeper conversations, considering it saves posts, comments, and remarks for further members to contribute later on. These deeper conversations have even helped set social media movements with various hashtags.

 A common example is the recent trend of #ReleaseTheSnyderVerse, where DC fans demanded a re-release of the Justice League movie, and DC delivered.

Do Market Research within Their Circle

It will also allow business owners to research within their circle and deliver the market needs more accurately. This accurate research can help personalize and redesign products more to meet the needs of the customers and fulfill their needs. 

Affordable Advertising Budget

Facebook will also help provide an affordable advertising budget by building brand loyalty and activating word of mouth for maximum results. This

Facebook Messenger 

Facebook messenger is another feature that business owners can leverage. Facebook Messenger statistics show that the app is the second most popular in its category as of October 2019.

So, the odds are in favor of you using Facebook’s messaging app. 

Marketing through Messenger leads to 10 to 80 times better engagement than organic posts on Facebook News Feed (Source: Mobile Monkey) This is a great opportunity, especially if you consider that Facebook’s News Feed organic posts get 0-2% visibility and no more than a 2% clickthrough rate. 

We recommend testing Messenger ads (or click-to-Messenger ads) and incorporating AI to have meaningful conversations with your users. 

Facebook Shop 

Facebook Shops make it easy for businesses to set up a single online store for customers to access on both Facebook and Instagram. Shops keep getting upgraded to add more integrations and make the shopping experience seamless to the users. 

If you’ve been considering having your e-commerce on social media, now it’s the perfect time to start that project.

Bottom Line.

Facebook is one of the longest-running social media platforms for personal and business users. There are several trends incoming from Facebook that could revolutionize how the platform operates. 

We expect Facebook groups to come back, and new advancements like the Metaverse could maximize the potential. We will keep you updated with trends for other social media platforms as well, so ensure keeping an eye out for more articles from us. 

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How To Start A Social Media Agency: And Make Money In 30 Days Or Less

Social Media Agency

If you’ve been considering starting a business that you can work from anywhere, getting into social media marketing makes total sense.

In this article, I will give you an overview of why I think starting a social media marketing today is a great idea and how you can make money in 30 days or less.

Let’s roll.

Social Media Management Market Size

While social media marketing is not a new business idea, the market forecast presents a bright future for anyone with online marketing skills who loves social media and is open to doing the work it takes to provide excellent service.

The global social media management market size will grow to USD 17.7 billion by 2023. Source. Market size matters when it comes to starting a new business. However, market size isn’t the only factor. You also need to consider the market needs.

Social Media Management Market Size

Forbes reported that 60% of small business owners say they haven’t seen any return on investment from their social media efforts.

Challenges Small Business Owners Face On Social Media

If you Google the top challenges that small business owners face when it comes to their social media marketing, you’ll find this list of social media challenges:

Challenge 1: So many platforms to choose from and not knowing where to focus.

Challenge 2: Lack of resources to meet the users’ expectations.

Challenge 3: It’s difficult to measure conversions.

Challenge 4: There aren’t enough hours in a workweek.

Challenge 5: Not knowing how to set up the right goals.

According to Forbes, it takes 32 hours a month to manage a single social media platform correctly, that’s roughly 6-8 hours per week. Only 25% of small business owners spend 6-10 hours per week on social media. This isn’t because they underestimate the value; they just don’t have the time.  

What Pains A Social Media Marketer Solve?

Social media management helps users with a wide variety of tasks to develop their social channels and effectively gain visibility amongst social media users. 

A key factor to generate clients as soon as possible is your unique value proposition. All you need is to describe the pain that you’re trying to solve with your services, for a specific market.

A very simple way to craft your UVP is taking the 5 challenges listed above and turn one or two into your UVP.

Example of how to present your unique social media marketing value proposition: 

I do social media marketing for business owners who want to turn social media accounts into income-generating channels and have no time to lose.

In this example, you’re solving 2 pains for small business owners, so they will see 2 benefits:

  1. Save time
  2. Make more money

Now that you have your UVP, your next step is your business identity. 

To make things very simple, start with your name. Buy a couple of domain names (including yours if it’s available) in GoDaddy.com. 

Make sure your online first impression is polished. What do I mean with this?

  1. You have a professional Facebook profile and a business page
  2. Your Instagram is a business profile
  3. Your LinkedIn BIO is updated
  4. Your business is listed in Google (this is free) 

Crafting Your Elevator Speech As A New Social Media Management Agency

When you’re about to start and want to bring clients as quick as possible, it’s perfectly ok to pitch small business owners with the following message:

Hello, I’m ______. I’m about to launch my social media marketing agency. I would love to partner with small business owners who see the value in having a personalized and reliable social media specialist who can do the heavy lifting while generating conversions. Since I am starting and want to build a portfolio, the first 10 clients will have a special rate.

Share this message with everyone you know. 

Try to come up with a list of at least 100 names so you can get to those 10 new clients as soon as possible. 

Facebook Groups are a great resource to find business owners who want to collaborate with emerging marketers. In case you’re interested, I lead 2 Facebook Groups and can connect you with some opportunities. Click here to join my Marketing for Greatness Network. 

Now that you have the tools you need to prospect, let’s discuss pricing.

How Much To Charge For Social Media Marketing?

Watch out for platforms like Fiverr.com, Upwork.com, and Freelancer.com. They have freelancers who are willing to offer social media management services at very low rates. I want to give you the heads up on how to handle those business owners who think that social media management is going to cost them $5 per hour.

How Much To Charge For Social Media Marketing?

Stay away from business owners who want premium services paying $5 per hour rate.

Set up your minimum hourly rate (even if you don’t disclose this with your future client). If you’re not confident about charging these prices, getting certified in social media marketing will help.

Social Media Marketing Pricing Plans

Social media beginner level: $15- $20 per hour. Expect to work about 10 hours a week between your work and research. Total of hours per month: 45. Average monthly fees: $750. 

You could consider discounting your learning time, so your rate could be $600 per month. 

Social media intermediate level: $30- $50 per hour. Factor your time spent on strategy and a fee from a social media manager, beginner level, so you can get more clients. 25 hours per month at $50 is $1,250. Expect to pay your manager by tasks, about $200 per account, so you have a net of $1,000.

You could get paid $2,000-$5,000 a month if you add other projects into the mix and create social media marketing packages, with add-ons such as:

  1. Copywriting for website
  2. Lead pages
  3. Email marketing management
  4. Additional platforms such as Youtube, Pinterest, Houzz, Etsy, etc.

How To Find Social Media Marketing Clients

I hope you’re excited about the possibility of owning a social media marketing agency. Hey! Imagine if you get 5 clients at $600 that’s $3,000 per month while working from home in your PJs! 

Finding clients is all about leads! 

Memorize this: leads are the heart of your business.

Just one thing, please! A lead is not a lead until it shows an interest in your offer. When you create your list of 100’s of names, those are NOT leads. Those are suspects. Once you pitch them and they want more information, they are prospects. And once they actually accept a meeting with you, they are leads.

How To Find Social Media Marketing Clients

So, how can you find leads then?

My Top 3 Lead Generation Activities

You will be surprised here! I’ve built 4 businesses: a law firm, 2 e-commerce businesses, and a marketing firm, without ANY advertising. 

My top 3 lead generation activities have been:

  1. Word of mouth
  2. Organic marketing online 
  3. Networking events

Why should Marketers care about WOMM?

If you could master what has been identified as the most valuable form of marketing—the one that consumers trust above all others and the one that is most likely to drive sales for your company — would you instead choose to ignore it or leave it to chance?

Seriously! Start with WOMM. Work with that list and pitch your suspects without any hesitation. If you think you need help with prospecting skills, take a few hours a week to learn how to prospect. And remember, practice makes perfect.

Learn about Success Club- $10 a month will give you access to members-only content, marketing tools, and more!
Learn about Success Club- $10 a month will give you access to members-only content, marketing tools, and more!

Partnership marketing will be your next step.

8 Effective Partnership Marketing Examples

A great way to get clients faster is through partnerships. I’m not talking about partners who share equity. I’m referring to marketing partners who can generate win-win opportunities.

Some of the most effective marketing partnerships to consider:

  1. Affiliation: Known as affiliate marketing. It’s a collaborative effort where the primary brand offers a product or service and the secondary brand benefits from commissions earned per lead or sale. 
  1. Content: Content partnerships can happen when brands collaborate to either a) produce content or b) share links. Link sharing means linking to the partner’s content from their own site. This provides exposure, aligns both brands together, and advances SEO.
  1. Distribution: Where one partner agrees to cross-market or bundle another partner’s product or services into their own distribution channels to target the agreed customer base. This can happen by cross-marketing and/or creating bundles. 
  1. Charitable: A primary brand sponsors or markets itself with a charitable organization or cause. You can promote their cause and they promote your event. This helps with brand awareness and cultural influence.
  1. Joint products or services: For example, you offer social media management and our firm offers SEO. The key here is that the service is an amalgamation of both products aiming at mutual target audiences. Example: white label products.
  1. Licensing: Licensing is a business arrangement in which one company gives another company permission to manufacture its product using its brand image for an agreed payment or partnership.
  1. Loyalty: Loyalty program or ambassador program. A retention marketing technique that offers consumers a reward in return for increased usage. Have you heard about Instagram ambassadors? That’s what this is about!
  1. Sponsorship: The marketing tactic of placing a brand alongside a particular event, displaying itself as a partner or supporter, with the objective to increase brand recognition and reputation.

Consider Niche Marketing: Facebook Marketing Agency Or Instagram Marketing Agency

There’s a good chance that you meet an established marketing agency who is serving accounts with bigger budgets and need a platform-specific service. 

You could market particular social media services such as:

  1. Facebook community management and Facebook Groups admin
  2. Instagram marketing, Instagram outreach 
  3. Facebook chat management
  4. Customer service chat
  5. Appointments management
  6. Instagram stories
  7. Instant posts 
  8. Facebook live coordinator
  9. CRM integration
  10. Shopping cart management

… Just to name a few.

Social Media Marketing Tools

I’ve constructed this guide to help entrepreneurs and small business owners without unlimited marketing budgets understand the erratic world of social media. 

This ultimate guide gives you my favorite social media marketing tools that you can use to boost your social media without breaking your bank account.

I’m here to simplify your game by telling you exactly which tools I use as a small business owner and strategist with over 10 years in digital marketing.  

My Go-To Social Media Scheduling Tools

I will recommend you tools that will help you plan and schedule posts a month ahead.

Scheduling Tool #1: Social Media Marketing Planner

You’ve probably seen fancy calendars and planners. I’m actually not a big fan of those scrapbooking style tools.

I rather get things done. I guess it comes with having a strict agenda and plenty of things to do.

So, for simplicity, your calendar can be just a Word Doc or Google Doc. 

Here’s the format I use to plan my social media marketing every month:

Just think about this, on a Google document, super simple.

Part 1: Theme of the month:  Growth. We want to share content that inspires, educates, and invites people to consider us for their business growth needs. 

Part 2: Target audience: small business owners in their first 3 years of their business. 

Part 3: Events of the month: Webinar week 2 and Networking event, week 4. 

Part 4: Blogs to publish during the month:  Ultimate guide of social media and Instagram tutorial

Part 5: Marketing Campaigns:  #MembersMonday #SummerSocial

Scheduling Tool #2: Facebook Creator Studio

Your Facebook Business Page comes with the option to schedule posts in the future. Now with Creator Studio, if you have multiple pages, you can post and schedule multiple pages, all from the same dashboard. 

Scheduling Tool #2: Facebook Creator Studio

Creator Studio integrates Instagram as well. You are able to see Instagram’s content library from Facebook. We still can’t post to Instagram from Creator Studio, but I won’t be surprised if that will come soon.

Scheduling Tool #3: Facebook Group Scheduler

Facebook Groups are a great way to grow your audience on social media. It’s by far one of my favorite social media tools. 

Scheduling Tool #3: Facebook Group Scheduler

Scheduling Tool #4: Hootsuite | Buffer | MeetEdgar

In full transparency, I use Hootsuite for my agency.  I like how authenticates and I can just add team members and assign accounts. So, for agencies, I believe they are staying competitive. 

For solopreneurs, Hootsuite’s new pricing model might not make sense. 

You only need a scheduler like Hootsuite for your Twitter and LinkedIn, since Facebook has its own scheduler.  Buffer is a good alternative.

For those of you looking for more robust social media management tools that can offer curation and content suggestions, MeetEdgar is a great option.

Scheduling Tool #5: Later | Planoly

For those of you who are 100% Instagram marketing, you then need a social media management tool that specializes in the platform.

My research narrowed to 2 options and I chose Later.com. I liked their ability to add teams so I can get my team working on our clients while still having access to the accounts. Some of my clients use Planoly.com and are very happy too.

Later and Planoly also work on Pinterest.

Scheduling Tool #6: Sprout Social

Sprout Social does what Buffer and Hootsuite do but in a more complex way, but this platform is best for small-large agencies as their analytics feature beats Hootsuite and Buffer hands down. They provide full reporting details for their premium members, breaking down each account in bits. You can even compare your competitor’s figure and see where they are and how best to tackle them. It’s that deep.

The downside with Sprout Social is the fact that it is far more expensive than Buffer and Hootsuite put together and they have no free plan, just a 30-day trial. Sprout Social works with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Read my Ultimate Guide on Social Media Marketing Tools 2020 Edition.

Marketing For Greatness – Marketing Partnerships

We love to partner with social media managers who are looking to get more clients and want to learn best practices, strategies, and advice from marketing & sales experts. 

We provide resources, templates, scripts, training, and certification, and powerful connections to help you thrive.

Let’s make it happen!

Schedule a virtual coffee where we can discuss how to collaborate.

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7 P’s To Extraordinary Social Media Marketing For Real Estate Agents

7 p's of social media marketing

If you have been getting social media marketing tips for real estate agents, but you’re not clear on how exactly those tips will get you real estate leads, you’re so right! 

Working on content marketing and social media marketing without a real estate marketing strategy is like putting the cart before the horse.

Real Estate Marketing Trends in 2020

When it comes to marketing trends in 2020, in my very humble opinion, we still don’t know many aspects, as we continue to cover new ground and confront unprecedented challenges triggered by the coronavirus pandemic.

However, we can take a look at 2019 numbers and get the facts that we already know.

  1. Homebuyers take virtual steps as part of their home buying process. 
  2. Gone are the days of cold calling and knocking doors.
  3. Millennials now make up 66 percent of the market for first-time homebuyers, and 99 percent of those looking for homes use the internet to research properties. 
  4. The hashtag #justlisted has 2.1 million posts on Instagram

House hunters now include g property-related hashtags and social media feeds in their searches, and that’s only the tip of the iceberg.

Winning The Race To Find Motivated Seller Leads In Social Media 

You might think that the race to find motivated seller leads is very competitive. The good news! There are lot of opportunities! 

You might think that the big players dominate the real estate digital market. While that is the case, real estate agents can benefit from developing their personal brand to stand out from the crowd. 

Word of Mouth marketing impression results 5x more sales than a paid media impression, and people are 90% more likely to trust and buy from a brand recommended by a friend.

Motivated sellers will ask their friends. Because of this, you actually don’t know when those friends of friends are scrolling your page, considering contacting you. 

The question becomes, not if, but when. That’s why you need to be ready to get leads and sales!

Let’s craft your wondrous social media marketing strategy. 

1- Planning

To plan your visibility is like playing a game of chess; it requires focus, a strategy, and the right move at the right time.

 A very simplistic way to cover this first part of your strategy is by asking yourself: where are you and what are your next benchmarks. The answers  will help you set attainable goals. 

  1. Do you need to build a personal brand? Yes? Then, you are in development mode. Your initial benchmark is getting this done. 
  2. Do you have a personal brand but want to grow your audience? You are in growth mode. Your first benchmark is to increase your sphere of influence. Depending on where you start, your milestone should be 5x or 10x your number of personal contacts. 
  3. Did you grow your social media channels, but there are no conversions? You are in optimization mode. Your benchmarks are associated with your lead generation and conversions.

Having a clear vision of where you are and where you want to be allows you to make strategic moves.

2- Presence

Let’s face it; evading social media presence is not an option – You want to target audience, you have to get them where they are, and it’s ‘online.’ 

Regardless of which of the 3 phases discussed above: development, growth, and optimization, your social media strategy needs to consider your online presence.

  1. If you are in development mode, then you need to build your presence. Putting yourself on social media is more complicated than it seems. Don’t overthink it. Work within your strengths. Instead of thinking you need to be everywhere to be successful, work to master one platform at a time. 
  2. If you are in growth mode, your social media marketing strategy needs to consider how to generate more followers, engagement, reach, and reviews. This is all part of your online presence.  
  3. If you are in optimization mode, your social media marketing strategy should consider ways to incorporate search engine marketing, search engine optimization, and paid traffic. There’s a good chance that you’re interested in running Facebook Ads and Instagram Ads. Just be aware that real estate ads have a different compliance process, as they are a special ad category.  

Statistics show that it’s a make or break in a split of a second when it comes to online visitors establishing an opinion of your brand. Therefore, you have to be smart about how to make your online presence look appealing, reliable, and legit for the targeted audience.

3- People

Third in line but probably the most important P of them all – People. In other words, your targeted audience. Always remember consumers put brands on the map, not companies. I cannot emphasize enough how vital it is for you to base and build a reputation and persona of your product around your clientele.

To build a useful  and appealing persona, you must consider some areas of focus.

  1. Are you marketing a specific age group?
  2. Are you marketing a specific real estate product?
  3. Are you marketing to buyers, sellers, or investors?
  4. Are you marketing to residential leads or commercial real estate leads?

Balancing Your Real Estate Content With Your Personal Content

It is advisable to use the 80/20 rule, also known as the ‘Pareto Principle.’ In social media marketing terms, you must use 80% of your interaction with the customer, i.e., conversations, content, and activities, to be useful and relatable to them. 

You can utilize the remaining 20% for your real estate ads. Sharing trustworthy content with your audience, backed up with well-thought marketing claims, will establish your authority with trust amongst the masses.

Our Social Media Planner helps you plan your content and track your performance.

4- Product

Ever wondered what your audience thinks of what you do? As a real estate agent, you’re a service provider. But, have you thought about what is genuinely your service?

Think about ways to market your trust to gain authority in the marketplace. What are some of the professional qualifications that make you unique?

  1. Do you have certifications?
  2. Designations?
  3. Number of deals closed?
  4. Awards?

How To Establish Trust As A New Real Estate Agent?

If you’re a new real estate agent, leverage your skills and background to make people remember you. 

A powerful way to market yourself in a new field is by using your story. People buy your why. 

Your real estate branding and your social media strategy should consider YOU as the product. Think of ways to get people to relate and connect with you first.  

5- Placement

I would strongly suggest for you to address some factors while formulating your ideal social media placement strategy. You must know where your audience hangs out the most. There are several ways to find this out, such as asking yourself which social media you would visit if you were to find a new doctor or a new attorney? Or a more direct approach is to email your connections for their opinion.

You must also consider other factors like the time and resources that you have. 

Can you get leads on Instagram? Yes, you can. 

Tips To Get Real Estate Leads From Instagram

  1. Learn Instagram for Business so you can understand the best practices to get engagement from potential clients.
  2. Instagram transactions are mostly B2C, so don’t expect a big crowd of people to be excited about your real estate tips. This is normal for B2B content. 
  3. Qualify your leads by having direct conversations with people.
  4. Use stories to communicate with users.
  5. Create a landing page for your Instagram so that people can learn more about you and your properties on their own time. This is the famous link in your bio. 
  6. A real estate lead generation system works as long as you are willing to put the time and effort to network with people. Just like in real life.

6- Performance

When it comes to strategizing around performance, there are two leading roles: setting up your basic trackers and designing a series of events to go  back and analyze your performance.

Remember the 3 phases we discussed above: development, growth, and optimization.

If you are just starting to develop your brand, set up a tracking system so you can pay attention to the following:

  1. Impressions – how many times the platform distributed your content 
  2. Reach- how many people saw your content
  3. Engagement- how many people showed a reaction

If you’re in growth, then you’ll add another tier of elements to track. For example, if you are running Facebook Ads and Instagram Ads, you will pay attention to:

  1. Clicks to your website or landing page
  2. Cost per ads results 
  3. Ads performance 

For those in the optimization phase, your social media strategy needs a more robust content marketing strategy. Pay attention to:

  1. Your call to actions on your landing page
  2. Your content marketing campaigns 
  3. Your email marketing performance

As long as you consider performance as part of your social media marketing strategy, even when you’re just using Facebook Insights and Instagram Insights, you are good to go. 

If you’re looking for a system to track your performance from social media marketing, I recommend SEMRush.com. It allows you to integrate all your digital marketing channels in one place, so that you can see not only how your brand is growing, but your visibility as well. It also takes into consideration your competitors. 

7- Processes

Your wondrous social media strategy is almost done! Since you have created all of these projects to market your real estate business in social media, now it’s time to discuss your processes. 

So what is a process, anyway? A process is a series of actions or steps taken to achieve a particular end.

Critical processes to consider:

  1. Content writing process. 
  2. Reputation marketing process.
  3. Social media management process.
  4. Lead generation and lead management.
  5. Sales process. 

Each process has steps. And each step can be worked either on a daily or weekly basis. That’s why you need to be strategic! Or else it will make you feel overwhelmed, and you will throw the towel in just a few weeks.

Here’s a checklist we shared on Instagram that covers what to do in social media daily and weekly! Remember to check out the Visibility Planner, your comprehensive planner to get your marketing done! 

Your Social Media Marketing Plan

Now that you have a strategy, you are ready to put your social media marketing plan in place.  

Instagram seems to be THE platform to pay attention now. So, jump in! If you have questions don’t hesitate to reach out.

Remember one thing: if you’re not having fun, you’re doing something wrong! 

Conclusion

Now that you and I both know the 7 Ps of Social Media Marketing, it’s time to make strategic moves! Make sure that you have a solid game plan in place before you start. Planning is critical. All successful social media campaigns have a clear plan of execution. Having tracking methods in place allows you to effectively review each campaign and determine the achievement (or failure) of the campaign. With this information, you are ready to optimize your next plan. Remember that failures are a part of the process as you are learning your audience. There are important nuggets of knowledge to be gained. 

Need more direction? I’m a click away! Let’s have a virtual coffee! 

 

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An Easy Pinterest Marketing Strategy For Business

Looking for secrets and out-of-the-box ways to give your brand more visibility? Pinterest marketing can be the answer.

This article will cover how to start marketing your business on Pinterest, the easy and lazy way!

Pinterest Marketing Stats In 2020

With more than 200 billion Pins to browse through, there are opportunities for every type of brand on Pinterest.

If you’re new to the Pinterest language, “pins” means posts! Essentially, it’s the way users share their content.

At the end of 2019, Pinterest reported having 322 million monthly active users worldwide. While nearly one-third of those users are from the US, the number of users outside the US is growing rapidly. Pinterest gained around 51 million international monthly users in 2019 compared to the five million in the US.

 

 

Pinterest marketing is not just about the number of users and pins. The demographics of those users are also relevant.

Pinterest Demographics

 

71% of global Pinterest users are female, according to Statista. When concentrating on the US, Pinterest reaches 83% of women ages 25-54.

Keep in mind, when you read “ages 25-54” this means two separated generations. This is important to remember later when you’re considering how to post on Pinterest.

Regardless of age, women are decision-makers, which is another reason to prioritize your Pinterest marketing game plan.  Women hold crucial purchasing power. Women drive 70-80 percent of all consumer purchasing, through a combination of their buying power and influence.

How To Use Pinterest For Business

 

Just like every social channel, Pinterest allows businesses the opportunity to get publicity online, for free. So, not having a business account on this platform is like opening a restaurant and not telling anyone.

New To Pinterest? How To Start?

 

If you have Facebook, chances are you have a Pinterest account.  Users can log in easily with Facebook. However, to claim your business account, you will need to take additional steps.

1.Open your Pinterest for Business

 

2. Edit your profile

3.Claim additional digital properties

This feature allows you to claim your website, Instagram, Etsy, and Youtube.

4.Get the Pinterest browser button

The Pinterest browse button will allow you to share images to Pinterest with just one click.

5.Select a Pinterest theme

As the saying goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Human beings are highly visual creatures who can process visual information almost instantly; 90 percent of all information that we perceive and that gets transmitted to our brains is visual.

Images can be a powerful way to capture users’ attention and differentiate your product. A single image can convey more to the observer than an elaborate block of text. Furthermore, images can cross language barriers in a way text simply can’t.

Follow a consistent theme so users can easily identify your brand and remember you.

6.Set up your Pinterest scheduler

If you have been leading your social media marketing with Instagram, then we recommend Later.com. Their reports are very clean and give you granular insights. Their business plan is about $29 monthly and you can link Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest which is a great value.

Pro tip: You can also schedule Instagram stories on Later.com and save a lot of time.

Your Pinterest Strategy 

Pinterest marketing and Pinterest strategy are not the same. For this reason, we highly encourage business owners to have a strategy in place, before opening social media channels and start sharing just anything that they feel like sharing.

The Best Social Media Marketing Strategy

Social media marketing can be powerful, as long as it’s supported by a powerful digital marketing strategy. Some marketers niche social media marketing as inbound marketing since it allows you to attract users to your brand, without having to use direct marketing tactics such as promotions, codes, or exclusive sales content.

Users are more educated these days. They prefer to control when they explore brands than being interrupted in their decision-making process. When was the last time that you got happy to get a cold call from an insurance agent offering competitive rates? They are lucky if you answer the call!

Important Factors Of A Winning Social Media Marketing Strategy:  

 

  1. It’s not about you. It’s about the users. What do they want?
  2. Your social media channels should be in sync. Users like to hop from channel to channel to engage with brands their way. This is called the omnichannel approach or omnichannel marketing.
  3. Only share your best content. “Good enough” is not enough. There is no such thing as “a bit of content” to reserve the best for your paid users. Give them the best and they will see your real value.
  4. Consider the user experience. What do users expect from the platform? Short content? Long content? Tutorials on video or in How-To-Guides?

Keep in mind, these factors are universally applicable for every social media channel. Now let’s craft a Pinterest marketing strategy that can help you reach your visibility goals.

Create Your Pinterest Marketing Strategy In 5 Easy Steps

 

Marketing is what drives customers to company and brand digital assets such as websites and social media channels, not what should exist on them.

What should exist is content designed to help customers accomplish two goals: research and purchase products or services. That’s where a Pinterest marketing strategy comes handy.

Step 1: Define Your Future Buyers

  1. List the top three customer segments. Look for the segments that provide the most revenue.
  2. What is the job you get done for your customers?
  3. What is your value proposition and what makes your value proposition different from your competitors?
  4. What are the specific outcomes/results that your future clients can get after using your solutions? Can you share third-party content that validates your claims?

Step 2: Define The How-To’s

  1. List your services and organize how-tos by segment.
  2. What tutorials can you prepare for each segment?
  3. What format will users prefer?
  4. If you will do tutorials, are they easy-to-follow?
  5. At the very least, create a board with the content that it’s on your website menu: about you, services, testimonials, contact information

Step 3: Optimize Your Content

  1. Search on Pinterest to see who else is sharing related content
  2. Explore popular pins
  3. Join Pinterest groups and collect feedback from other users
  4. The idea is to create content knowing ahead that your users will love
  5. Use “SEO” principles, meaning, words that people commonly use when they search or long-form questions.
  6. Consider optimizing your pin descriptions frequently, based on the results from your audit

Step 4: Pins Distribution Checklist

  1. Build a community that loves your content and appreciates getting more!
  2. Segment your email list to notify your users via broadcast.
  3. Expand your viewers by sharing your pins in other platforms such as Instagram, Instagram stories.
  4. This distribution list should always be a work in progress.

Pro tip: You can link your Instagram profile to a particular board to distribute content automatically. Later.com will allow you to schedule this content ahead of time.

Step 5: Audit Your Performance

  1. To start, make sure you set up your analytics to track your Pinterest performance.
  2. The platform provides you with analytics, but don’t stop there.
  3. If you blog, adding UTM codes to identify the source of your blog traffic will be ideal so you can see exactly how your boards are performing, in comparison with other social media platforms.

In Closing

Pinterest can get you website traffic and qualified sales opportunities, if you design a strategic plan to develop your boards to attract your ideal users.

Combine this social media channel with Instagram so you can see both channels growing.


Tap the image and check our Instagram- Link in BIO for all the updates courses, coaching programs, and live events.

Looking For Marketing Courses + Coaching?

If you want to experience real learning and get a customized marketing strategy to grow your business, our Marketing University might be a fit. Currently enrolling students on:

  1. Marketing mastermind
  2. SEO + Content Marketing
  3. How to launch a website
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Let’s continue this conversation! Virtual coffee on me!

 

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Farmer vs Hunter? Which Social Media Marketing Strategy Works Best?

Not sure if your social media marketing strategy follows the “hunters to farmers” sales approach? Want to learn a sophisticated approach to sales using social media?

This article will demystify the hunting and farming approach to social media for you and will give you some tangible steps you can take, starting today, to get the best of your social media channels. Plus, there is a quiz at the end to test your social sales strategy! 

Social Marketing vs Advertising On Social Media 

If you don’t know the difference between social media marketing and social media advertising, it’s okay to admit it. The distinction can be a bit confusing, especially because there are plenty of voices out there.

Check out two examples of posts:

Post A: Nick Leyden, a fitness coach, is asking a Facebook Group “what is one thing you are doing to stay healthy and active during this time?”

Post B: Capital Factory is sharing an invite to a webinar.  

Post A will ignite conversations. Nick doesn’t need to solicit anyone. In fact, he will be able to give some tips and advice, and from there, those users who feel value from him will choose if they want to follow him. 

Nick’s post is a brilliant strategy for a Facebook Group where people are open to having a community experience.

Post B is not asking users for any conversation. In fact, it is asking users to stop everything they are doing, read the long-form content, click a link, go to an external page, then read another invite, and fill out a form, and attend a webinar.

Post B is social advertising. Notice that it has the same format that you see on Facebook Ads. While Post B is appropriate for the group, there it won’t have the same engagement as Nick’s post.

If you’re not sure if your content is a social marketing content or social advertising content, here’s a rule:

If it sounds like a radio commercial, you’re advertising. 

However, that doesn’t mean that it’s wrong to share content that has a strong call to action. The key is to have a content marketing strategy, so that users welcome your invitation or call to action.

Farmers vs Hunters, In Which Group Are You?

Salesperson reputations stink! In poll after poll, survey respondents typically rank salespeople above only members of Congress on trust, honesty, and competency.

For a long time, in the sales world, people identify themselves as hunters or farmers. What exactly does that mean and in which context?

The Hunters

Hunters are also known as the doers. They get their sales energy through “hunting” new opportunities. Hunters can be described as independent (with a lot of initiative) and solution-driven. They tend to focus on big deals and love going from one to the next as soon as they close their current prospect.

The Farmers

In contrast to the hunters, farmers are more focused on developing long-term relationships. They are the nurturers—building relationships with leads and clients for a lasting impact. They are team players that bring everyone else up and develop strong customer loyalty.

Some entrepreneurs and small business owners have a hard time combining both of the approaches. While it is great to add value and nurture relationships, they still need to close the sale. 

How to balance nurturing activities with closing activities? It’s social selling. 

The Rise Of Social Selling 

Social selling is the art of using social media to find, connect with, understand, and nurture sales prospects. It’s the modern way to develop meaningful relationships with potential customers so you’re the first person or brand a prospect thinks of when they’re ready to buy.

Since social selling has become part of the modern sales processes, both salespeople and entrepreneurs can benefit from the modern social selling method. A big incentive for social selling is that there’s no need for cold calls anymore.

Perhaps equally important to explaining what social selling means is to explain what social selling is not. 

It’s certainly not about bombarding strangers with unsolicited posts, tags, and private messages in your social media platforms. There’s a name for that: spam. And you shouldn’t do it.

Social Selling Strategy 

If you haven’t implemented a social selling strategy for your social media management, here are some stats that will get you inspired to work on this ASAP!

  1. 78% of salespeople engaged in social selling are outselling their peers who aren’t. (Forbes)
  2. 77% of B2B buyers said they do not talk to a salesperson until they’ve performed independent research themselves (Source: CEB)
  3. 76% of buyers are ready to have a social media conversation with potential providers. (LinkedIn)
  4. 92% of B2B buyers are willing to engage with a sales professional who is a known industry thought leader.
  5. 53% of customer loyalty is driven by a salesperson’s ability to deliver unique insight, easily done through social media.
  6. A full 71% of all sales professionals and 90% of top salespeople are already using social selling tools.
  7. That percentage gets even higher with the younger generation. 78% of Millennials say they use social selling tools.
  8. 93% of sales executives have not received any formal training on social selling (source)

Social Selling vs. Social Media Marketing

Is social selling the same thing as social media marketing or advertising?

No. As we explained before, social marketing and social advertising are different things. 

Social selling takes the social marketing approach but combines the methodology with ist sales process. They use social media marketing to nurture relationships, turn them into leads and potential sales opportunities.

Social Selling Is All About Value

When interacting with prospects and customers through social networks, it’s important to consider what’s in there for them. 

Imagine this scenario: a coworker invited you for a family party. You know a few of other coworkers, but everyone else is a stranger. How do you approach people at the party? Do you stop them, get on their face, and tell them to buy from you? Of course not.  You would get to know them first, ask questions, engage in conversations to find things in common. 

Adding value is not subject to your opinion. Your users will find value depending on their very own stage. This is what makes marketing a very complex process. 

Building A Sales Funnel

During the past few decades, the marketing funnel served as the primary model for how people learn about a product, decide to buy, and (hopefully) become loyal customers, helping spread the word to others.

In today’s age when every product has hoards of competitors, the loyalty loop is a more accurate picture of how the customer reevaluates their decision to buy again and again.

The best way to connect with your audience on Facebook is by mapping their experience, all while considering each stage of their decision-making process. To keep this simple, we’ll narrow the decision-making process into three stages:

  • Awareness: People have either become aware of your product or service, or aware that they have a need that must be fulfilled.
  • Evaluation: People are aware that your product or service could fulfill their needs, and they’re trying to determine whether you’re the best fit. Users turn into leads.
  • Purchase: Leads are ready to make a purchase.

What experience do you want to create for users who are in the awareness stage?

  1. I want them to feel like they can trust my service or product.
  2. I want them to identify our unique value proposition quickly.
  3. I want them to know that they can ask any questions via chat or email.

Strategize Your Social Media Content

Gone are the days when professionals keep their professional and personal accounts separated. People buy you! Entrepreneurs who are able to build a personal brand thrive in social media. Remember, 76% of buyers are ready to have a social media conversation with potential providers. 

Your social media channels are the amplifier. But you need a brand and a voice that speaks to your target audience. That’s where your content marketing strategy comes handy.  

Social Media Marketing Quiz! See How Ready Are You For Social Selling!

  1. My profile picture is professional (5 points)
  2. My cover image inspires strangers to trust in me (5 points)
  3. I am comfortable with letting strangers finding me (5 points)
  4. I initiate conversations with people who I believe can be good connections (5 points)
  5. I have prepared articles to share with my social media connections (5 points)
  6. I have shared links where my connections can find more information about my services (5 points)
  7. I have gotten referrals from my social media connections (5 points)
  8. I have a content calendar and a content plan for my social media (5 points)
  9. My social media accounts grow each month (5 points)
  10. I take time each day to follow up with my connections follow up offline (calls, meetings) – (5 points)

Your score

  1. 5-20  It seems like you are on social media, but not engaging as much as you should.
  2. 25-35 You see the value of social media. Maybe with some guidance, you can start seeing leads and clients.
  3. 40-50 You are in the process to master the social selling game. Keep going!

In Closing

If you’re feeling overwhelmed from social media and want to have access to an expert who can remove the guess and make a plan to grow your business, let’s chat!

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These 5 Marketing Strategies Prevent Fitness Studios From Major Losses During Coronavirus Outbreak

Gyms small and large are closing across the country in order to slow the spread of the new coronavirus.

Health officials, politicians and business leaders throughout the world are encouraging “social distancing” in order to slow the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.  

If you’re in the fitness industry and your business can’t open but you’re afraid to lose your members, keep reading! 

Gyms Closing To Slow Coronavirus Spread

Just like every responsible business owner, you’ve been monitoring closely the development of the COVID-19 since it reached a pandemic level. Since being active keeps us healthy and helps us fight off infection, opening your facilities to your clients is a noble service.  

However, due to the recent evolution of the pandemic, social distance is pretty much mandatory. Your clients have no choice, but to stay at home and wait and your location is no longer open to the public.

Forced To Adapt

During these unforeseen circumstances, you are forced to adapt. The sooner you can make the move and pivot, the better it is for your members. 

Your members see you as a leader. They call you coach, for a reason. You might want to take 3 steps back and think about the relationship you have with your “members”. 

  • Do you have a bond with them? Do you feel connected?
  • Members have a sense of belonging. Do you think that your members truly feel like they belong?
  • If the physical location can’t be open, how can your members feel like they are part of your business beyond your location?

These are some of the questions that will ignite a new realm of possibilities. You will soon realize that your members want YOU. Sure, they want your location or your studio, but they want access to YOU. It’s time to think about how they can have more of YOU. If you’re a team, the YOU is your support from the team all together and each of the members.

Is Your Subscription Model Virus-Proof?

Your members are, indeed, paying for a subscription, which is a great business model for the purpose of bringing predictable cash flows.  Now that your facilities are not open, you might need to adjust their subscription.

Life Time active, club-accessing memberships will receive a prorated dues credit for the number of days the club is closed. But what if you can’t afford giving credit to your members? 

What about your employees? Will they get paid if your business is closed? 

The good news! You can pivot! Having open communication with each of your members it’s crucial at this point. The key is to replace the value that they see from your subscription. Remember, they buy YOU.

A New Approach To Marketing

Coronavirus could not have picked a more inconvenient season. For the health and wellness industry, Q1 of the year is the strongest one. You probably had planned your spring promotions, discount codes, along with the social media strategies to get new members to sign up. Now that your facilities can’t open and we still don’t have a clear picture of the situation, your marketing needs a new approach.

We have interviewed some amazing fitness leaders and have created 5 powerful marketing strategies that can help you get through this Coronacalypse.

Number One: Market The Value Of Your Community

Just because your members can’t step into your location doesn’t mean that they can’t be connected and pay to have access.

April Hill, owner of Yoglates 2 South in Baton Rouge, LA. pivoted by launching a 30-day virtual subscription.    

Well… I began planning last  week to utilize our Facebook Private group page in the event this blew up and we were forced to close / quarantine. 

To best care for our members we are bringing a routine everyday. This gives those members that automatically renew their memberships what they are paying for.  My hope is our members seeing us in the studio or from home will give them a sense of normalcy and bring them peace. It’s so much more than a workout. We are a community. We are a family.

This platform also allows us to offer our unique workout to others as well. People may now buy a virtual 30 day subscription by the link we are sharing. Once they make their purchase they ask to be part of the Yoglates 2 South Members Page and we accept them into the group. 

Following the Live video, I post to the page and it remains available for all members in the FB group to view till the next day. This has been well received thus far.

Cycle Bar Cedar Park is embracing social distancing with its members, by doing workouts outdoors. This is a great initiative!

Number Two: Boost Your Social Media Marketing 

If you were posting on social media 2-4 times a week and mostly promotions, you will have a challenge these days. Consider adopting a new content marketing plan where you add at least 50% of inspirational content. Be sensitive to what people are going through. Use polls and see how your members are doing. Engage more with them.

Avoid:

  1. Sharing news from non-official pages 
  2. Sharing content that can enhance anxiety 
  3. Political at ALL TIMES 

This is a great time to try new channels, such as Facebook Live and IGTV to find ways to connect with your audience. Even TikTok! 

I’m coaching business owners on how to master Instagram for Business. Normally this course is $500 but I have a $400 off for you! Click here to learn more.
Use Facebook Live and Instagram TV to connect with your audience. See, for example, how Kendra Scott managed to share with her audience her decision to temporarily close all of their retail locations March 16-29th.

View this post on Instagram

As a Mom and a daughter currently caring for an elderly father, the information about coronavirus hits home for me in a very real way. I built this company with Family as our first pillar. And keeping everyone safe – both our KS family and our family of customers in all the communities we serve – has been at the forefront of all of our decisions.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ As such, we will be temporarily closing all of our Kendra Scott retail locations March 16-29th. This was not an easy decision and is one made with the best interest of not just our employees, but our communities and country in mind.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ We’re working quickly to establish how to best take care of our communities in this time of need and we will share details about our give back shortly.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ Stay safe & healthy. We look forward to seeing you again soon and until then we’re here to serve you at kendrascott.com?

A post shared by Kendra Scott (@kendrascott) on

Number Three: Email Marketing And SMS Marketing 

While social media might be where everyone is, don’t take that for granted. Your goal is to connect with your members to nurture your relationship. Go beyond the copy/paste messages. Sending personalized emails and text messages will help you maintain your members.

Jennifer Sweet, owner of Pure Barre Lakeway says: We have been in constant communication with our members, beyond social media. We have shared emails and text messages with updates, always adding a personal touch. We could use templates but we rather take the extra time to make each member feel supported and appreciated.

Number Four: Leverage Stories

If you had never used stories before, you might feel confused about what kind of messages should be shared via stories. Generally speaking, stories are essentially messages that are meant to be shared in episodes. 

Here’s a good format for your stories:

Episode 1: hello members, I’m here at ___ and want to share with you 3 things.

Episode 2: Thing 1.

Episode 3: Thing 2.

Episode 4: Thing 3.

If you use a video, it will be broken down in segments of 15 seconds and cut after 4 episodes. Since you can combine text, images, videos, stickers, and GIFs, you can share a message without having to use long-form videos or long-form posts. 

If there’s something that small businesses have is VISION. On that note, I love this quote from Steve Jobs:

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

-Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple

If you’re in Austin and want to connect with our community of professionals & entrepreneurs, join our Facebook Community.

Number Five: Embrace Positivity

Rebecca Remus, founder of Grand Mesa Crossfit is focusing on adding more positivity to her members. Besides from sharing workouts online and via email to her members, they are going beyond the norm to recognize their members. It’s a great way to let the members know “we are thinking about you”.

I hope these strategies can bring you some ideas to thrive during these difficult days.

If you have other ideas, bring it! We are always up to update our content to bring nothing but the best!

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The Formula To A Profitable Social Media Strategy

Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to use social media, knowing that it could get you leads and unique sales opportunities? If you answered yes, then keep reading.

Because social media is being used by more than 3 billion users worldwide, entrepreneurs definitely cannot ignore social media as one of the top marketing channels.

With this comes a huge challenge in designing the right social media strategy, and if not done correctly, can limit the profitable opportunities that exist within social media platforms.

The formula to generate leads from social media:

Quality Profile + Quality Content + Relevancy = Organic Reach

Organic Reach * Conversion Rate % = Leads

Let’s discuss each ingredient of the formula.

Building A Successful Social Media Profile

Whether you are just trying to get more exposure online, to connect with your fans or customers, or  to improve your online reputation, social networking profiles are the way to go in order to reach your business goals.

Unless you have a major site associated with your name, and plenty of people specifically typing your name or your brand on search engines, your social media profile is usually the first result Google shows when someone searches for you.

Start thinking of each social media profile you create as a landing page for your personal brand. 

Your landing page is possibly the first encounter that someone is going to have with your brand, and you will want that first impression to make the visitor interested to know more about you. 

Be strategic. When someone is interacting with your social channels, make sure they will be able to see a profile that makes them like you, trust in you, and believe in you. 

Some tips to build a successful social media profile:

  • Use a profile picture that makes you look approachable
  • Customize your cover image and add an attractive description
  • Add a BIO
  • Balance your personal and business content
  • Adjust your privacy settings to make sure people can find you and never turn on automatic tagging 

This might sound logical, but let me clarify the importance of having a strong profile.  It makes no sense to spend resources for marketing purposes in order to get people to know about a brand if there is a poor online presence. 

Producing Quality Content 

One of the biggest challenges that entrepreneurs have when it comes to social media marketing is content. Coming up with fresh, relevant, interesting, and effective content ideas to share with their audience isn’t something that comes easily. A great way to solve this challenge is to incorporate psychology to the process of content creation.

Using the psychology of personalities, you are able to anticipate the emotions you want to trigger from your readers and thus creating a marketing strategy around it. 

The language people use to express themselves can provide clues about the kind of people they are, online and off. Current efforts to understand personality from writing samples rely on theories and survey data from the 1980s. 

New research uses social media data to successfully identify differences and similarities between users without prior assumptions. The way people refer to themselves and others has previously been correlated with personality. The new analysis also associates these personality markers with topics of conversation.

If topics of conversation are correlated with personalities, this means that marketers can trigger those conversations, provided that they have a strategy in place! 

The Gemstones Personality Test

The 4 Personality Gems come from the motivational speaker Dani Johnson.  Johnson says, “You have all four Gem characteristics in you. Some people have a lot of two Gems and very little of the others. Others have quite a bit of each one in them, but they lead and communicate in one primary Gem most of the time.” 

I’ve used this strategy to craft my social media content for a long time now and it’s fascinating!  

Are The Personality Gems Effective? Yes. But how does it work?

First of all, you will want to identify your 2 strongest gems and see if your social media currently reflects them.  You will be surprised by how accurate this is! 

Emeralds 

Emeralds love the numbers. They are very analytical. They love planners and everything needs to be scheduled.  

If you’re an emerald, most likely, you don’t share just anything on social media. You’re very meticulous about your privacy. When you share content, it’s because you know it’s going to be according to your standards.

Since you’re into numbers, you don’t really see the point of leaving comments on people’s pictures. You read them, you acknowledge them, but you are not up to leaving hearts, GIFs, or videos.

Did I describe you well? If you’re an emerald and want to trigger more engagement from different users, make sure you don’t post like emeralds all the time. Add some variation! 

Pearls

Pearls love people. They are very emotional. They love supporting causes. When they see a story that moves their heart, they share.   

If you’re a pearl, most likely, you share content from other sources, especially inspirational content. You also participate in causes and truly enjoy helping others. Like emeralds, you’re very meticulous about your privacy. 

You might consider yourself an introvert, but social media is something you enjoy, because it allows you to connect with people and help them, from the convenience of your home. 

Did I describe you well? If you’re a pearl and want to trigger more engagement from different users, make sure you don’t post like pearls all the time. Be sure your content brings facts, adds variation, and inspire people to take action, besides helping others.

Rubies

You’re here to win. You love the challenges. You’re not shy. Your social media displays your accolades and you have no shame. You see yourself as an influencer.

You might consider yourself an extrovert and social media is a great place for you to connect with more people.  You’re certainly not shy on camera.  

Did I describe you well? Watch out for not being unapproachable. You can be an influencer without pushing people away. Feature different people on your social media. Add content that’s not just about you or your interests. This will allow you to ignite different conversations with different people.

Sapphires

Sapphires are natural social media users. They share updates constantly and are not camera shy. You see them in lots of places, activities, with lots of people. Sapphires are promoters and this makes them a great addition to your brand.

If you’re a Sapphire and want to attract different people to your social media, add authority content, facts, and share your work more. Your audience will celebrate your accomplishments. Don’t be shy to share your great work! 

Social Relevancy 

Social media algorithms are made up of affinity, which refers to the relationship of one topic to another. The goal of Facebook’s algorithm is to “show stories that matter to users,” according to Adam Mosseri, VP of Facebook’s News Feed Management. 

What this really means is that social media is optimized for shares above all else. For this reason, part of the winning formula to create a profitable content marketing strategy is to create content that will encourage your users to share. How can we do that? 

We just discussed how Personality Gems can help you trigger responses from specific personality types. That takes care of the WHO. To trigger engagement, we also need to consider the WHAT and the WHEN.

Think about the last time you shared a post from someone. Why did you share it? Chances are, you had in mind a specific topic and you found a post that fit perfectly with what you had in mind, and you decided it was appropriate for you to share. 

Tips to get more engagement in social media:

  • Generate original content so that users find something new to share 
  • Stay up to date with  Social National Days; people love these! 
  • Be creative (in other words, don’t be boring).
  • Surprise your users with something that is totally different from what they are used to seeing.
  • Be active. The more comments and shares you give, the more you receive.

When your content is relevant and generates engagement, it triggers the algorithm, pretty much in all of the main social media platforms. 

If you want to generate leads, you want your content to signal meaning that is meaningful and relevant to your target audience. The caveat here is that you won’t have access to the targeting features unless you pay for ads. If you want to grow your business without paying for ads, then you need to implement direct marketing strategies to generate conversions from your organic audience.

How To Generate Conversions From Your Social Media Content (Organic)

An effective social media marketing strategy should attract the right leads without using traditional e-commerce practices. Social media is about being social. 

Unlike many entrepreneurs believe, you can generate leads and clients from social media without paying for ads. Of course, it will be slower than if you pay for ads, but it’s possible.

If you’re not having conversions from social media, the first thing to watch is the amount of exposure (reach) you’re having, which is a reflection of the number of interactions, such as:

  • Comments
  • Replies
  • Likes
  • Shares

The more comments, replies, likes, and shares you have, the more accounts you reach.

Turning your reach into leads will be a matter of having the ability to generate meaningful conversations with your audience, via chat (messenger). Just remember not to spam your audience. 

Another great way to generate leads is to combine blog posts with social media. For example, by sharing educational blog posts on your Facebook page, users will be able to begin to perceive value from you. The more they trust you, the better reputation you will have.

In general, the more value you add and the more trust you build with your users, the more likely you are to gain permission to pitch to them. Just one thing,  your pitch, via social media channels, isn’t about a coupon or a sale; it is a “call to action” (CTA).

You don’t need just any CTA, you want a strong one that convinces people to act.

There are two main purposes of a call to action; to tell someone what they should do, and to give them the motivation to do so. 

It’s a hard balance to strike.  You have to give potential customers enough information to get them to click without overwhelming them . When in doubt, ask a copywriter or marketer for a second opinion!

To Recap

We have discussed the formula to generate leads from social media:

Quality Profile + Quality Content + Relevancy = Organic Reach

Organic Reach * Conversion Rate % = Leads

A quality profile, followed by quality content and relevancy will ignite your process of increasing your organic reach. Simultaneously, your strategies to ignite conversions will increase your conversion rate, resulting in higher qualified leads.

Pay attention to the Personality Gems. This is a great guideline to use for creating content; especially if you’re launching something new this year.

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Vulnerability In Social Media. What You Need To Know To Do It Right.

When my husband asked me for a picture of us in 2009, I immediately knew the #10yearchallenge went viral. He is never up to social media trends! So, of course, I wanted to jump into the challenge… until I checked out the stories that people were sharing.

What’s wrong with the #10yearchallenge? 

There is nothing wrong. In a simple answer, you’re just supposed to share a picture side by side comparing your life in 2009 vs your life in 2019. The problem is that the trend went way too far in how people curated their lives.

In case you haven’t checked, go ahead and search on Instagram for the #10yearchallenge. You will the search results and will find Instagram influencers with unbelievable stories!  Based on those search results, you will think that the world turned into a better place within the last 10 years.

This made me wonder… why do most people feel the urge to curate their lives on social media? Don’t we connect better when we are vulnerable and real? Then, why don’t people just show more vulnerability?

If you’re wondering where the line is between sharing your life- raw and vulnerable and attracting people to you- the real you, then keep reading! 

The Mandatory Question: What The Heck Is Vulnerability?

One of the most quoted definitions of vulnerability is from Brené Brown “Vulnerability is about showing up and being seen. It’s tough to do that when we’re terrified about what people might see or think.”

As small children, we are open and free, sharing all of ourselves with others. Until something very painful happens: your best friend reveals your secret to someone and that someone decides to share with everyone. And now you’re exposed. This can be one of the most traumatic experiences for a child. Did you ever experience how is like being exposed and ashamed as a kid? I did… plenty of times.

As we grow and mature, we soon learn that the world can be a very painful place. We learn that not everyone is on our side, and not all situations are going to go our way. We get disappointed and go through growing pains, and that’s how the fear of vulnerability is formed.

Think about your first love. You believed in eternity. You thought this was the only person you could ever loved. And then… You got hurt. 

The fear of vulnerability is ultimately a fear of rejection or abandonment. You have been hurt before, so you seek to minimize the risk of being hurt again.

Why Is Vulnerability A Good Thing, Especially For Your Marketing?

Vulnerability is scary. However, if you are business owners, c-suite executives, leaders, or trying to build a name and a personal brand, vulnerability is needed.

Here’s why:

The well-known neuroscientist, Antonio Damasio stated, “We are not thinking machines that feel rather, we are feeling machines that think.”

Damasio made this discovery: every human decision depends on emotion — every single one. 

We make each choice somatically. In other words, we feel each decision out.

In sum, it’s about EMOTIONS. 

Your personal-vulnerable stories will get you closer to your audience. Even more than your superhero stories. In general, people relate more with struggles than with wins.

Vulnerable Leaders Are Confident 

People who do have a lot of self-confidence, are actually willing to show more of themselves. They’re willing to be vulnerable because they’re not afraid that someone might come in and take advantage of that. A recent set of studies calls this phenomenon “the beautiful mess effect.” It suggests that everyone should be less afraid of opening up—at least in certain cases.

The best example: video marketing! 

Have you ever used video to increase your business? Have you thought about it but decided it wasn’t for you? Did you try it and feel embarrassed and not want to do it again? Even if you are a pro in video marketing, you know that the struggle is real, especially for women!  We need to have the perfect background, the perfect hair and makeup, perfect nails, and of course, the idea of what we are saying. It’s exhausting. 

With video, the more you do it, the more confident you get on camera, and then you learn that it’s ok if you mess up. You laugh and move on.  By the way, I want to add a side note here and feature Barnes Team Media from Austin, Texas. They are educators on how to perform better on camera. You should check them out! Mike & Kim Barnes!

The next time you’re hesitating about sharing a great message on video, just think about the beautiful mess effect.  People love messy! People love reality shows!

But what about your content marketing, in particular, social media marketing, how vulnerable do you really need to be? Where is the line between vulnerability and privacy?

The Golden Rule of Social Media: Be Personal, Not Private 

In my book, The 6 Golden Rules of Social Media, rule #3 is Be Personal, But Not Private. 

We all have that one friend on social media who tells us what she had for breakfast, what she wore to work today, the fight she just had with her mother, the supervisor at her job that constantly calls her out and, you know, I could go on and on about her life, or, just go check her social media pages to tell you exactly what is going on with her. 

This is exactly WHAT NOT TO DO on social media. It is a desperate cry for attention and while you need the attention and you want new visitors to your social media profiles and pages, this is not the way to get it. In fact, this type of behavior attracts the attention you really don’t need.

You need to be more intentional with what you share on social media, especially if you want to attract a high-level profile. 

While you’re here, download a PDF of my book, The 6 Golden Rules of Social Media

Give Your Audience What They Want (It’s 4 Things)

Think about what your friends want to see from you. 

Normally, people are open to know about things that benefit them, such as: 

  1. How to save money
  2. How to make more money
  3. How to save time, or 
  4. How to save efforts. 

Those are the top motivators. You see, it’s not about you! It’s about them.

People don’t want to remember how dramatic your life is or how tough it is to be a parent. We all go through highs and lows. People don’t want constant reminders of your lows; especially when you have poor judgment on your images.

Your friends don’t need to see your c-section scar, bleeding, to know that you have a baby and it was a c-section. 

You are entitled to a private life that you share with your family and close friends, away from your business. Do not cross the line of displaying your private life on social media.

Marketing is all about igniting human connections. You want to activate the power of emotions by being a human, to ignite those connections and then, give your audience what they want. 

Is that simple! If you’re a content creator, having a clear understanding of how to humanize a brand without crossing the line is very important.

My Vulnerable #10yearchallenge

 
 
 
 
 
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My #10yearchallenge ⁣ ⁣ Disclaimer: Do not believe everything you read. People are sharing on this 10 year challenge what’s convenient. They want you to believe that life is like going on an elevator and you get older and everything gets fixed. ⁣ ⁣ That’s not true. ⁣ ⁣ 2009 – 2019 Was a very hard period. I was either pregnant, or coming out of a pregnancy. ⁣ Trying to figure things out.⁣ ⁣ ——⁣ Career wise, a roller coaster. Won a lot and lost a lot. ⁣ ⁣ —-⁣ ⁣ I’m grateful for the blessings but I’m more grateful for the adversity I’ve lived over the last 10 years. It has sharpened me to be who I am today. ⁣ ⁣ —-⁣ ⁣ So… the picture! 2009 we came to Austin to visit some family. They took us to Mount Bonell. We were living in Connecticut and honestly this trip planted the seed of us moving to Austin. ⁣ ⁣ We moved in 2013 when I was pregnant of Priscilla. ⁣ ⁣ We were a family of 4 and now a family of 6 and 2 dogs. And yes, we ended the rat race which is a big win! ⁣ ⁣ But again, there were plenty of challenges too. ⁣ ⁣ I hope to read your 10 yr story! Tag me! #10yearchallenge #adecade #growing #growthmindset #mondaymotivation #instagood #inspiredaily

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I wish I could tell you that in 10 years, I moved a magic wand and my life changed mysteriously.  Well, that’s not true.

I wish I could tell you that in 10 years, I went from my 30’s to my 40’s and I retired with millions of dollars in the bank. This isn’t the case. I had multiple wins between 2010-2013 and several losses in 2014. Those generated plenty of changes for all of us. Changes that were scary, but we are now grateful for all.

I wish that in 10 years I didn’t find myself 50 pounds heavier, and still struggling with my diet. But that’s not the case.

In reality, I can claim some wins. More wins than losses. But I would be a fraud if I tell you everything has been incredibly great. Our family of 6 has seen adversity.  It’s extremely difficult pursuing your personal goals, business goals while raising a family with intentionality.  I wish more people were real when sharing their #10yearchallenge.

My goal for the next ten years is to be present. To be real. To be vulnerable.  This might explain why my personal Facebook is off. I want to figure some things out before I go ahead and create content: for whom?

The last decade was all about growing a massive audience. For some reason, it doesn’t serve me well. I’m all about quality, not quantity.

I have realized how much I love being a small business owner, in particular, a solopreneur and how much I love helping others succeed; especially those who need me the most.

This is me- the real me. With grammatical errors and a crazy accent.

Being vulnerable has opened plenty of doors for me. I wish I had known this 9 years ago, when I was hiding my mistakes, my accent, and tried to be someone else.

If you’re in the process of building a personal brand, take vulnerability seriously and build an audience that you can connect with. Find that line that allows you to connect with your tribe, for real. And just focus on being you, just a little bit better each day.

Don’t Forget This Marketing Secret

The most important element of your content marketing strategy or social media marketing strategy is your reputation. Without great customer service and a great reputation, every marketing effort will be worthless.

Explore my new Business Accelerator Program! Click here or the image below!

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How To Boost Your Social Media Marketing Using Information Architecture (IA)

Standing out from the crowd on social media these days requires more than a great caption and great visuals. With so much raw data floating around the internet, it’s vital to remember that in order for human minds to be able to actually process all the data, strategic visual architecture is required.  

If you’re wondering what it takes to turn your social media into a real community with raving fans, this article will bring you some light.

My challenge is that by the end of this reading you’re turned into an information architect. And I’m up to it! Are you ready?

Understanding Information Architecture (IA)

Architecture is important. Castles made of sand fall apart with the tides. But built upon a strong foundation, a house can stand a thousand years or more.

Digital spaces are no different.

There is an enormous amount of information on the internet. But how much exactly?  For example, Google receives over 63,000 searches per second on any given day. (Source: SearchEngineLand)

That’s the average figure of how many people use Google a day, which translates into at least 2 trillion searches per year, 3.8 million searches per minute, 228 million searches per hour, and 5.6 billion searches per day. Pretty impressive, right?

The foundation of IA is how you organize the data for your users to find. Can you think of a website where the data has been extremely well organized so users can navigate easily?  Amazon? For sure.

Amazon.com is famously usable. They provide all the information users need to understand where they are heading and what’s waiting for them when they get there. The information is accessible, findable, usable, and intuitive.

This is a fantastic example of IA done right. A strong foundation from which the other maxims of our information pyramid can be layered. Their menu is a great example of information architecture done right. 

Image Credit: Amazon

Image Credit: Amazon

Amazon has a lot of information when you load the homepage, but they do a good job of laying out the information in a hierarchical manner that allows the users to perform different tasks, but concentrate on the primary goal of not leaving the site without a purchase. The main design patterns used here include an autosuggest search bar, that allows the user flexibility and help without being intrusive, and a Tab Navigation pattern, that allows for accessibility by allowing a user to navigate on through the use of a keyboard.

Note to remember: the very best optimized sites can contain a massive amount of information that visitors will happily and easily process in a matter of seconds. 

In simple words, you’re an information architect if you’re able to organize the data in a way that users can find it easily. 

Information Architecture And Social Media Marketing

While marketers can’t change the design of the social media platforms, certainly, they can use UX design and IA principles in their social media marketing strategy.

See how Amazon promotes its “Happy Gifting” campaign on Facebook and Instagram.

  • They used Facebook Live with Oprah, following a QVC show format. This is great for mature audiences (ages 34-over).
  • The same campaign (Happy Gifting) was shared with their Instagram followers but using different formats. Short clips, and showcasing products that fit younger audiences. (15-30ish).
  • Both platforms have a voice- and it’s different.
  • The content promotes Amazon’s brands and brand partners, all under one umbrella.

Amazon’s social media accounts have been built according to their brand architecture. 

I hope this is giving you ideas for your next social media marketing plan.

Integrating Information Architecture (IA) And Content Strategy

Between your website, your blog, emails, and social media channels, you might be producing at least 20 pieces of content every month, at the most conservative. Some organizations produce 100’s!   

But how do you ensure you can get your readers, viewers or listeners the content they want in the right format? In other words, how can you maximize the value of your content?

The answer lies in information architecture and content modeling. 

Information Architecture (IA) can be used by every small business owner! Business goals, brand, your voice, your content, your marketing, sales systems … etc.!

The 8 Principles of Information Architecture

These 8 principles from IA will help you design your next marketing moves! 

The principle of objects: Content should be treated as a living, breathing thing. It has lifecycles, behaviors, and attributes.

The principle of choices: More is less. Keep the number of choices to a minimum.

The principle of disclosure: Show a preview of information that will help users understand what kind of information is hidden if they dig deeper.

The principle of exemplars: Show examples of content when describing the content of the categories.

The principle of front doors: Assume that at least 50% of users will use a different entry point than the home page.

The principle of multiple classifications: Offer users several different classification schemes to browse the site’s content.

The principle of focused navigation: Keep navigation simple and never mix different things.

The principle of growth: Assume that the content on the website will grow. Make sure the website is scalable.

Design Your Content Using UX Personas

Creating an awesome user experience is the end goal of UX designers. But getting from good to awesome takes a lot of trial and error.

One way to get closer to that all-important awesome user experience is through user personas.

UX personas are created from various research methods and are used to drive great user experiences whereas marketing personas are based on market research about your existing customers.

In short, a persona is just a snapshot of the person you’re targeting with your design or marketing efforts. 

Information in a UX persona traditionally covers:

  1. Name
  2. Age
  3. Profession
  4. Specific competencies
  5. Goals
  6. Values
  7. Technical skill (i.e whether your user is a technophobe or a technophile)

When it comes to a persona, the more detailed the better. See the image below for an example.

If you have a company blog, you might have two distinct personas in your sales funnel: one which prefers list articles and another which prefers long form informational content. From knowing this, you could develop your content calendar to accommodate both of your personas.

When we understand our audience we are able to cater to them and this will (hopefully) nudge them further down the sales funnel.

According to Rob Petersen, marketing personas account for 90% of a company’s sales.  And HubSpot says using personas makes websites 2-5 times more effective and easier to use by targeted users.

Who knew that understanding IA could be so beneficial?

Conclusion

As you work to define your revenue goals, it’s important to also define your Information Architecture. Without it, you might just be creating noise.  

Over to you!

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The No-Brainer Content Planning Guide for Social Media: 5 Tips to Help You Execute

Time is essential and valuable.

Once it’s spent, it can’t ever be recovered.

Entrepreneurs and small business owners need to be efficient with time.

That’s me!

With four kids and plenty of hats to wear, I better be efficient.

When it comes to marketing, generating ideas usually isn’t the problem. The problem is in the execution – creating a plan and following through with it. According to Content Marketing Institute’s 2019 B2C report, commitment to their marketing plan is one of the most important success indicators for businesses.

Unfortunately, when you’re on the other side and find it hard to commit and execute, you might struggle with:

  • Consistency
  • Constantly feeling like something is missing
  • Long days that are unproductive
  • Multiple projects pending
  • Frustration

You know that you need to build your social media following and engage with them.  You know that you need to come up with content or else your audience won’t find any value from you, but who has time for all of that?

So, what are some solutions? How can you make content planning and execution easier?

I found my sweet spot on social media! That’s, essentially, a point where you connect with a real audience and communicate with them in such an authentic way that they want to work with you.  Let’s talk about ways to find your social media sweet spot!

Pinky promisse: you will fall in love with social media again.

5 Solutions for When You’re Struggling with Content Planning

To execute a content plan, you need some basic techniques:

1. Block Time to Generate Content Ideas

It’s easier to generate content ideas if you regularly schedule brainstorming sessions (for example, once every two weeks, once a month, or once per quarter). That way, you’ll never run out.

How many ideas do you need? It depends on the stage of your business. It can be as little as 10 ideas. You just need enough to keep producing content consistently.

2. Identify Sources to Curate Content

Find go-to sources for content curation so you don’t start from zero. Write them down and refer to them when you need them.

3. Lead Your Content with Value

As the expert, your job is to educate your audience. With that in mind, sometimes the best content is just Q&A. Ask your audience what questions they have. Create a master list with those items, and use them to create content.

I’m sure you want to use your content to generate users, leads, and unique sales opportunities. Design your content marketing using The Ice Cream Cone Method.

4. Make Sure You Create Consumable Content

Don’t just create content – create consumable content. This means:

  • It should be specific to the social media platform where it will be posted. Instagram, for example, is all visual.
  • Use video to get better engagement.
  • Create campaigns so you can program your content and be consistent. Some campaigns can be created from one simple idea:

5. Follow a Blueprint

Follow a simple blueprint while you build endurance and become consistent with your content and posting schedule. You will notice how you get better and better – it’s like going to the gym.

Here are some examples of social media blueprints to follow. A basic plan usually means committing to 10 updates a month:

Need more?

Follow the framework and do as many rounds of this plan as possible.

Your Content Planning is in Place… Now What?

Now that you have this simple blueprint, the next step is understanding what content will you share for your audience. If you don’t have an audience yet, we need a plan that helps you attract real followers so you can create content for them. That’s the only way that content marketing will turn into real followers, leads, and profits.

I would like to give you a complimentary forensic marketing session where we can discuss your plan together.

Get your free forensic marketing session today and get clear on your next best moves for amazing marketing!

 

 

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The 4 Most Underrated Social Media Strategies and Tools (All Free!)

Someone from my audience recently asked me a great question:

“How can I maximize my social media accounts?”

It made me think about where most people fail at taking advantage of all the free tools at their fingertips.

With that in mind, I have compiled a list of the 4 most underrated, underused, and FREE social media strategies and tools.

4 Free Social Media Tools and Strategies You’re Forgetting to Use

Sometimes, the best tools for social media are the ones right under your nose. Have you forgotten about any of these amazing features?

1. Direct Messages (DMs)

Social media is great for making new connections, and yet, people still choose to connect solely with people they have met in person.

Hello!? Grow your network online!

Facebook gives you the opportunity to make thousands of friends. Meanwhile, the average user has less than 500.

To find more connections, learn how to approach people via direct message without spamming them. Don’t be afraid to network, either. Ask them to go grab a coffee – you never know what might come out of it.

2. Facebook Albums

What’s another major tool people forget about on social media?

Albums.

Facebook, in particular, gives you the option to categorize your pictures and create albums. Look at how Weight Watchers uses Albums to feature their members in the Member Spotlight.

That’s brilliant!

And free!

social media strategies, social media, social media tools,

3. Profile Pictures

Your profile picture is your first impression on social media.

That’s powerful!

Luckily, you can jazz up your picture to make it more memorable and get people interested in checking out your profile.

For instance, try adding a description (tag line) to your profile picture. I also recommend Photofeeler for real feedback and data about your images, which you can use to choose the best one.

4. The Community Around You

Social media brings people together. It’s great to create, collaborate, and engage in conversations.

It’s also a learning tool!

If more people used it for positivity, we could reduce depression and anxiety associated with social media.

To use your social media community to your advantage, try to engage more. Leave thoughtful comments on posts, join live feeds and chats, and share content.

Spread positivity and it will come back to you!

Want More Tips to Maximize Your Social Media Accounts?

Social media can seem intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be.

You don’t have to rely on hacks or secrets to get the most out of Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Remember to use the tools at your fingertips to engage with your community.

I share many more tips and tricks in my free ebook, The 6 Golden Rules of Social Media. Download it today!

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Forensic Marketing – The Key Ingredient to Enormous Revenue Growth

To put it in layman terms, forensic marketing provides you with all the evidence that points you precisely towards which of your marketing strategies and tactics is not functioning as it should. Read on to learn about the instrumental role of forensics in the marketing landscape. 

The Need for Forensics in Marketing

Forensics is not just limited to the marketing domain. For example, forensics plays a pivotal role in the realm of Medicine. Forensic Medicine assists in pinpointing the irregularities in medical treatments that general patients have to subject themselves to. Patient response is used to gauge these irregularities. 

Similarly, forensic accounting aids you in identifying accounting inconsistencies in standard records and practices.

As you are likely to observe, the common denominator between these fields is that they all identify inconsistencies, disparities, and irregularities. Take a minute and envisage the results you will achieve if you integrate forensics into your business’s marketing endeavors! If you go about it the right way, there is nothing stopping you from accomplishing enormous revenue growth for your business. 

Using a forensic approach to assess your current marketing efforts is pretty straightforward.  

What goes down is that your company provides a comprehensive solution for a bunch of individuals. This group is your target audience. You want to gain maximum visibility in front of this audience so that they are privy to your solution. You also want to convince and influence them so that they become a client of yours. This is where forensic marketing comes into play. At the end of the day, it is all about converting insights into actionable steps that your business can take to fulfill (and at times surpass) their goals.

Here is how forensic marketers analyze current marketing efforts using forensics to expose potential areas of opportunity.

Is it Easy to Locate Your Business?

Currently, people are on the lookout for organizations that are similar to yours. They are looking at other websites, search engines, reputable review sites, and various social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.). Your business must be easy to locate in all of the above-mentioned places. What you need to do is to begin looking around by yourself. Make yourself believe that you do not have any prior knowledge and do your research like how a novice would do. 

As a case to point, clients always tell forensic marketing experts that they want their business to show up for a couple of critical keywords. Upon doing the research, it turns out that most of the individuals who are searching are not using those particular keywords. These people are using different keywords, which less experienced folks would be using. Hence, you need to begin looking around!

Can people easily find you on social media channels, search engines, and related sites such as publication websites? If “No” is the answer to this question, you should reach out to an expert in the forensic marketing realm who will help you to identify why your online presence is limited and what you can do to solve this problem.

What are the Chances of Lead Conversion on Your Website?

Pretend you are merely a visitor and explore your website. Are there lucrative offers present on your website for those individuals who do not want to reach out to you just yet? Does your website feature web pages targeting people in all stages of their buyer journey? Does your website narrate an impactful emotional story that resonates with potential buyers?

If the answer is “no” to any of these questions, you need to engage a forensic marketer. You should get in touch with one to pitch your suggestions on how to include the important details on your details that you have been missing so far. There are several business websites that look splendid but lack in the core areas, which are extremely vital to generate leads.

The great news is that it is not much of a challenge to upgrade to a well-constructed website that features all the missing pieces. Hence, what you need to do is to collaborate with a partner who can scientifically analyze what your website lacks and then suggest those necessary additions to facilitate you to convert more potential visitors to your website into leads.

Cultivating Leads for Sales Opportunities

Let’s face it, merely 10 percent of your leads are going to convert to sales opportunities from the onset. The majority of these people are going to be in the middle or beginning of their buyer’s journey. They are not too eager at that point to reach out to one of your sales representatives. How you nurture these leads is of paramount importance if you want them to get in touch with you when they are ready to reach out.

For instance, if you scroll down your email inbox, you are likely to come across several emails from individuals whom you do not know at all or have never spoken to. Are the people sending you emails repeatedly? This happens to all of us and is a prime example of a lead nurturing campaign gone terribly wrong. What you need to do instead is to earn their trust and educate them continuously on why they should even mull over going about things differently.

A comprehensive forensic review of your business’s lead nurturing campaign will examine click-through rates, open rates, offer mapping and workflows to identify where your campaign might have fallen apart and how you can enhance it to generate a greater number of opportunities for your sales division.

Cultivating Sales Opportunities to Convert to Customers

For forensic marketing, acquiring a sales opportunity is not the end of the line. The end game is when you get a new client or customer. You need to have a rock-solid sales process if you would like to finish strong.

What you need to do and what your goal should be is to build such a tremendous experience that potential customers would want to tell everyone about it when they enter your sales funnel. A forensic review of your entire sales procedure examines rates of conversion in every one of your present deal stages. It also checks the tools of communication, the precise engagement rates of these tools, and your close rate to identify at what point you might be doing something in the sales process.

This immensely invaluable forensic review generally generates revenue in a matter of weeks since it unveils potential areas that prevent individuals from engaging your services today. 

Importance of Data in Forensic Marketing

Data is the crux of forensic marketing. In the current times, we do not arrive at any decisions without adequate data to back those decisions up.  This gives us the confidence that we are making the correct decision. More performance metrics (quantitative) then validate that decision.  

You might consider your website to be lacking somewhere or realize that it is not producing sufficient leads. What forensic marketing experts will do is that they will examine all the data linked with your site. For example, your site could have a low rate of conversion (0.07 percent instead of 3 percent) or an exceedingly high bounce rate (85 percent instead of the accepted 55 percent). This precious data point to the fact that your website is not generating sufficient top-quality leads for your organization.

Having a thorough knowledge of such metrics aids forensic marketers to focus on prime areas that they can impact swiftly and in a quantitative manner. For instance, including the video component on your website will boost the average time a visitor spends on your website. This, in turn, improves the rankings of the website on Google and various other search engines. By incorporating content into those videos, the conversion rate will go up, and what this translates into is that you will generate more top-quality leads for your business.

Regular Monitoring

Often when you begin an investigation of any sort, it requires regular monitoring. You have to survey just as much as investigate. It is important to note that the answers you seek do not always lie in the data. At times, you will find out these answers in your marketing assets’ live performance.

As a case to point, what do visitors click on when they explore your website? How further down the web page do they scroll before they lose interest? Which specific web pages do they visit after checking out the home page? This kind of behavioral data may not be on hand at the start.  However, by gathering this data over a certain period (a couple of weeks approximately), you have further data to strengthen your hypothesis.

Post the initial forensic review, you would also want to monitor a broad array of metrics regularly. Your sales and marketing strategies will modify and evolve with time, so you will have to ensure these modifications have a positive impact on performance. 

Utilizing a forensic approach to review your sales and marketing strategies and overall performance is very much about being thorough and comprehensive in your approach. One cannot underestimate or ignore any aspect of the forensic review. There is a strong likelihood that the smallest aspect might generate the biggest results.

The other important component of this forensic marketing review is to know precisely what you have to do after you have successfully determined the challenges and issues of the marketing and sales efforts. 

If you are not able to rectify the situation, you will likely generate the same or even poorer results than what you achieved before the forensic review. Your prime objective in the capacity of Vice President of Sales or Vice President of Marketing is to unveil the weak links, correct them, and subsequently optimize the efforts over time. 

A forensic marketing review of your present marketing activities and sales procedure assists you to swiftly identify and correct these weak links so you can easily meet your monthly and annual revenue objectives. 

Request a complimentary forensic marketing assessment here. It doesn’t hurt to know your numbers.

Final Word

To summarize, the ultimate goal of forensics marketing is to highlight and show the specific areas that are not performing as well as they should and then subsequently showcase the value of enhancing performance in these areas. These enhancements will positively impact the generation of leads, boost the number of sales opportunities, reduce the sales cycle, better the close rate, and better the quality of leads that are streaming in.  All of this will ultimately lead to enormous revenue growth across the business.