#MarketingTeam – Is It Time to Hire a Social Media Team?

You’ve probably heard that quiet, little voice telling you that it’s time to get some help when it comes to social media. However, it’s a tough step to take since it requires significant investment in both time and resources. If you suspect that you need to take the plunge and hire a social media team, there are five questions you can ask to help make the decision easier.

  1. Does your marketing strategy call for a focus on social media?
    Even in this day and age, some businesses are well suited for emphasis on traditional marketing channels. It’s likely, however, that you need to ramp up your social media efforts in both marketing and customer service.
  2. Are you stretched when it comes to marketing resources?
    If you are like most small businesses, then your people already wear multiple hats, adding another one—social media expert—will likely not get you the results you are looking for.
  3. Do you have the right tools for social media?
    Running a successful social media initiative requires more than a computer and a smartphone. Social media professionals are skilled in a wide variety of software and program tools. From graphics programs to scheduling platforms, there’s much more to it than just posting a photo from time to time. Social media management requires both creative and technical skills.
  4. Are your current social media efforts working?
    You may already be on social media and pretty proud of how it’s going. However, are these efforts working? To monitor how effective your social media plan is, there are many things you should be measuring. From leads to engagement to conversions, you need to be on top of how well your message is getting through.
  5. Do you know what success looks like?
    When it comes down to it, do you really know what using social media the right way looks like? There is no shame in not being an expert at everything. This is particularly true when it comes to using social media, since it’s constantly changing. If you think about it, the same is true for many professions. You may be a wizard when it comes to the product or services you sell, but that doesn’t mean you are a skilled lawyer or CPA.

The size of the team necessary to successfully create and execute a quality social media strategy will depend on your business and your goals. This is a great time to talk with the experts at The Social Media Advisor. Their social media build/ revamp services will identify what you need in order to develop your business through social media.

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Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media, Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, and the tools to manage them.

Click here for Social Media Training, Speaking and Strategy Consultations.

#EverythingIsSearchable – Naming the Images You Use in Social Media

There’s no doubt about it: creating great content is hard work, so it’s pretty rewarding when your content gets found. It’s human nature to want our hard work to pay off whether that work involves creating text or images. It doesn’t do much good to spend a lot of time and resources on creating beautiful pictures if no one is going to see them.

So how can you increase the odds that the finely crafted images you post to social media will get seen through organic search? By making sure that you optimize your images for search engines.

One of the first and most important things you should consider when optimizing images for search is how you name your files. It’s always tempting to fall back on the default file name since it saves time and effort, but that’s the worst thing you can do. You should name your images carefully and thoughtfully.

Depending on where you get your images the file name will likely be some combination of characters and letters. Take, for example, what the photographs you take yourself are named. Generally, it will be something like IMG530319.jpg. That sure isn’t very descriptive.

If that image is of a product, say for example a greeting card, you might consider something that is brief but descriptive – maybe something like funny-birthday-card.jpg. You get the idea. The goal is to name your files in a way that it will help search engines find them.

There are other things you can do to give your SEO a boost. Paying attention to alt tags also helps. Google, in particular, has admitted that it considers alt information in its algorithm.

While it may not be specific to SEO, you should comply with the image requirements that are specific to each social media platform. Each platform has it’s own preferences when it comes to size and shape.

The amount of text you include on your image can also be significant. Brush up on what each platform recommends so that you increase the chance that you’ll be scored favorably by the algorithm.

No doubt, having to worry about how you handle your social media images to help your SEO is one of many things you need to add to your to-do list. Luckily, there are experts out there who can help. Take the Social Media Advisor, for example. You can purchase a cost-effective package of services that can help you build or revamp your social media efforts, which will increase your odds of getting found. Why not give it a try?

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Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media, Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, and the tools to manage them.

Click here for Social Media Training, Speaking and Strategy Consultations.

#EverythingIsSearchable – How Does Social Media Make You Easier to Find Online?

Until recently there was a lot of conflicting information about whether or not your social media presence was of any benefit when it comes to SEO. Lately, however, it seems that the jury is in and the answer is a resounding, “Yes!”

It’s still not clear how much impact your social media has on organic SEO but all you need to do is a simple Google search of yourself, and you’ll no doubt find your profile popping up at the top of your results. The long and short of it is that everything is searchable.

Now, acknowledging that the information you have in your social media profiles can help people find you doesn’t mean that you can throw up anything and you’re done. You still need to optimize your social media profile so that it will not just help you get found, but support your overall marketing effort.

What you post on social media needs to support your brand, help you communicate the image and messages you want to project, and help people understand your business.

When you think about optimizing your social media profile and posts for search engines, you should think about the tried and true rules of SEO optimization.

  • Choose your words carefully. The keywords you use across your profiles and posts should be consistent across all your marketing materials.
  • Keep your brand in mind. Everything you produce should support the image you want your brand to portray. It’s not just about search. It’s also about putting your best face forward.
  • Be consistent. While you are consistent in your messaging, you should also be consistent in what and when you post. You don’t need to bombard your audience, but they should be able to count on you to post regularly.
  • Don’t forget the big picture. The goal of social media is to help you build and strengthen relationships. It is possible to create searchable content while building relationships, but it’s important to remember what the end purpose is.

Creating compelling and searchable social media content can be a challenge. Sometimes it can pay to take a step back and bring in a professional to help you see what your audience sees and give you a fresh look at your media.

Right now is the perfect time to do that since The Social Media Advisor is offering great deals on packaged services to help you build or revamp your social media. Why not check in and take advantage before it’s too late. https://thesocialmediaadvisor.com/packaged-services/

Be sure to Follow us and Let’s Engage!

Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media, Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, and the tools to manage them.

Click here for Social Media Training, Speaking and Strategy Consultations.

#EverythingIsSearchable – How Do Hashtags Work?

If you’re trying to understand hashtags and how best to incorporate them into your social media profiles and posts, try thinking of them as searchable tags or labels. The purpose is to identify the topic so that others who have an interest in the subject can find it. When it comes down to it, hashtags are really just carefully selected words with a pound sign (#) in from of them. They are added to content in order to make it searchable.

History of Hashtags

The use of hashtags started on Twitter where it was seen as a way to group related content to facilitate a search. The use quickly spread to Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest and they are used in many creative ways. Today, hashtags are widely used to make it easier to find specific information and provide people with a way to find content that is related to a specific topic.

Hashtags in Business

Even though the concept of the hashtag is really pretty simple, when applied strategically they can be pretty darned powerful. There are many great examples of how companies have parlayed hashtags into big marketing wins (#likeagirl, #shareacoke). #Shareacoke, for example, is used as part of a large Coca Cola campaign. Its purpose is to encourage customers to use the hashtag when uploading photos of a bottle with someone’s name.

While you may not have the resources available that Coca Cola does, you can still use hashtags as part of your marketing strategy. When using them, you can create your own or use an already established tag that is topical or trendy.

Why Businesses / People Use Hashtags

The original purpose of the hashtag was to group online conversations together to make updates related to a specific topic easier to find. This is still, fundamentally, why we use hashtags today. Since each social media profile is its own search engine, hashtags are powerful tools for searching for information and for grouping similar posts together. While there are folks that use hashtags for entertainment purposes, when using hashtags for your business – the point is to show up in certain search feeds to increase your online visibility and the chance that users will stumble onto your online content more often.

How to Use Hashtags

Like keywords, you first need to do some research to uncover which hashtags work for your brand. What are other people in your industry or area using? What comes up when you do a hashtag search and is that a search your brand is comfortable showing up in? How many people are already using, and searching, using that hashtag?

  • Businesses use hashtags to show up in general keyword searches such as #skincare for beauty professionals or #marketing for marketing companies.
  • Companies that host events will create a custom hashtag to group all the posts about that event together and make it easier to find.
  • A business owner could also create custom hashtags or their own brand to group their online content together and make it all easier to locate in one search.

You’ll want to make a list of appropriate hashtags for your business so you can recall them quickly when drafting your social media content.

When you create your own hashtags, you want to make sure to include them across a variety of messages and use them consistently. Ideally, the hashtag should be easy to remember and relate to your branding.

Creating effective tags can be harder than it looks. Luckily there are experts you can call on for help. If you’re interested in incorporating hashtags into your campaigns, now is the perfect time to talk with The Social Media Advisor. Right now you can take advantage of our comprehensive social media revamp and management packages that are designed to get you found and noticed on social media.

Be sure to Follow us and Let’s Engage!

Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media, Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, and the tools to manage them.

Click here for Social Media Training, Speaking and Strategy Consultations.

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