marketing trends Archives - The Social Media Advisor

April 10, 2018
Social Media Strategy

#CustomerService – Know What Industries You Work With Most

It doesn’t matter what kind of job you have, somewhere along the line you will need to provide customer service. Whether or not that customer service is behind the scenes or on the front lines, good customer service requires patience, quick thinking, and the ability to listen. There’s one other thing that you need as well—knowledge about your customers and what makes them tick.

To understand your clients you need to know about the challenges they face, the skills that give them a competitive advantage, and what you can do to help them be successful. That means that you not only need to know about them, but you also need to know about their industries.

If you are like most business people, most of your business comes from about 20% of your customers. That makes it critical that you identify the industries that you work with most often. Once you do, you can dig in deep and learn what makes those industries unique.

To get started when learning about an industry, start with these five key areas.

Language: Every industry has unique jargon and terms. Knowing the language is essential to being able to communicate with your customers.

Trends: Knowing what trends are currently impacting your customer’s industry will help you understand what is on his or her mind. It will also help you understand how they make money and what you need to consider when setting your prices.

Key Players: Whether your customer is a major industry mover or a small company just starting out, understanding the major influencers in the industry can help you identify your customer’s needs and wants. It can also give you insight into what your customer aspires to be.

History: While you may not need to know all the details, understanding how your client’s industry has evolved and where it is in its lifecycle will help you understand some of the pressures your customer may be facing. The factors that influence an industry that is growing may be very different than those for an industry in decline.

Dynamics: Every industry has unique drivers, and the most successful companies have established strategies for responding to those drivers. Understanding both the micro and macro drivers for your customers business will help you respond to the unique challenges they face.

Investing time to learn about the industries your customers represent is well worth it. Not only are you sure to be speaking the same language your clients speak, but you’ll also be in a much better position to help them succeed, and if they succeed, the chances are you will too.

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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.

January 30, 2018
Social Media Strategy

#MarketingTrends2018 – Using Facebook Boosting and Facebook Ads

It might surprise you to hear that Facebook ended 2017 with 2 billion monthly active users and is still growing. That’s a lot of people. So it’s no wonder that 93% of social media advertisers use Facebook advertising. That’s not even close to the next most popular platform for ads, Instagram (owned by Facebook) which weighs in at 24%.

If you are a social media marketer with an advertising budget, you are probably already on Facebook. But are you meeting your goals? If not, maybe you aren’t focusing on the right tool to get your Facebook content seen and, even better, converting.

When it comes to advertising on Facebook you have two choices—news feed ads or boosted Facebook posts. Understanding the difference between the two can be a little tricky, but it’s SO important to choose the right type of advertising!

Knowing which route is best for your business objectives means you’re using your money wisely, and your advertising is in front of the right people.

What’s the Difference?

Simply put, a boosted Facebook post is a type of ad that takes content that you have developed for your news feed and shares it with a larger audience. Status updates, photos and videos, and special offers are all popular types of content that people choose to boost. When you boost, you are paying to have the content you posted show up in people’s news feeds. You go through Facebook’s ad manager to do this and you have the option of selecting the audience you want to target.

Facebook ads work the same way except you have more options for narrowing down or expanding your audience. You also have the ability to include a call to action. Depending on your goals you can have users “Like” your page, visit your website, or take some other action. Since you can target users by very distinct characteristics such as age, gender, and hobbies, ads can be more effective than boosted posts for a planned campaign with well-defined goals.

A key difference between boosting a post and placing an ad is that with boosting, you can only focus on visits and engagements. If your objective is simply to build a greater awareness for your brand, then boosts may be just what you need. If, however, you hope to do more than that, your investment will be put to better use with ads.

For most social media managers, developing a plan that incorporates both boosting and ads is the way to go. But if you are trying to accomplish something a bit more specific, like sell a certain product or push the audience toward engagement with your page, then your dollars will work harder with ads. The exact combination will depend on your objectives and your business but both have a part to play.

Much like traditional advertising, Facebook is a sandbox where – if you haven’t built up a loyal community yet – you’re going to need to pay to play. Thankfully, Facebook ads are affordable and their targeting system so refined that, if done properly, the financial investment is worth it.

If you want help navigating Facebook ads, or simply want to hand the process over to an expert, schedule a Discovery Session call with me at hollieclere.youcanbook.me.

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 her Social Media Workshops, Classes and Seminars

January 23, 2018
Content Marketing

#MarketingTrends2018 – Sharing Your Content Online

So you just finished writing a killer blog post. It’s on point, tinged with humor, and loaded with insight. You’re feeling pretty good. All that’s left to do is post it. You push the publish button and bingo! You’re done.

…not so fast! You’re just getting started. Creating great content is hard work. It takes a lot more than time. It takes planning, thought, research, and creativity. And unless you’re a world-famous blogger with millions of followers, your blog post isn’t going anywhere without a little extra work. You might get some likes and shares but are you really going to get the return on your investment that you deserve?

So how do you get the most out of your blog post? Promote your content in other places. To help you get started, we’ll talk about a few of the most effective places you can share your content.

Social Media Platforms: We’re assuming you’ve posted your content to your own blog since that’s the way most people do it. And that way can certainly be effective. You want to be sure you also post it on your social media profiles–Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest…wherever you have a presence, share your content! When posting, be sure to include a featured image since tests have shown that you are much more likely to get engagement when a graphic is included.
Your Website:If your website is not connected to your blog, post your content on your site. One popular way to do this is to have a section for featured articles. Even better, link your blog to your site.
LinkedIn Pulse:LinkedIn is a powerful tool for connecting with others in your industry. You can publish articles, connect via groups, and make contact with key influencers. Depending on the content you share, you may be able to utilize LinkedIn’s article publishing tool that is integrated into your feed. For more specialized content, it may make more sense to post in a group. Either way, LinkedIn is an effective way to share all sorts of content.
Quora: Quora is a Q&A platform where users submit questions and people of the web provide answers. It may take some time to find a question that matches your expertise but once you do it’s a great place to post a link to your content. Check the guidelines for using the site to make sure that you comply with the rules.
SlideShare: SlideShare, owned by LinkedIn, is a hosting platform designed to allow users to upload slideshows so they are available to the world (think YouTube for slideshows). While you may not be able to post your content without repurposing it, SlideShare can enable you to reach a whole new audience.
Email Marketing: Sharing your best content to your subscribers is often considered an excellent way to grab the attention of the followers that matter most. To ensure that you list feels like a VIP club, don’t share everything – just the best of the best!

There are many places to share your existing content. The trick is to find the sites that are most appropriate for your industry and the people you are trying to reach. With a little homework and a little extra time, you’ll soon be reaching a much wider audience and getting the attention your content deserves.

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January 16, 2018
Content Marketing

#MarketingTrends2018 – Coming Up with Blog Content for the Year

It’s hard to know just how many blogs there are out there. Some estimates put the number as high as 152 million. That’s a lot of blogs. So if there are that many blogs then it must be easy, right?

No question, it’s easy to start a blog. What’s not so easy is maintaining vibrant and creative content. When it comes down to it, most blogs aren’t all that effective when it comes to maintaining reader interest, attracting new customers, and engaging the community.

The reason that so many blogs miss the mark is that their content is unfocused and fails to support business objectives. Yes, it’s all about the content. But how do you come up with good content week after week? Here are five tips on ways you can spark those creative juices and develop engaging and consistent content.

Create a plan: Your number one weapon in battling with blank pages is to develop a strategy for your content. That means mapping out what you want to talk about for over a period of time rather than coming up with your topics on an ad hoc basis.
Stick with themes: Having a social media strategy that incorporates a series of themes can be a highly effective strategy for deciding on what to include in your blog.
Build on your most effective content: Look back on what content has worked for you in the past and make it better. It’s ok to repurpose an old topic or resurrect something you haven’t talked about in awhile. Of course, you’ll need to take a fresh approach but if something caught your readers attention once before, chances are it will again.
Talk with your community: Asking the people in your community what they want to hear about can be a great way to find your focus. Cast a wide net by including not just your customers, but all those with whom you collaborate.
Tell your story: If you think about it, you’ll find that you don’t have just one story to tell, you have lots of them. From helping your customers get to know the people they interact with to helping people learn the best way to use your products, your back office is loaded with ideas for content.

Don’t look at the process of coming up with ideas for your blog as a task to be avoided. Instead, view it as an opportunity to learn something new, engage with your community, and have some fun. When you embrace the process you’ll be able to say goodbye to sitting in front of the monitor and staring at the dreaded blank page. In fact, you may even find yourself looking forward to it.

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