Social Media Marketing Archives - Page 17 of 41

September 23, 2019
Social Media Marketing

#GrowYourBusiness – What is Organic Growth in Social Media?

With all of the constant changes to social media algorithms, it can feel like organic growth is impossible. Not only are you never quite sure what still works, but networks like Facebook are making it harder and harder for your business posts to get seen.

Don’t worry: All hope isn’t lost. In fact, with a solid social media strategy (and a little elbow grease), it’s still possible to build a thriving organic audience.

What is organic growth on social media?

“Organic growth” is a term that gets thrown around a lot in the marketing world. It doesn’t always refer to social media, but it does always mean one thing: Free. It means leveraging your brand’s existing content and depending on word-of-mouth referrals to gain a new audience.

In social media, it usually refers to the number of people who come across your posts without paid distribution. Some examples include:

Someone who is on Twitter right at the moment you post and saw your message organically
A person who saw your Facebook post because it was shared by one of their friends
Someone who searched a specific hashtag on Instagram and found your post that way

How to grow organic reach

We’re not going to beat around the bush: Growing your audience organically takes some time and effort. But if you’re on a tight budget, or you simply enjoy the loyalty that tends to come with an organic audience, it can’t be beat.

Here are a few simple(ish) ways you can get started:

Keep things fresh: If your go-to social media post is a shared article from an outside source, switch things up! Try sharing behind-the-scenes photos from the office, live videos with helpful tips, or original blog posts. Keep track and see what performs the best, and then do more of it!
Use quality images: Images are a crazy important part of your social media presence, especially on a network like Instagram. Keep in mind: The photos and videos you share are the first things your audience sees, before your written caption. If what you post is sub-par, they’re going to keep scrolling.
Know when to post: Various social media tools, including Facebook Insights, can tell you exactly which days and times your audience is most active online. By using this data, you can make sure you post when your fans are most likely to see it.
Focus on engagement, but don’t bait your audience: Engagement is pure organic reach gold. The more people like, share, and interact with your post, the more people will see it. HOWEVER, you should never, ever post something with the express intent of gaining engagement – for example, “Comment with a smiley face if you love ice cream!” Most networks will penalize you for that.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. There are dozens of other tactics you can use to boost organic reach, if you’re willing to put in the time. If you’d like to learn more about how your brand can incorporate these and other strategies into your online marketing plan, reach out today.

Our Social Power Program is the perfect way to bring you and your employees up to speed.

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.

September 16, 2019
Social Media Marketing

#GrowYourBusiness – How to Grow Your Followers in Social Media

There has been a lot of talk lately about “vanity metrics” such as followers, likes, and downloads. The general gist is that these numbers don’t really matter, they just make the page owner feel good about themselves.

I disagree, at least on one front. Having followers, and a lot of them, can be very good for business.

More followers means that more people see your content and have a chance to interact with your brand. Not only that, but it creates social proof. People are more inclined to trust a brand and do business with them when they see that other people like them.

So, what can you do to grow your social media follower count? Follow these simple tips:

Have a strategy

You can post to social media every single day for months on end, but without a strategy, you won’t get anywhere. The key to an effective social media strategy is, of course, knowing and understanding your audience. What can you post that will grab their attention and make them want to come back for more?

Once you’re familiar with your ideal client, a content marketing plan will help you outline the type of content your audience wants to see and create a strategy for each channel you’re going to use. Remember: All social media networks are different and require their own unique strategy!

Promote your social media on all of your “owned” channels

An “owned” channel is something you have complete control over, like your website or email newsletter. One of the simplest, and most effective, things you can do is to use these channels as a sort of “distribution platform.” For example, you can install social media follow buttons on your website or blog or you can install a plugin that allows you to feature social media posts on your website.

Many brands choose to promote their social media in their email newsletter, and it makes sense. You already have a dedicated audience and they’re likely to want to view your other content. Simply embed a link to your social media in your email signature or embed a social media post, just like you do on your website.

Create a compelling profile

No matter what social media networks you’re on, the first thing the audience is going to see is your profile. Make sure they get all of the information they need by filling it out completely. This means:

Fill out your “about” section or “bio” completely on every network
Use a real photo of yourself as your profile picture
Have a custom header image
Post a steady stream of content targeted to your ideal client

Bonus tip: Use the same profile photo and header image across the board, so no matter what social media channel a prospect ends up on, they will immediately recognize it as yours.

Don’t forget about paid ads!

Social media ads are a sure-fire way to reach new prospects. The various networks collect a lot of data about their users, including age, location, education, interests, and so on. As a business owner, you can use this information to make sure your ads reach the people most likely to enjoy your product or service.

Want to learn more? Through our Social Power Program, we can teach you and your staff how to use social media to grow your business through a series of online videos. If you prefer a face-to-face workshop, we can do that as well!

Be sure to Follow us and Let’s Engage!

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

September 9, 2019
Relationship Marketing

#GrowYourBusiness – The Difference Between Relationship Marketing & Lead Generation in Social Media

Relationship marketing and lead generation are both highly successful social media strategies. And while both typically require an email address to sign up, that’s where the similarities end.

Relationship Marketing

Relationship marketing focuses on building customer loyalty and long-term engagement rather than shorter-term goals, like increasing individual sales. The goal of relationship marketing is to build strong connections between brand and audience that might lead to ongoing business and future referrals.

Strategy often involves the use of “direct response” campaigns that emphasize customer retention and satisfaction. This type of marketing strategy creates a bond with the customer through narrow market targeting, tailors offers to their customers, and usually demands a response that can be tracked by the marketing team. This typically requires an email address so that the company can contact the individual directly for exclusive offers, maintenance follow-ups, and unconverted leads. Relationship marketing is about the long-term value of a loyal customer and the connection that can be built beyond typical ads and generic sales promotions.

Value of Relationship Marketing

Acquiring new customers on a regular basis can be both challenging and costly. Relationship marketing helps alleviate that problem by creating long-term customer relationships that result in repeat sales (and often word-of-mouth referrals).

In addition, customers tend to have a higher lifetime value, a higher level of satisfaction, and greater brand recognition. Plus, brands spend less on marketing and advertising over the long term, as “buzz marketing” (or customers talking about your product) does the work for you.

Keep in mind, however, that the cost of acquisition can be steep in the beginning – in both time and money. Additionally, networking, which is not everyone’s cup of tea, is central to developing these long-lasting relationships.

Lead Generation

Lead generation is almost the polar opposite of relationship marketing. It focuses much less on building long-lasting relationships and instead aims to gain as many potential new customers as possible (and fast!)

Results are typically accomplished through newsletter sign-ups, opt-ins, giveaways, special events, and so on. Like relationship marketing, an email is usually required to turn leads into customers.

Value of Lead Generation

Lead generation allows you to create a huge amount of traffic to your business’s website, which will hopefully result in a higher conversion rate. A good lead generation strategy creates several different campaigns, targeting a different audience with each one. This ensures that your message gets seen by a variety of different prospects and each one will see your products as something that they “need.”

The end result? A fast-growing email list, customers that are genuinely interested in your product, and easy marketing.

Unfortunately, lead generation often comes with a high turnover rate and (sometimes) a sleazy, used-car-salesman sort of vibe.

Bottom line?

Relationship marketing and lead generation go together like peas and carrots. They both have pros and cons, but together they create an unbeatable marketing strategy.

The team here at The Social Media Advisor can help train your staff on the value of online lead generation and prospecting. If you’d like to take your company’s social media game to the next level, reach out today to learn more about our Social Power Program.

Be sure to Follow us and Let’s Engage!

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

September 2, 2019
Social Media Marketing

#GrowYourBusiness – How to Generate Leads in Social Media

When someone talks about social media as a lead generation tool, how do you feel?

For most people, the immediate response is, “Social media is for engaging with your audience and building brand awareness, but it is NOT for sales!”

Somewhere along the line (perhaps it was after one of Facebook’s endless algorithm changes), social media gained a reputation for difficulty. It’s difficult to reach your ideal client, it’s difficult to get your posts seen, and it’s definitely difficult to generate leads.

Our response to that? Psh. You just need a few tricks up your sleeve!

These are our favorite tips for generating leads on social media and producing real results:

Know your audience

We know – it’s been said a thousand times. But the key to gaining interest and creating an engaged audience is knowing what they like and need.

If you want to gain contact information from a member of your social media audience, they first have to feel like you can offer something that is useful to them. Ask yourself:

What is my ideal client interested in?
What are their pain points?
Which products or services would help make their lives easier?
What makes my product different from all the others on the market?
Which social media networks do they use?

Don’t be afraid to get personal! Consider things like their marital status, whether or not they have children, if they like animals, or what they do for fun. Discussing the “fun” stuff on occasion is how you can really form a connection!

Generating leads with social media

Once you understand your ideal client, generating leads is much easier. Still, you need to have a bit of strategy. While each social media network is different, there are a few tactics that work across the board:

Run contests: Contests do pretty well across the board. The trick is, the prize has to be valuable enough that people want to enter . . . but only valuable to your target audience. You don’t want a bunch of random people signing up for your giveaway, because they’re not likely to become clients. Again, this is where knowing your target audience comes into play!
Share links to gated content: Gated content is content that is hidden behind a virtual gate. Audience members must share some basic information in order to gain access – For example, they might provide their name and email address in exchange for an exclusive handout. Like contests, if your content is good enough, people will sign up.
Use social media advertising: Social media ads allow you to target viewers based on very specific demographics, like their age, where they live, and their hobbies and interests. Running these targeted ads allows you to make sure the people most likely to enjoy your product are the ones that see your promotion.

Do you want to train your employees on using social media as a lead generation tool? The Social Media Advisor’s Social Power Program can help bring them up to speed on the fundamentals of social media, building brand engagement, enhancing visitor experience, and more. Reach out today to set up your free consultation.

Be sure to Follow us and Let’s Engage!

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

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Tag: Social Media Marketing

#GrowYourBusiness – What is Organic Growth in Social Media?

#GrowYourBusiness – How to Grow Your Followers in Social Media

#GrowYourBusiness – The Difference Between Relationship Marketing & Lead Generation in Social Media

#GrowYourBusiness – How to Generate Leads in Social Media

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