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If your business is considering joining Instagram, it is good to understand the basics first. There is a certain vocabulary that goes along with Instagram. After you've been using the platform for a little while that lingo comes as second nature, but if you are an Instagram newbie you may be wondering what on earth a feed and filter is. So, here we go, your first Instagram vocabulary list.
Do you Facebook's Pages Manager app on your smartphone? The app is a great way to manage your business' Facebook page when you're on the go. It also gives you the ability to manage multiple Pages, which is great if you're an agency that manages many different Pages for clients.
Recently, Facebook completely redesigned the app, giving it an updated look and easy to use navigation. The new design is available for iOs and Android users and is free in the App Store. Here are a few things you should know about the app:
As a small business, it can be difficult to stand out on social media. While larger, more recognizable brands can easily attract followers on platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, smaller businesses have to work harder to get their name out there and encourage interaction. There is a certain advantage, however, that small businesses have over larger brands when it comes to social media. They're local!
Pay attention: your competitors can teach you a lot! In this age of social media, studying your competition has never been easier. By keeping an eye on their posts and tweets, you can learn what works in your industry and what doesn't. Watch what people are saying about them on their social media pages. If their customers are upset about something, offer a solution. If their customers are happy, take note of what they're doing and find ways to apply it to your own social media strategy.
The key is to not just copy what they're doing, but to do it better!
Forget mailing a letter or making a phone call. Social media is the new platform for customer service. The problem is that consumers using social media expect a quick response and brands, unfortunately, aren't delivering. In fact, 80% of customer service inquiries go unanswered on social media. This is bad!
Congratulations! You've successfully made it through the first full week of 2014. By now you've (hopefully) recovered from the holidays and are getting back into the daily grind. For this week's blog post, we've put together a small round-up of articles we found interesting this week, along with our own thoughts and commentary. Enjoy!
2013 was a huge year for social media! We've rounded up some of the biggest social media moments from this year.
1. Oreo tweeted during the Super Bowl. As the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49-ers were going head-to-head in this year's Super Bowl XLVII, a power outage occurred (earning the game the nickname Blackout Bowl). Brands quickly took action to use the blackout to their benefit, but none did it quite as well as Oreo. Regardless of who did it best, the blackout set a new standard for brands to produce extremely timely and relevant content. We saw this continue throughout 2013 as brands drew inspiration from current events like the royal baby, season finales and award shows.
You've probably noticed the onslaught of all things holiday-related lately. As soon as Halloween is over, if not before, retailers begin gearing up for the holiday season. The Christmas music starts, the fake Santas appear and the quest for the perfect Christmas gift begins. As retailers begin gearing up for the holiday season, so do marketers. But these days there's a lot more pressure on social media marketers as well to prepare for the holidays. Why? Because social media plays a HUGE role in people's purchasing behavior.
Your social media platforms are not static entities. Like most things in life, they need to be spruced up every once in awhile. If your business is in a rut with your social media presence or has just been flat-out neglecting them, here are a few ways to liven things up.
We have a new question for our Frequently Asked Questions series!
"How many social media platforms do I need to use? How do I choose which ones are best for my business?"
In general, if your business is going to take the leap into the social media world, you need to be ready to set up, maintain, and monitor at least 3-4 social media platforms. You’ll have to be accessible to your clients through a variety of channels to secure your legitimacy and credibility. Also, it can be fun, I promise!
As for choosing which social media platforms are best for your business, I’m going to start off with the answer no one ever wants to hear: It depends. Every business is different, and the number and type of social media platforms you decide to use should be strategically thought out based on the nature of the goods/services that you provide.
I’ve compiled a list of what I believe are the most useful social media platforms for businesses, with nutshell descriptions for each – because I know you don’t have time to sit here are read every fact and statistic out there for social media (but if you want to, here’s a good place to start). So, here we go:
Facebook: Roughly 1 billion active users, used for sharing a wide variety of content including status updates, videos, and photos. Typical post cadence is 5 times per week.
Twitter: Designed for quick, 140-character max updates. 550 million active users. Can post more than once per day (not to exceed 8 times a day).
Pinterest: Heavily visual, fastest growing social media site in the world. Takes the concept of traditional “pin boards” and makes it virtual. We recommend at least weekly usage.
YouTube: Second most visited website in the world. Made to view/share video content. Update weekly or bi-monthly.
Google Plus: Gaining traction due to Google associating search engine rankings to profile pages. Made to post a variety of content; photos, videos, status updates, and links.
Instagram: Another photo sharing site. Take a picture with your smartphone and use cool filters for effect. Displays photos in news feed format, one at a time.
LinkedIn: Strictly professional network, built for recruitment/job searching. Has company page option that is used to communicate with followers.
To choose which social media platforms are best for your business, take a look at what your business has to offer. For example, a restaurant might consider using Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. The strategy behind that?
- Facebook for the multi-functional post ability
- Twitter to announce daily/weekly specials in short form
- Pinterest to visually categorize their menu options and make other pinners salivate at their computer screens
- Instagram to show off new menu item additions in a unique way (i.e. use cool filters to make delicious food photos look even better)
If you know you need to establish your business on social media, but don’t have the time to invest, PLEASE give us a call! Our marketing department thrives off social media, and we’re always staying up-to-date with the latest and greatest platforms/features. Don’t fight it any longer… get social and have fun with it!
Written by: Jocy Vuiller
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