Social Media - Part 10

Businesses in the digital age rely on a strong online presence to stand a chance against stiff competition. This explains why many SMBs are turning to social media marketing. And with platforms like Facebook with a global audience of 1.8 billion users, the time to leverage the right tools to your advantage is now.

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10 Jul, 2017 / by Complete Technology Resources / in Facebook, Social Media category

Businesses in the digital age rely on a strong online presence to stand a chance against stiff competition. This explains why many SMBs are turning to social media marketing. And with platforms like Facebook with a global audience of 1.8 billion users, the time to leverage the right tools to your advantage is now.

Audience Insights tool
This free tool is designed to help businesses learn more about their target audience. Audience Insights takes the guesswork out of identifying your customers by providing data such as geography, purchasing patterns, and even the Facebook pages they like. You can also use your existing customer database, Facebook page, or email list to learn more about your clients. Audience Insights help save a lot of time and money by determining whom you should advertise to.

Facebook Product Shops
This allows you to sell your products directly from your Facebook page. After following these instructions, you can set up your product shop in just a few clicks. You can choose whether you want buyers to purchase directly on Facebook or whether you want buyers to complete checkout on your website. Consider running ads using the data gathered from the Audience Insights tool to target ideal customers and increase sales.

New Facebook Ads
Facebook’s advertising platform offers endless combinations to create the perfect ad. It features numerous placement options that go beyond the traditional newsfeed. There are two new ad destinations that could help you reach new audiences:

Facebook Messenger ads - deliver a highly personalized experience by providing an opportunity for you to chat with prospective customers. You can answer questions or schedule appointments from the Messenger app.
In-stream video ads - despite being relatively new, this prime advertising space allows businesses to deliver 5-15 second mid-roll video ads within live and non-live videos on Facebook.

Facebook Live marketing
Due to its rising popularity, businesses are looking for ways to incorporate Facebook Live into their social media marketing strategies. Here are a couple of tips to optimize Facebook Live usage:

Livestream pre-scheduling - this tool creates and pre-schedules Facebook Live streams, thereby boosting anticipation for your videos and prompting viewers to mark their calendars if they want to tune in.
Merge it with your Product Shop - this feature can be used on your Facebook page only if you’ve set up your Product Shop. When you mention your products in a livestream, you’ll be able to tag your products in the video, allowing viewers to access your Product Shop directly from the video.

In order to surpass your competitors, you’ll need to not only establish a strong online presence but also know how to leverage Facebook to your business’s advantage. If you’re interested in adopting a social media marketing strategy, feel free to give us a call or send us an email!

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

The post The Facebook tools your business needs appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

Many small- and medium-sized businesses are abandoning traditional marketing methods in favor of social media platforms, and for good reason. Take Pinterest, for example, whose latest product “DIY Promoted Pins” allows businesses to promote their Pins to increase click-throughs, improve reach, and potentially drive more website traffic.

The post Using Pinterest to market your SMB appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

12 Jun, 2017 / by Complete Technology Resources / in Social Media category

Many small- and medium-sized businesses are abandoning traditional marketing methods in favor of social media platforms, and for good reason. Take Pinterest, for example, whose latest product “DIY Promoted Pins” allows businesses to promote their Pins to increase click-throughs, improve reach, and potentially drive more website traffic. But wait, there’s more.

Know your audience
According to a study conducted by Ahalogy and AcuPOLL Precision Research, Inc., Pinterest is largely used by women, mostly “Millennial Moms.” If your typical customer demographic is predominantly male, your marketing efforts would probably be better spent elsewhere. But if your business caters to women between the ages 15-29, you should consider creating an online presence on Pinterest.

Think like a content marketer
Users are looking for engaging content, which is why 59% of active Pinterest users go for Pins that lead to blog posts, articles, and even photos. The most popular topics on the platform are more visual (e.g., food, fashion, decor, etc.), so if you don't have highly visual content, then infographics, images from blog entries, and even photos of staff members also do the trick.

Look for inspiration
Getting stuck in a creative rut happens to the best of us, so check out the boards that are saving your Pins to get some fresh insight. There's a good chance that people saving your Pins have related content that can help you gain insight into what your typical customer is interested in. Not only that, it also helps you identify trends and come up with new ideas for a marketing campaign.

Categorize your boards
By creating and properly labeling multiple boards -- one for each of your products or services -- your users are able to engage not only with your general content but also with content they’re more interested in.

Determine posting frequency
Excessive pinning might overwhelm or simply annoy your audience, but not pinning enough might cause followers to lose interest. Create a posting schedule and gauge audience reaction before making any changes to the frequency of Pins.

In order to surpass the stiff competition, you’ll need all the help you can get, and that includes social media marketing. If you have any questions about Pinterest and how it can help your business grow, don’t hesitate to give us a call.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

The post Using Pinterest to market your SMB appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

Many small- and medium-sized businesses utilize some type of social media or content marketing strategy. But since your competitors are possibly using similar platforms, you have to constantly find new ways to make your company stand out. Here are some tips to leverage the power of social media and content marketing to your business’s advantage:

Come up with and implement a media crisis management plan
It’s normal for businesses to go through a crisis or two.

The post Boost your SMB’s social media presence appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

08 May, 2017 / by Complete Technology Resources / in Social Media, Tips category

Many small- and medium-sized businesses utilize some type of social media or content marketing strategy. But since your competitors are possibly using similar platforms, you have to constantly find new ways to make your company stand out. Here are some tips to leverage the power of social media and content marketing to your business’s advantage:

Come up with and implement a media crisis management plan
It’s normal for businesses to go through a crisis or two. Avoid embarrassing public relations nightmares by having a social media crisis management plan in place and ready for implementation.

Create buyer personas
Social media data is a great tool to gather information about your potential customers, and in doing so, create buyer personas. Buyer personas are comprised of generalized characters that help build an ideal picture of your business in the market. Key demographic information includes age, location, and even reasons for buying and product-related concerns.

Track the impact of your content marketing
When it comes to content marketing efforts like blogging and social media, it’s essential to have a system to measure results. You can measure how these efforts impact your brand awareness by using metrics such as social media reach, brand mentions, media mentions, and branded searches.

Integrate user-generated content on social media
Businesses can utilize social media as a way to interact with consumers. This includes sharing some of their content on your own channels. Not only are user-generated content more cost-efficient, they also shorten the customer’s path to purchase.

Use Hootsuite to manage Twitter chats
A Twitter Chat happens when you use Twitter to talk about a common interest with others during a preset time. It's like an online chatroom where you add to the discussion by tweeting. Efficiently managing tweets and responses is integral. Fortunately, applications like Hootsuite simplifies the whole process. It easily monitors, searches, and saves Twitter Chats onto the Hootsuite dashboard for future reference.

Create better live broadcasts
Livestreaming on social media platforms such as Facebook, Periscope, and Instagram is quickly gaining popularity. Before starting a livestream for your business, take time out to practice and prepare an outline before you roll the cameras. Don’t forget to promote it prior to the broadcast, and make sure you come up with a short and catchy video description.

All small- and medium-sized businesses are fighting for the same thing: the consumer’s attention. Business owners can’t afford to just blend into the background; if you don’t make a good, lasting impression, you might lose out on an opportunity to make money. And if you’re relying on social media and content marketing strategies to help you, make sure you are doing it right. If you have further questions, feel free to contact us!

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

The post Boost your SMB’s social media presence appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

With more and more social media platforms popping up all the time, it can be tough to keep track of social media policies and assess their effectiveness. However, if you fail to review them annually, your employees might get so obsessed with what's trending on Twitter that they miss their deadlines.

The post Why you should review social media policies appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

10 Apr, 2017 / by Complete Technology Resources / in Social Media category

Why you should review social media policies

With more and more social media platforms popping up all the time, it can be tough to keep track of social media policies and assess their effectiveness. However, if you fail to review them annually, your employees might get so obsessed with what's trending on Twitter that they miss their deadlines. That would impact productivity and ultimately, your bottom line.

Avoid legal trouble
Do you remember Chipotle’s social media debacle in 2015? It lost a lawsuit for firing an employee that posted negative content on social media because it turned out that Chipotle’s social media policy violated federal labor laws. That’s why you should work with your legal team to keep your policies up to date: so they comply with the Federal Trade Commission and the National Labor Relations Board.

Protect company information
Social media policies can actually help safeguard sensitive data from hackers and cyber attacks, especially in a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) working environment. Employees must know the proprietary company information that must never be shared, as well as understand that confidential information -- such as marketing tactics, non-public financials, and future product launches -- are to be communicated only ‘internally.’ A good example is General Motor’s social media policy, which clearly spells out what can and can't be disclosed to the public.

Define which kinds of social media activities are and aren't allowed
Although posting offensive or insensitive material on a company-branded social media page being is an obvious no-no, it still happens. For the people handling your company’s social media, what precautionary mechanisms are in place to avoid a public relations disaster? Are there rules for different platforms? Beyond that, however, is a lot of gray area when it comes to if and how employees will be held accountable for what they post on their personal profiles. When social media policies clearly outline how employees should behave online and the punishments that come with violating that agreement, you can deter rogue employee posts and avoid a viral fiasco.

Effective social media policies need to be fluid and responsive to the fast-paced modern business environment. Taking the time out to perform yearly social media policy reviews will save your employees a lot of confusion while helping your company steer clear of potential PR and legal nightmares. If you have further questions, don’t hesitate to send us an email or give us a call!

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

The post Why you should review social media policies appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

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