How To Build Your Brand Through Social Media Platforms

Branding yourself on social media platforms is becoming increasingly important in todays market. In 2014, a study found that 65 percent of online users use search engines to find out information on people and companies. These searches usually bring online users to social media profiles, and have been found to increase exposure for brands and companies, as well as increase loyalty among fans and followers. So if you are thinking about using social media platforms to brand yourself, then you should begin today. We have complied a list of tips on how you can get started.

Select the social media platforms you will use: 

There are so many different social media platforms that can provide you with what you are looking for, for your brand. You should be aware and careful with the platforms you do decide to choose because you don’t want to spread yourself too thin. Focusing on one or two social media platforms will allow your to build up presence and reach your potential audience.

Keep your presence on each social media platform consistent: 

The consistency of your brands imagery is very important for making an impact on social media platforms. You want to make sure that your profile photo, brand logo, colour palette, and writing styles are all recognizable on each platform. Using consistency on social media platforms will allow your brand to have a unique identity that followers will be able to easily remember.

Create unique and valuable content: 

Producing valuable and unique content that your followers want to read is a great way to build your brand up and create unbreakable bonds with your readers. Figure out what kind of content engages your audience the most and make sure it is valuable enough for your audience to want to share it on their own social media profiles.

As talked about before, keeping branding and imagery consistent is extremely important for building your presence on social media. You want to make sure that your content supports your brands image and that the tone or topic of the content is relevant to your brand. For example, if your website is dedicated to healthy recipes and cooking, you would not post content that had to do with finance. Most visitors would find that confusing and irrelevant to your brands image and website. So stick to relevant content that is consistent.

If you are unclear about which content will gain the most visibility on your social networks, then check out Google Analytics. Analytics will tell you what kind of content your audience likes to view. Whether that be blogs, videos, or images, Google Analytics will show you the best content for your audience.

Talk part in the conversation: 

The best way to gain a following or fan base on social media is by interacting with your audience, and using those interactions to socialize your content. One easy way to do this is by collaborating with other social influencers. Mention these individuals in your content, and back link them to their website or content. This will create bonds and will inspire them to share your content with their followers.

How To Increase Your Chances Of Going Viral On YouTube

Viral videos have become a huge trend over the past couple of years, thanks to YouTube. YouTube content creators make and post videos in the hope of going viral and drawing attention to their videos and channels. It can take years for seasoned YouTube creators to get even a slight taste of attention from their videos. So how do these great videos go viral? And is it just luck or is there a specific method to going viral?

We compiled a list of the top things you should be doing to increase your chances of going viral on YouTube.

Take Advantage of Current & Popular Trends:
Capitalize on current trends that are popular on YouTube right now. Check out successful channels, and viral videos for the trends and categories that they are using. Some of the most popular categories include cooking, beauty and fashion, tutorials, and comedy skits, but there are also tons of other niches out there, like funny animals or reaction videos. So discover what clicks for you, there are tons of options out there.

When picking a trend or category that you want to capitalize on, always keep in mind your industry and how you can incorporate it with what is trending. For example, if you own a wedding cake bakery, try incorporating your brand into a viral trend such as the “Will you marry me” musical videos. But just beware that you are competing in a extremely popular trend on YouTube, so it may take you more views to get noticed.

Make Sure It Is Quality Content:
Most popular YouTuber’s have access to production teams and quality equipment, such as lighting, cameras, and microphones. All of this advanced technology is not needed to make a video, however most viral videos and channels tend to have good quality content. So using the right equipment and putting out quality content that you are proud of is extremely important for increasing your chances of going viral on YouTube.

You don’t have to go out and buy expensive equipment right away, check out your local camera shop, they usually rent out equipment for relatively cheap.

The Title Is Important:
YouTube is the second biggest search engine in the world, so when coming up with the title of your video you want to treat it like any other search engine. Besides your content, the title is perhaps the most important thing, and could be the gateway to a viral video. Start thinking about the top viral videos you have watched and shared. Most of these videos have engaging titles that make you feel like you have to click on it. Capitalize on people’s sense of curiosity, it will definitely increase your videos views and chance of going viral.

Market It:
There are many YouTube videos that become viral out of shear luck, but for the most part many are well planned and marketed.

In order to give your video the best shot at going viral, you need to plan everything. Before filming, make sure you have identified the trend or category that you are going to target. If you do decide to go with a trend that is popular, just remember it maybe more difficult to get a ton of views. Views are what are important in going viral, so finding a niche or smaller trend might be better so that you rise to the top of YouTube’s search results faster.

YouTube has similar search engine rankings just like Google. So after uploading, give your video a brief description and make sure you use the right keywords that fit well with your content. Keywords will help your ranking and your chances of going viral. Ask your friends and family to share, like and comment on your video. As well as, use other social media networks to help spread it.

Planning ahead will give your video a better chance of gaining attention and going viral.

How To Make Your Content Stand Out

There are an estimated 2 million blog post published every single day around the world. So getting your content noticed online can be extremely vital, as well as a difficult task.
But how can you make your content stand out amongst millions of others? Well there are a few things you can do to increase your contents chances of getting picked up and noticed by a large audience. Check out some of our suggestions down below.

External Links:
External links are valuable for content and most importantly for search engine optimization. Because external links are a sign of popularity and relevance for search engine algorithms, they can help boost your content to the top of search engine results. Which results in an increase of traffic and an impact to your organic search rankings. As well as, creates a network back to your website that brings in more viewers.

Keywords:
Keywords are also an important tactic to use to get your content to stand out. Using keywords in your title and your content can help increase your search engine rankings. For an example, if your business is in the landscaping industry, you will want to include specific keywords that relate to landscaping – such as landscaping, landscaping ideas, landscaping designs, landscaping services, etc. A better ranking on search engine results can really increase traffic to your content.

Add More Research To Your Content:
Instead of using information and research from external sources, start sharing statistics and insights from your own company. Most blog posts revolve around statistics, numbers, research, strategies and methods that have all been regurgitated. Where do you think the research comes from? It comes from companies sharing their own research and insights. So why not publish your own companies research instead of reusing others.

By actually generating your own company’s information and insights and publishing it through your content, you are demonstrating to your audience that your business is the leader in your industry and subject.

Don’t Just Regurgitate:
If you want to be a leader in your niche market, stop using research from other companies and start using your own. If you instill in your audience that your website is the go-to-source for research on your industry and subject, they will start going to you first before anyone else.

Pictures & Videos:
To make your content a lot more interesting, add something more engaging such as photos or videos. Reading a wall of text can be quite draining and may cause many readers to cut their read short. By adding visual elements to your content it will help it stand out more and can help you break away from the crowd.

How To Gain More Followers On Instagram

Instagram is quickly becoming the biggest social media network for businesses and content creators. Instagram opens up a huge playing field for any businesses looking to gain exposure and interact with their target audiences online. Many businesses do not utilize all of the great resources that Instagram has that can get them a lot of followers. Gaining more followers requires a little more than just uploading content, check out some great things you can do to gain more followers on Instagram.

 

Stick To A Niche Segment:
In order to be successful on Instagram, you will need to stick to one or two specific niche segments. It is best to find a niche market that you are passionate and knowledgable about, so that it makes it easy for you to come up with creative and consistent content easily.

 

Post Engaging And Creative Content Continuously:
People follow accounts because they want content – and a lot of it. If you are looking to attract a large audience on Instagram you are going to have to post consistent, high-quality content nonstop. It is easy to get lost in the land of Instagram, so make sure you are posting around two to three times a day so that followers can get use to your post and familiarize themselves with your username.

 

Use Captivating Captions:
Captions can be just as important as the content you are putting out. Figure out first if your audience enjoys long or short captions. For an example, if your Instagram page specializes in makeup, your audience will most likely want a long caption that includes the products that appear in your post. Once you have figure out what your followers want in their captions, you must remain consistent with it.
Instagram captions should include four things: they should be motivating; captivating; inspiring; and should give viewers an experience while reading it. This will really draw users in and keep them wanting more from your page.

 

Use Hashtags…And Lots Of Them:
Using hashtags on a post is one of the best ways to attract like-minded individuals to your page. When you are using hashtags for your post you want to be using the right ones that relate to your content posted, as well as your Instagram page. Studies have found that the optimal number of hashtags on Instagram is 11. The more hashtags you load onto your post, the more likely you are to get likes, comments, and new followers. So #YourHeartOut.

 

Interact With Users:
Communicate and engage with the community around you by following, liking, and commenting on other users post. Instagram isn’t just about posting your own content, it is also about exploring the content of others and the different communities around you. Create personal bonds and relationships with your followers by responding to comments they have left on your post. This will allow you to create personal bonds with your followers, and make you seem more attractive to them and others who stumble across your page.

If you are just starting on Instagram, comment and interact on big content creators pages. People are more likely to click on your page if they see you commenting and interacting with the same people they follow.

Customer-Centric Marketing Trends That You Should Be Doing

Today’s market is focused primarily on one thing: the customer. And it is really paying off for businesses. Businesses are using marketing techniques to build and construct a thriving relationship with their customers, which in return is giving major return on investment. If you are looking to get your foot into this customer-centric marketing space, keep reading to find out the biggest marketing trends that are happening right now.

 

Interactive Content:
Classic blog posts, and reports are still great to put on your website, but customers today want interactive and exciting content. Shift your content towards something more interesting. Look at putting your content in different and creative forms such as videos, info-graphics, or interactive games – something different that will keep consumers clicking and sharing your content.

 

Add Personalization:
Customers like to feel as if companies are talking directly to them. Personalized messages through emails, custom landing pages, or through content that is specific to their wants or needs, is exactly what consumers want to see. Customers expect companies to know everything about them, so utilize the information you have and personalize this content.

 

Interact on Social Media:
Create marketing messages that can be posted onto your social media networks where consumers can spark up conversations and engage with you. Use different social media monitoring tools to respond to this engagement or use it to assist with any customer concerns that need to be addressed. This can really help improve your presence and engagement levels on social media networks.

 

Marketing Middleware:
Marketing middleware is a trend among marketers that had been increasing in the past couple of years. There are countless softwares and programs out on the market that allow marketing technologies to work together and provide marketers with access to in-depth analysis of customer interactions with different marketing campaigns. This gives marketers the opportunity to remain consistency and flexibility across all of their marketing campaigns.

 

Advocate Marketing:
When customers have a great experience with your company they are more likely to give a referral to their friends and family members. Promoting through referrals is more effective than affiliates or incentives in today’s market. So taking advantage of these advocates is an amazing idea, and is extremely easy to do.

Building strong relationships with these advocates and giving them a positive experience is the best way to bring new referrals in your business.

5 Tips To Become More Productive

Are you a procrastinator? Have you ever wanted to be as productive as possible? Do you find it hard to find the motivation to get everything done on time?

Well we created a list of five tips that can help you become more productive in your business and your personal life. Check them out below.

Start the day off with a wholesome breakfast:
The phase “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” has never been truer. In order to start your day off right and get energized for a productive day, you need to fill your body with nutrients and substance that is going to allow you to be as productive as possible. Find time to make a wholesome breakfast that is going to supply you with enough energy and goodness to last the whole day. Think about incorporating more proteins, fruits and vegetables into your diet – make your own green smoothie or fry up an egg – and try to stay away from junk foods. A junk diet will lead to junk performance!

Plan your day the night before:

It can be hard to sleep when your mind is restless from thinking about the tasks you have to get done the next day. This can take a toll on your body and can cause you to be less productive due to lack of sleep. Develop a routine where every night you take 15-20 minutes before bed to write down all of your tasks that you need to complete the next day. This will allow your mind to calm down and will help relax you before bedtime – ensuring you get the best sleep possible!

Energize yourself with a workout:
Not only is a good breakfast important way to start your day, but working out is as well. Physical exercise gets your blood flowing throughout your body and releases endorphins that can help get rid of the laziness we tend to feel in the morning. Working out also allows us to release unwanted stress and helps to increase our energy levels, which allows you to take on the day with more energy than you had starting it!

Get out of the office at lunch time:
Instead of eating at your desk, get up and go for a walk, and find a place to eat outside of the office. Giving yourself a few minutes to breath in fresh air and eat your lunch is a great way to rejuvenate and refresh yourself so you can attack the rest of the day head on!

Do not disturb:
It can be hard keeping up your productivity levels at work when coworkers are constantly interrupting you. One way to give yourself time to get important business done without getting interrupted is by putting up a “Do Not Disturb” sign at your desk/office and on email. Letting your coworkers know that you need time to finish work will allow you to get your work done on time and won’t decrease your productivity.

How To Be Successful At Blogging

The internet has been transforming the ways in which we can make money. Blogging being one of them. Blogging has been around since the start of the internet, but just recently, blogging has really transformed into a money making machine. There are tons of bloggers around the world who have thousands, even millions of followers, who flock to their blogs to read their newest posts every single week. Making these influential bloggers tons of money and success.
So what is their secret to gaining thousands of followers and running a successful blog? Well its a little bit of luck, and a ton of strategy. Check out some of the strategies that these bloggers do on their blogs!

Become An Expert In One Topic:
Become an expert in one or two topics and use your past experience and knowledge to make quality content. People go to blogs usually for advice or to learn something new, so being an expert in a topic is very important and will make you seem more credible. Anyone can copy information from online and repeat it back to the public. So back up all of your content with real life stories and knowledge. This will definitely set you a part from other bloggers.

Be Consistent With Your Content:
The one thing consumers love is consistency. Create a weekly schedule where you post creative content on certain days – for an example post on Monday’s, Wednesday’s, and Friday’s. This will allow consumers to know exactly when new content will be up and will help you stay on top of your posts.

Make Your Content Entertaining:
The way you decide to write your content is one of the most important decisions for your blog. If you are writing about more formal or informational based topics, it can be easy to get caught up writing very factually and dry. Most people like to read articles and blogs that are entertaining and fun. Even if you your topic isn’t traditional entertaining, throwing some life into it will keep your audience engaged.

Use Social Networks To Promote:
Social networks are a great way to get your blog and content out there and give you more exposure to new readers. You should have a Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn account, that should also be linked to one another. The more social media sites that you are on, the bigger your reach will be.

Give People Value:
One of the most important things your blog should be providing their readers with is value. Value will help you attract and gain interested readers who will continuously return to your blog each week to view your content. Make sure you are providing new information and new content for your readers, as well as being consistent with the value of your content that you are putting out.

Offer Free Stuff:
People love free things. So you need to provide your followers with tons of free content. You don’t have to make all of your content free, but in order to build a loyal following you need to offer free content that can be consumed easily. Your free content doesn’t always have to be articles, you can provide free videos or e-books – which will definitely receive positive attention from your followers.

How To Wake Up Early & Get The Best Sleep

If you are not a morning person, it can be extremely hard to get out of bed in the morning. This can put a damper on your day and the quality of work that you put out. Fortunately, there are ways to develop habits that can make you into a morning person and can help you wake up easier and feeling more refreshed!

Get Into A Nighttime Routine:
Developing a regular routine will help you fall asleep and stay asleep all night long. Try different activities that can help you relax before bed. This can include taking a hot bath or shower, reading your favourite novel, writing in a journal or writing down a to-do-list for the next day, or meditating. These activities can relax you, and can help you to transcend into sleepiness.

It is also very important to know what time you will be waking up the next day. If you know you are having an early morning, try doing your nighttime routine earlier, so that you can get the required 8 hours of sleep. Also, it is important to keep a regular bedtime and wake-up time even on your days off. This will help your internal clock remain consistent and maintain a regular routine.

Make Sure All Electronics Are Off:
Electronics can reduce the amount of melatonin that our body produces while we sleep – due to the bright lights that they give off. This interferes with our quality of sleep and makes it harder to fall asleep. Turn off your cellphone (or put it on Do Not Disturb mode), computer, television, and tablets 30 minutes before you sleep. If you need to be on your phone before bed, make sure that you have the brightness down so that you aren’t absorbing as much bright light.

Quit Hitting Snooze:
It can be tempting to continuously hit the snooze button in the morning – and trust me, we want to as well. When your alarm clock goes off, try putting on a lamp or opening your blinds to let some light into your room – this will help get you moving. Also try doing some light stretches while in bed – stretch your shoulders, arms and lower back. This will get you energized for the day, and won’t make you feel like you have to immediately get out of bed when your alarm clock goes off.

Let Light Flow Into Your Room:
The sun is one of the best ways to gain energy, especially in the morning. Open your blinds and expose yourself to the suns rays for a few minutes. If you are waking up before the sun has risen, turn on bright lights or purchase lights that simulate the sun’s rays. Sunlight and bright lights have been known to improve your mood and boost alertness.

How To Write The Perfect Tweet

Crafting the perfect tweet can be a bit of an obstacle course. Do you hashtag? Add visual elements? Or only talk about popular topics?

Using all of those elements will be beneficial, and will drive more interactions and engagement to your Twitter posts and content. But there are also a few more strategies that can be used to get more retweets, replies, and favourites. Check them out below!

It touches on current/relevant trends
Whether you are talking about the winners of the Power Ball lottery or the current episode of Making A Murderer, creating the perfect tweet always needs to include topics and trends that are happening currently. Check out the trending section of Twitter to see what everyone is talking about or check which hashtags are getting the most traffic currently. This way you will know someone will eventually stumble upon your tweets!

It is engaging
Twitter is a very accessible and open platform that allows anyone – even users who don’t follow you – access to stumble upon any of your posts. Thanks to Twitters openness, your tweets have the ability to be reached by millions of people in many different countries! In order to reach the masses, you have to come up with engaging content that can lure them in.

Don’t be afraid to voice your opinion – whether it be positive or negative. Many rememberable tweets have been the most controversial and opinionated. Sometimes sharing an unpopular opinion can spark conversation, which can draw attention to your post and your Twitter page.

It utilizes #Hashtags
Hashtags are a great way to connect and discuss events, or topics that may interest you and others on Twitter. Hashtags make it easier for people to find your posts and allows for more engagement and interaction to your page and content, through the use of retweeting or sharing.

Many studies have shown that tweets with one or two hashtags can double the changes of engagement. However, if you exceed two hashtags per tweet, the chances of engagement actually drops by a surprising 17% – which makes staying within the two hashtag limit crucial.

It uses some type of visual aspect
Whether it be in the form of a photo, a video or a info-graphic, people love visuals on Twitter. Studies have shown that tweets with a visual element attract the most engagement on Twitter out of all other types of tweeting.

Finding the perfect type of visual for your post is crucial for growing your interactions in the Twitter community. You will need to experiment a little bit to see what people will positively respond to – it will differ from person to person.

6 Things That Successful People Do

We all strive to be a successful person in either our career lives or our personal lives. Though what we define as “success” can range from person-to-person, there are common patterns that successful people do. Keep reading to find out what these six things are!

They never make excuses:
Making excuses takes up a lot of energy that successful people just don’t have time to waste. That is why regardless of the outcome of a situation, they will quit making excuses and move on, instead of fretting about something they cannot control.

They focus on their goals everyday:
When successful people know what they want, they wont stop striving for it until its theirs. They have the drive and focus to keep pushing every single day, no matter what gets in their way of achieving their goals.

They learn from their mistakes:
No one wants to fail, but there is always a lesson to be learned when something doesn’t go the way you want it to. Successful people know this is a fact, and always treat failing as something that they can learn from. Failing never gets them down, it just motivates them even more!

They surround themselves with people who inspire them:
Studies have found that the five people you spend the most amount of time with tend to have the most influence on the person you will eventually become. Successful people know this, which is why they surround themselves with individuals who motivate, and inspire them, as well as people they would like to emulate.

They work hard:
Successful people put in unbelievable amounts of hours into their careers, as well as their goals. They don’t just sit around waiting for everything to fall into place, instead they work hard and make their goals a reality with their own time and energy.

They take good care of themselves:
Successful people know that in order to work hard, they need to take good care of themselves. In order to get the energy that they need, successful people make sure that they are exercising, eating right, and getting enough rest every night – which helps them work hard, and play hard at the same time.