marketing

 by Emma Cameron

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.

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 by Emma Cameron

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.

in Business / Content / Marketing / Social Media / Uncategorized 0 comments
 by Emma Cameron

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.

in Business / Content / Marketing / Social Media / Uncategorized 0 comments
 by Emma Cameron

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.

in Business / Content / Marketing / Social Media / Uncategorized 0 comments
seo strategy
 by Basim Mirza

SEO Strategy: Profit From Rankings [Video]

Your SEO Strategy is a gateway to all kinds of exposure from search engines. Take our word for it, with the right approach you can have your brand in front of MILLIONS of eyeballs… for free. Check out the video below, as Basim show’s you below how to do this organically!

How Do I Build a Profitable SEO Strategy For My Website?

 

The beautiful thing about SEO is that you can really play into this and you can really build your content in such a way so that you are attracting lots of people through those search engines. Google mainly because Google is the biggest mammoth out there. So you have got to think about how you can look good, not just in front of Google – like where Google actually rewards you for your content that you are putting out on the website – but also the users who are actually searching on Google. What you want to do is plug into the people that are searching through the long-tailed keyword, and maybe in some cases the short-tail. But mostly long-tail, where they are basically typing “what is the nearest restaurant near me that gives sushi?” or whatever. So you want to plug into that and you can use organic content to actually do that. You can actually base your articles and even videos like this, you can plug into SEO. Not social media, don’t worry about the social media part, focus on your website. HubSpot actually did a study where they found if you have over 311 index pages on Google, you are going to increase your traffic by over 230 percent. So that is crazy! If you actually follow through on that, you are going to start seeing those kinds of results as well. So follow through on that because most people don’t and I think we all know that. So really just see and think about how you can create lots of unique and valuable content to pump out through your website or blog or resources section. Add value and the traffic is going to come.

in Business / Content / Marketing / Tech / Uncategorized 0 comments
Increase Twitter Followers
 by Basim Mirza

Increase Twitter Followers and Engagement [VIDEO]

To increase twitter followers you must have an understanding on how to automate certain aspects of the platform. We break it down for you in the video below. We use this process, and so do our clients. You’ll absolutely love it, and find it to be extremely valuable and a HUGE time saver.

So… how do you increase twitter followers?

 

What is very interesting about Twitter is that it is not like the other social media platforms – you have to play the game a little differently. You can spend all day making sure that you have tweets, but that is only where your focus is going. So you really have to figure out how to automate that process and how you can scale it out in such a way where you are getting a massive amount of value out to people who are interested in following you. What really needs to be understood is that the nature of the content that you are putting out is going to determine the nature of the followers that you are going to bring.

To really grow and increase twitter followers while you are doing this, you want to be able to pump out content on a regular basis – without putting much time and energy into it. You have to really automate this process. We use a tool called Sendible where we set up programs in place so that we can automate the process of pumping out content from the best sources – top bloggers or news outlets. Once you start doing this and you have these process in place, you can relax and wait for the respondents to come to you. Once that happens you can set process in place so that you can automatically reach out to the people that are following you right away. The automated message could say “hey, thanks for following me, I just want to know a little bit more about you – hows it going?”. When you start doing this, a percentage of people are going to respond back. These are the people that can be potential leads. Sendible through thick or thin can actually help you through this entire process – so you can nail it down, and increase twitter followers.

What’s great about this is that you don’t have to spend a crazy amount of time worrying about it, all you have to do is set the systems in place right at the start and then go ahead and activate the campaigns – and now you will see the results come in. I have seen my followers (and my clients’) grow from 100-150 per month who are all authentic and great people – my ideal prospects and people who I want following me. This process is really good and you should definitely implement it to improve your business practice.

in Business / Content / Marketing / Social Media 0 comments
networking
 by Mitchell Cameron

Networking and Referrals: Best Strategy

Word of mouth is one of the most important types of marketing that a business owner or organization can focus on to help encourage current and future business. According to Nielson, 84% of consumers say they either completely or partially trust recommendations from family, colleagues, and friends about products. Networking is an underlying concept within any industry and it is important to understand how valuable your network actually is to your marketing strategy. When developing a network and looking to take advantage of referral business, there are a few things that are often overlooked or can be improved upon in your marketing plan.

Effective networking strategies are outlined below:

Build a highly credible and valuable network

Networks are great to have, but often these networks consist of people who do not necessarily add value. On the other hand, sometimes these networks are just not kept up-to-date and lack current credibility. Regardless, when you formulate your marketing strategy, it is important to build a list and network of valuable, credible and hopefully referable people. If the people do not add value in some way, then do not bother wasting your time trying to network or gain referrals from these individuals. Rather, focus on the strongest and most important connections that you have and you will waste less time with referrals that don’t turn into leads. Networks can be built and grown at any time using things like lists, email marketing campaigns and viral social media marketing campaigns.

Be referable

Sometimes as a business owner, you become so focused on leads that other aspects of your marketing strategy and business begin to suffer. The easiest way to be referable is to offer value to each and every customer by providing them with exceptional service through your firm. By delivering great service or products to current clients, you can expect that they will recommend you to others. Another way to be referable is to be relatable and likeable so that current customers enjoy working with you and will think of you first within your industry. If networking is done properly, both the referred and the referral should benefit from their new relationship and the person referring you will feel as if they are helping both people attain their goals.

Be aware of where your referrals come from

It is important to think about how you are obtaining referrals. Some companies offer an incentive or explicitly ask for a referral but this is not the best way. This will often make a customer less likely to refer you because they feel they are being “used” to create a prospecting list. The best kind of referral is one that you do not have to ask for and is given voluntarily by happy customers you have served well. A marketing plan that focuses on making current customers happy so they will spread positive Word of Mouth can save money and goodwill versus things like incentive programs.

As your business grows and develops, it is crucial to develop and keep your marketing strategy up-to-date to achieve success in 2016. If you practice these strategies and continue to work towards your goals, then there is no telling what you can accomplish.

We have the know-how when it comes to focusing on social media marketing and networking which can improve your business outlook and in turn make you more profitable. We can offer you marketing services that drive success and help convert data into a focused marketing strategy. We also provide access to world class training systems that can help you gain an edge over others in your field. The benefit to you being less wasted effort and a greater return – which will help your business grow and keep you happy! Click here to book your complimentary consultation.

 

in Business / Marketing / Networking 0 comments
 by Emma Cameron

The 5 Most Memorable Social Media Marketing Campaigns of 2015

There have been countless unique and successful social media marketing campaigns over the last year, but five really stood out to us. Take a look at the ones we really enjoyed following this past year!

toms

TOMS #WithoutShoes Hashtag on Instagram

TOMS Shoes has been known for their philanthropic efforts ever since the company was started in 2006. The company is known for their goal of donating one pair of shoes to needy children for each pair sold. This year TOMS Shoes extended their philanthropic efforts and used Instagram as their platform to execute their campaign. Every time someone posted an Instagram photo of their bare feet and used the hashtag #withoutshoes, TOMS Shoes would donate a pair of shoes. Through the campaign TOMS was able to donate 296,243 pairs of shoes and really increased their following on social media.

lowes-fix-in-six_campaigns_01

Lowe’s ‘Fix in Six’ Vine Videos

Lowe’s jumped on the Vine bandwagon in 2013, but really made a splash this year on the video sharing app. Lowe’s does a great job of capturing the essence of vine through their six second long DIY videos that are named ‘Fix in Six’ (#lowesfixinsix). While Vine appeals to a younger demographic, it has enabled Lowe’s to position their brand to attract attention from a demographic that they may have not been able to reach before – resulting in a growing following, as well as over 44 million vine loops per video.

bend rules

HP’s #bendtherules Campaign on Vine

HP took a different route this year when it came to showing off their design of the new HP Pavilion x360 convertible laptop. Instead of buying ads on social media platforms, HP teamed up paid social influencers on the video sharing app Vine. HP picked top vine stars such as Marcus John, Robby Ayala, and others to showcase the product and raise awareness through funny and entertaining short videos. The campaign excelled on the interactive app where some videos earned nearly 250,000 likes and more than 8,000 comments – impressive!

burberry

Burberry’s Live-Stream Fashion Show on Periscope and Snapchat

In June 2015, Burberry took live-streaming to the next level by using two powerful social media apps – Periscope and Snapchat- to provide video and photo updates from their menswear fashion show. The use of Periscope and Snapchat was an immediate successful and Burberry received the best digital engagement that the British fashion brand has ever had. Due to their first successful campaign, Burberry tried this type of live engagement once again a month later where they live-streamed their Los Angeles fashion show over Snapchat and Periscope again. This set a record high for their engagement, which brought in over 100 million viewers and proved that Burberry is on top of the live-streaming game!

tacobell-snapchat1

Taco Bell on Snapchat

Taco Bell has been utilizing Snapchat in many different ways this year to engage followers as well as using Snapchat to market and advertise. Recently, Taco Bell has been using Snapchat to creatively launch new menu items and contests by uploading to their Snapchat story feed – giving exclusive access to just these followers. This type of exclusivity has proven to be very successful because Taco Bell now has a following of over 200,000 on Snapchat, and has a 90% return on engagement from followers – mind-blowing!

Lets see what 2016 has in store for social media marketing campaigns!

in Business / Marketing / Social Media / Uncategorized 0 comments
 by Emma Cameron

How to Grab Your Consumers Attention Within a Few Seconds

The attention span of the average human decreases every year. In only thirteen years, we have gone from an attention span of 12 seconds to a mere 8 seconds. This is due to our fast paced lifestyle, the changing dynamics of technology and advertising clutter. Not only does this have direct consequences, but it is becoming a problem for both brands and marketers who want to grab consumers attention – and keep it! This poses a serious challenge for brands and marketers. However, there are solutions that can help you quickly grab anyone’s attention in just a few seconds.

  1. Let photos speak for you:

Whoever came up with the phrase “a picture is worth a million words” was spot on. Consumer interest and curiosity can be sparked in a matter of seconds with captivating photos. Brands have been moving towards image-centric marketing rather than traditional text-based ever since the rise in the use of social media marketing. This is rather smart due to the fact that between 65 and 85 percent of people describe themselves as visual learners. They digest information more easily by visual stimulation rather than traditional text based. Interesting images spark consumers’ interest just enough to make them want more. This is why many photo and video sharing sites and apps are becoming increasingly popular with consumers and brands. Instagram, Pinterest, and Tumblr are some of the most popular sites right now where consumers and brands are flocking to. These sites thrive on photo and video sharing, and have become successful due to their simple format, and engaging content that brands are uploading.

  1. Make it personal: 

Consumers crave the feeling of brands speaking directly to them. Personalized promotional emails and personalized online advertising techniques are considered the top strategies for this and help encourage consumers to purchase and engage in repeat buying. When you have the tools and processes in place to track individual consumer data, it really goes a long way – minimizing your client acquisition cost!

Furthermore, many companies have embraced this personal tactic in their products and services and have been extremely successful. For example, Coca-Cola introduced their “Share a Coke” campaign last summer after years of falling sales. By simply adding popular names and labels to each bottle, Coca-Cola was able to personalize their product, which resulted in an increase of sales.

  1. Encourage Consumers to Participate on Social Media Channels: 

Encouraging consumers to participate in social media campaigns can build personal relationships with your brand and keep you at the forefront of a consumer’s mind. For example, GoPro interacts with consumers on their social media pages, and excels with their engagement on Instagram. This is all due to the campaign “photo of the day” – which has been going on for a few years now – where GoPro features photos that their consumers have taken with their product. This campaign has been very successful for GoPro who has a combined following of over 22 million followers on all their social media channels. This has allowed GoPro to interact with consumers on a regular basis and optimize their brand presence. Encouraging consumers to participate on social media channels is an easy and simple way to draw attention from your consumer(s).

We may never be able to reverse the affects that technology, our lifestyles, and clutter marketing has had on our attention spans. But thankfully, there are still ways to navigate this obstacle when it comes to marketing and advertising!

in Business / Marketing / Tech 0 comments