social media

 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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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
 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.

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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!

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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
 by Emma Cameron

How GoPro Empowers Their Customers

gopro

Social media is an amazing new marketing outlet that allows consumers to keep connected and engaged with their favourite brands. Social media not only allows brands to specifically advertise to their demographics, but it is also allows consumers to advertise and promote their favourite brands products and services as well.

GoPro has been doing a success job of empowering their users, while using their content to promote their brand. GoPro allows everyday people the ability to shoot HD footage and capture out of this world photographs on their miniature cameras – no matter what their past experience consists of. Not only are their products successful, but their presence on Instagram is as well. GoPro currently has 7 million followers, and averages about 300,000 “likes” per post. Their following is continuously growing, and so is their social media campaign. The company came up with the campaign “Photo of the Day”, where users upload their HD photographs to their own Instagram accounts, tagging GoPro in these photos. Everyday, GoPro picks a photo to be featured on their own Instagram account and tags the user in the re-uploaded photo. GoPro is not just stopping at photos, they are also promoting users to create extreme videos that they repost on their Youtube page.

gopro photo

This campaign has been extremely successful, and has been going on for years now. This allows GoPro to empower their users and promote their work, while at the same time be able to share these photos and use them as advertising tools. Creating a sort of win-win for both the user and the brand. This is just one of the many brands who are embracing social media, and really allowing consumers to take the reigns on advertising through these platforms.

As more and more brands move towards social media marketing, this tactic will become increasingly popular. Consumers love it and so do brands!

in Business / Lifestyle / Marketing / Tech 0 comments
 by Emma Cameron

How To Use Hashtags Effectively

Hashtags are an important part of our social media and tech culture today. So important that in 2010 the Oxford Dictionary added the word, and the board game Scrabble added it to their dictionary. Though most people in the world have heard of hashtags, or have seen them live in action, many still do not know to how to use them effectively. Hashtags are simple to use and can really drive traffic and engagement to your post or content – making them an important tool to know inside out.

 

Choosing The Right One:

It is not effective to just pick any word or phrase and proceed to use it as a hashtag. You should research which ones are already in use and in what context they are being used. For an example, if you come up with a hashtag that fits your brand perfectly, you need to make sure that other brands or individuals are not using that same one in a completely different way. This can cause confusion and a loss opportunity for your brand, and it could pick up some unwanted attention.

 

Pick The Right Social Media Platform:

Different social media platforms yield different returns for your content.

Twitter:

Twitter is the originator of the hashtag, and continues to still be the powerhouse. Tons of research has been done to track the effectiveness of the use of them on Twitter. According to one study, tweets with one or two hashtags can double the chances of engagement. However, if you exceed two per tweet, the chances of engagement actually drops by 17%. Staying within two per tweet limit is crucial. It is also important to note how “engagement” is defined in research. The engagement that is activated by hashtags can include different types of interactions; 22% of engagement comes from replies to brand’s tweets; 78% are retweets; And 92% are link clicks. Depending on the use of them in a tweet, it can either increase or decrease this amount of engagement

Facebook:

Facebook introduced hashtags to their site in 2013, which was a late start for the social media powerhouse. Though Facebook currently ranks the highest for the most used platform in the world, their engagement using hashtags is one of the worst. Studies have shown that Facebook posts with hashtags actually have less engagement than those without. Furthermore, studies have found that Facebook and Twitter are similar in the sense that overuse can also decrease the amount of engagement and interaction. It is more beneficial to keep hashtags down to one or two per post on Facebook in order to receive interaction back.

Instagram:

Instagram is the complete opposite to Twitter and Facebook when it comes to hashtags. Other social media sites diminish your return on engagement with the more hashtags you use per post. Instagram views this in a different light, and the more hashtags that are used the more noticed, liked, shared, and commented your post will get. Post that exceed 11 or more hashtags, are the post that bring in the highest number of interactions. Hashtags can be your best bet for growing a fast following on Instagram.

 

Timing is Everything:

As with most things in life, everything always comes down to timing. The same can be said with using hashtags on social media sites. There are many different online tools that can help you set up and schedule times to post content to your social media sites. This helps with getting content out during times of high usage, and on significant dates (e.g. holidays, campaign launches, etc). This can really help with getting your hashtag out there, and bringing in traffic.

 

Hashtags are a huge part of our social media sites today. Hashtags allow brands to reach more followers, give followers the opportunity to engage and interact with their favourite brand. It is one of the greatest inventions and one of the best things for online marketing.

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 by Emma Cameron

How To Use Snapchat As A Marketing Tool

For years Facebook and Twitter have been the kings of all social media platforms. Combined, these platforms have over 2 billion users and growing, making these platforms one of the most looked at sites for marketers. Recently however, a new social media king has stepped onto the scene, and is bringing brands along with them. Snapchat reports an estimated 6 billion views daily, and has over 100 million active daily users (65% of which contribute content). This portfolio has brands and marketers not only impressed, but jumping at the opportunity to use it as a marketing tool. There are many benefits to advertising on Snapchat, however it has to be the right fit for your company. If you are looking into using Snapchat for your own business, check out what we think are the 4 best ways to utilize it.

 

1.Provides Access to Live Events:

Snapchat is one of the best tools for real-time social media marketing due to the fact that is can give audiences around the world access to live events. Companies can use Snapchat for real-time product launches, trade shows, or one-of-a-kind unique events. It allows consumers to feel involved in events, and engaged to be up-to-date on what their favourite brands are doing.

Lives events that have been successfully featured on Snapchat include the American Music Awards, the Westminster Dog Show, and Oktoberfest.

 

2. Embrace the Time Limit:

Many would say that the time limit that Snapchat offers is a negative for some businesses. However, many marketers and brands do not think this is always the case. The time limit (24 hours) allows for brands to create short videos or photos that last only a few seconds that can be sent to consumers as teasers. These teasers leave viewers wanting more, and creating a demand for these teasers.

Make-up powerhouse brand, NARS, used the app to allow followers an exclusive sneak peek look of their upcoming Guy Bourdin collection. NARS only allowed followers who added their @NARSissist Snapchat the opportunity to preview the collection. Due to the time limit and the ability to send personalized content to followers, this made Snapchat the best possible media for this type of release.

 

3. Offer Contests, Promotions or Perks:

Online consumers repeatedly check brand’s social medias to score on promotions or perks that not all customers get access to. Snapchat is no exception to this. Many consumers flock to Snapchat for the opportunity to see new promotions and contest that are offered by their favourite brands.

GrubHub excels in the Snapchat community by using different promotions and deals to engage their audience online. Grubhub became the first brand to launch a nationwide scavenger hunt campaign in 2014. The campaign lasted for five days, and each day followers were given a new challenge to complete. The winners of the challenges were given a $50 credit to GrubHub and had access to other promotions. GrubHub saw an increase growth of 20 percent in their followers, and found that more than 30 percent of their followers participated in the challenges.

 

 

4. Partner with Individuals with an Audience:

Snapchat can be used to promote brand awareness, brand loyalty, and also be used for product placements. Influencers with a large following can be a vital tool for brands who want to get their product noticed by demographics that are hard to reach through their traditional medias.

During the Superbowl, Audi teamed up with the app and the blog, the Onion, to bring a Snapchat campaign to followers. Photos of “typical things people may exhibit during the game” included humorous captions and drawings. The end result of the 3 hour campaign resulted in an increase of 5,500 new followers to Audi’s Snapchat page, and endless retweets of screen grabs from the campaign.

 

Snapchat is dominating in the app world, and brands are continuously growing their presence on it. Is your company ready to jump on this Bandwagon?

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