Social Media Marketing Tips for the Holiday Season

/in , /by

The biggest shopping days of the year are approaching fast. Is your business ready with an effective social media marketing strategy? If not, here are a few tips that your business or social media agency can use to generate sales during the holiday season.

1.) Brand your Social Media with a Holiday Theme

Consumers love to get into the holiday spirit while shopping online or in stores. Think about the elaborate decorations you may see at your favorite retailers. How do they make you feel? Do they bring back nostalgic memories of last year’s holiday season, or seasons long ago? The same principle applies to creating holiday fueled social media posts. Consumers are more likely to share social media content during the last three months of the year. Take holiday themed photos, create videos and do not forget show your holiday cheer. Also, create your own holiday hashtags to keep the buzz going.

2.) Give Consumers a Taste of What’s To Come

Create a sense of curiosity by releasing tidbits of products or services that you plan on releasing for the holiday season. This keeps consumers engaged and more likely to return to your social media for updates.

3.) Run a Social Media Contest or Competition

It is no secret that people love to win free products or services. Running a contest or competition during the holiday season gives your business a better chance for exposure, and creates much excitement. Offer prizes such as a credit towards your business or service and even a goody bag filled with products. Encourage participants to like posts, tag their friends and re-post images to increase the amount of people you reach. You may also like to offer a daily prize draw that will keep consumers coming back to your social media.

4.) Give Back to Your Community

The holidays are a season of giving. Create ways to give back to your community and document every detail on social media. Donate a percentage of profits from sales or create a campaign collecting donations for a cause related to your brand.

5.) Snag Those Last Minute Shoppers

In December 2015, a Facebook survey showed 54 percent of respondents admitted to being nowhere near finished with their holiday shopping, and that it would happen within that month. This being said, be sure to market perfect last minute gift ideas and even expedited shipping to reach customers in time.

Overall, the main focus of your holiday social media marketing strategy should focus on spreading holiday cheer. By leveraging emotions, one can create a powerful and effective campaign. Using a social media agency such as Bright Age can help your business create the most compelling holiday themed content.

Which social media platform will best market your business?

/in , /by

When trying to figure out how to market your business on social media, the available platforms and how they function can be quite overwhelming. Each has different elements that may or may not work for your type of business.  This is why we have created an overview of a few of the top social media platforms, and how they can help your company grow.

Instagram

1.) Instagram is best for businesses that have a creative element. It tends to well for those promoting food, a lifestyle, fashion, luxury or a personality. Instagram allows you to share visual content such as photos and videos. To succeed on Instagram, you should try to post at least once a day, at a time best fit to reach your target audience. The best way to figure out the best times to post is to test different times or research sites that have already collected the information for you. Also, remember to use as many hashtags as possible when posting. Unlike other platforms, the more hashtags on Instagram means the more people are likely to find and like your content. Make sure the hashtags are appropriate for your content.

Facebook

2.) Every business should be on Facebook. With 1.71 billion active users, there is a market for every business. Facebook is great for sharing interesting content, events pertaining to your business and ads. It is a fantastic place to engage with customers and bring them to your website. This can be done with your creative content or by utilizing Facebook Ads. Facebook allows you to track which of your posts are the most effective while running an ad or simply utilizing a regular post. In order to succeed on Facebook, one must create a genuine page that contains curated content and interacts with customers. Also, it is best to post once or twice a day.

Twitter

3.) Twitter is a fast paced and involved platform that everyone should be using. It allows for constant communication between other people and brands. In order to well on Twitter, a business must be able to post constantly. Information does not stay relevant for long considering how fast a more interesting topic can arise. Also, be sure to constantly like, retweet and be involved in conversations. Remember to use only 3 or 4 hashtags with your posts to help them perform better.

Pinterest

4.) Pinterest is great platform for posts related to travel, food, fashion, design and DIY. It is another creative platform that has a largely female user base. On Pinterest one can create boards of “pinned” and “re-pinned” posts, meaning photos they upload and photos they re-share from others. One should post and re-pin multiple times per day to help build a following.

 

YouTube

5.) YouTube is used to create video content. Higher quality content with interesting titles tends to do well. Also, YouTube takes away the need to run an advertising campaign on television. It is now easier than ever for businesses to create an interesting video, then post it with no additional costs. Posting interesting content that gets people talking can cause it to go viral, thus bringing more attention to your company.

Yelp

6.) Yelp is wonderful for brick and mortar stores, bloggers and reviewers. The more stars and reviews your business has, the more people are likely to use your services or visit your store. To succeed on Yelp, remember to actively engage with people who take time to review your business. Also, add as much information to your Yelp such as website links, “about us”, etc. Then be sure to update that information as changes are made.

Overall, there are many platforms that can be used to market your business on social media. The best way to figure out what works for you is to test the ones that resonate with your needs the most. Using a social media marketing company such as Bright Age can help you to strategize which platforms should be used to market your business on social media.

Workplace by Facebook Introduces Social Networking to the Office

/in , /by

Facebook is at it again, introducing themselves into more parts of our lives. As we have experienced, they have the ability to change the way we communicate. Facebook recently expanded its services into the office with the launch of Workplace by Facebook.

Overall, Workplace looks exactly like the traditional Facebook that we all are familiar with. The feel and features are all the same. As of now, there are no ads. Knowing Facebook, it is more than likely ads will be added later to increase ad revenue. Because Workplace is built for company use, there are extra measures taken to ensure that data and information stay secure.

Workplace by Facebook is built predominately for people who do not work at traditional desks. Some examples include baristas and retail associates. Until now there have been over 1,000 companies using the early private version. Starbucks and their 238,000 employees is one of them.

One of the main goals of Workplace by Facebook is to get rid of emails altogether. People within the company can chat with each other, replacing the need for emails. Companies can also share chat groups with other companies, allowing for even more direct conversation.

Facebook is typically viewed as a distraction in the workplace. Therefore it can be difficult to see how this new platform can boost productivity. Facebook plans to accomplish this by making Workplace solely for business use. No personal accounts can be connected to this service.

Your company can utilize Workplace by Facebook for a small fee per employee. Compared to its competitors Slack and Yammer, Workplace is far cheaper.  Facebook will charge $3 per user per month for the first 1,000 users; $2 for the next 1,001-10,000; and $1 for any users above that.

A Facebook advertising agency, like us here at Bright Age, are excited to see the potential behind this new social channel.

Facebook Marketing Grows with Launch of Facebook Marketplace

/in , /by

Remember the days of meeting up with random strangers from Craigslist to buy goods without having any clue about who they were coming from? Those times are soon to be gone with the launch of the Facebook Marketplace. With over 450 million people already visiting buy-sell-trade groups on Facebook, the creation of the Facebook Marketplace is a no brainer.

Prior to Facebook Marketplace, individuals were predominately using Craigslist and buy-sell-trade groups on Facebook to find local goods to purchase. The main problem with Craigslist is that it is impossible to know who you are buying from. There have been countless stories of individuals being ripped off and even robbed from Craigslist sellers. Facebook took this issue and decided to change the game.

When using Facebook Marketplace, you know exactly who is selling your desired product. The marketplace is hooked up to an individual’s Facebook profile. This allows you to get a feeling of what the other person is about before deciding to engage in a business transaction. Users can also filter by location, category and price to find exactly what they are looking for. What the feature lacks is a rating system, just like Amazon of Ebay uses, to find out whether the seller has products that truly fit their description, and what they are like as a seller.

The implementation of Facebook Marketplace is genius. On average, people spend about 50 minutes per day on Facebook. This new feature is a simple tap away within the program. The overall convenience makes it all that more appealing to users. There are similar start-up companies such as LetGo, Wallapop and Close5 who will be in competition with Facebook Marketplace. The obvious advantage Facebook has is their 1.17 billion active users. Facebook will also take action on those abusing the service. They are not afraid to remove listings or ban users altogether.

After they build upon the marketplace, it is more than likely that Facebook will integrate news feed ads or sponsored placement within this experience. They may also allow local businesses to sell their products as well. This is when a Facebook marketing agency such as Bright Age can help you to create the most effective content for your business.

Facebook Best Practices on Demographic Targeting

/in , , /by

Many people do not fully utilize the customizable features in the creation of Facebook Ads. This is essential for receiving the full value of your ad dollars. Are you properly targeting your demographic with Facebook Ads to reach your intended audience? If not, we have you covered. In this article we’ve compiled a few tips on Facebook best practices when targeting your demographic.

Identify Key Audience Segments

Properly identifying your audience segments is one of the key principles of marketing. This allows you to create specific content that will resonate with your audience. Once you know exactly who you would like to market to, the rest of our Facebook best practices become a breeze.

Understand the “Detailed Targeting” When Creating an Ad

The second step to our Facebook best practices is to understand “detailed targeting” when creating an ad. Have you ever noticed the “detailed targeting” section while creating an ad, yet did not know how to use that feature? In this section one can specify demographics, interests or behaviors to ensure the right audience is reached.

1.) Demographics

Once you specify your audience, add their demographics to your campaign. Make sure to be specific as possible because Facebook allows you to be.  A few demographic options include education and income

2.) Interests

What interests is your product or service intended for? Whether it be cooking, shopping, outdoor activities or B2B marketing, Facebook has an interest for every industry there is.

3.) Behavior

If you are a Facebook marketing agency, you may want to find people who have recently purchased business marketing related services. By understanding their purchasing behavior, you can customize your ads better than before.

By utilizing the demographics, interests and behaviors sections in Facebook Ads manager, you ultimately waste less ad dollars on people who have no interest in your product or service.

Utilize the “Connections” Feature

The third step to our Facebook best practices is to properly utilize the “connections” feature in the Ad manager. Under this feature, one can dictate the ad to target people or friends who like your page. People who like your page can even be excluded from seeing the ad. The same principles apply to events or apps created by your business.

Facebook ads can be quite profitable when they are set up correctly and are as targeted as possible. Working with a professional Facebook marketing agency such as Bright Age can ensure the best quality and targeted ads for your business.

The Importance of High Quality Social Media Content Creation

/in , /by

Social media platforms such as Facebook are constantly looking for ways to improve satisfaction for their users. It is critical that your social media content creation process contains high quality, creative and authentic content. Without these three elements, making your social media presence successful is not possible.

To begin with, humans are simple. We enjoy content that can resonate with us. Self- promotional spam or boring media is not as appealing. This has to be taken into consideration during your social media content creation process.

One simple way to differentiate between quality content and self-promotion is to ask, “Why should others care or share my post?” In this context quality means to “add or give value” to your intended audience. What value can you ultimately give to others that would make them want your product or service?

In saying this, people share more authentic content as opposed to promotions. Your marketed value should not stem from a sale or special being offered. Instead it should originate from articles or quality photos. Non engaging posts can turn people away from the building of your customer base.

Platforms such as Facebook constantly improve their algorithms to weed out “click-bait” or heavily advertisement based posts. Content such as this typically gets sent to the bottom of an individual’s news feed, or simply does not appear as often. Keep this in mind during the creation of your social media content.

A few tips to remember when creating high quality content include:

1.) Use high resolution photography that pertains to your aesthetic

2.) Post consistent content that can engage your audience

3.) Create content that people want to share. Be sure to stay on top of current events and web trends

4.) Readability is a must! Create posts with short sentences that get your point across.

When creating amusing articles or beautiful posts, one can never go wrong with authentic and promotion-less content. Working with a social media management agency such as Bright Age can help your business create the best social media content possible.

How to Use a Social Media Campaign to Enhance SEO

/in , , /by

Ranking higher in search engines is a major key to having your business be discovered. Who you are as an entity can impact how well a page does in a regular web search. Higher web traffic and greater levels of engagement equate to improved search engine rankings.  Here you will find a few methods to enhance your search engine optimization while using a social media marketing campaign.

Method #1

Include links in your social media campaign to enhance SEO. Links published on social media are considered to be higher quality. Not only this, the more link-backs to your website contribute to a higher ranking in Googles SERPs.

Method #2

One easy way to rank better in searches is to build a high-quality following. Running a social media campaign gives you the opportunity to reach more potential followers. Keep in mind that Google can tell the difference between followers who are real or fake. Building organically-as opposed to buying followers- is a sure fire way to shoot your page to the top. As your audience grows, every social media marketing campaign becomes more beneficial to you.

Method #3

Key words are important for your social content, website, blogs etc. Not surprisingly, they are a fantastic way to enhance your SEO when utilizing your social media marketing strategy. Keywords allow your content to be searchable. Make sure to choose keywords that are as specific to your business as could be. Your intent should be clear.

Method #4

Make your campaign shareable by creating engaging social media marketing campaigns. Include high quality and creative content with catchy phrases or words-also known as “link-bait”- that resonate with your audience. Make them want to share what you are offering. Also, make sure to choose the correct content for your intended audience. This will ensure that you will receive the most value from your advertising dollars. Lastly, do not forget to include the links! Having your audience click on your links is the best way to promote the popularity of your content.

Running a social media campaign is a fantastic way to increase brand awareness, customer engagement and brand affinity. Utilizing an effective social media marketing strategy can help you boost your overall SEO. As a marketer, you should be actively involved in your SEO strategy in order to maximize your customer reach. Here at Bright Age, we have extensive knowledge about building strong social media campaigns that will set your business apart from the rest.

7 Tips That Will Improve Your Business’ Social Media Marketing Strategy

/in /by

With 1.7 billion monthly active Facebook, 400 million Instagram and 313 million Twitter users; how could you not be inspired to create engaging content in order to help you reach your business objectives? Whether you seek brand awareness, page post engagement, or video views; developing an effective social media marketing strategy is the key to social media success. Here you will find 7 tips that will improve your business’ social media marketing strategy.

1.) Target Your Ads for the Correct Audience

Nothing wastes more time and money than creating a fabulous marketing campaign, only to share it with a group completely opposite of whom it should have been intended for. Platforms such as Facebook and Twitter integrate geo-targeting to help you reach the correct customers. When creating an ad, maximize your social media marketing strategy by adding specific locations, ages, and genders.

2.) Be Active

No matter the industry, people love to have a personalized experience. By actively engaging with your customers, you are creating those connections that allow people to earn you trust. Social media marketing agencies or other business’ can stay active by replying to content pertaining to their client or company. Replying to content may include positively responding to a question, comment or idea. You may also engage on the profiles of the people who follow you.  Remember that in order to actively engage, it is important to properly read and listen to what the customer is trying to tell you.

3.) Create Quality Content

With the sheer amount of available photography, research and editing tools; there is no excuse for posting sloppy work. People respond well to creative and engaging quality content. Also, make sure to re-read everything before you post. Nothing says unprofessional as much as misspelled words or abhorrent grammar.

4.) Try Paid Ads

Ads are a fantastic way to engage people and reach your business’ objectives. For little money, you can test different advertisement campaigns to figure out what people respond to. One can never go wrong with a high quality, targeted ad.

5.) Add Exciting Videos

Video marketing has been proven to not only be more persuasive, but also allow a business to build better credibility. By building credibility, you create trust within your audience, which can lead to more people wanting your product or service.

6.) Offer Added Value

In addition to what your business may initially offer, it is important to add incentives. It is no secret that people love free products, services or discounts. Creating high energy posts pertaining to discounts or free products/services is a great way to create excitement.  Generating an advertisement pertaining to your added value will do the same.

7.) Collaborate

A great way to maximize your social media marketing strategy is to collaborate with those having experience or knowledge within your craft. Collaborations may include having an individual with a large social media following to promote your product or ideas. You may also offer an affiliate program to reward those who bring your company business.

Finding your niche in the social media marketing world is a process of trial and error. By utilizing a solid social media marketing strategy, you are sure to find success within your social media marketing agency or business. Working with an experienced social media marketing agency such as our team here at Bright Age, will allow your business to always be one step ahead of the curve.

 

 

 

5 Essential Parts of a Successful Social Media Marketing Campaign

/in , /by

The steps to running a successful marketing campaign have changed quite a bit in recent years.  While marketing used to be focused around television, radio, and billboards, a good majority of marketing has begun moving online.  As the internet continues to grow, so does the use of social media.  Today, it’s no surprise that social media has slowly become a powerhouse in the world of advertising.  Although much goes into a successful social media marketing campaign, below I have condensed it into the 5 most important parts.

1) Understand the Brand

To most effectively market a brand, it needs to be understood.  What is the company’s background?  What is their goal?  Who is the target audience?  Without an understanding of these basic concepts, a social media marketing campaign would be almost useless.  A great campaign marketed to the wrong audience would be a waste of time and money.  Although this first step might seem simple, it is often overlooked.  Knowing who and what you are marketing for, as well as why, is necessary for success.  This understanding also connects the marketer more personally to the campaign.  No longer is it just a product to be marketed, but they have become personally invested in the brand.

2) Creative Content

Once the brand is understood, the marketing should begin.  Creating content that is appropriate to your social media marketing campaign is essential.  For example, when working with Instagram, posting visually appealing photos with catchy taglines will work much better than content that would engage a typical user on Facebook.  The posts being shared must be both original and also appealing to your audience.  Creating content that will connect with and attract the target audience, while best displaying the brand ties right back to step one.

3) Effective Reach

When it comes to reach, making sure that your social media marketing campaign is reaching the right people in the proper ways is crucial.  Today, there is a wide variety of social media platforms available to engage users on.  Simply being active on Facebook is no longer enough.  An effective social media marketing agency will be focused on handling multiple platforms, such as Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest, for your brand.  With different types of people using each platform, the use of multiple networks grows your reach more effectively.

On top of just posting to multiple accounts, participating in activities that will boost your reach is important as well.  On Facebook, choosing the correct objective and ad type is necessary for growing your reach to its full potential.  When it comes to your website, using the best SEO practices is a must.  A good social media marketing agency will ensure that your brand comes up near the top of any online search, ultimately growing your reach.

4) Engage Users

Engaging users is another critical step in an effective social media marketing campaign.  Posting on different platforms is a great start, but engaging with each user is how you perfect the campaign.  Using programs such as Sprout Social can assist you in individually answering consumer responses or questions.  Not only dealing with problems, but asking questions to your followers keeps them active in your brand.  Taking the steps to engage your users can allow for your brand to seem more personal to potential customers, a smart move in the world of marketing.

5) Report

Lastly, to run an effective social media marketing campaign, tracking the progress of the campaign is necessary.  Reporting statistics on the success of the campaign will allow for learning exactly what works and what doesn’t.  Bright Age, for example, reports stats to their clients each month to keep them updated on their progress.  By taking the reported numbers and deciding beneficial changes for future campaigns you can easily continue to please customers and grow your consumer base.

Facebook Messenger Hits 1 Billion Users and What it Means to Marketers

/in /by

Facebook is the largest social media application with over 1.6 billion daily users. Facebook is constantly introducing new features to engage users and stay on top of their game. One new feature that was introduced in 2011 was Facebook Messenger. Facebook and Messenger were once connected but the company decided to separate the two after additional features were added to Messenger. In the last 20 months, Facebook required its users to download Messenger as an iPhone app in addition to Facebook. By pressing its users to download Messenger in order to contact people privately through Facebook, their numbers have increased to one billion users.

By forcing users to download Messenger, they doubled their user count which helped them obtain their current one billion. Messenger has become a trustworthy messaging app that is used every day. According to TechCrunch, 22 million GIFs and 380 million stickers are sent each day. And on top of that, each month, there are 17 billion photos sent and 1 billion messages sent between people and businesses.

Messenger took baby steps in the last five years to make their dreams a reality. The Messenger team was constantly introducing new features to improve. It all started with Beluga which focused on chat over data, then came Messenger v1 which was the first version of Messenger before they added additional features and next came forced migration which is a big reason their numbers grew so quickly. Facebook forced users to download Messenger and in return, Facebook received tons of backlash. People did not want to have two Facebook applications on their phones and thought it was completely unnecessary.

With Facebook Messenger, users are able to do so much more than just message privately on Facebook. Messenger introduced read-receipts to simulate a face-to-face conversation, audio calling, SMS with users phone numbers if you weren’t Facebook friends, and more. Additionally, Facebook Messenger prided itself on speed and making sure your message is sent and delivered efficiently. Messenger uses little circles next to your message which could mean three different things. An empty circle means sending, an empty but checked circle means sent, a filled in and checked message means it was delivered to the recipient, and if their picture is in the circle, it means they have read your message.

Hitting one billion users on Facebook Messenger will change Facebook tremendously. Developers and brands will be more attracted to Messenger because of its strong numbers and statistics. Messenger’s ability to send messages, audio and video, GIFs and more has made this a very powerful communication tool for marketers. Being able to contact someone knowing just their name and internet access will be beneficial for marketers.

Utilizing Facebook and Facebook Messenger for your business can be difficult but working with a Facebook marketing agency such as Bright Age can help. A social media agency can target specific people within the daunting one billion users. Facebook Messenger is one of the largest communication tools next to WhatsApp and is expected to grow even more in the next few years.

Author: Alyssa Perel

Alyssa is currently pursuing a degree in Media Studies with a minor in Marketing at San Diego State University. Her interest in social media and marketing has grown vastly over the years and she enjoys discovering new things about this field every day. You can connect with Alyssa via Facebook and Instagram @aperel.