Shopping is Coming to Social Media: Facebook Tests Shopping Feed

The ties between social media and shopping are becoming tighter every day. More and more retailers are starting to use social media for marketing purposes, and social networking websites are developing new features to help meet that demand. Facebook is currently the largest social network on the Internet, so its latest marketing innovation is particularly important. It has just tested the Facebook Shopping Feed, which is a tool that aggregates marketing information from retailers, such as pictures and posts, and presents them to users who are likely to be interested in those products. The Facebook shopping feed can draw on all of the data that people have entered into Facebook to make sure that people see products that they are likely to want. The easy availability of that information is one of the main values of using social media for marketing, and Facebook has more of it than any other website. The Facebook Shopping Feed also comes with a search bar, which gives businesses a chance to use keywords as part of their social media marketing effort.

According to a survey that Facebook performed, approximately half of its users go to the site to look for products on a regular basis. The Facebook Shopping Feed is being designed both to take advantage of that market and to help those users find the things that they are looking for. The people who use social media for shopping make up a large portion of the population, which means that the feed is likely to be very valuable for both Facebook and the businesses that use it to advertise their products. All of the advertising in the feed currently leads to the retailer’s own website, but Facebook’s engineers are currently working on a way to allow people to purchase products without every leaving Facebook’s website. Using social media for shopping directly comes with its own challenges, especially for people who are using mobile devices, but Facebook is confident that it can overcome those challenges and offer its users a chance to shop without ever leaving their website.

This development, like many others, is increasing the importance of social media marketing in the modern world. It is one of the quickest, easiest, and most successful ways for a marketing team to reach their intended audience and make a sale. However, working with social media for marketing purposes requires a unique set of skills that can be difficult to learn. It is often best for businesses to work directly with a company that has experience in the field, such as Bright Age, which can help a business to achieve its marketing goals without having to spend a long time learning how to run a social media marketing campaign on their own.

High Performance Marketing Strategy for Businesses

One of the biggest challenges that business owners experience is allocating their marketing budget efficiently in order to get the best return on investment. Today it has become essential for businesses to develop innovative ways to reach consumers. Choosing to implement a strategic social media plan can help your business grow and become more profitable.

Since the dawn of advertising, traditional media such as direct mail, radio and TV have proven to be valuable promotion channels to reach consumers. The problem with traditional media is that it can be difficult to track, it is non-reciprocal and often yields short term results. A common metric to track advertising is CPM or cost to attain 1,000 impressions. Average CPM is $450.00 when using direct mail, $140.00 for radio and $30.00 for a prime time TV. Compared to traditional media, social is measurable, interactive and relatively inexpensive.

Recently my team at Bright Age worked on building a Facebook community for Dog Haus, a fast casual restaurant in Canoga Park, prior to the opening of their first franchised location. Our objective was to introduce a new community to the Dog Haus brand, develop relationships and build buzz leading to a huge grand opening event. Our strategy consisted of posting a teaser and other engaging content to build anticipation for the upcoming special offer, while continuously monitoring and responding to fans on the page, ensuring that all customer questions and concerns were addressed timely and professionally. Through this marketing strategy we created an online community where Dog Haus fans could come to interact with the brand.

We ran several types of Facebook ads to raise awareness, including a Page Likes Campaign and Boosted Posts. We segmented our messaging into two age groups: adults and students. The hyper-targeting abilities of social media allow us to display one style of ad to adults, and another style of ad to students. This messaging strategy along with the ability to A/B test our advertisements allowed us to achieve Page Likes for at a minimal cost. We also receive higher interaction rates on our Boosted Posts by displaying relatable images to the targeted audience. By segmenting our target audience in ways that are impossible through traditional media, we received greater conversion and engagement.

After acquiring new Facebook followers, we kept our community engaged and growing by developing creative social media posts that are both attention-grabbing and generate prompt engagement. We posted daily content featuring delicious menu items, special offers, fan photos, surveys, and more to bring the brand to life and create an active online channel.

Our social media marketing strategy led to 673,900 impressions generated in the first month, as well as over one thousand meals served on grand opening day. While it would take an extensive marketing budget to reach this large of an audience via traditional media, Dog Haus was able to acquire this reach at just $5.19 per 1,000 impressions. This cost includes the ad spend utilized for Facebook ads in addition to the cost of all services provided by Bright Age, and yet it is still only one sixth the cost of the average CPM of prime TV, the least expensive of the traditional medias.

Advertising and marketing are constantly evolving, as seen by internet advertising revenue surpassing television, radio, and newspaper in 2015. Bright Age is passionate about social media and digital advertising, with experience building a social presence for local and national brands. We have the ability to develop a comprehensive media campaign with proven results.

Social Media Marketing is Highly Effective for Restaurants

The social media advertising that your restaurant has will make the difference between a campaign that grows your company and one that stalls it. Bright Age is the social media management company that you need on your side in order to take the profile of your restaurant to the next level. However, any social media management company can make that claim. What is the social media marketing for restaurants that Bright Age brings to the table for you?

Bright Age understands that social media advertising is more important than ever before.

The new word of mouth is the online review site. The new referral is the social media timeline. Unless you have a consistent presence on social media that is targeted to your specific audience, you will always be threatened by new entries into the marketplace. A simple change by one of your current competitors can take attention away from you if you are not careful.

We understand that social media marketing for restaurants is a special industry that deserves special attention.

Social media marketing for restaurants is different from any other kind of marketing. Your demographic and geographic analysis will be different from any other business. If you focus on either of these things like another type of business, then you may miss the customers that are coming in from out of town or the people who are just looking for something new on a whim.

Bright Age gives you the flexibility to catch these stray potential clients and turn them into loyal customers. We will make sure that you do not lose any of your core audience while you will also have the ability to reach out to new ones through remarketing strategies and appropriate keyword profiles.

Large social media profiles are more responsive than ever to social media advertising.

Social media sites in general and Facebook in particular are responding more readily to restaurants with highlighted review placement. Facebook is especially important for the restaurant industry because it is home to the 25+ person and couple with plenty of expendable income. Basically, the more that a business gets citations from outside sources that are reputable and attached to Facebook, the more that the search algorithm will pay attention to the business.

Whether you are a new restaurant or an established business, you can always improve your social media presence. The experienced and dedicated team at Bright Age wants to be the partner that helps you to do this in a smooth and consistent way. Your social media management has the ability to be your lifeline to new revenues. Do not give up this advantage and opportunity – call Bright Age today or give us an email.

Identifying Which Social Media Channels To Use

Overview

Social media marketing is one of the most important aspects of running any business. There are few businesses that are growing at a fast rate today that are not using social media in some capacity. One great option for companies is to work with social media management companies to design and implement a social media strategy that fits your business. There are several things that you can do as a business to identify which social media platform will work for your business, and a good social media marketing agency can help in this search.

Know Your Audience

One of the most important aspects of picking a social media platform is knowing your audience. It is impossible to make a good decision when working with a social media agency if you do not know your audience. Different social media platforms appeal to different types of people. For example, if you have a young audience Snapchat may be a great choice. However, if your customer base is mostly older and employed professionals LinkedIn would be a better choice. Any good social media agency should be able to help in this decision.

Interpret the Data

Another important aspect to picking a social media platform is to interpret data that is available. Many times, when working with a social media agency, it is important to interpret data to make decisions on your customers. Social media marketing is all about driving traffic and dollars to a business, so it is important to be able to quantify whether your efforts are actually working. At the end of the day, a social media management company should be able to help with the data but it will be up to the business owner to make the final decision based off of it.

Know Your Competitors

Finally, understanding what your competition is up to can be a great variable to consider when picking a social media platform. If your competitors are driving business through their social media strategies, you should go out and compete in those same spaces. Bright Age is a social media management company that specializes in helping out companies that are trying to formulate a social media strategy. Working with Bright Age is a great decision for any business that is struggling to figure out their direction in social media, and can be a great option for those that want to take their social media marketing to the next level.

Finally, understand that the field of social media is always changing and you must be ready to be flexible as a business. Just in the past two to three years, there are dozens of new platforms that have come out. Be prepared to continue learning and investing in your business and its social media strategy.

The Art of the Image: Making Engaging Images for Social Media

 

The image is the central unit of communication for online media today, not text. We are definitely in a visual society, and when text oriented sites such as Twitter and Facebook both say that they are switching to an image and video based publication platform, then the world had better follow suit or be left behind.

Images that are meant for social public consumption can mean the difference between a successful social media campaign and a stagnant one. Here are some of the best ways to create good images that have the ability to go viral and will definitely bring across your message on the platform.

Give the users unique content.

Do not overuse memes that have already been used. Once they get to you on social media, they are likely running out of steam in the first place. Original content gets the most juice, especially if you are trying to solidify a brand or an image online.

Use high quality stuff

There is no excuse for using low quality or grainy images. This is the same to a social media user as a sentence with nothing but misspelled words and bad grammar. Invest in a prosumer camera in order to take great HD pictures with no large out of pocket expense. The investment can last you for years! Not a photographer? There are sites such as Big Stock and Shutterstock where you can purchase photography and graphics to use for your images.

Make a statement.

Everyone loves a few words of wisdom, and pictures with witty sayings are actually more likely to receive positive social feedback in the forms of likes and reposts on all social networks including Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.

Give a unique look.

If you are doing social media management Los Angeles level work, then you are giving a unique brand to all of your content. This keeps people from stealing it and using it in their own campaigns as well as branding your business so that people will begin to recognize the style and look for your products on the open market.

 Make your content exclusive.

Everyone loves to think that they are on the cutting edge of something big. When you create your images, give the impression that you are telling a story that will come to fruition if the user clicks through to the website or further explores the history of images that you have on the major online media sites.

The success of social media management Los Angeles campaigns relies on the use of good images. Make sure that you follow the tips above for the best chance at creating an engaging campaign that will last for many years after its initial publication! Constantly creating content for your company or project can be a huge endeavor. Luckily, Bright Age, a social media management company located in Los Angeles is here to help. Bright Age creates, manages and posts content on all different social media platforms, making sure that your content is unique and true to your story. Contact us if you have any questions!

 

10 Ways to Step-Up Your Facebook Engagement

Simply being on Facebook isn’t enough to attract potential customers for your small business. Engaging them in a fun and compelling way is important if you want to sell your brand effectively. Unfortunately, social media management Los Angeles can be complex to tackle for inexperienced business owners. So, here are 10 ways to help you become better at engaging with prospects via social networks.

 Decide Who You’re Targeting

It can be hard, if not impossible, to convey your business concepts or brand message if you don’t know who to focus on. Keep in mind that you have limited time and perhaps limited content, and there is a very specific group of people you want to reach. Facebook mostly caters to young parents and grandparents. Depending on your target’s age group, you may have to widen your brand exposure on other social networks.

 Stick With One Handle

Social networks require a so-called “handle”, which is basically the username displayed on your profile and what others will view you as. Because you are a business, it is important to keep your handle professional and consistent. Go for a name that is catchy and sticks to a consumer’s head. Whatever name you pick for your account, it should be used on other social networks including Twitter and Instagram.

 Build Networks

To win the hearts of people on social media, you have to become immersed in its culture as well. Set aside at least 15 minutes every day to go through your news feed and to check the profiles of people, both consumers and other businesses. Building this into a habit will allow you to gather important data from your target consumer, which you can then use to adjust your business strategies.

 Be Part of the Trend

Every social media environment has its own trend and every industry enveloped by social media has their unique online presence. Try to be a part of your community instead of trying to fight it.

 Keep Doing What You’re Doing

An hour per week dedicated to growing your social network can have a big impact on your small business. A neat trick to do is use Facebook’s scheduling tool, which allows you to save up to six months worth of content and automatically post them when it’s scheduled.

 Have a Strong Call-to-Action

Without one, it’s unlikely that you’ll get a customer to buy your product/service no matter how long you stick with the program or how valuable your content is. Get assistance from social media management Los Angeles professionals like Bright Age. The company is a specialist in web-based services including graphic design, search engine optimization, and creation of high-value social media pages.

 Don’t Be Afraid to Experiment

Ideas are what runs every industry. Avoid being mediocre and try to experiment on new business ideas within a controlled group of consumers.

 Be Precise on Your Data Analysis

Make sure to track the correct analytics and numbers. You do not want to be wasting precious business resources like time and capital on strategies that are not up to par.

 Keep Your Page Simple

No complicated content divisions or flashy web design. Keep the meat of the page simple. Too many design features and elements can be irritating on the eyes.

 Keep a Human Presence

Don’t talk to customers like you’re a robot that is preset to respond. Keep conversations lively and with a personal touch.

5 Ways To Connect With Your Audience On Social Media

Social media is a marketing platform that can no longer be ignored. To be a truly successful business, companies must create social sites and keep them integrated with other marketing materials. In order to ensure your social sites are selling both your company and your product, consider a few tips from Bright Age, a social media management agency in Los Angeles, to synchronize your sites.

 

1. Think About Your Voice

Social sites aren’t about posting topics or ideas a robot could have devised. It’s about showing your customers that no how big your business, you’re still a real-live person. Your online voice should show who you are and what you are selling. If your product is the type of product that would use the word “like” in a sentence, go ahead and use it in your copy (just not too often). Showing people who you are helps them connect with you on a higher level.

 

2. Respond to Your Customers

When someone posts on your social sites, never ever ignore a comment. People do not post on social sites because they want to be ignored. Even if they are saying “thank you”. A simple, “Hey Laurie! We’re so happy you love our new pina coladas! Like us to get 10 percent off your next purchase!” goes a long way.

 

3. Connect Social Media to Other Sites

Make sure your social sites and website are connected. The whole point of social sites is to get people to try your service or product. If people see your social sites and want to know more, make sure you have something to show them. Linking your social sites to your website will help attract more business and help your clients get a better understanding of who you are. Just make sure that your social sites and website are working together—not against each other. The voice and style of all of your sites should be cohesive.

 

4. Reply to Mistakes in a Real Way

Many companies make the mistake of taking the defensive side of the line when it comes to customer complaints. Social media is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it can help brand and grow your business, but when someone is unhappy, all your customers will see these comments. When a customer makes a complaint on a social site, the worst step you can take is to ignore these comments. The second worst mistake is getting defensive. When a customer complains, acknowledge their displeasure and show you’re the bigger person by responding with ways to fix their problem.

 

5. Use Photos to Tell Your Story

That age-old adage that a picture can tell a thousand words? It’s there for a reason. Photos can paint a picture of who you are and what product you’re selling. Giving your customers as much information as possible in a cohesive manner will allow them to understand your company and interact with your employees and your product in a way simple written copy never could.

By tweaking your social presence just a little through the help of Bright Age, you can bring in a whole new group of clients that will help drive your business—and help spread the word about your amazing products and services. Bright Age is a social media management agency located in Los Angeles.

5 Reasons Why Your Business Should Be On Pinterest

 Since its launch onto the Internet in 2010, Pinterest has become a major source in showcasing various ideas from individuals, making this one of the most go-to social media apps on the market. From sharing their favorite outfits to planning an event, this virtual pin board is a great platform for users to creatively share their interests to a wide audience. Although this is mainly used by individuals, companies have also joined in on the social media craze, providing information on their most prized products and services.

While other sites have a huge following with companies, many have quickly jumped on the Pinterest bandwagon. With how the Internet has become a vast commodity with a company’s success, it’s no surprise that many are using this site to improve their business.

If reaching a huge audience is not a great reason for joining the site, there are five other excellent reasons to show off their company on this site.

 A Different Way to Advertise

By joining, businesses will be able to provide a unique spin on advertising their brand to the public. By providing images of their merchandise, individuals will become familiar with a particular product and will be able to have that image in mind when they go to the company’s website or store to learn more information or to purchase.

 Sharing to Potential Customers

Since this site is all about pinning images, companies can provide great pictures for people to share. If a potential customers love a certain picture, they will make sure to include it onto their boards. This will lead to their followers to see the product and will click on the pin to learn more information. It’s all about sharing, which will provide great exposure.

Boosting Web Traffic

Connecting your Pinterest page to other social media sites will also bring a boost in web traffic. By adding your web site or blog onto the description will help individuals go onto your site to learn more about the product and to even purchase the product.

Adding Catchy Videos & Photography To Showcase Your Company

Adding videos or catchy photography can help showcase your company. Many individuals love to pin or favorite a particular video or phrase to share to others. By doing this, it can help branch into an audience that you might not been able to reach in previous campaigns.

Sharing a New Project

Since this site is geared towards creating projects, this is a great way for companies to launch their own projects for their audience to witness and share. Being able to see the beginning and finish of a certain product can help connect with your target audience. It’s all about interaction and by posting a new project or service, it will help audience see that the company appreciate their customers and would want them to be the first to know about new products or services.

While some companies may be familiar with promoting themselves on social media, others may not have a clue on what to do or where to start. That is when Bright Age steps in. Bright Age is a Los Angeles social media management company that specialize in managing social media accounts, web design, and search engine optimization. They are the Los Angeles social media management company that can provide these great services to start-up companies as well as companies who just need a face-lift with their current marketing plan.

5 Top Reasons Your Brand Should Be On Instagram

It is crucial for a company to start and maintain a social media presence. After all, these social media accounts allow your business to engage your target audience, while promoting your band to gain leads and convert customers. While some businesses are weary whether or not they should get an Instagram account in particular, you shouldn’t be. Your brand needs to be on this social media site for a variety of reasons. Check out 5 of them below:

1. It’s Simple

Unlike some other social media accounts, Instagram is a simple way for posting a stream of content. In the past, when businesses wanted to post pictures they had to crop the image in Photoshop on a desktop computer. This was very time consuming. With this particular social media site, though, it’s made specifically for instant smartphone photography. You can crop photos, add a filter and write some text in a matter of seconds. Now, you can even upload videos to the social media site, which is helping to replace even more media platforms.

2. Gives You a Chance to Use User Generated Content

Right now, it’s very popular and trendy for a business to incorporate user generated content into their content. Instead of always providing your own content, you can use images or videos that your customers have already put together. Out of all social media sites, Instagram is really great at letting you access this content and then posting it on your own account. You can even employ contests to have your audience send in content to you.

3. Ability to Develop Relationships With Your Customers

It has been shown over and over again that people will be more likely to click on a link with a person’s face next to it than one that doesn’t have this. This is just an example why a social media site like Instagram is vital to tell your story. Your brand should use this opportunity to post images of you, your staff, your stores, your customers or anything else that really depicts the personality of your company. These pictures will hold the interest of your customers more than any block of text could. That’s why this social media website will help you deepen customer engagement and really get to connect on a personal level with your target audience.

4. Connects with Individuals All Over the World

The customer base that a lot of companies have is based strictly on their marketing budget and the services they can afford through a Los Angeles social media management company. That’s why if you want to reach a wide audience that’s made up of people all over the globe, this social media site is the way to go. It can really help your business expand your reach. In fact, over 65 percent of users live in a country other than the United States. Plus, since it isn’t text-heavy and is mostly made up of pictures, this social media site can overcome any language barrier. Remember, pictures are universal.

5. Drive in Traffic to Your Business

As any Los Angeles social media management company would tell you, the end goal of any social media website is to drive in the amount of traffic that comes to your business. While you can’t share active hyperlinks in the comments and captions on your Instagram photos and videos, you can place an active link in your bio. Then, all you have to do is tell people to click on the link in your bio. When they do that, they’ll be directed right to the page you want on your website. You can change this link as much as you want, strategically driving in your target audience just how you’d like.

It’s clear that social media websites like this one are essential to the success of your brand. If you’re looking for a Los Angeles social media management company to help you tackle this area, come to Bright Age. Here at Bright Age, we are a business that specializes in social media management, web design and search engine optimization. Give us a call at Bright Age to get started.

5 Reasons Why Video Marketing is Essential for Social Media Marketing Success in 2015

Understanding video marketing and social media management in Los Angeles is essential for any new start up in the area or surrounding region. Understanding the importance of video marketing and video advertising is essential to move forward with Bright Age and understanding the importance of social media management Los Angeles is also important.

 

1) The Popularity of Video is Skyrocketing

With the popularity of video media streams skyrocketing it is important to consider the outlets you have available for the content, products or services you have to share. Using both video marketing and social media marketing is one of the best tools to get the content you need shared to the right audience or demographic, regardless of what you have to offer.2) Video is being watched by All DemographicsVideo is one of the most streamed and watched formats of movies and television shows both online and off. Understanding video marketing and social media marketing can quickly become complicated and overwhelmed if you are unsure of the audience or demographic you want to reach. Once you have a targeted age and group in mind it is much easier to move forward with proper promotions and advertisements for the program itself.3) Videos are Catchy and Likely to be Shared

Using videos to build a reputation online is no longer taboo or unheard of within the Internet. Instead, it is now possible to implement video advertising as well as social media marketing with the use of videos released on official websites and communities dedicated to sharing various tools. Taking full advantage of social media is possible with a catchy news story title that is compelling and refreshing to those who are still following your feeds online.

Staying involved as much as possible with your video updates and new shares is a way for you to engage more with others who are following your brand or that believe in your company. The more honest and open you remain when working with new clients and potential customers online, the easier it becomes to handle any potential returns or backlash you may receive in the future. Making a connection with potential clients is essential, as it can often lead to even more tenants who are in need of space.

4) Videos create fun and engaging content

Video advertising with the help of Bright Age is a way to have more fun when creating and delivering content to your users and those who are genuinely interested in following your brand and its products. Working together with Bright Age is one way to ensure you are delivering the video content your users and our potential clients or customers may need in the future.

When you are capable of delivering a video that is relevant and also humorous to those it is intended to be watched by, you are much more likely to receive future customers and clients who wish to return. The more relevant your print, television and radio ads are for the services you have to offer, the less likely you have to worry regarding the type of clients you are able to find, as you will often have plenty to choose from before moving forward.

5) Video is Multi-Purposed

With the help of social media management Los Angeles services and tools, it is much easier to share your videos and productions with potential clients and those interested in your work and what you have to offer. Social media management Los Angeles is a way for you to get the video promotion you need regardless of the audience or demographic you are trying to reach on your own.