Facebooks New Dark Posts: A Complete Guide

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Harnessing the power of social media is vital for keeping engagement with current customers as well as for attracting new ones. With that in mind, there is hardly a successful social media marketing strategy that doesn’t prominently involve Facebook. Though various niche social sites such as the photo-centric Instagram, the hobby-oriented Pinterest, and the quirky Snapchat are gaining steam, Facebook remains the Colossus of social media.

Therefore, it is critical for your business to make the most of its Facebook marketing. This means navigating all its capabilities and exploiting every possible avenue to use this massive social network to increase your bottom line.

A highly effective Facebook advertising method that is still widely unknown in the marketing world is using Facebooks New Dark Posts, also known as unpublished posts. A reputable Los Angeles social media marketing firm can help you navigate the intricacies of dark posts, but here are the basics.

Facebooks new dark posts allow your business to test a variety of different marketing messages before any of them even show up on your fan page. This is done by using your Facebook ad dollars to get these messages to appear in people’s newsfeeds as sponsored content, so you can track conversion rates (or have this done by a Los Angeles social media marketing company) and determine which message generates the most success. You are even able to control who sees each message on their news feeds.

Here’s how it works in practice. Let’s say you own a CrossFit gym in West Los Angeles and you want to roll out a new promotional strategy to get customers in the door. You have a few ideas in mind but you aren’t sure which to go with. You’ve considered a one-week-free special, an intro monthly rate of $50 for the first three months, as well as a partnership with a local tanning salon or health food store offering discounts for new members.

With Facebooks new dark posts, you can create a custom ad for each scenario, promote it to a target demographic and determine which gets the best response. Based on the results of these test ads, you’ll be able to make a much more confident decision on which of these promotions to publish on your Facebook page than you would if you used a less exact form of market research such as opinion polls, analyzing competitors’ methods, or simply guessing.

Facebook marketing may seem simple, but it actually features many complexities and intricacies which it is strongly advised that you master in order to see the best possible results. While it is possible to learn all about Facebook marketing on your own, it can be a long and arduous process, especially considering the fact that you also have a business to run! Therefore, one of the most surefire ways to achieve success in Facebook marketing while reassigning all the stress involved to someone else is to contact a reputable Los Angeles social media marketing firm.

Instagram now being used as a Social Media Marketing Tool

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Instagram Is Now Being Used as a Social Media Marketing Tool

Instagram is a mobile photo-sharing site that has high potential as an effective social media marketing tool. Instead of only shared daily experiences passed between friends, Instagram can also alert a business’s customers to new sales specials, events or even how-to information related to a certain niche. Instagram paid advertising is now available for business owners as an option for increasing online visibility.

 

Instagram’s Effect on Social Media Marketing

When it comes to social media marketing Los Angeles, an Instagram account can serve as a localized advertising platform for companies in this city and its surrounding boroughs. The main effect of Instagram on social media marketing is the proof that a strictly image-based rather than a mainly text-based social site can be an effective advertising platform. A well-timed and interesting snapshot can catch visitors’ attention just as well as a typed slogan or comment.

 

How Instagram Reaches Targeted Audiences

Instagram users who follow a business’s profile will receive the latest posts from this company, including images and short video clips. While a good percentage of Instagram users access the site through their smartphones or tablets, a desktop version of the site is now available for potential customers who would like to view it with their web browsers. Just as with other forms of social media promotion, a company’s Instagram posts will reach the highest visitor numbers when those posts arr tightly targeted. Background research about a target market’s preferences, likes and common Instagram habits needs to be a high priority.

 

Benefits of Joining Instagram as a Business

Joining Instagram and building a strong profile allows both small and large businesses to reach a wider online audience with a high number of social media savvy members. Word-of-mouth recommendations through Instagram can carry a great deal of weight with frequent Instagram users who have large numbers of followers. Instagram also has features that allow business owners to build and encourage follower engagement. Some popular examples of engagement on Instagram include hosting photo contests, giving out Instagram-exclusive promo codes and sharing followers’ Instagram posts.

Just as with any social media platform, keeping Instagram followers engaged is the best way to keep those followers. The social photo-sharing site allows behind-the-scenes glances at a company, particularly at conferences and trade shows. Photos customers and fans post and hashtag with a business’s name can be some of the best forms of Instagram advertising.

Instagram Social Media Tool

Instagram Social Media Tool

The Power of Viral Social Media: Ice Bucket Challenge

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The Power of Viral Social Media: Ice Bucket Challenge 

With big-name proponents like Bill Gates getting involved in raising funds for research and treatment, few social media marketing ideas have carried as much weight in recent years as the “Ice Bucket Challenge” campaign to support ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), a condition commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease that affects voluntary muscle movement by acting on nerve cells in the brain and spine.

What is the Ice Bucket Challenge, and How Did It Become So Famous?
A movement in which friends nominate one another to either donate money towards the ALS Association or dump a bucket of ice water over their heads, the Ice Bucket Challenge has become so popular in recent weeks that it has garnered millions of dollars in donations for the organization. That money will help provide the means to research and treat Lou Gehrig’s disease on a number of fronts, and the ALS Association could not be more proud, having received over ten times the amount of donations at present than they did at this time in their previous year.

How Has the Challenge Become So Popular?
In a word, the challenge became popular through everyday communication: On a purely voluntary basis, many citizens with no connection to media outlets have driven a movement to help those suffering from ALS.

Indeed, as the Ice Bucket Challenge goes viral, special attention is now being placed on the power of online marketing to bring attention to worthy causes. In recent years, social media has done much to provide first-hand information on a variety of major social events. In the run-up to elections in Iran several years ago, for example, people in other countries could stay up-to-the-minute on news concerning key issues in Iranian civil rights, as Iranian citizens posted information about the election on sites like Twitter and Reddit.

Instead of waiting for op-eds in major newspapers, in other words, citizens of one country were now looking to citizens of another country to provide them with a common viewpoint on their experience. Such is the case with the Ice Bucket Challenge, which relies on the wider population to drive its campaign of awareness and fundraising. For individuals interested in the power of social media to change public opinion, the challenge is so successful that it should be seen as a major case-study in the effectiveness of online marketing.

A Club Where Everyone is Included: Understanding Social Media Marketing
So how is the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge a particularly 21st Century idea? The answer lies in the ability of social media companies to sift through information via such means as hashtags. Through the use of codes such as #StrikeOutALS and #IceBucketChallenge on Twitter or Facebook, for example, any person can participate in spreading information about ALS awareness simply by noting their participation in the movement or by nominating friends to participate. As others search out the use of such terms, the movement moves forward on its own while drawing attention from major news outlets.

What Does the Challenge Tell Us About the Future of Social Media?
As examples of the power of people to help one another, movements such as the Ice Bucket Challenge appeal to basic psychological needs in human culture. A sense of belonging and a need to address the greater good are just two qualities that have caused the movement to be so popular with users on sites like Twitter and Facebook. By helping people affected by ALS, individuals on social media sites can participate in making the world a better place. As the movement goes more viral, individuals feel not only a connection to a positive campaign, but also that by sharing information they are introducing awareness to others.

In this way, the future of online marketing is inspiring in its potential for bringing awareness of good acts to a wider population. Even more striking is the grass-roots nature of such movements: As more people participate in awareness campaigns, more collective good can be done than ever in history. That quality alone has made social marketing one of the game-changers in 21st Century society and its truly democratic values.

Foursquare Changes Now Benefit Social Media Marketing Professionals

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Social Media Marketing: Foursquare Splits App into Two Separate Experiences

Foursquare is one of the most widely used social media apps worldwide. Since its inception, people have used it to check into their favorite social networks and show off where they have been. The owners of Foursquare have monitored how this app has been used and have perfected it so that it can benefit both social media marketing professionals and average everyday users alike.What Changes Have Been Made?Historically, Foursquare used to be an app that allowed people to share their locations with others on social networking sites. When users went to their favorite stores, restaurants, tourist attractions, malls and parks, they could let their friends know by using their tablets or phones. The app would use these devices’ location tracking features to determine where users were located, and then these individuals could select the option to share. Now, Foursquare has redesigned its app to allow for two different experiences, sharing locations and receiving personalized location recommendations based on users’ preferences, likes and previously visited locations. The name of the portion of the app that is to share locations is called Swarm. Swarm will work like Forsquare did previously before the changes were made. The Forsquare portion of the app, on the other hand, will provide users with personal recommendations.

How Foursquare Changes Benefit Social Media Marketing Professionals

The changes have made social media marketing easier than ever before because companies are able to better promote their brands to individuals who are searching for what they want or need and meet target markets. Let’s say, for example, that a company wants to reach out to prospects in the Los Angeles area, this company will then need to contact marketing experts who will engage in providing social media management in Los Angeles. A top quality firm that specializes in social media management in Los Angeles will need to use social networks to target users who frequent places in that town or who reside there. Bright Age digital creative agency in Los Angeles is a fine example of an outstanding marketing firm that will offer such a service to businesses needing to effectively and efficiently reach their clientele. Once targeted ads have been placed and marketing firms have used other techniques to reach out to people in a specific geographic location, the app can recommend these companies to people who actually want to do business.

How the Changes in Foursquare Benefit Average Users

Average users will not have to look far to find the things they want or need. All they have to do is use Swarm to check into all of their favorite places and set preferences in Foursquare, and the Forsquare portion of the app will allow desired places to show up according to preference. Users will always have a good experience and will be more likely to do business with recommended companies because these recommendations will be shown according to taste.

With these mutual benefits, average everyday people will always find what they desire, and they will not have to be bombarded with annoying advertising. Marketing experts will reach their goal of meeting their targeted market much quicker and easier than they ever imagined. No longer are advertising dollars going to be wasted on people who have no interest in a particular product or service.

Bright Age digital creative agency in Los Angeles is a full service firm that specializes in providing social media management services to a multitude of clients in a variety of industries. Company owners who are in need of expert social media management in Los Angeles can contact one of our friendly customer service representatives and receive optimal marketing solutions that will dramatically increase profits. Bright Age digital creative agency in Los Angeles offers exceptional quality services at unbeatable prices. Our professionals are highly trained and make providing social media management in Los Angeles their number one priority. It is our guarantee that nobody walks away unsatisfied.

Using Snapchat as a Social Media Marketing Tool

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In order to market successfully online using social media, it is important to continuously evolve a marketing strategy to improve results. Since the field of internet marketing is constantly changing with new technology, it is important for businesses to keep up with these latest trends. Snapchat has emerged as one of the leading photo messaging applications available in the marketplace. It allows users to share photographs and videos with their friends, which are commonly referred to as “snaps”. Users can then socially chat about each photo and video in order to pass the message on to friends. Since an increasing number of users are utilizing Snapchat today, it is growing in importance as a social media marketing tool.

Advantages of Snapchat

Businesses that adopt Snapchat will get to take advantage of an emerging marketplace where customers might be participating. As a growing social media network, it currently has 500 million videos and photos being shared on the channel each day. As proof of the platform’s potential value, Facebook offered $3 billion for the platform in November 2013. Additionally, Google offered the company $4 billion for a buyout. Both times, the company refused to accept the sale and instead took venture capital a month later. In face of being offered such large sums, the confidence of the company’s founders shows that the social media marketing tool is worthy of notice for businesses looking for growth opportunities today.

Using Snapchat

As part of a social media strategy, Snapchat offers businesses a way to share photos and videos of products in a place where customers will visit. By participating in this new channel, businesses can develop closer relationships with their potential and former customers. As part of a social media strategy, businesses should share new product updates, fun activities around their office, and participation in community events. By keeping the tone of posts and other content conversational in nature, businesses will likely be able to reach their target market by using Snapchat. This has the potential to make for more effective social media management in Los Angeles and around the country.

Geofilters

One great advantage of marketing with Snapchat is that it has extensive features that can potentially enable businesses to geotarget customers. By using a feature called geofilters, businesses are able to add a customized sticker to photographs that can only be seen by people within a specific geographic area. This means that images can be customized to an extensive degree to enable businesses to connect with customers in a specific area. By utilizing this effectively, businesses will be able to reach their target market locally at several different places at a time. For example, this could be used for social media management in Los Angeles to display specific photo elements only in the geographic area.

As an effective social media marketing tool, Snapchat will only grow in importance in the coming years. Businesses engaged in social media management in Los Angeles should start taking advantage of this new digital marketing strategy today in order to gain a competitive advantage over business rivals.

Working with a Social Media Marketing Agency vs. Self Promotion

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Getting yourself out there in today’s highly competitive and oversaturated online marketing world is a full time job in and of itself. If you are like most companies these days, you simply do not have the manpower to put your everything into your product development and keeping your current customers happy while you scour the Internet for new ones.

Working with a social media marketing agency will help you to get the recognition that you need in order to build a brand online while you focus on what you do best: servicing the customers that are being brought to you through superior Bright Age Digital Creative Agency social media management.

Social Media Management in a Globalized Marketplace

The nature of success in the globalized marketplace means outsourcing and efficiency. A social media marketing agency will be able to bring you the following in an efficient way:

1. Brand recognition

Branding is a slow process that does not bring immediate financial rewards. However, it does bring long lasting ones. The effort must be consistent or no results will be seen – the effect of branding is either great success or no success. The reason to outsource to a social media marketing agency is that they can handle this without interrupting the flow of day to day business. When things get busy in the office, you will not have to worry about missing a blog post or getting pictures up on Facebook consistently.

2. Community

A social media agency is much more proficient at creating a community around your product. You may not have the social skills that a marketing professional has, and if you do not, then you are missing out on the business from more casual customers who may be more attracted to a brand or a personality than by a product’s functionality. There is no reason to miss this business – simply let the professionals at the Bright Age Digital Creative Agency do the talking.

3. Influence

You need to be seen as an industry leader before people will buy from you. This means posting on messageboards consistently and driving traffic to your blogs. If you do not have experience doing this, it can be frustrating. The right social media professionals at the Bright Age Digital Creative Agency will be more than able to help you in this endeavor, leaving you to the job of creating the best content.

4. Website Traffic

Getting website traffic is a topic that takes up encyclopedia volumes at this point. There is so much noise on the Internet that even companies that are not in your industry can drive traffic away from your site. This will be less of a concern with a professional team driving targeted traffic to you.

5. Competitive Advantage

In short, working with a social media marketing agency gives you the competitive advantage of more visibility and better reach. However, you also get higher morale as you do not have to deal with the technical frustrations of getting this web traffic to come your way!

Social media management is not your job. It’s ours. Give us a call. Working with a social media marketing agency could be the best thing you ever did for your business!

Transform Your Customer Service With Social Media Management

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Social media management is a necessity for every business in today’s economy. A Los Angeles social media marketing company can set up social media accounts, handle the branding or image of the company and interact with customers who follow the company on social media. However, social media is a place where customers can get customer service as quickly as possible.

Your business cannot always provide customer service through social media, but there are aspects of customer service that your business can provide through social media management.

Answering Questions

Answering simple questions is easy for your business when customers call you. However, customers get tired of waiting on hold to get one question answered. Also, your customers may have a hard time getting to the right person to answer their question. This frustrating carousel of customer service is enough to turn customers away. The social media management agency can field questions, get quick answers and provide those answers to customers.

Confirming Service

Customers who are looking for confirmation of service appointments or installation may prefer to get this confirmation through social media. Someone who is sitting at their computer at work can check their social media accounts for a reply from your company about their appointment or installation.

Discussing Problems

Getting someone on the phone is difficult when customers call your company. However, talking to someone on social media is simple. People are more and more used to working with people through social media. If you have a customer service agent talking to a customer over social media, frustrations and arguments can be minimized.

The same thing is true if your company maintains many different social media accounts to deal with customers. Your customer service associates can have a general social media account. Your supervisors can keep a different social media account, and each executive can have their own account. These accounts can be used to escalate issues that customers have while also giving customer a seamless transition from one manager to another.

A Los Angeles social media marketing agency can set up each of these accounts and provide access to each of your managers and executives. If you do not have to spend time setting up these accounts, each manager can be given the account to handle customer problems. It is also easier for you to view the interaction between customers and social media associates. The quality control of your customer service becomes far simpler after you invest in social media.

Contact Bright Age a Los Angeles social media marketing firm today to begin the process of setting up your social media accounts for customer service associates and managers. Easy-to-use social media accounts please your customers far more than waiting on hold.

The Role of Social Media Marketing in Very Small Businesses

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If you’re running a small business and you’re not taking advantage of social media marketing, you’re missing out on a virtual gold mine of new customers. If you are using social media marketing but you’re not doing it effectively, you’re even worse off- at that point, you are investing something which is doing nothing for your business- and may even be hurting it.

Deciding whether or not to outsource your social media marketing may be a tough choice to make, but it can rapidly increase profits for you and easily pay for itself if you pick the right company, like Bright Age, who is an expert in social media Los Angeles. They are able to create a buzz about your business and get people interested in it. If you can get likes on your Facebook page or followers on your Instagram or Twitter accounts, you’re exposing yourself to more potential customers, and if you’re putting quality content on those pages, it won’t be long until those potential customers turn into full-fledged customers.Social media is one of the most powerful tools that businesses in the modern age have. And it would be a shame to waste that tool. When it comes to social media Los Angeles, there is nobody better suited for the job than Bright Age. Running a successful social media marketing campaign takes alot of time, effort, and carefully executed decisions. By outsourcing, you’re getting a company that dedicates all of their time to social media- they know the ins and outs of all the websites, and they are the first people to learn all about the new big players in the social media world. The days of Facebook and Twitter being the only social media sites on which you can get business are long gone. And with a social media Los Angeles company helping you out, you can ensure that you have a strong presence on each and every one of them.So give Bright Age a call today and talk about what they can do for you. Once they get to work, you’ll quickly see how unbelievably powerful social media can be for getting more customers or clients to contact your small business. Just like your business is undoubtedly one of the best in your field, so too is Bright Age. They will get you more customers specifically through their mastery of the social media world, and it will only cost you a fraction of the profits that you will end up making simply because they gave you a helping hand.

Move over Google Adwords Here Comes Facebook Advertising

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Facebook will now be using the free demographic information that its customer base gives away in order to begin competing with the heretofore untouchable Google AdWords program. In many ways, the Facebook advertising program actually has the ability to outstrip Google. Because Facebook has much more access to the direct information of customers, it is able to provide a much better platform for businesses. Discover a  just a few of the ways in which Facebook advertising is actually better than advertising with Google.

Why is Facebook Advertising better?

First, the precision targeting that is available through Facebook is completely unmatched even by Google. Because Facebook keeps up with all of the information that its customers give through posts, likes, shares and app downloads, it has a much more complete profile of every person inside its database. Google has been trying to catch up by requiring mandatory use of the Google plus platform with Youtube; however, Facebook has one billion users as compared to Google plus’ 250 million users. In large metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles, the Los Angeles social media marketing that you can get from Facebook is unmatched.

Second, advertising on Facebook is at present much cheaper than advertising with Google. This may change in the future, but for right now, Facebook has advertising packages that are much more cost-effective than Google. This is a great step forward for small and medium-size businesses who do not have the budget that enterprise-level companies may have.

Third, remarketing is much better on Facebook. As one of the most effective new marketing and analysis tools, remarketing has the ability to save a marketer great deal of money. This can save a great deal of money on social media marketing Los Angeles based efforts.

In short, remarketing is a tracker that keeps up with customers who visit your website. On Facebook, you do not have to pay for this remarketing service. Once a customer visits your website and is captured by the tracker, then they will automatically receive remarketing ads without any more money coming out of your pocket. This is definitely not the case with Google advertising, and Google has no plans to change this in the near future.

Fourth, Facebook has a much bigger user base. People may use Google more often, but Facebook has more stickiness and better retention. It is therefore able to get better information from its customers. With this information, it can provide you with a better long-term service than Google can. You will be able to precisely target the people that you are looking for and keep up with them through their various travels on the Internet.

Los Angeles Social Media Marketing

Los Angeles social media marketing is a special case. If you are in a large metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles, then you need the utmost in marketing precision in order to compete.

The social media marketing Los Angeles trusts will definitely be faced with in the near future because the social media marketing Los Angeles needs is precise and to the point. If you are doing business in a city like this, then you would definitely help yourself to try Facebook instead of believing that you have to use Google for everything.

Why Babies, Animals and Food Work Well With Facebook Advertsing

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You may have noticed the prevalence of Facebook advertising. This new method of reaching an audience is quickly growing, but particularly among certain groups: restaurants, baby suppliers, and animal groups. Why is this? The answer is rather simple.

Facebook provides low cost, easy to understand advertising, and a market so large that organizations can reach nearly anyone in the world. Because so many of the groups using Facebook have only limited budgets for their marketing efforts, they try to take advantage of any opportunity that comes their way. Facebook fills that niche and gives them what they need. However, that doesn’t explain why it’s as popular as it is. Facebook users tend to do so in their leisure time. When they’re at home and relaxed or kicked back in a coffee shop somewhere, users are more at ease – which makes them more receptive to soothing topics such as food, babies, and animals. When their friends are posting half dozen pictures of their kids every hour anyway, another advertisement won’t bother anyone.

Food groups and restaurants, particularly start ups, are flocking to Facebook because of the low barriers to entry. They are able to reach their target demographic quickly and easily without the hassle of going through a proper marketing group and save money doing so. An additional reason is the community mindset that surrounds 20-somethings in this day and age; they all like to get in on the newest and most hip establishments, and supporting them through Facebook is a great way to grow exposure. Companies that appeal to this demographic take advantage of that fact. The same concept applies to babies. Facebook is a haven for new mothers’ every day you see tons of pictures of babies posted all over your newsfeed. Mothers are more than excited to show off their spawn into the world, and companies that produce products for babies target these new mothers and their enthusiasm. A rainbow-polka-dot onesie with a built in bottle holder? Don’t mind if I do! Animal groups, like the other two, target those with an interest in the topic. Facebook is used primarily by college students, many of which are activists taking part in preservation efforts and similar endeavors. Because animal protection groups typically struggle with finances and have very limited budgets, they are able to operate on Facebook without spending money, making it the best platform for them to use. Because a large part of their potential audience is already there, it’s not a far step for them to reach out to those groups.

We are a Los Angeles social media marketing company focusing on helping those in the local area improve their online marketing efforts. As a result, we spend an extraordinary amount of time studying what works, and more importantly, why it works. When our customers come to us for help with their Facebook advertising, we like to be able to explain exactly why we take the steps we do.We strive to provide social media marketing Los Angeles residents can trust. We understand the need for inexpensive ways of building an audience. When it comes to finding a Los Angeles social media marketing company, you can turn to us. We’ll be happy to get you and running and give you advice on establishing any sort of social media marketing Los Angeles needs.