Advancements in Visual Search Mean Greater Convenience and Improved Accuracy
In the early days of the internet, search engines seemed like one of the greatest things ever. It’s hard to imagine an era of search engines before Google, but these initial versions still managed to get users to the information they needed.
As the web matured, so did search engines, offering even more accurate results in less time. However, when it comes to image search, it is not always easy to describe things with words in a manner that search engines will understand. If you enter as much data as possible, Google’s search engine has a pretty good idea of what you want and will find a picture. The results aren’t always on the money, but still useful.
Of course, if you are looking for a person, showing their picture around gets faster results than simply describing how they look. The same applies when doing a visual search on the web: showing the program exactly what you want narrows down the results considerably.
However, early versions of this technology could not compete with the degree of visual search offered by the human eye. Factors such as shape, size, and colour allow us to distinguish one object from another. Since science does not really understand how the human mind chooses which to emphasize, it is difficult to imbue a program with such knowledge.
Place the Face
One area where the technology has made great strides is facial recognition. Law enforcement regularly makes use of this to locate criminals with considerable success.
Consumers have also benefited—the iPhone X unlocks with nothing more than a glance from the user. Apple’s version of this function improves upon the earlier equivalent from Samsung, and smartphone biometrics is an area where regular advancements are almost certain.
Facial recognition was a major goal for both industry and governments, so it received considerable emphasis. Other areas of visual recognition have not had the same degree of attention and are still in development, but visual search is maturing rapidly overall.
Google Lens
Entering a picture of something into Google ideally brings up a result that looks like the one you entered. The search engine’s neural networks analyze the image and locate its equivalent. The accuracy of these results continues to improve, and the company has announced another exciting addition for smartphones users: Google Lens.
Ever been fascinated by something, but did not know what it was? Google Lens allows you to point your smartphone at the object in question and the search engine will identify it. Love that red sports car parked across the street, but do not know the brand or year? This program can tell you.
Bing Visual Search
Google is not the only tech giant working in this area. Bing may not have the same “go-to” cachet, but Microsoft continues to improve its capabilities.
What’s exciting about Bing’s visual search is the way it allows users to choose a particular portion of the image to emphasize. Say you are looking at a shot of a home interior and a refrigerator catches your eye. Want to learn more about what make it is and who offers it? You can use Bing to hone in on just that section for a visual search. It can even connect directly to retailers offering that fridge for sale, allowing you to purchase.
Although currently restricted to a handful of categories, this aspect of visual search holds tremendous advantages for both consumers and retailers. Expect it to advance in sophistication quite quickly.
Pinterest Lens
Not to be outdone, Pinterest has announced Pinterest Lens, which also offers sophisticated visual search via an upgrade to its app. Once you choose an image, Pinterest analyzes it and searches for similar pins. The program also presents a series of keywords that you can select to help refine the search. 55% of those on the site use Pinterest for shopping, and the company plans to monetize Lens, so the e-commerce possibilities for this program could be considerable.
All of these developments offer exciting new ways to get accurate information in the blink of an eye. On the downside, it cannot help but further reduce the ability of brick and mortar retailers to compete with internet shopping. It was bad enough that people would go into stores to try items and then buy them online; now they will also be able to take a picture, price match, and order in a matter of seconds. As with most all technological advancements these days, there will be clear winners and losers.
5 Steps to Getting a Journalist’s Attention
Media relations refers to the relationship a brand develops with journalists or influencers. Although the media landscape continues to shift, media relations remains an important aspect of any public relations strategy. Traditionally, media outlets consisted of TV, radio, and print, but now, media has expanded to include more digital channels.
When executed properly, media relations can influence every aspect of your digital marketing strategy. It plays a complementary role to content marketing efforts, helping to increase brand awareness and educate the public. Media relations can also have a significant effect on your SEO strategy, driving traffic to your website and maintaining authority. Finally, third-party articles make for perfect social media content and help to amplify your messaging.
Let’s be honest, getting media coverage is hard – but necessary. So, we’ve compiled a few tips and tricks that can help you garner more attention.
What’s Your Angle?
You only have a matter of seconds to grab a journalist’s attention before you’re ignored, spammed, or deleted. Off the top, it’s important to highlight what’s newsworthy or unique about your story.
Do your research to identify and present the right media angle for each outlet. In fact, it doesn’t hurt to prepare several angles – if your first approach doesn’t resonate, try a different story angle.
E-mail, Call Only If You Must
Trust us, there’s a reason why the ‘Contact Us’ page is so hard to find on a media site. Journalists and influencers would much rather be contacted by e-mail. So, unless you’ve been invited to have a phone conversation, call only if you must.
Short & To the Point
Keep it simple. The optimal length of a pitch is anywhere from 100-150 words, or three short paragraphs. You don’t want to give away too much information at once — pique their interest and have them come back for more.
Personalize Your Pitch
Do your research. Target journalists who have covered similar stories and ensure that their beat hasn’t changed. Familiarize yourself with their news coverage, follow them on social media and align your story with their interests. Use your findings to give your pitch a personal note, which shows you’ve taken the time to get to know them as a person.
At the end of the day, a significant part of public relations is creating and maintaining relationships that add value to all involved.
Follow-Up
When executed properly, media relations can influence every aspect of your digital marketing strategy. It plays a complementary role to content marketing efforts, helping to increase brand awareness and educate the public. Media relations can also have a significant effect on your SEO strategy, driving traffic to your website and maintaining authority. Finally, third-party articles make for perfect social media content and help to amplify your messaging.
Let’s be honest, getting media coverage is hard – but necessary. So, we’ve compiled a few tips and tricks that can help you garner more attention.
What’s Your Angle?
You only have a matter of seconds to grab a journalist’s attention before you’re ignored, spammed, or deleted. Off the top, it’s important to highlight what’s newsworthy or unique about your story.
Do your research to identify and present the right media angle for each outlet. In fact, it doesn’t hurt to prepare several angles – if your first approach doesn’t resonate, try a different story angle.
E-mail, Call Only If You Must
Trust us, there’s a reason why the ‘Contact Us’ page is so hard to find on a media site. Journalists and influencers would much rather be contacted by e-mail. So, unless you’ve been invited to have a phone conversation, call only if you must.
Short & To the Point
Keep it simple. The optimal length of a pitch is anywhere from 100-150 words, or three short paragraphs. You don’t want to give away too much information at once — pique their interest and have them come back for more.
Personalize Your Pitch
Do your research. Target journalists who have covered similar stories and ensure that their beat hasn’t changed. Familiarize yourself with their news coverage, follow them on social media and align your story with their interests. Use your findings to give your pitch a personal note, which shows you’ve taken the time to get to know them as a person.
At the end of the day, a significant part of public relations is creating and maintaining relationships that add value to all involved.
Follow-Up
There’s a fine line between being politely persistent and pushy. We like to wait about a week before we reach back out to the media following a pitch. Your follow-up is a good opportunity to provide a bit more information and attach a press release.
Let Traffic Soda Help Your Company Get The Press’s Attention!
What Are Keywords and Why Do They Matter?
What are keywords? In short, keywords are relevant words or phrases that define the purpose of a web page. Optimizing content with well-researched keywords helps increase a page’s search ranking and drive traffic from the right audience.
We’ve written a brief explainer on what keywords are and why keywords matter for SEO.
What Are Keywords?
Say you’re in the middle of an intense work session when someone drops a multi-page document on your desk. You do not have time to read the whole thing, but you’d better find out what the paper’s about and whether it’s important.
So what do you do? You’ll probably look at the title first, then the headings, and quickly scan the body text to see if any words or phrases jump out at you.
Search engines work much in the same way.
When someone searches for something, Google aims to deliver results that are both useful and relevant to the user’s search query. Simply put, it tries to find a page that actually answers the person’s question or provides the content they were looking for.
To do this, Google’s search algorithm digs through its mountainous search index and pulls results that best relate to the word or phrase the user searched for.
When a keyword or phrase appears repeatedly throughout a page — in its title, main heading, and body text — it helps the search engine crawlers determine what the page is about, and increases the chance the page will rank when someone searches using that word or phrase. These are keywords.
Why Keywords are Important for SEO
Keywords define what a piece of content is about. They help search engines understand the purpose of a page and decide where and when it should show up in the search engine results.
When a page contains relevant keywords, and its content reflects what people are looking for when they search for that keyword, its ranking will increase.
Keywords also help human visitors (as opposed to Google’s crawlers) understand what a page is about. Think back to the above example. People often scan a page for keywords to decide if it’s worth their time. Relevant keywords improve a page’s readability, increasing the chance users will stick around and scoring more points for SEO.
Types of Keywords: Head, Body, and Long Tail
In the realm of SEO, we typically think about keywords in terms of specificity (how broad or specific a keyword is) and competition (how difficult it is to rank for a keyword).
Search volume refers to the number of people who search for a specific keyword over a period of time. The more people searching, the higher the search volume, and the more potential traffic the keyword can draw.
Highly specific keywords tend to have a lower search volume, but less competition; broad keywords with a very high search volume are much more competitive.
Based on these criteria, we can fit keywords into one of three categories:
- Head keywords: Short, generic words or phrases with a high search volume.
Example of head keywords:- Women’s clothing
- Dogs
- Camping
- Body keywords: Longer and more specific than body keywords, but still broad and competitive.
Example of body keywords:- Bridesmaid dress trends
- Organic dog food
- Back country camping
- Long tail keywords: Long, specific phrases containing a head or body keyword, with clearer intent and a lower search volume.
Example of long tail keywords:- Fall 2017 bridesmaid dress trends
- Best organic dog food for poodles
- Back country camping near Toronto
Although head and body keywords have a higher search volume, their competitiveness makes it extremely difficult (and expensive) to rank for them. That’s why long tail keywords are important for SEO, especially when it comes to new or unoptimized sites yet to earn a solid place in the rankings.
Why Target Long Tail Keywords?
Long tail keywords are great for building a strong SEO foundation and driving traffic to new and smaller websites. They yield greater returns on investment in the short term while building the power to rank for more competitive keywords in the future.
Shorter head and body keywords encompass a broad range of search queries, while long tail keywords capture users with a specific intent. Long tail keywords bring in targeted traffic at a later stage in buyer’s journey — users who are more likely to make a purchase or inquiry. Using long tail keywords can result in more conversions.
Over time, ranking for long tail keywords can help a page rank for the head keyword contained within. For example, a page drawing traffic for “best family photography in Waterloo” can start to build power for “family photography” and “photography in Waterloo” as well.
Why Page Speed Matters
Page speed is the time it takes to display all the content on a specific page of a website. In other words, it measures how long a visitor has to wait for a page to load.
Page speed can have a big impact on a site’s traffic and ranking in search engine results. Learn why page speed matters, how to measure it, and how to optimize your site and boost page speed
.
Why Page Speed Matters
How often have you clicked a link that caught your attention, only to close it because the page took forever to load? Your site could have the best content around, but if it takes too long to load, many people will leave before they have a chance to see it.
One survey shows nearly half of web users will give up on a site that takes longer than three seconds to load. That’s barely enough time to start counting!
The same survey found that poor performance will keep 79% of online shoppers from becoming repeat customers, and 44% of them will air their grievances about the site with a friend.
Mobile users are slightly more forgiving, tolerating page speeds of six to 10 seconds on average. But as mobile browsing becomes more prevalent, people will increasingly expect an experience on par with desktop speeds.
That’s not the only reason page speed matters. Page speed has been a ranking factor in Google search engine results since 2010. Websites that load quickly get a boost in the rankings, while very slow sites can face penalties that drag them down.
How to Measure Page Speed
Google’s benchmark for page speed is five seconds. How does your site measure up?
You can use Google PageSpeed Insights to measure the speed of a page on your site. Available as a web tool or Google Chrome extension, PageSpeed Insights checks to see whether the page has applied best practices for performance and provides a score between 1 and 100. It also suggests fixes to improve your speed and boost your score.
How to Increase Page Speed
There could be a number of reasons why your page speed is not up to par. Common problems include inefficient code, oversized images, unnecessary redirects. Start with the following steps:
Use Browser Caching
When someone visits a page, their web browser has to download all the images, stylesheets, scripts, and other resources needed to display it. Reduce the time this takes by leveraging browser caching.
Caching stores the latest version of the page on the user’s computer so the browser doesn’t have to generate it each time they visit the page. If a resource can be cached, cache it! Google recommends a minimum cache time of one week, and preferably up to one year, for assets that change infrequently.
WordPress users can enable browser caching with plugins like WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache, and WP Super Cache.
Minify Resources
Minifying means reducing the size of a website’s code without changing its functionality. It includes steps like removing code comments, trimming unused code, and using shortened variable and function names. Reduce the size of your resources to increase page speed.
Google suggests using tools like HTMLMinifier, CSSNano, and UgifyJS to minify HTML, CSS, and JavaScript respectively.
Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)
Pages load faster when the server delivering the content is located close to the user. If you seek national or international traffic, invest in a content delivery network (CDN) to serve your files from an optimal location.
Optimize Images
Images are one of the biggest culprits when it comes to site slowdown. The more images the browser must download, and the bigger those image files are, the more competition for the user’s bandwidth.
Trimming down the size of your images is a simple but significant step in increasing page speed. Instead of forcing large images to display in a smaller resolution using HTML, save those images at the smaller resolution. Only use the PNG format for large, important images that must look sharp, and save less important images as JPGs and small images as GIFs.
Enable GZIP Compression
All modern browsers support GZIP compression, which reduces the time it takes to download resources and render a site. GZIP compression reduces file sizes by up to 70% without degrading image and video quality. Ask your web host to enable GZIP compression.
If you aren’t sure whether your site uses GZIP compression already, use this tool to find out.
Use Google+ To Its Full Potential
At first glance it might seem as if Google+ is the underdog when it comes to having a powerful company presence on social media and the Internet as a whole.
However, Google+ is the perfect platform to bolster your business’s social media presence and overall legitimacy. This is especially through posting original content, since it is the best way to help position your business as an authority in the industry.
When it comes down to it, Google+ is Google. They use this social media network for rankings in Google by indexing every page and post. This is a major reason why using hashtags and optimizing your keywords are both essential to improving your SEO ranking.
Ensuring you use keywords appropriately on your business’ Google+ page allows for more results to appear in Google search—each post will often receive its own listing in Google. This is strong reason why you should only be posting original content on Google+. Take every opportunity to turn people towards your business!
It is also important to note many consumers place a lot of weight on business reviews, both with the comments and ratings a person leaves as part of their review, as well as the social proof the simple existence of reviews provide. Google+ gives your business the chance to have reviews appear directly in Google search results, e.g. with Google My Business, which is the best place for the reviews to gain positive attention from potential consumers.
So how can you help ensure your business has the best chances at success on Google+? Let’s review!
Relationships Through Hashtags
One of the major ways Google connects topics on Google+ is through the use of hashtags on each post. Every time you search a hashtag, you will also end up with some related hashtags—the connection between these topics is something your business can actually have a hand in teaching Google.
Consider the keywords you want your business to rank for and include two of them within each post (or at the end). Do not leave any post without a hashtag! Adding your own means you ensure the hashtags are relevant, and you target the people looking for those things, thus expanding your reach.
Targeted Headlines
Did you know the headlines you put on Google+ posts actually act as mini posts themselves? The headline is what you will see when the post appears in Google search results, which is the first thing that attracts a reader.
This is a great place to put your most important keyword for the overall post. Incidentally, this main keyword can also make for a good hashtag at the end of the post.
Optimize For Engagement
There are many opportunities for engagement on Google+, such as through the commenting system, +Post Ads, and interactive posts. The commenting system, for instance, allows the commenter to easily share the post with their own followers on Google+, which greatly increases your chances of getting more comments, shares, and link clicks than if the original user only commented without sharing.
The +Post Ads gives your business the chance to change the most successful organic posts into ads Google then shows across its vast display network—otherwise known as a world of opportunity! This opens up interaction beyond Google+ itself, and allows sharing to continue long past the paid promotion period.
Want more interaction on a simple Google+ post? You have the power to automatically embed a wide variety of call to action for your audience, including: watch a video, sign up for a mailing list, make a reservation, et cetera.
Facebook Ads VS. Twitter Ads: A Friendly Face-off
Let’s be honest: deciding where to allocate your marketing budget is a daily struggle.
When it comes to social media, the decision is often split between Facebook and Twitter. So, how do you decide which makes more sense for your money?
In this blog, we’ll be analyzing three aspects of those platforms: reach/budget, targeting, and reporting.
Facebook Advertising
Reach/Budget
Although it’s amazing for large companies, if you’re a small business with a somewhat small budget, Facebook ads are also ideal for you.
Organic Facebook posts have an extremely low reach due to the platform’s ever-changing algorithm. So, running a Facebook ad is almost expected, but it’s worth it for growing your fan base, gaining engagement, clicks, or a larger reach than 30 people.
Targeting
On Facebook, targeting is limited to location, gender, age, demographic, interest, and behaviour. You can also exclude people from viewing your ads, which can be key depending on your campaign strategy.
One great targeting feature is Custom Audiences. This feature allows you to target audiences based on your existing connections. This means you can serve up ads to your current customers/fans rather than looking for new ones. This is done by uploading a list of customer data (e.g. purchaser email addresses), and Facebook will aim to reach them (and don’t worry, this information will be encrypted).
Another impressive feature Facebook offers (that Twitter does not), is the ability to save your audience and re-use it for other ads. This could save you and your business some valuable time if you are regularly targeting your ads to the same audience.
Reporting
Facebook reporting is quite intuitive: it’ll give you the information you need based on your objective, and more. That said, it’s sometimes simpler to collect data right from the platform as opposed to exporting it into an Excel file, because it’s visually easier to gather.
You can also create a custom metrics dashboard so it only provides you with the numbers you care about, and not the extras.
In conclusion, Facebook Ads are best for…
- Video view campaigns
- Growing your followers
- Re-targeting for retail businesses
Twitter Advertising
Reach/Budget
Let’s not beat around the bush: Twitter is expensive. However, with Facebook’s algorithm changing regularly, it may not stay this way forever.
With a larger budget permitting more than just Facebook, your reach can be quite extensive. The benefit here is that Twitter allows you to get very specific with your targeting, and reach those who are more invested in your band.
Targeting
Twitter allows you to target more effortlessly and with more detail than Facebook. Other than the usual details (location, gender, and language), you can target based on hashtags, key words, interests, and specific accounts and their followers. This means you can directly focus on your competitors, and that’s a marketer’s dream.
Twitter is where people go for news, trends, and immediate world updates. This is a major advantage for large companies. Take Google, for example.
On October 4, 2016, Google announced their new product, Pixel. If you weren’t watching live, you probably first heard the news on Twitter. That’s because the hashtag #MadeByGoogle was immediately trending and everyone was talking about it (in 140 characters or less).
Now imagine how easy it would be to target all those people if you are a competing tech company. You could take advantage of that massive reach and serve them your own ad.
Reporting
Twitter reporting is a little more renowned because it allows you to break down the metrics by audience segment (keyword, gender, handles, language, interests, platform, location).
This lets you see which fans are the ones engaging with your posts. As takeflyte puts it, “Being able to pinpoint exactly which segments of your audience is working and which ones aren’t is a simple task that will help you improve your ROI.”
In conclusion, Twitter Ads are best for…
- Product launches
- Holiday campaigns
At the end of the day, testing is key. If you have the budget, try both platforms to see where your audience is most engaging with your brand.
How to Take Advantage of Pinterest for Business
Should your business be on Pinterest?
The answer is a resounding yes. It is one of the fastest growing social media platforms out there right now, and is especially popular among the coveted millennial generation (though older cohorts are also getting in on the act). In addition, it is an explicitly visual platform and images are a much more effective way to draw people to your brand and get them to remember you and your products.
Pinterest is also steadily increasing their offerings to those with business accounts, allowing you to study the analytics of who is visiting and liking your posts, which helps cultivate new followers and respond to already committed ones by providing them with content that they want to see.
Pinterest is also both making it much easier for you to sell to customers directly on the platform (in conjunction with Shopify), so that people can purchase your products as soon as they see it. Even if online sales are not a goal, or even possible for your business, Pinterest (like Instagram) is becoming an important tool for promoting your brand’s lifestyle or message in an appealing and memorable way. By posting how-to infographics or behind the scenes tutorials, you’re letting potential customers and clients into your world and making them feel more connected to your brand.
Before you dive right in though, there are some tips and best practices to keep in mind:
- Make sure your account is business and not personal, this will give you access to analytics, as well as Rich Pins and Promoted Pins. Rich Pins are an ad on to business accounts that allow your Pins to provide more context to the viewer without them having to leave Pinterest-making them more likely to absorb the information you’re providing. Pinterest offers four kinds of Rich Pins (app, product, recipe, and article) so there’s something for everyone. Promoted Pins are native ad units that can be used to boost the visibility of your Pins and make it easier for people to discover your brand (you will pay per action with these i.e. clicks, re-pins, or close-ups)
- Longer images increase re-pins, as they take up more of the viewers feed
- Images can have an aspect ratio of 2:3 to 1:2.8 and must be at least 600px wide
- Make sure your images don’t have background images, images embedded in iFrames or within Flash websites as Pinterest doesn’t recognize these
- Pinterest caters to people who are, or who want to be, creative. Therefore, your Pins will need to be creative and engaging to attract attention. Be sure to create and curate content that is not only appealing, but useful to the demographics you want to interact with your brand
- In the same way that re-tweeting creates goodwill and engagement on Twitter, pinning your customers when they’ve used your product is a great way to not only show them you’re paying attention, but it’s also a great opportunity to showcase your brand in action
- Encourage your employees to create and pin to their own boards, or use one as a way of showing the behind the scenes of your company. Not only does it make customers feel more involved and invested in your brand, it can also be a great way of utilizing your team’s other talents and making them feel more connected to the brand
Should You Become an Instabusiness?
As Instagram continues to grow in size and importance (especially among younger generations), it’s getting harder and harder to ignore it as a marketing tool for your business. Like most other social media platforms, Instagram offers a business account option with additional features that help you create ads and monitor the metrics of who is following you and liking your posts. It may be intimidating at first, especially for small businesses and those that don’t feel they don’t belong to a particularly photogenic industry, but it’s worth it to increase your brand’s visibility, customer base, and community.
Here are some tips and best practices to make Instagram work for you:
First, you need to set up a profile, which is remarkably easy with Instagram. Make sure your user name matches that of your other social network platforms, and for your real name just use your company name. Also included in your public profile is your business’s website (a simple URL) and a 150-word bio. Keep the bio short and sweet, with a bit of pep. Include any hashtags that you plan on following and/or using a lot.
Don’t worry if your photographic skills are lacking, to get started, you don’t need anything more sophisticated than your smartphone. Some ways to make you account stand out? Try to keep a cohesive look, sticking to the same colour palette or filter for most (if not all) of your images will give your feed a distinct and easily identifiable look.
For businesses, such as restaurants or hair salons, it’s easy to find appropriate images that reflect what you offer and why people should become followers and customers. But what if your product is less visual (like, say, a marketing firm)? A good strategy is to post “lifestyle” type photos, showing what it’s like to work there, community involvement that your business may be engaged in, or even interests/hobbies that your employees share that are appealing and visual (like gardening, baking, or puppies). The last two options are especially important (and useful for all Instagram users) because they help you connect with others by liking and following similar posts to your own, which can increase your exposure.
Connect with influencers in your industry. These don’t have to be celebrities or even have massive followings; the most important factor is that they are highly trusted by the followers that they do have, this means that if you can get them to engage with you and promote your product or brand, you will have the seal of approval from someone who is respected in the community that you want to belong and sell to.
Like Twitter, Instagram utilizes hashtags to make posts searchable so it’s important to include them in your caption (and it’s important to have a caption that is engaging). There are essentially two options you can use for the best results: either using very broad and popular hashtags (like #tbt or #MotivationMonday) that are more likely to be searched by lots of people; or you can use hashtags that are more specific, and hope to attract a smaller, but more committed or involved following. Unlike Twitter, since you don’t have the same character limitations, you can use up to 30 hashtags, just be careful not to oversaturate your caption and make it difficult or boring to read.
Which Social Media Channel Is Best For Your Business?
Social media is a powerful marketing tool for businesses of all sizes and in all industries. It is an effective way to reach customers on a direct as well as personal level. While simply having a presence is good, developing a plan and really tailoring your social media presence to your company and industry brings its usefulness to another level entirely.
The following questions are a great starting point to help determine which social media channel will provide your business with the most benefits.
What Are Your Goals?
What do you want to get out of your social media presence? Your choice of a social media channel (or multiple channels) should work to support those goals in the most effective way possible. If you are looking to build brand awareness, choosing well-established social media channels is the best choice. They have the largest pool of users, which means you have a greater chance of adding to your audience. Lead generation, particularly in a company that largely operates as business-to-business, a platform like LinkedIn—made for facilitating discussion, making professional connections, et cetera—is ideal.
Who Is Your Target Audience?
Consider the people you want to reach with your social media presence. Who are your customers? Identifying who they are is essential, because you then have to determine which social media channel(s) they use the most. As a starting point, consider more women use Instagram than men and Snapchat is ideal if your target audience is Millennials. If you want to target business individuals, LinkedIn is a good first place to look. Twitter is also popular among users between 18 and 29, whereas the majority of LinkedIn users are over 30.
Where Is Your Competition?
Look at you competitors, both direct and indirect. Do they have a social media presence? What channels are they on? Identifying where your competitors are in terms of social media is a great building block to use when you are developing the strategy for your business. Examine what seems to be working well for them when you are deciding which platforms to choose. This often takes the form of which channels garner the most likes, shares, and comments. In addition, consider which social media channels your competition is not present on. Sometimes this may be because it would not be as beneficial as possible, but it may also present an opportunity for you to fill a gap in the market.
What Type Of Content Do You Want To Share?
In some cases, the type of content you want to share with your audience will dictate the social media channel that will be the best for your business. For instance, longer posts detailing company news and industry updates are best suited for a platform like LinkedIn. LinkedIn will also work for editorial content and helping a company develop an image as a thought leader. Instagram is perfect for highly visual content, including short videos. Twitter is great for high volume, short posts disseminated to a large audience. You can do professional posts through this platform as well as LinkedIn, though the information must fit within the 140-character limit.
Image: fgnopporn
Why Getting Verified on Twitter and Facebook Matters (and How to Do It)
That nifty little checkmark may seem like a status symbol reserved for the likes of celebrities and politicians, but did you know that your business can get verified too? There are lots of benefits to getting verified on Twitter and Facebook aside from the little ego boost.
Verification lets people visiting your page for the first time that know you’re serious about what you do and a legitimate contender in your industry. It gives your current customers confidence in your brand, and with Facebook, it helps your page rank higher in searches.
Something so great must be difficult and exclusive to obtain, right? On the contrary! Just follow a few easy steps and you’ll be on your way to verification.
For Facebook:
- Log in to your page and choose Settings
- In General, scroll until you reach Page Verification
- Select Edit
- Now you have the choice to Verify by Phone or Documentation
- For Verify by Phone:
- Enter your business phone number, your location, and your language preference
- Choose Call Me Now. Shortly, you’ll be contacted on the number you provided with a verification code
- Once you have the 4-digit code, enter it when prompted and Continue
- Enjoy your grey checkmark and congratulations on being verified!
- For Documentation:
- You’ll need either: Business utility or phone bill, business license, business tax file, certification of formation or articles of incorporation
- Upload your chosen document so that the name and address of your business is visible
- Once Facebook verifies your documents, you’ll receive either a notification or an email about your status within a few days
For Twitter:
- You’ll have to fill out a form while logged in to the account you’d like to have verified
- Twitter will request the following information on the form:
- A verified phone number
- A confirmed email address
Note: If the account is a company or organization account, the email address associated with the account should be a company or organization email address. - A bio
- A profile photo
- A header photo
- A birthday (for accounts that are not company, brand, or organization accounts)
- A website
- Tweets set as public in Tweet privacy settings
- There are some best practices to bear in mind when seeking Twitter verification. Make sure the name of the account/profile and/or header all reflect the name of your company, that the bio lets people know your company’s expertise or what services/product you offer, and that the account is active (Tweets, Re-Tweets, DMs)
- To help them decide whether to fulfill your request, Twitter will ask why they should verify the account. This is a good opportunity to let them know about your company’s core mission, relevance in the field and newsworthiness.
- Don’t fret if you get a Direct Message denying verification. Twitter will either ask for edits on your request form, or let you try again in 30 days.
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