The Death of Organic Reach: Resurrecting Your Social Media Strategy
As organic reach continues to decline, it’s becoming more difficult to connect with your target audience and achieve desired results without investing in paid social media advertising.
In other words, it’s getting tougher to get your message out there without shelling out some cash for ads.
You might even be asking, “What’s even the point of posting on my Page anymore?”
At TrafficSoda, we’re here to help you navigate this new reality and make the most of your social media marketing efforts, organic and paid. So, let’s roll up our sleeves and dive into the tips and insights that’ll help your brand stay strong in this social media jungle.
Contents:
- The Rise and Fall of Organic Reach on Facebook, Instagram & More
- Why Exactly is Organic Reach Declining?
- TikTok: A Temporary Exception?
- How Small to Mid-Size Businesses Can Adapt to Declining Organic Reach
- The Necessity of Paid Promotion for Social Media Visibility
- Boosting Posts with a Purpose
- Finding Your Brand’s Optimal Posting Frequency
- Is Organic Social Still Relevent?
- Social Media is a Search Engine
- Your Customers Are Commenting
- Social Media Benefits SEO
- Social Media is Social Proof
The Rise and Fall of Organic Reach on Facebook, Instagram & More
Organic reach refers to the number of unique individuals who catch a glimpse of your posts on social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn.
Reach is different from impressions, which count the total number of times your content is viewed, including multiple views by the same person. Organic reach only counts unique views.
Organic reach is one of those content KPIs that really matter when you’re trying to measure how well you’re really reaching your target audience. Reach affects all of your other engagement-related data such as likes, clicks, and follows — because if you want people to engage with your content, you have to reach them first.
Despite its importance, reach is a moving target.
For one, reach data has always been, at best, an estimate, because a post showing up on someone’s social media feed doesn’t guarantee they’ve seen it.
Plus, most major social media platforms use an algorithm to determine what shows up on any given user’s feed — and aren’t fully transparent about how, exactly, those algorithms work.
Above: Facebook’s official explanation of their ranking system. Not exactly an open book.
What we do have is historical data showing that, as early as 2013, organic reach has been dropping for businesses.
Back in 2017, researchers found that Facebook Page engagements dropped 20%, and by early 2018, more than half of marketers noticed their page’s organic reach going down the drain.
These days, the average organic reach for a post on a Facebook Page is about 5.20%. So, roughly one in every 19 fans will see your non-promoted content
For businesses that use Facebook as their go-to social platform, this decline in organic reach is alarming, because it means your posts aren’t showing up in your followers’ feeds as much as they used to.
But it’s not only Facebook that’s seeing a decline in social reach. Marketers have also seen drops on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
But Why Exactly is Organic Reach Declining?
Simple: Platforms are constantly tinkering with their algorithms to try to increase user satisfaction and ROI.
For Facebook, that has meant making sure users see more posts from their friends and family, and less from people trying to sell them stuff (unless, of course, you’re paying Facebook to advertise!)
Over on Twitter, it means boosting paid subscribers and “suggested” Tweets.
Every platform is different, but the bottom line is essentially the same.
Social media platforms are just businesses, and their customers are advertisers. They’re all about making users happy, because that’s what keeps people logging in, which keeps advertisers happy.
In theory, that should help businesses, too — because if people are interacting with the content in their feed, they’ll be more likely to engage with posts from businesses too.
But it also means that, as a business, you will have a hard time getting your posts into their feeds in the first place.
TikTok as a Temporary Exception
In the ever-evolving world of social media, TikTok stands out as a temporary exception to the trend of declining organic reach.
The average organic reach for brands on TikTok is a staggering 118%, compared to Facebook’s 5.2%.
By investing your time in creating engaging content for your TikTok account, you can achieve decent brand exposure and visibility, even with a relatively small following.
But there’s a catch: recent bans of TikTok on U.S. government-owned devices, coupled with new legislation in Congress seeking to block the app, have fueled expectations that the popular Chinese-owned platform could soon face a nationwide ban.
The exact implementation of such a ban remains unclear, but if history is any guide, a prohibition is unlikely to take effect anytime soon. TikTok is likely to challenge any attempt to ban the app, as it was ultimately successful in quashing Trump’s effort to ban the app, but the uncertainty surrounding the future of the platform makes it a risky investment.
We recommend investing in TikTok only for short-term campaigns at this point, but avoiding hinging too much of your social media marketing funnel on it.
In the meantime, keep an eye on the situation and adapt your strategies accordingly, all while maintaining a candid, genuine, and occasionally funny approach that resonates with your audience.
How Small to Mid-Size Businesses Can Adapt to Declining Organic Reach
As organic reach keeps shrinking, it’s getting harder to have your content seen by your target audience.
That means fewer likes, comments, and shares — and yeah, that’s a bummer for visibility. Especially if you’ve put in a ton of time and effort crafting awesome content for social media, only to have it reach fewer people.
The truth is, the decline in organic reach isn’t merely a rough patch – it’s a deliberate design that shows no signs of reversing.
Sure, organic posts give your page a pulse, but expecting significant reach, likes, or follows without investing in paid promotion is nigh impossible.
As marketers, we all have to face the reality and adjust their expectations accordingly.
- Want more eyeballs on your content? Pay for views via boosted posts and celebrate the reach.
- Looking for clicks to your website? That’s a separate goal requiring a different paid campaign.
- The same goes for form fills, page likes, and any other objectives. You won’t get meaningful results from organic posting alone.
Yes, social channels remain an excellent arena for businesses to engage with customers and prospects—and it’s crucial to maintain a presence on these platforms to receive and respond to user communications. However, the era of free, widespread distribution of your content on platforms like Facebook and Instagram is long gone (with TikTok being a temporary exception while it remains in the “honeymoon” phase.)
The outdated “post-it and they will come” approach is no longer effective unless you’re willing to pay for your content to be seen.
a) The Necessity of Paid Promotion for Social Media Visibility
To make the most of your social media efforts, invest in paid social media with clearly defined goals and measurable outcomes. This strategy will not only save you time but also save you from having to bombard your followers with “free” organic posts that yield little to no results.
Unlike disruptive display ads, pop-ups, and video commercials, social media ads are crafted to integrate seamlessly with the platform, often resembling organic posts. The ads are quick to launch and start getting attention right away, so you can see results just as quickly.
While it may seem easy to set up, using social media ads effectively takes a strategic approach. Don’t let the complexity of this task hold you back from reaching your desired audience and generating leads. Partner with our expert agency and take your social media campaigns to the next level.
b) Boosting Posts with a Purpose
If you want to gets started with social media ads right away, boosted posts are the fastest way to do it.
A boosted post is a post from your Page’s timeline that you can promote in order to reach a wider audience. It lets you quickly transform an existing, organic piece of content into a paid ad, extending your reach beyond your current audience.
Once it’s done, you can manage and see results for boosted posts in Ads Manager just like other ads. You shouldn’t think of them as a separate thing—boosted posts are really just ads that you make from your Page instead of the advertising tool.
With that in mind, you’ll want to put the same forethought behind boosted posts as you do other social media ads. Don’t put money behind a post just because Facebook suggests it! Facebook just wants you to boost as many posts as possible. Stick to your strategy.
To make the most of your advertising budget, you need to boost posts strategically as part of a broader social media strategy. Our team of experts can help you develop a social media strategy that ensures that every boost counts towards your overall goals.
c) Finding Your Brand’s Optimal Posting Frequency
While posting at a specific time of day isn’t as important as it used to be (because social media feeds rarely operate chronologically), how often you post can have an impact. And as organic reach continues to drop, every bit counts.
One study found that 74% of consumers believe that the ideal posting frequency for brands is 1-2 times per day. However, each platform’s algorithm is different, so more frequent posting might not necessarily be detrimental.
The key to striking the right balance is to focus on creating high-quality content that supports your overall social media marketing strategy. Instead of overwhelming your audience with a large volume of low-quality posts, invest in crafting engaging and relevant content that resonates with your target audience.
Is Organic Social Still Relevant?
In light of declining reach, organic social media isn’t entirely dead–but it plays a different role now.
Here’s the truth: even with the decline in reach, maintaining organic social media posting still makes sense for many businesses.
- Social media is not only a billboard, but also a search engine, with 82% of consumers preferring searching on social media over Google.
- Being active on social media and responding to customers and potential clients builds relationships, fosters trust and loyalty, and generates more leads, sales, and revenue.
- Embracing social media can greatly enhance your SEO efforts by making a brand more visible in search results and dominating branded keywords.
- Social media comments and reviews are a powerful form of social proof, with 54% of users researching products and brands on social media.
Let’s quickly delve into organic social’s new life in the post-reach world.
1. Social Media is a Search Engine
Social media is no longer just for posting pictures of your lunch or sharing memes; it’s become a search engine for millions of consumers looking for products and services like yours.
In fact, an online survey recently found that 82% of consumers prefer social media for searching over traditional search engines. Of those, 55% cite Instagram as their top platform for social media searches, followed by YouTube (54%), Facebook (51%), and Twitter (44%).
Even TikTok, while ranking last in popularity as a search engine (42%), is attracting a core user base of young, affluent consumers (so if that’s your target audience, you should be there!)
When people search for your business on social media, they want to see an active and vibrant presence. Think of your social media profile like a storefront — if it looks neglected and uninviting, potential customers will just keep walking. Having a dead social profile is like papering over your store window.
So, keep your social media up-to-date and alive with organic posts to show customers that your business is alive and kicking! Otherwise, you’ll lose out on business from searchers who might otherwise give you a phone call.
2. Your Customers Are Calling (and DMing)
More and more customers prefer to communicate through social media rather than traditional channels like phone or email. If your business has a social media presence, customers will expect you to be reachable and responsive, and ignoring them could lead to negative consequences.
If you’re already swamped with leads and customers, social media may not be your top concern. However, if you want to attract more business, you don’t want to leave customers hanging on social media.
When you engage with your audience on social media by responding to their queries and feedback, you show them that you care about their opinion and are open to communication. This builds a sense of trust and loyalty, ultimately leading to more leads, sales, and revenue for your business.
So, it’s not just about being active on social media, but being responsive. That’s what builds meaningful connections, and connections turn strangers into customers.
3. Social Media Benefits SEO
When people search for your business on Google or other search engines, having a strong social media presence can make all the difference.
Social media profiles often appear right below your website in search results for branded keywords, giving you the chance to capture even more attention and dominate the first page.
Plus, with Google indexing tweets and other social media posts, your content can show up in search results for relevant queries, driving even more free traffic to your website.
Your social media profiles can also have an impact on local SEO. Google checks your social media accounts to confirm your business’s legitimacy through your name, address, and phone number. This information must be accurate, since Google examines all listings to verify that contact details are correct.
If the information is inconsistent, it may hurt your visibility in local searches, so keep your profiles up to date!
4. Social Media is Social Proof
Social proof is key in building trust with your audience, especially if you’re offering high-value products or services (and that includes all you B2B firms.)
In fact, a staggering 54% of social media users research products and brands on social platforms, highlighting the importance of showcasing your brand’s credibility through reviews, testimonials, statistics, and awards.
And it’s not just about what you offer. Many customers also want to know about your company’s values and practices — things like how you treat your employees and customers, your stance on social issues, and your contributions to your community can all impact their decision to do business with you.
Sharing posts about your community involvement, sustainable practices, and employee testimonials will help you build a compelling narrative.
Social media also offers an excellent platform for showcasing social proof through user-generated content, reviews, and testimonials. Sharing your customers’ positive experiences and tagging your business can amplify their positive feedback and foster a sense of community for your brand.
How to Bring Your Social Media Strategy Back to Life
Paid advertising allows you to reach your ideal audience at the right time, while organic social media remains relevant in fostering trust, loyalty, and stronger relationships with your audience.
It’s essential to strike a balance and get creative with your approach, making the most of every opportunity to engage your audience.
At TrafficSoda, we’re committed to helping you navigate these changes and maximize the potential of your social media marketing efforts. If you’re looking for expert guidance on how to make your brand stand out in this social media jungle, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. Together, we can create a winning social media strategy that drives results.
Which Type of LinkedIn Ad Campaign is Best for Your Target Audience?
LinkedIn is a powerful and under-utilized social media.
It is a gateway to company executives, business-driven people and many other influential users.
80% of B2B leads come from LinkedIn. Why?
Because LinkedIn’s Ad targeting strategy is so comprehensive and has so much data from users to take from.
LinkedIn is set apart from other social medias because it is made up of:
- 500 million active users
- 45 million decision-makers
- 73 million senior level executives
Now that you know the impact LinkedIn Ad campaigns, it’s time to find the best targeting options for your needs!
1. Sponsored Content
Sponsored content on LinkedIn is native ads that you come across when scrolling through your feed.
The goal of sponsored content is to engage viewers quickly while simultaneously delivering the objectives of the ad.
Sponsored content builds relationships through the use of relevant content based on the LinkedIn algorithm. This has been proven to be an effective method of creating leads and engagement. In fact, 25% more consumers look at sponsored content than display ad units.
LinkedIn is great for sponsored content because of their audience targeting software. You can build you perfect audience using your own profile’s audience. You can even move beyond that target audience using LinkedIn’s Audience Network.
The best part is that you can follow the campaign performance within the LinkedIn Insight Tag.
2. Sponsored InMail
Sponsored InMail is used for your core audience.
Using LinkedIn’s messaging system, you can send custom messages to the active members. Think of this type of advertising to be similar to a newsletter.
55% of organizations give their personalization efforts a grade of C or lower, this is the perfect method to change that.
One of the best features within sponsored InMail is the call to actions. These CTAs are optimized for conversions and leads. On both mobile and desktop, the CTA is always visible while the user scrolls, giving them every opportunity to go further down the funnel.
Not only is it viewer friendly, but it’s user friendly too! Anyone can have a perfectly formatted layout without worrying about its responsiveness. InMail automatically formats the content you provide it to look good on any screen.
3. LinkedIn Text Ads
This is a perfect choice for those looking to expand their reach within LinkedIn without breaking the bank.
Text Ads are simple ads on the right side or top of your LinkedIn desktop feed. It is what it says it is: text and a small icon to accompany it.
Create a text ad using bids based on pay per click or cost per impression. You control how much you want to spend.
How can you make the most of text ads?
You will always get the best results if you have accurate audience targeting. When creating your ads, in order to tailor the ads to the desired audience consider:
- Using creative visuals
- Using CTAs that link to a landing page that also matches the ad
- Continuously test and make adjustments, 3-4 ads in each campaign is best practice
When it comes to running a LinkedIn ads campaigns, there’s no set way. It’s all dependent on who you’re targeting and what you want out of the ads. LinkedIn allows you to take control of everything, even your own profile, and get the traffic you want.
How Instagram Removing the ‘Like’ Count Affects Marketing
Social media has been a huge marketing outlet for businesses today. How do we know if people are enjoying certain content? By the number of likes.
One of the major social medias, used by 1 billion people monthly and 500 million daily, is Instagram.
Have you noticed anything different about your current Instagram feed? If so then you are one of about 70% of Canada’s population affected by their test to remove the like count.
The focus is on the quality of the content, not the number of likes. Thus, only the account user will be able to see the count.
This puts businesses that utilize the algorithm of likes on their content for promotions in a different position. So how will it affect your business if it becomes an official change?
How Instagram’s Algorithm Works
In the past, Instagram organized its feed only by the time it was posted. The most recent could be found at the top.
In 2016, Instagram introduced a new algorithm that changed how user’s feed was shown. Simply put, the most relevant content was displayed further up in someone’s feed.
The factors that affect your relevancy to people are:
1. Interest
Instagram takes what users interact with and identify a trend between the posts. If you often comment on photos of puppies, then you are more likely to see puppies at the start of your feed. The goal is to identify what the users prioritize and show content related to that.
2. Relationship
Instagram wants the content it shows users to be something users enjoy seeing or interacting with. The more interactions you have with others, the more the algorithm will recognize you as having a relationship. This would include things like comments, enabled notifications, direct messages, or tags.
3. Timeliness
Now this is not to say that Instagram showcases feed chronologically. Instagram does showcase newer posts first but not the newest. For businesses and brands recency is more related to the idea of posting when people are active. Paying attention to when your audience is online will help indicate when you should post so it will be higher up in their feed.
The goal is to give users the content they want to see most, right away.
Businesses Without Instagram ‘Like’ Counts
A ‘like’ is easily given. It takes no time and no effort.
This shift forces businesses to become more deeply invested in the analytics of their posted content. Companies need to figure out what actually works, instead of guessing.
Identifying what kind of content thrives is going to be key.
Finding what drives conversions and stepping into a more authentic path for your services. Look at other metrics such as the save feature or reach.
For businesses it may be more beneficial to focus more on comment engagement when working with Influencers now. Commenters are more likely to invest in your brand since they took the time comment on a post.
What Removing ‘Like’ Count means for Influencers
Many people have developed a large following and have created businesses surrounding their online personalities.
Companies then partner with them to promote their products. For those that utilize influencers for conversions, this may make it more difficult. A clear indication of the amount of reach an influencer had would have been the number of likes on an average post. We may not have this anymore, though.
For Influencers themselves, it may be more difficult to establish yourself if you haven’t already. Brand are less likely to choose you over someone who they can clearly see getting transactions.
It may give Influencers more creative freedom in their posts. Most Influencers feel they can’t post content that may fall flat in user engagement. If their posts lack that conversion, the brand may not work with them. Without visible ‘like’ counts, they have more artistic freedom.
Focus When Posting
Instagram is unique in that it allows you to showcase your products. This could be through photos, videos, and Stories.
This new system could actually allow you as brands or businesses to assess the content you are posting. To make changes that reflects what you wish to project to your audience.
By no longer focusing on a like count, it can allow you to narrow-in on content that generates more buzz with comments or saves. This can actually be more beneficial to you as those people are more likely to generate conversions and sales.
How Smart Businesses Are Using Facebook Messenger Bots to Win Over Customers
As we increasingly shift toward a digital world, new technologies arise that promise to be the next new way to save time and money. Chatbots, specifically Facebook Messenger Bots, might be able to do just that.
Are you interested in implementing Facebook Messengers Bots into your digital lead generation strategy? Here’s all you need to know about what they can do and how they can improve your business.
What is a Facebook Messenger Bot?
Generally, bots are described as a program that simplifies or automates a task.
Simply put, a Facebook Messenger Bot is software designed using artificial intelligence for automated communication with people. It reads ordinary language as structured data, which it then uses to understand and learn from. Additionally, it can store relevant information about the user.
Bots can communicate quite seamlessly with customers using friendly and sophisticated language. Instead of calling, emailing or searching, customers can just message the bot like they would anyone else they want to reach.
What Can Messanger Bots Actually Do?
Providing customer service and saving customers time are the main functions of such software, but bots can be used for a multitude of services, such as:
Customer Service and Qualifying Leads
Bots can answer inquiries customers have and assist with issues at any time they need. For example, being able to change reservations at a restaurant or learning about redeeming points directly.
Messenger Bots can also collect any preliminary data that the company needs from users. They can identify and advance the most qualified leads for human representatives.
E-Commerce Transactions
A bot can deliver special promotions and advertisements. Marketers can use the data bots to collect from a customer’s purchasing history and send the customer relevant information such as personalized coupons.
Collect Data
From an SEO standpoint, bots can help support organic results. They track commonly used and reoccurring searches or keywords to identify how customers phrase their inquiries. This information can then be incorporated into the site copy. This can also be used to identify frequently asked questions to form a foundation for blog content, videos, etc.
Increase Loyalty with Customers
One of the most important things Messenger Bots do is develop a connection and relationship with customers. Customer loyalty can be built through two-way conversations and providing helpful, relevant information to the customer. It can also build brand awareness by letting people know what your company does and what its core message is.
Why Messenger Bots are the Future
With Facebook Messenger having over 1 billion active users every month, it is no wonder that Messenger Bots can provide a unique service for so many customers and businesses. Being able to access the audience of one of the most-used apps in the world is indispensable.
The customer builds the business, especially when it comes to customer service. And with Messenger Bots, customers can access the services you provide more easily than ever:
- Bots can offer 24/7 services, making any company accessible at any time. This direct line of communication is exactly what people today want
- Messenger Bots respond instantly. Research shows that 35-50% of sales go to the vendor who responds to inquiries first but only 37% of companies respond to leads within an hour
- Statistically, 73% of people prefer to use live chatbots as opposed to calling or emailing. People feel prioritized when they can get immediate results and receive information only pertaining to what they asked for
This mean two important things:
- Customers are more likely to move down the marketing funnel of your business
- Transactions are less likely to be dropped off
Your business will have more sales just by making things more accessible and automated.
Messenger Bots can also use the data they have stored to reengage with customers. Did the shoes they purchased fit well? Are they interested in the latest promotion that has a similar style?
Bots can deliver relevant content that is personal to the customer. They can even remind users that they sent their aunt something for her birthday at this time last year! It is with these types of interactions that loyalty and connections are formed between the customer and business.
Customization for You
As a business, you can customize everything your bot can do, right down to the questions it can answer. If you find it daunting to start setting up your own Facebook Messenger Bot, here are some tools that can help (that vary in difficulty):
Bots are still a new technology they are still learning and improving today. You will still have to monitor your bots to some degree for questions it can’t answer, and you may need to help customers understand how to use them.
By monitoring the overall experience your customers have with your bots, you can add and make changes to improve the quality of your bot which can make your business run smoother and make users happier.
4 Reasons to Include Social Media Video in Your Business Marketing Strategy
No matter what size your business or what niche you’re in, you’ll need to take social media video marketing seriously. Though it’s not the only tool in your social media toolbox, it definitely is a major one. The ability for a business to tell its story and engage its audience is a powerful sales tool, and video is helping to tell better stories.
Video content can help businesses reach 4 specific goals:
1. Web Traffic
Social media video content is an effective way to drive traffic to your website. Video content continues to grow and drive the internet. It plays an integral part of the online social lifestyle. Demand for social media video content is continually growing on social channels like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and especially YouTube. A successful social media video campaign will include a CTA (Call to Action), the most popular being “Visit our Website”. Other CTAs include “Learn More”, “Sign Up Now”, “Book Now”, or “Shop Now”.
Gaia.com is an online resource that streams videos about alternative health, yoga and inspirational films and documentaries. This brand knows the benefits of using video on social. Their video on Facebook had 248 shares and 6.3 M views with a clear CTA to visit their website to learn more.
2. Engagement
When social media videos showcase your brand and tell your story effectively you connect and engage with your audience. When that video content is not only worth watching but also worth sharing, you increase your audience reach.
Canadian Tire™ successfully showed its support for the Canadian Olympic team during the summer 2017 Olympics with this inspirational video that only subtly shows its product: tires. It turned out to be one of the most viral videos of 2017. It just goes to show that your businesses’ story is not just about showcasing your product. It’s also about the things your company believes in and supports.
3. Brand Awareness
More and more brands use social media videos to tell their story and give their brand personality. It’s that personality that followers want to see, and what makes your brand stand out from the crowd. Recognition is a key element to your product’s story.
Taking a similar marketing approach as Dove™, Always™ came out with this video as part of their “Like a Girl “campaign. They used a powerful message of empowerment for women to gain attention and respect for their brand. Their campaign went on to win numerous awards including an Emmy.
4. Generate Excitement and Educate
Leveraging the power of short social media video content by creating instructional how-to videos, showing off a new product from every angle, or simply using text to tell your product’s story creates interest and excitement while getting your message across. If you create content that’s both informative and useful, you’ll create trust in your brand, and a set of loyal customers.
Today’s Parent shows off an easy Ikea™ hack using one of their products in this cheerful video with a “Back -To-School” theme so relatable to families that want to avoid the common entryway clutter.
Are you looking to optimize your digital marketing strategies using video? Contact us today and let’s get started!
7 Tired Social Media Tactics to Retire in 2019
Social media is constantly evolving, so the life expectancy of any given tactic is usually relatively short. Unfortunately, some tactics don’t seem to die when they should.
These techniques can become a significant problem, since they’ll likely lead to a waste of resources and advertising budgets. No matter how simplistic the strategy, it still takes some level of time and effort to execute, meaning that resources spent on tired social media tactics could be re-allocated to something more effective.
Furthermore, tactics that don’t properly reflect your brand could cause you to make unnecessary or even detrimental changes to your strategy.
Here’s a look at 7 of the most tired social media tactics to leave behind in 2019.
1. Gaining a Following by Following the Masses
Although this used to be one of the most popular ways to gain followers at a rapid speed, there are big problems with this technique.
These days, consumers are increasingly selective about who they follow. You may have been able to gain followers quickly years ago by following massive amounts of people, but today, potential followers could flag you as a fake account. This will in turn hurt your brand reputation and social value.
Mass following will not work anymore. In fact, gaining followers this way will ensure that most of them don’t have any interest in your product or service, and will also lead to a feed that’s full of irrelevant posts.
2. Using Automatic, Impersonal Messages
Consumers are putting a huge value on personal contact and attachment when it comes to how they choose to spend their time and money. Obviously, no one feels attached to an automated message, especially if it’s clear that it hasn’t been modified in the slightest.
In the past, a potential customer would hit “follow” on a brand’s social media page, and their inbox would immediately light up with an automated message to welcome them and invite them to make a purchase. However, consumers are becoming less keen on being treated like a faceless prospect.
Instead, wait some time. Once the relationship has been fostered, and the consumer is familiar with your brand, you can then begin to send messages that may come across as promotional. Better yet, tailor your messages to each potential customer.
3. Fluffing Posts with Backlinks
Very few people ever seek out advertisements. Most people try to avoid advertising as they scroll through their various social feeds. Quality content is important. Your content should be creative and make you stand out as a leader in your industry.
Unfortunately, many brands tend to stuff their content full of backlinks to their products or services or fill up social posts with hashtags in hopes of attracting more attention. Both of these are drained tactics that make your content less appealing to followers. In 2019, it’s more about selling your brand by selling your authority, not your products or services.
Offer people a genuine value in exchange for their attention, and they’ll come to you without much pushing.
4. Publishing Duplicate Content on Multiple Platforms
Cross-posting is no longer effective.
In past years, you may have gotten away with posting the same content across multiple platforms without any real issues. Things have changed. You can no longer cross-post without swapping out copy or content.
Audiences are becoming more and more segmented. This year, your posts need to be optimized to each platform to maximize your engagement and customize your approach. Learn which platforms work best for your needs and how to leverage them based on your objectives.
5. Trying Things Once and Giving Up
Advertising is an ever-evolving process. Social media campaigns take time to garner leads, and they’re not an overnight, one-time effort.
Have you tried:
- Sponsored Content on LinkedIn?
- Video content on Facebook?
Many people try things once, ‘fail,’ and never give them another chance. It takes time and experimenting to discover what does and doesn’t work for your brand on social media.
If you tried LinkedIn ads and didn’t see results, perhaps it’s time to try them again and track your process to review later.
6. Asking Users to Share Content
Remember the ‘Like and share’ campaigns popular in the past few years? This approach has gone out of style.
Although these types of posts may appear to have an effect, most of the time, they’re not receiving any more engagement than a regular post. More importantly, they can make your brand come across as needy or desperate.
Although this technique is still acceptable when running promotional giveaways, there are other ways to gain a solid following and potential leads.
7. Relying Solely on Organic Posts to Reach Your Audience
The days of exclusively organic content has diminished rapidly. Social platforms – Facebook in particular – are constantly updating their algorithms to favour paid content.
Your brand cannot simply set it and forget it. It’s important to incorporate a paid advertising strategy into this year’s marketing plan.
Do your research. There are many variations of social media ads. When thinking about which social networks to use for advertising, look at which ones are performing well organically and go from there.
Of course, we’re here to guide you through this year’s marketing trends. Contact us today to discuss your marketing goals. Let’s chat!
Making Social Media and Content Marketing Work Together
Social media is a powerful marketing tool, helping businesses of all sizes and in all industries, reach their target audience. It’s the most effective way for a brand to connect on a more direct and personal level. While simply having a presence is good, developing a plan and tailoring your social media content to your industry and audience is the best way to optimize these platforms.
What is Content Marketing?
Traditional marketing tactics have become less and less relevant with the emergence of today’s digital landscape. The Content Marketing Institute defines content marketing as a “…strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience – and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.”
So, instead of traditional practices like pitching your product, content marketing allows you to provide truly relevant and useful content to your audience like video, blogs, etc. By focusing on sharing quality content on social media, a business can achieve great things.
Building Relationships
Posting quality content on social media can help a brand establish and build relationships with desired audiences.
In life, the best relationships are built over time, based on mutual interests and philosophies, and grow strongest when tended to. The relationship between your brand and its audience isn’t much different.
By doing your research, catering to your audience’s interests and producing quality content, you can build strong and long-lasting relationships.
Amplifying Your Message
Content marketing allows a brand to connect to its desired audience and build relationships by providing valuable information. The beauty of using social media platforms to share your content is that once it is out there, there are few limits to where it can reach.
Brands can use social media to encourage users to share content in a variety of ways. Visual content usually gets more views, clicks, shares and likes than text-based material. So, turning that lengthy blog post into an infographic or finding the perfect image to accompany a post are two tactics that can further your content on social media.
Quality content is meant to be shared and social media is the perfect vehicle to get your material noticed.
Trust & Credibility
Posting quality content on social media can help establish a brand as an industry leader and expert.
Credibility online comes from a mixture of visibility and opinion. If your audience sees your brand out there, beyond your website, they will naturally find it more credible.
When you take the time to educate, help and share through quality content, it reaffirms that your brand is trustworthy and credible. Using social media and content marketing in unison can significantly increase brand authority.
Gain Valuable Customer Insights
Brands can leverage social media to better understand consumers and gather insights to improve content. Social media has made it possible to glean information from authentic, real-time conversations that audience have with one another.
As well, using these platforms to see what other brands are talking about lets you stay atop of industry trends. When developing quality content, it is important to develop ideas that are on trend and align with your audience’s interests – social media can help you gather these insights.
At the end of the day, your brand should make social media and content marketing work together. By doing this you can build stronger relationships with your audience, amplify your messaging, develop credibility as a brand and gain valuable customer insights.
Mixing Business with Pleasure: How To Be Vigilant About Keeping Personal And Business Accounts Separate And What To Do If A Mistake Gets Made
When tennis legend Serena Williams announced her pregnancy, the world rushed to express its joy, however, because of an errant snapchat, these well wishes came earlier than she had wanted. Though accidental premature good news doesn’t seem like that big of a deal, hitting share to the wrong account can have far graver consequences than an early congratulations message; just ask the (now former) director of the Webster Parish, Louisiana Tourism Board, who inadvertently posted a racy video meant for her husband to the Tourism Board’s official Instagram account. Thankfully, there are some tricks and tools you can use to keep this from happening, and some strategies for damage control if a slip up does happen:
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, especially on the Internet where things live forever. Some ideas for stopping a gaffe in it’s tracks are:
- Keeping company and personal social accounts as separate as possible. This means not only preventing employees (or yourself) from associating the business with what you get up to in your spare time or private opinions, but also keeping these accounts as far away from each other as possible to prevent accidental posts. Way to do this include using different browsers for personal and business accounts and separate apps on your phone, so that you have one more step before being able to post.
- Be sure to limit the number of people who are reasonable for your company’s social media or who have access to it, and be sure to update passwords when people leave the team. This not only limits the pool of people who might post something inappropriate by accident, but it also prevents a disgruntled former employee for doing so on purpose.
- Always be sure to log out of a company account when you’re done working on it, and make it a policy for others to do the same. In that vein, don’t auto-save passwords. The extra step of having to log in every time you want to make a post will remind you which account you are about to access.
What if despite all your safe guards, a mistake happens anyway? There are some good (and some not so good) ways to address and correct a gaffe. In fact, if you play your cards right you can even make some solid lemonade out of a social media lemon:
- Confront the mistake head on, with humor if appropriate. The most cited example of this is from Red Cross America, who turned a mis-tweet about craft beer into an opportunity for fun, and fundraising.
- Apologize quickly, and sincerely. Taking too long to say sorry, or doing so in such a way that abdicates responsibility can do more harm than the initial mistake and can give more fuel to the fire if you’ve created controversy.
- Don’t let it happen again. People will forgive once, but if your social media becomes a mess of accidental personal posts and inappropriate or insensitive comments, your brand can remain tarnished for quite a while, as we all know, nothing truly disappears from the Internet.
Sources:
Image: gregorylee
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.