Jesse Stay's Blog, page 2

Social Media Marketing Isn’t Dead, Here’s Why

Concern about whether or not social media is working has been on the rise ever since recent reports revealed that Snapchat was losing subscribers and that Twitter wasn’t keeping its conversation appeal. On top of this, only 19% of B2B buyers said that social media played a part in their conversion.

Yet,  78% of companies have  invested in social media teams, and businesses have reported a 700% increase in sales from social media!

Here are a few key reasons why social media can’t be put on the back-burner:

1. Social Media Reaches A Worldwide Audience

To do this, you must:

Find out where your audience members spend their time online
Understand what they are passionate about
Plan content accordingly

2. Social Media Lets You Directly Engage With Customers

Sales content alone is not enough, you must engage with your audience.By posting engaging content that appeals to their interests, you will:

Increase your following, then sales
Create a favorable reputation for your brand online
Prove your expertise

3. Social Media Gives Valuable Insight, Turning Leads Into Customers

To do this, you must:

Collect analytics to learn more about your audience and how to appeal to them
Communicate with and meet the needs of your audience, keeping them as or turning them into customers
Collect information through lead ads

4. Social Media Increases Website Traffic

To do this, you must:

Create content that links back to your website through blog posts, promotions, or other means
Create ads that link to an offer or event on your website

 

For the full article, visit entrepreneur.com

(Image credit: erhui1979 | Getty Images)

 

 

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Top 4 Components of the Ultimate B2B Social Media Strategy

PSA to all the naysayers who claim that social media can’t yield a profit in the B2B Community: You aren’t executing the right strategy.

That, or you aren’t deploying it over the right channels with the engaging content you need. The way to market social media is through storytelling and distribution, and generating business from social media is simple if you know how to do it right.

Here are four steps to follow if you want to create the best possible B2B strategy on social media:

Follow your prospects on social media and engage with them
Find creative ways to encourage your email following to follow you on social media
Promote your blog and post consistently
Send direct messages on all of your channels for a more authentic experience

For the full article, visit entrepreneur.com 

 

 

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6 Social Media Marketing Aspects to Remember If You Want Success

The top two rewards that come from effective social media use are increased exposure and traffic (to your website), as cited in the 2017 Social Media Marketing Industry Report.

For these benefits, here are a few things you need to focus on as you execute your social media strategy:

Engagement is crucial to your success, find what resonates with your audience
Balance promotion with engagement by only posting CTAs or business and promotion-focused posts 20% of the time.
Incorporate video into your content strategy. Users spend twice as much time on websites with videos than those without!
Set up you social media profiles completely. Small businesses especially who neglect to do this often appear unprofessional and leave their audience members who want to know more and be involved in the dark.
Be ready to address negative feedback in a timely manner. This is crucial for community management.
Hire a professional who knows ad strategy. Different brands need different formulas for success, and you need to test to find out what works for you! According to the 2017 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, all plans should address five key points: choosing the most-effective tactics, maximizing engagement, measuring ROI, optimizing use of paid social media and targeting the right audience. Try remarketing tags (available on most social platforms) to reel in those visiting your website, for example!

For the original article, visit inc.com

 

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The 7 Most Lethal Mistakes Made In Social Media Marketing

Although social media is an invaluable marketing tool, it is still very misunderstood. These misunderstandings can lead to some very costly mistakes- for both your budget and your brand as a whole.

Honestly, most of these mistakes could happen to anyone, and is often simply a result of not knowing how to best utilize social media for marketing.

For the sake of your brand and social media presence, please take a good look at these seven social media mistakes you must avoid making:

Assuming social media marketing as a whole can be “free”
Investing your time and  budget on the wrong platforms and tools
Targeting the wrong audience through faulty research
Putting your social media in the hands of a nonprofessional
Growing, but not maintaining, your audience
Talking about yourself, or what you’re selling too much
Ignoring the feedback and responses of your audience

For more information, see the original article at prdaily.com

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The Top 7 Reasons Why Social Media Marketing Isn’t Getting The Credit it Deserves

When you get down to it, social media marketing is one of the most effective marketing platforms in today’s world, and we have the statistics to prove it! Over 50% of small businesses are increasing their social media spend this year.

Yet, social media is still seen by many as being less than a necessity, and is left in the hands of interns or other nonprofessionals. When in reality, social media nets a positive ROI for up to 92 percent of businesses that use it properly. That is, those who have the professional expertise to plan and execute a good strategy.

Here are 7 of the top “reasons” why social media isn’t getting the credit it deserves:

The “Passing Fad” Belief

To believe social media is just a passing fad might have made sense in 2007 when it was still in development. However, when Facebook has reached 1.2 billion users with the corporate reputation of Google or Apple, its rather illogical to assume this could be the case.

You Only Value What You’ve Worked/Paid For

Because it is free to set up and post to business accounts on social media, people tend to take it for granted. Thus, they are less likely to hire a professional who could invest a budget and get the real ROI social media could offer.

The Difficulty in Measuring ROI

Social media campaigns almost always go under-reported. Why? Because there is so much to track that it can be tedious and near impossible to pinpoint every individual who has participated in your campaign. However, these conversions still spread awareness, leading to an increase in sales.

Anecdotal “Evidence”

If somebody witnesses a lack of success in using social media for marketing, they will be less likely to try it themselves. However, this assumption is often made without analyzing the strategy or tactics the business used, and one experience does not represent the majority.

It Doesn’t “Fit” Their Brand

Ironically enough, the same business owners will also make the point that anecdotal evidence can’t prove that social media will work for everybody. Although it is true that some brands will naturally have an easier time marketing on social media, any brand can do it and find success once they test and find the right method!

Not Targeting The Right Audience

Research couldn’t be more important as find your target audience. Targeting those who would not only like your page, but actually engage with your brand is crucial. As well as creating content that will appeal to their interests. Don’t go for easy “likes” to take the easy way out!

Social Media Takes Expertise And Work

A lack of genuine investment in social media kills marketers. Social media can’t just be thrown out there. You need to research, plan, and execute with expertise your social media with a goal in mind. Put together a budget and time investment for your social media if you want it to get real results. Once you do, you’ll get more than what you bargained for.

See the original article on Forbes

 

 

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8 Components of Social Media Marketing to Master When Utilizing It for Profit

Social media marketing isn’t just for branding and PR anymore. Through ads, promotions, and other means, marketers are finding ways to make a profit off the various platforms.

Although social platforms such as Facebook may be trying to make a few extra bucks off of you through promoted posts and ads, you can definitely use these boosts to your fiscal advantage if you know how utilize them properly with a great strategy and quality content!

An infographic from MDG Advertising has provided an 8-step checklist for those who are looking to make money off their social media. See the steps below, and for the full infographic visit their website here.

1. Strategy

2. Auditing

3. Technology

4. Paid Media

5. Content Development

6. Customer Response

7. Compliance & Risk Management

8. Measurement

The marketer who can learn to utilize and manage each of these aspects of social media marketing will get the ROI they have worked and hoped for. However, the world of social media is ever-changing, so don’t stop doing your research and finding new methods!

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DJ Khaled the “Snapchat King” Explains How to Win At Social Media

According to DJ Khaled, the key is to be yourself and have a positive message!

“Being authentic always wins,” Khaled said to CNBC. “When people see somebody that is just real, they love it. It ain’t no act. It ain’t no fake,” He says.

Khaled was dubbed “The King of Snapchat” by Coca-Cola senior VP for content Emmanuel Seuge! According to Wired, his snaps are viewed 3-4 million times!

 Although Khaled is known for being “Snapchat Famous” he appreciates and utilizes multiple platforms. This includes 6.2M Instagram followers and 3.36M followers on Twitter!

 

“I think it would be genius if the CEOs got together,” Khaled said. “I know everybody’s competitive, and everybody getting their money and doing what they have to do, but if they got together and made maybe a switch where we didn’t have to rip stuff off and put it and post it and find a way to break down the pie, (it would be great).”

For the more info, including the video presentation, see this article on cnbc.com

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4 Ways to Balance Relationship Building & Selling On Social Media

You wouldn’t have your brand on social media if you didn’t think the ROI would benefit your brand. However, is this best done through selling or engaging on social media? The answer is both.

You need to build trust, and a relationship with your audience online if you want them to have any interest in your product/service. Not to mention, have content that makes them hungry for more as opposed to just selling to them in your posts. Remember: they’re not doing it for you.

Here’s a few ways you can balance community building and advertising on social media:

Find, research, and learn how to pique the interest of followers who would be genuinely interested in your product/service
Study online forums and social groups to find out what is hot with your audience!
Cross-promote your content on multiple channels, but modify it for efficiency on each platform
Create a content calendar in advance to help you plan according to the needs of your business, and to visualize the balance you are trying to make between engaging and selling!

See the original article at business2community.com

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5 Things You Need For A Meaningful Social Media Presence

Just as every business is unique, each marketing strategy should be modeled specifically for the brand its meant to serve. Targeting different audiences and trying different tactics are almost always bound to yield a different result for each business.

However there are some strategical tactics that should be applied to your marketing campaign regardless of your brand.

Here are 5 examples:

Make sure your brand has a vision (purpose) that is easy to understand and that will inspire your audience
Perform A/B testing to figure out what social media marketing strategies work best for the goals you have set, and will resonate best with your audience
Connect with you customers and manage your online communities. Reply to their comments/messages, address their concerns, and acknowledge the part they play in keeping your business afloat.
Monitor your social media to find out what is most important to your target audience. Using this data, create content that will help your brand relate to them.
Collect analytics on how the content of your strategy is performing with your audience. Measure how your audience responds through likes, shares, comments, etc. With these metrics, you will be able to determine the ROI you are getting through social media!

 

For the original post, visit prdaily.com

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3 Things To Try Before “Giving Up” On Social Media Marketing

Despite being one of the most cost-effective and successful marketing platforms in the modern world, a lot of social media accounts out there are “dead”. In other words, the brand did not get the ROI they had hoped for and have resorted back to more traditional (even outdated) forms of marketing.

If you feel like social media is just not giving your brand the push it needs, here are a few things to try before giving up on it:

Expand Your Target Audience

Of course its important to target your audience, but you need to make sure you target everyone who could possibly be interested- not just those who are interested in your product/service specifically. Let’s say your business is selling baby toys. Obviously, not many people will be interested in baby toys specifically, so you should try targeting ads to parents (especially mothers) as a whole. This also reflects in the creation of your content. Make more content about parenting newborns as a whole, such as newborn play/learn activities, funny baby videos, baby food recipes, etc. to grab the interest of your target audience just in time to show off your product.

Limit Your Calls-To-Action

When it comes to CTAs on social media, less is more! Nobody wants to listen to a salesman all day. Whether it makes them laugh, cry, scream, recoil, or protest, give them content that solicits a reaction and that they will want to come back for. Then, once you have them engaging with your brand, they will be far more likely to, not only see your product/service on their newsfeed, but buy it!

Try Live Video

Right now, video (especially live video) content takes the lead when it comes to engagement! Live videos are exciting, and make the customer feel like they are in the moment! Play around with it, and do it at different events/locations and different subject matter and see what grabs their attention. This is especially the case if you engage with your audience throughout the video, answering questions and taking requests.

For the original post, visit business2community.com

 

 

 

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