Transparency: operating in such a way that it is easy for others to see what actions are performed.
With the new Facebook Timeline layout, we now have the cability to show our business’s humble beginnings in a fun and clean visual way. One of the greatest ways to show the transparency of your company is to show where you came from, how your company began. The easiest way is through pictures. From when you founded the company, to your first major client, to the welcome of an office dog, these social media milestones will help you to open your companies world to your customer in a way never done before.
Depending on your business service excitement metre, you might need to create a tantalizing story online, where these new users/repeat customers are drawn to interact, engage or share with their Facebook friends. It doesn’t have to be something crazy or a genius creative, it’s simply about spending time creating social media content that shows your companies story.
It’s backwards thinking- to be proactive when it comes to marketing/advertising your product/service. Instead of attacking the consumer with advertising targeted to someone who you believe would need your service, (target market- reactive) you create a space online where your consumer can get to know you first (proactive). That is when people actually buy into your company story, especially when it’s a service, people buy into people. So show them your people- faces, employees and happy customers.
Needs
It also has to do with navigation, how you navigate on different social platforms. When you arrive on a website for a business, you want to find out the basics. What they offer, where they are located, when they are open and how much is it going to cost. Simple and plain, it’s called easy navigation and it ensures the visiting online user finds what they need as quickly as possible.
Wants
The flip-side is social media. What do people expect when they land on your Facebook page? A Facebook page has less pressure, it’s lighter, users want the personality of the company to come out. They want to interact, share and be engaged. They want to feel good about the company that may provide them with a service.
I’ve seen email marketing companies (not sexy) , used car businesses (not exciting) and a variety of business who offer a common service, market themselves online with transparency- photos, videos and interesting promotions. Showing the behind-the -scenes of your company relaxes the potential customer, it shows them what they will be getting in to if they choose your service.
Consumer Thinking Bubble:
“I know who I’m going to talk to, I’ve seen pictures of their work, fun engaging photos of staff and I’m not worried about them, I’m actually looking forward to meeting them.”
*Side-note: If you are relating to this post from the business-owner perspective and are thinking, “How the heck do I do any of this?” It may not be your job to think outside of the box. You just have to be willing to utilize these engaging tactics from your in-house online marketing team or by using an outside company.
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Written by: Cristina Pagnucco, Social Media Specialist, Longevity Graphics
Questions about this article? Email me [email protected]
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In the last post “Pinterest…Pin Your Interests” emphasized on the importance of being visually stimulated. Once again we are going to continue to emphasize how important images are to every business, because we all know we like being visually stimulated.
This time, I am calling out all Iphone and Android owners to download Instagram if you have not already. Instagram has over 27 million users and have been purchased for 1 billion from Facebook. Instagram is a downloadable app and a social network that allows the users to take pictures, edit photos with different filters, and share it through Instagram. You can also share your pictures through Facebook or Twitter. Instagram works similar to Twitter, where you can use hash tags (#) so people can find your photos. In order to create conversations with people you can always use the ‘@username’ to directly create a conversation with someone.
So what makes photos such an important tool for marketing? Photos can be utilized within story telling. Story telling is the foundational strategy to developing and strengthening your brand. If you can tell a great story about your business through text, you can also create a story through images. Since taking photos are easy and instant, it is easier to share it with many people. HubSpot simply states it as “a great way for people to experience brands in a different way, and it elicits emotions that may not have been experienced through text alone.” Some big companies that are using Instagram to build their brand are: Starbucks, RedBull, Marc Jacobs, Tiffany & Co etc. When the big companies are using it, you know there is value to Instagram.
Instagram may or may not be your desired way to market your business, but depending on your business it can be very handy.
Ways to Instagram your Business:
1.) Day in the life of your company: Fans and customers are always curious what you do at work. They want to know what it’s like to work where you work.
2.) Company News: You can promote and advertise new blog posts, services and events on Instagram by taking a pictures of your new blog, or already made campaigns.
3.) Contests: There are fun ways to create contests on Instagram. You can always ask your fans to take a picture with your product and use a hash tag (#) on Instagram to get fans to participate in your contest.
4.) Events: If you create a hash tag (#) with your event. This can encourage people to take pictures and use that hash tag to spread the event pictures around.
So do some social media touch ups and use Instagram to strengthen your brand! Have fun Instagraming!
If you are all about visuals, Pinterest is the social media site to be on. It is a large social media platform that gathers everyone’s interests in one place. This is the perfect place to be if you want to know the current and up and coming trends. Their mission is to “connect everyone in the world through the ‘things’ they find interesting.”
Pinterest is beautifully organized by its pin-board/grid type layout which makes it visually stimulating.
Pinterest home page
It is easy to use and allows you to share your hobbies, interest, events and more. Pinterest provides you with a ‘pin it’ button to add to your bookmarks. This allows you to ‘pin’ any image, blog, or website directly onto Pinterest. You can also create different categories that suit your interests, plus you also have the option to share your ‘pins’ on Twitter or Facebook. Another cool and handy thing about Pinterest is that the images are a direct link to the original source.
Pin Board Categories
My experience with Pinterest has been more than awesome. I must say I’m pretty much addicted to it because I can find everything that I like on one site. What’s even better is that people are very active and supportive on Pinterest. My first ‘pin’ ended up getting more than 140 repins within less than an hour, 84 likes with more than 30 follows, in one day. I must say, it’s pretty liberating to see that people ‘repin,’ like and follow you because they also have the same interest.
Here are a few reason why you should use Pinterest?
So, I suggest you get yourself started with Pinterest, explore and connect with people who are interested in the same things as you. For businesses, I suggest you to experiment with different strategies that can drive in new customers or traffic to your website. Pinterest allows room for you to be creative with your branding approach. Until next time, Go and PIN your INTEREST.
Maintaining your brand is important for every company. There are many social media platforms out there that give you the ability to connect with your target audience/customers. Your engagement is important to produce happy, stimulated, loyal and engaged customers.
When you begin to establish your social media presence, first thing first:
Community is important
Second thing:
Content
Some Social Media Sites to get your hands on:
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
4Square
Instagram
Storify
Google +
There are other options, such as, SEO which will help expose your company, but imagine having both SEO and a strong social media presence together. Your brand and company will increasingly experience
For more check out: Check out 10 top Execs share their social media secrets
For all you social media addicts out there, Storify is another social media platform to add to your list. Storify is similar to Hoot Suite where you can organize all your social media, but Storify has one extra element than Hoot Suite. In Storify, you can create a story that will organize all of your social media platforms. How do you exactly create a story in Storify? Well, Storify is essentially like blogging but you have access to all your social media where you can implement certain Facebook comments, tweets, videos etc, into your blog directly.
The pros about Storify are:
The Cons:
(but that’s not any different than learning the new Facebook timeline)
If you love to write and your social media seems a bit cluttered or unorganized, then Storify will help. I believe having a strong story attached to your 140 tweet or your Facebook statuses will have a bigger impact to your readers and followers.
Seeing hash tags (#), re tweets (RT) and a whole bunch of @usernames within twitter may seem confusing, so why is it there? It is there to create conversations on twitter. Here are tips and reasons why it is important to create a conversation on Twitter.
Social media can help you with search engine optimization(SEO) because it creates exposure and can direct traffic to your website, although, it seems like a lot of work and dedication. Don’t feel discouraged if you don’t have the time. There are experts out there that can provide social media services and other SEO services so that will increase your companies exposure.
Twitter may seem like a sea of endless messages of only a 140 characters from millions of users however, if you can use it efficiently and strategically your tweets will be able to stand out. Twitter 101 will teach you the basics of the importance and the basic strategies to get you started on your twitter endeavours.
Twitter is a necessity for any business because it strengthens your brand. A strong brand will immediately draw your audience to your company. With twitter it increases the credibility and awareness of your business which will increase traffic and create new leads. All in all, it is a great tool to show off and promote your business. Although, in order to receive results it is important you are active. Your target audience wants to see that you are just as active as them. If you’re engaging with your audience, the connection will be stronger resulting into potential new clients.
So a few tips and tricks to start you off:
Alright, this seems like a lot of dedication and work for one person to do. Therefore you can hire people to do it for you. This is called Twitter Management. For example, here at Longevity Graphics we offer Twitter Management services. We monitor and maintain your Twitter account while you are free to concentrate on your business. So, don’t be afraid of Twitter, instead take the challenge and use Twitter to create a strong business.
Gaining Facebook Fans
If you build a Facebook Page, will fans come? This is the great hope for many businesses. However, fans do not magically appear from the Facebook mist.
Gaining Valuable Fans vs Fan Count
1. Embed Widgets on Your Website
2. Add to Your Email Signature
3. Facebook Ads
4. Run a contest
5. Link to twitter
6. Display at your store or business to encourage customers to checkin
7. Add a link from your personal profile
8. From time to time it’s okay to link your page from your personal profile with an @ symbol
9. Make a compelling facebook welcome video
10. Upload lots of pictures (make sure to tag these pictures)
11. Load Videos and embed them on your page
Converting Fans into Customers (understanding your fanbase)
Getting More Twitter Followers
Social Media News
Are you always wondering how you can use Facebook to its full potential? Facebook isn’t just a platform for your own personal profile. Sometimes it is very discouraging to see that your company Facebook page doesn’t have the amount of likes, friends or followers you expected. It’s very stressful, but if you use Facebook strategically it will benefit your business.
It is called Facebook Management. For every business you want a strong brand identity. A strong identity means an increase of potential customers and committed followers. Your target audience needs to know that you are just as active as them on Facebook. This creates a bond between you and your audience. So how do you do this exactly? Here’s the thing, if you are a business owner, a very busy one at that, I know for sure you have lots on your mind. The time spent on Facebook could be time worth spending on other business endeavors. That is why businesses usually opt out to hiring externally. For example, here at Longevity Graphics we offer Facebook Management services. We monitor your account, we post relevant news, blog posts and other information, we respond to comments, we design custom Facebook pages, encourage sharing through Facebook and assess your results on Facebook Insights.
So what? Well, the results of Facebook Management not only strengthen your brand identity, it increases your exposure. It increases the traffic that flows to your website. Facebook can guide your target audience to your website, which can provide them with further information and services. It assists with SEO that will enable your business climb to that number one spot for search results. So I suggest reassessing your business and maybe through Facebook Management will be that one push that will accomplish your business objectives.