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Social Media Mistakes – Are You Doing Any of These?

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Social Media Mistakes – Are You Doing Any of These?

All websites should have social media share and connect buttons. It doesn’t matter if the site is a retailer or not, social media is a form of communication for people of all ages. We use social media to make purchases, as a customer service tool, for public relations, and to share reviews of brands we care about. Website social media buttons help your readers share your content – including images and posts – across social channels. They also help you build up a following. If you are indeed a retailer or blogger, then these are a must-have for your web presence!

There are two types of social media buttons every website should have. The first is a social connect button. The second type is a social share button. Social connect buttons are the ones that say something like, “follow me” or “let’s connect” When you tap in a social connect button, you become a follower of an account on a social media channel. These are different from social share buttons.

There are a few configuration mistakes common in social media share and connect buttons. Fortunately, they are easy to fix, especially if you are using a content management system like WordPress or Shopify. Watch this YouTube Video on Social Media mistakes and find out!

Five Common Social Media Mistakes

  1. Missing Social Share – Social share buttons allow users to tap a button on a website and share your content to the social channel of their choice. A properly configured button will have the attribution already set. For example, if you tweet this post using the button on the page, then the post will be attributed to me @metrony. Two taps and the post is shared. Done!
  2. Social Connect Buttons – These buttons are a close cousin to the above social connect buttons, but they are for building up a following rather than sharing. Social connect buttons are the buttons that you click or tap and they automatically have your profile like the profile associated with whatever you are reading. For example, if you tap the Facebook icon in the “let’s connect” section of this webpage, you’ll “like” my Facebook page.
  3. Broken Links – Have you ever gone to a website, hit the social connect or social share button only to have it pop up a window to Facebook.com rather than “like” the page or even land on the brand’s profile page? It happens all the time. The share buttons are set up before the profiles, and configuring them properly gets lost on the madness of getting an e-commerce site set up properly.
  4. Open in New tab – Sometimes social connect buttons take users away from the website. The goal of social media is to get users to the website and take a certain action (buy something, give an email address, get directions, download something, etc…) Social media should NEVER take users away from a website. Many times, a misconfigured connect or share button opens a new tab or window and takes users away.
  5. Add Attribution – Now that we have the social share buttons working correctly – they pop open their own standalone tab – add your user handle to each social share button. Whatever your user handle is per social media channel, that should be tacked onto the end of the post. Be sure that your user handle is correct for each individual channel.

How to Check if Someone Follows You on Instagram

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How to Check if Someone Follows You on Instagram

Instagram has over 700 million daily active users. If you are thinking that your business could never fit in on Instagram, maybe it’s time to reconsider. Instagram continues to siphon users away from Snapchat after blatantly copying their disappearing stories feature. Instagram stories hit 200M users and quickly outpaced Snapchat.

Building up a following is an important connection with 25 to 40-year old social media users. Engagement – likes, comments, and shares – are very imperative too. First, it is important to grow your audience. If you are managing the social media channels for a brand, then it’s typical that accounts do not follow most other users back. For example, fashion retailer Nordstrom has 2.5 million followers but only follows 423 of them back. However, if you are not managing a brand that is working on growing the follower count, be sure your vanity numbers are balanced.

It’s a common strategy for social media users to build up their numbers by following other users, waiting for them to follow back, and the unfollowing them a few days later. I don’t employ this tactic because the account ends up with a large percentage of uninterested followers. Once an account begins to build up its follower count, it can be challenging to tell if another Instagram user is following you back. Certainly, you can look at your follower list on the Instagram app. If you tap on your followers list, you will see a long list of follower usernames but here are no convenient sort of search options.

I use two tools to manage my Instagram followers. One is Hootsuite Pro, which I’ve discussed in producivity videos and blog posts. The other is an app called Followers Insight. With Hootsuite Pro an Instagram column can be added to keep track of followers. Although this makes it easy to scroll down the list, it is still not that convenient. Unfortunately, like in the native app, there are no sort or search features. In addition, you cannot tell if you are following them or not. However, it HootSuite Pro is very easy and convenient way to follow and unfollow other users from this list view.

The app I use to track followers is called Followers Insight. It has two lists, one to show me who recently unfollowed me and another to show me who is not reciprocating. It’s convenient, simple and easy to use. The biggest drawback is that if you are managing multiple Instagram accounts, the app only tracks one of them.

Followers Insight is the clear winner for me. It’s free and very easy to use. No, it does not have many features but it gets the job done. I use HootSuite Pro for other social media management so I have the Instagram Followers stream added but I don’t check that stream very often because I use the Followers Insight app instead.

I have more videos about Instagram on my YouTube channel. I cover everything about social media, optimizing images, getting the best return on investment! Of course, I’m on Instagram too! Tap the social share buttons and let’s connect!

How to Choose the Best Social Media Platform for Your Business

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How to Choose the Best Social-Media Platform for Your Business

How to Choose the Best Social Media Platform for Your Business

There are common questions every business asks when setting up a new social media strategy. One common question is, “Which social media platform is best for my business?” What is really meant is, which social media channel is going to drive the most website traffic and sales for the business.

First, determine what resources your business has to devote to social media and other marketing efforts. Are you a solopreneur who is going to work on a do-it-yourself (DIY) strategy and little or no budget? You will need to invest in some free or low cost tools to your social content creation does not suck up the day, every day!

Brands have a full marketing team and art department that works together to produce content and measure results. A brand will most likely going be on all major social channels. They will also experiment with some of the more promising flash-in-the-pans in case one sticks. Remember Meerkat of just one year ago? Vine is gone now too, with Periscope barely hanging on. Trailblazer Snapchat is in a copycat battle with brazen Instagram.

Start with the largest social channel, Facebook. Founded in 2004, Facebook has over 1.18 billion daily active users on average. If a brand wants to have a real strategy on Facebook, they will have to optimize the mobile user’s experience too. Facebook has over 1.09 billion mobile daily active users on average. [1] The largest social channel also has the widest age range, although younger users favor Instagram and Snapchat.

What is the age range of your target audience? Whom do you need to reach to acquire more customers? Snapchat skews toward the younger audience with 46.8% of its users between the ages of 18 and 24. However, there are. More recent surveys shows 31% of 25 to 34 year olds use the mobile-only app. [2]

Can you represent your products well in photos? Visual social media platforms such as Instagram make photo sharing easy. If you r brand is about food, travel, beauty, or fitness these social channels are a good fit!

Like Snapchat, Instagram is also a mobile only social media app. As of June 2016 Instagram boasted over 500 million monthly active users! Any service can do well on Instagram with a little creativity and imagination.

The other highly visual app is Pinterest. The mobile and desktop social media channel has surpassed 150 million monthly active users, which is a 50% increase over last year’s numbers.
The social media site recently announced it has surpassed 150 million monthly active users,

Even if your business or brand is social media veteran, do not ever stop asking those first questions. Many start posting on social and never take the time or do not have the resources to assess their efforts and regroup. Periodically check analyze your metrics too see which social media channel is working best for your brand. Try to at least estimate the ROI and consider repositioning as needed.

Sources:
[1] Facebook Company Newsroom
[2] Comscore 2016 U.S. Cross-Platform Future in Focus
[3] Pinterest Blog

How to Turn an Instagram Post into an Ad from Within the App

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turn instagram post to advertisement from within app

How to Turn an Instagram Post into an Ad from Within the App

Business Instagram users can turn an Instagram post into an advertisement from within the app. Instagram offers businesses the option to “promote” a post to increase the number of viewers who see the post.

A “promoted post” is an ordinary organic, sometimes called “earned.” post that the account owner pays to gain increased visibility. More views mean conversions. Promoted posts are part of the ad platform, are available on both Instagram, and parent Facebook platforms. However, on Facebook they are referred to as “Boosted posts.”

Any organization that elected to change from a personal to a business Instagram account is eligible to promote posts.

Instagram, which launched in 2010, has 500 million active users each month. Fifty percent of Instagram users follow at least one business. Facebook acquired Instagram in 2012. In 2013, Instagram introduced ads to its social media channel. At that time, ads were only open to a select number of global budget brands. Instagram ads are now open to advertisers of all budgets. Advertisers must have a Facebook business page to advertise on Instagram.

To turn a post into an ad from within Instagram, log into the account. Select the post to promote. Tap the blue “Promote” button [Figure 1] in the lower right corner under the photo. If there is no “Promote” button, then the account must be converted to an Instagram business account first.

Below is a photo I took from the stage when I spoke at Pubcon on Las Vegas this month. The photo earned a lot of engagement, and is a good candidate for a social media advertisement.

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Figure 1

After selecting which post to promote, advertisers can chose an objective: drive traffic to their website or prompt users to call or visit a retail location. Other parameters to configure in this form if Instagram ad include target audience, call-to-action button text, duration of the ad, and budget, of course!

It’s best practices to put money behind top-performing organic posts. The logic is that posts that resonated with your followers will likely appeal to those in a targeted ad campaign. Instagram business pages offer limited insights on posts to help users refine their content and social media strategy. Another way to spot a winning post is to look at the engagement the number of hearts, video views, and comments.

The only other asset needed is a Facebook business page to get started! Contact and payment information can be transferred from Facebook to the photo-sharing app.

Facebook and now Instagram have reshuffled the timeline on both apps, changing the order users see content. In many instances, especially on Facebook, followers may not see a post at all. Creating ads is one way to break through the restrictive algorithms. Although many feel it is a “pay to play” strategy, social media ds can help a brand increase its customer base.

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Social Media for Live Events

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Social Media for Live Events

One of the most common questions businesses working on a social media strategy ask is, “What do I post?” I am asked this by businesses of all sizes; from startups to established multi-million dollar brands. Social media users of all experience levels want to know what type of content works well for their followers and how often to on various social media channels. Early social media consisted of simple text posts that may or may not have included images. Now, an imageless post is a sure way to watch your content get lost in an endless newsfeed or stream. Images must be well thought out to attract and hold a reader’s attention. Enter the social media video!

Live events are excellent ways to connect with your customers, vendors, and social media following. Of course the events have to be well chose and relevant to your business too! Live events give you a chance to talk directly to your audience, in person. Social media helps gets your audience to your venue.

Blue Cross Broad Street Run 2016 Event

When I am out speaking at public events or developing content for my blog and my Metrony and PinTalk YouTube channels, I make it clear that I am a big proponent of video content. I have been working hard on my own YouTube channel – yes, please subscribe –as it allows me to answer readers’ questions and to demonstrate features of social media channels. It took me over a year just to get set-up with audio-visual equipment that I like. I did not have someone to show me what to do, until I sat and spoke to a photography expert at a conference. Since then I have been building up my video and social media content, as I know how useful it is.

Video is one of the best ways to convey your brand’s message to an audience. It is great for ecommerce selling, as stats support that users are more likely to buy after watching a video of a product. The cost of video production has come way down too. All but the big brands used to shy away from video because the cost was prohibitive. Fortunately, quality video content is much cheaper to create thanks to smartphones and followers love to experience events with you!

Three major social media channels – Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat – have made it easy for us to connect with fans via images and live video. Below you’ll find a short list on what works well as well as the strong points of all three.

Facebook Live

Facebook is nets over 8 billion video views daily. It is a fun and engaging way to share an event, such as a trade show, sporting event, or news event with your audience. Facebook is the largest social media channel and therefore gives a brand access to the largest audience. Although Facebook has the largest audience, remember the younger segment of users favor Instagram and Snapchat. This will help determine what content to post on Facebook and what to use on Snapchat. Yes, content should be customized for each channel. One easy way to do this is by changing who is narrating the video. A 40-something may connect with your Facebook audience, while a millennial is perfect for Instagram, and Snapchat would do well with a teen. Another way to connect to multiple age groups is to vary which products are featured.

Blue Cross Broad Street Run Event

The advantage of Facebook Live is that a video’s viewing audience can be restricted by age range, gender or location. Restrictions help you ensure that brands do not lose followers by blasting the wrong audience with orrelevant or too much content. Facebook Live continuous videos have no time limit.

For example, if a brand is at a trade show and has a giveaway or offer where the winner must be present to win, it makes no sense to broadcast to their entire Facebook audience. Instead, restrict the giveaway to those who are nearby.

Facebook Live lets viewers can post questions to the live stream giving the broadcaster time to respond during a live stream. The speaker can answer question in real time providing fabulous audience engagement.

Snapchat

Although Facebook has a much larger number of users, the youngest segment has moved on to other social media channels, namely Snapchat. This social channel’s users watch 10 billion videos daily. Yeah, 10 BILLION! That is significantly more than the number of daily video views reported by Facebook.[1]

Snapchat reaches a different audience than Facebook. Sixty-percent of U.S. 13- to 34-year-old smartphone users are also Snapchat users [2]. Do not ignore Snapchat if you think your brand only fits an older audience. The average age is increasing as older smartphone users embrace the social media mobile app [3]

So how do you use Snapchat for at a live event? The content on Snapchat is like no other social media channel. It is clever, creative, unique, and frequently humorous. Use Snapchat to allow viewers to experience the event with your brand! In the days leading up to an event, post teaser photos and videos announcing that your brand will be on-site. Show with images and videos what you are doing to prepare for the event and where your fans can expect to find you.

Brands can use photos, videos, or a combination of both to lead users through the live event. Coupons and promotions, although not clickable, can be communicated by drawing on snaps or having the narrator say it during a video. Snapchat users can control who sees their stories by changing the privacy settings on their accounts.

Instagram Stories

Instagram launched Instagram Stories in early August 2016. Instagram did not attempt to rename anything their new update as many Snapchat ideas were used in the creation of Instagram accounts. Even the name “stories” was copied. Instagram Stories allow brands to share events in ways pre-story Instagram could not. Like Snapchat, Instagram Stories have text and drawing tools available. Also like Snapchat, the photos and videos disappear after 24 hours. The use is the same as it is for Snapchat posts.

The advantage of Instagram Stories over Snapchat is that Instagram has a much larger user base; 500 million versus Snapchat’s 100 million. It is the best social channel for connecting with millennials. To enhance the strategy, Businesses can also run ads on Instagram via a self-service portal. Whereas on Snapchat, the ad portal is only open via agencies with access to the API and with large budges.

Sources:
[1] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-28/snapchat-user-content-fuels-jump-to-10-billion-daily-video-views

[2] https://www.snapchat.com/ads

[3] http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2016/04/15/a-sneak-peek-into-snapchats-advertising-revolution/#3926c5845ead

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Social Channel Instagram Evolves

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Social Channel Instagram Evolves

Instagram announced last week, the social channel is altering its algorithm to show users posts they are likely to “want to see.” Currently posts to show in reverse chronological order. Instagram boasts over 400 million active users.

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This algorithm change is not unexpected. The new format is similar to Facebook’s methodology. Facebook owns Instagram. After a long test period, Instagram opened up advertising to everyone last fall. Advertisers only need a Facebook page to advertise on Instagram. Yes! That’s correct. You do not need an Instagram account to advertise on Instagram. Ads can be posted and managed from your Facebook ads manager.

Instagram now allows video ads too. The race to capture video users is heated. Facebook made it clear that it wants a bigger portion of YouTube’s audience. Facebook favors native video in organic posts. Both Facebook and Instagram have video ad capability.

A study by Quintly showed the average Instagram brand posts just over one time per day. This is an increase over the first half of 2015. However, as the social channel grows, the engagement rate dropped significantly, by 40% [Figure 1]. According to the Quintly study, video posts increased from 1.78 posts per day to 2.77 on Instagram.

Quintly-InstagramOwnPosts

Figure 1

This may be due to the larger audiences that brands boast but it is a metric to keep an eye on. Engagement from Instagram is difficult enough to track. Posts cannot contain links so there are no click though rate metrics to track. However, Instagram ads do have actionable buttons including “learn more” and “shop now.”

Instagram gave us the ability to manage multiple accounts from one device. This is available for Android and iOS users. The remainder of the recent updates (algorithm, ads platform) have been to improve Instagram’s bottom line.

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