paid social Archives - Resourceful Business

4 Reasons You Should Be Using Social Media Ads

5 April 2017May 3, 2017Ann MillsLeave a comment

More than half of online adults (56%) use more than one of the five major social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn –Pew Research Center, 2016

In 2015, we wrote about the broad trend away from traditional media to digital marketing, and the data behind the shift is staggering. According to Forrester’s latest forecast, “Investment in paid search, display advertising, social media advertising, online video advertising and email marketing will pace to 46% of all advertising in five years” and approach $120 billion by 2021. As companies turn to digital marketing to reach potential customers, social media ads are a powerful part of their marketing arsenals. A “new media” advertising tool that combines audience targeting, user engagement, and measurability, social media ads are a marketing knockout punch. Here’s why:

1. AUDIENCE TARGETING: Your message gets to the right people

I was once asked to explain Facebook audience targeting, and in particular, why a business should do a Facebook ad as opposed to a traditional ad in the local newspaper. The question came from someone familiar with Facebook as a personal social media platform, but not at all aware of what it could do when marketing a business. I asked her,

“If I offered you the opportunity to market your business with a flyer that only went to people who had an interest in your product, could afford your product, and lived within driving distance of your store, would you do it? And, if I said I could take your flyer and put it on the kitchen counter of only the people you believe would want to see it, what would you say?”

She said, “Of course, I would do it. Who wouldn’t?”

To me, paid social advertising that uses demographic audience targeting is like putting a flyer on the kitchen counter of a potential customer. The range and versatility of targeting options available help digital marketers hone in on a very specific audience. Using filters such as interests, job title, net worth and geo-targeting, marketing dollars can be utilized efficiently, effectively and easily reallocated with the click of a button.

Some examples of custom audiences we have recently created for our clients include audiences that are:

local and geo-targeted within a 10 mile radius of numerous cities where the business has stores
local and in Manhattan with an interest in buying a new home in the suburbs
local, within the tri-state area and Florida
international and interested in accessing a locally-based product electronically

The specificity with which marketers can reach and get information to an audience with paid social media ads makes them a cost-effective, versatile marketing tool not constrained by physical distribution channels.

2. CONVERSATIONS: Social media ads engage an audience and broaden reach

The power of social media platforms lies in their ability to engage an audience with the brand, and social media ads can turbocharge audience reach. Social media advertising will put content in front of your target audience, and people will interact and react with emojis, comments, likes and shares. Your audience can ask questions, and you can answer them – suddenly your content has prompted a conversation.

Another example of a two-way social media interaction is user-generated reviews. Online reputation management is a growing field and business owners often receive online business reviews on their social media pages. Customers will post a review and a business can acknowledge and answer it – another type of conversation. In contrast, once a print ad is distributed, there is no way to tell how many people have read it, who read it or if it has successfully resonated with anyone in the target audience.

If you were offered the opportunity to market your business with a flyer that only went to people who had an interest in your product, could afford your product, and lived within driving distance of your store, would you do it?

3. CONNECTIVITY: Customers can connect with you via social media ad CTAs

According to a Pew Research Center report, “Nearly two-thirds of Americans are now smartphone owners, and for many these devices are a key entry point to the online world.” The use of smartphones has been a boon to the connectivity afforded by social media and the migration towards social media ads with clickable call to action (CTA) buttons.

Here are just two examples of how social media ads can be used by a business:

A company posts a sponsored Instagram ad, and it includes a button that says, “Learn More.” When people tap the button, they are taken to a landing page where they can request a demo, watch an explainer video or start a free trial.

A local business creates a Facebook ad promoting a free consultation for a new service they are offering. People that are interested tap a CTA button that says “Sign Up” and fill in a registration form for the consultation.

Versatile and engaging, social media ads connect businesses with potential customers and can convert them into viable leads with an array of clever CTAs.

4. MEASURABILITY: You can track, analyze and recalibrate social media ads

Social media ads can be configured to target an audience of choice either demographically, by interest, or geographically. Once an ad is live, marketers can track and analyze an array of social analytics from impressions and click-throughs to the number of reactions, comments or shares. On Facebook, you can even track click-throughs to directions, a phone number or action buttons. If an ad is actively engaging people, marketers can move more dollars to the campaign and use a similar format in future.

Another important aspect to social media ads is they can drive visitors to your website, and you can track this information in your website’s Google Analytics data. There are visitor acquisition metrics, and one of the referral sources you can analyze is social media. An added bonus is the availability of numerous pre-configured dashboards in Google Analytics which put key metrics in an organized, visually appealing dashboard. So, in a way, paid social advertising is even better than putting a flyer on the kitchen counter of a potential customer, because it is backed by data that tells you if the person actually read the flyer!

When it comes to advertising, social media ads are a game changer. They offer audience targeting, conversations, connectivity, and measurability – four powerful reasons to ensure you add them to your marketing bag of tricks in 2017. Interested in learning more about social media ads? Work with us.

Why Social Media Management Takes a Village

19 September 2016May 24, 2019Ann MillsLeave a comment

The numbers are staggering.

According to The CMO Survey, since 2009, social media spending by businesses has increased 234%. Currently, at just over 10% of marketing budgets, it’s projected to double in the next 5 years.

Hands down, social media is the area of digital marketing where our agency receives the most questions. Clients ask about changing algorithms, the ad creation process, and audience targeting. In a recent conversation with one of our clients about our social media management process, she expressed her amazement at the many layers to our approach, and it made me think that perhaps our process would be useful to others.

At Resourceful Business (RB), we have found that simply put – social media management takes a village. The process is fluid and complex, and to execute it well, we must PLAN, THINK, COLLABORATE, and MEASURE with rigor and consistency.

Here’s what we do:

PLAN the content that drives social media

Step 1: Rotate the focus and types of social media posts

Every business has different facets to their brand, and marketing should use these defining aspects to reach different audiences. Our social media team will develop a content calendar that looks at what types of social media posts might optimally represent the brand and put these different categories into a rotation. For example, each week we may create one inspirational quote, link to a past blog, curate one article we like, create a new visual for some aspect of a blog or even build a quiz. On our internal content calendar, we will plan these posts out several weeks in advance for each client, so they can be put into rotation with consistency.

Step 2: Use the content continuum

Digital marketing content is on a continuum. At RB, we are in the camp that believes there are three categories: lightweight, middleweight, and heavyweight. Social media is lightweight content, but it is intricately linked to both middleweight and heavyweight content. In fact, social media is often used to leverage middleweight and heavyweight content and push it out to new audiences in novel ways. When we create social media content, our team is always thinking about how it relates to other content on the continuum. For example, if we have a great blog, we might take the key points and create a visual infographic from them. That visually enticing infographic might take off on Pinterest or LinkedIn SlideShare. The point is that content, including social media posts, is not created in a vacuum but rather as one piece of the content continuum.

THINK about the target audience

Step 3: Identify the social media platforms used by the target demographic

Social media marketing is an incredibly powerful tool, and what differentiates it from mass market tactics is the ability for customers and marketing practitioners alike to define and target a specific audience. Social platforms give many audience targeting choices from geographic location to interests, job titles and even type of mobile device.

Sprout Social has an excellent blog outlining audience segments and which social media platforms they use. Depending upon the platform, there are distinct variations in user age, income, location, and education. One interesting contrast, for example, is that Snapchat attracts a young crowd with 71% of users under the age of 25. On LinkedIn, only 23% of users are between 18 and 29. Not surprisingly, if we have a client that is targeting a young audience, a LinkedIn company page may not be a marketing priority.

Step 4: Establish the role of paid social

The organic reach, audience reach not related to a paid ad, of different social media platforms varies considerably, but certainly, strategic boosts, ads or promotions are an essential part of any successful social media strategy. A case in point is that by some estimates, only 2 to 7 percent of organic Facebook posts reach followers. The decline in organic reach on Facebook has been trending since 2012 when Facebook changed its algorithm to reduce the number of organic views. In fact, one of the real challenges of social media management is algorithms can change at any time.

Therefore, any social media strategy must include a component of paid social to widen its audience reach beyond what can be attained organically. In addition to selecting which posts will be boosted or promoted each week, a member of the RB team must create the ads in the social media portal. This process includes budgeting, audience targeting and tracking metrics after the fact.

COLLABORATE to ensure social media excellence

Step 5: Use social media management tools

One of our essential social media management tenets is that the more team views and eyeballs we get on our client content before it goes out, the better it will be. That philosophy drives RB’s use of a number of collaborative social media management platforms. Some examples include Schedugram for Instagram posts, Canva for visual creation and post edits, Hootsuite for scheduling posts and Google Docs for collaborative social media documents such as a list of relevant hashtags.

One of our essential social media management tenets

is that the more team views and eyeballs we get on our client

content before it goes out, the better it will be.

Step 6: Gather multiple team inputs for “agency quality” social media posts

A social media post that appeals to one person may not appeal to another, so an engaging post or image is an art and by no means a science. However, some aspects of a social media post which contribute to its strength include relevant hashtags, well-written copy, an absence of typos and crisp imagery. These factors can be controlled, and our strategy is to gather multiple inputs from our team in these areas to maintain a standard of social media excellence.

Here’s an example of our Instagram post creation process. RB team members play different roles throughout the workflow:

In Canva, begin with the Instagram Post design type template so the image is sized correctly
Add an image to the Canva template, typically sourced from numerous free stock photo sites
Overlay the client’s logo as a watermark in the corner of the design
Write the post copy and hashtags in two different Canva Team Stream comment fields
Reference the source of the image in another Team Stream comment field (RB team use only)
Solicit comments, edits and changes from different members of the RB team
Once approved, add the image and copy to our social media client queue in Schedugram

MEASURE social media impacts and then refine the strategy

Step 7: Define and track social media Return on Investment (ROI)

For any marketing strategy, it’s essential to look at the Return on Investment (ROI). Social media is no exception, and broadly speaking, ROI for social media can be viewed against many different metrics – audience reach, website inbound marketing traffic, or as a viable lead acquisition source.

Each month, our clients receive a report which shows social media engagement by platform. The RB team looks at many metrics (likes, shares, comments and top performing posts) and user growth. If there is a paid social strategy in place, we will look at top performing organic posts and boosted posts. More broadly, we look at month-to-month trends per platform, across different platforms and analyze the impact of social relative to key statistics in Google Analytics. As the year progresses, RB will examine trends and patterns over a longer trajectory.

Step 8: Continuously refine the social media strategy

With consistent reporting in hand, our team will talk to clients and refine the social media strategies in place. Some recent examples include a shift of paid social dollars into more Instagram ads and away from Facebook ads. This particular business was very visual, and we saw Instagram users grow rapidly and overtake Facebook users within a few months. In addition, the type of follower we were attracting with Instagram aligned with the target audience the client desired. Another example is a doubling of Facebook ad dollars for one client as the Facebook user growth continued to climb and attract users that were converting into new clients.

“It takes a village.”

The old African proverb, “It takes a village,” alludes to the notion that the broader community is involved in the raising of a child, and today, the saying suggests collaboration is essential for a task at hand. When it comes to managing social media for clients, it’s an important maxim. Although a person can put an Instagram post up in seconds, it makes far more sense for client social media management to take a “village” approach, one that incorporates process, rigor, and accountability.

Plan, think, collaborate, measure – and throw in a great team. These are the essential elements of social media management excellence.

________

On occasion, RB may use an affiliate link in its blog and receive some form of compensation should you purchase a specific product. RB will only use an affiliate link for a tool we actively use ourselves and recommend as a resource.

A 10 Step Social Media Strategy That Doubled Revenue

31 January 2016February 15, 2018Ann MillsLeave a comment

Sometimes the proof is in the pudding.

In 2015, one of our clients asked us to rework their social media strategy. Social media was growing in importance within their industry, and beyond a basic Facebook presence, the business really had not done much with social media at all. Our agency was thrilled to learn in January of this year that the client’s top line revenues doubled over the previous 12 months, and they credited much of the boost to the rippling effects of the social media overhaul.

Here’s a 10 step social media plan that captures the key elements of our strategy. Of course, no two companies are the same, and each will be in a different starting place with social media. However, hopefully this step-by-step guide can offer some touchpoints for looking at your own company’s social media strategy, and who knows, it may just double your revenue too.

1. Tidy Up Stray Social Media Accounts

Often organizations delve into social media marketing with a stop-and-start strategy. Various employees within the company get assigned the task of managing the organization’s social media presence and setting up the accounts. The result can be a mishmash of social media pages and no master list of usernames or passwords to access those pages. As employees change, accounts are forgotten and continue to live on the internet with posts that may be years old.

Before launching a new social media strategy, identify and streamline all social media accounts. Deactivate unused ones and ensure the company name reads consistently across all social media platforms.

2. Set Up a Social Media Posting Schedule

Erratic posts on social media reflect a haphazard approach to content. To develop an audience, every company that is using social media needs a posting schedule. Content should be varied and planned to include blog posts, original middleweight and lightweight content, curated articles, pieces of interest, infographics, and video. Within the posting schedule, key original longform pieces, or pieces over 800 words, should be repurposed and reused.

Establish a content calendar and daily posting schedule. Create content in advance to post on social media, and hyperlink back to key longform content on your website several times per month.

3. Write a Blog

We began to ghostwrite a monthly blog for the client. The blogs became the cornerstone pieces of longform, heavyweight content. The objective of the blogs was to establish thought leadership by covering relevant topics in the client’s space. Depending upon the industry, the frequency of blogs will vary, but the key is the consistency, originality and quality of the blogs that are being posted.

Either write a blog or hire someone to ghostwrite one for you. Build content authority and establish thought leadership in your field.

4. Gather and Post Employee-generated Content

One of the most difficult aspects of managing a client’s social media presence is learning and ultimately reflecting the appropriate voice for that client. Without it, the content will seem out of place and is less likely to engage the audience. Our team encouraged the client’s employees to send us pictures from various work-related events they attended. All of the employee-generated content was vetted for appropriateness and usability and then some of it was posted.

Establish a stream of appropriate, employee-generated content for use on social media. It will personalize the business and gave a face to the employees.

5. Include Hashtags

For many companies, the use of hashtags is a mystery. Hashtags are words or groups of words preceded by a “#.” The pound sign turns the word(s) into a searchable hyperlink, and hashtags allow people to find other internet content that contains the same hashtag. One of our clients recently told us that they were advised that hashtags were “just for fun.” Not so. As a company tries to grow its audience reach, hashtags become a critical tool, which can identify and “tag” the type of content they are distributing. New clients don’t know you and would not necessarily know where to look for you on the web either. Hashtags provide a way for people to find your posted content and from there, possibly go on to your company website.

Our client had never used hashtags in their Facebook posts. We developed a list of relevant hashtags for reference and began using them across all of their social media platforms.

Research and use appropriate hashtags with social media posts. Register new hashtags relevant to the business on sites like Twubs.

6. Brand Social Media Banners, Backgrounds and Profile Pictures

While every social media platform is different, they will typically offer the account holder an opportunity to customize and upload a banner, background, or profile picture. It’s a fabulous branding opportunity. Customized visuals that are sized properly and utilize compelling images can make an immediate statement about a company and advertise the brand. Images that are not sized properly, pixilated or look hastily done also say something about the organization.

Create and customize social media banners, backgrounds, and profile pictures with imagery and correctly sized logos which amplify the business brand.

7. Set Up a YouTube Channel

Videos and live streaming continue to grow in importance. Our client had a handful of videos that had been done over the years, and the videos were scattered across multiple websites. We tracked them all down and uploaded them onto a newly created YouTube channel for the business. The YouTube channel banner was customized and linked back to the client’s other social media platforms and website. We categorized the videos as well.

Consolidate any video or webinar links on a branded company YouTube channel.

8. Add Live Streaming

It depends upon the business as to whether live streaming makes sense. In the case of this client, our team decided that live streaming conversations about different aspects of the business could draw a new audience. We chose Blab which allows 4-way live stream conversations. Cheat sheets and bulleted reference point documents were developed for each team member in advance of the scheduled “Blab.” The live streams were promoted on social media in advance and the links used with content on social media afterwards.

Establish a live stream series that can be advertised in advance on social media and boosted with paid social. Use the session links to advertise the content after completion.

9. Constantly Re-evaluate the Social Media Strategy

The business had a fairly steady flow of visuals that we were able to post on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and a LinkedIn company page. All had a growing list of followers. Yet after doing some research on comparable businesses in the same industry, it was clear that Instagram was an untapped medium. We established an Instagram presence for the client, started developing content and posted regularly on Instagram. People began engaging with the Instagram posts immediately, and the number of followers continues to grow.

Re-evaluate your social media strategy along the way and be on the lookout for additional platforms that can add a new audience dimension.

10. Add Paid Social

Facebook continued to be the dominant social network for the client, both in terms of actively growing followers and engagement. In addition to a Facebook ad campaign, we began to selectively boost posts that were tied to key pieces of longform content on the website. The strategy revolved around growing the client’s thought leadership amongst a wider audience. To grow the local presence for the business, we also added geographically targeted boosts based on location plus radius.

Use paid social to strategically boost content posts, both geographically and across carefully defined target audiences.

Hopefully, our 10 step social media plan can become the basis for your company’s strategy, or at the very least, get your team talking about how to re-energize the social media game plan.

Remember:

There needs to be a social media strategy. No, really.
Social media demands consistency, attention and time.
It’s hard. If you don’t have the skills, software or patience to properly create a custom social media banner, for example, outsource it.
Social media is constantly evolving. Note the subtle shift taking place from video to live streaming.

A successful social media strategy engages the right audience with the right content. If your social media results are a disappointment, it just may be time for an overhaul. Interested in discussing your current social media presence to see whether it’s on target? Contact ann@resourcefulbusness.com, or call (973) 218-6558.

7 Digital Marketing Strategies Guaranteed to Engage

21 April 2015July 25, 2022Ann MillsLeave a comment

Imagine two full days with digital marketers sharing their insights, experiences, strategies and blunders. That was ClickZ Live (#CZLNY), a digital marketing conference I recently attended in New York. The amount of resources that companies are investing in digital marketing is vast, and the stakes are high. A Nielsen survey, An Era of Growth: The Cross-Platform Report, confirmed that the average American adult spends 10 hours each day on electronic media, now a primary source of entertainment, shopping, information gathering and socialization. The result is that digital marketing sits on the front lines of the battle for consumer engagement.

The fabulous ClickZ Live event gave too many insights to enumerate, but here are 7 of my favorite digital marketing strategies and insights guaranteed to engage:

1. Create authentic content

Many of the speakers returned to the same core message: create authentic content. The litmus test is to consider what actually makes you or your company an authority on a topic. It sounds simple, but actually it’s not. When creating digital marketing strategies, look harder at the areas where the business excels and the commentary could have weight. At Resourceful Business, our team will have more of these types of conversations with clients and map out areas where they can be authoritative, because those topics will be the basis for authentic, meaningful content.

2. Provide transparency into aspects of your business

At #CZLNY, there were so many incredible examples of companies using digital strategies to give their customers insight into their businesses. We saw a fantastic GE video featuring an original soundtrack by electronic music artist, Matthew Dear, called Drop Science. Dear utilized thousands of audio emission sounds from GE facilities and turned them into a soundtrack. The video included Marquese “Nonstop” Scott, an iconic dancer, performing to the music in a breathtaking GE testing facility in Peebles, OH. The video gave viewers a peek into GE’s testing facilities and the vast array of complex equipment GE engineers are working with every day. It was a great example of giving clients insight into places they normally cannot see or go, yet it still reminds the viewer of the business brand and what the company does.

3. Understand the different types of content

Jinal Shah, of J. Walter Thompson Worldwide, a premiere marketing communications company, categorized digital content on a continuum: lightweight, middleweight and heavyweight. It was interesting that lightweight was really a vehicle to push out middleweight and heavyweight content, not necessarily a basis for a marketing strategy in and of itself. In trying to maintain a certain standard when producing digital content, social media was cited as the one medium that presented the most challenges. However, the Oreo Moment, when Oreo put out a tweet during the 2013 Super Bowl XLVII blackout saying “YOU CAN STILL DUNK IN THE DARK,” was mentioned as a powerful reminder of the impact lightweight media can have nonetheless. The Oreo Moment achieved 18,000 Facebook likes, 10,000 retweets, and 5,000 shares in the first hour.

Seeing digital marketing content on a continuum is a more constructive way to view content, and it will ensure that a strategy is in place in each of the three categories.

Lightweight

Middleweight

Heavyweight

Example: Social media

Quick
Can be curated content
Real time
A means to push out Middleweight and Heavyweight content
Can fill the gap in-between Middleweight and Heavyweight content
Often not searchable
Can present Middleweight or Heavyweight content to a new audience in a different way

Examples: infographics, blogs,
question and answer (Q&A) series, microburst videos, surveys, email campaigns, cinemagraphs

More substantive content
Can be time-consuming to produce
Can show expertise in a field
Does not have to be real time

Examples: webinars, case studies, white papers, e-books, explainer videos, lengthier videos

Content which requires time and mindfulness
Often expensive to create
May need art direction
Evergreen, if successful
Establishes thought leadership

4. Budget for digital marketing

Every digital marketing strategy must have an ad budget. An ad budget permits a digital strategist to boost key pieces of content with paid social, for example, because organic reach is often not sufficient when you are trying to distribute specific content to a target audience. So, maintain a digital marketing budget for the added flexibility of giving a strategic content piece a push through paid ads.

5. Develop a pop culture calendar

Every business can relate to key holidays, events or songs. These pop culture tie-ins can lead to high levels of engagement, especially if they are current. A landscaping business, for example, could plan a marketing campaign around Earth Day every year. Small businesses should always have a digital marketing campaign around Small Business Saturday. A restaurant could create a featured dish for Superbowl Sunday or March Madness. Pop culture draws engagement, so create a pop culture calendar and develop relevant, timely digital marketing around the different events.

6. Prioritize owned versus borrowed media

At #CZLNY, many of the digital marketers emphasized that the only platform a company truly “owns” is its website. All of the other platforms are “borrowed media.” From a fantastic lesson in optimizing content for mobile by John Shehata of ABC News to discussions on the importance of shareable content on your website, we left #CZLNY with the understanding that a company’s website is the most important digital marketing asset it has, and you really cannot spend too much time or energy on this all important “owned media.”

7. Leverage the brand awareness of others

In this Meghan Trainor video, Lips Are Movin, the popular singer utilizes the brand awareness of several popular stars on Vine, YouTube and Instagram who are well-known content creators and influencers. The video includes:

Marcus and Cody Johns – Vine stars
Mei Kawajiri – NY nail artist
Bri Emery – set designer and used for art direction
Barkley the Pom – a Pomeranian with 478,000 Instagram followers

By leveraging the successful brand recognition of other people, partners or even pets, a company can open up new audiences and gain priceless exposure.

At the time of the video, Barkley the Pom had approximately 370,000 Instagram followers. Now with 478,000 followers, it is clear that leveraging someone else’s brand awareness can be a remarkably effective strategy.

Impactful Digital Marketing is Key to Engagement

Great conferences like #CZLNY have a way of crystallizing information that is meaningful and thought-provoking. The innovation in the digital marketing landscape is breathtaking, and any digital marketing strategy will take energy and constant review to keep pace and remain relevant. Hopefully, these seven examples and insights will give your digital marketing some added punch, but if your company’s strategy could still use an overhaul, contact us or call (973) 218-6558.